this is bbc news. the headlines at apm: the environment secretary, michael gove, suggests the government could support a lifting of the 1% pay cap for public sector workers. more than 80,000 migrants have passed through italian ports since 2014, and numbers are on the rise again. britain is withdrawing from an agreement which allows foreign countries to fish in its waters. also in the next hour: could battery powered planes be the future of flying? we'll take an exclusive look at an experimental electric plane. wimbledon fans soak up the sun as they set up camp in the queue for tickets ahead of the first day of play. in half an hour: we hearfrom major players on both sides of the brexit negotiating table in brexit, what's next? good afternoon and welcome to bbc news.

the environment secretary, michael gove, has suggested the government could support a lifting of the 1% pay cap for public sector workers as calls grow for ministers to ease austerity measures. he told the bbc‘s andrew marr show the government should "respect the integrity" of the independent bodies that review pay for groups including nurses, teachers and the police. 0ur political correspondent emma vardy reports. complaining about seven years of austerity, "not one day more" was the slogan for protesters yesterday. the plan to drive down the deficit has meant year after year of pay freezes and caps for some five million public sector workers. but that could be about to change. the environment secretary, michael gove, said that if independent pay review bodies recommend a rise, then the government should accept it. i think we should listen to the pay

review bodies who govern each individual area of public sector pay. public sector workers have effectively had a 1% cap on pay rises since 2013 and a two year pay freeze before that. there are eight independent bodies which make recommendations to the government about the pay of public sector workers including teachers, police and nhs staff. but the government is not bound by these recommendations. of it is up to the prime minister and the various secretaries of state to decide how to respond to their advice. and there has been scepticism over whether the pay review bodies are truly independent. they work under the overall strategy set by the government? they take account of that, but they also take account of other questions as well, including the number of people who are entering the profession, and whether we need to increase pay in order to get the best people in the profession. these pay review bodies have been set up in order to ensure that we can have authoritative

advice on what's required, in order to ensure that the public services on which we rely are effectively staffed, and the people within them are effectively supported. in march, the nhs pay review body warned the cap was putting stress on the health service. this month, we are due to find out the recommendations being made for the pay of police and teachers. we are saying to the pay review bodies, get rid of the 1% cap and give a fair pay rise. what context? i think they should consider giving people a pay rise in line with earnings. it's no longerjust opposition parties who want an end to the long running freeze on public sector pay. now, conservative backbenchers are also lobbying for a change. more than 80,000 migrants, many fleeing war and poverty, have arrived in italy in the first six months of the year. the united nations high commissioner

for refugees has added his voice to those calling for italy to be given more support, as it deals with large numbers of migrants crossing the mediterranean. with me is our correspondent richard galpin. that figure illustrates the challenge? it is a huge challenge, and it is a really bad spike. in two days... more than 12,000 migrants picked up. higher than what they had in the same period last year. figures have really gone up. the italians are very worried. a meeting today between interior ministers of italy, france and germany, this issue going to be discussed. italy has said that it cannot cope any more, that it has got to get much more, that it has got to get much more support from all the members of

the european union. it is feeling isolated, not getting the support that it needs. the naturally and logistically, a burden. looking specifically to mediterranean coastal countries, spain, greece? specifically to mediterranean coastal countries, spain, greece7m is just absolutely everywhere. everybody would be looking at germany, financially. another meeting this week, in estonia, going to bea meeting this week, in estonia, going to be a broader group of interior ministers. italy has said that it simply cannot cope. some evidence, anecdotal evidence, because i have been talking to a ng0, running a rescue ship. sea watch. be have a recognisable far too many people on board the boat, but you have got to rescue them. they needed to disembark those people onto a bigger

ship, normally something like the italian coastguard. they appealed for this. spoke to rome. but nothing came at all. the worrying thing, the allegation was that this was potentially deliberate. that they do not want more people at the ports. apparently, the italians have threatened to cause the ports. and these treacherous journeys, the motivation is to escape war in the middle east and poverty from africa? yes. both. 0bviously, these are people from sub saharan africa, and also a lot of people coming for

economic reasons, like syria, libya, bangladesh and that is an interesting development. the new commissioner was saying that he believes the majority are a group of irregular migrants. thank you. the irish government has criticised britain's decision to withdraw from the london fisheries convention, which gives boats from ireland, france, belgium, germany and the netherlands access to waters close to the uk coast. the irish agriculture minister, michael creed, described the announcement as "unwelcome and unhelpful." the government says leaving the london fisheries convention will allow the uk to take back control of access to its fishing rights. daniela relph reports. the uk fishing industry is a multi million pound business. but the government says britain's exit from the european union is a chance to build a new domestic fishing policy. the withdrawal from the london fisheries convention will prevent vessels from france, belgium, germany, ireland and the netherlands fishing within 6—12 nautical miles of the uk's coastline. but it won't be a quick process. britain's departure

from the convention will take around two years. environment secretary, michael gove, said triggering the withdrawal from the agreement would lead to a more competitive, profitable and sustainable industry for the whole of the uk. the london fisheries convention was signed “119611. it currently allows other countries to catch 10,000 tonnes of fish from uk waters, worth approximately £17 million. the government believes leaving the convention will allow britain to take back control of its fishing policy. well, a little earlier, my colleague ben brown spoke to will mccallum, head of 0ceans at greenpeace uk. he said leaving the convention would not in itself deliver a better future for the uk fishing industry. we asked him whether he thought this move would bring about more sustainability for uk fishermen.

the main reason we are excited about this is that this shows defra, the new minister, are prioritising fishing. there is a long list of deals to be struck, and we were worried that fishing would not be prioritised, and that those communities who wanted a new fishing policy and more access to fish would once again find themselves at the bottom of the pile. some people might say this is protectionist, we are stopping other countries fishing in our waters, and they can do vice versa? exactly, what this does is, it gives us the power to do that, but we all know, fish don't respect borders, they are not going to stop at 12 miles... say, uk fishermen can fish now! actually, what this means is, we're going to go into a long drawn—out process of negotiation, and our priorities need to be that we have to have a fair and sustainable fisheries policy. ben also spoke to mike cohen, chairman of the national federation of fishermen‘s 0rganisation, who says that this move isn't solely about sustainability but all part of a much bigger picture. this is not really about creating sustainable fishing,

this is about controlling fisheries management in the uk. of course we want sustainable fishing. the fishing industry has the most to lose if we don't have sustainable fishing. we have been catching these fish stocks for generation after generation, but we want to sustain that into the future. the best way for ensuring that our fish stocks are sustainable is by having control over their management, not having that management dependent on rules which are created under the cfp, which takes a huge amount of time to respond to changes, in the biological changes on the ground. so this should be seen as a great step. because we really can start to rethink fisheries management from the ground up. that is a huge opportunity for us, to do it well this time. iraqi forces say they have captured so—called islamic state's main

base in mosul after days of intense fighting. the militants have been driven from a hospital compound where several senior is leaders were thought to have been hiding. campbell macdiarmid is a freelance journalist based in nearby erbil. he recently spent several nights embedded with iraqi government troops in mosul and says there are still pockets of resistance in the city. tens of thousands of civilians under is control. they have taken a hospital complex. battling for that for several weeks. that's security forces. well into retaking the old city. the last bastion of is control. but what you see from the iraqi government, some premature celebration. that gives you an idea of the propaganda. retaking mosul, the second largest city. it has been under their control for three years. the old city is a small part of mosul.

a third under control of is. possibly 10% of the west side. the battle is nearly over. it is a foregone conclusion, it is a matter of time before they can retake that territory. certainly, a major blow to maintaining the caliphate. we are going to see other areas of iraq, syria, retaken from is. they are no longer going to control that territory. they'll revert back to being a group. terrorist group. we are already seeing some signs of that. we have seen suicide bombers. at liberated areas, ongoing attacks. defeated on the battlefield, but that does not mean we are going to see the end of these attacks in the middle east, further afield.

reports suggest at least 19 people have been killed and many injured in a suicide bomb attack in the syrian capital of damascas. the attacker struck in tahrir square in the centre of the city. the bomber appears to have been in one of three cars that had been pursued by police. from beirut, sophie long reports. blown out vehicles in the centre of the syrian capital. the suicide bomber detonated their device just before eight o'clock this morning. the streets near tahrir square in central damascus had been busy, as people here return for their first full day of work after celebrating the end of the holy month of ramadan. the car had been surrounded by the syrian authorities when it exploded, killing at least 19 people, injuring several others. the blast shattered windows and damaged buildings in the area, which has now been cordoned off. syrian authorities say they blew up

two other would—be bombers before they entered the city. these state television pictures showed what they say is the damage caused on the main road heading into the city centre. residents are now clearing up the debris left from this, the bloodiest attack in the syrian capitalfor months. it is another day when people here can do little but try to carry on, as they come to terms with further loss of life. syria is still in the throes of a devastating civil war that has lasted more than six years, killed hundreds of thousands and forced more than a million people from their homes. the headlines on bbc news: the environment secretary, michael gove, suggests the government could support a lifting of the 1% pay cap for public sector workers. more than half a million

migrants have passed through italian ports since 2014, and numbers are on the rise again. britain is withdrawing from an agreement which allows foreign countries to fish in its waters. sport now, and for a full round up let's cross to the bbc sport centre. need to get this working! andy murray says he'll be fit to start the defence of his title at wimbledon. he's first up on centre court tomorrow against the world number 134, alexander bublik from kazakhstan. it should be a formality but murray is desperately short of match practice and he's been struggling with a hip problem. it has been sore for a little while 110w. it has been sore for a little while now. every day that i have been practising, it was feeling worse. it had been hampering my movement. i was not getting loads out of the

practice sessions. i had to make the decision with my team to take a few days off. allow it time to rest. spending a lot of time with my physio. hoping it loosens, eases off. did that. band the last few days, the practising has been good. 0bviously, days, the practising has been good. obviously, i would have liked to have been training for the whole week, and got some exhibition matches but the positive is that i am fresh, i have not played a lot of tennis but i going to have to work my way into the competition. i am not going to come out and play great straight off the bat. the all blacks centre sonny bill williams will miss the deciding test against the british and irish lions

after a judiciary panel banned him for four weeks for the shoulder barge on anthony watson that saw him sent off in yesterday's second test. lions flanker sean 0'brien also faced the same panel after being cited for dangerous play, but he was cleared of any wrongdoing and will be available for the final test. the lions won by three points yesterday, and their forwards coach says they will raise their game again in auckland. how many of these guys have won a lions series? and what excites them, more in our game. more to come. we have got some of the best rugby players from the home nations. they've had a taste. first test, they were hurting. but raise the level again. chris froome has had a lucky escape. nasty graze. but he

was able to rejoin, finishing alongside his team mate thomas. the 126 mile stage was one by the german, with mark cavendish fourth. thomas is still going to be in that yellow jersey, thomas is still going to be in that yellowjersey, retaining the overall lead. tomorrow is the third stage. england have eased to a seven wicket victory over sri lanka at the women's world cup. laura marsh was recalled to the side and took four wickets as sri lanka set england 205 to win. captain heather knight led by example in the run chase, smashing 82 offjust 76 balls to accompany her century in the previous match. an unbeaten 74 from wicketkeeper sarah taylor saw england to their second win in three games. they play south africa next on wednesday.

in birmingham, it's the final day of the british trials for next month's world athletics championships. european champion adam gemili goes in the 200m final later. last race of the day. elidh doyle has secured her spot in london with a comfortable victory in the 400m hurdles. her time of was a second slower than her season's best last week. defending champion marc marquez has moved to the top of the moto gp standings after victory in today's german grand prix. the triple world champion started on pole and held of a spirited challenge from rookie jonas folger to move to the head of the championship. he has now won the german grand prix eight times in a row. that's all sport for now. don't forget you can folow live text coverage of the second stage of the tour de france between dusseldorf and liege on the bbc website. you can keep up to date with all those stories on the bbc sport website.

i'll have more in the next hour. see you then. thank you. we have mentioned wimbledon. tennis fans are queuing for tickets at wimbledon ahead of the first day of the championships tomorrow. hundreds are expected to camp overnight outside the all england club for the chance to see britain's andy murray start the defence of his title. 0ur correspondent jane frances kelly has gone to join some of those hardy fans while they wait. yes. sun is shining. the strawberries are ready. and wimbledon, it is coming. also the camping fans. security is going to be tight after previous attacks, going to be concrete walls, to protect fa ns. going to be concrete walls, to protect fans. police in evidence. sniffer dogs. bags searched. but it is not putting off super fans.

sniffer dogs. bags searched. but it is not putting off superfans. with me... one. fourth in the line. first last year. slacker! what happened? they got here at 1:30! still in bed. you, from lincolnshire? they got here at 1:30! still in bed. you, from lincolnshire ?|j they got here at 1:30! still in bed. you, from lincolnshire? i arrived just before six o'clock. i am going to see andy murray, stan. good day's tennis. worried about andy murray? no. i think the media are making out his injury to be worse. you have already spent one night in the field. going to be spending the next few weeks you? i may watch some of the men's semis. and what is the

appeal of actually camping? you enjoy this experience, the festival feel? it is a really nice experience. and you get to watch world—class tennis. affordable price. how many years have you been coming here? i used to come with my dad. took me out of school! you cannot do that now! i started queueing like this, did work with the raf here. worked at the grounds. and i imagine you have got all the equipment? the provisions? yes. keep warm at night! but you're not allowed any camp fires? you have

just got to be discreet. thank you. exciting fortnight ahead of us. jane at wimbledon. president trump has lashed out at a growing number of us states that have refused to hand over personal information about voters to a commission he set up to investigate electoral fraud. writing on twitter, he accused them of having something to hide. 0ur washington correspondent laura bicker explains what might happen next. donald trump set up an election integrity commission back in may. he wanted to look at claims, including his own claims, that voter fraud was widespread across the united states. he believes, for instance, that many people who might have died in the past are still on the electoral roll and people are voting on their behalf. to that end, the commission sent out letters to all the states. they're asking for very personal information about the voters, the 200 million voters across the us. they want their names,

their addresses, their birth dates and, crucially, the last four digits of their social security numbers. but some states have real concerns. first of all, they wonder how this information can be kept safe if they send it to washington and they send it to the commission. they say this information would be ripe for hackers. they say the cyber security on it is not safe. 0thers believe that this entire investigation is unnecessary and violates the privacy of those within their states. so, that's some of the reasons why they are saying they will not comply. let me give you a couple of quotes, from california, for instance, a democrat, the secretary of state there says, california's participation would only serve to legitimise the false and debunked claims of massive voter fraud by the president. it's notjust democratic states who are pushing back. republicans are also saying they will not comply.

perhaps the most critical rebuff came from the secretary of state for mississippi, who said to the commission, it can go and jump in the gulf of mexico, and mississippi is a great state to launch from! so, they're not having much luck when it comes to getting this information. that's one of the reasons why donald trump has taken to twitter, saying, what are they trying to hide? he can keep pushing, the states can keep pushing back. how will this end? we'lljust have to wait and see. electric airplanes could soon have a dramatic impact on the world. they're less noisy and less polluting than the ones flying around today, and plenty of experts believe electric engines are the key to building fleets of flying taxis in the future. the bbc‘s been given special permission to fly in an experimental electric plane, which is being shown in the uk for the first time. 0ur transport correspondent richard westcott went for a ride. it's a plane that will revolutionise flight. not the spitfire — this. the efusion looks quite ordinary.

until you see it being refuelled, that is. no tanker trucks and kerosene, you just change the batteries. runway 1—0, take off at your discretion. it's an experimental aircraft and the bbc has been offered a rare flight. i mean, the really obvious thing is how lovely and quiet it is. yeah. you don't get all the vibration. right. it's so comfortable and smooth and everything reacts so nicely. is electric the way it's going, are we going to have electric planes in the future, electric cabs? definitely. we are going to have hybrid electric planes of all different sizes, they go up to 50 seaters. maybe 100. the efusion can fly for about 30 minutes on one charge,

something they want to improve. it will top 140mph, and has a range of around 60 miles. i'm going to try an experiment. i'm going to take my headphones off. normally you do that in an aircraft, and it's so noisy, you can't hear yourself think. can you hear me 0k? let's see what it's like when i talk into the microphone. it's actually like being in a car on a motorway. it's a lovely way to see the world. but this isn't just about how we're going to be going on holiday, it's about how we're going to pop to the shops. electric engines are cleaner and quieter, making them perfect for flying taxis. seems far—fetched? well, look at this. dubai is testing an electric air cab later this year. and the giant taxi ride firm uber says it wants customers flying around in just six years.

it's been seven decades since the jet engine changed the world. electric engines could have a similar impact on air future. richard wescott, bbc news, in an electric plane. time now for a look at the weather. most of us have had some decent sunshine today, the base across england and wales, to the west, more cloud and that has been getting more showers for scotland. this is what the sky looked like earlier. at cornwall, you can see the sunshine over the harbour. 0vernight, we have got the weather front pushing across scotla nd got the weather front pushing across scotland and northern ireland, little bit of rain. that is going to get to northern england, wales and

the south west. relatively mild, going from 11 to 15. by the team we get to the afternoon, just that little bit of cloud across southern england, with some sharp showers. behind that, more sunshine. better for scotland, 16 for glasgow, 18 for edinburgh. bye. hello. this is bbc news, with julian worricker. the headlines at 16:30: theresa may comes under pressure to lift the 1% cap, on pay increases for public—sector workers. the environment secretary, michael gove, says the government should listen to pay review bodies' recommendations. more than 80,000 migrants, many fleeing war and poverty, have arrived in italy since the beginning of the year. britain says it'll withdraw from an agreement that lets other countries fish in its territorial waters.

the government says ending the agreement would help the industry with access to its fishing rights. and wimbledon fans soak up the sun, as they set up camp in the queue for tickets, ahead of the first day of play. now on bbc news — with brexit negotiations having begun, the bbc‘s europe editor, katya adler, and economics editor, kamal ahmed, speak to major players on both sides of the table. hello, i'm katya adler. and i'm kamal ahmed. for the next half hour, we'll try to bring you the essential, up—to—date guide on the big issue that 33 and a half million people in britain voted on a year ago — whether to remain inside or to leave