Coverage of Thursday at the Northern Ireland Assembly, as Health Minister Michelle O'Neill and Prof Rafael Bengoa discuss the future of health services with Stormont's Health Committee.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

With less than half an hour to go until the first GDP figures since the Brexit vote, economists have warned they need to be taken with a pinch of salt.

It's less than a month since the end of the quarter so we "shouldn't make too much of small differences", said Paul Johnson, director of the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies forecasting body. 

It's a "first estimate which will be revised later on", he said.

Bridget Rosewell, an economist and commissioner for the National Infrastructure Commission, said economic output is "an increasingly difficult thing to get a handle on".

Much of the UK economy is in services, which is harder to count than pig iron or other manufactured goods, she said.

Plymouth Herald

Government plans to expand Heathrow with a third runway aren't just good news for Britain's role in the world but good for Cornwall, Theresa May says.

In the Plymouth Herald the prime minister writes, external: "A direct link from Newquay to one of the world's greatest airports would bring huge opportunities for business and tourism in the South West.

"And that's why the new Heathrow runway is such great news for the region."

She said the airport's expansion and the potential for direct flights to Heathrow meant more opportunity for exporters, tourism and more convenient holiday opportunities for people in the south west of the UK.

Flights currently go to and from London Gatwick and Stansted.  

Connor Campbell of SpreadEx says traders are edgy before the release of the latest UK growth figures at 09:30. These are the first ones for the period since the UK voted to leave the EU.

"There is a palpable nervousness around the UK markets this morning.

"Analysts are expecting growth to drop to 0.3% or 0.4% for the third quarter, roughly half of what was managed in Q2; any movement around those estimates could cause a big reaction, especially from the pound, as investors try and ascertain just how bad the Brexit has been for the country’s economy.

"Of course it is still early doors in that regard – rapidly expanding inflation is likely to severely drag on GDP next year, so a positive figure this Thursday shouldn’t be taken as a sign that Britain is anywhere near out of the Brexit woods."

A smattering of Albanian comes in handy when deciphering certain Pristina street signs. Otherwise it may not immediately be apparent that "Bulevardi Xhorxh Bush" refers to the former US president who insisted that Kosovo should become independent.

But only consonant pedants would demand a translation of the name of the busy thoroughfare which runs perpendicular to George Bush Boulevard. "Bulevardi Bill Klinton" is a tribute to the man Kosovan Albanians hold in the highest possible esteem.

Pristina has not just named a street in his honour. It also erected a larger-than-life-size statue of a beaming Bill Clinton, his arm outstretched in welcome. The man himself unveiled this monument when he visited Pristina to a rapturous reception in 2009.

This adoration also extends to Mr Clinton's family. Just a few yards from the statue, a women's clothes shop called Hillary adds a fashion element to the affair.

"We rate the Clinton family so highly," says Elda Morina, a member of the family which owns both Hillary and a second outlet, Hillary 2.

"They made the whole world know our problems. For the first time everyone knew who are Kosovans. Bill Clinton is the person who revealed our suffering - and from that point we all had big sympathy for the Clinton family."

Read more

The Guardian

Writing in the Guardian, director of the race equality thinktank the Runnymede Trust Omar Khan looks at the reaction this side of the Channel to the dismantling of the Jungle refugee camp, external in Calais.

He says the issues around refugees attempting to come to Britain raise fundamental questions about who we are as a country. 

And, historically, we are a country defined by immigration and that's a truth to be embraced.

Read more: Here's the latest news report on events in Calais

Heathrow's third runway could involve planes taking off from a "ramp" over a motorway. How would this work, asks Harry Low.

Prime Minister Theresa May once told constituents she opposed a third runway, but her government has now approved expansion at Heathrow. Does this put her at loggerheads with the people of Maidenhead?

Image source, PA

The government's gov.uk websites went down for 25 minutes on Wednesday afternoon, the Cabinet Office says. This was due to a "technical error", it adds, saying: "This was not caused by a malicious attack and has now been resolved."     

Reality Check

Image source, Resolution Foundation

Research out this morning, external from the Resolution Foundation suggests Philip Hammond faces an £84bn black hole in the public finances.

That figure is how much less the government will have in the years to 2020-21 than it thought at the time of the Budget in March.

The Resolution Foundation has based this figure on taking seven independent forecasts for government borrowing over the next five years (which are published by the Treasury, external) and comparing the predictions in May with the predictions in August.

Resolution warns that it's not clear whether the August forecasts took into account the Bank of England's stimulus package in the same month.

House of Commons
Parliament

Business in the Commons is brought to an abrupt end as the minister runs out of time while replying for the government.

MPs meet tomorrow from 9:30am to put questions to the attorney general and the minister for women and equalities.

There will also be a debate on young people's mental health. 

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, PA

Jess Phillips says that the campaign on behalf of the Birmingham Six, who were convicted of the 1974 IRA bombings, but were freed on appeal 16 years later, shows that a campaign on behalf of the victims could have an effect.

One of Britain's most senior coroners is to lead inquests into the deaths of 21 people in the Birmingham pub bombings.

Ms Phillips, Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, says: 

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour MP Jess Phillips leads tonight's adjournment debate, on legal aid for families of the victims of the Birmingham pub bombings.

She reads out the names of those killed on 21 November 1974, when bombs exploded in two pubs in Birmingham, killing 21 people and injuring 182 others.

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs reject Labour's motion on Yemen by 283 votes to 193.

The House then approves the addition of the government's proposed words to the motion, which "calls on the government to continue to support the UN special envoy in his ongoing efforts to achieve a political solution to bring sustainable peace to Yemen".

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs divide to vote on Labour's motion, which calls for "a full independent UN-led investigation... into alleged violations of international humanitarian law in the conflict in Yemen".

It also "calls on the government to suspend its support for the Saudi Arabia-led coalition forces in Yemen until it has been determined whether they have been responsible for any such violations".

House of Commons
Parliament

Foreign Office Minister Tobias Ellwood says the government wants to see more transparency and accountability, but he asks why Saudi Arabia would want "to test the resolve of the West and deliberately breach international human rights law".

He adds that "the government is not opposed to the idea" of an independent investigation, but Saudi Arabia should be able to investigate first.