twe nty20s, have had the ashes, and now to the twenty20s, a tri— series for england against australia and new zealand. they lost their opening match to the aussies this morning. i will tell you more about how that happened later on. sarah has the weather and it is not cricketing weather?m later on. sarah has the weather and it is not cricketing weather? it is certainly sunny for many, but those temperatures are nothing to write home about. we still have quite a lot of lying snow around. things are going to turn a little bit milder tomorrow. i will bring you all the details in about 30 minutes. also coming up, do you remember this? it's been nominated for one of the tv moments of last year — we'll be meeting professor robert kelly, whose distraction there was a surprise appearance at the royal courts ofjustice this morning as a judge heard arguments for and against the release of serial sex—attacker the so—called black—cab rapist, john worboys. standing in the caged—in dock of court 5 wasjohn worboys, called to appear in person. two of his victims — who were also in court — were not expecting him to be there. they've been given the go—ahead for a high court challenge against the decision to release him from prison after he was jailed indefinitely in 2009 for drugging and sexually assaulting women passengers. our home affairs correspondent, daniel sandford, is at the high court. daniel? yes, simon, the original plan had been forjohn worboys to appear through videolink, but sir brian leveson, in charge of it hearing today, he had a bad experience with the videolink yesterday and decided it was very important forjohn worboys to be able to hear the hearing and that the only way that was going to happen was for him to be there in person. so, brian leveson had to apologise to those victims ofjohn worboys who were president in ding present, saying he knew they did not wa nt to present, saying he knew they did not want to encounter in face—to—face, but that was the only solution. he was there as the legal challenge began, as the formaljudicial review began, as the formaljudicial review began against the decision by the pa role began against the decision by the parole board to set him free. driven into the royal courts ofjustice in a high security van, the black cab rapistjohn worboys was led to the cells in handcuffs by four prison officers as his victims started their legal battle to prevent his release from prison. worboys was convicted in 2009 of one rape, four sexual assaults, one attempted sexual assault, one assault by penetration and i2 offences of drugging his victims. a london black cab driver, he's suspected of assaulting around 100 female passengers. in the courtroom, he sat in the dock. the judge apologised if any victims present were upset by him being there in person. 0ne victim explained this morning that she'd never expected him to be released. when we were told it was an indefinite sentence, it was, well, justice has been served. he has been dealt with. he is serving a life sentence now. that was the way it was put across to us. so we never thought for one second that he would be eligible for parole. in court, philippa kaufmann, qc for two of his victims, said, "it appears something has gone very wrong with the parole board's reasoning". and she condemned what she called the blanket secrecy. we can't challenge the decision until we know the reasons for it. and we have to make an assessment as to whether that reasoning is within the bounds of a reasonable parole board or whether it's unreasonable or has failed to take into account relevant considerations. john worboys, who devised a kit for drugging and assaulting his victims in his taxi, didn't have a lawyer at the start of the hearing, but was able to talk to one halfway through. thejudges decided the the judges decided the judicial review can go ahead and two other important decisions were made today. first, on disclosure. the lawyers forjohn worboys‘s victims will be allowed to see the reasoning behind the parole boards decision to allow them to challenge it properly. but also, john warboys' position has also, john warboys' position has also been resolved for now, he will stay in prison until the next court hearing in five weeks' time. daniel, thank you very much. one of the killers of the toddler, james bulger, has beenjailed for a0 months after pleading guilty to having indecent images of children for a second time. jon venables, who served eight years for the murder in 1993, was recalled to prison last year for breaching the terms of his licence. richard galpin is at the old bailey. richard? well, simon, jon venables was speaking to the courts earlier today via videolink, and he pleaded guilty to three counts of having indecent pictures of children, more than 1000 pictures in total, some of them were videos. they showed children aged anything from six to 13 years old, some of them actually even younger than six. jon venables also pleaded guilty to a fourth count, possession of a paedophile manual found on his count, possession of a paedophile manualfound on his laptop, giving advice on abusing children sexually. the prosecutor described this document as disgusting and sickening. his defence lawyer said that venables accepted he had downloaded indecent images for personal use and that he had used the dark web to do this, that he accepted the outer wrongness and abuse involved in having these pictures. —— utter wrongness. abuse involved in having these pictures. —— utterwrongness. he said there was no evidence that he had had abuse of contact with children. he told police at the time of his arrest of his own fault and he had let people down again. sentencing, thejudge he had let people down again. sentencing, the judge described ve na bles sentencing, the judge described venables manipulative, persistent and dishonest. both ofjames bulger‘s parents were in court and are not happy with a sentence that has been given to venables, saying that he has not been sentenced to long enough. 14 bid 40 months, i thought it was an insult to james and to the family. the length of the sentence is too short. three years is really a farce. this is reoffending and there is a pattern to this behaviour. we believe that he should have got at least double his original sentence for a similar offe nce his original sentence for a similar offence two years ago, of two years. he will be leaving the court today believing he has got away with it. three years, four months, that means he will be eligible for parole in less than two years. clearly, some controversy about the outcome of this court case. back to you. tesco are facing a possible bill of up to £4 billion, after britain's biggest ever equal pay claim. lawyers say women who work in the company's stores earn less than men employed in its warehouses, even though the work is comparable. up to 200,000 women could be entitled to back pay if the legal challenge is successful. the supermarket says all its staff are paid fairly, whatever their gender. 0ur economics editor kamal ahmed reports. tesco hasjoined a long list of organisations facing controversy over equal pay. among retailers, asda and sainsbury‘s are facing similar legal battles. birmingham city council has already agreed to over £1 billion worth of payments for women cleaners and carers. and the bbc has been accused of not paying men and women equally. tesco is one of the country's largest employers and is now facing a series of test cases which could lead to the largest equal pay claim in employment history. lawyers acting for tesco supermarket workers said that female staff on hourly rates earn considerably less than men even though the value of the work is comparable. kim ellerman and pamjenkins have worked for tesco for more than 20 years. i think that although we think we have equal rights, there are times where there are such discrepancies that you cannot explain them. and i think tesco's are just one of many companies that really are not addressing the fact that women seem to still be paid less. obviously the jobs are slightly different but to put it bluntly, they are of equal value. you know, we deal with customers, they don't have to deal with customers. but you know, we take the stock and we load the stock. they load it off the lorry and we load it onto the shelves. tesco said that all their staff could progress equally and were paid fairly whatever their gender or background. in a statement the supermarket said, we are unable to comment on a claim that we had not received. tesco has always been a place for people to get on in their career regardless of their gender, background or education. and we work hard to make sure all our colleagues are paid fairly and equally for the jobs they do. birmingham city council has already been forced by the courts to pay cleaners and cooks, jobs mostly done by women, the same rate as bin collectors and street cleaners. jobs mostly done by men. businesses know there could be major costs ahead. the law has been there since 1984 that you can compare with a differentjob. that is 34 years to get your house in order. so that is 34 years of having the advantage of paying unequally. and 34 years of you making pay decisions and financial strategic decisions. and 34 years where you have chosen to walk around what is hiding in open sight. this is the start of a long legal battle. tesco just the latest business to be caught up in a fight over equal pay. kamal ahmed, bbc news. a man who claimed he had been abused bya vip a man who claimed he had been abused by a vip paedophile ring in westminster has been charged himself with multiple offences relating to indecent images of children. the man, only named as nick, is alleged to have committed some of the offences while scotland yard was investigating his claims. the chief constable of police scotland has resigned. phil gormley had been on special leave since september amid a series of investigations into claims of gross misconduct. he denies any wrongdoing. earlier, sarah smith spoke to us from glasgow and began by explaining why he has gone now. he says it is impossible for him to resume his duties in any meaningful way. let me explain why. he has not been at work since he was put on special leave six months ago over allegations of bullying. during that time, further complaints were made against him, a total of seven in all. i understand that he has resigned and now those investigations will be closed, they are no longer relevant. he was cleared to return to work back in november. that decision was reversed when the justice november. that decision was reversed when thejustice secretary got involved because he was worried that inadequate safeguards have been put in place to protect the serving police officers who had made these complaints against the chief co nsta ble. complaints against the chief constable. in a statement today, mr gormley referred to that decision when he said events since november have led me to the conclusion that it is impossible for me to resume my duties in any meaningful way. police scotla nd duties in any meaningful way. police scotland is actually second—largest force on the whole of the uk after the metropolitan police. it has had a rather troubled history. the last chief constable left early after a number of controversies about policing methods. the assistant chief constable is currently suspended and another investigation is going on into his behaviour. this is going on into his behaviour. this isa is going on into his behaviour. this is a force that certainly has some turmoil in its leadership. scientists say they now know what the first modern briton looked like 10,000 years ago — and it's something of a surprise. well, it's not, you can see it! they believe that so—called cheddar man — who lived in south west england — had skin that was dark to black, and blue eyes. researchers have used groundbreaking dna analysis to examine his skeleton which was discovered in somerset in 1903. jon kay reports. he lay here undisturbed for 10,000 years. in the caves beneath cheddar gorge, a replica of cheddar man. but now 21st—century science means we can put flesh on these bones. one, two, three. at the natural history museum cheddar man finally revealed. by extracting dna from his bones and scanning his skull, experts believe they have recreated his face in unprecedented detail. and he looks very different from what they expected. the hair, the eyes, the face, that combination of blue eyes and dark skin, really very striking. something we would not have imagined. and to also get from the dna details of his biology. the fact that he could not digest milk. that is something that came really with the advent of farming. and 10,000 years ago people in britain didn't have that. look how he's changed. this is what scientists used to think he looked like. a reconstruction from 20 years ago when dna analysis was nowhere near as developed. cheddar man and i share a common female relative. this is modern—day cheddar man. adrian targett lives in the same village and shares dna with the skeleton found in the gorge. so, time to meet his ancestor. do you want to see your great great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather? ok, here he comes. and... oh, my! what do you think? it is remarkable, isn't it? i think there is probably some resemblance. but yes, i think there are certainly other members in my family who he bears a resemblance to, yes. some of my cousins. you can see that? yes. i think my eyes are blue. let's have a look. they are blue! they are blue. his hair is not quite as grey as mine is. or my beard! so 10,000 years after he died, 100 years after he was found, finally a face to fit the name of adrian's ancestor. jon kay, bbc news, cheddar in somerset. you are watching afternoon live. the black cab rapistjohn worboys hears lawyers challenge the decision to free him from jail — some of his victims were in court and weren't expecting to see him there. one of the killers of the toddler james bulger admits having indecent images of children for a second time. jon venables has been sentenced to just over three years in jail. tesco could face a bill of £4 billion after britain's biggest ever equal pay claim. in a moment... the world's most powerful rocket, the falcon heavy, has successfully launched for the first time in florida. in sport, glenn maxwell hits a six to bring up his century and also a five wicket win for australia. it is england's first match of the twe nty20 england's first match of the twenty20 tri—series in hobart. nigel lavigne has been provisionally suspended forfailing a lavigne has been provisionally suspended for failing a drugs test. he has not competed since he broke his pelvis in a motorbike crash last january. and jason and laura kenny will represent great britain for the first time since the olympics after being selected for the track cycling world champions in the netherlands. since rio, they have got married, had a baby, and jason has retired, albeit briefly! 0r had a baby, and jason has retired, albeit briefly! or have more on those stories later. —— i will have more. theresa may is meeting senior ministers at downing street this afternoon, to try to agree the government's approach to the next stage of the brexit negotiations. it comes amid tensions between downing street and some conservative mps over britain's future relationship with the eu. and there's pressure on the prime minister too from business leaders, the british chambers of commerce are demanding more clarity about the government's brexit plans. alex forsyth reports the prime minister is fast approaching crunch time. her government must decide what brexit will really mean. it's not just brussels, but mps and businesses too who want to know in which direction the country is heading. small businesses and large firms need greater clarity from government about how it's going to approach the upcoming negotiations. businesses are trying to plan. they are thinking about investment and they are having a hard time drawing conclusions from the current picture. questions to the prime minister. she says a transition period will give businesses certainty. beyond that, the government wants frictionless trade, all subject of course to negotiations. we will be robust in our arguments, as i have said from the beginning. we will hear noises off and all sorts of things being said about positions that are being taken. what matters is the positions we take in the negotiations as we negotiate the best deal. but ministers meeting here today and tomorrow are under pressure to flesh out what exactly they want. not easy to agree, for a party that is divided. i wish downing street spokesmen would shut up sometimes. they put out completely meaningless statements. apparently, it's going to be frictionless and we are happy to have a customs arrangement. yet we are not going in a customs union and we are not going in the single market. that is completely contradictory. i am sure people will always be disappointed whatever deal is struck, because there are differences. the main thing, and free movement, stop paying billions of pounds, our own laws, in our own country, if we succeed doing that, the differences don't really matter. with such different views on how close the uk should remain to the eu, theresa may is unlikely to please everybody. perhaps the best she can hope for is a compromise which keeps most of her party onside. so for now, the debate rages and the demand for detail grows. and that's before formal trade talks with brussels even start. alex forsyth, bbc news, westminster. let's go to vicki young. teresa made, it is a difficultjob, like herding a bag of ferrets! yes, what an image... the she said she would be robust, prompted by one of the backbenchers on the eurosceptic side, worried she might be backsliding, about a compromise too much with the european union. she is trying to reassure them, but also trying to reassure them, but also trying to reassure those on the remained side of the argument that she will have a smooth brexit, reassure the business community, that absolutely adamant that they need some answers and need them pretty soon. that is because we are just over a year away from leaving the european union. they need to plan for the future. i am joined by the snp‘s peter grant, also on the brexit select committee. the eu todayis brexit select committee. the eu today is really issuing threats, saying they want to be able to punish britain during the transition period. is that what we want from an arrangement with our closest trading partners question debated is fair to say they are issuing threats, the document you are referring to has not been approved by the eu yet. the eu have agreed to allow the united kingdom to retain some benefits of membership for two years after we unilaterally decided to leave. they seem unilaterally decided to leave. they seem to be saying if you want to continue to have some of the benefits, you have to accept some of the response abilities. i haven't seen the response abilities. i haven't seen the full detail of the document you are referring to, but i think for hard brexiteers to claim it is not fair for the for hard brexiteers to claim it is not fairforthe eu for hard brexiteers to claim it is not fair for the eu to expect us to play by the rules, continuing to claim the benefits, if you want to play in the game, you have to stick to the rules. the longer term prospects of our future relationship, that is what the subcommittee of the cabinet is trying to thrash out today. what would you like to see them but?” think the meeting has been described as the brexit war cabinet, very appropriate because the cabinet is at war with itself, if nothing else. it has become quite clear from analysis from the scottish government and the uk government that they are desperately trying to prevent people like yourself and the general public from seeing that not only will a hard brexit be catastrophic for the uk economy, even a brexit if we manage to stay ina single even a brexit if we manage to stay in a single market and customs union could have a significant damaging effect on the economy and significant social damages as well. so, what i want to see the government backed or doing is to acce pt government backed or doing is to accept that they got it wrong on day one, that when they unilaterally announced they would leave the customs union, when they announced they were going to leave the single market, those two decisions were their own decisions to make. the government have the constitutional right to change those decisions because they were not part of the referendum. they can comply with the result, that we leave the european union, without having to go the full weight of leaving the single market, leaving the customs union and inflicting horrific economic and social damage on the people of these islands. the counterargument is that if we have an independent trade policy we can look to other areas of the world which are growing, we can do trade deals with those other areas. that is what is going to work for britain and the british economy? a lot of these other growing areas already have trade deals with the european union, and if they don't they expect to have them soon. to date, the 0tman bakkal has not been able to name any economy anywhere in the world that would be able to give britain on its own a better trade deal than they were negotiating with the european union. after we have left, the european union will be nine times bigger than we are, that is where the bigg market will be for far eastern economies. those are the markets they will be most eager to try to court. the idea that britain will get a better trade deal than we would get as a market of billions of people does not wash. that meeting will go on for the next couple of hours. we understand there will be talking specifically about northern ireland, the issue of not having a border between the irish republic and northern ireland, and also talking about immigration. you mentioned the leaked eu document, suggesting they would not be so supportive of a transition deal which involves access to the single market. nigel farage has his opinion on that? they are saying it isa opinion on that? they are saying it is a draft document, theresa may says they are outlying the beginnings of this negotiation. as we went into the first stage, there are compromises on both sides. the eu are saying that taking us to the ecj would take too long, so they have to have some kind of sanction if we want all of the benefits. but i think, given that they are about to go to negotiation, just about the implimentation period, that will be fraught enough before they turn to the wider prospect of what our future relationship will be with the european union. that discussion will happen with the brexit subcommittee tomorrow, but we are not sure how much they will tell us about it. we can still speculate, watch us! a coalition deal has been struck in germany, between the centre—left social democrats and angela merkel‘s conservatives. the agreement looks set to end four months of political deadlock following an inconclusive general election last september. the deal will still need to be approved by social democrat party members, many of whom fear that re—entering what's termed a grand coalition would damage the party. reports from the us say donald trump has instructed his officials to plan for a large—scale military parade in washington this year, as a showpiece of american might. the washington post says he was so impressed by france's bastille day celebrations during his visit there last year, that he now wants a parade of his own. the us normally only hold events like this to mark the end of conflicts. the government has promised to improve the conditions of millions of workers on short—term contracts. ministers say there'll be higher fines for firms that breach contracts or mistreat staff who are part of the so—called gig economy. the move is part of the government's response to a review of modern working practices , but unions say the measures don't go far enough. nina warhurst reports. times have changed. tom has around 30 full—time employees like paddy. he gets sick and holiday pay. and around 20 workers like tom, he's self—employed and has to save for rainy days and holidays himself. following today's announcement, the boss will have to be crystal clear with all of his staff on where they stand. if we are moving towards a situation where it is made clear to employees what their rights are and what their entitlements are. i think that is something that can only be good for both employee and for the business. there are up to 5 million people working on a job byjob basis rather than as fully employed. and the government has promised to crack down on employers who bend the rules. if they fail to pay sickness and holiday pay, then the government will act. so it is not left to the little guy to have to fight for himself or herself against a large corporation that might be playing fast and loose with their rights. the government will be hoping that today's measures will make life clearer and fairer for all workers. but some critics argue that there is still too much power in the hands of those who hold the purse strings. and that the most vulnerable workers are still being left wide open to exploitation. they had an opportunity to make a bold step to really give protection to those precarious workers especially in the gig economy. and they haven't done anything to that extent at all. they have papered over the cracks. it is unlikely that those on shift today will even notice the changes. but the government says there may be more on the way. which respect the value of flexible working, as long as employers respect their staff. nina warhurst, bbc news, manchester. the american billionaire who sent his own rocket into space yesterday carrying his sports car has told journalists the project was proof that crazy things come true. the launch of what elon musk calls the falcon heavy in florida, is said to represent a breakthrough for the private space industry, and its designers hope it may one day lead to interplanetary travel. crowds gathered at cape canaveral as the rocket blasted into earth's orbit, and its two side boosters landed back on earth in unison — both standing upright. there was a third one, but we don't talk about that! 0ur science correspondent, victoria gill, was watching. five, four, three, two, one! counting down to space travel history. the world's most powerful rocket ignited all 27 of its engines and lifted off from kennedy space centre at 8:45pm uk time. less than ten minutes later, in a carefully choreographed aerial dance, its three boosters returned to earth. two landed simultaneously back at cape canaveral. but video feed from the third core booster cut out and it has since emerged that it missed its target drone ship and plummeted into the atlantic ocean. but every other aspect of this launch was a textbook success. despite elon musk‘s own serious misgivings. i had this image ofjust a giant explosion on the pad with, you know, a wheel bouncing down the road! and a tesla logo landing somewhere with a thud! fortunately, that is not what happened. with its power and reusability, the falcon heavy could be a candidate for nasa to send heavier and more capable robots to explore the surface of mars. but ever the showman of commercial space travel, elon musk used it to let loose his own tesla roadster into space. complete with a mannequin in the driving seat and david bowie on a loop on the radio. mr musk says his car could be on this journey around the sun for hundreds of millions of years. victoria gill, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. paris a week ago was flooded, what has happened ? paris a week ago was flooded, what has happened? mild weather last week, heavy rain as well, and the river sent burst its banks. we have flood waters with snow, temperatures dropping down, seems like this one in paris. there has been snow, as much as 15 centimetres near the centre of paris. it is the biggest snowfall in paris for five years. it has caused widespread disruption, the eiffel tower was closed. what is the outlook for them? no respite for them, looking at the seven days ahead, a little bit more snow on friday, but as we head into the weekend and beyond, temperatures on the up. it will turn milder, and snow will be replaced by rain. what about us? closer to home, we have wintry weather around, a cold day with sunshine. we have this front working in from the north—west, bringing a mix of rain and sleet, and some snow on high ground into scotland and northern ireland, too. further south and east in the uk, through central england and wales, lots of blue sky and wintry sunshine to be enjoyed through the afternoon. looking at temperatures, a degree or so less than yesterday. exhaust seven should feel quite pleasant. colder where you are stuck underneath cloud in the north. let's zoom in across scotla nd the north. let's zoom in across scotland and northern ireland, the mix of rain around the coast, turning to snow inland, particularly on high ground. sleet and turning to snow inland, particularly on high ground. sleetand rain turning to snow inland, particularly on high ground. sleet and rain at low levels for northern ireland. northern england down towards the midlands and eastern wales, lots of glorious blue sky and sunshine. more cloud in the far west of wales and the south—west of england, and the far east, too. little cloud bringing isolated showers. it should clear, southern and eastern parts stay clear this evening and tonight. further north—west, thick cloud piled in, bringing a mix of rain, sleet and snow on the heels. turning more back to rain as it heads south overnight. the clearest skies have the coldest temperatures, —5 or so for norfolk. less cold further north underneath the cloud. tomorrow, dominated by this front, slow moving across central parts of the country, bringing a zone of cloudy weather, a breezy day tomorrow compared to today, too. there are outbreaks of rain tomorrow across northern england and wales, later in the day heavy bursts of rain working in. either side of the front, dry weather, variable cloud and sunshine, more blustery and wintry showers in the far north—west. temperatures around 8—9 feeling milder tomorrow than they have done for the last couple of days. fast forwarding to the end of the week, things will turn unsettled and windy, further rain and snow at times on higher ground. stay in cold and wintry. you can look at our long—range forecast by heading to our newly updated weather website, and check out the bbc weather app, too. this is bbc news. our latest headlines: the high court rules that victims of the the serial sex attacker, john worboys, can begin a legal challenge against the decision to release him from prison. the judge said a temporary bar on releasing the 60 —year—old should be extended until a full hearing takes place next month. jon venables, one of the killers of the toddlerjames bulger, has been sentenced to just over three years in prison after pleading guilty to downloading more than a thousand indecent images of children and possessing a so—called paedophile manual. tesco faces a possible bill of £4 billion as female store workers bring britain's largest ever equal pay claim, and we'll have more on this in business in a moment. the government has announced stricter enforcement of holiday and sick pay rights for millions of workers in what's known as the gig economy, many of whom work as food delivery and uber drivers. the plans include higherfines for firms that breach contracts or mistreat staff. 0ld blue eyes — new research suggests this is cheddar—man, who scientists have called the first modern briton who lived 10,000 years ago. his remains were discovered in somerset in 1903. in a moment, i'll be speaking to professor robert kelly who has been nominated for providing one of the tv moments of the year when his daughter gatecrashed a skype interview here on bbc world news. sport now on afternoon live with hugh ferris. and england have been playing australia again. rather good news. if you are australian, absolutely. if you are australian, absolutely. if you are australian, absolutely. if you had followed the england tour over the last several months, into a fourth month by design, the cricket matches get shorter and shorter. from the tests in the ashes to the one dayers, now we're on to t20. this is a tri—series involving england, australia and new zealand. england's first match ended in defeat this morning in hobart. with the shorter format, you often only need one player to make the difference and that man was glenn maxwell. three wickets with the ball, and three figures with the bat as paul garrity reports. on this tour, australia have shown why they are the best at test cricket and england have led the way in the 50 overs series. dawid malan has been masterful with the bat to claim a half—century but as he triumphed, ashton agar had his say, two wickets to hold england's acceleration. three more batsmen fell forfive i’u ns three more batsmen fell forfive runs as england set a target of 156 to win. it was an explosive start to the australian innings, david willey with two wickets in the first over, the hosts in hobart on the back foot. cue glenn maxwell. he was even more majestic than dawid malan, moving to a half—century in just 30 balls. he survived a couple of scares, dropped already before jason roy gave him grounds to continue and how he capitalised. a one—man demolition squad, maxwell feeling his century and leading australia to a four wicket victory. british sprinter nigel levine has been provisionally suspended for failing a drugs test. the european indoor gold medallist hasn't competed since he broke his pelvis in a motorbike crash in spain injanuary, 2017. more from our reporter ade adedoyin. late last year, it was reported he tested positive for a banned substance and asked for his b sample to be tested as well. it was named as clenbuterol, and asthma drug, also on the band list. uk athletics at the time would not comment. today, they say he has been provisionally suspended. we can infer that b sample has come back positive that well. he has a right toa positive that well. he has a right to a hearing with the uk and doping agency, where he can provide information on how the substance got into his system. he then has the option to take it to the court of arbitration for sport. he has been an integral part of the relay squad and won medals indoors and outdoors. we have approached him for comment today, the bbc, and he would not comment until it has played out. after being minutes away from their first ever victory over spurs. league 2 newport county will have another go tonight. they travel to wembley for their fa cup fourth round replay after being so close to the upset of this year's competition so far in the first match. padraig amond's goal was cancelled out by harry kane in the 82nd minute. ilie nastase's ban for "racially insensitive comments" and "sexual harassment" during a fed cup tie between romania and great britain has been reduced on appeal by an independent tribunal. but his fine has been doubled. nastase insulted britain'sjohanna konta and anne keothavong in their tie in bucharest last year. and he was originally suspended until the end of 2018 — this has been reduced to the end of april, although his fine has been increased from seven to £14,000 jason and laura kenny will represent great britain for the first time since the olympics after being selected for the track cycling world champoinships in the netherlands. since increasing their gold medal haul to 10 between them in rio the couple have got married and had a baby. just over six months ago. jason also retired briefly before returning to competitive cycling last month. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in the next hour. i got it wrong, i thought england we re i got it wrong, i thought england were doing well. around 60 people are still missing in taiwan after a 6.4 magnitude quake struck the city of hualien. at least six people died and more than 200 others were injured. several buildings have crumbled or are at risk of collapsing. from taiwan, cindy sui. taiwanese people are used to earthquakes, but this one shocked many. it forced several buildings to near complete collapse. new cctv footage has emerged of the moment when the earthquake struck. this terrified woman escaped without injury. the quake shook many people out of bed. they scrambled to save those still inside. more than 100 people were rescued by residents, firefighters and soldiers. miraculously, an employee of a hotel was found alive after being trapped for 15 hours on a collapsed floor. but many remained unaccounted for more than 12 hours after the quake struck. some of them are feared to be tourists, staying at a backpacker hotel on the second floor of the building. it was crushed along with four other lower floors. others are believed to be residents, who may not have been home at the time. more than a dozen quakes and after—shocks shook hualien and after the initial earthquake, complicating rescue efforts. this one struck as an eyewitness spoke to the bbc. oh, my god. this is an after—shock. i'm sorry. oh, my goodness. my goodness. sorry. we're told to go to the road and stay in the road, but we're having a few after—shocks, this is maybe the seventh of the hour. without knowing how many people may be trapped, president tsai ing—wen urged rescuers to race against time to find survivors. her government has pledged 10 billion us dollars to help victims, but that may be little comfort for taiwan, an island that sits at the junction of two tectonic plates and is frequently rocked by earthquakes, with 100 recorded just in this month. deepening worries is the quake happened on the anniversary of a deadly earthquake that killed 117 people, and exposed poor construction standards on the island, making many buildings there potentially unsafe. cindy sui, bbc news, taipei. now, my next guest has been nominated for providing one of the tv moments of last year. this is professor robert kelly — and if his face doesn't immediately ring a bell, look at this. scandals happen all the time, the question is, how do democracies respond to those scandals? and what will it mean for the wider region... i think one of your children has just walked in. shifting... shifting sands in the region, do you think relations with the north may change? i would be surprised if they do it... pardon me. my apologies! child yelling what's this going to do for the region? my apologies... child yelling sorry. south korea's policy... you still laugh about it. how many times have you seen that clip?|j don't know, dozens by now! i'm sure i'll never live this down... 40? serious subject, the situation in korea, are you aware that may be the children aren't quite where you thought they were? year, it was via skype, and skype has the picture, so i could see what was going on behind me. i can't stand up and what ever, you are on film. all the media people i know, they tell you the show must go on. i keep looking at the camera while the cast is hoping that the producer would cancel the video. it didn't happen, did it! your wife did a sterling job, it is not easy to do that, remove children when your husband is on television. she did great, definitely! she was doing the best she could stop the concern is you doing the best she could stop the concern is you are on doing the best she could stop the concern is you are on the bbc, an honourfor me, concern is you are on the bbc, an honour for me, and concern is you are on the bbc, an honourfor me, and she is trying to salvage my career will stop the kids are going crazy and what ever, and she wants to make sure the husband gets a phone call afterwards. we we re gets a phone call afterwards. we were assured you wouldn't call us back. i want to show between. the bbc tweeted you and said, "would you mind if... has great icon week that. "do you mind if we share the moment on bbc news?" you right back, "is this kind of thing that goes viral and gets weird?" it made you a global name. it did. it has been strained, people photograph me getting out of taxis and buying milk, i'm not lying! a police officer stopped me and took a photograph of me when i came to immigration a couple of days ago, they recognised me. i was in asia last week and people recognise me. i didn't want to become a celebrity, it is not what i do. no! you are a professor! i talk about bland stuff, but now people recognise me all over. we are on tv constantly. when did you realise that something out of the ordinary had just happened? the first two hours we figured it was the end of my career as a tv talking heads. you guys will never call us back! nobody would call us back! that is a problem because it is nice to be on tv as an expert, it the jitter my view will stop somebody or other clipped it and put it on you tube and kept going. i was co nsta ntly it on you tube and kept going. i was constantly being referenced, so my numbers were going up. then you guys called and talked to me and my wife on the phone about putting it out there. by then, it was in the wild and we sent it. we were uncomfortable, it was all right, i get criticism in the media, which i don't mind, but we were concerned about the kids, they small. we were not sure what the exposure would mean. but after a while, there was nothing we could do about it. that video is going to be played at every wedding for the rest of your life, isn't it. i'm not sure how my kids will deal with it. my daughter is five and she understands something happened, because people say things to her at school. when she is genuinely able to understand when she is ten or 12, i have no idea how she is ten or 12, i have no idea how she will deal with it. we don't know how to bring it up. you are a professor, highly educated, a career, going like this, and now you are upfor career, going like this, and now you are up for providing tv moment of the year 2017, how does it feel?m is really incongruous, right? you cultivate the image as a professor as being a learning expert, turned up as being a learning expert, turned up wearing a tie. when i do these skype things, i want to look like how i should be. it is not why i wa nted how i should be. it is not why i wanted to become famous. i don't mind, because most of it was good. yeah! most of the responses were positive, so most people go viral. the awful, getting caught with their pa nts the awful, getting caught with their pants down or something. the awful, getting caught with their pants down or somethinglj the awful, getting caught with their pants down or something. i know! we wish you luck tonight. thank you. does the door have a look on it now? it does! this whole thing happened because i was tired, i had done five interviews before hand, and iforgot to press the button. even now when i push the button, the kids come down the hallway and pound on the door if you ever watch me doing a tv video andi you ever watch me doing a tv video and i am talking loud, i am covering up the kids pounding on the door, because my wife lost track of them again. they pound on the door, "daddy!" my kids are energetic! they know fame is on the other side of the door. i have to lock them out. good luck tonight. we have enjoyed it. thank you very much. a group of children in glasgow are waging war on plastic, and in particular, straws. they've already convinced scotland's biggest council to ditch single—use straws, and people in the village of ullapool have also agreed to abandon them. now the children are taking their campaign further afield. 0ur scotland correspondent lorna gordonjoined them on the isle of arran. they call themselves the ocean defenders. passionate about nature and conservation and on a mission to end the use of plastic straws. now they're heading across the water to arran in a bid to spread the word. i care about it because there's animals out there in danger because they're eating plastic. it's our future and we need to make sure that it's not all gone when we grow up. the straw campaign works from both ends... the youthful campaigners from sunnyside primary think the key to their war against single—use plastic straws is getting other children, including those on arran, involved too. i hadn't really thought about it but now the presentation has told me a lot more about it. and it's very different now. i think the most surprising and interesting thing is how much this does affect the environment. you wouldn't expect that from wee, tiny plastic straws. there's always litter on the beaches. plastic litter, in particular. they work hard on arran to keep their waters and beaches clean. these blue things are, in fact, cotton bud sticks. but plastic waste, once it enters the sea, can travel far. injuring and killing marine life in the process. so even here you find...? even here we find plastic, despite all the cleaning that goes on. you clean, a storm comes in and there will be more plastic washed up. how do you feel about that? i really dislike it! everyone can do something to try and help the marine environment. and issues with plastics. school by school, and business by business, the children's message is being heard. we're trying to make people stop expecting a straw in their drink... these primary school pupils, with their passion to reduce plastic waste, have had much success already. the kids were fantastic. they're so knowledgeable and really confident and passionate in the way they speak. did you find their arguments persuasive? i mean, you've got the plastic straws. absolutely. the children's hope now, that arran will become scotland's first island to ditch plastic straws for good. lorna gourdon, bbc news, on the isle of arran. in a moment the business news. that's with rachel. first, a look at the headlines on afternoon live. victims of the serial sex attacker john worboys are given the go—ahead to challenge the decision to release him. jon venables, one of the killers of the toddler, james bulger, admits having indecent images of children for a second time. tesco could face a bill of four billion pounds after britain's biggest ever equal pay claim. more on that coming up. tesco is facing britain's largest ever equal pay claim — it could cost the supermarket £4 billion. thousands of women who work on an hourly rate in stores are demanding parity with male colleagues who work in the company's warehouses. tesco says it works hard to ensure all staff are paid ‘fairly and equally‘. the government has promised an overhaul of employment rights to improve conditions for millions of workers, including those in the gig economy. the changes include stricter enforcement of holiday and sick pay rights, and higher fines for firms that breach contracts or mistreat staff. house prices have fallen for the second month in a row, according to the uk's largest lender. the halifax said prices were down by 0.6% injanuary, following a 0.8% fall in december. however, year on year, halifax said the cost of homes was still rising byjust over 2%. yesterday, it was all about the markets — we watched the dow plunge 2% on the open but by the close it was back up? yes — after a bit of a rollercoaster the dow closed up 2.3% — panic over? the cams seems to have arrived. my favourite quote that i have read from an analyst said that this could be a fake out before a sell—off. this could be a fake out before a sell-off. a fake out? where do they come from? they need to think of something creative. that is where europe is at the minute. the us markets have just opened europe is at the minute. the us markets havejust opened in europe is at the minute. the us markets have just opened in the last 15 to 20 minutes. let's go to yogita limaye on the floor of the nyse. how has trade kicked off today? the dow was down, but now it is up about 80 points, changing as we speak. essentially, again, we see the volatility. as i was seen yesterday, traders expect volatility to last until the end of the week. today, there will be governors of the federal reserve who will speak at different events. these are members of the committee that make interest rate decisions, although the official meeting is not until march, people here will watch closely for what they have to say. that could give some indication about where interest rates will go. another big story in the states today, we have the former boss of buber appearing in court at a trial where uber have been accused of stealing driverless car technology from google. give us background to the case —— uber. from google. give us background to the case -- uber. he was a major pa rt the case -- uber. he was a major part of google's self driving technology project, which was later spun off into a company. he then quit google and founded his own start up, which was later acquired by uber. the accusation is he stole 14,000 documents containing trade secrets, which basically found the base of uber‘s self driving technology. interestingly, orwhat they need to convince the jury is not about whether this theft of documents occurred or not, but what is in the documents is actually linked to uber‘s self driving technology. what did he say in court? yes, he appeared in. the lawyers showed a visitor's pass saying that he was visited at the uber office. in certain is, as far as he is concerned, he wanted to find a company, and travis kalanick was akin to found a company, and that was what the meeting was about. let's look at individual stocks, tesco are in the headlines. they face a four billion pound bill and their share price was down. face a four billion pound bill and their share price was downm face a four billion pound bill and their share price was down. it was down earlier, but has now gone up. we will discuss that at 4:45 rio tinto announced better—than—expected results because commodity prices surging. the share price up 1%. see you later on. thank you. time for a look at the weather. despite the cold weather this afternoon, still wintry flurries. for most of us, dry weather with sunshine to be enjoyed, too. this is the view taken by a weather watcher in shropshire, where you can see blue skies, snow on higher ground there. as we head into the evening, it will stay cold. the cloud will increase from the north—west. we will see rain and hills no moving m, will see rain and hills no moving in, too, courtesy of this weather front. heading in from the north—west, a ridge of high pressure holding across england and wales into the evening hours clouding over the scotland and northern ireland with the arrival of patchy rain and sleet at low levels. snow on the hills of scotland. filtering sauber cross england and wales as we move through the course of tonight. it will remain clear and cold in the south of england. subzero temperatures and widespread sharp frost. watch up for icy conditions. less cold further north and west with more cloud, and patchy outbreaks of rain. taking us through to thursday, a zone of cloud and damp weather sitting through the central ‘s wave of the country. wind from the south—west, a breezy day than we have seen and milder, too. thursday morning, northern scotland and northern ireland, clear skies working in. rain and sleet showers here and there. under that zone of cloud, northern england, wales and the south—west of england, out of the south—west of england, out of the cloud, rain showers becoming heavier later. in the south east, largely clear but chilly on thursday morning. thursday's weather will be dominated by the fact we have slow moving fronts through the middle of the country. it looks like that front will pep up, heavier bursts of rain arrived late in the day. rain across parts of western wales into northern england, too. to the north of the frontal section, shower was pushing into western parts of scotland. in the south—east, remaining largely dry with variable amounts of cloud. the temperature will be milder than they have been in recent days. looking at the end of the week, things will be u nsettled, of the week, things will be unsettled, windy with further rain or hills now at times, and things will stay cold. check the latest on the updated website. goodbye. hello, you're watching afternoon live. the black cab rapistjohn worboys hears lawyers challenge the decision to free him from jail — some of his victims were in court and weren't expecting to see him there. one of the killers of the toddler james bulger admits having indecent images of children for a second time. jon venables has been sentenced to more than three years in jail. tesco could face a bill of four billion pounds after britain's biggest ever equal pay claim. there are such discrepancies that you can't explain them and i think tesco's are just one of many companies that really aren't addressing the fact that women seem to still be paid less. 0ld blue eyes... new research suggeststhis is cheddar man — the first modern briton who lived 10,000 years ago. coming up, all of the sport with a very modern problem, england losing? yes, if you are following england, particularly in australia, you might be getting used to it. the one—days went well, the twenty20s not so much. glenn maxwell was the difference for australia as they beat england by five wickets in hobart. and sarah keith lucas has the weather. another cold and wintry feeling day. many of us are enjoying blue skies and sunshine. slightly milder weather on the cards tomorrow. a full forecast in 30 minutes. also coming up, the prequel to morse. we will talk to the stars of endeavour about their return to the screen. anything? quiet as the proverbial bull. what is a pretty girl like you doing a place like this? my job! hello everyone — this is afternoon live. there was a surprise appearance at the royal courts ofjustice this morning as a judge heard arguments for and against the release of serial sex—attacker, the so—called black—cab rapist, john worboys. standing in the caged—in dock of court 5 wasjohn worboys, called to appear in person. two of his victims — who were also in court — were not expecting him to be there. they've been given the go—ahead for a high court challenge against the decision to release him from prison after he was jailed indefinitely in 2009 for drugging and sexually assaulting women passengers. the original plan had been for him to appear during the eu through videolink, but thejudge had a bad experience with the videolink yesterday and decided that it was very important forjohn worboys to be able to hear the hearing, the only way that was go to happen was for him to be here in person. brian leveson for him to be here in person. brian leveso n ha d for him to be here in person. brian leveson had to apologise to the victims ofjohn worboys who were present, saying that he knew they did not want to encounter him face—to—face, but that was really the only solution. john worboys was there as the legal challenge began, as permission was granted for a formaljudicial review against as permission was granted for a formal judicial review against that very controversial decision by the pa role very controversial decision by the parole board to set him free. driven into the royal courts ofjustice in a high security van, the black cab rapistjohn worboys was led to the cells in handcuffs by four prison officers as his victims started their legal battle to prevent his release from prison. worboys was convicted in 2009 of one rape, four sexual assaults, one attempted sexual assault, one assault by penetration and 12 offences of drugging his victims. a london black cab driver, he's suspected of assaulting around 100 female passengers. in the courtroom, he sat in the dock. thejudge, sir brian leveson, apologised if any victims present were upset by him being there in person. 0ne victim explained this morning that she'd never expected him to be released. when we were told it was an indefinite sentence, it was, well, justice has been served. he has been dealt with. he is serving a life sentence now. that was the way it was put across to us. so we never thought for one second that he would be eligible for parole. in court, philippa kaufmann qc, for two of his victims, said, "it appears something has gone very wrong with the parole board's reasoning". and she condemned what she called the blanket secrecy. the failure to provide any kind of reasons was unlawful, she said. we can't challenge the decision until we know the reasons for it. and we have to make an assessment as to whether that reasoning is within the bounds of a reasonable parole board or whether it's unreasonable or has failed to take into accou nt releva nt considerations. john worboys, who devised a kit for drugging and assaulting his victims in his taxi, didn't have a lawyer at the start of the hearing, but was able to talk to one halfway through. thejudges have decided the judges have decided this judicial review can go ahead. two other important decisions were also made today. first on disclosure, the lawyers forjohn worboys‘ victims will be allowed to see the reasoning behind the parole boards decision to allow them to challenge it properly, but also john worboys‘ position has also been resolved for now. he will stay in prison until the next court hearing in five weeks' time. one of the killers of the toddler james bulger has beenjailed for 40 months after pleading guilty to having indecent images of children for a second time. jon venables, who served eight years for the murder in 1993, was recalled to prison last year for breaching the terms of his licence. 0ur correspondent richard galpin is at the old bailey. jon venables was speaking to the courts earlier today via videolink, and he pleaded guilty to three counts of having indecent pictures of children, more than 1000 pictures in total, some of them were videos. they showed children aged anything from six to 13 years old, some of them actually even younger than six. jon venables also pleaded guilty to a fourth count, possession of a paedophile manualfound on his laptop, giving advice on abusing children sexually. the prosecutor described this document as disgusting and sickening. his defence lawyer said that venables accepted he had downloaded indecent images for personal use and that he had used the dark web to do this, that he accepted the utter wrongness and abuse involved in having these pictures. the court also heard there was no evidence that venables had abusive contact with children. venables said he needs help to understand his actions and he told police at the time of his arrest but it was my own fault, and that he had let people down again. sentencing, thejudge described venables as manipulative, persistent and dishonest. both of james bulger‘s parents were in court and are not happy with the sentence that has been given to venables, saying that it is not long enough. 40 months, ithought it was an insult to james and to the family. the length of the sentence is too short. three years is really a farce. this is reoffending and there is a pattern to this behaviour. we believe that he should have got at least double his original sentence for a similar offence two years ago, of two years. he will be leaving the court today believing he has got away with it. three years, four months, that means he will be eligible for parole in less than two years. clearly, some controversy about the outcome of this court case. tesco are facing a possible bill of up to four billion pounds, after britain's biggest ever equal pay claim. lawyers say women who work in the company's stores earn less than men employed in its warehouses, even though the work is comparable. up to 200,000 women could be entitled to back pay if the legal challenge is successful. the supermarket says all its staff are paid fairly, whatever their gender. 0ur economics editor kamel ahmed reports. tesco hasjoined a long list of organisations facing controversy over equal pay. among retailers, asda and sainsbury‘s are facing similar legal battles. birmingham city council has already agreed to over £1 billion worth of payments for women cleaners and carers. and the bbc has been accused of not paying men and women equally. tesco is one of the country's largest employers and is now facing a series of test cases which could lead to the largest equal pay claim in employment history. lawyers acting for tesco supermarket workers said that female staff on hourly rates earn considerably less than men even though the value of the work is comparable. kim element and pam jenkins have worked for tesco for more than 20 years. i think that although we think we have equal rights, there are times where there are such discrepancies that you cannot explain them. and i think tescos are just one of many companies that really are not addressing the fact that women seem to still be paid less. obviously the jobs are slightly different but to put it bluntly, they are of equal value. you know, we deal with customers, they don't have to deal with customers. but you know, we take the stock and we load the stock. they load it off the lorry and we load it onto the shelves. tesco said that all their staff could progress equally and were paid fairly whatever their gender or background. in a statement the supermarket said, "we are unable to comment on a claim that we had not received. tesco has always been a place for people to get on in their career regardless of their gender, background or education. and we work hard to make sure all our colleagues are paid fairly and equally for the jobs they do." birmingham city council has already been forced by the courts to pay cleaners and cooks, jobs mostly done by women, the same rate as bin collectors and street cleaners, jobs mostly done by men. businesses know there could be major costs ahead. the law has been there since 1984 that you can compare with a differentjob. that is 34 years to get your house in order. so that is 34 years of having the advantage of paying unequally. and 34 years of you making pay decisions and financial strategic decisions. and 34 years where you have chosen to walk around what is hiding in open sight. this is the start of a long legal battle. tesco just the latest business to be caught up in a fight over equal pay. kamal ahmed, bbc news. a man who claimed he had been abused by a vip paedophile ring in westminster has been charged himself with multiple offences relating to indecent images of children. the man, only named as nick, is alleged to have committed some of the offences while scotland yard was investigating his claims. the chief constable of police scotland has resigned. phil gormley had been on special leave since september amid a series of investigations into claims of gross misconduct. he denies any wrongdoing. scotland's justice secretary announced the resignation in parliament a short time ago.|j respect the decision of the chief constable and hope this enables police in scotland to move forward with a clear focus on delivering the long—term strategy, policing 20 26th that phil gormley helped to develop. while the management of the police service has been the subject of close scrutiny in recent months, i would like to pay tribute to all of those officers who have continued to serve the people of scotland every day, helping to keep crime at historically low levels and making our communities safer. i have spoken with susan deacon, the chair of the scottish police authority, which will undertake the process of appointing a new chief constable. professor deacon informed me yesterday that the scottish police authority were in discussions with the chief constable's representatives regarding his future and provided assurance that the appropriate processes were being followed. earlier our scotland editor, sarah smith, spoke to us from glasgow and began by explaining why he has gone now. phil gormley says it is impossible for him to resume his duties in any meaningful way. let me explain why. phil gormley has not been at work since he was put on special leave six months ago over allegations of bullying. during that time, further complaints were made against him, a total of seven in all. i understand that he has resigned and now those investigations will be closed, they are no longer relevant. he was cleared to return to work back in november. that decision was reversed when thejustice secretary got involved because he was worried that inadequate safeguards have been put in place to protect the serving police officers who had made these complaints against the chief constable. in a statement today, mr gormley referred to that decision when he said events since november have led me to the conclusion that it is impossible for me to resume my duties in any meaningful way. police scotland is actually second—largest force in the whole of the uk after the metropolitan police. it has had a rather troubled history. the last chief constable left early after a number of controversies about policing methods. the assistant chief constable is currently suspended and another investigation is going on into his behaviour. this is a force that certainly has some turmoil in its leadership. scientists say they now know what the first modern briton looked like 10,000 years ago — and it's something of a surprise. they believe that so—called cheddar man — who lived in south west england — had skin that was dark to black, and blue eyes. researchers have used groundbreaking dna analysis to examine his skeleton which was discovered in somerset in 1903. jon kay reports. he lay here undisturbed for 10,000 years. in the caves beneath cheddar gorge, a replica of cheddar man. but now 21st—century science means we can put flesh on these bones. one, two, three. at the natural history museum cheddar man finally revealed. by extracting dna from his bones and scanning his skull, experts believe they have recreated his face in unprecedented detail. and he looks very different from what they expected. the hair, the eyes, the face, that combination of blue eyes and dark skin, really very striking. something we would not have imagined. and to also get from the dna details of his biology. the fact that he could not digest milk as an adult. that is something that came really with the advent of farming. and 10,000 years ago people in britain didn't have that. look how he's changed. this is what scientists used to think he looked like. a reconstruction from 20 years ago when dna analysis was nowhere near as developed. cheddar man and i share a common female relative. this is modern—day cheddar man. adrian targett lives in the same village and shares dna with the skeleton found in the gorge. so, time to meet his ancestor. do you want to see your great great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather? ok, here he comes. and... oh, my! what do you think? it is remarkable, isn't it? i think there is probably some resemblance. but yes, i think there are certainly other members in my family who he bears a resemblance to, yes. some of my cousins. you can see that in there? yes. i think my eyes are blue. let's have a look. they are blue! they are blue. his hair is not quite as grey as mine is. or my beard! so 10,000 years after he died, 100 years after he was found, finally a face to fit the name of adrian's ancestor. jon kay, bbc news, cheddar in somerset. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. victims of the serial sex attacker john worboys are given the go—ahead to challenge the decision to release him. jon venables — one of the killers of the toddler, james bulger — is sentenced to just over three years in jail for possessing indecent images of children for a second time. tesco could face a bill of £4 billion after britain's biggest ever equal pay claim. it has been called a games changer for space travel, how significant is the rocket launched by elon musk? in sport, glenn maxwell hits a six to bring up his century and a five wicket win for australia in england's first match of the t20 tri- england's first match of the t20 tri— series. british sprinter nigel lavigne has been provisionally suspended forfailing a lavigne has been provisionally suspended for failing a drugs test. he has not competed since he broke his pelvis in a motorbike crash last january. and jason and laura kenny will represent great britain for the first time since the olympics after being selected for the track cycling championships in the netherlands. since rio, they have got married, had a baby, and jason has retired, albeit briefly. more on those stories after 3.30. theresa may is meeting senior ministers at westminster this afternoon, to try to agree the government's approach to the next stage of the brexit negotiations. it comes amid tensions between downing street and some conservative mps over britain's future relationship with the eu. and there's pressure on the prime minister too from business leaders, the british chambers of commerce are demanding more clarity about the government's brexit plans. alex forsyth reports. the prime minister is fast approaching crunch time. her government must decide what brexit will really mean. it's not just brussels, but mps and businesses too who want to know in which direction the country is heading. both small businesses and large firms need greater clarity from government about how it's going to approach the upcoming negotiations. businesses are trying to plan. they are thinking about investment and they are having a hard time drawing conclusions from the current picture. questions to the prime minister. she says a transition period will give businesses certainty. beyond that, the government wants frictionless trade, all subject of course to negotiations. i can assure him we will be robust in our arguments, as i have said from the beginning. we will hear noises off and all sorts of things being said about positions that are being taken. what matters is the positions we take in the negotiations as we sit down and negotiate the best deal. but ministers meeting here today and tomorrow are under pressure to flesh out what exactly they want. not easy to agree, for a party that is divided. i wish downing street spokesmen would shut up sometimes. they put out completely meaningless statements. apparently, it's going to be frictionless and we are happy to have a customs arrangement. yet we are not going in a customs union and we are not going in the single market. that is completely contradictory. i am sure people will always be disappointed whatever deal is struck, because there are differences. the main thing, end free movement, stop paying billions of pounds, our own laws, in our own country, if we succeed doing that, the differences don't really matter. with such different views on how close the uk should remain to the eu, theresa may is unlikely to please everybody. perhaps the best she can hope for is a compromise which keeps most of her party onside. so for now, the debate rages and the demand for detail grows. and that's before formal trade talks with brussels even start. alex forsyth, bbc news, westminster. the american billionaire, who sent his own rocket into space yesterday, carrying his sports car, has told journalists the project was proof that crazy things come true. the launch of what elon musk calls the falcon heavy in florida, is said to represent a breakthrough for the private space industry and its designers hope it may one day lead to interplanetary travel. crowds gathered at cape canaveral as the rocket blasted into earth's orbit, and its two side boosters landed back on earth in unison — both standing upright. there was a third, but we don't talk about that one! our science correspondent, victoria gill, was watching. five, four, three, two, one! counting down to space travel history. the world's most powerful rocket ignited all 27 of its engines and lifted off from kennedy space centre at 8:45pm uk time. less than ten minutes later, in a carefully choreographed aerial dance, its three boosters returned to earth. two landed simultaneously back at cape canaveral. but video feed from the third core booster cut out and it has since emerged that it missed its target drone ship and plummeted into the atlantic ocean. but every other aspect of this launch was a textbook success — despite elon musk‘s own serious misgivings. i had this image ofjust a giant explosion on the pad with, you know, a wheel bouncing down the road! laughter and a tesla logo landing somewhere with a thud. fortunately, that is not what happened. with its power and reusability, the falcon heavy could be a candidate for nasa to send heavier and more capable robots to explore the surface of mars. but ever the showman of commercial space travel, elon musk used it to let loose his own tesla roadster into space. complete with a mannequin in the driving seat and david bowie on a loop on the radio. mr musk says his car could be on this journey around the sun for hundreds of millions of years. victoria gill, bbc news. joining me now is dr martin archer who is an award winning physicist and science writer. iam i am guessing you are still quite excited by what happened?m i am guessing you are still quite excited by what happened? it was amazing. if people have not seen when he two boosters landed in unison, that was breathtaking to see that. it was like art. that is one of the most important parts of this mission, that reusable nature of these things makes many more things possible? the whole idea, the whole drive of space exploration is to bring down the cost of space. that is what you're seeing. the reusable rockets, they have done them in the past with singular rockets, this falcon heavy had these three booster stages and two landed in unison. that is one of the things that will really revolutionise the space industry. elon musk compared it to flights, we reuse aeroplanes all the time, and it is crazy we don't reuse rockets, we do now! look at that moment as they land in unison. do i say what happened to the third? the third one didn't work, the engines did not reignite when it was coming down so it crashed into the ocean. two out of three is good, particularly for the very first test. elon was very apprehensive about what was going to happen, he thought it would be a success if it just took off and didn't blow up, and it did a lot more than that. just took off and didn't blow up, and it did a lot more than thatm put one of his cars into space. is there any scientific value to putting a car in space? not really! but that was part of the marketing behind it. you needed a test payload, something, some mass to be there. people can relate, if we can send that into space... we can send anything! fantastic, what is now possible as a result? we can send more things up there. that is the most powerful rocket...|j more things up there. that is the most powerful rocket... i can hear some people groaning, isn't there so muchjunk some people groaning, isn't there so much junk up there already? that is something we are also tackling. we still have a need for satellites to do operations, whether that is commercial things or scientific stuff. s pa ce commercial things or scientific stuff. space is big. there is plenty of space to put things in. we are tackling spacejunk. of space to put things in. we are tackling space junk. we of space to put things in. we are tackling spacejunk. we do need of space to put things in. we are tackling space junk. we do need that capability for a lot of these things, even if it isjust capability for a lot of these things, even if it is just servicing international space station with extra cargo and supplies. we can do a lot more now than we could do with the nearest competitor. what do you think we are going to be doing in ten years, 20 years? where will we be? well, one of the main points that they developed this for is for further exploration. we might see falcon heavy being used to go to the moon and go to mars. that is the real push through. ten years the moon, 20 years is the sort of timescale we are talking about, even nasais timescale we are talking about, even nasa is talking about, getting humans to mars. what do you make of the cynicism out there, there is the razzmatazz, david bowie, the tesla going into space, it is all about elon musk and not necessarily the good of mankind? he wraps it up in this personality, but that is not a bad thing, you look behind that and there is really solid stuff going on. you could see what happened on the screen. that is proving something. that means you have a solid basis to make all of these claims and these things on. they have increased the capacity of sending things to space. they have got the most powerful rocket that we currently have. that has just opened the doors into what will be possible in the next ten, 20 years in terms of what we do in space. when you talk about the world's most powerful rocket, i don't know how powerful a rocket, i don't know how powerful a rocket is. what sort of power are we talking about? what we care about is how much stuff could you put into space, for instance? with the falcon heavy, if you are going into low earth orbit, where most stuff is, we are talking 64 tonnes. 64 times you can send out there. before yesterday, the highest we could do was about 29p. we have doubled capacity. —— was about 29 tonnes. and you are still excited, we can tell! lets get a weather update and bring ourselves back down to earth. another cold day, but despite the cold temperatures we have quite a bit of sunshine around. we have had blue skies, still some lying snow and icy conditions around. this picture was taken by one of the weather watchers in shropshire. you can see the snow over the higher ground. we will see a little bit more snow moving from the north—west. this will turn back to rain as the frontal system heads in across parts of scotland and northern ireland. it will continue to push a little bit more cloud further south across england and wales. as we move through this evening and overnight, the south—east of england and eastern england, here we keep the clear skies for longest, that is where the temperatures will fall. subzero, a risk of widespread frost and also icy stretches. further north, where we have cloud and rain sinking south, it is a little bit milder. during the day on thursday, brighter skies pushing into scotland and northern ireland with a few showers. rain to the middle of the country, driest and brightest in the south—east and milder for all of us. goodbye. this is bbc news. our latest headlines: the high court rules that victims of the the serial sex attacker john worboys can begin a legal challenge against the decision to release him from prison. the judge said a temporary bar on releasing the 60—year—old should be extended until a full hearing takes place next month. jon venables, one of the killers of the toddlerjames bulger, has been sentenced to just over three years in prison after pleading guilty to downloading more than 1,000 indecent images of children and possessing a so—called paedophile manual. tesco could face a bill of up to £4 billion in britain's largest ever equal pay claim. lawyers argue up to 200,000 female shop workers should receive back—pay because they get a lower hourly wage than men working in warehouses. theresa may is meeting senior ministers at westminster this afternoon to try to agree the government's approach to the next stage of the brexit negotiations. it comes amid tensions between downing street and some conservative mps over britain's future relationship with the eu. scientists have concluded that this is what the first modern briton looked like. dna analysis of cheddar man, who lived 10,000 years ago, suggest he had dark skin and blue eyes. his remains were discovered in somerset in 1903. in a moment: i'll bejoined by the stars of the detective drama endeavour about their return to our screens for a fifth series. sport now on afternoon live, with hugh ferris. and england have been playing australia again. this time it's in t20. how did they get on? yes, are you bored of it yet?! if england have become a little bored playing australia over at least the t20 tri—series involves a third team. that's new zealand. but in theirfirst match of the series in hobart this morning, australia were once again the opponents, and australia were once again the victors. with the shorter format you often only need one player to make the difference. and that man was glenn maxwell. three wickets with the ball. and three figures with the bat. as paul garrity reports. on this tour, australia have shown why they are the best at test cricket and england have led the way in the 50 overs series. dawid malan has been masterful with the bat to claim a half—century, but as he triumphed, ashton agar had his say — two wickets to hold england's acceleration. three more batsmen fell forfive runs, as england set a target of 156 to win. it was an explosive start to the australian innings — david willey with two wickets in the first over, the hosts in hobart on the back foot. cue glenn maxwell. he was even more majestic than dawid malan, moving to a half—century in just 30 balls. he survived a couple of scares, dropped already before jason roy gave him grounds to continue and how he capitalised. a one—man demolition squad, maxwell feeling his century and leading australia to a four—wicket victory. —— a five wicket win. british sprinter nigel levine has been provisionally suspended for failing a drugs test. the european indoor gold medallist hasn't competed since he broke his pelvis in a motorbike crash in spain injanuary 2017. more from our reporter ade adedoyin. late last year, it was reported he tested positive for a banned substance and had asked for his b sample to be tested as well. the substance was named as clenbuterol, and asthma drug, also on the banned list. uk athletics at the time would not comment. today, they put out a statement saying he has been provisionally suspended. we can infer that b sample has come back positive that well. he has a right to a hearing with the uk anti—doping agency, where he can provide information on how the substance got into his system. he then has the option to take it to the court of arbitration for sport. levine has been an integral part of the relay squad, and won gold medals indoors and outdoors. we have approached him for comment today, the bbc, and he would not comment until it has played out. ilie nastase's ban for "racially insensitive comments" and "sexual harassment" during a fed cup tie between romania and great britain has been reduced on appeal by an independent tribunal. but his fine has been doubled. nastase insulted britain'sjohanna konta and anne keothavong in their tie in bucharest last year. he was originally suspended until the end of 2018 — this has been reduced to the end of april, although his fine has been increased from £7,000 to £14,000. jason and laura kenny will represent great britain for the first time since the olympics after being selected for the track cycling world champoinships in the netherlands. since increasing their gold medal haul to ten between them in rio, the couple have got married and had a baby, albie, just over six months ago. jason also retired briefly before returning to competitive cycling last month. just time to tell you that in the last few minutes west ham have completed the signing of former manchester united defender patrice evra on a short—term deal. he's been a free agent since leaving marseille after kicking one of the club's own fans before a european match in november. more on that with olly foster, who'll be with you in the next hour. but now it's goodbye from me. studio: thanks, hugh. he caught me out! it happens! the english crime writer obe colin dexter was best known for his series of novels called inspector morse, which were written between 1975 and 1999. the author died last march, and itv are now broadcasting its fifth series of endeavour, which is set in 1968 and is the prequel before morse. joining me now in the studio are two of its actors, dakota blue richards, who plays wpc shirley trewlove, and lewis peek, who plays detective constable george fancy. first, let's see them in action. lets see the moment you meet on screen for the first time. anything? quiet as the proverbial. detective constable fancy, wpc truelove. george. pleased to meet you. what's a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this? myjob. hard to get, eh? oh, you've no idea. i like a challenge. idiot. that's a good start, isn't it?! joining me now are the stars of the show — dakota blue richards, who plays shirley trewlove, and lewis peek, who plays the character of george fancy. lewis has just joined lewis has justjoined what is presumably quite a talented team of actors, what was that like on the first date was yellowed yes, i was very nervous. but i felt welcomed from the off. and i felt like an integral part of the team, you know, eve ryo ne integral part of the team, you know, everyone was just so nice. it was a nice, easy case ofjust 15 games stop oilfor all stop oil for all of those looking right now going, i know that phase, you were in poldark? yes, i was in series two. dakota, you are an old timer in terms of endeavour. the relationship between dew two, i'm trying to be nice! which we saw at the start that, it's quite a difficult relationship because he is a bit ofa difficult relationship because he is a bit of a jack the lad, he perhaps plays it a bit from. yes, i think truelove has been quite lucky, most of the men that she works with treats her with a lot of respect, which i think would have been quite unusual at that time. and fancy joins, and really gets off on the wrong foot, i think. he's very, very good at saying the wrong thing, and continues to do so throughout the season. but she wants to him eventually. does she? we can't give too much away because it's only hit the screens again —— she warms to him. it is set in 1968, it is a period of time that i remember, but of course you two don't. it was quite on time. this endeavour is the first time it is the thames valley police. you have seen the first episode, we are being absorbed, i suppose, and none of us are really sure what that means for our futures and our careers. we don't know if we will be working in the same jobs all working together by the end of the season. why do you think we are so obsessed, and we do seem to be, with, i was going to say history, because it is, i suppose, 1968, 58 yea rs because it is, i suppose, 1968, 58 years ago. “— because it is, i suppose, 1968, 58 years ago. —— 50 years ago. what is it about programmes like endeavour that have this appeal?|j it about programmes like endeavour that have this appeal? i think it is being that i'm not around any more, you get that, you know, the charm, which you kind of really loved. you get that, you know, the charm, which you kind of really lovedm is also the things that you don't have, there was no mobile phones, a lot of stuff that we perhaps begrudge more these days. in terms of this particular programme, endeavour himself is quite a straight character initially but livens up. i know you can't give too much away, but he livens up this time, doesn't he? ithink much away, but he livens up this time, doesn't he? i think he is on the bit of a soul—searching mission this series. he experienced quite a harsh rejection in the last series. he's really looking to fill the void thatjonah he's really looking to fill the void that jonah left. he's really looking to fill the void thatjonah left. and i think he tries to fit other people into that space. you've said enough! let's talk about your relationship on screen. let's show the moment where maybe things are warming up a little bit. it pays to be thorough. come on. he's all right, you know. he's too full of himself by half. don't tell me you're warming to him? i suppose he's a certain eager, puppyish charm, if one goes in for that sort of thing. well, there you go! you gave her a looked just then! you obviously haven't seen much of this before? no, i've not seen that clip before. talk about the filming, it set in oxford but you only spend our days by series actually filming in the city. sometimes less, sometimes only two or three. it's mostly strop in buckinghamshire. we have our studios there. there's a lot of great locations that that our easily mistaken. it's more like one week per episode, actually, isn't it? what happens when you are out on the streets of oxford? everybody knows endeavour in the same way that they used to know inspector morse. we get a lot of people taking pictures, which is bad for sport and is. but it's nice to feel like we're sort of a part of the community that —— bad for spoilers. people are so supportive and everybody tells us how much they love the show, it's encouraging. i'm going to embarrass you, because hello magazine have said you are the one to watch for 2018. one of the ones, yeah! ok, one of the ones. what happens? i know you trained as an actor, you didn't go to drama school... i didn't go to drama school, but you train on the job, i guess. what happens next? how big a step is something like this? you know, who knows. ijust take eachjob as it comes. i kind of see what happens. but you can never tell, you know. i did poldark, that was my first kind of tvjob, i would have been naive to think after that it would get easier, it actually gets harder because you are trying to come the you know, outdo yourself ina way, to come the you know, outdo yourself in a way, and trying to keep commotion unfulfilled what you want to do as an actor. is that difficult given that every actor talks about the time they are not acting, which is most of the time for a lot of them? how do you deal with that?” mean, just having a sheer passion for, you know, what you do and what you love and why you do it. i think most actors wanted to do it from, you know, if very young age, and that's quite telling about why you wa nt that's quite telling about why you want to do it. you know, when you first start thinking about being an actor, it is from a passion point of view and a love for the craft.” think you need a hobby. i think your mental health survives much better that time of not working if you can use it doing something else, something fulfilling. what do you do? i write. lewis something fulfilling. what do you do? iwrite. lewis laughs something fulfilling. what do you do? i write. lewis laughs at me because i always say, i've just been writing, which basically means i've just been doing nothing! laughter did you to know each other before? do seem to get on quite well. no, but we had eight months together... playing a lot of cards in trailers. which i won! he's not happy. i know you are not allowed to give too much away, but are we going to see more scenes with the two of you in them? definitely. we are both the newest people to the team, i've been there a couple of years, obviously, but that puts us together in the show, because we both understand what it means to be trying to make an impression. and very quickly, finally, did you both grow up with inspector morse, did you watch lewis? is it something we you can feel the hand of colin dexter and the huge pressure that must bring?” watched lewis and inspector morse, that was way before our time. there are catch ups, you know!” that was way before our time. there are catch ups, you know! i watched series four of endeavour before i was even involved, and ijust loved it. it's such an incredible show. to actually be cost in a role in something that you watch on tv is quite surreal. a few people will watch this and what inspector morse afterwards, which is exactly how it should be, because this is a prequel. anyway, it's really good to talk to you, nice to meet you, thank you very much. a group of children in glasgow are waging war on plastic, and, in particular, straws. they've already convinced scotland's biggest council to ditch single—use straws, and people in the village of ullapool have also agreed to abandon them. now the children are taking their campaign further afield. our scotland correspondent, lorna gordon, joined them on the isle of arran. they call themselves the ocean defenders. passionate about nature and conservation, and on a mission to end the use of plastic straws. now they're heading across the water to arran in a bid to spread the word. i care about it because there's animals out there in danger because they're eating plastic. it's our future, and we need to make sure that it's not all gone when we grow up. the straw campaign works from both ends... the youthful campaigners from sunnyside primary think the key to their war against single—use plastic straws is getting other children, including those on arran, involved too. i hadn't really thought about it, but now the presentation has told me a lot more about it. and it's very different now. i think the most surprising and interesting thing is how much this does affect the environment. you wouldn't expect that from wee, tiny plastic straws. there's always litter on the beaches. plastic litter, in particular. they work hard on arran to keep their waters and beaches clean. these blue things are, in fact, cotton bud sticks. but plastic waste, once it enters the sea, can travel far. injuring and killing marine life in the process. so even here you find...? even here we find plastic, despite all the cleaning that goes on. you clean, a storm comes in and there will be more plastic washed up. how do you feel about that? i really dislike it! everyone can do something to try and help the marine environment. and issues with plastics. school by school, and business by business, the children's message is being heard. we're trying to make people stop expecting a straw in their drink... these primary school pupils, with their passion to reduce plastic waste, have had much success already. the kids were fantastic. they're so knowledgeable and really confident and passionate in the way they speak. did you find their arguments persuasive? i mean, you've got the plastic straws. absolutely. the children's hope now, that arran will become scotland's first island to ditch plastic straws for good. lorna gourdon, bbc news, on the isle of arran. in a moment, the business news. first, a look at the headlines on afternoon live. the high court rules that two victims of the the serial sex attacker john worboys can begin a legal challenge against the decision to release him from prison. jon venables, one of the killers of the toddlerjames bulger, has been sentenced to just over three years in prison after pleading guilty to downloading more than 1,000 indecent images of children and possessing a so—called paedophile manual. here's your business headlines on afternoon live. tesco is potentially facing a bill of up to £4 billion — it would be britain's largest ever equal pay claim, and could cost the supermarket £4 billion. thousands of women who work on an hourly rate in stores are demanding parity with male colleagues who work in the company's warehouses. tesco says it works hard to ensure all staff are paid "fairly and equally". the government has promised an overhaul of employment rights house prices have fallen for the second month in a row, according to the uk's largest lender. the halifax said prices were down by 0.6% injanuary, following a 0.8% fall in december. however, year—on—year halifax said the cost of homes was still rising byjust over 2%. 5 million vulnerable households in the uk are facing an average rise of £57 per year in their energy bills, according to the regulator. ofgem says savings under the current post... price cap will be reduced in april because of the cost in producing energy, including wholesale cost, is expected to rise in the spring. when it comes to brexit, the focus is often on trade, immigration, financial services — but you are looking at the impact on health care? we are looking at health care today, we have results out from glaxo smith kline. we have figures out today from drug—maker glaxosmithkline, britain's biggest pharma company, with full—year revenues of £30.2 billion for 2017 — up 8% on the previous year and ahead of analyst expectations. quite impressive results. last month, phil thomson, the president of global affairs at gsk, said they have had to set aside £70 million which they will use to prepare for brexit — money which he said could be spent on cancer drug research. they haven't started spending this yet, they've just put it to one side until they work out what they need to do. let's speak to mike thompson, ce at the association of british pharmaceutical industry. what are pharmaceutical companies' priorities when it comes to preparing for brexit? our overriding concern is that we can continue to deliver all motion is about medicines to all patients across europe. at the moment we do not know what the rules and regulations that we are having to operate by, and therefore we are having to plan for all eventualities. as you can see, that is very expensive. that line we had from phil thompson saying they were putting aside £70 million which they believe they will need to prepare for brexit, money they say they could be spending on research in cancer drugs, that is quite a strong statement to make. what is your reaction to that? you know, across the whole industry this bill will come to hundreds of millions of pounds. it's not really the money here, it's the uncertainty about our ability to deliver medicines to patients, which is the most important factor. the good news is that the uk government has been really strong on this in terms of saying, our policy is to ensure that we delivered to patients and the public health. in july last we delivered to patients and the public health. injuly last year, two secretaries of state route of the financial times saint medicines corporation is what we are looking for. what is critical is the response from the eu. in march we will see the brief that michel barnier is given. we hope he will say, yes, we are going to put patients first, and corporation is the right thing to do here. if we do that and we have an effective transition period, i am confident that we will manage. what concerns are pharmaceutical companies having about what impact this could have on people who are using their drugs? well, actually, all the work that we are doing is to ensure that there is no impact. but to give you a feel for it, you know, we export from the uk 45 million packs per month of medicines to support patients in france, germany, the netherlands... and we get 37 million packs per month back, you know, into the uk. so we are a very integrated supply chain. on top of that, when we are making the medicines, we might have replanted the making the medicines, we might have repla nted the uk making the medicines, we might have replanted the uk and a plant in belgium, and we actually take it from one step of the process to the other. and we have time and temperature controls that we have to operate two. if we can't get it through the port of dover in sufficient time, we have to throw away the batch and record make the medicine. that is why this is so important, that we now put patients before politics and we recognise there are some really practical things that we need to put in place to ensure we can deliver these medicines. you know, we are onlyjust over 400 days before the uk leave the eu. what business is saying is, we now need some certainty about what we are doing. the brief that michel barnier gets is critically important. we need some answers so gets is critically important. we need some answers so that we can plan effectively. mykkele thompson, thank you. —— mykkele thompson. good news for workers?! this is the government's reaction to last year's taylor review into working practices. the government has said they want to improve conditions for millions of workers, including those in the gig economy. they want stricter enforcement of holiday and sick pay rights. higher fines for firms that breach contracts or mistreat staff. it is good news for some workers. but there has been critciam that it's just making sure that stuff that should already happen does happen. so in terms of giving people new rights, it's pretty limited. let's hear from our business correspondent, theo legget. up up to upto5 up to 5 million people are bought to earn a living in the so—called gig economy. companies like uber, deliveroo and yodel often work on a drop by drop basis through online platforms. other businesses such as retail and fast food outlets like to use people employed through agencies. or on zero—hours contracts. it lets them have staff when they need them, and cut costs when they need them, and cut costs when they need them, and cut costs when they don't. in his review, matthew taylor said that flexibility in the workplace was important. but it often put too much power into the hands of employers. he said change was needed to make sure people didn'tjust was needed to make sure people didn't just have was needed to make sure people didn'tjust have worked, but what he called good work. the government has accepted most of his recommendations. for example, it says it will make sure that workers who are entitled to sick pay and holiday pay actually receive it. it's promised to clamp down on companies which illegally make unpaid interns do the work of employees. and it will ask the low pay commission to consider raising the minimum wage for workers on zero—hours contracts. matthew taylor himself has welcomed the proposals, although he says more will need to be done to help vulnerable workers. but the tuc has accused the government of taking baby steps when it needed to make a giant leap. theo leggett, bbc news. so, markets? remember yesterday we we re so, markets? remember yesterday we were talking about whether or not president trump... it is already and now it is green, has there been a tweet? he said in the old days, the stock market would go up, today the good news is reported and the stock market has gone down. big mistake when we have so much good news about the economy. that all the explanation that you need! the stock markets are not the economy. thanks, rate. yellows see you in an hour. around 60 people are still missing in taiwan after a 6.4 magnitude quake struck the city of hualien. at least six people died, and more than 200 others were injured. several buildings have crumbled or are at risk of collapsing. from taiwan, cindy sui. taiwanese people are used to earthquakes, but this one shocked many. it forced several buildings to near collapse. new cctv footage has emerged of the moment when the earthquake struck. this terrified woman escaped without injury. the quake shook many people out of bed. they scrambled to save those still inside. more than 100 people were rescued by residents, firefighters and soldiers. miraculously, an employee of a hotel was found alive after being trapped for 15 hours on a collapsed floor. but many remained unaccounted for more than 12 hours after the quake struck. some of them are feared to be tourists, staying at a backpackers hotel on the second floor of the building. it was crushed, along with four other lower floors. others are believed to be residents, who may not have been home at the time. more than a dozen quakes and after—shocks shook hualien and after the initial earthquake, complicating rescue efforts. this one struck as an eyewitness spoke to the bbc. oh, my god. this is an after—shock. i'm sorry. oh, my goodness. my goodness. 0h, oh, my god. sorry. we're just told to go to the road and stay in the road, but we're having a few after—shocks, this is maybe our seventh of the hour. without knowing how many people may be trapped, president tsai ing—wen urged rescuers to race against time to find survivors. her government has pledged $10 billion us to help victims, but that may be little comfort for taiwan, an island that sits at the junction of two tectonic plates and is frequently rocked by earthquakes, with 100 recorded just in this month. deepening worries, as the quake happened on the anniversary of a deadly earthquake that killed 117 people, and exposed the poor construction standards on the island, making many buildings there potentially unsafe. cindy sui, bbc news, taipei. as we are now we as we are now we are as we are now we are getting reports of further after—shocks, the latest one measuring 5.7 magnitude and said to be in the same area. this building has residential and commercial floors tilting to one side after sustaining major damage. we are hearing that 143 of its residents remain an accounted for. that has once again been at the centre of the latest after—shocks will remain unaccounted for. there are many after—shocks in this very tightly knit area just off the east coast, with the red one showing the latest earthquake. the reports from reuters news agency saying that the taiwanese government says the latest quake is in the same area as the earlier strong quake, the 6.4 magnitude tremor which struckjust 20 kilometres off the island's east coast, where those bots are. we'll keep you updated with more news coming from taiwan. time for a look at the weather. here's sarah keith—lucas. good afternoon. well, it's another cold day out there. but despite those low temperatures, we've actually got quite a bit of sunshine. we've had blue skies today, still some lying snow and some icy conditions around. this picture was taken by one of our weather watchers in church stretton in shropshire. you can see the snow over the higher ground there. now, we will see a little bit more snow moving in from the north west. but this will turn back to rain as this frontal system head in across parts of scotland and northern ireland, too. it'll continue to push a little bit more cloud further south across england and wales. but as we move through this evening and tonight, the south east of england and eastern england, here we keep the clear skies for longest. so, that's where the temperatures will fall lowest overnight. subzero, certainly a risk of widespread frost, but also some icy stretches. whereas further north, where you've got the cloud and the rain sinking south, it's that little bit milder. during the day on thursday, some brighter skies pushing into scotland and northern ireland with a few showers, rain through the middle of the country, driest and brightest in the south east, and milderfor all of us. bye— bye. hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. today at 4... the black cab rapistjohn worboys hears lawyers challenge the decision to free him from jail — some of his victims were in court and weren't expecting to see him there. one of the killers of the toddler james bulger admits having indecent images of children for a second time. jon venables has been sentenced to more than three years in jail. tesco could face a bill of £4 billion after britain's biggest ever equal pay claim. there are such discrepancies that you can't explain them and i think tescos are just one of many companies that really aren't addressing the fact that women seem to still be paid less. old blue eyes — new research suggests this is cheddar man, the first modern briton who lived 10,000 years ago. coming up on afternoon live all the sport — ollie foster. we are talking cricket? yes, the never—ending tour continues. england lost the ashes, they won the one—day series and they started the t20 tri— series and they started the t20 tri— series with a defeat to australia. sarah has the weather forecast. it looks nice but it is cold? yes, we have beautiful blue skies, wintry sunshine to be enjoyed. temperatures on the cold side and lying snow around as well. i will bring you all the details later. on news nationwide we'll hear about the nottingham man who tried to help the homeless on christmas day — and got fined in return. hello, everyone — this is afternoon live. there was a surprise appearance at the royal courts ofjustice this morning as a judge heard arguments for and against the release of serial sex—attacker, the so—called black—cab rapist, john worboys. standing in the caged—in dock of court 5 wasjohn worboys, called to appear in person. two of his victims — who were also in court — were not expecting him to be there. they've been given the go—ahead for a high court challenge against the decision to release him from prison after he was jailed indefinitely in 2009 for drugging and sexually assaulting women passengers. daniel sandford was at the high court. the original plan had been for him to appear through videolink, but thejudge had a bad experience with the videolink yesterday and decided that it was very important forjohn worboys to be able to hear the hearing, the only way that was go to happen was for him to be here in person. brian leveson had to apologise to the victims ofjohn worboys who were present, saying that he knew they did not want to encounter him face—to—face, but that was really the only solution. john worboys was there as the legal challenge began, as permission was granted for a formaljudicial review against that very controversial decision by the parole board to set him free. driven into the royal courts ofjustice in a high security van, the black cab rapistjohn worboys was led to the cells in handcuffs by four prison officers as his victims started their legal battle to prevent his release from prison. worboys was convicted in 2009 of one rape, four sexual assaults, one attempted sexual assault, one assault by penetration and 12 offences of drugging his victims. a london black cab driver, he's suspected of assaulting around 100 female passengers. in the courtroom, he sat in the caged dock. thejudge, sir brian leveson, apologised if any victims present were upset by him being there in person. one victim explained this morning that she'd never expected him to be released. when we were told it was an indefinite sentence, it was, well, justice has been served. he has been dealt with. he is serving a life sentence now. that was the way it was put across to us. so we never thought for one second that he would be eligible for parole. in court, philippa kaufmann qc, for two of his victims, said, "it appears something has gone very wrong with the parole board's reasoning". and she condemned what she called the blanket secrecy. the failure to provide any kind of reasons was unlawful, she said. we can't challenge the decision until we know the reasons for it. and we have to make an assessment as to whether that reasoning is within the bounds of a reasonable parole board or whether it's unreasonable or has failed to take into accou nt releva nt considerations. john worboys, who devised a kit for drugging and assaulting his victims in his taxi, didn't have a lawyer at the start of the hearing, but was able to talk to one halfway through. the judges have decided this judicial review can go ahead. two other important decisions were also made today. first on disclosure, the lawyers forjohn worboys‘ victims will be allowed to see the reasoning behind the parole board's decision to allow them to challenge it properly, but alsojohn worboys‘ position has also been resolved for now. he will stay in prison until the next court hearing in five weeks' time. one of the killers of the toddler james bulger has beenjailed for 40 months after pleading guilty to having indecent images of children for a second time. jon venables, who served eight years for the murder in 1993, was recalled to prison last year for breaching the terms of his licence. our correspondent richard galpin is at the old bailey. jon venables was speaking to the court earlier today via videolink, and he pleaded guilty to three counts of having indecent pictures of children, more than 1000 pictures in total, some of them were videos. they showed children aged anything from six to 13 years old, some of them actually even younger than six. jon venables also pleaded guilty to a fourth count, possession of a paedophile manual found on his laptop, giving advice on abusing children sexually. the prosecutor described this document as disgusting and sickening. his defence lawyer said that venables accepted he had downloaded indecent images for personal use and that he had used the dark web to do this, that he accepted the utter wrongness and abuse involved in having these pictures. the court also heard there was no evidence that venables had abusive contact with children. venables said he needs help to understand his actions and he told police at the time of his arrest that it was my own fault, and that he had let people down again. sentencing, the judge described venables as manipulative, persistent and dishonest. both of james bulger‘s parents were in court and are not happy with the sentence that has been given to venables, saying that it is not long enough. 40 months, ithought it was an insult to james and to the family. the length of the sentence is too short. three years is really a farce. this is reoffending and there is a pattern to this behaviour. we believe that he should have got at least double his original sentence for a similar offence two years ago, of two years. he will be leaving the court today believing he has got away with it. three years, four months, that means he will be eligible for parole in less than two years. clearly, some controversy about the outcome of this court case. tesco are facing a possible bill of up to £4 billion, after britain's biggest ever equal pay claim. lawyers say women who work in the company's stores earn less than men employed in its warehouses, even though the work is comparable. up to 200,000 women could be entitled to back pay if the legal challenge is successful. the supermarket says all its staff are paid fairly, whatever their gender. our economics editor kamel ahmed reports. tesco hasjoined a long list of organisations facing controversy over equal pay. among retailers, asda and sainsbury‘s are facing similar legal battles. birmingham city council has already agreed to over £1 billion worth of payments for women cleaners and carers. and the bbc has been accused of not paying men and women equally. tesco is one of the country's largest employers and is now facing a series of test cases which could lead to the largest equal pay claim in employment history. lawyers acting for tesco supermarket workers said that female staff on hourly rates earn considerably less than men even though the value of the work is comparable. kim element and pam jenkins have worked for tesco for more than 20 years. i think that although we think we have equal rights, there are times where there are such discrepancies that you cannot explain them. and i think tescos are just one of many companies that really are not addressing the fact that women seem to still be paid less. obviously the jobs are slightly different but to put it bluntly, they are of equal value. you know, we deal with customers, they don't have to deal with customers. but you know, we take the stock and we load the stock. they load it off the lorry and we load it onto the shelves. tesco said that all their staff could progress equally and were paid fairly whatever their gender or background. in a statement the supermarket said, "we are unable to comment on a claim that we had not received. tesco has always been a place for people to get on in their career regardless of their gender, background or education. and we work hard to make sure all our colleagues are paid fairly and equally for the jobs they do." birmingham city council has already been forced by the courts to pay cleaners and cooks, jobs mostly done by women, the same rate as bin collectors and street cleaners, jobs mostly done by men. businesses know there could be major costs ahead. the law has been there since 1984 that you can compare with a differentjob. that is 34 years to get your house in order. so that is 34 years of having the advantage of paying unequally. and 34 years of you making pay decisions and financial strategic decisions. and 34 years where you have chosen to walk around what is hiding in open sight. this is the start of a long legal battle. tesco just the latest business to be caught up in a fight over equal pay. kamal ahmed, bbc news. a man who claimed he'd been abused for years by a vip paedophile ring at westminster has now been charged himself with multiple offences relating to indecent images of children. the man, who's only been named as nick, is alleged to have committed some of the offences while scotland yard was investigating his claims. the chief constable of police scotland has resigned. phil gormley had been on special leave since september amid a series of investigations into claims of gross misconduct. he denies any wrongdoing. the scottish justice the scottishjustice secretary announced the resignation in scottish parliament a short time ago. i respect the decision of the chief constable and hope this enables police in scotland to move forward with a clear focus on delivering the long—term strategy, policing 2026, that phil gormley helped to develop. while the management of the police service has been the subject of close scrutiny in recent months, i would like to pay tribute to all of those officers who have continued to serve the people of scotland every day, helping to keep crime at historically low levels and making our communities safer. i have spoken with susan deacon, the chair of the scottish police authority, which will undertake the process of appointing a new chief constable. professor deacon informed me yesterday that the scottish police authority were in discussions with the chief constable's representatives regarding his future and provided assurance that the appropriate processes were being followed. earlier our scotland editor, sarah smith, spoke to us from glasgow and began by explaining why he has gone now. he says it is impossible for him to resume his duties in any meaningful way. let me explain why. phil gormley has not been at work since he was put on special leave six months ago over allegations of bullying. during that time, further complaints were made against him, a total of seven in all. i understand now he has resigned and now those investigations will be closed, they are no longer relevant. he was cleared to return to work back in november. that decision was reversed when thejustice secretary got involved because he was worried that inadequate safeguards have been put in place to protect the serving police officers who had made these complaints against the chief constable. in a statement today, mr gormley referred to that decision when he said events since november have led me to the conclusion that it is impossible for me to resume my duties in any meaningful way. police scotland is actually second—largest force in the whole of the uk after the metropolitan police. it has had a rather troubled history. the last chief constable left early after a number of controversies about policing methods. the assistant chief constable is currently suspended and another investigation is going on into his behaviour. this is a force that certainly has some turmoil in its leadership. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines... two victims of the serial sex attacker, john worboys, are given the go—ahead by the high court to begin a legal challenge against the decision to release him from prison. jon venables — one of the killers of the toddlerjames bulger — is sentenced to just over 3 years injailfor possessing indecent images of children for a second time. tesco could face a bill of £4 billion after britain's biggest ever equal pay claim. in a moment... did you cut out meat forjanuary? new research reveals more than a quarter of all evening meals in the uk are meat free. we will be talking to the vegetarian society. and a glint‘s cricketers have started their t20 tri—series series with a defeat. glenn maxwell hit a century for the hosts. new zealand were the the series involved. nigel vine has been provisionally suspended forfailing a nigel vine has been provisionally suspended for failing a drugs test. he has not competed since he broke his pelvis in an accident over a year ago. and jason and laura kenny will represent great britain for the first time since the 2016 olympics. they have been selected for the track cycling world championships in the netherlands. i will be back with a full update in the next 15 minutes. the government has promised to improve the conditions of millions of workers on short—term contracts. ministers say there'll be higher fines for firms that breach contracts or mistreat staff who are part of the so—called gig economy. the move is part of the government's response to a review of modern working practices , but unions say the measures don't go far enough. nina warhurst reports. times have changed. tom has around 30 full—time employees like paddy. he gets sick and holiday pay. and around 20 workers like this tom, he's self—employed and has to save for rainy days and holidays himself. following today's announcement, the boss will have to be crystal clear with all of his staff on where they stand. if we are moving towards a situation where it is made clearer to employees what their rights are and what their entitlements are, i think that is something that can only be good for both the employee and for the business. there are up to 5 million people working on a job byjob basis rather than as fully employed. and the government has promised to crack down on employers who bend the rules. if they fail to pay sickness and holiday pay, then the government will act. so it's not left to the little guy to have to fight for himself or herself against a large corporation that might be playing fast and loose with their rights. the government will be hoping that today's measures will make life clearer and fairer for all workers. but some critics argue that there is still too much power in the hands of those who hold the purse strings. and that the most vulnerable workers are still being left wide open to exploitation. they had an opportunity to make a bold step to really give protection to those precarious workers especially in the gig economy. and they haven't done anything to that extent at all. they have papered over the cracks. it is unlikely that those on shift today will even notice the changes. but the government says there may be more on the way. which respect the value of flexible working, as long as employers respect their staff. nina warhurst, bbc news, manchester. scientists say they now know what the first modern briton looked like 10,000 years ago — and it's something of a surprise. that is it! they believe that so—called cheddar man — who lived in south west england — had skin that was dark to black, and blue eyes. researchers have used groundbreaking dna analysis to examine his skeleton which was discovered in somerset in 1903. jon kay reports. he lay here undisturbed for 10,000 years. in the caves beneath cheddar gorge, a replica of cheddar man. but now 21st—century science means we can put flesh on these bones. one, two, three. at the natural history museum cheddar man finally revealed. by extracting dna from his bones and scanning his skull, experts believe they have recreated his face in unprecedented detail. and he looks very different from what they expected. the hair, the eyes, the face, that combination of blue eyes and dark skin, really very striking. something we would not have imagined. and to also get from the dna details of his biology. the fact that he could not digest milk as an adult. that is something that came really with the advent of farming. and 10,000 years ago people in britain didn't have that. look how he's changed. this is what scientists used to think he looked like. a reconstruction from 20 years ago when dna analysis was nowhere near as developed. cheddar man and i share a common female relative. this is modern—day cheddar man. adrian targett lives in the same village and shares dna with the skeleton found in the gorge. so, time to meet his ancestor. do you want to see your great great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather? ok, here he comes. and... oh, my! what do you think? it is remarkable, isn't it? i think there is probably some resemblance. but yes, i think there are certainly other members in my family who he bears a resemblance to, yes. some of my cousins. you can see that in there? yes. i think my eyes are blue. let's have a look. they are blue! they are blue. his hair is not quite as grey as mine is. or my beard! so 10,000 years after he died, 100 years after he was found, finally a face to fit the name of adrian's ancestor. jon kay, bbc news, cheddar in somerset. theresa may is meeting senior ministers at westminster this afternoon, to try to agree the government's approach to the next stage of the brexit negotiations. it comes amid tensions between downing street and some conservative mps over britain's future relationship with the eu. and there's pressure on the prime minister too from business leaders, the british chambers of commerce are demanding more clarity about the government's brexit plans. alex forsyth reports. the prime minister is fast approaching crunch time. her government must decide what brexit will really mean. it's not just brussels, but mps and businesses too who want to know in which direction the country is heading. both small businesses and large firms really do need greater clarity from government about how it's going to approach the upcoming negotiations. businesses are trying to plan. they are thinking about investment and they are having a hard time drawing conclusions from the current picture. questions to the prime minister. she says a transition period will give businesses certainty. beyond that, the government wants frictionless trade, all subject of course to negotiations. i can assure him we will be robust in our arguments, as i have said from the beginning. we will hear noises off and all sorts of things being said about positions that are being taken. what matters is the positions we take in the negotiations as we sit down and negotiate the best deal. but ministers meeting here today and tomorrow are under pressure to flesh out what exactly they want. not easy to agree, for a party that is divided. i wish downing street spokesmen would shut up sometimes. they put out completely meaningless statements. apparently, it's going to be frictionless and we are quite happy to have a customs arrangement. yet we are not going in a customs union and we are not going in the single market. that is completely contradictory. i am sure people will always be disappointed whatever deal is struck, because there are differences. the main thing, end free movement, stop paying billions of pounds, our own laws, in our own country, by our own judges, if we succeed in doing that, the differences don't really matter. with such different views on how close the uk should remain to the eu, theresa may is unlikely to please everybody. perhaps the best she can hope for is a compromise which keeps most of her party onside. so for now, the debate rages and the demand for detail grows. and that's before formal trade talks with brussels even start. alex forsyth, bbc news, westminster. mps have been allowed into the commons library to see the impact assessments for the region. they we re assessments for the region. they were forced to be made available after they were leaked last week. let's go to vicki young. an interesting reading for all of those who want to know what is happening in theirarea? who want to know what is happening in their area? that's right. this was incredibly controversial. the brexit assessments, first of all, david davis implied they didn't exist at all. eventually, they were lea ked exist at all. eventually, they were leaked to buzzfeed. mps kicked up a fuss, wanting to see them. they haven't been published, but they are allowing mps to read them over two or three days. inevitably, some of the details are beginning to come out. when it comes to scotland, even earlier today in the house of commons, the europe spokesman stephen gethins talked about scottish government analysis, saying it showed that a no deal scenario, world trade organisation rules only, could cost scotland up to 8.5% of its gdp. it seems that the figures in the uk government assessment put it slightly higher, at 9%. a little early i spoke to peter grant from the snp. this is what he had to say about it. it has become quite clear from analysis coming out of the scottish government, from analysis from the uk government, that they are desperately trying to prevent people like yourself and the general public from seeing that not only will a hard brexit be catastrophic for the uk economy, even a brexit where we managed to stay in the single market and a customs union could have a significant damaging effect on the economy and significant social damages as well. how this is being done is it is broken down so they have a scenario for those leaving the eu, but staying in the single market and customs union, the second figure is if there is a free trade deal, and the third is if there is no deal. just very quickly, for the east midlands it shows down 1.8% for the first figure, down 5% and a free—trade deals, and 8.2% if there is no deal, down as well. the north—east is probably the most striking we have seen so far, and a no deal scenario is it saying that its gdp would be down 16%. on the other side of the argument, many brexiteers say economic forecasts are always wrong, they have been proven to be wrong since the referendum. the idea that we would go into recession, its key has not happened. we didn't need an emergency budget. employment has kept rising. they say there is no reason why these figures would be any more accurate. more than a quarter of all evening meals in the uk are now vegan or vegetarian, research shows. the research — collected from a consumer panel of 30,000 households — reflects a year—on—year move to more vegetarian meals. the study found that sales of vegetables, such as spinach and aubergine, are also up 43% and 23% respectively, compared to the last 12 months. we can speak tojohn from the vegetarian society. the smiling face says it all, you welcome the news? it is great news. it does actually reflect what we have been seeing over the past year, maybe two years. it is not a big surprise to us. we have seen a lot of increase in interest in the media with vegetarian food, a lot of interest online, in blogs, food is a hot topic and it is great that more people are choosing veggie food. can you help with my terms? i know what a vegetarian and vegan is, what is a flexitarian? it is a term for somebody that works to reduce the amount of meat they are eating. at the vegetarian society, we look to work with all kinds of people, vegan, veggie, flexitarian, meat eaters that are interested in maybe trying out eating more vegetarian options, we work with anybody. the meat industry in this country says in the short—term meat sales are increasing. what is going on? well, it wasn't the vegetarian society that did the research, i don't know exactly what that is showing. the bottom line is anybody, everybody loves great food. vegetarian food is fantastic. a great curry is made with lovely spices and aromatics, herbs, that is the thing you can taste. you can put in great vegetables, giving colour, vibrancy, some fibre, all of the good stuff for you. anybody will eat great food. as to why there is an increase in other parts of this report, saying that it is increasing, i don't really know. but i know that i can understand why people would eat more veggie food, because it tastes great. and you are obviously encouraged by research like this. just help me on this, as a non—vegetarian, are we getting to the stage where if you sit down in a restau ra nt, the stage where if you sit down in a restaurant, you, as a vegetarian, a vegan, sitting next to some leading meat, does that mean you want to leave the restaurant? what drives this? we are all people and we all want to get along. if people make their own choices, increasingly people are having more informed choices. they are more informed about how their lives are impacting the environment, whether that is carrier bags, plastic bags, what they choose to eat has an impact on they choose to eat has an impact on the environment as well. i think the more people are aware of this, the more people are aware of this, the more chance there is for people to choose other options and try other flavours, try other varieties, tastes, textures, it's great! great to talk to you. thank you very much. let's catch up with the weather. the picture suggests we are looking elsewhere? snow in paris is my guess! how did you guess? last week we were talking about flooding in paris. there was that heavy rain, the river seine burst its banks. now a change in fortune and we have swapped the rainfor in fortune and we have swapped the rain for heavy snow. it has been 15 centimetres of snow, and that is the heaviest snowfall in paris for five yea rs, heaviest snowfall in paris for five yea rs , eve n heaviest snowfall in paris for five years, even the eiffel tower was closed for visitors on tuesday. it has caused disruption. tourists could not go up the eiffel tower. look at this, this is the zach —— tourists tobogganing. look at this chap, making the most of the wintry weather. he is going tojump between the benches. he is not? you did! we missed that! they were too obsessed looking at me. we will show that again later. what about the wider prospects? the alps, some people enjoying the snow? a record winter in terms of the alps. there is more in the forecast and a bit more snow for paris in the next few days. it is snowing there today. more snow on the cards for friday. eventually, things will turn milder. some rain on the cards after the weekend and more snow in the forecast for the alps. what about us? it is still staying quite windy and fairly cold. some glorious sunshine, blue skies out there. this is staffordshire. blue skies, lots of sunshine, although feeling quite chilly. the cloud is increasing from the north—west through the day and that is because we have a weather front pushing its way in. a ridge of high pressure holding on to the south and east. this frontal system is bringing some cloud, rain and some hill snow towards the north—west. some wet weather for northern ireland into scotland as we head through the evening hours. clear skies persisting for central and south—eastern parts of england and overnight it is here that we will see the lowest of the temperatures. in fact, we could see —5 or even colder. widespread frost to the south—east. further north—west, less frosty, not as cold because we have the cloud and fabrics of rain. through thursday morning, the rain will be affecting parts of scotland, northern england. that is courtesy of this weather front. slow—moving, shifting its way further south and bringing a breezy feel to the weather. a different sort of day tomorrow. you can see that area of cloud associated with the weather front, bringing fairly light rain to parts of southern scotland and northern england. during thursday morning, for the majority of scotland, it should brighten up. a bit of sunshine, some wintry showers packing into the north—west. northern irelanders largely dry with bright skies. cloudy across northern england, towards the midlands, wales and the south—west of england. some showery bursts of rain but it is drier, with clearer and brighter spells across the south—east of england thursday morning. during the day, things do not change in a hurry. we still have an area of cloud and light rainfall across northern england into wales. later in the day, we will see a heavier pulse of rain working in from the south—west. some more persistent rain through wales and north—west england during the afternoon. either side of that cloud of rain, brighter to the north and west. temperatures milder than we have seen, between seven milder than we have seen, between seven and 9 degrees. a look ahead towards the end of the week, it looks like the temperatures will be creeping up through friday and into saturday. still fairly unsettled. some spells of rain around. looking towards the end of this week, the u nsettled towards the end of this week, the unsettled theme continues. it will turn pretty windy, further rain or hill snow at times and it will not be quite as cold as it has been. you can keep up—to—date with the longer—term forecast on the newly updated website. this is bbc news. our latest headlines: the high court has ruled that two victims of the serial sex attacker john worboys can begin a legal challenge against the decision to release him from prison. the judge said a temporary bar on releasing the 60—year—old should be extended until a full hearing takes place next month. jon venables, one of the killers of the toddlerjames bulger, has been sentenced to just over three years in prison after pleading guilty to downloading more than 1,000 indecent images of children and possessing a so—called paedophile manual. tesco could face a bill of up to £4 billion in britain's largest ever equal pay claim. lawyers argue up to 200,000 female shop workers should receive back—pay because they get a lower hourly wage than men working in warehouses. scientists have concluded that this is what the first modern briton looked like. dna analysis of cheddar man, who lived 10,000 years ago, suggest he had dark skin and blue eyes. his remains were discovered in somerset in 1903. in a moment: we'll hear more about a good samaritan who tried to help the homeless on christmas day and received a parking fine from nottingham council in return. sport now on afternoon live, with olly foster. and england have been playing australia again. this time it's in t20. how did they get on? england not so good? good afternoon, simon. it's never—ending... the personnel have changed a bit since they departed for the ashes three months ago, but england's cricketers are entering another leg of their tour. they are now into the t20 tri—series. australia and new zealand also involved — each team plays each other twice. england are off to a losing start. dawid malan hit 50 in hobart, but when he went, england collapsed and set australia 156 to win. glenn maxwell was unbeaten on 103 as australia chased that down with a couple of overs to spare. following this series, it is a one—day series against new zealand, and then a test series, then they can all come home. studio: for a well—deserved break, can all come home. studio: fora well—deserved break, i think. the transfer window has closed, but that hasn't stopped west ham. you can move outside of the tra nsfer ham. you can move outside of the transfer window if you haven't got a club. would you believe, patrice evra, for all of the stuff that he has won, five league titles with manchester united, he is out of contract at the moment. remember the incident back in november? there was a fracas involving a couple of fans, and he kicked one of marseille's fa ns and he kicked one of marseille's fans in the head. he had his contract ripped up and he was banned from uefa competitions for seven months. he is a free agent and he can play domestic league for west ham. they have snapped him up. he so what they have all sorts of injury worries and they think he could help them beat the drop. when you sign somebody, you put one of these out... a video on social media. what do you think of this one? this will put the fear of god in the opposition, won't it?! i'm forever blowing bubbles! i love this game! yes, that'll get them going! some other sports news... british sprinter nigel levine has been provisionally suspended for failing a drugs test. the european indoor gold medallist hasn't competed since he broke his pelvis in a motorbike crash in spain injanuary 2017. more from our reporter ade adedoyin. late last year, it was reported he tested positive for a banned substance and had asked for his b sample to be tested as well. the substance was named as clenbuterol, and asthma drug, also on the banned list. uk athletics at the time would not comment. today they put out a statement saying he has been provisionally suspended. we can infer from that that the b sample has come back positive that well. he has a right to a hearing with the uk anti—doping agency, where he can provide information on how the substance got into his system. if he's unhappy with how that plays out, he then has the option to take it to the court of arbitration for sport. levine has been an integral part of the relay squad, and won gold medals indoors and outdoors. we have approached him for comment today, the bbc, and he said he would rather not comment until the incident has played out. ilie nastase's ban for "racially insensitive comments" and "sexual harassment" during a fed cup tie between romania and great britain has been reduced on appeal by an independent tribunal. but his fine has been doubled. nastase insulted britain'sjohanna konta and anne keothavong in their tie in bucharest last year. he was originally suspended until the end of 2018 — this has been reduced to the end of april, although his fine has been increased from £7,000 to £14,000. it was an extraordinary outburst. jason and laura kenny will represent great britain for the first time since the olympics after being selected for the track cycling world champoinships in the netherlands. since increasing their gold medal haul to ten between them in rio, the couple have got married and had a baby, albie, just over six months ago. jason also retired briefly before returning to competitive cycling last month. that's all the sport for now. much more in the next hour on bbc news. now on afternoon live, let's go nationwide and see what's happening around the country in our daily visit to another bbc newsroom around the uk. and today we go to nottingham. anne davies is in nottingham, where a man who pulled in to a bus stop on christmas day to help a homeless man has been fined by the council, despite there being no buses running. how did lee williamson end up being fined for helping the homeless? on the face of it, this makes you very angry. you are quite right, simon, you wouldn't expect that on christmas day. christmas day in leicester, like most of our other cities, very quiet, nothing going on. lee williamson is a former soldier, he works for a charity. he drove along, he had stuff in the back of his car, people into the bus lane because he knew it was christmas day and there weren't any buses. he got out to help the homeless guy who was actuallyjust outside the station. it was all caught on the council camera, and that's why he got a fine. before we hear from lee, that's why he got a fine. before we hearfrom lee, i mustjust say that this is over in the dangerous spot. it was about one year ago that a cyclist was actually killed because a taxi had stopped there and the back door opened and it knocked off the cyclist and he died. and that's why the camera was installed, and that's why the council are so tough on anybody parking there. but, as you say, it was christmas day. and lee, as you can gather, was not awfully pleased about it. there's a couple of reasons. mainly because it's ludicrous, you know? if there's no traffic, it can't be dangerous. i've not just stopped to go to the shops, i've stopped to help a homeless guy on christmas day, of all days. yes, merry christmas! anyway, the city mayor is now involved? yes, indeed. it was all over bbc radio leicester this morning, and everybody in leicestershire and rutland listens to radio leicester, the mayor is one of them. sir peter salisbury, the mayor, rang in and said, this is absolutely bonkers and i'm going to investigate. he said, when a good samaritan is doing a good deal on christmas day, there are exceptions. he does of course emphasise the dangerousness of parking there, but he is going to waive the fine. but we have got fine on close on east midlands today, because in derby, somebody with a parking permit has also been now given a 70 —— £70 fine. when they woke up in the morning, it had snowed, the snow went on the windscreen and covered up the permit, the world has gone mad, simon! you are kidding?! no, i'm not, absolutely. the pictures of the snow on the car or amazing, they are all over the programme. nothing beats a good parking story, does it with! ann, great to see you, thanks very much. if you would like to see more on any of those stories, you can access them via the bbc iplayer, and a reminder, we go nationwide every weekday afternoon at 4:30pm here on afternoon live. around 60 people are still missing in taiwan after a 6.4 magnitude quake struck the city of hualien. at least six people died, and more than 200 others were injured. several buildings have crumbled or are at risk of collapsing. from taiwan, cindy sui reports. taiwanese people are used to earthquakes, but this one shocked many. it forced several buildings to near complete collapse. new cctv footage has emerged of the moment when the earthquake struck. this terrified woman escaped without injury. the quake shook many people out of bed. they scrambled to save those still inside. more than 100 people were rescued by residents, firefighters and soldiers. miraculously, an employee of a hotel was found alive after being trapped for 15 hours on a collapsed floor. but many remained unaccounted for more than 12 hours after the quake struck. some of them are feared to be tourists, staying at a backpackers hotel on the second floor of the building. it was crushed, along with four other lower floors. others are believed to be residents, who may not have been home at the time. more than a dozen quakes and after—shocks shook hualien and after the initial earthquake, complicating rescue efforts. this one struck as an eyewitness spoke to the bbc. oh, my god. this is an after—shock. i'm sorry. oh, my goodness. my goodness. oh, my god. sorry. we're just told to go to the road and stay in the road, but we're having a few after—shocks, this is maybe our seventh of the hour. without knowing how many people may be trapped, president tsai ing—wen urged rescuers to race against time to find survivors. her government has pledged $10 billion us to help victims, but that may be little comfort for taiwan, an island that sits at the junction of two tectonic plates and is frequently rocked by earthquakes, with 100 recorded just in this month. deepening worries, as the quake happened on the anniversary of a deadly earthquake that killed 117 people, and exposed the poor construction standards on the island, making many buildings there potentially unsafe. cindy sui, bbc news, taipei. some breaking news now... a british man who fought against so—called islamic state is to be charged with a terror offence. jim matthews, 43, from london travelled to syria and fought with the kurdish forces the ypg. in a statement, the metropolitan police said mr matthews is alleged to have attended "a place or places in iraq and syria where instruction or training was provided for purposes connected to the commission or preparation of terrorism on or before 15th february 2016". mr matthews will appear at westminster magistrates court on february 14th to be charged with one count of attending a place used for terrorist training contrary to section 8 of the terrorism act 2006. mr matthews, an ex—solidier featured in a channel 4 documentary called the brits battling isis, which documented his fight against the jihadist group. that news is just coming into us in the last few moments. a group of children in glasgow are waging war on plastic, and, in particular, straws. they've already convinced scotland's biggest council to ditch single—use straws, and people in the village of ullapool have also agreed to abandon them. now the children are taking their campaign further afield. our scotland correspondent, lorna gordon, joined them on the isle of arran. they call themselves the ocean defenders. passionate about nature and conservation, and on a mission to end the use of plastic straws. now they're heading across the water to arran in a bid to spread the word. i care about it because there's animals out there in danger because they're eating plastic. it's our future, and we need to make sure that it's not all gone when we grow up. the straw campaign works from both ends... the youthful campaigners from sunnyside primary think the key to their war against single—use plastic straws is getting other children, including those on arran, involved too. i hadn't really thought about it, but now the presentation has told me a lot more about it. and it's very different now. i think the most surprising and interesting thing is how much this does affect the environment. you wouldn't expect that from wee, tiny plastic straws. there's always litter on the beaches. plastic litter, in particular. they work hard on arran to keep their waters and beaches clean. these blue things are, in fact, cotton bud sticks. but plastic waste, once it enters the sea, can travel far. injuring and killing marine life in the process. so even here you find...? even here we find plastic, despite all the cleaning that goes on. you clean, a storm comes in and there will be more plastic washed up. how do you feel about that? i really dislike it! everyone can do something to try and help the marine environment. and issues with plastics. school by school, and business by business, the children's message is being heard. we're trying to make people stop expecting a straw in their drink... these primary school pupils, with their passion to reduce plastic waste, have had much success already. the kids were fantastic. they're so knowledgeable and really confident and passionate in the way they speak. did you find their arguments persuasive? i mean, you've got the plastic straws. absolutely. the children's hope now, that arran will become scotland's first island to ditch plastic straws for good. lorna gourdon, bbc news, on the isle of arran. others too doing their bit for recycling. the uk could adopt a deposit —based system for plastic bottles after a uk delegation visited norway to see how the scheme operates. the consumer returns the bottle e m pty operates. the consumer returns the bottle empty to a special machine where they receive a coupon. most countries, this empty bottle would go into the bin or worse, onto the street. not here in norway. i've come back into this shop, and this machine is going to reward me for returning my bottle. when we buy a bottle of soda or something, we pay one kroner extra. when we put it in the machine, we get that money back against blog it is good, recycling is good for the environment. it can be recycled more than once. 12 times! separate the clear bottle from the coloured bottle. the clear can be used in new bottles, the coloured can be used in plastic material. if soft drink producers joined plastic material. if soft drink producersjoined our plastic material. if soft drink producers joined our system, they would pay less taxes. everyone wins. in a moment, the business news. first, a look at the headlines on afternoon live. two victims of the serial sex attackerjohn worboys are given the go—ahead by the high court to begin a legal challenge against the decision to release him from prison. jon venables, one of the killers of the toddlerjames bulger, is sentenced to just over three years in jail for possessing indecent images of children for a second time. tesco could face a bill of £4 billion after britain's biggest ever equal pay claim. more on that in a moment. hello. house prices have fallen for the second month in a row, according to the uk's largest lender. the halifax said prices were down by 0.6% injanuary, following a 0.8% fall in december. however, year—on—year halifax said the cost of homes was still rising byjust over 2%. the government has promised an overhaul of employment rights to improve conditions for millions of workers, including those in the gig economy. the changes include stricter enforcement of holiday and sick pay rights, and higher fines for firms that breach contracts or mistreat staff. five million vulnerable households in the uk are facing an average rise of £57 a year in their energy bills, that's according to the regulator. ofgem said savings under the current price cap will be reduced from april because the cost of producing energy, including wholesale costs, is expected to rise in the spring. let's talk about the markets. they we re let's talk about the markets. they were a bit of a roller—coaster yesterday. i don't know if he's looking at you! that might have been him at the open, but it did recover. the dow is now in the green. the european markets are all trading up in the green. yesterday, the watchword was correction. today its volatility. there are a lot of people now saying that volatility has come back into the markets. there is actually an index, it is called the volatility index but some people refer to it as the fear index, that gauges how much volatility and movement there is in the market. really for the last couple of years we have seen the market moves steadily up but we haven't seen these movements which yesterday seemed to panic so many investors. is there an actual graft for the fear index, i'd love to see it?! i don't have it, i'm sorry. presumably for the last couple of years it has been flat. it has. it is an index on which people trade, people take bets. one must depend on the other, you can play it by the way. there are a lot of funds which would have bet on a continued, market, which would have seen huge losses on the last couple of days, a lot of people talking about that. you are talking about the calm returning to markets, that might not be quite right. the ftse is a bit higher, but things can still happen. some people are saying it is a fake off we are seeing at the moment, it is falling, it is settled, but we haven't reached its bottom. this is in london? this is in london. it is the great british fake off! oh, simon! i hadn't thought of that one. . . simon! i hadn't thought of that one... a lot of people are saying there is further to fall. we have seen there is further to fall. we have seen rises continually since about 2009, and now it was time for a correction, there is too much value in the markets. as we explained earlier in the week, this fall, many say, has come from there that interest rates are going to rise faster than they thought they would in the us. and instead that's going to mean if interest rates rise quicker people have other places they could put their money, investors could be taking money out of the market. one of our headlines, tested facing a possible £4 billion payment. what is that doing to its share price? it was down earlier in the day, but it is now up 1.5%. this story is interesting. it is about a big equal pay bill that they could face, thousands of women who work on the shop floor is intense go are being paid around £8 per hour —— in tesco. they are saying that their job is of equal value to jobs tesco. they are saying that their job is of equal value tojobs in tesco. they are saying that their job is of equal value to jobs in the warehouse, where men predominantly working and they get an hourly wage of up to £11 per row. lawyers are arguing thesejobs are of up to £11 per row. lawyers are arguing these jobs are equal value and they should get equal pay. if it isjudged to get and they should get equal pay. if it is judged to get equal pay, there is scope for it to be backdated, tesco could face a bill of £4 billion. but the share price today has ended up. they don't sound comparable, men in a warehouse, women are doing the till work. the argument is that women in the stores are stacking shelves, talking to customers. men in the warehouse do not have to deal with customers and they are equally taking things off shelves and the women are putting them on the shelves, but also have the interaction in the customers. that is what is being argued in the cause. the shares are up, it always strikes me as odd when a company seeming to be facing a bad headline... it is a long court case. shares are up almost 2%. tomorrow, the bank of england will have their quarterly inflation report released, we will find out of there is any movement on interest rates, that decision will come tomorrow. they help them steady in december with a vote of nine to keep them and zero against. we are not expecting any movement on interest rates. the next one is expected possibly in may. it will be interesting to see what, it's come out. the dowjones, that is trading up as well. talktalk and thomas cook and put in the us all releasing results tomorrow, it is all the ts. don't go away, are you a fan of hedgehogs?” all the ts. don't go away, are you a fan of hedgehogs? i love hedgehogs! watch this... known as the gardener‘s friend, the native hedgehog was once a common sight in britain. but numbers of the spiky creatures are plummeting. hugh writes spiky creatures?! wildlife charities say at least half the population has been lost over the last two decades, as claire marshall reports. hedgehogs are shy, nocturnal creatures which makes them difficult to count but conservationists have managed to build up a picture of the population across britain over the last 30 years, and it is not good news. their numbers have crashed. there are only half as many hedgehogs snuffling around the british countryside as there were 20 years ago. this should give us real cause for concern, the fact that the population is declining as dramatically as it is. the report looks at the reasons that hedgehogs might be disappearing. it says the cutting down of hedgerows and the use of pesticides has killed off the grubs and worms that hedgehogs eat and it means they have fewer places to shelter. roads are still a big issue. around 100,000 are killed by vehicles each year. they are also preyed on by badgers, and badger numbers are rising. but city—dwelling hedgehogs are more fortunate. the decline has stopped, and numbers are increasing in some places. the charity say this might be down to garden owners becoming more aware that hedgehogs need holes in fences in order to roam, and wild areas in which to nest. they say anybody who wants to help save the spiky creatures can sign up to be a hedgehog champion. claire marshall, bbc news. that's it from your afternoon live team for today, next the bbc news at five with huw edwards. time for a look at the weather. here's sarah keith—lucas. good afternoon. well, it's another cold day out there. but despite those low temperatures, we've actually got quite a bit of sunshine. we've had blue skies today, still some lying snow and some icy conditions around. this picture was taken by one of our weather watchers in church stretton in shropshire. you can see the snow over the higher ground there. now, we will see a little bit more snow moving in from the north west. but this will turn back to rain as this frontal system heads in across parts of scotland and northern ireland, too. it'll continue to push a little bit more cloud further south across england and wales. but as we move through this evening and tonight, the south east of england and eastern england, here we keep the clear skies for longest. so, that's where the temperatures will fall lowest overnight. subzero, certainly a risk of widespread frost, but also some icy stretches. whereas further north, where you've got the cloud and the rain sinking south, it's that little bit milder. during the day on thursday, some brighter skies pushing into scotland and northern ireland with a few showers, rain through the middle of the country, driest and brightest in the south east, and milderfor all of us. bye— bye. today at five. victims of serial sex attacker john worboys have been given permission to challenge the decision to release him. the fulljudicial review hearing will take place in the high court on 13th of march — and worboys will stay in prison until then. he's served less than 10 years — and last month the parole board was criticised when it announced he would be freed. we'll have the latest on worboys‘ appearance in court today — and the next stages of the legal process. the other main stories on bbc news at five. tesco could face a bill of £4 billion after hundreds of thousands of female employees make a claim for equal pay. jon venables — one of the killers of the toddlerjames bulger — admits possessing indecent images of children for a second time — and is sent to jail. the government brexit impact assessments

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