this is bbc news and these are the top stories developing at 11. the government rules out legalising cannabis following a call by the former conservative leader william hague to change the law. after ministers made an exception for billy caldwell, there is pressure to change the law. as the mother of another epileptic boy renews her appeal to theresa may to allow him treatment with cannabis too. she met my son and she told me that they would find a way in which our clinicians could be issued a scheduling licence to give my son the medicine he had in holland. a minute's silence is observed to mark the first anniversary of the finsbury park terrorist attack in north london. religious and community leaders come together in solidarity. terrorism is terrorism. no matter the target and regardless of what motivates the sick and twisted perpetrators that carry out these evil crimes. commuters face more disruption in the north of england

as northern rail workers begin the first of three planned strikes in just one week. also ahead... the number of people forced from their homes by conflict across the world has risen to a record high for the fifth year running, according to the united nations refugee agency. a warning from the aid agencies here that these people fled persecution and nine or ten months ago is now face a new threat because of the weather that is about to hit here. and i'm live where england are back at their base after last night's victory over tunisia in the opening game of the world cup. good morning. welcome to bbc news

live. the government has ruled out any move to legalise cannabis or to review its classification as a class b drug — despite the former conservative leader lord hague calling for a review of the current law. lord hague says the case of billy caldwell, the boy with epilepsy whose medicinal cannabis oil was confiscated, shows the government's approach is out of date, however the prime minister says that there is a "very good reason" for the current rules on cannabis and other drugs. our assistant political editor, norman smith, is in westminsterfor us. some surprising voices coming out in favour of legalising cannabis from westminster this morning.” favour of legalising cannabis from westminster this morning. i don't think any unexpectedly william hague to suggest the cannabis should be legalised. he says the war on cannabis has been lost and asking the police to clamp down on it is asking the military to reconquer the

empire. it might happen, no point trying. but the government this morning have rejected the idea of any loosening of the law in terms of recreational use of cannabis. that is not going to happen. that is a separate issue, though, it has to be said, from the arguments surrounding the medicinal use of cannabis and there, i think, the medicinal use of cannabis and there, ithink, we the medicinal use of cannabis and there, i think, we are going to see movement because in the last few minutes, the home secretary sajid javid has said he will make his statement in the commons this lunchtime about that issue and that, of course, follows the high—profile emotive cases we have heard recently billy caldwell and harvey dingley, children who have relied on cannabis oil to reduce the amount of epileptic fits and sees you as they suffer from. epileptic fits and sees you as they sufferfrom. mrs epileptic fits and sees you as they suffer from. mrs may has always been extremely cautious of loosening of the laws of cannabis in the home

office. seward resisted attempts to do isa office. seward resisted attempts to do is a rebuff a royal commission into cannabis, and yesterday was asked about the billy caldwell case, she cited the impact of cannabis potentially on families more broadly, and i think her view is that cannabis can very often be a gateway drug. nevertheless, there is huge pressure now including personally on mrs may this she met the mother of alcide dingley back in march and, well, —— alfie dingley. her mother said what happened. we met on the 20th of march, she met my children and my family, we sat down with ministers and she assured us in that meeting that we would find a legal way to provide alfie with the medicine he was using in holland. way to provide alfie with the medicine he was using in hollandm was clear his symptoms were greatly reduced. they accepted that and they said they would find a compassionate and speedy way in which at doctors

can prescribe for alfie. that was three months ago. she said to make us three months ago. she said to make us look me in the eye and said she would help me and i believed her. and i feel distraught today, to be quite honest. the home secretary has sanctioned the setting up of a medical panel to examine licenses for individual cannabis medicine. that is not the same as a review of usage of medicinal cannabis in broader terms. that is a case—by—case recommendation to licence applications for individual medicinal cannabis. all of which said politically, the tide appears to be running strongly in favour of a broader review. have a listen to the labor leaderjeremy corbyn this morning. the support is the legalisation of the medicinal use of canada. look at the medical effects of the wider community of any

cannabis use. because quite clearly, public health has to come first and the health of users has to come first, but i think it's quite an important step with the idea that will pull to become law of legalising the medicinal uses of cannabis because it clearly can help people in very difficult circumstances. i think the letter that my colleague sent to the government is something that is very useful. it's notjust the labour party the mp and lib dems also support a legalising medicinal cannabis is interesting a growing swathe of labour mps to and not after those expected. very often those on the right of the party have a reputation for more and order back the changes. some even said they would be prepared to go aboard and get the medicinal cannabis oil for the likes of alfie dingley if the

law is not change. talking to one conservative mp who was closely involved in this argument he said to mea involved in this argument he said to me a short time ago he cannot see how mrs may can resist now a change in the law. thank you. as norman mentioned — the home secretrary sajid javid will give a statement in the commons on drug licensing later — we're expecting that at a quarter past one and we'll bring that to you when it happens. the lower house of parliament in canada has voted, by an overwhelming majority, to legalise cannabis for recreational use. the legislation must now be passed by the senate and receive royal assent by the governor general, before being signed into law. that could happen by september. a minute's silence has been observed at a ceremony in islington in north london to mark the first anniversary of the finsbury park mosque attack. a van drove into worshippers as they gathered for prayers during the holy month of ramadan. the driver, darren osborne, is serving a life sentence for the murder of makram ali,

a father of six, and for attempted murder. the mayor of london sadiq khan spoke at the memorial, and said that london would always be defiant in the face of terrorism. the terrorist attack in finsbury park a year ago was an attack on all londoners. terrorism is terrorism. no matter the target and regardless of what motivates the sick and twisted perpetrators that carry out these evil crimes. the way this community has responded and come together has inspired us all. when londoners face adversity, we stand up for our values. we stay strong and we remain united. this is our city. this is our way of life. and those who seek to divide us should know this — you will never succeed. the labour leader and local

mp jeremy corbyn also spoke at the memorial, and spoke of how the local community came together the day after the attack. makram lost his life and the following day, there were prayers in the middle of seven sisters road, eerily quiet on one of the busiest streets in our city. eerily quiet as we came together, christian, jewish, muslim, hindu, buddhist, humanist, all came together to show our solidarity, our community, from wherever they come, whatever theirfaith is, we will absolutely never allow them to divide us. let's speak to our correspondent caroline davies who was at the silence in islington — caroline. it was just

it wasjust behind it was just behind me on the steps of the islington town hall where the speeches were made earlier in the silence was heard. we heard from sadiq khan and jeremy corbyn who is the mps at islington north here, but also from james brokenshire from the government is the communities secretary. sending the but also makram ali's family who were here to remember their loved one and the dozen people injured that evening. this happened around quarter past midnight on the 19th ofjune last year when darren osborne drove his van intoa year when darren osborne drove his van into a group of worshippers who had just left the muslim welfare house. i'm joined by the chief executive there. you arrived about an hour later. what were your memories of that evening?m an hour later. what were your memories of that evening? it was terrible memories, chaos, a lot of crowds, blood everywhere, it was terrible. a lot of people around. we

didn't know what was going on, his scale of the attack was not clear them and what happened really was lots of rumours as well, people talking about two of the guys knifing and killing people. it didn't make it easy and simple, there were talking about over 50 victims, it was a tough night. but thankfully, we had an outstanding reaction from the public after that and also the authority was quick to come to the centre. two hours after the incident, we hadjeremy come to the centre. two hours after the incident, we had jeremy corbyn, the incident, we had jeremy corbyn, the maier, the head of the police, they were all in my office all organising the crowd. can you give me an impact, a year on, what impact has it had on the community that use your centre? people are still grieving that it is much better. after seeing the outstanding response from the community, the

public was so fantastic. seen as we opened the door at night, we saw thousands of people walking into the house with flowers, cards, the vibe was so house with flowers, cards, the vibe was so beautiful. weeks after that, we had uk citizens, i ff who were supportive and the police, the council, but still our hearts of course are with makram ali's family who are still grieving today. i hope that when they saw this kind of commitment and support and the daugherty telemachus solidarity, there will be thrilled. i spoke to she's —— i spoke to move zina who is trying to come to terms of what's happening. they are fearful of islamophobia and we have seen attacks, we have seen threatening letters punishing the muslim day for example, we must come together to try and eradicate racism and

islamophobia from our community. there are still some murals on the side talking about turning to love, that was the message from the service. love and hate will not be dividing us. back to our main news. let's return to our top story — the debate over the legalisation of cannabis — our assistant political editor, norman smith, (os) there is now huge pressure on the home secretary and theresa may to rethink the laws around medicinal cannabis. we expect a statement from the home secretary sajid javid precisely on this. i'm joined by the former life sciences ministries responsible for medicine regulation. what should sajid javid and outs?|j think we need to move fast on cannabis medicines and more slowly on recreational cannabis. my fast, i'm in what the case of billy

caldwell has illustrated is you can't have legitimate medical patients in dire medical need with things features a night for lack of a medicine that 20 other countries prescribe and allow. i think we could solve that very fast. licensing and registration scheme, if you are suffering and from any conditions where patients rely on the brain cancer or epilepsy, patient registration and clearance. i would go further today, the presumption in law is if you have that condition and your family possession is not an offence, we should solve it quickly, three weeks not three months. recreational cannabis is a different conversation that should follow, that but this needs doing now. you put on this in government but were not successful, why? to reason. i was keen as minister for life science, to hear the medical case in evidence for cannabis medicines, not recreational cannabis. unfortunately the people who came in to see me were largely

recreational users as well. but the home office would not entertain the conversation. my civil servants worst cold, don't touch it. there is no ambition at the home office at all to open up a debate about the use of cannabis, that debate has moved on. the home office is theresa may and theresa may is wary of any relaxation in the laws for fear that it might take polar relaxation in attitude and the law on cannabis. this has changed a thing. sajid javid is the home secretary, i think you're going to hear from him today a different message than on medical use of cannabis medicine. he and the department are open to working with the department of health. i think this should be regulated by the department of health, a medical use licensing scheme, we can do that through the m8 r a, the medical use licensing agency, i don't think the home office should control medical use of cannibalism. the debate about

recreational use is for the home office and that the wider issue. you can imagine billy caldwell or alfie dingley mother thinking a review sounds like months and months, considering different medicines, that when their children need results now. i made that point in the house yesterday about medical use. i think we need to move fast, anybody relying on this for legitimate medical reasons for brain cancer and epilepsy, the production how cancer and epilepsy, the production now should be if they have condition and a prescription, they are not criminalised. we need to get this review done in weeks not months. australia did this in a matter of weeks three years ago and i worry when i heard the statement yesterday, if you invite the department of health to do a longer view, it will become years and i will say we don't have the data for the evidence. we need to take a political view lead and put presumption in favour of patients with proper clinical evidence from doctors that they rely on the right

substance. then we can have it available through pharmacies and not criminalised and leave our patients to the will of the internet where they buy. thank you. we'll hear from they buy. thank you. we'll hear from the home secretary about 1:15pm. his office giving little detail about what he might announce that the speculation that he has two announced at the very least some sort of review. thank you, we will have coverage of that statement when it happens after 1pm. the headlines on bbc newsroom live. the government rules out legalising cannabis following a call by the former conservative leader william hague to change the law. a minute's silence is observed to mark the first anniversary of the finsbury park terrorist attack in north london. religious and community leaders come together in solidarity. commuters face more disruption in the north of england as northern rail workers begin the first of three planned strikes in just one week. in sport, england manager gareth

southgate says he's delighted for his captain harry kane after his two goals fired england to victory over tunisia in their world cup opener. belgium sit top of england ‘s group, this belt and two goal from romelu lukaku, this belt and two goal from romelu lu ka ku, helped them this belt and two goal from romelu lukaku, helped them beat panama 3—0. and andy murray makes his return to competitive tennis this afternoon, he's missed nearly a year after hip surgery. he's missed nearly a year after hip surgery. he takes on australian mick kyrgios at queens. i'll be back with more of those stories just after half past. passengers on northern rail services are having to cope with yet more disruption today, with the first of three planned strikes in just one week. members of the rmt union have walked out in a long—running dispute over driver—only trains. the action comes on top of cancellations and delays because of new timetables and staff shortages. and i'll be speaking to a representative of the rmt a little later this hour. the water regulator ofwat has severely criticised four water

companies for their response to the storm nicknamed the beast from the east. the watchdog says poor planning meant customers were badly let down. some people were left without water for days following the big freeze and thaw. the american rapper xxxtentacion has been shot dead in florida. police said the 20—year—old was approached and shot by two armed suspects as he was leaving a motorcycle dealership in miami. his second album went to the top of the billboard chart in the us, but he was also facing a number of criminal charges, including domestic abuse. the united nations refugee agency says the number of people forced from their homes by conflict has risen to a record high for the fifth year running. the unhcr says more than 68 million people were either refugees, asylum seekers or displaced in their own country. conflicts in syria, the democratic republic of congo and myanmar have caused millions to flee. our correspondent dan johnson is in cox's bazar in bangladesh where hundreds of thousands of rohingya muslims are living in makeshift camps after escaping violence in myanmar. if you want an example of the nature

of life for displaced people, there are more than 700,000 of them living in this sprawling camp close to the myanmar border and it keeps growing because the aid agencies are taking advantage of the lull in the weather at the moment, it hasn't rained for the last couple of days, and the camp is actually being expanded. they are using some of the flat land on the edges to build more stable homes because you can see how these shacks have been built on the hillside, they are susceptible to landslides when the rain comes and weakens the earth. these are by no means the most precarious homes, there are some really steep cliffs. the other threat here is flooding and the disease that could be spread by standing water. there is also a risk that latrines like this that are really basic, really simple, more quickly overflow when the rain really intensifies. so there is warning from the aid agencies here that these people who fled persecution about nine or ten months ago now face

a new threat because of the weather that is about to hit here. it is certainly an example of how living this sort of life on borrowed land really does mean an uncertain existence. the united nations refugee agency says it hopes the scale of the crisis will encourage a more generous, coordinated response from wealthier countries. our correspondent imogen foulkes has been looking at the report and we can speak to her now in geneva. we had there a snapshot from dam of the situation in bangladesh but it's replicated in many more countries, the latest figures indicate 68 million people either refugees, asylu m million people either refugees, asylum seekers or displays in their own country which is a staggering figure. yes it is. what is a real concern i think the un has pointed this out over and over again in the last five years of these figures aren't never degreasing. they are

a lwa ys aren't never degreasing. they are always going up. this is an indication of un diplomats could say it has failed to do. there is no peace dealfor it has failed to do. there is no peace deal for syria. iraq it has failed to do. there is no peace dealfor syria. iraq remains very unstable, contribute a lot of refugees, afghanistan, somalia, decades of conflict. democratic republic of congo, and settles for 20 years, then an upsurge of violence in one of the few provinces which had remained relatively peaceful last year. more hundreds and thousands of people displaced. there is a real concern here is that as he saw in dam's report, the misery of people displaced, fled their homes, living in difficult conditions, yet here in wealthy countries in great britain and switzerland, there is a feeling that already we've got too many. in fact, wealthy countries take a tiny, tiny

fraction of the world's displaced. imaging, thank you. president trump has threatened to impose further tariffs on chinese imports, in an escalation of the trade dispute between the us and china. mr trump said the ten % tariffs would come into effect if china "refuses to change its practices". beijing has responded by accusing the us of "blackmail" , raising fears of a full—blown trade war. if you're someone who finds yourself arguing with modern technology then watch out — because it could soon start shouting back. the first ever live public debate between a human and a machine was held in the us overnight. our north america technology reporter dave lee was there to watch it, and sent this report. this is a live debate between women and machine. not just this is a live debate between women and machine. notjust any woman. she

was israel's national debate champion in 2016. it notjust any machine. project debate is able to listen and attempt to respond to the arguments being made. in this debate, the machine argued for less funding of health care and more funding of space exploration. subsidising space exploration would clearly benefit society. i maintain this is something the government should pursue. to be very clear, neither the human nor the computer was told the topic beforehand. ibm said the debate was in no way scripted or planned. at the end of the debate, the audience voted that the human may have delivered the argument better but the machine shared more useful knowledge. so, noa, what was it like debating a machine instead of human? it was surprising how similar the two experiences were. so i think that it was basically at the level of what i would call an above average beginner debater. it was incredibly cool to see just how fluent it was in constructing arguments and constructing sentences and in, like, meaningfully responding to my argumentation. it was a mind—blowing experience.

the progress here isn't in the way this machine speaks but rather, how it thinks. ibm says the computer's able to scan hundreds of millions of articles and documents and pull out the arguments in order to formulate its response. project debater is about mastering language and language is nuanced and in this case, also, there is no particular right or wrong. in many games, in many other things, there is a right answer. so in the terminology we use, there is an objective function and it's easy to say it's now obtained maximum and you're good. in this case, it's much more nuanced. it has many pros and cons and you have to construct those which have some evidence against them and that string together to form a coherent speech and that can be persuasive to an audience. ibm has been famous for carrying out highly—publicised feats of artificial intelligence for decades now. most famously. ibm's deep blue computer beat the russian world chess champion garry kasparov in 1997. but stunts like these haven't always translated

into practical applications. the real potential here isn't about arguing against the machine but arguing with it. ibm says it believes technology like this will help people make strong arguments based on evidence, not emotion. our world could certainly do with a lot more of that. dave lee, bbc news, san francisco. universities should stop using predicted grades when people are applying for places, say lecturers and head teachers. in a call for an overhaul of the system, the university and college union says the uk is out of step with the rest of the world when it comes to admissions. the most recent figures show that about three quarters of applicants got worse results than their teachers had predicted. a hat belonging to napoleon, which was salvaged from the battlefield at waterloo,

has been sold at auction. the famous bicorn hat, so called because it has two points, was sold for 245—thousand pounds. it was expected to fetch just 35—thousand. 19 of napoleon's hats are thought to still exist. he wore them sideways so he could be spotted on the battlefield. the duke and duchess of sussex are to visit dublin next month. kensington palace said prince harry and meghan ‘are looking forward to learning more about ireland's history and experiencing its rich culture, as well as meeting the people who are shaping the country's future". hello. i got quite a bit of cloud at the moment across the uk, it sends and breaks up in places, like this photo here from this morning, you can see please goes poking through that cloud. we continue with sunny spells across eastern and south—eastern area of england in the afternoon where it feels warm. further west were misty conditions

around coastal areas of wales, over the hills as well, and the rain spreads into the north, the north west of northern ireland, by the afternoon. temperature wise, temperatures up to them 20s in the south. rain is heavily tonight across scotland and into the north of england, 9—10dc into tomorrow, then imminentand of england, 9—10dc into tomorrow, then imminent and wells will have a warm and might unite to come. that way will shift away and moved to scandinavia. some patchy rain spreads south and east would foot the cloud, but the south—east with sunshine has temperatures up to perhaps the high 20s. behind this area of cloud, we have sunny spells but feeling fresher compared to today with highs of 17—19d. you are watching bbc news. our latest headlines: the government has ruled out legalising cannabis after former tory leader william hague called for a change in the law. however, it is expected to examine how the drug can be used for medicinal purposes. the first anniversary of the

finsbury park mosque attack has been marked by a minute's silence. one man died and many injured. after weeks of delays and disruption, commuters face will face yet more misery as northern rail workers begin the first of three planned strikes in just one week. and the number of people forced from their homes by conflict across the world has risen to a record high for the fifth year running, according to the united nations refugee agency. time now for a round up of the world cup sports news. hello. a successful night for england in the end then, they're back in their base of repino just north

of st petersburg after that 2—1 win over tunisia in their opening match of the world cup. our sports correspondent david ornstein is there for us, and they'll be a happy bunch today, david ? they will be bouncing. they arrived back to their hotel a short distance away from here in the early hours, around 6am local foray away from here in the early hours, around 6am localforay your time. an emotional night that ended for the right reasons and england will be delighted with their start. this is the training ground. you can see the coachesin the training ground. you can see the coaches in the background. alan russell and steve holland setting out a training session. following that match last night in which harry kane gave england the lead early on with his first goal in a competition at senior level. that what england after the perfect start. however, it then went characteristically a

little bit of a wobble and tunisia equalised from the penalty is what —— penalty spot. harry kane wrapped it upfor —— penalty spot. harry kane wrapped it up for england in stoppage time. it was a happy night in the end. it puts england in a good position. they need to win on sunday against panama. you will hear from us a little later today. thank you for joining us, david. plenty to talk about from last night's match. england and everton midfielder leon osman. let's start with var. it went against them last night. harry kane grappling with his opponent, the two occasions, and on both occasions the referee deemed them to be no foul, but the va are

assista nts them to be no foul, but the va are assistants which are able to see all the pictures afterwards also decided that there was no offence and considering the pictures we are seeing, it is incredible that we are discussing about. yes, really strange that they didn't all that up. they have decisions to make during the match but now there is decisions for gareth southgate to make for sunday. i thought raheem sterling contributed to the first half performance, england on the front foot with real pace and attack and creating a lot of chances. but i think rushford in the warm up qualifier and last night once he came on, he really did give england something else, another goal threat. you can see the frustration after being told to leave that one. maybe you will get his chance against panama. maybe dele alli was a bit

unfit, would you make a change in that area? i think loftus-cheek did really well. if dele alli has any questions over his fitness, i would be leaving him out if you have any aspirations in going longer in this competition, you need your best players fit and i wouldn't risk it. hold tight for just a players fit and i wouldn't risk it. hold tight forjust a moment because iam sure hold tight forjust a moment because i am sure they are very happy, let's have a look at some of the reaction from the players last night. starting with lingard. look at the technique on leapfrog. happy that england fought until the end and i guess that is what the captain was feeling as well. saying no less than we deserved. england themselves putting a tweet up last night about their manager gareth southgate in their manager gareth southgate in the empty arena afterwards saying he had time for a call home. a nice moment for the manager. we are going

to talk about belgium because they are top of england's group. your former team—mate had a huge influence, didn't he? he did. he did what he does best and that is the effective in the goal area. the first goal was a fantastic piece of skill. but then you have got individual skill throughout this belgian side. fantastic skill from the boring. he is in a position where he causes damage. nobody was catching him for that. a delicate finish as well. they would expect to beat the panama team. they will have a much tougher task against tunisia but they have got the firepower to be able to beat them. did belgium show that england should go into that game against panama looking to attack and get a big win?|j that game against panama looking to attack and get a big win? i think it showed how the game will develop. panama will be tight, compact, physical in their approach. trying to frustrate england. belgium were

patient and eventually their skill and technique came out and they took their chances. colombia against japan on radio five live. you can also watch that on bbc one. 1pm kick—off. then at 4pm it's poland versus senegal. and later, hosts russia play egypt, with coverage on bbc one and bbc radio five live. sala should be a little bit fitter. 7pm kick—off this afternoon. thank you so much forjoining us. i'll have more for you in the next hour. thank you very much. see you later. a 24—hour strike has begun at the railfirm, northern, whose passengers have already endured hundreds of cancellations and delays since a new timetable was introduced. the rmt union is in dispute about plans to remove guards from trains. let's speak to daren ireland, who is a regional organiser for the rmt union, whojoins us from our carlisle studios. thank you forjoining us. the

department for transport says this dispute is not aboutjobs or safety, guards have been guaranteed their jobs and independent rail regulator that driver controlled trains which are being used in this country for 30 years are safe. what is this dispute about? firstly, 70% of the trains in the uk railway network have a second safety critical person on there. ie a guard. what this dispute is about is fighting to maintain safety levels on the railway and maintain accessibility on the railway. we are not after one extra penny in this dispute, but what we wish to maintain is that the comments levels of safety given the passengers are maintained in the industry. if your train was in distress foreign accident or derailment, what would happen in a

situation where there were no conductor or card on—board to evacuate passengers safely? the independent rail regulator has looked at it and said driver controlled trains are safe. well, the regulator is funded from a levy through the train operating companies. they are hardly independent. if you are funding them, it is not surprising that you end up with the views of the millionaire train operating company's millionaire train operating compa ny‘s view. as millionaire train operating company's view. as the union, we believe safety levels on a railway should be maintained and that the train operating companies should realise that. they should realise that the travelling public who paid for this level of safety in the ticket price wish to maintain a guard on their service. they should come to the table and resolve these disputes. these trains operate all over the world without issue, why are you so concerned? you obviously cited their what might happen in the

incidence of a derailment, but it is not like it has not been tried and tested. i mean the point we would say as a trade union is that passengers do not want to be left to their own devices when travelling on rail services within the uk. there are guards on 70% of services that are guards on 70% of services that are run in the uk currently, so what we need to do here is start talking about defending passenger safety who pay us in their ticket price and not giving more millions already subsidised franchise, such as a river who are shambolic. had you think passengers on northern rail will be feeling about this? they have been suffering because of the changes to the timetables, three strikes in one week, and it has also

emerged that it is going to be the passengers and taxpayers who will foot the bill for the strike action because of a clause in the franchise agreement the government can reimburse northern rail for any losses that arise from industrial action. section of the agreement is the agreement that was signed off by chris grayling the secretary of state for transport. what we have here is a government that is fully in line with the private train operators who wish to reduce safety on our railway at the same time as bailing them out to industrial action. the public see right through that and a rail north have not been to the negotiating table for months. they must realise that they have a business to run. it is an acceptable

to re m ove business to run. it is an acceptable to remove the gods by 2020. thank you very much. the government has ruled out any move to legalise cannabis or to review its classification as a class b drug. however, it has not closed the door to a possible re—think over the use of cannabis for medicinal reasons. earlier, the former conservative leader, lord hague, said any war on cannabis had been "irrevocably lost", and urged the government to consider legalising cannabis for recreational as well as medicinal use. baroness meacher, who chairs the all parliamentary group on drug policy reform, has said existing laws which prevent the use of cannabis in medical applications as "evil". this country has denied people medical cannabis when, for example in the case of the 2000 people with severe, uncontrolled epilepsy, their brains are being destroyed every day, every week. this is very, very serious, obviously.

so we want to focus on the need, urgent need, to get cannabis out of schedule one which is about medicines and it is for dangerous drugs with little or no medical value. we know now this is rubbish. we have known this for a long time. with me is steve moore from volteface — a policy innovation hub that explores alternatives to current public policies relating to drugs. he is also leading the campaign for billy caldwell — the young boy with epilepsy — in the hope that he will be granted ongoing use of medical cannabis oil. thank you for coming in. and narrowly focused would you want any changes to be or how widely focused? right now there is public clamour and public outrage to what happened to charlotte and billy caldwell last monday morning at heathrow airport. set aside the issues of medical cannabis, what we have here is a

breach of clinical ethics to remove a medicine from a very sick child and not provide safeguarding. until they were rushed dramatically to the hospital on friday afternoon. in the early hours, laws were being changed it whitehall. this is more thanjust an issue of medical cannabis. this is an issue of fundamental breach of clinical ethics. but when the government... we are going to be hearing form the government in the commons after one o'clock. the government said it is going to look at it, but theresa may has ruled out at it, but theresa may has ruled out a wider look at legalising cannabis. what would you like to see happen? in the short term, there is public support to deal with the issues that have been eliminated by what has happened to billy and that is to provide access to medical cannabis in the way that it routinely

accessible in germany, canada, australia, and 32 other countries. so not on a case—by—case basis but for anyone who says they need it? at the moment we had no policy on this at all. the government had buried their heads in and hoped charlotte would go home and this would blow over. in the early hours of saturday morning, they decided to change the law. a law they decided they could not change or last week. it is a panic response from the government. think they're going to rush together an expert panel. we need more than that. what we need now is the kind of swift response that this situation demands. i think we are past the stage where we want to have long bureaucratic processes. we know already that no patient has ever made a successful application to

import cannabis to this country. we know that the family of alfie dingley have spent hundreds of hours form filling at the home office and she has not received a license. should this be a matter for the she has not received a license. should this be a matterfor the home office? absolutely not. we have been focused on how we can get this urgent review undertaken with a review to transfer responsibility of children's medicine from the home office to the department of health. we have asked jeremy hunt, we hope to get a positive response today. it cannot be the response of the home office to make clinical decisions on a sick child. we are hearing something from westminster. the government spokesperson has been askedif government spokesperson has been asked if they are reviewing the use of cannabis for medicinal use and the spokesperson has said that the home secretary will be making a statement later. asked about hannah deacon's claim that theresa may had personally assured her that her son would get the treatment he needed,

it was said that they would work through cases as quickly as possible. a spokesperson ruled out the legalisation of decriminalisation of cannabis saying that the drug's harmful effects are well known. it is extraordinary today that we have had william hague, lord haig, calling forthe legalisation of cannabis. the idea that it can be driven off the streets is deluded. it has come about because of a very specific case but it is blowing up into a bigger issue. billy has been the whirling wall for the cold war of drug policy. he has done more in ten days than ten years. emergency statements, people have connected with a child who has had his medicine confiscated and find that

unfathomable. is it right both about crosses over into the bigger picture? 20 years ago in places like colorado, there wasn't proper regulation it so in the late 90s, it is fairto regulation it so in the late 90s, it is fair to say that it wasn't probably regulated and —— properly regulated, the regulations were not attacked. it is different with billy. billy went to the second largest paediatric research hospital in the world. in toronto. she prescribed medicine through clinical trials and it looks like a bottle of eye drops. that is what he was prescribed. that is what was confiscated. that is what has been the triggerfor confiscated. that is what has been the trigger for everything that has happened since. we do not know where this is going to end. but what we will know... what william hague's in

the less it is at least a intelligent conversation. thank you very much. we wait to hear from the home secretary at 1:15pm. in a moment a summary of the business news this hour but first, the headlines on bbc newsroom live: the government rules out legalising cannabis, following a call by the former conservative leader william hague to change the law. a minute's silence is observed to mark the first anniversary of the finsbury park terrorist attack in north london. religious and community leaders come together in solidarity. commuters face more disruption in the north of england, as northern rail workers begin the first of three planned strikes in just one week. hello, the business news. tough talk on tariffs — donald trump now threatens to impose 10% import duties on a further $200 billion

worth of chinese goods. this is on top of tariffs on $50 billion of chinese products which he announced last week. he upped the ante after beijing retaliated like—for—like. a third profit warning this yearfrom debenhams. the department store says its full year profits are likely to fall below expectations. debenhams blamed "increased competitor discounting and weakness in key markets" for the profit shortfall. it said pre—tax profits for the full year would come in between £35 million and £40 million, below earlier estimates of about £50 million. this is despite a turnaround plan designed to cut costs and boost sales. remember the beast from the east back in february? the water utilities regulator ofwat says some of the biggest water companies didn't support customers properly during the snow chaos, causing "significant hardship". it said more than 200,000 customers were left without water for more than four hours and tens of thousands were cut off for days. it accused firms of bad planning, communication and a lack of support. let's delve into that report. it is

said that there was no excuse for this level of failure. the regulator also said it was concerned the £7 million of compensation paid to customers may not have been enough and that it was going to review existing guidelines. the freezing weather in february and march led to an increase in burst water mains and burst pipes in customers‘s homes. as pipes froze and ford. john, we have had icy cold weather before, we know pipes freeze and four, it is not unprecedented, so why the poor response? and lack of support from these companies who have dealt with this many times over?|j

these companies who have dealt with this many times over? i think the circumstances of the freeze and four we re circumstances of the freeze and four were unusual, but as you said, they are not unprecedented and the company should have the plans in place. it shows a lack of information about what is going on in their network, particularly lower down in the system near the customer's houses. they should have had better information about this and that would have helped them prepare and respond rather than see their consequences for customers that we saw. it is also well criticising and trying to improve things, but isn't the danger that if you say to the big water companies that they need to be better prepared, invest in this, that and the other, that will lead to higher prices for customers to pay for it all. not necessarily. we have already made sure that companies have money to invest. a lot of companies are behind the times with networked information, real—time data to manage problems,

communicating with customers. we think they can solve these problems with the settlements they have got. what sort of response have you had from the water companies? most of them are responding positively to this. a number have conducted internal reviews into the situation and are putting plans in place but we will be holding them to account for that. we're asking them to a public and independent report.- protect customers for the next winter. tarmac is saying it is considering reviewing its guidelines. —— ofwat is saying it is considering reviewing its guidelines. making sure that when the circumstances don't get worse. being of supply for 2h hours is exponentially worse than being off for a couple of hours. the compensation steps are effectively to really recompense customers for the amount of discomfort and

disruption to their lives. thank you very much, john russell from ofwat speaking to us about that report. let's ta ke let's take a look at the markets. the ftse down mainly because of the fears because of the trade is that i mentioned between the us and china. brent crude is down. a big meeting, eve ryo ne brent crude is down. a big meeting, everyone is looking towards that, it has helped the price rise but it has eased a little bit debenhams went down sharply. back to you, joanna. an electric plane has made its maiden flight in norway as part of the nation's efforts to tackle climate change and air pollution. the two—seater plane took a short flight around oslo airport. a bigger one is currently being developed. norway plans to have all short—haul flights powered by electricity by 2040. roger harribin reports.

flying, the worst thing you are likely to do for the climate. all those co2 emissions. is this an answer in norway? the pollution—free plane, powered by batteries. getting into this thing is a feat of human... he laughs. human origami. no polluting exhaust, take—off is quiet. she is tiny, but she works. up she goes... with norway's transport minister on board. norway aims to have all its short—haul flights battery powered by 2040. norway's boats are going electric too as part of the battle against climate change. this battery—powered boat is faster than a normal ferry with two huge advantages. no exhaust, no noise. batteries are hidden below decks.

in future, all norway's ferries will look like this. norway is also subsidising electric cars. it is cheaper to buy, to run, and to maintain, and it is good for the environment. no conventional cars will be sold here after 2025. that is way sooner than the 2040 date proposed by the uk. so are norwegians environmental saints? no. in winter, they fly long—haul for the sunshine. they are rich from oil and gas. sorry about that. but the lead norway is setting on electric transport is certainly creating a buzz. the world's oldest known sumatran orangutan has died

in an australian zoo aged 62, leaving behind 54 descendants. puan, described as the "grand old lady" of perth zoo, was euthanised on monday due to age—related complications. she had been at the zoo since 1968, and was officially recognised by guinness world records as the oldest of her species in 2016. the national bulletin is coming up next. in a moment we say goodbye to viewers on bbc two. we will have a look at the weather with simon king. thank you. we have had quite a bit of clu b thank you. we have had quite a bit of club this morning but that has been thinning and breaking up to give us some sunny spells. such as this from one of our weather watchers in lincolnshire. some lovely blue skies there. it has been fairly cloudy especially in coastal parts over the hills. there has been also some misty conditions and we will continue with that through the afternoon. elsewhere, lots of cloud, but as i mentioned that cloud is

breaking up to give sunny spells. thicker cloud in northern ireland and the west of scotland. here we will see rain moving in. it will feel quite fresh along western areas. further south, temperatures getting into the mid—20s. feeling warm and muggy during this afternoon. tonight, rain tends heavy across scotland and of the far north of england. temperatures here down to nine to 13 celsius. a warm and muqqy to nine to 13 celsius. a warm and muggy night across much of england and wales. wednesday, heavy rain will move away to the north sea moving towards scandinavia and we are moving towards scandinavia and we a re left moving towards scandinavia and we are left with a narrow band of cloud and patchy rain moving south and east. it will not reach the far south east and that is where we will continue with the warm and muggy weather. temperatures up to about 28 celsius here. temperatures 19 to 21 celsius. showers moving into the far

west of scotland. fresher air in north—western areas will continue to fill the south as we go through thursday. introducing that fresher whether. sunshine the start off on thursday. cloud developing. but it will be a dry day for most of us with sunny spells. temperatures getting upset about 17 to 21 celsius. fresher towards the south—east compared to today. as we go through into friday and the weekend, high pressure dominating things. this big area of high pressure is going to keep things settled as we go into the weekend. with that, there will be sunny spells. it will turn a little bit warmer as well. temperatures by the weekend getting up to 21 to 25 celsius. that is from me. have a good afternoon. goodbye. a minute's silence to mark the first anniversary of the finsbury park terrorist attack. london's mayor says the attack,

which left one man dead and dozens injured, was an attack on all londoners. terrorism is terrorism, no matter the target and regardless of what motivates the sick and twisted perpetrators who carry out these evil crimes. we'll have the latest from the ceremony at islington town hall. also this lunchtime... pressure on the government to relax the rules on cannabis, as a former conservative leader says the war against the drug has been lost. more misery for passengers on northern rail as staff walk out in a fresh strike ina long—running dispute over guards. i think generally getting into leeds is not too bad.