this is bbc news, i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 11pm: celebration and relief as rescuers in thailand free all 12 boys and their football coach, trapped in a flooded cave for 17 days. charlie rowley, one of two people exposed to novichok in amesbury last weekend, regains consciousness in hospital. it comes as health officials warn the public not to pick up suspcious items. here, the prime minsiter urges party unity following yesterday's high—profile resignations from cabinet. tonight, two vice chairs of the conservative party have also stepped down over brexit. 100 aircraft for 100 years. the royal air force celebrates its centenary in style with a huge flypast over central london. and tributes have been paid to the former foreign secretary lord carrington, who has died aged 99. hello, good evening and welcome to

bbc news. we start tonight with the remarkable rescue of 12 boys and their football coach, who'd been trapped in a flooded cave in northern thailand for the past 17 days. the plight of the group and the dangerous work to free them has made headlines around the world. the first of the boys was brought out on sunday, and the last of the group, aged between 11 and 17, were freed earlier today. they're now together in hospital undergoing a series of check—ups. their dangerous rescue operation took them through two miles of underground caves, at times underwater, and some of the boys couldn't swim. 0ur correspondentjonathan head reports from chiang rai. would this be the day that saw all the boys and coach out safely? with the sky darkening, it had to be today. helicopters in the afternoon told us

they were getting ready. then the tell—tale flashing lights. this is the second ambulance we have seen and behind it, the third on this, we hope that being the last day of this truly remarkable operation. and every ambulance we have seen so far has meant another life saved. inside the caves, dozens of divers have been working in wet, claustrophobic conditions to support the rescuers. there hasn't been a cave rescue this big ambitious before. the boys were fed underground by an army medic to strengthen them for the journey out. even though, some

divers said it was too dangerous to try. 0nly divers said it was too dangerous to try. only the thread of renewed flooding forced them to push ahead —— threat. these men run the boys‘ football team. 17 days of worry, of ups when the boys were found and downs when they could not get out were over. translation: i want to hug them first. i want to cheer them on, i want to tell them how worried i've been. i don't know what to say. we had something else to tell the coach. an invitation from manchester united to the rescued boys. most of them man u fans to visit old trafford next season. this is the man who's run the rescue operation from the start. thai bureaucrats rarely get this kind of reception but he pulled off

rescue the whole country had longed for. translation: today thais, team thailand, the government agencies and the private sector, together with media and all the international support, no—one thought we could make it, but we did. it was a first for the world. everyone involved in this huge and complex mission was celebrating. these are engineers who had been diverting streams to lower water levels in the caves. people came out to cheer the ambulances as they brought the last of the boys into hospital, safe and sound. only a week ago, when they were found, trapped and exhausted, who would have believed this was possible? jonathan head, bbc news, chiang rai, northern thailand. cavers and divers from around the world came together in chiang rai to help the thai

authorities rescue the boys and their coach. 0ur correspondent fergus walsh has been looking at how, against all the odds, they managed to mount such a daring rescue mission. heroes all, the 90 divers who took part in the search and rescue, included thai navy seals, british cave divers and other international experts. it has gripped the world's attention. the british cave rescue council said seven of its divers had been part of the cave rescue team helping to bring the boys out. they've done something that i think we all thought was barely possible, you know, and they have pulled it off. the challenge, getting the 12 boys and their coach to swim 2.5 miles through these narrow and flooded caves to safety. it began 17 days ago when the boys and their coach went missing. they'd gone to write their names on the walls of the cave. a huge international rescue operation began.

they were alone for nine days until found by two british cave divers. this was the moment. 0njuly the sixth, a former thai navy seal died while returning through the caves, underlining how perilous the rescue would be. then on sunday, the first four boys were rescued. each was accompanied by two expert divers for the five hours or more trek through the flooded sections, they were strapped underneath one of the divers. but in the narrowest part, just 48 centimetres wide, they had to squeeze through alone with their air tank in front of them. at home in brighton, the mum of elite diver john velanthen listening again

to the moment her son and another british diver, rick stanton, discovered the missing thai boys. i'm very proud of him. john is a very kind, modest person and i knew that they would do a good job and i kept my fingers crossed for both of them. all the thai navy seals and the international divers are safely out. mission accomplished before the monsoon rains will flood the caves for months to come. fergus walsh, bbc news. earlier this evening i spoke to andrea danese, a child psychiatrist at king's college london who explained what effect this experience will have on the children. first of all, it's excellent news. i would expect them to also be elated, of course, by the fact of being rescued finally. many of them would still probably experience some

emotional symptoms, maybe anxious, agitated and trouble sleeping, for example, and they‘ re agitated and trouble sleeping, for example, and they're still in the hospital, where they've been having some health checks as well, medical checks. visa very normal symptoms and most individuals, not only children exposed to such an ordeal will have these kinds of symptoms. i would then expect these symptoms will wane within a few weeks and perhaps only a minority of them, two 01’ perhaps only a minority of them, two or three of them, might have longer term mental health consequences. that's still a quarter of them, three out of 12, that is still a significant minority of them who might have to... 0bviously significant minority of them who might have to... obviously you don't know which ones, presumably you can't predict. what sort of things can't predict. what sort of things can develop when somebody has been in this kind of situation, a life or death situation? what you can imagine is after this kind of experience, young people might develop depression, anxiety disorders, post—traumatic stress disorders, post—traumatic stress disorder is, substance abuse. as you

say, it's really difficult to understand which one will develop these outcomes are so it's really important young people will be monitored over the next few weeks to understand how to help them best. for their parents yet to be united with them, it's going to be an emotional rollercoaster for them to two. how do they overcome their natural instincts to do what parents do, nurture their children and be overprotective as a result of what has happened ? overprotective as a result of what has happened? parents will be essential in getting the children back to normal life. they will really be important in helping them going back to daily routines, for examples. they can also support them talking about the experience if the children wish to. that might be helpful because it might help them building a narrative around the event which might help them understand what has happened and understand what has happened and understand also that the threat is over. is it a valuable thing, not only that they were together for

this length of time and had to rely on each other and give each other support, and maybe it's your mate who gives you a bit of a coach when you're feeling cheerful or frightened or whatever it may be, but also that they're a team that played a sport together that actually socialise together and have actually socialise together and have a kind of a discipline already. is that something they can perhaps use in the future? with the negativity of the event, i think the fact they we re of the event, i think the fact they were a team and the fact they were together is certainly a protective factor. i know generally speaking social support is one of the preventive factors that protective factors that might prevent them to leading mental health issues after this event. finally, how optimistic are you for their future? all the conditions i mentioned are very much treatable if the children are identified and are treated by experts. a child psychologist begin as earlier on bbc news. that speaking

to us. that speaking to ask —— speaking to us. a day after suffering two high—profile resignations, theresa may gathered her new cabinet together for the first time today. the prime minister described the meeting as productive, while senior ministers on both sides of the brexit debate insisted they stood behind mrs may's strategy for life outside the eu. meanwhile, president trump, heading to the uk for a visit later this week, said britain was a country in turmoil, and described borisjohnson, who resigned as foreign secretary yesterday, as a friend he'd like to see on his visit. 0ur political editor laura kuenssberg has the latest. the prime minister might wish she'd been able to zoom away the deafening marvel of an raf fly—past. after two of her squad abandoned her, theresa may and her reshaped team are doing their best to carry on. business as usual. how do you think the government can look credible to leaders arriving here when it seems so chaotic and theresa may is having so many abandoning her? well, we all know that this is a complex system. and feelings run very deep. but i think she is the only person who can pull

all this together. this is very difficult moment in our history. 0hla la! oh la la indeed. britain's troubles don't go unnoticed. some are fighting on her to leave. others are working hard to get back in the union. but look who then strolled into the discussion. just days before he's flying here. i have nato, i have the uk, which is in somewhat turmoil. and i have putin. frankly putin may be the easiest of them all. who would think? that's right, president trump said it might be easier to deal with russia than the uk. and... borisjohnson‘s a friend of mine. he's been very very nice to me, very supportive. and, maybe we'll speak to him when i get over there? i like boris johnson. i've always liked him. friend of boris johnson? hardly a way to make nice and theresa may. she had to answer for her relationship with the president, her party and the eu.

i'm looking for the positive discussions with president trump. there are a lot of issues we will be talking about. yes, we will be talking about the trade issues, and we are looking for the time when we leave the european union, we'll be able to, in the implementation period, to negotiate and sign trade deals with the rest of the world, which can then come into effect after the end of december 2020. but a hint of help from this mrs markel, she said it is good that chequers proposals are on the table and the irish leader also saying today that it might be time to budge. as we've always said in the past, if the uk was able to relax on some of its red lines, then the eu should be flexible too. and i think we are now entering that space. but theresa may's struggles and strains with her party are certainly not over, two more mps quit their party posts this afternoon. maria caulfield and ben bradley were vice chairs of the tories, now adding their names to those who think the prime minister's brexit

compromise won't work. two mps walking away from relatively junior posts aren't going to bring theresa may down on their own. but the danger is for number ten, there is evidence of a co—ordinated push to force her to drop her brexit compromise. and with no majority, a small number of tory mps can cause big trouble. the prime minister's surrounded by foreign leaders to please, with parliament to manage, and the clashing sides of her party, it's not impossible, but an enormous task to find a safe way to the middle. laura kuenssberg, bbc news. health authorities are telling people in salisbury and neighbouring amesbury not to pick up objects that could contain liquid or gel following the poisoning of a couple who came into contact with the nerve agent novichok. the family of dawn sturgess, who died after being exposed to the poison, today described her as a gentle soul. the condition of the other victim, charlie rowley, is said to be improving, as our home affairs correspondent tom symonds reports. this is thought to be charlie rowley

the day before he fell ill, buying drinks in salisbury. police still think he and his partner must have touched something in the following 24 touched something in the following 2a hours, something containing the nerve agent. they just 2a hours, something containing the nerve agent. theyjust don't know what. but this evening, mr rowley is conscious. and the country's most senior counterterrorism officer told a packed public meeting in amesbury that could change everything. i'm hoping charliejust that could change everything. i'm hoping charlie just recovers, that could change everything. i'm hoping charliejust recovers, i'm hoping charliejust recovers, i'm hoping that when he recovers he'll be able to tell us perhaps something that would shed light on this which would narrow our search dramatically. until then, would narrow our search dramatically. untilthen, this continues. it can take a few minutes to put on and take off the protective suits. it's so hot they can only search for 15. police still can't guarantee there's nothing dangerous out there so today's health advice is don't pick anything up. in quiet corners of parks like this one in salisbury it's not hard

to find all sorts of things lying around, often in places where people ta ke around, often in places where people take drugs, including things that might be of interest to children, like this. but the advice today is clear, do not pick up anything that you haven't dropped yourself, that includes containers, syringes and often cosmetics. what sort of advice do you think that is? personally i don't think you should pick up anything that isn't yours. what about the odd ? anything that isn't yours. what about the odd? i teach him everyday, don't talk to strangers, don't pick things up that aren't yours. in terms of getting little kids not to pick up things... good luck. exactly. today the family of dawn sturgess marked their loss with a statement: it's now a murder enquiry, won the people of salisbury and now amesbury

are learning to live with. tom symonds, bbc news, amesbury. the headlines on bbc news: rescuers in thailand have now freed all 12 boys and their football coach, trapped in a flooded cave for 17 days. charlie rowley, one of two people exposed to novichok in amesbury last weekend, regains consciousness in hospital. it comes as health officials warn the public not to pick up suspicious items. here, the prime minsiter urges party unity following yesterday's high—profile resignations from cabinet. tonight, two vice chairs of the conservative party have also stepped down over brexit. sport now, and for a full round—up from the bbc sport centre, here is will perry. what a night it has been for france. i don't know about the action in the

world cup semi—final, there wasn't that much to talk about, really. france shutting belgian downed 1—0. 0ur correspondent was watching. in russia's cultural capital, a sea of colour, the blue and the red devils in the st petersburg stadium, their canvas for the biggest match of their lives so far. it was belgium who showed the initial artistry, hazard a finger away. hugo making every inch matter to keep his side in the contest. benjamin denied bya side in the contest. benjamin denied by a tow. france needed a little above other but for this beautiful game, it defining goal had elegant in its simplicity, samuel umtiti's header, france dreaming and starting to play with a touch of swagger. but

for all the mbappe heals, a second was a struggle. the wrong side of destiny. france in the final and one last chance to finish their masterpiece. the england team arrived in moscow from their base in repino this afternoon. manager gareth southgate was joined byjordan henderson at their press conference at the luzhniki stadium ahead of tomorrow's semi—final against croatia. southgate believes there are comparisons to the feeling around the england camp at euro 96, a tournament he played in, getting to the last four. the feel of this group of players is very similar to the group of players we had then. but that team was a lot more experienced, in terms of its age and experience of big matches. but we approached this tournament in the same way. you know, we were a group of guys having a lot of fun, enjoying our football, learning and improving all the time. and that's what these lads have done,

and yeah, we're going into a semifinal, but itjust feels to us like the next step on the journey. away from the world cup, the big story today is that cristiano ronaldo has joined juventus from real madrid, becoming one of the four most expensive players of all time. a deal worth £99.2 million has been reached between the two clubs, and ronaldo has signed a four—year deal with the italian champions. ronaldojoined from manchester united in 2009, and scored a club—record a51 goals, winning the ballon d'or five times. manchester city have broken their tra nsfer manchester city have broken their transfer record to sign mahrez. he says city's style of play is perfect for him, and he wanted to be part of a club which is redefining the english game. elsewehere, arsenal have agreed a deal to sign uruguay international midfielder lucas torreira from sampdoria for £26 million. the 22—year—old, who played

in all five of his country's world cup matches before the quarter—final defeat against france, will join on a five—year deal. celtic have beaten alashkert, of armenia, 3—0 in the first of four champions league qualifying rounds, thanks to goals from 0dsonne edouard, james forrest and callum mcgregor. 0nto tennis, and serena williams survived a scare to reach the wimbledon semi—finals. the 23—times grand slam champion lost her first set of the tournament, but came through 3—6, 6—3, 6—4 against the italian camila giorgi. williams will face 13th seed julia gorges on thursday. angelique kerber also reached the semifinals with a 6—3, 7—5 win over russia's daria kasatkina.

kerber, the highest—ranked seed left in the women's competition, will face jelena 0stapenko on thursday. jamie murray and bruno soares are out of the men's doubles. they lost their quarter—final against raven klaasen and michael venus 3—2. elsewhere though, britain's dom inglot and joe salisbury are through to the semi—finals after winning their quarter—finals. you can get the latest on the website whenever you like, but that is all the sport from me for now. the university access watchdog, the office for students, says students' backgrounds should be taken into account when awarding places, to improve equality of opportunity. it comes as a report from the fair education alliance, a campaign group, warns there is a lack of transparency in how universities currently use applicants' background when making offers and awarding places. the key findings from the report include that the types of data used to measure diversity in applicants should be improved, because certain methods like using postcodes or schools to measure disadvantage can group students together who actually have very different backgrounds.

but the group said that can only really be achieved if there is better access to other data, like household income or whether they have used free school meals. the report also said that universities should be held more to account over diversity in their admission policies, and should publish an annual breakdown of their student intake. the report said institutions should also be more transparent how they measure disadvantage, and make it clear how their admissions decisions are made when it comes to diversity. finally, it recommends that the universities watchdog publicly supports and encourages higher education institutions to take students' backgrounds into account during the admissions process, arguing it is an important way of making sure there is fairer access to higher education for all students. this evening i spoke to carl cullinane, who is head of research and policy at the social mobility think—tank the sutton trust, and he told me he welcomes the report. it is encouraging to see more and new voices kind ofjoining the call for greater use of contextualised admissions in universities. the sutton trust has been calling for this for a long time. we see the lack of access to higher education, in particular our top universities,

is one of the most important aspects of improving social mobility in the country. sorry to interrupt, ijust wondered if this is one of the causes of one of the problems that we get, which is that there is kind ofa we get, which is that there is kind of a mismatch between what universities say they are doing and what other people say, judging by the students they are not actually recruiting, they have achieved. because they say we are doing all these things, we are reaching out, we are trying to improve, we are trying to make a selection process as neutral as possible so we are not prejudiced by people's background or influenced unduly, and people say they still come out with the right mix. is it partly because the data is just too crude? mix. is it partly because the data isjust too crude? that is certainly some of it. universities are doing a lot better in recent times to try and widen access but our research has shown there is a lot more that needs to be done and be absolutely welcome the call from the office for stu d e nts welcome the call from the office for students this week that we need to be more ambitious when it comes to contextualised admissions. so we are certainly going in the right direction in terms of what universities are doing, but we need to improve the way we do it. but we

also need to prove the scale of what they are doing. so we absolutely welcome the greater transparency in the use of contextualised admissions, and also the use of data. but we also think there is room for it to be much more ambitious in terms of the level of grade discounts that are offered to young people. in most places it is one grade, but we would like to see two or three grades lower being offered to students from particular backgrounds. the number of people who have died in flash—floods and landslides injapan has risen to 156. search efforts are continuing as dozens of people are still unaccounted for. downpours trigged mudslides and left homes flooded. hiroshima and 0kayama were among the worst—affected. lord carrington, the former foreign secretary, has died at the age of 99. he was the last surviving member of the postwar government of sir winston churchill. lord carrington served as a tank commander in the second world war, and his long ministerial career ended when he resigned at the time of the argentine invasion of the falkland islands in 1982. 0ur diplomatic correspondent james robbins looks back at his long life.

people looking for an example of a british politician resigning as a matter of honour often point to lord carrington. he was foreign secretary when argentina invaded the falkland islands in 1972. their forces when argentina invaded the falkland islands in 1972. theirforces simply walked into port stanley. britain was unprepared and the foreign 0ffice blamed for ignoring intelligence. the judgement was wrong, and i am responsible, and therefore i thought honourably i ought to go. the british task force left to liberate the falklands and an official enquiry later cleared lord carrington of any responsibility. the young peter carrington had been a distinguished soldier in the second world war, awarded the military cross as a tank commander. a hereditary peer, highly

educated, charming, he was the last survivor of churchill's 1950s government. margaret thatcher appointed him foreign secretary in 1979. he played a major role helping end the guerrilla war in rhodesia and negotiating the birth of independent zimbabwe. lord carrington spent four years as nato's secretary general, then in his 70s he took on the role of eu mediator as yugoslavia collapsed in the war. after he finally retired from public service, lord carrington was clear it should be a clean break. it is a great mistake when you are quite old to pretend you are not on the go along boring people with your speeches and i think you have done your bit, and shut up. lord carrington was a natural diplomat. he was the last patrician tory aristocrat to hold such high office. the former foreign secretary lord carrington, who has died aged 99. earlier this evening i spoke to lord carrington‘s predecessor, lord 0wen, who was foreign secretary in the labour government 1977—79. he gave me his recollection of lord carrington.

well, he was a very formidable negotiator, and i think he did extremely well in lancaster house conference, in getting an agreement ofa conference, in getting an agreement of a large number of very different kinds of people, including ian smith and robert mugabe. and ifind it helped me when i was dealing with africa. we travelled together out to kenyata's funeral, and we talked about what was going on. he are so many you could totally trust. i believe he made a major contribution andi believe he made a major contribution and i believe his resignation was a printable resignation which did a lot of good for politics generally. i think he was right to resign. it would have been very difficult to continue with the war going on with the foreign secretary in the house of lords, and i think that was one

of lords, and i think that was one of his main reasons for resigning. lord carrington would have appreciated today's presentation for the raf centenary. 100 planes, from the iconic spitfire to the latest stealth fighter jet, have flown across central london to mark the centenary of the royal air force. thousands gathered to watch the the biggest display of british air power in over 30 years. the centrepiece, watched by the queen and other members of the royal family, was the largest ever formation of typhoon fighters spelling out "100" in the skies above the palace. 0ur correspondent robert hall was there. telling a 100—year story with aircraft, from the sedate progress of wartime icons... ..to the thunder of today's sleek technology. months of preparation brought a procession from past to future. it was great, really interesting. really impressive. great to see so many.

wonderful. i wish i was up there again, flying. just to pay our respects and say — you know, to say thank you for everything that they've done over the years. the raf plan for this centenary was to commemorate, celebrate, and inspire. at westminster abbey, the queen, whose father had flown with the fledgling raf in 1918, joined herfamily and the raf family to remember those who had served in the air and on the ground. i remember today my grandmother's brother, jock, killed in wellington bomber in 1943. my grandfather's brother, charles portal, who commanded the royal air force for much of that war, and my father, who flew low—level sorties in burma.