this is bbc news, i'm clive myrie. the headlines at 8:00pm. companies across the world have been hit by a ransomware attack. uk advertisers and a pharmaceutical company are among the victims. scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, says her government is delaying plans for a second independence referendum. when the terms of brexit will be clearer we will come back to parliament to set out ourjudgement on the best way forward at that time. including our view on the precise timescale for offering people a choice over the country's future. judges in the european court of human rights, have rejected a plea from the parents of the terminally—ill baby charlie gard, to intervene in the case. and allow experimental treatment. google has been fined more than £2 billion by the european commission for illegally favouring its own shopping services. and in the next hour the government has set up an independent expert panel, to provide advice on fire safety in the wake of

the grenfell tower tragedy. it comes as theresa may says there must be a "major national investigation" into the use of cladding on high—rise buildings. and 50 years on from the first cash machine, we take a look at the changing face of banking. good evening and welcome to bbc news. companies across the world are reporting they have been struck by a major ransomware cyber—attack with british firms among those to confirm their it systems had been targeted. what do we know so far? the attack started in the ukraine, with the country's state power company and kiev‘s main airport among the first to report issues. the confectionary manufacturer mars said part of the company's pet food

unit was targeted in the attack, but they had isolated the issue. and the british firms reckitt benckiser, who manufacture nurofen and dettol, and the ad agency wpp confirmed their it systems had also been affected and they were working to contain the virus. with me is ross brewer who's a cyber analyst from the security company lothythm. good to see you. is this the same kind of attack we saw against the nhs and other areas around the world a few weeks ago? yes, there has been an upgrade in the wannacry virus to make it spread faster and be more impactful and dangerous in terms of its outcome. and it's about getting money? it's about getting money in a

way, but the e—mail account used has been disabled by the e—mail company they had online. so you can't even responds to the e—mail anyway. as far as money goes, i don't think they will get that far because the e—mail account used for the negotiation has been disabled as of noon. that might have been noon us time but i'm not sure. what about the reasoning for the attack?” think a lot of it has to do with disruption, and we are seeing an escalation. sometimes these techniques are used as deception. this might be the main thrust of the attack, or it could be off scaling the activities they are doing and they might be doing other things in they might be doing other things in the background with these companies. when they are compromised they might be infiltrating data. that's why monitoring and looking for changes of activity at this time is critical. it could be a diversionary tactic? it's certainly possible.

it's something organised criminal groups can do. they will flood something with noise. underneath that shield they will look to poke around in critical systems. i'm not saying that's the case in this instance, but it's a technique they use. that's why start looking at the tools, techniques and procedures. you have to look beyond beyond the initial infection to see what the systems they are compromising. we saw the nhs and that previous cyber attack a few weeks ago the suggestion being that patches in security software hadn't been downloaded and could have been. is that potentially part of the problem for some of these companies? it's the same problem, because it uses some of the same exploits. however,

what everybody has to appreciate is that a lot of the critical national infrastructure, a lot of the nhs, a lot of the manufacturing, and you listed some manufacturing organisations, they are using legacy systems that are not easily patched or cannot be patched, or they are not taking appropriate protection steps to protect those systems they know can't be patched and are vulnerable to these kinds of attacks. there is a big push in the us at the moment from the government to modernise the it infrastructure and bring it up to scratch. that's something the uk government needs to pay close attention to. i know the woes over the last few weeks have been quite intense, but this is yet another impact of the austerity measures on infrastructure. interest income you think the last few years austerity, not just for income you think the last few years austerity, notjust for national government, but companies worried about the bottom line during the

recession, haven't been investing in enoughin recession, haven't been investing in enough in new technology and safeguards to safeguard against this type of attack? exactly. looking at the government, if the government isn't investing, and there is uncertainty over brexit, will these big companies make investments? bullock reality is that over the last decade everybody has tightened up last decade everybody has tightened up the purse strings. —— the reality is. in the meantime technology is getting stronger and organised criminals are getting stronger at what they are doing and the gap is widening rapidly. the gap has too narrow and spending has to be put into the kind of measures that can stop this kind of thing? yes, and organisations need to move from the idea that they can stop these kinds of attacks because they can't. that's clear. they have to recognise these organised criminals will get in their network and look for behaviour, look for more visibility

and monitoring to be able to identify when the activity is taking place and shut it down as soon as they can. stay one step ahead. thank you forjoining us. and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:45 this evening in the papers. our guests joining me tonight are giles kenningham, communications consultant and former conservative director of communications, and henry mance, political correspondent at the financial times. scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon has backtracked on her plans to push for a second independence referendum as early as next year. her decision follows the general election in which her snp lost 21 seats. ruth davidson, the leader of the scottish conservatives, said ms sturgeon was, as she put it, "lacking credibility and confidence". here's our scotland editor sarah smith. nicola sturgeon may not look like a woman thwarted, but she cannot now march ahead with her plans for an independence referendum — admitting today that

voters have rejected that idea and she has had to think again. having listened and reflected, the scottish government will reset the plan i set out on march the 13th. we will not seek to introduce the legislation for an independence referendum immediately. instead, we will, in good faith, redouble our efforts and put our shoulder to the wheel in seeking to influence the brexit talks in a way that protects scotland's interests. we will seek to build... she wants to keep open the option of a referendum after the brexit deal is cleared. the tories want her to abandon her plans completely. i'm afraid to say that that statement will fail to give any assurance to those people that this first minister is listening to them. instead, she appears to be in denial about her mistakes over this last year and, as a result, is leaking credibility and confidence in her leadership by the hour. nicola sturgeon's message today is that she is listening to voters,

and she understands they don't want another independence referendum any time soon. but she has not taken it completely off the table, and she says that she will continue to argue the case for why scotland should be an independent country. yes! in 2014, 45% of scots voted yes to independence. support remains much the same today. and the snp know that they'll have to make a fresh case if they are ever to win an independence referendum. and they will have to pick their timing of another vote carefully. well, it is common sense, i think another referendum would be a disaster for scotland. i am an snp supporter, but i think that it would make no sense, given the current political climate, i think it makes no sense for the snp to move forward with a vote on itjust now. i think we should have a vote on it — put it out to the public and let them have a vote on it.

the scottish greens backed the snp call for an early referendum and do not want to see the timetable slip. if we wait until autumn next year or even later, then we will be well out of the european union before the people of scotland have the chance to say whether they consent to that. scotland has not consented to leave the european union or to have our rights and protections as european citizens torn up without our consent. holyrood today heard nicola sturgeon says she was responding to voters who don't want an independence vote, but also that she has not given up the fight. her opponents say she is not listening. her party hope there is no more than a rain check, just a temporary delay. another day and another rise in the number of tower blocks around the country that have failed fire tests — it's now 95 buildings in more than 30 councils in england. the government has appointed a panel

of experts to give advice on the immediate changes that can be made to avoid another grenfell tower disaster. here's our home editor, mark easton. the grenfell tower fire is turning from sickening tragedy into national scandal. the blaze appears to be exposing hidden risks and confusion overfire safety that stretches across the country. every sample of cladding from 95 tower blocks, across 32 english local authorities, has now failed government tests — although the communities department, who ordered the testing, has named only 20 councils. the prime pinister has said there needs to be a major national investigation. what we've seen from the investigations that have taken place of cladding material in tower blocks across the country is that we have seen so far 100% of these materials being combustible. something has clearly gone wrong over a number of years and we need to find out what, why and how to make sure it doesn't happen again. but there are questions about the testing process. cladding from this block in norwich failed the government test last week.

i'm really struggling to understand how it failed... but the housing association which owns it says the cladding passed the fire test when it was installed. the certificate describes the panels as low risk, class zero. but the government now says they're class three, so dangerous they must be removed immediately. how come the test on friday moved it from class zero to a class three? we can only guess or presume what they did in the test, because we haven't been told yet. all we've had is a telephone call on friday evening saying the product has failed the test, and what are we going to do about it? the bbc has learned that only weeks before the grenfell tower tragedy, the fire service warned every london council that tower block cladding might be much more dangerous than realised if it had a flammable core. a new panel of building and fire safety experts is now advising the government on immediate steps to take. peter bonfield is one of those experts, who also heads the building research establishment conducting

the cladding tests for ministers. the government want to be able to screen and inform tower block residential owners, local authorities, housing associations and private landlords around the country to inform them about whether or not they have this system on the outside. it doesn't mean the building is unsafe. but it's a helpful information that then stimulates inspections and other things that will help determine the risk or otherwise of the building. many questions remain, however. has the combustibility test been changed? traditional testing for product certification checks the cladding panel as a whole. but the government test focuses specifically on the core material inside it. why testjust aluminium cladding? there are other kinds of cladding. what about insulation and firebreaks in the cavity behind the cladding? it seems odd only to look at one part of the tower block's fire safety.

and what about the building as a whole? 0fficial regulations may allow some combustible elements if a tower block's whole design system is deemed fire resistant enough. residents in some private tower blocks, like these in newcastle, want tests on their homes. the mayor of london fears some hospital buildings may not be safe enough. from this charred skeleton, a toxic cloud of uncertainty and anxiety has drifted across the country. mark easton, bbc news. judges at the european court of human rights have rejected a plea from the parents of terminally—ill baby charlie gard to intervene in his case. chris gard and connie yates lost their final legal appeal to take their son to the us for treatment. the court concluded that undergoing experimental treatment with "no prospects of success" would "continue to cause charlie significant harm". earlier our medical correspondent fergus walsh told us more. the european court of human rights in strasbourg has ruled inadmissible the application by the parents

of charlie gard to hear a final appeal that they should be allowed to take their baby son to the united states for a very experimental treatment. they said, in a briefjudgment, they said that the uk courts, three courts, which all found that great 0rmond street should be allowed to allow charlie to die, had been meticulous and thorough. they called medical experts, independent professionals, and a guardian appointed to represent charlie. and they all agreed that charlie's ventilator should be switched off. and they said that it was most likely that charlie would be exposed to continued pain, suffering and distress, and this experimental treatment would have no prospect of success and would offer no benefit. the headlines on bbc news... a cyber attack targeting businesses across the world, has hit the british advertising

company wpp and the household goods manufacturer reckitt benckiser. scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, says she's delaying plans for a second independence referendum. judges at the european court of human rights, have rejected a plea from the parents of the terminally—ill baby charlie gard, to intervene in his case and allow experimental treatment. sport now, and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre. it's the same old story for english football this evening — beaten by germany in a penalty shoot out yet again. this time in the semi—final of the european under—21 championship. england came back from a goal down in the first half to equalise through leicester city's demarai gray. it looked like they might go on to win when tammy abraham was set up by will hughes to give aidy boothroyd's side a 2—1 lead. but germany continued to be the better side, and made it 2—2 through felix platte.

it went to extra time and then penalties, but southampton's nathan redmond saw his spot kick saved, and germany go through to face either spain or italy in the final. they are currently drawing 0—0. fifa has published its report into alleged corruption during the bidding processes for the 2018 and 2022 world cups, which went to russia and qatar respectively. a german newspaper had leaked details of the report yesterday, but fifa said that they had always intended to release it anyway. our sports news correspondent, richard conway, has more. yes, the focus is on russia and qatar and what they did. russia destroyed their computers in the aftermath of winning the bid so information from them was hard to come by. as for qatar, there is more information there, some of which has been previously reported. england's doesn't escape censure in the report, michael garcia saying the england bidding team for 2018 tried

to attempt to satisfy some of what he calls improper requests from voters. england posted a record—breaking 377 on their way to a crushing victory in the rain—affected world cup match with pakistan in leicester. it's a morale boosting win, after they lost their opening game with india. our sports correspondent, joe wilson, was at the game. world cup, turn right and look for the floodlight. to choose cricket on a grade tuesday takes commitment, but it was worth it. tickets were distributed to 38 local schools. umbrella optional, but youthful, watch out for falling sixes. pakistan's women had never beaten england but the home team began under pressure. they were quickly two wickets down. two players then took control. that was the captain, heather knight. and here's the player england value so highly for their future, natalie player england value so highly for theirfuture, natalie sciver. in this match both made theirfirst one—day international hundreds.

pakistan might well be the weakest tea m pakistan might well be the weakest team in the tournament, and some of their play became ragged, and england's domination came from classic batting. heather knight reaching her century. natalie sciver made 137 from 92 balls, four sixes. a good 50 overs of entertainment with england finishing on 377, their highest ever score in the world cup. they had lunch without a care in the world, except perhaps the weather. how near could pakistan get? slowly, slowly, delayed agony. but out, no reviews here. pakistan three down. is farcan reviews here. pakistan three down. is far can remember this day for the 50 she made and she looked composed in this company. when the rain came in the 30th over england were miles ahead in the adjusted targets. they could watch the covers happy, safe in their victory. the british and irish lions team for the second test will be announced in the early hours of thursday morning, and one or two players put their hand up selection after the 31—31 draw against the hurricanes in the final

midweek match of the tour. they got off to a great start, with greig laidlaw‘s superb off—load paving the way for tommy seymour to score the first try of the game. hurricanes narrowed the lead, but george north made sure the lions ended the first half with a 23—7 advantage. however, the hurricanes scored three second—half tries, vaea fifita's converted touchdown levelled the scores with ten minutes left. but the likes of courtney lawes and ian henderson impressed and iain henderson impressed in the pack, and could feature in the squad for saturday's test. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more in the next hour. the governor of the bank of england has issued a warning about the amount of money banks are lending to consumers. it comes as consumer borrowing reaches its highest level since 2005. in fact mark carney is concerned enough to ask banks to beef up their finances to protect themselves against the risk of bad loans.

he told banks that they were in danger of "forgetting the lessons of the past". here's our economics editor kamal ahmed. dylan brown works in it — not badly paid, but often resorts to credit cards for the big bills. for him, read millions of others. consumers working hard to make ends meet who are borrowing to fill the gaps and pay for those little extras. 0k, there's your bill, sir. thank you. just because obviously older, you know, renting a property, i have a car, i have a career and everything else, so in terms of... turning to credit more so than a few years ago, yes, but abusing credit or misusing it? i wouldn't say that that would be the case. it's not a crisis yet, but today a warning from the bank of england. consumer credit growth has far outpaced that of household income over the past year, with notable increases across credit cards, personal loans and auto finance. so how bad is britain's debt problem? the amount consumers have borrowed in loans on things like credit cards has risen to £198 billion. that is up 10% compared

with the same time last year. banks will now have to raise another £11.11 billion as a safety net, in case people they have lent to don't pay the money back. i think mark carney wants to be proactive. he did talk of increasing additional capital a year ago, but he held off because of the brexit issue. and i think he wants to make sure the banks also are reminded they have to be more cautious in their consumer lending, given the speed at which their loan books have grown over the last few years. what are we borrowing for? to buy new cars with personal finance deals, loans for holidays and home improvements, and we're spending on our credit cards in the shops and online. i think this is an amber warning, for consumers and for banks. not the flashing red lights of the financial crisis — when interest rates were higher and banks, frankly, couldn't withstand any type of financial shock — but a warning nevertheless. what if interest rates were to rise? what if prices keep going up?

could millions of people with billions of pounds' worth of loans keep making those repayments? there are uncertainties ahead. whether it's that continuing income squeeze or those tricky brexit negotiations which could damage the economy. the governor struck a fairly relaxed note for the moment, but banks and consumers beware — the economy can turn. kamal ahmed, bbc news. the european commission has fined google more than £2 billion for breaking competition laws. it said the company had abused its dominance as a search engine, by giving priority to its own shopping comparison service. google says it's considering an appeal. our technology correspondent rory cellanjones reports. it's the giant which dominates online search and now it's been hit with a record fine, over £2 billion, after rivals claimed that google had trampled on their business. the fine was imposed by europe's competition commissioner,

now gaining a reputation for taking on powerful american technology firms. google has abused its market dominance as a search engine, by giving illegal advantages to other google products, its shopping comparison service. the charge is that google uses search engine might to favour its own shopping service above rivals. let's put toasters into the box and see what happens. right at the top appears the google shopping box with a whole series of adverts. if i click on any of these, google earns money. what you are not seeing prominently in the results, in fact way down, out of sight, are any rival price comparison sites. that means they're not getting the clicks and not earning the money. one of those rivals, kelkoo, says today's fine is also good news for shoppers. without competition, google basically can charge merchants whatever they like for advertising. with competition, you end up with lots of people like ourselves,

companies competing on prices which brings the price down. but google says big rivals like amazon provide plenty of competition when it comes to choosing products and brussels just doesn't understand the modern consumer. the search firm said, "we respectfully disagree with the conclusions announced today. we will review the commission's decision in detail as we consider an appeal, and we look forward to continuing to make our case." get your products on google, other sites, and in front of mobile shoppers. and there's wider concern in the united states about what some see as european interference in a ground—breaking company. a former adviser to three presidents says consumers would benefit. says consumers won't benefit. this could lead to essentially too big to innovate. if you're so big, you'd better be careful about innovating because you could bring down the wrath of the european commission on you and pay large amounts of money to the european treasury. why do you want to risk that now?

for more than a decade, the european commission has been taking on the american technology giants and today it made clear that its battle against what it sees as unfair competition will continue. rory cellan—jones, bbc news. 50 years ago, the world's first cash machine was installed, outside a branch of barclays in enfield in london. now we rely on 70,000 in the uk, and three million across the world to get hold of money. and as simon gompertz reports, the machines are now so sophisticated, they're proving yet another threat to the traditional bank branch. 1967, a revolution. the first money from a hole in the wall. you put in a voucher and a code and you got ten £1 notes. reg varney, a tv celebrity of the time, had a go and the cash machine was born. and this is what we've come to. less a cash machine than a mini bank. on these ones, you can even open a bank account. signing your name, it will take my photo as welljust

to prove that it's me. you can see and talk to bank staff directly on the screen and take out money with your mobile phone. you don't need your card. we are light yea rs don't need your card. we are light years ahead of 50 years ago. is this sort of banking we actually want? doing banking on mobile phones and la pto ps, doing banking on mobile phones and laptops, why do i need to do it at cash machine? you're not the only user. there are other uses. don't think of it like a machine. it's a piece of real estate. what he you can do with a kiosk with a real estate that is expensive. what can you do to increase thinking at that real estate ? you do to increase thinking at that real estate? wedding? by the time i get there it will be eight chris ling. it's a piece of real estate

that changed our lives. you didn't have to worry about the banks being open. now cash itself is under threat from contactless cards and smartphones. the bank of england's chief cashier who signs the banknotes agrees the cash machine has to do other things. some people like the plain vanilla bits they can get. other people will be looking for the wiz bits. some want to trade in shares on a cash machine. some people will be striving for more to get more from the machine. if you can have a one—stop shop, brilliant. this one shows you if someone's looking over your shoulder to steal your pin code, reassurance you might want if they close your branch to replace it with a machine. we're moving towards a no—bank—branch era. we used to have about 20,000 bank branches in the uk and soon we will have 4000. smart atms, as we're calling them, in the future will provide 99% of all the services that people can get from bank branches today.

that is not a world everyone will welcome but the technology unleashed back in the ‘60s is still transforming the way we bank half a century later. simon gompertz, bbc news. time for the weather with louise lear. the weather is a fickle business. we have gone from summer scorcher to some soak overnight. a cloudy day across the far north with heavy and sharp showers developing over the north—east corner, some rumbles of thunder. this rain will drift north overnight, keeping showers in scotland, but a pretty wet picture over england and wales. that's the start of the day on wednesday, with the best of the weather up in the far north through much of scotland where it will stay dry. not a particularly warm day. 0utbreaks where it will stay dry. not a particularly warm day. outbreaks of rain across northern ireland, the scottish borders, england and wales

and the south—west. so improvement in the south—east corner and we will see highest values of 20 degrees here. all change yet again on thursday as that area of low pressure d rifts thursday as that area of low pressure drifts north bringing heavy rain to scotland and gale force gusts of wind. quieter further south for at least a day. take care. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines... a cyber attack targeting businesses across the world has hit the british advertising giant wpp and the household goods manufacturer reckitt benckiser. scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, says her government is delaying plans for a second independence referendum. it comes after the snp lost 21 seats in the general election. when the terms of brexit will be clearer, we will come back to parliament to set out ourjudgment on the best way forward at that time. including our view on the precise

timescale for offering people a choice over the country's future. judges in the european court of human rights have rejected a plea from the parents of the terminally—ill baby charlie gard to intervene in the case. chris gard and connie yates wanted 10—month—old charlie, who suffers from a rare genetic condition, to undergo experimental therapy in america. the government has established an independent expert panel to provide advice on fire safety. since the grenfell tower fire disaster, the cladding on all the buildings tested from across england has failed safety checks. scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, has confirmed she's delaying plans for a second independence referendum. speaking at holyrood, she said she still believes the country needs to be given a choice about its future, but only after brexit. earlier, i spoke to mike russell, the snp's ministerfor uk negotiations on scotland's place in europe.

i asked him if the general election result showed the public had no appetite for a second independence referendum yes, we are still the largest party by farron scotland, and indeed have a majority of the seats in westminster. —— by far in scotland. this is nicola sturgeon being pragmatic and sensible based on the evidence of brexit. this morning i was speaking to the annual meeting of the british association of insurers in london, who were disgusting brexit. the fear they have of the insecurity created by brexit is palpable —— who were discussing brexit. if we can reassure them by trying to get the uk government to reset this appalling process they are engaged m, appalling process they are engaged in, that is what we should do. that is quite rightly what the first minister was talking about today. at the end of this process, there's going to be a choice, because we

don't know what is going to come out of this process. there's never been a more unstable time. we are going to work free hard to get something out of this shambles, where going to say to the people of scotland, we've done our very best. what do you think will warrant a second independence referendum? we don't know if it will be two years, that was position of the prime minister and david davis some months ago. we know that the first part has to be finished by may 2019. i was in brussels last week, there was people openly speculating that this would ta ke two, openly speculating that this would take two, three or four of five yea rs. we take two, three or four of five years. we need to know what the position is in two years, we need to know what the offer is and whether it has been accepted. incredibly, the prime minister is still talking about the possibility of there being no deal. right across the uk, people are saying, let's approach this in a different way. let's get together. the archbishop of canterbury was

saying, the cbi have said it, trade unions are saying it, we need to be able to work this out. the first minister was saying it today, sitting in with the general consensus, this has to be done in a very different way to the way it has been done by theresa may up until now. you are not going to be sitting on your hands for the next two years whilst theresa may and dugher davies sought all of themselves. you will be putting forward through ideas and potentially, one would have thought, you will have red lines. does that include still being part of the customs union, access to the single market and so on? and warm at the single market is important. we have been arguing that for many months we published a very serious paper about that in december. i'm not going to be sitting on my hands. my welsh equivalent, mark draper, and i, broke to david davis two weeks ago suggesting how this process should go forward. nothing has happened in

these two weeks. there is a mechanism for getting the four nations of the uk in the same room together in the same room to start talking. the uk government hasn't activated that mechanism. it hasn't met in february. we have some very clear that that could be taken. we need to get the joint ministerial structure and running again, let's get this process going and draw people into this, let's look at what's happening and say, let's sort this out because its disastrous in this out because its disastrous in this present moment. a day after agreeing to support the minority conservative government at westminster, the democratic unionists are talking to other parties in northern ireland about re—establishing a power—sharing executive in stormont. the devolved government formed by the dup and sinn fein broke down in march. i've been getting the latest from our correspondent chris page, and i asked him what impact yesterday's agreement could have on prospects for a deal at stormont well, you hear differing opinions about that. one hand you have the

dup on the northern ireland secretary james brokenshire i dup on the northern ireland secretaryjames brokenshire i hear on behalf of the government, very much suggesting that the deal sets a different context in the talks, but it does mean that because there will be more money in the stormont pot is a power—sharing executive gets back up a power—sharing executive gets back up and running, that is something that may well encourage politicians to get back in power and are back together and spending that money. whenever sinn fein, to give a news conference here in the last couple of hours, they really did come out of hours, they really did come out of the rare strong wind. i think they have indicated that a deal is strong way of —— a strong ride. declan kearney said there would be no movement from the dup on the substantive issues that were at the heart of the political crisis here in northern ireland. issues he mentioned specifically, for example he mentioned there had to be irish language act, a piece of legislation which promoted

the irish language. he also mentioned rights for the lgbt community. in terms of the tone that that set, i think we can say there are still major gaps between the two main parties here, the dup in sinn fein. —— and sinn fein. the dup search of ancient not engage in high wire acts, they have no redlines and would go back into stormont tomorrow morning. whether or not the executive gets back up and running in the next couple of days before the legal deadline runs out on thursday afternoon very much depends if the gaps on those issues can be closed over the next 48 hours or so. talking is still going on at stormont into the light. pressure on for a deal. at the moment it doesn't feel like the mood music is particularly good. a tight schedule, and the mood music doesn't sound very good about getting some kind of compromise. but the pressure is on sinn fein, isn't it? they could well be seen as the party or the side that ends up scuppering power—sharing. that ends up scuppering

power-sharing. well, sinn fein resigned from the stormont executive backin resigned from the stormont executive back in january, resigned from the stormont executive back injanuary, that is what precipitated the collapse of the executive. whenever the then deputy refers minister, the then martin mcguinness, arlene foster was also out of herjob —— when martin mcguinness resigned, arlene foster was out of herjob because the deputy first ministers cannot work in isolation under the power—sharing. the dup in particular have said that as far as they are concerned, sinn fein have caused this crisis. sinn fein have all the way it used dup of arrogance, —— accused the dup of arrogance. they said as regards to the dup deal with the conservatives, they do welcome more money coming into the public pot here in northern ireland, it would ease the pressure on public services, but they have been stressing that as far as they are concerned, the crisis is not a cash crisis, it's not about money or budgets or how money will be spent,

but it's about these issues such as culture, the irish language, same—sex marriage, which hasn't been introduced in northern ireland, the dup or opposed to that, and a very tricky issue, how to deal with the hundreds of unsolved killings from the troubles. the northern ireland factory james brokenshire, whenever he spoke today, he said as far as he was concerned he wasn't contemplating any alternative to getting devolved government back up and running here by thursday. he said all the parties have do focus on that deadline, and that was echoed by the irish prime minister leo varadkar, speaking in the irish parliament this afternoon. they really wa nt parliament this afternoon. they really want devolved government back, but if it doesn't come back by thursday, it is going to be another difficult decision to make. what is going to happen in northern ireland? public services has to keep running and budget has to be set. in order to that to happen, for the cash floating keep coming, ministers in london have to release the cash

strength and takeover giving northern ireland a budget. whether or not we will be into a sustained period of what is called direct rule, ministers in london taken over the stormont department in in indefinite basis, remains to be seen. the united states has accused the syrian government of preparing for another chemical weapons attack on forces opposing president assad. at least 87 people died in a sarin gas attack on the rebel held town of khan sheikhun in april. it prompted president trump to order a strike against a syrian air base. the syrian president bashar al assad denied any preparations were under way for an attack. earlier the us ambassador to the un, nikki haley, issued this statement about what the white house has learned. they have seen activities that are similar to preparations of a chemical weapons attack, much like we saw in april. i believe the goal is at this point, notjust to send assad a message but to send russia and iran a message that if this happens again, we are putting you on notice, and my hope is that the president's

warning will certainly get russia and iran to take a second look, and i hope it will caution assad from the fact that we don't want to see innocent men, women and children hurt again. the us ambassador to the un, nikki haley. the treatment of more than 1700 nhs patients in england may have been put at risk by what's been described as a "colossal administrative blunder". the national audit office has found that over five years, hundreds of thousands of documents, including cancer diagnoses and other test results, were left to pile up in a warehouse instead of being sent to hospitals or gps. here's our health editor, hugh pym, with the story. they were important letters from hospitals to gps with test results and other vital information. but they piled up in a warehouse

and hundreds, possibly thousands of patients could have been harmed. this situation is a scandal. for something like this to happen on such a scale, and to be so prolonged, is completely unacceptable. in january 2014, the company handling the letters became aware of a risk to patients, but didn't reveal it. in august 2015, a member of staff raised concerns some records were being destroyed. in march 2016, the company finally informed nhs england and the department of health — but neither parliament or the public were told at the time. we are shocked on behalf of patients that such a scandal has occurred. and, to add to that, the lack of transparency is extremely worrying. all the letters have been recovered. doctors are going through them to check whether patient care was affected. a department of health spokesperson said no cases of harm to patients had been identified so far, and that work was continuing with nhs england to ensure this didn't happen again, with officials mindful for the need for transparency. in the commons, the health secretary

said mistakes couldn't always be prevented. what we can do is make sure we react quickly when that happens, which happened on this occasion, but we can also make sure that we have better assurance than we had on this occasion. and i can assure the house that the appropriate lessons will be learned. but labour said it was a shambolic catalogue of failure. hugh pym, bbc news. us senate republican leader, mitch mcconnell, has decided to put off a planned vote on a health care bill to repeal 0bamacare until after the senate's july 11th recess. the decision comes after five republican senators, enough to block a motion to proceed with the bill, said they would oppose the measure. 0ur senior north america reporter anthony zurcher is joining me now from washington. mr mcconnell did not believe he

could get its roof. this is a setback for the republicans? absolutely —— this through. the votes were not there. the republicans needed 50 votes to pass this legislation. their word least five republicans expressing concern about the bill. they wanted to try and get this path before the end of the week because republicans are going home for the 11th ofjuly recess where they are going to be bottas abating in parades and meeting with constituents and holding town halls. they will get an earfulfrom their holding town halls. they will get an earful from their voters on the left and right about this bill, which was generally not that popular. they will have to address it when they come back in july, will have to address it when they come back injuly, and they only have three weeks to get through it before they leave for august. there isa before they leave for august. there is a lot of pressure, and being more they push us back the harder it will be to pass the legislation. they push us back the harder it will be to pass the legislationm they push us back the harder it will be to pass the legislation. it looks like something president trump said on the campaign trail for the white house that would be easy, getting rid of 0bamacare, repealing it,

getting a new law in, has proved incredibly difficult. reports have come out suggesting that 22 million americans, more americans, are going to be out of health care if this comes through. exactly. that is where this latest bill in the senate really began to unravel. yesterday, when the congressional budget office, an independent agency that rates legislation, said 22 million additional americans would go without health insurance and medicaid, state funding for the poon medicaid, state funding for the poor, would be cut by over 50%. that made a lot of moderate republicans worried about their constituents in places like maine and the buddha and nebraska. meanwhile, there are some archconservative republicans who say this bill does not go far enough. they have campaigned on repealing 0bamacare all the they have campaigned on repealing 0bamaca re all the way they have campaigned on repealing 0bamacare all the way through from start to finish. and now it looks like that may not happen. they are relu cta nt like that may not happen. they are reluctant too. whatever the sands republicans try to do, whenever they

go to the left or right, they might lose votes either way. it is a narrow trail they are trying to walk down. the house managed to do it but the senate will be more difficult. user these five republicans are not willing to back this thing. —— you said that these five republicans. what will happen with the look what happened is that a campaign promise that donald trump made, republicans have made for the past seven years, they are not able to fulfil it. that is of serious concern. they will hear from is of serious concern. they will hearfrom their is of serious concern. they will hear from their constituents. democrats will be happy that nothing gets past, but they run on a repealing 0bamacare, this is a step to what they want to get to, pax reform, without health care reform that will be difficult. it will create a whole host of problems if they can't get it done sooner. thank you, anthony zurcher in washington. a sikh couple say they were told they couldn't adopt a white child,

because of their cultural heritage. sandeep and reena mander, who were both born in britain, and told an adoption agency they were happy to take a child from any ethnic background, say they were advised instead to adopt a child from india. it's legal for adoption agencies to give preference to parents from the same ethnic group, but government guidelines say different racial backgrounds shouldn't be a barrier. 0ur correspondent sara smith has been to meet the couple. after seven years of trying, and 16 failed ivf attempts, sandeep and reena accepted they weren't going to have a baby of their own. convinced they could offer a child a loving home, though, they went to an interductory session on adoption. when they told the agency adopt berkshire, they'd like to move forward, they were informed with only white babies needing families, their indian heritage meant there was no point proceeding. i was quite hurt. to be honest. we had already gone through a long

journey, and initially i was hurt. then i was angry. they should be looking at us as people and understanding more about our lives, who we are and not just one particular area such as cultural heritage because that can mean anything. the couple, both born and raised in britain, tried to get the decision reversed through the agency's own complaints division. they've had support from their mp, theresa may. but they haven't even been allowed to start the long application process, which is why now they're taking legal action. i feel that the council has got it wrong in the sense that they have prioritised cultural heritage as the one and primary factor that they will consider before even allowing couples to register. the effect of doing that is creating a form of segregation. adopt berkshire is the council's adoption agency. when we asked about this case, a spokesperson said they wouldn't comment on ongoing court cases. on its, website it says:

"when placing children for adoption, it will first try to identify prospective adopters who reflect the child's culture and religion of heritage." for us, colour doesn't mean a single thing to us. love doesn't have a colour. why differentiate that, and the wellbeing of that child growing up, just down to the fact that, i suppose, we're brown—skinned. the legal battle, they say, is for future couples in the same position. they've now been approved for adoption from the us. the bullying of pupils for being gay, lesbian or transgender in secondary schools in britain needs to be urgently addressed, according to campaigners. they say although the number of incidents has fallen, there's still a big problem. a study by the university of cambridge, which was commissioned by the gay rights charity stonewall, says almost half of gay pupils who were questioned said they were bullied. more than 60% had

self—harmed as a result. and about one in five had tried to take their own life. 0ur education editor branwen jeffreys has the story. "b" for is bisexual. so, someone who is sexually attracted to all the sexes, male and female. giving them the facts — not advice — to understand themselves and others. getting rid of the prejudice that leads to bullying. if we can create a culture where there's a strong empathy towards others, then actually we can challenge the attitudes that people might have, and by overcoming any prejudice that way, that can also prevent any homophobic comments as a school. just explain it more to people... from cracking down on bullying to hearing talks by trans pupils, this somerset school is building tolerance. no—one's really more superior to another person. you can't really... and diversity has no limits. some pupils are anti—bullying

mentors, supporting others and being supported. i was with a partner of the same sex, and we were completely accepted and everybody was really supportive. we were just treated like any other couple in the school. i think that's a really lovely thing to be able to experience. far too many schools still aren't doing enough to help teenagers who are grappling with their sexuality or their gender. that puts them at risk of bullying, of self—harm, or even attempting to take their own life. teenagers told the charity stonewall, "i would be hit or kicked in the corridors and have stones thrown at me". "i lost confidence and the power to succeed". "we've never been told that we can talk about this type of stuff to teachers". some parents could be as supported as you like, but... school support would have helped abbey. the day she was outed at school, among the darkest. ijust felt like i didn't

want to be here. in all honesty, i felt like there was no hope. there was no—one for me to look up to. ijust felt like a freak, and itjust felt horrible. looking back on it now, ijust think, why did you feel that way? today, a promise of better support. mental health training for teachers in all england's secondary schools. branwen jeffreys, bbc news, somerset. the queen is in line for a pay rise over the next two years — one which will take her income to more than £82 million. it's an 8% increase to fund her official duties — such as travel, salaries for her staff and the upkeep of the palaces. the money she receives from the tax purse has increased over the six years by £51 million. last year it worked out at roughly at 65p per taxpayer per year — a figure eoyal aides says

is excellent value for money. 0ur royal correspondent nicholas witchell explained the reasons for the rise. the way it's worked out is that in normal times, the queen receives 15% of the net profits of something called the crown estate. this is the estate which owns large parts of london, royal ascot, windsor great park, all sorts of other things. because of the need for this refurbishment of buckingham palace, which is going to costjust under £400 million in ten years, the proportion of the profits from the crown estate, which will go to the monarchy, has been raised to 25% of the net profits. that is what accounts for this increase in the money that is going to buckingham palace. the increase is specifically tied to the refurbishment. now that hasn't actually started yet. they're still at the planning stage, preliminary work. but it is going to be a huge effort. little of it will be visible. because it's all the bits behind the walls and under the floors, which haven't been touched for decades, and which they regard

as a significant risk to the integrity of the building. republic anti—monarchist group, they say this amount of money is unsustainable. they say that the sovereign grant has risen 167% since 2012 and they say that the figure from the palace, the palace figure, is that the cost of the monarchy equates to 65p per person in this country, which conveniently is the cost of a first class stamp. republic says that doesn't include security, doesn't include a host of other costs. they say the real annual cost is £345 million, not quite sure how they work that out. but they say that the whole method of financing the monarchy in this country needs to be completely overhauled. one of germany's most highly decorated second world war pilots has achieved a long held ambition — to fly in a spitfire. 95—year—old hugo broch took

to the skies over kent, where the raf held the line during the battle of britain. robert hall has been talking to him. the roar of a merlin engine, heralding an encounter between a great machine with a great pilot. during his flying career, mostly on the russian front, hugo broch was credited with 81 victories in 324 missions. every german squadron had heard of the spitfire, herr broch had waited most of his life to fly in one. translation: the spitfire was greatly respected. with these machines you have a fantastic feeling of being free and being able to do what you want. and i expect to get that feeling again today. the spitfire gained its iconic status during the summer of 1940 when the raf fought to hold off an invasion. there is still debate whether the planes or the pilots won the battle.

as his ground crew hurried to scramble this spitfire ahead of the approaching rain clouds, herr broch clearly remembered the drill. the flight was captured by documentary cameras, so we can share hugo broch's delight as he soared above the kent hills. he declined an offer to take the controls, saying that in this case he was just a back—seat driver. then, all too soon, it was over. summed up in one word. "wonderful." translation: the spitfire is an excellent aircraft and i had an excellent pilot. i remember how fantastic it is to be able to fly. on one question, herr broch was adamant. the aircraft he flew all those years ago were still the best. robert hall, bbc news, biggin hill. time for a look at the weather. he is louise lear. good evening.

weather is a difficult business, we have gone from summer school trip to summer soaker overnight. we have had a cloudy drizzly day —— summer school child. some showers with rumbles of thunder. it is cloud and outbreaks of rain drifting its way northwards overnight, a few showers into scotland but it is a pretty wet picture across england and wales. that is how we start our day on wednesday. the best of the weather on wednesday will be in the far north, through most of scotland it will stay dry. not a warm day. 0utbreaks in northern ireland, scottish borders, and the north—west. a slow improvement in the south—east corner, highest values of 20 degrees. all changed yet again on thursday, that area of low pressure d rift yet again on thursday, that area of low pressure drift it is way north, gale force gusts of wind. further south, somewhat quieter for at least

a day. take care. hello, i'm ros atkins, this is 0utside source. a huge cyber attack which started in ukraine — and it's spreading. computer systems in britain, india, norway, the netherlands and russia also being affected — more in a moment. google's been hit by a record fine in europe. this is why. google has abused its market dominance by promoting its own shopping comparison service in its search results and demoting its competitors. important development the republicans' important development the republica ns' attempt to important development the republicans' attempt to overrule 0bamacare. republicans' attempt to overrule 0bamaca re. they have republicans' attempt to overrule 0bamacare. they have delayed a vote. we will tell you why.