this is bbc news. i'm reeta chakrabarti. the headlines at 6pm: officials from several government departments are holding talks this weekend to discuss the future of the troubled engineering firm, carillion. the african union demands an apology from president trump — for derogatory remarks he reportedly made about the continent. warnings of a tooth decay crisis amongst children in england — a record 43,000 operations to remove rotting teeth were carried out last year. also, four britons break a world record for rowing across the atlantic. the amateur crew, dubbed ‘the four 0arsmen‘, travelled from the canary islands to antigua in twenty—nine days — beating the previous record by six days. we prepared as best we could and just gave it our all. and in sportsday — a roundup of all today's action including victory for west ham at huddersfield. good evening and

welcome to bbc news. the leader of the liberal democrats, sir vince cable, has warned the government not to agree to bailout of the construction company carillion with tax payers‘ money. there are fears the firm, which has debts of £1.5 billion, could collapse after creditors failed to agree a possible rescue plan. carillion employs about 20,000 people in the uk and is one of the government's main contractors. our business correspondent, joe lynam, reports this is liverpool's newest hospital under construction, it will be the biggest single—bed hospital in the uk and it's being built by carillion. now there's concern that projects

like this could be affected if the company collapses. from prisons to hospitals, to schools and rail, carillion is responsible for some of the uk's largest infrastructure projects. should the government bail out the debt—laden company? i think what needs to happen in this case, the contracts have to be kept going, and supporting the supply chain and the tens of thousands of workers. that can be done by the government taking much of this in—house or re—tendering in other cases. the government can'tjust do a financial bailout. the shareholders and creditors, the big banks, have to take a hit, they can't just off—load all the losses onto the taxpayer. carillion is a major british company with hundreds of contracts running prisons, maintaining hospitals and mod facilities. with almost 20,000 employees here and tens of thousands more dependent on the company. but it has run up debts of £1.5 billion including almost £1 billion to its banks,

whose patience has run out. britain's biggest ever rail infrastructure project, hsz, begins major construction this year, and here at euston station. carillion is supposed to build it. but given its mountain of debts, there is a very real chance the government might step in and have to give those contracts to other companies or simply bail the company out. with all the moral hazard that comes with that. so what would happen to other companies that carillion had passed on some work to? if carillion cannot be saved or restructured,

the consultants ey have been put on notice to take over as administrators. and joe lynam joins me now. labour have issued a statement in response to crisis. jon trickett, the shadow minister for the cabinet office, and joe lynam joins me now. there is an enormous dilemma here for the government — what are they likely to do? the options are that it has got to the stage that the depths are such and the extent of the contracts throughout the country are such that

the government is in a bind, because it doesn't want to see the contracts for the tour stops, because some of them are vital. a maintain our schools, prisons, mod facilities, and building major infrastructure projects such as hs2 and building major infrastructure projects such as h52 and royal liverpool hospital. it doesn't also wa nt to liverpool hospital. it doesn't also want to bail out the private company, it is as recently as last june, cruelly and paid its shareholders a dividend of that i cannot doesn't look good to six months later being in crisis talks about the survival of the company, if you were paying shareholders. although shares have collapsed by 90% over the last year. the government has to make a decision whether to sit on its hands and let the forces of the market take there, ta ke the forces of the market take there, take place. that would mean potentially that the banks would be the ones to pull the trigger. if the banks have lost their patience with karelian, they will say they no longer have faith in the future of the company, we need administrators

to commend. we are still a long way off that happening. in that event, you why would stand in and run the company. they would go back to the government and say, what are the important contracts so that the lights stay on in schools, prisons etc? then go back to you why, he would say, we are going to emergency allocate those contracts to other companies. for example, hsz, they might pick up the phone to balfour beatty and ask if they can do it. they might phone covers— the prisons. you can see how it goes on. but it's a long process because you have to re—tender, rebate and re—award hundreds have to re—tender, rebate and re—awa rd hundreds if have to re—tender, rebate and re—award hundreds if not thousands of contracts. so it may mean that these contracts are fulfilled, it may mean thatjobs are lost, but this is all going to take a very long period of time, if that's what the government decides to do?m long period of time, if that's what the government decides to do? if the banks can restructure the debt somehow, that's great. they can

restructure the depths, maybe kick it into the long grass to a certain extent, and maybe jobs it into the long grass to a certain extent, and maybejobs will it into the long grass to a certain extent, and maybe jobs will be saved. it's difficult to see there would be some effect on the company because the banks will want some sort of change. if the company files we re sort of change. if the company files were administration as early as monday morning, i can't see howjobs would not be lost. simply because karelian owes a lot of money to small subcontractors, down to individual plumbers and joiners and carpenters. the payment terms is four months, 120 days. if they haven't been paid for a contract in four months, the administrator says, i'm sorry, all bets are off. that will cost hundreds if not thousands ofjobs among will cost hundreds if not thousands of jobs among subcontractors. thank you. the african union has demanded an apology from president trump after he reportedly used a crude term to describe nations on the continent. it was apparently made during an oval office meeting on immigration with members of congress. the union, which represents 55 african countries, expressed its "shock,

dismay and outrage" and said the trump administration misunderstood africans. 0ur north america correspondent, peter bowes, reports. it has been an extraordinary week, even by donald trump's standards. it ended with a medical, a routine checkup that all presidents undergo and word from mr trump's doctor that the commander in chief is in excellent health. but the past two days have seen the president mired in controversy, as donald trump arrives in florida to spend the weekend at his golf resort, the international community is still fuming over his alleged use of crude language to describe african countries. as the african union we were quite appalled and infuriated, outraged, by the comments. and for a country like the united states, which is a valued partner for the africans, this is quite a shock. from the united nations in geneva came the stiffest of rebukes. these are shocking and shameful

comments from the president of the united states. i'm sorry but there's no other word one can use but racist. you cannot dismiss entire countries and continents. the allegation has gone unanswered by the president. he had an opportunity at this ceremony in celebration of martin luther king. but it was awkward. after signing a proclamation in honour of the civil rights leader, mr trump dodged the most uncomfortable of questions. mr president, are you a racist? the president left without responding. he earlier tweeted that he'd used tough language in a meeting with senators but not the derogatory language attributed to him. peter bowes, bbc news. dentists have accused the government of not doing enough to tackle tooth decay in england. new figures indicate there were nearly 43,000 operations to remove children's teeth last year — a i7% increase on four years ago. the british dental association says england now provides a second—class service compared to scotland and wales.

0ur health correspondent, dominic hughes, has the story. tooth decay in children is distressing, painful and avoidable. dentists say sugary snacks and drinks are the biggest cause. british children drink more soft drinks than anywhere else in europe. and the number of multiple extractions, which have to take place in hospital under general anaesthetic, is continuing to grow. figures compiled by the local government association showed there were nearly 43,000 multiple tooth extraction is among under 18s in england last year. that's around 170 every day of the working week. 0verall, there's been an increase of 17% injust four years. dentists say children in england are suffering and are being offered a second—rate service when compared to scotland and wales. the department of health in english says the introduction of a tax on sugary drinks was part of its plan to reduce the number of

extractions. we very much welcome the sugar tax, but we need the government to focus on other areas, for example like price promotions or those discounts, and the level of marketing on unhealthy products. all those colours and animations are always enticing children to prefer those products, making thejob of eating healthy products and healthier diet much more difficult for parents. with proper oral hygiene, good brushing and avoiding high sugar snacks and drinks, thousands of children could be saved from experiencing the pain of a rotten tooth. dominic hughes, bbc news. earlier, i spoke to labour's shadow health secretary, jonathan ashworth, who gave me his response to the figures. these are absolutely shocking figures. when you drill into the detail, what you find is that those children born in the poorest communities, and children born in the north of england, tend to be more likely to suffer from tooth decay, more likely to be admitted to hospital for a tooth extraction than children born in the richest

parts of the country. i think that is absolutely shocking. actually, when you look at the wider context for children's health in this country, you can see that there is a correlation between poverty and deprivation and ill—health, and that the government's response has been to cut much of the public health budget, to reduce dentistry budget and, of course, this winter crisis we are suffering in the nhs now, we are also seeing children's intensive care beds taken up. children's health across the board has been neglected for many years under this government. we did put a bid in for a government minister but they did not have anybody available. they gave us a statement and in it said that nhs england has been developing starting well, a campaign targeted at high need communities to help children under five see their dentist earlier and improve their dental health. that would suggest work is being done to target communities where children are particularly at risk of bad teeth? it is piecemeal.

it is not a national programme, which we desperately need. the funding that has gone to dentistry under this government has been reducing under the 8 years of the government, as a proportion of overall nhs pen. dental care for children is free, nhs dental care. but investment in dentistry as a whole is going down. if there is restrictions to access to dentistry, that will affect children as well. it is about the overall coverage of dentistry in a community. also, by cutting the public health programmes, the support that families get from health visitors, district nurses and so on, it means many families are not getting the advice and help that they need, and would have got previously, so that they can give their children the best

oral hygiene support. that is the problem. public health budgets have been cut. the proportion going to dentistry overall has been reduced and when you look at the overall picture, we do have the super attacks, which we welcome. it is not on milk shakes, for example, but we need to go much further. we need to deal with junk food advertising on children's tv in the evenings and need to make child health in real priority in this country. we have got some of the worst child health statistics, in this country, in europe. so, what would labour do if it were in power? how much further would it go? first of all, we would not be cutting public health budgets, we would be putting more money into it. 0ur ambition is to have the healthiest children in the world in britain. that is quite a big ambitious, but i think we should be. i would ban the advertising ofjunk food on family viewing, on itv tonight, on the family viewing you will see all kinds of junk food, sugary food advertised. children are watching that, i would ban it. but i would put more money into sure start centres, health visitors and our communities,

district nursing, school nursing, so that we can really target children and improve their health and well—being. the headlines on bbc news: the african union demands an apology from president trump for rocketry remarks he reportedly made about the continent. dentists have accused the government of not doing enough to tackle tooth decay in england. he figures indicate nearly 43,000 operations to remove teeth last year from children, a 17% increase. iran has said the us has crossed a "red line" by imposing sanctions on the head of itsjudiciary and vowed to retaliate. ayatollah sadeq amoli—larijani

is among 14 individuals and bodies targeted. iran also rejected any changes to its nuclear deal with world powers. president trump has warned that he'll re—impose sanctions on iran in less than four months — a move that would undermine the agreement under which tehran curbed its nuclear programme. the new head of south africa's ruling anc has warned the party has become divided and corrupt, and its culture needs to change. cyril ramaphosa made the comments at a rally to mark 106 years of the african national congress. he pledged to restore the credibility of the party. the bbc‘s milton nkosi reports from south africa. they came in their thousands to hear their new leaders speak. cyril ramaphosa delivered a balanced speech. he spoke of unity in a divided anc, but when it came to

corruption, he was unequivocal. these challenges have been exacerbated by states capture through which williams has been illegally diverted to individuals, corruption in state—owned enterprises and other public institutions, have undermined our government's programmes, to address poverty and unemployment. as they have weakened those institutions. he also welcomed the investigation to be led by a judge into corruption, i'd presidentjacob be led by a judge into corruption, i'd president jacob zuma's be led by a judge into corruption, i'd presidentjacob zuma's close friends and family, known as state ca ptu re. friends and family, known as state capture. the anc, therefore, welcomes the announcement by presidentjacob welcomes the announcement by president jacob zuma, on welcomes the announcement by presidentjacob zuma, on the establishment of the commission of the enquiry, in line with a public reports on the state capture. he

knew that he had to walk a tightrope. in his newly elected committee, there are those that are still staunch supporters of his predecessor, presidentjacob still staunch supporters of his predecessor, president jacob zuma. so he gave everyone a bit of hope to hold on to. and the masses loved it. there is no doubt that the divisions here run deep. and they will not just take one good speech in a hot summer's day to paper over those white cousins. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news this afternoon. a 25 year—old model has died after being stabbed in a street in west london. harry uzoka had recently done a photo shoot with gq magazine. friends and family have described him as an ‘inspiration to young black men'. two men, aged 27 and 28, have been arrested on suspicion of murder. a murder investigation has begun after a woman was injured in a tui

travel agents in southport. police were called to the store on chapel street just before 1.30 this afternoon, to reports a 28—year—old woman had been injured. she died later in hospital. a 30—year—old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder. the chief constable of west midlands police says he's going to write to the courts every time one of his officers is attacked — and demand tougher sentences. dave thompson has revealed nearly 700 officers and staff were assaulted in a nine month period last year — a new record. consumers can no longer be charged extra simply because they're paying by card. from today, it'll be unlawful to charge credit or debit customers more than other customers. it's hoped the ban will benefit shoppers and holidaymakers who buy goods online or in small stores. some retailers have already said they will raise overall prices in response to the change. adina campbell reports they are the small fees

added at the very end of the buying process. in percentage terms it may not be that much, but these card surcharges add up. not any more. under new eu rules, retailers on or offline can no longer charge customers for paying with a credit or debit card. the treasury says these surcharges cost consumers £166 million every year. but some companies such as concert venues can still charge a booking or service fee. no longer will they be penalised just for paying by credit or debit card. now with the end of surcharges you are comparing like for like. the price you see is the price you pay. you don't get a nasty sting at the end. but some shoppers are not convinced. they can do it very sneakily, can't they, and just hide that 2% or whatever it's going to be in the cost of what you're going to purchase. i don't see why we should have to pay that for actually using a means of payment that's kind of, you know, universally acknowledged.

at the end of the day, they'll end up passing it onto the consumer, so it doesn't make that much difference, to be quite honest. traders could feel the effects, too, because card companies will still charge for their services, but can no longer pass that fee to customers. vin runs a group of small businesses and is also president of the british independent retailers' association. nearly 63% of our sales are by credit card and debit card so it will affect us in the long—term if rates and increased rates do go up. for retailers like this hardware store, today's ban throws up several options. they may decide to suck up the cost of processing a debit or credit card. alternatively, they could simply put up their prices or they may decide to re—brand these fees as a service charge. 0ne business that's already been criticised is the delivery company, just eat, which has said it will impose a new service charge for card payments. there are now calls for the new changes to be closely monitored to ensure consumers are not punished for

paying by plastic. adina campbell, bbc news. four british friends have broken the world record and become the fastest ever to cross the atlantic ocean in a rowing boat. the amateur crew, dubbed ‘the four 0arsmen‘, made history when they reached the island of antigua just after 1:30am this morning, having spent 29 days at sea and beating the previous record by six days. dan johnson has more. and here they go! shouting the end of an epicjourney rowed in record time, four men who had not even been in a rowing boat 18 months ago, now not only challenge winners but the first to cross the atlantic in less than 30 days. it feels overwhelming. the challenge, as we said before, is just relentless, never ending pain, just rowing, the whole thing, and coming first is something that is beyond our wildest dreams. they left the canary islands 3,000

miles away and faced 40—foot waves, scorching sun and howling winds, not quite the apocalypse but a test of endurance for the four oarsmen. surviving on rations, producing their own water, taking it in turns to eat, to sleep, and to row. it's amazing to complete the row. we set out as a charitable initiative, for two charities, mind, and spinal research. the mind research is commemorative of my mum and her struggle with her mental health. to do it in such justice and in such style and with such great support and great success is amazing. just making it to the caribbean is a fantastic achievement but they have raised more than a quarter

of a million and have rowed their way into the record books. dan johnson, bbc news. and a little earlier i was able to speak to the ‘the four 0arsmen‘ from antigua. they told me how it felt to have claimed the world record. it's been a crazy 12 hours. we got in late last night. we really didn't let ourselves believe that we won the race, got the record, until we crossed the finish line. it's an evil game, rowing, and we just didn't want to believe it until it happened. when we crossed the line and got to see the support that was here in antigua, as well as family and friends, it was overwhelming. it's been a crazy 12 hours but we reallyhappy and proud. you have absolutely smashed the record by six days. george, sitting next to dickie, what sort of time did you think it was going to take? sorry, i didn't quite hear that.

what time did you think he would complete the racing? we are real amateurs at this and have no real experience. to set any kind of objective parameters as to what we were expecting was always going to be a stab in the dark. the aim was to do our best. we have given everything we have, every second. all of our resources and effort to preparing as well as we could. it is the world's toughest row. we were preparing as best as we could for it, and giving it ourall. how long would it take? we didn't know. we just wanted to keep the boat upright and moving. to get here in record time is beyond our wildest regions. to get here in record time is beyond our wildest dreams. at what point did you realise that the record was within reach? it probably wasn't

until the last few days of the race. it wasn't even necessarily about the record for us. we had two teams who were quite close behind us. a team from antigua and one from switzerland. 0ur priority really was just to stay ahead of the game. work really hard. just do our best, to keep the boat going as fast as it could. we got the world record, which isjust absolutely crazy. a really great feeling. we are very proud. as well as beating the record, you have also raised a quarter of a million

for charity, which has particular meaning for george and peter. do you want to tell us about why? there are two charities. mind, which is a mental health charity, and spinal research, which is also uk—based. for me, spinal research has particular importance. i played rugby with a guy called benjamin kennedy. he unfortunately had a spinal injury in 2010. i have really wanted to do something for people who have spinal—cord injuries. spinal research has been fundamental in our preparation. it has been great having their support.

hopefully we can help to find a cure in the future. tributes are being paid to the comedian, bella emberg, who's died. the 80 year old became a household name on the russ abbot show as blunder woman, the hapless sidekick of cooperman. russ abbot himself has described her as "a woman of immense warmth and generosity", and herformer co—star les dennis has called her "a lovely friend" time for a look at the weather. to go with the grey skies, somewhat weathered three today. this wider front is not moving in any hurry. the knights, it stays across parts of western scotland, the fringes of england and wales. itjust starts to those allowed. the rain turning

lighter and drizzle by the morning. brea ks lighter and drizzle by the morning. breaks will be limited but maybe a touch of frost entered the morning. for most of sunday, patchy drain —— patchy drizzle. either side of that, we could see more cloud breaks through the day but generally another cloudy story. windy across scotla nd another cloudy story. windy across scotland and northern ireland later. idnof scotland and northern ireland later. i dn of the and northern ireland are not just windy but also wetter. i dn of the and northern ireland are notjust windy but also wetter. a speu notjust windy but also wetter. a spell of heavy rain and gale force winds will spread very quickly southwards and these words, to be in the south east corner and east anglia by monday. what it will do will bring about change for next week, introducing brighter skies but also much colder weather. ...the the african union demands an apology from president trump for upper —— reportedly using a vulgar and disparaging term to describe nations on the continent, something which mr trump denies. the union

accused mr trump of misunderstanding africans. dentists are warning of a tooth decay crisis among