THE HEADLINES AT 0800 ON THURSDAY 23RD NOVEMBER

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It's eight o'clock on Thursday the 23rd of November.

The condition of the former Russian agent being treated for poisoning has deteriorated. X-rays have revealed three objects lodged in his intestines.

A European tax ruling -- due in the next hour -- could mean cut-price alcohol and tobacco being delivered to the door.

Scientists have found that human genes vary much more than previously thought.

The first day of the Ashes Test has ended with Australia in control.

RUSSIAN 1

The Today programme has learnt that X-rays of the poisoned former Russian agent, Alexander Litvenenko, have revealed unusual objects in his intestines; they appear to have been swallowed. It's not clear if the objects are the cause of his illness - and the hospital has refused to comment officially. Mr Litvenenko's condition has worsened overnight. Here's our Security Correspondent, Gordon Corera:

CORERA: According to a hospital source, an X-ray ordered on Tuesday afternoon revealed three objects of dense matter lodged in Mr Litvenenko's intestines - a round object, possibly a package, about the size of a two-pence piece in his left abdomen, and similar-sized objects in his colon and his small bowel. One of these may have ruptured. Their position implies that they were ingested. However, it's not clear what the objects are, how or when they entered his body, or whether they're connected to his illness. The Metropolitan Police said it had no knowledge of the items, and University College Hospital refused to comment on the report. However, this morning, the hospital did say that Mr Litvenenko's condition had deteriorated overnight, and that he was now in a very serious condition.

RUSSIA 2

Alex Goldfarb is a close friend of Mr Litvinenko's. He gave us more details of his condition:

GOLDFARB: His situation has deteriorated overnight, and apparently he's now on the artificial heart system. He had a catastrophic fall of his blood pressure last night, and probably cardiac arrest.

ALCOHOL

The European Court of Justice is set to deliver a ruling which would allow people living in the European Union to buy cheap alcohol and tobacco online from another EU country. The ruling could spell the end for so-called "booze cruises", while hitting Treasury takings at the same time, as Joe Lynham reports from Brussels:

LYNHAM: If Europe's highest court agrees with the recommendations from last December, then buying alcohol and tobacco on the internet could become much cheaper from today. That's because the European Court of Justice is expected to say that excise duties can only be charged once in the original country where the goods were purchased, provided, of course, that the transport is paid for and they are only for personal use. The ruling could have an impact on the so-called "booze cruisers" who travel from Britain to other EU countries - but mostly France - to avail themselves of lower prices. A packet of cigarettes in the UK costs around five pounds, but only seventy-two-pence in Latvia. The Treasury could also be affected. It garners an estimated fifteen-billion pounds a year from all types of excise duties.

SCOTLAND

Scotland could be the first part of the United Kingdom to raise the legal age for buying cigarettes from sixteen to eighteen. Scottish ministers are expected to implement the change next year.

DNA

Scientists have found that human genes vary much more than previously thought. It's hoped the breakthrough will make it easier to understand some of the world's incurable diseases. Professor James Lupski is a world authority on medical genetics at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He's explained to us how the discovery could help researchers:

LUPSKI: We can now learn the basic amount of variation that is there amongst the different populations, then we can start to look and select populations with certain diseases, like early onset Alzheimer's disease, and we can ask: do we see certain variation that tends to be more in that population than in other populations?

And you can hear the whole of our interview with Professor Lupski in the final half-hour of this programme.

HUTTON

The government is warning that there'll have to be big tax rises unless the retirement age is raised. It's publishing its Pensions Bill next week, which will increase the pension age to sixty-eight by 2046. In a speech today, the work and pensions secretary, John Hutton, will argue that people must accept that, in the future, they'll have to work for longer -- or the next generation will have to pay the price. Here's our Political Correspondent, Mark Sanders:

SANDERS: John Hutton will acknowledge that telling people they'll have to work for longer is unpopular, but not raising the pension age, he'll argue, would pass an unsustainable burden onto our children and grandchildren - the equivalent of a four-pence rise in the basic rate of income tax. John Hutton's remarks pave the way for the publication of the Pensions Bill next week, which will slowly increase the state pension age to sixty-eight by 2046. In return, the link between the state pension and average earnings will be restored during the next Parliament. Mr Hutton will concede that it's a big step to ask one Parliament to set a course on pensions for forty years, but the government had to ensure the cost of an ageing population could be met.

HEWITT

Detectives investigating "cash for peerages" claims have spoken to the health secretary, Patricia Hewitt. She was questioned as a witness, and not a suspect.

LEBANON

The funeral takes place today of the Lebanese government minister assassinated in Beirut two days ago. The murder of Pierre Gemayel, who was strongly anti-Syrian, has been condemned around the world. Syria has denied any involvement in the killing. Our correspondent, Kim Ghattas, reports from Beirut:

GHATTAS: The allies of Pierre Gemayel have called for a massive turnout at his funeral. They want it to be a political statement, a show of support for the anti-Syrian coalition and the Western-backed government to which he belonged. They're hoping to bring out hundreds of thousands onto the streets of Beirut, but do the Lebanese still have the energy after all the turmoil and violence their country has been through recently? The pro-Syrian forces will be watching closely. The funeral procession will start in Mr Gemayel's hometown of Bikfaya, in the Christian mountains, where his body has been lying in state. Mourners will then make a stop at the headquarters of the minister's Falange party in Beirut. The funeral service will be held at the St George Cathedral in the heart of the capital.

ISLE OF MANN

Hundreds of sixteen and seventeen-year-olds are voting in a general election for the first time - on the Isle of Man. The Tinwald - the parliament - decided to lower the voting age, making the Isle of Man one of the select places in the world to allow under-eighteens to cast a ballot. John Andrew reports from the capital, Douglas:

ANDREW: The Isle of Mann - not part of the UK, but a crown dependency - joins only a handful of countries, including Brazil and Nicaragua, who allow sixteen and seventeen-year-olds to vote in their general elections. Today, they'll be choosing twenty-four members of Tinwald's directly-elected chamber, the House of Keys. Many pupils have been putting candidates through their paces at a series of school hustings. Disappointingly, though, out of nearly two-thousand youngsters eligible to vote, only around a third have registered to do so. But campaigners, who want the voting age lowered in the UK, are watching with interest.

MIXED SEX

The government has been accused of failing to meet a promise to scrap mixed-sex wards in NHS hospitals. The Department of Health says that its targets have been achieved, and ninety-nine per cent of trusts are providing single sex accommodation. But patients groups say they're getting an increasing number of calls from people who think they've been in mixed sex wards -- and there is clear confusion. The shadow health secretary, Andrew Lansley, told us that partitioned bays were not doing the job:

LANSLEY: If you're on a ward, and what you have is a partition - the effect of which that the hospital believes you're in single sex accommodation, but you can, in fact, be seen by people, you can be seen by patients of another sex, and they are coming and going past your bed in order to go to the toilet facilities - you may not think you have the privacy you want.

SECURITY

One of Britain's biggest unions has called for an urgent meeting with senior police officers, in the light of new figures showing a growing number of attacks on security vans carrying cash. In 2003, there were nearly seven-hundred attacks. The GMB union -- representing many security guards -- expects there'll be a twenty per cent increase this year.

ASHES

One of the most eagerly-awaited contests of the sporting year is under way. England's cricketers have faced Australia on the opening day of the Ashes Test series in Brisbane. Play finished about half an hour ago. Australia made a strong start. They won the toss, and chose to bat, finishing the day on 346 for 3. Our correspondent, Nick Bryant, was among the forty-thousand crowd at the Gabba, and has been soaking up the atmosphere:

SOUND: CROWD CHEERING

BRYANT: The Gabba Stadium in Brisbane looks and feels like a cricketing coliseum, completely encircled by tiers of packed stands. And this Ashes series really does have the feel of a gladiatorial contest, replete with Hollywood-style music as the teams were paraded on the field. The fans too are playing their part. To blunt the offensive from the Barmy Army, the Australians were told to dress in their national colours, so the Gabba is a tableau of green, gold and white. The host broadcaster claimed that the opening delivery of this game would become the most-watched ball in Test history. Some boast, and in the end, some ball. It came from England fast bowler, Steve Harmison - a wild wide fielded in the slips; a product, perhaps, of all the pre-match hype.

SPACE

A Russian cosmonaut on the International Space Station has carried out the first golf swing in orbit. He used a special gold-plated six iron to strike a ball teed up on the outside docking port of the space station.