this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at apm: a possible £10 billion merger — sainsbury‘s and asda confirm they're in advanced discussions to try and reach a deal. alfie evans, the little boy who was at the centre of a legal battle about his hospital treatment, has died. hundreds of people released blue and purple balloons next to alder hey hospital in memory of the 23—month—old boy. cabinet backing for amber rudd, who says she didn't see a memo detailing home office deportation targets. the home secretary has apologised, saying that of course she should have seen it, but she can't be held accountable or responsible for a document that she didn't see and for decisions that she didn't take. also, the race to the premier league goes down to the wire. relegation—threatened stoke hold liverpool to a 0—0 draw, leaving the potters three points from safety.

west brom are also on the brink. and that momentous moment for north and south korea is discussed by the dateline london panel. that's in half an hour, here on bbc news. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. two of britain's biggest supermarket chains, sainsbury‘s and asda, are in advanced talks about a possible merger. a combined group would comprise 2800 stores and would represent around 30% of the uk grocery market — similar to that of market leader tesco. a formal announcement is expected as the markets open on monday morning. our business correspondentjoe lynam said any deal could raise

questions about competition. it is a whopper of a deal, make no mistake about it. every now and then we talk about less well—known companies talking about tie—ups, this is a whopper of a deal — if it gets the green light. you've already made reference to the fact that if you put asda and sainsbury‘s together, they would in fact over—leap tesco to take on about 31% of the market. we have learnt this afternoon that they would retain both brands, which is quite interesting. so asda brand and the sainsbury‘s brand would be retained but owned potentially by one big corporate giant. but, and there's always a but, this is going to face a major issue from the competition authorities because competition is all about competition, you have to have a choice for the consumer. if you remove that choice by having two brands but owned by the same company, the competition and markets authority may have something to say about that. i would be surprised if they simply just waved this through. i suspect that they will ask for dozens if not hundreds of stores

to be sold off to non—big rivals. joining me now is george mcdonald, executive editor of retail week. first off, what's your reaction to this news? it is a really big earthquake in food retail. that said, it is not completely surprising because grocery has changed so much in recent years. you've had the rise of lidl and mcafee. years ago people thought it was very static, the big four would a lwa ys was very static, the big four would always control the market. we have seen that's not the case. we have seen that's not the case. we have seen the huge merger of tesco and booker. i think that is the way that you need to look at it. the big grocers are battling to keep and build share and this will put two of the biggest together on a very similar scale to tesco. where does

that leave walmart? walmart is a giant international business that has operations all over the world. asda slightly lost its way in recent yea rs asda slightly lost its way in recent years and so in that respect, although walmart milked it for profits, may be less attractive business now to walmart than it once was. it needs a bit of tlc. would you expect them to pull away from the walmart— asda combination? do you think they will leave the market? it looks that way, if this deal goes ahead. it's possible walmart may retain some sort of sta ke walmart may retain some sort of stake in the bigger business but they might walk away. so as well as competition, there are obviously concerns because they are buying power, if this merger goes ahead, is going to explode. once this be a concern for the small suppliers?m will be, but we already have forgot

businesses or future skill. so there will be opportunities for sainsbury‘s and asda to become more efficient, maybe to consolidate some suppliers, but i don't think it will lead to a giant squeeze on suppliers. would this move have taken place suppliers. would this move have ta ken place because suppliers. would this move have taken place because of pressure at how well the german discount grocery stores, aldi and lidl, are doing? yes. the extent to which they are growing has taken the established grocers by surprise. they have all had to react. what will be interesting to see now is that there has been a little speculation that amazon could write a grocery train _by amazon could write a grocery train —— bya amazon could write a grocery train —— by a grocery chain. you wonder if at the last minute, is and will step in there and try and gelled sainsbury‘s at the altar. in there and try and gelled

sainsbury's at the altar. what about the customer? what will this mean for you and me? it could mean better value. asda's hole positioning is based on very sharp prices. sainsbury's has tried to get into the value market before, it sports a a business back to the uk a furious back for that. from a shopper‘s point of view, i don't think it will lead to higher prices. thank you very much. alfie evans, the toddler at the centre of a long legal battle, has died, nearly a week after his life—support was withdrawn. alfie, who would have been two next month, had a degenerative neurological condition. on facebook, alfie's parents said they're absolutely heartbroken. this afternoon, more than 1000 people gathered to release balloons ina park people gathered to release balloons in a park close to alder hey. he had

a degenerative neurological condition but his parents wanted to ta ke condition but his parents wanted to take abroad for treatment. our correspondent judith moritz reports. for the first weeks of alfie evans' life, he seemed healthy, happy and well. but he soon started to develop problems and he was admitted to hospital, where scans showed that his brain was being destroyed. the little boy spent a year in intensive care before doctors said they felt his life support should be stopped. alfie's parents kate and tom strongly disagreed with the medical view that their son could not be helped. he's shown the biggest fight, and that's given us the biggest drive to get him through this. it's heartbreaking knowingthat the doctors, just because they can't find a diagnosis, think it's ok to come to us and say, we can't find an answer, so we think it's time we give up on alfie. if you're going to give up on him, please reassure us and refer him. the couple began a long legal battle.

they took their case through all the available courts, several times in the uk and twice to europe. release alfie evans! they've had huge support, initially from a group of mums and children, but increasingly from a growing social media campaign. the self—styled alfie's army has hundreds of thousands of followers and in recent weeks crowds have turned up to campaign outside alder hey. it hasn't always been peaceful. on one evening, protesters tried to force their way inside and the hospital said staff had been intimidated. alfie's plight has made international headlines, especially in italy. alfie's parents wanted to airlift him to a hospital in rome with connections to the vatican. tom evans was granted an audience with the pope, who backed his case, and alfie was granted italian citizenship. there was also support from poland — a tweet from the president and a hospital visit from these polish women. i saw the post yesterday from alfie's father, like, thank you so much,

thank you for all the different international communities for being with me. outside the hospital, campaigners kept vigil whilst inside, after his ventilation was switched off, alfie hung on forfour days. but this morning, in a facebook post, alfie's father tom said his son had laid down his shield and gained his wings. outside alder hey this morning, supporters came to leave flowers. alfie's parents say they are heartbroken. they battled for months. now their fight has given way to grief. in the past few hours, pope francis, who met tom evans at the vatican earlier this month in support of the family's campaign, has given his reaction on twitter. he said... i am deeply moved by the death of little alfie. today i pray especially for his parents, as god the father receives him in his tender embrace.

well, let's cross live to alder hey and speak to our correspondent, alison freeman. we can see some of those balloons behind you, tied into the trees and the lamp post. just talk us through the lamp post. just talk us through the events around alder hey today. it has been a much more subdued day that has been over the past week. as we got closer to that release of the balloons, the crowds really started to grow again. there were several hundred people who made their way from in front of the hospital into the park around the side of the hospital there. the balloons were due to be released at 2:30pm but there was a slight delay as they waited for more of alfie evans's family to arrive it was about 2:50pm admits that are of purple and blue balloons, chosen to be alfie's colours, were let up into the sky. there was such a wide range of

people there, families, children in pushchairs, to mark that well for us a sense all the lost his life. there has been numerous tributes paid to the day today. you mentioned the pope, pope, there have also been tributes from everton football club, talking about her deeply saddened me or at the loss of the brave young evertonians. we have heard from merseyside police, who paid tribute. there are still people playing their response behind us. as you can see, teddy bears, flowers, all in memory of this young man's life. it is very noisy beside that rosebud very quickly, you said members of the family were there. did any them speak? none of them are able to speak? none of them are able to speak to us, they were too upset. they were understood to be part of tom, the father's, family. some young friends spoke to us about the deep sadness they were feeling but

as yet, no word from alfie's mother and father and they were not at the berliner fleece —— balloon and father and they were not at the berlinerfleece —— balloon release this afternoon. labour has intensified its calls for the home secretary to resign. amber rudd apologised last night for being unaware that the home office had targets for removing illegal immigrants from the uk. this morning, cabinet ministers offered her their support. our political correspondent, jonathan blake, reports. day after day of questions for the home secretary. was her department to blame for the mistreatment of legal migrants? were there targets for removing those here illegally? and inevitably, would she quit? but it was a question about the broader approach to immigration and her answer that led to even more pressure on amber rudd. targets for removals, when were they set? we don't have targets for removals. an apology in parliament — the targets did exist, but she hadn't been aware. it was announced that they'd be scrapped. and then the guardian reported that a memo was sent to the home secretary lastjune, specifying a target for the number of deportations in the coming year.

silence at first from the home office, then a series of tweets from amber rudd. she didn't see the memo, but it had been sent to her office. again, she wasn't aware of targets, she should have been, and she was sorry. she promised a statement in parliament on monday. the home secretary has apologised, saying that of course she should have seen it. but she can't be held accountable or responsible for a document she didn't see and for decisions she didn't take. cabinet colleagues have backed amber rudd and the prime minister has said she has full confidence in the home secretary, but there is no letup in the pressure for her to go. i think she's in a very difficult position. i think she's hanging by a thread. on the one hand, there may be more to come out, but what we do know is that no—one will take this government seriously on the windrush scandal until amber rudd offers her resignation. amber rudd has faced serious accusations which in different political times might have

prompted a resignation. but for her to go would leave theresa may further exposed to criticism of her record as home secretary. and with challenges in parliament ahead for the government's brexit strategy, it could upset the delicate balance of opinion in cabinet. in the united states, a former police officer has appeared in court charged with 13 murders and 51 rapes. prosecutors allege joseph james deangelo was the so—called golden state killer, whose crimes terrorised california in the 1970s and 1980s. james cook reports. this frail old man is accused of terrorising california in the 1970s and ‘80s. is joseph james deangelo your true and correct legal name? i'm yes. handcuffed to a wheelchair, joseph james deangelo appeared confused at times as thejudge explained he was initially facing two counts of murder.

the accused made no plea and was refused bail. in total, he's suspected of at least 13 killings, 51 rapes and scores of burglaries, many dating to the time when he was a police officer. his lawyer says he's entitled to a fair trial. we have the law that suggests that he is innocent until they prove him guilty and that's what i was going to ask everybody to remember, because i feel like he's been tried in the press here already. mr deangelo, a father of grown—up children, was said to be extremely surprised when he was arrested at home in a quiet suburb of sacramento last week. the crime spree had begun more than a0 years ago, just half an hour's drive away, before spreading to the san francisco area and then on to central and southern california. detectives have revealed that they used a genealogy website to narrow down their search for the suspect, who was arrested after officers obtained dna from an item he'd discarded. relatives of some of

josephjames deangelo's alleged victims were in court for the hearing. if convicted, he could be sentenced to death. the headlines on bbc news: two of britain's biggest supermarkets, sainsbury's and asda, confirm they're in advanced merger talks in a deal that could be worth £10 billion. alfie evans, the toddler at the centre of a long legal battle, has died nearly a week after his life support was withdrawn. cabinet colleagues rally round home secretary amber rudd. she says she didn't see a memo copied to her office which detailed home office targets for deporting illegal immigrants. and in sport: liverpool were held to a goalless draw by stoke city, who remain in the relegation zone, three points adrift of safety with just two games of the season remaining. liverpool failed to score at anfield in the league for the first time in nine games.

in the scottish premiership, hamilton academical beat bottom—of—the table ross county 2—0, as they aim to stay in the top flight. ferrari's sebastian vettel will be on pole for tomorrow's azerbaijan grand prix, with lewis hamilton's mercedes starting in second plcae. i'll be back with more on those stories. details are noble stories on the bbc sport website. donald trump has praised yesterday's meeting between the leaders of north and south korea. in a tweet, the us president wrote... our correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes, who's in seoul, said the summit has been also welcomed by the south korean media. given those extraordinary scenes at the summit yesterday, it is no surprise there are some excitable headlines today. here is one from the herald,

the end of the korean war. most of the front pages here in south korea are very much of the same theme. this is one paper with a big picture of kim jong—un and moonjae—in. they are embracing. it is interesting also to note that we now know that people in north korea are getting to see these pictures for the first time. the biggest official paper showing every scene from yesterday's summit and publishing in full the declaration that the two leaders signed at the end of the summit yesterday, in which it includes the words, commitment to seek complete denuclearisation of the peninsula. that is in there without any comment. as far as interpretation of this is going, here in the south i think one would describe it as optimism

but cautious optimism. and in some of the papers, scepticism as well. in a popular paper here, there is commentary saying it was never made public what kim's idea of denuclearisation is and how and when denuclearisation will be accomplished. that sums up a lot of the mood here. a real sense that an opportunity has opened up for dialogue to go forward and for peace to be achieved, but scepticism about what the north korean leader's intentions are in particular regarding his nuclear weapons. thousands of people have been escaping an upsurge in violence in northern myanmar. the military is reported to be attacking ethnic kachin rebels with airstrikes and artillery. the un says 4000 people have been driven from their homes in the north since early april.

meanwhile, refugees at a rohingya camp in bangladesh say they are eagerly awaiting the visit of a united nations security council delegation. nearly 700,000 rohingya muslims have fled myanmar‘s rakhine state since last august during a military crackdown. parole board decisions in england and wales could be challenged more easily under new proposals. a review was set up after the parole board approved the release of the serial sex—offender john worboys, a decision that was later overturned. here's our home affairs correspondent, danny shaw. still behind bars, john worboys, the man known as the black cab rapist. his victims had to go to court to appeal against the parole board decision to let him out ofjail. they didn't even know why the 60—year—old prisoner had been approved for release until the legal action began. the case exposed flaws in the parole system and ministers are now trying to address them.

they're planning a series of reforms to the parole board to make it more transparent. a summary of the reasons for parole decisions will be sent to victims and in some cases to other people who request it. a scheme to keep victims informed about their cases and offenders' licence conditions will be extended. and a parole board judge will review decisions that are contested and could even hold hearings in public. nick hardwick lost his job at the parole board because of thejohn worboys case. he told the bbc extra resources would be needed for the government's reforms to work. but ministers want to go further. they are reviewing the composition of parole panels and the evidence that's needed to make decisions about the release of prisoners likejohn worboys. throughout this week, as part of the bbc‘s crossing divides season, we've been looking at ways people are creating connections in a polarised world. in the yorkshire dales, during lambing, a sheep farmer is getting help

from an unusual workforce. rodney beresford, who has 500 sheep on the hills at ribblehead, is welcoming groups of asylum seekers who help him look after ewes and newly—born lambs. spencer stokes reports. it's been one of the toughest winters sheep farmer rodney beresford can remember. looking after his flock spread across steep sided hills in the dales is tiring and time—consuming. but help is at hand. singing iranian folk songs, a group of 12 asylum seekers have arrived at ribblehead. some have been in the uk a few weeks, others several years. all waiting to hear if they are allowed to stay. within minutes, they are passing newborn lambs to rodney and learning about sheep farming in yorkshire. why are you putting that on the tail? it shortens the tail to keep the lamb cleaner. so they don't get...

keep the flies off them. oh, right. hopefully! you are a boy. the visitors come from all over the world, many from rural villages, so they are familiar with livestock. i feel very well because when i see lambs like this, i remember my home, i remember in somalia, i remember every single home. i remember my family, i remember everything. well, it is beautiful today, but it has been a brutal winter, particularly difficult for rodney, and having the asylum seekers here really does help him out. for every group that arrives, rodney receives a small payment, a boost to his income after he spent an extra £14,000 feeding his sheep through the cold weather. this is one way of diversifying. i don't make a lot of money out of it at all but it's a big help. it's 100 people a year at least that come out for lambing.

it generally makes a difference. it's one of the best things i've done, really, i think, over the years. there is more singing on the slopes below ingleborough over lunch. it all looks very jovial but this man is a burmese asylum seeker, his family victims of ethnic cleansing. their lives are at risk. they flee. nobody would leave their home unless they were forced to do so. so many of these people have fled from their homes, they have suffered from severe trauma. the journey here, many people won't talk about the journey because it has been too traumatic and too difficult. ingleborough. three peaks. after a quick geography lesson, the day on rodney‘s farm ends. some will come back, others face the prospect of a return to less friendly surroundings.

when the football coach caroline hulme was 12, she was told she could no longer play football with the boys at her local club. but she took on the system and won. 18 years later, caroline still has a passion for the sport. she now works for the english fa, where she encourages young girls to try out football. described as a natural ballplayer, caroline hulme was a linchpin in the defensive line—up of denbigh town under—13s, but the teenager was devastated when the football association of wales banned herfrom playing. welsh football bosses argue that girls aged 12 and over were forbidden from playing in mixed gender sports. the faw today relented. it means girls can compete against boys until they are 16. i wouldn't want any girl to go

through that feeling of being told by an manager that you can't play at the weekend. being so young, you just don't have an understanding of why. you basically think i love football, why can't i play? why are the boys getting to play, but i'm not? yeah, because i've played ever since i was in primary school, and i play every week and everything. it was pretty incredible, actually, to have the spotlight on girls‘ football and showing that football should be for all and that girls should be playing football too. so, yeah, it's brilliant. i was just so driven, by doing this, hopefully i'll get to start playing football again. this was the petition, we managed to get well over 1000 signatures on this which was pretty incredible at the time. it's really about getting, you know, brand—new girls that have never

kicked a ball or even thought about playing football to come along to a really fun, positive environment and try football for the first time. it's from that ban, i think that's really been where my passion has developed for doing the role that i do now. that's certainly where i get my drive from. if i'm ever contacted by parents or anybody, i just think, try and respond to absolutely everybody, because my mum e—mailing in about me. time for a look at the weather with alina jenkins. hello. an afternoon of contrast. for some, there is the sunshine, and where we have the sunshine there is a good deal of that, although showers never too far away. elsewhere there is a lot of cloud, some outbreaks of rain, and that rain is going to be very slow to clear in the likes of the midlands and east anglia through the rest of the afternoon.

but slowly overnight that rain will start to fade. we will keep a lot of the cloud here. further north and west the showers also easing, clearer skies, quite a chilly night again for northern ireland, scotland, the far north of england, temperatures getting close to if not a few degrees below freezing in rural sports. underneath the cloud, temperatures will hold up between 5—8 celsius. for most, it is a mainly dry start to the day tomorrow. some sunshine, a few showers around. in fact, a large swathe of the country having a largely dry day. still that cloud to clear from east and south—east england. we will see some heavy of rain arriving here. but slightly cooler feel to the day tomorrow, the wind starting to strengthen, particularly along the east coast where temperatures will struggle to get into double figures. in the sunshine, 10—12 celsius. then our eyes are drawn to what is happening over france, an area of low pressure pushing its way northwards through sunday evening, overnight into monday. that's going to bring some very unsettled conditions for the monday morning rush—hour. heavy rain, strong winds,

some disruption is likely, so keep an eye on the forecast over the next 24—36 hours if you can because here's how monday morning looks. wet, windy, for southern, eastern, central parts of england, perhaps even a little bit of snow over the south and north downs. and that rain band slowly extending its way northwards through the day. but probably not to scotland, northern ireland and the far north of england. but even on monday afternoon, that persistent rain is still there. a very cool feel, perhaps not getting as far west as the west of wales and south—west england. but a very different story for northern ireland, scotland, the far north of england. here it is largely dry, a good deal of sunshine and temperatures responding very nicely in the sunshine, 12—14 celsius potentially here on monday afternoon. but it will feel very cool indeed underneath that cloud, the wind and the rain, temperatures struggling in places to get much above 5—6 celsius. and, yes, we could see little bit of sleet or snow over higher ground, but it's unlikely to settle. temperatures start to perk up as we go through the week. it's not going to be entirely dry, there will be some rain.

by the end of the week, temperatures will be on the rise. this is bbc news, our latest headlines: two of britain's biggest supermarkets, sainsbury's and asda, confirm they're in advanced merger talks in a deal that could be worth £10 billion. alfie evans, the toddler at the centre of a legal battle over his treatment, has died. his father said on social media, my gladiator lay down his shield and gained his wings. cabinet colleagues rally round home secretary amber rudd as calls from labour to resign continue. she says she didn't see a memo copied to her office which detailed home office targets for deporting illegal immigrants.