News at 4 oclock. Ministers are due to hold a Cabinet Meeting in Downing Street this afternoon, amid growing speculation that the date for a General Election could be announced, possibly as early as today. Is this it, Mr Barclay . Are we heading to the polls . So, im Chris Mason, the bbc s political editor, and ive had a busy few months. Can i bring in Chris Mason . There might be some delay because of the weather. It feels a little brighter than it did a few minutes ago, albeit it seemed to be getting worse, didnt it, a few minutes ago . Sounds trivial, that, but itll matter. And itll matter in there, because. He wants it to look. Yeah, because this is a moment. I think fairly soon we will see that lectern appear. And then shortly after that, hear from the Prime Minister. So, i wanted to be a reporter from about the age of seven. I just love telling stories. Chris on report at teatime, this. Earlier today, i spoke with his majesty the king to request the dissolution of parliament. The
and what do you think about the likely scrapping of a fast train line between leeds and macnhester which had been promised by the pm? you can contact me @vicderbyshire or email victoria@bbc.co.uk. where is one of china s top tennis starss? she hasn t been heard from since she accused a chinese official of sexually assaulting her. alec baldwin faces a new lawsuit over a fatal shooting on a film set. lawyers are calling the actor reckless. the nhs can now offer people living with hiv the first long acting injectable treatment to keep the virus at bay. and coming up this hour.. we ll speak to fabrice muamba and the person who saved his life about a new campaign to ensure more people know how to help people having a cardiac arrest. good morning. the government is preparing to publish its plans for the rail network, insisting that changes from the original proposals will mean improvements happen faster in the midlands and northern england. borisjohnson has indicated that the leg
alec baldwin faces a new lawsuit over a fatal shooting on his film set. lawyers are calling mr baldwin reckless. hello and welcome if you re watching in the uk or around the world. it is a question many are asking. where is one of china s biggest sporting stars peng shuai? the former wimbledon and french open doubles champion hasn t been heard from since accusing a top chinese official of sexually assaulting her. she s supposed to have written an email saying she s fine; it was released by chinese state media and attributed to her, but the head of the women s tennis association in the uk says he finds it hard to believe that peng shuai actually wrote the email. part of the email reads. our correspondent robin brant is in shanghai and told us more about the email. it popped up overnight. it is the first communication apparently from peng shuai. it starts with the words, hello, everyone. even though it was purportedly sent to steve simon, the man in charge of the woman s tenn
near the border with ukraine, the us says it s deploying 3000 troops to fortify nato forces in eastern europe. the bbc has been told households could see energy bills drop by around £200 under government plans to ease the impact of soaring prices, but some energy companies say the measures haven t been properly thought through. medical regulators are consulting on proposals to make one form of hormone replacement therapy available without a prescription. and school s not out in wales, with a trial to lengthen the school day by five hours a week. the government has announced its plans to close the gap between rich and poor areas of the country as part of its so called levelling up agenda. the policy, which the prime minister has described as a defining mission , will take until 2030 to deliver and aims to tackle regional inequalities and help overlooked communities. there are 12 missions or targets which include increasing regional devolution, with plans to create more mayor
government more likely shortly after christmas, government more likely shortly after christmas, so we will either have stop start christmas, so we will either have stop start extremism policy and political stop start extremism policy and political debate about the left and right, political debate about the left and right, or political debate about the left and right, or a political debate about the left and right, or a policy political debate about the left and right, ora policy on political debate about the left and right, or a policy on hateful extremism we can all agree on and then the extremism we can all agree on and then the party political debate but we have then the party political debate but we have to have a government to position we have to have a government to position that gets above the election debate and across the next parliament otherwise it s not worth having parliament otherwise it s not worth having at parliament otherwise it s not wor