this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 8:00. yulia skripal, poisoned with a nerve agent in salisbury, says she and her father are lucky to be alive. translation: we are so lucky to have both survived this attempted assassination. to have both survived this i don't want to describe the details, but the clinical treatment was invasive, painful, and depressing. customs officials say the system favoured by brexiteers could cost businesses up to 20 billion pounds a year the bbc has been told that michael cohen, translation: we are so lucky to have both survived this personal lawyer to us president donald trump, received a secret payment to arrange talks between mr trump and the president of ukraine. gagged by her colleagues and taped to a chair, this woman who complained of a racist and misogynistic culture in a scottish government agency, says this was a warning to keep quiet. also ahead this hour, calls for more student diversity in higher education. one third of oxford's colleges admitted three black

candidates, orfewer, during the past three years. and arsenal confirms unai emery as the club's new manager, the first for 22 years, as life after arsene wenger begins. good evening and welcome to bbc news. yulia skripal, who was one of two victims poisoned by a nerve agent in salisbury in march, has released herfirst televised statement since being discharged from hospital. yulia and herfather, the former russian spy sergei skripal, were found unconscious on a bench after the attack. ms skripal was discharged from hospital last month, and has been in an unknown location ever since. in a statement to reuters, she spoke of how her life had been turned upside down by the attack.

the government has pointed the finger of blame at russia, but moscow has always denied involvement. here's our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford. for more than 11 weeks, she's been at the centre of an international scandal that saw dozens of russian diplomats expelled from britain, the united states and europe. this afternoon, she stepped out of the shadows in this, her first public appearance since being attacked with a nerve agent. translation: we are so lucky to have both survive this attempted assassination. i don't want to describe the details, but the clinical treatment was invasive, painful and depressing. our recovery has been slow and extremely painful. i'm grateful to all of the wonderful, kind staff at salisbury hospital, a place i have become all too familiar with. i also think fondly of those who helped us on the street on the day of the attack. the nerve agent attack left parts of saul bray looking like a disaster movie, but also caused a huge row

with the russian embassy in london, who demanded access to the skripals, something she dealt with in today's statement. translation: i take one day at a time and want to help care for my father until his full recovery. in the longer term, i hope to return home to my country. i wish to address a couple of issues directly, and have chosen to interrupt my rehabilitation to make this short statement. i ask that everyone respects the privacy of me and my father. we need time to recover and come to terms with everything that has happened. i'm grateful for the offers of assistance from the russian embassy, but at the moment i do not wish to avail myself of their services. also i want to reiterate what i said in my earlier statement, that no one speaks for me or my father but ourselves. she also released a handwritten copy of the statement in both russian and english. her neck showed signs of a tracheotomy, suggesting

that her recovery had, as she said, been both difficult and painful. she and her father sergei were attacked on the 4th of march. he was only released from hospital on friday and has not yet been see in public. with us now is daniel sandford quite something to see her alive and moving really saw her words not in person, but clearly an experience that will take a long time to get over. it is, it's been interesting to hear her discuss her health for the first time because the previous written statements did not get into that. they were painful comes up twice, you can see the signs of the tracheotomy which was used as part of her recovery and shows it was not some kind of quiet stay in hospital it was very severe and invasive. it's also interesting that fact that

she felt she needed to do this statement it's fantastic for us obviously to see her alive and looking well, but she could have recorded the statement in english but she chose to do it are russian. and still dealing with some of the of the points the russian government keeps saying, talking about not having access to or are being held against her will, and it seems to be directed at the russian audience. the statement, that is the impression i get from people i've talked to. the russian embassy do, immediately turning the whole thing on its head saying the video only strengthens their concerns about conditions she's being held and they believe it was a text written in english and translated back in russian something which i'm not quite sure is brought up by the evidence, and they still want to see her to make sure that she is not being held against her own will and is not speaking under pressure. so far, they say, we have every reason to suspect the opposite. so

everything she's doing to try and show that no, she is fine and happy, the russians are doubling down and say no we believe she's being held against her will. thank you daniel. tax officials have suggested that a post—brexit customs system being considered by ministers would cost businesses up to £20 billion a year. they said the option, known as max fac, would leave companies having to pay £32.50 for each customs declaration. the other customs option, known as a partnership, would cost considerably less, but either system could take up to five years to put in place. our business editor, simonjack reports. they roll on, they roll off. goods moving between the uk and the eu through dover with no customs checks. the english channel, no more significant a border than the mersey, the thames or the clyde, but after brexit, that will change, and the head of uk customs told mps today analysing the government's two alternatives is a big job. we have employed more than 1100 staff working on brexit now. i think two is enough.

so what are those two options. option one is a streamlined customs process, or maximum facilitation, max fac for short. it uses new technology like numberplate recognition. new technology and trusted traders could speed things through, and there would be exemptions for small businesses, resulting in minimal friction at the border. but this comes with a massive price tag. you need to think about the highly streamlined customs arrangement costing businesses somewhere in the late teens of billions of pounds. i have started to lose count now of the number of billions. somewhere between 17 and 20 billion. and what about option two? that is a new customs partnership. the uk would collect tariffs on goods arriving from outside the eu on its behalf, terrace forbids headed to the eu would be handed over, and forbids staying in the uk, we can offer refunds if we decided

on a lower tariff. the great advantage, no hard border between the uk and the eu. but it could take five years to implement because it's complicated. in the new customs partnership, we are being clear that the individual tariff would be there, but the repayment mechanism would take a bit longer because it requires some fairly significant further technology. and then businesses themselves need to decide whether they are going to engage in technology, and they may need further technology bills. outside of this building, very few people had heard of a customs union a couple of years ago, but the mechanism by which goods flow from the uk and the eu is critical for business and has become central to this negotiation. both customs options on the table are both on tried and untested, could take years, with ten months to until we officially leave the eu, businesses are still in dark. businesses like fizzy drink maker cost and press

who export ten billion cans to the eu every year. they don't know what to do. in terms of taking specific actions, we haven't done anything, because we don't know. because there is no clarity, we could spend a lot of time developing solutions were a situation that doesn't arise. business lobbying groups are clear what the government should do. what we think this says is that until we have a solution that can eradicate this cost, the uk should remain in a customs union with the european union. until a decision is made, brexit remains held up at customs. simon jack, bbc news. well our political correspondent iain watson is at westminster. ian, it looked from the expression of some of the committee member faces, they were genuinely taken aback by the figures are offered and actually how many details there were. a great deal of detail, something you would expect to have

the work on, but certainly the prime minister official spokesman afterward said that he was not familiar with the specific figures that were given the potential costs for so—called max back and high—tech option, 17—20, buti for so—called max back and high—tech option, 17—20, but i think what's also interesting is that the way in which the evidence was given, the money looking at individual declarations and what was coming in and going out of print, that figure rose. again is a similar advisers this evening, and they said they had not seen the figure that was offered to the treasury committee in quite that way. but what clearly was the case was a series of briefings which mps were getting from downing street chief of staff, the prime minister was there for some of those, certainly they were told the two options the government was looking at, and this does reflect the evidence given to the treasury committee today, simply would not be ready in time for the end of the

so—called implementation period and transition period at the end of 2020. but what the government is saying they are still working towards getting a new custom system in place by that time and are also pointing out that with all said, the ratio of all options at the moment and what is continuing, so in a sense, this is their position and was heard today was simply speculation because we have not yet settled on a final customs option, which the government is backing and subsequently will take to brussels, but of course we heard from brussels some skepticism about whether anything on offer from some skepticism about whether anything on offerfrom government would work. briefly the state of play with the eu withdrawal bill could this is the other problem for the government, they were defeated 15 times by the house of lords of. effectively trying to negotiate and keep inside, in other words, effectively trying to negotiate and keep inside, in otherwords, inside a single market, and indeed on negotiating a customs union, the

government absolutely determined to see the results so that cheap with telling backbench mps tonight, there'll be whipped early injune to oppose that, but early to mid june, the bill will come back to the comments and will reverse the dippy, but again speaking to another senior conservative tonight, they are hoping that those defeats are not reversed i very much, perhaps the house of lords bill will take and dig their heels in and take it and send it back to the government which again would be a potential nightmare for a cabinet which is trying to add the stage, still sore out its own position on the custom union. ian watson at westminster, thank you very much. 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 baroness ros altmann, former pensions minister and the writer, and broadcaster, mihir bose. always good to have them with us,

don't forget this evening, on the bbc website afterwards. donald trump's personal lawyer, michael cohen, received a secret payment of at least $400,000 to arrange talks between the ukrainian president and mr trump. that is the claim made by sources with direct knowledge of the matter who have spoken to the bbc. they say the money was sent to michael cohen by intermediaries acting for the ukrainian leader, petro poroshenko. ukraines anti—corruption agency later stopped its investigation into mr trumps former campaign manager, paul manafort. mr cohen denies taking the payment. there were also denials from the two men named as intermediaries, and from a lawyer for mr cohen's alleged partner, felix sater. in the past few minutes, petro poroshenko's administration has described the claims of a secret payment as a "flagrant lie". this report from our producer in new york suzanne kianpour and correspondent paul wood in kiev. donald trump's run for the us presidency

was watched with alarm by ukraine's government, dismayed by his apparently pro—russian rhetoric. then trump had a setback. his campaign manager, paul manafort, was forced to resign, accused of getting millions of dollars from russian interests in ukraine. the leak that brought manafort down came from the very top of the ukrainian government, according to sources here and outside ukraine. if that is true, the ukrainians badly miscalculated, backing the losing side in the us election. so in early 2017, president poroshenko was desperate to get talks with donald trump, but he was being offered little more than a white house photo op. according to a senior official here, who has direct knowledge of what happened, poroshenko instructed two close associates to open a back channel. that back channel, our source says, was president trump's personal lawyer and trusted

fixer, michael cohen. the senior official says cohen was paid $400,000. a second source says it was more. there is no suggestion that trump knew of this. we're told cohen got help from felix sater, a convicted former mobster once in business with trump. cohen is under investigation for paying hush money to a porn actress, stormy daniels, on trump's behalf. her lawyer says cohen's bank records show he took money from us companies for access to the president. well, i think it's pretty obvious at this point that michael cohen took substantial sums of money and was selling access to the highest office in the land, namely to the us president. we have every reason to believe there are additional payments that have not been reported yet from those with ukrainian interests. poroshenko couldn't hide his delight at meeting trump,

and before russia's vladimir putin. how many minutes he'd get was still being negotiated as he flew from kiev. but this was more than just a photo op, and after poroshenko went home, ukraine's inquiry into trump's former campaign manager, paul manafort, was steadily wound down. "there was never a direct order to stop the manafort inquiry," the special prosecutor in kiev tells me. "but," he says, "in the way the investigation progressed, it was clear that our superiors were trying to create obstacles." did president trump's lawyer ask the ukrainians to stall the inquiry? perhaps he didn't need to, poroshenko knew that to do otherwise, said one source, would be like spitting in trump's face. the us is continuing its own investigation into paul manafort

and russian influence in the american election, but without help from ukraine. paulwood, bbc news, kiev. a federaljudge in new york has ruled that president donald trump cannot block twitter users for their political views. thejudge said that in blocking users from his @realdonaldtrump account, the president violates their first amendment rights. thejustice department says it disagrees with the ruling and is considering its next steps. the headlines on bbc news: yulia skripal, poisoned with a nerve agent in salisbury, says she and her father are lucky to be alive in herfirst television interview since the attack. customs officials say the system favoured by brexiteers could cost businesses up to 20 billion pounds a year. the bbc has been told that michael cohen, personal lawyer to us president donald trump, received a secret payment to arrange talks between mr trump and the president of ukraine. sport now, and for a full round up,

from the bbc sport centre, here's ben mundy we heard from the new manager today he wants the cloud to be elite again and he paid tribute to his predecessor, thank you for your legacy, the spaniard was presented for the first time in the media following the 22 years in charge and the former manager says he's looking forward to the task ahead. it's a challenge, but in my career every year, i grow up with a new challenge. and for me, the challenge is the dream. they came true. not

the only news this evening, sunderland expect to make jack ross the new boss. he guided them to the scottish championship this season, he has been given permission to talk to them and they're looking to replace chris to let after the relegation. alice three days to go before liverpool take on real madrid and the champions league final. they won the competition three times in the past four seasons while liverpool last access was 2005, the keeper has been talking about prospect of facing the 12 time european champions and keep. they have lots of experience in a win games and their clever when it comes to this game and when to slow down and speed up that we will look and we will try our best to be ready for them and all the aspects and the good thing is i know we will be ready ioo% good thing is i know we will be ready 100% because we are hungry, we have not won it yet urban in the final, so everyone is dreaming of this and we will work really hard to

achieve that. we will respect them and no what they can do, but we also know that we have a chance of beating them of course. cycling, simon yates is another step closer to becoming the first briton to winning. he kept his 56 second lead after stage 17, which is a relatively flat so you stayed out of trouble and finished in the main one. torrential rain towards the end of the day, but no crashes for the fourth stage this year, maybe on he was the fastest of all the specialist. surrogates still pretty in pink, with three stages to come before it finishes in rome on sunday. he may not have a sub but yet, but there will be a test debut come tomorrow. the 20 world will play against pakistan, and he played —— received a last—minute call out afterjack broke his thumb and the captain says he is ready. he is really clear about what he wants to

do in the game, and how he will approach it this week. and i is all you can ask for someone making a debut, which is exciting for me as captain. and, i remember mine, murmur the feeling all you want to do is work to come around and get out there, and he's approached the week really well and hopefully he can have a good start to what is hopefully a long career. will stay with cricket, because south africa's greatest batsman is retiring from the international game. the former captain has been a huge figure for the country over a decade playing 140 test matches and 34—year—old finishes his career with more than 20,000 international runs and has a batting average of over 50 in both test and one—day cricket. after winning herfirst test and one—day cricket. after winning her first match test and one—day cricket. after winning herfirst match in four month yesterday, watson's time at the cup that come to an end and with the cup that come to an end and with the date in round two. she lost to hungry, a qualifier ranked at 170

places below where in the water rankings. all the sport for now, we'll have a war at half past ten, see you then. thank you ben. a civil servant, who complained of a racist and misogynistic culture in a scottish government department, claims she was taped to a chair and gagged by her colleagues as a warning to keep quiet. the fisheries officer says the restraint took place during years of bullying at an office of marine scotland in the north—east of the country. our scotland investigations correspondent mark daly has this exclusive report. this is the picture that will send shock waves through the government's fisheries regulator. forcibly restrained to a chair with tape and gagged by two of her male colleagues. "this is what you get", one of her tormentors allegedly said "when you speak out against the boys." the woman is canadian born to fisheries officer and alleged whistle—blower, diane fitzpatrick, who works here. her local msp has been

supporting her since the incident in 2010. horrific. and speechless. i knew it had happened, i've been told it had happened, i think when you see the picture, it kind of makes that ten times worse. she's been subjected to you know, a long period of harassment, and her and e—mails seen by the bbc, revealed she reported the incident to her manager shortly after but the complaint was not taken fiercely. the manager says he will speak to the two men allegedly involved and adds that i am sure they meant no harm and that was the boys just being boys. one of the alleged perpetrators is still employed. he did not comment, though he would have required permission from the government to do so. the other man allegedly involved told

bbc the allegations were false. she claims the alleged attack was part of more than a decade of bullying and racist and misogynistic behaviour by government employees including being told staff did not want a woman, especially a foreign woman working there. having her miscarriage mocked, and threatening behaviour towards female staff who are sometimes referred to as prostitutes. despite claiming she's a whistle—blower, she is prevented under the civil service code from speaking to the media. the bbc asked the government to give special dispensation, but none was given. so i spoke to her sister—in—law and canada, through the internet. we were disgusted. i mean, i hope that you will show this picture because it deserves to be shown. we were horrified, and sickened. you know, we just worry about what this is done to her.

and her home is scotland, she's been a 25 years, and she's not giving up and now her family is behind her and we are not giving up until somebody is made accountable for their actions. ms fitzpatrick has been signed off for almost two years on full pay. friends say she's desperate to get back to herjob. but the tribunal is going against marine scotland whose headquarters are here and scottish government in edinburgh, the bbc understands its mrs patric face the fact. she'll go in front of a disciplinary hearing at the end of the month which she has told friends has been cobbled together in a bid to get rid of her. the scottish government said that it does not comment on internal staffing matters and that it has clear standards of behaviour would apply to all staff. any concerns raised by staff are taken seriously and investigated fully. the labour mp david lammy has said oxford university

is failing badly, after the institution revealed figures showing around a third of its colleges accepted three or fewer black applicants in the last three years. oxford agreed it needs to do more, although its data also shows the overall proportion of uk ethnic minority students there is actually higher than in the population overall. elaine dunkley reports. oxford university is steeped in tradition, but when it comes to admissions there are calls for change. its students are still overwhelmingly white, affluent and from the south. those least likely to go to oxford black students and those from the north east. these students in their third year says that have been some progress but more needs to be done. i join the programme and i was in year 11, and that helped me to see myself in this space, fitting in. at kenton school in newcastle, aspirations are high, but the numbers applying for oxford are low.

they‘ re universities close by and perception is a big factor. you never hear anyone from newcastle has gone there, you don't hear about it. it's always those clothes to their from wealthy areas. the fact is they are not choosing to go to oxford but other places like this head of sixth form says it is the university doing enough. a lot of it is interview and perception paste. if you are not used that sort of questioning, if you might have a tutor that works with you on a more one—on—one basis of the man who can build up your confidence in those settings more readily, it makes it more difficult for students to advance themselves. in the last three years corpus christi college had won just black student despite attracting a dozen such applications. london and the south—east made up nearly half of all uk applications whilst the north—east that accounted for just 2%. at the heart of this issue, are the top british institutions close to black candidates and those from poor candidates? unless the status quo changes,

this will continue. we have a load of different methods in place for us to improve the diversity profile. i think it is clear from that we're making progress. in the past the mp david lammy accused the university of social apartheid. today, a war of words started on social media after the university retweeted eight week calling him bitter. i'm pleased oxford have apologised but the reason i do this is because it is important to ask the question, why, despite getting those straight a ‘s, if you are a northerner you are less likely to get on the other side of? why if you are a black man growing up in tottenham despite getting those eight grades, you are less likely to get in? oxford university renowned for excellence, but it's challenge remains in showing it is not elitist. with us now is naomi kellman, founder of target oxbridge,

a programme to support black african and caribbean students applying for oxbridge, she also studied philosophy, politics and economics at oxford university, graduating in 2011. the campaign to get more black. , what are the barriers and holding the bass? we let those students meet stu d e nts the bass? we let those students meet students there and speak with them about the issues they're worried about the issues they're worried about and understanding the process and so we coach them through that gate of information about admission test personal statements, interviews, and also information about subject choice and we would like to start working with students explaining you don't have to do law to bea explaining you don't have to do law to be a lawyer, you can be employed if you do history, and students can start applying for their passion. if you do history, and students can start applying for their passionm something distinctive about the culture of oxbridge and the

cambridge that's making a part for somebody other universities including top universities in the uk? i think the system is wonderful, you have a community in terms of admissions, and meet with mark obligated. and you can see that stats reverted to colleges and he's admitting it was applying where, and so admitting it was applying where, and soi admitting it was applying where, and so i think on that front, if they are struggling in the area we are looking to work with them stop what was your experience, were you intimidated at the thought of applying in the first place? yes i'm applying in the first place? yes i'm a black girl from croydon, whose pa rents a black girl from croydon, whose parents do good university, but i did anyway. it took a bit longer to adjust and think my other friends founded because it was different. the buildings are fancy, you know, work was challenging. but over time i got used to it and i personally had a great time i can't speakfor all students, but i enjoyed it and learned a lot. when you take young people into it, i did not stay at oxford but i was encouraged to apply, in the end i decided it was not for me, but it was, came from a

small village of a long way away from the southeast, and it was kind of overwhelming. but i was looking at lots of people who looked like me, even if it worked like me, and i wonder what impact it has when you look around and say oh a there might be lots of black people of the town, but not many wearing gowns are walking out of colleges. . if the concern and that's why we take the stu d e nts concern and that's why we take the students as a group for more than one day, three days, so they can meet other black students, they know not everyone is black in university, but spending her time there and meeting other black students that let's them know they won't be alone, and our society was a great home for me and the student to come. are you optimistic about the prospects or is it too big a task? i do want to say anything is too big a task, it's ha rd anything is too big a task, it's hard for sure, they will be solved right away, but if we keep investing in the programmes working with stu d e nts in the programmes working with students and investing and expanding and investing in working earlier,

getting information to them and pa rents getting information to them and parents i think we can make strides. pleasure to talk to you and a very good talk. thank you very much. time for a look at the weather with stav danaos. much of the country has had a fine dry sunny day, cooler than the last few days, a bit of a tilde in the win andi few days, a bit of a tilde in the win and i has been noticeable across coastal areas where there's lots of great weather. but because, but we kept a cool onshore breeze throughout the afternoon and into the evening, southeast will see showers which become more widespread across the southeast and they will spread across the southeast and they will s p rea d west across the southeast and they will spread west across central and southern england and wales as parts —— the night wears on. a muggy night across the south, but further north the cool night to come with clear skies and again mist and fog affecting eastern coastal areas and this is the picture for thursday. more showers and thunderstorms

across the southwest portions of the uk. some mist across the east side of the country and it'd be cooler on the co—spell for sunshine in between an top pointer is 23 celsius. as he had through friday, across england a wealth rate, but the week and will be warmer. this is bbc news, our latest headlines. yulia skripal, poisoned with a nerve agent in salisbury, says she and her father are lucky to be alive. we are so lucky to have both survived this attempt at assassination. we do not wish to describe the details, but the treatment is invasive and depressing. customs officials say the system favoured by brexiteers could cost businesses up to 20 billion pounds a year. the bbc has been told that michael cohen, personal lawyer to us president donald trump, received a secret payment to arrange talks between mr trump

and the president of ukraine. gagged and taped to a chair, this woman who complained of a racist and misogynistic culture in a scottish government agency, says colleagues did it as a warning to keep quiet. the families of the people who died in the grenfell tower fire have been remembering their loved ones, on the third day of the public inquiry into the disaster. our special correspondent, lucy manning reports. it was a day about parents and their children who had lived together at grenfell and died together. rania ibrahim died with her two girls, fethia and hania. four—year—old fethia's sweet voice filled the inquiry room. i want to hug you... and do something with yourselves. thank you, goodbye!

everyone struggled with their emotions, including the inquiry chairman. rania's niece read her mother's tribute. i watched her grow into a young woman. i prepared herfor her wedding and watched her children grow with mine. never in my life have i thought that i would be in herfuneral. also lost in the fire, zainab deen and her two—year—old sun jeremiah. he loved football, adventures and exploring. throughout your short time here on earth, you were so connected with your mother that even death cannot separate you both. mother and sun marjorie and ernie vital were found together in the fire. a seamstress, her surviving son said she was proud of her home in the tower.

my brother was a very down—to—earth person, very approachable. he constantly lived with my mother. i think his umbilical cord was never cut. tony disson, who'd lived in the area all of his life loved his children, supporting their boxing careers and was besotted with his granddaughter. gary maunders was also a devoted dad. he loved marvin gaye and manchester united, and always cheered people up. ali yawarjafari's family described how their father had come from afghanistan, how his neighbours praised his kindness but how hard his death had hit the family. i've never dream or thought of going to heaven, but now i find every day, every second, because i want to join my dad, and i pray every day and even i request my friends to pray for me that i die soon,

to meet my father. lucy manning, bbc news. in two days time voters in ireland will go to the polls to decide whether to overturn the country's strict ban on abortion. currently terminations are only allowed if there is a substantial risk to the life of the mother. each year thousands of irish women travel to the uk to access abortions in britain. emma vardy has been meeting those on both sides of the debate. the idea of ending the natural process of pregnancy before its time was just not something i could comprehend doing. this is one of ireland's most contentious issues. here, women make choices in the face of a deep moral divide. i knew i could not continue with the pregnancy for another 19 weeks and watch this baby and feel this baby grow stronger. laura was told at 22 weeks that her unborn baby would not survive after birth.

the next step for us and the choice that we made was to travel. mentally, we just make that decision, "0k, this is going to happen, our baby's going to die one way or another, regardless. we can't change that fact that we can't fix that fact". it was either prolong the agony and wait the 40 weeks and go through all of that, or decide to terminate but then we could draw a line in the sand and hopefully move on from it. she flew to a hospital in liverpool for a procedure that would have been illegal at home. in ireland, the eighth amendment of the country's constitution gives an equal right to live for both mother and baby and this lady is fighting to keep it that way. he lived for 17 minutes and for all his 17 minutes he was held... ireland's protection of the unborn, she says, gave her strength to continue a pregnancy knowing her baby had a condition he couldn't survive. and he was told how loved he was. it was an incredibly rewarding experience. why do you believe it would be wrong to offer women at least the choice?

it's a choice about ending the life, notjust potentially harming, but deliberately ending the life of another. i don't think that's ever the right solution. more than 3000 women from ireland travel abroad and pay privately for abortions every year. many come here to liverpool, where it is dr rachel foggin treats irish women each day. quite often they might be alone. they may not have told anybody, they may have had to arrange childcare and time off work in secret. why do you yourself believe that women should have access to abortions? i just think for so many different reasons women find themselves in situations, either it's an abnormal pregnancy, it's just not the right time... it should be talked about. it's a normal part of health care. back in ireland, campaigners have toured the country to get their message across. this referendum stirs strong emotions on both sides.

you're an absolute disgrace to yourselves. this amendment... why would i want that? you're full of it, you're all full of it and you women should be utterly ashamed of yourselves! we try and explain this as logically as possible, that it's never 0k to end the life of any innocent human being. if we're to build a humane society, we need to respect the right to life. and this vote is about what kind of society ireland wants to be. the declining influence of the catholic church means social attitudes are changing. in 2015, ireland voted by a large majority to legalise same—sex marriage, but in this referendum, both sides believe the vote could be much tighter. on friday, voters will decide whether ireland should offer women a new choice. access to abortion, a deeply private issue, now rests on the outcome of a very public debate.

emma vardy, bbc news, dublin a woman who left her former boyfriend with horrific injuries after attacking him with acid has been jailed for life. berlinah wallace was told by a judge at bristol crown court that her actions were pure evil. the victim, mark van dongen, later ended his life through euthanasia, saying he could no longer stand the pain of his injuries. i'm listening and i get it. the conciliatory words of the new home secretary sajid javid to police officers, promising them the resources they need to meet the challenges they face. mrjavid, whose brother is a chief superintendent in the west midlands, said he wants to reset the relationship between government and the police. a warning, sarah campbell's report contains a racially—offensive term. a raid just after dawn this morning. by london's new violent crime task force. the capital has been reeling from a sharp upturn in murders, shootings, and stabbings. as have other cities.

against that backdrop, and a severe threat of terrorism, the new home secretary came to birmingham, knowing he needs the police on his side. sajid javid's brother is a serving officer. something he reminded the conference of. recalling in his speech, the extremely racially offensive language he witnessed when hejoined his brother in a patrol car. teenagers, giving them the middle finger, swearing and spitting. and worst of all, at one point when his car approached lights and slow down, when teenager leaned over and yelled at my brother, "you paki bastard". he promised the rank—and—file officers that he would prioritise police funding. and conceded that a lack of resources can have an impact on crime. let's reset the relationship between the government and the police. i will give you the tools, the powers and the back—up that you need to get the job done.

that funding promise reopened the ones of the past. three years ago, teresa may accused us of crying wolf. we were accused of scaremongering over the effects of budget cuts to policing. our warnings that police officer numbers would see an increase in the number of victims of crime were dismissed. the labour party say sajid javid is in denial about the impact cuts have had on policing in the level of crime. his first set piece speech does seem to signal a change in tone from theresa may's time in the home office at her infamous battles with the police federation. sajid javid highlighted that black people more likely to be murder victims than other ethnic groups. whereas teresa may restricted stop and search, sajid javid said today that if it saves lives, it has to be right. in pakistan, the funeral has taken place, of a 17—year—old girl, who died in last week's

school shooting in the us. sabika sheikh, an exchange student, was one of ten people killed at santa fe high school in texas last week. secunder kermani has more from karachi. she came home in a coffin. hundreds of mourners gathered in the heat to pay their respects to her. a bright young girl who hope one day to become a diplomat. she was among the victims of america's latest school shooting. she had been on a study abroad programme in texas, designed to promote better relations between america and the muslim world. and a video posted online before heading to texas, she described her excitement at having been selected for the programme. herfather

her father told the bbc that he does not blame the american people for his daughter's staff. but he believes they should change their laws on guns. we have received so many messages of support from americans. i want to say thank you to them. but to stop anything like this happening again, there should bea this happening again, there should be a new law on guns. her death should not be in vain. in a country often accused of being dangerous, many struggle to understand why the us doesn't do more to prevent these attacks. we have a message for the people of america, not for the sake of my kids, but for the sake of your own. people need to be educated not

to do this. she was meant to return just a few weeks' time, she came back early. not to be reunited with her family, but to be buried. italy's president has approved the nomination as prime minister of a little—known lawyer giuseppe conte. after meeting with president mattarella, mr conte received the green light to put a cabinet together. the decision was delayed because of a controversy over mr conte's academic record, following allegations he embellished his cv. the headlines on bbc news: yulia skripal,poisoned with a nerve agent in salisbury, says she and her father are lucky to be alive in herfirst television interview since the attack. customs officials say the system favoured by brexiteers could cost businesses up to 20 billion pounds a year. the bbc has been told that michael cohen, personal lawyer to us president donald trump, received a secret payment to arrange talks between mr trump

and the president of ukraine. marks and spencer has suffered a big fall in annual profits following a costly store closure plan. annual pre—tax profits fell by almost two—thirds to £66.8m as sales of food, clothing and homeware all declined. but it's the overhaul of the business and the expense of closing up to 100 stores by 2020 that have most damaged profits. england is facing water shortages by 2050, unless rapid action is taken to curb use and wastage. the environment agency has said that enough water to meet the needs of 20 million people is lost through leaks every day. here's david shukman. we're using more and more water, and there are more and more of us. and add the effect of a warming climate, and the environment agency is warning that there could be

shortages in the decades ahead. this is int the first time we've heard this. archive: it seems fantastic that britain, with all our rainfall, should ever suffer from drought... there was a water crisis back in the ‘50s, but since then the population has grown dramatically, and there is much greater pressure on supplies. in the most extreme scenarios of really extreme drought, things would look pretty bad. you'd have severe threats to health, so water—borne diseases, respiratory diseases, mental health would suffer. there'd be damage to the environment, because our businesses, our industry, our energy depends on reliable water, and there'd be huge damage to the environment. so it's very important that we make sure that we never get there. it's homes that use more than half of the country's water supply, and that's why this issue has the potential to become highly sensitive. so the environment agency wants us all to be more aware of how much water we're using, but what does that mean in practise? well, in a typical household, 22% of the water is run through the cold—water taps,

and that's why we're always being asked not to run them while we're brushing our teeth. next, the toilets. now, they also account for 22% of the water used in a typical household, and modern designs are becoming much more efficient. but the biggest user is the shower, at 25%. now, no—one's talking about restrictions, but they do want us to realise that, in the decades ahead, supplies may be more limited. but every day three billion litres of water are wasted. the water companies say they've spent billions over the last 30 years trying to fix the leaks. the good news is that we've reduced leakage over that time by about a third, but there is a lot more to do, and companies at the moment preparing very ambitious plans for the next five years to reduce leaks. so what about the future? well, piping water from wet scotland to drier england would be expensive. and so is taking sea water and stripping out the salt.

but if droughts become more common and shortages really bite, radical answers may well be needed. david shukman, bbc news. philip roth, regarded by many as the greatest american writer of his generation, has died at the age of 85. roth's first collection of short stories was published in 1959, and he went on to win the pulitzer prize. david sillito reports. the 2000 national humanities medal to philip roth. the 2010 national humanities medal to philip roth. that medal was a recognition of a lifetime of writing. 31 novels and throw it all, two great themes. america and the sometimes shocking honesty about life and sex. i was very curious as a writer as to how far i could go. what happens if you go further? shame isn't for writers.

you have to be shameless. nowhere was this more evidence than in port kneecomplaint. it turned this writer from newark, newjersey into a literary star. the novels that followed ranged widely, autobiographical, political, surreal, but at the heart of them were repeated themes. hisjewish identity and america. in the literary landscape we lost one of the faces from mount rushmore. he was a defining person in the american cultural and intellectual life of the last 50 years. he will be missed enormously. we still have his books but it's much more fun having him as well. i work during the day. what marked him out is that while many novelists peak and then tail off, his latest work was some of his strongest. stories that took on vietnam, racism and the plot against america, he again returned to his childhood

to imagine what if fascism had taken hold in america. i was able to imagine the american reality and i was able to imagine what would my, my, my mother and father and brother and i, relatives and neighbours and family, what would we have done in this situation, if we were confronted with this crisis? it was trademark roth. over the years he had written what was his own emotional story of america, from newark to that medal at the white house. on stage when he gave me the medal, he whispered to me, you are not slowing down, are you? i said, i am indeed slowing down. yes, he was done. there were to be no more books will stop philip roth has told his story. well, a little earlier i spoke to professor hermione lee, biographer and president of wolfson college

at oxford university. philip roth's final novel was dedicated to her. she began by telling me how she, and others became friends of the novelist. i became a part of the group of friends he would give the penultimate draft too. and then, when he went to live in england, he would record me, telling me what i thought about his book. it was quite rigorous and taxing. a couple of interesting things about it, one is that, sometimes and you read and it looks pouring off the page. just naturally. and actually this is the product of draft after d raft. he was an incredibly hard worker. it did not come smoothly. so its really crafted. yes, tremendously crafted. and he would do his interviews and say, the point was not to be polite.

he could not be doing that. so there was a point in doing that, where you are straight up with him. and your least intelligent remark would be put into the mouth of the characters. but it was such an amazing experience this to be a tiny part of that process. how much do you think he had an impact on american literature and literature of the english language more generally? old massive, he was thought of the, a great shock in the 19605, thought of the, a great shock in the 1960s, and a tremendous taboo breaking book. because it was so expressive about the male libido. and teenage, mass debating under the preventive sort of, it was not

autobiographical where it's always assumed that it is. he took everything to the extreme. he wrote about the, the work so the expanded outwards and became a whole history of america. and if you look at a book like a plot against america. i think, now, if you look at it it's an astonishingly reflective about how a democratic society, the semantic web in the 1930s. you can see how a democratic society opens itself to a near fascist regime with note checks and balances and boy was he prophetic about that. would he think his legacy will be?l great story of american life, and

uproarious comedian, i think he is a very extreme writer who, was very good on tackling taboo and oppression in various intellectual forms. and above all, he's a lovely visceral and physical writer. you see a lot of that and novels coming after him, he can describe anything from a glove factory to a fish aquarium. he is a vital life force i think in his writing, i think you will be remembered. —— he will be remembered. time for a look at the weather. lets join stav for the forecast... we should go for a walk shouldn't be, this is a gorgeous picture. we've had a lovely day.

disappointingly cloudy and cool but for the west, temperatures peaked at 24 degrees west and wales. but it was not like that everywhere. other areas much grayer and cooler as well. for the southeast, we have an area of cloud which is been moving, it could be quite heavy, maybe thundery as we move westward and the parts of south wales. further east, clouds rolling back and elsewhere as we try and clear up, muggy in the south, pressure chart for thursday, high—pressure dominating for most, affecting southern areas mess going to bring further cloud and showers to bring further cloud and showers to the southern part of the uk. we start off with grey skies to the east, that should remain quite cool here, particularly kloss the coast. —— across the coast. just to show

you the extent of the showers and possibly thunderstorms that will be affecting parts of england, and towards wales, to the north of here it should be dried with plenty of sunshine. we could see pretty decent temperatures west of scotland. and parts of the midlands and into the south, with we could see, further pulses of heavy rain, maybe some thunderstorms. moving north as well, such as the midlands, northern england and into wells as we head on into friday morning. so quite a wet start, some thundering like i mentioned. it should east down a bit, some sunshine across the south and southeast, looking quite warm and southeast, looking quite warm and muggy, perhaps a thunderstorm developing across scotland. but chilly along the north sea coast. as we headed towards the holiday weekend, more thundery and warmer airfrom the continent,

weekend, more thundery and warmer air from the continent, so what the weather front, the air from the continent, so what the weatherfront, the pressure to air from the continent, so what the weather front, the pressure to the south, and southern parts which could continue to see the threat of some showers and thunderstorms and quite warm and muggy, the farther north you are, the larger it should be dry and fresh or overnight. so quite a mixed bag to go into the holiday weekend. but on the plus side, it is looking warm. but, it's not what you be dry, it could be some showers and thunderstorms. hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. a bbc investigation reveals claims that donald trump's lawyer michael cohen was paid 400 thousand dollars to fix a meeting between the president and the ukrainian leader. petro poroshenko has responded, saying the allegations are a flagrant lie. yulia skripal who along with herfather sergei was poisoned by a nerve agent in salisbury, says she feels lucky to be alive, but would one day like to return home to russia. translation: we are so lucky to have both survived this

attempted assassination. i don't want to describe the details, but the clinical treatment was invasive, painful, and depressing. italy finally gets a new prime minister two months after elections there: he's giuseppe conte, a little—known lawyer with questions over his cv.