a motorist in his 805 has died after being caught in flash flooding in the west midlands. torrential rain and storms hit in the region — with a major clear—up operation taking place today. to see my neighbour going through this again, it's awful. everything out on the streets. many of them have only just moved back in from the flood two years ago. i don't know how they're going to cope. the extreme weather happened as other parts of the country enjoyed warm and dry bank holiday weather. also tonight. an interim prime ministerfor italy — but he's just a temporary solution to the country's deep political crisis. fresh protests in northern ireland over its restrictive abortion laws — as labour piles new pressure on theresa may to act. and how this man's bravery saved the life of a child — and made him a national hero in france. good evening.

a man in his 80s has died after his car was submerged by flash floods in walsall in the west midlands. it happened as more than a month's rainfall deluged parts of birmingham this weekend after widespread storms and rain. the met office issued yellow weather warnings of rain and storms for southern england and wales for this afternoon — although some areas of the country basked in warm sunshine and high temperatures. our correspondent sima kotecha is in birmingham for us this evening. it has been a difficult 2a hours for people living in the city, flash flooding has led to serious damage but it is the aftermath that is now causing a lot of concern and distress. their precious possessions destroyed and discarded. 2a hours after violent

thunderstorms and heavy downpours swept across the country, the clean—up operation is under way. and some of those worst affected feel deflated. we did have about an hour as we watched the water come up and moved as much of our possessions as we could upstairs and then the water came into the house. and once it started coming in, it got higher and higher and it was above the level of the windows there. it was above the level of the doors at the back and then it started coming in as a torrent. like a river breaking its banks, basically. the houses on this street are particularly vulnerable. if you go to the end of the road, there is the bourne brook. many of the homes here have been flooded now three times over the last decade. on this street some are calling it a deluge of biblical proportions. violent storms meant water gushing into the neighbouring

river and in some cases causing maximum damage. absolutely devastated for my neighbours. i mean, i'm quite fortunate that my house wasn't flooded but to see my neighbours going through this again, it's awful. everything out on the street, and many of them have onlyjust moved back in from the flood two years ago. i don't know how they're going to cope, i really don't. in parts of this area a month's rain injust one hour. 15 miles away in walsall a man in his 80s died after reportedly being stuck in his vehicle which was submerged in flooded water. the fire brigade went to rescue a man who was trapped in his car. took him out, put him on a plastic raft and brought him here. i later learned that this man died. u nfortu nately. the environment agency in the west midlands had issued multiple flood warnings as smaller rivers filled up

after the downpours. for those affected the most, it's likely to take months before they are able to get their homes back to the way they once were. the west midlands environment agency had issued 33 flood warnings and of those 33 just one of them remains in place but the problems for people living here are not over yet. they will now be making a case for more flood defences to be installed as soon as possible. a young man has been hailed as a hero in paris — after scaling a building to rescue a small boy who was dangling from a balcony. mamoudou gassama, who's from mali, has been widely praised for saving the 4—year old — and is now to be made a french citizen. today he met the french president emmanuel macron, who honoured him with a medal of courage. from paris, lucy williamson reports. france has nicknamed him spiderman.

his real name is mamoudou gassama. when he saw a toddler dangling from a fourth floor balcony, the malian immigrant ran straight past the crowd of onlookers and began to climb. in less than a minute he had scaled the outside of the building. a neighbour holding onto the toddler until he arrived. with one leg swung across the balcony, mamoudou swept the child to safety. cheering the child's father is now being questioned for apparently leaving him at home alone. this morning mr gassama was invited to meet president macron, who asked him whether he had stopped to think before climbing the building. translation: no, i wasn't thinking about anything. ijust climbed. once i started, god gave me the courage to continue. the president awarded mr gassama a bravery medal and certificate and offered him a role

in the french fire service. he also invited him to apply for french citizenship. mr gassama had documents allowing him to work in italy but not to enter france. translation: i am glad, because it is my first time to win an award like this. iam happy. thank you. translation: i asked him the question about being afraid and he told me, "no. "i didn't think about myself. "i was thinking about the child." when he started climbing, he got scared that the child would get tired and let go. and after months of living in the shadows, mamoudou gassama is tonight tasting sudden celebrity. the video of his dramatic ascent, which has spread like wildfire on social media, made him a nationwide hero — before the french state even knew he was here. cheering and applause lucy williamson, bbc news, paris.

police have arrested three people suspected of dealing class—a drugs at a music festival in portsmouth, where a man and a woman died on saturday. georgia jones, who was 18, and 20—year—old tommy cowan fell ill at the mutiny festival. a third person remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital. our correspondent frankie mccamley is with me now — bring us up to date with what we know. at around half past nine on saturday evening after two people fell ill and organisers of the mutiny festival in portsmouth one people they were aware of a dangerous high—strength substance on the site and they urged people not to take drugs. what we know is that 15 people were taken to hospital in total, one person still remained in a critical but stable condition. sadly two people died, 18—year—old georgia jones whose mother has described as a strong—willed,

opinionated young lady and 22—year—old tommy khan, his father spoke to the bbc urging people to consider the risks of taking drugs and described how he watched his son hathaway in hospital. the second day of the festival was due to take this yesterday but was cancelled as what has been described as a 50 precaution. today police have said they've arrested three men in their 20s on suspicion of supplying class a drugs. italy's president sergio mattarella has asked a former economist to form a caretaker government, in a bid to pull the country out of political turmoil. italy has had no government since elections in march. two eurosceptic parties tried to form a coalition — but mr mattarella vetoed their choice of finance minister, as he backed abandoning the euro. and as james reynolds reports, fresh elections are likely soon. this is italy's newest prime minister designate. carlo cotta relli is a pro—euro economist and a non—populist.

the president has picked him to maintain italy's current relationship with the european union. translation: it's essential to defend our interests in europe and be constructive. italy is a founding country. our role is essential for italy as is our continued participation in the euro. but the populists, led here sergio mattarella, have the numbers to reject the president's choice and force early elections. mr salvini, who has been going up in the polls, once the freedom to govern his way. translation: if the president of the republic tells us, do as you want, but don't touch the european rules, we have a problem with democracy. because the people in italy are sovereign and don't depend entirely on european markets and bureaucracies. wherever you look here there are signs of italy's six

decade—long partnership with europe. but this country has begun to shift. this is the country that helped to found the european union. why are the populist parties turning against it? because people think that germany rules all europe and germany rules italy. and they want to control italy and the agreements on the european union is an advantage for germany and a disadvantage for italy. italy is used to changing prime ministers but this is much more serious than that. an election later this year may become an unofficial referendum on italy's membership of the euro and on its place in the european union, that this country helped to create. james reynolds, bbc news, rome. a brief look at some of the day's other news

stories. a british national, who was held on death row in ethiopia on terrorism charges, has received a pardon. andy tsege has been detained in the country where he was born since 2014. it's not clear exactly when he will be released. a 28—year—old man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering an 11—year—old girl and a woman aged 31 in gloucester. they were found seriously injured by police just before five o'clock this morning. police have urged anyone with information about the incident to get in touch. the health secretary, jeremy hunt, has promised to make the nhs in england a beacon for pay equality, after launching a review of why female medical staff are paid less than their male counterparts. at present, male doctors are paid on average ten thousand pounds more than their female colleagues. scotland's first minister has accused the british government of "floundering about" over brexit — and warned that time is running out for the uk to strike a deal with the eu. nicola sturgeon was speaking after talks with the eu's chief negotiator,

michel barnier, in brussels. with every week that passes without the uk being clear and focused and realistic about what it wants to achieve, that prospect of a damaging no deal seems to me to get greater, and that's in nobody‘s interests. i don't think there's support for it in the uk and there's certainly no preparedness for it in the uk, so sooner or later reality is going to bite for the uk government. my view is we should try and make that sooner rather than later. our europe correspondent damian grammaticas is in brussels. — so it seems nicola sturgeon is echoing the sentiments of michel barnier? this was not part of the negotiations, nicola sturgeon has no role in that but this was michel barnier briefing her and whether government says that progress is being made they both disagree. eu officials are preparing for a summit infour

officials are preparing for a summit in four weeks' time which is meant to sign of on the broad progress on those outstanding issues. the irish border and the legal underpinnings ofan border and the legal underpinnings of an exit deal. how any disputes would be governed. michel barnier, his team and nicola sturgeon both say that time is running out and progress is not being made and there isa progress is not being made and there is a risk that if the deadline is missed the only one that remains is in october and the uk could risk exiting with no deal which would also mean no transition period that follows that. those things are not nailed down country to perceptions that somehow. now nicola sturgeon said today that in her opinion the a nswer to said today that in her opinion the answer to the difficulties in the negotiations is that the uk should stay in the single market and in a customs union with the eu. of course thatis customs union with the eu. of course that is the red line that the government has set and it has

already ruled those out. pressure to relax northern ireland's strict abortion laws is intensifying — following friday's referendum in the irish republic. labour has added its voice to calls for women to be given the same rights across the uk — and this evening — campaigners who want to see the law change held a demonstration in belfast. from there, our ireland correspondent chris page reports. what do we want? the calls for change have become louder. in northern ireland abortion is illegal u nless northern ireland abortion is illegal unless there is a serious or permit risk a woman's health. protesters say that the law is outdated and unfair. i feel we're dragging say that the law is outdated and unfair. i feelwe're dragging behind the rest of europe, the rest of the western world. women are being denied human rights. it is like the dark ages and incredible we are still in this position. a huge shift in attitudes on the other side of the irish border has given new

momentum to these demonstrators but there has been no devolved government now for more than 500 days and in the absence of stormont campaigners are focusing on westminster. this woman and her story made a big impact on the debate, she travelled to england to end her pregnancy when doctors said that her unborn child could not survive outside the womb. it was a terrifying time and more traumatic thanit terrifying time and more traumatic than it should have been. if stormont was up and running we would be up there begging by the help but it is not so we're asking theresa may and westminster now to help us. we need the help now. activists in dublin had already turned their attention to belfast as the last referendum result was becoming clear on saturday. two thirds voting to liberalise the abortion laws. severalformer liberalise the abortion laws. several former tory cabinet ministers are among a number of cross— party m ps ministers are among a number of cross—party mps who want parliament to pass legislation to give women greater access to terminations in northern ireland but the democratic unionist party on whom the prime

minister relies for her parliamentary majority are intent on keeping the restrictions. my message for the prime minister is that this isa for the prime minister is that this is a matter, a sensitive matter, which the people of northern ireland have the right to make a decision on under the devolution settlement and she should not just under the devolution settlement and she should notjust because there area siren she should notjust because there are a siren voices from the liberals and the left wing and westminster, she should not doubt of that. the government says abortion law is an issue for politicians in northern ireland and it shows the need to restore devolution. this most personal of matters has become highly political. the social revolution in the irish republic is having repercussions north of the border and across the irish sea for the. football — and coventry city have been promoted to league one after beating exeter city three—one at wembley. jordan willis's strike opened the scoring for the sky blues and helped to consign exeter to a second straight play—off final defeat, despite finishing two places higher in the regular season.

for coventry it is an immediate return to league one after relegation last year. and in tennis — britain's cameron norrie — 85th in the world — has made it through to the 2nd round of the french open. the 22 year old — who turned pro only last year — beat his higher—ranking opponent, germany's peter gojowczyk who had to retire from injury, after losing the first set. that's all from the bbc news at six — so it's goodbye from me — and on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are. hello and welcome to sportsday. coming up on the programme... short and sweet for britain's number three as cameron norrie eases into the second round of the french open. a much longer wait for coventry city — 51 years since their last promotion. ,,