this is bbc news. i'm vicki young. the headlines at 12:00: a man in his eighties has died after his vehicle was submerged in walsall, as flash flooding hits parts of the midlands and wales. some areas get more than a month's rainfall injust an hour. a young malian immigrant who rescued a boy hanging from a balcony will become a french citizen. he was given a medal of courage after he scaled the building with his bare hands. translation: i asked him, wasn't he frightened for his own life? he said, no. at that moment, he wasn't thinking of himself, he was thinking of the child. as soon as he started to climb, he was scared that the child would get tired and let go. the labour partyjoins calls for a change to abortion laws in northern ireland, following a referendum in the republic of ireland. it's been voted britain's most scenic bus route — simon gompertz hops on board the pickering to whitby double—decker to find out why it's loved so much. coming up...

sally nugent travels to fifa's zurich headquarters, ahead of the 2018 world cup, to meet the association's first ever female secretary general, fatma samoura. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. a man in his eighties has died following flash flooding in walsall. police say they were called to the rushall area atjust after 2am this morning, following reports of a vehicle in the water. this tweet — from the west midlands ambulance service — shows how bad the flooding was in the area last night, with more than a month's rainfall falling injust one hour in parts of the midlands and wales. there are still three flood warnings in england and 38 flood alerts. ben ando‘s report

contains flashing images. the waters rose with breathtaking speed. in some parts of birmingham, they had more rain in one hour than the average for the whole of may. on a bank holiday weekend in edgbaston, harborne and selly park, there was little residents or the emergency services could do other than watch and wait, as floodwaters reached up to five foot in depth. some of these houses have been flooded three times in recent years. the police urged people not to travel, but stranded cars like this one were perhaps the most effective warning to other drivers. i don't think this is safe. some motorists did make it through. while birmingham bore the brunt of the deluge, flash floods also hit parts

of buckinghamshire, berkshire and here in northampton. in many areas, the rainfall varied dramatically from neighbourhood to neighbourhood. the flooding extended as far west as welshpool, in mid—wales. and the storms also led to dramatic lightning displays. today, the heavy downpours may continue in some parts, though elsewhere, forecasters say it could be barbecue weather. as some enjoy the hottest day of the year so far, with temperatures possibly reaching 29 celsius in the south—east. ben ando, bbc news. earlier, i spoke to stu donigan, who lives in the selly park area of birmingham, which has been badly affected by the flooding. he told us that this isn't the first time his road has been flooded. yeah, last night, i was out and about with my family and we saw via social media that there'd been flooding again in the sort of selly park area. so it was kind of a case of, we thought it was probably going to be, here we go again. and then the photos of the sort of catastrophes on the roads

started coming through. the water was kind of submerging cars. well, almost submerging cars, and was kind of above waist height. so i left it a little bit of time, took a drive back, but the road was closed off. so i eventually ended up getting a lift home on a kind of raft with the fire service, who kindly brought me to my front door. and have you heard from any other people living nearby who got themselves into trouble? i mean, clearly, you were safe, but it must have been pretty frightening for people. yeah. so, we're actually quite lucky because this happened in 2016 as well and we escaped. it was a lot worse then, i think. there was cars sort of floating down the road on that occasion. but we escaped any sort of real damage at that point. but i think the same people who were hit last time have been hit again, which must be very frustrating for them. the fire service were actually, although i was being taken home on the rafts, the fire service were actually rescuing some people

from their homes and taking them out on the rafts. so i can only assume their sort of downstairs areas were quite badly flooded, but i've not actually been out and about this morning to sort of discuss the level of damage with those people. and presumably, are you keeping a close eye on the weather forecast? i know in other places, there was a british dramatic there was dramatic lightning and that kind of thing but, presumably, you weren't able to enjoy that situation? no, no. it wasn't particularly enjoyable. i think we had just sort of one eye on what was going on at home really. so, i think the weather forecast is a bit more promising for today, so i'm not too kind of nervous about any potential impact today really. we're joined now by kate marks, duty manager at the environment agency. and we have seen some dramatic footage of areas being badly affected. what is the situation out across england ? affected. what is the situation out across england? 50, as

affected. what is the situation out across england? so, as you say, there has been dramatic flooding in there has been dramatic flooding in the black country, birmingham, northampton, to name a few places. the situation in those areas is improving in terms of the weather outlook. but we continue to remain vigilant and to be concerned about the risk in southern england, where thunderstorms are expected to continue today. we would urge people to continue to keep an eye on the flood warnings on our website, and social media, and listen to their local radio. what sort of support and help can the environment agency give to people? because as we have been sadly hearing, it can sometimes cause death. we heard of a man dying ina car. cause death. we heard of a man dying in a car. what can you do to help people? so, first of all, it is a tragic situation. 0ur people? so, first of all, it is a tragic situation. our thoughts are with the family of the person who sadly lost their life. time to your question, we do provide a lot of information again on the government website. to help people prepare for

flooding. to advise what action they can take with regard to their property and not to drive through floodwater as we have seen floodwater as we have seen floodwater can be dangerous, the footage you have shown. and after the flood, we are very much out on the flood, we are very much out on the ground supporting the local authorities who read this of flooding out there with our flood support officers advising the community on how they can minimise the damage from flooding and how they can move forwards after the flooding has subsided. some of the people we have been speaking to today have spoken about how this happened to them. just last year, a couple of years ago. and the same areas presumably are being affected, is that the case? it is my understanding that some of the areas have flooded previously. this sort of intense localised flooding can occui’ of intense localised flooding can occur multiple times, in multiple areas, subject to local conditions,

drainage roads. the topography. and, yes, it can occur in multiple areas. we are working to invest £2.1 billion in flood defences over the next period, which we hope will minimise the risk from flooding in many communities in the future from river, the sea and surface water flooding. thank you very much, from the environment agency, kate. a young malian man — who's been hailed a hero after rescuing a child dangling from a balcony in paris — is to be made a french citizen. mamoudou gassama, a recent immigrant to france, scaled the building in less than a minute before hauling the child to safety. a neighbour was also trying to hold the child from the balcony next door. president emmanuel macron invited him to the elysee palace this morning, to thank him personally and gave him a medal of courage. mamoudou's brother

explained what happened. translation: he was eating in a restaurant with his girlfriend, watching a champions league match, when he heard car horns and people shouting. he went outside and looked up, and there was a child. so, what happened? he moved immediately to save the child. i asked him, wasn't he frightened for his own life? he said, no. at that moment, he wasn't thinking of himself, he was thinking of the child. as soon as he started to climb, he was scared that the child would get tired and let go. luckily, it was a child who wasn't afraid and everything worked out well. 0ur paris correspondent, hugh schofield, has been following the story and told me about the french reaction to this brave act. well, he is the hero of the day. ”g - . .

of his bid to become a french citizen. just to recap, the man's past is one that we are very familiar with. travelling across north africa to libya and across in the boats to italy. arriving in france — not illegal technically because he has italian papers allowing him to travel round the eu, but an irregular situation. and this extraordinary act of courage, which president macron told him today is of such an exceptional nature that he and the authorities are prepared to break the rules, to bend the rules, and expedite his bid for citizenship. interestingly, what president macron said was that normally, you would not be eligible for french citizenship because you are not

seeking asylum, you are not here because you are fleeing persecution or danger, you are here as an economic migrant, you would not normally get citizenship. but because of what you've done, you deserve it. so it's going to happen. and we hear he is going to be offered a job in the french fire brigade. there's a little confusion about that. i'm not quite sure what that means. i don't think it means he will automatically become a fireman. what has been reported is he has been offered a job in the civic service of the fire department, the fire brigade. and i'm not sure quite what that means. i suspect it might mean something more on the training side. i'm not sure. i don't think it means he will become automatically a fire officer, which is a very, very prestigious position which requires years of training. but a job, he will have, and it looks like it will be something to do with the fire service. so, yes, and symbolically, that's very important because the fire service is regarded by all the french as being this most

wonderful, prestigious darling of organisations, and to be part of it is very much to be part of the french family. italy is thrust in to fresh political turmoil as the president appoints a former director of the international monetary fund as interim prime minister. this morning, the anti—establishment 5—star movement called for the impeachment of president sergio mattarella — for blocking the appointment of a eurosceptic finance minister. that veto led to the man the populist parties proposed as prime minister, giuseppe conte, saying he no longer wanted thejob. in the past hour, the president has appointed ex—imf chief carlo cottarelli as interim prime minister. the populist parties are expected to reject the nomination, which would lead to fresh elections later this year. from rome, our correspondent, james reynolds, has more. if you look at the constitution, it

is very simple. a prime minister designate goes to the president, presents a line—up and the president can strike off any name he, and it has always been he, wants. that has happened in the past and, this time, simply because of one thing. the euro. the populists have talked in the past about whether or not they should get out of the euro. in particular, their pick for finance minister said it should make detailed plans for getting out of the single currency. the president did not like that, he struck that name of and for that he struck that name off and for that reason, the populist administration isn't going ahead. is part of this, it is about the euro of course, the fact you have these two populist parties, is that making

things more volatile than usual? yes, because the party leaders themselves, luigi di maio and paolo savona from the league, have not been in power before and often, italian politicians recycle themselves under several administrations and they know you have to have give—and—take. the populists say their mandate is different, they want to do things differently. but essentially, the the president might have set up their entire election campaign if elections are to be held early because they can now say to the people, look, we were right. we warned that there was an italian anti—eu establishment trying to stop us from taking power, trying to stop the will of the people and now we see that a president vetoed our government. by accident, possibly, italy's president has handed them an election campaign. do you think now that is where we are heading, to more elections? a fatherfrom north london is to be released from prison in ethiopia, after being on death row for four years on suspicion of being a terrorist. andy tsege, a prominent critic of ethiopa's ruling party in the 1970s, was given asylum in the uk in 1979, but later tried for terrorism in his absence.

in 2014, he was kidnapped in yemen and taken back to ethiopia. he's now been pardoned, after two years of foreign office appeals and a change in the political situation there. he still needs emergency travel documents and is not yet out ofjail. and at half past one, we'll be speaking to the wife of andy tsege, as she waits for her husband to be released and given the papers he needs to travel home. the headlines on bbc news: a man in his eighties has died after his vehicle was submerged in water in walsall, as flash flooding hits parts of the midlands and wales. some areas experienced more than a month's rainfall injust an hour. a young malian immigrant who rescued a boy hanging from a balcony will become a french citizen. he was given a medal of courage after he scaled the building with his bare hands. the labour partyjoins calls to change abortion laws in northern ireland, following a referendum in the republic of ireland — but it's understood downing street believes any reform "is an issue for northern ireland". sport now.

and for a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre, here's hugh ferris. good afternoon. british number three cameron norrie has won his first ever match at the french open. it was over pretty quickly. he was already a set and a break up against germany's peter gojowczyk in the first round at roland garros before the world number 43 was forced to retire. norrie hadn't even played a competitive match on red clay until february of this year. meanwhile, rafael nadal begins the defence of his french open title later on day two of the tournament. the spaniard won for the 10th time at roland garros last year and has also claimed titles at three of the four build—up events in monte carlo, barcelona and rome. his first—round match is against simone bolelli, of italy. that match is the final one on court philippe chatrier today. chris froome says he won the giro d'italia with an ‘absolutely clear conscience' after becoming just

the third rider to win all three of cycling's grand tours back to back. he also became the first british man to win the race in italy. but many had questioned whether he should be competing at all after the controversy generated by his adverse finding for asthma drug salbutamol at last year's vuelta, the second of his three wins in a row. froome denies any wrongdoing and has got on with the job in hand. it's part of my character. i've always been someone who is very good at blocking things out, staying very focused on what i need to achieve. i know what i want to do. once i set my mind to something, i like to get it done. england have dropped mark stoneman for the second test against pakistan, which starts on friday at headingley, after a run of bad scores for both his county and his country. he's the only change england have made. keaton jennings replacing him. the opener last played for his country last summer, before he's scored three centuries

for his new county, lancashire, so far this season. england have strongly refuted allegations made in a documentary claiming three players were responsible for spot—fixing during a test match in india in 2016. the icc say they are investigating the claims made by aljazeera, while the ecb have released a statement outlining their denial of the accusations. i think it's outrageous that england players have been accused of this. all the players have got the full backing of the ecb. you know, it's something really not for the guys to worry about. we've got to concentrate on next week and make sure we're fully focused on winning at headingley but, you know, it's an outrageous accusation and i'm sure, you know, all the right channels will be taken by the ecb and people that need to worry about it. the fa have announced the teams that will compete in the newly restructured women's super league and championship next season. 23 licences have been given out for the two divisions. and manchester united have been granted one for the second tier, having applied to be a part of the league for the first time. they're one of five new teams in the championship. while west ham have moved up

to the super league and will become a professional team. you can see all the clubs on the bbc sport website. ulster and ireland centre jared payne has been forced to retire at the age of 32 — due to a head injury he sustained on last year's british and irish lions tour in his native new zealand. payne represented the province 78 times and has 20 irish caps. but he hasn't played since the lions tour because of recurring headaches. payne will now spend time in the irish set—up on their tour of australia, in preparation for his new role as defence coach at ulster. that's all the sport for now. breaking news from hampshire police. in connection with the mutiny music festival, which was taking place over the weekend. in which an 18—year—old woman and a 20—year—old man died. hampshire police now say

arrests have been made. enquiries are going on into drug supply at that meeting the festival. they say overnight, 20 rolled man and a 20 rolled and a 22—year—old man have been arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of class a drugs. and they are currently in police custody. so overnight, three arrests following those two deaths yesterday at the mutiny music festival, in portsmouth. pressure to relax northern ireland's strict abortion laws is intensifying, with labour adding its voice to calls for change. it comes after friday's historic referendum in the republic of ireland. mps from across the commons say women should have the same rights in all parts of the uk, but downing street insists it's a matterfor northern ireland. the dup, on whom theresa may relies for a majority in parliament, says it will not be bullied

into accepting abortion. joining us now from belfast is sarah ewart. sarah travelled to england in 2013 for a termination after doctors said her unborn child would not survive outside of the womb. thank you forjoining us. you have long been a campaignerfor a change to the law. can you tell us about your situation and what you had to doa your situation and what you had to do a few years ago? yes. i would not call myself a campaign. i'm just somebody who shared what happened, the experience i had to go through. when i was 19 weeks present, i was given a diagnosis of fatal foetal abnormality —— 19 weeks pregnant. i had gone to my consultant task force help and they said they cannot do anything for me, with the threat of prison. we left the hospital and we had to go to the yellow pages and i came across family planning and made

arrangements to travel to london for the procedure. what is your reaction to what has been happening south of the border in the republic of ireland, what did you feel when you heard that news? it is a relief. women here will be able to trouble to dublin, but it is devastating and traumatic to arrange the travel when you go through pregnancy. you are dealing with losing the baby and you are worrying about how you get there and who does your procedure. this should be done at home with your own medical team and in your own hospital. what changes would you like to see now? the law in northern ireland is still incredibly strict. some politicians say what happens in the republic of ireland should not affect what happens where you are. but you presumably think there should be a change now? definitely. 100%, there needs to be a change in the law here. people are contacting me privately going through the same situation. carrying babies with

fatal foetal abnormality, they don't wa nt to fatal foetal abnormality, they don't want to continue and they have no one to turn to bottle up to. i totally agree that the women who wa nt to totally agree that the women who want to go through with the birth, i admire them and i would help any campaign to get better care for those women as well. but the option needs to be there for those who do not want to continue. we have no help or support here. and u nfortu nately, help or support here. and unfortunately, i have nothing to remember my daughter by which i would have had if my health care procedure had been done here. is it possible to gauge the feeling amongst the community more widely? we have heard some politicians saying there is no desire for any change in northern ireland, do you get any sense that might be shifting? i hope it is shifting. fingers crossed it will be shifting. we will keep going at this. we have no assembly at the minute up and running, or we would no assembly at the minute up and running, orwe would be no assembly at the minute up and running, or we would be at their doors begging for help. i would ask westminster to help us. we have

contacted them and theresa may but we have yet to hear back about getting a meeting with them. thank you very much for speaking to us thank you very much for speaking to us about your experience. from belfast, sarah. a man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering an eleven—year—old girl and a 31—year—old woman. the woman and girl were found seriously injured by police at a property in gloucesterjust before five o'clock this morning, and declared dead at the scene. the arrested man is 28 years old. police have appealed for witnesses. a 15—year—old boy has appeared before magistrates in sheffield charged with murder. it follows the death of 15—year—old sam baker, who was stabbed in the chest in the city on thursday. whsmith has been voted the worst shop on uk high streets, by more than 10,000 people. in the survey, carried out by the consumer organisation which?, customers complained the stores were out—of—date, products were expensive and staff were rude. whsmith says just 184 shoppers commented.

the top companies were the cosmetics chain lush, the discounter savers, and the toy chain smyths toys. scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, has raised her concerns over brexit during a meeting with the eu's chief negotiator, michel barnier, in brussels this morning. ms sturgeon has called on the uk government to "engage properly" with devolved administrations after britain leaves the eu and says there's no alternative to the uk membership of the customs union and single market. the nhs in england is to review how much it pays male and female doctors — in an effort to eliminate a pay gap between the sexes of 15%. a review announced by the health secretary

at why male doctors are paid on average £10,000 more than female doctors. across the whole nhs, women are paid 23% less than men despite far more women being employed. the journey to work on the number 840 bus in north yorkshire isn't your ordinary commute. it's just been crowned the ‘most scenic bus ride in britain'. however, campaign groups are warning that rural services are in crisis. simon gompertz has hopped on board to find out how to keep the wheels turning. it's a bus driver's dream. the 840 coast liner starts in leeds, takes in york and then heads over the north york moors here and out to whitby on the coast. driving what has been crowned our most beautiful bus route and getting paid for it is adam davies. every day is a joy. every day is a joy on this route. it's just beautiful. it's not only helping people that live out here getting to bigger places and cities, but bringing people out of the cities into this beautiful land.

it's always nice when you see a whitby come up on your rota. this award for most scenic route was thought up by paul kirby, to drum up more interest in bus travel, as funding is squeezed ever tighter. rural communities, many of them do need their bus services. they are a lifeline for many people because they don't have cars and they don't have access to cars, or the elderly, for example, they can't drive any more. so that is why it is important to bring publicity to especially scenic routes like this one. are you going to york, love? ticket sales pay for this service, but only partly. it depends on public money, council subsidy over the winter, also the bus firm being reimbursed for letting on all the trippers with free bus passes. for anyone who hasn't got a car or anybody who hasn't got a driving licence, it's the only way to get out

and about in the area. if you didn't have the bus? if we didn't have the bus, we wouldn't go half of the time because you'd only use the car, because of the fuel price, you'd only use it once a week or once a fortnight, to try to save on the fuel. because i have epilepsy and i can't drive, it is very important to me that there are these bus routes, so i can get to places like whitby that i've been coming all my life. this is a trophy service. it's scenic and popular, so it has survived, but that is not the case for a lot of bus routes. bus funding has been cut by a third in the last eight years and it's often the rural, most—needed services, the ones that people don't have an alternative to, which tend to suffer. thank you, enjoy your holiday. last year, over 500 routes in england and wales were reduced or completely withdrawn. in whitby, volunteers have stepped in to provide services up to the places on the moors where people feel abandoned. whitby moors bus, we'll

have one of those. eden blythe is one of them, rebadging local buses and paying with donations. i think that somebody like us will always be needed. and we're happy to do it. but we don't really want to have to keep on taking overfailing bus services because that shouldn't be the case, should it? it's all the more reason, then, to cherish remaining routes like the 840, on which you can go where you need to while soaking up the views. simon gompertz, bbc news, north yorkshire. let's get the wqeather now with stav danaos. it has not been fabulous for everyone. violent thunderstorms through the midlands yesterday brought catastrophic flooding as we heard. through the rest of this afternoon. low cloud and mist burns

back and another fine and warm and sunny day and humid across sunny areas and we could see showers and thunderstorms. a bit hit and miss with sums gained right altogether. 20 celsius across the south west and north east of scotland but low cloud and mist rolls back in across many areas and we could see and read down pours. we start tuesday on a grey note with cloud breaking and burning back to the coast. lots of sunshine in northern and western areas but across many in central and southern areas, and storms breaking out which could be heavy and another one day. temperatures in the 20 celsius. the rest of the week stays warm and humid, some sunshine around and also a risk of thundery downpours which will continue.