this is bbc news. the headlines at 2pm: boots has said it is "truly sorry" for its response to calls to cut the cost of one of its morning—after pills boots boots spectacularly misjudged where public opinion was on this issue, and that's why they responded initially in the way they did. former white house press secretary, sean spicer, has moved to minimise talk of divisions within the trump administration, after announcing his resignation. ijust though it was in the best interests of our communications department, of our press organisation, not to have too many cooks in the kitchen. the number of homeless children being housed in temporary accommodation rose by more than a third in the last three years. also in the next hour — the government plans to bring in closer monitoring of drones. owners of the small, unmanned aircraft will have to register and take safety awareness courses.

airline pilots have welcomed the move. a british grandfather's won £2 million by finishing fourth in the world's most prestigious poker tournament. in golf, the third round of the open is under way. world number three jordan speith begins with a two—shot lead. and at 2.30pm, george alagiah speaks to pulitzer prize—winning author elizabeth strout in talking books. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. boots has apologised for dismissing calls to cut the cost of its contraceptive morning—after pills. the pharmacy had refused to drop the price of the medicines, because it claimed that doing

so would "incentivise inappropriate use". today, the firm apologised for what it described as its poor choice of words and said it would look for cheaper brands. campaigners have welcomed the move but say it should have come sooner. our only disappointment is that it's taken this long, and really the threat of a boycott by its customers for boots, to reach this position. this was a position reached by superdrug and tesco far earlier. earlier, i spoke to our reporter andy moore, who's at a branch of boots in central london. i asked him how boots has managed to find itself at the centre of this controversy. they resisted this campaign. they said they did not want to incentivise inappropriate behaviour whereas other companies halved their prices. the campaign was taken up by 30 female labour mps

and it appeared on some of the front pages this morning and late last night we had this change of heart. with me is sandra gidley from the royal pharmaceutical society. what's your reaction? i am pleased to see the change of heart but it is good this has opened up a debate about access to the morning after pill and access for women to have control over their fertility and sexual and reproductive health. where i was little uncomfortable was they seemed to be saying that women would be irresponsible. that can't be the case because pharmacists have to ask a set number of questions. so if women are trying to use the morning after pill as a method of contraception, they simply aren't allowed to have it. what is the position across the country on access to the pill and to the consultation? you can get it for free? you can in some places.

it is a postcode lottery. some pharmacies will be able to provide under certain restrictions the morning after pill and in other areas there will be a set number of pharmacies, so that is difficult because it means access is not easy. if you are a relatively young girl you may not be able to travel to a further away pharmacy so wouldn't it be sensible to use the community pharmacy network to provide the morning after pill free, to provide sexual health counselling as well? because girls have had unprotected sex. that is what they do in wales and scotland and it works well. use the network you have. clarify the situation about guidance from a pharmacy. some people say it is a very simple pill and anyone can buy it like an aspirin and other people say you must get a consultation, it can have serious side effects. there should always be a consultation. even aspirin there should be a consultation.

in a pharmacy you are often asked questions. when women go to get the morning after pill they are usually always in a consultation room and they will go through a set number of questions to make sure it is appropriate for the woman to take it, that it is going to work within the required timescale and that it will not interact with any other medicines they may be taking. a sensible precaution you get with other drugs as well every time you go into a pharmacy. thank you very much. just to update you on the statement from boots. they say they're committed to sourcing lower priced medicines. they say the kinds of services sandra was talking about are available from the nhs free of charge at 1700 of its stores. donald trump's spokesman, sean spicer, has said he had to resign from the post because there would be "too many cooks in the kitchen". he announced his departure after the president appointed a new communications director.

it comes as mr trump's son — and other key officials — face questioning in congress about their links to russia. richard galpin reports. just six months in into his presidency, donald trump and his administration are beset by creasees. —— crises. most damaging, the growing scandal of the russian interference into the election, allegedly to help donald trump into the white house. in response, big changes are now under way in the trump team. his press secretary, the latest to leave the white house. the new seniorfigures in the communication department are anthony scaramouchie, and sarah huckerby—sanders. i think it was in the best interests of the communications department, to not have too many cooks in the kitchen. so i think that is a good quality.

they need the team here that work so hard, so material —— so —— so cal tirelessly to advance the president's agenda to have clear leadership. i thought it would be confusing having additional people at the top. this is one of the people who now poses the biggest threat to the trump administration. robert mueller, overseeing the investigation into the alleged links between the russian government and trump's campaign team. next week donald trump's son and son—in—law, are due to testify. the white house is in urgent need of a beefed up team to defend itself. president trump is getting ready for a scorched earth campaign. they are going to fight very hard against this investigation, which is coming closer and closer to things that make the white house very uncomfortable. sean spicer, he wasn't a good press secretary by any

means. he wasn't a particularly honest man, but he was somebody who was recognisably from the familiar world of political communication. donald trump has always dismissed the allegations of collusion with the kremlin. but the investigation is closing in steadily, putting him under intense pressure. richard galpin, bbc news. almost 1,000 children are being forced into temporary accommodation every month, because more families are becoming homeless, according to councils in england. the local government association says the number has increased by a third in three years. it wants more powers to build what are described as "genuinely affordable homes". 0ur social affairs correspondent, michael buchanan, reports. councils say more than 900 children, what they describe as the equivalent of a secondary school, are becoming homeless each month. in total, they say more than 120,000 children and their families are being supported in temporary

accommodation, an increase of more than a third since 2014. councils in the south—east and major cities are dealing with the largest numbers. though cornwall and the isle of wight, for instance, also have significant problems. the councils say they need to build more affordable homes. they want rules on borrowing relaxed so they can invest in housing development. councils need the power to intervene more in the homes market. we need more affordable housing built in the right place to provide people with decent affordable housing. we also need to be able to intervene earlier as well. rather than waiting for people to become homeless, we need to stop them becoming homeless in the first place. ministers say they are spending £550 million to tackle homelessness, and that a new bill passed earlier this year will prevent families from losing homes in the first place. michael buchanan, bbc news. joining me now from our tunbridge wells studio

is councillor peter fleming from the local government association, who produced this research. thank you forjoining us on bbc news this afternoon. first off, what's behind this increase, a third it is? we've seen this over a number of yea rs. clearly, actually we've seen this over a number of years. clearly, actually getting families particularly families with children out of temporary accommodation, which is not only costing us more than putting them in real proper, decent accommodation, owned by councils, built by councils, run by councils, it is clearly costing us as a nation a huge amount of money. what's behind it is the increasing cost of housing in the country, particularly in the areas highlighted in your report — london, the south—east, various pockets around the country. that means that benefits just are not keeping up with the cost of private

rented accommodation. so, is it really just about building affordable houses? how is it the families are finding themselves in this position in the first place? as a country, we are not building enough houses. i don't think that will be news to anybody. we need to build more houses. we need to build more houses in the right parts of the country and we need to make sure that we truly have a market which means that there's all types of housing. so right from the most affordable, social rented housing, all the way through to private sector housing. what we've seen is an imbalance in the housing market, particularly in london and the south—east, where those private rental costs just have sky rocketed because actually there are more people wanting the housing than there is housing available. that's meant that benefit hasn't kept up with the private rented costs. we need councils to be able to be freed up need councils to be able to be freed up to build again. you know, how is it that we've gone from almost a

third of the country living in social housing, in 1977, to one in ten now. this is costing the country huge amounts of money in extra benefit payments that we don't need to pay. if the government freed us up to pay. if the government freed us up to start building again, they could solve partly solve the housing crisis that they agree there is, but also, we can start to give decent homes to those who most need them. the government has said that they're concerned about the figures. but point out that they are well below that peak, they mentioned, of 2006. they are investing £550 million in combatting homelessness and tackling rough sleeping. what would you like to see come up in the budget come autumn? look, what we'd like to see is more freedoms given to local government to allow them to borrow ina way government to allow them to borrow in a way that would allow us to

start building again. with ewelcome what the government's done, but this isa what the government's done, but this is a catch—all policy coming from the government and actually, what we're seeing is, as your report mentioned, pockets of this country in extreme need to sort this problem out. the incredible cost of private sector renting is just not, you know, the benefits are not keeping up know, the benefits are not keeping up with that level of cost. 0k, thank you very much. thank you. here, the government plans to introduce a registration system for drones because of growing concern about the risk they pose to aircraft. drone owners will have to complete a safety awareness course. dozens of near misses have been reported in the past year, asjoe lynam reports. gatwick airport has confirmed that some flights have been disrupted this evening by a drone in the area. not the first time a drone had flown close to a runway but enough to close down gatwick airport for a short while three weeks ago. pilots have long complained that

unmanned vehicles could fly into their engines, causing accidents. drones are being used to fly drugs and mobile phones into prisons. and now the government wants to act by forcing all drone users to register. the new rules mean that any drone weighing more than 250 grams would be registered and the owners to complete a safety awareness test when they buy them. and new technology to prevent drones flying near airports and prince to be expanded. —— prisons will be expanded. it can be a danger to aircraft and individual users, so we need a registration scream, this is about geolocations and fencing to stop them being flown near sensitive areas. it is about getting the balance right between the needs of the users and the dangers on the other part. the government wants drones of more than 250 grams to be registered. but that is no heavier than a mobile phone.

but military experts say that drones as light as 400 grams can damage a helicopter wind urics and drones of two kilograms can take —— window, whilst drones of two kilograms could take down a plane. but drones enthusiasts say that the rules may penalise the responsible users. the problem is other people who have no knowledge, they don't know how to fly, no knowledge, they don't know how to fly, they just go no knowledge, they don't know how to fly, theyjust go and buy the drone and go up in the sky maybe, 1,000 feet high. this is the problem. not us feet high. this is the problem. not us the problem. and the new rules will be hard to police. criminals are unlikely to sign up to a public register and anyone importing drones from abroad will not be covered. ian hudson is an active drone hobbyist and commercial drone operator. he believes modern drones are not dangerous and that the government have been testing outdated models when assessing the

danger they may pose. my concern is to give you an idea, this is the kind of camera you would have an a consumer drone. they are using a wide angle camera like this, it's small and light. the newer models are even smaller. the department for transport, their study, we've heard the term "fake news" this is fake science. they've got a large m i rro rless science. they've got a large mirrorless camera like this, they've strapped a battery twice the capacity of this, i've told you this isa capacity of this, i've told you this is a two—year—old battery on a larger drone, twice the capacity of that. strapped it on top, on an airframe that's three, four years old that nobody is probably even flying. then they've made that like, they put it together and made it like a spear. they fired it at the windshield of an aircraft. look it's broken it. well it's not a valid test of the drones on the market. the headlines on bbc news:

former white house press secretary, boots has said it is "truly sorry" for its response to calls to cut the cost of one of its morning—after pills. former white house press secretary, sean spicer, has moved to minimise talk of divisions within the trump administration, after announcing his resignation. the government has announced plans to introduce drone registration and safety—awareness courses. the ruling body of cycling in the uk has voted to accept a new code of conduct drawn up by government ministers. british cycling had been warned that funding, worth tens of millions of pounds, could be withdrawn if it does not introduce new standards of governance. let's speak to our correspondent phil bodmer, who's in warrington this afternoon where that meeting is taking place. phil, tell us more about this

decision and give us a slight background to it as well.|j decision and give us a slight background to it as well. i think there's a palpable sense of relief here in warrington this lunch time by british cycling, because at stake £43 by british cycling, because at stake £113 million of funding was potentially at risk. now this decision today means that british cycling will continue to get funding in exchange for governance reforms. 0ver in exchange for governance reforms. over the last decade or so, cycling has grown exon known shally. it's one of the most popular sports in the uk. its funding has risen in line with that too. of course, as we know, the reputation of the sport has been tachish in recent times by allegation —— tarnished, in recent times by allegations of bullying and sexism and doping. it was a knife—edge vote, that's how it was billed. but in the end it was

overwhelming. this is what the chief executive had to say a few moments ago. in terms of the past, i've been with british cycling for the last three months, so i'm very much focussed on the future listening to some of the lessons from the independent review, listening to our membership and making sure that as a national governing body we're fit for purpose to continue to grow the sport in future. you face bullying, sexism and doping allegations. that makes the public have a suspicion about whether cycling can get its house in order. there were themes that came out of the independent review that showed we need to do better in some areas. but way before the review was published, there's been an action plan in place to make sure that any of those instances, that every rider, but also members of staff and the membership have the right controls in place, that we're a well i’ui'i controls in place, that we're a well run business with the right policies and procedures in place. we have a 39—point action plan that we've been

working on since christmas, well before the report was published. i'm confident, as are our funders, that those action plans were going to address any concerns. so the chief exec tiff talking to me a few moments —— executive talking to mea a few moments —— executive talking to me a few moments ago. that sword of da m ocles to me a few moments ago. that sword of damocles hanging over the sport was here today. but there is a realisation and common sense maybe broke out here. that doesn't mean everybody‘s happy. 0ne gentleman here said or he accused the executive of a cover up. he said he thought he'd let members down. earlier this week, ten english regions had mandate regions where many people voted to reject the reforms. still a lot of debate, i think there's a sense of relief this afternoon that funding is now in place, subject to the governance reforms of course. british sport, certainly british cycling is now likely to receive that £113 million

over the next few years in the run up over the next few years in the run up to the tokyo 0lympics over the next few years in the run up to the tokyo olympics in 2020. were you given any indication as to why there were some that wanted to reject their reforms, what were they against? yeah, this is about control in many ways, because as we talk to one individual this afternoon, he said we haven't got control of this sport. it's purely in the hands of the executive and what they wanted was the more widespread membership to have more control. these governance reforms we don't know the full details yet. there were a number of amendments tabled this afternoon. some of those have gone through, some haven't. what this does is it means the board will have more control over the sport. i think that's what's the grass—roots membership is against. i think their resolve really was to have more control over the sport. having said, that of course, they acknowledge that of course, they acknowledge that control of the sport is no good if you haven't got any money. £113 million is a sizeable chunk of

funding which many people here think the sport can ill afford to lose. thank you very much. some residents on the greek island of kos have spent the night in tents after a big earthquake. two people were killed, hundreds were injured and buildings were damaged during the quake. british visitors were caught up in it. police say the two who died were tourists — a 22—year—old from sweden and a 39—year—old from turkey. a police chief in the us state of minnesota has resigned, after one of her officers fatally shot an unarmed australian woman. the mayor of minneapolis said she had lost confidence in police chief, janee harteau, and had accepted her resignation. the death ofjustine damond has provoked outrage, as tom donkin reports. it was a news conference that they hoped would calm the city. after the fatal shooting of an unarmed woman by a police office,

the mayor began by announcing the resignation of the city's chief of police. she was left defending her own position. tensions are unaring high here and people are demanding a nswe rs. high here and people are demanding answers. they want to know why australian justine damond answers. they want to know why australianjustine damond was shot deadin australianjustine damond was shot dead in her pajamas near her home in a quiet suburb of the city a week ago. justine had made an emergency call to police, to report screams outside her home. as she approached the police car, one of them drew their weapon and shot her dead from inside the patrol car. a world away on the beaches of sydney, family and friends have come together to share their grief and their outrage at justine's death. less surprise here in downtown minneapolis. more than 500 people have been killed by police on the streets here. no less angen police on the streets here. no less anger. for a second day prostesters demanded greater accountability. it could be months before findings from an official investigation are released. but one thing is clear — this tragedy has amplified mistrust

of the police and of this city's leaders. for many, their handling and response has been too little too late. afghan officials say 16 police officers are now known to have been killed in a us air strike in helmand province. two commanders were among those who died, when warplanes accidentally attacked the group in the district of gereshk. police had just recaptured the area from the taliban when they were bombed. the nato mission in afghanistan said the incident would be investigated. train firms could be forced to reduce first—class seats on busy commuter lines to ease overcrowding. the transport secretary, chris grayling, says travellers will see less first class in the future with busy suburban trains having one class instead. the minister also suggested operators may be forced to scrap first—class areas when franchises are awarded in the future. an official photograph has been unveiled to mark prince george's fourth birthday.

the young prince has just returned to the uk, along with his parents, the duke and duchess of cambridge, and sister princess charlotte, from an official visit to poland and germany. 0ur royal correspondent, peter hunt, reports. beaming george at four, a prince poised to start school soon. a happy little boy, according to the photographer who took this official portrait. once more. this isn't george let loose on a violin. rather, hamburg's young being encouraged to take up music, something kate did in her youth. yeah! one day, william will be centre stage. not this day, which was left to his wife to take up the baton he declined. music: beethoven's fifth symphony for a helicopter—mad young prince,

a pre—birthday treat, being shown around one similar to the one his dad uses as an air ambulance pilot. this is the sort of moment when being on public display has its drawbacks. a sit—down protest from princess charlotte who, like any two—year—old, is not overly keen on delayed gratification. homeward bound for a birthday prince with a party to enjoy. a british man has won more than $2.5 million, after making it to the final table of poker‘s most prestigious tournament. john hesp has come fourth in the world series of poker‘s main event in las vegas. the grandfather of seven has little experience and usually plays a £10 tournament at his local casino in hull. a short while ago, we spoke tojohn as he was celebrating

in his hotel room in las vegas. i wanted to do this world series poker tournament for a couple of years, it was on my bucket list. my wife kindly agreed to allow me to go if you like, she was happy for me to go this year, and i entered with the expectation and hope that i might be able to manage to get in the top 1000 people. over 7,000 people entered the tournament. i was aiming to get in the top 1,000 and if i got in the 1000 i would pay -- 10,000 --10,000i —— 10,000 i would pay for the entry into the tournament and my expenses in relation to my hotel and flight etc. then i managed to get in the top 500, then 100, 50, 30, and so on. almost the point where sub—100 was indescribable.

nobody believed i could do it as an amateur but i dropped below the 100 and it seemed to be that quite a number of the world's media got on board and started to want to talk to me. we got down to the final table where nine people were playing and i got busted out in the fourth position with a win of $2.6 million. it has been quite awesome and i have said it many times, i have been living the dream, loving every minute of it. i've had so much fun and entertainment. i came here not expecting to win big—money and i wanted to play some poker with some professionals and other people i do not normally do. i would like to spoil my family and take my wife on holiday. she is not bothered about going on holiday, she is happy to go away

to ourcaravan in the yorkshire dales. that's about it, i can't say any more than that. very happy man there. mo farah may be one of our most decorated 0lympians, but now a graphic designer from swindon claims to have broken one of his world records. sir mo set the record for the 100—metre sack race in 2014 with a time of 39.91 seconds. but yesterday, dad of two, stephen wildish, took on the challenge and hopped over the line in just over 28 seconds — smashing mo's attempt. he's now waiting for his time to be officially verified in order to claim his new world record. there he goes. determined to cross the line! as long as he doesn't face plant. no, he's over. well done him. 0k, plant. no, he's over. well done him.

ok, this is bbc news. coming up in the next few minutes, we've got talking books. we'll be at the hay festival. a bit more sunshine, in the weather? no. it is a changeable day. raining at the moment. dramatic weather today for all of us. a tornado just off the coast of sussex. this is what is moving across the south—east right now. the heavy showers that we have are going to continue into the evening. they will