in next week's mid term elections. between them, they represent the full complexity of this huge country. they come from all races, all religions, they are straight, gay, liberal, conservative, men, women — you name it. and what american voters decide on november 6th will have repurcussions around the world. if democrats take back control of the house of representatives, they will put a check on president trump. if republicans keep control, he will have almost unlimited political power. so in these final days, with so much to play for the pace is frenetic and the mood is tense. with us for a look at where america stands with five days to go is anthony salvanto who oversees polling for cbs news. anthony, in these final days, how is the race looking to you? all of the polls have shown the democrats have a real chance to take back control of the house. with posters like to caution it depends on who shows up. what we did, we took our polling models and said, what would happen that all these voters said they will turn up for the first time in a midterm, what if they do not do that? if they do not, we estimate the republicans would hold onto their majority. that underscores the fa ct their majority. that underscores the fact that the democrats's chances are dependent on getting the people who do not normally turn out, to turn out. they are also depending on women turning out. there have been lots of different models, if only women were voting, the map would look one way, if men, the other. here is a graphic showing the split between college educated white women and white men without college degrees. there is something like a 33% gap between democrats and republicans. how important is this group? we are seeing enormous gender gaps. it is important because most of the districts that the democrats are targeting, they might be able to flip, are targeting, they might be able to flip, are filled with these college degree holding women. these districts are more affluent and to whatever degree, they have been drifting away from the republicans are drifting away from the president. that is what the democrats are hoping for, they will cfoss democrats are hoping for, they will cross over democrats are hoping for, they will cross over and this time vote for them. i should say, we're also seeing a lot of these women pressured. they say that the economy is good, but they also say we do not like the direction of the country. which of those to become paramount? i think it ultimately tells of steel. do you have any ideas of those cross pressured people, as you call them, what might implement them to go one way or another? at the moment, they are breaking for the democrats. at the moment, they give the president under 20% approval in these battle ground districts. he is on their minds. he was not on the ballots, but he is in their minds. we have seen in polls, three out of four porters seeing the to support or oppose the president. if we see that nationally on tuesday, that would mark historic levels for a president's influence in a midterm. this has been nationalised to that degree. things are changing very fast. anthony, thank you very much for joining us. joining me now in studio is greta van susteren. she has covered numerous us elections, travels the world for her reporting and is the anchor of plugged in, a show on voice of america. thanks very much coming in. the last couple of weeks, you have been to colombia, mexico and mongolia. i'll be talking about these midterms in those countries? i'm seeing a huge amount of interest around the world. there is a huge interest. iwas in venezuela and is a lot of attention, some people want the us to get more involved. they are concerned. we like a strong president, president trump has said the words many want to hear. the world is watching this one. more so than in any other midterm i have covered. even with the discussion just about the woman falters, they may key. i am not so sure i trust the pollsters. in 2016, the women were key then. if you go back to wisconsin, women were called and they were appalled, if a stranger calls and you are going to say i am going to vote, or the women who's going to change history? then you go behind the curtain and you vote. it was hard for women to say they were going to vote for president trump, but it is not so ha rd president trump, but it is not so hard when they go behind the curtain. i am having a lot of 2016 deja vu as well. back in 2016, we did not have an elected resident which makes these midterms so interesting. —— we did not have a president trump. what is the ta keaway of president trump. what is the takeaway of why these midterms matter for people outside of the united states? this is a referendum oi'i united states? this is a referendum on president trump. we have seen a lot of world events were interesting, in brazil recently, the philippines have a conservative there. the message here is that this isa there. the message here is that this is a referendum on president trump. and if the house of representatives goes democrats, that means there is going to be a stop to any legislative progress for this president. we are going to see him moving to executive orders. that is hugely controversial when he signs his name to different orders. those are often times that are very unpopular here in the united states. if the democrats take the house of representatives, we are going to start 2020 presidential electioneering. that is when the electioneering. that is when the election starts, if the democrats ta ke election starts, if the democrats take the house and most people are expecting of the world. that executive order that you mentioned, we have been hearing and seeing it on the show about birthright citizenship, not giving automatic citizenship to children born of pa rents citizenship to children born of parents who do not have citizenship. some are saying they are just calls that are going out before the elections to try and rally voters you think it could have a life beyond the election?” you think it could have a life beyond the election? i think that whole business about the president signing an executive order of a birthright, that is getting his base out to vote because immigration is a hot issue. i do not think he has the authority to do that. the constitution says if you are born here, you are an american citizen. i do not know if he could change that. you cannot change the constitution if you do not like it. there is a procedure to do that. i think you said that, that isjust my guess, because he knows that is going to get his bees going. the person who wins the election is the one who gets most of their voters to the polls. i cannot believe the president thinks the president has the authority to do that. you're also a lawyer. thank for coming in tojoin us. and joining us now is former advisor to president george w bush, ron christie. great to see you after philadelphia. i went to pick up on some of the themes we have addressed. let's start with women voters. the president in the final days of the election campaign, has released an ad that directs directly to those female suburban voters. he is not in the ad. let's take a look. get distracted from the biggest issue, jobs... this could all go away if we do not remember what we came through. and choose the right future. because the future worth fighting for is not guaranteed. that advertise men, paid for by the donald trump campaign, he does not appear in the advertise meant. ron christie, that is the soft side of the final pitch by the president. no question about that. what he is doing here is trying to take on self out of the equation. donald trump, make no mistake, is the main focus of the midterm election. the democrats are seeking to take the house back because of him and his policies. donald trump is very wisely trying to appeal to these women and say, why do you want to go back to the last eight years when look how great the last two years have been to the economy and security. we all know he is not in it but his face will be living large next tuesday in ballot places around the united states. -- looming large. let me play you this other advertise meant. it is being criticised by republicans and democrats. we have had former republicans coming out and saying it is racist. he says he wa nts and saying it is racist. he says he wants to... attempted murder. that ad, you can tell what is going on, these are immigrants trying to crash these are immigrants trying to crash the american border. tying democrats to illegal immigration. that is the other side of the president's pitch. it is. this is going to donald trump's base, who are pro—america, make america a great again, and keep these people out. i look at this ad and thought it was clever. i do not think it was racist. it shows people who are trying to crash the border from guatemala. that is not racist, thatis from guatemala. that is not racist, that is a fact. clearly, this is not going to do to a lot for republicans to appeal to latinos, it might backfire, trying to get people of colour going to polls. it also has, the music we hear, a dark atmosphere. if you're looking for a bright or optimistic america, surely it would turn people away for that reason, to? evening. no question about that. what we are going to see here, it is going to be a tale of two visions of america. i think the democrats are going to try and portray this as everything is bad and we have to remove publicans and trump. trump is going to try and display an upbeat message. you notice that nobody is talking about issues, it is more thematics than policy and distinctions between the two parties. in the last few days, the big guns coming out in the campaign trail as well. we sought 0prah campaign trail as well. we sought oprah winfrey was in georgia with stacey abrams, who become the first black women to become governor possibly in the country. do you think these celebrity endorsements make a difference? i do not. i think they should stick to their dayjobs. you look at 0prah in georgia, you'll get taylor swift and tennessee talking about the former governor who running again for office, i think these people should stick to their dayjobs. people look at them and they won't be entertained, they do not want these people to tell them which way to lean politically. i think it might even backfire. ron christie, thank you very much. we will see you on election night here in washington as well. this is interesting, ron said something interesting, ron said something interesting where he said, that first ad that we played, donald trump is not then, it is about suburban women voters and donald trump took himself out of the ad. if you look at paul numbers, and approval ratings, donald trump does better when he is not the topic of conversation. he does worse when he is at the centre of the conversation. that suggests to me that there are plenty of people like the policies, the likely state of the policies, the likely state of the economy, they may even like the issue of immigration and how he is tough on that issue around the border while, but what we do not like is his style. it is going to be this battle, i think, like is his style. it is going to be this battle, ithink, in like is his style. it is going to be this battle, i think, in this midterm election between the policies and the style of the president. there seems to be a difference. i suppose the power of those ads, to be able to target to those ads, to be able to target to those people that you mention. those ads, to be able to target to those people that you mentionm other news now... the us state department says jamal khashoggi's remains should be found and returned to his family as soon as possible. the call follows turkey's first official statement yesterday on how it believes the saudi writer killed — saying he was immediately strangled. there still no consensus how he died. the alleged gunman accused of killing 11 jewish worshippers at a synagogue in pittsburgh has pleaded not guilty. robert bowers faces 44 counts of murder, hate crimes, obstructing religious practices and other crimes. prosecutors are seeking the death penalty and mr bowers has requested a trial byjury. two former goldman sachs bankers and a fugitive malaysian financier have been charged in the united states in connection with one of the world's biggest financial scandals. the men are accused of stealing billions of dollars from malaysia's development fund 1mdb. a "black box" carrying data from the lion air flight has been found by divers off the coast of indonesia. the plane crashed soon after taking off from jakarta, the indonesian capital, on monday. it was carrying 100 and 89 people. the uk's national crime agency has opened an investigation into one of the most influential figures in the campaign to leave the eu during the 2016 referendum. businessman arron banks and his leave.eu campaign are now under investigation for alleged financial offences committed in the referendum. the inquiry will focus on eight million pounds of loans from mr banks to his company, which ran the unofficial leave. eu campaign. he welcomed the investigation, calling the allegations ‘ludicrous‘ and adding that he never received any foreign funding during the campaign. so who is arron banks? the bristol—based insurance tycoon was an underwriter for lloyd's the insurers before starting his own firms he's been a close friend and supporter of nigel farage.. and is said to be one of the biggest political donors in british history, apparently having given up to £9.6 million to leave.eu — which he co—founded — and ukip. 0ur political correspondent rob watson is in oxford. hello, rob. hello. a tale of war and intrigue we have for you this evening. —— a tale of war. could you tell as the significance of the national crime agency of the uk opening this investigation. national crime agency of the uk opening this investigationm national crime agency of the uk opening this investigation. it is very serious. this is the police getting involved, rather than the electoral commission. this is about breaking the law. everything you said about arron banks, that is all right. he is extraordinary. most people would never have heard of him. i would call him mr brexit. i would almost argue without him, brexit would not happen. he gave vast amount of money to the leave campaign during the referendum. even before that, this is the key that, he bankrolled the ukip party. that paved the way for the referendum and the result. mr brexit, although no one knows him. although they know him better now. how long will this investigation take? will it have an impact on the brexit negotiating process ? impact on the brexit negotiating process? i can dealwith impact on the brexit negotiating process? i can deal with the first one. ido process? i can deal with the first one. i do not know. i think it will take a couple of months. the second one, will it have an impact? i do not think so. will this stop brexit in its tracks? absolutely not. you can imagine what is happening already, lots of people who were on the remain side saying, hang on a minute, not only do these people, as they saw it, lied during the campaign, but the cheated as well when it came to money. a guess stepping back from it, i do not think this is going to stop brexit in its tracks, what it does do is get further poisons and already poisonous atmosphere in the country. people are saying, hang on a minute. others are saying, this is the british establishment trying to discredit brexit. that is what nigel farage has been seeing in the last few minutes. the reason i asked you the impossible question of how long it is going to take, imagine this i’u ns it is going to take, imagine this runs for six months, that takes us to march 2019 and i can imagine these two things coming together and causing acrimony in the country. mr banks has said he welcomes the investigation and it will clear his name. we should put that out there. why would he be making such a point of saying he welcomes this investigation? have you ever seen him in action? i mean... not as often as you have. anyone who has seen arron banks and action would know he is not the person to say, oh, my goodness, this is terrible. he turns into attack, that is for sure. he made an extraordinary appearance in front of a committee of mps, when they were questioning him about potential russian involvement, which he denies. he is a feisty guy and he will fight it. herel a feisty guy and he will fight it. here i stray from reporting into thinking out loud, i mean, even if let's say the commission and the police come back and say there is something about this we do not like, you would then have the bigger question, you know, did the source of the funding, did it affect the referendum's in many ways, we're back to square one, super divided britain. people on the remain side and on the leave side jacking bricks at each other. this adds more fuel, ori at each other. this adds more fuel, or i should say it's meant, to get my metaphors correct, into the argument. we get the gist. thank you very much. they looks very beautiful in oxford just in the sunset there. and a short time ago we spoke to the observerjournalist carole cadwalladr who has been investigating this. you investigation has in part led to this. what is your reaction? it is very, very long delayed but very welcome news. this is something that a numberof welcome news. this is something that a number of journalists have welcome news. this is something that a number ofjournalists have been investigating over a long period of time, that mps have been pressing for. we do not know the source of the money that paid for the brexit campaign. a report came out, the parliamentary report, in the summer came out and the mp said they did not know the source of the donation that arron banks had made to the leave campaign and the where not even sure this donation was british. these are really, really fundamental questions and it is important to be properly investigated. he does deny any allegations of wrongdoing, arron banks. why does it matter to you if in fact these funds did come from offshore? we have a electoral laws in britain which are there to safeguard our democracy. they have beenin safeguard our democracy. they have been in place for a very long time. one of the fundamental laws we have is that the jewish elections are fought with british money in britain. —— british elections. we do not allow donations from overseas. because we do not know the source of this donation, the electoral commission says it cannot rule out it did not come from an overseas source. it did not come from an overseas source. that's what it means and permission up —— that is what it means, a donation from abroad. we do not know what the outcome is going to be, should it have an impact on the brexit process? i do not think it has anything to do with the brexit process. i think it is vital that we investigate properly these crimes which, you know, are alleged to have occurred. what we really do need and what is essential is a proper investigation, a public enquiry into the referendum. there are multiple crimes that we now know you that were committed, or are alleged to have been committed, and this is such a consequential vote. it is so important. for there to be a question mark over the validity of that vote, whether it was free and fair, and whether it was purely british financed. the leader of the enquiry in the house of commons and the deputy leader of the labour party, tom watson, they have both now called for a public enquiry with powers. we need to get the bottom of what happened. carroll, you believe the investigation and the timetable of the brexit negotiations, can run in parallel to each other? i think thatis in parallel to each other? i think that is a question for politicians. the question of the brexit negotiations is something i am going nowhere near. my investigation is surely into the multiple crimes that we either now look where committed, orare we either now look where committed, or are alleged to have been committed during the referendum. there is a huge question mark. we know that the official campaign of vote lead has been referred to the police. arron banks, the fund, has been referred to the police. meanwhile, we have all these hanging questions about what the relationship is between arron banks and the russian government. now, those links came out over the summer. those links came out over the summer. links that arron banks had clearly misled the public and politicians about. that is the thing now i really think we need to focus on and get some answers to. thank you very much for joining us earlier. we're hoping by this point of the show you've noticed christian's absence. maybe you haven't, maybe none of us have. that's because he's currently making his way stateside to cover the midterms with me. perhaps he was hoping for champagne and caviar as he boarded the plane. butjudging by this picture —— it looks like he had to settle for row 38 in economy and a lot of reading up to do. bon voyage, christian! i hope he gets through that. as we said at the beginning, there are 1000 candidates up. that is a lot of learning to do. you're going to california. i will be in sacramento. more on that coming up next week. this is beyond 100 days from the bbc. coming up for viewers on the bbc news channel and bbc world news — we're continuing our tour round america — finding out the key issues voters care about — with just days to go until the midterm elections. with that in mind, we'll also be heading to st louis missouri to check in with one local radio host to hear about what his listeners are telling him. that's still to come. no shortage of whether action as we head towards the weekend. quite a lot going on for the next couple of days. this was a hurricane, not a hurricane and a more. heading towards the north—west of the british isles. today, we have had this cloud to contend with. rain across eastern areas. for many, clearing away. just a couple of showers. we are continuing to see some of these through the night. for the majority, clear with stars. the wind is light. this is a recipe for the cold night. even in our urban areas, the towns and cities will be freezing. in the countryside, down to minus four celsius. there may be the odd freeze to be start of the day. a mainly fine day, with spells of sunshine. as height cloud streams across the sky, that sunshine will turn hazy. temperature is not doing too badly. 13 celsius at best. the change for a western scotland. outbreaks of rain and the wind will start to strengthen. that is courtesy of that cloud, which at this stage, a deep area of low pressure. this frontal system dangling its way in. outbreaks of rain. the front quite slow moving. the rain sticking around northern ireland. setting in across western scotland. for north—east scotland and further east across england, going to stay largely dry. the winds are strong where you see the wind arrows, wind gusts in excess of a0 mph. those temperatures doing well for this time of year. highs of 15 celsius. it stays mild for saturday. dry weather around but rain in the north and west. a similar story if you are out and about on sunday. sunday, rain. the weatherfront you are out and about on sunday. sunday, rain. the weather front is slow moving. elsewhere, dry weather and spells of sunshine. not as windy as saturday. still relatively mild. this is beyond 100 days with me katty kay in washington. nuala mcgovern is in london. our top stories: donald trump ratchets up the rhetoric with a divisive immigration campaign ad, and pledges to send 15,000 troops to the mexican border. staff at google around the world take part in protests about the company's treatment of women and ethnic minorities. coming up in the next half—hour... doctors in the uk are to prescribe medicinal cannabis to patients for the first time. and scientists show the practicality of counting whales from space from singapore to california, employees of the tech giant google walked out of their offices today in protest at the company's record on sexual harassment. specifically, they are angry at reports that one high profile executive received a $90 million payout despite what google considered a "credible" allegation of sexual misconduct made against him. google's ceo supports the walk—out and says he understands the anger. what employees now want is an end to forced arbitration which would mean victims would be able to sue if they are harassed. sophie long reports. i am fed up! a clear message from google workers in new york — it is time to change the way the company deals with sexual harassment. i just felt that it was something good to do, to support women, and we have the opportunity to show solidarity, that is the only way things are going to change, when things happen in numbers and they see a large group of people speaking up, i think that is when i think things start to change. at 11 o'clock local time, colleagues around the world walked away from their workstations. in zurich, in dublin, they stopped swiping screens in tokyo and singapore, and in london, like google employees elsewhere, they left this message at their desks and went to protest. anger has been growing amongst the tech giant's staff since the new york times revealed andy rubin, the man known as the creator of the android operating system, left the company with a $90 million pay—out despite facing an allegation of sexual misconduct, which he denies. google's chief executive, has apologised. he's told employees these he's listening so he can turn their ideas into action. in an all—staff email he said... i don't know that we'll see a change of culture. right now we have a ceo, sundar pichai, who says he wants to see change, he's encouraged this walk—out, but, at the same, i think what we have to pay attention to is, one, whether or not any of these demands or met or responded to or how the company responds, and also whether or not the employees themselves believe that things have changed. so far it seems they don't. many walked out of work today feel that the company, famous for its collaborative culture and employee perks, is not meeting basic standards of respect, justice and fairness and that, they say... time is up! ..has to change. sophie long, bbc news. i thought those pictures looked powerful, for a number of reasons, one, that it was men and women that we re one, that it was men and women that were walking out, and also you had cultures so different, we say, the irish, all the way to singapore, and interesting that the new york times journalist says she doesn't believe there will be a change in culture. i find it hard to understand how there wouldn't be if that amount of people, probably among the brightest and have been recruited by google, if they can't make an impact. it's interesting. silicon valley, under the spotlight as a sort of frat boy type culture. we've heard so much about the film industry in la and hollywood and how that's had issues with the #metoo movement, and everybody has been thinking that silicon valley will do something next. i think people at google will wa nt to next. i think people at google will want to know there is a change to the legal structure and whether people who have been accused of harassment can sue over that, and the ceo said he is also disappointment, but it isn't whether he is disappointed by the culture or pay—out, but he supported his walk—out. those employees who did walk—out. those employees who did walk out today will want to know, does he do something about it? a lot of focus on silicon valley on this. health care, immigration, the economy, education — what matters to american voters? five days ahead of the mid—term elections here in the us, we've been around the country asking people what issues are important for them. it's part of our ask america series. take a listen. having health coverage is such a big deal. the economy. i may not vote in the midterms, and i didn't vote for president. am i that guy you don't want to have here? the mid—term elections... are in november. what will decide your vote? my vote will be decided on the issues. the candidates will decide my vote. the more somebody seems authentic and real and connected to everyday human life in america, the more i'm going to side with them. what issues? oh, wow... that's a good question. so many issues. more money in the budget for education for us. in the future, and the funding that i don't have, you see me going out and buying school supplies with my money? helping our working class and middle class people. we have to be able to take care of ourselves first, so i don't feel like all my taxes are paying for other people's needs. you want to have rights in this country, you need to come here legally. i think we should focus a bit more on what's going on inside our own boundaries. looking at the criminal justice system. obviously, we need change and we need reform. number one, the second amendment. i don't see what the big problem is with medical marijuana. like, what's the worst that's going to happen? you're going to eat all the food in your fridge? i would like to have a strong conservative court. i'm going to vote, that is definite. i'm not really into politics. i'd like to see some new people in, not the same old tired blah blah blah politicians. i didn't vote for trump. i didn't vote by hillary. i didn't vote for bernie. i didn't vote for anybody. vote for me! i can do this, i can do that! how? and i'd like to see more women in, too, because women... we get things done. because the men are doing a fine job. you mess it up, we fix it. those voices are being listened to by vulnerable democratic senators in states that donald trump won in 2016. they are the democrats struggling this season. one of them is senator claire mccaskill of missouri. she's being challenged by republicanjosh hawley. she has been dubbed one of the most endangered incumbent senators in the country, which is why former vice presidentjoe biden was in missouri yesterday, and why president trump is flying in today and then back there again on monday. for the last in our series of interviews with local radio hosts, we can go to st louis, missouri and talk to jason rosenbaum, host of the npr's politically speaking podcast. hello. thank you forjoining us. thank you for having me. hello. thank you forjoining us. thank you for having melj hello. thank you forjoining us. thank you for having me. i checked the polls just before i walked into the polls just before i walked into the studio and i saw that the republican candidate is ahead, a7, claire mccaskill is down, a5. are the democrats and hold onto midori and how much does it matter if they lose it? it matters a great deal because there is no way the democrats and take over the us senate and claire mccaskill is defeated. the polls you mentioned are probably within the margin of error so, republicans are confident, because this is a state that donald trump won by 19 points, i don't think they are spiking football, so to speak yet, because this state a lwa ys to speak yet, because this state always has competitive us senate election and claire mccaskill is probably one of the best craftiest and best retail politicians in the country. i remember talking to claire mccaskill a couple of weeks ago about the brett kavanaugh thing, the confirmation process, and she said to me, look, she could survive voting no on brett kavanaugh. she could survive and get re—elected evenif could survive and get re—elected even if she voted no. but she couldn't survive if it was seen to be somehow unfair. how much did the brett kava naugh confirmation be somehow unfair. how much did the brett kavanaugh confirmation issue affect her poll numbers in missouri? it depends who you ask. i think if she voted yes on brett kavanaugh, she voted yes on brett kavanaugh, she would have risked alienating the base that she needs to turn out in st louis kansas city and colombia, but if you talk to a lot of republicans, they feel that the brett kava naugh earrings republicans, they feel that the brett kavanaugh earrings and the controversy around it galvanised the gop base, which for various reasons was divided here, along with the rest of the country, and it's a situation where i think republicans feel like the brett kavanaugh situation and claire mccaskill‘s no vote has energised voters here. on the other hand, i think that democratic, the democratic base also feels like the brett kavanaugh situation gave it another reason to vote for claire mccaskill. situation gave it another reason to vote for claire mccaskilllj situation gave it another reason to vote for claire mccaskill. i can hear that people are trying to get in touch with you, but you'll have to stay with us for a few minutes. if it's not brett kavanaugh, as you laid out there, what is the issue in this sorry —— in missouri that you think is creating this precarious position for mccaskill?|j think is creating this precarious position for mccaskill? i think one reason why mccaskill is in a precarious situation is that trump isn't universally unpopular here. his approval ratings are around 50%, higher than the national average. i also think the reason she isn't com pletely also think the reason she isn't completely out of it is because she has really crafted a short message about protecting aspects of the affordable care act, especially requirement that insurance companies that cover people with pre—existing conditions. i think that that is partly strategy of democrats in red states, as an alternative way to attack their opponents, as opposed to just saying, this opponent is going to be with trump 100%, and folk to that, which isn't effective in missouri when people still like the president. i think it's a competition of the president and whether he is still popular or not, and whether mccaskill‘s messaging on health care bricks through to a diverse set of photos. what group justin rose brown —— diverse set of photos. what group justin rose brown -- jason rosenbaum, thank you for the health ca re rosenbaum, thank you for the health care is a big issue in this campaign, and i've been going back to the house races that are considered toss—ups by the pollsters and, in everyone, the democratic candidate is taking on the republican candidate on the issue of health care, and particularly to go with those with pre—existing conditions, which was addressed by the obamaca re conditions, which was addressed by the obamacare ruling, so don't underestimate the degree to which health care is important for americans, and it will be important in these elections. for the first time doctors can legally prescribe some patients with medicinal cannabis in the uk, though restrictions remain tight. it can only be prescribed by a specialist doctor and in a limited number of circumstances where other medicines have failed. the decision to relax the rules followed an outcry over two boys with severe epilepsy who were denied access to cannabis oil, as our health editor hugh pym explains. harry, who is ten years old, has epilepsy. he's energetic enough now but his sometimes daily fits were so severe that his parents feared for his life. he has every type of seizure imaginable. we spent days where he just lay on the sofa. he didn't go to school. harry was dying before our very eyes. but after taking cannabis oil, available in some shops, the fits became a lot less frequent and there was a big improvement in his condition. from today, more effective medicinal cannabis can be prescribed on the nhs, though only to certain groups of patients. children with rare severe forms of epilepsy, adults vomiting because of chemotherapy and some adults with multiple sclerosis. only a small number of specialists, rather than gps, will be able to prescribe medicinal cannabis and there is continuing research into the long—term risks. some experts think it is best to wait for the research to be completed before extending the range of patients who can be treated. it is really important that doctors don't cause any harm to their patients and don't cause side effects. we know that cannabis related products do have potential side—effects. that is why it is right that it a gradual and slow incremental process going forward now. she was such a happy little girl. emma's nine—year—old daughter teagan has been in hospital for several weeks because of repeated epileptic seizures. i haven't had a hug off her for over two weeks now. her personality is just going. she was told teagan would qualify for the most effective medicinal cannabis. but then when the guidance came out late yesterday, doctors said it wasn't possible. i'm absolutely gutted. absolutely gutted knowing there is a product that can help and watching my daughter suffer every day, it is horrible. it's really horrible. harry doesn't qualify either and his family, like teagan's, feel a battle to legalise medicinal cannabis has been won but the reality hasn't matched up, with the possible benefits still not accessible. hugh pym, bbc news. so interesting watching that debate from over here in the united states, because the us seems far ahead in terms of legalising cannabis than britain does. it will be very restrictive there, under medicinal circumstances if other drugs have failed. in america, nine states have legalised cannabis just for recreational use, not for medicinal use. all of these states, washington, dc, nota use. all of these states, washington, dc, not a state, use. all of these states, washington, dc, nota state, of course, but you can have it for recreational use as well, and canada, which we reported on last month has also legalised cannabis for recreational use. from a north american point of view, it's interesting to watch this debate in the uk and see where it's headed there and has slowly changing. particularly watching some of the headlines here, and it says that doctors now have the right to prescribe it but they probably won't, that's not what was saying, but it has undergone a rebrand i spoke to a farmer a few weeks ago on the world service who was changing the world service who was changing the crops he was going to grow because he knew it was going to be economically more beneficial if he stopped with wheat etc and started growing cannabis. and guess why states like legalising it, because it means tax revenue. this is beyond 100 days. still to come, we're going to hear from scientists who can see and count whales from space. now let's take a closer look at the impact that the food we buy has on the environment. elaine dunkley has spent time with one family in west yorkshire who are trying to change their shopping list so that it's friendlier to the planet but still within budget. the edwards family from calverley are, like most, busy. i can put away the cereal. when it comes to eating, cost and convenience are important and now they're trying to shop in a way that's more sustainable. today i did buy a couple of different things, food expert duncan williamson has helped the family shop for more sustainable ingredients. the biggest surprise most people have is we're actually saying you don't have to give up anything. you don't have to go vegan or vegetarian. and now there's extra help in the kitchen. top chef chantelle nicholson runs restaurants in london. her ethos is food should be delicious and sustainable. the edwards family are big meat eaters, so can she persuade them to eat more sustainably with quick affordable recipes? time to get rolling, so we are having meatballs, in case you've not realised, so in here we've got half the amount of mince that we would normally use, so they're full of lots of delicious tasty things that could also provide a lot of nutrition, such as fish balls, nuts, pulses and grains, so at the end of the day we'll have something that's super nutritious and should be super delicious. it's very, very nice. yeah, i think it adds a lot with the vegetables. it is gorgeous. what's on our plate has an impact on the planet. for the edwards, it's a case of tweaking what you're eating. eating sustainably hasn't had a huge impact on this family's budget or time but it has made a significant difference in the way they think about food. who's got the sweet tooth, then? mum. elaine dunkley, bbc news. for the first time, scientists have used high—resolution satellite images to count and identify species of whales from space. researchers from the british antarctic survey hope the technology can improve conservation efforts by more accurately assessing whale numbers. here's our science correspondent, jonathan amos. big, beautiful, but we're a little sketchy on their numbers. whales are recovering from commercial hunting, although how well is open to question. the problem is their range. whales will cover vast tracts of the globe. what's needed is a rapid way to survey the oceans, to zoom in on their breeding and feeding grounds. the answer is the sharpest views from space ever released. well, this big blue piece of paper here is a satellite image of baja california off the west coast of mexico. and as you look closely, each one of these white specks is actually a whale that we're seeing. it's a whale near the surface. we can use these very high—resolution images to actually count the number of whales in any particular area. but totting up the numbers is one thing. scientists also need to know the type of whale. whales have previously been counted from boats and planes, but these are small—scale surveys. now scientists are using the latest satellite images to cover the whole earth. key is the improved resolution that can see anything larger than 30 centimetres across. this means features such as fins and tails can be observed, and the animals identified. it should lead to more reliable estimates of the status of these endangered creatures. whales were pushed to the edge of extinction by commercial whaling. some species still number in the low thousands, but they are recovering, and scientists are keen to learn everything they can about their progress. whales are really important indicators of our ecosystem health. and so gathering information like this on such a broad scale from satellite imagery, we can understand something about the ocean's health, and that's really useful for marine conservation. the task of counting whales from space will only get easier as more and more satellites are launched. soon, we'll have a sharp picture of every corner of the globe updated every day. jonathan amos, bbc news. following on from that story, researchers have found the amount of heat soaked up by the world's oceans is much higher than previously thought. the figure could be 60% higher than previously thought. the findings were presented in thejournal nature. if proven to be true, it would mean the earth is much more sensitive to greenhouse gas emissions. that in turn makes it harder to combat climate change. we talk a lot about russian influence in us elections but a new report shows the lengths to which one russian organisation went to manipulate the social media discussion in the uk. the report analysed 9 million tweets shared by some a,000 accounts linked to the russian internet research agency. researchers found that, of those tweets, around 83,000 were about the uk. that might seem a small percentage, but the impact was widespread. those posts were shared over 222,000 times. mainly the tweets were against muslims and refugees. joining us with more isjosh smith, one of the authors of the report. a busy day for you, so you've taken a look at these tweets, but why does it matter? firstly, this is a unique thing from a social media company, and it's an interesting window into how states are trying to influence policy and society through social media, which is little understood. the second fascinating thing is not only how the internet research agencies are proceeding tactically, so lots of the tweets were just around fitness and chatting to people and nonsense, basically, trying to make themselves look like real people instead of robots or paid agents, but it also shows us how we as a society responded to that and what we responded to, and it turns out to be the stuff that is already divisive, arguments about brexit, muslim immigration and islam and the stuff that you are highlighting there.|j and the stuff that you are highlighting there. i was quite surprised, looking at your report, that not all by any means of these tweets were about brexit, so what is the political aim, the endgame from this intervention? we were also surprised and, when we cracked open this dataset, the idea was like, russian influence on brexit is going to be to push the vote one way or the other, they are going to decide what is strategically useful and try and influence it. what we found was that, in the six months leading up to the brexit vote, the russians we re to the brexit vote, the russians were relatively quiet on sharing views about brexit. as soon as it happened and the country was split 58-a2, happened and the country was split 58—a2, sorry, 52—a8, pretty much as split as you can be as a country, russian agent let into that position and started trying to foment arguments, you know, calling the leavers fascists, calling the remainers sore losers, rubbing salt in the wound, so the aim was to exacerbate divisions and they existing rather than display things. a lot of the tweets came after terror incidents and were anti—muslim. in the united states, we always think, it was associated with trying to get donald trump into power. is there that kind of transactional calculation, or is it just about vision? it is much less clearly politically motivated than the trump argument was, because trump was picking up many of those arguments or was endorsing them in some way or another. as you say, i think the end view is much more of a societal aim to weaken britain as a society, to divide us amongst ourselves along political or religious lines. thank you for coming in, a researcher at the centre for the analysis of social media. coming up next on bbc world news, ros atkins is here with outside source. ifind i find that fascinating, when josh was talking about some of those things, saying, could you get more divided? i was thinking, if you hop over the pond you might get some similar figures. i don't know what we do, if we are already divided societies and social media is going to keep dividing us further, i think the question is, how do we get smarter as consumers and start thinking, what are we looking at? if we don't, is divisions will only continue. we'll see you next week for the mid—term elections, and we'll be up all night on tuesday night covering them on the bbc. good evening. no shortage of weather action as we head towards the weekend. quite a lot happening in the next few days, and the weather for the weekend is this: cloud. this was a hurricane, not any more, but still a deep low heading to the north—west of the british isles. today, this stripe of cloud and persistent rain across eastern areas, but for many that cleared away to leave a fine end to the day. a few showers in western areas, and we will see some of these overnight but for the majority dry with clear, starry skies, relatively light winds. this is a recipe for a cold night. you can see the pale green and blue colours on the temperature chart, even in big urban areas, down around freezing, and in the countryside some places might get down to —a. there may well be the odd freezing fog patch around to start the day. after that cold start, it looks mainly fine with spells of sunshine, although as high cloud streams across from the west, that sunshine is likely to turn hazy for the temperature is not doing badly, nine to 13 degrees at best, but a change for northern ireland and scotland during the evening, and the cloud will thicken and we will see aspects of rain and strengthening wind, courtesy of that girl of cloud which, by this stage, will be quite a deep area of low pressure pushing towards the north—west. this frontal system dangling its way in will provide fabrics of rain. the front is quite slow moving, so the rain sticking around for more though ireland for a good part of the day. rain settling in western scotland and some in other western fringes but for movies scotla nd other western fringes but for movies scotland and further east across england, it will stay largely dry. the wind is strong where ever you are. the black winged arrows show wind gusts in excess of a0 mph. those temperatures during pretty well for the time of year. it stays mild for saturday afternoon, if you are off to a fireworks display. still some rain in the north and west, and quite dissimilar story on evening. sunday itself will continue to bring some rain, the slow—moving weather front, and wet weather expected for the south—west, parts of wales, the midlands and perhaps northern england. elsewhere, dry weather and spells of sunshine, not as windy as saturday and still relatively mild. this is bbc news i'm julian worricker. the headlines at 8pm: the sports minister tracey crouch has resigned, accusing the government of an "unjustifiable delay" in the introduction of restrictions on high—stakes betting machines. the national crime agency investigates arron banks and his leave.eu campaign for alleged offences committed during the 2016 eu referendum. google employees around the world stage protests demanding fairer treatment for female and ethnic minority staff. four men part who were part of a gang of 20 which groomed and sexually abused vulnerable girls in huddersfield have beenjailed. also coming up, unions call on the government to do more to save the appledore shipyard in devon. unite said the owners, babcock international, had lost a major defence contract to an italian competitor.

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