relate to suspected financial and fraudulent activity. the 46—year—old man and 23—year—old woman who were arrested remain on bail. we wantjustice, we want answers, and we're not going nowhere. they're planning another vigil in a month's time, and another a month later — and every month until the police investigation is finished, and the families and loved ones have answers to all their questions. jessica lane, bbc news, hull. for many of us, reading is a skill we take for granted, but for the seven million people across england who have very low literacy skills it can often make everyday tasks a real challenge. in one of the worst affected areas in the country, the north east, one former teacher is now on a mission to change that. our correspondent sharon barbour reports. books that millions of people across the country can't read. in england alone more

than seven million people struggle with the written word and most keep it a secret. one of the worst affected areas for illiteracy is the north east of england. for years, a former teacher has wanted to help. ah for... apple. ah.. ah for apple. but then kerry clegg saw this. it was a documentary about jay blades from the repair shop, who was learning to read. this is going to be my first attempt to learn since school. i contacted them and said we've got a great need up here. how do you spell tree? t... where's r? r... 0k. that's it. and then e. but e starts down there. two years later and kerry's finally brought that charity to the north east, where volunteers teach adults to read.

a teacher for 20 years, kerry knew how big the problem was across the north east of adults who couldn't read and she wanted to change that. it's about 16.4% of adults can't read. sadly, in the north east, that's even higher at 17%. that's about one in six adults who are reading at a below primary school age. it's not functional literacy for things like medical notes. it's huge. somebody came to us who was a midwife who said that she has a client who was about to lose her children because she'd not been able to access or understand the programme that she was supposed to follow to to able to keep her children and that could be easily rectified if she'd had help with reading or had learned to read. she says, for many, it's a lifelong secret. people mask it, they hide it. we can all quite cheerfully say, oh, i'm no good at maths,

i'm no good at it. nobody puts their hand up and says, "i can't read". why not? there's still a stigma. a stigma for millions. the national literacy trust says, across england, one in six adults struggle to read. that'516.4%. each nation has a different definition of basic literacy skills, so comparisons aren't possible, but the charity says in scotland, one in four, or nearly 27% struggle. in wales, one in eight, or 216,000 adults struggle with reading. in northern ireland, 256,000 adults have very poor literacy skills. that means they can't easily read to their own children, who are also falling behind. it means that, unfortunately, that children are starting school without the foundations of literacy. that means that children are struggling when they start school to communicate their needs. how urgent is the problem?

the problem is urgent. we're just going to see the problem get worse and more and more children not having the opportunity to reach their potential. baby bear found a rocket. to help, hubs like this one are working to teach children not only how to read, but some can't speak. we see children who can't get across what they'd like to do, might not be able to make a choice between things. they might not be able to ask for help. and this is because they haven't learned the words. so they're not only not learning the words, they're not learning the communication. some children will say they'll take the hand of the adult and they'll lead them to where they want to go or they'll try and point. mum louise taylor says covid lockdowns impacted the communication skills of her children, especially her son. he was only five months when it started and it's been such a battle to get him to communicate and talk and get him to use words. she believes parents can help.

yes, i think you can get quite stressed and when we get stressed, we get quite wrapped up. but it's important. listen to the birds and point out the trees and name the things and talk to the children and interact with them. when you're at the park you do see people on their phone. the department for education told us, "we have a world class education system where primary children are the best in the west at reading". and the statement adds, "to break the cycle of low adult literacy, we're making sure young people leave school with the skills they need for work and life". sharon barbour, bbc news. an artist's flat decorated with lions and minotaurs has been granted grade ii listed status after a campaign to save it. ron gittins' unique work was discovered in his birkenhead home by his relatives following his death in 2019. 0ur correspondent sophie long has the story. from the outside, this unassuming end—of—terrace might look

like any other house. but inside, ron's place is anything but. there was a rental agreement that said ron could redecorate according to the tenant's taste. and he did. turns out minotaurs, giant lions and roman bread ovens were all to ron's taste. and on almost every surface, he left his artistic mark. ron was well known in the neighbourhood, but it was only after he died that people got to see inside his home. the first time we crossed the threshold after ron died, it was really like being an archaeologist going into, like, an ancient egyptian tomb. and we werejust... it was just utterly overwhelming. he's always made things and covered wherever he's lived in — always rented — in "murials", as my nan used to call them.

but, i mean, this is... this was just kind of to an extreme degree. the discovery was so special, his friends and familyjust knew it had to be saved. and so they formed wirral arts and culture community land trust and, after a donation last year, they were able to buy it so they could turn ron's home into a holistic house of art. now it's a listed building. the news about the listing is just absolutely out of this world. i mean, it's been such an uphill struggle, a real roller—coaster, trying to save ron's, but we were utterly determined. this news just validates our belief in that ron's place is worth saving. ron would, they say, be made up by the listing. as some of his chosen outfits suggest, he wasn't averse to a bit of attention. a lot of towns and cities pay tribute to their home—grown music legends with a statue.

liverpool has the beatles, memphis has elvis presley and cowbridge in the vale of glamorgan is supposedly getting a life—sized effigy of ian "h" watkins from steps. or is it? the rumour mill says "yes", but the local council insists it is the last thing on their mind. matt murray went to investigate. # my boot—scooting baby is driving me crazy...# the only thing driving people crazy in cowbridge is the confusion over a statue. it's been widely reported that there are plans to have an... # five, six, seven, eight... eight—foot statue in the honour of h from the pop group steps in his hometown. the star is originally from the rhondda, and moved to the vale of glamorgan around a decade ago. and he took to instagram to say he is super proud. but in the town, there is suspicion. aubrey parsons is a singer and a voice actor, and says no—one has heard of the group cultural cowbridge — who are supposedly behind the plans.

h has done quite a lot for cowbridge, certainly with regards to pride, but then it didn't take long to realise this can't be right — it's up there with the spaghetti trees and the cottingley fairies, you know? it's... i think the press have taken the word gullible and maybe slightly misused it. news outlets reporting this story say the statue would go here — outside the historic bear hotel — for its central location on a vibrant high street. but cowbridge town council say, while they are aware of the story, they haven't received a planning application for a statue. yeah, i spilt my cornflakes this morning. i was listening zoe ball talking about the bear hotel in cowbridge. yeah, it's... it's quite surprising, isn't it, really? do you think there are more deserving people, then, than h? ooh, you're trying to lead me into something now. no! h has done lots of good things, i'm sure — as have lots of other people. i took to the streets to see if anyone else had heard of the group behind the statue. have you ever heard

of cultural cowbridge? no. i think it would be a really stupid idea, to be perfectly honest. what's your reaction to it? i thought it was an april fool! they will have chains around i the statue because, you know, somebody might steal it! it's been the talk of the town. i think it is a lovely bit of fun and add something new to the high street. ian's done a lot on the high street for us. we've got a lot of famous people who have lived in cowbridge over the years, been to school here — sir anthony hopkins, people like that. always got time for you. he uses the pub a lot, as well. so well deserving of a statue. i think so, yeah. # rousing my suspicions...# and this has aroused everyone�*s suspicions. matt murray, bbc news, cowbridge. now it's time for a look at the weather with stav danaos. hello there. we saw some very big temperature contrasts from north to south across the country this morning. it was cold with some disruptive snow across scotland through the morning period. it stays rather grey here with further outbreaks of rain.

it stays on the chilly side, as well. but for northern ireland, the rest of england and wales, a lovely bright afternoon to come. plenty of sunshine around. a few passing showers being blown on a very brisk south—westerly wind and very mild for the time of year at 18 or 19 degrees. it's still quite chilly across the north. that rain pushes its way northwards across scotland. through the night we see the next batch of wet, windy weather spreading up from the south. some of this rain could be quite heavy in the north and the west as it pushes its way northwards. by the end of the night, though, temperatures will be lifting, even across scotland, so turning milder here, but very mild further south. that takes us into saturday. this deepening area of low pressure hurtling towards the west of ireland has been named by the irish met service storm kathleen, as it's across ireland where we'll see the biggest impacts with the winds. but it's the feel of the weather as we head through saturday. it's dragging in some very warm air from southern climes. it could be up to 21 or 22 degrees across eastern england on saturday, despite the strong wind. so storm kathleen is likely to cause some impacts on saturday. northern and western parts of the uk

could see some travel disruption, especially to the ferries around irish sea coasts. that rain pushes its way northwards early in the morning across scotland and we'll see further showers across western areas. a few of them trying to get in towards the east, but a lot of dry weather around and plenty of sunshine too. despite the widespread gales it's going to feel very warm indeed, but gusts could be up to 60, maybe 70mph across the north and the west, so this could be disruptive. despite that, with the sunshine around and those warm southerly winds it could be up to 21 or 22 degrees in the east of england. mid to high teens across scotland, so much warmer there, as well. saturday night stays very windy. storm kathleen passes to the north—west of scotland. a real squeeze in the isobars here as we move into sunday, so we could see severe gales across the hebrides for a time on sunday. elsewhere, it stays very windy. we'll see more showers in the mix, some of them heavy with some hail and thunder mixed in. there will be some sunshine around too, but it won't be quite as warm on sunday as what we have on saturday. but still, those temperatures

are above the seasonal average. it stays unsettled into next week. we could see another spell of windy, wet weather for southern britain and then just signs of it perhaps settling down by the end of the week.

live from london, this is bbc news. in a report, the israel defense forces admit the killing of seven aid workers was the result of grave mistakes. two officers are sacked. new aid routes into gaza will be opened — after the us threatens a change in policy towards israel. emergency workers in taiwan are still trying to reach about 600 people trapped by wednesday's earthquake.

hello, welcome to bbc news now, three hours of fast—moving news, interviews and reaction. the israeli military has sacked two senior officers after the air strikes on a convoy in gaza this week, which killed seven aid workers, three of them british. israel has now given its first detailed account about how and why it carried out the attack. it says its drone operators wrongly assumed hamas fighters had taken over the convoy in a serious violation of procedures. meanwhile the israeli government is opening up new routes for aid deliveries into gaza, the erez crossing here in the north, and the port of ashdod in israel. it follows a warning from us presidentjoe biden that israel must do more to help civilians in gaza.

with more on this — here's our diplomatic