not sure whether they help boost confidence, or not. the headlines on bbc news: marathon talks are still underway at the prime minister's country retreat as ministers try to decide on its future relationship with the eu after brexit. investigators are still trying to find the contaminated item which exposed a couple to a deadly nerve agent in wiltshire. a diver has died in thailand while taking supplies to twelve boys and their football coach, trapped in a flooded cave for almost two weeks. now it's time for newswatch. coming up on the programme...

football's coming home, we are told, but has it been rammed by tonne down the throats of those who have no interest in it, and how to those from other parts of the uk feel about the attention being given to the england team in particular? another day of tension and drama on friday over the government's plans for leaving the european union, began with an innovative attempt by political correspondant alex forsyth to describe the scenario facing the prime minister, as she prepared for the summit with her ministers at chequers. so what we have got here, is theresa may, who is our king. she may come out on top, or she could be toppled, but right now, what she is doing is moving forward, one step at a time, as kings tend to do, trying to get her brexit plans through to the other side. broadly supportive of what the prime minister's come up with so far, we have got some people like, for example, the chancellor, philip hammond, down here. michael davies was unimpressed by that giant chessboard, querying why at a time in the government is engaged in potentially life—changing negotiations over the country's

future, the bbc chooses to depict the government's challenges as a game. lisette baker agreed, the whole chess analogy, not cool. tuesday's outside source coincided with what, for many, was the highlight of the week, that rare occasion when the england football team won a penalty shoot out in the knockout stage of the world cup. the programme, shown on the news channel and internationally on bbc world news, is broadcast not from a studio like this one, but on a balcony upstairs, overlooking the main bbc newsroom. and, as the match against colombia reached its tense denouement, that posed something of a challenge for presenter ross atkins. er, morning commute, the work—out, coffee. something's happened! colombia have missed, so, if england score, they are going through. i am going to persevere, doing my best here,

as thomas smith from nme was pointing out, i think i might just abandon this and talk about the football, because it is quite hard to get on with the story while so much commotion is going on. we are now in a situation where, if england score this goal, which i would love to show you, but we don't have the rights, they are through! and i think that means england are through. 0k. so, colombia are out, england are through! general pandemonium, and that is just here in the bbc newsroom. stephen garner was watching that and describes what he saw. the bbc newsroom often seen behind the presenters, exhibits a calm, quiet, unbiased professionalism we all expect from the bbc. until, that is, the final minutes of outside source and tuesday, with the ever—professional ross atkins, as we heard the moment when england's final penalty went in, the newsroom rightly forgot the unbiased rule — the normal tranquil silence turned into cheers, and ross simply gave up on his item about spotify.

it was simply a moment of brilliant bbc news. jon sopel had earlierjoined in the flag waving, by tweeting this picture of him from washington, with a question, "what do you mean, i'm inappropriately dressed for work?" so, are these harmless examples of a sporting enthusiasm that reflects the national mood, or a worrying deviation from the bbc‘s traditional impartiality, which has been evident on air throughout the tournament? the pandemonium in the newsroom may not have been shared by fans of the northern irish, welsh and scottish teams, who are not always accustomed to lending their support to the english, or by those with no enthusiasm for football. we can now turn on england broadcasting corporation news, completely over the top. tweets, messages etc from everyone and their granny, interviews, reruns of the penalties, and overload of pundits. spare a thought for the other countries in the uk. we wish you well, but coverage of this magnitude has been hard to bear. and the amount of airtime devoted to tuesday's game, before and after it took place,

led colin reid to e—mail with incredulity on wednesday morning. two people from amesbury are critically ill in salisbury hospital from an unknown source. teenage children are trapped in a flooded cave in thailand, and there is a story of an alleged baby murderer, but what do you choose to lead the news with this morning? england winning a penalty shoot out in a world cup. well, we aired complaints along similar lines a couple of weeks ago, on this programme and, as they have continued to come in, we have invited the editor of the news at six, and the news at ten to repond to them. thanks for coming on newswatch. why does the world cup takeover so much of news coverage? i do not think it does take over lots of the news coverage. clearly it is the world cup, once every four years.

it is a global competition and there is a huge audience interest in it. but, this week, we have covered england's progress in the competition and we have also reported on all of the stories we would want and expect to report on this week, whether in syria, whether the mexico elections, whether exclusive stories from around the uk, pollution in our cities, the adoption scandal in ireland. i completely accept that there are parts of our audience, and it is a perfectlyjustifiable position to have, who thinks sport should not be in a news bulletin altogether. also i accept that some people would say, yes, it can be in a news bulletin that it should not be the lead story. we take a slightly different view, which is that sport and sports news is important to our audiences and is something we take seriously and i think broadly, if you look at the audience interest and engagement, whether across television, across online, across radio, connected with this world cup, and the figures are huge, a peak of 2a million people watching england against colombia on itv one on tuesday, i think that does give an indication as to how much interest and

engagement there is. there has been so much on air about england matches and cheering fans. viewers say it is not supposed to be the english broadcasting corporation, is it? again, we have to capture the moment and the drama and the high levels of interest but, it was only a couple of years ago that wales were having a fantastic run in the european championships. they got to the semifinals. there were big tv audiences watching live matches on television and there was a lot of coverage across the news. england are there and being covered i would reject the idea of if scotland were there, if wales were there, if northern ireland we re there, they would be getting similar coverage. all those flags waving tweets by bbc news presenters and editors, doesn't impartiality apply in sport? impartiality does apply in sport and i would argue that we have been completely impartial in our coverage of the world cup. again, a couple of

weeks ago, when the england team sheet for one of their games was accidentally revealed by one of the coaches, we reported on that. we showed that image. and then, the bbc, along with other parts of the media, were accused of damaging the england team's chances than being unpatriotic, and somehow we should have been stifling in censoring our reporting. so, we are covering all aspects of this. occasionally, bbc staff and correspondents might show some passion for a particular team or a cause. i guess. in the end it does show the human side which, again, parts of our audience to enjoy. you are not in charge of scheduling but news bulletins were really hacked back, shunted around. local news virtually disappeared at the start of the tournament. are you happy about that? the squeezing of the coverage was around incorporating live matches into the schedule.

i totally accept that, for some people, and that is a great thing that they want their full news programmes every day, because that is what we are here to provide. i would accept that, if news coverage is squeezed, people will find it frustrating. it is then up to people like me and other editors to make sure that if we do have less airtime, we really are covering the essentials of what should be in there. then, the sort of questions that come into our minds, if we do have a shorter bulletin, we are less likely to cover the football because, actually, we are being squeezed because of the football, so we need to reflect the rest of the news that is happening that day. you will know, this issue keeps coming up. you are not the first editor to be sitting in that chair by being asked about too much sport pushing news of air. does the bbc have a responsibility to maintain full coverage of news, whatever

is happening in sport question is it time to rethink the balance on this? there broadly has been full coverage will that the ten o'clock news has been full duration during the world cup. but the local news coverage really did offend viewers when it seems to disappear in the early days of the tournament. as i explained earlier, there has been a squeeze and i do understand the frustrations. what i would say is we are looking at this and reviewing this the whole time. there is a tension there. as you have seen from the world cup, there are huge audiences, a high level of audience engagement with the world cup. again, the bbc and others, and other broadcasters, we have a sort of duty and expectation to cover that as well. thank you. finally, on tuesday, a nurse was arrested on suspicion of the murder at a hospital of eight babies and the attempted murder of another six. the following night, judith moritz reported on the case for the news at ten. today, police searches have continued at the home of the nurse. forensic officers searching the house and taking items away for examination. detectives are still questioning the 28—year—old about

the alleged murders and attempted murders. elsewhere in that item, the nurse was named, and her photograph shown. as it was in the headlines for the programme. that disappointed one doctor, who wrote... this nurse has not been charged with any offence and is still under investigation. i feel it is completely inappropriate to release photographs of her and her name when she is currently facing no charge. should she not be charged, what future does she have in her career? bob anderson said he was staggered at the decision asking, what with the bbc do if it turns out she is innocent? this is crass stupidity, as bad as the news item about sir cliff richard, where it transpired that he was innocent. i would have thought they had learned a lesson but, no. well, we put those points to bbc news and they told us. this investigation has a huge impact for all of the families, staff and patients at the hospital, as well as members of the wider community.

it is clearly in the interests of the public. the nurse who was arrested has been named and pictured widely across the uk media as well as previously choosing to speak to a newspaper about herjob in 2013. the bbc has been clear in their reporting she has not been charged and has currently been released on bail. and thank you for all your comments this week if you want to share your opinions on bbc news and current affairs, or even appear on the programme, you can call us. ore—mail. you can find us on twitter. do have a look at the website. the address for that is bbc.co.uk/newswatch. reach the results of damages again

this weekend. lots of heat, locked up. it will be in uncovered will nights sleeping in the south. then pushes 10—12d. it does will not break quickly again in the sunshine on saturday, hardly any wind, as well. there will be some areas of cloud, coming and going, and it could stay a bit grey and a little cooler rounds of these irish sea coasts. temperatures a bit higher in scotla nd coasts. temperatures a bit higher in scotland and northern ireland, particularly in the... sunday, more of the same, except in northern scotland, where we have got a band of cloud, producing a little drizzle over highlands, otherwise, a dryer, sunny spells by day, light breeze, temperatures similar to saturday, possibly sneaking up to 30 to the south—east. this is bbc world news today.

our top stories... kindest described the government positions on brexit. talks are expected to continue to two o'clock this evening, theresa may says they have a duty to reach an agreement. police releasing more information into the investigation saying it would take weeks or months to identify how its victims canada contact with the nerve agent. tributes to a diver killed in the thai cave rescue — as efforts intensify to bring 12 boys and their football england arrived ahead of their final

clash with sweden tomorrow and celebrating london's diverse city with a look ahead to this weekend. 30,000 people are expected to march through