this is bbc news. i'm ben brown. the headlines at 8pm... the government is to send in a taskforce to take over the running of parts of kensington and chelsea council after criticism of the way it's handled the aftermath of the grenfell tower fire. as knife crime becomes one of the greatest challenges facing police forces across the country, officers call for a change in attitudes and behaviour. a warning from doctors that the nhs in england is cutting back on routine operations like hip replacements and cataracts. failed by the police — the disabled refugee whose repeated pleas for help were ignored, and who was brutally murdered. and in the next hour swedish car—maker volvo announces plans to go all—electric. we'll be finding out whether this could be the end of the road for petrol and diesel vehicles. and in sport, it's been a successful day for britain at wimbledon with victories for andy murray and johanna konta.

good evening and welcome to bbc news. the new leader of kensington and chelsea council has rated rated her apology to residents of grenfell tower, saying it was not there for them at the time it was needed —— has reiterated her apology. at a meeting tonight, police have updated residents about several issues, including recovery work. it comes as the government has announced a task force to run several areas, including housing. lucy manning reports. the missing posters have been here for three weeks. they flutter a painful reminder,

because time has not brought any answers. now the police search through the 15 tonnes of debris on each floor, still trying to find all the grenfell victims. karim musilhy was at the meeting the police and coroner called last night. his uncle, hesham rahman, is missing from the 23rd floor. he went over to comfort some young children, which, for me, is very heroic. i want that to stick and stay with the family. we may never know if my uncle is ever going to be found. the family is just broken, you know, and... there's no way of fixing them. this is something that can never be fixed and they want to be able to bury their loved ones, pray for their loved ones, you know, say goodbye in any way, shape orform, and it sounds like all we are going to have is the brief on his flat, which... itjust isn't good enough.

so... sorry, karim. yeah, yeah. the police now say they have recovered all the remains from the building that were visible, and 87 recoveries — as they put it — have been made. but they stress because of the catastrophic damage done that doesn't mean 87 people, and they still can't say how many have died. meanwhile, survivors struggle, carrying bags of donated food back to their hotels. "three weeks and you will have housing" was the promise. this survivor didn't want to be identified, scared of being seen to criticise the council. i didn't take them up on the offer, they were very expensive to rent and although they have promised that they were going to pay for a whole year, i didn't have to pay for a year, but after that i said, you know, put it in writing, and they said the legal documents are not ready yet.

people would prefer to stay in their emergency temporary accommodation within hotels, and make one move into permanent accommodation, so there have actually only been 14 acceptances so far. you would like to move the children away from here? yes. with the residents feeling scared and let down, the government has now sent in an external task force to run some parts of the council, including housing. the minister, overcome. hearing the harrowing account of survivors has been the most humbling and moving experience of my life. the families that i've met have been through unimaginable pain. today at the inquest a 60—year—old was named as vincent, and 84—year—old sheila smith, described as a truly beautiful person. lucy manning, bbc news, west london. with me isjoe delaney, a grenfell resident and a member

of the grenfell action group. thanks for being with us. the task force that is coming, what do you think it will do, do you welcome it? the task force is advisory, as far as we can ascertain. we have been giving the council advice on this disaster, they have not listened. i don't really see what will compel them to listen to this. also if their services and housing are wholly inadequate, how can we rely on the audit commission's judgment on the audit commission's judgment on the audit commission's judgment on the rest of the council? they should have brought in a commissioner, and i think it is political that they have not. the mayor of london, sadiq khan, asked for that. he was saying because it isa for that. he was saying because it is a conservative government and conservative council? darlington was labour, it is easy to sling mud on them and say they are not fit and proper. kensington and chelsea

council fit and proper that they are holding the reins and keeping their nice, juicy salaries and fat final salary pensions. so when you say a commissioner, someone to run all the council services? i was not in favour of this from the start, but if it is what is to happen i have come to peace with it, i am sure the rest of the residents will. i would rather see their very few front line staff who have been working at places like the westway centre or their social —— that social workers who have done sterling work, i would rather see them promoted or perhaps form an executive council to tell the actual executive is what they should do. what about the rehousing situation? we know lots of residents are unhappy with the offers made to them to rehouse them, either because it is too expensive or in districts further away. what would you say? it is too expensive or in districts further away. what would you sawm is those reasons. they have schools, doctors, hospitals in the area. they are being expected to move and

approved their entire lives or offered properties where the rents area offered properties where the rents are a lot higher than they were expecting, or being told you will only have this for a year two, move here for a year and then you are off again. theresa may overextended herself when she said everyone would be rebuilt in three weeks, it has come back to bite her. what is your situation? i am in a hotel in hammersmith, i would consider myself lucky because about. neighbours of mine have been told they can return home on monday, which is outrageous, the fire staff evacuated that tower today because it shifted a few millimetres. how does it work when the council are talking to about rehousing? they are not talking to us, that is the issue, they are talking at us. that is what we are sick. there needs to be dialogue. any time i have contact with the council to try to get basic things for others, even the £500 grant promised to my neighbours, they say

we have a policy which says that single people only get this much, they cannot point me to a policy document. when i said yes or no answer, will this person get money, they could not do it, can ijust have 30 seconds to say this? i said it does not take 30 seconds to say yes or no. the prime minister set a three—week deadline for everyone to be rehoused, do you think that was too much of a rush, does it need to bea too much of a rush, does it need to be a longer process so that everybody is offered exactly the kind of place they want? theresa may made that offer to take political heat of herself, which is ironic because heat is one of the things the residents who are still on the estate black, because our heating tank was under the tower. she needs to stop playing political games with this matter. it is outrageous, it is a humanitarian crisis, the biggest civil catastrophe we have probably

seenin civil catastrophe we have probably seen in this country, at least since world war ii. it is not the politicking, it needs common sense, compassion and hard work, it seems none of those three are on offer. thank you so much for coming in, joe delaney from the grenfell action group. thank you for your time. and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:40 this evening in the papers. our guests joining me tonight are caroline wheeler, deputy political editor of the sunday times, and ben chu, economics editor of the independent. knife crime is now one of the greatest challenges facing police forces across the country. in fact, the knife is britain's number one murder weapon. the figures are all the more shocking because increasingly both victims and perpetrators are young — children and teenagers. last year nearly 32,500 knife crimes were committed in england and wales. that figure was up 14% on the previous year. our home affairs correspondent june kelly has been on police patrol in birmingham and met some of those working to end knife culture. a summer evening in birmingham

and the force response teams from west midlands police are dealing with dozens of emergencies. proceed to a second stabbing... this time in kings norton. and i'm notjoking. 0scar 30, that's over, heard. grandson has been stabbed. caller has had a call from her daughter stating the 15—year—old grandson has been stabbed. caller is hysterical. he's not at this location. the victim is a 15—year—old boy. he doesn't live in this road, he was found here. the teenager is helped into the ambulance by his mate. no sign of the attacker and no information from the victim. a summer evening in birmingham and the force response teams are you doing anything productive at that particular job? it's just we've got another one. single stab wound to the abdomen. bleeding a lot.

and once again there is no corporation from this second victim. the pressure not to be a grass. unfortunately he didn't want to provide a statement or provide us an account or tell us where the incident had occurred. so there is very little we could actually do or investigate. but we can still record the matter as a crime. in the west midlands, just like the rest of the country, knife crime is on the rise. do you understand the reasons why you're being searched ? yes, because of weapons. lives lost, victims scarred and maimed. and more people found to be carrying blades. depzman was a rising rap star. the teenage grime artist from birmingham had fans all over the country. he was murdered weeks after his 18th birthday. a row over a girl spiralled into a fight and then his rival pulled a knife and plunged it into his heart. seven hours later, depzman,

real namejoshua ribera, was dead. i sayjoshua, not depzman. not a grime mc. becausejoshua is my little boy. now his mum alison goes into schools and uses her son's name, fame and death to drive home the consequences of carrying knives. we're not showing these children's faces because they have been permanently excluded from mainstream schools. every single time his heart stopped, he fought back and fought back seven heart attacks. but on the morning of the 21st of september at 5:58am, my son gave up on life and he died. we were given unique access to this class, part of city of birmingham school which looks after excluded children. at the entrance there is a scanner to stop any weapons coming in. why do you think someone is going to carry a knife on the street as a weapon? to protect yourself from others. and today the pupils are also hearing from constable rob pedley. he's in different schools every week

as part of a campaign by west midlands police to try to turn teenagers away from the knife culture. if you go to your kitchen drawer at home, take out one of the sharp knives, you are carrying the country's number one murder weapon. it is not the gun, it is the knife. staff here have enlisted rob and alison because every day they are battling to keep children safe and out of trouble. while we cannot show their faces, we were able to record their words. they know about knives being used as initiation into gangs. usually you take a beating. when you take a beating, they only have to stab you in the arm. that is what my cousin did. nathan spent most of his teens in and out of young offender institutions. and has served jail terms for knife crime. he has tried to turn his life around and now as well as being a rapper, he is also launching a charity. he knows why people carry knives. how are you going

to break that cycle? that is very hard, isn't it? people who have been through things, people who have gone to prison, real people who have been in situations are the best people to help reform people and give people, tell people about their experiences and definitely workshops and help promote more awareness about these things. and showing, you know what i mean, looking at the consequences of why these things, what can happen. and as the mother of a murdered son, alison is calling for a different approach to stop so many ruined lives. looking at them as being scum of society is not working. we need to step right back to nine—year—olds, eight—year—olds, and guide them in a better direction. it is going to be a big old blue light, then. around the country, police are trying to crack down on the culprits. but the problem is escalating. and it will take a change of mindset and culture to halt the knife epidemic. june kelly, bbc news, birmingham. the headlines on bbc news...

the government is to send in a taskforce to take over the running of parts of kensington and chelsea council after criticism of the way it's handled the aftermath of the grenfell tower fire. as knife crime becomes one of the biggest challenges facing police forces across the country, officers are falling dann calling for a change in attitude and behaviour. a disabled refugee who was beaten to death and set on fire outside his home was repeatedly failed by the police, a report finds. in a moment, volvo becomes the first major car maker to say it will phase out petrol and diesel—only cars in two years' time. sport now, and a full round up from the bbc sport centre. including everything that has happened at wimbledon today!

we will come to that in a moment. but in the last 15 minutes or so... the british and irish lions have named an unchanged side for their deciding test against new zealand on saturday in auckland. coach warren gatland has kept faith with the team that levelled the series in wellington last weekend. so here it is... liam williams was the only real fitness doubt, but he's selected at fullback. mako vunipola continues in the front row despite suggestions his lack of discipline may cost him his place. and sam warburton will once again captain the side trying to win a series against the all blacks for the first time since 1971. meanwhile, new zealand have also announced their team. there are three changes, with two players making their first starts for the all blacks. 20—year—old jordie barrett will play at full back. while centre ngani laumape replaces the suspended sonny bill williams, who was sent off in the second test on saturday. andy murray breezed through the second round in the heat of day 4 at wimbledon. the defending champion beat germany's dustin brown in straight sets, as adam wild reports. at wimbledon these days, they come

less in hope, more in expectation. no one draws the crowds great lakes andy murray on centre court. and with that comes a certain pressure. a moment of calm before the heat. in his way, dustin brown, a few more recognisable, few with a tennis style more eye—catching. murray has the game to match, this was going to be entertaining. that is brilliant. policing this crowd is what murray does best, he would have to be at his best to stop too many more shots like this —— pleasing this crowd. but on this court, murray won the first set with a mighty ace, his celebrations were muted, at least for the moment. it took until the second set for the world number one to find the shots which have brought such success. this is what they all

came to see. two sets down but brown was far from came to see. two sets down but brown was farfrom done. he is one of the game's great entertainers, but he is also very much more. the delight for those watching, clear to see. still, these are the occasions that bring out the champion in murray. unplayable brilliance steering him to the brink of victory. finally, brown's dazzling touch deserted him when it mattered the most. murray through, centre court royally entertained. joining murray in round three, johanna konta — who had a much tougher day, eventually beating donna vekic of croatia in three sets and more than three hours. 10—8 the score in the decider. heather watson took just 19 minutes to win the first set of her match against 18th seed anastasija sevastova. an impressive 6—0, 6—4 victory sets up a third round match with former world number one victoria azarenka. while aljaz bedene also won, to make it four british players through to round three.

arsenal have broken their transfer record to sign france striker alexandre lacazette. the deal was completed just over an hour ago. with lacazette joining the gunners for a fee of £a6.5 million on a five—year contract. that could go up to as much as £52.5 million. there's a familiar face back in the yellow jersey at the tour de france. defending champion chris froome now has the overall lead, after finishing third on stage five behind fabio aru. froome completed the first mountain stage ahead of most of his rivals to take the lead by 12 seconds. that's all the sport for now. much more in the next hour thank you, see you later. a disabled refugee who was beaten to death and set alight by his neighbour in bristol four years ago was repeatedly failed by avon and somerset police. that's the conclusion of the independent police

complaints commission, who say officers ignored bijan ebrahimi's pleas for help. the commission said there was evidence that racial bias at the force affected the officers' response. jon kay reports. fouryears on, and tonight the sisters of bijan ebrahimi have some more answers. they've been told their vulnerable younger brother was repeatedly failed by police in the years before he was murdered — treated as a nuisance, not as a victim. reading that report, it was devastating. they say the list of failings has shocked them. it was so hard to see bijan all these years been suffering, and his voice never listened to. he always thought that he's in a country that the police is there to protect people. don't you dare take pictures of me, all right... today's report says bijan didn't just fear for his life in the days before he was murdered by this neighbour, lee james. .. get out of my house.

but that he'd called police repeatedly from a number of addresses over several years, asking for help. i've got an mob outside my door. but time and time again, he was ignored. what part of be quiet do you not understand? shut up! today's report runs to hundreds of pages, and it says this whole case has laid bare what it calls the disrespect, the prejudice and even contempt with which some officers and staff treated bijan ebrahimi in the days before he was murdered here. last year, pc kevin duffy and community support officer andrew passmore were jailed after being convicted of misconduct in a public office. pcs leanne winter and helen harris were cleared by the jury, but were later sacked by a misconduct hearing. bijan's family have raised questions about racism within the force. there are some hallmarks of discrimination that could be construed as race hatred.

there are overwhelming elements of evidence that indicate this was discrimination against a very vulnerable man. avon and somerset police say this case has already prompted major changes. we accept that we failed bijan ebrahimi at his time of greatest need, and throughout that time he was respectful and he had confidence and trust in us, the police, and we let him down, and for that, we are sorry. in this city, known for its tolerance, tonight many questions remain, and four years after the murder of bijan ebrahimi, there is still another major report from the council yet to come. jon kay, bbc news, bristol. the public sector pay cap was the subject of some fierce exchanges in the house of commons today. theresa may suggested she won't back the lifting

of the current 1% limit on wages. labour accused the prime minister of recklessly exploiting the goodwill of teachers, nurses and other public sector workers. the prime minister responded to the accusation by saying it would not be fairon accusation by saying it would not be fair on future generations to propose something the country cannot afford. it isn't fair to refuse to take tough decisions and to load debts on our children and grandchildren. it isn't... it isn't fair to bankrupt our economy, because that leads to people losing theirjobs and losing their homes. and it isn't fair to go out and tell people that they can have all the public spending they want, without paying for it. that was the prime minister. the jeremy corbyn claimed that theresa may was offering too many platitudes and called on her to offer real help

for the lowest paid. the low paid economy as a threat to our stability. instead of offering platitudes can she offer real help and support for those in work, young people, who deserve better and deserved to be given more optimism rather than greater inequality? labour leaderjeremy corbyn in the house earlier. a man has been found guilty of killing two former girlfriends, five years apart. 52—year—old robert trigg was convicted of the murder of susan nicholson in 2011, and the manslaughter of caroline devlin in 2006. he had denied the charges, claiming they had died in their sleep. the italian government has made the latest offer to help the terminally ill baby charlie gard. but the foreign secretary boris johnson says that for legal reasons it is impossible for him to be transferred to the vatican's children's hospital for treatment. charlie gard's parents have already lost their legal battle — both here and in the european court — to keep him alive

against the advice of doctors at the great 0rmond street hospital. the un security council is holding an emergency meeting over north korea following its test launch of an intercontinental missile yesterday. the us ambassador to the un said washington will propose new sanctions against pyongyang in the current days. we can speak to our correspondent nada tawfik correspondent nada tawfik at the un in new york. what is being said? a very strong message from the us ambassador, who basically called out china in the council, saying they are mainly to blame for not fully implementing sanctions against north korea. she said they are their main trading partner, which they are, of course,

and that trade with china accounts for 90% of north korea's economy. she said that countries that chose to go against un security council sanctions and trade with north korea would have their trade with the united states affected, so kind of a threat if you will toward china. she also said the united states is all options on the table but that they do prefer the diplomatic route, but she said now is not a time for talks, it is a time to put further sanctions on north korea. she mention things like an oil embargo, intersecting cargo ships, hitting north korea's finances. she could have been referring to the guest worker programme that north koreans go off and work in china or russia and send that money back to the regime. some very tough language from the ambassador. we heard from the ambassadors of japan from the ambassador. we heard from the ambassadors ofjapan and from the ambassador. we heard from the ambassadors of japan and france echoing that now was not the time for bargaining and talks and signing

off on the us position of further sanctions. lots of talk of intensified sanctions, but sanctions have basically not worked on north korea in the past? absolutely. last year we saw two resolutions pushing sanctions. last month they added a0 north korean individuals and two ncds to the sanctions blacklist. they have not been completely enforced by the chinese, who are worried about choking north korea economically too much, creating instability in the region and perhaps chaos and refugees in their doorstep. 0n the other hand the north korean leader kim john doorstep. 0n the other hand the north korean leader kimjohn lohan has —— kim jong north korean leader kimjohn lohan has —— kimjong iland has north korean leader kimjohn lohan has —— kimjong il and has floated the security sanction, saying he is going to build on his arsenal and seesit going to build on his arsenal and sees it as necessary to his survival. from both counts the sanctions have really done little,

but when you look at the us range of options, none of them are great and this is the root that the trump administration is taking. thank you very much. —— that is the route that the trump administration is taking. volvo will become the first major car manufacturer to ensure that all models will be powered by either electric or hybrid engines from 2019. so—called alternative fuel vehicles are currently the fasting growing sector in the car market — although they still only make up a small proportion of the total. here's our transport correspondent richard westcott. the shapes have changed a bit over the years, but thank goodness when it comes to the brown allegro, but all these things have one thing in common, an internal combustion engine, burning petrol or diesel. -- all —— all these cars have one thing in common. we've relied on it for 100 years, but is that about to change? volvo cars is taking a bold step forward, heralding the end of an era for the pure internal combustion engine. volvo says all its new models

will be partly electric. from 2019. ambitious plans, but experts say it won't be quick. diesel and petrol will have a long life, yet a lot of people will choose to adopt hybrids before they go all electric and during that time back trees will improve, which will increase the range of miles you can do, and prices will drop, which will make them more tenable for people to buy. —— batteries will improve. it will be quite a while before we see all electric cars as all cars on the road. in fact, sales of alternative engines remain small. injune last year, more than 8300 electric and hybrid vehicles were registered in the uk. that increased to nearly 11,000 this year, but it is still dwarfed by the quarter of a million petrol and diesel cars people bought. this street sums up one of the big reasons that plug—in cars haven't sold in any great numbers. many of us live in houses like this, we don't have garages, we live in flats, you often can't even park near your house,

so how are you supposed to charge your electric car? then there's the problem of topping up mid—journey. certainly some of the country is better than others. newcastle in the north—east, there's quite a lot of charging infrastructure. wales is very poor. to get to where we are, where we need to be, lots of different parties will have do come together and put in charging points. workplaces, businesses will need to put it in for their staff, supermarkets, anyone with a public car park available. as city saab plagued by pollution, with diesel engine is one of the main —— with diesel engine is one of the main -- -- with diesel engine is one of the main —— —— our cities are plagued by pollution. electric cars are getting cheaper with a better range. it will be still some years yet before the internal combustion engine drives off for good. richard westcott, bbc news. joining me via webcam from stratford—upon—avon is motoring

journalist and broadcaster quentin willson. also an electric car driver. what about this move by volvo? is it quite a bold step? it is. they have been very clever because they have stolen a march on the rest of the car—makers. eu regulations dictate they need to hire 95 grams per kilometre in their fleets of c02 they need to hire 95 grams per kilometre in their fleets of co2 by 2021, so all car—makers will have to go electric. volvo are trying to position this is a premium electric car brand, like tesla. and tesla is valued at more than general motors, which produced 10 million vehicles. innovation isn't linear. its flat lines for a long time and then suddenly goes up exponentially, so we are seeing this critical mass beginning. a chinese company who has

500,000 electric cars in china knows all about batteries and platforms. this is the beginning of the beginning. you are an electric car driver. what are the benefits and the drawbacks of that kind of vehicle? i've done about 60,000 miles in electric cars over the last five years, ploughing this lonely furrow. they work. the batteries do not degrade, like we were told. they are fast, they are silent, and we now have rapid charges, so you can top up your battery in 30 minutes on a motorway, and have a feasible range of 300 miles. you can buy a second—hand 1a 6000 or £7,000. they do not go wrong, as all of the doubters said. the big problem we've got is that 98% of the british population haven't even sat in an

electric car, so the realjob is the conversion of hearts and minds. the industry, the legislation and government is running far, far ahead of consumers. we need to get that engagement as soon as is the. when you think we will all be driving electric cars? i think that's quite a way off. we will see the continuation of liquid fuels, petrol and diesel engines for heavy vehicles, but by 2030, we may see maybe 50% of the cars on the world's roads being electric. if the technology really does improve, so we get lighter batteries with longer range, where you can do a00 miles with one charge, it could change drastically. in the long to medium term, electrification is what is going to happen. you can charge your electric car from lamp posts now, going to happen. you can charge your electric carfrom lamp posts now, so councils are looking at this to solve the problem. there is a whole

hill of problems to solve, it is just wider adoption by consumers. thank you, the motorjournalist and electric car driver. now for the weather. the temperatures pushed up to 30 degrees quite widely across the british isles. it wasn't like that everywhere, though. anywhere near this ribbon of cloud and you didn't even make 19 degrees, much closer to 13. much of that rain faded away, thankfully. 0vernight, this area should stay dry, as should many areas. more cloud to the western ‘s guide of scotland and northern ireland. later on tonight you may get a rumble of thunder in what may bea get a rumble of thunder in what may be a sticky night in parts. we see the progression of that rain across

the progression of that rain across the north. thundery showersjust gradually working ever further towards the north—east. in the afternoon, a chance of some torrential downpours on that diagonal, from the north—east down to eastern wales. again, warmer in the south, cooler in the north. it was one of the key issues in the recent election: the cost of going to university and the debts students pile up. now a new study from the respected institute for fiscal studies has revealed the extent of that debt. those from the poorest backgrounds will owe up to £57,000. and three—quarters of them will never clear it. however, the government says that those from poorer backgrounds are now going to university. at a record rate — up a3% since 2009. here's our education editor, bra nwen jeffreys. a sunny afternoon on campus, but in the background, the pressure of debt. many students want tuition fees scrapped. i was the first year to experience the 9k debts.

it means that many students will leave higher education with a lifetime of debt that they will never be able to pay back. people i know have struggled to work and to continue with their coursework. some of them have even been forced to drop out. we don'tjust need engineers, linguists, computer programmers and medics to run a society. we also need people who generate culture, people who think about society, imagine the new societies that we're going to build. student debt in england is rising. here's why. .. £9,000 a year tuition fees, 6.1% interest from september — a threshold frozen at £21,000 in earnings to start to repay, with up to £57,000 in total debt for poorer students. they now have loans for living costs, not grants. the money from tuition fees has allowed universities to expand. and despite the tuition fee increases, growing numbers of young

people are applying to study for a degree. so what's changed ? well, today's report shows just how much the burden of debt has increased for the poorest students, and for the first time in many years, there's a different kind of political debate about tuition fees. still, ministers say this is about sharing the cost fairly. between the individual student, who goes on in most circumstances to have much higher lifetime earnings, and the general taxpayer, who in many cases won't have had a chance to go to university and have those higher earnings. close to the university, the leafy regent's park estate, people are working hard, paying taxes. people who get good jobs, solicitors, barristers and all that, yeah, they can afford to pay it back. but a lot of people leave college with good grades and find it very difficult to get a job. the 3,000 level was affordable to normal human beings, ie not the rich, but 9,000 is a little bit too

much for education. if they get the rewards at the end of it, then obviously it's worth it, isn't it? it's worth, i suppose, getting into debt. i suppose there's two ways of looking at it. there are indeed, and with more poor students dropping out, we haven't heard the end of it. branwen jeffreys, bbc news. hip and knee replacements were once considered routine operations, but the british medicaljournal says that in england they're increasingly being rationed. the journal obtained data showing a sharp rise in doctors resorting to special appeals to get these and other once—routine treatments for their patients. 0ur health correspondent, dominic hughes, reports. helen is a busy woman, running her boutique hotel is a demanding job, but when her eyesight started to fail, she needed a cataract operation. imagine her dismay when she was told the nhs would only pay for one eye to be fixed at a time. i did not want to wait another year. to have one eye... the imbalance it causes,

difficult, it impacted on my life for the i have got to be busy, i have to be able to see to function. a growing and ageing population is placing increasing demands on the nhs, and that in turn is ramping up the pressure on finances, so to save money in some areas, funding for common treatments is being withdrawn. when that happens, gps could make individual requests on a case—by—case basis, and a bmj analysis shows that overall these have increased by a7% in the past four years and there has also been a rise in requests for hip and knee operations over the same time period. and the number of cataract operations for which funding has been sought has also increased. decisions on which nhs services are funded in england are made by local clinical commissioning groups, the national body that represents them says that given a limited budget day —— they are forced to

make difficult choices. demand increases, the population increases and there is a finite amount in the budget and we have to make difficult decisions. if there was more money we could have a broader sense of how we spend it, but with loads more money in the system we should still be making appropriate choices for the patient. doctors say all health leaders need to be honest with patients about the decisions they are having to make. year after year, we have seen a lack of investment and so local areas are making these really difficult decisions, and ultimately, in many areas, rationing services. the report today suggests more and more patients are finding procedures that were once considered routine are becoming harder to access. dominic hughes, bbc news. with me is dr richard vautrey, the acting chairman of the british medical association's gp committee. thank you for being with us. is this

a bit ofa thank you for being with us. is this a bit of a postcode lottery? does it depend on where you live on whether these procedures that used to be routine will not be available to you? increasingly, yes. patients in one local health area can access some services, but over the road, in another area, they cannot access the same services. that's completely. we are supposed to have a national health service, but we have an increasingly fragmented one because of decades underfunding. what sort of decades underfunding. what sort of procedures are we talking here? it can vary from area to area. it can be limitations on eye surgery, ca ta ra ct can be limitations on eye surgery, cataract surgery, or it could be limitations onjoint cataract surgery, or it could be limitations on joint surgery, where people are living longer in pain because of limited access. it can be fertility treatments. different areas are making different

decisions, so patients are losing out because of the underfunding of the health service. we heard there from the nhs that resources are finite. the nhs doesn't have unlimited resources, so in some ways it's unsurprising with an ageing population. that is a political decision, and it's for the politicians and the government to invest properly in our nhs. that's what the population wants. 0ther countries across europe are investing more in their health services than we are here, so we can make those political decisions to properly invest in our health service, as the patients deserve. so the solution is more money?m service, as the patients deserve. so the solution is more money? it is properly investing. we can afford these increases in health spending and social care spending, because ultimately, patients lose out if we don't. is it a trade-off between decentralisation in the nhs and then ending up with this postcode

lottery? in other words, ending up with this postcode lottery? in otherwords, it ending up with this postcode lottery? in other words, it isn't as standardised as people might assume. we have set up organisations such as the national institute for clinical and is, which is a body that should determine what is available to patients across the country. it is then for local bodies to decide how thatis then for local bodies to decide how that is distributed. in some areas, you have to wait for many months in pain before you can get that operation. is that situation likely to continue? yes, sadly, untilwe have a change in the investment into the health service, and until we expand and deliver the services that the growing population needs. thank you very much for being with us. the headlines on bbc news... the government is to send in a taskforce to take over the running of parts of kensington and chelsea council after criticism of the way it's handled the aftermath

of the grenfell tower fire. as knife crime becomes one of the greatest challenges facing police forces across the country, officers call for a change in attitudes and behaviour. a disabled refugee who was beaten to death and set on fire outside his home was repeatedly failed by the police, a report finds. an update on the market numbers for you — here's how london's and frankfurt ended the day. and in the the united states this is how the dow and the nasdaq are getting on. ina in a moment, munching through the bamboo curtain. the german chancellor and the chinese president are hoping these giant pandas might bring their countries closer together. foreign ministers from four arab countries have expressed disappointment with what they say is qatar's negative response to their demands. saudi arabia, egypt,

bahrain and the uae cut diplomatic ties with qatar last month. they accuse the gulf nation of supporting terrorism. the list of 13 demands include closing a turkish military base, scaling down relations with iran and shutting down the aljazeera network. the saudi foreign minister said the countries had no choice but to challenge cup tar. we cannot have a country like qatar that is an ally militarily, and in the gcc, and in the arab league. and that hosts an airbase from which planes take off to fight isis and al-qaeda, and at the same time, it turns a blind eye to terror financiers who operate openly in qatar, turns a blind eye to extremists who advocate suicide bombings and advocate young men going to fight in war zones. we cannot have it both ways. we are not doing this because we want to hurt qatar, we are doing it to help qatar.

it will help qatar, it will help us, it will help the region, it will help the world. earlier, our security correspondent, frank gardner, spoke to the qatari foreign minister. he says the accusations are baseless and politically motivated. vida barnes normally built on the discussion of proved complaints. they jumped to the discussion of proved complaints. theyjumped to the conclusion by issuing this. so what we need to do now is set up a process and a proper framework, with the principles in place to have a serious negotiation, and qatar is prepared to have a serious dialogue that can result in a solution. you have the highest gdp

per capita in the world, but how much longer can qatar survive under these sanctions? i think regarding these sanctions? i think regarding the extra cost, it is only for the short term until we find alternatives for reducing the cost of the logistics for the country. the country economy is robust. so is it true that you view the turkish base in qatar as insurance against being invaded? well, for us, the presence of the turkish base, of course it will contribute to the security and stability of qatar and for the region. do you see it as an insurance against any hostile military action from your neighbours? of course, we hope that no hostile military action will be taken against qatar, and the other

gulf countries know that all of us have different priorities than that country, just to get a short term gains. all of this will have consequences. can you understand the concerns of the countries that are opposing you? concerns of the countries that are opposing you ? they concerns of the countries that are opposing you? they do feel that qatar is destabilising the region, with your support for groups in libya, syria and egypt. none of those claims are true. qatar supporting libya, the government of national accord. they have a presentation from us, yes, but this is the choice of the libyan people, not our choice. doing it to stop support for legitimate governments, when they have any of my political opponents, internationally and arab, this should not be my main policy

driver. this is the way qatar is operating. when it was in egypt during the military council, qatar started the support programme. this programme also continued after the coup against mohammed mercy. —— mercy. we contributed more after they left, under the leadership. we we re they left, under the leadership. we were supporting, together with canada and france, the development and investment conference into niger last november. we were there showing the commitment of qatar. that was the commitment of qatar. that was the qatari foreign minister speaking to our security correspondent. an official report says victims of harassment and stalking in england and wales are being left at risk because of failings

by police and prosecutors. both the inspectorate of constabulary and the crown prosecution service inspectorate found that crimes weren't being recorded, investigations were poorly conducted and legal protection wasn't offered to enough victims. our home affairs correspondent, danny shaw, reports. an attack by a stalker that could have been prevented. helen pearson suffered neck and face wounds when her neighbourjoseph lewis stabbed her with a pair of scissors. it was the culmination of a five—year stalking campaign that involved vandalism and graffiti. helen made 125 reports to devon and cornwall police about her stalker‘s escalating violence, but she wasn't taken seriously and the force has now apologised. we would report this to the police and it was like, it was almost like they didn't want to know, they didn't take me seriously. and then, we later learned that they... i always felt that they weren't believing me, but we laterfind out that it is worse than that, they thought i was

doing it to myself. so, they didn't really believe you? no. and how did that make you feel? hopeless. desperate. a new inspection report, living in fear, says police and prosecutors are failing to deal with stalking and harassment at every stage of the criminal justice process in england and wales. it found that allegations weren't being recorded by police. in some forces, there were no risk assessments of the threat posed to victims and police were giving official warnings to offenders rather than carrying out for investigations. both stalking and harassment occurs as a result of really pernicious and persistent offending. and officers and prosecutors were missing that, which meant that victims were left at risk. in response to the criticisms, the national police chief's council said it is contacting forces to make

sure officers improve the way they use their powers to tackle harassment and stalking. the crown prosecution service says it will make sure every prosecutor undergoes training. danny shaw, bbc news. a lorry driver is being hailed a hero after his quick thinking helped save another man's life, after he'd had a stroke at the wheel of his car on a busy dual carriageway. the incident happened on the aa7 near norwich. norfolk police say the actions of russell dagless almost certainly saved lives and probably prevented a mass pile—up. kim riley takes up the story. russell has been a truck driver for the ben burgess company for 22 years, delivering agricultural equipment across the country. the drama began when he saw the driver of a white van in a desperate state. i noticed he was collapsed at the wheel, his head was down below the steering wheel and no hands on the steering wheel, slumped against the driver's door.

and still going? and still going. he probably still had his foot on the throttle. and running alongside the barrier. dashcam pictures from a following vehicle show a passenger in a car running to assist. russell, his lorry now in front of the van, going up against it as it continued along the central reservation. he successfully brings it to a halt. first aiders, a fireman and an off—duty paramedic then arrived to help the driver. a director of guardwell secure systems was on his way back to great yarmouth with a work colleague. in the white car seen them in the dashcam footage. i pulled up alongside the vehicle i could see the driver had collapsed and was unconscious. i think our thoughts were to get to him to give them help. what about russell's part in this? what do you think of that? it's absolutely fantastic. i think if it wasn't for him things could have been a lot worse. he brought the vehicle to a stop quite quickly

and his actions were fantastic. he was lying... 0n here? actually on the trailer there for the next half an hour. do you think what you did was pretty extraordinary? not really, itjust felt the natural thing to do at the time. someone had to do something. it was just a natural reaction, really. when we heard and got the news back it was great and we thought, wow, well done, superjob. then of course to get the video footage of the lorry following russell, really put it into context for us and we could see what a greatjob he did. russell and the team who stopped to help had smashed their way into the van to free the driver. the man, from great yarmouth, had suffered a stroke and was admitted to hospital. norfolk police say he is understood to be making a full recovery. it's called panda diplomacy and it's expensive.

china's president xijinping presented the two giant pandas at a ceremony attended by german chancellor angela merkel. they are on loan to berlin zoo at a cost of 800 thousand pounds a year. only a dozen or so countries have ever been loaned pandas by china and as our correspondent johny dymond reports, it's hoped they will symbolise closer ties between the two countries. they may look friendly, but do not get too close. china's loan ofjiao qing — "darling" — and meng meng — "sweet dream" — comes from the global superpower, with a price. it is worth paying attention when germany and china meet these days. germany is europe's undisputed leader. china's surging economic power is turning into global political muscle. the chancellor and the president

are meeting before the world's 20 biggest economies get together in berlin. once it might have been america around the table. but germany wants chinese help in propping up a world order destabilised by change in washington. and china wants open markets to sell into and allies it can rely on. translation: this is pioneering for our relations. we're happy to note that, thanks to mutual efforts on both sides, chinese—german relations have reached a new phase, in which we are moving on a peak level. the panda special came to britain in the 1970s, as china emerged from decades of isolation. ching ching and chia—chia were gifts, part of an effort to warm frozen relations. panda diplomacy, it became known as.

now, the new pair are making hearts race in berlin. but these bamboo guzzlers are on loan and they don't come cheap. nearly £800,000 a year. for some berliners at least, they're worth every penny. jonny dymond, bbc news. let's ta ke let's take a look at the weather now. i'm nota now. i'm not a fan of pandas! not a great fan of heath either, and i'm at the wrong end of the country. a glorious day across the southern half of the british eyes. 0ur weather watchers we re british eyes. 0ur weather watchers were there to capture it. perhaps i should have spent the day to the eastern side of the pennines. it stopped raining in the afternoon here. that was the improved picture

from 0rmesby there. 0vernight, we are going to push another set of weather fronts, as if are going to push another set of weatherfronts, as if you needed it, with rain through northern ireland into the western side of scotland. further south, maybe the odd thunderstorm to finish off the night, a ready sticky old night in the south. fresher across scotland and northern ireland. so how about the commute and the school run? it's dry enough across the south—west. thunderstorm is not torrential. the odd rumble of thunder accompanying a fairly standard shower, if such a thing exists. wales and much of northern england drive. cloudy in northern ireland. the overnight rain getting into central and western parts of scotland. through the day, the rain pushes further east, becoming lighter and patchy. thunderstorms in the south drift

towards cambridgeshire and norfolk. these, if they come to pass, from eastern wales right up to the north of england, they could be torrential. thankfully, they are a long way from wimbledon. showers finishing up there before play starts. there is some warmth to speak of getting into the north of england from the south. could be around 30 degrees or so. thunderstorms eventually move off into the north sea, and then we find friday as fairly quiet sort of day, a bit betwixt and between. a lot of cloud filling in. still very warm in the south eastern quarter. from friday into saturday, this banner of cloud pushing everfurther towards the borders, through northern ireland into the north of england, so turning a bit fresher with the wind is going into the north—west. it will be dry for most of us. there will be a scattering of showers at

times over the weekend. more details online. hello, i'm karin giannone, welcome to outside source. an urgent meeting of the un security council is taking place — and the us has delivered a stark warning to north korea. there actions are quickly closing off the possibility of a diplomatic solution. the united states is prepared to use the full range of our capabilities to defend ourselves and our allies. meanwhile donald trump has berated china for its lack of action on dealing with north korea. britain's defence secretary has echoed that call. there is more that china can do, and needs to do, to get the regime to start responding. sanctions on qatar from some of the middle east's biggest countries will continue — after the gulf state rejects demands imposed by its neighbours. president trump will shortly be arriving in poland —