other areas as well. in one or two other areas as well. it's a fine day, beautiful weather gci’oss it's a fine day, beautiful weather across northern england as well, from the lake district, although into northern wales, is lovely sunny skies. this evening, very little change. one or moving through the midlands and into parts of wales as well, very brief showers but they could be heavy. for the vast majority of the country at the dry night and quite cloudy around the east and the south and through the midlands as well. in fact, some of us midlands as well. in fact, some of us early tomorrow morning will probably see grey skies but then the clouds will break up and it should bea clouds will break up and it should be a bright day. the best of the weather tomorrow, the sunniest of the weather, across more western areas of the country. temperatures will comfortably get up to around 20 degrees, again, one ortwo will comfortably get up to around 20 degrees, again, one or two showers in the forecast. how about the weekend? very little change on the way. we have some changes but not until next week. as far as the weekend goes it's the status quo remains. lots of fine weather but still the chance of a couple of

showers. we could see some showers developing across parts of scotland, possibly northern ireland, maybe one oi’ possibly northern ireland, maybe one or two possibly northern ireland, maybe one ortwo in possibly northern ireland, maybe one or two in the south—west, but the vast majority of the country it's a fine, sunny saturday. all partly cloudy skies at worst. high—pressure is across the uk and scandinavia, so this is where the quiet weather is at the moment. low pressure is to the south, that's where the clouds is and the raynal thunderstorms are robbing three. sunday across most of the country is looking good. showers are expected across western parts of scotland, maybe one or two in northern ireland, but if you have any plans for both saturday and sunday the good news is that the weekend is looking absolutely fine with temperatures into the low 20s. very quickly into next week, the jet strea m very quickly into next week, the jet stream is going to change position and that's an indication that perhaps next week the weather will turn just that little bit more unsubtle. —— unsettled. a reminder of our main story this lunchtime. another blow to the high street as house of fraser says it plans

to close more than half of its stores with the loss of around 6000 jobs. of its stores with the loss the of its stores with the loss government has releaset position the government has released a position paper which states the temporary backstop arrangement to prevent a hard border between northern ireland and the republic should not continue beyond december 20 21. more on that on the bbc news channel but now it's time for the bbc news where you are. goodbye. good afternoon, it's 1:32pm, here is your latest sports news. rafael nadal has completed his comeback against diego schwartzman to reach the semi—finals of the french open. one set down overnight, after their match was interrupted by rain, nadal was a different player in the paris sunshine and only dropped four more games as he took the next three sets. he'll face the winner

of the match currently on court between marin cilic and juan martin del potro. nadal is going for a record iith title at roland garros. the mental health charity mind has praised the england defender danny rose for publicly revealing his battle with depression and believe it will help others to do the same. rose, who will appear in england's final world cup warm up match this evening, believes his illness was triggered by a knee injury that kept him out for eight months, and the death of his uncle during rehab. he said he hadn't told anybody — not even his family — about how his mental health had suffered. rose also said that playing for england had been his "salvation" — and will start in that final warm—up game against costa rica in leeds tonight. manager gareth southgate understands why rose has told his family not to travel to the world cup in russia, where racism is still a major problem, although he's hoping his players can have a positive influence. i know danny in his quote said we cannot change the world but maybe he can have a small impact on the way we conduct ourselves.

the guys, all the communities they came from, our fantastic role models for kids in terms of the way they are able to show what is possible and the way they interact with each other so there is a possibility to change people's thinking and have an impact. well southgate's england have moved up one place to 12th in the latest fifa rankings — but there's bad news for russia. they'll go into their own world cup as the lowest ranked side of the 32. after a string of poor results, they're down to 70th, which means they've fallen below saudi arabia, the only side ranked lower on the previous list. joey carbery will start ireland's first test against australia on saturday at fly—half. he replacesjohnny sexton for the brisbane game,

in what's a much—changed line—up. carbery was back—up to sexton throughout ireland's grand slam winning six nations campaign. flanker peter o'marnie will captain the side in the absence of regular skipper rory best. uncapped forward brad shields has been fast—tracked into the england squad for saturday's first test against south africa injohannesburg. he only arrived in the camp on sunday, but has been named among the replacements. shields willjoin wasps next month, from hurricanes who are based in new zeland. head coach eddiejones has overlooked danny cipriani completely for the 23, despite his outstanding season at wasps. and lockjoe launchbury hasjust failed a fitness test so nick isiekwe will make his first test start in the second row. now, the philadelphia eagles have responded to donald trump's decision to withdraw an invitation to the white house — which is usually offered to the new super bowl champions. many players had opted not to attend, so the meet—up was cancelled altogether, with the administration saying protests during the national anthem were unpatriotic. so one eagles player, malcolm jenkins, made his points

via hand—written cards instead, with comments about social injustice in the us. one card also appeared to address the president directly, reading "you aren't listening". that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. rafa nadal into the semifinals and leading at the moment. let's get more on brexit — as theresa may works on her brexit customs backstop proposals after crunch talks with david davis the brexit secretary. in the proposal, the uk would match eu tariffs temporarily in order to avoid a hard irish border post—brexit. any temporoary arrangement would end by the end of december 2021. chris morris from reality check is with me now to explain more.

it's all very complicated, explain first of all the idea of backstop has come from? for a lot of the audience it is a case of, what? it's important because it affects people's lives in the end. the backstop originated back in december, the eu and uk agreed there should not be a hard order in northern ireland and they hoped the good sort it out to the future relationship but in the event of that not happening there would have to be some third of backstop, it was a bit ofa to be some third of backstop, it was a bit of a fudge that everyone went home for christmas happy. in february the eu produced a draft legal text which set it out in great detail and said basically that the eu plan basically said that northern ireland would have to be part of the customs union and basically adhere to most of the rules in the single market while the rest of the uk would not. the idea of a customs

border down the irish sea. to some uproar here and the prime minister sing in february that no uk prime minister could ever accept a solution like that. one she said that in bed early from then until today the search has been on, the eu sing to the uk if you do not like oui’ sing to the uk if you do not like our proposal what is yours? today we are finding out. we are, slowly but surely. more details and last half—hour, what is it saying?m surely. more details and last half-hour, what is it saying? it is a six page document, the british proposal is to extend the idea of the customs union being just in northern ireland to the whole of the uk and it sets it in one section how it would change the words in the d raft it would change the words in the draft legal text that the commission produced. temporary alignment for the whole of the uk with the eu customs union. the problem is how long would it last? this is why we have seen all this coming and going

and toing and froing, david davis and toing and froing, david davis and others not happy with the idea could be time limited because they wa nted could be time limited because they wanted a specific end date. what this note says is the uk expects a future arrangement, in other words a future arrangement, in other words a future free trade arrangement which will get rid of this to be in place by the end of december 20 2i. will get rid of this to be in place by the end of december 20 21. so if this starts on december 2020 at the end of the transition period, stick with me here, for another year this temporary customs arrangement would stay in place but it does not make december 2021 a hard cut off so there will be those that say hang on, if we get to september 2021 and not agreed a future free—trade agreement does it keep dragging on? that is what a lot of brexiteer spear, that it's a back door into a long and slow method of staying in the customs union must permanently. would it solve the irish border question? not in itself. this

technical note from the government makes it very clear because there are two things at the irish border, customs, the tariffs, taxes and duties when things move from one jurisdiction to another. but there are so jurisdiction to another. but there are so rules and regulations and that makes it clear that this paper deals with customs but regulatory standards, in northern ireland in particular things like animal welfare and food standards, a lot of agricultural produce crosses the border every day. that's going to have to be addressed because if you don't address that used still need border checks to check those things as well. at one stage in the process. we don't have any response from the european union, they might say "magical thinking" again. but you would hope they have been discussing at least some of those behind the scenes and there may be something of a meeting of minds. very congregated yet important as you say, thank you for explaining so clearly. donald trump has freed a 63—year—old woman,

who was given a life sentence for a drug offence, after a campaign by a news website that was taken up by kim kardashian west. alicejohnson, a first time offender, was jailed in 1996, and her case found its way to the white house with a personal visit from the reality star. now, donald trump has commuted her sentence. kim kardashian west said on twitter it was "the best news ever." well, mrsjohnson has now spoken about her case to the cbs news channel in the us alice johnson joins alice johnsonjoins us alice johnson joins us from alice johnsonjoins us from memphis along with her daughter, good morning to both of you. i noticed it was your first night home in 21 years, how are you doing? i'm doing great. i walk up without a bunk bed over my head. it's great. that's right, what's it like having your mother home? the excitement and the happiness and knowing she is sitting right here next to me, there is no

guard anywhere. it's wonderful. you notice there is no bunk bed over you, what else have you noticed since you've been out? the city has changed a lot. i kept asking where am i? there are so many new buildings. i noticed, i noticed people on the phone a lot. what is your plan, the first day of freedom, we know you are doing some television of course but what are you going to do with your time, your family? we are just connecting. you going to do with your time, your family? we arejust connecting. last night we had such a huge reunion. todayis night we had such a huge reunion. today is phase two. family and friends today. what was it like to get that form —— phone call that let you know you would be getting out? it was the most incredible day of my life. the most incredible amazing

overwhelming day, moment of my life. when she told me i could go home i started screaming and jumping up and i know people that were looking at the window probably thought i was having some kind of fit. what do you want to say to her? i want to tell my warrior angel that i thank you for never giving up. that you did it, you never gave up on me. you fought and you fought until i was free and that is one thing she told me. she said she would not give up on me and i would like to thank her and hug her. alice, in the video that first caught our attention you said the real miss alice is a woman who has made a mistake. tell us how you came to that conclusion and how you turned your life around when you're in prison? for me i know it's something that i cannot even imagine i did what i did in the beginning.

but i turned my life all the way around in prison and decided i am not going to just do time or let time do me. i'm going to make the most of this opportunity. i'm going to be of service to others. because really that's what life is about. dying patients in the north of england are not receiving the same level of care as those in the south, according to new research. the study found that terminally ill people are not getting palliative care early enough — with those in the north being referred far later than those in the south. nicola rees reports. when you're ready. tell me when to stop. jenny bowes doesn't have long to live, lung cancer has spread to her bones. i have been fighting it best i can, but there are some days when it's — yeah, you just wonder why you are still here. at saint gemma's hospice in leeds, jenny is getting expert end of life care. everybody has time to talk to you and make you feel wanted again, so there is a

reason to keep going. palliative care isn'tjust about the final days of life. according to the latest clinical trials research, people need to be referred 3—6 months before death to have their quality of life improved. but that is not happening and for many terminally ill people, crucial end of life care comes far too late. it should be before you get to that point where you are in that stressful situation. suzanne white's mum hillary was diagnosed with stomach cancer 18 months ago, but her referral for palliative care came just a few weeks before she died. it would have been brilliant to access that information so that i could have supported mum a bit more. it did upset me that in the last few weeks when she lost communication, i couldn't speak to her about anything and didn't know how to speak to her about it and i am sure they would have been people

here that could have supported me with that six months ago. today, a national survey of hospices was published, it found that patients in the south were only referred for palliative care on average 55 days before death. this situation is worse in the north of england. here, terminally ill people were referred on average, 35 days before death. it could be that health care professionals in the north are more reluctant to refer until the very late stages. it may be that patients are reluctant to accept referrals. more stoic. it could be that hospices are not as well integrated, potentially, in the community as they might be, to encourage earlier access or facilitate that. in a statement, the government said: but with more older people living

for longer than ever before, today's report shows there is still away to go to insure all of us live well before we die. how much of a difference did it make once you were in here? complete, immediate relief. we had all the support here and everybody was amazing. it has just been, yeah, total different experience to anywhere else that i've ever been. it's incredible. in a moment a summary of the business news this hour but first — the headlines on bbc news: house of fraser announces plans to close half of its department stores, putting 6,000 jobs at risk. the government says that temporary "backstop" arrangements to prevent a hard border between northern ireland and the republic should not continue beyond december 2021. the metropolitan police says it's carrying out a criminal investigation into the use of the "stay put" policy by the london fire service

during the grenfell tower fire. share trading on the london stock market was delayed by an hour today — because of an issue with pricing data. the opening session began at 0900 rather than the usual 0800. the lse would not comment on the nature of the issue or whether it is concerned about an outside breach of its systems. the collapse of construction giant carillion will cost uk taxpayers an estimated £1a8m, the national audit office has said. there will also be wider costs to the economy, carillion‘s customers, staff, the supply chain and creditors according to the report. house price rises in the uk slowed in the year to the end of may — increasing by 1.9%. according to the halifax,

part of lloyds banking group, the change reflected "a relatively subdued" housing market. it also said that while detached and semi—detached homes were the most common purchases, flats had seen bigger price gains over the past five years. there's been another high profile casualty on the high street house of fraser, the department store chain says is to close 31 of its 59 shops, affecting 6,000 jobs, as part of a rescue deal. if the plan is approved, 2,000 house of fraserjobs will go, along with 4,000 brand and concession roles. so will this drastic action help turn the retailer's fortunes around? the boss — says there was no other option and this was a plan for survival — he's been speaking to my colleague emma simpson. so, yes i would agree it's a very robust dever house of fraser in terms of the scale of the had to make. there is a scenario challenges which have come towards retail over the last five, six years, they have

been well documented and hit house of fraser very, very hard. the momentum has built over the last 2a months or so so we find ourselves 110w months or so so we find ourselves now at a point where we are proposing a cva, that cve ultimately if it is approved by our creditors will land if it is approved by our creditors will [and us in a position where we have a viable opportunity to go forward. it is necessary today because without it we are not a business with the viable future. how manyjobs will go if this deal goes through? so the announcement today will affect in the region of 6000 people. the challenges that creates all the people in our stores, there are 2000 house of fraser colleagues and about 4000 that come with our brand partners. it's not missed en masse. it's an extraordinary day. with deep challenges for many people and our focus as a management team is on making sure we deliver these

m essa 9 es is on making sure we deliver these messages appropriately and show the appropriate levels of support. messages appropriately and show the appropriate levels of supportlj wa nt appropriate levels of supportlj want to ask you a bit more about the challenges, how many of these stores are losing money? you talked about the property portfolio being unsustainable, explain that. so as we've watched the changing dynamic of retail with our digital businesses growing, high streets have become increasingly challenging, foot fall has been falling since april 2016 and as a result the viability of the stores has become more and more challenge and we only see that continuing. when we've reviewed those stores we've reviewed it based on the dynamic of the specific market, the location of the stores in that market and ultimately then the store itself and if we could not satisfy ourselves of the viability longer term for those stores then i'm afraid they were identified as being not taking forward. putting it

bluntly the stores were losing money? most stores have become more challenged in that list of stores which were been closing, yes. staying with retail — and poundworld is expected to soon announce its intention to appoint administrators. the move will allow the company 10 days to two weeks to continue talks with potential buyers without the compa ny‘s creditors being able to make a claim on the business. it also allows its staff and suppliers to continue to be paid. it is understood that investment company r capital is in talks to try to buy poundworld, which has 5,300 workers and 355 stores. earlier this week, talks with potential purchaser alteri investors, collapsed. about 100 of poundworld's outlets were already under threat of closure, but were kept open while takeover talks took place. swedish retail giant ikea says it will stop selling single—use plastic products by 2020. it says the ban will apply across all its global stores. ikea says in future, it will design products to be able to be repaired, resold or recycled. its move follows hard

on the heels of an announcement by the european union that it plans to ban plastic items including straws, cotton buds, cutlery, balloon sticks and drink stirrers. let's have a look at the markets. now we don't yet know what caused the glitch in systems at the london stock exchange this morning which meant that trading was delayed — when normal service resumed — the ftse started off higher — then turned negative — now is positive. banking stocks among the risers — following a sector sell off last week — energy companies also on the up — following the direction of the oil price. that's all from me. back to you so fey. the race is on to develop electric vehicles before 2040, when the production of new petrol and diesel cars is due to come to an end. and it's the world of motorsport where that new technology is being put to the test, as eleanor roper has been finding out.

formula e is the future of motor sport. ten teams travelling the world to compete on street tracks and it's all electric and claims to be fighting climate change. i think it's the future, so to have this technology tested here is fantastic. even if you're not fussed for racing you will notice that all of the big car manufacturers are getting behind the sport. jaguar is one of the many names involved and this summer they're bringing out their first electric road car. the technical transfer of the technology developed in the race car applied to the road cars to make them ultimately better cars for consumers to drive and enjoy. we have been following the sport for the last seven months. the competition has taken the teams from europe to south america as temporary tracks pop up in city centres. we are in marrakesh, we made it and it's an amazing place for a race. boiling hot, palm trees everywhere and yet behind us are the atlas mountains.

the exciting thing about this is the technology they are developing for the cars on the track today, which is moving at a very rapid pace and will impact everything we see at home driving which will have a great effect on the environment. from 2040 the government has banned the sale of new petrol and diesel cars. sir richard branson is one of those investing in formula e and he thinks the date needs brought forward. personally i think 2040 is too long. there are governments in europe which have said by 2025 all new cars must be battery driven. that is what i would hope every government around the world does. but the government does not agree, they are not giving much away on what the deadline of 2040 will need for drivers but save more detail is imminent. what we've got at the moment is obviously car industry very much based around conventional diesel

and petrol vehicles, radically improving and investing towards electric and it's a question of allowing them enough time to make the transition and trading that off against air quality targets. with car manufacturers continue to sign up and drivers like felipe massa also coming over from formula 1, it looks as if the sport is just getting started. all eyes are now on formula e as it helps the car industry to make the change. time for a look at the weather. another fine day across most of the uk but we have been forecasting showers today, and showers have been breaking out already across the site of the country around the m4, berkshire and wiltshire and some of the showers are quite heavy, would not even rule out a crack of thunder but they are very small and don't last long in any one location. it's

this part of the country here we could continue to see the showers developing through the course of the day. if you squint you can just make out blobs of blue. those are showers. the rest of the country fine weather, temperatures getting up fine weather, temperatures getting up to around 20, cooler closer to the north sea coast around 15—16d. showers in the south might continue for a time into the evening to the midlands into southern parts of wales, a couple of sprinkles in north—west of the country as well. tonights tempters in the south on the mild side, 15 degrees in the north, a lot more fresh, single temperatures. we will wake up to great grey skies first thing on friday but eventually in the morning the clouds will break and there will be sunshine during the day. cloudier skies might carry on for a while across eastern and southern areas but i think on balance it's not a bad day. 21 in the south on friday

and the weekend is looking pretty good. there is a risk of some sharp showers across one or two areas but the bad majority of us should have a fine weekend. this is what saturday looks like, showers developing across western parts of scotland, possibly northern ireland, maybe one or two possibly northern ireland, maybe one ortwo in possibly northern ireland, maybe one or two in the south—west but it looks like the bulk of england and wales should have a dry saturday with temperatures again around 20 degrees or so, cooler around the coast. the big picture across the continent on saturday into sunday, high—pressure, a light winds which is why so little is changing at the moment. sunday showers expected across western scotland, maybe one or two across western scotland, maybe one ortwo in across western scotland, maybe one or two in northern ireland, and a slight risk of showers in northern parts of france which could flirt with the south coast but that's only an outside chance. overall safe to say saturday and sunday for most of us looking fine. brief outlook into

next week, monday tuesday, the jet strea m next week, monday tuesday, the jet stream making a beeline for us, an indication that perhaps the weather next week will turn a bit more u nsettled. hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. today at 2. another blow to the high street as house of fraser says it plans to close more than half of its stores with the loss of around 6000 jobs. it isa it is a big blow their towns and cities across the country, i am in wolverhampton, this store has been here over 130 years but next year it will close. no dexit — david davis says he's not resigning in his battle with the prime minister over a brexit backstop plan. the grenfell tower inquiry is told that firefighters were left in an impossible situation — with no safe alternative for residents to the stay put policy. coming up on afternoon live all the sport with tim hague.