when the conservative mayor of the west midlands accused the government of cancelling the future if the leg between birmingham and manchester isn't built. speaking outside the conservative party conference in manchester, andy street said the government must not give up on h52 and the prime minister must rethink radically how the project is delivered. but downing street is still insisting that no final decision has been made. with the latest, here's our political editor, chris mason, in manchester. party conferences are always a cauldron of whispers and gossip... 0k, good evening, everybody. ..denials and announcements. at half five tonight, enter the conservative mayor of the west midlands. gripping this situation means reexamining it. it does not mean giving up, admitting defeat, you could say, or even, you could say, cancelling the future. mr street, have you considered resigning over the cancellation of the northern leg of hs2? we're not talking about that. the issue is we're working hard on finding the solution for the prime minister. three times he was asked whether he's considering resigning, three times he did not deny it. and from one angry conservative mayor at one end of the line to another labour one at the other. people are meeting in rooms yards from where we're standing now about decisions that will affect the future of the north of england for the rest of this century. but nobody in government deems that they should pick up the phone to the leader of manchester city council or to myself. among the folk in those meetings, the transport secretary. any clarity at all on hs2? you've heard what number ten said, no decision has been taken. - and, yes, downing street continue to insist no final decisions have been made. the chancellor of the exchequer, jeremy hunt! in the conference hall itself, there was stuff the government did want to say. jeremy hunt said he'll put up the national living wage to at least £11 an hour from next april. that's a pay rise for two million workers, and the wages of the lowest paid over £9,000 higher than they were in 2010. because if you work hard, a conservative government will always have your back. but this was a day where ministers had the agenda repeatedly snatched away by others. are you just here to cause trouble? this time last year, liz truss was in charge. now she's back. activists queued around the building and squeezed in here. more than 100 couldn't get into this packed room to see her. but some familiar faces did. liz truss�*s message was familiar too — cutting corporation tax, reducing energy bills and building more houses. let's be prepared to make conservative arguments again, even if it's unpopular, even if it's difficult. i want everybody in this room to unleash their inner conservative. let's make britain grow again. thank you. a donald trump slogan, borrowed and amended. what's at the heart of all of this? the government and labour are increasingly similar, reckons the former leader of the brexit party. we're all here looking for big differences. there aren't really. what was being talked about today, effectively, was to reset the conservative party after they lose next year. maybe i should whisper this, but how much is this about a party contemplating defeat and thinking about what comes next? what was it queen victoria said? she said the possibility of defeat does not exist. today was a day here of a former prime minister mobbed, a big decision still ducked, and so plenty of questions for this man to answer. and we can join chris now. notan not an easy day for the prime minister, are we any closer to a decision on hs2? we minister, are we any closer to a decision on h52?_ minister, are we any closer to a decision on h52? decision on hst? we seem to be chu: ulna decision on h52? we seem to be chugging closer _ decision on h52? we seem to be chugging closer to _ decision on h52? we seem to be chugging closer to one, - decision on h52? we seem to be chugging closer to one, sophie, | decision on h52? we seem to be i chugging closer to one, sophie, we have got to the stage with all of this when we know the original plan is going into the shredder. what we don't know is what is going to emerge instead. what has happened here is a photograph was taken of a government document the best part of three weeks ago which revealed they were up to something, and what ministers have had to do since work out what they are going to do was to dodging questions pretty much every single day about their plan. so that is one reason to doubt why ministers kind of lost control of what was going on here and the story emerging out of this conference. the other one was liz truss, both of these things political pyrotechnics which, quite frankly, rishi sunak could do without. but it's worth putting it in some sort of context. this time last year at the conservative party conference, the rockets and bangers and catherine wheels were all going off at once, the night sky was white with political anger, and we are not there this year. that calibration of difference is important, this is more conventional as far as the rows and disagreements and noises of a party conference go. as for rishi sunak, though, he still faces those questions. 0ur colleagues on bbc breakfast at 7:30am tomorrow will ask him live those questions and trying to get some answers. mason, thank ou. a new vaccine for malaria, developed by oxford university, is being hailed as breakthrough that could save millions of lives. it's the second malaria vaccine to be developed, but crucially it is considerably cheaper and will be produced on a massive scale, with up to 100 million doses a year. that should vastly reduce the toll of a disease that claims hundreds of thousands of lives a year, almost all them children in africa. 0ur medical editor, fergus walsh, is here with all the details. malaria has been causing untold human suffering for millennia. the parasitic infection is spread by mosquitoes. africa is worst affected, particularly the areas marked in red here, which account for 95% of the global burden of malaria. in 2021, there were an estimated 234 million cases and 593,000 deaths from malaria in africa. most of those were children under the age of five. the oxford vaccine is called r21 and requires children to have four doses. trials run by oxford'sjenner institute show it is around 75% effective at preventing malaria. crucially, the world's biggest vaccine manufacturer, the serum institute in india, has agreed to produce 100 million doses a year of the oxford jab at between $2 and $4 a dose. this will be africa's second malaria vaccine. the first, rts,s from pharma giant gsk, costs about twice as much. since 2019, just 1.7m jabs have been administered, so the new 0xford vaccine could be delivered at a much bigger scale. today is a great day for health, a great day for science, and a great day for vaccines. as a malaria researcher, i used to dream of the day when we would have a safe and effective vaccine against malaria. now we have two. today's announcement follows a major trial of the oxford malaria vaccine involving nearly 5,000 children across four african countries, lasting several years. 0ur correspondent anne soy witnessed some of the children getting booster doses in tanzania and has this report. a life—saving jab, giving protection against one of the biggest killers of african children — malaria. it has taken decades to find. three—year—old hajdra was one of hundreds of volunteers in the clinical trials. her mother, 39—year—old mosemi saif, had a compelling reason to enrol the youngest of her six children in the study. translation: i lost my nephew. he was only four when he died from malaria. that's why when i heard that there was a malaria vaccine trial, i said i wanted to participate, because it would help us. here in bagamoyo, 600 children took part in the trial. experts are urging people to continue using the proven weapons of preventing infection, even with the discovery of a new vaccine. the results of the final phase of the research surpassed expectations. what we have shown in one year, after the three doses the efficacy is about 75%, again well above the goal set by the who malaria community, and this is really exciting. thejob is farfrom done. the vaccine now needs to be delivered to villages and towns across africa. for families like mosemi's, it will bring much needed relief from disease and keep her children alive. anne soy, bbc news, bagamoyo. the next step is ensuring there are enough health—care workers across africa to administer these jabs to the children who need them. and it's worth remembering the vaccines are not a magic bullet. 0ther malaria control measures like bed nets will remain vital. sophie. let's get more now on that explosion in 0xfordshire this evening. it's thought it happened after lightning hit a waste plant north of oxford. the emergency services are at the scene, and local residents have been told to stay indoors and keep their windows shut. jon donnison reports. there's a fire. oh, my god. lightning just struck that. just after seven o'clock this evening, a fireball in the night sky north of oxford. eyewitnesses for miles around in disbelief. oh, my god. that is flipping massive. we heard like a bang or something, and when i went to the balcony, i saw this huge fireball. and it went like that for almost a minute. yeah, it felt like it was like some sort of gas or something. i don't know, we were a bit scared. the explosion was caused when a lightning strike hit a biogas storage tank at the severn trent green power plant at cassington. the company said it was now working with the emergency services to secure the site. in a statement, thames valley police advised people living nearby to stay home, shut windows and doors, and keep away from the scene. but despite the folds of the explosion, both police and the company said they believed nobody had been hurt. jon donnison, bbc news. nhs bosses have warned patients to expect widespread disruption to services in england until thursday morning, as junior doctors and consultants stage a combined three—day strike. the walk—out is part of the ongoing dispute about pay and conditions. members of the british medical association will only provide so—called christmas day cover, meaning emergency care will be staffed, with a minimal service elsewhere. ministers say their pay offer is fair and final. donald trump has appeared in court in new york at the start of a civil fraud trial which could have serious consequences for his business interests. the former president denounced the trial as a scam and a sham as he arrived at court. new york's attorney general is suing mr trump and two of his sons after a judge ruled that they vastly inflated the value of their wealth. from new york, gary 0'donoghue reports. donald trump on his way to court yet again. the question this time around — is he as rich as he says he is? it's a scam, it's a sham. just so you know, my financial statements are phenomenal. and while the former president can't be sent to jail, as it's a civil trial, this one has really riled him up. and the violent crime that is being committed in our city and our state is disgraceful, and we're going be here for months, with a judge that already made up his mind, it's ridiculous! he's a democratjudge, he's an operative, and it's ridiculous. attacking thejudge is a curious tactic, since he will decide on damages. he's already ruled that mr trump and his children acted fraudulently. but the new york attorney general is suing mr trump for $250 million for overstating the value of his properties to get cheap loans. no matter how powerful you are, no matter how much money you think you may have, no—one is above the law. and it is my responsibility and my duty and myjob to enforce it. donald trump is accused of overstating the value of his mar—a—lago club in florida by 25 times. he exaggerated the size of his penthouse apartment in trump tower by 200%. and overall, he may have claimed to be $2 billion richer than he really is. lawyers for the former president have argued that property valuations vary a lot, even claiming the size of an apartment can be subjective — something the judge called absurd. this is one of donald trump's prize possessions, a0 wall street, at the heart of new york's financial district. if he loses this case, he could have it taken away from him, and with it a whole chunk of his self—proclaimed reputation as a property genius. and more than that, some of his licences to do business here have already been suspended, threatening to end his new york business career for ever. gary 0'donoghue, bbc news, new york. water companies in england and wales have announced they want to increase customers' bills to pay for upgrades and reduce sewer discharges. they say the increase would allow spending on infrastructure to almost double to £96 billion. the average annual bill would go up by £81; in 2025 if the regulator 0fwat approves the plans, and it would mean £156 extra by 2030. but critics say water companies have failed to invest adequately since they were privatised more than 30 years ago. our environment correspondent, jonah fisher, reports. we will run out of water, not within the next 50 years but within the next five to ten if we do nothing. 0ur water infrastructure has been starved of investment for decades, and in east anglia, making sure it keeps flowing for everyone is a recurring headache. climate change is the biggest challenge we face as a company. big problems need huge, expensive solutions. try putting that plate down the back, yeah? this pipe transporting water from wet to dry areas will cost half a billion pounds. it's taking water from north lincolnshire, where we know we have more rain, down to norfolk, suffolk and essex, where we have a lot less. today, water companies have submitted to the regulator, 0fwat, their wish lists — what they want to spend between 2025 and 2030. and it's a huge number, nearly £100 billion. that's almost twice as much as in the previous five year period. and the cost of all that is ultimately going to fall on customers. it's estimated that by 2030, bills will rise on average by about £156. if approved by the regulator, the plans would see ten new reservoirs built, leaks from pipes reduced, and £11 billion spent to tackle raw sewage spills. it's got into a dreadful state. peter says this stream in kings lynn used to be crystal—clear, but he says the cost of cleaning it up shouldn't fall on bill payers. i'm not personally inclined to pay any more. they've had tens of billions of pounds of our money over the last 30 years since they were privatised, so i'd suggest that they start getting some money back from their australian pension funds and their other investors that they've paid out enormous dividends to before they start asking customers to pay more. do you accept that water companies have in the past got it wrong? that profit has been put ahead of stopping pollution? i think that water companies have got work to do on building trust with customers again. but hopefully, seeing schemes like this today shows that we have the environment and looking after our customers at the heart of what we do. a final decision on which projects go ahead and how much bills will rise will be taken late next year. jonah fisher, bbc news. the former chief executive of global fashion brand abercrombie & fitch and his british partner are facing allegations of exploitation from men recruited for sex events they hosted around the world. a bbc investigation found a highly organised operation running the events, with a middleman finding young adult men for mikejeffries and his partner matthew smith. eight men told the bbc they attended these events, some of whom alleged they were exploited or abused. mrjeffries and mr smith did not respond to requests for comment. rianna croxford has the story. in the early 2000s, abercrombie & fitch became one of the hottest labels in the us and around the world. sexualised imagery and provocative billboards turned the teen retailer, which also owns the hollister brand, into a multibillion—dollar sensation. the man behind the vision was then—ceo mikejeffries. mike was tireless. he was very energetic and boisterous. he was an incredibly big personality. he would explode into a room. bbc panorama has uncovered a highly organised international operation recruiting young adult men for sex with mikejeffries over several years, when he was the ceo of the brand. this experience, i think it broke me, and it mentally messed me up. two men have agreed to tell me their accounts on camera. they attended separate events hosted by mikejeffries in 2010 and 2011. both men say they were recruited and auditioned by a middleman, james jacobson, known to the men asjim. david says mrjacobson led him to believe he was pursuing a modelling opportunity. i was made to believe, look, this is where everybody gets their start. this is where you want to get your start. it was like he was selling fame. and the price was compliance. david says compliance meant engaging in a sexual act with mrjacobson. seven more men i've spoken to say they also met with jim. the men say mrjacobson was part of a well—oiled machine which included recruiters, drivers and other staff. mrjacobson told the bbc any encounters were fully consensual, not coercive. he said he had no recollection of making promises of modelling opportunities, and that everyone whom he came into contact with who attended these events went in with their eyes wide open. this is the route the men would have taken when they were on their way to the hamptons, when they were going to go and meet with mikejeffries. 0nce through the audition, the men would then go to an event hosted by mrjeffries and his british partner, matthew smith. some were held at their home here in the exclusive new york coastal community the hamptons. barrett said he was introduced to mrjacobson by an older model who he felt indebted to, and knew there would be some kind of sexual activity. david said he was not expecting sex to take place at the hamptons. i was taken, chaperoned over to the main house, to the doors that entered into the bedroom where everything was happening. and then...told to disrobe. barrett said he engaged in an intimate act with another man. david says mrjeffries had sex with him. so i didn't feel safe to, like, say no or. _ "i don't feel comfortable with this". i don't really know what would have happened. i didn't feel like i had any choice. both men say they felt leaving didn't seem to be an option because mrjeffries' private staff were supervising the event, including in the bedroom. they also say they were asked to sign nondisclosure agreements beforehand, and were not given any copies to take away. it did feel like they were trying to scare us. that's what it felt like. it felt like intimidation. both men were paid around $2,500 after the event they attended. still hoping it may lead to modelling work, david went to further events with mrjeffries and mr smith, both in the us and around the world. two us lawyers who reviewed evidence uncovered by the bbc said prosecutors should investigate whether the allegations could amount to sex trafficking. the bbc has made repeated attempts to contact mrjeffries and mr smith. they have not responded. abercrombie and fitch told us it is appalled and disgusted by the allegations about their former ceo's behaviour. it said a new executive leadership team has transformed the company's brand and culture, adding that the company has zero tolerance for abuse, harassment or discrimination ofany kind. rianna croxford, bbc news. if you've been affected by some of the issues raised in this report, you can find more details of support online at at bbc.co.uk/actionline. you can watch panorama's the abercrombie guys: the dark side of cool now on bbc iplayer. and listen to the podcast series world of secrets: season1 — the abercrombie guys — on bbc sounds. the boss of thejohn lewis group, dame sharon white, is to step down next year after five years, making her the shortest—serving chair in the partnership's 100—year history. the company, which runs the department stores and waitrose supermarkets, reported a loss of more than £200 million last year, forcing it to scrap the annual staff bonus. our business editor simonjack reports. # i only wish i had the strength to let it show. the christmas ads are a seasonal event. it's owned by its 711,000 employees, and it's been around nearly 100 years. thejohn lewis partnership, which also owns waitrose, occupies a unique place in the uk retail landscape. we used your expertise as an economist, but of course, your day job at the moment is being the boss ofjohn lewis... dame sharon white, former senior treasury official, former head of 0fcom, was a surprise choice as chair for a company that face challenges. so the question for us now as a £12.5 billion business is, how do we how do we fund the growth that we know is there? challenges that would have tested even experienced retail bosses. dame sharon was the wrong person in the wrong job at the wrong time, and she didn't have enough retail experience at a time when it was desperately needed. and that ultimately was her achilles heel. 0n the plus side, she has tried to sort out the finance issues, recognised some of the issues, and she's taken some action. there's only ever been six chairs of thejohn lewis partnership. most stick around for a decade or two, so leaving after five years is an early exit. it's been a tough time to be boss. a month after sharon white took over, these streets were deserted during the first covid lockdown, and the subsequent cost of living crisis made life difficult for all retailers, pressures that not evenjohn lewis was immune to. "never knowingly undersold" was a familiar slogan in shoppers' minds, but was dropped last year. how else have perceptions changed? and has it changed over the years, do you think? i don't think so. and is that a good thing? it's very reassuring to me. 0k. some of the quality of the food that comes through is not as good as it used to be, because i shop in the local waitrose. i still like a department store, but maybe the i younger people don't. maybe they shop in a different way. the partnership lost nearly £250 million last year, meaning no payout for employee partners. dame sharon white said the road back to profit would be a long one, and it seems she may not be there at the end of it. simon jack, bbc news. the former manchester city and england striker francis lee has died at the age of 79. he scored 148 goals during an eight year spell at city. he was also part of the 1970 world cup squad. he will be remembered as one of manchester city's all time greats. two scientists who developed the technology that led to the mrna covid vaccines have been awarded the nobel prize for medicine. professors katalin kariko and drew weissman will share the prize. the technology was experimental before the pandemic, but has now been given to millions around the world to protect them against covid—19, and it's hoped it could be used for other diseases including cancer. here's our health and science correspondent james gallagher. this was the beginning of the end of the covid emergency. margaret keenan was the first person in the world to get a covid—19 vaccine as part of a mass immunisation campaign. millions of us have since received mrna vaccines made by either pfizer or moderna. their invention can be traced back to the work of drew weissman and katalin kariko. the pair met while queuing to use a university photocopier back in the 1990s. decades later, their work would change the course of the pandemic. but at the time, mrna was considered a scientific backwater. we couldn't get funding, we couldn't get publications, we couldn't get, really, people to notice mrna as something interesting. it was at 3:40 or something, very early, and my husband picked up the phone... but after decades of perseverance, this morning they got the call saying they'd won the most prestigious award in science. ..said that me and drew weissman received the nobel prize today. and i was like, i didn't know whether it is real, you know. vaccines prepare the body to fight infection. many use a dead or weakened version of a virus or bacterium to train our immune system. mrna vaccines are completely different. the starting point is a tiny fragment of the genetic code of an infection, such as a virus. this is called rna, and it's injected into the arm, where it instructs the body to start making viral proteins. these stimulate the immune system, training it to spot and fight an infection. kariko and weissman�*s mrna approach is now at the forefront of medical science. it's being used to design vaccines against flu, tuberculosis and even a cancer patient�*s own tumours. james gallagher, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. here's helen willetts. it's been a very warm september. in fact, record—breaking. well, it's a joint record on two counts, but i think that maxim does stand out, joint with 1895. but it's been a warm start to october as well. but that warmth has triggered some thunderstorms and they are still around, some torrential downpours through central and eastern areas. you can see them on the radar picture along with the thunder. this is a weatherfront further back, hanging in the balance and it will gradually ease its way eastwards through the night. with that, we have lots of business the low cloud and fog —— we have lots of misty, low cloud and fog. 0vernight, it will be fresher across many northern areas, butjust one more night of that warm and muggy air across southern and eastern areas because of that weatherfront and there is thunderstorms. it is still misty and murky first thing in the south and the east, a few thunderstorms following. but more blue sky around for most of us. scattered showers and quite a brisk wind tomorrow. those showers should whizz through quickly and they may ease later in the day in the west and a ridge of high pressure. but the main change tomorrow is that temperatures will be lower across england and wales. it will feel notably fresher, as it did today further north. with high pressure close by to the south for the rest of the week, we should see a lot of dry weather for england and wales, but these weatherfronts will flirt with scotland, northern ireland and northern parts of england and wales at times. there are warnings for large amounts of rainfall. but