hello, you're watching afternoon live. i'm simon mccoy. today at 2... controversial plans for a third runway at heathrow are approved by ministers. mps will vote within weeks. expansion at heathrow will bring real benefits across the country, including a boost of up to £74 billion to passengers and the wider economy, providing better connections to growing world markets and increasing flights to more long haul destinations. a corporate silence — companies involved in the refurbishment of grenfell tower are criticised at the inquiry into the deaths of 72 people. newspapers across the north of england join forces to call on the prime minister to "get a grip" and deal with the delays and cancellations on the rail network. straight to the house of commons because matt hancock, the culture secretary, is to billy mcculloch in a statement. on the 7th of may, comcast notified an intention to

acquire sky. as the crypt stayed i am required to consider whether the merger raises public interest concerns to meet the threshold for intervention set out in section 58 the enterprise act. as required, i considered the need for a sufficient plurality of people with control of media enterprises, the need for a wide range of high—quality broadcasting and the need for a genuine commitment to broadcasting standards. last month i inform the house i was minded not to intervene in the merger is on the basis that it does not meet the threshold for intervention. i gave interested parties time to make the presentations and received no further representations and as a result i have concluded that the proposed merger does not made public interest concerns and so i can confirm today that i will not be issuing an intervention notice. turning to fox's proposed acquisition of sky, in march 2070 my predecessor issued an intervention

notice on public interest grounds due to concerns about media plurality and the genuine commitment to broadcasting standards. the intervention noticed triggered phase one investigations by off, and the cma pulls up in september, having considered these reports come along with further advice from ofcom, she referred the proposed merger to the cma for a phased investigation of both grounds. the cma published its interim report in january both grounds. the cma published its interim report injanuary and provided its final report to be on the ist of may. i have today published this report and deposited it copied in the libraries of both houses. the report confirms as previously set out that the proposed merger does pass the threshold for a releva nt merger does pass the threshold for a relevant merger situation and provide recommendations on both public interest tests. on broadcasting standards the cma carried out a thorough and systematic assessment taking into

account systematic assessment taking into a ccou nt fox systematic assessment taking into account fox and sky botaka approach to broadcasting standards both in and out of the uk and the approach of fox and news corp to a wider regulatory compliance and corporate governance. the cma concluded in line with this interim findings that the merger may not be expected to operate against the public interest on the grounds of genuine commitment to broadcasting standards and, mr speaker, i agree with this for ending. —— at this finding. on the question of media plurality, the cma report confirms the interim findings that the proposed merger may be expected to operate against the public interest and the cma found cause for concern in two areas. first, the potential of emotion sky news's editorial independence which could in turn lead to a reduction in the diversity of viewpoints available and consumed by the public and second, the possibility of an increased influence of the murdoch family trust over public opinion in

the uk's political agenda. the cma has used a clear and logical approach and taking into account the ofcom's media plurality framework. they have taken great care to update a wide range of written and oral evidence and i agree with this finding as well. where the cma makes afinding finding as well. where the cma makes a finding that a merger is likely to operate against the public interest they are then required to consider what remedy would be appropriate. to address the plurality concerns, the cma considered a range of options including those proposed by the parties, specifically firstly a firewall of behavioural commitments to insulate sky news from the influence of the murdoch family trust, second a ring fence where sky news would be structurally separated from sky but still owned by fox along with the same behavioural commitments. by vesting sky news twisted but the party and forth, prohibition of the transaction as a

whole. i have considered the cma's detailed assessment and their conclusions as to how effective and proportionate the different remedies are. i agree with the cma that die vesting sky news to disney as proposed by fox ought to an alternative suitable buyer with an agreement to ensure it is funded for at least ten years it likely to be the most proportionate and effective remedy for the public interest concerns that have been identified. the cma report sets out some draft terms for such a divestments and fox has written to meet to offer undertakings on effectively the same terms. the proposals include significant commitments from fox but there are still some important issues on the draft undertakings that need to be addressed. i need to be confident that the final undertakings ensure that sky news remains financially viable over the long term, it's able to operate as a major uk—based news provided, and

is able to take it editorial decisions independently, free from any potential outside influence. as any potential outside influence. as a result i have asked my officials to begin immediate discussions with the parties to finalise the details with a review to agreeing an a cce pta ble with a review to agreeing an acceptable form of remedies so we can all be confident sky news kebede divest it in a way that works for the long—term. under the legislation iam required the long—term. under the legislation i am required to consult formally for 15 days on the undertakings. septic to the willingness of the parties to agree the details, i aim to publish this consultation within a fortnight. i am optimistic we can achieve this goal not least the willingness of 21st—century fox joan in developing these credible proposals but if we could agree terms at this point then i agree with the cma that the only effective remedy now would be to block the merger altogether. this is not my preferred approach. mr speaker, we followed a scrupulously fair and impartial process based only on the

releva nt impartial process based only on the relevant evidence and objectivity testified by the facts. i would like to thank ofcom, the cma, the parties, my predecessor and my fantastic team at dcms for all the ha rd fantastic team at dcms for all the hard work. i hope we can reach a final agreement very soon. mr speaker, i want to see a paul gustard industry in britain that is strong and effective and competitive andi strong and effective and competitive and i commend this statement to the house. an announcement from the culture secretary, matt hancock, saying he will not intervene in that rival comcast bid for sky and he agrees that 21st—century fox and their bid for sky does not cause concerns on broadcasting standards and says that he agrees with the cma to divest sky news is the best way and most proportional and effective remedy on media plurality. it would appear that will go ahead and could prompt fox to increase its offer for

the sit—ski 1% of sky it does not already own to fend off that rival offer from comcast, so already own to fend off that rival offerfrom comcast, so something of a bidding war could follow the announcement —— 61%. we will talk about the ramifications of that later on. buckle up and get ready fora bumpy landing. despite today's government decision to approve plans for a new third runway at heathrow airport, opponents are preparing for a further battle over britain's skies. transport secretary chris grayling told the commons that expansion will allow britain to keep pace with other international economies, and that the benefits of the scheme will stretch far beyond london. the proposals will be voted on by mps within weeks. our business correspondent, theo leggett, reports. buckle up and get ready fora bumpy landing. this isn't down on the farm, it is london's vast airport at heathrow, scene of intense daily activity. when it was first built, heathrow was meant to provide all the airport capacity london needed. it's a long and involved business but when finished, the result will be an airport worthy of the world's metropolis. 70 years later, it is bursting at the seams.

there simply is not enough space for any more flights. politicians have been arguing about how to expand airport capacity in the south—east for decades, but today the government threw its weight firmly behind a third runway at heathrow. expansion at heathrow will bring real benefits across the country, including a boost of up to £74 billion to passengers and the wider economy, providing better connections to growing world markets and increasing flights to more long haul destinations. so what is actually being planned? this is heathrow as it stands today, with two runways, north and south. the new third runway would be built to the north—west and would pass through where the village of harmondsworth currently stands. two other villages would also be affected. heathrow‘s owners say the cost of the project would be £14 billion, although opponents say it could be higher than that. nearly 800 homes would have to be demolished. but then the airport would then be able to handle hundreds of thousands more take—offs and landings every

year and more than 50 million extra passengers. it's a plan the villagers of harmondsworth have been fighting against for years. it lies bang slap in the middle of the most densely populated residential region in the country and it is almost inconceivable you could have 250,000 extra flights with all the vehicularjourneys that would mean in terms of road journeys and freight without having serious impacts on the air we breathe and the noise people suffer. those in favour of a third runway believe it will bring significant economic benefits, notjust for london and the south—east but for the country as a whole. the crucial thing to understand about a hub airport like heathrow is that the bigger routes to cities like new york are fed by smaller feeder planes that include rather than exclude other parts of the uk. we need to start taking a long—term view on infrastructure. but the plan has to be approved

by the house of commons, and many london mps are unhappy. they think the new airport will bring not only more planes but more noise and pollution as well, blighting the lives of local residents. they include members of the conservative party's own ranks. this is a massively expensive than polluting proposal to expand heathrow, but also i think people would prefer to see a regional airport strategy with the connections they need on their doorstep rather than going hundreds of miles to london to then fly from heathrow. it is a 20th—century strategy in a 21st—century point—to—point world. there is no doubt that today's announcement brings the prospect of a third runway at heathrow a step closer, but opponents remain determined to make their voices heard and are unlikely to back down until the tarmac has actually been laid. in a moment will talk to our chief political correspondent, vicki young, who's at westminster.

first to jon ironmonger who is at heathrow airport. this has been going on for an awfully long time and there is still awfully long time and there is still a long way to go? yes, and chris grayling describe this as a historic moment when he outlined the national policy statement and you rather think it is since it has taken so long but finally we have a government that is committed to a type of airport expansion, notably the expansion of heathrow airport. the set out a few things to go over, think it was crucial to the national interest and urged people to get behind the plan. as you heard, it will bring £74 billion of a boost to passengers in the uk economy and easily could be concluded by 2026. for labour, they said they would consider the proposals but they homed in on detail, saying it was essential that the revised statement

made good on earlier recommendations by the transport select committee which included things like ways of mitigating the environmental impact. one such recommendation was that there should be a night—time, seven hour ban on flights to reduce noise pollution. what would an expansion at heathrow look like? it would happen not behind me but about a kilometre in that direction to the north—west of the site. it would be a third runway and with it with them a third runway and with it with them a new terminal building, expansion of other terminal buildings, there would be a tunnel built to divert the m25 under the runway. it will increase capacity hugely. currently the capacity is around 80 million passengers a year and heathrow hope to increase it to around 130 million per year with a third runway and add around 700 flights per day, many

going to domestic locations like scotla nd going to domestic locations like scotland and northern ireland and thatis scotland and northern ireland and that is part of the terms of the national policy statement. with all this comes huge disruption to three villages in particular, harmondsworth, sipson and longford. many of them would be completely demolished and local residents have been fiercely opposed to this, something they will not leave their house at any cost so they face a big battle still, there will be a fierce debate in the commons still. but heathrow is raring to go and they wa nt to heathrow is raring to go and they want to start building by 2021 and potentially have the runway finished by 2025. thank you. chris grayling is the one person who does not need reminding that timetables can go wrong! that's right but as you said, we have been talking about this for 50 years and have had commissions and reviews and they would say that finally they are making a decision on all of this. if you think of it

in terms of brexit for example, this talk about global britain, the argument is we need these are good and better connections with markets around the world and i think theresa may's colleagues would say this is her making a decision that others have backed away from four decades. but it will not be easy, there will be this vote in the house of commons in the next three weeks and chris grayling will spend a lot of time trying to persuade his colleagues. there is a rather illustrious list of those on his own side who are against the project, people like borisjohnson who against the project, people like boris johnson who famously said he would lie in front of the bulldozers to stop it happening but i think as foreign secretary it might be he is abroad on business on the day of that crucial vote. theresa may could well end that crucial vote. theresa may could wellend up that crucial vote. theresa may could well end up relying on the support of the dup, we heard that a lot of the new flights would be

going to northern ireland and also to scotland which is crucial because the snp are fully behind this. they we re the snp are fully behind this. they were a bit more circumspect today in the commons but it would be quite a u—turn on their part if they did not back it and labour say they have these tests about pollution and climate change that they want met before they decide what to do but the government feels it is quite confident they can get this through and they will try to order their mps to do so. there will be rebels and as ever, it is the question of how many. we'll boris johnson really be checking his diary and working out where he can be, as far as way as possible, when they vote on it? we will find out later about the actual plans for the whipping arrangements, as it were, what mps will be told to do. it could be they will stick to what they have had the ball which is that they are allowed to speak out about it, if you have a local view, so about it, if you have a local view, sojustine greening, about it, if you have a local view, so justine greening, the about it, if you have a local view, sojustine greening, the mp for putney, will be affected by noise and many flights going across her constituency. she will be allowed to speak out about it but whether she can vote against it is another matter and it comes down to small numbers. abstentions whereby they do not vote against but not for, that

could be crucial in all of this and what labour does as well will be crucial as well. thank you very much. a lawyer representing victims of the grenfell fire says survivors and the bereaved are coming to the inquiry in a "calm rage". speaking on the second day of evidence to the inquiry, danny frieman qc said the refurbishment of the tower block, overseen by the local authority, had left it a death trap. the inquiry was also told that companies involved in the refurbishment are refusing to say whether the changes were in breach of building regulations. tom burridge is at the inquiry hearing in central london. that issue of corporate silence is something that was very much on the agenda? it is a damning accusation and what you love to realise about g re nfell tower and what you love to realise about grenfell tower and the refurbishment, from cutting the padding, making it to designing it, the refurbishment was a myriad of subcontractors, not mention the same main contractor, the council and the

tenancy management organisation overseeing it on their behalf —— what you have to realise. the companies involved and the organisations were accused of constructing and designing a death trap and also of not cooperating so far with the public enquiry. some companies suggested by opening statement that they could not give more information to date because they have not had full access to the evidence presented through expert reports to the inquiry. one lawyer said they were guilty of a collection of catastrophic failures in construction safety, another said it was not the companies but the people running them that had ultimately taken decisions that had claimed so many lives. richard galpin looks back at some of the evidence we have heard so far today. it's almost a year since the devastating fire at grenfell tower, and the inquiry has heard damning evidence from experts about fire safety failures there, leading to the deaths of 72 people who were not able to escape

the ferocious flames. today, it was the turn of lawyers who represent the victims. the bereaved and the surviving people of grenfell tower come to this inquiry in a calm rage. the basic facts are stark. in the second decade of 21st—century london, governed by a regulatory framework designed to ensure fire safety, a local authority instigated and oversaw the refurbishment of a social housing high—rise tower block in such a way as to render it a deathtrap. the cladding used to renovate the tower block a year before the fire has been singled out as one of the main causes of the disaster because it was combustible. the companies involved in supplying the materials have this morning been sharply criticised for not providing an explanation so far. the corporate silence deprives the families of the degree of resolution and understanding to which they are entitled and has

only served to increase their pain and uncertainty. it is inhumane to remain silent when so many seek understanding and answers — answers which are within the corporates' gift. one of the companies said it would not be in a position to make a detailed statement until it had received all the relevant documents and had had access to the site of the fire. but today the london fire brigade has also come under scrutiny. despite acts of individual heroism, lawyers representing the victims said firefighters had failed to realise the futility of trying to tackle such a big blaze. they also highlighted the failure of the decision to tell residents to stay in their flats, and how their kit crowded the exits and meant doors were left open, letting smoke into the stairwells. for the survivors and those who lost loved ones, their focus is not just on this inquiry.

they're also looking to the criminal investigation, which is also well under way. it's hoped that during the intensive criminal investigation which is currently taking place, that at the end of it the criminal procedure is initiated where people are convicted and are punished duly. and this is something that has been stated by the residents from the beginning. it is not enough to simply focus on any financial aspect, because no amount of money would bring back the lives of those that have gone. but this will not be a quick process. it's likely to be several years before anyone could potentially be put on trial and convicted. kinking singh and chelsea borough council have suggested in the opening statement it was a duty of the companies involved with the refurbishment that the building be made safe —— kensington and chelsea.

ryden, the main contractor, suggested it was an mystery white problem, the use of combustible cladding in building at the expert had failed to pick up on it and it gives you a flavour of some of the touch the defence as those companies and organisations might be using —— it was an industry wide problem. we also heard the last fire assessment of the building found there was only a risk of slight harm in the event ofa a risk of slight harm in the event of a power and that was deemed to be pretty incredible given the events. we also heard about a blog which we had heard about before, a poignant reminder that one of the residents who lived in grenfell tower posted before the fire, accusing the tenancy management organisation of, "being an evil mini mafia that was in sordid collusion with kensington and chelsea council." he made a chilling prediction that there would bea chilling prediction that there would be a serious fire and that would be the only reason the tenancy

management organisation would be found out. thank you very much. newspapers across the north of england have joined forces to call on the prime minister to "get a grip" and deal with the delays and cancellations on the rail network. they're urging theresa may to call an emergency summit to find a solution to the disruption caused by new timetables. danny savage is at leeds station. what has happened today is that all of the newspaper editors in northern england, some 25 of regional and local level papers, have come together with the same editorial on the front page and the basic message is, enough is enough, mrs may, something has to be done about the train problems here. we are two weeks into those problems since that new timetable was introduced and even on the first day, trains that we re even on the first day, trains that were scheduled to run on the new timetable failed to materialise with northern rail blaming a lack of driver availability for the cancellation of many services and

those problems have continued for a fortnight. the message from a part of the country where many millions of the country where many millions of people live with that something really needs to be done about it for the chris grayling was a dab a vote of no—confidence, at according to the yorkshire post and calling him four to go the yorkshire post and calling him fourto go and the yorkshire post and calling him four to go and things like a new trans—pennine four to go and things like a new tra ns—pennine route four to go and things like a new trans—pennine route must be prioritised to improve the transport infrastructure in this part of the country. one other point they are making as well is they do not feel that rail services in this part of england can be managed effectively or properly from people 200 miles down the track in london and they are calling for more regional control of services up here. it does feel like a watershed moment today in this part of the country with all of the newspaper editors coming together and speaking with one voice on behalf of their readers in this

pa rt on behalf of their readers in this part of northern england, saying that something really has to be done and this cannot go on any longer. the rail services need to be sorted out and sorted out urgently. culture secretary matt hancock has just announced in parliament that the government will not block the attempt by rupert murdoch's 21st century fox to fully takeover sky. fox wanted to buy the 61% of sky it does not already own, but the bid has been complicated by rival offers and concerns about competition. rival comcast have also bid £22 billion for sky. let's get some analysis from joe mayes, a news reporterfrom bloomerg. after this announcement, clear up what it means for the proposed ta keover what it means for the proposed takeover by fox. this announcement makes it looks like the fox takeover of sky will go ahead provided it sells sky news, perhaps to disney or another media company, and then it will be a question of a bidding war we expect between the fox and

comcast given that the comcast offer is 16% of the fox off at the moment and is likely to end up in some kind of auction between them. a bidding war seems likely but explain, who would want to buy sky news. perhaps disney would because they are trying to acquire fox themselves and they also want to buy sky said it would be in their interests for fox to acquire sky so disney could do so also you have them as a potential buyer and maybe another media company would do, maybe comcast themselves if they end up being the winners in this auction process. it is an open field. an open field and the money could be sky—high. certainly for sky and their share price has been trading above the comcast offer of £12.50, now about £13.50 because investors expect this bidding war so it is a good time to bea bidding war so it is a good time to be a sky shareholder. in terms of the future, there is a focus on sky

news because of the editorial independence issue. all those involved have said they will back it for a involved have said they will back it fora minimum of involved have said they will back it for a minimum of ten years and matt hancock was keen to see he wanted to see a long—term future for what is an important network. exactly, it is almost an irony of the deal that there had been concerned about rupert murdoch getting too much influence over media in this country but a proposal has been made that sky news could be closed and obviously matt hancock does not want that to happen, he wants them to continue in the name of plurality and he is keen to see the funding commitment over a long time so it continues to thrive. i don't know if you are a betting man but who do you think will come out of this with sky as their prize? i am very much not a betting man! but! as their prize? i am very much not a betting man! but i would say that comcast and disney are both deep pocketed us media companies and a lot of money will get thrown around here and it will be fascinating to watch. we will watch it in the

coming months. thank you very much. time for a look at the weather. ben has the weather forecast. you have been looking at the maps. we are looking back first. we are five days intojune, i do like my stats were and we have had five days to crunch the numbers and some of the stats from the uk were pretty interesting looking back at may. this shows how daytime temperatures compared with the average and you could tell it has been warm. this is from the met office, you could see the red colours which show daytime temperatures above average, two or three degrees in many places. and what else? notjust warm weather but really wet weather in places. this is quite interesting, it has not been the same across all parts of

the country also if you live in western scotland and north west scotla nd western scotland and north west scotland you might think it has been really dry. the brown colours show significantly less rainfall than you would normally expect. but in the south and south—east, partly because of those thunderstorms, the blue shows rainfall totals above average, about1.5times as shows rainfall totals above average, about 1.5 times as much as you would expect in the whole spring period. it is like being at school. like a geography teacher! i have some stats from other parts of the world! great! this is warwickshire so that is the uk to show how the warm weather, knitted in thunder sums but other parts of the world had some to psy—tu rvy other parts of the world had some topsy—turvy weather as well. this was merrill and in the eastern usa —— maryland —— because they had lot of tropical air coming in and there

was significant flooding and major damage. that is partly to do with the tropical depression alberta, and early named storm in that part of the world. and finally to karachi in pakistan where they had one of the warmest may days on record, 46 degrees. those are fountains! i thought it was heavy rain! 46 degrees on the 30th of may so if you thought it was warm here, it was very different. we are in a trough at the moment with some lovely weather but it has gone horrible? at the moment with some lovely weather but it has gone horrible7m has a bit quiet, part of the reason for talking about may is thatjune is really quiet! if you're looking for excitement and fast moving weather, that is not what i have. some subtle changes, yes, that is how it was on the isle of wight yesterday. today some extra cloud coming through and a different look.

nothing too dramatic and that is the story. this is the satellite from earlier, areas of cloud meandering around but the day improves in many northern and central areas because the cloud has been moving back. increasing sunshine going through the rest of the afternoon but if you are in the south—west of england or wales where yesterday there was a lot of sunshine and temperatures in the mid—20s, today it will stay quite cloudy, 18 in plymouth, it was 24 yesterday. further east, even with some sunshine, the temperatures will struggle a bit but one thing not struggling to go up the pollen level. in the south of the country, if you are a hay fever sufferer, you will have noticed the levels are high or very high. this evening and tonight, nothing dramatic happening, the cloud in the south—west will break up, a couple of showers in the channel islands for is some extra cloud coming from the north sea, just chasing the areas around. one

thing about tonight is it will be relatively chilly with some places down to three or 4 degrees. a chilly start but bright tomorrow, many places seeing sunshine, brighter in the south—west but clouded in northern england and south—east scotland. that will roll in from the north sea where you get the sunshine the temperatures are better, 21 or 22. first aid has some subtle changes —— thursday. a lot of thunderstorms in france and they will move in our direction but it is quite a half—hearted move. they are likely to become a scattering of showers in southern england and south wales on thursday. the odd one could be heavy. further north, more sunshine, temperatures again in the 20s, cooler on the north sea coasts and it will feel a bit humid 20s, cooler on the north sea coasts and it will feela bit humid in 20s, cooler on the north sea coasts and it will feel a bit humid in the south. heading to the week in,

anything dramatic? not really, southern areas at risk of some showers but certainly not all the time and further north, more reliably dry weather, pretty cloudy, some sunny spells and temperatures in the 20s soak things stayed pretty quiet as we head through the rest of the week. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. cabinet ministers have approved controversial plans to expand heathrow airport, chris grayling has announced. mps are set to vote on the proposals in weeks. culture secretary matt hancock has said he will not block fox's attempt to takeover sky. however, he added that sky news should be sold to disney or another buyer to ensure media plurality. companies involved in the refurbishment of grenfell tower have been accused of refusing to say whether changes to building had been in breach of regulations at the tragedy‘s public inquiry. regional newspapers across the north of england have joined together to call on theresa may to "get a grip"

amid wide—spread cancellations and delays on the rail network. emergency timetables were introduced yesterday to try and stem the disruption. sport now on afternoon live with tim. i'm nota i'm not a liverpool supporter and had huge sympathy for loris karius, but it seems there might have been a reason for those howlers on the pitch. we have learned the germans suffered a concussion against real madrid ten days ago. those were the findings of doctors in america who liverpool referred him to and it could go some way to explaining those dreadful errors by the goalkeeper. the main points from a statement put out by the massachusetts general hospital in boston. a concussion to you and i. the event

referred to, we suspect is a collision with real madrid defender reddit sergio —— real madrid defender sergio ramos. liverpool's medical staff did not notice the concussion during the match, but barry o'driscoll, a former rugby doctor said it was hard to spot. barry o'driscoll, a former rugby doctor said it was hard to spotm all happened so quickly so the medical team might not have spotted it. they might have come on to examine him and found nothing at that stage and symptoms might have not come on until later. this is why concussion is such a terrible quandary and we need to be very careful with it. this is why i have a lwa ys careful with it. this is why i have always said that any sign or symptom, the player should come off and stay off because the signs and symptoms can develop later. and that looks as if it may well have

happened with this player. really interesting thoughts from the doctor barry o'driscoll there. former manchester city player hasn't held back when he has been talking about pep guardiola. that's a good way of putting it. extremely critical, i would say. saying among other things, rather seriously, that guardiola often has problems with africans wherever he goes. city have declined to comment, but in the last couple of hours yaya toure's agent is also weighed in, and he says his client wants to dedicate next season to guardiola and will be offered to all the top teams in england for just £1 per week. so they are not very happy. the government are going to look again at the law on safe standing. at the moment all grounds in the premier league and championship have to be all seated, but some clubs and lots of fan groups want the law to be changed. a

50—year—old man has died after a shooting at an irishjim founded by the father of world boxing champion katie taylor. two other men, including katie's father, peter taylor, were injured at the shooting at the boxing club in county wicklow just before 7:30am this morning. katie taylor won gold at the 2012 london olympics and is the world unified champion. the world heavyweight men's champion is close to agreeing a deal to fight a russian fighter which will happen before or after a bout with american deontay wilder, who has the only title joshua does deontay wilder, who has the only titlejoshua does not have. the first of the quarterfinals under at the french open in paris. second seed alexander zverev is in trouble, trailing by two sets to austria's dominic thiem. he has already been involved in three five set matches already, zverev, but he will have to

do it again to make it to the last four. in the first of the women's quarterfinals, american madison keys as beating putin of kazakhstan. —— has beaten putin saver. andy murray says he hopes to be back in time for the grass court season in the uk.” hopes to be back in time for the grass court season in the uk. i have been at close to a year now, which is longer than me and mike team expected at the beginning. but i am getting closer to it. i started training a few days ago and helped to make my comeback in the grass court season. we can take you to new york in manhattan. harvey weinstein is

appearing in court for the second time. he has ordered face charges of rape and another sex crime. in the next few minutes he will arrive for a formal reading of the charges and has been indicted for allegedly forcing one woman to perform oral sex, and has also been indicted on a charge of rape at a matt —— at a manhattan hotel. we will take you back to that manhattan courtroom when it happens. the comedian michael mcintyre has been robbed by thieves on a moped, as he waited to collect his children from a school in north london. his car windows were smashed by two men wielding a hammer, who then stole his watch and sped off. the incident was one of several robberies carried out by people on mopeds in london in the last 24 hours. david sillito reports. this footage, taken just minutes after the attack, clearly shows the broken car window and the comedian, michael mcintyre, speaking to the police. witnesses described how men riding on a moped hammered at the window and forced michael mcintyre out

of the car before robbing him. a police statement said the victim was stationary in his car when two males on a moped smashed the car windows with a hammer before stealing properties. hello! unfortunately, that happened. michael mcintyre, one of britain's most successful comedians, is said to be uninjured in the assault. one onlooker said he was seen comforting his very shaken children. then today, this. as the pizza delivery bike pulls out, we see a second moped travelling at speed after an attempt to rob a nearby shop. on the other side of the road, the gang were being taken on and chased by bystanders. and these weren't the only moped—related crimes of the last 48 hours. however, the head of the metropolitan police, speaking today to the commons home affairs committee, said the number of incidents overall is declining. when i came in as commissioner

in april 2017, moped enabled crime had been going up like that in the previous year and, like most violent crimes, the start of it was in 2014. but it started to get up like that. for the last several months, we have seen, now, a 50% reduction. it's coming down and down and down. we have done that through new tactics, better intelligence, more co—ordination, more focus in targetted hotspots. nevertheless it still leaves the number of moped—related crimes in the thousands. and hammer—wielding thieves smashing their way into a stationary car? thankfully, michael mcintyre was said today to be fine. a woman in a similar assault that day is now in a critical condition. but it was clear this was a terrifying ordeal for him and his children. david sillito, bbc news. let's cross to the house of commons where mps are about to begin

an emergency debate on abortion law in northern ireland. we can now hear from stella creasy. or risk in buying those pills online and the problems that come with them. indeed seeking possibility of them. indeed seeking possibility of the threat of prosecution if something goes wrong with the bills and she seeks medical help. i will happily give way to one of my co—sponsors first. happily give way to one of my co-sponsors first. i want to pay tribute to all her work in getting this important debate and much more besides. she will know the un committee on ending discrimination against women has called the situation in northern ireland, it constitutes a grave and systematic violation of human rights. does she agree with me that it is essential we send out a message from this chamber today to any woman or girl in northern ireland that we are with you, and we will continue to stand

up you, and we will continue to stand up foryour human you, and we will continue to stand up for your human rights and won't stop until you get them. yes, the un has criticised us. and so too has the northern ireland human rights commission, who has —— who has brought an appeal to the human rights commission. it's important when we talk about northern ireland to remember that the uk committed alongside ireland back in the good friday agreement to upholding the human rights of all citizens in northern ireland, added that commitment we are asking the government to honour because the good friday agreement was the basis for institutions being obliged to comply with those obligations under the human rights act. but without the human rights act. but without the institutions that exist in northern ireland, those rights are not being upheld. i will happily give way. may i to add my name to congratulate her on this debate today. does she not agree with me that it today. does she not agree with me thatitis today. does she not agree with me that it is surprising, but rather wonderful actually that the republic

of ireland is actually leading the way on this list is not and indeed, also on gay marriage. and does she agree with me that notwithstanding the fact that of course northern ireland is devolved, they should look now to the south and say, they are leading the way, and we should follow? i would like to join with my collea g u es follow? i would like to join with my colleagues and i hope he was also a supportive i was, don't overwork the memberfrom st supportive i was, don't overwork the member from st helens supportive i was, don't overwork the memberfrom st helens did on equal marriage and bring in a case to northern ireland. devolution, even when it is functioning, does not relieve this place of our responsible to uphold human rights. whether in northern ireland or elsewhere. the honourable lady would know that i respect devolution as a welsh mp more than most. but this issue, and that of equal marriage in northern ireland deserves to be tackled in the here and now, and not use devolution as an excuse to deny

women the right of abortion and prevent equal marriage. this is 2018, both issues are contemporary, they are about equality and basic human rights. i'd agree completely with my welsh comrades. this outdated legislation is notjust impacting northern ireland. that is why this is a matter for the whole of this house. women across england and wales are also buying pills online rather than seeking repeat visits to doctors. one study alone showed that in one four month period last year, 500 british women attempted to access abortion pills from one online supplier alone. and would be liable to prosecution under this archaic rule as a result. this situation is not simply about northern ireland, it's about legislation this house has passed and why this house must act. i must be specific today but i am proposing. i understand there are concerns about this issue. this is

of course a very, very sensitive and controversial issue, particularly in northern ireland. i need to reflect to the honourable lady that i received a large number of e—mails from constituents who feel that mps at westminster are usurping the powers and responsibilities of the northern ireland assembly during a period when we have a functioning assembly, and i wish we did have one, and! assembly, and i wish we did have one, and i look to my colleagues on the bench to get it up and running again. how can the honourable lady reassure my constituents that today's debate, an important debate, does not undermine the devolution settlement in northern ireland?” absolutely wish to take up the challenge she presents. i completely respect the point of view she puts forward. let me make some progress and set out precisely what it is we are putting forward. the defences against the person act of 1861 puts

abortion in the same category as homicide, destroying or damaging a building with the use of gunpowder with the attempt to murder, child stealing, the rape or defilement of women. abortion might be the most common procedure our constituents who are reproductive age and ago, but even today in 2018 we don't let them make the choice themselves. so what we would like to do is repeal sections 58 and 59 of that act, but letting sections 58 and 59 stay on the statute does not address many of the statute does not address many of the challenges we see today in abortion provision. for example, extending the 1967 act does not address the impact of the pills i discussed, or indeed that paternalism that says women are not trusted to make choices about their bodies. but in repealing those particular sections of the act, i wa nted particular sections of the act, i wanted to be clear what we are not doing it is not an attempt to remove the criminal charges that come after 24 weeks. let me make that

explicitly clear, because i have seen some briefings from some anti—choice organisations that say otherwise. we are not intending to appeal repeal or amend the infant life preservation act of 1929 that covers, and still has the power to criminalise abortions 24 weeks of pregnancy. decriminalising abortion up pregnancy. decriminalising abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy would mean the 1967 abortion act would become redundant before 24 weeks of pregnancy. as abortion before 24 weeks of pregnancy would no longer bea crime, weeks of pregnancy would no longer be a crime, you would no longer need the 19 city seven act to act as defence for women who had sought an abortion. however, the exceptions of the 1967 act provides for termination is posted 24 weeks would remain and the 1967 act would cases of fatal foetal abnormality or in cases where the woman's life is at

risk. the time limit would not change, nor will be important role of medics in this matter. i respect and recognise that some people do not consider abortion a human right, and so think a criminal approach is the right response. but i recognise many more agree it's not that that worries them, but constitutional issues at stake. even though the good friday agreement explicitly retained human rights responsibilities for this place, let me reassure those mps who want to uphold the role of devolved assemblies that repealing... studio: we will return to that issue at the house of commons shortly, but we will go to manhattan supreme court because right now we are expecting the imminent arrival of harvey weinstein. he has already appeared in court once but has since been indicted by a grand jury on two cases. he turned himself into a new

york police station last week. a judge has ordered him released on a $1 million cash bail, on condition he surrenders his us passport and will agree to wear a location tracking device and was ordered to stay in the state of connecticut so he would guarantee his appearance here today. more than 70 women have accused harvey weinstein of sexual misconduct, including rape at with some allegations dating back decades, all of which he denies. his lawyer has said that he has never had nonconsensual sex and plans to plead not guilty at this hearing today. he will be appearing at the manhattan supreme court. the accusations that were first reported by the new york times and the new yorker magazine last year, subsequently gave rise to the me too movement, in which hundreds of

thousands of women have accused powerful men in the business, entertainment and government of misconduct. we do not know the names of the women who have accused harvey weinstein of sexual misconduct in this particular criminal case but it has followed months of investigation by the new york police to bomb. the details of one of the cases do seem to be very similar to the account of lucy to be very similar to the account of lu cy eva ns, to be very similar to the account of lucy evans, who was a former aspiring actions actress who told the new yorker that weinstein had forced to carry out a sex act in 2004. if convicted, the weinstein could face up to 25 years in prison. we understand he is at the court building but possibly is still in his car. we will give it a couple more moments. as we await the

arrival of harvey weinstein. he is set to plead not guilty to those two charges on which he has been indicted by a grand jury in new york. we will go back there as soon as anything happens. ben is here to bring is the business headlines. first, our headlines on afternoon life. controversial plans for a third runway at heathrow are approved by ministers — mps will vote within weeks. a corporate silence — companies involved in the refurbishment of grenfell tower are criticised at the inquiry into the deaths of 72 people. newspapers across the north of england join forces to call on the prime minister to ‘get a grip' — and deal with the delays and cancellations on the rail network. here's your business headlines on afternoon live. business groups welcome the government's decision on a third runway at heathrow.

the transport secretary says current capacity means the airport is falling behind its global competitors — and means the uk is missing out on global trading opportunities. mr grayling says the extra runway will increase competition on routes, create tens of thousands of local jobs and boost the uk economy. we will head straight to manhattan as we catch sight of harvey weinstein arriving at the manhattan supreme court accompanied by his lawyer, who has said that harvey weinstein has never had nonconsensual sex and plans to plead not guilty to the two indictments he faces following a grand jury decision last week. but two of many accusations he has faced. he is entering court and we will let you know what happens inside the courtroom when we return to new york in about half an hour. we'll keep an

eye on what is happening at the manhattan supreme court for you. we can get more on the business news. we will pick up where we left off, with another major business story. the uk government says it will allow rupert murdoch's 21st century fox to buy up the rest of sky it doesn't already own — provided that sky news is sold to disney or another buyer. that's to deal with concerns about one family — the murdochs — having too much influence on news provision in the uk. fox has said it's already begun work on that. the culture secretary matt hancock also said a rival bid by comcast to buy sky could also go ahead. it paves the way for a head—to—head battle. petrol prices rose by 6p a litre last month, the biggest monthly rise since in 18 years. the rac says average petrol prices hitjust over 129p a litre, while average diesel prices rose to just over 132p a litre. the rac said higher crude oil prices and a weaker pound were to blame for the increases. apple has announced

new privacy measures then — how do they work? well, in a way it's trying to be "our friend" when it comes to data. it wants to flag up when companies like facebook track users' web activity. it is specifically referring to facebook. it will let you know if facebook. it will let you know if facebook in the background is gathering data on which page you are looking at and what you might like and comment on. so you will get an alert. this move is likely to increase tensions between the two tech companies. facebook has come under fire in recent months for its privacy practices and handling of user data. apple says its mobile web browser will soon ask users if it wants to allow web platforms to track their activity. will it work? i suppose if you get an alert it depends if you choose to allow the tracking

and use of data. but it will give you that option. but remember there are more people on android phones than apple iphones — and they use a different operating system, so the majority of people won't be affected by this. our business report paul blake is in our new york bureau. paul, what exactly will be changing on iphones? how do we know when it's on our phone if we have an iphone? the little buttons that appear on various news articles and websites around the internet, it will let you like or share various articles on to facebook? facebook can use those buttons whether you click on them or not to check your movement around the web and see what articles you read, what sites you visit. it's not for nefarious reasons, a big part of their business model is to understand what you are interested in so when you go to facebook they can serve you adverts to suit your

interest. nevertheless, apple wants to put the option to be tracked into the hands of the individual user, so when it releases an update to its really popular safari web browser, when you go to a website that has those buttons, it will ask you if you are sure you want to be tracked, click yes or no, and that will allow the browser to decide whether it will load those buttons that can potentially track users or not. and this new feature is just the latest development in a spat over privacy between the two companies, right? i'm sure we will talk about it again many times. but we will leave it there for now. a quick look at the markets... we don't have time for that! a busy afternoon. we will try to get them in the next hour. time for a look at the weather... here's ben rich. the weather is moving and changing

ata the weather is moving and changing at a relatively sedate pace at the moment. cloud drifting across the weather map. it was pretty cloudy in many places earlier but the cloud has drifted southwards to reveal sunny skies as we enter the afternoon. tonight most places will have clear skies with extra cloud for a time across the south—west. this next lump of cloud meandering in from the north sea affecting many parts of eastern scotland and eastern england as we start wednesday morning. quite a cool start to the day. crowd for a time across the far south—west, always more cloud across eastern areas. elsewhere, there will be spells of sunshine and the small chance of a shower across northern ireland. temperatures in sunnier spots up to the low 20s but cooler where we keep extra cloud. dry weather at the weekend, but the chance of showers at times towards the south and temperatures up towards the 20s. hello, you're watching afternoon live. i'm simon mccoy.

today at 3... controversial plans for a third runway at heathrow are approved by ministers. mps will vote within weeks. expansion at heathrow will bring real benefits across the country, including a boost of up to £74 billion to passengers and the wider economy, providing better connections to growing world markets and increasing flights to more long haul destinations. a corporate silence — companies involved in the refurbishment of grenfell tower are criticised at the inquiry into the deaths of 72 people. newspapers across the north of england join forces to call on the prime minister to "get a grip" and deal with the delays and cancellations on the rail network. the disgraced film producer harvey weinstein arrives in court in new york to plead not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport with tim. hello, plenty of big football stories around including an

interesting piece of news that the liverpool goalkeeper loris karius played with concussion in the champions league final in their defeat against real madrid when he made two seemingly inexplicable mistake ina made two seemingly inexplicable mistake in a match. more on that at half past. and with the weather forecast, it is ben. sometimes the weather chops and changes, with assistance sweeping in and out but this week it is not like that for the things moving at a sedate pace and changes relatively subtle. i will look at the full details later. thank you. also coming up this hour... it could pave the way for a bidding war worth billions of pounds — the government says it will let rupert murdoch's 21st century fox take over sky if it sells sky news. hello everyone. this is afternoon live.

i'm simon mccoy. buckle up and get ready fora bumpy landing. despite today's government decision to approve plans for a new third runway at heathrow airport, opponents are preparing for a further battle over britain's skies. transport secretary chris grayling told the commons that expansion will allow britain to keep pace with other international economies, and that the benefits of the scheme will stretch far beyond london. the proposals will be voted on by mps within weeks. our business correspondent, theo leggett, reports. this isn't down on the farm, it is london's vast airport at heathrow, scene of intense daily activity. when it was first built, heathrow was meant to provide all the airport capacity london needed. it's a long and involved business but when finished, the result will be an airport worthy of the world's metropolis. 70 years later, it is bursting at the seams. there simply is not enough space for any more flights. politicians have been arguing about how to expand airport capacity in the south—east for decades, but today the government threw its weight firmly behind a third runway at heathrow. expansion at heathrow will bring

real benefits across the country, including a boost of up to £74 billion to passengers and the wider economy, providing better connections to growing world markets and increasing flights to more long haul destinations. so what is actually being planned? this is heathrow as it stands today, with two runways, north and south. the new third runway would be built to the north—west and would pass through where the village of harmondsworth currently stands. two other villages would also be affected. heathrow‘s owners say the cost of the project would be £14 billion, although opponents say it could be higher than that. nearly 800 homes would have to be demolished. but then the airport would then be able to handle hundreds of thousands more take—offs and landings every year and more than 50 million extra passengers. it's a plan the villagers of harmondsworth have been fighting against for years. it lies bang slap in the middle of the most densely populated residential region in the country

and it is almost inconceivable you could have 250,000 extra flights with all the vehicularjourneys that would mean in terms of road journeys and freight without having serious impacts on the air we breathe and the noise people suffer. those in favour of a third runway believe it will bring significant economic benefits, notjust for london and the south—east but for the country as a whole. the crucial thing to understand about a hub airport like heathrow is that the bigger routes to cities like new york are fed by smaller feeder planes that include rather than exclude other parts of the uk. we need to start taking a long—term view on infrastructure. but the plan has to be approved by the house of commons, and many london mps are unhappy. they think the new airport will bring not only more planes but more noise and pollution as well, blighting the lives of local residents.

they include members of the conservative party's own ranks. this is a massively expensive than polluting proposal to expand heathrow, but also i think people would prefer to see a regional airport strategy with the connections they need on their doorstep rather than going hundreds of miles to london to then fly from heathrow. it is a 20th—century strategy in a 21st—century point—to—point world. there is no doubt that today's announcement brings the prospect of a third runway at heathrow a step closer, but opponents remain determined to make their voices heard and are unlikely to back down until the tarmac has actually been laid. earlier i spoke with our correspondent at heathrow airport, jon ironmonger, who says the decision to approve the plans has been nearly 20 years in the making. chris grayling described this as an historic moment when he was outlining his national policy statement in the commons and you rather think it is since it has taken so long. but finally we have a government

that is committed to a type of airport expansion. notably, the expansion of heathrow airport where i am now. he set out a few things that i'd just like to go over. he said it was crucial to the national interest, first of all, and urged people to get behind the plan. and, as you heard in the package just earlier, it will bring £74 billion of a boost to passengers and the uk economy, and he said it could be concluded by 2026. for labour, andy mcdonald said that they would consider the proposals but he homed in on the detail and he said it was essential that the revised statement made good on earlier recommendations by the transport select committee. that included things like ways of mitigating the environmental impact. one such recommendation was that there should be a night—time, seven—hour night—time ban, on flights to reduce noise pollution. what would an airport expansion at heathrow look like? well, it won't happen

behind me, actually. it will happen around about a kilometre in that direction and towards the north—west of the site here. it will obviously be a third runway and with it would come a new terminal building, expansion of other terminal buildings. there would be a tunnel that would have to be built to divert the m25, the london ring road, underneath the runway. it will increase capacity hugely. so currently the ca pacity‘s around 80 million passengers a year. heathrow hopes to be able to increase it to around 130 million passengers a year with a third runway and add around 700 flights a day. many of them will be going to domestic locations, scotland, northern ireland. that's actually a part of the terms of the national policy statement. but with all this comes huge disruption to three villages in particular. harmondsworth, sipson and longford. many of them will be almost completely demolished and the local residents have been fiercely opposed to this. some say that they won't leave their house at any cost so

they face a big battle on their hands still. there will be a fierce debate yet to go in the commons on this issue. but heathrow obviously raring to go, they want to start building by 2021 and potentially have the runway finished by 2025. we can talk now to the liberal democrat leader, sir vince cable, whose twickenham constituency would be affected by an expansion at heathrow. he's in our westminster studio. thank you forjoining us. in 2012 you said this expansion would not happen. are you contemplating the possibility that it just happen. are you contemplating the possibility that itjust might?m isa possibility that itjust might?m is a step forward and it may happen but there are formidable obstacles to overcome. the government has not yet explained how the air quality will be maintained, who will pay for the potentially vast infrastructure, this enormous gap between the 11 billion that is estimated by transport for london and the 1

billion that the commercial promoters are putting up. there are big uncertainties around that apart from the politics. people in labour and the conservatives as well as my own party strongly opposed to it. on local grounds, this is the difficulty, for tory mps in the area as well. if you represented a constituency hundreds of miles away, would you see the business argument for this and perhaps take a slightly gentler view of any proposed expansion? i think there is a division of opinion amongst people outside london. there are some of us who take the view that this is a london centric development. a third of the country's population lives in the south—east but two thirds of the flights are from the south—east and that in balance would be reinforced for the wii could be using regional airport like birmingham, manchester and edinburgh chameera argued strongly against expansion and there are others in the north—east and

northern ireland arguing for heathrow so there are strong divisions in the reasons as well as local objections. —— in the regions. do you think that if you took the other view you would lose that seat you had in south—west london?” think opinions are divided. people feel very strongly about noise, it has become intensified and there are big unresolved questions about the roots. i have always been exposed to —— opposed to heathrow expansion a nyway —— opposed to heathrow expansion anyway so it is not an issue but it is something my constituents feel very strongly about and others as well but it has to be decided on the wider national interest and i think there are strong national interest regions for opposing the development, both environmental to do with carbon emissions, equity, and to do with regional balance —— to do with air quality. so this is a step forward for those wanting expansion but the transport

secretary himself will know the risk of tying yourself to any new timetable. he had to come to parliament yesterday and was rather a hapless performance and embarrassing almost and very close to resignation i think because of the failure to deliver the promised improvement in rail services and the disruption in the north of england. how can you be confident about airport development ten years ahead when there are so many obstacles to overcome? it is very unclear about how all this will happen. i retain the position i had five years ago, believing this might never happen. quick word can you said close to resignation yesterday, how close?” think on both conservative, labour, opposition generally, it was very condemning of his behaviour and the failure of his department which was warned of the potential disruption that would be caused by the new

timetable without adequate drivers. he was apologetic but refused to accept personal responsibility for it. i think we might come back to that subject if this problem is not cleared up in the next few days.” suspect i will talk to you about it again. thank you very much for now. a lawyer representing victims of the grenfell fire says survivors and the bereaved are coming to the inquiry in a "calm rage". speaking on the second day of evidence to the inquiry, danny frieman qc said the refurbishment of the tower block, overseen by the local authority, had left it a death trap. the inquiry was also told that companies involved in the refurbishment are refusing to say whether the changes were in breach of building regulations. tom burridge is at the inquiry hearing in central london. this culture of silence is something people are looking at. very much so and given the fact we have heard so many times from experts, from the

bereaved, that grenfell tower was, any believe, a death trap, you have to ask, how was the new design of the building and the refurbishment with the cladding signed off? but thatis with the cladding signed off? but that is a complex question to tackle because the refurbishment of g re nfell tower because the refurbishment of grenfell tower itself was complicated. the cladding, there was the company that produced it, made it, the company that cut it and supplied it, the company that fitted it, not to mention the installation, the main contractor, the architect of the building and the council and also of course the tenancy management organisation working on their behalf and overseeing the project. we have learned today that the fire consultancy company brought in to advise on the project found that there would be no adverse impact on the spread of fire by the refurbishment but you only have to listen to the words of stephanie

barwise qc to understand how wrong that was. we say, based on dr lane's report, that the entirety of the cladding constituted a material alteration since, as it stood before the refurbishment, grenfell was constructed of virtually in combustible concrete. it was, however, covered by the polyethylene cladding now openly described by some within the industry as petrol. patently, in the event of a fire, the cladding did not adequately resist the spread of flame over its surface. on the contrary, it promoted flame spread. our understanding is that the ignition of the polyethylene within the cladding panels produces a flaming reaction more quickly than dropping a match into a barrel of petrol. ryden was the main contractor on the

overall project, they £10 million project with public money and it has been accused of misleading the public inquiry by suggesting in its opening statement that working out how fire resistant the building was was somebody of‘s responsibility and the contractors as a whole have been accused of a deliberate refusal to engage with the public inquiry. one barrister said they had no desire to work with it. this is what he said, representing the victims and survivors. you all know the role of your authority or your company and you've had a year to consider your position. the time for candour is now. the opportunity is your opening statements. you heard last week during the personal portraits, or you should have heard, if you were there, the repeated calls for truth and justice from those who lost loved ones. now that you know that you'll be required to answer key questions in due course, we say that you should do so now

through your opening statements. you should tell us all what your role was, what you did and what you should have done, what you did that contributed to the disaster, what you failed to do that would have averted the disaster. and if you did nothing wrong help this inquisitorial process, help the inquiry and help the chair by telling us all loud and clear what you know, where the failures were. this is not a time for technicality. this is not a time to pretend that you don't want to usurp the chair's role, or to suggest you can't be frank because there is outstanding disclosure. this is the time to assist the chair identifying what happened and what should have happened, a time for telling truth and not for smoke and mirrors, not for prevarication, delay, defensiveness, silence. pete weatherby qc representing the

victims of the grenfell tower fire. some of the companies in the opening statement said they could not give more information at the moment because they do not have full access to some of the evidence presented to the inquiry. kensington and chelsea borough council suggested in its statement it was the companies who had a duty to ensure the building was safe. we spoke to someone who lost his mother and aunt in the fire and he said the attitude of the companies so far had been insulting and he said to them, "tell us what has happened. " he said the government should compel them to talk and they should not be able to hide. thank you very much. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines... controversial plans for a third runway at heathrow are approved by ministers — mps will vote within weeks. a corporate silence — companies involved in the refurbishment of grenfell tower are criticised at the inquiry

into the deaths of 72 people. newspapers across the north of england join forces to call on the prime minister to "get a grip" and deal with the delays and cancellations on the rail network. and in sport is revealed liverpool goalkeeper loris karius was concussed when he made mistakes in the champions league final last month. he was referred to a medical expert in boston after contacting liverpool while on holiday in the us. the former manchester city midfielder yaya toure says pep guardiola often has problems with africans while his agent says he will play for £1 a week next season. city have declined to comment. and while floyd mayweather topped the sports rich list again, find out in a few minutes how many women made the top 100. i will be back with more on thatjust after half past. in the last few minutes

the disgraced film producer harvey weinstein has left a criminal court in new york where he has pleaded ‘not guilty‘ to charges of rape and sexual assault. mr weinstein is accused of sexual offences by scores of women, which ignited the hash—tag me too campaign. joining me now is our north america correspondent, nada tawfik. he has pleaded not guilty so what happens now? his lawyer had long signalled he would plead not guilty. his lawyer i assume at this point will try to move to have the charges dropped but it looks very likely that this will go to trial. last week a grand jury indicted harvey weinstein on these felony charges of rape and a criminal sexual act and we have now had this procedural arraignment in new york state supreme court where he appeared in front of the judge supreme court where he appeared in front of thejudge and entered a plea of not guilty. now we start the

long process of motions and discovery and a lot of legal proceedings on the way to a trial andi proceedings on the way to a trial and i think an interesting question many are already asking is whether this will mimic the second trial we saw in the bill cosby case where additional women were allowed to speak and give evidence apart from the women in the case itself. of course new york prosecutors say they have an open inquiry into harvey weinstein, that they could bring additional charges, but for now he has pleaded not guilty to these charges of rape and a criminal sexual act in regard to two women who have been named in the case. he is on bail of $1 million, i think, wearing a tag as well but he does not want to travel too far because other countries want to talk to him. absolutely, there are ongoing investigations in london, los

angeles, prosecutors have an open inquiry and the federal government is what is and that is not to mention the several civil suits that harvey weinstein faces. this is really just the start, you harvey weinstein faces. this is reallyjust the start, you could say come of his legal troubles. he has several other lawsuits currently ongoing and he could face additional charges elsewhere. this case in new york was interesting because the nypd, the former chief detective has come out in the press and talked about how they combed through news articles for clues, how they urged women to call their rape helpline to report if they had faced any sexual harassment or abuse by harvey weinstein so they could look into the charges. of course the da's upadhyay had come under intense pressure to bring charges because previously in 2015 they refused to prosecute a case where the nypd had harvey weinstein on tape admitting

to groping and italian model —— the da's office here. the officer felt they did not have enough evidence to go on trial. after these explosive allegations broke in the new york times about how many women accused harvey weinstein of sexual assaults, they came under intense scrutiny with even the new york governor, andrew cuomo, saying he would supervise these investigations. thank you very much. the culture secretary, matt hancock, says the government will not block the attempt by rupert murdoch's 21st century fox to take over sky, on condition that it sells sky news. fox wants to buy the 61% of sky which it does not already own, and the bid has been complicated by rival offers and concerns about competition. mr hancock told mps that sky news should be sold to disney or another buyer to ensure media plurality. i agree with the cma that divesting sky news to disney as proposed by fox,

or to an alternative suitable buyer, with an agreement to ensure its funded for at least ten years is likely to be the most proportionate and effective remedy for the public interest concerns that have been identified. the cma report sets out some draft terms for such a divestment and fox has written to me to offer undertakings on effectively the same terms. the proposals include significant commitments from fox. but there still are some important issues on the draft undertakings that need to be addressed. i need to be confident that the final undertakings ensure that sky news remains financially viable over the long—term, is able to operate as a major uk—based news provider, and is able to take its editorial decisions independently, free from any potential outside influence. our media editor amol rajan is here. this is still incredibly confusing because of the none but the people who want to buy murdoch's empire and

sky and the selling off of sky news so he can take over fox news compper kicked it more as well for the even further, there are a lot of people trying to buy different things. further, there are a lot of people trying to buy different thingsm reminds me of a—level maths when you had to study permutations and there we re had to study permutations and there were infinite numbers around a particular issue. what is going on, there are two separate bids for sky, one from the us media giant comcast and matt hancock said that he sees no problems with plurality or broadcasting standards. there is a separate more compper one web rupert murdoch's 21st century fox has sought the 61% of sky does not own and matt hancock said he was ok with and matt hancock said he was ok with a green light for that as long as sky cells of sky news also the most likely buyer for sky news is disney, a rival to comcast. disney wants to

buy all of fox. if we are trying to plot what happens, there is a question rupert murdoch faces, what he thinks in terms of responding to comcast and disney and a rival bid and is rupert murdoch, who funded sky for many years, prepared to sell them. it was his baby. he has lost a lot of money on sky news over many yea rs. lot of money on sky news over many years. is he prepared to sell it and will someone buy it if the answer to both of those questions is yes then the bid from rupert murdoch could go through for the one permutation, is comcast interested in taking on sky news? it already has a considerable news operation. we have not heard a lot from them as to whether they are prepared to do that but we have heard from disney and they would be prepared to buy sky news. sky news isa prepared to buy sky news. sky news is a world—class brand, it loses money, exactly how much is not clear but it has a huge number of fantastic journalists and is

but it has a huge number of fantasticjournalists and is a high calibre product am not sure it would bea calibre product am not sure it would be a new us owner to come in and sack a bunch ofjournalists. be a new us owner to come in and sack a bunch of journalists. let's be honest, this is a business call. it depends on a few things. there is a commercial consideration. if comcast bought sky news, could they make money? they could be synergies with its current existing operation because they own things like nbc. if disney bought it, it is possible to the that they would look at it and say, this is a nice adornment to our media operation. i'm not sure disney would want to come into europe and immediately close sky news which is a high—calibre product which produces world—class journalism. it is not their specialism, they are good at entertainment, but i think the decision from matt hancock suggests he thinks it is quite likely to disney would buy sky news which will clear the way for fox to ta ke which will clear the way for fox to take control of sky. i know you are not a betting man... you don't know that! i am hoping you're not! but

let's say you were punting the good ship sky up the river and you have comcast and fox and disney, where is that boat ending up?” comcast and fox and disney, where is that boat ending up? i will be a ludicrously conservative pundit and will not say i have any idea. it is genuinely hard to say at this stage where sky will be owned and i don't think we can make a call on that for one reason, not the complexity of theissue one reason, not the complexity of the issue but because there is a bidding warfor sky. fox and disney and comcast all want it and that is and comcast all want it and that is a good position for sky which is why they have opened the announcement. until we know rupert murdoch's response to that range of options, i'm afraid it's difficult to say. i would love to make a call, but until we know where rupert murdoch stands on the bids, it will be hard to plot a way forward for sky but if you are a way forward for sky but if you are a shareholder you should be happy with the interest. are you a betting man? in domains i know about like

cricket but generally not! i would not promote betting in this environment! firmly on that fence! thank you. newspapers across the north of england have joined forces to call on the prime minister to "get a grip" and deal with the delays and cancellations on the rail network. they're urging theresa may to call an emergency summit to find a solution to the disruption caused by new timetables. danny savage is at leeds station. what has happened today is that all of the newspaper editors in northern england, some 25 of them at regional and local level, have come together with the same editorial on their front page and the basic message is, enough is enough, mrs may, something has to be done about the train problems here in northern england. we are two weeks into those problems since that new timetable was introduced and even on the first day, trains that were scheduled to run on that new timetable failed to materialise with northern blaming a lack of driver availability for the cancellation of many services and those problems have continued for a fortnight. the message from a part of the country where many millions

of people live is that something really needs to be done about it for. chris grayling has a vote of no—confidence, at least according to the yorkshire post editorial, and they're calling for him to go and things like a new trans—pennine route must be prioritised to improve the transport infrastructure in this part of the country. one other point they are making as well is that they do not feel that rail services in this part of england can be managed effectively or properly from people 200 miles down the track in london and they are calling for more regional control of services up here. it does feel like a bit of a watershed moment today in this part of the country with all of the newspaper editors coming together and speaking with one voice on behalf of their readers in this part of northern england, saying that something really has to be done and this cannot go on any longer.

the rail services need to be sorted out and sorted out urgently. ben rich has the weather. good afternoon. our weather is moving and changing at a relatively sedate pace at the moment. we are just watching areas of cloud drifting across the weather map. so the satellite picture shows that it was pretty cloudy in many places early on but that cloud has been drifting southwards to reveal sunny skies as we enter the afternoon. then as we go through to night, most places will have clear skies, a bit of extra cloud for a time across the south—west and then this next lump of cloud just meanders its way in from the north sea affecting many parts of eastern scotland and eastern england as we start wednesday morning. quite a cool start to the day as well. so, some cloud for a time across the far south—west, always more cloud across some of these eastern areas.

but elsewhere there will be some spells of sunshine, a very small chance for a shower across northern ireland. temperatures in the sunnier spots up into the low 20s but a bit cooler where we keep the extra cloud. looking ahead towards the weekend there will be a lot of dry weather, a chance of showers at times towards the south, temperatures again into the 20s. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. controversial plans to expand heathrow airport have been approved by ministers. mps are set to vote on the proposals in weeks. expansion at heathrow will bring real benefits across the country, including a boost of up to £74 billion to passengers and the wider economy, providing better connections to growing world markets and increasing flights to more long—haul destinations. the culture secretary says he will not block fox's attempt to take over sky — on condition that sky news should be sold to ensure media plurality. companies involved in the refurbishment of grenfell tower have been criticised

at the public inquiry into the deaths of 72 people. disgraced film producer harvey weinstein has pleaded not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges at a new york court. and regional newspapers across the north of england have joined forces to call on theresa may to "get a grip" over wide—spread cancellations and delays on the rail network. sport now on afternoon live with tim, and those howlers by the liverpool goalkeeper may never be figure than by the fans but there is a reason. after his performance ten days ago he went for tests at massachusetts hospital and doctors believe he suffered concussion during the match with real madrid after colliding with real madrid after colliding with defender sergio ramos. it would go some way to explaining the two areas you mentioned. liverpool's

medical staff didn't notice anything at the time but doctor barry o'driscoll, an expert in the issue, said it would have been hard to spot. the point is, he probably wasn't seen by the medical team and had they done so they may have spotted it but if they had come on they may not have spotted it at that stage and the symptoms may have come on later. this is why concussion is such a terrible quandary and we got to be very careful with it. this is why i have always said that any sign or symptom, that player must come off and stay off because the signs and symptoms can develop a little later and that looks as if that may well have happened with this player. well the other player at the centre of the karius storm, real madrid captain sergio ramos has had his say on the incident with the liverpool keeper. "i didn't want to speak because everything is magnified after the goalkeeper said that i dazed him with a clash with me i am only missing firmino saying that he got a cold because a drop of my sweat."

i don't think he's taking these stories to seriously. let's talk about alex macheras city midfield player who said he would play for guardiola for a pound a week and had a go at herformer manager of his. yes, yaya toure, we would have to see at but his left manchester city and given a staggering into view in which he criticises guardiola and claims he often has problems with african players wherever he goes, that's guardiola, of course. city declined to comment but in the last couple of hours toure's agent also commented. dimitri seljuk saying his client wants to "dedicate next season to guardiola", and will be offered to all the top teams in england for just £1—a—week wages! ijust want i just want to talk about the top 100 earners, they havejust

published the results, is that right? yes, how many women do you think are in the top 100, simon? 30. nine. this is really shocking, not a single woman made the list, after the previous woman serena williams dropped out because she was giving birth. floyd mayweather came top after earning over £200 million according to the forbes rankings of the top 100 earning athletes. cristiano ronaldo — top for the past two years — dropped to third, leo messi is second, while the highest brit is lewis hamilton in 12th. but no women in the entire top 100. men's number two seed alexander zverev has been knocked out of the quarterfinals of the french open by dominic thiem. zverev struggled with a hamstring injury during the second set that required strapping and was soundly beaten by the austrian number seven seed in straight sets. thiem will be playing in his third consecutive men's singles semifinal at roland garros — and he'll meet either grand slam champion novak djokovic or italy's marco cecchinato,

who are in action now. and in the first of the women's quarter—finals, american madison keys has beaten yulia putintseva of kazakhstan. she took the opener on a tie—break and has taken the second 6—4. well, the french open was a grand slam too early for britain's andy murray. but the two—time wimbledon champion, who's been out since 2017 with injury says he hopes to be back in time for the grass court season. i've been out getting close to a year now which is a lot longer than i think me and any of my team expected at the beginning. but i'm getting closer to playing again. i started training a few days ago and hoping to make my comeback during the grass court season. plenty of sport to get through, that's all of it for now, i will be back in the next hour. studio: thank you, tim. back to our top story —

and "the time for action is now", the words of the transport secretary chris grayling as he said the government has approved the building of a third runway at heathrow. mps are now expected to be asked to vote on the plan in the coming weeks. speaking to mps, mr grayling said the uk should not be allowed to fall behind its competitors. this country has one of the largest aviation sectors in the world, contributing £22 billion to our gdp, supporting 500,000 jobs, servicing 285 million passengers, and transporting million tonnes of freight last year. the time for action is now. heathrow is already full and the evidence shows the remaining london airports won't be far behind. despite being the busiest two—runway airport in the world heathrow‘s capacity constraints mean it has fallen behind its global competitors, impacting the uk's economy and global trading opportunities. expansion at heathrow will bring real benefits across the country, including a boost of up to £74 billion to passengers and the wider economy.

that was chris grayling. in response, labour — who backed the idea, and won a vote on it in 2009 before plans were scrapped — have said the expansion should only go ahead if it meets a set of tests. here's labour leaderjeremy corbyn. the issue has to be looked at in the context of the select committee report which says tests must be undertaken on the economic impact for the whole country, noise pollution, air pollution, and connectivity to heathrow for transport links. those are the tests that have to be put before any decision is made. yes, there is a demand for increased airport capacity across the south—east. two of the south—east‘s airports are working somewhat undercapacity, sta nsted and luton. gatwick and heathrow are working at the moment at pretty well maximum capacity. let's look at it in that context. but the tests put forward by the select committee are very important ones and they should be the main consideration. that was jeremy corbyn. cait hewitt is the deputy director of the aviation environment federation, who campaign for aviation's impacts on people and the environment to be

brought within sustainable limits. thank you forjoining us. i guess you will pick on whatjeremy corbyn said sailor is a way to go yet.” would say we have not seen any evidence, either in the government's state m e nts evidence, either in the government's statements today or in the mountain of documentation that has been produced on this issue in recent yea rs produced on this issue in recent years that this expansion would be compatible with what we are trying to do on climate change. heathrow is already the uk's biggest single source of carbon emissions. it is sitting right in an area that regularly preaches legal air pollution limits and we don't think it's possible to be confident that thoseissues it's possible to be confident that those issues can be addressed going forward. how much of that air pollution is down to the plains and how much is down to the cars queueing to get to the airport? do we have a figure? no but possibly heathrow does, as i understand. the

particular breakdown is difficult to identify. i think certainly part of the problem will originate from the aircraft themselves but we should not underestimate the problem from road traffic. i know that heathrow airport likes to argue, look, it's not our issue, it is something to do with the roads. that may be the case but nevertheless it's where heathrow is and it seems inconceivable that this expansion could go ahead without a considerable increase in road traffic, both from passengers and freight vehicles. but do you accept given what has happened in the last ten years, 20 years, that those levels may actually come down even with an increased because planes are giving out less emissions, and so our cars, and there is a change, and thinking five, ten, 15 years hence. the problem is the only information we have to go on at the moment is the secretary of state's optimism that

everything will be all right in future. if we look at the recent history on this issue, ten years or so ago when this was last on the table, the government produced modelling to say, look, we don't have to worry about air pollution, everything is going to be ok in the future, we're going to get this new generation of diesel vans which will all be much cleaner, and obviously it hasn't come to pass, even without the expansion going ahead. so, no, we don't think it's possible to feel confident today that everything will go completely smoothly and that we will be so successful in cutting air pollution that we will create extra headroom from the emissions that will come from the heathrow expansion forced of the government would appear to have been convinced by the business argument as much as else, that we needed an airport for the next century. what would it take to re m ove the next century. what would it take to remove your objections? what is it that would make the third runway a cce pta ble

it that would make the third runway acceptable to you ? it that would make the third runway acceptable to you? i think we would need to see much clearer evidence that there was such a strong economic case that all the kind of environmental concerns, local environmental concerns, local environmental impacts, noise and air pollution, and as i say, this significant increase in co2 emissionsjust at a significant increase in co2 emissions just at a time when we're talking about ramping up ambition on climate change, that all that could be set aside because this was so important for the nation's economy. we just haven't seen that evidence, the economic benefits estimated for the economic benefits estimated for the scheme have been cut every time there has been a review on this issue. now i think the figure quoted today was about a third of that first put out by the airports commission when they looked at this issue some yea rs commission when they looked at this issue some years ago. if you look at the detail of the impact that this scheme would have, growth at almost every other airport in the uk would reduce, for example, if expansion went ahead. i think we need to look carefully about whether this is really in the interests of the

nation as a whole, as opposed to that of heathrow airport itself. cait hewitt, thank you for coming in. thank you. a court has heard that an alleged taliban bomb maker was being followed by surveillance officers in the days before he was arrested by armed police on whitehall. khalid ali from north london, denies preparing acts of terrorism and two counts of possessing an explosive substance with intent. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford reports. it was april last year, barely a month since the westminster bridge attack, when heavily armed officers arrested a man walking into whitehall. the suspect, khalid ali, the prosecution say, was carrying the three knives. today, brian altman qc told the jury that khalid ali had been under surveillance in the week leading up to his arrest. he'd first come to attention in 2010 on an aid convoy to gaza. soon afterwards he disappeared and his family reported him missing. he re—emerged in britain in 2016, telling police he'd been

travelling in pakistan. but the prosecution case is that he had in fact been an al-qaeda supporter, making bombs for the taliban. at one point he told police he'd detonated 300, but he later backtracked on that. the fbi discovered his fingerprints on 42 bomb components found in afghanistan. in april last year, khalid ali's mother called police to the family home in north london, concerned that he had knives in his bedroom. the officers told him to leave the house. the next morning, according to the prosecution, he bought three sa batier knives in wilko's in ealing. and that afternoon he set off for westminster, dumping a phone on the river thames and then heading towards whitehall. the prosecution say that as khalid ali entered parliament street, he was stopped by armed police officers and arrested. as officers searched him they found the three knives that

he'd purchased earlier, two in the outer pockets of his jacket and one tucked down the front of his trousers. khalid ali denies charges of being in possession of explosives of being in possession of explosive substances overseas and of preparing a terrorist attack in london. daniel sandford, bbc news, at the old bailey. the former prime minister, gordon brown, has told the bbc that labour and the government are failing to provide the leadership the country needs and have not yet grasped the challenges of brexit. he warned that unless the leadership of the main westminster parties faced up to the reasons why people voted to leave the european union, the country could be ‘paralysed' for years to come. i think we will not be able to move forward in unity as a nation. we are polarised, we are divided, we are fractured, notjust over brexit but there is disenchantment in scotland, wales, northern ireland, the english regions, and people are not sensing that the problems that they thought gave rise to what was the biggest antiestablishment revolt we have seen in centuries, the commercial, the political, the industrial, the

cultural establishment all rejected by this brexit vote and i don't think people have yet woken up, particularly in parliament, to the drivers of that dissatisfaction. what we've got to do about it, stagnant wages, left—out communities, migration is still an issue, sovereignty is still an issue and of course the health service and the promises about the health service were part of the referendum. now, if we don't deal with these fundamental underlying drivers of dissatisfaction, the root causes of what brought about brexit, then we will not be able to unite asa nation and we face a future where we are paralysed into inaction bya failure to be able to get our act together and to move on. what do you think the consequences of that would be, though? i think the consequences are a nation that gets stuck and we on a whole range of issues because we are caught and trapped in simply discussing the detail and the fine print of brexit.

my appeal is to the westminster leaderships to look at the underlying causes of what brought about brexit, to understand that people don't feel that the existing options answer all these grievances, to deal with these grievances and one by one i actually think these problems can be solved. so my plea is not out of a failure to believe that we can deal with these problems, it's that we're not addressing these problems. we've got to address them now. if we look at them practically we can actually deal with them and i gave examples of the health service, migration, sovereignty, of all the concerns that people have that still exist and, perhaps some greater concerns than 2016, and how we can deal with them now. gordon brown. ina gordon brown. in a moment we have the business news with ben bland. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. controversial plans for a third runway at heathrow are approved by ministers — mps will vote within weeks. a corporate silence — companies involved in the refurbishment of grenfell tower are criticised at the inquiry into the deaths of 72 people.

newspapers across the north of england join forces to call on the prime minister to ‘get a grip' — and deal with the delays and cancellations on the rail network. time for your business headlines on an afternoon live. business groups welcome the government's decision on a third runway at heathrow. the transport secretary says current capacity means the airport is falling behind its global competitors — and means the uk is missing out on global trading opportunities. mr grayling says the extra runway will increase competition, create tens of thousands of local jobs and boost the uk economy. one former conservative transport secretary, though, has dismissed it as an "old—economy" plan in a "new economy world". the uk government says it will allow rupert murdoch's 21st century fox to buy up the rest of sky it doesn't already own, provided that sky news is sold to disney or another buyer. that's to deal with concerns about one family — the murdochs — having too much influence on news provision in the uk.

fox has said it's already begun work on that. the culture secretary, matt hancock, also said a rival bid by comcast to buy sky could also go ahead. this paves the way for a head—to—head battle. petrol prices rose by 6p a litre last month, the biggest monthly rise in 18 years. the rac says average petrol prices hitjust over 129p a litre, while average diesel prices rose to just over 132p a litre. the rac said higher crude oil prices and a weaker pound were to blame for the increases. 21st—ce ntu ry 21st—century takeover of fox but only if it sells sky news and that's only if it sells sky news and that's only a quarter of this story? indeed, this is the proviso on the government saying it will allow 21st century fox to go ahead with its bid

to buy the rest of sky, it wants to buy the remainder. the culture secretary matt hancock has referred to bid forfurther secretary matt hancock has referred to bid for further consultation secretary matt hancock has referred to bid forfurther consultation but at the same time he has given the go—ahead for comcast put in a rival bid to buy sky. it is paving the way for a battle between fox and comcast to buy sky. it has to sell sky news to buy sky. it has to sell sky news to disney or another bidder and be kept for ten years. the statement from the culture secretary said they welcomed the announcement and they have already submitted undertakings to make sure that happens. but hang ona minute, to make sure that happens. but hang on a minute, if comcast buy it do they take control of sky news as well, or do they have to sell it off? how does that work? they have their own news operation already. they do but most of their news operation is not in the uk so that

doesn't create the same concerns about what they call media plurality and too much influence over news provision in this country wrestling with one person all but one family. if comcast go—ahead... pay attention, simon fostered if comcast go—ahead they can keep sky news as pa rt go—ahead they can keep sky news as part of sky and if 21st century fox buy sky they have to sell the sky news business. joining us now is claire enders, media analyst and founder of enders analysis. was this largely what was expected, ordid was this largely what was expected, or did this announcement from the culture secretary matt hancock come asa culture secretary matt hancock come as a surprise? no, it was expected that we were going in the direction ofa that we were going in the direction of a conclusion to the regulatory situation which has taken a very long time and that the proposals which fox put into the public domain earlier in the year this year in regard to selling sky news to disney

to lay all concerns about murder family influence on public opinion, that those were a very decisive move in the right direction. we were expecting that to be the preferred option of the cma and the secretary of state because it absolutely solves that problem. what actually is going to happen is that fox has to buy sky in order to sell sky news to buy sky in order to sell sky news to disney. so the next phase is going to happen in five to six weeks' time when fox tables in new bid for sky, having gotten the approval of the secretary of state to its whole bid, he will have signed off on all the conditions and remedies and so on, which we expect he will require disney to back up, so not just fox he will require disney to back up, so notjust fox having made those commitments but disney backing those up commitments but disney backing those up as well and that will happen very quickly. so really we don't know who is going to own sky and we won't know for a while. and of course,

what i'm saying is it will be a matter of some weeks but the higher order metanarrative matter of some weeks but the higher order meta narrative is matter of some weeks but the higher order metanarrative is going on, of course, in the usa in new york city with the at&t time warner bid coming underjudgment with the at&t time warner bid coming under judgment in a with the at&t time warner bid coming underjudgment in a week's time. that also has a much bigger story. comcast has said it intends to bid for fox if it can so we are going to see how determined comcast becomes given all of those moving pieces in its game plan. ok, thank you very much, claire. thank goodness it is not a complicated narrative but thank you for talking us through it, i'm sure we will speak again. let's talk about apple's privacy settings. it is not happy with facebook for a start. it is trying to give iphone users a bit more power to know when facebook specifically is tracking what we are doing in the browser.

you know when you are on your phone and if you are on safari browser there is a facebook like button but evenif there is a facebook like button but even if you don't click the button and you are browsing it facebook knows and can track what you are doing and your movements. it is giving users a bit more control, but that only applies to people on iphones, android users will not benefit from that. it is also doing something else to help this deal with our addiction. that is what this is, this announcement last night, they will tell you how much time you are spending on various bits on the phone. so this is the new screen time app they have launched, those bars on the chart show you each individual app and which one takes up most of your time. it could be snapchat, facebook, instagram, whatever it is, and you can set time limits and it will warn you, it'll say one hour of your daily time allowance left on the bbc news app for example, or whatever it is, and then it will warn you and lock you of it until

tomorrow. this has a clear application for those with youngsters, younger people particularly worried overnight about checking phones. do you mean children? yes, but younger adults, so no, i mean children? yes, but younger adults, so no, i mean younger children? yes, but younger adults, so no, i mean younger people. so you can actually control it, even though they may be more technologically advanced than you are, this solves that, doesn't it? it is built into the hardware, built into the software, this means that parents can get reports on which apps their children are using and how much they are spending on them. if a child says to their parent, i was just doing some e—mails for school and comes back to show... at in the morning? and it says they were on candy crush, or whatever, they can see what they are using and set limits for the children's use of individual apps. limits for the children's use of individualapps. internet limits for the children's use of individual apps. internet safety campaigners have welcomed it. the ftse100 is being outperformed

by the frankfurt dax and the cac 40. it isa by the frankfurt dax and the cac 40. it is a bit ofa by the frankfurt dax and the cac 40. it is a bit of a drag because the pound is doing well today, strengthening because of good service sector data making up a large amount of the economy, 80% or more, so that has strengthened the pound. i have a little app here that gives you a time, over by 20. now you are over. it is then with the weather. good afternoon. our weather is moving at a relatively sedate pace at the moment. things only changing slowly. so yesterday the isle of wight was basking under sunny skies. an area of cloud has drifted its way in so today the skies are considerably gloomier. you can see on the earlier satellite picture the way we have quite a lot of cloud in place but that cloud has been breaking up from the north. we have been seeing increasing amount of sunshine and, as we close out this afternoon, many areas will be seeing sunny skies, in the midlands, east anglia, wales, northwards into northern england and scotland.

a small chance of a shower in northern ireland. always more cloud down towards the south—west and those temperatures a little down on where they were yesterday. but in spite of that, the southern half of the country particularly seeing high or very high pollen levels. i'm sure if you are a hay fever sufferer you will have already noticed that. now, during this evening and tonight, this area of cloud in the south—west will tend to break up. we will see some clear spells but then this next lump of cloud drifts its way in from the north sea, affecting many eastern areas by the first part of wednesday morning and temperatures will dip away into single figures in many spots. in fact, some places will get down to three orfour degrees. so wednesday, another day where things are drifting very slowly across the weather map. some good spells of sunshine, a sunnier day down towards the south—west for example. sunny skies into northern ireland, northern scotland. but this area of cloud will always be plaguing some eastern areas and again, those temperatures struggling a little bit, particularly where you keep the cloud. you get some sunshine further south. 22 degrees in cardiff and in london. now, a bit of a change as we move

through wednesday night into thursday but again, nothing too dramatic, it's just that we're going to see these showers and storms across france edging in our direction. but by the time they get to us they should be fairly light and well scattered. we could see the odd shower in southern parts on thursday. a bit of extra cloud here, but further north, sticking with some spells of sunshine and some warmth as well. particularly in the south, actually quite a humid feel here by this stage. even further north, looking at highs of 22 degrees in edinburgh. and then, as we head towards the weekend, southern areas always prone to seeing the odd shower at times but nothing too dramatic and there will still be some dry weather. further north, largely dry, some spells of sunshine, temperatures up to around 20.

hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. today at 4pm. controversial plans for a third runway at heathrow are approved by ministers — mps will vote within weeks. a corporate silence — companies involved in the refurbishment of grenfell tower are criticised at the inquiry into the deaths of 72 people. newspapers across the north of england join forces to call on the prime minister to ‘get a grip' — and deal with the delays and cancellations on the rail network. disgraced hollywood film producer harvey weinstein pleads not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges in a new york court. coming up on afternoon live all the sport.

i will have news on manchester united's first signing of the season, he is a brazilian midfielder. thank you, and then will have the forecast. wane this is not where i am! some weeks weather systems sweeping from the atlantic and things change quickly, but this is not one of those weeks. i will have details in half an hour. buckle up and get ready fora bumpy landing... despite today's government decision to approve plans for a new third runway at heathrow airport,

opponents are preparing for a further battle over britain's skies. transport secretary chris grayling told the commons that expansion will allow britain to keep pace with other international economies, and that the benefits of the scheme will stretch far beyond london. the proposals will be voted on by mps within weeks. our business correspondent theo leggett reports. this isn't down on the farm, it is london's vast airport at heathrow, scene of intense daily activity. when it was first built, heathrow was meant to provide all the airport capacity london needed. it's a long and involved business but when finished, the result will be an airport worthy of the world's metropolis. 70 years later, it is bursting at the seams. there simply is not enough space for any more flights. politicians have been arguing about how to expand airport capacity in the south—east for decades, but today the government threw its weight firmly behind a third runway at heathrow. expansion at heathrow will bring real benefits across the country, including a boost of up to £74 billion to passengers and the wider economy,

providing better connections to growing world markets and increasing flights to more long haul destinations. so what is actually being planned? this is heathrow as it stands today, with two runways, north and south. the new third runway would be built to the north—west and would pass through where the village of harmondsworth currently stands. two other villages would also be affected. heathrow‘s owners say the cost of the project would be £14 billion, although opponents say it could be higher than that. nearly 800 homes would have to be demolished. but then the airport would then be able to handle hundreds of thousands more take—offs and landings every year and more than 50 million extra passengers. it's a plan the villagers of harmondsworth have been fighting against for years. it lies bang slap in the middle of the most densely populated residential region in the country and it is almost inconceivable you could have 250,000 extra flights with all the vehicularjourneys that would mean, in terms of road

journeys and freight without having serious impacts on the air we breathe and the noise people suffer. those in favour of a third runway believe it will bring significant economic benefits, notjust for london and the south—east but for the country as a whole. the crucial thing to understand about a hub airport like heathrow is that the bigger routes to cities like new york are fed by smaller feeder planes that include rather than exclude other parts of the uk. we need to start taking a long—term view on infrastructure. but the plan has to be approved by the house of commons, and many london mps are unhappy. they think the new airport will bring not only more planes but more noise and pollution as well, blighting the lives of local residents. they include members of the conservative party's own ranks.

this is a massively expensive than polluting proposal to expand heathrow, but also i think people would prefer to see a regional airport strategy with the connections they need on their doorstep rather than going hundreds of miles to london to then fly from heathrow. it is a 20th—century strategy in a 21st—century point—to—point world. there is no doubt that today's announcement brings the prospect of a third runway at heathrow a step closer, but opponents remain determined to make their voices heard and are unlikely to back down until the tarmac has actually been laid. jon ironmonger is at heathrow airport. yes, chris grayling said this was a historic moment when he was laying out the national policy statement in the commons this afternoon, and truly it has been a long time coming. first government for decades

to set out as tall and say we're going to back this particularform of airport expansion in the south—east, noticeably at heathrow airport. a few things he said when he was laying out his statement, he said the expansion of heathrow would add 74 billion to the uk economy, and would be funded privately. he said it was crucial to the national interest and said he would not press on with the plans unless air quality obligations were met, and he urged mps to support the plan when put to abort. labour, andy mcdonnell said they would consider the proposals but they wanted the government to make recommendations of the transport select committee, and a kind of drew up a number of concerns including noise, and one of the recommendations was to have a ban on night flights, a seven—hour band. the expansion will cost around 40 million, it will not happen behind me, it will happen a quarter of a

mile, half a me, it will happen a quarter of a mile, halfa mile in me, it will happen a quarter of a mile, half a mile in that direction to the north—west of this site, and it will cause huge disruption to three villages in particular, harman is -- three villages in particular, harman is —— harmondsworth particularly, around 700 homes would have to be bulldozed. residents have been opposed to this for many years. they have been campaigning hard. those who will be allowed to stay in their homes have to come to terms with the fa ct homes have to come to terms with the fact they are living on a busy air path and the noise and pollution that entails. chris grayling says he has set aside 2.6 billion in the form of compensation, but today residents as saying they will not leave their homes no matter what the costis leave their homes no matter what the cost is at all. a huge amount of opposition from residents, then there are climate campaigners who say it will not legally meet your targets of it goes ahead, and there

are politicians, local politicians, borisjohnson for are politicians, local politicians, boris johnson for stand opposed are politicians, local politicians, borisjohnson for stand opposed to this. let us say that this does through, we could see it open by 2025. let's talk now to parmjit dhanda, executive director of back heathrow, a community organisation that wants to see expansion at heathrow. it was launched with funding from heathrow airport. but you're not yet we're. now, we have waited since the second world war. there has not been a new runway since this —— since then in the south of england. things did not happen quickly in this country, and as you have seen there are many people who will find many reasons to

oppose these projects, but locally, we find an awful lot of support, there is 100,000 members of our campaign that live locally, who support this new runway. and it will actually create 77,000 new local jobs. that is part of 180,000 jobs across the country. and part of 10,000 apprenticeships as well. having grown up here in the 1980s, i remember what it was like in terms of young people leaving school and not finding work. this has the potential to eradicate youth unemployment around london, so there area unemployment around london, so there are a lot of benefits that local people see, and that is why local people, more people support the expansion in the 12 constituency around —— constituencies around heathrow airport than oppose it. how

fardo heathrow airport than oppose it. how far do you live from the airport? not very far, i have spent much of my life year. like you represent a local community group. where is your home? amersham, which is not far away, and we have thousands of supporters and that part of the world. if you lived within a ten mile radius of the airport, how would you feel? i have ——” mile radius of the airport, how would you feel? i have -- i have, i grew up in hayes, was born in southall, you mentioned in your piece harmondsworth, i have members of my family live there. many of them who have left with... but are they the majority? the uncertainty is one thing, but are you saying that the people in the village are happy it could be bulldozed?m

that the people in the village are happy it could be bulldozed? it is very sad when people lose their home, people have an attachment to their home, and it is sad anyone should have to lose the home, but i also get messages from people saying we are fed up of the uncertainty, we wa nt we are fed up of the uncertainty, we want they compensation package, which is 125% of the value of their home, and stamp duty and removal costs, which is the least the government can do to support people at this time. but no runways have been built in this country in the south—east since the second world war, and before 2025, china is going to build six airports. thank you for joining us. thank you. a lawyer representing victims of the grenfell fire says survivors and the bereaved are coming to the inquiry in a "calm rage". speaking on the second day of evidence to the inquiry, danny frieman qc said the refurbishment of the tower block, overseen by the local authority, had left it a death trap. the inquiry was also told that companies involved

in the refurbishment are refusing to say whether the changes were in breach of building regulations. tom burridge is at the inquiry hearing in central london. i have just i havejust come i have just come off the phone to someone who lost her partner in the fire, and calm rage is exactly how she feels about the companies who refurbished the tower. they have been accused of putting peoples lives at risk by failing to participate with the enquiry. one barrister said the company is disingenuous, with no desire to assist this enquiry. she said the silence of the companies was increasing the pain and uncertainty of families and robbing them of resolution and understanding that they deserve. in opening statements, they deserve. in opening statements, the companies say they might comment more when they have access to more of the evidence which is being

presented to the enquiry so far. the main contractor said in its opening statement, ryden, the issue of supplying combustible cladding in building projects was industry wide. —— the main company, rydon. the qc representing the victims said there were systemic failures and the decision to refurbish on the cheap had led to this disaster. he said the whole system of building regulations was unaccountable. the whole system of building regulations was unaccountablem the whole system of building regulations was unaccountable. it is difficult to conceive of any other syste m difficult to conceive of any other system of regulation an activity so eminently and utterly dangerous as building and

maintaining high—rise tower blocks where it would be left to the judgment of interested groups and private consultants and professionals paid by the industry to determine such fundamental questions as what is adequate. in the hands of the regulatory position in the future there lies the protection from the spread of fire for a diverse community of men, women, children, the elderly and the disabled. the facts, as we are learning them through this inquiry, so far reveal demonstrate the industry cannot be left to have those people in their care. imran khan representing some of the families, the solicitor, he has been speaking about the issue of race, and says it is an issue the enquiry should consider. he accuses kensington and chelsea council and the tenancy management organisation, or at least raises the possibility that they make certain decisions to allocate certain families in some of the top floors when it was highly inappropriate, and questions whether

some of those decisions were made on the basis of race, or at least cultural ignorance. what may have occurred, and which needs consideration by this inquiry, is whether, and taking the quote on institutionalised racism, whether as a result of the unwitting actions and conduct of the individuals that made up rbkc and tmo there was a racist outcome. in short, the question that we might want to ask and have answered is whether rbkc and tmo and its associates were guilty of institutional racism. our clients believe that this is a proper issue to explore. the refurbishment of grenville turner was a complex project. many companies involved. but you have to ask, who signed of the project? ——

the refurbishment of grenfell tower. you only have to hear the words of one of the qcs speaking on behalf of one of the qcs speaking on behalf of one of the families today who said they cladding acted as petrol, to realise how wrong that assessment of saying it was not to blame was. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. controversial plans for a third runway at heathrow are approved by ministers — mps will vote within weeks. a corporate silence — companies involved in the refurbishment of grenfell tower are criticised at the inquiry into the deaths of 72 people. disgraced hollywood film producer harvey weinstein pleads not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges in a new york court. and in sport, manchester united make their move, brazilian midfielder fred sainz to becomejose mourinho's first signing of the summer.

karius sees a doctor and finds out he suffered a conduction —— concussion... the culture secretary matt hancock has announced in parliament that the government will not block the attempt by rupert murdoch's 21st century fox to fully takeover sky. fox wants to buy the 61% of sky which it does not already own, and the bid has been complicated by rival offers and concerns about competition. and the government says sky news should be sold to disney or another buyer to ensure media plurality. a little earlier, our media editor amol rajan explained the complexity of a potential deal. lots of people are trying to buy lots and lots of different things. it reminds me of a—level maths when you had to study permutations and there were infinite numbers

of permutations around a particular issue. what is going on here today is there are two separate bids for sky, one from the us media giant comcast and matt hancock said that he sees no problems in terms of plurality or broadcasting standards. there is a separate more complicated one where rupert murdoch's 21st century fox has sought the 61% of sky it does not own and matt hancock said he was ok with greenlighting that bid as long as sky sells off or divests sky news, and the most likely buyer for sky news is disney, a rival to comcast. disney wants to buy all of fox. if we are trying to plot what happens, there is a question rupert murdoch faces, what he thinks in terms of responding to comcast and disney and the two rival bids for fox, and is rupert murdoch, who funded sky for many years,

prepared to sell them. it was his baby. he has lost a lot of money on sky news over many years. is he prepared to sell sky news and will someone buy it — if the answer to both of those questions is yes, then the bid from rupert murdoch for sky could go through. the one permutation you didn't mention, is comcast interested in taking on sky news? it already has a considerable news operation. we have not heard a lot from them as to whether they are prepared to do that, but we have heard from disney and they would be prepared to buy sky news. sky news is a world—class brand, it loses money, exactly how much is not clear but it has a huge number of fantastic journalists and is a high calibre product, i am not sure it would be a new us owner to come in and sack a bunch ofjournalists. would they care? let's be honest, this is a business call. it depends on a few things.

there is a commercial consideration. if comcast bought sky news, could they make money? there could be synergies with its current existing operation because they own things like nbc. if disney bought it, it is possible to the that they would look at it and say, this is a nice adornment to our media operation. i'm not sure disney would want to come into europe and immediately close sky news, which is a high—calibre product which produces world—class journalism. it is not their specialism, they are good at entertainment, but i think the decision from matt hancock suggests he thinks it is quite likely disney would buy sky news which will clear the way for fox to take control of sky. i know you are not a betting man... you don't know that! i am hoping you're not! but let's say you were punting the good ship sky up the river cam and you have comcast and fox and disney, where is that boat ending up? i will be a ludicrously conservative punter and will not say i have any idea.

it is genuinely hard to say at this stage where sky will be owned and i don't think we can make a call on that for one reason, not the complexity of the issue but because there is a bidding warfor sky. fox and disney and comcast all want it and that is a good position for sky, which is why they have welcomed the announcement. until we know rupert murdoch's response to that range of options, i'm afraid it's difficult to say. the disgraced film producer harvey weinstein has left a criminal court in new york where he has pleaded ‘not guilty‘ to charges of rape and sexual assault. mr weinstein is accused of sexual offences by scores of women, which ignited the hash—tag me too campaign. our correspondent in new york is neda tawfik his lawyer benjamin bronfman, i assume at this point, will try to have these charges dropped, but it looks likely that this will indeed

go to trial. last week a grand jury indicted harvey weinstein on the charges of rape and sexual assault. in the supreme court in new york, he pleaded in front of the judge not guilty. now we start the long process of motions and discovery and lots of legal proceedings on the way toa lots of legal proceedings on the way to a trial, and i think the interesting question that many are already asking is, will this really mimic the second trial we saw in the bill cosby case, where additional women were allowed to speak and give evidence apart from the women in the case itself? of course, new york prosecutors say they have an open enquiry into harvey weinstein, that they could bring additional charges, but for now he has pleaded not guilty to these charges of rape and

the criminal sexual act with regard to two women. newspapers across the north of england have joined forces to call on the prime minister to ‘get a grip' and deal with the delays and cancellations on the rail network. they're urging theresa may to call an emergency summit to find a solution to the disruption caused by new timetables. danny savage has been at leeds station. what has happened today is that all of the newspaper editors in northern england, some 25 of them at regional and local level, have come together with the same editorial on their front page and the basic message is, enough is enough, mrs may, something has to be done about the train problems here in northern england. we are two weeks into those problems since that new timetable was introduced and even on the first day, trains that were scheduled to run on that new timetable failed to materialise with northern blaming a lack of driver availability for the cancellation of many services and those problems have continued for a fortnight.

the message from a part of the country where many millions of people live is that something really needs to be done about it for. chris grayling has a vote of no—confidence, at least according to the yorkshire post editorial, and they‘ re calling for him to go and things like a new trans—pennine route must be prioritised to improve the transport infrastructure in this part of the country. one other point they are making as well is that they do not feel that rail services in this part of england can be managed effectively or properly from people 200 miles down the track in london and they are calling for more regional control of services up here. it does feel like a bit of a watershed moment today in this part of the country with all of the newspaper editors coming together and speaking with one voice on behalf of their readers in this part of northern england, saying that something really has to be done and this cannot go on any longer. the rail services need to be sorted

out and sorted out urgently. the first funerals have taken place in guatemala for people killed by the most violent volcanic eruption in the country for more than a century. at least 69 people are now known to have died and dozens are still missing after sunday's eruption. more than 1.7 million people, about 10% of the country's population, are at risk from ash and toxic gases from the fuego volcano, 25 miles from the capital guatemala city. aleem maqbool is in guatemala and sent us this report. the first funerals tell of just how cruel the eruption was, and the victims it took. here they carry the coffin of three—year—old jenifer andrea morales. six other members of her family were killed too. the volcano remains shrouded

in smoke, but gives away little of the sudden catastrophic violence it wrought. the land tells a different tale, scarred and suffocated by lava and ash. more eyewitness footage has emerged of the eruption. this was taken several hours after the main explosion, yet lava and gas still spew out. thousands of people from the area around the volcano have been displaced and they're coming to churches and government buildings and schools for refuge. many of them have no idea when they'll be allowed back home, and what's left of their possessions. and it's clear, speaking to people of the area, they are traumatised by what they've gone through. "when this all happened we couldn't figure out what to do," she says. "i felt i had no options, that i wasn't going to be able to get out." there are now also fearful of further eruptions.

it's why more refuges could be opened. translation: the evaluation to allow more shelters is already under way, to give people basic necessities so they have no problems at the moment they have to evacuate their communities. the guatemalan president jimmy morales has visited those affected by the disaster, declaring three days of national mourning and calling for the country to pull together to support those affected. with so many still missing and most bodies as yet unidentified, people here will need more strength in the days to come. aleem maqbool, bbc news, in guatemala. time for a look at the weather. i want to pick up a few tweets i have. on the maps that you have, southern ireland does not appear in

the figures, and people are wondering why. line the figures come from the uk met office, so simply they are figures for the uk. the republic of ireland's weather service will publish their own figures, but these are purely uk figures, but these are purely uk figures, which is why the republic of ireland is not covered. we can a nswer m ost of ireland is not covered. we can answer most questions. it has been a quiet start to june weather wise, and we have collated the statistics to look back at me, and a lot of people were thinking it was warm. this shows you that yes it was, maximum daytime temperatures were above average, but three degrees in is some places, and there was also some sunshine as well. and you can look at the sunshine map, which is a little above average. it was sunny

in may, in most coastal places with from the south—west, but we also saw some big downpours and thunderstorms. this is the map for may, and the brown areas are drier than average. we would initially on course for a dry months, but then what happened as we got the showers in the south, and that bumps up the figures. so, you start to see some figures. so, you start to see some figures seeing well above. most countries in the north look —— areas in the north look very dry. yes, and you can see there are some little blobs where you have the blue colours, higher than average figures, and that is because the thunderstorms that brought those huge amount of rain,... here is a

photograph taken around this time last week, and it is notjust the uk where we have a weird may weather—wise. the eastern side of the us had huge amounts of rain, so they were wetter than they should have been. and this photograph from karachi in pakistan shows people trying to keep cool from the heat. temperatures up to 46 degrees on the 30th of may. one of the warmest days in may they have had on record. what about here? june has been really quiet but that will not change. there are some su btle will not change. there are some subtle changes. this is how it looked in st ives yesterday. today, pretty murky conditions, and this is the way of things at the moment. ehlers of cloud moving across the chart. the satellite picture shows the cloud affecting the southern

areas today, but it is starting to break up, with more places seeing sunshine. it looks like only the channel islands that will see showers later. we going to the evening, and the changes are subtle, with cloud in the south—west beginning to break up, but it brings in the next cloud from the north sea. things will cloud over overnight, and it is going to be a relatively chilly night, cooler than it was last night, with some sports getting down to three or four. a cool start, but for most of us it is a bright start, with sunshine. areas of cloud in the north sea, that is going to try to roll in across the north and and the south of scotland, and conversely there will be less cloud today in the south of england and wales. temperatures could get to

22 or 23 degrees. the next subtle change comes later in the week as we get into thursday. could be good news for sufferers of hay fever, because in the south there are very high pollen levels. but the showers will try to push on from the south, and they are quite intense across france, but as they reach us, they should be scattered, with many of them being white. they should dampen down the levels of pollen. temperatures starting to dream up a —— to creep up again on thursday. we then head towards the end of the week, with southern areas prone to some showers at times. swansea, bristol, possibly showers that times, but not all the time. further north, less chance of seeing showers. some sunny spells as well.

so only supple changes across the next few days. the quiet start to june continues. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. controversial plans to add a third runway at heathrow airport have been approved by ministers, despite opposition and delays. recent building work on grenfell tower has been criticised at the public inquiry into the tragedy, with one lawyer saying refurbishment had left the block a death trap. theresa may has been told to "get a grip" on the current rail disruption by a host of regional newspapers across the north of england, who joined together to fight against wide—spread chaos on the networks. disgraced hollywood film producer harvey weinstein has plead not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges in a new york court. sport now on afternoon live with tim hague. nine days before the world cup begins,

one of brazil's players isjoining manchester united ? yes, just a few days before the world cup and brazilian midfielder fred has joined manchester world cup and brazilian midfielder fred hasjoined manchester united for over £50 million. brazil boss said he wanted his squad to sort out the future before the tournament and fred has done just that, the first signing of the summer for manchester united and jose mourinho. also in football, and this has been leading a lot of sports bulletins today. doctors in america believe loris karius suffered a concussion in the champions league final ten days ago. it would go some way to explaining those two terrible errors by the liverpool goalkeeper, wouldn't it? liverpool's own medical staff didn't notice anything untoward at the time, but dr barry o'driscoll, an expert on the issue of concussion, thinks that's understandable. the point is, it probably wasn't seen by the medical team and had they done so they may

have spotted it. if they had come on they may not have spotted it at that stage and the symptoms may have come on later. this is why concussion is such a terrible quandary and we got to be very careful with it. this is why i have always said that any sign or symptom, that player must come off and stay off because the signs and symptoms can develop a little later and that looks as if that may well have happened with this player. doctor barry o'driscoll with his thoughts. this rich list, i'm utterly shocked, along with many others about this 100 richest sports people, not one woman! it is absolutely incredible. when i was told about the list earlier, i saw floyd mayweather at the top, i can understand that after his fight against conor mcgregor but not a single woman in the top 100 sports rich list, serena williams was the only woman last year and she dropped

out because she gave birth to her first baby so understandably wasn't playing tennis. mayweather top earning over £200 million according to the forbes rankings. lionel messi second, the highest brit lewis hamilton in 12. these are some of the top earners. mayweather earned most of his money for his boxing match against ufc star conor mcgregor last year. mcgregor is fourth himself. the top 100 athletes earned a total of nearly $3.8 billion, up 23% from last year. but the top line is there were no women in there at all. now in tennis. the number two seed alexander zverev has been knocked out of the quarter—finals of the french open by dominic thiem. zverev struggled with a hamstring injury during the second set and was soundly beaten in straight sets by the seventh seed. thiem will be play in his third consecutive semi—final at roland garros — and he'll meet either novak djokovic or italy's marco cecchinato, who are in action now. it doesn't look like djokovic, he's

just lost the second set so djokovic trails 2—0 6—3, 7—6 tojeju nacho. and in the first of the women's quarter—finals, american madison keys has beaten yulia putintseva of kazakhstan. she took the opening on a tie—break and won the second 6—4. well the french open was a grand slam too early for britain's andy murray. but the two—time wimbledon champion, who's been out since 2017 with injury says he hopes to be back in time for the grass court season. i've been out getting close to a year now which is a lot longer than i think me and any of my team expected at the beginning. but i'm getting closer to playing again. i started training a few days ago and hoping to make my comeback during the grass court season. that's all the sport for now.

simon. now on afternoon live — let's go nationwide — and see what's happening around the country — in our daily visit to the bbc newsrooms around the uk. it is good to see that the change of uniform has got through to everybody. rogerjohnson and justin lee in the afternoon live uniform. roger is in salford. use papers across the north of england, as we have been reporting, have been writing to the prime minister telling her to get a grip after recent chaos on the rail network. rogerjohnson has more on that shortly. there is a new place to strut your stuff and we will hear about that in a minute, but first, let's go to roger. we have been talking about this chaos for a while and it's rather unusual for local newspapers to get together like this. we will talk more about that

ina minute this. we will talk more about that in a minute and you are right, they have joined forces across the north of england. the chaos on northern rail has been going on for some weeks and took a turn for the worse a couple of weeks ago, and i know it's not exclusively the north, thames and have had problems and various others, but right across the north of england northern rail have had real problems since the introduction of the new national timetables a fortnight ago to such an timetables a fortnight ago to such a n exte nt timetables a fortnight ago to such an extent that yesterday they brought in what is called an interim timetable, effectively an emergency timetable, effectively an emergency timetable, because they are struggling. so they have cancelled a number of the services, 160 a day that they were supposed to be running on the new service. they just can't meet the demand for the number of trains they are supposed to be supplying. they say that is because a lot of the electrification work, certainly in the north—west of england, wasn't delivered on time by network rail, therefore they are not able to run electric trains, they have to run an old diesel trains, they don't have the capacity and the drivers to run the trains because they expected them to be running

electric trains and the whole thing isa electric trains and the whole thing is a real mess and is causing real problems for people with cancellations left, right and centre at peak times throughout the day right across the schedule and it is starting to wear a bit thin. we the country starting to wear a bit thin. we the cou ntry yesterday starting to wear a bit thin. we the country yesterday —— company yesterday and they said they are doing their best to sort things out but that is cold comfort to people who turn up to the station to catch a trainfor who turn up to the station to catch a train for work to find it has been cancelled and the next is cancelled and they have to wait for one to turn up who knows when? there is real anger out there and the role of local newspapers, unusually, looking at the papers today the headlines are very at the papers today the headlines are very similar. yes, the leading 25 newspapers across the north of england, everywhere from the liverpool echo, the manchester evening news, leeds, holed, they have all written collectively to theresa may, the prime minister, and said for goodness' sake, please sort this out, bring whatever pressure you have to bear in order to get things fixed. we spoke to this reporter who has been running this

story in the liverpool echo today. we are joining other newspapers across the north because we think action is needed to get northern rail back on track. commuters throughout region have seen hundreds of cancellations and all manner of delays, and so we have decided to come together with these other newsgroups just to get the government to take notice and take action. so whether or not the government will take notice and take action who knows? northern rail, i spoke to the md yesterday and it can't be easy running a railway with all the logistics and everything else. you go to lots of countries and these things happen like clockwork but for some reason in the north of the country and other areas since introducing the new timetables, and before actually, it is not working to the extent that some people are caused —— calling for northern rail to be stripped of its franchise. people's patience is wearing thin, i think it has already worn thin. thank you, roger. over to

plymouth, and justin lee, you have a new place to go out in the evening. we certainly do, as you will be aware, across the country local communities have been adopting phone boxes and i've seen all sorts of phone boxes turned into imaginative places, libraries, for instance, in my local village they have turned it into a little lending library and i was in ba'ath last week where i see they have put window boxes on a phone box and got lots of flowers growing out of it. in kingsbridge in south devon they have done something very different, have a look at this, they have turned bears into a nightclub and they claim it is the smallest nightclub in the world will stop it most certainly is an intimate venue, but they have put a music system in there, glitter ball, some fancy lights, and as you say, you can go in there and strut your stuff. it's the 5000th phone box to be adopted by local community across the country. what i said was you

could go in there and strut your stuff actually. well, only one of us could go in at any one time. it is helping a good local cause, isn't it? it is, you say only one person can go in at a time but our reporter john henderson managed to squeeze into the box with the man who came up into the box with the man who came up with this idea and he asked him where the money would be going. they are going to come in here and put a poundin are going to come in here and put a pound in here and listen to their favourite dance tracks and all the money goes to a local charity 115 which does activities and events for people with needs within the community in kingsbridge, so a great charity. one of the other issues with a nightclub, of course, is arranging the security that they think they have this sorted in kingsbridge because this phone box is outside the police station. there is outside the police station. there is one drawback, simon, i'm not sure whether the kingsbridge branch of yourfan group are going to meet now! do you hear him laughing? roger

didn't laugh, i wasn't laughing, now! do you hear him laughing? roger didn't laugh, iwasn't laughing, but you amuse yourself, just in. they we re you amuse yourself, just in. they were laughing here in plymouth! great to talk to you, justin, justin lee in plymouth, plenty more to night on spotlight, roger, good to see you, looking very smart. if you'd like to see more on those stories you can access them via the bbc iplayer and a reminder that we go nationwide every weekday afternoon at 4:30pm here on afternoon live. bbc news investigation has found that people smugglers have found a new route into the uk by the republic of ireland taking advantage of weaker checks across the border there with smugglers charging up to £10,000 for airline tickets and passports. this new route allows smugglers to avoid enhanced identity checks at channel

ports. colin kennedy has the story. hameed who is from iran paid people smugglers £10,000 to get to the uk via dublin, they told him they would target ireland because it's an easier way in. this route is still fresh and the police do not focus on it as they do at gatwick or heathrow. dunkerque and calais, northern france, transit point for illegal migrants trying to reach the uk. from here the smugglers drove them to paris where boarded a flight to dublin. he got into ireland using a genuine greek passport belonging to someone who looked like him, fraudulently sourced by the smugglers which he handed back to them in dublin. from dublin, though, he travelled by bus crossing the irish border to belfast khachanov ferry to scotland. he then got a train from glasgow down to london.

on hisjourney train from glasgow down to london. on his journey to train from glasgow down to london. on hisjourney to britain he says train from glasgow down to london. on his journey to britain he says at no point did he show any identification. if there are wea knesses identification. if there are weaknesses in irish ports or irish airports they will exploit them and use them because once you are into ireland effectively you are into the uk, there is nothing stopping people once they are into ireland travelling into northern ireland and the wider uk. but the introduction of passport checks is politically toxic. we can put immigration controls between one part of the uk and another, that would be com pletely and another, that would be completely wrong. but also, the irish border is obviously a very sensitive part of the brexit process and we need to get that right. posing as a migrants trying to get to england we contacted the smuggler offering the irish route in. my guy who will be with them is going to book all the necessary steps. they may have to stay in dublin on friday and then they go to the uk and then by bus or by train. the home office

over uk and irish government work closely on border security but smugglers, well, they see dublin as a back door to britain. alan campbell, bbc news, dunkerque. ben bland is here with a well—planned business lot coming up in it but first the on afternoon live. controversial plans for a third runway at heathrow are approved by ministers — mps will vote within weeks. a corporate silence — companies involved in the refurbishment of grenfell tower are criticised at the inquiry into the deaths of 72 people. newspapers across the north of england join forces to call on the prime minister to ‘get a grip' — and deal with the delays and cancellations on the rail network. disgraced hollywood film producer harvey weinstein pleads not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges in a new york court. let's look at your business

headlines on afternoon live. business groups welcome the government's decision on a third runway at heathrow. the transport secretary says current capacity means the airport is falling behind its global competitors — and means the uk is missing out on global trading opportunities. mr grayling says the extra runway will increase competition on routes, create tens of thousands of local jobs and boost the uk economy. one former conservative transport secretary though has dismissed it as an "old—economy" plan in a "new economy world". the uk government says it will allow rupert murdoch's 21st century fox to buy up the rest of sky it doesn't already own — provided that sky news is sold to disney or another buyer. that's to deal with concerns about one family — the murdochs — having too much influence on news provision in the uk. fox has said it's already begun work on that. the culture secretary matt hancock also said a rival bid by comcast to buy sky could also go ahead. it paves the way for a head—to—head battle. petrol prices rose by 6p a litre last month, the biggest monthly rise

since in 18 years. the rac says average petrol prices hitjust over 129p a litre, while average diesel prices rose to just over 132p a litre. the rac said higher crude oil prices and a weaker pound were to blame for the increases. so there we go. sky news, part of a deal, but with whom and for soon, it is all very complicated. this is the proviso the culture secretary has put down, 21st century fox can potentially buy up the rest of sky as long as sky news is sold to disney or another by a. fox has been

chasing approvalfrom disney or another by a. fox has been chasing approval from uk disney or another by a. fox has been chasing approvalfrom uk regulator since 2016 to buy the 61% of sky, the pan—european broadcaster, that it doesn't own. that is a rather u nfortu nate it doesn't own. that is a rather unfortunate freeze—frame. it doesn't own. that is a rather unfortunate freeze-frame. it has been held up by regulators because of the worry they would not be media plurality, too much news provision and too much influence over the news agenda would be concentrated in the hands of one family, the murdochs. this is why they put this proviso down. but at the same time matt hancock, the culture secretary, said comcast, a rival bidder, can proceed with its bid for sky. service sets the ground work for a head—to—head battle involving vast sums of money. just to give you a idea, when fox put in an offerfor just to give you a idea, when fox put in an offer for sky just to give you a idea, when fox put in an offerfor sky it just to give you a idea, when fox put in an offer for sky it was £18.5 billion and comcast stepped forward

in february with an offer of £22 billion. that gives you a scale of the figures we are talking about. shall we have a quick chat about h&m. i filled h&m. ifilled up h&m. i filled up yesterday, h&m. ifilled up yesterday, shouldn't have done that, let's talk about petrol. you should have filled up the car, not yourself! that's twice two people have thought they were very funny and laughed at their own jokes. anyway, do go on. somebody has got to! the sharpestjump in 18 yea rs has got to! the sharpestjump in 18 years for both petrol and diesel. a quick back of the envelope cancellation, typical family car with a 55 litre tank in may it would have cost you just over £71 to fill up have cost you just over £71 to fill up the car, in april it would have cost not even £68. a noticeable increase. but the real costs come in when talking about hauliers. big haulage companies where they are buying fuel on such a scale that it

really hits their overheads so that costis really hits their overheads so that cost is passed on to people when they buy things in the shops because it costs more to move around the goods. and when it comes back to hate you it will be awhile before changes at the pumps —— and when crude comes back down. we touched on that when i spoke to somebody from the rac, he said it is the rocket and the feather effect, a nice way of putting it. we will look at what the oil price is doing later when i look at the markets. joining us now is laura lambie senior investment director at investec wealth and investment. these prices tend to go up quickly but they don't come down so quickly. that affects people's spending, the amount of money they have to spend in the rest of the economy. that was such a long question, she

can't hear a word, can she? the question was so long because i thought eventually the line might... can you hear us? ican hearyou, can you hear us? i can hear you, yes. wonderful, we have established the line, thank you for your patience. laura, the petrol prices, quite a sharpjump laura, the petrol prices, quite a sharp jump month to laura, the petrol prices, quite a sharpjump month to month laura, the petrol prices, quite a sharp jump month to month and laura, the petrol prices, quite a sharpjump month to month and we we re sharpjump month to month and we were talking about the fact it doesn't get passed on to people at the pump as quickly as goes up, when the pump as quickly as goes up, when the price falls. that's true. in may we had two spikes in the oil price up we had two spikes in the oil price up to $18 a barrel so that's one of the reasons behind it. we have also had sterling weakening against the us dollar. brent crude is priced in dollars so that has had a double whammy. but you are right, as motorists we tend to find that we are finding price increases being applied cricket than price —— applied cricket than price —— applied quicker than price decreases. we had the news earlier today about the government selling off more of its stake in the royal

bank of scotland. royal bank of scotla nd bank of scotland. royal bank of scotland shares have dipped after that, partly, ithink, because of the big losses the government made selling the shares at something like half what they paid for them when the bailout happened in 2008. yes, of course, this wasn't an investment by the government, this was a rescue plan, so in actualfact i think it's a good move the government is gradually reducing its stake. it has gone down to 62%. as they have said before, if they can gradually sell off their stake back to shareholders by 2023 that is good for the bank and good for the government because they don't want to be the owner of a bank in the long—term. they don't want to be the owner of a bank in the long-term. laura, thank you very much. laura lambie at investec joining you very much. laura lambie at investecjoining us. hmm sizes are getting bigger after complaints ——

h&m. a spokesperson for the chain said they are taking steps to change wo m e nswea r said they are taking steps to change womenswear measurements to be more in line with uk sizing. the fit of a size 12 would now be the measurements of a size ten. this was after complaints. for example one from a shopper rebecca parker who wrote an open letter saying that despite being a size 12—14 she was struggling to fit into their size 14 jeans because they were just too small. so they have been missed sizing? not missed sizing for the stores in sweden but the sizing there is clearly not in line with uk sizing so that's where you have this discrepancy. isn't the size the size? maybe you should go and be a co nsulta nt size? maybe you should go and be a consultant for them with that sort of insight? 14 in sweden isn't a 14 in the uk? this is the problem, this is exactly what shoppers are finding and they are trying to put it right.

they point out the irony, the fact that lots of clothing is emblazoned with messages such as girl power and sisterhood and yet some women are going in and feeling a bit down this when they think they should fit into, say, size 12 and find they have to buy a size 14 services h&m listening and trying to improve things. the director is saying, get on with it, you two fashion gurus, what about the markets? this is what i was talking about with laura, the share price of royal bank of scotla nd share price of royal bank of scotland down 5% weighing on the ftse100 overall. sky's share prices up ftse100 overall. sky's share prices up given the ground has been laid for this bidding war between fox and comcast and the ftse has been weighed down by the pound, quite strong after some positive data relating to the service sector showing there was expansion last month. ok, the fashion guru ben bland. to the fashion guru simon mccoy! he wishes he was a size 14! thank you very much.

that's it from your afternoon live team for today, next the bbc news at five. that's with jane hill. time for a look at the weather. the weather is moving and changing ata the weather is moving and changing at a relatively sedate pace, just watching areas of cloud drifting across the weather map. so the satellite picture shows it was pretty cloudy in many places earlier but the cloud has been drifting southwards to reveal sunny skies as we enter the afternoon. there will be some sunshine, chances ofa there will be some sunshine, chances of a shower across northern ireland, temperatures in sunnier spots up into the low 20s but a bit cooler where we keep the extra cloud,

looking towards the weekend there will be lots of dry weather, chance of showers at times towards the south, but temperatures again up into the 20s. today at 5 — the government approves controversial plans to build a third runway at heathrow airport. campaigners say the move will damage the environment and increase noise pollution — but the transport secretary says expansion will benefit the economy. expansion at heathrow will bring real benefits across the country, including a boost of up to £74 billion to passengers and the wider economy, providing better connections to growing world markets and increasing flights to more long—haul destinations. and increasing flights to more long-haul destinations. it is almost inconceivable that you have 250,000 extra flights, with all of the vehicle journeys that will mean in terms of road journeys, in terms of rate, without having serious impacts on the airwe rate, without having serious impacts on the air we breathe. we'll be talking to the chief executive of heathrow shortly. the other main stories on bbc news at 5...

the grenfell inquiry hears how the london fire brigade received