this is bbc news. the headlines. north korea says it has launched a missile which it claims is capable of reaching any corner of the globe. the mayor of london warns the judge heading the grenfell tower inquiry that he must urgently improve relations with residents after calls for him to quit. cladding on buildings at three nhs trusts in england have failed fire safety tests. a conservative mp appears in court and pleads not guilty to falsely filing election expenses returns. the family of the youngest victim of the manchester arena bombing speak publicly for the first time on what would have been saffie‘s 9th birthday. we've lost everything we have, life will never be the same. also in the next hour, an unexpected outburst in the european parliament. european commission president jean—claude juncker is reprimanded after attacking meps for their poor attendance.

there are only a few members in the plenary to control the commission. you are ridiculous. i will never again attend a meeting of this kind. and at wimbledon, kyle edmund beats fellow brit alex ward to make it through to the second round. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. north korea says it has successfully tested a long—range intercontinental ballistic missile, which if true, could potentially have the range to reach the us mainland. an announcement on north korean state television said the missile had flown nearly 600 miles, before hitting a target in the sea. the claims have not been verified —

but come just before the 620 heads of state are due to discuss north korea's weapons programme. 0ur correspondent stephen evans reports from the south korean capital seoul. could this missile hit the united states? north korean state television showed its launch today, under the gaze of the country's leader, kim jong—un. normal programmes were interrupted for the special announcement. she says: "our great leader, kim jong—un, gives us the order of the test of the intercontinental ballistic missile. north korea is now capable of hitting any corner of the globe." the missile was in the air for 37 minutes, longer than previous tests. 0utside experts think this latest missile could reach alaska. previous tests have been hit or miss — some have worked and some have failed. but now north korea does seem to be making strides. the claims we have seen so far

is this the first time that north korea have been able to test an intercontinental ballistic missile, so extending the range and the capabilities of their missile programme. president trump tweeted, "perhaps china will put a heavy move on north korea and end this nonsense once and for all." president trump has already met president xi of china and they meet again this week in germany at the 620 summit — with one man on their mind, kim jong—un, exulting in the achievement of his military sinensis, impervious to threats, unresponsive to offers of negotiation, determined to preserve his own power. earlier this year, when the possibility was raised of north korea having a missile capable of hitting the us, president trump tweeted, "it won't happen." the question though is even louder now — how can he stop it? i think we've got beyond the stage

where we can afford to just let this run any further. quite possibly we are only months away from kim jong—un achieving his objective. meanwhile, celebrations tonight in pyongyang. there is little that washington, beijing, seoul or anywhere else can do about it. stephen evans, bbc news, south korea. let's talk to john let's talk tojohn hemmings, director at the asia studies centre at the henry jackson society. thank you forjoining us. it's no coincidence of the date, 4th you forjoining us. it's no coincidence of the date, lithjuly, in terms of the timing of this? absolutely. it's a shot across the american bow. it is set to cause the most provocation. in a way, enjoy the discomfort of the americans. and when donald trump talks about china putting, to quote him, a heavy move

on north korea, what do you think china's going to do, because china and russia are calling on a simultaneous freezing of north korea's missile and north korea programme. president trump won't like being told what to do by russia and china. well, i think it's unfair to ask for the us and korea to freeze what are defensive drills. if you know the history of the korean war, the surprise attack on the south, if you are the south, you are basically giving away a defence. they haven't actually offered up to stop their own military drills, simply the missile and nuclear tests. i would suggest that, yes, the russians and chinese are promoting this, but as we have seen trump's strategy is to put the ball in china's court and as we saw the sanctions on that chinese bank last week and the chinese reaction show,

i think sanctions are simply not implemented by either of those there is a way to go in terms of sanctions as a response to this? absolutely. if you think about south africa during the apartheid regime, if you think about cuba's travel ban, north korea gets away with a lot more than both. given the pressure that it puts on the region this is unforgiveable. defectors are still sent back rather than given refugee status in china and russia. they also take slave labour for all intents and purposes, essentially hired out labourfor intents and purposes, essentially hired out labour for timber and mining camps. we simply haven't done enough, if you look at the implementation of sanctions on north korea, very strong at the paper level, very weak at the implementation. just to take a step back, what's your reading of the basic claim from north korea that it has successfully tested this long range intercontinental ballistic missile, do you think it is at the

point it has that capability? well, i have to say that's probably what intelligence community is trying to acertain. i think we will have an a nswer acertain. i think we will have an answer by the end of the week. it flew into the sea of japan, it answer by the end of the week. it flew into the sea ofjapan, it did have a high altitude, indicates that yes, they're going in that direction, but they're not there yet. having said that, even for alaska or western coast cities like la to fall under the range of these systems would be untenable to any sitting american president. do you think that kim jong—unwants to launch an attack that can hit the us oi’ launch an attack that can hit the us or is he basically saying keep away from me, i am trying to defend my regime. there is not going to be any regime. there is not going to be any regime change here? regime. there is not going to be any regime change here ?|j regime. there is not going to be any regime change here? i agree with you, it probably is in the first insta nce you, it probably is in the first instance deterrence, absolutely. it also nullifies the us defence guarantee of south korea. as we

know, the north is still dedicated to unifying the korean regime whether by force or not, if they're able to stand the americans down on any attack on the south, essentially you are looking at, you know, further crisis. thank you very much. the mayor of london, sadiq khan, has warned the judge heading the grenfell tower inquiry that he must urgently improve relations with local residents. it comes amid growing demands for sir martin moore—bick to stand down amid claims that he lacks credibility with the families. 0ur chief political correspondent is in westminsterfor us. the history of public inquiries and retaining chairmen and women has been a patchy one. it has, above all residents and the government want this inquiry to get up and running as quickly as possible to find the a nswe i’s as quickly as possible to find the answers that everyone desperately wa nts. answers that everyone desperately wants. sir martin was appointed less than a week ago but already there are some voices saying that he is

not the person for the job, that he should stand down. today the local labourmp should stand down. today the local labour mp added her voice to all of that. she described sir martin as a technocrat who lacked the ability to empathise with victims and he should stand down. the shadow fire minister, only appointed this week, has added his voice to that. he feels sir martin is too much of an establishment figure. he doesn't have the confidence of the community and they've been ignored for too long. if you look at his record it does seem that the judgments he has made on a number of high profile cases, he has tended to fall on the side of the establishment, if you like. in that case, i don't think it's appropriate, therefore, in this highly sensitive judgment that he will be involved in, in this inquiry now, for him to carry on, given that background. mrwilliamson did admit he hadn't himself spoken directly to residents andi himself spoken directly to residents and i think it's difficult to gauge

the depth of the disquiet or the anger there is about this appointment but there are many who say it would have been better for the government to have consulted with residents before the appointment happened, although figures in downing street say this was a recommendation by the lord chiefjustice. there are others, including the conservative and former attorney general, dominic grieve, who think this is going to deter people in future from wanting to ta ke deter people in future from wanting to take on these roles of being in charge of such public inquiries. sir martin was appointed because he was recommended and nominated by the lord chiefjustice, as head of the judiciary, in an endeavour to find an impartial and properly qualified person who can carry out this inquiry, some of which is going to require great technical knowledge and understanding and an understanding of how you sift evidence. i haven't the slightest doubt in my mind he is a suitable person for doing it, from what i know of his reputation and his career. obviously, if you trawl through every decision of every judge you may find decisions with which you may disagree but that

doesn't mean they're not suitable people for doing this particular role. the labour mp david lammey, who had a friend who died in the tower that night, he says a person should be in charge maybe from a less establishment background, not a white male, somebody from an ethnic minority background. and there are others, but not jeremy minority background. and there are others, but notjeremy corbyn, who are saying that the judge should stand down, it's understood jeremy corbyn thinks simply the judge should just speak more to residents and try and get that relationship going. but it is certainly not the ideal start to such a sensitive public inquiry. thank you very much. meanwhile, it's emerged that buildings at three nhs trusts in england have failed fire safety tests. 0ur health editor hugh pym gave us more details.

the health secretary, jeremy hunt, called ten days ago for an urgent appraisal by nhs organisations in england of cladding on their buildings following work being done on council tower blocks. this was handled by the regulator nhs improvement. . last week, they identified 38 organisations, trusts, which they felt needed further support to carry out checks. that meant they were going to have to submit samples for combustibility, fire tests and so on. they've now been carried out. of those 38, three we re been carried out. of those 38, three were found to have failed the tests. it turns out these three, king's couege it turns out these three, king's college hospital in london, sheffield children's and north middlesex, also in london, had cladding in these areas, they are removing them but they were not areas that housed in—patients, in other words, they didn't have wards.

these were office buildings or buildings used for other functions in the hospital. we also know that five of the 38 on top of the three are still waiting, the outcome of the combustibility test results. it's a pretty small number but it has to be said beyond the 38 there are some which haven't done the necessary paperwork so it isn't the end of the story yet, there may be further test results from hospitals in england in the next week or so. we can't really extendise any further we are still having an inquiry into grenfell and how the building regulations were or were not in force and able to stop this happening. the nhs presumably have the same rules? they would have had cladding ina the same rules? they would have had cladding in a similar way to other public buildings that we have heard so public buildings that we have heard so much about in the last week or so. so much about in the last week or so. various bits of the organisation, certainly it was felt that the nhs had to do exactly the same checks as local authorities

we re same checks as local authorities were doing on their tower blocks. it does turn out, according to these tests, so far, the ones that have failed were not areas, the main bit of the hospital, where in—patients are housed on wards and so on. 0bviously hospital trusts have large sets of office buildings, laboratories, outpatient clinics and so on laboratories, outpatient clinics and soont laboratories, outpatient clinics and so on t has to be said, that they are removing the cladding from those buildings. it is also said in the statement today by nhs england that of the 38 trusts that were asked to carry out these urgent tests, they've started 24—hour fire warden patrols as an extra precaution. our health editor hugh pym. earlier the communities and local government secretary sajid javid told the local government association that it must up its game following the grenfell tower disaster. he told a meeting marking the lga's 20th anniversary the fire at grenfell should simply have not happened, and the response afterwards was not up to scratch. 0ur correspondent is in birmingham

where the local government association is holding its conference. pretty firm words from the communities secretary towards the communities secretary towards the lga but then criticism has been levelled at so many places and so many people over the response to grenfell, not least the government itself. yeah, i think the government really ca m e itself. yeah, i think the government really came here today to make a big announcement, which was about £2. 3 billion fund towards infrastructure so billion fund towards infrastructure so they can build more houses, local authorities could build affordable houses, of course everything has been over—shadowed, as has the political landscape of the last couple of weeks, by grenfell. we heard the communities secretary, who was at the scene within days of the terrible fire talking about how it personally affected him, he talked about difficult conversations with survivors who lost relatives and he said that the response by the

emergency services was exemplary but the people in charge need to up their game. he said there have been serious failings and he had this message to the gathered leaders of local authorities as well as the mayors who were here in birmingham today. there are many questions that need answering about the grenfell fire. there may have been failures of individuals, failures of organisations, failures of public policy at all levels, stretching back decades. the public inquiry will get to the bottom of that. we must allow that inquiry and the criminal investigation to run its course and we must be careful not to prejudge it or to prejudice it in any way. speaking to survivors, people in the local community and people in the local community and people in the tower blocks in other tower blocks across the country, one thing is abundantly clear, local government is facing a looming crisis of confidence. he went on to

say that together we must raise our game, we must rebuild public confidence and he referred to the way that things have been handled by the local authority, in particular, kensington and chelsea, saying that democracy must be seen to happen in public. it shouldn't be happening privately behind closed doors. he said that local government must show that it said that local government must show thatitis said that local government must show that it is for the people and not just by the people. one question that came from the floor which was interesting was from the leader of southwark council, he asked directly whether or not it was time for commissioners to be sent in to take over the running of kensington and chelsea? there wasn't a direct answer. he simply said they will at some stage have to take over the recovery and rescue efforts and relief effort post—grenfell before that can happen, he said, they'll have to make sure they have the right resources and leadership. he didn't say that there wouldn't be a need for commissioners, but didn't directly say there would either.

thank you very much. the headlines. north korea claims it has successfully launched an intercontinental ballistic missile in what would be a significant step forward in its weapons programme. london's mayor warns the judge heading the grenfell tower inquiry that he must improve relations with residents. cladding on buildings at three nhs trusts in england have failed fire safety tests. after five years of trying, kyle edmund has reached the second round for the first time. he built fellow brit alex ward in four sets. these are live pictures from centre court where the three—time champion novak djokovic is

conservative mp craig mackinlay has appeared at westminster magistrates court charged with allegedly overspending in the 2015 general election campaign. mr mackinlay stands accused under the representation of the people act 1983, alongside his election agent and party activist. craig mckinley was charged just before this year's general election. he managed to get re—elected as an mp but today was the first day he was required to attend court alongside his election agent from the general election 2015, nathan gray and marion little a senior conservative party campaigner. all three of them walked in through the door this morning and all three had to sit in the dock in court one here at

westminster magistrates‘ court. there was a lengthy legal argument about which was the appropriate court to hear their trial, the districtjudge decided it should be tried byjury at southwark and the three were asked to indicate their pleas to charges of filing false election expenses and also in the case of marion little aiding and abetting people in filing false election expenses and all the charges put to them, all three entered pleas of not guilty. this all relates to the amount of money spent on an individual candidate's campaign during a general election. there are strict limits on how much an individual can spend on their campaign. in thanet south—east each candidate is allowed to spend £37,000 in the long campaign. in the months building up to the election. then, £14,000 about in the short campaign the weeks up until election day itself.

when craig mckinlay and his agent entered their expenses they came inside that limit but the allegation in this case is that there were expenses missed off their election returns which meant that they had gone over those limits. twenty two people died in the manchester arena bombing in may. the youngest victim was just eight years old. saffie roussos had been given tickets to see ariana grande for christmas. she went to the concert with her sister and mother but was killed as she left the arena. her mother is still in hospital. today would have been saffie's 9th birthday — and her family have decided to speak to the bbc about her death publicly for the first time to celebrate her life. judith moritz went to meet them. singing you couldn't be out with saffie without having fun. but her dream was to be famous. it was her everything, and we bought her the tickets for christmas. she was just counting the days, the seconds, and it was just ariana grande til nine,

ten o'clock at night, and she would sing and dance every single song. she was ariana grande obsessed, so to see how happy she was, it wasjust... obviously i had to go with her. you were watching her watching ariana ? pretty much, yeah. she kept going, "come on, ashlee, you promised me you would get up and dance!" so we had a little dance. and she wasjust so happy, just elated all night, grinning. when did you first become aware there was something wrong? as soon as the blast went off, obviously, to me, i kind ofjust knew — i don't know how, but i sort of knew what happened. i remember i was thrown to the ground, and then my next instinct, ijust sort of rolled over and crawled, because i couldn't walk. were you aware of where your mum was at the time,

or where saffie was? no, no. i couldn't see anyone — ijust saw crowds and crowds of people. i didn't see my mum. it was just hell broke loose — just people, children, screaming, crying. and then as i turned round the corner, i saw ashlee outside injured. and when did you learn about saffie? the detective that i spoke to in the hospital, he went away and he came back about 12, half 12, and told me. and you have all had to cope, haven't you, with saffie's loss and also lisa's recovery? how is she doing? she's fighting. i mean, she's got that many injuries around her body, just that alone. she's like a soldier. the world knew what had happened. lisa was not conscious. no. and when she came round, you had to tell her. no. she looked to me and said, "saffie's gone, isn't she?" i was dreading it.

she just looked at me and said, "she's gone, isn't she?" and i said, yeah. she goes, "i knew." the 11th ofjuly, saffie's birthday — that is why you are speaking now? yes. we didn't want to just let her birthday pass. saffie loved the limelight. we just wanted to celebrate saffie's birthday through doing this. we've lost everything. we have, because life willjust never be the same. remembering saffie rousa. there've been angry exchanges in the european parliament after the president of the european commission called it "ridiculous". jean—claude juncker was attending a debate with the maltese prime minister, joseph muscat, to mark the end of malta's presidency of the eu. mrjuncker complained that only

a low number of meps had turned up. from strasbourg, adam fleming reports. the maltese prime minister came to the european parliament to celebrate the end of his country's six—month stint helping to run the eu. but look how few meps turned up, prompting this outburst from the president of the european commission. there are only a few members in the plenary to control the commission. you are ridiculous. despite a telling off by the parliament's president, he made this pledge. i will never... i will never again attend a meeting of this kind. the commission is under the control of the parliament, but the parliament has to respect even the presidencies of smaller countries, what the parliament is not doing. parliament has come to life since mrjuncker spoke this morning. but the corridors here do feel emptier for this final session before the summer break. 0ne mep told me many of his colleagues were already on holiday. others say that the real work here is done in lower profile committees and plenty of meps will turn up to vote later on. still, the parliamentary authorities will not be happy that the head of one eu institution has taken such a big swipe at another. adam fleming, bbc news, strasbourg. the high court has ruled that

a 16—year—old boy who was held in solitary confinement for more than 23 hours had his human rights breached. the teenager, who has significant mental health problems, was kept in a cell at feltham young 0ffenders institution for four and a half months, without access to education. our home affairs correspondent danny shaw sent this report from the high court. it holds some of the most troubled and dangerous teenage boys in the country. but is feltham young 0ffenders institution looking after them in the right way? last week, an inspection report said the centre was not safe for staff or boys. now the high court has declared that feltham broke prison rules and acted unlawfully, after a 16—year—old was held for months in conditions his lawyers said amounted to solitary confinement. the boy was initially detained in his cell for 23 and a half hours each day. he was allowed out only to shower, exercise and make phone calls.

and he had no access to education for three months. the court ruled keeping the boy away from other inmates breached his right to respect for a private life. it also said he should have had at least 15 hours' education each week. troublesome boys cannot be allowed to drift, the court said. there is still the issue about it still being possible for prisons to hold children in isolation. we think that's wrong and we think that's a child protection issue, and we will be appealing against it. inspectors found that almost a third of boys at feltham spent only two hours a day out of their cells. this woman's son had a particularly difficult time there. solitary confinement can't rehabilitate you. all it does, as a child as well, it makes you more angry with the system. you don't have access to anything that can help you in the future. the court ruling did not go as far as declaring that what happened to the 16—year—old at the centre

of the case was inhuman and degrading. that will come as a relief to the ministry ofjustice, which has overall responsibility for feltham. the ministry said the safety and welfare of young people was its highest priority, but it added that proportionate and justified segregation was an essential tool to manage offenders who would otherwise pose a significant risk to staff and prisoners. danny shaw, bbc news, at the high court. if you have a garden shed, let these pictures be a slight warning to you if you keep petrol inside it. wow! yeah, ithink wow! yeah, i think this is the first time we have seen these pictures ourselves. we heard they were coming

up. it really did go up. west yorkshire fire and rescue service said the fire was probably caused when a faulty light fitting ignited petrol vapours coming from petrol containers or garden machinery. remarkable. i have an image of michael caine don't know why! saying something i can't say on telly. tha nkfully something i can't say on telly. thankfully nobody hurt, i am pleased to say. there was no one there. there could have been nearby. it was right to point out. it's important, people might want to know. we said nobody was hurt. 0ther sheds are available! let's move swiftly on, shall we? now the weather forecast with louise. 0n everybody. the weather today is very mixed. it all depends on where you are. the worst of the weather has been to northern ireland but it is brightening up now and sits through central and southern

scotla nd through central and southern scotland and northern ireland. here it is cloudy and wet. the best of the weather has been down to the south. a little clarity are now that temperatures peaking at 25 celsius in the london area. as we go through the overnight period, not much change in the story. it stays pretty dry and muddy down to the south. whether further weakening but a dry and muddy down to the south. whetherfurther weakening but a band of cloud, drizzle, patchy fog and the risk of isolated showers into the risk of isolated showers into the south—west maybe. generally speaking, tomorrow will be another glorious day across england and wales and turning quite hot for some of us. article at the start, the cloud will break up and will be a better day in scotland and northern ireland. highest values of 28 which is 82 in fahrenheit. could all end with a bang on thursday when we elected to see the potential for sharp showers across east wales and the south—east corner. keep watching the south—east corner. keep watching the forecast for more details. hello. this is bbc news. the headlines at 3:30pm:

north korea says it has successfully tested a long—range ballistic missile which is capable of reaching any corner of the globe. however, the white house denies the claim and says the missile only had an intermediate range, and did not pose a threat to north america. the judge heading the grenfell tower inquiry must urgently improve relations with residents, the mayor of london says. sadiq khan said it was crucial that the community had faith in sir martin moore—bick. his comments follow calls from some labour mps for sir martin to stand down. cladding on buildings at three nhs trusts in england have failed fire safety tests. the buildings, at london's king's college hospital, sheffield's children's hospital and at the north middlesex trust, have all been found to have combustible cladding. a conservative mp appears in court and pleads not guilty to falsely filing election expenses returns. the family of the youngest victim of the manchester arena bombing, saffie roussos, speak publicly

for the first time, on what would have been her 9th birthday. it's just after half past three. time for sport. let's catch up with all the latest wimbledon news, i assume. i caught the end of your conversation about sheds and it sounded great. we will have to catch up sounded great. we will have to catch up on that later. hello. no rain delays on the second day of wimbledon. things are hotting up a very nicely at the all—england club. katherine downes has been keeping an eye across every serve and volley. what's going on everywhere. we will get to the british winner in just a minute, but the big guns have been out on centre court. yes, what a tasty data have a centre court ticket. the moment is the three—time champion novak djokovic and i think

whenever he steps out here at wimbledon, we think, what kind of djokovic are we going to see this time round? is at the three—time champions, the 13 time grand slam winner or the guy who dropped out in the third round last year? he has had such an up—and—down year since winning the french open last season. hasn't been at his best and nobody really knew what to expect of djokovic coming into this year's championship but unfortunately for his opponent, martin klizan of slovakia, the problem of a7, djokovic looking very comfortable on centre court at the moment. he had taken the first set 6—3 and as you can see, not doing badly in the opening game there, the second game of the second set. 30—15 up on cruzan, so novak djokovic in a commanding position in his first—round match on centre court. then up after that match, which may be over quicker than maybe people we re be over quicker than maybe people were expecting, is a roger federer full stop wimbledon favourite, wimbledon royalty if you like, going

for his 19th grand slam title. just incredible stats when you talk about this man. it would be an eighth wimbledon title if he were to win and you wouldn't bet against him, would you? and you wouldn't bet against him, would you ? given and you wouldn't bet against him, would you? given his form coming into this, winning the australian open earlier this year. rolling back the years, roger federer. you will be last up against the world number 8a alexandr dolgopolov of ukraine. by 8a alexandr dolgopolov of ukraine. by the end of the day, fingers crossed the hall of the first round will be complete, men's and women's. we got ourfirst will be complete, men's and women's. we got our first glance of the women's number one seed also on centre court. angelique kerber has to be among the favourites for the women's title or it is an incredibly open field this year. what number one angelique kerber had to work a little bit harder, i think, then she would have liked to to get past the american qualifier irina falconi. 6-a, 6-a it american qualifier irina falconi. 6—a, 6—a it was the end. i think angelique kerber had a huge sigh of relief at match point. she has not

beenin relief at match point. she has not been in the best form coming into wimbledon. she was beaten in eastbourne last week by the british number one johanna konta and eastbourne last week by the british number onejohanna konta and she is aware that there are four other women breathing down her neck for that world number one spot. she could lose her position at the top of the world rankings if results don't go her way at wimbledon this week. she is safely through for now. and kyle edmund, he is into the second round for the first time in his career but he always knew that that was going to come expectant of another british player. that was going to come expectant of another british playerlj that was going to come expectant of another british player. i know in such a shame. we would normally be celebrating. kyle edmund's first—ever win here at wimbledon, the british number two, through but sadly, as you say, at the expense of his countrymen alex ward. alex ward is the lowest ranked qualifier. in the last 19 years to play at wimbledon. he is 869th in the world, so wimbledon. he is 869th in the world, so always the underdog against kyle edmund who is ranked 50th in the world and has been on pretty good form coming into wimbledon this year. in the end, it was 6—a, 6—3,

6-2, 6-1. year. in the end, it was 6—a, 6—3, 6—2, 6—1. alex ward took the first set which was a bit of a shock but then kyle edmund steadied his nerds and made quick work of the last sets. he's through. he is the fifth brit through to the second round. three others are pitting their luck against their opponents later this afternoon and we will of course keep you up—to—date with all of the brits and how they are getting on here at wimbledon. thank you very much for the update. catherine will be with us to the rest of the afternoon. 0ther catherine will be with us to the rest of the afternoon. other sport, the tour de france is ongoing. but our website for updates on that. a bit of breaking news, alexandre la cazette bit of breaking news, alexandre lacazette from lyon to arsenal, a football tra nsfer lacazette from lyon to arsenal, a football transfer expected to go through. he is having a medical at the gunners'. somewhere in the region of £15 million depending on what kind of gossip you listen to, but keep an eye on the bbc sport website for that as well. that is my

bot. hugh ferris will be with you for the next hour and beyond. the us—led coalition in syria says its allies have breached the historic wall of the old city of raqqa, the capital of so—called islamic state militants. more than 2000 jihadi fighters and up to 100,000 civilians are still thought to be inside the enclave. but iraqi forces say they are also close to taking the few remaining streets controlled by is in mosul, as our correspondent richard galpin reports. 0n the front lines of raqqa, the capital of so—called islamic state. it's looking increasingly vulnerable. these are troops of the syrian democratic forces, or sdf, who are backed by the united states. over the past few weeks they have advanced rapidly through the outskirts towards the city centre. this kurdish commander said the islamic state militants are only

firing mortar shells and rockets, and claims their spirits are low. and now, after the arrival of reinforcement last weekend, sdf troops are reported to have taken another major step forward, breaking through the walls guarding the old city. the us military says its warplanes based in the region fired missiles to punch two holes in these medieval walls surrounding the old city. sdf troops were then able to take the fight inside the heavily fortified area, where it's estimated at least 2000 islamic state fighters are now holding out. amongst those involved in this key battle is a british man who calls himself mercer gifford. they are making excellent inroads into the city, which means that the confidence amongst the sdf fighters on the ground is incredibly

high, and we're looking forward to seeing raqqa completely done, finished, which is the heartland of the so—called islamic state. and, meanwhile, across the border to the east, iraqi troops are now very close to pushing islamic state completely out of its other major stronghold, the strategic city of mosul. it has taken the soldiers here almost eight months to reach this point, with just a handful of militants fighting on in a tiny corner of the city. the caliphate proclaimed by islamist state across a large area of syria and iraq three years ago is almost at an end, but with pockets of territory elsewhere, the militants will still pose a threat. richard galpin, bbc news. most cancer patients could be offered genetic tests within five years to help create more

effective, bespoke treatments — that's according to england's chief medical officer. professor dame sally davies is calling for a national network of genome testing. she says six out of ten cancer patients who get gene tested receive better care as a result and she wants it to become standard practice across cancer care, as well as some other areas of medicine, including rare diseases and infections. here's our medical correspondent fergus walsh. inside nearly every cell in our body is our genome, the dna instructions for life. errors in the code can trigger cancer or other diseases. cancer runs in toby knight's family. both his parents died from it and he was diagnosed with colon cancer four years ago. now he is one of 31,000 patients who have had their entire genome mapped by the nhs. i am very excited about it. for me, hopefully, if my cancer decides to come back it will benefit me.

more importantly it will benefit a lot of other people, forfuture generations, for better treatments, for quicker treatments, better diagnoses. dame sally davies says genome testing is still a cottage industry — she wants dna analysis to be the norm for cancer patients within five years. patients will benefit if we can offer them the scan of their genome that'll make a difference to their treatment. that is clearly all people with rare diseases, of whom there are 3 million or more in this country. it is most patients with cancers and quite a lot of infections. it costs £680 to map a person's entire genetic code, but it's getting cheaper every few months. in some cases dna mapping can be cheaper than existing tests or avoid the need for invasive biopsies. but what about data confidentiality? the nhs believes it can protect genomic information,

but some are concerned about the safeguards. this report is an attempt to democratise genomics, moving dna analysis into the mainstream of the nhs, so that more and more patients can benefit from personalised targeted treatments. fergus walsh, bbc news. the bbc is to spend an extra £30 million on new content for children over the next three years. the corporation says it's facing increased competition from companies such as facebook and netflix and it wants to offer more online choice for young people. it's expected it that will include more video, blogs, podcasts, quizzes, games and apps. with me is buzzfeed's tv editor, scott bryan. and got on well, £3a million, is this a good way to spend the money? i think so. itjust depends on how it gets spent. a lot of what you see

on networks is mainly aimed for children can be quite kind of... not necessarily educational things. that's why they watch it, isn't it? absolutely. but at the same time, cbbc and cbeebies has been known for having quite compelling shows that we all know and that you remember yea rs later we all know and that you remember years later whereas i think a lot of what you can see from american broadcasters kind ofjust fills time. i think it can be quite, you know, quite useful to have these shows that are made. the problem is that they have said, the bbc, that they are spending a lot of this on... i'm sorry, but arlene foster from the dup is giving a news conference right now on the ongoing talks. let's hear from conference right now on the ongoing talks. let's hearfrom her. i'm sure there are many across northern ireland who are incredibly frustrated that we haven't reached the point of agreement for them in respect of health education, job

security, security services and everything else that we have been able to provide for them for the past ten years. however, we are going to keep working at it through the summerand going to keep working at it through the summer and hopefully we can come to an agreement later on in the year. we are certainly up for an agreement. we are up for devolution. we think that we have two questions to ask, of course, whether you think devolution is worth having which we fundamentally do and the second is whether we can bring about an agreement to make sure that evolution happens and we hope that we will be able to come to that in the near future. so we are going to keep working at it throughout the summer keep working at it throughout the summerand keep working at it throughout the summer and hopefully come to an agreement thereafter. inaudible i'm not sure what the secretary of state is going to say we want to keep working at issues over the we want to keep working at issues overthe summer we want to keep working at issues over the summer months. we will acce pt over the summer months. we will accept that there will be people going for various breaks and holidays and everybody needs to have

a break during the summer and come back refreshed, but that doesn't stop us continuing to seek agreement and seek accommodation over the summer and seek accommodation over the summer months. the legal deadline has now passed for an agreement we make is. we have continued to talk since theirand make is. we have continued to talk since their and continued to try and grapple with the various issues that are before us and will, as they say, continue to do that over the summer months as well. i know people think that politicians don't work over the summer, but actually we will keep working over the summer months and try to get an agreement to come back again in the autumn. where the gaps that are going to be breached over the next few months? have you any fears about this vacuum in northern ireland? i think the point i'm trying to make to you, tommy, is

that i don't think there is a vacuum. that i don't think there is a vacuum. we are going to continue talking throughout the summer. i wa nt talking throughout the summer. i want to send that message very firmly to the people that we represent, that we are still here, we are still trying to find accommodation. i think what we want to see is an agreement which everybody can buy into, whether you are a nationalist or a unionist. i think that's very important for the sustainability of these institutions going forward. that is certainly what i am looking to do and i hope that others involved in this process are the king picture as well and are saying that if we want devolution, andl saying that if we want devolution, and i think inherently that's the first question everyone has to ask themselves, if you want devolution then you need to find an accommodation that everybody can feel, trouble with. i think, accommodation that everybody can feel, trouble with. ithink, as accommodation that everybody can feel, trouble with. i think, as i say, there are gaps still existing, otherwise i would be here talking about the agreement we want to work through those gaps in the coming weeks and in the coming months to try and get an agreement that suit everybody and that everybody can feel a part of. how long can the

irish secretary of state stand like you did yesterday? should we not be trying to restore direct rule? we should give the secretary of state some space. should give the secretary of state some space. he has been involved in the talks over the last number of months. he knows how much progress we have made and therefore he wants to give us the space to try and find the accommodation that we all need. but as i said before, it has to be an accommodation that everybody can buy into, one where unionists and nationalists feel they can buy into and give is that sustainability for the institutions because the last thing anybody wants is, if we get these institutions up and running again, that there is the kind of thing will come back again in the very near future because it has been hugely damaging in respect of public confidence in the institutions and we need to build up that confidence again and we can only do that if there is an accommodation which everyone can buy into. have you

effectively resigned yourself then that there won't be an agreement before the autumn and if that is his, how do you respond to someone asking whether mlas should continue to be paid? that would be a relevant question if we weren't doing any work. i think i've made question if we weren't doing any work. ithink i've made it question if we weren't doing any work. i think i've made it very clear that we intend to continue the negotiations on the coming together, the talks over the summer months. i do accept that there will be people off on holidays from time to time but i think what you are hearing from myself and from the dup is a commitment to continue the work because we want to find an accommodation that everybody can buy into and because they want to find an accommodation that is long—lasting and not one that will lead to further problems six months down the line. thank you. so, the dup reader arlene foster effectively confirming that there won't be a restoration of the devolved assembly at stormont before the summer recess. not that will come as a surprise, clearly the talks have not been progressing as quickly as people would like but she said we

will continue to work at it to the summer. will continue to work at it to the summer. she said the dup are up for an agreement and for devolution and at the secretary of state for northern ireland is trying to give the parties some space. we are expecting to hear from the parties some space. we are expecting to hearfrom sinn fein as well in the next few minutes we are told. let's pick up our conversation with scott bryan from busby. we were talking about the £3a million that the bbc plans to britain to children's programming. web log off we we re children's programming. web log off we were talking about content. content is king and is that what the bbc should concentrate on? content will always be a main driver in not just going through the internet aimlessly. you're always going for a good piece of content. but i do think that how it is distributed does also matter. it's very much the case now that young children by a large margin are not necessarily watching scheduled tv any more. they are watching my player, they are picking up from what they are hearing on social media. so i feel very much that the bbc and cbbc

hacks to reflect where are those interests are going. you can'tjust shove content online hoping that some of it will stick. they were announcing blogs and blogs and podcasts and many broadcasters both in the public and private sector have been throwing that on there and you wonder, well, is anyone really engaging with this? we were talking about children's television but there is the age group of ten, 11, 12,13,1a, there is the age group of ten, 11, 12, 13, 1a, were any parent will know it is impossible to get them to concentrate on anything, let alone sit in front of a television programme that might help and educate as well as edutainment. how do you get children of that age interested ? do you get children of that age interested? that's the hard challenge. it's a shame that for that audience, much of what they are watching is primarily what people their age are making rather than... and tends to be american? american or on you tube. so it is one of the

ha rd or on you tube. so it is one of the hard nuts to crack, particularly if you have the bbc trying to be down with the youth. we have seen cou ntless attem pts at with the youth. we have seen countless attempts at that feeling because children can see through that. so i think the main challenge is basically for the bbc... how does your website get down with the youth? i see your point! we have very young writers who know what our audience are watching. i'm a dinosaur in this business. we have lots of young people working here too. but it is interesting because the buzzwords, if you like, online and blogs and whatever, even you we re and blogs and whatever, even you were saying that if you just go it in that direction, that doesn't necessarily guarantee any audience at all. it's one of the hard things, trying to create a buzz about a show. the announcement this morning was that they are going to be creating some brands around some of their most popular shows that they we re their most popular shows that they were going to add stuff to, but the fa ct

were going to add stuff to, but the fact is that at the end of the day, you need to have people keep coming back and you see very high profile stuff that just doesn't work. so the main case, particularly when there is public money involved, it's trying to work out exactly who is going to be engaging with it. fascinating. thank you for waiting for that news conference. thank you very much. in a moment a summary of the business news this hour but first, the headlines on bbc news: north korea says it has launched a missile which it claims is capable of reaching any corner of the globe. the mayor of london warns the judge heading the grenfell tower inquiry that he must urgently improve relations with residents after calls for him to quit. a conservative mp appears in court and pleads not guilty to falsely filing election expenses returns. good afternoon. i'm jimmy robertson. in the business news... some of the self—employed should be entitled to the national minimum wage, according to the resolution foundation think tank. it says that about half

of the a.8 million people classified as self—employed are low—paid and earn less than £310 a week. as they have no chance to set their own wages they should be classified instead as workers, with wage protection. more of this in a second. sainsbury‘s has said sales of clothes, summer food and paddling pools helped speed up growth in the past few months. the uk's second biggest supermarket chain, which now owns argos, reported that like—for—like sales excluding fuel grew by 2.3%. demand for deals on british strawberries and its summer eating range also boosted grocery sales. the uk construction industry faces a slow down as projects are put on hold in the face of political uncertainty. construction companies are complaining that while building activity is almost at its highest level since 2015 new projects are harder to come by. the pressure is growing to give some self—employed workers a minimum wage. the resolution foundation found that

around half those people classed as self—employed were earning less than £310 a week, classifying them as low paid. it says ministers should push out minimum wage rules to cover some of the self—employed. separately the former head of the low pay commission, adair turner, has told the bbc minimum wage should be extended to self—employed workers who effectively work as an employee. he says that by increasing the minimum wage, many employers used increasing numbers of self—employed workers to cut costs. we knew there was a danger that when we imposed a slightly higher minimum wage we would get some movement over to self—employed. i think the scale of it is probably sufficient that we should try and tighten up on that andi should try and tighten up on that and i think they have a practical proposal of how we could do that and essentially, in force in minimum wage on those categories of the

self—employed who when you really look at them are essentially employed in their fundamental nature of how their work is organised. i'm joined now by sam dumitriu, research economist at the adam smith institute. that seems fairly logical that people who are effectively employed but are classified as self—employed should get a minimum wage, shouldn't they? what the report calls for is for self—employed people who don't set their price, people like bluebird drivers or deliver route drivers should be paid the minimum wage but there is quite a few problems that come in there. one problems that come in there. one problem is that first of all most uber drivers get problem is that first of all most uberdrivers get far problem is that first of all most uber drivers get far above the minimum wage... then they wouldn't be affected, with a? what countless time working? so if you are waiting around for a client, that count to

actually pick up rewrite? does that count as work time? how much do that counts as work time? and it is also down to what time of the day you choose to work. the average is well above the minimum wage. it is about £12 once you take into account uber's cut and fuel costs and higher in london and probably higher still because theyjust introduced tipping. everybody takes the uber example but i think the problem may be elsewhere in the economy where there are many, many firms who use there are many, many firms who use the classification of self—employed effectively to give people will pay. and it's where they set the rate which that person can charge, say, in whatever they happen to be doing, delivering, where they set the rates, that self—employed person has no choice. with delivery companies, there is quite a lot of competition going on and it's the case that if you are working for one company, you can also be working for the other...

two others at the same time. you have to turn the tap off between trips, but you can effectively... but you are asking them then it to work double ours. i'm not saying working double i was but it shows there is quite a lot of competition going on and competition normally puts up wages. if they want to hold onto their drivers, they will have to compete with amazon and uber and i think you are already seeing that with lots of the changes being brought in by deliveroo. so the market is already correcting cure. but if you bring in controls like this, it means that a lot of the flexibility that draws people to self—employed work in the first place would have to be lost. it might be the case that uber says they cannot turn down two trips in a row or need to do a minimum amount of time are certain hours. that would be one example to ensure that they are having actual... getting

value for money when it comes to the minimum wage. and that without limit things a lot worse for people who are self—employed or on more wage and if they are trying to fit that around other responsibilities like childcare or university education, for example. thank you very much indeed. we will have a round—up of the market in about half an hour. the contrast in the weather and the field today under the cloud and rain, it has been quite miserable. height ofjust 12 degrees but we had lovely sunshine in the south—east. yes, it has clouded over a little but highs of 25, 77 infrared. as we go through the overnight period, we keep a good deal of dry weather but a muddy, humid night to come. the weather front weakening that band of front and drizzly rain here. 9—12 in the north but 1a—17 in the south and the north but 1a—17 in the south and the risk of sharp showers in the

south—west. tomorrow, england and wales will see a beautiful start with lots of sunshine. cloudy, drizzly condition will break up. scattering of showers but a better day. 1a—18 with highs of 28 which is 82 in fahrenheit. we could see some sharp, thundery downpours are breaking out on thursday. anywhere to east wales the south—east corner. 0ne to east wales the south—east corner. one or two sharp ones into scotland as well. more for me at the end the hour. this is bbc news. the headlines. north korea says it has launched a missile which it claims is capable of reaching any corner of the globe. the mayor of london warns the judge heading the grenfell tower inquiry that he must urgently improve relations with residents after calls for him to quit. a gene testing revolution — cancer patients should be routinely offered dna tests to help select the best treatments for them,

according to england's chief medical officer. the family of the youngest victim of the manchester arena bombing, saffie roussos, speak publicly for the first time on what would have been her 9th birthday. we've lost everything, we have, life will never be the same. also in the next hour, the king of centre court returns. this year's favourite, roger federer, is back in action