tonight at ten: a17—year—old appears in court charged with murder and attempted murder after the southport stabbings. thejudge has allowed him to be named although he is still a minor. he is axel rudakubana from lancashire. two nights of violent unrest in several english cities after the southport killings were condemned by the prime minister as far right hatred. it's not protest, it's not legitimate, it's crime. violent disorder. an assault on the rule of law and the execution ofjustice. with two of the girls injured in southport now out of hospital, we speak to a friend of one of the girls who died. also on the programme: the bbc�*s director general reveals he knew in november that huw edwards had been arrested for possession of the most serious category of indecent images of children.

i think it was right for us to say, look, we will let the police do their business and then, when charges happen, we will act. the wall streetjournal reporter evan gershkovich is freed from russia in the biggest prisoner swap since the cold war. and just like that, it's the end of andy murray's professional tennis career. and a farewell for sir andy murray as he bows out after a defeat in the doubles at the olympics. and stay with us here on bbc news for continuing coverage and analysis from our team of correspondents in the uk and around the world. good evening. the 17—year—old boy charged

with murdering three girls and attempting to murder ten others in southport has appeared in court in liverpool. seen here in an earlier school photograph, he can now be named as axel muganwa rudakubana after the judge lifted reporting restrictions. it's understood that the teenager from lancashire has a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. our uk affairs correspondent daniel sandford was in court. sirens blare three days after the horrifying mass stabbing in southport, the police's only suspect, axel rudakubana, was brought to court in a white custody van. accompanied by two police cars, three riot vans and several other vehicles, he was driven to the main court complex in liverpool, where the road was briefly closed. dozens of other officers were providing extra security because of tuesday night's riot in southport. the first hearing in the youth court

lasted about five minutes. 17—year—old axel rudakubana, who at that stage still could not be named, was wearing a police issued grey tracksuit made of a sweatshirt material. apart from a brief glance at the press benches, he kept his face covered at all times. throughout the hearing, because of the defendant's young age, the districtjudge spoke to him using only his first name, axel. as well as being charged with murder and attempted murder, he is also charged with possessing a kitchen knife with a curved blade. at a second hearing in the crown court an hour later, judge andrew menary kc lifted the legal restrictions, saying that "in the public interest, axel rudakubana should be publicly named". the young girls he's accused of murdering at monday's taylor swift—themed dance class are six—year—old bebe king, seven—year—old elsie dot stancombe, and nine—year—old alice dasilva aguiar. he's accused of attempting to murder the class organiser,

leanne lucas, john hayes, who had rushed to help, and eight other young girls who can't be named because of court reporting restrictions. whilst these charges are a significant milestone within this investigation, this remains very much a live investigation, and we continue to work with our partners from lancashire police and counter terrorism policing north west. axel rudakubana, seen here in old photos, was born in cardiff but grew up in southport and went to local schools. it's understood he has a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, and has at times refused to leave the house. for the last seven years, he'd been living in this close in the village of banks, just outside southport, with his parents, who were originally from rwanda. as he was driven from court, angry bystanders shouted at the van. he'll be held in youth detention accommodation at least until his 18th birthday next week.

his next court appearance will be a plea hearing on october the 25th. it is really very unusual for a judge to allow the reporting of the name of a defendant under the age of 18 at this early stage in the proceedings. thejudge himself said it was exceptional. he of course took into account the fact that the defendant will turn 18 next week, but also took into account the very serious rioting here in southport on tuesday night which was fuelled by false information being spread on social media. he said that continuing to prevent full reporting has the disadvantage of allowing others to spread misinformation in a vacuum, and that's why he said it was in the public interest for us to be able to report the name. thank you, daniel. police forces across the country are to co—operate more on tackling violent disorder, the prime minister has announced,

after two nights of violence in parts of england following the killings in southport. sir keir starmer condemned far right demonstrators, saying the unrest was not a protest that got out of hand, but caused by a group of individuals bent on violence. our home editor mark easton reports from hartlepool. the charred hulk of a police car in a residential street in hartlepool symbolises the challenge to law and order currently posed by far right extremists. anti—immigration groups were behind disturbances in several english towns and cities last night. shocking levels of violence and intimidation. a muslim family barricaded into their hartlepool home had to be rescued by riot officers. an asylum seeker was punched as he walked along the street. a local butcher stayed in his shop as rioters smashed his windows, ensuring the mob did not get to his knives and meat cleavers. today, cleveland police were at the community centre, looking to reassure local residents.

mobile patrols and that's going to continue today, tomorrow, into the weekend, and then we'll reassess it following that. how did you feel when you heard what had been happening on the streets of the town you've just moved to? i'm afraid. i'm afraid mostly for my kids, because i thought it's going to be a more calmer place to raise my kids. as an asian gentleman living on the street where this violence occurred, does that make you feel uncomfortable? 0h, of course. my wife wouldn't even let me come out today to go to the mosque. - we had to close our mosque last night. i police in london also made more than 100 arrests overnight after far—right activists launched flares at the gates of downing street and towards the statue of winston churchill in parliament square. there were also disturbances in manchester and aldershot. the prime minister this afternoon told police chiefs in downing street he was creating a new national capability across forces to combat the violent disorder.

these thugs are mobile. they move from community to community, and we must have a policing response that can do the same. shared intelligence, wider deployment of facial recognition technology, and preventative action, criminal behaviour orders, to restrict their movements. one of the anti—immigrant protesters in hartlepool last night refused to appear on camera, but told me he had attended after seeing plans for a rally online. he told me the country was full and foreigners were the problem. the far right wants to create the impression that immigration is a threat to law and order. police chiefs would argue that it's the far right who represent the greater danger, and in fact, the evidence is that there is no link between the level of violence in a community and the numbers of asylum seekers or foreign workers. in fact, despite record immigration in the last few years, violent crime has never been lower. despite the far right�*s false narrative, last night's trouble does

not reflect the attitudes of the communities where it happened, nor indeed the country. mark easton, bbc news, hartlepool. two of the children who were injured in the attack in southport on monday have now been discharged from hospital. our correspondentjudith moritz has been speaking to a mother and her daughter, whose friend died in the attack. poppy is eight, and hers is a world of playing, dancing and fun. but this week, that world changed. she heard that something bad had happened, and she asked her mum what it was. "can you please just tell me what's going on"? and then i was open and honest, wasn't i? you were open and honest and you said at the yoga club, a couple of people were stabbed. and i was a bit like, "do you know who?" poppy was at school with alice aguiar. they sang in the choir together. i literally knew that alice was definitely in there, so my fingers were crossed

that she wasn't injured or anything, because i knew she was in there. but then when i found out that she was in hospital, i was like, "i'm crossing my fingers all week". that's what we've done for all of them, haven't we? you've been crossing your fingers all week? yeah, all week. and then you said she's died from the incident. poppy's mum told her that others had been stabbed too, including her dance teacher. what did she say? how has she processed it? is she processing it? i don't think she's fully processing it. at eight, they're nosy. they listen to everything. and poppy was asking overand overagain. that was when i decided to be upfront and honest, and i explained what had happened. and her first question was why. and no—one has that answer. no—one knows why. the crazy bit is that she was more scared of the rioting than she was of what happened with the stabbing.

poppy and her mum went to see the flowers at the scene and lay some of their own. it made me feel like i was giving the flowers directly to alice. for poppy, it's still too much to make sense of. who would do any of that? i don't think anyone has the answer, sweetheart. no, nobody does have the answer. no. southport is the kind of place you want to bring up your kids — sunshine and seaside fun. but now its children are facing things no child ever should, and the impact of that is hard to know. judith moritz, bbc news, southport. the biggest prisoner swap since the end of the cold war has taken place between russia and the west. those who've been freed include the wall streetjournal reporter evan gershkovich and the former us marine paul whelan, as well as prominent kremlin critics and anti—war campaigners. president biden welcomed their release and said

"their brutal ordeal is over". here's our russia editor steve rosenberg. he was out ofjail but not free yet. reporter evan gershkovich and former us marine paul whelan. he'd spent more than five years in a russian prison. but this was the start of their journey to freedom. along with other prisoners to be swapped, they were flown to ankara airport in turkey and the stage was set for the largest prisoner swap since the cold war. those moscow had released went one way. the russians they'd been exchanged for boarded their plane home. the swap involved 26 people being held in seven different countries. as well as evan gershkovich and paul whelan, moscow freed us russian journalist alsu kurmasheva. also, prominent kremlin critics, including vladimir kara—murza, oleg orlov and ilya yashin.

and an anti—war artist, sasha skochilenko. swapped, among others, for this man — convicted assassin vadim krasikov, identified by german officials as a russian agent. to set up a prisoner swap... evan gershkovich's boss says she is overjoyed to see her reporter free, but... it feels all wrong to be trading people who are entirely innocent for, you know, a convicted criminal, an assassin, but, you know, we wanted our man back. paul whelan wanted his freedom, you know, understandably. so i think it puts governments in an impossible position. flanked by relatives of the freed americans, at the white house, president biden gave his reaction. it says a lot about the united states that we work relentlessly to free americans who are unjustly held around the world, but it also says a lot about us that this deal includes the release

of russian political prisoners. they stood up for democracy, human rights, their own leaders threw them in prison. the united states helped secure their release as well. america accuses moscow ofjailing us citizens to trade them for russians jailed abroad. for the families and friends of evan gershkovich, paul whelan and dissidents like vladimir kara—murza, this is a moment to celebrate. but keep in mind — for the kremlin, its mission accomplished. it got what it wanted. it got its agents back. for moscow, the takeaway from all of this will be that hostage diplomacy works and that means we are likely to see more of it, more prisoners here being used as bargaining chips. tonight, president putin gave a heroes' welcome to the returning russians — among them, spies and sleeper agents. he clearly thinks he got a good deal.

steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. the director—general of the bbc tim davie has defended the decision not to sack the former news presenter huw edwards despite knowing he'd been arrested last november over the most serious category of images of child abuse. huw edwards pleaded guilty yesterday to three counts of making indecent images of children. tim davie said it would be "legally challenging" to recover money paid to him since his arrest, but that they would look at all options. here's david sillito. mind your backs, please! mind your backs! huw edwards' guilty plea relating to the most serious category of images of child sexual abuse raises questions for the bbc. its director—general tim davie was told of edwards' arrest in november, but continued to pay him for anotherfive months. yesterday, the bbc said it was shocked, but you knew about this in november of last year when huw edwards was arrested, you knew it related to child abuse, and you didn't sack him.

why? well, we were very shocked. that's the first thing i want to say, which is, no one knew about the specifics of what we heard over the last few days, which has been deeply disturbing. now, when it comes to the decision that we made in november, when we were obviously faced with, i think, a very difficult decision, actually, and we considered it very carefully. the police came to us and gave us information that they had arrested mr edwards, but they wanted to be assured of total confidence, and the reason they rung us at that point was to ensure that... and it's a technical process, which is to ensure employees are protected. you were worried about the welfare of huw edwards. what about the welfare of the children? well, we're absolutely... you know, the primary thoughts here are always for victims of these terrible situations.

so why notjust sack him? because, quite simply, the police came to us and said, look, we need to do our work in total confidence. it would have been still confidential and you could have sacked him. i think you're then into a different argument, which is, is it fair to sack someone, and is it the right action at that... you had a raft of complaints about him. you had the sun story and you had this. when the police... you know, if you think about this in terms of precedent, people do get arrested, and then we've had situations where no charges, and there's nothing there to be followed up on. in this case, we knew it was serious. we knew no specifics, by the way. those specifics — images sent to edwards by convicted paedophile, 25—year—old alex williams from merthyr tydfil. several of the worst level of child abuse. huw edwards, meanwhile, has a large bbc pension and earned £200,000 in the months after his arrest. we can't claw back pension.

i think when it comes to pay, again, legally challenging, but we'll look at all options. in relation to huw edwards, look, i'm shocked and appalled, i'm sure, as everybody is in relation to this. the prime minister. the government's also been asking questions today. huw edwards — what did people know? what did they do? david sillito, bbc news. meanwhile whistle—blowers who gave evidence to an internal bbc inquiry into huw edwards have criticised the way it was handled. our special correspondent lucy manning has been speaking to them. what have they said, lucy? last year the bbc encouraged _ what have they said, lucy? last year the bbc encouraged staff _ what have they said, lucy? last year the bbc encouraged staff to - what have they said, lucy? last year the bbc encouraged staff to come . the bbc encouraged staff to come forward to their internal investigation but the findings of that haven't been published and i spoke to one former employee today who gave evidence to that inquiry. as first revealed in the sun, they spoke and as they received messages from huw edwards when he was

presenting the funeral of prince philip and the former newsreader sent this colleague suggestive messages with a picture of his hotel room with the bed saying there was plenty of room and this person told the inquiry all about this and about other messages as well, and they were in tears when they were telling me today that they felt let down by the bbc. they want the findings of the bbc. they want the findings of the internal investigation to be published. they said it doesn't seem transparent, it seems like things have been swept under the carpet, they'd marked their own homework. a second bbc staff member who we reported on last year when they said they had received suggestive and flirtatious and inappropriate messages from huw edwards, they also spoke to the investigation. they said they were disappointed they hadn't heard more about the progress and that it had been an ordeal to speak to the investigators and they didn't feel reassured that bbc management had taken the steps to deal with the internal newsroom

dynamics or internal complaints. and although tim davie says that the bbc isn't sitting on anything that needs to go to the police or is of a serious nature, those who took part in this investigation just aren't satisfied. in this investigation 'ust aren't satisfied. . , in this investigation 'ust aren't satisfied. , ., ., ~ satisfied. lucy manning fair, thank ou. and our media editor katie razzall is presenting newsnight on bbc two shortly. katie, what questions are there still for the bbc? well, reeta, in david's interview with the director—general we got a sense of the complex finally balanced calls made by someone at the highest level. tim davie explained himself and the decisions reasonably but there are unanswered questions including why did they allow huw edwards to leave on his own terms in april, can they claw back any of his salary. the director—general said they would try but is that realistic? and what did the bbc discovering its own internal investigation, as lucy was talking about, by going on the record he

will have placated some of the criticism levelled directly at him. it may get them through this news cycle but what about the next if anything new emerges? on newsnight at 10:30pm we will have more on that story. we are told by a bbc employee who complained about edwards that the corporation's handling of it was deeply disappointing. join us on bbc and iplayer. deeply disappointing. join us on bbc and ipla er. . ., ~ deeply disappointing. join us on bbc and ipla er. . . ~' , ., the bank of england has cut interest rates for the first time since the pandemic, bringing them down from their 16—year high. the base rate has fallen from 5.25% to 5%. it was initially put up to combat high inflation, and has been held since last year. more details from our economics editor, faisal islam. in cardiff market, restaurant customers talk a lot about the burden of their rising mortgage bills. finally today, that has started to change. oh, very happy. very happy, just because the mortgage has come down. mortgages, bank rates, i think it

will be a bit of a relief. for the first time in four years, interest rates are now coming down. important for custom at this street food restaurant, but for owner rupali and others, it might take some time to pass through. we have actually remortgaged our own house, and it was the worst time to do it, because we had such a good interest rate, but we had to release the capital for businesses to sustain. we've done that and now we are stuck with a high interest rate, high expenses at the business. it was a close—run 5—4 vote in favour of a cut at the bank of england, with governor andrew bailey being persuaded now is the right time for lower rates. we're on a path where we will remove this persistent element of inflation, as we expect we will, by the way — we're not expecting anything else at the moment. over time, therefore policy will become less restrictive, so rates will come down, but i'm not going to predict when and how much, because that depends on events and how it unfolds. is it mission accomplished

in terms of the inflationary dragon being slayed? it's an encouraging step forward. you're right, it is an important moment in time. it's a welcome moment in time as well, but it's not mission accomplished yet. interest rates were cut back today for the first time since the pandemic, having risen 14 times as prices surged. that has helped overall inflation, in blue here, fall sharply back from the energy shock to the official target of 2%, but some on the committee are still worried about inflation in services, like restaurants and hotels, in red here, proving sticky. after a really difficult three—year inflationary shock, a significant turning point today. they raised interest rates here 14 times to try to control inflation, and today, they felt confident enough to start to unwind that. but how quickly they go down from here is still up for grabs. the opposition said the new government's decisions to raise public sector pay this week by 5—6% would entrench inflation

and jeopardise future rate cuts. well, it's up to the bank of england to make their decisions around interest rates and to forecast inflation. i made the decision on monday to accept the recommendations of the independent pay review bodies to give a pay rise to our armed forces, our police, teachers, doctors and nurses. i think that is the right thing to do. but we also found efficiencies within government spending to offset some of that pay increase. the governor played down the impact, saying the public sector was catching up with rises in the private sector, so rates are on their way down — a potential boost to consumers and businesses, but with inflation not entirely defeated in the service sector, it could be a slow process. faisal islam, bbc news. at the olympics, an italian boxer abandoned her match just 46 seconds after being hit in the face by her algerian opponent who was allowed to compete despite being disqualified from last

year's women's world championships for failing an eligibility test. our sports editor dan roan was ringside and joins us from paris now. remarkable scenes at the boxing venue earlier today when this controversy that had been brewing really all week and overshadowed the build—up to the women's competition ignited, ramping up the pressure on the international olympic committee and its policy of letting individual sports federations decide their gender eligibility rules and regulations amid a growing debate around inclusion, fairness and safety. imane khelif�*s first fight of these games was always going to be hugely controversial. the algerian allowed to compete in the women's boxing competition against italian opponent angela carini despite being disqualified from last year's world championships for elevated levels of testosterone, according to the ioc. but an already divisive situation quickly escalated.

having been punched in the face, a clearly distressed carini abandoning the fight after just 46 seconds. translation: i said, stop. it could have been the match of my life, but i need to protect my life as well. i couldn't bear the pain. do you understand why your involvement has caused such controversy? i'm here for the good. i fight everybody. but the row is set to intensify. tomorrow, taiwan's lin yu—ting, who like khelif, competed at the last olympics, will also fight here despite being stripped of a medal at last year's world championships afterfailing a gender eligibility test. but with the sport's russia—led governing body suspended, the ioc is running the boxing competition and says the two fighters were the victims of what it called a sudden arbitrary decision without any due process. everyone competing in the women's category is participating along following complying with the competition eligibility rules. they are women in their passports,

and its stated that that is the case. angela carini's abandonment of herfight in this ring earlier on today will send shock waves through the world of boxing and beyond, and it will fuel the controversy over the fact that imane khelif was allowed to compete here and reinforce the questions the ioc is now having to confront over inclusion, fairness and safety. and with testosterone levels linked to muscle size and strength, the fear is that a fighter could be badly hurt. if you've got one boxer who far outweighs the strength of another, that would suggest that that person is not fit to be within the female category of the competition. it just isn't right. so today, you saw that. algeria's olympic committee has condemned what it called unethical targeting and baseless attacks on khelif, who has lost nine times in a 50—fight career. but amid mounting concern, today's events will only intensify the scrutiny. team gb were in medals again today,

but there was to be no third olympic gold for helen glover. she did manage a silver as part of the women's four, pipped at the line by the dutch. british rowers becky wilde and mathilda hodgkins—byrne claimed a bronze in the women's double sculls and there was a bronze for the men in the fours as well. gymnastics legend simone biles has won her second gold of the paris games. after the team gold, the american added the all—around title, which she also won in rio eight years ago. at 27, she's also the oldest female gymnast to claim the all—around olympic gold for more than 70 years. one of the greatest careers in the history of british sport has in the last hour ended. so andy murray said this, his fifth and final olympics, would be how he would want to bow

out. he and his doubles partner dan evans had produced two thrilling victories to stave off micro—retirement but has natalie pirks now reports against an american pair they lost in straight sets. andy murray! they say don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened, but after everything he's given us we can forgive the tears. their partnership had been the roller—coaster that kept on thrilling — and fans were here for the ride. unfortunately it all seemed to be going in one direction. this hasn't been a great start for the brits. after losing the first set 6—2, they needed a better start. still some spring in the murray legs. this was more like it, but americans fritz and paul had grown up together and their tennis was in sync. and the brits in real trouble now. it looked a long way back now. only — was there one more twist in the tail? this was a rally for the ages, back and forth it swung before finally...

would you believe it? that old murray magic was still there, twinkling in the city of light, but the time for plucky comebacks was over. it's the end of andy murray's tennis career. you can really feel the love in here for andy murray and everything he's achieved, but it's the end of a dream and the end of his career. i gave as much as i could to the sport. | i love competing in the olympic- games and competing for my country. these weeks are so, so special. the tears from both britons were falling freely now for a career that ended on the clay of roland garros. from tennis fans who were lucky enough to be here, a heartfelt thank you and good night. natalie pirks, bbc news, paris.

so no fairy