this is bbc news and these are the top stories developing at 11. the government defends its flagship benefit scheme, universal credit, despite claims it may end up costing more than the previous system. when i talk to claimants up and down the country going to job centres, what they tell me is that this system is not only simpler but there are incentives in place so that you can get into work and stay in work. yemen says the saudi—led coalition has put on hold an operation to retake the port of hudaydah from houthi rebels, but local reports speak of continued air strikes. "upskirting" is set to become a sexual offence, with a punishment of up to two years in prison. former wimbledon champion boris becker claims diplomatic immunity as an attache for the central african republic to avoid bankruptcy proceedings against him in london. remembering professor stephen hawking — a memorial service is being held this lunchtime at westminster abbey. and i will be live at westminster

abbey where we will be meeting some of the friends and family from the world of science, politics, film and television who have gathered together to celebrate the life of professor stephen hawking. day two of the world cup, we will be live in russia to get all the news from the england cap head of theirfirst game on monday night. —— the england camp. good morning. it's friday the 15th ofjune. i'm annita mcveigh. welcome to bbc newsroom live. the government has been defending its flagship benefit scheme, universal credit, after a damning report by the national audit office, which says the programme has not delivered value for money, and that delays in payment are causing financial hardship. universal credit merges six benefits —

including income support, job—seeker‘s allowance and housing benefit — into one single payment which is paid directly into the claimant's bank account. the government says universal credit would bring a £34 billion return over ten years. so far, it's cost almost £2 billion in investment and running costs and some critics say claimants have had to wait weeks for their benefit to be processed. the employment minister alok sharma has been speaking to our social affairs correspondent michael buchanan, who asked him if the new system was causing some claimants hardship. well, as i said, we have advances available for people... but does it cause hardship? and we have made sure that the amount of timely payments have gone up, so what i would say to you is that where people need the support, it is available and i would say to every single individual who has listened to that who doesn't feel that they're getting the support,

come and talk to us. come and talk to job centres. ultimately, e—mail me or my office. does it cause hardship? well, that's an individual assessment. what is your assessment? do you think, based on the evidence, the totality of evidence that you have seen, that for some claimants, universal credit causes hardship? what we have seen is that the vast majority of people are able to cope on universal credit and, in fact, for very many of them, their life chances improve as a result of getting to work... but for some claimants, does universal credit cause hardship or not? i've asked you five times, with all due respect, sir, and you haven't given me a straight answer. for some claimants, does universal credit cause hardship? well, michael, you have to talk on individual basis about people what you are not bringing me is an individual case and if you do that, i'll be happy to look into it. what i'm telling you is that we've made changes which have now meant that people can get 100% advances upfront on day one if they require, and that

is making a positive difference to people in terms of the amount of money that they have. michael buchanan has been hearing from those affected by the universal credit system. anderson armstrong has been on universal credit since august. before then, he worked as a chef and bought his bike. but when he lost his job, he built up debts waiting seven weeks for his first benefit payment, and says he now lives on £18 a week. i go to the supermarket, and an hour before they close, they reduce food to the lowest possible price. something might be £5, as you might get it for £1.50, or £1, or something like that. so you shop clever and box clever around that. today's report says anderson is not alone. that too many people are struggling with universal credit. last year, 40% of claimants waited 11 weeks for their first payment. 8% actually waited almost eight months. there was usually an increase

in rent arrears and the use of food banks, when universal credit was ruled out in an area. was rolled out in an area. a significant minority are struggling to cope wth making claims online. they are struggling to cope while waiting for their first payment. despite that, the national audit office says the department for work and pensions does not accept that the benefit causes hardship. ministers say they're building a flexible benefit fit for the 21st century and that they're making significant improvements to the delivery of universal credit. ed boyd is a former special advisor at the department for work and pensions with a focus on reforming welfare. he's now managing director at the thinktank, the centre for socialjustice. hejoins me now from our central london studio. good morning. so, this benefit system has been too slow to roll

out, is causing hardship and isn't delivering value for money according to the national audit office. a pretty damning report. what is your response to it? quite a few things packed in there. one thing to add into this picture, some very helpful stuff in this report that shows how volu nta ry stuff in this report that shows how voluntary organisation should be working more closely with government to tackle the root causes of why people are being stuck out of work and making sure they get the support they need but the one thing which is not being mentioned so far in your packages is that compared to other big reforms, more people will be in work. they will be in work for a longer and they will earn more money. this is a huge benefit to a huge number of people who will be pulled out of poverty by being able to provide for themselves and their family. that is not to say it is perfect, no welfare system ever is, but there should be more

balanced to some of the reporting we have seen. on the point you have just made, the fao says the department for work and pensions will never be able to measure whether it has achieved its stated goal of increasing employment. do you fundamentally say that they are wrong in that contention? from having read the report, its focus is not on whether it thinks there is a robust case to bring in 200,000 more jobs, the focus is on the fact that it isa jobs, the focus is on the fact that it is a forecast that we can't know for certain that that will happen. what i would say is that you look back and look at every study and it has showed that it is working in terms of seeing more people moving into work and those people earning more money so the signs are positive. whether it ends up being 200,000, 250,000, 150,000, to me, obviously, the but the fact it is having a positive effect is something which should be welcomed. there is far more they could be doing and need to be doing to make sure vulnerable claimants are getting all the support they need to

ove rco m e getting all the support they need to overcome their barrier to work but it is not a doom and gloom picture which we are seeing on the bbc front news page today. our viewers may not know that you worked with ian duncan smith in creating this system. i think it is fair that we tell them that, therefore perhaps it is something that naturally you want to say is working even if it does have problems at the moment, but do you accept fundamentally that some people are suffering hardship because of this change in the welfare system ? because of this change in the welfare system? on your first point, all that we do as an organisation is based on how you actually help people out of poverty. we work with a 350 grassroots charities around the country, gather evidence from them and a number of them are saying this is a useful thing, universal credit, to make sure they can help support their clients more effectively whether it is addiction problems on debt that there are struggling with. on your second point, i do not think that the way it has been rolled out was perfect

from the beginning. in fact, the way it was designed was such that it rolled out slowly, test and learn the process as you go along with such that you work out something is not working, stop for a while, adapts the model and improve it. we we re adapts the model and improve it. we were campaigning very strongly towards the end of last year for the government to be more generous when someone comes on to government to be more generous when someone comes on to universal credit and make sure they are not waiting as long as six weeks which they were back then, sometimes longer, before getting their first benefit payment and to their credit, the government but £1.5 billion into the system to change that. there are a number of other things that we are pushing them on to change and to improve and that will make sure that more people have a positive, a very positive experience of universal credit and we will keep pushing on that. we have already talked about the issue of getting people into employment, a stated aim, and the fact that the fao says the department for work and pensions may not ever be able to measure that. let's talk about the

cost. one of the stated aims was to save money. is there any guarantee that they are going to save money overall in the welfare system with this change to universal credit? or is this going to end up costing the average taxpayer more money? ultimately, in terms of the many details, it is worth asking the government on that. i cannot speak for them. the one thing i would say is it is worth looking at the comparisons in this area. it is a £2 billion investment, a big investment and ultimately it is about changing lives more than saving money from the centre from socialjustice perspective. that is the purpose of reforming welfare, to help people out of poverty. it is scheduled to bring in about £8 billion every year when it is fully rolled out. let's compare that to another project that people might be familiar with, heathrow‘s new runway will cost £14 billion and will give £7 billion back per year. let compare those two... but that does not call

someone two... but that does not call someone to be unable to go out and buy food, does it? you have asked me if it will save money and i say that with a £2 billion investment, it will bring in £8 billion of saving a year, so from a financial perspective, the numbers seem to be good. ed boyd, managing director from the centre for socialjustice. thank you for your time. yemen's foreign minister says an offensive by the saudi—led coalition to recapture the port of hudaydah from houthi rebels has been put on hold. he was speaking hours after the un security council failed to agree on a statement calling for a halt to the entire military campaign, which has seen humanitarian supplies hit after a spate of attacks on the port. andrew plant reports. soldiers moving in towards the yemeni port of hudaydah. after three years of fighting here, this is a big push to defeat rebel forces and take back control of the harbour. the docks on yemen's west coast matter. they are the main gateway for aid and supplies into the country, currently under rebel control, but millions of civilians

rely on them too. aid ships dock here, a lifeline, it's thought for more than eight million people, now at risk of starvation, as the humanitarian crisis grows. houthi rebels, already claiming to have hit back against coalition forces. translation: the naval force was able to target a warship with two missiles. force was able to target the warship has been completely destroyed, and the rest of the warships fled due to fear of the same fate. since the fighting started here, 10,000 people are estimated to have died. food, medicine, and fuel are now in very short supply. at a meeting last night, the un was unable to agree on a call for the fighting to stop, but it did remain united in its concern for the welfare of the people. with more than 22 million now in need of aid, it described the situation in yemen as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. our security correspondent

frank gardner is in the united arab emirates and has been in parts of yemen away from the fighting. he sent this update. it is clear that international pressure on the saudi—led coalition to spare the port of hudaydah is having an effect. because it's been announced by the yemeni foreign minister they are going to have a pause in their operations to take the whole of hudaydah. they seem to be cost rating on the outskirts, around the airport, but the port is crucial because whoever holds that hold the key to economy power in yemen. for the last three years, that has been the houthis. the coalition estimates they get up to maybe $40 million a month from it, about £30 million. and if they can drive the houthis out of the port without any bloodshed, that is a big ask, then they think, the coalition thinks they can eventually agree a peace deal and shorten the war in yemen.

the houthis say they will hold on. for the moment it looks like still being a stalemate. labour has won the parliamentary by—election in lewisham east in south london, but with a reduced majority on a low turnout. its candidate, janet da by, was elected with a majority of more than 5,000, compared with the 21,000 secured by her predecessor in last year's general election. the former mp heidi alexander quit the commons to work for the mayor of london, sadiq khan. a memorial service will be held at westminster abbey this lunchtime to remember the life of professor stephen hawking. his ashes will rest alongside other greats of british science, such as charles darwin and sir isaac newton. ben ando reports. theoretical physics is one of the few fields in which being disabled is no handicap. it's all in the mind. ben ando: though his mind

was trapped in a body racked by motor neuron disease, but professor stephen hawking's ideas opened up new worlds and found answers about the very origins of the universe. so, if you reverse time, the universe is getting smaller. right. his life was depicted in the film, the theory of everything, with eddie redmayne playing stephen hawking. but while well—known in scientific circles since the early 70s for his work on black holes, his surprise best—seller, a brief history of time, led to worldwide acclaim, leading to him becoming a rare phenomenon, a theoretical physicist that is a household name. i am proud i have been able to contribute to our understanding of the universe. i am also glad that my work has reached a popular audience, because i believe it is important that the public should know and have the chance to understand the seemingly mysterious work of scientists. a private funeral service took place for professor stephen hawking in cambridge in march.

today, in a public memorial, his ashes will be interred in westminster abbey between the remains of the isaac newton and charles darwin, two other scientists whose ideas shook the world. we can cross to westminster abby and speak to our correspondent victoria gill. victoria, hello to you and we are hearing that stephen hawking's boys is going to be beamed into space during this service. —— his voice. appropriate, a cosmological broadcast of stephen hawking's voice with a special piece of music. many people are gathering on this beautiful day at westminster abbey to celebrate his life. one of his equally famous friends who was a proponent of reaching out across borders to reach people with a

message of science and communication is professor brian cox who has kindly joined is professor brian cox who has kindlyjoined this year on his way into the abbey. thank you for joining us. how will you remember your friend, professor joining us. how will you remember yourfriend, professor stephen hawking? as one of the last times i saw him, we did a sketch together for the monty python live shows which is a side of stephen that i think his friends and colleagues knew very well which is that he was very funny. as well as being, clearly, one of the greatest physicists and being buried in the abbey alongside newton and darwin, he was a very passionate, very funny and very passionate about putting science in proper context as part of culture. that may involve doing monty python sketches or it may involve writing books, a brief history of time. that is the key thing for me. i remember his humour. he performed an ad lib with eric idle and this get was that i was

going to argue with the words of the galaxy song, a monty python song, and stephen was going to run me over in his wheelchair. he famously displayed displays are like that. and i to him and he said, "i think you are being pedantic." it was a wonderful ad lib which got into the sketch. a brief history of time perhaps made him more famous than his physics. it is a hugely bottom book, 25 million copies, but lots of people put it on coffee tables and did not read it. what impact it that would have new? i was 20 years old when it came out. i have done physics up to a level and i was a musician at the time and i was trying to decide between music and physics. my parents bought me it for christmas and i read it and it is really played a fundamental role in telling me this is what i would like to spend my life doing. that is the

thing about stephen, the reason people connected to him is that he had a very strong sense of beauty, and emotional connection to the universe. yass profound questions about origins and endings, black holes, bulls are questions that in some sense are just purely intellectual. at some point in the future, that knowledge may be used for something but it is exploration for something but it is exploration for the sake of understanding and i think that came to very vividly and thatis think that came to very vividly and that is why people connect is also only with him. there is a beautiful and famous equation on the abbey. tammy very briefly what that equation means? hawking radiation, it is his proof that black holes are not entirely black. they radiate away and over a long, long time, they evaporate into the universe. that is really important because it connects einstein's theory of gravity which is 102 or three years old with the theory of quantum

mechanics. it is a holy grail of physics, to build a unified theory of all the physics and that is one of all the physics and that is one of the first and major steps towards that. thank you very much for joining us, professor brian cox. i will let you go into the abbey and ta ke will let you go into the abbey and take your seat. at the same time as professor hawking's ashes take their final resting place, his voice will be beamed into space from a satellite dish in spain. very appropriate, i think he would have thought. victoria, thank you. the headlines on bbc newsroom live: the government defends its flagship benefit scheme — universal credit — despite claims it may end up costing more than the previous system. yemen says the saudi—led coalition has put on hold an operation to retake the port of hudaydah from houthi rebels, but local reports speak of continued air strikes ‘upskirting' is set to become a sexual offence, with a punishment of up to two years in prison. in sport, marcus rashford is taking

pa rt in sport, marcus rashford is taking part in full training for the first time since his arrival in russia. gareth southgate will be hoping to refine his selections ahead of their opening world cup game on monday. the tournament kicked off successfully for the hosts, russia, yesterday. they won 5—0 over saudi arabia in moscow and afterwards biting a prison called on the team's court to keep up the good work. and happy birthday to mohamed salah. he is almost certain to play against uruguay this afternoon after injuring his shoulder last month. i will be back with more on those stories just after half past 11. former tennis player, boris becker, has claimed diplomatic immunity from bankruptcy proceedings because of his role as an ambassador for the central african republic. becker, who won six grand slams in the 80s and 90s, was declared bankrupt by a london

court injune last year after failing to pay a long—standing debt. his lawyers claim he can't face any legal action without the consent our correspondentjon donnison is here to tell us more about this story. i know about boris becker's tennis titles. until today, i i know about boris becker's tennis titles. untiltoday, idid i know about boris becker's tennis titles. until today, i did not know about his role as an ambassador. tell us more about the background of this. it is a fascinating story. complicated, so as you say, boris becker was declared bankrupt by a court last year. he told what was described as a large sum of money to a private firm of bankers and it has not been disclosed exactly how much. it is being reported, not officially, several million pounds to the company. there are reports that he also always further money to

other parties. at the time when he was declared bankrupt, he said he was declared bankrupt, he said he was surprised and disappointed. he said the rule was disputed and he claimed that he had the means to repay the loan. he said that he could remortgage a property he had in majorca which reportedly is worth a huge amount of money, too. but the debt was considered to be outstanding since 2015 as will be caught basically said that he had to go bankrupt. he was declared bankrupt by the court. what has happened now, in fact in april, boris becker tweeted about the fact that the central african republic, a country in the centre of africa which has had civil conflict, the states there is incredibly weak, he has been declared as a sport and culture that it to the european union for the central african republic. essentially what his lawyers and boris becker are seeing

now is that gives indigenous community and means that the legal proceedings against him which are ongoing arsenal and void. briefly, i know this is very collocated, this is about the law about diplomatic immunity and whether this can stop him being brought to court. is that the case? diplomatic immunity comes from a un convention from 1961. it isa from a un convention from 1961. it is a principle of diplomacy. it means that if you are a diplomat in an unfriendly country, you can operate without the threat of being prosecuted. but it has, i think, in recent times are being used in more questionable ways. it essentially means that if you are given diplomatic immunity, any legal proceedings in any country in the world including in britain where boris becker has a home in wimbledon we re boris becker has a home in wimbledon were his younger son was born, where he lives with his second wife, it is

a huge house in a very rich part of the country, if he is declared bankrupt, which he was, in theory he might have already had some assets seized. he might face having other assets at the moment seized like his whole and therefore, you know, he is clearly fighting that. diplomatic immunity could mean that those proceedings are dropped against him. 0k, proceedings are dropped against him. ok, tom, thank you very much. the american justice department has released a long—awaited report into the way the fbi handled an investigation into hillary clinton's emails. she claims it contributed towards her losing the 2016 presidential race. the report accuses the former head of the fbi, james comey, of being insubordinate but not politically biased. chris buckler reports from washington james connie has been criticised by

both sides of the political divide. hillary clinton believes he played as role in her losing the presidency and he was absolutely fired by presidents come. during the campaign, he was in charge of an investigation into hillary clinton's use of a private e—mail server. it became a deeply contentious issue. this new report finds comey was insubordinate and made serious errors ofjudgment insubordinate and made serious errors of judgment and insubordinate and made serious errors ofjudgment and how he handled that inquiry. but the fbi says there was no attempt to influence the election. this report did not find any evidence of political bias or improper consideration is actually impacting the investigation under review. however, this report does give details of text messages sent between fbi staff members and, in one of them, and asian talks of stopping donald trump becoming president. certainly, there are a

lot of things in this report that is not only worry those of us in the administration but that should worry administration but that should worry a lot of americans that people place this political bias and injected that into a department which should not have any of that. with a special counsel investigation still taking place into allegations of collusion and russian meddling, donald trump knows that all the events of that controversial presidential election will remain under scrutiny. now, have you left the kitchen light switched on while you're watching this? and do you know how much energy you are using at home? it's something you're likely to become more aware of over the next couple of years. the government is in the process of installing smart meters in homes in england, wales and scotland. the meters, which are optional, show how much energy is being used and the cost in real time. i'm joined in the studio by kirstie allsopp and phil spencer, who are campaigning to make homes more energy efficient. it's very nice to have you with me

in the studio. as ijust mentioned, these meters are optional. here is your chance to say to people why they should go for this. the current system of measuring our power is outdated and this is kind of 21st—ce ntu ry outdated and this is kind of 21st—century technology. it enables people to have control over how much they are using and be aware of how much they are spending. it is likely plastics debate. we all know that we should get rid of single use plastic and if you go to some coffee shops, they will give you money off if you use a reusable cup. it's the same with a smart meter. we can save ourselves money but also we can use less energy which is incredibly important. the reason the government is rolling out smart meters is environmental, it is as simple as that. we need to use less energy and these are an efficient way of informing us how much energy we use. but a financial benefit as well, obviously. some quickfire questions,

id3? yes, they are, free to install. and if so has a prepaid meter, can get one of these? yes, they can. it is the end of prepaid meters, estimated bills. as phil said, the old technology was almost victorian. we had been using those meters which are rather beautiful and they are being recycled and making things... but we live in a world now we have information about how we do that certain things, how efficiently you are driving your car certain things, how efficiently you are driving yourcaror certain things, how efficiently you are driving your car or your watch tells you what your heart rate is or how many calories you are eating but we don't have that at home with the meter. i know you are travelling around the country to tell people about all of this. i looked as incidentally that edf energy was fined by off gem for missing its target to install smart meters last year, so obviously and i is being kept on whether this is rolling out as it should. i want as few more

generally with your property guru hats on about the housing market. we a report yesterday from the royal society of chartered surveyors saying that the market is very flat, that the number of houses coming onto the market has increased lightly but estate agents' stock levels are almost as an all—time low. how worried are you about this? very worried, firstly there is no such thing as a national market. it's very regional. jobs come and go, there are places where the market is really hot and places where it is flat or coming down. but what really troubles me is the fact that the process is still broken. the way in which we buy houses, exchange, completion, the contractual element, it is not working for people and a find moving house incredibly stressful. you used to live an average of five times. that has now dropped to an average of four times. part of the reason for that is that the government are not getting to grips with mending the system. is the uncertainty

increasing in the uncertain political environment? miller likes to make big financial decisions in a period of uncertainty and we are in that at the moment. —— no one likes to make big decisions. there are not a lot of transactions and the banks and estate agents, that is bad business for them but it doesn't mean that house prices are going to collapse. on the subject of prices, will they come down? would that be a healthy thing for the market overall? it will be healthier for all of us, for family life and also do things of houses were cheaper, but with supply and demand, i don't think will happen in a hurry. i do think will happen in a hurry. i do think there will be an impact on the economy if we do not get to grips with how hard it is to move. people need to move because theirjobs move, their marriages break up, their parents die and they have to sell the houses. there are thousands of reasons why people move and if the combination of bad legal advice, bad mortgage advice and slack estate

agency makes it harder and harder, people will do is less. is conjugated system thank you. -- it is —— it isa —— it is a complicated system. let's get the weather now. at the moment out there it's fairly quiet, some fairly good sunny spells across mainly the south—east of england and up to the midlands. some pictures from twickenham. you can see sunshine in the south—east generally. but the more clout the further north and west you are with showers in scotland and northern ireland. you might catch a shower across england and northern wales but they are few and far between. maximum temperature is getting up to 22, maybe 24 degrees in the south—east. showers clearing away this evening. clear spells in the eastern areas. thickening cloud to the west. outbreaks of rain moving

in on saturday morning. rain on saturday morning will move east. it will contain thunderstorms and some heavy rain for much of northern england, scotland, northern ireland, gradually clearing away. it should be drier and gradually clearing away. it should be drierand a gradually clearing away. it should be drier and a bit brighter on sunday. this is bbc news. our latest headlines: the government has defended its flagship benefit scheme after the spending watchdog said it was slow and expensive. the official report said universal credit had caused hardship for many people. yemen's foreign minister said the saudi—led coalition had put on hold an operation to retake the port of houdaydah — a key entry point for humanitarian aid to war—torn yemen. but local reports speak of continued air strikes. people who secretly take photos under someone's clothes without their consent could face up to two years in prison

as ‘upskirting' is set to become a sexual offence. and former wimbledon champion boris becker has claimed diplomatic immunity to avoid bankruptcy proceedings against him because of his role as an attache for the central african republic. let's get the sport now with hugh woozencroft. hello, i'm hugh woozencroft and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme. we will look back on yesterday's action and ahead to today's games. we can go live to russia to find sports correspondent david ornstein at england's training base at repina. injury concerns about marcus rashford earlier in the week. did he appear today? he did. it was monday at the st george's park training base at staffordshire when marcus

rashford picked up a knee problem in a behind closed doors friendly among the squad. he did not train on england's first day of training here on wednesday, nor on thursday, but he appeared with the rest of the group today. he seemed fine, and it seemed perhaps it wasjust group today. he seemed fine, and it seemed perhaps it was just a precaution that he was rested for those two days. yesterday video emerged off in training alone and separately from the rest of the group saying he felt ok. so it looks like he will be fit for the monday match against tunisia in vulgar grad. buti match against tunisia in vulgar grad. but i suspect he was never going to start, and probably even more so now going to start, and probably even more so now with this problem. —— in volgograd. players will come here to speak to the media later, part of the opening and welcome feel among the opening and welcome feel among the england camp. rashford will not be among them but he looks fit. all 23 england players trained with currently no injury concerns. good news for gareth southgate and a

boost for marcus rashford as well. some newspaper speculation today around the first match and who might be in the starting 11. how is the picture looking, any clearer today? all of the newspapers seem to have got some insight into how england trained yesterday. they say they lined up in the team that will play on monday. it's our understanding that gareth southgate hasn't let the players know who will play. whether he has decided himself, we don't know. at left back, ashley young seems to get the nod ahead of danny rose. as one of the three central defenders, harry maguire was preferred to gary cahill. and in holding midfield, jordan henderson was preferred to eric dier with jordan pickford in goal. so we don't know for sure, but that suggests that if that is the team, there will be nine world cup debutants for england on monday. a bold move from

gareth southgate with plenty of youth and pace in the squad. but with the experience of the oldest player of the squad, ashley young at right back. but that is unconfirmed. we will hear from some of the players later today and we should hear more. david ornstein in repina. thank you forjoining us. vladimir putin overjoyed with the opening match yesterday with russia thrashing saudi arabia in the list list nitschke stadium. a fantastic day for russia as they revelled in a 5-0 day for russia as they revelled in a 5—0 victory in moscow. the pfa and football writers player of the year mohamed salah is only among the substitutes for egypt's opener

against uruguay, kicking off at 1pm. salah was recovering from a damaged shoulder in liverpool's champions league final defeat at the end of may. if he gets on the pitch it would be a fantastic way for him to mark his 26th birthday. spain captain sergio ramos is the man involved in hurting mohamed salah's shoulder in the champions league final and he has spoken about his new boss, fernando hierro, the former captain of ramos's club real madrid and he was only appointed spain boss on wednesday following the sacking of lopetegui. the absence of lopetegui is large, but the error can take on the mantle. we know him very well and he is one of the best to take over the role. hopefully we will be a team with the same intentions and dreams and we shouldn't change at all because of what has happened. this is how

friday at the world cup is shaping up. salah's friday at the world cup is shaping t friday at the world cup is shaping up. salah's egypt taking on uruguay. and luis suarez. that's from 1pm on bbc one. morocco against iran is on five live. and a massive match for spain as they take on european champions portugal on bbc one from 7pm. that's all the sport for now, but you can find more on the build—up to the egypt game and the world cup on the bbc sport website. i will be back with more in the next hour. upskirting — or secretly taking photographs up skirts or dresses — is set to become a specific sexual offence, with a punishment of up to two years in prison. it's been an offence in scotland since 2010 when it was listed under the broader definiton of voyeurism. currently victims in england and wales are forced to seek prosecution through other legal avenues, such as outraging public decency or harassment. gina martin was the victim of upskirting last summer

at a music festival. she's been leading a campaign to get the law changed. very good to have you with us. let's begin by talking about your experience at that festival. what happened? i was at the british summertime festival and was watching a band on stage, it was the middle of the day, blisteringly hot, and they took a picture close to my crotch, up my skirt, and sent it to their friends around me, crotch, up my skirt, and sent it to theirfriends around me, i saw crotch, up my skirt, and sent it to their friends around me, i saw the picture. i went to the police and handed over their phone after i took it from them, and they said there was nothing they could do because there was nothing in the law. after looking into the law i could see why so looking into the law i could see why soi looking into the law i could see why so i launched the campaign. you sound matter of fact about it but you must have been very upset, and upset enough to start this campaign. for you, what was the thing that made you decide to use this anger to bring about change? it was a horrible, i have said it so many

times in the last year, so it is difficult to talk about it every single time but it was a horrible thing to happen, and it was a really violating feeling, of somebody having their hand, and taking those pictures of my body. i had no control of it. i wanted to make sure that if somebody feels like this, they can prosecute. you started the campaign, a petition. you got hate mail, unfortunately i guess that isn't particularly surprising. how did you deal with that? it was really ha rd at did you deal with that? it was really hard at the very beginning. i was doing a lot of media and getting a lot of it. but as soon as i got my lawyer and campaign plan on board, and got it into parliament, and the support of the right people, it became easier to deal with. support of the right people, it became easier to deal withm support of the right people, it became easier to deal with. it is the second reading of the bill today. it's been amazing to have cross— party today. it's been amazing to have cross—party support. today. it's been amazing to have cross-party support. everybody has been amazing. to get all three major political parties and others agreeing on the same thing, it

doesn't always happen. they are really passionate about this. i was sitting with lucy frazer the minister a couple of days ago, as well as my lawyer, and they are passionate about it and they get it and want to make it happen. today is and want to make it happen. today is a great day for me. a big win would be if somebody is convicted of this offence and sent to prison. but hopefully it will be a deterrent as well. and people will become more educated about the subject. the conversation we have started with the campaign and the tabling of the bill isjust as the campaign and the tabling of the bill is just as valuable as changing the law and when we do change this law and the government backed us, we will do it. i hope more women can come forward and tell people what happens, but i hope it deters people from doing it as well. congratulations and well done for getting it this far. last night around 5,000 people took part in a silent march to mark the first anniversary of the grenfell fire. it came at the end of a day of events held in honour of the 72 people who died. some of those taking part told us why they believe silence can

speak louder than words. most people think if they shout or scream, they will be listened to. but the silence is even more powerful. it's difficult for all of the bereaved families, every day, every minute of every day, i think about my wife. she is here with us in spirit, and i will keep that flag flying for her forever. i'm walking today, to support the community. but on a more personal level, i'm walking for my brother, raymond moses, the man that everyone loved. it's important we keep the message going.

that we need answers to what happened at grenfell. for me, personally, my brother has been snatched from me and i want to find the peace that i need. and the only way i can find that peace is through answers. is there going to be anyjustice? is anything going to be done as a result of it? people are living in unsafe conditions, still. it could happen again. this is literally life and death, this is people's lives. 72 lives lost. young children, adults, unborn babies, teenagers. uncle raymond's smiling face, his slow—paced walk, his gentle touch, will only ever be remembered. it's too late for sorry, justice for grenfell has to be served, for my uncle, for the community, survivors,

the dead, for peace. the thoughts, there, of a few of those taking part in last night's silent march in memory of the victims of the grenfell fire. in a moment a summary of the business news. the headlines on bbc newsroom live: the government defends its flagship benefit scheme — universal credit — despite claims it may end up costing more than the previous system. yemen says the saudi—led coalition has put on hold an operation to retake the port of houdaydah from houthi rebels — but local reports speak of continued air strikes. upskirting is set to

become a sexual offence, with a punishment of up to two years in prison. in the business news... tesco enjoys a confident start to the year as it reports its tenth consecutive quarter of rising sales. the uk's biggest supermarket brushed off the impact of the beast from the east to report an increase in uk like—for—like sales of 2.1%, while group sales also rose thanks largely to the performance of food wholesaler booker that tesco bought at the end of last year. the company says its performance is proof that its growth plans are on track. more on this injust a moment. about 60 bank branches are closing every month — that's according to consumer group which? it claims that rbs is closing the most, and describes the overall trend as "alarming" as it leaves many people left without proper access to services. but banks said their branches were losing customers as more people banked online. us telecoms giant at&t has completed its takeover of time warner. the deal, worth more

than £60.34 billion, has been two years in the making, and created one of the largest us anti—trust lawsuits in decades. a us district courtjudge cleared the tie up on tuesday in the face of white house opposition. but at&t argued it needed to acquire time warner to compete with online streaming services like amazon and netflix. so the boss of tesco, dave lewis, has every reason to be cheerful this morning. in a remarkable turnaround from the supermarket‘s ‘annus horribilis' in 2014 when it reported its worst results in history — the firm has brushed off bad weather and fierce competition from the discounters to report another quarter of sales growth. however, the picture outside of the uk was slightly less rosy. joining us now is catherine shuttleworth, chief executive and founder of retail agency savvy. thank you for talking to me today.

the turnaround plan at tesco that has been under way for a fewer yea rs, has been under way for a fewer years, namely to simplify the brand, it seems to be working. certainly does. as you say, ten consecutive quarters of growth was unthinkable when dave lewis came into tesco because we have forgotten what a mess it was in. a terrible state. they went back to basics and fixed their uk business. shoppers like it and are going back in their droves asa and are going back in their droves as a point the purchase of the food wholesaler booker that owned the likes of budgets, premier and londis, that seems to be a very smart move. they have seen a 41% growth from boca in this quarter. they have done some trials in cambridge at a big store in bath hill where they use on book understanding to get to smaller businesses. i think we will see them working closer with this in the next few months. they also took the chief

executive of booker, charles wilson, who is running the uk business, is a really well—regarded retail player and isa really well—regarded retail player and is a good acquisition for the tesco organisation. outside the uk, performances are slightly less stellar, particularly in central europe, but perhaps tesco is less bothered because they only canned for around 10% of sales. they are bothered to be a competitive business, but the focus has been back on the uk market. there are overseas challenges to address, but it isa overseas challenges to address, but it is a slimmer and more successful tesco we see this morning, getting back to what it is great at, serving the uk population really well every day. and drilling down on their core business, fresh fruits and cost—cutting. the grocery market is still fiercely competitive with online discounters out and discounters on the high street, lidl and aldi, and aldi, and a potential merger between sainsbury‘s and asda. it will not make life easy. a number of things tesco have on the horizon

to manage. they will be watching carefully the moves between asda and sainsbury‘s, because that will change the uk supermarket marketplace for ever if it goes through. that is on the horizon. the discount is still giving them a challenge, and other businesses that are doing quite well. the uk food business has remained a little bit resilient. we have seen other businesses on the high street in the last few weeks really struggle. we are still spending money on food and going into supermarkets and tesco wa nt to going into supermarkets and tesco want to be the number one choice for those grocery needs. china will quickly retaliate if the us hurts its interests with fresh trade tariffs, a foreign ministry spokesman has said. the warning from beijing comes as the us prepares to levy new tariffs on $50 billion worth of chinese imports. the us says its tariffs on chinese goods are in response to theft of intellectual property.

former tennis champion boris becker is claiming diplomatic immunity against an attempt to sue him. his appointment as a diplomat by the central african republic affords him protection from any legal claims. mr becker was declared bankrupt in 2017 over money owed to private bank arbuthnot latham. he is now being pursued for "further assets". conflict—ridden car is one of the world's poorest countries and made mr becker a sport and culture attache to the eu in april 2018. mcdonalds will replace plastic straws with paper ones in all uk and ireland outlets this autumn. and a welsh packaging firm set up only seven months ago is set to more than double its workforce after the fast food giant became its first major customer. transcend packaging is one of two companies that landed a contract to supply them. it currently employs 20 people and said its new contract will mean an extra 30 jobs.

that's all the business news. more throughout the afternoon. the titanic still captures our imagination, more than a century after the passenger liner struck an iceberg and sank. an exhibition in washington looks at the secret mission that led to the discovery of the wreckage. it's amazing how the titanic touches a button in everybody. titanic, the untold story. it's really taking the wraps off what was at the time a top—secret mission i was conducting as a naval intelligence officer. most of the cold war was fought under water. and most of it was never known to the american people. and it was really president reagan who won the cold war by pushing the soviets to their limit. and he wanted me to conduct a highly classified mission to go out to two submarines, the only two submarines we lost

during the cold war. the uss thresher, and the uss scorpion. one was lost off portsmouth, maine, and the other was lost south of the azores. and conveniently between the two was the wreckage of the titanic. i only had 12 days left in our mission when we arrived on the scene of the titanic. this was my first view of the titanic, it was from that. initially, what we were seeing was the very keel of the titanic. and then as we went up, portholes started to come into play and our lights were bouncing. it was like the eyes of the ship looking at us. i was waiting to see a face in a porthole. we are in the section of the titanic, the untold story exhibition that talks about some of the lives of the survivors from the tragedy. and some personalities of people who you may have heard

of and you may not have heard of from that fateful night. so this is one of only seven titanic deckchairs that survives. and dozens of them were thrown overboard to help victims in the water after the titanic tragedy. the crewjust threw them over because they thought people would have something to hold onto and it might prevent them from driving. the sad reality is most of them died from hypothermia, not of drowning after all. wallace hartley was the leader of the eight person band on the titanic. he kept musicians with him and they continued to play songs as this tragedy was unfolding on board. at first they started with some upbeat songs just to keep the mood light on the ship. and as the night went on, the songs got more and more sombre until they played, nearer thy god to me. the captain said, stand

at your station, be british. and the engine room went on, and the band played, and they all passed away. you had women and children first. you had all of these dramatic acts that were played out by all the people that were aboard. i think it's straight out of central casting, straight out of hollywood. the headlines are coming up on the bbc news channel. in a moment we say goodbye to viewers on bbc two — first we leave you with for a look at the weather... the lunchtime news is coming up next at 12 o'clock instead of one o'clock because of the world cup. first, the weather coverage with simon king. what about storm hector? yesterday was very interesting with storm hector giving us some strong wind but that has moved towards scandinavia. quiet conditions now, lighter wind and plenty of sunshine. this from a weather watcher in

south—east england. further north towards scotland, more cloud and the risk of quite a few showers piling into north and western areas. the satellite imagery, you can see whether cloud is, the best of sunshine down to the south—east. zooming out into the atlantic, this is the mass of cloud that will head our way as we move into the weekend. in the afternoon, looking fine and dry for much of england and wales. a few showers dotted around and you would be fairly elected to catch those showers. they are quite isolated with sunny spells. more apparent across western scotland, northern ireland and the far north—west of england. in the south—east, temperatures up to 22, 20 three degrees. overnight tonight, showers tending to disappear. showers across central and eastern areas. in the west, the next area of rain moving its way into northern ireland and western scotland. overnight temperatures into saturday morning. that rain associated with this area of low pressure. it will

move in from west to east and give us move in from west to east and give us quite a bit of rain across northern parts. the further south you are, probably a bit drier, but even here there will be showers passing through in the day. rain in northern parts, anywhere from the north midlands northwards. that rain could be heavy and sundry in places, generally moving away to the north—east and sunny spells the further south and west you are. maximum temperature is around 17—19. the area of low pressure moving away on sunday. a brief lull in conditions but the next weather system will move gradually through sunday. after a bright and fairly dry start, some sunshine across central and eastern areas into the afternoon but further west of the cloud will thicken and showers moving through northern ireland, wetter showers in wales and south—west england on sunday. temperatures between the mid and high teens. perhaps higher with the

further east you are where we have more sunshine. next week will get warmer, temperatures into the low and mid—20s. mostly dry with some sunshine. cloudy at times to the north and west of the uk. the government's under fire over its overhaul of the benefits system. a damning report says the new system is too slow and is not delivering value for money. the national audit office says ministers are in denial about the hardship caused by the scheme, but the government insists it is working. when i talk to claimants up and down the country, going tojob centres, what they tell me is that this system is not only simpler, but there are incentives in place so that you can get into work and stay in work. also this lunchtime... the un expresses deep concern for the people of yemen as fighting around the port of hudaydah continues — threatening to cut off vital supplies. former wimbledon champion boris becker claims diplomatic immunity against bankruptcy proceedings in london. celebrating the life of professor stephen hawking —

a memorial service is being held at westminster abbey.