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. and a potentially game changing rights deal for premier league football in the uk, as amazon win one of the final two broadcast packages — to show 20 premier league matches a season for three years from 2019.

thanks. and the weather forecast.” and the weather forecast. i do like to be beside the seaside. the weather is looking good and we will have a look at some holiday destinations around the mediterranean in half an hour. thanks, thomasz. also coming up — we report from antarctica — where a new survey reveals microplastics are reaching even the most remote waters of the world. more evidence — if it were needed — of the difficulties on britain's high streets — with the news that house of fraser is planning to close more than half of its stores as part of a rescue deal. 31 of its 59 stores — including its flagship on oxford street — look set to be shut with the loss of around 6,000 jobs.

the department store chain said it wouldn't have a viable future if the proposal wasn't approved. creditors will vote on the plan later this month — the retailer needs the majority of them to sign up to it, in order to be able to go ahead. the face of the british high street is changing. house of fraser is one of a long list of big names feeling the pressure of a hostile retail environment. the store chain has now proposed a deal with its creditors to reduce the amount of money it has to pay out while it restructures its business and its finances. house of fraser currently has 59 shops, 31 of them will shut in seven months‘ time. 6,000 jobs are expected to go. at house of fraser itself and at its in—store concessions. the problem for house of fraser is that department stores like this are expensive to run. there are high rents, business rates and of course all the staff have to be paid. meanwhile, more and more consumers are preferring to do their shopping online,

which means even major outlets like this one on london's oxford street are facing closure. the darlington store is another one which may have to shut. shoppers here said they were disappointed by the news. it's the only shop i bother with in town so i wouldn't be too thrilled. it was a similar story in birmingham. whenever i come to town, i would always pop in with my friends. it was a local place everyone would go to. it's a bit of a surprise. and in cardiff, under the plan there will be no stores left in wales at all. i think it's absolutely terrible. we've lost one or two of the shops in the high street, and that's another one going to go, another big one. it's drastic surgery but the man in charge said he had no choice. there is a tsunami of challenges that have come towards retail over the last five or six years and they have been well documented. they have hit house of fraser very hard. that momentum has built over the last 2a months or so. under the plan, house of fraser

will focus on using fewer stores to sell more upmarket brands. but will it be enough to keep the chain afloat? i think house of fraser has got the right idea in terms of making its products offer more premium and luxury but it's questionable whether it will work across the whole of the uk. many stores opened late today as their staff were told what was going on. unions said it was devastating news for the store chain's employees. but house of fraser is farfrom alone. since the collapse of bhs two years ago, there have been many casualties in the retail sector. toys "r" us has also closed. maplins in administration, mothercare is shutting stores and pound world is reportedly about to appoint administrators as well. but house of fraser's owners are hoping that by taking action now, they can prevent another once great name from disappearing from the high street forever. 0ur correspondent phil mackie is outside house

of fraser's wolverhampton branch — what's the reaction of customers there? a great deal of sadness. people are nostalgic about bt ‘s as it has been known in wolverhampton since the 80s when it opened, and owned by house of fraser but the last decade —— beattie's. this is a city with a lot of economic bad news, like that with tyranny and, which lost a lot of jobs —— like that with carillion. is there anything the city council can do? councils nationwide have limited powers in these circumstances. the council have worked hard with people like carillion and bhs when they closed so we have the contacts with

department for work and pensions and with the job centre and the local council. local colleges. to make sure we can give people alternative employment. we have to wait and see what happens over the next seven months and it may be good news at the end, but it may not. there must be some hope at the end of it, but you and your senior colleagues at the council have got together this morning, what was the discussion? with the news nationally, we thought something might happen and here unfortunately the store is closing and that is bad news for the people concerned. 0ur and that is bad news for the people concerned. our thoughts are with them. what we have got to work with and what we talked about this morning is tugging at what we can do with partners to make sure that if it happens and it is deathly closing, we can find people other job opportunities in retail —— definitely closing. and if people

have transferable skills, so we can find them skills elsewhere, as well. we will be looking at these things to make sure we can train people to give them jobs and opportunities.” mention how iconic beattie's is committed has been here for a long time. it will be a massive hole in the city —— beattie's is, it has been here for a long time. it is not just wolverhampton city centre, every town centre is changing, the internet is making that different, online shopping, and we are working toa online shopping, and we are working to a different plan for city centres. retail will not necessarily be the strong point of city centres and so we have got to look to what we are going to do instead. the leisure facilities and things we will grow, cafes and restaurants. evening entertainment. part of the council plans to have the right

mixture in wolverhampton city centre. thanks forjoining us. i spoke to a lady, janet, 90 years of age, she has been shopping at beattie's since she was a little girl, and her grandmother shopped there. she was devastated. we have seen there. she was devastated. we have seen messages there. she was devastated. we have seen messages on twitter from the city's mps, all saying how much they will miss it and how much they remember beattie's fondly. and if you saying, it is very quiet in their most days —— a few saying. and maybe this is a reflection of people spending power but also internet shopping, and that is why places like tim on are struggling now and in the future. —— places like beattie's are struggling now and in the future. the brexit secretary david davis says he is not resigning following divisions with the prime minister over the uk's brexit "backstop" plan.

in the proposal the uk would retain a temporary customs arrangement with the eu in order to avoid a hard irish border post—brexit. an arrangement that the government has now said it expects to end by the end of december 2021. 0ur political correspondent, ben wright reports. are you about to lose your brexit secretary? the prime minister was certainly trying to keep him on board this morning, heading early to the house of commons to meet david davis. their dispute? 0ver how to ensure there is no physical infrastructure between northern ireland and the republic in the future. it's the so—called backstop option and the eu has said it must be a legally binding part of the final brexit deal. the backstop is there to prevent a hard border if the uk and eu fail to strike a trade deal that avoids new checks will stop it would apply after the transition period ends, and would cover customs and regulations. crucially, keeping each side closely aligned. are you going to resign, mr davis? but the brexit secretary has had

a bust up with number ten about this, arguing the backstop needs an expiry date. and cannot be open—ended. at the moment everyone has a concern that these arrangements will continue indefinitely and i don't think that will be acceptable either to conservative mps or frankly to the wider country as a whole which voted to leave the european union and not to remain in some halfway house, potentially for ever. with theresa may due to meet eu leaders again at the end of the month, brexiteers have this advice for the prime minister. if your chief negotiator wants to have some kind of defined end to this process, if he's your chief negotiator you probably have to give it to him. the prime minister held talks with david davis for more than an hour this morning. and while they talked, tory mps i was speaking to were clear this

is a very edgy time. there is speculation about possible resignations, everybody on the tory side knows the discussions going on now in westminster will shape the course of brexit. the prime minister also had face—to—face meetings with borisjohnson and liam fox, the cabinet's chief brexiteers. after theresa may left parliament, a spokesman said none of them had threatened to resign. sources close to david davis said the backstop plan had been amended and its time—limited nature spells out. ministers will discuss it this afternoon as brexit negotiations within the government grind on. joining me now from downing street is our assistant political editor, norman smith. if this is victory for david davis, it doesn't look that strong. the word expects instead of will, it looks like a fudge. the language is

made so blah —— is very vague because it supplies lots of wriggle room. david davis will be pleased, though, he has made his point and he has crowbar and a date out of theresa may. as for the prime minister, what a morning she has had. she is about to head off to canada for the g7 and i would kick off my shoes and push back the chair and order a large gin and tonic. this has been a hell of a morning, the three brexiteers coming in to meet her. she thought she had it sorted and benji had to call david davis back and then had to concede this final date —— then she had to call. it has been a bruising morning for a theresa may but she leaves with these shows seemingly still on the road and everyone still on board

—— with the show. agreement around the backstop, even though many people will think this is something ofa people will think this is something of a fudge. she still has the small matter of selling this to the eu. absolutely. the show barney a has tweeted —— michel barnier has tweeted, he said he will be looking at the backstop and making sure it guarantees there is no hard border with northern ireland and it doesn't compromise the customs union and that it compromise the customs union and thatitis compromise the customs union and that it is an all—weather backstop. my that it is an all—weather backstop. my experience of ireland, it always rains, i'm not sure this is a good idea! i think what he means, it is the sort of backstop that will take account of all circumstances, in other words one that does not have a time limit, otherwise you could run up time limit, otherwise you could run up to the buffers. i'm not sure michel barnier is on board with this

idea. i think that is what he is hinting at even though he has not spelt out. i think you also need to lie down for a bit. delighted to do that! norman, thanks forjoining us. the grenfell fire inquiry has been told that fire commanders had "no obvious and safe alternative strategy" other than to tell residents to stay put in their flats. the fire brigades union said firefighters were left in an "impossible situation". it comes as it's emerged that the metropolitan police is carrying out a criminal investigation into the fire service's use of the "stay put" policy. richard galpin reports. more than 700 firefighters and other staff were involved in tackling the grenfell fire. and they faced a lot of criticism for telling residents to stay put rather than evacuating quickly as the fire spread. but at the enquiry today,

lawyers representing the fire services said there had been very good reasons for that decision. firstly, the building was not designed or constructed to facilitate simultaneous evacuations through the provision of fire alarms. secondly, the absence of any practical mechanism by which to effectively communicate with the occupants of the entire building. thirdly, in the absence of a working firefighter lift, the availability of the single staircase as a fire escape route. this staircase was the only means by which firefighters wearing breathing apparatus and carrying equipment could access the other floors. the enquiry also heard that when firefighters arrived, they had no idea the tower block had been clad in highly combustible panels. and that there had been what was described as a complete failure in implementing fire safety measures at every stage of the refurbishment several years ago. what's more, lawyers had this to say

about the stay put policy. it is not a creation of fire services in the uk. rather, it is a principle of building design, which is provided for in legislation, which fire services are expected to apply and which underpins the development of fire safety and operational policies for buildings of this kind nationally. the pressures on the firefighters were enormous. but still, they managed to rescue many people, despite the overwhelming scale of the blaze. 0n the night, the lfb control centre was required to handle more calls requiring fire survival guidance from residents within grenfell tower than the total number of such calls in the previous ten years from the whole of london. amongst the suggestions already being made at the enquiry

are for there to be a major focus on how refurbishing tower blocks can compromise fire safety. richard galpin, bbc news. 0ur correspondent tom burridge is following the inquiry in central london. the role of the fire service is the focus of the inquiry but now this is the focus of an inquiry at the metropolitan police as well? the metropolitan police as well? the metropolitan police as well? the metropolitan police have said it is a line of inquiry in their wider criminal investigation, their criminal investigation, their criminal investigation, their criminal investigation is separate from the public inquiry, remember. they overlap to some degree in terms of the evidence but they are distinct investigations. the metropolitan police said they are considering possible offences linked to the stay put strategy on health and safety grounds, they say they have taken statements from 590 firefighters and control room staff.

previously we learned kensington and chelsea borough council and the te na nt chelsea borough council and the tenant management organisation it setup, by arguing investigating on possible corporate manslaughter offences —— bay are being investigated on possible corporate manslaughter offences. we understand no other corporate bodies in that category still. —— corporate body are in that category still. thanks for joining are in that category still. thanks forjoining us. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. 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. amazon enter thejungle

that is — football rights. the online streaming service will show 20 premier league matches a season for three years from 2019. no nonsense nadal. the world number one makes quick work of diego schwartzman and races into the last four at the french open. and england rugby union coach eddie jones has fast—tracked the uncapped forward brad shields into the squad for saturday's 1st test against south africa. i'll be back for more after 230. human rights campaigners have lost a legal challenge to northern ireland's strict abortion law. the supreme court ruled northern ireland's human rights commission was not entitled to bring a challenge without an actual case of a woman affected by the law. but the court made clear it would have found the abortion law to be incompatible with human rights. 0ur ireland correspondent emma vardy is outside the court

in central london. those particular comments you read, they are not legally binding, the ones by the supreme courtjudges, but they will have the effect of increasing the pressure on theresa may and increasing the pressure on the government to act on northern ireland's abortion laws. the majority ofjudges hear the supreme court ruled that the northern ireland human rights commission did not have the power to bring those proceedings but had the case being brought by an individual, woman who felt she had suffered because of northern ireland's abortion laws, thejudges made it clear in northern ireland's abortion laws, the judges made it clear in that case they would have made a formal ruling that northern ireland's abortion laws are incompatible with human rights and in the cases of pregnancy, by rape and incest, and in the cases of fatal fatal abnormality, where a number on child cannot survive. it is those comments, although not legally binding, which will have been heard

loud and clear by mps at the house of commons because mps on all sides support changing the law and there are number of mps who want to see westminster intervene whilst the stormont assembly in northern ireland is out of action because that collapsed 17 months ago. but they strong opposition from the northern ireland party the dup, strongly anti—abortion party, so that creates problems for theresa may. but supreme courtjudges comments will add weight to the advent of mps at westminster who wa nt to advent of mps at westminster who want to find a way to get this changed. —— to the argument of mps. the night club owner peter stringfellow, has died, at the age of 77. he'd been suffering from lung cancer. he became known as the king of clubs after opening venues around the world during his six decades in the industry. the beatles, the kinks and jimi hendrix were among those he booked to perform in his clubs. 0ur correspondent david sillito reports. fantastic, here you go. have i got the bestjob

or what, i don't know. peter stringfellow was more than just another nightclub owner. the big hair, the leather trousers, he was a household name who created his own very distinctive brand of glamour. he started out in sheffield. struggled to find work, so he decided to move into the entertainment business. we started about a0 years ago, in church halls, on friday nights. known in those days as friday night hops. we went to the mojo club, to the town centre sheffield, a couple of clubs later we sold out and moved to leeds. jimi hendrix, the beatles — he booked them all. and with cinderella rockefellers he moved from cabaret and chicken in a basket to 70s disco. then came stringfellows in london. this was the big time, champagne, celebrities. he wasn'tjust successful —

he had become famous. he was always great fun, very kind, very generous and a big character. and then in the 90s he began to move into what he described as gentlemen‘s clubs. he'd been close to bankruptcy after a business failed in america and fashions were also changing. the strip shows saved him. but this man who boasted of sleeping with up to 2000 women denied there was anything degrading or exploitative in this business. indeed, he said he was a feminist. i don't harm or hurt anyone. and i know that this suggestion of exploitation is absolute rubbish. my girls dance, they take money from guys who are watching them dance, and i think that's fantastically in line with feminism. so, from draughty church halls to medallions strewn opulence, peter stringfellow, the self—styled king of clubs. peter stringfellow,

who has died aged 77. microplastics are reaching the most remote waters of the world, and pollution in the air is contaminating even the freshest snow in antarctica — those are the conclusions of a greenpeace survey, gathered during a three—month expedition earlier this year. scientists say it provides evidence of the pervasiveness of microplastics. the bbc‘s claire marshall was on board the ship when the trawling and testing began — she sent us this report. this is the most remote continent on earth. it looks pristine, but today, there is new evidence that microplastics are now reaching even these waters and perhaps more disturbingly, there's also pollution from airborne chemicals in freshly fallen snow. we'll put it over the side. we were with scientists on board a greenpeace ship injanuary as they began testing waters off the antarctic peninsula. very little data exists. it's a question of picking a tiny bit of the southern ocean and lowering in a manta —

a trawling device. any microplastics should find their way into the net. the team searched some of the most isolated places on the planet. this is hope bay, it's off the cruise ship trial and not much fishing happens nearby. you won't really see plastic washed ashore, but scientists are worried what may happen here in the future. they also hunted for pollution on land, gathering samples of freshly fallen snow. we didn't know it at the time, but even here, deposited either as a gas or dusk were molecules of man—made chemicals. what we're finding is in almost all the samples of water we collected, we find tiny pieces of microplastics, maybe only a few fragments or fibres in every litre of water, but given that this is really the end of the earth, it's remarkable, once again, that we are finding microplastics almost wherever we look. jason roberts has worked in the polar regions for more than 30 years.

what's the worst thing you've ever seen? i've seen some quite terrible things with plastics, but on the bigger scale, what actually is probably more terrible is the smaller scale, the microplastics you can't see. but the things you can see, i've seen once on a subantartic island in south georgia, a fur seal with a fishing net around it, which had been caught in it for a long time because the net had grown into the skin and into the blubber. this will only add to the growing calls for something to be done about plastic, before more of it reaches the end of the earth. claire marshall, bbc news, antarctica. big clappy is the name of the robot stealing the lime—light at the tokyo toy show. big clappy was designed to warm up parties by clapping hands and talking to people. one of it's creators said the hardest part was figuring out how to add a sense of warmth to the claps to make them sound realistic. time for a look at the weather.

where was the clapping? where was the clapping7m where was the clapping? it was doing that. oh, but it said. -- above its head. shall we have a look at the weather forecast. let's start again. what is the weather looking like? before we go to the uk i want to redeem myself because yesterday we we re redeem myself because yesterday we were talking about how dreadful the weather has been around the mediterranean. why are you redeeming yourself? ijust want mediterranean. why are you redeeming yourself? i just want to give mediterranean. why are you redeeming yourself? ijust want to give a balanced message. there is good weather in the mediterranean, not all bad. still not looking great. that is spain. not the other side of the world. yes, i know we mean. just south. south of our neighbourhood.

bordeaux, paris, high 20s, lisbon, only 19, madrid, 22, bordeaux, paris, high 20s, lisbon, only19, madrid, 22, not great for this part of the world. south of france, lots of showers. you can still see the distinction. these temperatures, rather strange, the low 20s, but we get to the other side of the mediterranean, greece, and the greek islands, this is the place to go. temperatures into the 30s so there is fine weather around in the mediterranean. we expect this pattern to shift. looking also at other destinations around the world. we have randomly picked another couple of places. dubai is clearly the hottest. finally whether as well

in miami —— thundery weather. the hottest. finally whether as well in miami -- thundery weather. what about closer to home? absolutely. it has not changed much since yesterday. for the rest of the day, lots of fine weather across the country, but showers are in the forecast. showers have been brewing across the south of the country, around berkshire, the southern counties, some of the showers have been pretty heavy. we have seen some downpours developing but they are only very small showers. you are through it within a couple of minutes and then out into the sunshine. 0verall minutes and then out into the sunshine. overall the country is not looking bad. lots of fine weather. 16-17, looking bad. lots of fine weather. 16—17, no warmer than that. through the evening, showers mailing to the midlands and into wales, but other than that it is a dry night ——

showers may linger. through the morning tomorrow it looks like the cloud will break out and we will do it all over again. tomorrow is moral less copycat conditions —— more or less. the best of the sunshine tomorrow in the western and north—western areas and again some showers and a forecast, as well. temperatures, bang on average, 21 in london. the weekend is looking good. there could be a few sharp showers at the weekend. maybe showers in western parts of scotland and the western isles, some in northern ireland and maybe a few in the south. showers close to france could drift our way. the overall message for the weekend is that the weather is looking absolutely fine across

the uk. this is europe once again. and back to the uk for sunday, lots of fine weather, but western parts of fine weather, but western parts of scotla nd of fine weather, but western parts of scotland and northern ireland could catch a shower. sunday will be the sunny day of the two and temperatures will reach around 23. yesterday we were talking about how the jet stream which is evidently not here, how that will be heading oui’ not here, how that will be heading our way and not here, how that will be heading ourway and bringing not here, how that will be heading our way and bringing more unsettled weather next week. bye for now. this is bbc news — our latest headlines: the changing face of the high street continues as house of fraser has announced it plans to close more than half of its stores, with the loss of around 6000 jobs. brexit secretary david davis has said he is not resigning after it was rumoured he would in his battle with the prime minister over the proposals for a brexit backstop plan.

scotland yard has said it is carrying out a criminal investigation into the advice given to grenfell residents to "stay put", but the public inquiry into the tragedy was told that the london fire brigade had no alternative and was left in an impossible situation. sport now on afternoon live with tim hague. an historic moment as amazon moves in and tv rights for sport? absolutely. it's been coming, i've been waiting for one of the big boys in digital media to make a move and amazon have done just that. the way we watch football seems to be changing, i suspect. they will shift 20 matches. a fault there will be weekly highlight throughout the season. let's stay

with sport because it is only a week away, the world cup. danny rose has been quite brave, hasn't he? he really, really has. the mental health charity mind have praised him for publicly revealing he has battled with depression as a result of injury and several issues relating to his family. he had told the his family into lee told the press yesterday. they were played costa rica in leeds. he has been very open also on racism and how things must change in russia.” very open also on racism and how things must change in russia. i know danny in his quote has said we can't change the world, but maybe we can have a small impact by the way that we conduct ourselves. the guys from all the communities they come from out all the communities they come from our fantastic role models for the kids, in showing what is possible

and how they interact with each other, so there is a possibility to change people's thinking and have an impact. bad news for russia, they will go into their own world cup as the lowest ranked side of all 32 after a string of poor results. they are down to 70th, which means they have fallen below saudi arabia, the only side ranked lower on the previous list. and of course those two open the tournament a week today. rafael nadal has completed his comeback against diego schwartzman to reach the semifinals of the french open. their match was delayed overnight by brain. nadal was a different player in the breezy sunshine today and only dropped four games. he is two wins away from a record 11th title at roland garros. 11, unbelievable. he will have to playjuan martin del potro next. the argentinian beat

marin cilic after they finish their quarterfinal. women's number one simona halep hasjust started her semifinal with wimbledon champion .joe . joe carberry will start at fly half, replacing johnny sexton for the brisbane game in a much changed line—up. he was back up to sexton throughout the six nations campaign. flanker peter 0'mahony will captain the side in the absence of the regular stop, rory best. the side in the absence of the regularstop, rory best. red the side in the absence of the regular stop, rory best. red shield has been fast tracked into the england squad for saturday's first test against south africa in johannesburg. the only arrived on sunday that has been named one of the replacements. he willjoin next month from hurricanes. eddiejones is overlooked danny cipriani com pletely is overlooked danny cipriani completely despite his outstanding season at wasps. joe launchburyjust filed his fitness test. super world

champions the filler data will be at eagles have responded to donald trump's invitation to the white house. many players didn't want to attend so the meet was cancelled, with the administration saying protests during the anthem were unpatriotic. jenkins made his point via handwritten cards instead, with comments about social injustice in the us and one appeared to address the us and one appeared to address the president directly. you can see it, reading "you aren't listening". all of that in the next hour. thank you. 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. the government has now suggested that any temporoary arrangement would end by the end of december 2021. chris morris from reality check is with me now to explain more. and we'll explain everything. first

of all, where is the idea of a backstop, where does it come from? did you know a backstop is a funny shaped net you have behind the catcher in baseball? yes. laughter where did it come from in the brexit process. december, the uk and eu agree no hard border in northern ireland. they hope they will sort that out in the terms of the future trade agreement, if they don't, there will be a backstop, a bit of a fudge, everyone walked away happy. in february, the eu came up with a d raft in february, the eu came up with a draft legal text which put it all down in the cold light of day in black and white. that made very clear that the customs union, in effect, and parts of the single market will continue to apply northern ireland but not the rest of the uk. so the infamous idea of some sort of customs border down the irish sea between northern ireland and the rest of the uk. cue uproar

in parts of northern ireland, in parts of the conservative party and theresa may herself saying in february that no uk prime minister could accept that. essentially, when she had said that, the eu then slightly sat back and folded its arms and said, if you don't like our proposal, where's yours? it has taken until proposal, where's yours? it has ta ken until today, proposal, where's yours? it has taken until today, june, for the uk to come up with its alternative. what is in it? the technical note that goes with it is six pages long. what it basically says is notjust extending the rules of the customs union to northern ireland for a set period but the whole of the united kingdom. it makes it clear, as has the eu, that this is not its preferred option. it was rather this doesn't have to happen but recognises that does have to be a backstop. the issue that has seen david davis and other ministers going to and fro out of the door of downing street in the last couple of daysis downing street in the last couple of days is the time. is it going to be

time—limited? and what they have done, i suppose, time—limited? and what they have done, isuppose, no time—limited? and what they have done, i suppose, no surprise in the brexit process, is come up with a little bit of a fudge. there isn't a specified end date because if there was to be one, the eu wouldn't accept that. they would say it can't have a hard end date but the eu expects a future arrangement, a free—trade deal or whatever, to be in place by december 2021 at the latest. if that is the case, the transition ends in 2020. the arguments of this paper is really need this temporary customs union between the end of 2020 and 2021. but if you are a brexiteer you think, what if you haven't reached an agreement by september 2021? will the temptation become and from the eu side it will be, to roll it over a bit more and a bit more? what about the issue of the irish border, does this address that? it solves part of it but not all of it. the paper acknowledges that. it says there needs to be a

solution and customs but separately we need to address regulatory standards and that is because of this, the single market. if you think about the border, we have customs tariffs, the tax you pay on moving stuff from one jurisdiction to another but you also have rules and regulations. in the case of the irish border, a lot of those to do with food standards, animal welfare, because a lot of agricultural produce the borders, those are quite separate from customs. in the eu's original backstop proposal that was sorted out so northern ireland stays in that part of the single market. the uk proposal today doesn't address it in detail but says we know it is something that needs to be looked at. chris, thank you very much. an expert on brexit and baseball! who knew? thank you. patients in england are not receiving the same level of care in the north as is in the south. tummy

when to stop. jenny doesn't have long to live, lung cancer has spread to her bones. i've been sort of fighting it best i can, but there are some days when it's... yet, you just wonder why you are still here. but at st gemma's hospice in leeds, jenny's getting expert end of life care. i didn't see the point in carrying on, but 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's 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're in that

stressful situation. susanne 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. we found out when she was in hospital that she had two to 2—3 weeks to live and that was when we were told that we could access palliative care here at st gemma's and we would receive support at home. that was the first time that we'd found out. so did you feel that that referral came too late for you? yeah, absolutely. it would have been brilliant to be able to access that information so that i could have supported mum a bit more, because it did upset me that the last few weeks when she really lost communication, i couldn't speak to her about anything and i didn't know how to speak to her about it and actually i'm sure there 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 55 days before death, and the situation is worse

in the north of england. here, terminally ill people were referred just 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, they may be more stoic. it could be that hospices aren't as well integrated, potentially, in the community as they might be, to encourage earlier access or to facilitate that. in a statement, the government said... but with more older people living for longer than ever before, today's report shows there's still a way to go to ensure all of us live well before we die. how much of a difference did it make once you were in here? yeah, complete, immediate relief that we had all this support here and everybody was, everybody was amazing. it's just been, yeah, a total different experience to anywhere else that i've ever been. it's incredible. in a moment the business news.

first a look at the headlines on afternoon live: 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. here's your business headlines on afternoon live. poundworld is poised to announce its intention to appoint administrators. the move will allow the company ten 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. the collapse of construction giant carillion will cost uk taxpayers an estimated £1118 million, 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. what is the latest of the house of fraser? house of fraser due to close 31 out of its 59 stores across the uk and ireland as part of what it terms of survival plan. it is not restructuring but to survive. the planned it closures including the flagship 0xford

planned it closures including the flagship oxford street store, as pa rt flagship oxford street store, as part of a cva, and insolvency procedure by struggling retailers. if this plan is approved, 2000 house of fraser jobs if this plan is approved, 2000 house of fraserjobs will be lost, around with 4000 rand and concession worms. the store will stay open until 2019. this is what the boss had to say about this. this is brutal, this is as tough as it gets, and we have not taken this decision lightly. it is very dramatic for people that we care about a great deal. i find it personally very emotional and i am not making this decision based on anything other than what i consider to be absolutely the best option for house of fraser and all of our stakeholders. but most importantly, to bring forward as many of our colleagues with us into the future. mentioned london's 0xford mentioned london's oxford street, its flagship store? yes, and

probably the most expensive to run. the company says it is facing a tsunami of challenges. 0bviously the company says it is facing a tsunami of challenges. obviously the likes of amazon, and footfall has fallen dramatically. every month since april 2000 16. you can see, people are going to bricks and mortar stores so much and also they have a very expensive portfolio, they say without restructuring its next essential threat to the business, but probably shoppers will feel it be most in smaller towns and cities where perhaps is the only department store left and they will really, really feel that the heart of their town has been ripped out. at cardiff, one of the stores which is set to close. it has been in existence since 1869 and the landlords have spoken to the bbc. the ceo of renaissance capital real estate said she would do everything

she could to try and fill the space. i'm not giving up on this. i've been speaking to a number of city officials at the city council, as well as the state level, and the government's been amazing here in cardiff and in wales. we are going to move forward in this and figure out a way to fill the gaping hole of these loss ofjobs, to create businesses here that can employ people of cardiff, and the way forward is looking at other options. obviously, you know, this is a very beautiful and special site. it will need input and approval from very key people in the city and we will do everything we can to work with them, but we're not going to leave. as an investor into cardiff, whether house of fraser stays or leaves, we are committed to make this site work and we are committed to invest into the community. i always say that as a landlord, you are a custodian of these assets. we really don't own them, we are here to serve and the value of these buildings are as important as the people that come in and out of it.

that was the landlord of the store in cardiff, the house of fraser store, one of those 31 due to close. before we look at the market, what happened at 8:30am, the london stock exchange were supposed to push the buttons? it should have started trading at eight o'clock. we don't know why, there was a lot of scratching of heads - a lot of scratching of heads and a lot of frustration among traders who were saying, what is going on? trading finally resumed at nine o'clock and we don't know if there was some kind glitch in the system, some kind of glitch in the system, some kind of glitch in the system, some kind of breach of the systems. but when trading resumed... we are not going to hear in a couple of days someone has had billions of pounds? we don't know but very frustrating to those people who did want to make trades. when the ftse 100 people who did want to make trades. when the ftse100 resumed trading it turned positive, then went negative and now back in positive. a bit of treading water going on. financial

stocks are slightly on the up. ba rclays, stocks are slightly on the up. barclays, as you can see, after a dip last week. m&s share prices down. the woes of house of fraser showing how difficult it is. brent crude, that is up, helping energy stocks. pushing prices at the pumps up stocks. pushing prices at the pumps up eventually as well stop your absolutely. that massive spike in may so those prices are definitely going up. we will keep an eye on that. thank you. 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 the reality tv star 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 — she was asked about her reaction

when the news was delivered by kim kardashian west. it was the most incredible day of my life. the most incredible, amazing overwhelming day, moment of my life. when kim told me i could go home, i started screaming and jumping up and i know people that were looking in 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 was one thing that she told me — that she would not give up on me and i would like to thank her and hug her. alice, in the video that first caught kim kardashian west's 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 that this something that i can't even imagine i did, what i did in the beginning. but i turned my life all the way around in prison and decided that 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. today marks the 50th anniversary of the strike by machine seamstresses at the ford car plants in dagenham in east london and halewood on merseyside. they walked out in order to get their work recognised as equal to their male colleagues. their actions are credited with bringing in the equal pay act in 1970, which outlawed discrimination on pay and conditions between men and women. sophie rawroth reports. it was an historic moment in the campaign for equal pay — the decision to strike by this group of women who stitched the seats for thousands of ford cars in dagenham forced the company

to shut down parts of its plant. we are on strike until the 27th ofjune, thursday 27th ofjune. all of you? all of us, all the machinists, anyway. so no car seat covers for ford? no, not from us, anyway. none of the girls have got any doubts at all. we know what we're fighting for. we're prepared to stay there until we get it. we deeply regret all the men that's been put off through our cause, but the quicker they get down and do something and give us what we want, we'll get back to work and give them all they want. despite the strike being more about grading than money, the impact made was hugely significant. the women wanted to be recognised as semi—skilled workers rather than unskilled ones. female workers at ford's halewood plant on merseyside also walked out in solidarity. the action led to a deal. the women returned to work on 92% of the male pay rate — rather than the 85% they'd been on before the strike — and the move is widely credited with paving the way

for the equal pay act of 1970. the world cup kicks off in a week's time in russia and the hosts are keen to show that they are ready to welcome the thousands of fans who'll be travelling there to support their teams. welcome banners are up all over the country, including in nizhny novgorod — once completely out of bounds to foreigners. i knew i was going to get that wrong! that's where england will play panama later this month. but when our correspondent sarah rainsford visited, there is a striking new landmark on the river volga. nizhny novgorod, out of bounds for foreigners in soviet times, is now in a final push to impress visitors for the world cup. inside nizhny‘s very own kremlin, so are its politicians. translation: i think the atmosphere here is great, and our relations with all countries are very friendly. welcome to nizhny novgorod region.

we wait here. but this was the welcome that awaited us. the whole time we've been here in nizhny it seems there's been somebody following us — at least one car, sometimes three — and i think there's one of them that's been with us on our tail the whole day, right behind now. we realised we had company — wherever we went. excited they'll be moving from this ground to the city's new stadium after the world cup. and minutes after we met local opposition activists, there was this. the pair at the door said they'd come from state television to interview us, but we hadn't told anyone we'd be here. this group support president putin's biggest critic, alexei navalny, and some here tell me a country that

regularly detains political opponents doesn't deserve to host the world cup. i'm very upset about their position, the position of other countries towards putin and towards the people with whom he's surrounded himself. you wish the world had stayed away? yes, definitely, yes. russia wants to use this world cup to show its best face to the world, and yet there's another side to life here that perhaps those visitors won't see. it is the increasingly paranoid controlling side that's clearly there behind the makeover for the world cup. sarah rainsford, bbc news, nizhny novgorod. time for a look at the weather... here's tomas. a fine day across most of the uk and

we will keep is settled weather for the rest of the weekend into the weekend but it is not completely dry. we had some showers very early this morning and there is a chance of catching a shower little later on this afternoon. the angry looking clouds toward the south across the bay of biscay and thunderstorms continue in the near co nsta nt, thunderstorms continue in the near constant, but he just some showers perhaps breaking out in the southern counties. they should be inland, away from the coast, so that will stay dry. the vast majority of the country should have a dry day and cooler on that zero seekers, anywhere from newcastle down to hull and lincolnshire. tonight, more of the same. cloudy conditions developing across many eastern, central and southern areas. first thing tomorrow morning, if you are an early bird, it could be pretty gloomy and overcast at least for a time. perhaps even a few showers lingering. during the course of the morning, the clouds will break up

and once again it will be a fine day. temperatures will get to around 21-22 day. temperatures will get to around 21—22 where the sun pokes through the clouds, otherwise we're talking about a fresh 14 degrees in newcastle, with an onshore wind. the all—importa nt weekend, newcastle, with an onshore wind. the all—important weekend, this settled weather continues, warm sunshine about but a few sharp showers potentially, at least for some of us. let's have a look at the picture first thing on saturday. sta rts picture first thing on saturday. starts off pretty cloudy, but then the sun develops in the morning and into the afternoon and we see showers developing across scotland and northern ireland. some could be quite heavy but the vast majority of the country enjoying a fine day, with temperatures in the teens on the north sea coast, 20s elsewhere. the big picture in europe, storms in france and germany but we are fine. a lot of dry weather on sunday, sunday will probably be the best day for england and wales. - little for england and wales. very little in the way of cloud but showers are expected across scotland. the temperature is widely into the high

teens or low 20s on sunday. a very brief outlook of next week, the jet strea m brief outlook of next week, the jet stream changing position, looking like it will be making a beeline for us. that might mean cooler weather and slightly more unsettled weather next week. bye—bye. hello, you're watching afternoon live. today at 3. 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. there is a tsunami of challenges that have come to retail in the last five years, which have been well documented, and they have hit house of fraser very hard. the momentum was built over the last 24 months or so. 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.

amazon have entered the premier league rights raise, securing one package to show around 20 matches across the season and highlights throughout the season, as well —— writes race. thanks forjoining us. the weather is looking good. the weekend is looking promising with predominantly dry and sunny weather. thanks, thomasz. also coming up — we report from antarctica — where a new survey reveals microplastics are reaching even the most remote waters of the world. hello everyone — this is afternoon live. more evidence — if it were needed — of the difficulties on britain's high streets — with the news that

house of fraser is planning to close more than half of its stores as part of a rescue deal. 31 of its 59 stores — including its flagship on oxford street — look set to be shut with the loss of around 6,000 jobs. the department store chain said it wouldn't have a viable future if the proposal wasn't approved. creditors will vote on the plan later this month — the retailer needs the majority of them to sign up to it, in order to be able to go ahead. theo leggett reports. the face of the british high street is changing. house of fraser is one of a long list of big names feeling the pressure of a hostile retail environment. the store chain has now proposed a deal with its creditors to reduce the amount of money it has to pay out while it restructures its business and its finances. house of fraser currently has 59 shops, 31 of them will shut in seven months‘ time. 6,000 jobs are expected to go. at house of fraser itself

and at its in—store concessions. the problem for house of fraser is that department stores like this are expensive to run. there are high rents, business rates and of course all the staff have to be paid. meanwhile, more and more consumers are preferring to do their shopping online, which means even major outlets like this one on london's oxford street are facing closure. the darlington store is another one which may have to shut. shoppers here said they were disappointed by the news. it's the only shop i bother with in town so i wouldn't be too thrilled. it was a similar story in birmingham. whenever i come to town, i would always pop in with my friends. it was a local place everyone would go to. it's a bit of a surprise. and in cardiff, under the plan there will be no stores left in wales at all. i think it's absolutely terrible. we've lost one or two of the shops in the high street, and that's another one going to go, another big one. it's drastic surgery but the man in charge said he had no choice. there is a tsunami of challenges

that have come towards retail over the last five or six years and they have been well documented. they have hit house of fraser very hard. that momentum has built over the last 24 months or so. under the plan, house of fraser will focus on using fewer stores to sell more upmarket brands. but will it be enough to keep the chain afloat? i think house of fraser has got the right idea in terms of making its products offer more premium and luxury but it's questionable whether it will work across the whole of the uk. many stores opened late today as their staff were told what was going on. unions said it was devastating news for the store chain's employees. but house of fraser is farfrom alone. since the collapse of bhs two years ago, there have been many casualties in the retail sector.

toys "r" us has also closed. maplins in administration, mothercare is shutting stores and pound world is reportedly about to appoint administrators as well. but house of fraser's owners are hoping that by taking action now, they can prevent another once great name from disappearing from the high street forever. joining me now is martin greenslade, the chief financial officer of land securities which is the uk's largest commercial property owner. you must be seeing this problem more and more on the high street? yes, we are. there are problems with physical retail and also the cyclical headwinds they are experiencing at the moment. what about the use of a cba? what are they? the company gets together with an adviser, insolvency practitioner, and they come up with measures to cut costs or change the arrangements

with their unsecured creditors and they get those creditors in and they have a vote on it. that affects landlords. 0ur landlords happy with that approach? —— are. landlords. 0ur landlords happy with that approach? -- are. where the situation is that the retailer is really in trouble and this is something where we can help prevent the business from going under, then we are happy to be involved in that process , we are happy to be involved in that process, but we do think the responsibility for that should be shared with, for example, may be debt reorganisation and new money from the shareholders rather than just the landlord picking up the tab. there is an image of landlords which perhaps isn't always that positive. is there an approach that a retailer might take to unofficially approach landlords and say, can we talk about this and keep it out of courts and administration?

there is a way of doing that, they can talk to any landlord at the time, but the difficulty is quite often they have a large number of units spread across a large number of landlords. your point about whether or not landlords are not a lwa ys whether or not landlords are not always favourably seen, in one case there were 280 leases with 240 different landlords. that is people's livelihood and pensions and people's livelihood and pensions and people need to remember that when they look at landlords. we manage people for other people —— we manage money for other people. an announcement like today, these are big sites, like the oxford street store in london. what would replace that? it is not our site but it remains to be seen what gets done with that space and how it gets redeveloped. i imagine that is what will happen. what we have to look at, retail isn't dead, but it is going to evolve. boring retail may

be dead but there will be... but we have seen the high street change dramatically. are the days are going to the high—street shop, they gone? the high street is a pity to the kind of space but if we talk about retail generally —— is a particular kind of space for the year to provide convenience or and experience and if we at our portfolio, we have six centres outside london where we can provide that day at experience with good food and great stores and a really pleasa nt food and great stores and a really pleasant environment and that we think will continue to farewell and thrive. that is living up to your expectations? yes. it is still facing some of the cyclical headwinds, like the rising costs and the squeeze on the consumer, but over the medium—term those cyclical factors will reverse. the decision

was presumably ta ken factors will reverse. the decision was presumably taken years ago to put those huge centres together, amazon, no one had heard of them, and that has changed everything. amazon, no one had heard of them, and that has changed everythingm has changed everything and that is why there is a polarisation between the convenience and the destination shopping centres. the ground in the middle is squeezed and that is where the convenience of online tends to win. thanks forjoining us. the brexit secretary david davis says he is not resigning following divisions with the prime minister over the uk's brexit "backstop" plan. in the proposal the uk would retain a temporary customs arrangement with the eu in order to avoid a hard irish border post—brexit — an arrangement that the government has now said it expects to end by the end of december 2021. 0ur political correspondent, ben wright reports. are you about to lose your brexit secretary? the prime minister was certainly trying to keep him on board this morning, heading off early

to the house of commons to meet david davis. their dispute? 0ver how to ensure there is no physical infrastructure between northern ireland and the republic in the future. it's the so—called backstop option and the eu has said it must be a legally binding part of the final brexit deal. the backstop is there to prevent a hard border if the uk and eu fail to strike a trade deal that avoids new checks. it would apply after the transition period ends, and would cover customs and regulations. crucially, keeping each side closely aligned. are you going to resign, mr davis? but the brexit secretary has had a bust up with number ten about this, arguing that the backstop needs an expiry date. and cannot be open—ended. at the moment everyone has a concern that these arrangements will continue indefinitely and i don't think that will be acceptable either to conservative mps or frankly to the wider country as a whole which voted to leave the european union and not to remain in some halfway house, potentially for ever.

with theresa may due to meet eu leaders again at the end of the month, brexiteers had this advice for the prime minister. if your chief negotiator wants to have some kind of defined end to this process, if he's your chief negotiator then you probably have to give it to him. the prime minister held talks with david davis for more than an hour here this morning. and while they talked, tory mps i was speaking to were clear this is a very edgy febrile time. there is speculation about possible resignations, everybody on the tory benches knows the discussions going on now in westminster will shape the course of brexit. the prime minister also had face—to—face meetings with borisjohnson and liam fox, the cabinet's chief brexiteers. after theresa may left parliament, her spokesman said none of them had threatened to resign. the government then published its backstop plan, comprised to keep the

cabinet together. it contains a date, the end of december 2021, that is when the government expects the future trading relationship to be in place and that is precise enough to give david davis in the cabinet and it might be vague enough to get eu support. joining me now from westminster is our assistant political editor, norman smith. people watching will think this is a terrible mess. it is. cabinet ministers have been holding by theresa may so she can basically browbeat them into accepting her backstop option, at the end of which she has given ground after her brexit secretary had to be brought in again after he took a particularly tough line. in the stand—off, it looks as though

theresa may blinked first because she has now agreed to insert a final date. however, to make this more complicated, the final date is hedged around with a lot of loose language which means she can say it is not quite as fixed date as the brexiteers would like. if this was an arm wrestling match best—of—3, it is probably a 2—1victory an arm wrestling match best—of—3, it is probably a 2—1 victory to david davis over theresa may. that is before they had to change rings and climbing with the eu. that is the bigger problem. what ever is thrashed out he has got to go through the hurdles of brussels and already, listening to michel barnier, it is claimed he's not that impressed by what has been agreed. he has put at between saying it has to bea he has put at between saying it has to be a backstop for all—weather. —— he has put out a tweet. he means it

has to be a backstop suitable for all conditions. in other words, you can't say such and such a date, that is the end of a backstop, and he's clearly signalling this is a no—no and you won't get away with it. which means we are back to the drawing board. the theresa may, she has kept the show on the road the time being at least. she has avoided david davis walking out, avoided a catastrophic blow to her government. she has a bit more breathing space and the can is kicked further down the road, but you sense we are getting closer and closer to that moment when there is going to be no more tarmac and we have got to make tough decisions. along with hugh grant, you are the only other person who says webster daisy.

—— whoops a daisy. the grenfell fire inquiry has been told that fire commanders had "no obvious and safe alternative strategy" other than to tell residents to stay put in their flats. the fire brigades union said firefighters were left in an "impossible situation". it comes as it's emerged that the metropolitan police is carrying out a criminal investigation into the fire service's use of the "stay put" policy. richard galpin reports. more than 700 firefighters and other staff were involved in tackling the grenfell fire. and they faced a lot of criticism for telling residents to stay put rather than evacuating quickly as the fire spread. but at the enquiry today, lawyers representing the fire services said there had been very good reasons for that decision. firstly, the building was not designed or constructed to facilitate simultaneous evacuations through the provision of fire alarms. secondly, the absence of any practical mechanism

by which to effectively communicate with the occupants of the entire building. thirdly, in the absence of a working firefighter lift, the availability of the single staircase as a fire escape route. this staircase was the only means by which firefighters wearing breathing apparatus and carrying equipment could access the other floors. the enquiry also heard that when firefighters arrived, they had no idea the tower block had been clad in highly combustible panels. and that there had been what was described as a complete failure in implementing fire safety measures at every stage of the refurbishment several years ago. what's more, lawyers had this to say about the stay put policy. it is not a creation of fire services in the uk. rather, it is a principle of building design, which is provided for in legislation, which fire services are expected to apply and which underpins the development of fire safety and operational policies for buildings of this kind nationally. the pressures on the

firefighters were enormous. but still, they managed to rescue many people, despite the overwhelming scale of the blaze. 0n the night, the lfb control centre was required to handle more calls requiring fire survival guidance from residents within grenfell tower than the total number of such calls in the previous ten years from the whole of london. amongst the suggestions already being made at the enquiry are for there to be a major focus on how refurbishing tower blocks can compromise fire safety. richard galpin, bbc news. our correspondent at the inquiry, tom burridge,

told me that the role of the fire service is not only being examined by the inquiry, but also by the metropolitan police. the metropolitan police have said it is a line of inquiry in their wider criminal investigation, their criminal investigation is separate from the public inquiry, remember. they overlap to some degree in terms of the evidence but they are distinct investigations. the metropolitan police said they are considering possible offences linked to the stay put strategy on health and safety grounds, they say they have taken statements from 579 firefighters and control room staff. previously we learned kensington and chelsea borough council and the tenant management organisation it setup, they are being investigated on

possible corporate manslaughter offences. we understand no other corporate bodies are in that category still. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. 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. amazon wins the rights to show 20

premier league matches each season. nadal is through convincingly into the next round of the french open. i will be back more at 130 —— 330. amazon has won the rights to show premier league football matches for the first time — giving members of its prime video service access to 20 matches per season — for three years from next year. this is in addition to rights granted to bt and sky. 0ur media editor amol rajan is here. this is a historic moment? it really is and it breaks the stranglehold that bt and sky sports have had on the premier league. the first time an american company has been able to show per minute matches which is a big moment. the premier league is a big moment. the premier league is a big part of british culture. above all this is an american internet company and in future of media and sport, it shows the distinction

between the internet and tv is a releva nt. between the internet and tv is a relevant. i've been speaking to greg dyke, former chairman of the fa, he was saying that if you plot the way forward in the next few years, we will see more of this, and the share ta ke will see more of this, and the share take of the likes of amazon will grow and the likes of sky sports and bt will fall. there was a view that netflix and amazon will stay with a certain type of programming, the big—money epics and leave sport to others. this changes that. it does. tv has always been on the one end a documentary and drama aspect, and the other end, live news and sport. this is a bold declaration, this entry into the sporting arena, it is easy to see what is attractive about sport, it arouses tremendous passions, football is global, it comes with a committed fan base. and

you can sell things around, merchandise and advertising. and for amazon, what all these companies are trying to do, like with apple and your smartphone, they are trying to lock you in. they are trying to lock you into their part of the internet. amazon is saying, you take out a subscription, we will also give you premier matches. but for the viewer, the football fan, it is getting more expensive. and more complex, that is one of the annoying things. there are fans who might have logged out a lot of money —— for dad. —— forked out. they might have thought, welcomer i've got a sky sports subscription, and i will get bt, but now there's another one —— well,

i've got. you might get into a situation, yes, weather is so much competition for that products like the premier league —— where there is so much competition. and basically, asa so much competition. and basically, as a consumer, it is rather complex, you have these different platforms, and if they all ask you to pay, you will end up paying little bits to each of them or possibly big bits to each of them or possibly big bits to each of them and that is not a good place for a consumer to be. thanks for joining place for a consumer to be. thanks forjoining us. human rights campaigners have lost a legal challenge to northern ireland's strict abortion law. the supreme court ruled northern ireland's human rights commission was not entitled to bring a challenge without an actual case of a woman affected by the law. but the court made clear it would have found the abortion law to be incompatible with human rights. 0ur ireland correspondent emma vardy reports from outside the court in central london. those particular comments you read — they are not legally binding, the ones by the supreme court judges, but they will have

the effect of increasing the pressure on theresa may and increasing the pressure on the government to act on northern ireland's abortion laws. the majority ofjudges here at the supreme court ruled that the northern ireland human rights commission did not have the power to bring those proceedings. but had the case been brought by an individual, a woman who felt she had suffered because of northern ireland's abortion laws, thejudges made it clear in that case they would have made a formal ruling that northern ireland's abortion laws are incompatible with human rights, in the cases of pregnancy by rape or incest, and in the cases of fatal foetal abnormality, where an unborn child cannot survive. it is those comments, although not legally binding, which will have been heard loud and clear by mps at the house of commons because mps on all sides support changing the law. and there are number of mps who want to see westminster intervene whilst the stormont assembly in northern ireland is out of action because that

collapsed 17 months ago. but there is strong opposition from the northern ireland party, the dup, a strongly anti—abortion party, so that creates problems for theresa may. but supreme courtjudges' comments will add weight to the argument of mps at westminster who want to find a way to get this changed. microplastics are reaching the most remote waters of the world, and pollution in the air is contaminating even the freshest snow in antarctica — those are the conclusions of a greenpeace survey, gathered during a three—month expedition earlier this year. scientists say it provides evidence of the pervasiveness of microplastics. the bbc‘s claire marshall was on board the ship when the trawling and testing began — she sent us this report.

this is the most remote continent on earth. it looks pristine, but today, there is new evidence that microplastics are now reaching even these waters and perhaps more disturbingly, there's also pollution from airborne chemicals in freshly fallen snow. we'll put it over the side. we were with scientists on board a greenpeace ship injanuary as they began testing waters off the antarctic peninsula. very little data exists. it's a question of picking a tiny bit of the southern ocean and lowering in a manta — a trawling device. any microplastics should find their way into the net. the team searched some of the most isolated places on the planet. this is hope bay, it's off the cruise ship trial and not much fishing happens nearby. you won't really see plastic washed ashore, but scientists are worried what may happen here in the future. we are going to take these three

samples will stop. they also hunted for pollution on land, gathering samples of freshly fallen snow. we didn't know it at the time, but even here, deposited either as a gas or dusk were molecules of man—made chemicals. the samples were taken to a laboratory. what we're finding is in almost all the samples of water we collected, we find tiny pieces of microplastics, maybe only a few fragments or fibres in every litre of water, but given that this is really the end of the earth, it's remarkable, once again, that we are finding microplastics almost wherever we look. jason roberts has worked in the polar regions for more than 30 years. what's the worst thing you've ever seen? i've seen some quite terrible things with plastics, but on the bigger scale,

what actually is probably more terrible is the smaller scale, the microplastics you can't see. but the things you can see, i've seen once on a subantartic island in south georgia, a fur seal with a fishing net around it, which had been caught in it for a long time because the net had grown into the skin and into the blubber. this will only add to the growing calls for something to be done about plastic, before more of it reaches the end of the earth. claire marshall, bbc news, antarctica. time for the weather with tomasz. not much change on the weather front since yesterday. a lot of blue sky out there. with a chance of a shower, so not a completely dry day but there is a risk and showers are very small so they miss most of us. little blobs of blue across southern areas and the risk of a show in northern ireland and western scotland. but we can call it a dry day for most of the uk. this is the forecast for tonight, showers

lingering, in the woodlands and —— midlands and wales. 15 in the south, quite mild, but fresher in scotland. tomorrow begins pretty cloudy and then the sunshine gets going on the cloud and it should end up being a bright day for most. temperatures tomorrow in the low 20s, nudging up tomorrow in the low 20s, nudging up to 20 in belfast and the mid—teens in the far north. this is bbc news — our latest headlines: there's another blow for the high street, as house of fraser has announced it plans to close more than half of its stores with the loss of around 6000 jobs. brexit secretary david davis has said he will not resign after it was rumoured he was considering stepping down after his battle with the prime minister over proposals for a brexit backstop plan. scotland yard has said it is carrying out a criminal investigation into the advice given to grenfell residents to "stay put" . but the public inquiry into the tragedy was told today that the london fire brigade had no alternative. human rights campaigners have lost their attempt to overturn

northern ireland's strict abortion laws on a technicality. but the supreme court made clear that it agreed the current rules are incompatible with european human rights legislation. sport now on afternoon live with tim hague. amazon, i am amazon, iam having amazon, i am having trouble today! amazon, i am having trouble today! amazon are entering thatjungle of tv amazon, i am having trouble today! amazon are entering thatjungle of tv sports amazon, i am having trouble today! amazon are entering thatjungle of tv sports rights, amazon, i am having trouble today! amazon are entering thatjungle of tv sports rights, aren't amazon, i am having trouble today! amazon are entering thatjungle of tv sports rights, aren't they? amazon, i am having trouble today! amazon are entering thatjungle of tv sports rights, aren't they? that isa tv sports rights, aren't they? that is a lovely question. amazon the first of the digital media big boys to make a move for premier league rights. this could be a change to the way we watch the ball. this could well be the start of a chance in the way we watch football, after the online streaming service won a broadcast package to show 20 premier league matches a season for three years from 2019. all 10 matches on boxing day are part of the deal,

which marks the first time a full round of matches will be shown live in this country. there will also be weekly highlights throughout the season. tonight, england, for the last time before they go on to win the world cup, they are playing on home soil? yes. england don't win the world cup that often so perhaps that is wishful thinking that they are playing tonight. it's just a week from the world cup now simon, and england will play costa rica this evening in leeds before flying off to russia to prepare for their opening match against tunisia in volgograd. england will start with jack butland in goal, whilst there's also a debut for liverpool defender trent alexander arnold. and for the manager gareth southgate, the match at elland road is a great way to give england fans in the north — a rare chance to see the national team in action. elland road is a brilliant venue for us elland road is a brilliant venue for us to come and play. i think it's really important. we don'tjust represent the south of england, we represent the south of england, we represent everybody. to be able to bring the team north that the fans from the north don't have so far to

travel, some of them will be able to walk down the road and watch england play in their local stadium is a brilliant thing. indeed. 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. 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 delayed by rain, nadal was a different player in the parisian sunshine and only dropped four more games to take the next three sets. he's nowjust two wins away from a record 11th title at roland garros. and he'll have to play juan martin del potro next. the argentinian beat third seed marin cilic in four sets, in a match that lasted nearly four hours. it meant so much to del potro, it left him in tears shortly after this. and in the first

women's semi—final — which is ongoing — world number one simona halep was brilliant in the first set against garbine muguruza. winning that 6—1. even stevens and the second, though. and in the last hour or so, gordon reid has beaten the defending champion, world number 1, and fellow britain alfie hewett 6—4 6—4 in the all british quarter—final of the wheelchair singles at roland garros. reid will play shingo kunieda ofjapan in the semi—finals. 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 0'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 1st 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. and now this has been doing good business on social media. when you head to a major league baseball game, it's rare that you'll actually touch, let alone catch a ball. but in the fifth innings of atlanta's 14—1win over san diego, braves outfielder ender inseeartay hit a foul ball and this happened. padres fan gabby dimarco caught it in her beer and then proceeded to drink said beer, with the ball inside the cup. i guess that's what happens when your team is being thrashed at home.

the only solution, baseball in a beer. the kind of thing you would do, i suspect. that is the best bit of till eri have seen for a while. i commend her. —— best bit of television i have seen in a while. back to you later. 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. the government has now suggested that any temporary arrangement would end by the end of december 2021. chris morris from reality check is with me now to explain more. we have just seen some baseball and we're talking about back stops once again. we are. where does it come from? baseball on a beer is more

impressive. but if he'd missed it all together rather than fly hacking it behind him, it would hit the backstop. brilliant. it is a safety net in baseball terms. why did the european negotiations take a term from american sport, who knows? the back stop emerged last year. the uk and eu agreed we cannot have a hard border in northern ireland. we hope the sort that out in terms of future trading relations, if we don't, we don't, we need to have a backstop. that was fine, a bit of a fudge, eve ryo ne that was fine, a bit of a fudge, everyone agreed to it. but in february, the eu put out its own proposal in detailed legal text which set out in pretty black and white language the backstop would mean the customs union would continue to apply in northern ireland. many of the rules and regulations of the single market would continue to apply in northern ireland but not the rest of the uk. so the idea much disliked by the dup and others, essentially a customs

border down the irish sea, dividing the uk. the prime minister was to that. it caused a lot of consternation within the conservative party. she said no uk prime minister could ever agreed to a proposal like that. so at that point, the eu kind of sat back and said, if you don't like our proposal, where is yours? that was federer, it is nowjune and here it is. what is in it? no surprise, the uk proposal is basically not an extension of the customs union just for northern ireland but a temporary alignment of the whole of the uk with the customs union. so essentially, eu rules would continue for the whole country. that would solve some of the problems on the border. the problem with that is when would it come to an end? that is why we have seen david davis another‘s shuttling in and out of downing street to negotiate the idea of when you would bring it to an end. would it be time limited? what they have done, the brexit

negotiation, so a bit of a fudge, it has to be. someone said it is a fudge on waffle stop fair enough! they have said the uk expects this temporary customs arrangements, if it's needed, to be out of the way by the end of 2021, which means it would have to in december 2020, at the end of the transition period and last for a year. but it doesn't specify absolutely that december 2021 is the end a sofa brexiteers, a bit of suspicion... you have left some wiggle room. you are using words like expect. if there is no future trade agreement signed by september 2021, the temptation will be to extend it a bit further and further and then you come to the next election and it gets into difficult territory. what does the documents about the irish border, which will clearly be the thing? documents about the irish border, which will clearly be the thing7m is, that is why we are in this

backstop territory. it acknowledges something the eu has make clear, that this is notjust about customs. it is also about something else, the single market. when you have a border, you have tariffs, the taxes you have to pay when you move stuff from one customs jurisdiction to another but you also have rules and regulations, in northern ireland, especially animal welfare and food safety because there is a lot of agricultural produce going over the border every day. those of the rules of the single market. the uk paper acknowledges yes, this is our proposalfor acknowledges yes, this is our proposal for customs that there are all these regulatory standards at me to be addressed. so this is not the final deal. we don't even know really what the eu is going to think of it yet. michel barnier has already tweeted. .. we are getting a rough idea. he said he hopes it can survive an all—weather brexit. they are going to be a bit sceptical about it but at least we now have a british proposal on the table and i think about will be on the british side that this gets us through the next eu summit in a few weeks' time.

an all—weather brexit, the mind boggles. four-wheel drive across the irish border. chris, thank you very much. you're watching afternoon live with me, simon mccoy. 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. but at st 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. susanne 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 i 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 hasjust been, yeah, total different experience to anywhere else that i've ever been. it's incredible. in a moment the business news. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. 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. here's your business headlines on afternoon live:

korea more cars uk taxpayers £140 million according to the national audit office. —— karelian will cost the taxpayers. —— karelian will cost the taxpayers. poundworld is poised to 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. 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 9am rather than the usual 8am. the lse would not comment on the nature of the issue or whether it is concerned about an outside breach of its systems. it is very odd that story. but let's talk about thames water, some

customers are going to get a rebate, how come? thames water has been told it now shell out £120 million to compensate customers, and this is about poor management of the way it has handled leaks. it comes after an investigation by the regulator, which found it breached two of its legal response abilities, including the board of management didn't pay enough attention to solving leakage issues. 0fwat says this is really important because lea ks issues. 0fwat says this is really important because leaks like this create unnecessary strain on the environment, excess costs for customers and increase potentially water shortages. how much will customers actually get back? water shortages. how much will customers actually get back7m doesn't amount to much but they will get £15 over two years. a bit earlier i spoke to the chief executive, rachel fletcher, angie, why customers were losing out because of leaks. customers are going to be compensated, firstly to make sure they are not paying a

penny of the additional cost associated with this leakage. but also because fundamentally, thames has let them down. thames made a promise to meet a leakage performance target, which they woefully failed to meet. that has got impacts on environmental cost and it puts reliable supplies at risk for customers. and for both of those reasons, we think it's important that customers are paid notjust back for important that customers are paid not just back for any expenditure that they've made associated with leakage, but also to recognise those other factors. what have thames water said. the chief executive said we met our leakage targets for a decade but we know what performance has not been good enough and for that we are sorry because we let our customers down. but it added, we have now taken control down. but it added, we have now ta ken control how down. but it added, we have now taken control how we manage the network and investing significantly in people and resources to tackle

leakage and get back on track. we have heard that before. and they we re have heard that before. and they were fined last year for the same thing. as i said, we have heard that before. we shall move on. house of fraser, our top story, the high street is in trouble. it certainly is in trouble. house of fraser comes after marks & spencer said they were closing stores. we had bhs, new look and maplin in trouble. it is not alone but we had today about the extent of the damage to house of fraser. it has to close 31 out of its 59 stores, so more than half. it also will affect potentially, if this is agreed by its creditors, this is agreed by its creditors, this is a company voluntary arrangement, could affect 4000 jobs, 2000 and house of fraser and 4000 at brands and concessions. 0bviously 2000 and house of fraser and 4000 at

brands and concessions. obviously it is really bad news for landlords as well, they have a lot of empty spaces well, they have a lot of empty s pa ces to well, they have a lot of empty spaces to fill. how do they do that? this is the tricky thing because remember how long it took to find new stores to move into, woolworths and still bhs stores haven't been filled, some of them. their landlord saying they will do everything they can. 0ne saying they will do everything they can. one man was the bbc spoke to in cardiff, one of the house of fraser stores that is due to close, renaissance capital real estate and the ceo said that she is going to do everything she can to make sure that something moves into the store. i'm not giving up moves into the store. i'm not giving up on this. i've been speaking to a numberof up on this. i've been speaking to a number of city officials at the city council, as well as state level and the government has been amazing here in cardiffand the government has been amazing here in cardiff and in wales. we are going to move forward on this and figure out a way to fill the gaping hole of these loss ofjobs, to create business here that can employ

people of cardiff. the way forward is looking at other options. obviously, this is a very beautiful and special site. it will need input and special site. it will need input and approval from very key people in the city and we will do everything we can to work with them but we're not going to leave. as an investor into cardiff, whether house of fraser stays or leads, we are committed to make this site work and we are committed to invest into the community. i always say that as a landlord, you are a custodian of these assets. we really don't own them. we are here to serve and the value of these buildings are as important as the people who come in and out of it. that store has been there since 1869, so you can see there since 1869, so you can see there will be a lot of people in cardiff... but also the same with stores right across the uk, really wa nt to stores right across the uk, really want to find a replacement. a quick check on the markets. we don't know what happened with the glitch with the ftse100, we will have to see.

ba rclays, the ftse100, we will have to see. barclays, financial stop the ftse100, we will have to see. ba rclays, financial stop doing the ftse100, we will have to see. barclays, financial stop doing 0k after losses last week. the impact of what is happening on the high street, marks & spencer down 1.4%. more from you in an hour, thank you. the night club owner peter stringfellow, has died, at the age of 77. he'd been suffering from lung cancer. he became known as the king of clubs after opening venues around the world during his six decades in the industry. the beatles, the kinks and jimi hendrix were among those he booked to perform in his clubs. our correspondent david sillito reports. fantastic, here you go. have i got the bestjob or what, i don't know. peter stringfellow was more than just another nightclub owner. the big hair, the leather trousers, he was a household name who created his own very distinctive brand of glamour. he started out in sheffield. a spell in prison for selling

stolen carpets meant that he'd struggled to find work, so he decided to move into the entertainment business. we started about 14 years ago, in church halls, on friday nights. known in those days as friday night hops. we went to the mojo club, to the town centre sheffield, a couple of clubs later, we sold out and moved to leeds. jimi hendrix, the beatles — he booked them all. and with cinderella rockefellers he moved from cabaret and chicken in a basket to ‘70s disco. then came stringfellows in london. this was the big time, champagne, celebrities. he wasn'tjust successful — he had become famous. he was always great fun, very kind, very generous and a big character. and then in the ‘90s, he began to move into what he described as gentlemen's clubs. he'd been close to bankruptcy after a business failed in america and fashions were also changing. the strip shows saved him. but this man who boasted of sleeping

with up to 2000 women denied there was anything degrading or exploitative in this business. indeed, he said he was a feminist. i don't harm or hurt anyone. and i know that this suggestion of exploitation is absolute rubbish. my girls dance, they take money from guys who are watching them dance, and i think that's fantastically in line with feminism. so, from draughty church halls to medallions strewn opulence, peter stringfellow, the self—styled king of clubs. remembering peter stringfellow, who has died age 77. 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 — she was asked about her reaction when the news was brought to her by kim kardashian west. it was the most incredible day of my life. the most incredible, amazing overwhelming day, moment of my life. when kim told me i could go home, i started screaming and jumping up and i know people that were looking in 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 was one thing that she told me — that she would not give up on me and i would like to thank her and hug her. alice, in the video that first caught kim kardashian west's

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 that this something that i can't even imagine i did, what i did in the beginning. but i turned my life all the way around in prison and decided that 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. we've all felt frustrated sitting in a trafficjam, but here's how not to get out of it. traffic cameras in ohio captured this suv reversing out of a queue of cars after getting into trouble. it's thought the driver continued to drive backwards for more than a mile — narrowly missing oncoming traffic on their way up the slipway.

police believe the driver had problems with their automatic gearbox, but the department of transport said motorists with mechanical problems should stay put and call the emergency services. chuckles as d efe nces as defences go... anyway, let's have a look at the weather. here's tomasz. another fine day across most of the uk and we will keep this settled weather for the rest of the weekend into the weekend as well, but it is not completely dry. we had some showers very early this morning and there is a chance of catching a shower little bit later on this afternoon. the angrier looking clouds toward the south across the bay of biscay and thunderstorms continue across the near continent, but he just some showers perhaps breaking out in the southern counties. they should be inland, away from the coastline, so that coastal strip in the south will stay dry. the vast majority of the country

should have a dry day and, again, cooler on that north sea coast, anywhere from newcastle down to hull and that lincolnshire coastline. tonight, more of the same. cloudy conditions developing across many eastern, central and southern areas. first thing tomorrow morning, if you are an early bird, it could be pretty gloomy and overcast, at least for a time. perhaps even a few showers lingering there. during the course of the morning, the clouds will break up and once again it will be a fine day. temperatures will get to around 21—22 where the sun pokes through the clouds, otherwise we're talking about a fresh 14 degrees there in newcastle, with an onshore wind. the all—importa nt weekend, the settled weather continues, warm sunshine about but a few sharp showers potentially, at least for some of us. let's have a look at the picture first thing on saturday. starts off pretty cloudy, but then the sun develops during the morning and into the afternoon and we see showers developing across scotland

and northern ireland. some could be quite heavy but the vast majority of the country enjoying a fine day, with temperatures in the teens on the north sea coast, 20s elsewhere. the big picture across europe, storms in france and germany but we are fine here. a lot of dry weather on sunday, sunday will probably be the best day for england and wales. very little in the way of cloud here but showers are expected across scotland. the temperatures widely into the high teens or low 20s on sunday. a very brief outlook into next week, thejet stream changing position, looking like it will be making a beeline for us. that might mean cooler weather and perhaps slightly more unsettled weather next week. bye— bye. hello, you're watching afternoon live. i'm simon mccoy. 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. there are a tsunami of challenges

that have been well documented, and they have hit house of fraser very ha rd they have hit house of fraser very hard but momentum has built over the last 24 months or so. no dexit — david davis says he's not resigning in his battle with the prime minister over a brexit backstop customs plan but questions remain over a hard border in ireland. amazon wins rights to show 20 premier league matches a season on its uk prime video service from 2019. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport. i think i'vejust i think i've just taken away your headline. yes, a potentially game changing right deal, we will be discussing amazon getting 20 games and looking ahead to england's final world cup preparation match against costa rica. i hope i didn't mess it up costa rica. i hope i didn't mess it up as much as you did, simon. it's going well so far! and back to the beach. it is, and then you carry on. the weather is looking fine, it will

carry on as it has the last few days. the weekend is looking fine, some showers the forecast. i will see you in half an hour. also coming up — we report from antarctica, where a new survey reveals microplastics are reaching even the most remote waters of the world. hello, everyone — this is afternoon live. i'm simon mccoy. more evidence — if it were needed — of the difficulties on britain's high streets with the news that house of fraser is planning to close more than half of its stores as part of a rescue deal. 31 of its 59 stores, including its flagship on oxford street, look set to be shut with the loss of around 6,000 jobs. the department store chain said it wouldn't have a viable future if the proposal wasn't approved. creditors will vote on the plan later this month — the retailer needs the majority of them to sign up to it

in order to be able to go ahead. theo leggett reports. the face of the british high street is changing. house of fraser is one of a long list of big names feeling the pressure of a hostile retail environment. the store chain has now proposed a deal with its creditors to reduce the amount of money it has to pay out while it restructures its business and its finances. house of fraser currently has 59 shops, 31 of them will shut in seven months‘ time. 6,000 jobs are expected to go. at house of fraser itself and at its in—store concessions. the problem for house of fraser is that department stores like this are expensive to run. there are high rents, business rates and of course all the staff have to be paid. meanwhile, more and more consumers are preferring to do their shopping online, which means even major outlets like this one on london‘s oxford street are facing closure. the darlington store is another one which may have to shut. shoppers here said they were disappointed by the news.

it‘s the only shop i bother with in town so i wouldn‘t be too thrilled. it was a similar story in birmingham. whenever i come to town, i would always pop in with my friends. it was a local place everyone would go to. it‘s a bit of a surprise. and in cardiff, under the plan there will be no stores left in wales at all. i think it‘s absolutely terrible. we‘ve lost one or two of the shops in the high street, and that‘s another one going to go, another big one. it‘s drastic surgery but the man in charge said he had no choice. there is a tsunami of challenges that have come towards retail over the last five or six years and they have been well documented. they have hit house of fraser very hard. that momentum has built over the last 24 months or so. under the plan, house of fraser will focus on using fewer stores to sell more upmarket brands. but will it be enough

to keep the chain afloat? i think house of fraser has got the right idea in terms of making its products offer more premium and luxury but it‘s questionable whether it will work across the whole of the uk. many stores opened late today as their staff were told what was going on. unions said it was devastating news for the store chain‘s employees. but house of fraser is farfrom alone. since the collapse of bhs two years ago, there have been many casualties in the retail sector. toys "r" us has also closed. maplins in administration, mothercare is shutting stores and pound world is reportedly about to appoint administrators as well. but house of fraser‘s owners are hoping that by taking action now, they can prevent another once great name from disappearing from the high street forever. the brexit secretary, david davis, says he is not resigning following divisions with the prime minister over the uk‘s brexit "backstop" plan. in the proposal the uk would retain a temporary customs arrangement with the eu in order to avoid a hard irish border post—brexit —

an arrangement that the government has now said it expects to end by the end of december 2021. our political correspondent, ben wright reports. are you about to lose your brexit secretary? the prime minister was certainly trying to keep him on board this morning, heading off early to the house of commons to meet david davis. their dispute? over how to ensure there is no physical infrastructure between northern ireland and the republic in the future. it‘s the so—called backstop option and the eu has said it must be a legally binding part of the final brexit deal. the backstop is there to prevent a hard border if the uk and eu fail to strike a trade deal that avoids new checks. it would apply after the transition period ends, and would cover customs and regulations. crucially, keeping each side closely aligned. are you going to resign, mr davis? but the brexit secretary

has had a bust up with number ten about this, arguing that the backstop needs an expiry date. and cannot be open—ended. at the moment everyone has a concern that these arrangements will continue indefinitely and i don‘t think that will be acceptable either to conservative mps or frankly to the wider country as a whole which voted to leave the european union and not to remain in some halfway house, potentially for ever. with theresa may due to meet eu leaders again at the end of the month, brexiteers had this advice for the prime minister. if your chief negotiator wants to have some kind of defined end to this process, if he‘s your chief negotiator then you probably have to give it to him. the prime minister held talks with david davis for more than an hour here this morning. and while they talked, tory mps i was speaking to were clear this is a very edgy febrile time. there is speculation about possible resignations, everybody on the tory benches knows the discussions going on now in westminster will shape the course of brexit.

the prime minister also had face—to—face meetings with borisjohnson and liam fox, the cabinet‘s chief brexiteers. after theresa may left parliament, her spokesman said none of them had threatened to resign. the government then published its backstop plan, comprimised to keep the cabinet together. it contains a date, the end of december 2021 — that‘s when the government expects the future trading relationship to be in place. and that‘s precise enough to keep david davis in the cabinet and it might be vague enough to get eu support. a short while ago our brussels reporter — adam fleming — joining me now

from westminster is our assistant political editor, norman smith. i know how excited you have been about what‘s going on in westminster, the response from europe will be the important thing and the mood music is not great. no, it has been like cold water from brussels because the signs are they are not impressed with the package agreed with david davis, namely this idea of a fixed date, albeit with wiggle room around it because their argument is are there cannot be any conditions on the backstop and a fixed date is in effect a condition and therein lies the problem. for the toing and froing, the political arm wrestling in westminster, brussels has to agree to the backstop and the signs at the moment are not hugely encouraging. from mrs may‘s point of view, i think she will console herself that she has at

least still kept her cabinet intact. there was a real danger it seemed of david davis walking out. he was called back for a second meeting with the prime minister and there it seems pretty much faced her down and demanded there was a day to put into the backstop option. she granted that so she‘s bought herself some reading space it seems to me at westminster but quite clearly in brussels they seem in little mood to go along with this package. and what about the mood in westminster amongst tories last remark we have the big debate next week about the withdrawal bill but what is the sense of where we are headed at the moment? i sense it is almost a familiar story really of huge disruption, uncertainty, very bruising arguments, and yet mrs may just manages to keep the show on the road and that‘s what she has done.

she‘s got a brexit plan agreed and now she moves on to this clash in the commons next week where again she will face huge challenges to her position. she may well be defeated over the issue of the customs union but the thing about mrs may is she‘s incredibly durable if i can put it that way, whatever the sort of punishment meted out to her, whatever the setbacks and difficulties, she keeps ploughing on and that has been her strength. again and again, when people think it‘s all going to end in tears, somehow at the last minute she manages to claw it back and we saw that to some extent with the divorce bill. we saw it with the transitional arrangements, we have seen it now with a bust up with david davis, and she carries on. so i think it is premature to write off mrs may or brexit. norman, thank you. a short while ago our brussels

reporter caught up with the eu‘s chief negotiator to get his thoughts. what do you think of the british proposal? i just what do you think of the british proposal? ijust received this proposal? ijust received this proposal two hours ago, we are working on it. is it realistic? we are working on it. when will you give us your answer? the next few days. william tell -- will you tell us days. william tell -- will you tell us tomorrow at your press conference? let‘s speak to our europe correspondent damian grammaticas, who‘s in brussels. what‘s your sense of how this document is going down? pretty sceptical. the first thing to say, which is worth pointing out, is that i think from the eu‘s point of view it is an important step forward.

they have been waiting a long time for the government to come up with their proposal of a backstop, having signed up in december. remember the uk government agreed in december there needed to be a backstop, that there needed to be a backstop, that there would be one that‘s already signed up to, then said it didn‘t like the version in the eu had drafted and it‘s only now we finally have this. it gives everyone here something to get their teeth into, as michel barnier was indicating, but does this measure up? i think there‘s going to be quite a lot of difficulties with it. michel barnier you heard earlier his tweet he was talking about that conditions he had, is it a workable solution to avoid a hard border? there‘s only talks about customs and we already know that‘s only part of the solution to avoid that hard border in ireland. they also need to address the issue of regulations in

place, things like that checks, sanitary checks, health checks. those are addressed, the single market regulations are not addressed directly in this, then finally tax issues. there‘s many things that mean it couldn‘t be. secondly doesn‘t respect the integrity of the single market and customs union, mr barnier says? the key point is how do you resolve disputes? the courts from the eu need to be recognised and in this proposal also the uk is asking for special treatment to be able to sit on committees deciding eu trade and commercial policy, to be able to benefit from future trade deals but opt out of bits it doesn‘t wa nt to deals but opt out of bits it doesn‘t want to be into, and that may be difficult for the eu to agree to for a country that at that point will have left. and an all—weather

backstop, michel barnier said, have left. and an all—weather backstop, michel barniersaid, by all whether i think we mean time unlimited because it cannot have an expiry date because that would make it worthless. the irish government has been saying the same thing today, this fudge is about the uk are expecting it to be in place until 2021, we will see what the eu thinks about that but they are clear this can not have an expiry date. ok, the brexit coordinator has also gone on twitter. he says... #mess! he's pointing out exactly

thoseissues #mess! he's pointing out exactly those issues there i think. it‘s worth saying guy verhofstadt is not a negotiator but intimately and closely bound up with the eu position on this and the eu scrutiny of what‘s going on so he‘s very aware of all of the issues, and i think has honed in straightaway on some of the difficulties. going back to what we said at the beginning, the one thing from this which is there is that there is now a uk customs plan being put on the table that the negotiators here can start to get their teeth into because at the minute they have been waiting while the cabinet negotiates with itself to come up with something. it has come up with something and it means they can start to make progress but the irish have been saying today there‘s three weeks until the summit saying today there‘s three weeks untilthe summit in saying today there‘s three weeks until the summit injune when this is meant to be settled broadly. it looks like the recommendation from

michel barnier is not settled. the problem rolls on and the pressure grows. damien, thank you. you‘re watching afternoon live, these are our headlines... 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. amazon is tojoin sky and bt in airing premier league football from 2019 — its uk streaming service will show 20 matches a season. and in sport... england receive a royal visit ahead of the final world cup warm up match against costa rica in leeds tonight. simona halep sails through to the french open final, as she outplays wimbledon champion garbine muguruza. and nadal‘s not hanging around either. the 10—ten time champion at roland garros is into the last four and will play juan martin del potro.

i‘ll be back with more on those stories shortly. the grenfell fire inquiry has been told that fire commanders had "no obvious and safe alternative strategy" other than to tell residents to stay put in their flats. the fire brigades union said firefighters were left in an "impossible situation". it comes as it‘s emerged that the metropolitan police is carrying out a criminal investigation into the fire service‘s use of the "stay put" policy. richard galpin reports. more than 700 firefighters and other staff were involved in tackling the grenfell fire. and they faced a lot of criticism for telling residents to stay put rather than evacuating quickly as the fire spread. but at the enquiry today, lawyers representing the fire services said there had been very good reasons for that decision.

firstly, the building was not designed or constructed to facilitate simultaneous evacuations through the provision of fire alarms. secondly, the absence of any practical mechanism by which to effectively communicate with the occupants of the entire building. thirdly, in the absence of a working firefighter lift, the availability of the single staircase as a fire escape route. this staircase was the only means by which firefighters wearing breathing apparatus and carrying equipment could access the other floors. the enquiry also heard that when firefighters arrived, they had no idea the tower block had been clad in highly combustible panels. and that there had been what was described as a complete failure in implementing fire safety measures at every stage of the refurbishment several years ago. what‘s more, lawyers had this to say about the stay put policy. it is not a creation of fire services in the uk. rather, it is a principle of building design, which is provided for in legislation, which fire services are expected to apply and which underpins the development of fire safety and operational policies for

buildings of this kind nationally. the pressures on the firefighters were enormous. but still, they managed to rescue many people, despite the overwhelming scale of the blaze. on the night, the lfb control centre was required to handle more calls requiring fire survival guidance from residents within grenfell tower than the total number of such calls in the previous ten years from the whole of london. amongst the suggestions already being made at the enquiry are for there to be a major focus on how refurbishing tower blocks can compromise fire safety. richard galpin, bbc news. human rights campaigners have

lost a legal challenge to northern ireland‘s strict abortion law. the supreme court ruled northern ireland‘s human rights commission was not entitled to bring a challenge without an actual case of a woman affected by the law. but the court made clear it would have found the abortion law to be incompatible with human rights. our ireland correspondent emma vardy reports from outside the court in central london. those particular comments you read — they are not legally binding, the ones by the supreme court judges, but they will have the effect of increasing the pressure on theresa may and increasing the pressure on the government to act on northern ireland‘s abortion laws. the majority ofjudges here at the supreme court ruled that the northern ireland human rights commission did not have the power to bring those proceedings. but had the case been brought by an individual, a woman who felt she had suffered because of northern ireland‘s abortion laws, thejudges made it clear in that case they would have made a formal ruling that northern ireland‘s abortion laws are incompatible with human rights, in the cases of pregnancy by rape or incest, and in the cases

of fatal foetal abnormality, where an unborn child cannot survive. it is those comments, although not legally binding, which will have been heard loud and clear by mps at the house of commons because mps on all sides support changing the law. and there are number of mps who want to see westminster intervene whilst the stormont assembly in northern ireland is out of action because that collapsed 17 months ago. but there is strong opposition from the northern ireland party, the dup, a strongly anti—abortion party, so that creates problems for theresa may. but supreme courtjudges‘ comments will add weight to the argument of mps at westminster who want to find a way to get this changed. new figures suggest that only about a third of students in england think they get value for money from their university course. the figures are based on the views

of 14,000 students, analysed by the higher education policy institute. separate figures have been released this morning which indicate how much a degree from different universities can boost a student‘s earnings. amazon has won the rights to show premier league football matches for the first time, giving members of its prime video service access to 20 matches per season for three years from next year. this is in addition to rights granted to bt and sky. our media editor amol rajan explained more. it's it‘s quite a big moment. the fact an american company is doing that is a big thing but above all it is an american internet company and in terms of the future of media, this shows the distinction between the internet and tv is completely irreleva nt internet and tv is completely irrelevant now. i havejust internet and tv is completely irrelevant now. i have just been speaking to greg dyke, the former director—general of the bbc, and he was saying if you plot the way

forward in the next few years we will see a lot more of that and the share taken by amazon will grow and the share taken up by sky will fall. there was a view that netflix and amazon would stay with a certain type of programme, the big costume dramas, the big—money epics if you like, and leave sport news to others. this changes that. it really changes it. tv has always been on the one end documentaries and drama, and at the other end live news and sport. this is a big and bold declaration, a big entry into the sporting arena and i think it‘s easy to see what is attractive about sport. sport arouses tremendous passions, it‘s global. it comes with a very committed fan base and you can sell stuff around it, you can sell merchandising. what all of these countries are trying to do, what amazon is trying to do with the

lawn mower you bought last saturday if indeed you did that, they are trying to lock you in... you probably buy more exciting things than lawn mowers, but they are trying to lock you into their part of the internet will stop amazon prime sake if you take out a subscription we will also give you premier league matches. for the football fun it is just getting more expensive. and more complex. there may well be fans who have forked out a lot of cash for a subscription. then comes along beattie, you think imight then comes along beattie, you think i mightjust then comes along beattie, you think i might just pay then comes along beattie, you think i mightjust pay for then comes along beattie, you think i might just pay for that, then comes along beattie, you think i mightjust pay for that, now we have another player. who knows, in a few years‘ time sky won‘t be owned by rupert murdoch in the same way, what if other companies want to get involved in premier league football? you might get into a situation where there is so much competition for

eye balls. there is so much competition for eyeballs. that is not a nice phrase at all, i spent too much time around media executives! but you might get toa media executives! but you might get to a position whereas a consumer it is rather complicated. you have youtube, facebook and amazon and if they all ask you to pay, you will end up paying little bits to each of them or possibly big amounts and that‘s not a good place for a consumer to be. microplastics are reaching the most remote waters of the world, and pollution in the air is contaminating even the freshest snow in antarctica — those are the conclusions of a greenpeace survey, gathered during a three—month expedition earlier this year. scientists say it provides evidence of the pervasiveness of microplastics. the bbc‘s claire marshall was on board the ship when the trawling and testing began. she sent us this report. this is the most remote continent on earth. it looks pristine, but today, there is new evidence that microplastics are now reaching even these waters and perhaps more disturbingly, there‘s also pollution from airborne chemicals in freshly fallen snow. we‘ll put it over the side.

we were with scientists on board a greenpeace ship injanuary as they began testing waters off the antarctic peninsula. very little data exists. it‘s a question of picking a tiny bit of the southern ocean and lowering in a manta — a trawling device. any microplastics should find their way into the net. the team searched some of the most isolated places on the planet. this is hope bay, it‘s off the cruise ship trial and not much fishing happens nearby. you won‘t really see plastic washed ashore, but scientists are worried what may happen here in the future. we are going to take these three samples. they also hunted for pollution on land, gathering samples of freshly fallen snow. we didn‘t know it at the time, but even here, deposited either as a gas or dusk were molecules of man—made chemicals. the samples were taken to a laboratory. what we‘re finding is in almost

all the samples of water we collected, we find tiny pieces of microplastics, maybe only a few fragments or fibres in every litre of water, but given that this is really the end of the earth, it‘s remarkable, once again, that we are finding microplastics almost wherever we look. jason roberts has worked in the polar regions for more than 30 years. what‘s the worst thing you‘ve ever seen? i‘ve seen some quite terrible things with plastics, but on the bigger scale, what actually is probably more terrible is the smaller scale, the microplastics you can‘t see. but the things you can see, i‘ve seen once on a subantartic island in south georgia, a fur seal with a fishing net around it, which had been caught in it for a long time because the net had grown into the skin and into the blubber. this will only add to the growing calls for something to be done about plastic, before more of it reaches the end of the earth. claire marshall, bbc

news, antarctica. time for a look at the weather... tomasz schafernaker has a full forecast. i think today we will talk about something a bit warmer, the mediterranean. yesterday we were explaining how unpleasant it is in the mediterranean and actually it‘s not particularly pleasant in spain and portugal tomorrow. cloud and rain and pretty cool as well. but what i want to do is, compared to what i want to do is, compared to what i want to do is, compared to what i said yesterday, is saving is not hard everywhere in the mediterranean because yesterday we we re mediterranean because yesterday we were talking about... did someone ring you from the mediterranean saying how dare you, and today you are backtracking? we are seeing this interesting pattern of low temperatures, then nearly 30 across

parts of europe, a weird pattern where the weather has been flipped across europe but if anybody would ask me today where can i go for a really hot break in the mediterranean i would say the eastern side of the mediterranean, greece and turkey, those sorts of areas. this is where the warmest of the weather is right now. what if they said what it like in cumbria or cornwall? closer to home i would say it is equally as beautiful as the mediterranean, the weather is not quite as hot but pleasant nonetheless. shall we have a forecast? yes, let's go to the standard forecast now. we are really struggling to talk about things today, and sweet? here is the rest of the day so we have sunshine and showers around. we have seen showers breaking out across the south of the country, and those showers will continue for a while today. here they are, generally in this area there have been some scattered

around parts of the midlands as well and through the west country. some in scotland and northern ireland but the vast majority of the uk enjoying a fine the vast majority of the uk enjoying afine and the vast majority of the uk enjoying a fine and bright day. when we talk about showers, and this is something that often people ask me, what‘s the difference between rain and showers? showers are small, only around ten miles across, so it means one city might get it and the other city might get it and the other city might not. they pop up randomly so we are getting some of that today in the south. we could see showers again tomorrow randomly popping up in some places. for example maybe some across the north midlands, maybe merseyside and some showers developing there across scotland. we

have some showers in the west of scotland. some in northern ireland. the rest of the country enjoyed by day. and temperatures around the 20s. the big showers and we can‘t to the south across frank and just the chance going through the course of sunday that some of the showers will affect us in the south. at this stage the bulk of the country looking dry bark from some heavy ones. and temperatures pretty much average for the time of year. and the jet stream later on next week, it may seem something slightly cooler and a bit more unsettled. as the weekend stands for the moment it is looking mostly fine.

this is bbc news — our latest headlines. there‘s another blow for the high street as house of fraser has announced it plans to close more than half of its stores with the loss of around 6000 jobs. brexit secretary david davis has said he will not resign after it was rumoured he was considering stepping down after his battle with the prime minister over proposals for a brexit backstop plan. scotland yard has said it is carrying out a criminal investigation into the advice given to grenfell residents scotland yard has said it is carrying out a criminal investigation into the advice given to grenfell residents to "stay put". but the public inquiry into the tragedy was told today that the london fire brigade had no alternative. and amazon has won the rights to show 20 premier league matches a season on its uk prime video service from 2019. sport now on afternoon live with tim. and that is the lead story here as

well. it could mean a change in the way that we watch football. as we heard earlier on it is blurring the lines between internet now and tv. amazon won a broadcast package to show 20 minute matches and also have highlights throughout the season and they have that for three years from 2019 and maybe more significantly all the matches on boxing day part of the deal. for the first time around of matches will be shown in full in this country. so it is a big deal. just means we will have to pay more to watch football but we will move on. and gareth southgate has told his england players not to moan about boredom when they‘re out in russia for the world cup. england play costa rica this evening for flying off to russia for their opening match against tunisia but

gareth south date and his side received a royal visit today training, prince william of them are good sendoff and nothing boring about that. but there are always concerns that england players will get bored during a world cup campaign, or not. my old physio at aston villa used to say that only boring people get bored. we have been able to do different things as a group that i think they have enjoyed. and that will continue to the world cup. we have to get that balance right when we've trained, we train really full on but there is a lot of time outside of that to enjoy it. we are going there to enjoy it and if the players enjoy it and they attack the tournament then i think they will play much better. absolutely. well simona halep was the victor

today in the tennis. she will be in the final on saturday. they are on court at the moment. 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 delayed by rain, nadal was a different player in the parisian sunshine and only dropped four more games to take the next three sets. he‘s nowjust 2 wins away from a record 11th title at roland garros. and he‘ll have to play juan martin del potro next. the argentinian beat third seed marin cilic in four sets, in a match that lasted nearly four hours. it meant so much to del potro, it left him in tears shortly after this. and in the last hour or so.. gordon reid has beaten the defending champion, world number 1,

and fellow britain alfie hewett 6—4 6—4 in the all british quarter—final of the wheelchair singles at roland garros. reid will play shingo kunieda ofjapan in the semi—finals. head coach eddiejones has overlooked danny cipriani completely for england‘s 1st test against south africa in johannesburg on saturday.. jones has fast tracked uncapped forward brad shields into the squad — he only arrived at the camp on sunday, but has been named among the replacements. shields willjoin wasps next month, from hurricanes who are based in new zealand. it will not worry him at all, he gave everything to new zealand and he is eligible for england and people give everything for england. it is irrelevant to me the noise, i‘m just doing what i‘m paid to do, to pick qualified english players and to win for england. and now this has been doing good

business on social media. when you head to a major league baseball game it‘s rare that you‘ll actually touch, let alone catch a ball. but in the fifth inning of atlanta‘s 14—1win over san diego, braves outfielder ender in—see—artay hit a foul ball and this happened. padres fan gabby dimarco caught it in her beer and then proceeded to drink said beer, with the ball inside the cup. i guess that‘s what happens when your team is being thrashed at home. that‘s all the sport for now. i‘ll have more for you in the next hour. 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. yvette austin is at one of the longest running agricultural country shows in the uk — the south of england show in ardingly in west sussex, which gets underway today. more about that in just a moment.

and annabel tiffin is in salford and can tell us why hollywood stars may well be heading to an abandoned littlewoods building the region in the nearfuture. but first to yvette. what‘s going on? well you have some forces just beginning to warm up behind me. these are the atkinson action horses and they did a show earlier today and they did a show earlier today and they did a show earlier today and they have anotherjust about to start. you may have seen some of these horses already on the television before, you have seamus barron, written by ross poldark in the public series and there is amy and she is written by demelza. i‘m told that those actors really do ride the horses across the beautiful cliffs of cornwall and the beaches of cornwall and of course it is not only horses better here, this is an

agricultural show, a showcase for the farmers and a chance for them to come out and talk about, talk amongst themselves and of course the animals. some 2000 and wealthier and some 65 thousand people expected here over the next three days. a huge amount to see. but there‘s a serious side too? of course as i said it is a chance for the farmers to come out of their farms if you like and talk amongst themselves. and the talk this year is all about brexit and farmers are really concerned that too much emphasis is being put on the future of farming emphasis is being put on the future offarming in emphasis is being put on the future of farming in the form of protecting the environment rather than the production. but they say is that if more and more land is taken out of food production to protect the environment then we will be producing less and less food and perhaps not enough to go around and so we will be relying on cheap imports. people i‘ve spoken to here

say that the countryside comes first and they will pay more for the food so farmers can look after the countryside and also produce the food but of course there are areas of the south—east which are much more deprived and for them cheap imports, cheap food is important. so clearly a lot of debate going on. great to talk to you, difficult not to look at the horses behind you. fantastic. thank you very much. and annabel.. so this is from littlewoods to hollywood.. a great coup for liverpool, a major development planned for a really iconic building in liverpool. it is the old headquarters of the littlewoods pools which we all remember. this building is a beautiful white art deco building on one of the main roads into the city. it was built back in 1938 and home to thousands of office workers vent but of course that business declined

after the introduction of the lottery a nd after the introduction of the lottery and the building has been derelict for about 15 years. but as you say soon the dust could turn to stardust because twickenham studios, it has signed a deal to create a £50 million northern base. twickenham is the home of so many classic. the italianjob. black the home of so many classic. the italian job. black mirror. the home of so many classic. the italianjob. black mirror. it also produced the first beatles films. it has quite a connection with liverpool. and the bosses think liverpool. and the bosses think liverpool is a good fit for a major us film location. it is quite a popular place anyway for film producers and in recent years we have had films such as fantastic beasts. 289 projects actually last year alone in the city. so already quite a flourishing industry. and it

does not just bring quite a flourishing industry. and it does notjust bring glamour to the area? we hope for a bit of glamour as well but hopefully this is the start of a regeneration of this iconic building and indeed the whole area. this is a huge site and twickenham is losing just a part of it for studios and production offices. then it is hoped that the rest ca n offices. then it is hoped that the rest can be let out to other perhaps other studios which will bring in even more work. but the studios is the catalyst and hope is the complex will eventually create around 600 jobs and support around another 2000. if everything goes to plan it should all start in around 2020. thank you very much. just looking behind you, that is either somebody very tall or he is standing on horseback. he is actually incredible. that is then

atkinson and to start with in the public series he doubled for the poldark actor but now he does it himself. marvellous and a great way to end. that is nationwide this evening. if you would like to see more on any of those stories you can access them on the bbc i player. the world cup kicks off in a week‘s time in russia and the hosts are keen to show that they are ready to welcome the thousands of fans who‘ll be travelling there to support their teams. welcome banners are up all over the country, including in nizhny novgorod — once completely out of bounds to foreigners. that‘s where england will play panama later this month. but when our correspondent sarah rainsford visited, she saw that ghosts from the soviet era remain. there is a striking new landmark on the river volga.

nizhny novgorod, out of bounds for foreigners in soviet times, is now in a final push to impress visitors for the world cup. inside nizhny‘s very own kremlin, so are its politicians. translation: i think the atmosphere here is great, and our relations with all countries are very friendly. welcome to nizhny novgorod region. we wait here. but this was the welcome that awaited us. the whole time we‘ve been here in nizhny it seems there‘s been somebody following us — at least one car, sometimes three — and i think there‘s one of them that‘s been with us on our tail the whole day, right behind now. we realised we had company wherever we went. even to interview players at the local football club, excited they‘ll be moving from this ground to the city‘s new stadium after the world cup.

and minutes after we met local opposition activists, there was this. the pair at the door said they‘d come from state television to interview us, but we hadn‘t told anyone we‘d be here. this group support president putin‘s biggest critic, alexei navalny, and some here tell me a country that regularly detains political opponents doesn‘t deserve to host the world cup. i‘m very upset about their position, the position of other countries towards putin and towards the people with whom he‘s surrounded himself. you wish the world had stayed away? yes, definitely, yes. russia wants to use this world cup to show its best face to the world, and yet there‘s another side to life here that perhaps those visitors won‘t see. it is the increasingly paranoid controlling side that‘s clearly there behind the makeover

for the world cup. sarah rainsford, bbc news, nizhny novgorod. the night club owner peter stringfellow, has died, at the age of 77. he‘d been suffering from lung cancer. he became known as the king of clubs after opening venues around the world during his six decades in the industry. the beatles, the kinks and jimi hendrix were among those he booked to perform in his clubs. our correspondent david sillito reports. fantastic, here you go. have i got the bestjob or what, i don‘t know. peter stringfellow was more than just another nightclub owner. the big hair, the leather trousers, he was a household name who created his own very

distinctive brand of glamour. he started out in sheffield. a spell in prison for selling stolen carpets meant that he‘d struggled to find work, so he decided to move into the entertainment business. we started about 40 years ago, in church halls, on friday nights. known in those days as friday night hops. we went to the mojo club, to the town centre sheffield, a couple of clubs later we sold out and moved to leeds. jimi hendrix, the beatles — he booked them all. and with cinderella rockefellers he moved from cabaret and chicken in a basket to 70s disco. then came stringfellows in london. this was the big time, champagne, celebrities. he wasn‘tjust successful — he had become famous. he was always great fun, very kind, very generous and a big character. and then in the 90s he began to move into what he described as gentlemen‘s clubs. he‘d been close to bankruptcy after a business failed in america and fashions were also changing. the strip shows saved him. but this man who boasted of sleeping with up to 2000 women denied there was anything degrading

or exploitative in this business. indeed, he said he was a feminist. i don‘t harm or hurt anyone. and i know that this suggestion of exploitation is absolute rubbish. my girls dance, they take money from guys who are watching them dance, and i think that‘s fantastically in line with feminism. so, from draughty church halls to medallions strewn opulence, peter stringfellow, the self—styled king of clubs. who has died age 77. in a moment the business news. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. 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. amazon is tojoin sky and bt

in airing premier league football from 2019 — its uk streaming service will show 20 matches a season. here‘s your business headlines on afternoon live. co—operative bank has announced its ceo, liam coleman, is to leave after five years in thejob. he says it‘s the ‘right time‘ for him to move on and for new leadership to take charge. he‘ll remain in situ until a successor is found. poundworld is poised to 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 company‘s creditors being able to make a claim on the business. it also allows its staff and suppliers to continue to be paid. swedish retail giant ikea is to stop selling single—use plastic products by 2020. it says the ban will apply across all its global stores. this 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. lets start with retail — as 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. bad news for them and of course for landlords. this huge retail space. and that will not be easy, after marks & spencer clothing stores and bhs has closed and some of those stories remain empty. this is a pretty drastic action. but will it lead to a turnaround in its fortunes? the boss says given the tsunami

of challenges there was no other option and this was a plan for survival. this is brutal. this is as tough as it gets. and we have not taken this decision lightly. it is very dramatic for people that we care about a great deal. i find it personally very emotional and i am not making this decision based on anything other than what i consider to be absolutely the best option for house of fraser and all of our stakeholders. but most importantly to bring forward as many of our colleagues with us. for more on this we can talk to lawrence gosling, editor—in—chief of investment week. house of fraser is struggling. do you think it has not been up to scratch with the online offering? you think it has not been up to scratch with the online offering ?m is closing 50% of stories. i think partly the online offering and that

is very important these days but as a business if just is very important these days but as a business ifjust has not evolved in the past 20 years. the core proposition of giving access to big name brands, it does not do much of it done product, but we get all those big—name brands online go direct to the ourselves. and we have also heard that poundworld is struggling. what is happening with poundworld because that is in the bargain sector? it is but even in that bargain sector as customers we wa nt that bargain sector as customers we want value and if you go to a store like poundworld, for every product that costs £1 you can get them cheaper in other high street stores. i think it has lost sight of what the customers wanted and we have seen those losses ballooning out to almost £80 million in the past year which is the unsustainable for a business with such low margins. and

let‘s talk about the london stock exchange because we did not have any trading for an hour. people getting very frustrated. what went on? trading for an hour. people getting very frustrated. what went 0mm was an outage, a technical issue is what they said. a lot of traders out there especially for a thursday morning, a lot of business in done and and they could not trade for an hour. perhaps the management has spent more time on trying to merge with other stock exchanges and not enough money spent on infrastructure. it is one of the things that happen periodically, in the round not so important but slightly embarrassing for one of the leading stock markets in the world. i‘m afraid simon is not buying that! it looks very suspicious, someone will make a film about it. these things do happen, there are technical riches at times. let‘s

ta ke technical riches at times. let‘s take a look at what is going on, dipping in and out of positive territory since trading resumed. the ftse is down very slightly. the us has now reached a deal with the chinese company zte. it had banned that company from trading with the us but those fears have now subsided. and brent crude is also on the up, so energy stocks on the up. higher prices again at the pumps. not likely to fall any time soon. russian president vladimir putin has been answering questions in his annual televised phone—in. mr putin touched on a number of issues including the upcoming football world cup, the poisoning of a former russian spy, sergei skripal, here in the uk, and relations with western countries. our moscow correspondent steve rosenberg was there. this is always an extraordinary tv

spectacle, a marathon live phone in design to portray president putin as a cross between father of the nation and father christmas with a bit of wizard of oz thrown in. to create the image in other words of a modern—day magical star who will solve your problems, cora. so what problems did russians ask him to solve? aleksei as the president to do something about rising fuel prices and immediately the kremlin leader got the energy minister on the line to discuss the issue. then residents of one town complained their local hospital was facing closure put up putin ordered the local governor to get on the case. and then a family asked resident putin to rewrite government rules and regulations about mortgages. the president agreed just like that. the kremlin with a that this is

democracy in action, kremlin critics might say it is the product of an inefficient political system, the system that vladimir putin held. a system that vladimir putin held. a system with weak institutions and we re system with weak institutions and were so often nothing gets done without the intervention of the man at the top. that‘s it from your afternoon live team for today, next the bbc news at five. time for a look at the weather... another fine day across most of the uk and we keep this settled weather for the rest of the week and into the weekend. but not completely dry, we had some showers early this morning and there‘s a chance of catching a shower a bit later on this afternoon. the angry looking clouds are across the bay of biscay and the thunderstorms continue across the continent. but here we are dealing with just a couple of showers may be breaking out during

the afternoon in southern counties. well inland away from the coastline. for the majority of the country we should have a dry day and again cooler on the north sea coast anywhere from newcastle down to the lincolnshire coast line. tonight more of the same, crowded conditions developing across central and southern areas and first thing tomorrow it could be pretty gloomy and overcast at least for a time. maybe some showers lingering doorstop and then during the course of the morning the clouds break up and it is a fine day once again. temperatures get to around 21, 20 2 degrees where the sunshine pokes through the clouds otherwise about 14 degrees in newcastle with that onshore wind. the all—important weekend, settled weather continues, a lot of sunshine around but some sharp showers potentially at least for some of us. so first thing on

saturday it starts off pretty cloudy again but then the sunshine developed through the morning and into the afternoon and we see showers developing across scotland and northern ireland. some of those heavy but the majority of the country enjoying a fine day. temperatures into the teens on the north sea coast, 20s elsewhere. across europe and other storms around but here we are fine, again a lot of dry weather on sunday, probably the best day for england and wales with very little in the way of cloud. showers expected across scotland and temperatures widely into the high teens or low 20s on sunday. just a brief outlook the jet stream changing 20s on sunday. just a brief outlook thejet stream changing position 20s on sunday. just a brief outlook the jet stream changing position and making a beeline for us. that could mean cooler weather and more u nsettled mean cooler weather and more unsettled next week. goodbye. today at 5pm... another casualty on the high street, as house of fraser announces plans to close more than half of its stores with the loss of 6,000 jobs. the retailer‘s flagship oxford street store in london is one

of 31 earmarked for closure, as part of a rescue plan. it's it‘s a big blow for towns and cities across the country. beatties in wolverhampton, owned by house of fraser, it has been here since 1877 and nobody here can quite believe it is to close. we‘ll look at what the future holds for the high street after a difficult few months. the other main stories on bbc news at 5pm... the brexit secretary david davis says he‘s not resigning, after persuading the prime minister to include an end date in her brexit backstop plan. scotland yard says it‘s investigating the london fire