using cannabis for medicinal purposes — the home secretary announces a review, which could see more patients allowed to use the drug. it comes as the mother of six—year—old alfie dingley is granted a licence, allowing his severe epilepsy to be treated with cannabis oil. it means that, instead of having hundreds of seizures a month, going into hospital in an ambulance, having intravenous steroids every week, he is now going to have a pretty much normal life. but the home secretary insists cannabis for recreational use will remain illegal. also on the programme tonight: a minute's silence to mark the first anniversary of the terror attack at finsbury park mosque, which killed one man and injured nine others. back in action — andy murray's playing queen's, in his first competitive match in almost a year, after a hip operation. and in london, tributes paid to the three graffiti artists who died after being hit by a train. and why security is being stepped up as

royal ascot gets under way. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. the home secretary has announced a review of the medicinal use of cannabis, which could lead to more patients in the uk being prescribed drugs derived from the plant. the announcement follows a series of appeals from parents, who want their children to be able to access medications which can alleviate the symptoms of epilepsy and other illnesses. but sajid javid insists the class b drug will remain banned for recreational purposes. our special correspondent, lucy manning, reports. hello. how are you? six—year—old alfie dingley has his good days. but his severe epilepsy means many seizures. but alfie has a mother prepared to take on anyone to

help her son and get the cannabis oil that improves his symptoms. we met the prime minister. she looked me in the eye and she said to me, "we will help you." and she met my child, and i feel now, having gone through the process that we've been through, have i been played? i'm a mother of a very sick child and was it all a stunt? that meeting was months ago. just hours after alfie's mum spoke out today, a very quick change of heart from the government. immediate help for alfie and a wider review that could see medical cannabis legalised in the uk. as a father, i know there is nothing worse than seeing your child suffer. you would do anything to take away their pain. that is why i have the utmost sympathy for billy caldwell, alfie dingley and many others like them, and for their parents, who have been under unimaginable stress and strain. i'm very overwhelmed. for me, that isjust life changing, and for him it is life changing.

i know now that he won't ever have to go through that again. and for me, as his mother, that isjust an amazing thing to feel. he's been given a new lease of life. yeah, yeah. billy caldwell‘s mum has also been fighting for her son to get cannabis oil. common—sense and the power of mothers and fathers of sick children has burst the political process wide open. medical cannabis oil contains two compounds found in cannabis. in the uk, it is licensed to treat ms but, until now, not epilepsy. it is legal in 26 other countries. they're living with the same fear that we lived with for 16 years, that epilepsy could take our son, and it did. and i don't want anybody else in that position. it's a horrendous thing to go through. for alfie's parents, and all the other children, there is at last hope.

the government has had to change its position very quickly on this. perhaps calculating that it is not a good look to be on the opposite side of sick children and their parents. so they will look at what type of medicines might work and then look to make those, to give those to the families that need them. what they are insisting will not happen is the legalisation of cannabis for personal use the former conservative leader william hague said today that should happen because the war on cannabis has been lost, but the home office is absolutely adamant that this is not the first step to legalising cannabis. what it is for those families, though, it does appear to be the power of mothers forcing the politicians to change. lucy manning, thank you. a minute's silence has been held in north london to mark the first anniversary of the finsbury park terrorist attack. 51—year—old makram ali was killed, and nine other people were injured, when a van was driven into a crowd outside a mosque. our home affairs correspondent, daniel sandford, reports.

london at rush—hour. but today, a minute of silence and reflection. among the leaders, the daughter and grandson of makram ali, who was killed in the finsbury park attack one year ago. and the iman, who preserved the rule of law, making sure the attacker was kept safe until the police arrived. this is our city. this is our way of life. and those who seek to divide us should know this — you will never succeed. applause darren osborne had deliberately driven a hire van straight into a group of muslims on a warm night during ramadan. one survivor, abdirahman ibrahim, was hit by the van and then helped restrain the attacker to protect his more seriously injured friends. he says that many of those caught up in the violence are still suffering,

either physically or mentally. the anxiety, the post—traumatic stress disorder. some of us have panic attacks. so, this will be ongoing. no matter how much counselling or therapy you take, no—one will ever forget what happened that night. makram ali, who was killed, was 51 years old and sat in the same chair for prayers at his local mosque every day. and there is now a memorial to makram ali overlooking the playground where he watched his six children grow up and, until last year, his grandchildren too. but at makram ali's mosque — lit up overnight with the #londonunited hashtag — they say that a tragedy that might have divided has actually brought people closer together. daniel sandford, bbc news. the inquiry into the fire at grenfell tower has been shown the first pictures from cameras worn by firefighters as they entered flat 16 on the fourth floor of the tower

where the blaze started. in the thermal images, the crew can be seen entering the front door and then going through the flat, before a bright yellow glow can be seen in the kitchen, where the fire started near a fridge freezer. a former soldier is to be charged with manslaughter by gross negligence, over the killing of a catholic man in northern ireland 30 years ago. 23—year—old aidan macanespie was a sinn fein activist when he was shot dead at an army checkpoint manned by the grenadier guards in county tyrone. the american rapper xxxtentacion has been shot dead outside a motorcycle shop in florida. the 20 year old's second album went to the top of the billboard chart in the us. he was described as one of rap‘s most controversial artists and was facing a number of criminal charges, including domestic abuse. there's been more travel disruption for northern rail passengers, as staff stage a 24—hour walk—out in a long—running dispute over driver—only trains.

members of the rmt union say removing guards from trains is a risk to public safety, but some customers are unhappy about the new timetable delays. danny savage reports. first thing this morning, graham bandera leaves his home in harrogate for the short drive to the railway station. this is the 21st strike day on northern rail in the last 15 months. so he's already adjusted his plans. the train i normally get is the 9:09. and that has just been completely shelved. the one before that i think it is the quarter to nine, that is shelved. i'm now running well late. normally there is a train every half an hour during rush hour on this route between harrogate and leeds. but this is the first one for an hour and a half and the last train tonight back is just before half past five when normally there would be a service at half past 11 at night. it really has restricted the number of services on this northern route. in leeds, graham has a ten

minute walk to the office, time to reflect on months of problems on northern rail. i was paying £156 a month, so when you turn up, you should realistically expect your train to be there or thereabouts, at least be on time most of the time. you can give or take one or two misdemeanours, but in general, it's a bit of a lottery. finally he gets to work, as the political cartoonist at the yorkshire post. he has found plenty of inspiration on his commute. there are two more days of strike action to come this week. problems for northern rail passengers are not going away. england's cricketers have scored the highest ever one—day total at trent bridge. they batted first against australia and eventually scored 481, breaking the previous record by 37. alex hales and jonny bairstow both scored centuries. andy murray is playing at the queen's club in london this afternoon.

it's the former world number one's first competitive match for nearly a year after being out of action following hip surgery. murray is trying to prove his fitness with just two weeks to go until wimbledon. joe wilson reports. nearly a year they've been waiting. he's been waiting. andy murray's pounded the practice courts, ran all the rehab. but only a match would tell us — is he really ready? well, the first point at queen's went ok. murray's opponent, nick kyrgios, talented and tormented, was now belting wild serves out and helping murray take the first set 6—2. well, whatever was happening with his opponent, andy murray was cracking on with the comeback. now trying to win the second set. if the point of this match was for murray to extend himself, to test his hip, and his hop, he was moving. full stretch. but kyrgios found enough

of his good moments to take the second set on a tie—break. so queen's, intrigued, prepared for a third set. joe wilson, bbc news, west london. england's world cup win over tunisia was the most—watched television programme of this year with more than 18 million people tuning into bbc one towards the end, as harry kane scored his last—minute goal. it secured england their first victory in the opening game of a major tournament since 2006. the squad are now back in their base at repino, where they're focusing on their next game against panama on sunday. our sports editor, dan roan, reports. england returning to their repino training base this morning, their world cup campaign up and running. they may have left it late but harry kane's dramatic stoppage time header in volgograd last night secured a first opening—match victory at the tournament since 2006. substitute marcus rashford

had helped regain the initiative for england when he came on in the second half. and today the manchester united striker told me just how much the result meant. it's unbelievable and i think when you score, there's nothing that really matches scoring a late winner. i think the fans all can sense that and we definitely sense that on the pitch. england were back training today, knowing that a win against panama in their next match on sunday should be enough to secure a place in the knockout stage of the tournament. this youthful, developing squad came to russia as something of an unknown quantity, but having proved they have what it takes to succeed at this level, last night's victory felt like an important first step in england's recovery after so many failures at recent major tournaments. if you don't win that match, there is huge pressure on the second game. so even though there is always going to be

pressure in a world cup, itjust gives the team a little bit more breathing space in order to go out and be a bit more relaxed and express themselves. england may have had their smallest travelling support for years in volgograd but back home their victory was the most watched tv programme this year, a peak of more than 18 million tuning in, and that, remember, wasjust their opening game. dan roan, bbc news, repino. the royal family has welcomed a new member after the queen's grand—daughter, zara tindall, gave birth to a baby girl. it's the second child for her and her husband, mike tindall, pictured here at the royal wedding last month. the baby was born weighing 9 pounds and 3 ounces. her name has yet to be revealed, but buckingham palace said the queen and prince philip are delighted with the news. time for a look at the weather. here's darren bett. perfect weather for the big sporting events in the uk and it will be another warm and muggy day tomorrow for royal ascot and at queen's club.

to date much more cloud around. the sunshine more limited. the sickest cloud is around scotland and northern ireland with some outbreaks of rain soaking wet end to the day —— thickest cloud. there could be reined in the far north of england as well. to this south, some drizzle on the western hills, another warm and muggy night, 14—16d. further north, most of the rain is on that weather system and the heaviest is on that low pressure which will move away towards scandinavia allowing that weakening front to move southwards so we will soon see the back of the rate in eastern scotland. some heavy bursts in england and northern wales but it will peter dowd moving southward and nothing in the southeast. more broken cloud behind but a few showers —— it will peter out. bit cooler but there is still some

warmth and heat and humidity across east anglia and the south—east where temperatures could be hired than to date with 27 not out at the question. coolerfurther north. that is how we end up later in the week by thursday and friday. we will find a cooler and fresher feeling a lot of fine weather for most places, dry as well with spells of sunshine and northerly winds. thank you. hello. this is bbc news. more now on our top story. of cannabis for medicinal purposes, but said the ban on the recreational we are all very aware he hedged

should not have to enjoy that. what has happened on the positive side of the ourcampaign has has happened on the positive side of the our campaign has made history. they are now recognising that medicinal cannabis does have medicinal cannabis does have medicinal benefits. doctor gary porter is a senior lecturer in at lancaster university. hejoins us from lecturer in at lancaster university. he joins us from there now. thank you forjoining us here on bbc news. what is your reaction to this review? the review is welcome and arguably long overdue. we've had the same

legal framework for 15 years and it is time to revisit that given that oui’ is time to revisit that given that our knowledge has increased around cannabis across that period and the nature of the drug and the way it is used has changed. what more do we know? there has been a lot more vigorous scientific research into the medical benefits of cannabis and studies show that there are a wide range of conditions for which cannabis gives some patients benefits. this review has been prompted by two high—profile cases here for top how many people might use of medicinal cannabis help? our research would suggest there are tens if not hundreds of thousands of people in the uk who use cannabis and use that for medical benefits. but at the moment they have to either go without or have to engage the black market to buy their

cannabis or they have to grow their own which involves committing a more serious crime than simple possession. tens of thousands of people? the evidence would suggest that, of course people do not always admit to this so it is difficult to have precise numbers. and they would be using cannabis medicinally purely for epilepsy or other conditions? there's a vast range of conditions for which people report benefits from using cannabis, whether pain relief or dealing with muscular spasticity or treating cancer, and huge range of conditions. and what about those people who will fear that allowing its use for medicinal purposes will somehow ben encouraged people to take cannabis recreationally? we can look as number ofjurisdictions recreationally? we can look as number of jurisdictions around the

world that have introduced medical cannabis and we concede 20 of exa m ples cannabis and we concede 20 of examples where there does not seem to have been too much crossover into recreational use. we've not seen a huge explosion in use or social problems that some may have predicted. so israel for example had a medical programme for a long time 110w a medical programme for a long time now without any of those problems. is that partly because if it is prescribed it is done so in the right dose and with the right component parts to the medicine?“ certainly having a legal licensing prescription system allows for specific varieties, specific types of cannabis with different combinations of cannabinoids. and for finding what the correct doses and the best way to treat that person for that condition. so we're having this review into the medicinal use of cannabis, what did you make of the former conservative leader, his remarks earlier in the day that cannabis, that we should

look at decriminalising it. again given the current legal framework is the best part of 50 years old it would make sense to have a review as well and consider what the up—to—date evidence is. but it is perfectly possible to keep the medical and recreational aspects separate if that is what we want to do. we will leave it there, thank you for your time. four water suppliers have been criticised for their response to the conditions caused by the storm known as the beast from the east earlier this year. the regulator ofwat says poor preparation and an inadequate response led to significant hardship for people who were left without water for days — as our correspondent simon gompertz reports. first, it froze. and then it thawed. and the epidemic of burst pipes meant a shortage of water for essentials like washing, cooking and drinking, and tens of thousands cut off for days. i've been getting rainwater

from outside and from my neighbours so it is not impossible. but i would say the worst thing is not being able to keep the washing up and the kitchen clean and also keep myself clean having a shower everyday. i've got five kids and literally without water for, like, since six o'clock yesterday morning. it's terrible. washing the bottles isjust a bit difficult and there's a lot of stuff covered in baby poo that i can't wash at the moment! one explanation for the failure to cope was that most leaks were in people's homes, rather than, like this, in the water network, which is easier to monitor. today, a finding that won't surprise customers. some suppliers' emergency planning and response were inadequate. they didn't anticipate the speed of the thaw, which led to a lot of bursts in customer pipes which they could not deal with. and also, the communications with customers were often poor, overreliant on social media, very reactive and actually, quite worryingly, dealing with vulnerable customers, a lot of companies struggled to identify vulnerable customers

and give them the kind of support they need. thames water is accused of not taking proper notice of the weather forecast. it apologised, saying: severn trent, also criticised, said: bottled water was a problem. the regulator says both southern and south east water struggled to make enough available. so what now? to prevent this happening again, those four companies are being told to come up with action plans by september. and there will be a review of compensation for being cut off for the next time there's a freeze, because of a big variation in what families were paid. simon gompertz, bbc news. president trump has again defended his controversial ‘separation policy', blaming the democrats and talking about the country's security. but the president is struggling to

contain a growing political storm. there have been widespread demonstrations across american cities against mr trump's planned tightening of the law protesting at what they see as a policy, which lacks compassion. earlier today mexico's foreign minister has condemned the measures as "cruel and inhumane". president trump had this to say in the last hour... these are crippling loopholes that caused family separation which we don't want. as a result of these loopholes roughly half a million illegal immigrant family units and minors from central america have been released into the united states since 2014 at unbelievably great taxpayer expense. nobody knows how much we are paying for this

monstrosity that has been created over the years. legislation that nobody has any idea what they are doing, they do not even know what it means. and you have to see this, it isa mile means. and you have to see this, it is a mile high child smugglers exploit the loopholes and they gain illegal entry into the united states putting countless children in danger on the perilous track to the united states. they come up through mexico, mexico does nothing for us. you hear it here, they do nothing for us. they could stop it. they have very strong laws, try staying in mexico for a couple of days, see how long that lasts. ok? let's speak to our correspondent rajini vaidya nathan who joins us from washington.

well donald trump could change this law if he wanted to but he is kicking his heels and because this is something he has promised, tougher borders, being tough on immigration, throughout his campaign and throughout his presidency so far. so just watching those remarks just then, it struck me i felt i was almost back in 2016 on the campaign rally listening to some of the language and imagery that he was using for stopping talks about not wanting people to pour into the country, he called for an merit—based system. now of course this is music to the ears of many of his supporters the same no matter how tough you have to be, even if that includes separating children from theirfamilies, that includes separating children from their families, needs to that includes separating children from theirfamilies, needs to be that includes separating children from their families, needs to be a drawn so the american borders are tighter and so certainly although president trump is facing criticism, even from his own party, he is seen

to be taking his heels in. and the result is this polarisation yet again with protests across many cities in america and criticism from on high from his own side as you say. absolutely, in the last 24 hours you had people like the former first lady laura bush who normally does not wading to anything political, likening what is happening now at the border in texas with what happened in the japanese internment camps and we even had the first lady melania trump saying she was not pleased about this. then people in the business community today coming out criticising this, people like the us chamber of commerce and friends like microsoft's top and of course people from the senior republican senate and house of representatives, many of them have visited the border and seen the conditions in these detention centres for themselves. but right now it looks like president trump is kicking his heels

in and continue to say that people coming across the border are bringing drugs, we have these gangs responsible for killing and injuring children in the us. so using a lot of this evocative language to play to his base and also justify why this policy is continuing in the face of so much criticism. many thanks. we have to leave it there. now time for a look at the weather. it has been a very dry months so far but tonight we have the wettest speu but tonight we have the wettest spell of the next couple of weeks. merrily across northern ireland and scotland, the far north of england. further south just a little bit of drizzle in the west but another warm night. the rain makes it way further south and east on wednesday. the morning rain clears. a wet start to

the day across parts of northern england and wales. to the south and east of stays warm with some sunshine. around 25 celsius. the midst teams further north. any showers continue into the first part of the night, fading away into thursday and then dry all the way through the rest of the week and into the weekend. with temperatures slowly on the rise again. this is bbc news, our latest headlines: the home secretary announces a review into the medicinal use of cannabis — in a move prompted by cases of children with epilepsy not having access to cannabis oil to control their seizures. amid growing political tension in washington, president trump once again defends his zero tolerance immigration policy. around 2000 children have been split from their parents. religious and community leadersjoin together

for a minute silence to mark the first anniversary of the finsbury park terror attack in north london. there's been more disruption for northern rail passengers as a 24—hour strike over staffing levels affects services.