merger to be approved. digital giants like amazon and netflix are pushing another revolution in viewing habits by investing billions in programmes. so the murdochs want full access to sky customers in crucial markets like germany and italy. with these 22 million subscribers across europe, james murdoch, the son of rupert and chairman of sky, thinks that the family empire can continue to grow. the murdoch family obviously have traditionally been very powerful in newspapers, but of course what has happened in the last few years is that newspapers have become steadily less and less influential. we are now moving into a world where newspaper circulations are falling steadily and more and more people are going to get their news from places like google and the social media companies and they are the new media giants. as i have said to a number of other witnesses... but the murdochs are nothing if not divisive. alleged victims of their tabloid papers argue that the second stage of the levenson enquiry, which promised to scrutinise james murdoch's corporate leadership, but was dropped in the tory manifesto, is needed before this merger can go through.

it is in the newspapers‘ interests not to have the other part of the leveson, they don't want their dirty washing out in public, they don't want us to see the double—dealing. fox say they are pleased ofcom deemed them fit and proper to hold a broadcasting licence and that they will work constructively with the authorities. but with his enemies energised and new phone hacking trials due to begin in october, murdoch's fox faces an anxious wait. scientists have this evening released the findings of a major new study into the effects of pesticides on bees. the investigation, involving three countries including the uk, focused on the impact of widely—used chemicals and found they were harmful to bee colonies. the chemicals have been banned in the european union for the past few years, but there's growing demand for them to be reintroduced here, as our science correspondent rebecca morelle explains. our bees are in trouble. around the world, these vital

pollinators are vanishing. now, a major new study has revealed the role of pesticides called neonicotinoids. the chemicals were used extensively for oilseed rape until a temporary ban in europe in 2013. neonicotinoids really change the way we use pesticides. instead of spraying fields, seeds are coated with the chemicals and this protects the crops as they grow from insects. but now an experiment on a vaster scale spanning 2,000 hectares, that's an area the size of 3,000 football pitches, has revealed that neonicotinoids are harming bees. the scientists were given special permission to use the banned chemicals at sites in the uk, hungary and germany. our findings are a cause for serious concern. we have shown for the first time negative effects of neonicotinoid seed dressings on honeybees.

we have also shown similar negative effects on wild pollinators like bumblebees and solitary bees. this is important because many crops globally are insect—pollinated, and without pollinators, we would struggle to produce some foods. for bumblebees, scientists found that exposure to the chemicals resulted in fewer queens, so fewer new hives. for honeybees, in two out of the three countries, hives were more likely to die off over the winter. these are neonicotinoid treated seeds. but some farmers say since the ban, their crops have been attacked by pests. in the uk, oilseed rape production has fallen by 20%. it's a useful crop. it can be turned into bio diesel. it creates vegetable oil, cold—pressed. it's good for you on salad dressings. we think farmers will always want to grow oilseed rape but without neonicotinoid technology in difficult years, it will be more challenging.

a major manufacturer says they're convinced that pesticides are not bad for bees. the eu will soon decide whether to extend the ban. but with brexit for the uk, any decision may be short lived. newsnight is coming up on bbc two. here's evan. tonight, on the 20th anniversary of the handover, we will hear from the last british governor of hong kong, chris patten. he calls the chinese ambassador to britain a man who doesn't know the difference between democracy and a wet haddock. that and other observations on bbc two. that is underway on bbc two. now on bbc one, it's time for the news where you are. hello and welcome to sportsday — i'mjohn watson. coming up. johanna konta recovers from a fall at eastbourne to beat the world number one and recah the semi finals. murray's worries mount. injury forces him out of a wimbledon warm up event. and warren gatland rings the changes ahead of the must win second

test with new zealand. hello. good evening. with wimbledon just days away. now is the time to be finding some form ahead of the start of third major of the year. and the british women's number one johanna konta is doing just that as she beat the world's number one angelique kerber to reach the semi finals at eastbourne. konta raced into a 3—love lead in the first set, before taking it 6—3. and while things were looking comfortable in the second, a nasty fall and bang to the head on match point put her place in the last four at risk. and with weather disrupting the schedule, forcing her to play this her second match of the day, she followed up her earlier victory over the french open champion jelena 0stopenko, by getting back to her feet after a stoppage of almost ten minutes, to dispatch another grand slam champion.

i means imeansi i means i hit my head so i've got a bit of a sore head right now that we will see. it has been a busy afternoon so i think i'lljust for myself but for a lot of players we have played a lot today said definitely looking forward to recovering and looking forward to playing again tomorrow. also through is the british number three heather watson. again having to play her second match of the day, she beat barbora strycova. she took the first set 6—1 but strycova then took the second by the same scoreline. the british number three won the decider 6—4. he's the only men's player ranked in the world's top 15 competing at eastbourne, such is the desire of novak djokovic to rediscover his form. and it's helping, into the semi final after a straight sets win over the american donald young. the world number 4 breezed through the first set 6—2 but young far tougher in the second set, taking it to a tiebreak. but the serbian too strong, taking it 11—9 to reach the last four. concerns linger over the fitness

of the world number one andy murray after his withdrawl from another match at an exhibition event at london's hurlingham club. murray, the reigning wimbledon champion and top seed for next week's tournament, was due to play tomorrow but has pulled out, citing a sore hip. he'd already withdrawn from facing the frenchman lucas pouille on tuesday, and hasn't been able to train today and says he is also unlikely to be able to practice tomorrow. world number 855 alex ward became the only british player to come through wimbledon singles qualifying by securing a win over russia's teymuraz gabashvili. ward won in the third and final round of qualifying in roehampton. he was given a wildcard to play in qualifying and had lost his previous seven matches before this week. fellow britons marcus willis and jay clarke went out in the final round. england striker jermain defoe has joined bournemouth

on a three year deal. a clause in his sunderland contract meant the 3a year old could leave for free following their relegation from the premier league. he was on loan with bournemouth in the 2000—2001 season. defoe scored 15 goals last season, earning him an england recall in march after a four year absence. the traditional world cup warm up continues in russia, where the confederations cup is at the semi final stage, germany beating mexico 4-1 final stage, germany beating mexico 4—1 tonight in sochi. final stage, germany beating mexico 4-1 tonight in sochi. no debate about the goal of the night, marco fabian with this strike. his side thoughw ere trailing three nil at the time. and despite threatening a late comeback the liverpool midfielder emre can set up amin younes for germany's fourth in injury time. and so the world champions will play the copa america champions chile in sunday's final in st petersburg. qualifying is already under way for

next season's europa league. and nathan woolfe was the hero for the welsh premier league side connah‘s quay nomad's fc as they upset the oddsin quay nomad's fc as they upset the odds in the first leg of their opening qualifying round against hjk helsinki. the welsh side now have the upper hand for the away leg on thursday the 6th ofjuly. kenny miller scored the only goal as rangers made a winning return to the european stage against luxembourg's progres niederkorn. stjohnstone need to score at least twice in lithuania next week after losing their first round qualifying home tie with fk trakai. leeds edged a thrilling match against st helens by 2a points to 22 to move up to second in the super league table. the rhinos ran in four tries at headingly, ryan hall claiming the final one for his seventh of the season. they survived a late fightback to dent st helens hopes of finishing in the top four. what a weekend ahead for the british and irish lions. warren gatland says he's had to make some big calls, arguably the biggest opting to select the ireland fly half jonny sexton and owen farrell in his starting line up for the must win second test against new zealand,

it's the first time the pair have started together on tour. to give the side some more attacking strength. farrell comes in to replace ben teo at inside centre in what some will see as a gamble, with the duo having spent such little playing time together. this is the team in full. sam warburton returns to the side. katie gornall has been assesing teh selection from wellington. katie gornall has been assesing the selection from wellington. warren gatland has rolled the dice somewhat with his selection for the second test. he has brought in 0wen farrell and johnny sexton in midfield at the expense of nta which is something of a surprise given that they have not played so far this tournament but warren jacklin says it gives them a different option —— ben teo. changes were cited in the forward pack because thatis cited in the forward pack because that is where when gavin said his side did not match up. the address

that by bringing sam warburton into the back row. i think the message is having quite clear from last saturday what we have today. the penalty count has to be in single figures and we have to improve our all—around game that comes from the physicality, breakdown, line—out, scrum, visited our excellent last saturday and i expect we have two pick—up. you give away penalties because new zealand exert pressure and they played extremely well putting us under pressure so it is managing that pressure a lot better, a lot easier said than done. this means a lot easier said than done. this m ea ns test a lot easier said than done. this mea ns test ca pta i n a lot easier said than done. this means test captain misses out entirely, a tough call said warren gatland today. we also heard george north and rob henshaw have had leave the tour with injury. the all blacks have had to do with injuries as well, two changes for the side for saturday here in wellington, and

changed the forward pack. steve hansen says he expects a big response from warren gatland's side here in wellington. i will be determined to win. i have said that. you wouldn't expect anything else from them. quality teams don't lie down. they stand up and get counted. losing hurts. it sucks, it is not a great idea and it comes with a lot of pain. so you don't want to do it. the lions have to win here in wellington, only two sides of the comeback from a goal down in the last one was back in 1989 so history not all that encouraging for warren gatland. now ‘there's nothing a mother won't do for her son‘ is there? even if you're a grown man playing in a professional golf tournament. china's haotong li had

just thrown his putter into the water at the 11th at le golf national in france. after a bit of a tantrum. around 20 minutes later, the 21—year—old's mother was wading knee—deep into the water to collect the club, which she appeared surprised to find was no longer in one piece. ican i can only presume his frustration that prompted the breaking of the sepp blatter and his numbers clearly unimpressed. i think perhaps the —— he needs to apologise to his blog to stop blog to as they looked on in amazement at the effort she had gone to! that's all from sportsday. coming up in a moment, the papers. hello and welcome to our look ahead

to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are tim stanley, lead writer at the daily telegraph, and jessica elgot, political correspondent at the guardian. tomorrow's front pages starting with. welcome to you both. the front pages... we're not doing them, we are so short a time we're going straight on. the metro is where we begin. squeaky bum time. that takes hand—picking. prime minister clings to power implying it was a bit nip and tuck from theresa may today because of her lack of majority. i'm impressed by this because it managed to combine two stories in one. one

story is the purchasing of dup support so the government giving £33 per taxpayer in order to get the support they need in order to get the queen's speech voted through which happened today by a margin of 223 -- 323-309.