this is bbc news, the headlines: the us is to deploy additional warships and fighterjets to the middle east to help defend israel from possible attacks by iran and its proxies. tensions remain high in the region over the assassinations of the hamas leader, ismail haniyeh in iran, as well as a key commander of hezbollah. northumbria police say anyone involved in the clashes in sunderland last night will be met with the full force of the law. four police officers were hurt and ten people arrested, on a third night of violence. it's day 8 of the olympics in paris, there are 31 gold medals up for grabs, with the track and field women's 100 meters final and the swimming women's eight hundred meters freestyle final, both on the table. let's return to the

violence in sunderland. a police building was ransacked and a citizens advice premises next door was set alight during the disorder on friday night. beer cans and bricks were thrown at riot police outside a mosque, and cars were set on fire. a little earlier, the police and crime commissioner susan dungworth condemned the riots. ican speak i can speak on behalf of the majority of our region and indeed this city when i wholly condemn the inexcusable criminality that targeted sunderland and its communities and our police service last night. violence, looting and vandalism, all this is not protesting. it is criminal behaviour. it is also not mourning the loss of those innocent children in southport with him our thoughts should be. the families of those

victims have not been given a second thought by these thugs. they've been used, sickeningly, to promote the extreme agenda of those who want to cause trouble and division in our communities. this isn't about taking our community back or our country back, as the protesters claim. their violent hatred field behaviours only bring our country down and create division, fear and conflict. i know every effort will be taken by northumbria police to bring those involved to justice and to get them before the courts and this is backed up before the courts and this is backed up by before the courts and this is backed up by the government putting extra cps officers in place this weekend to ensure that speedyjustice is delivered. i would urge anybody with any information that might help us do so to please contact northumbria police. my thanks go to our hard—working police officers who put

themselves in harm's way last night, particularly those who were injured. and i wish them a speedy recovery. i am also grateful to our partners, to our local authority, to our fire and rescue services, who came together to protect our city last night and to protect our city last night and to clean it up again this morning. i thank you all. this is the true sunderland. we will continue to work together, to do all we can, determined to keep our streets safer and our communities stronger. thank you. thank you. it's emerged that the former chair of the bbc publicly thanked disgraced newsreader huw edwards for his contribution to the organisation, despite knowing he had been arrested last november. dame elan closs stephens says at the time she was not aware of the details which have come to light this week. our reporter gwyn loader has more. dame elan closs stephens was appointed interim chair of the bbc injune last year, just weeks before the sun newspaper first published allegations

about mr edwards' private life. now, to be clear, those allegations were completely separate to the recent criminal charges brought against him didn't lead to any criminal investigation. but referring to those allegations on a welsh language radio programme, dame elan referred to the now disgraced newsreader as "poor huw". she also went on to praise what she deemed to be his huge contribution. now, in a statement, she has confirmed that she was aware that edwards had been arrested in november last year but says she wasn't aware of the details which have emerged in court on wednesday this week and said she is horrified by those details and that her thoughts are with the children whose images are so central to this story. i did ask her whether she was made aware of the nature of the police investigation into edwards in november last year. she hasn't answered that question. neither has she answered my question whether she stands by the comments made on that radio programme. but there will be people asking whether she was wise to publicly praise someone she knew, at the very least, had been arrested

in november last year. football fans are being warned to be aware of ticket scams, after new analysis suggested reports of the crime rose by a third last season. lloyds bank reported a 32 % increase in its customers falling victim to scammers. here's our business correspondent marc ashdown. the football season is about to kick off. with top fixtures routinely sold out, getting to see a live match is rare for some fans. and last season, more and more supporters fell victim to ruthless ticket scammers. it often starts here, a social media site like facebook or x. scammers typically post fake adverts, sometimes using pictures of real tickets. they convince fans to send them money via bank transfer, then the scammer and the tickets disappear into thin air. analysis by lloyds bank showed that during the last football season, there was a 32% rise in customers reporting they had fallen

victim to a ticket scam. arsenal and liverpool fans were the most targeted and the average loss was £177, but some fans reported losing more than £1,000. younger fans aged between 18 and 3a made up two thirds of those targeted. the best way to avoid these scams is to go through official channels. most of the clubs now will have ticket exchanges where season ticket holders you can't make the game will sell their tickets. these are much more reliable. if you're considering using another selling site, i would go through the club and see who their kind of trusted authorised partners are. be very wary of social media marketplaces. this is where a lot of the scammers operate because there's very little to stop them. i'd also see any requests for payment by bank transfers a red flag because again, it's very difficult to stop. the crime isn't exclusive to football. lloyds estimated that fans of taylor swift lost more than £1 million to ticket scammers

ahead of her recent uk tour. purchasing anything online with a debit or credit card carries some protection through section 75 and chargeback rules, but sending money via bank transfer is much harder to recover. seeing their idols in the flesh is every football fan's dream, but the advice is if a ticket deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. it was a simple pregnancy test tablet, known as primodos, given to women between the 1950s and 1970s. but decades later, families are still caught—up in a battle about the drug's links to birth defects, something the company behind primodos has always denied. our health correspondent, jenny rees,has this special report. their familiar photo album staples a proud new mum shows off her newborn. in these pictures from the 1970s, some of the mums already

knew their child had been born with a congenital anomaly: limb loss, toes that would need surgery. others were still piecing together symptoms that would later be diagnosed as disabling conditions. margot simply knew her son wasn't well, but had to battle till he was eight to get his heart problems taken seriously. when the diagnostic surgeon turned up, she was horrified that he'd been left for so long, and he was very lucky to be still alive because he could have dropped dead at any moment because he had deteriorated so much as well as he got older, i could just see him literally withering away before me. he looked so undernourished and illand he had no quality of life whatsoever. margot was one of many who'd been given a hormone pregnancy test in the early 1970s called primodos, but by then, researchers claimed to have found a link between the drug and birth defects. but there wasn't a consensus, and it remained in use until 1978. i remember sort of being left in the hospital. my parents couldn't stay. so, you know, eight—year—old boy.

and then they were saying, you know, see you tomorrow. and i was there on my own at night. and it was not great. you know, i was very frightened. my mother said i'm one of the lucky ones, really, because i've had a normal, well, relatively normal life since, you know, i still have follow up, um, cardiology appointments every few years, but i don't know, my life span will be. i've spoken to a number of women about their experiences. helen and her daughter becky, who needs round the clock residential care. bethan was a baby in this picture, but she's needed multiple operations on her feet over the years. catherine had a really traumatic stillbirth when she was just 18 herself. and then there'sjean, who lost her pregnancy in the very early weeks. but that still impacts her today, nearly 60 years on, because her husband never wanted to have children. a lot of families are still caring for their children, and we're talking about children in theirfifties, um, who are incontinent, blind, uh, can't speak, can't communicate in any way, wheelchair—bound. they've never had any help at all.

so you've got women there who've never had the opportunity to work because they're caring for the children. and i think that that should be recognised. in 2018, the then prime minister theresa may commissioned a review into, among other things, primodos. two years later, it reported that even the suspicion of harm should have prompted the drug to be removed from use, and there were multiple lost opportunities to do so. the uk and welsh governments issued apologies, but when it came to damages, a case in the high court last year was dismissed because a lack of evidence proving a causal link. the former prime minister included the issue in her book, describing the issues during the �*70s as an abuse of power. what i write about in the book is primodos and other examples, hillsborough and grenfell, and various issues over the years where institutions or organs of the state have chosen to defend themselves rather than trying to find the truth for the victims. i think primodos is an example

of that, where the health service government defended itself, rather than try to find the absolute truth. bayer, the drugs company involved, says it has sympathies with the families but points to the previous assessments that concluded there was no link. turning to the us election now and republican presidential nominee a donald trump says he has agreed to take part in a televised debate with kamala harris on fox news next month. it's currently unclear whether ms harris has agreed to the debate and its terms. though she has said she would be ready for a debate. doctor mark shanahan is an associate professor of us presidential politics at the university of surrey. i asked him what he made of this announcement it looked for a while in the narrative that donald trump was actually running scared of the

second debate. £31 actually running scared of the second debate.— actually running scared of the second debate. . ., , ., ., second debate. of course, he had a terrific first — second debate. of course, he had a terrific first debate _ second debate. of course, he had a terrific first debate against - second debate. of course, he had a terrific first debate against joe - terrific first debate againstjoe biden which ensured that biden dropped out of the presidential race, pretty much. but kamala harris is a very different candidate and there was the sense that the company wanted to avoid a face—to—face confrontation with her. now, obviously, she stood up this week and said, come on, talk to my face. and he seems to have responded. but he has managed to get his network to run it, fox, which is much more sympathetic to him. and he has changed the date as well, bringing it forward from, i think it was originally the 10th of september, to a week earlier, just before, in fact, the first polls open for postal votes, for americans. interesting. we got used to, over the years, paying a lot of attention to the debates but also commentators coming on and saying, well, actually, they don't move the dial that much. they are not that

significant. that much. they are not that significant-— that much. they are not that significant. that much. they are not that siunificant. ., ., ., , significant. you cannot really say that any more. _ significant. you cannot really say that any more. no, _ significant. you cannot really say that any more. no, absolutely. l that any more. no, absolutely. american so much now are about celebrity and presentation. it is unlikely that there will be deeply philosophical policy discussions in these debates and it is very much these debates and it is very much the chance for candidates to score points. to be seen to be strong in front of their supporters. i mean, we go back all of the way to kennedy versus nixon in 1960 when the debates started. that was much more a reason to debate. those listening to it on radio said nixon probably won but kennedy was the tv performer and, as we have run through from the 60s right up to today, it has really favoured those candidates who have a good presence on television. [30 rare good presence on television. do we know anything _ good presence on television. do we know anything about _ good presence on television. do we know anything about kamala -

good presence on television. do we know anything about kamala harris's tv debate style? she know anything about kamala harris's tv debate style?— tv debate style? she wasn't brilliant in _ tv debate style? she wasn't brilliant in the _ tv debate style? she wasn't brilliant in the 2020 - tv debate style? she wasn't brilliant in the 2020 primaryj tv debate style? she wasn't l brilliant in the 2020 primary is tv debate style? she wasn't - brilliant in the 2020 primary is for the democrats. she got flustered and dropped a couple of questions within that but, if you have seen her in the last week or two weeks, since her candidacy has emerged, she has looked quite a strong performer. she looks very much up for the game and of course she is a prosecutor by training. she was a lawyer back in california and those skills, being able to talk convincingly to an audience will probably stand her in pretty good stead. audience will probably stand her in pretty good stead-— pretty good stead. thanks to mark for that. the us government has revoked a plea deal agreed earlier this week with khalid sheikh mohammed — the man accused of masterminding the september the 11th terror attacks in 2001. the deal angered some relatives of the 9/11 victims, as well as republican leaders. here's our north america correspondent, peter bowes. this is the latest complication in this already extremely long running case. khalid sheikh mohammed, the alleged architect of the september the 11th attacks, and his two alleged accomplices have

been held at guantanamo bay since 2003, when they were detained. the case has been delayed year after year after year because of complicated pre—trial issues. but now we're here just a couple of days ago that there had seemingly been a plea deal, an arrangement whereby whereby they would plead guilty with the death penalty being taken off the table, and that sparked widespread anger and outrage from survivors, from family members of victims, those who died on that day. mikejohnson, the republican speaker of the house of representatives, said it was a slap in the face for the families of the almost 3000 people who died. well, now lloyd austin, the us defence secretary, has stepped in to, in effect, reverse that decision of a plea deal, saying that he had removed from the case the military official who oversaw the court at guantanamo bay and facilitated the agreement. in a statement, he said in light

of the significance of the decision to enter into pre—trial agreements with the accused, responsibility for such a decision should rest with him and what that does this is a very significant reversal. essentially, what it does is put the death penalty back on the table as a possible punishment for the three men. it's day 8 of the olympics today with a number of big events on the card, including the final of the women's 100 metre sprint. a little earlier, i spoke with sports psychologist gavin freeman, who has worked with olympians at a number of games and asked him about the mental focus of the sprinters sot there are a number of factors which are so important with the 100. it is one of these unique events. 0ver are so important with the 100. it is one of these unique events. over and done about nine seconds for the men and ten seconds, ten and a half seconds for the women. and the reality is, first to last, that differences are going to be minute and so what it comes down to the

number of key factors so from a mental perspective what we are looking to help athletes do is, you know, making sure that they've got reaction time that is legally allowable to them to make sure that, when he had a gun go off, that they can react to that and get of the box as quick as they can. to block out the distractions around them and thatis the distractions around them and that is the most amount of work that we do in this space. there is lots of noise. competitors, world champions, previous 0lympic champions, previous 0lympic champions, world record—holder standing next to you on the blocks, and for some, particularly for first timers, they might be cut out a little bit by that and for those who have been there before, the level of expectation on them to perform is probably greater as well so it is this ability to block out distractions is super important and then probably the last piece of the puzzle, is compartmentalising the race was a buy note is only short,

nine or ten seconds, but it is being able to make sure they get out of the blocks and focus on their technique and not focus on the ends of the not going to be looking to the finish line as a focal point. they are going to be looking at getting out of the blocks and making sure their technique is perfect for that first period of time and let the rest of it take care of itself and at the end i will celebrate and hopefully regardless of where they come, they have put in their best effort. so there is quite a lot to it and a lot of time to work on the main set. let's start on the distractions because the occasion so big. what exactly are you getting the athletes do? is it a case of, when something happens, someone nudges them at the start line, there is a bang. i they trying to ignore it or do they have to psychologically let it wash over them? do they kind of taken out of body. them? do they kind of taken out of bod . ~ ., , them? do they kind of taken out of bod. . , ., them? do they kind of taken out of bod . ~ . , ., ., body. what is the actual mental techni . ue body. what is the actual mental technique that _ body. what is the actual mental technique that they _ body. what is the actual mental technique that they are - body. what is the actual mental technique that they are using? l body. what is the actual mental| technique that they are using? it body. what is the actual mental. technique that they are using? it is a good question because it is probably everything at a whole lot more. the reality is, what we need

to do this, we've got to be able to push the athletes to deal with the distractions that are going to be far greater than the one they will experience on the day so i will give you a quick example of something i do with a group of athletes leading into the olympic games, travelling from australia. we knew that they were going to struggle with the travel and they knew that they were going to struggle with poor sleeping so we were to work with them where we were deliberately making them up

for periods of time, for 2h out was. then have them compete the very next day and demonstrating their ability to compete when they are tired so, if they were to get to get to the olympic games they wouldn't worry about staying up and not getting a great night sleep because they knew they were able to deal with that. it is a specific example around the pin but, the other things that we might do is get them to train at a primary school where there are kids screaming. the nudges to the sound of the noise coming near them so we want to try to recreate these distractions and then, at an individual level, work out what is going to work best because some athletes cannot let it wash over. they have to listen to it, deal with it, process it rid of it and do that in nanoseconds that of other athletes have learned how to completely block out all of that

noise and be able to simply narrow their focus to a point where they don't even hear the noise and that is the ideal state is that they don't actually even process what is going on around them other than their task. a lot of different things and the reality is we can do it with all athletes depending on what they and it with all athletes depending on what the j . �* , ., it with all athletes depending on what the . �* , ., ., what they and let's get on to the start line, _ what they and let's get on to the start line, then. _ what they and let's get on to the start line, then. how _ what they and let's get on to the start line, then. how many - what they and let's get on to the | start line, then. how many things can you actually be thinking about? is it a case of they are so rehearsed theyjust listen to the beat of the bank, is the phrase? 0r beat of the bank, is the phrase? or how many mental queues, what is actually going to their mind? ads, 11th actually going to their mind? a lot of athletes will _ actually going to their mind? a lot of athletes will create _ actually going to their mind? a lot of athletes will create a _ actually going to their mind? lot of athletes will create a race routine so it is a process that they go through leading up to the race so you will see them go through that. probably a better example for people to see is basketball when they are shooting a free throw. tennis players a bit. runners will do it. off camera it is hard to sometime 0ff camera it is hard to sometime see it. they will go through a routine. that routine will be there to block out the distractions, narrow their focus, get the right keyword in their head so that when they set up on their blogs, even the setup on their blogs will be very well defined around how they set up. how they put their legs and, making sure that it is all perfect so what we're trying to create is what we call the ideal performance date. the mindset that says i am in the best

possible state to deliver on the skills that i spent the last four, six, eight training for because, once that gun goes, there is no do over. and that is probably the only other piece of advice will often work with other fees which is that the rules have changed over the years and no false starts, many of the events, have an immediate disqualification. so that is change the dynamic. it is change the process. so for some athletes, in fact for many of these, we have to build up skills and what happens when a false start sewing to practice those because of somebody culls a false start it will throw your routine and i have to start all over again so that is in the fact that they all have to deal with as well. ., that they all have to deal with as well. . ., ., ., . well. thanks to gavin for that. we are auoin well. thanks to gavin for that. we are going to _ well. thanks to gavin for that. we are going to stay _ well. thanks to gavin for that. we are going to stay with _ well. thanks to gavin for that. we are going to stay with the - well. thanks to gavin for that. we l are going to stay with the olympics. it is the olympic games like you've never seen before from synchronised swimmers with nose clips to a paralympian. everything is made of will. behind it all, 980 neighbours from surrey who have spun the sporting scenes out of yarn as athletes from around the world compete in paris. some of the olympic figures be looked at might 0lympic figures be looked at might be a bit hard for us to do so than we thought of a different shape that was easier for us to deliver and

jelly babies came out. everybody started thinking of new ideas. shall we have a cyclist, how do we need to bicycle? and itjust came to what we see now. from long jumps to lengthy minutes, the needles have been clapping since december to get everything ready in time for the start of the games. while a teenage skateboard sensation is preparing for competition in france, back across the channel, her green jelly baby equipment is right at home on the grass. find baby equipment is right at home on the crass. �* , ., ., the grass. and there is another ol mian the grass. and there is another olympian who _ the grass. and there is another olympian who would _ the grass. and there is another olympian who would fit - the grass. and there is another olympian who would fit in - the grass. and there is another olympian who would fit in justl the grass. and there is another i olympian who would fit in just fine here _ olympian who would fit in just fine here torn — olympian who would fit in just fine here. tom daley, a champion diver, here. tom daley, a champion diver, he loves _ here. tom daley, a champion diver, he loves a _ here. tom daley, a champion diver, he loves a little bit of knitting. would — he loves a little bit of knitting. would he _ he loves a little bit of knitting. would he be welcome to come down here and _ would he be welcome to come down here and join you ladies? we would love to _ here and join you ladies? we would love to see — here and join you ladies? we would love to see him, yes. i cannot and it's he _ love to see him, yes. i cannot and it's he does— love to see him, yes. i cannot and it's he does but i would love to see him _ it's he does but i would love to see him. . ,., ., it's he does but i would love to see him. . ., . ., , ., it's he does but i would love to see him. . ., . ., , him. trampoline world champion is certainl a him. trampoline world champion is certainly a fan. _ him. trampoline world champion is certainly a fan, telling _ him. trampoline world champion is certainly a fan, telling the - him. trampoline world champion is certainly a fan, telling the bbc, - certainly a fan, telling the bbc, this is just fantastic.

certainly a fan, telling the bbc, this isjust fantastic. i certainly a fan, telling the bbc, this is just fantastic. i absolutely love it. thank you to everyone for making the effort and for your incredible support.— making the effort and for your incredible support. making the effort and for your incredible su ort. �* . ~ �* incredible support. amazing. and i'm so sorry we — incredible support. amazing. and i'm so sorry we haven't _ incredible support. amazing. and i'm so sorry we haven't got _ incredible support. amazing. and i'm so sorry we haven't got a _ incredible support. amazing. and i'm so sorry we haven't got a trampoline | so sorry we haven't got a trampoline is and _ so sorry we haven't got a trampoline is and i_ so sorry we haven't got a trampoline is and i think— so sorry we haven't got a trampoline is and i think actually, i will have to go— is and i think actually, i will have to go back— is and i think actually, i will have to go back indoors and try to knit one _ to go back indoors and try to knit one i_ to go back indoors and try to knit one i don't — to go back indoors and try to knit one. i don't know how we need to trampoline — one. i don't know how we need to trampoline but i'm sure we can think of something so watch this space. there _ of something so watch this space. there may— of something so watch this space. there may very well be another one very soon — there may very well be another one very soon. gf there may very well be another one ve soon. ~' ., very soon. of knitting were an ol mic very soon. of knitting were an olympic sport _ very soon. of knitting were an olympic sport in _ very soon. of knitting were an olympic sport in this - very soon. of knitting were an olympic sport in this crafty . olympic sport in this crafty community would certainly be contenders for gold medals. the masterpiece will be on display to the closing ceremony on the 11th of august when it will be auctioned off in aid of the air ambulance charity. absolutely brilliant. cannot compete with that, can you? some news from the world of music. the us rock band, aerosmith, have retired from touring after more than 50 years. the group said their lead singer, steven tyler's voice, had been permanently damaged from a vocal chord injury and fractured larynx. the group had been on a farewell tour last year when they were forced to postpone it after 3 gigs.

known for classics including �*dream on', �*walk this way�* and �*love in an elevator�*, aerosmith won 4 grammys during their career. many started off our weekend with a different look and feel to the weather. there's been more in the way of cloud around. a spot or two of drizzle. this was norfolk first thing this morning. a week weather front is slowly sinking its way south and east. some drizzly rain across parts of east yorkshire, lincolnshire, east anglia and along channel coast and that will continue to push its way south and east. it may well savour the grey and overcast across the channel and on the breezy side to sussex and kent as well. brightening up behind with some sunshine coming through, a scattering of showers into northern ireland in north—west scotland. some of these heavy, possibly thundery. but a fresher feel here. 16—18 and

generally we are looking at 20—24, about what should be for this time of year. a ridge of high pressure keeps things largely quiet but overcast overnight and this area of low pressure pushing and for tomorrow. we start off with double digits first thing. a great start and we will be chasing cloud amounts around i suspect on sunday so it won't be quite as warm once again. the when strengthening, the wind arrives as we go through the day, gradually pushing its way steadily eastwards. again, highs of 15—18. we might see 23 in the south—east if we get some sun coming through. that area of low pressure moves its way in from the east and the rain could turn quite heavy. a couple of inches not out of the question. may be more to higher ground across western scotland and ireland and at the same

time we have a stronger south—westerly wind tapping into some warmer, more humid air. where we've got the sunshine coming through, across parts of east and south—east england, we could see highs of 27. that is around 80 fahrenheit. the weather front will sink its way south and east so hopefully some useful rain for gardeners and growers across much of england where we are starting to get desperate for some wetter weather now. brightening up behind with a view scattered sharp showers developing into the north—west again and temperatures ranging from 15 to 25 celsius. as we go through the remainder of the week ahead it looks likely that we will keep more unsettled weather the further north and west you were and drier outbreaks of sunshine for time to time in the south.

live from london. this is bbc news. the us is set to deploy additional warships and fighterjets to the middle east amid fears of escalation over the killing of hamas political chief, ismail haniyeh. here in the uk, northumbria police say anyone involved in the clashes in sunderland last night will be met with the full force of the law. more than 30 people have been killed in an attack on a popular beach in the somali capital mogadishu. and it's day 8 of the olympics in paris. there are 31 gold medals up for grabs — with the women's100 metres final on the table. hello, welcome to the programme, i am lewis vaughanjones. we are going to start in the middle east.

iran's revolutionary guards have blamed israel