this is bbc news. the headlines at 7pm: the prime minister insists it's her firm intention to cut taxes — but declined to give any guarantees. what people will know when they go to vote on thursday is that it is the conservative party that always has been, is and always will be, a low tax party. jeremy corbyn accuses the conservatives of being in disarray over their tax plans. one minister said they're not going to give any tax rises, and can't answer questions about tax rises for the rest the population, and can't answer questions about funding social care. ariana grande makes a surprise visit to fans injured in the terror attack at her concert last week — ahead of her benefit concert tomorrow evening. the deputy leader of afghanistan, abdullah abdullah, survives a bomb attack at a funeral in the capital kabul — at least seven people are killed and many more injured. there are reports of dozens of civilians being killed

while fleeing so—called islamic state in mosul. also in this hour...advances in cancer treatments. one of the largest clinical trials produces ‘powerful results‘ for prostate cancer patients. and sportsday — in half an hour's time — good evening and welcome to bbc news. jeremy corbyn has accused the conservatives‘ of being in "complete chaos" over their tax policy. it comes after theresa may avoided repeating comments made by a senior colleague who told a newspaper there would be no income tax rises under a conservative government. with more — our political

correspondent iain watson. senior conservatives, including the defence secretary and foreign secretary, have been sending out a strong message to their core voters. if you‘re worried that income tax may rise if we are re—elected, don‘t be because it is not our intention. but the conservative manifesto is nowhere near as explicit. is it being rewritten? our position on tax hasn‘t changed, as we have set out in the manifesto. what people will know when they go to vote on thursday is that it is the conservative party that always has been is and always will be a low tax party. it is our firm intention to reduce taxes for ordinary working families. so what is the conservative manifesto saying on tax? in the last election, david cameron promised not to increase income tax, national insurance or vat. but in the 2017 manifesto, only the pledge on vat remains. although promising to raise

the level at which people pay the standard and higher rates of tax would also amount to a reduction. if theresa may is returned to number ten downing st, she has the prospect of tough brexit talks, but her manifesto doesn‘t box her in on income tax. there is no pledge not to increase it. but colleagues are talking about tax today because they‘re trying to refocus attention in this campaign on what would happen if a labour chancellor came to number 11 downing st. but labour said they have nothing to hide on tax. they claim a policy of making the better off and big business pay more is popular and it is the conservatives who lack clarity. i think there is complete chaos going on at the top of the government. what labour are offering is no tax rises or national insurance rises or vat rises 95% of the population. increase in corporation tax and some other tax increases at the top end is to pay for social care.

theresa may may be finding it is more convivial to talk about tax than social care. she and her colleagues are trying to stir the enthusiasm of traditional supporters by suggesting that instincts on taxation are the same. in scotland, the leader of the scottish national party, nicola sturgeon, is undertaking a tour of 30 constituencies by helicopter. scotland‘s first minister took to the skies in the final weekend of election campaigning, and is visiting six key constituencies over the course of saturday. the snp won 56 of the 59 seats in scotland in the 2015 general election, a record result which polls suggest they will struggle to match this time round. speaking to the bbc mrs sturgeon, said that she would be willing to enter into a coalition with the labour party in the event of a hung parliament. well, i have always said if the arithmetic allowed it, i would want the snp to be part of an progressive alternative

to a tory government, a progressive alternative that invested in public services and protected pensions and policies lifting people out of poverty, but i think the polls in the rest of the uk still suggest the tories will win this election. but it‘s no longer inevitable that theresa may increases her majority. and she‘s been exposed throughout this campaign as being weak, evasive, no answers to basic questions. you‘ve got pollsters now saying whether or not she increases her majority could come down to the outcome here in scotland, so let‘s not throw theresa may a lifeline by boosting her majority. let‘s put scotland‘s interest first, get strong snp mps to the house of commons so we can continue to stand up for scotland and stand up for the kind of country we want to be. the liberal democrats have unveiled a poster attacking the conservative‘s social care plans. the image was revealed in westminster. the poster features a picture of theresa may with the caption ‘hash tag dementiatax. don‘t bet your house on it‘. the former ukip leader nigel farage

has been on the campaign trail in essex and kent. mr farage visited the constituency he lost in 2015 — south thanet. his trip comes a day after his opponent, conservative candidate craig mackinlay, was been charged with allegedly overspending in the 2015 general election campaign. mr mackinlay denies any wrongdoing. ariana grande, the singer whose concert was targeted by the bomb, has visited some of her injured fans. helpnig to mend broken hearts and shattered lives. popstar ariana grande visiting young fans who were injured in the attack at her concert less than two weeks ago. she posted a photo of a visit to the royal manchester children‘s hospital on instagram with a simple heart.

among those she visited, eight—year—old lily harrison, who suffered spinal injuries in the blast. our room is at the end of the ward corridor, and she was working her way up. we were the last to be seen. i think i was as nervous as lily. her hands were shaking. she said she might need to go to the toilet, she didn‘t know what to do and she was really nervous. and then she came skipping onto our ward. she was brilliant. there has been an outpouring of love and 22 victims who died in the blast last month. arianna grande has returned to the uk for a benefit concert in manchester tomorrow night, and many of those injured, including lily, are hoping to be there. lily expressed a wish to go. we didn‘t force it. we said if you want to go, we will make sure you get tickets. but if we get to the venue or we are on the way there and you say you don‘t want to go, we are more than happy to bring you home.

it‘s whatever she wants. proceeds from the concert will go towards the we love manchester emergency fund, set up by manchester city council and the british red cross to support grieving families and victims of the bombing. this is where the eyes of the world will be focused tomorrow night. millions of people will watch ariana grande, coldplay, take that and katy perry on the stage. this concert will be broadcast to more than 50 countries around the world. a night of unity, remembrance and a shared love of music. and we‘ll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow‘s front pages at 10:30pm and 11:30pm this

evening in the papers. our guests tonight are tim shipman political editor of the sunday times and john rentoul from the independent. at least seven people have been killed in explosions at a funeral in kabul — the afghan capital — where the son of a prominent politician was being buried. he died yesterday when police clashed with demonstrators protesting about deteriorating security. iraqi security forces fighting islamic state militants in mosul say they‘ve gained more ground in the battle to control the city. the military has reportedly seized a warehouse that had been used to store weapons and explosives — including suicide belts. hundreds of others managed to reach

government lines, many badly injured. some described the ruthlessness of the fighters from whom they were fleeing. they do not have mercy on anyone. they saw a wounded person, they shot them down. some of the people caught up in the fighting for children. one witness described the difficulties his family have faced over the past few months. do you know how old this child is? 1.5 years old. look at his back. he has not drank milk for 11.5 months now. some of the people caught up in the fighting in muscle. an early and small scale trial of a new drug to combat ovarian cancer has shown "promising results", according to researchers. the drug shrank tumours in almost half of the 15 women in the advanced

stages of the disease who took part. here‘s our health correspondent, sophie hutchinson. marianne heath has advanced ovarian cancer. there are very few drugs to treat this type of cancer, and the ones that exist can no longer help her. so she says when she was asked to take part in a trial fora new drug, shejumped at the chance. well, i decided to go on the trial because there were no other way out for me, there were no options presented so it was the trial orjust radiotherapy, so i decided to do the trial first. the trial, run by the institute of cancer research and the royal marsden, aimed to test the safety of the new drug known as 0nx—0801. it involved just 15 women, all with advanced ovarian cancer. the result — tumours shrank significantly in almost half of the women over the course of five weeks. one of the fantastic things about this new drug that‘s being developed here is that it has so few side—effects compared to traditional chemotherapy. and that‘s because it specifically targets cancer cells, leaving healthy cells unharmed.

this drug attacks the tumour, and you see very encouraging tumour responses, but you don‘t see the common side—effects like hair loss or sore mouth or diarrhoea or susceptibility to infections as seen with other chemotherapeutic agents. but the scientists are urging caution. they say it was a very small study, and it‘s too early to know whether the success could be replicated in a larger group of patients. they now want to plan the next phase of the trial. sophie hutchinson, bbc news. a major clinical trial has found that thousands of men being treated for advanced prostate cancer could benefit from taking an existing treatment much earlier. cancer research uk found that combining the drug abiratarone with another drug used in the initial phase of hormone therapy cuts the risk of dying by nearly forty per cent. abiratarone is normally used when other hormone

treatments have failed. the researchers looked at a group of men who have what we call high risk prostate cancer, some men who aren at risk of the cancer spreading or who are at risk of having their treatment may be not work as well. they looked in this group of men and found that when they combined the normal treatments, where they reduce hormones, combined with another drug, it greatly improved survival compared to just the hormone therapy on its own. that was the senior science information officer at cancer research uk. statins — which are usually prescribed to lower cholesterol — could help reduce the risk of dying from breast cancer by 27 percent, according to a new study. scientists in china who analysed research involving 200—thousand women, found patients who took

the drug were less likely to see their cancer return. charities have welcomed the news but say more clinical trials are needed. the headlines on bbc news: the prime minister has insisted that the conservative position on tax hasn‘t changed — and that she‘s hoping to lower taxes. jeremy corbyn has accused the conservatives‘ tax plans ariana grande has visited fans in hospital, who were injured in the bombing at her concert. she spent time talking to them and posing for photographs. the consumer group which is calling on british airways to create an automatic compensation system for passengers who are affected by serious flight—delays and cancellations. it comes a week after a major it failure caused hundreds of the airline‘s flights to be grounded. here‘s our business correspondent joe lynam. the images of the week for ba. passengers waiting for flights, some of which ended up being cancelled. the compensation bill could exceed

£100 million for the airline. ba says it will treat customers fairly and refund legitimate expenses, but consumer advocates say that is not enough. in a letter to the chief executive, which? says compensation should be automatic for passengers out of pocket. they should not have to apply directly to airlines for a refund. it says an automated system would save time and money for ba as well as prevent companies from making profit from the misery of others. people are entitled to money but they are not given it automatically. passengers are often not realising what they are entitled to. the airlines can easily pay compensation because they know what flight you were on and what you are entitled to and we think that should be the rules. in other sectors, in energy and water, you are automatically paid compensation if you do not receive services. in response, ba said it had put

additional resources into its call centres to process claims quickly as possible. one group that is not out of pocket are investors in ba‘s parent company iag. its shares were up this week despite the woe endured by customers. joe lynam, bbc news. an 18 year old man has died after being shot in liverpool. merseyside police said armed officers and the ambulance service were called after the injured teenager was found on near lodge lane, in the toxteth area last night. he was later pronounced dead in hospital. the incident follows two gun attacks in merseyside earlier this week. explosives and detonators discovered in ireland last night have been linked by police to dissident republican terrorists. the seizure in dublin has been described as highly significant. detectives say they believe the explosives were to be used in attacks in northern ireland. two men are being questioned. police are looking for a man in

connection with murder and attempted murder in paisley. he is described as around five to 11 tall with brown, grey hair, you could be driving a blue toyota rs. detectives wa nt to driving a blue toyota rs. detectives want to question him about the death ofa want to question him about the death of a woman and serious injury suffered by a 16—year—old boy. a teenager is said to be in a critical condition in hospital. police are advising the public not to approach the man they want to trace but to phone 999. back to the election now — and in northern ireland next week‘s vote will make the fourth time voters have gone to the polls in 13 months. throughout the uk, background really matters when it comes to politics. it is why people vote, they want to ensure that they are represented. perhaps background and and identity, it may be matter is here more

northern ireland than anywhere else in the uk. that‘s been reflected in concerns and communities and also in culture. to understand politics and how people vote in northern ireland, you have to understand just how important identity is. that is expressed in a whole range of ways like music, dancing, all kinds of culture. most people here regard themselves are coming from one of two traditions. they see themselves as either british or irish. those roots run very deep. the reality is that traditions like this, they are important both politically and personally. it does indeed, chris. being part of a band allows me to stand up for what i believe in and make sure our heritage and tradition never goes away. and heritage and tradition are important for all communities. most protestants vote for unionist candidates and catholics for irish nationalists.

but that is not always the case. in reality, there are cross community candidates but even that phrase, "cross community," gives you an idea that there are two separate communities according to a lot of people and that is expressed in a lot of ways. for example, sport. there are different teams supported by both communities and indeed, also different sports played by protestants and catholics, but at the same time, there is an awful lot that is shared right across what some people see as a divide, paddy. definitely. i believe in the north of ireland that both cultures should be respected equally. not one is greater than the other. i do believe that the nhs and education, especially the recent cuts should be looked at in more detail. that is a political theme in common between the two. beyond that, looking at culture, you can see all things in common, between ulster scots dancers and irish dancers, between flute bands and irish traditional musicians. society has a lot that it shares.

but sometimes it can be difficult for politicians to see across what is seen as a traditional divide. when you take a look at culture, it is a dividing line. sometimes that can be poisonous. you can be a great bridge as well. i‘m sure those who listen to the music there couldn‘t this entire dispute with the dup is about sharing. the dup will not power share in a fair and equitable manner. they will not share this

society, this island. they don‘t want those who are gay to be allowed to marry those they love. they don‘t want those who speak irish to have the same rights as a welsh speaker. there is no irish language act here. sinn fein stood up to that earlier this year, the legacy of discrimination, that inequality, and said culture can be bridged between us, politics can be abridged, the dup need to stand up and end this history of discrimination. we didn‘t buy the dup onto the channel today but they said no 1 was available. nonetheless, they would probably say they are in a position where they are defending the rights and feelings of their voters. they don‘t want to take away from the irish line language, they just don‘t feel if you dare say that you are gay person in a store or brighton, that we do respect rights that you are not allowed to marry, or you tried in dublin, you would be laughed out of court. in cardiff and edinburgh, if you say to someone who speaks welsh or gaelic, you‘re right will be

protected under law, you would be laughed out of court. the dup need to move into 2017. on top of all this is the refusal to take part in debates. when we get back into talks after the selection, those are about try to form a government again, but we can‘t do it with a partner who believes in discrimination. this is a general election but there is a chance of another assembly election. negotiations will be tough to get a deal by the end ofjune. absolutely, that it can be done. but we can‘t go back into government ever again with someone who believes in a culture of inequality and discolouration. you get the impression of how bitter the election is in northern ireland and how difficult those relationships are between the 2 big parties, sinn fein and the dup. to the ballot box — reality check‘s chris morris has been taking a look at the reliability of the opinion polls. throughout this general election campaign, opinion polls and analysis of the numbers have been hitting the front pages. but questions have been raised

about how reliable they are. the last few days, polls put the conservative lead over labour, with anywhere between 3 and 14%. have the pollsters ost their mojo? have certainly had problems in the past, most notably during the general election campaign in 2015, when all the polls said it would be a hung parliament but the conservatives won an outright majority. what is going on? let‘s ask a man who really should know. there is a persistent issue which the polling industry has been trying to deal with, which is how to avoid overestimated labour, underestimating the conservatives. that problem certainly re—emerged quite starkly in 2013, and is a problem the industry have been further trying to work on to try to avoid this time around. after the 2015 election, the british polling council held an enquiry, concluding that the polls had failed because the samples weren‘t truly representative of the voting population.

in particular they overestimated the number of young people who would vote. now the pollsters have changed their methods, including weighting results by educational background and by interest in politics. and crucially a different way of estimating how many people really will vote. but different polling companies have different methods, which makes the numbers really hard to interpret. even for the experts. people who are likely to vote, interested in elections, are more likely to be willing to participate in polls. but the problem with that is that you fail to identify adequately who doesn‘t, isn‘t going to make it to the polls. if you get that wrong, particularly if you overestimate the level of turnout amongst a group in society particularly likely to vote for1 party rather than another, then your poll can be wrong. all the polls pointed towards an overwhelming conservative victory consistently points ahead of labour.

but during the course of the campaign, the gap has narrowed. this is the bbc‘s poll tracker, and all the dots are individual polls. but look at the line which shows how they have been moving. in the last few weeks, labour has risen dramatically but is still below the tories. 0ne pollster, yougov, has tried to use it data to forecast the likely result in every seat, which has led to the most eye—catching prediction of all, a hung parliament. but that is out of kilter with pretty much every other the thing is, which method will be the most accurate? jack 0‘neill helped to invent the

wet suit back in the early 1950s. it is because of him that many surfers to date stay a little warmer in the water. he was a giant in the surf industry, a pioneer of the search industry. he was just a great mind, a great man and a great spirit. without jack and what he brought to the world of surfing, we would all be in sweaters right now. and just a new surfer but i plan to enjoy his innovation for years. after his brand became the largest wet suit brand became the largest wet suit brand in the world, he went on to champion marine causes, campaigning for the health the world‘s oceans. considered his sea 0dyssey education programme for children his proudest achievement. looking back on the life of jack achievement. looking back on the life ofjack 0‘neill, the man who

stopped millions —— stopped millions from shivering in the water. a scientist has called for european beavers to be re—introduced across the uk to help prevent floods and tackle soil loss. tests by professor richard brazier — from exeter university — show beavers have had a beneficial impact on wildlife and water quality. 0ur environment analyst, roger harrabin, has more details: this site is a scientific experiment on reintroducing beavers. in six years, a pair of sharp—toothed beavers has re—engineered this woodland into a wetland. they have felled willow trees to lie horizontally because they like to chew the bark off the vertical sprouts. their stick dams have recreated the sort of landscape that existed before beavers were hunted to extinction. this is another of the ponds that has been created by beavers and right here demonstrates just how much they can re—engineer the landscape. so where i am, it looks like there is just grass growing out of the ground — wrong. this is a beaver stick dam, right underneath me. the place has been shaped by rodents‘ teeth. the way that they have manipulated

this site has just been dramatic. we have had a range of different species coming in, particularly bats, amphibians, lots of wetland plants, it has just been incredible. in scotland, where beavers have been brought back, some landowners have angrily complained that they have damaged farmland, trees and watercourses. the nfu fear unintended consequences of beaver reintroduction. the scientists working here have said that the beavers have notjust improved water quality but also helped to protect downstream areas from flooding by slowing heavy rainfall with their dams. they want creatures like this reintroduced nationwide. not all are convinced. but the beavers here are making their own watery case. roger harrabin, bbc news, devon. very industrious power. take a look

at the weather. not bad at the moment. some wet and windy weather on the way for the beginning of next week. it has been a slightly cooler, fresher feel to today. quite pleasa nt fresher feel to today. quite pleasant when the sun has been out. of the day in buckinghamshire. we have had some sunshine for many of us have had some sunshine for many of us by clear skies overnight. but little bit cooler than it was last night, but turning dry. quite a few showers and northern ireland ‘s. thundery ones, lightning flashes across scotland, particularly north of the central belt. still a few sharp showers around at the moment across northern scotland and eastern parts of northern ireland. fading away before too long. a few showers lingering around some western coasts, but probably dry overnight. clear skies and light winds. co mforta ble clear skies and light winds. comfortable sleeping. 11 degrees minimum in towns and cities. two or three in rural parts. quite a bright

and sunny start tomorrow but showers quickly gathering more readily across these western coasts, pushing eastwards through the day. developing more widely across scotla nd developing more widely across scotland and northern ireland. the showers could be heavy and thundery again in scotland. hit and showers could be heavy and thundery again in scotland. hitand mist maybe across more southern parts of the country. quite a few showers in the country. quite a few showers in the afternoon from northern ireland. a band of showers pushing eastwards inward and wales, meaning through the afternoon the sunny skies return to wales and west and parts of england as that band of showers, still possibly heavy and thundery, pushes through the midlands. it may well stay dry into the evening. even than the showers that pushed eastwards will be turning to decay. clear skies for a while. some wet weather riding in northern ireland. at the sort of things to come early next week. and heavy rain around ansan gale force