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. later, we will have all of the

latest reports, results, interviews and features from the bbc sports centre. hello, good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. the government has been severely criticised in an official report on its flagship benefit reform, universal credit. the national audit office said the policy could prove more expensive than the system it's replacing and it accused ministers of being in denial over the financial hardship it causes to some claimants. almost a million people receive the new, combined benefit. the government insists it's good value for money, as kathryn stanchessen reports. a damning verdict on the

government's v—chip benefit policy. today, a report describes how universal credit is failing in multiple ways. it says there is no evidence it will end up delivering value for money and the roll—out has been flawed, leading to hardship for many. anderson armstrong has been unemployed after losing his job as a chef. he has built up debts in the process. universal credit came in at the end of september and i signed on from the beginning of august. at the end of september i got my first universal credit payment. there were a lot of arrears to come out of that. since then, i have been living off £18 a week. universal credit was intended to simplify the benefits process , intended to simplify the benefits process, and allow people in work to reduce the amount they claim gradually. it merges six benefits into one payment. the payment is then made directly into a claimant's bank account. people then pay their own costs like rent from that pot of money. but crucially, the payments

are made in arrears and the report says it is not working for everyone. a significant minority, we think, are struggling to claim online, they are struggling to claim online, they are struggling to cope while they wait for theirfirst are struggling to cope while they wait for their first payment and they are struggling to cope with the fluctuating income they get on universal credit. last year, out of those that received late payments, 40% waited 11 weeks. 8% waited almost eight months, with the resulting increase in rent arrears and the use of food banks when universal credit is rolled out in any given area. despite recent improvements to the system, the report says a fifth of new applicants in march this year were still waiting longer than they should be. critics say it is a shambles, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. but the department for work and pensions has refused to accept it is causing hardship. what is important for us asa hardship. what is important for us as a department is to make sure that we are providing support to people. that is why i go back to this point that, at the end of the day, people are able to get 100% advances. and

what we are also seeing is that under universal credit people are able to get into work faster and stay in work longer, and that is making a huge difference to people's lives. the nationalaudit making a huge difference to people's lives. the national audit office says there is no other practical choice than to carry on with the roll—out, but it should go no further until the system can't cope with a higher number of claims. in yemen it's reported that saudi led coalition forces have reached the airport as they advance on a strategically important port used for importing much of the beleaguered country's humanitarian supplies. last night, the un security council warned a full blown offensive in hudaydah could be disastrous. our security correspondent frank gardner reports. advancing up the coastal plain, pro—government forces have reached the outskirts of hudaydah city. aiming to retake it from yemen's

houthi revels. both sides have taken casualties. translation: god willing, we will celebrate the feast of eid in hudaydah. the prize is the houthis have controlled it for the last few years. the government accuses them of exploiting the wealth and using it as a bargaining chip. the houthis say they are resisting international aggression and will not give it up. translation: the navalforce and will not give it up. translation: the naval force was able to target it with two missiles. the warship was destroyed and the rest of them fled to two fear of the same fate. caught in the middle are the malnourished and poverty stricken civilians. over 8 million people are dependent on food aid and this has been described world's worst humanitarian crisis. what happens next in hudaydah will affect millions of yemenis. the uae and coalition partners say they could reta ke coalition partners say they could retake the city in days. but the houthis have said they will not give

up houthis have said they will not give up an inch of ground. many fear this could become a prolonged and bloody battle. one thing is certain, the saudis and the iraqis, who are backing the campaign to restore the yemeni government, say there's too much at stake to abandon it. —— emiratis. the former wimbledon champion, boris becker, has claimed diplomatic immunity from bankruptcy proceedings in london, because of his new role as a sports attache to the central african republic. his lawyers claim he can't face any legal action without the consent of the foreign secretary, borisjohnson. our diplomatic correspondent, james robbins, is with me. can you explain this?” can you explain this? i will try! boris becker was declared bankrupt last year. a bank which says he owes them a significant amount of money, they are taking legal action against him to try to recover possibly millions of pounds. boris becker says he cannot have civil

proceedings mounted against him in the united kingdom because in april he was appointed by the central african republic as their sports attache and cultural attache to the european union, which he says gives him diplomatic status, and therefore under the vienna convention of 1961 he cannot be pursued in the civil courts. this is obviously a highly controversial case. his name and his picture do appear on the website of the central african republic's embassy to belgium, where the european union is based. others will argue that this is really a ruse to avoid civil proceedings. i am sure thatis avoid civil proceedings. i am sure that is what will be discussed in court. the fact is, it has been used before, this method, by others. the central african republic has a history of issuing passports and issuing diplomatic status. how it prospers in the british courts, we have yet to see. thank you. the americanjustice 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 agency, james comey, of being insubordinate but not politically biased. president trump said he did the country a "great service" by firing mr comey. chris buckler reports from washington. james comey is a man who has been criticised by both sides of america's political divide. hillary clinton believes the former fbi director played a part in her losing the presidency, and he was subsequently fired by president trump. during the 2016 campaign, mr comey was in charge of an investigation into hillary clinton's use of a private e—mail server. crowd: lock her up! it became a deeply contentious issue. and this new report finds james comey was insubordinate and made serious errors injudgement in how he handled that inquiry. but the fbi says there there was no

attempt to influence the election. this report did not find any evidence of political bias or improper considerations 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, an agent talks of stopping donald trump becoming president. certainly, there are many things in this report that not only worry those of us in the administration but should worry a lot of americans, that people played this political bias and injected that in a department that shouldn't have any of that. with a special counsel investigation still taking place into allegations of collusion and russian meddling in the 2016 election, donald trump knows that all the events of the presidential election will remain under scrutiny. chris buckler, bbc news, washington.

people who secretly take photos under someone's clothes without their consent could face up to two years in prison under a new offence being created in england and wales. the government says it will back a private members bill in the commons to tackle what's known as upskirting, as helena lee reports. it was this woman's experience two yea rs it was this woman's experience two years ago which led to today's news, that upskirting will now become a specific offence. gina martin was at a festival when two men took photographs of her skirt without her consent. it was completely humiliating. i lost all control over how my body looked, i lost all autonomy of my own body and felt totally invaded because they have their hands up my skirt with their cameras. it was a horrible feeling. ididn't cameras. it was a horrible feeling. ididn‘t want cameras. it was a horrible feeling. i didn't want anybody to feel like that and then not be able to do anything about it. she reported it to the police, but there was no

prosecution. what followed was a determined online campaign by gina martin. her mission, to make upskirting a sexual offence. the offence is broadly covered in england and wales by public decency and voyeurism laws. but because they don't specifically cover upskirting, it is difficult to prosecute cost of unlike in scotland, where it is an offence. there have been at least 1a convictions. the government is backing gina's campaign. victims feel humiliated and degraded by this sort of treatment. we are backing the bill to ensure that upskirting is an offence, because it is an invasion of privacy, and it is important we send a strong message that this sort of behaviour cannot be tolerated. women's groups have welcomed the announcement that it will become law. the law matters, because it is saying what is right or wrong in our society. it's completely unacceptable. in the worst cases, these images of a

woman's genitals will be spread across the internet, across the world, out of their control. that is the level of seriousness of it. it is great the government backers say this is serious, it is wrong, and we are going to capture that by making ita criminal are going to capture that by making it a criminal offence. and a new offence. gina's campaign was made possible either support she got online. but she also received what she describes as an unbelievable amount of abuse. campaigners say the new law is a start, but children and young people need to be taught a spec that the earliest opportunity. a memorial service is being held at westminster abbey this lunchtime to celebrate the life of professor stephen hawking. his ashes will rest alongside other giants of british science, including charles darwin and sir isaac newton. our science correspondent, victoria gill, is there. victoria? yes, the doors are now closed on this beautiful day, the guests are from the worlds of

politics, science and film, all over culture. it really speaks to how famous professor stephen hawking was, not just for the famous professor stephen hawking was, notjust for the science he did, giving him his face alongside the greats buried in westminster abbey, but also as a communicator. i spoke to another science communicator, professor brian cox, about the impact that a brief history of time had on him. i read it and it reaffirmed, it really did play a fundamental role in telling me this is what i'd like to spend my life doing, and that's the thing about stephen. the reason people connected to him, he had a very strong sense of beauty, a emotive connection to the universe, the questions, those profound questions he was asking about origins and endings of what happens in a black hole. those are questions that are in some sense just purely intellectual. at some point in the future that knowledge may be used for something, but it's just exploration for the sake of understanding. and in about half an hour, just as

professor hawkins's ashes are interred, his voice will be part of a special piece of music that the european space agency is going to beam towards a black hole. part of his memorial that i think he would have found quite appropriate. the wait is over. yesterday, the hosts russia kicked off the world cup with a 5—0 drubbing of saudi arabia, and another six teams are in action today. england don't get started until monday, when they take on tunisia, but this morning, they let us have a glimpse inside their training camp. in a moment we will talk to richard conway in moscow, but first here's david ornstein who's with the england team. david? this is a team, a squad, full

of confidence and optimism. why? partly because they have all 23 players fit and available now. the main injury concern was marcus rashford, who picked up a knock to his knee in a behind closed doors friendly before england's departed for russia. since they arrived, he missed both training sessions on wednesday and thursday. today, he returned to the full group and there was a full complement available to gareth southgate. that bodes well. training now really ramps up. it will be behind closed doors tomorrow. that is when perhaps the tea m tomorrow. that is when perhaps the team that is going to start their first match on monday will be set out. speculation that has already happened. i understand gareth southgate is yet to inform his group asa southgate is yet to inform his group as a whole or individuals who will be starting. he is keeping them on their toes. it's all very exciting, this is a fresh england camp. we will be hearing from the players today, part of the openness we are seeing with the england squad that we have never really seen before. there has been such paranoia in the past. this england squad is the

third youngest that has ever been to a world cup. that feeling of optimism is high. they travel on sunday for the first match and then it is on monday evening, that is the true test, will the good will continue after? it depends on what happens on the pitch. david, thank you very much. richard conway is in moscow. just described the scenes last night and looking ahead at what is in store today? there was a 5—0 victory, gave the hosts really the perfect start, the reaction hee this morning, russian state tv saying that the result places russia at the centre of the football universe and one of the presidents of a local club here said that russia can easily win the world cup, the expectation levels have gone through the roof as a result of

that victory. russia will be looking forward to their remaining group games, as for today, we are into day two of the tournament. egypt taking on your guy two of the tournament. egypt taking on yourguy in two of the tournament. egypt taking on your guy in a short while but the breaking new is that mo salah is starting on the bench. he doesn't starting on the bench. he doesn't start for egypt, that is a result of the injury he sustained player for liverpool in the champions league final. let us see if he makes an appearance in due course in that game. morocco take on iran and then tonight we see portugal taking on spain, spain in some disarray after sacking their coach on the eve of the tournament. cristiano ronaldo might spell blood. an army sergeant has just been sentenced for trying to murder his wife by tampering with her parachute. emile cilliers was also convicted of attempting to kill his wife by causing a gas leak at the family home in wiltshire. our correspondent, duncan kennedy, is at winchester crown court. yes, kate. this has been an incredible zaatari, a zaatari of

sex, greed, and sabotage and just in the past few seconds he has been given a life sentence for trying to kill his wife twice in the space of one week, with a recommendation that he serves at least 18 years in prison. victoria cilleirs on the left came to see how long her husband would spendin to see how long her husband would spend injail. she had no idea her husband would fist try to blow her up, and then try to turn the sport she loved into a weapon of murder. that sport was skydiving. here is victoria on an earlier flight. just like this one, over the same airfield in wiltshire, where she would nearly die. when she leapt out in april 2015. she didn't know her parachute had been sabotaged by her husband. she fell 4,000 feet, and crashed into this field, but incredibly, she survived.

what was happening when you got there? her husband denied cutting cords or trying to rig a gas explosion after their home in order to kill herfor a life insurance pay out but a jury found him guilty. this woman was the mother of his first two children. she doesn't want herface first two children. she doesn't want her face shown but said his superficial charm hid a sinister personality. i am happy i dodged a bullet. i am glad she survived. very glad he didn't manage to do what he tried to do. but, yeah, not surprised. he was the army sergeant, she was the captain, two military lives torn apar by his uncontrollable appetite for sex and money, lives he sabotaged to the point of death. in the past few minutes the judge

said to him you have not shown the lightest sign of remorse to what he called the wicked offending. victoria has said that she still can't come to terms with the fact her husband tried to kill her twice in the space of one week. time for a look at the weather. here's sarah keith—lucas. after yesterday's windy weather down to storm hector today is a much quieter day out there. plenty of sunshine around, this is the scene in the isle of wight, taken by one of our weather watchers so a bit of fair weather cloud. most places stay dry, a lighter winds certainly than we had yesterday, spells of sunshine but not everywhere staying dry, a few showers round, particularly to the north and west, yesterday the storm pushing off to scandinavia so we are between weather systems at the moment. there are a few showers across scotland and northern ireland, some heavy, there could be the odd rumble of thunder in scotland. further south into england

and wales any showers will be pretty isolated so most places staying dry, some spells of sunshine and in the warmest spots we will see the temperatures up to 23 degrees to the south—east. further north—west though, 14 or 15 celsius, so feeling that bit fresher in scotland and northern ireland. most of us ending the day on a dry note. during the second half of the night that is when we will see wet weather arriving from the west so rain for parts of northern ireland, western scotla nd parts of northern ireland, western scotland into wales first thing in the morning. relatively mile for most of us under the cloud. the weekend is looking a bit mixed. there will be plenty of showers on the cards on saturday. not all of us seeing them, a drier day but fairly cloudy i think during sunday. saturday will be dominated by this frontal system which makes its way from west to east across the country, bringing some outic breaks of rain. the heaviest will be in the north and north—west so northern ireland, the west of scotland, north—west england as well. elsewhere that rain will be lighter

and more patchy. south—east parts of england likely to stay dry for a good part of the day, and temperatures a bit cooler than we have out there today, so up to round 18 in the warmst spots. fresh tore the north—west. heading through into the second half of the week and we see another warm front approaching from the west. before it gets there, a bit of a lull in the weather so sunday not looking too bad. lots of dry weather, best of the sunshine on sunday, will be across eastern scotland and england too. a bit more cloud further west and that cloud bringing with it a few spots of rain for northern ireland, perhaps into wales as well and it will probably be a touch warmer than saturday, so temperatures getting up to 20 or 21 towards the south—east, 7 or 18 further north—west. into next week then, it looks like temperatures will be on the rise a bit. plenty of dry weather, just a bit of rain at times through the course of next week, particularly towards the north and west. there's more on the bbc news channel at one, and on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc‘s

news teams where you are. hello. this is bbc news. in the last few minutes an army sergeant has been jailed for life with a minimum of 18 years for trying to murder his wife by tampering with her parachute. our correspondent, duncan kennedy, is at winchester crown court. if you find yourself in that situation, please seek help. there are many people out there willing to help you, thank you. apologies, obviously, wejust caught the end of that statement by wiltshire police, but let'sjust repeat that breaking news from the courts, ex—army sergeant emilie

cilliers has been jailed courts, ex—army sergeant emilie cilliers has beenjailed at winchester crown court for at least 18 years for the attempted murder of his wife by tampering with her parachute and also sabotaging any gas valve at their home. emilie cilliers of the army physical training corps, convicted by the julie a few weeks ago of those two attempted murder charges and a third count of damaging the gas fitting recklessly endangering life and then, of course, the parachute, tampering with the parachute. his wife, victoria, miraculously survived a fall when both her main and reserve parachutes failed when she took part in a jump in wiltshire on easter sunday 2015. following his conviction, police prosecutor described to cilliers as very dangerous, coercive and

manipulative. sentenced at winchester crown court in the last short while for at least 18 years for that attempted murder. we are going to come back to this story with some more reaction for you very shortly. the chief executive officer of govia thameslink railway, charles horton has announced his resignation. mr horton, who oversaw the southern railway line which has suffered renewed industrial action, said in a statement that he recognised passengers were "hugely frustrated at the significant disruption caused by the introduction of new timetables." 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. the project is expected to save more than £16 billion in reduced energy use, with the cost of the scheme funded through power bills. earlier, energy efficiency campaigners, phil spencer and kirstie allsopp explained the benefits of the meters for all homeowners.

this is kind of 21st—century technology and it enables people to actually have control over how much they're using actually have control over how much they‘ re using and actually have control over how much they're using and be aware of how much they're spending. they're using and be aware of how much they're spendinglj they're using and be aware of how much they're spending. i think it's a bit like the plastics debate. we all know that we shoot get rid of single use plastic and if you go to some coffee shops, they will give you money off if you have a reusable cup. it's the same with the smart meter, we can save ourselves money but also we can use less energy which is incredibly important. the reason that the government is rolling out smart meters is environmental, it's as simple as that. we need to use less energy and these are inefficient way of informing us how much energy we use. but at financial benefit as well, obviously. a couple of quickfire questions, are these free? yes, they are free to install. if someone has are free to install. if someone has a prepay meter currently, can they get one of these? yes, they can. it's the end of prepay meters, the

end of estimated bills. as phil says, the old technology was almost victorian. we have been using those meters, which are rather beautiful and in fact the recycling them and making things with them now. we live ina making things with them now. we live in a world today where information about how we do certain things, how efficiently you are driving your car or your watch tells you what your heart rate is or how many calories you're eating but actually we don't haveit you're eating but actually we don't have it at home with the meter. ok, andi have it at home with the meter. ok, and i know you are travelling around the country to tell people about all of this. i looked as incidentally this morning that edf energy were fined for missing its target to in stal smart meters last year, obviously and i is being kept on whether this is rolling out as it stood. i'd like to ask you more generally with your property guru hans on about the housing market. we had a report yesterday from the department of chartered surveyors that he has market is very flat

and... let me get a quote for you, estate agents' stock levels are remaining nearan estate agents' stock levels are remaining near an all—time low. how worried are you about the state of the housing market? very worried, andl the housing market? very worried, and i will tell you why. there is no such thing as a national market. it is very regional. jobs come and go, there are places where the market is very hot in places where it is flat coming down. but what really troubles me is the fact that the process is so broken. the way which we buy houses, exchange, completion, the contractual element, it is not working for people and they find moving house incredibly stressful. you used to move an average of five times. that has now dropped to an average of four times and part of the reason for that is that the government is not getting to grips with mending the system. is the uncertainty increased in an uncertainty increased in an uncertain political environment? no one likes making big financial

decisions in periods of uncertainty and we are in that period at the moment. i do not think we are worried about the market, it is just quiet. there are not many transactions, not a lot of volumes. and the banks and state agents, that is bad business for them but it does not mean house prices are going to collapse. is going to come down, though, you think that would be held before the market all along? though, you think that would be held before the market all along ?|j though, you think that would be held before the market all along? i think it would be healthier for all of us, for family life, if houses were cheaper bit due to supply and demand, ido cheaper bit due to supply and demand, i do not think that will happen ina demand, i do not think that will happen in a hurry but i do think there will be an impact on the economy if we don't get to grips with how hard it is to actually make that move. people have to move because theirjobs move, their marriages break up, their parents die and they have to sell their houses. there are 1000 reasons why people move and if the combination of bad legal advice, bad mortgage advice and slightly slack estate agency makes it harder and harder, people are going to do it less. agency makes it harder and harder, people are going to do it lessm isa people are going to do it lessm is a complicated system. weather now, with sarah keith—lucas.

a fairly quiet day weather—wise. we are between weather systems, storm hector has cleared away. showers across scotland and northern ireland, some are heavy. temperatures are 23 degrees in the sunnier spells. dry weather and other places are dry into the evening hours. but this area offering is the next weather front working to the west. rain on saturday morning in northern ireland, western scotland and western parts of england and wales. relatively mild under the cloud. on saturday we will see the frontal system work west to east across the country. some of the rain could potentially be heavy and thundery across scotland, northern england and northern ireland as well. further south, the showers are further and fewer between. temperatures at 18 or 19. mid—teens further north, so fresher than it has been recently. fresher day on

saturday and dryer on sunday. goodbye. this is bbc newsroom live, our latest headlines. ex—army sergeant emile cilliers has been jailed for at least 18 years for attempting to murder his wife by tampering with her parachute and sabotaging a gas valve at their home. the government has defended its flagship benefit scheme, after the spending watchdog said it was slow and expensive. the national audit office report said universal credit had caused hardship. govia thameslink railway has announced its chief executive charles horton is to resign. it follows widespread disruption caused by new timetables. 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. and a host of celebrities have arrived at westminster abbey to remember the life of professor stephen hawking. the physicist‘s ashes will rest alongside charles darwin

and sir isaac newton. more on that breaking news from the courts. an army sergeant has been jailed for life with a minimum of 18 years for trying to murder his wife by tampering with her parachute. that was one of two attempts on her life. our correspondent, duncan kennedy, is at winchester crown court. what an extraordinary story. it's been a story of sex, greed and sabotage. at the centre of it, an army sergeant called emile cilliers, who twice in the space of a week tried to kill his wife, victoria cilliers, in wiltshire. the first time by tampering with a gas fixture at their home, hoping to cause an explosion, even though their children were upstairs at the time, two young children. and then six

days later he tampered with her parachute at an airbase in wiltshire, first of all by playing with the chords on the main chute and then review removing two little nylon and then review removing two little nylo n loo ps and then review removing two little nylon loops on the reserve parachute that should have saved her life. she fell 4000 feet and crashed into a field. luckily she survived, the fa ct field. luckily she survived, the fact she wasn't that heavy in stature, and because the field had been newly ploughed so the soil was relatively soft. today victoria cilliers was in court to hear her husband being sentenced to two cou nts husband being sentenced to two counts of life in prison for a minimum of 18 years injail. the man at the centre of investigation for the last two years was detective inspector paul franklin. what's your reaction to these life sentences? pleased. it brings to an end the investigation. he tried to give his wife twice in a callous and cold way. you almost couldn't make this

up, what this man tried to do. you couldn't come at the twists and turns of the investigation started from a lady who we initially thought had crashed through a malfunction and it turned out her husband tampered with the parachute. further investigation revealed a gas leak in the house less than a week before that was also the responsible to the husband. emile cilliers lied and squirmed throughout the investigation, and presented the front of a cold and callous man. we found out he did everything for himself, and that was his character throughout the trial. he made it difficult throughout the investigation over three years from the start to the verdict today. why did he want to kill her twice? we found out that the man had lived for himself. his initial sexual conquest and multiple sexual partners, and then financial cost of victoria cilliers had a £120,000 life insurance he thought he would get. it turns out he was wrong in that but he did it for finance, sexual

motives, and for a girlfriend he had in america. everything came back to what he did, if it helped emile cilliers, he would do it, and he did not care about anyone else, his wife or his children. he set a gas leak off with his children upstairs, which the judge commented was a mark of the person today, which is why he got those jail sentences. victoria survived those attempts on her life, but fell 4000 feet. how is she now? she is massively injured at the time, but she has made fantastic physical recovery. the psychological trauma and damage will take many years, andl trauma and damage will take many years, and i hope she will receive help for that. as the judge explained today, this woman gave her love to a man, she gave him two children, she wanted that family unit, and five or six weeks after the birth of the second child, i have had to go in as a detective to find out that he tried to kill her. that has turned out to be the truth.

for her to get her head around that must be extremely hard. we hope that the judge summing must be extremely hard. we hope that thejudge summing up must be extremely hard. we hope that the judge summing up on why he did it will help her bring some understanding. people will ask why he didn'tjust divorce her, but he would not have received the life insurance pay—out. would not have received the life insurance pay-out. he owed amount of money. he wasjuggling payday lenders. he thought he would get £120,000 lenders. he thought he would get £120 , 000 life insurance. lenders. he thought he would get £120,000 life insurance. he was hoping to start a new life with a girlfriend of his, whilst he was still having sex with other women, including prostitutes. he has been called cold and callous, and has tendencies that have been described as close to psychopathic. how does he come across in interviews? he is cold, detached emotionally, callous, and he cares only for himself. he shows no emotion and never did in any interviews and has accepted no responsible as evil any party has played in this. he has only tried to prevaricate and lie and throw us off

during this. plenty of people try to kill other people. we do not want to dismiss that in any way, but why did he go to these extraordinary extravagant and imaginative ways to try to kill victoria? it is the nature of the man that emile cilliers is. he hoped it would look like an accident. he had the experience and knowledge through packing parachutes after his training that he had. that's why he chose that method committee thought it would get away with it. he just wanted her out of the way. at that time he thought it would be the easiest and quickest way to do it. thank you very much. the judge said that emile cilliers had not shown the slightest sign of remorse for what thejudge the slightest sign of remorse for what the judge called a wicked offending. he went on to say that he was able to switch off his emotions to try to put an end to the self—inflicted chaos in your life. and to repeat, emile cilliers was given a life term twice today with a minimum recommended recommendation

of 18 years and a further term to run alongside that of 14 years for recklessly endangering the life of his own children. duncan kennedy reporting. let's return now to our main story. universal credit, the government's flagship benefit scheme, is not delivering value for money, is too slow and is causing financial hardship, according to a highly critical report by the national audit office. universal credit merges six benefits, including income support, jobseeker‘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, its 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 this 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 and 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. joshua reddaway is the author of the national audit office's report into the new benefits system and hejoins me now from central london. thank you for your time this afternoon. obviously a lot of criticism in this report. did you find anything positive when you were doing your assessment with universal credit? lots of positives. it's really pleasing the department got a grip on programme management. but

this is a programme that is well into its eighth year of being delivered and by this point we would expect the department to be able to demonstrate that the programmers working and achieving what they said. unfortunately we have had to conclude that it is not value for money at the moment. we don't know if it will be value for money eventually. that's principally because there is a real risk that this will end up costing more than the system they replaced while at the system they replaced while at the same time they will not actually be able to prove, to measure, how many extra people are getting into work. why will they not be able to measure that specifically? it's all about the technicalities in the econometrics. essentially it's because you can't identify, extract and isolates universal credit from other economic factors. there are various things they can measure, and i'm sure the department is keen to say they are measuring more of these things. they are about two years behind in this measurement. when you add it allup, behind in this measurement. when you add it all up, it still doesn't quite amount to be able to say that we have more people into work, let

alone the 200,000 more people into work they are aiming for. you identify hardship that has been caused to people in the meantime. if you could sum that aspect up how would you do that? we have spoken to organisations up and down the country that work with claimants. they were able to demonstrate quite a lot of evidence of difficulties in hardship. essentially three things. the first is that some, probably talking a significant minority, art really struggling in making online claims. some are struggling to cope while they wait for their first payment, and some are struggling to cope with the fluctuating income universal credit provides. this is not made easier by the fact the department is not paying everybody on time in full. in fact, one in five are not getting their full claim paid at the end of the five weeks they are meant to wait. one in 20 still waiting for a full payment five months after they make their first claim. on all the three

objectives and measures that the government set up the universal credit scheme, is the government failing on all these objectives in the opinion of the national audit office? three main objectives of the department, the first is that it should be cheaper to run. the most important is that it gets more in to work. we are really helpful it will work. we are really helpful it will work. we are not saying that it's not working. we are saying that the onusis not working. we are saying that the onus is on the department. when he spent £2 billion to achieve something, and when it is having a demonstrable impact on individuals, the onus is on the department to prove it is working. the child poverty action group, and if i can ask you to be brief on this question, whether the government should push on with what in their words is a programme that is demonstrably failing. should the government press on and make amends? we think they have got to get it right. ronnie baxter 2009 before they started isn't an option. it would be too costly and complex to

do. instead they have to push on and make sure it works. the author of the report from the national audit office. thank you. 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 5000 — 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. the italian prime minister giuseppe conte is in paris for talks with president emmanuel macron, which are expected to focus on immigration. their working lunch came close to being cancelled, after the two countries traded angry words over italy's refusal to accept the rescue ship aquarius. our correspondent hugh schofield is in paris. this almost didn't happen, but they have come to some sort of a detente.

a nasty atmosphere earlier this week when the italians decided not to allow this boat to dock in an italian port. french president emmanuel macron came out with a reaction that first of all got them angry in rome, saying it was a cynical and irresponsible thing to do. that didn't go down well. even worse came from a spokesman for his party who said what the italians had done made him physically sick. this is not the type of language that will go down well or make friends in row particularly with this new government, and as we know it's a very disruptive series of ideas about immigration. there was a very difficult atmosphere between the countries for a while this week. but there has been a certain degree of appeasement coming in, both countries deciding it wasn't worth going to the brink on this. phone calls were had and clarifications made. the prime minister has come here. it is also get to know you

meeting because he is a new prime minister, the chance to meet president macron. he will be going on to britain in the next few days. but the atmosphere hasn't been good. it's not just but the atmosphere hasn't been good. it's notjust the france and italian relationship which is difficult, but also the whole european question of immigration coming to the fore again. everybody knows this is an issue bubbling up ahead of the summit in two weeks' time in brussels. hugh schofield in paris, thank you. upskirting — or secretly taking photographs up skirts or dresses — is set to become a specific criminal 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. earlier on breakfast mp wera hobhouse, who introduced the bill, explained why it's taken so long for changes to be made elsewhere.

well, you can always ask the question why it takes so long. in scotland, of course, it was called upkilting. maybe there is the thought of why when men become victims of a particular offence the law gets changed very quickly, and for women it always takes a little bit longer. gina martin has been leading the campaign to change the law after she was the victim of upskirting at a music festival last summer. i spoke to her a little earlier and she told me her experience. i 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, 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 they were confused on the law. after 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 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 partner on board, and got it into parliament,

and the 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 support. everybody has been positive. 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 a great day for me. a big moment 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 is just as valuable as changing the law and when we do change this law and the government back 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. actor leslie grantham,

who played "dirty" den watts in eastenders, has died aged 71, his representative said. that's from a statement from his representatives in the last few minutes. we heard in the last week that he was in hospital in a critical condition having returned to the uk from bulgaria where he had been living. he came to fame while playing den watts in eastenders. originally from 1985—1989. a christmas day episode of the soap in 1986 drew an audience of more than 30 million viewers who watched dirty den and over divorce papers to his on—screen wife angie watts. news coming in in the last few moments

that actor leslie grantham who played dirty den in eastenders has died at the age of 71. charles horton, chief executive officer of govia thameslink railway, is to resign. he said he recognised that passengers have been hugely frustrated at the significant disruption caused by the introduction of new timetables. i'm joined by bbc london's transport correspondent tom edwards. is this all about the timetables, has that specifically led to the resignation? absolutely, i think. has that specifically led to the resignation? absolutely, ithink. it has been shambolic and an absolute disaster, the launch of the timetables that were meant to introduce new trains and destinations, but it has led to cancellations and disruption. these are three of the main operators affecting london, great northern, southern and govia thameslink. they have been disrupted for three weeks, affecting half a million passengers. in the last half an hour we had the

fa ct in the last half an hour we had the fact that he is tendering his resignation. in a statement he recognises that passengers have been hugely frustrated by this significant disruption. we are being told he will remain in his post for a short period to oversee the development of these timetables, but i'm afraid for community as it could bea number of i'm afraid for community as it could be a number of months before they resolve these ongoing issues. —— i'm afraid for commuters. they might think, it's ok somebody is taking responsibility for this but if you get rid of one person to bring in somebody new, doesn't that make it more difficult to sort out the issues? that's a good point. operation wise it was to be very difficult, if you get these trains on the great northern, for example, there are cancellations and disruption is all the time. carriages are absolutely packed. we have had some reaction from unions, who have welcomed the news. commuter groups have welcomed the news.

unions want govia thameslink stripped of the franchise. all of this will now be part of an independent enquiry. some industry sources are pointing out this doesn't mean that charles horton ta kes full doesn't mean that charles horton takes full responsibility for this botched timetable launch. they are saying this is an industrywide problem. they point the finger in particular at the issue of timetables delivered by network rail. more coming up with the news that one on the death of leslie grantham. time for the latest look at the weather forecast. after yesterday's windy weather courtesy of storm hector, today is much quieter. much less windy and plenty of sunshine around. this scene from a weather watcher in norfolk. blue skies, a bit of fair weather cloud around. with those lighter winds today there should be

a good deal of sunshine but not everywhere is staying dry with showers on the cards. this area of low pressure of storm hector is clearing off to scandinavia. another frontal system approaching from the atla ntic frontal system approaching from the atlantic later on in the day. for much of the day, this is the scene. temperatures doing reasonably well, up temperatures doing reasonably well, up to 23 degrees in the south—east. some isolated once further south. dry into the evening hours. cloud clearing ahead of the frontal system. rain coming in in the early hours of saturday into northern ireland, west of scotland and western parts of england and wales. afairamount of western parts of england and wales. a fair amount of cloud first thing on saturday. the weekend is shaping up on saturday. the weekend is shaping up to bea on saturday. the weekend is shaping up to be a bit mixed. a showery picture through the day on saturday. most of us are drier although staying fairly cloudy by sunday. this is saturday, the frontal system crossing from west to east. the heaviest of the rain in the front

will be in the north and west. they could be thunderstorms mixed in with heavy showers across parts of wales, northern england, northern ireland and scotland. further south east across england you will are more likely to stay dry across part of the day. warmer spots towards the south and east, 19 or 20 degrees is possible. looking at the mid—teens further north and west. into the second half of the weekend, another front approaching from the west, although a fairly weak warm front, and we are left with a westerly airflow. through the day on sunday, the best of the sunshine will be in eastern scotland and eastern parts of england with more crowd working in from the west bringing with it if you spots of fairly light rain later in the day. we will see top temperatures on sunday afternoon at around 19 or 20 degrees to the east. a touch cooler than that further west where there is more cloud. looking ahead to next week, it will be warming up a little with lots of dry weather, some rain around,

mainly in the north and west. this is bbc news. the headlines at one. can you send an ambulance to... what number is it? the actor leslie grantham has died at the age of 71. an army sergeant who tried to murder his wife by sabotaging her parachute has been jailed for life with a minimum of 18 years. it is the most appropriate sentence for a it is the most appropriate sentence fora man it is the most appropriate sentence for a man who tries twice to kill his wife in a totally callous and cold way and we are very pleased with today's verdict. the government defends its flagship benefit scheme, universal credit, despite claims it may end up costing more than the previous system. the boss of govia thameslink railway, charles horton, is stepping down following the widespread disruption caused by new timetables also:

remembering professor stephen hawking — a memorial service is being held this lunchtime at westminster abbey. during the service his ashes will be buried alongside other great scientists like charles darwin and sir isaac newton. and we'll have the latest from the bbc sports centre on day two of the fifa world cup in russia ahead of england's first match on monday. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. in the past few minutes, it's been announced that the actor leslie grantham, best known for playing dirty den watts in eastenders has died at the age of 71. the role was the biggest of his career and he played the character in the popular soap from 1985 until 1989. the announcement follows news earlier this week that

leslie grantham had returned to the uk from bulgaria to receive medical attention. our correspondent david sillito has been looking back at his life. stinks in here, doesn't it? leslie grantham burst onto our screens back in 1985 with the opening episode of a new soap opera. east enders. you found him then? yeah, kicked his door in. can you send an ambulance to... what number is it? 23 albert square, walford. i den watts, public and of the queen victoria. this rog soon as received a nickname, dirty den. six months to live, six tragic little months and pearls and she's going to pop. the battles between then and angie reached a crescendo

on christmas day 1986. 30 million people watched this scene, a tv record. this, my sweet, is a letter from my solicitor telling you that your husband has filed a petition for divorce. three months later, he was gone, apparently murdered on a canal towpath. you have to make a decision that you are going to move on so decision that you are going to move onsoi decision that you are going to move on so i said i wanted to leave my job ina on so i said i wanted to leave my job in a factory and they kindly came up with a deal where i would stay on the screen for a year but i would do my scenes in five weeks. i did not have a job to go to, ijust felt i needed to make a break. before eastenders, there has been one or two tv roles. here supporting the daleks in doctor who. but he spent his 20s in prison serving an

11 year sentence for the murder of a german cab—driver. and then, 14 yea rs german cab—driver. and then, 14 years after he left, he returned to east enders. hello, princess. he had appeared in many roles in the intervening years, but producers have long wanted him to return. it did not last long. in the red story involving a webcam and his collea g u es involving a webcam and his colleagues saw him leave east enders. i am from england. it was not the end of his career. he was back on screen in bulgaria. the star ofa back on screen in bulgaria. the star of a comedy called the english neighbour. he also tried his hand at writing children's books, but tv audiences here could never escape the shadow of dirty den. our arts correspondent david sillito is here. that is the role for which leslie

grantham will be best remembered, of course. soap opera ‘s these days are lucky if they get 6 million people watching on a good night. 30 million people on christmas day 1986, that is including the catch up on the bus that came three days later, but it is still a memory of tv audiences that we will never see again and the number of people who knew the ups and downs of the life of angie and dirty den, you know, it is an extraordinary moment in tv history and it forever to find him. he was wanting out of that about two years afterwards and they allowed him to doa afterwards and they allowed him to do a whole year's episodes in about five weeks so he could move on from it, but almost as soon as he left,

the tv producers were going, do you fa ncy the tv producers were going, do you fancy coming back? that murder on the canal towpath, we have left some open sesame, you can always return. so he eventually did in 2003. so forever associated with that one part, but i met him a couple of times in pantomime which he did fairly regularly. i think he was quite glad to see the back of dirty den. why? because as an actor admits he could never do anything else. it defined him, everyone saw a bit of roguish charm there but you have this extraordinary back story of where he spent his 20s, in prison, a convicted murdererfor killing spent his 20s, in prison, a convicted murderer for killing a german cab—driver while he was a soldier serving in germany and that's where, in prison, he first encountered drama and began to act. so it was his escape when he came out. he says, right, i'm going to try my best at it. it was a few

yea rs before try my best at it. it was a few years before he succeeded, but he was spotted and given a few chances and eastenders transformed his life. and it is not stop with eastenders. he went on, though he started late for those reasons you outlined, lee had an enduring career and work until very recently. we saw a little bit of it there. in bulgaria. speaking bulgarian, the english neighbour. he lived in bulgaria and has written a children's book recently saw a man of many parts but, i'm afraid, when you say the name leslie grantham, every one of a certain generation automatically calls, all, yes, dirty den. what memories. more memories will be following throughout the day, i'm sure. an army sergeant has been jailed for life with a minimum of 18 years for trying to murder his wife by tampering with her parachute. our correspondent, duncan kennedy, is at winchester crown court. yes, this has been an extraordinary

story from start to finish over the three years that it has unfolded in court cases and various other places. a story of sex and greed, of sabotage. it's incredible to think that emile cilliers twice tried to kill his wife in the space of six days, once by attempting to blow up the house they lived in and once by playing with the chords on her parachute, the main and the reserve parachute, the main and the reserve parachute, in order to kill her. today, he was sentenced to two terms of life in prison with a recommendation from the judge that he serve at least 18 years in jail and thejudge he serve at least 18 years in jail and the judge described he serve at least 18 years in jail and thejudge described him as an exceptionally callous person who would stop at nothing to satisfy his desires. victoria cilliers, on the left, came today to find out how long her husband would spend in jail today to find out how long her husband would spend injailfor today to find out how long her husband would spend in jail for two

of the most bizarre murder attempt of the most bizarre murder attempt of recent years. she had no idea that emile cilliers would first try to blow her up and then tried to turn the sport she loved into a weapon of murder. that sport was skydiving. here is victoria on an earlier flight. just like this one over the same airfield in wiltshire where she would nearly die. when victoria let out on april 2015, she did not know her parachute had been sabotaged by her husband. she fell 4000 feet and crashed into this field, but incredibly, she survived. what was happening at the locker when you got there? emile cilliers denies cutting chords of her parachute or attempting to break a gas leak at home in order to kill victoria for a life insurance pay—outs but a jury him guilty. nicolini shepherd was the mother of emile cilliers's verse two children. she did not want to show her face

but told us that his superficial charm covered a dark personality. i'm gladl charm covered a dark personality. i'm glad i dodged a bullet. i'm glad that she survived, i'm very glad he did not manage to do what he tried to do, but i'm not surprised. he was the army sergeant, she was the army captain. two military lives torn apart by his uncontrollable appetite for sex and money, lives he eventually sabotaged to the point of death. well, thejudge said well, the judge said that emile cilliers was motivated by three things. first of all, he wanted to get his hands and victoria's insurance pay—out. he needed her dead for that. he was also afraid that she might ruin his army career for all his philandering that was going on and thirdly he wanted to set up life with a new woman and get rid of victoria in the process. detective inspector paul franklin has led the inquiry for wiltshire police from the beginning. he

describes emile cilliers as a callous, calculating individual. the twists and turns of the investigation which started by a woman we thought had crashed in a malfunction and it turned out husband had tampered with her parachute. further investigation revealed there had been a gas leak in the house not five or six days beforehand which he was also responsible for four. throughout it all, emile cilliers lied, squirmed and took note responsibility. he gave a front of a cold, callous man who, as we found out, did everything for himself, got what he wanted when he wanted and that was his character throughout the trial. it was a difficult investigation. it took three years from the start to the centres today. he was a man who lived for himself, stole his sexual conquest, multiple sexual conquest and then financial. victoria had a life insurance policy he thought he was going to get. he was wrong in

that, but he did it for finance, was going to get. he was wrong in that, but he did it forfinance, for sexual motives and his golf and he america. -- for his girlfriend that he had in america. emile cilliers showed no emotion is doing the sentence. victoria says she does not know why he tried to kill her, but from today, emile cilliers will begin to life sentences with a recommendation to serve at least 18 yea rs recommendation to serve at least 18 years injail. the government has been severely criticised in an official report on its flagship benefit reform, universal credit. the national audit office said the policy could prove more expensive than the system its replacing and it accused ministers of being in denial over the financial hardship it causes to some claimants. almost a million people receive the new combined benefit. the government insists it's good value for money, a damning verdict on the government's flagship benefit policy. today, a report describes how universal credit is failing in multiple ways.

it says there's no evidence it will end up delivering value for money and its roll—out has been flawed, leading to hardship for many. anderson armstrong has been unemployed since losing his job as a chef. he's built up debts in the process. universal credit came in at the end of september and i signed on from the beginning of august. at the end of september, i got my first universal credit payment. there were loads of arrears to come out of that. since then, i've been living off £18 a week. universal credit was intended to simplify the benefits process, and allow people in work to reduce the amount they claim gradually. it merges six benefits into one payment. the payment is then made directly into a claimant's bank account. people then pay their own costs like rent from that pot of money. but crucially, the payments made in arrears and the report says it is not working for everyone. a significant minority, we think,

are struggling to claim online, they are struggling to cope while they wait for their first payment and they are struggling to cope with the fluctuating income they get on universal credit. last year, out of those who received late payments, 40% waited 11 weeks. 8% waited almost eight months, with a resulting increase in rent arrears and the use of food banks when universal credit‘s rolled out in any given area. despite recent improvements to the system, the report says a fifth of new applicants in march this year were still waiting longer than they should be. critics say it's a shambles, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. but the department for work and pensions has refused to accept it's causing hardship. we're providing support to people. that's why i go back to this point that, at the end of the day, people are able to get 100% advances. and what we're also seeing is that under universal credit people are able to get into work faster and stay in work longer, and that is what is making a huge

difference, positively to people's lives. the national audit office says there is no other practical choice than to carry on with the roll—out, but it should go no further until the system can't cope with a higher number of claims. kathryn stanczyszyn, bbc news. the labour mp frank field is the chair of the work and pensions committee and joins me now from westminster. your reaction, firstly, to today's report. it is welcome but can i comment on what the minister said? these reassuring non—truths keep being trotted out by the government. i suppose they believe it, that people can get help immediately. they cannot get help immediately, until they have established an interview and establishing an interview and establishing an interview ta kes interview and establishing an interview takes ten days and during that ten days, there will be no money at all for families if they are money at all for families if they a re successful money at all for families if they

are successful in getting an advance which they then have to pay back later. the report today tries to help the government to tell the truth and there they are, rescinded this to the last, coming up with disabled statements. it is simply grinding people into destitution and they now tell us that it has gone so far that it's too expensive to go back on this terrible benefit and it is too expensive to go forward and therefore the national audit office today has said, for goodness' sake, call a halt to this until we stop this terrible treatment of claimants who are not helped in the week the government keeps peddling out they are. is that realistic, though, to call a halt? will the report then change anything at all? well, as i said, the national audit office has

said, the national audit office has said it is mega— expensive not to go forwards, it is going to be a mega expense to taxpayers to go forward. what the national audit office cannot do is the human cost of implementing this benefit. last week, one of my constituents, she had lots of other issues as well, but this inability to get money prom ptly but this inability to get money promptly tipped her over and she was sectioned. now, i know that is a really extreme case, but this was a benefit that actually destroys her. we then see what happens to her two children, who picks up that tap? once you have been sectioned, the difficulties are in coping thereafter. that is much more difficult. that is an extreme case, but many hundreds of thousands of families are going hungry, are facing eviction, are on the brink of destitution because of this

so—called new welfare state. the welfare state which all of us grew up welfare state which all of us grew up in was to actually give us a hand up, to help us on our way. this one is tipping us, throwing us into destitution and the government ought to heed this report. we will now have debates in parliament today, for goodness' sake, is there not one of you are amongst the government that can put false pride to one side and say, let's have a halt? given that was so much criticism ahead of today's report that people will say we saw this coming, this will take a very long time to unpack given what you have just said. we just need somebody of real exceptional stature to say, we were wrong. full as it is, those critics were right and we must stop destroying people's families and there lives by a benefit, whatever the intention was.

imean, i benefit, whatever the intention was. i mean, i never believed all that stuff, but anyway, lots of people dead. whatever the intention was, it is not turning out that way. —— lots of people did believe that. for the sake of humanity, we have to call a halt. i would like it to be permanent, but a temporary halt to see if this could be made to work in a way that does not destroy families. thank you very much for joining us and for your assessments. the white house has just issued a statement by president trump about tarrifs. mr trump says that despite his friendship trade between our nations has been very unfair, for a very long time. this situation is no longer sustainable. in light of china's theft of intellectual property and technology and its other unfair trade practices, the united states will implement a 25% tariff

on $50 billion of goods from china that contain industrially significant technologies. this includes goods related to china's made in china 2025 strategic plan to dominate the emerging high—technology industries that will drive future economic growth for china, but hurt economic growth for the united states and many other countries. he goes on to say... the united states can no longer tolerate losing our technology and intellectual property through unfair economic practices. mr trump continues by saying: these tariffs are essential to preventing further unfair transfers of american technology and intellectual property to china, which will protect americanjobs. no doubt, much reaction to that very, very strong statement that has just been released by president trump regarding trade with china. for now, let's go to the headlines. leslie grantham, best known for playing the part

of "dirty" den watts in eastenders, has died at the age of 71. an army sergeant who tried to murder his wife by sabotaging her parachute has been jailed for life with a minimum of 18 years. the government defends its flagship benefit scheme — universal credit — despite claims it may end up costing more than the previous system. the chief executive officer of govia thameslink railway, charles horton has announced his resignation. mr horton, who oversaw the southern railway line which has suffered renewed industrial action, said in a statement that he recognised passengers were "hugely frustrated at the significant disruption caused by the introduction of new timetables." bbc london's transport correspondent, tom edwards, has the details. it has been shambolic and an absolute disaster, the launch of these timetables that were meant to

introduce new trains, new destinations and what it has led to his cancellations and disruption. these are three of the main operators that affect london, great northern, southern and thames link and they have been disrupted now for coming up to three weeks. it affects half a million passengers. in the last half an hour, we have had the fa ct last half an hour, we have had the fact that he is tendering his resignation. there is a statement when he says he recognises passengers have been hugely frustrated by this significant disruption. what we are being told is he will remain in his post very short period to oversee the development of these timetables, but i'm afraid, for commuters, it could bea number of i'm afraid, for commuters, it could be a number of months before they resolve these ongoing issues. in yemen, it's reported that saudi—led coalition forces have reached the airport as they advance on a strategically important port used for importing much of the beleaguered country's humanitarian supplies. last night, the un security council warned a full blown offensive in hudaydah could be disastrous. our security correspondent frank gardner reports.

advancing up the coastal plain, pro—government forces have reached the outskirts of hudaydah city, aiming to retake it from yemen's houthi revels. both sides have taken casualties. translation: god willing, we will celebrate the feast of eid in hudaydah. the prize is the port. the houthis have controlled it for the last few years. the coalition accuses them of plundering yemen's wealth and using incoming aid as a bargaining chip. the houthis say they are resisting international aggression and won't give it up. translation: the naval force was able to target a warship with two missiles. the warship was destroyed and the rest of the warships fled due to the fear of the same fate. caught in the middle are yemen's malnourished and poverty stricken civilians. over 8 million people are dependent on food aid and

this has been described world's worst humanitarian crisis. what happens next in hudaydah will affect millions of yemenis. the uae and its coalition partners say they could retake the city within days. but the houthis have said they won't give up an inch of ground. many fear this could become a prolonged and bloody battle. one thing is certain — the saudis and the emiratis, who are backing this campaign to restore the yemeni government say there's too much at stake to abandon it now. some news injust breaking. the married fairground workers have been sentenced to three years in prison each for the gross negligence manslaughter of a seven—year—old

girl. you may remember some ground who died after a bouncy castle blew away with her inside it. william and shelby thurston sentenced at chelmsford crown court to three yea rs chelmsford crown court to three years in prison each for the gross negligence manslaughter of summer grant. more reaction to that coming up. the former wimbledon champion, boris becker, has claimed diplomatic immunity from bankruptcy proceedings in london, because of his new role as a sports attache to the central african republic. his lawyers claim he can't face any legal action without the consent of the foreign secretary, borisjohnson. our diplomatic correspondent, james robbins has more boris becker says that he can't have civil proceedings mounted against him in the united kingdom because in april he was appointed by the central african republic as their sports at tash and cultural attach to the european union which he says

gives him diplomatic status and therefore under the vienna convention he cannot be pursued in civil courts. this is obviously a highly controversial case. his name and picture do appear actually on the website of the central african republic's embassy to belgium with the european union is based. but others will argue that this is really a ruse to avoid civil proceedings so i'm sure that will be what is discussed in court. the fact is that it has been used before, this method, by others. the central african republic has a history of issuing passports and issuing diplomatic status, saw how it prospers in the british courts, we have yet to see. people who secretly take photos under someone's clothes without their consent could face up to two years in prison under a new offence being created in england and wales. the government says it will back a private members bill in the commons to tackle what's known as upskirting, as helena lee reports. it was this woman's experience two years ago which led to today's news, that upskirting will now become

a specific offence. gina martin was at a festival when two men took photographs up her skirt without her consent. it was completely humiliating. i lost all control over how my body looked, i lost all autonomy of my own body and felt totally invaded because they have their hands up my skirt with their cameras. it was a horrible feeling. i didn't want anybody to feel like that and then not be able to do anything about it. she reported it to the police, but there was no prosecution. what followed was a determined online campaign by gina martin. her mission — to make upskirting a sexual offence. the offence is broadly covered in england and wales by public decency and voyeurism laws. but because they don't specifically cover upskirting, it is difficult to prosecute — unlike in scotland, where it is an offence. there have been at

least 14 convictions. the government is backing gina's campaign. victims feel humiliated and degraded by this sort of treatment. we are backing the bill to ensure that upskirting is an offence, because it is an invasion of privacy, and it is important we send a strong message that this sort of behaviour cannot be tolerated. women's groups have welcomed the announcement that it will become law. the law matters, because it's saying what is right or wrong in our society. it's completely unacceptable. in the worst cases, these images of a woman's genitals will be spread across the internet, across the world, out of their control. that is the level of seriousness of it. it is great the government say this is serious, it's wrong, and we are going to capture that by making it a criminal offence. and a new offence. gina's campaign was made possible by the support she got online. but she also received what she describes as an unbelievable amount of abuse. campaigners say the new law is a start, but children and young

people need to be taught respect at the earliest opportunity. let's get the weather with sarah keith lucas. across many parts of the country, we have lighter winds that we have yesterday. storm hector is giving away towards the north. not try everywhere with some shower was on the cards across northern and western parts of the country out there. some showers for parts of scotland, northern ireland. further south, very few and far between. temperatures up to around 23 degrees in the warmest spot and mixed teams further north and west. mostly dry is the evening hours as the showers moved away, but late in the night, more rain moving in from the west so do the early hours of saturday, wet weather arrives across northern

ireland, western parts of scotland and western parts of england and wales. saturday's weather will be dominated by this frontal system which works its way from west to east across the country. the heaviest of the rain on this front will be in the north still could be some thunderstorms across scotland, northern ireland, north—west england. one or two showers for parts of western england and wales but central and eastern england likely to remain dry in every part of the day and it will be a little cooler than today. this is bbc news. our latest headlines: leslie grantham, best known for playing the part of "dirty" den watts in eastenders, has died at the age of 71. ex—army sergeant emile cilliers has been jailed for at least 18 years for attempting to murder his wife by tampering with her parachute and sabotaging a gas valve at their home. the government has defended its flagship benefit scheme, after the spending watchdog said

it was slow and expensive. the national audit office report said universal credit had caused hardship. govia thameslink railway has announced its chief executive charles horton is to resign. it follows widespread disruption caused by new timetables. 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. 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. now it's time for a world cup round up from the bbc‘s sport centre. action has resumed on the second day

of the world cup in russia. a hint of the world cup in russia. a hint of choice for mohamed salah as he was passed fit to take part in egypt's first match at the tournament in what is his 26th birthday. he was named on the bench for the meeting with uruguay. the liverpool forward hasn't played a match since he went off with a shoulder injury in liverpool ‘s champions league final defeat at the end of may. when the match kicked off mohamed salah's egyptian team—mates have helped their own. the closest chance falling to luis suarez, former liverpool goal—scorer himself, who could only find the side netting. these are the live

pictures from the match. korea there may be a few debates over who gets the remote today with two more games to follow that one. iran play morroco at 4 o'clock and that is followed by a classh between rivals portugal and spain. the 2010 winners, who only sacked their head coach 2 days ago. the man who has stepped into the role is the former national captain fernando hierro. sergio ramos is confident that he is the right man to do the job. translation: i think there aren't many people better than fernando to cover the absence of julen many people better than fernando to cover the absence ofjulen which is quite large. fernando was a great player, we know him really well and i think he is one of the best

choices to take over the role. hopefully we will be a team with the same intentions and dreams and it shouldn't change at all because of what has happened. england forward marcus rashford is taking part in full training in repino for the first time since arriving in russia. as manager gareth southgate looks to refine his selections ahead of their opening world cup game on monday. our sports correspodent david orstein is with the england camp. monday at st george's park training base in staffordshire, marcus rashford picked up a knee problem in behind closed doors friendly among the squad. he didn't on the first england day of training here on wednesday nor on thursday, but he appeared today with the rest of the group and seemed fine. it seems perhaps just precautionary that he was rested for two days. yesterday video emerged of training alone and

separate from the group and saying he felt ok. it looks like he will be fit for monday's match against tunisia in falgoux ground but i expect he was never going to start, and maybe more so with that problem. —— in volgograd. this is the media centre away from the training centre and hotel. the players were becoming elated to speak to media ahead. rashford looks fit. all 23 england players trained and currently no injury concerns. meanwhile former england defender phil nevillle says it's "absolutely fundamental" for the growth of the women's game, that teamgb are present at the tokyo 2020 olympics. the current england head coach says he would like to be a part of any step up if it does happen... the world cup, olympic games, i don't think there is much to choose between them. having spoken to some

of the senior players, older and retired players who have already been to the 2012 world cup with england, i realised how big an occasion that would be to go to an olympic games and stop is fantastic that team gb will have a women's football team. and it would be great ifi football team. and it would be great if i could be a part of it. in cricket, afghanistan have been thrashed by india in their historic first test match. they were bowled out for 109 and 103 on day two to slip to defeat by an innings and 262 runs. it's only the fourth time in test history a team has been bowled out twice in a day. i'll have more for you in the next hour. you can follow the goings—on from the world cup on bbc one and radio five live. many people have been taking to twitter to remember

the eastenders actor leslie grantham, who's died at the age of 71. adil ray, the star if citizen khan says, what a life leslie grantham led. brilliant character in eastenders. he was proof of how you can turn your life around." the former member of the band blue, antony costa says; "just heard the news my friend and ex—panto colleague has passed. rip big man. i loved working with you in panto. and a fellow cast member tracy—ann oberman — who played chrissie watts in eastenders says; "really sorry to hear about leslie grantham a very very good actor and one who created an iconic character with dirty den." the italian prime minister giuseppe conte is in paris for talks with president emmanuel macron, which are expected to focus on immigration. their working lunch came close to being cancelled, after the two countries traded angry words over italy's refusal to accept the rescue ship aquarius. our correspondent hugh schofield gave us this update from the french capital. it was a very nasty atmosphere

earlier this week when the italians first decided not to let this boat to dot in an italian port. it was emmanuel macron, the french president, who came out with the reaction at first of all got them angry in rome. he said it was a cynical and irresponsible thing to do. that didn't go down at all well. and even worse came from a spokesman for his party who said what the italians had done made him physically sick. this is not the kind of language that is going to go down well or make friends in rome, particularly with this new government, with its very disruptive new ideas about immigration and so on. so there was a very difficult atmosphere between the countries for atmosphere between the countries for a while this week. as you say, a certain degree of appeasement has come in and both countries decided it wasn't worth going to the very brink on this. phone calls were had and clarifications were made. the

prime minister has come, it's a get to know you meeting, he is a new prime minister and this is a chance to speak to emanuel macron before going to britain and germany in next few days. the atmosphere isn't good. it's not just few days. the atmosphere isn't good. it's notjust the few days. the atmosphere isn't good. it's not just the fans and few days. the atmosphere isn't good. it's notjust the fans and italian atmosphere that is difficult. it's the whole european question of immigration that is coming to the fore again. everybody knows this issueis fore again. everybody knows this issue is bubbling up ahead of the summit ina issue is bubbling up ahead of the summit in a couple of weeks' time in brussels. 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 agency, james comey, of being insubordinate but not politically biased. president trump said he did the country a ‘great service' by firing mr comey. chris buckler reports from washington. james comey is a man who has been criticised by both sides of america's political divide. hillary clinton believes the former fbi director played a part in her losing the presidency, and he was subsequently fired by president trump.

during the 2016 campaign, mr comey was in charge of an investigation into hillary clinton's use of a private e—mail server. lock her up! it became a deeply contentious issue. and this new report finds james comey was insubordinate and made serious errors injudgement in how he handled that inquiry. but the fbi says there there was no attempt to influence the election. this report did not find any evidence of political bias or improper considerations 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, an agent talks of stopping donald trump becoming president. certainly there are a lot of things in this report that not only worry those of us in the administration but should worry a lot of americans, that people played this political

bias and injected that into a department that shouldn't 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 the presidential election will remain under scrutiny. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. prison officers are suffering from mental health problems as a result of the environment in prisons. andrea albutt, president of the prison governors association last year described the uk prison system as in crisis. neil samworth used to work at hmp manchester — also known as strangeways — he told chloe tilly about his experiences working there. you were attacked there? yes, i have been assaulted before. punched, spat at. nothing too serious. you say that, but people don't expect to go

to work and for that to happen. that's something people say to me. you don't get paid for that. i'm a big lad, i have always played rugby, but there are lots of lovely people in there who are just normal people and they don't all have my presents. the thing is, the thing that sticks in my mind, if you go back to a certain event, an mp got an egg thrown at him and it makes world news. every single day now, hundreds of staff are assaulted, verbally, physically, stabbed, spat at, strangled and kicked. it's horrendous. and it's not getting any better. in 2015, march, manchester prison, strangeways, it changed drastically. six months, it became very confrontational. for the simple reason, when prisoners are angry. if a prisoner is having a go at an officer and the officer holds their own, then you just sort of loiter in

the background. you won't get involved. you are there as support. but as is often the case, if a prisoner... you see an officer, male or female, who looks intimidated and is perhaps backing off, then i would step up to the mark. that's the sort of person i am. i do have a presence. so my six months up until getting injured in september 2015 we re getting injured in september 2015 were just a confrontation after confrontation. i actually got injured in september in a restraint situation, injuring my shoulder. that was my last shift, september. when i went to the doctors, my physical health was horrendous, my blood pressure. the doctor said i was heading towards a stroke and a heart attack. on top of that, the longer i was off, people thought you we re longer i was off, people thought you were away longer i was off, people thought you were away from the job, then it's going to be good, and i became incredibly unwell, mentally. not violent, but angry, anxious, things

continually going through your mind. it was about november of the same year, a friend said to me, you're barking. i've self referred myself to salford psychological services. i got an appointment quite quick. that was in february 2016 and they referred me to see a psychologist, who i started seeing in march for around five months. she diagnosed me with ptsd. lots of people in that job will suffer with ptsd, nightmares, whatever. it had never stopped me going to work. horrendous incidents and things like that. but sometimes, unfortunately, if you have a horrendous incident that is managed well, then you know you can cope with it. if it is not managed well, as is often the case, then it makes it worse. that's former prison officer neil samworth speaking to chloe tilly earlier today. in a moment a summary of the business news but first —

the headlines on bbc news: leslie grantham, best known for playing the part of "dirty den" in eastenders, has died at the age of 71. an army sergeant who tried to murder his wife by sabotaging her parachute has been jailed for life with a minimum of 18 years. the government defends its flagship benefit scheme — universal credit — despite claims it may end up costing more than the previous system. in the business news... charles horton, the boss of the country's biggest rail franchise govia thameslink railway, has resigned. gtr, which runs thameslink, southern and great northern, cancelled hundred of services after the botched introduction of new timetables last month, something the prime minister mrs may called "totally u na cce pta ble". tesco enjoys a confident start to the year as it reports its tenth consecutive quarter of rising sales.

bad weather didn't seem to dampen sales which rose over 2%, and the fact that it has bought booker, the food wholesaler boosted sales in the whole group. us telecoms giant at&t has completed its takeover of time warner. the deal, worth more than £60 billion, has been two years in the making, and was bedevilled by legal arguments over whether it was good — or bad — for competiton. but on tuesday a us judge ruled the deal didn't violate anti—competition laws and the deal was closed today. about 60 bank branches are closing every month — that's according to consumer group which? it claims that rbs is closing the most, and says it leaves many people left without proper access to services. in reply the banks say they are closing branches because more and more customers are banking online and keeping branches open which so few people use doesn't make economic sense. joining me now is gareth shaw, a money expert

at the consumer group which?... the problem is, tanking is not a public utility, these are commercial operations, and it's not worth keeping them open. —— banking is not a public utility. fewer people are visiting bank branches. the number of people walking in to do their business has dropped between 20 and 25%. use of online and mobile banking has risen 13%, but there are a significant number of people out there who are not doing online banking. the banking industry says 71% of people are, but that leaves a third of people that are not, almost. when a bank closes its doors, that really hurts rural and semi—rural areas that do not have good access to broadband or good mobile coverage and have higher populations of elderly people, who cannot simply do not want to engage with online banking. what happens to

them when the local branch disappears? what can we do about it? it isa disappears? what can we do about it? it is a commercial operation and these banks are trying to make money. there isn't much you can do in life without a bank account. it's not a public utility but it is pretty essential for people to live their lives. banks have an obligation to engage with customers and local communities when they take the decision to close a branch. in our view they should consult customers and communities before they take that decision to close a branch. that's very hopeful, but it's not going to happen, is it? this is something that is on parliamentarians' this is something that is on pa rliamentarians' radar, this is something that is on parliamentarians' radar, a special affairs committee is looking at this. in scotland they have argued that rbs, for example, should be keeping some of its branches open because there is a real risk here that a significant number of people are at risk of being disenfranchised from banking and left behind and financially excluded. that's really

important to monitor. the change of pace has been rapid over the last four years and we do not know the long—term impact of not having a physical presence on the hosted for a bank is going to be. are there any semi—technological things you can do? for example, mobile banks? some people talked about having banks on wheels. banks have offered alternative ways to bang. there are some options for people. there are 11,500 post offices across the country where people can conduct basic banking, putting money in and out and checking their balance. some banks have introduced mobile vans to visit communities once a week where you can do similar things. there are also community bankers that use local shared spaces. but they are not the perfect replacement for a face to face service you can get in a bank branch. if you want to have a more complex conversation about a mortgage, investments, your financial future, mortgage, investments, your financialfuture, people mortgage, investments, your financial future, people are mortgage, investments, your financialfuture, people are now

having to travel miles and miles to do that face—to—face. because they don't have a local bank branch to do that. they can't do that at the post office or at a mobile van. 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. former tennis champion boris becker is claiming diplomatic immunity against an attempt to sue him. he was made a sport and culture attache to the eu by the central african republic in april. mr becker was declared bankrupt in 2017 over money owed to private bank arbuthnot latham. bombardier, which has its uk base in derby has missed out on a major deal — a £1.5 billion contract for new tube trains for london. it's gone to the german company siemens, and tfl, which awarded the contract,

saying further contracts are likely to go to the same company. a seven month old welsh start—up, transcend packaging, has just been landed the kind of contract every entrepreneur dreams of — providing mcdonalds with the paper straws it's said will replace plastic ones. it's one of two companies set to provide macdonalds' uk and irish restaurants — and will more than double its 20 strong workforce. on the markets, the ftse is falling back. trade wars, the talk about that between the us and china has put the wind up people. 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. the project is expected

to save more than £16 billion in reduced energy use, with the cost of the scheme funded through power bills. earlier, energy efficiency campaigners, phil spencer and kirstie allsopp explained the benefits of the meters for all homeowners. this is kind of 21st—century technology and it enables people to actually have control over how much they're using and be aware of how much they're spending. i think it's a bit like the plastics debate. we all know that we shoot get rid of single use plastic and if you go to some coffee shops, they will give you money off if you have a reusable cup. it's the same with the smart meter, we can save ourselves money but also we can use less energy which is incredibly important. the reason that the government is rolling out smart meters is environmental, it's as simple as that. we need to use less energy and these are inefficient way of are an efficient way of informing us how much energy we use. but a financial benefit as well, obviously. a couple of quickfire

questions, are these free? yes, they are free to install. if someone has a prepay meter currently, can they get one of these? yes, they can. it's the end of prepay meters, the end of estimated bills. as phil says, the old technology was almost victorian. we have been using those meters, which are rather beautiful and in fact they are recycling them and making things with them now. we live in a world today where information about how we do certain things, how efficiently you are driving your car or your watch tells you what your heart rate is or how many calories you're eating but actually we don't have it at home with the meter. ok, and i know you are travelling around the country to tell people about all of this. incidentally this morning edf energy were fined for missing its target to install smart meters last year, obviously being kept on whether this

is rolling out as it stood. i'd like to ask you more generally with your property guru hans on about the housing market. we had a report yesterday from the department of chartered surveyors that he has market is very flat let me get a quote for you, estate agents' stock levels are remaining near an all—time low. how worried are you about the state of the housing market? very worried, and i will tell you why. there is no such thing as a national market. it is very regional. jobs come and go, there are places where the market is very hot and places where it is flat coming down. but what really troubles me is the fact that the process is so broken. the way in which we buy houses, exchange, completion, the contractual element, it is not working for people and they find moving house incredibly stressful. you used to move an average of five times. that has now dropped to an average of four times and part of the reason for that is that the government is not getting to grips with mending the system. is the uncertainty increased in an uncertain political environment?

no one likes making big financial decisions in periods of uncertainty and we are in that period at the moment. i do not think we are worried about the market, it is just quiet. there are not many transactions, not a lot of volumes. and the banks and estate agents, that is bad business for them but it does not mean house prices are going to collapse. are prices going to come down, though, you think that would be held before the market all along? i think it would be healthier for all of us, for family life, if houses were cheaper due to supply and demand, i do not think that will happen in a hurry but i do think there will be an impact on the economy if we don't get to grips with how hard it is to actually make that move. people have to move because theirjobs move, their marriages break up, their parents die and they have to sell their houses. there are 1000 reasons why people move and if the combination

of bad legal advice, bad mortgage advice and slightly slack estate agency makes it harder and harder, people are going to do it less. it is a complicated system. iraq it's looking pretty decent across many parts of the country. certainly less windy than yesterday when we had storm hector that caused significant disruption. the storm clearing up to the north and east, and on the satellite image you can see this area of crowd moving across the uk. not wall to wall lou sky bet spells of sunshine to be enjoyed. lighter wind than yesterday, most places are staying dry but showers lingering across parts of scotland and northern ireland. further south in england and wales, those showers are few and far between and we could get the odd isolated one cropping up in the midlands or the south—west. driest in east where we will see temperatures up to around 23 in the

warmest spots, pleasant with light wind, and further north, 15—18dc with more cloud and breeze around. most showers easing away through the evening but overnight more rain working in across northern ireland, western scotland and fringing in two parts of wales and western england. a dry start to be weakened in the east. through the weekend, it's looking like a showery story on saturday. we shouldn't see the strong wind that led to pictures like this during the course of yesterday. this low pressure system works its way from west to east during the day on saturday, bringing spells of rain. the heaviest rain on the system will be across parts of scotland, northern ireland and north—west england. we are likely to see thunder and lightning mixed in with the heaviest downpours. further south, any rain is patchy and lighter through wales and south—west england, and south east england is likely to start dry and stay that way too much of the day. temperature

is not as warm. generally mid to high teens on saturday. in the second half of the whee kim, a dry interlude before the next warm weather front moving into the west later on sunday. —— second half of the weekend. saturday looking largely dry. the best of sunshine across the east of england and scotland. more cloud coming from the west with some spots of light rain. in northern ireland, wales and south—west. temperatures on sunday will be a few degrees warmer than saturday, highs of 20, 201 degrees and a bit cooler further north. things are staying largely dry and warm into next week will stop a bit of rain at times towards the north—west. hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. today at two. an army sergeant who tried to murder his wife by sabotaging her parachute has been jailed for life with a minimum of 18 years. it's a most appropriate sentence for a man who twice tried to kill his wife, and in a totally callous and cold way, very pleased today

with the verdict. . this is a letterfrom my solicitor, telling you that your husband has filed divorce. the actor leslie grantham, who played "dirty den" in eastenders, has died at the age of 71. a damning report says the new universal credit benefits system is too slow and is not delivering value for money. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport with hugh. and mohamed salah has made it but he's still not happy. they will be talking about