good afternoon. the united states has accused china of "intimidating" its neighbours by continuing a military build—up in the south china sea. james mattis, the defense secretary, said china was using its military might to coerce other countries in the region to accept its ownership of the disputed waters. he was speaking at a security summit in singapore. president trump is due to meet with north korea's kimjong—un there in ten days time. from singapore, karishma vaswami has just sent this report. the us is here to stay in asia, that's the message us defence secretary james mattis had for his asian counterparts in singapore today. he also warned of china's increasing influence. china's militarisation of artificial features in the south china sea includes the deployment of surface to air missiles, electronicjammers and the landing of bomber aircraft

at woody island. despite their claims to the contrary, the placement of these weapons system is tied directly to military use for the purposes of intimidation and coercion. china says it owns all of the south china sea, a lucrative and strategic shipping zone, even though six other countries lay claim to it. it's been building military installations in the area, and critics say has silenced condemnation either by paying off its asian allies or by bullying them. allegations china denies. translation: it is within china's sovereign tree to deploy troops and weapons in the south china sea. it is allowed by international law. anyone making comments and this is trying to interfere in china's affairs. while the us is keen to assert its leadership in asia, president trump's america first

policies are sometimes incompatible with those goals. in singapore, security is being stepped up because injust ten security is being stepped up because in just ten days' time this city plays host to the summit of the century. the meeting between president trump and kim jong—un. the us has said it is committed to denuclearisation, and that pulling us troops out of this region isn't on the table. america is positioning itself as a force to be reckoned with in asia, and the superpower its asian allies should stick to. the united states has vetoed a un security council resolution calling for protection for palestinians in gaza and the west bank following the deaths of more than a hundred people during recent violent protests. the us ambassador to the un, nikki haley, said it was because the resolution failed to mention hamas which israel views as a terrorist organisation. britain abstained in the vote. northern rail has admitted the introduction of its emergency timetable next week will lead to the cancellation of several hundred trains each week. it follows the failure to fully

implement a new timetable which was introduced two weeks ago. our correspondent olivia richwald is at wakefield station in west yorkshire. olivia. 165 trains cancelled every day across the northern rail network, starting on monday and running till the end ofjuly. that's the new emergency timetable brought in to bring to an end to weeks of chaos following the introduction of new timetables. yesterday there were 350 trains cancelled across the northern rail network, one of the worst affected operators. i've spoken to a spokesman for the operator and they say in yorkshire it is actually an improving picture. things are getting back to normal. but there are still major problems in greater manchester, especially in manchester and blackpool. that's where drivers haven't yet been trained on the new timetables causing all of these

problems. northern rail has apologised again and promised it will deliver improvements, but it may take some time. meanwhile houses of parliament are poised to debate next week. a 43—year—old man has been charged in connection with the attempted murder of two police officers yesterday. constables kenny mckenzie and laura sayers were stabbed as they attended a routine visit at a house in greenock. they're due to be discharged from hospital today. visa says its debit and credit card operations are working normally again following problems in the uk and elsewhere in europe yesterday. visa's says it's now operating at "full capacity" after a hardware failure. it's apologised to customers and says it fell "well short" of its goals. google is reported to be filling out ofa google is reported to be filling out of a contract to do artificial intelligence work for the us defence department. some employees resigned

and thousands of others signed a protest petition saying it was the first step towards using artificial intelligence for lethal processes. the bbc has learned that an investigation into the attempted murder of norman scott is to be reopened as police concede they may have wrongly concluded that andrew newton, a hitman allegedly hired to kill him, was dead. scott was an ex—lover of former liberal party leader jeremy thorpe at a time when homosexuality was illegal. the story has been bought to life in the bbc one drama a very english scandal, which concludes tomorrow evening. jon donnison reports. jeremy thorpe, charming, ambitious and powerful, was at the heart of one of the biggest political scandals of the 20th century. in an 0ld scandals of the 20th century. in an old bailey trial, the married liberal party leader was accused but acquitted of masterminding a plot to kill his former lover, norman scott.

he was the love of my life. don't be ridiculous. a current bbc drama has renewed interest in the case. safe journey, peter, and i wish you a happy life. and then i wish norman scott to be killed. but what is fiction and what is fact? this weekend a bbc documentary will make fresh revelations. it's based on a panorama film made at the time of the trial in 1979 which has never been broadcast until now. it couldn't be shown because we had evidence ofjeremy thorpe's guilt. and of course, he was found not guilty, so the documentary couldn't be shown and furthermore i was ordered to destroy it by the deck director—general of the bbc. i kept it as director—general of the bbc. i kept itasa director—general of the bbc. i kept it as a tape, converted it to disk. my it as a tape, converted it to disk. my dog tried to eat the disc but i still managed to save it and that's what's running tomorrow night. the

documentary will look at the role of andrew newton, portrayed here in the bbc drama. he has admitted shooting norman scott's dog, before his gun jammed as he tried to shoot scott. newton said he was paid to do it. in 2015, gwent police began looking into the case against, after fresh claims that newton could prove there was a cover—up. 0fficers stopped when making deluded newton was dead. now, gwent police have told the bbc andrew newton might still be alive and are trying to trace him. norman scott, now in his late 70s, has welcomed the news. i don't think anybody has tried hard enough to look for him. i really don't. there must be people who knew him and there would surely be a record of him dying. surely. jeremy thorpe died four years ago, but the case continues to fascinate and the

intrigue and the hunt for the truth continues. and you can see tom mangold's documentary, the jeremy thorpe scandal, on bbc four tomorrow night at10:00pm. with all the sport, here's john watson at the bbc sport centre. good afternoon. britain's last hope of success in the singles at the french open, kyle edmund, is currently on court at roland garros in paris. he's taking on fabio fognini who's just one place below him in the world rankings. edmund looked to have made the perfect start, racing into a 3—1 lead in the opening set. but then the italian mounted an impressive comeback, winning five games in a row to take the first set. both players have suffered problems, with the briton‘s knee playing up and fognini needing treatment as well. edmund has just lost the fourth set, so the match will go the full distance. in the women's draw, the former wimbledon champion and number 8 seed, petra kvitova, is out. she was beaten in straight sets by the 25th seed anett kontaveit. that's a first defeat in 13

matches for kvitova. gareth southgate will provide an indication of his preferred line—up ahead of england's opening match of the world cup as his side face nigeria in the first of two friendlies later, before the squad travel to russia. 0ur sports correspondent, david 0rnstein, is at wembley, and david, it feels like this is where the campaign starts in earnest. indeed. in two weeks' time the world cup will be under way and england will be 48 hours out from their first match against tunisia. this is the first of two friendlies. the second is against costa rica on thursday. at training yesterday i saw a squad in high spirits, full of confidence. this is a young squad, largely free of the shackles or previous tournament failures. they are also been experienced. none of them have won a match at the world

cup so gareth southgate will want to use these warm up matches and another behind closed doors to ramp up another behind closed doors to ramp upfor another behind closed doors to ramp up for the final tournament. nigeria are at the world cup in their own right so this will be a serious test and they'll have plenty of fans here. kick—off is at 5:15pm. the five—time paralympic champion ellie simmonds has criticised british swimming after she returned to elite action in sheffield last night. simmonds put in a european championship qualification standard performance at the british para—swimming international meet. she'd taken time away after the rio games, saying she "hated" the sport, and says that the governing body hasn't been there to support her. i think it's because i had something to prove to british swimming, because they've not been there for me at all this past couple of years. i'm doing it solo, well, not solo, but with a great team around me, but ijust wanted to prove them wrong and that i'm still there. a belgian bedding company mightjust

have inadvertently revealed the 23 names who will make up the squad at the world cup. a tv broadcaster showed footage of mattresses being loaded for their departure to russia with labels indicating the player there to to given to. manager roberto martinez has already named a 28—man provisional squad. his final 23 wasn't due to be announced until monday. as yet there's been no play so far today on the second day of the second test between england and pakistan because of rain. this is the scene at headingley. if they do get going today, england will start on 106—2, 68 runs behind. that's all the sport for now. that's it. the next news on bbc one is at 5:50pm. have a good afternoon. hello. you're watching the bbc news channel. let's get more now on one of those stories i mentioned a few moments ago. visa's payment system is now operating at "full capacity" following widespread disruption

to card payments across the uk and europe yesterday. the company says the problems were down to a ‘hardware failure' and has apologised to customers. payments processed through visa's systems account for one third of all uk spending. john mcmanus reports. visa says its high—tech payment system can handle 65,000 transactions per second, but on friday that boast fell flat as cardholders in the uk and across europe found their plastic simply wouldn't work. the problem began in the afternoon, appearing to largely affect electronic payments rather than cash machine withdrawals. many shoppers took to social media to complain, with the company forced to apologise. these people in droitwich said it wasn't just customers who were caught out. you can tell the staff are on tenterhooks, the manager'sjumping and down. he's being a bit firm with his staff because its territory they're not used to being in i think.

there was a couple in front of us, and we hear that all the cashpoints there... all the cards were down, and apparently it was all over the world. so i was, like, panicking. i've just gone on to barclays bank and drew some money out. payment processing through visa systems accounts for £1 of every £3 of all uk spending, that adds up to a lot of unhappy customers. by friday night, the company said their cards were now largely working at normal levels and that the "issue was the result of a hardware failure. we have no reason to believe this was associated with any unauthorised access or malicious event." as a nation, we're using cards more than ever. that's why friday's events left so many of us frustrated. but experts say it would be wise to have some back—up payment optionsjust in case, that's cash to you and me. the consumer group which has warned people to be wary of any phone calls or e—mails about the visa problems. they mayjust be fraudsters

trying to use the event to gain your personal details. john mcmanus, bbc news. earlier i spoke to paul lewis, presenter of bbc radio 4's moneybox, about what visa has been saying this morning, and whether card holders could be eligible for compensation. visa was saying nothing. the bank of england was saying nothing except that there was a problem. it was only late last night that visa admitted they had identified a hardware failure. i think what happened is that reduced capacity so much that some payments got through, most didn't. we heard stories of people in a pub where one got through and the rest didn't. it was a bit of a puzzle. what puzzles me is where was the back—up? this is the premier payment system in the world, probably, and certainly in the uk. 95% of debit cards go through visa. why wasn't there a back—up to fill the gap? is this a problem with the banks

in terms of the sustainability of their computer systems? they are dependent on what they call legacy systems. they have been there a long time. they daren‘t turn them off and start again for fear of what they would lose. visa started in the 1960s. there is a danger that they are growing the capacity, so many people use contactless now, just to pay and go, it all causes strain on the system. it could be that itjust collapsed at some point because of the capacity. people like me get accused of being dinosaurs because we want to carry on using things like cheques. presumably this is a reminder about having to have more than one option. absolutely. as we heard just then, i'm saying to people don'tjust have cards from two different banks, have a visa card, and a mastercard, and american express and some cash. i talk to colleagues, "i barely carry 20 quid around

with me," but you've got to have enough to get you through the next few hours just in case something like this happens. there's also an issue of compensation because people have been losing money, going to extra expense. small businesses have lost money. visa has apologised this morning but is that apology going to turn into cash for those who have lost money? which are saying today people should hold onto receipts and proof of any additional expenditure. they clearly think there is the potential for compensation. absolutely. i'd heard stories that people thought they had paid, it didn't go through, they tried again and now this morning they have discovered there are two payments on their card. you'll probably get one of them back, but if you tried and then paid with cash, how can you prove the card payment was not the one you thought you had made? how can you get that back? there are issues of double payments that people may have made. there will potentially be a problem over the weekend because people

will have taken out a lot of money last night because they didn't know if the system would work, and suddenly all those cashpoints are empty. yes, they did empty and there were queues of people. there were some reports of cash machines in london that had run out of money because people were taking enough for the weekend. there could be problems. i imagine they are trying to fill them up. now of course there will be more people paying with cash over the weekend. the last point is how confident visa and therefore everybody as customers can be that this isn't going to happen again? you can't be. if we asked visa 24 hours ago if this could happen, they would have said no. when you're ready, we're ready i think is their slogan. i don't think we can guarantee it. i'm not saying anything about any other system, it could be visa, mastercard, american express, your bank. anything could go wrong and we can't just rely on one payment system. we have to be prepared. five people have now died

in an e.coli outbreak in the us. a total of 197 cases across 35 states have been reported in the largest us outbreak since 2006. the contaminated food is believed to be romaine lettuce, but an investigation is still ongoing as to its source. joining me is andrew skinner, fellow of the society of food hygiene and technology. thank you for being with us. i was about to say this lunchtime which it will be for some people, but it may not be the happiest subject to be talking about but it is an important one. what do we know about the origins of this particular outbreak? at the moment the investigation has been going on for around two months. asi been going on for around two months. as i understand there are still a lot of uncertainties about the sources and causes of it. we can come back to that in a moment. let's

not forget, this is a very nasty bacteria. whilst there are lots of different types of e. coli, this particular one, it produces a very nasty toxin and once ingested can have some very serious effect on the person who has ingested that. it is notjust diarrhoea, it is stomach cramps. it can result in very watery diarrhoea and blood in the diarrhoea. in very extreme cases it can result in kidney failure, so this is pretty nasty. the issue here is they need to get back to the source and because so they can be absolutely certain they have eliminated and they can take action to make sure it has not happened again. —— it does not happen again. five deaths, is that a comparatively high figure of fatalities? we have had e. coli cases in the uk. 22 years or so ago

we had a case in scotland. 0ff cases in the uk. 22 years or so ago we had a case in scotland. off the top of my head i think there were four deaths and there were a few hundred people affected. in 2005 we had the case in wales where one little boy died. there were a number of people infected there. this would appear to be about in line with what we have seen in the past. the mortality is significant for the number of people who get infected. and just to add to what you said there in terms of the numbers, in there in terms of the numbers, in the us at the moment, i think there are something like 26 other cases that have been diagnosed so far, are currently being treated for kidney failure. so potentially the number of deaths could rise? it has been suggested that it has been linked to letters. why would let this be a likely culprit? i think you have to look at the known sources of this form of e. coli —— it has been

linked to lettuce. this bacteria develops in the stomachs of cows. if they leave their droppings of fields this can get into waterways and this is used for irrigation for fields. some funds mania is used to fertilise fields. these are some of the courses which could be why we have seen this e. coli get onto the product and then through the food chain. a reminder for people here and everywhere, wash thoroughly before you eat? yes, thoroughly wash vegeta bles before you eat? yes, thoroughly wash vegetables before you eat them. if you can peel them, even with an apple, if you can peel it before you eat it, that is a good sound practice to follow. thank you. let's return to the story of the scandal involving the former liberal leaderjeremy thorpe, who was accused of conspiring to murder his former lover norman scott. mr thorpe and his alleged

co—conspirators were found not guilty. bbc panorama has learnt that a police investigation into the attempted murder is to be re—opened, and for the first time, a previously unaired programme from 1979 will be shown tomorrow night. tom mangold, the panorama journalist who fronts the documentary, spoke to me a little earlier about what the latest investigation had discovered. the new evidence we have uncovered is from a man called dennis meehan, who told me he was part of the original conspiracy to murder norman scott, and that he, meehan, andrew newton, remember the guy who shot rinka, scott's dog, and a member of the liberal party conspired at the ritz cafe in shepherd's bush to murder norman scott. meehan was the first person who was hired as the hitman. he went down to barnstaple to kill scott, lost his nerve at the last moment, gave the gun to newton and the rest is history. meehan made a full confession to scotland yard detectives about this.

this is back in the 70s? way back in the 70s. that full confession was subsequently disappeared. and in its place meehan was invited to sign a much more anodyne statement which happened not to mention jeremy thorpe or the fact that he, meehan, had gone down to kill norman. meehan was anxious to sign it. as the result of my revelation on that, gwent police were invited to conduct an investigation into these allegations. the investigation lasted a year, and i'm afraid it has been a bit ineffectual, because they said, we cannot proceed with this because andrew newton, the third member, is dead. sadly, they have now had to revise their opinion because they don't think andrew newton is dead. so the revelation itself therefore is notjust that andrew newton may well be alive when they thought he was dead, but more importantly,

that that was the thing that stopped the investigation, and therefore if he is still alive, the investigation could start again? absolutely. it seems to me the investigation must start again because my guess is, when i knew newton, he was a fit young man, and i would not be surprised at all if he is still alive. and of course this investigation must now be taken more seriously. let's establish whether the man is alive or not. it is not that hard work and let's see what comes of it. do have a sense that people would rather this all went away? yes. on the one hand i have felt vibrations of that. on the other hand, i went to see norman scott during the week

and we had a long conversation. he also wants an end to this, but he would like the conspiracy revealed. in the film that i made in 1979, which is being shown tomorrow night on bbc four, we came up with extraordinary details of the conspiracy, notjust to murder norman scott, but the conspiracy to cover up norman scott, but the conspiracy to cover upjeremy norman scott, but the conspiracy to cover up jeremy thorpe's, sexuality, his relationship with scott, and finally, the attempt to murder him -- his finally, the attempt to murder him —— his homosexuality. that was a conspiracy involving the police, the security service and elements in the political establishment, including one home secretary. all of this leaves a bad taste in the mouth in terms of what happened at the time, but there will be those who say all the key figures are dead, or the people who were accused of this conspiracy went to court and were

found not guilty, are gone. is there any purpose in pursuing this as an investigation by the police?|j any purpose in pursuing this as an investigation by the police? i think you could argue, as norman does, that justice was not you could argue, as norman does, thatjustice was not done. jeremy thorpe and his co—conspirators walked free. i think all the evidence indicates that they were guilty. even do ajury evidence indicates that they were guilty. even do a jury said evidence indicates that they were guilty. even do ajury said not? yes. andrew newton pointed the gun at norman's head to kill him and it jammed. itjammed at norman's head to kill him and it jammed. it jammed because at norman's head to kill him and it jammed. itjammed because newton kept the gun in his pocket which was full of fluff so it was bound to jam! none of these people have actually been charged with the right offence. norman scott feels a bit aggrieved by that. my own feeling is, i will be delighted to see this film running at last. it was never broadcast in 1979 because of the not guilty verdict? it could not be run,

because the film showed only the jeremy thorpe was guilty, and we had all the evidence. but the film concerned itself much more with the cover—up, the conspiracy to protect jeremy thorpe, at a time in the establishment felt it really did not need another scandal. we had had kim philby, the cambridge five, we had had christine keeler, jack profumo, john vassal, and the americans were putting pressure on us about these sex and spy scandals, and the last thing we wanted wasjeremy thorpe, leader of the liberal party, potential home secretary or foreign secretary in eight head heaped coalition government, the last thing we wa nted coalition government, the last thing we wanted was to expose him as a covert gay. tom mangold speaking to me earlier. the jeremy thorpe scandal is on bbc four this sunday at 10pm. the german state of bavaria has introduced a controversial new law, which requires all public buildings

to display a christian cross in theirfoyer. the man at the centre of the law — regional premier markus soeder — says the crucifix is at the heart of bavaria. but critics have slammed him for politicising a religious symbol to woo far—right, and those hostile to islam. tiffany wertheimer‘s report contains flash photography. this will be a common sight in bavaria from now on. as of friday morning, nearly all government buildings in the south—eastern german state must display a crucifix. as the law came into effect, its mastermind, premier markus soder, wasn't even in bavaria. he was at the vatican enjoying a private audience with the pope. soder says the cross is at the heart of bavaria's identity. but the new law has left germans divided. translation: i think it's a good thing, because it's a part of our tradition, and i'm a religious person. i don't need to hang one on the wall. sometimes i even feel a bit

uneasy about the cross. but i am of the opinion that everyone should be able to decide for themselves. markus soder is the leader of bavaria's conservative christian social union. it's the sister party of angela merkel‘s christian democratic union. with state elections looming, critics say the crucifix law