england's footballers are just one win away from the world cup final. they take on croatia in six hours' time. gareth southgate's men set off this morning for their semi final clash knowing they're on the verge of history. they've got the whole country in the palm of their hand. and it's great to see. it hasn't happened that many times that we can all get excited and be happy with an england team. there have been some really down times with england but not this time. we're all happy, we're all singing, we're all cheering and were desperate for them to win. football's coming home! it's waistcoat wednesday with fever pitch excitement around the country, and tens of millions expected to watch on tv and on big screens. we'll have the latest on the big match build up from our correspondents here and in russia. also this lunchtime. the man poisoned by novichok nerve agent in wiltshire speaks to police for the first time. a tirade from president trump ahead of the nato summit, he claims germany is totally

controlled by russia. i think it's very sad when germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with russia, where you're supposed to be guarding against russia and germany goes out and pays billions and billions of dollars a year to russia. a record fine for facebook for the misuse of data. and new details emerge about how divers managed to rescue 12 boys and their football coach from the cave in thailand where they'd been trapped. and coming up on bbc news. we'll be live at wimbledon as the big three, roger, rafa and novak, prepare for their wimbledon quarterfinals. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one.

there are just under six hours to go until england's biggest game for almost 30 years. if gareth southgate's men can beat croatia in moscow, they'll make history with a place in the world cup final, the country's first since 1966. tens of millions are expected to watch the game. in a moment we'll report on the growing excitement back home. but first our sports correspondent richard conway reports from moscow on the england squad's final preparations. england savoured victory in moscow last week. now they're back in town and determined to stick around for sunday's final. # world in motion... # it's now 28 years since new order's world cup anthem, world in motion. back in 1990, croatia didn't even exist as a country. it's an entire generation since gazza's tears, lineker‘s worry and england's defeat

to west germany. it's even longer, though, since england got their hands on the prize. it's 52 years since england last won the world cup. it's still gleaming, as are the current team's hopes. gareth southgate wants his players to make their own history and is aware of the boost his team is providing back home. our country's been through some difficult moments recently in terms of its unity, and i think sport has the power to do that, and football in particular has the power to do that. so for us, we can feel the energy and we can feel the support from home and it's a very special feeling, it's a privilege for us. england's players are notably relaxed in this tournament. a far cry from the tension and cliques of past squads. from paddling with unicorns to harry maguire's tweets. they've shown a willingness to engage in social media, helping break down barriers that built up over years with the public. this is a huge opportunity for gareth and for his players.

one former captain believes that relaxed attitude has forged a strong team bond. they deserve to be in this position. they've been absolutely magnificent in everything they've said, everything they've done. so, they are enjoying it, they look as if they're having fun which is great to see. and they're not ready to go home yet. final preparations today at the luzhniki stadium. after last week's close shave against colombia, england will be hoping tonight's game is decided before penalties. but croatia mean business. a battle hardened squad are determined they will be the ones to progress, training last night for an hour at a high intensity, despite their recent tough games. their head coach, that zlatko dalic, saying in his press conference, it should be no surprise that his team is amongst the final four. and that the strength of his players has been underestimated. the trophy may have changed, the ambition remains the same.

and england sense a chance to bring it home once more. in a moment, we'll go live to richard who's at the luzhniki stadium where tonight's game is being played, but first let's speak to sarah rainsford who's with england fans in central moscow. the fans who have travelled there, what's the mood? the mood is extremely positive. there has been a great party atmosphere here. we know that throughout the tournament, they have not been that many england fans here in russia, they have not travelled so much with the team because there was the fear of russia, hooliganism, and the politics as well. as the tournament has gone on and the team has done better and better, the cloud has grown. particularly for the semifinal. we have seen people scramble to get here, a mad dash to moscow. i have talked to people today who have gone to great lengths today who have gone to great lengths to make sure they have got here,

flights via multiple countries, for five different countries to get here. they stay in places like a dance studio which has been converted into a hostel, and paying enough a lot of money, some of them, on the streets, to get tickets because the official ticket are pretty well sold out. this is such a historic moment, people are so excited about this young team and their chances, daring to be optimistic that they can do it this time at this semifinal. i have to say, one unusual thing that we have discovered over the last couple of daysis discovered over the last couple of days is that since russia went out of the competition, an awful lot of russians are actually backing england in this game against croatia and some of them had even been learning the songs! thank you very much. richard conway at the luzhniki stadium as england make theirfinal preparations, any team news at all? not as yet but gareth southgate might be tempted to stick with the starting 11 that served him so well

throughout the tournament. the one chance if you're thinking of the croatian midfielder, an attack may be hanging in eric dierto croatian midfielder, an attack may be hanging in eric dier to buttress the defensive midfield but that probably will not happen. we will probably will not happen. we will probably see the line of unchanged. the luzhniki stadium is here, final preparations are under way, 80,000 people will be here today. maybe 3000 will the inside to witness the england team getting to the world cup final. 0ver england team getting to the world cup final. over the years the fans have been to japan, brazil and south africa, those places have become bywords for english failure and demise, for four out. perhaps moscow tonight will be synonymous with english success and the time to turn thingsand a rebirth for the endless game. we will find out when it kicks off in six hours. thank you very

much, both of you. well, back home, tens of millions of fans are getting ready to watch tonight's semifinal either at home, in pubs or on big screens. for many it'll be a race home from work to make it in time for kick off. some fans are dressing up as manager gareth southgate on what's been dubbed waistcoat wednesday. a warning there is some flash photography in this report from sarah campbell. # it's coming home, it's coming... the liverpudlian milkmen are sure 52 yea rs of the liverpudlian milkmen are sure 52 years of hurt are nearly over. yes, we believe, we're going to win 2—0. there is pitch perfect vocal support from the cathedral choir in chelmsford. # football's coming home... it's coming home, it's coming home, it's coming, football's coming home # # three lions on a shirt... and prince harry is in ireland today and was in no doubt when asked

whether football is coming home. it's football coming home? definitely! even politics will have to remain on the bench. more important matters are at hand. gareth southgate and the boys have done a fantasticjob and i'm sure that they're going to go on and i wish them all the very best of luck tonight. it does feel like the whole country including this school in nottingham has got behind the team. this generation, here in northamptonshire, is too young to remember all the previous disappointments. very excited and i think we're going to win.” disappointments. very excited and i think we're going to win. i feel very excited, i hope we're going to thrash croatia. i am so ready for the match. i'm kind of nervous and excited about the match. very, very excited. also excited, pupils at ciaran cafferky‘s school, who could not be proud of that former ashbrook wrote pupils at zlatko dalic three's

—— at tripper‘s school. -- at tripper's school. you see the way he has performed, and he showed that if you believe in yourself, you can make it anywhere. the semifinal is predicted to cause spending spree, more than £550 million. and a fair bit of that will go on buying 10 million extra pint to mentoring the match. another item flying off the match. another item flying off the shelves is waistcoats. we are wearing our waistcoat to get behind gareth southgate. waistcoat wednesday to support the team.” think england will win 3—0. england's coming home! one of those who played back in 1966 things england can repeat that in‘s success.

england can repeat that in‘s success. it's about time, mind you, that we have got as far as we have. it's been an awful long time since 1966, that's a certainty. and i'm pretty sure we will be in the final. that would be absolutely wonderful. this was saturday. millions will be hoping these seem to be repeated this evening. much more on the build—up to the match on the bbc news channel this afternoon. the rest of the news now. the rest of the news now. detectives have managed to speak to charlie rowley, the man who was poisoned by nerve agent in wiltshire. mr rowley is no longer in a critical condition in hospital after being exposed to novichok with his partner, dawn sturgess. she has since died. 0ur correspondentjen smith is in salisbury. what is the latest? thank you, ben. as you are saying, we have heard that charlie is in a serious but sta ble that charlie is in a serious but stable condition in hospital behind me. the director of nursing, lorna

wilkinson, has told us his condition is known of the critical and his progress gives cause for optimism. charlie has spoken to police. —— his condition is no longer critical. police hope to speak to him again in the coming days but they say they will not provide further commentary. what he tells them could be absolutely critical. the police already believe that it's something that he and his partner dawn stu rg ess that he and his partner dawn stu rgess handles that he and his partner dawn sturgess handles which led to their contamination. so if you can help narrow that down, that would be in quite a useful and he could shed light on the investigation into the poisoning of sergei skripal and his daughter in march. the assistant commissionerfor the daughter in march. the assistant commissioner for the metropolitan police was here in salisbury last night and told a packed public meeting that the nerve agent novichok could remain in trace in the town for up to 50 years. he also said that the police search could be narrowed dramatically to any evidence that charlie could give them. the police have been under strain here in wiltshire, they have

had a huge investigation and we have heard today they will get £2.5 million from the home office to cover costs incurred which brings the total to over £4 million they have received since march. any evidence that charlie can give the police from his hospital bed behind me could really help the investigation. president trump has denounced germany as being totally controlled by russia, suggesting it depends on moscow for up to 70% of its gas imports. mr trump was speaking ahead of a nato summit in brussels. he's accused european nations of failing to pay enough for the alliance. from brussels, our correspondent gavin lee reports. good morning, everybody. presidential breakfast in brussels but no time for pleasantries. donald trump who has barely touched the ground since arriving in europe, choosing a presummit photo opportunity for a public would be cut, accusing germany of undermining nato. i think it's very sad when

germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with russia, where you are supposed to be guiding against —— guarding against russia and germany spends billions on year to russia. across the table, nato's head looks on, choosing not respond as the us president goes further. germany is totally controlled by russia because they were getting from 60 to 70% of their energy from russia in a new pipeline. and you tell me if that's appropriate. because i think it's not affected a very bad thing for nato, and i don't think it should have happened and we have to talk to germany about it. as germany's chancellor angela merkel arrived at nato's new headquarters, she refused to directly respond the criticisms into saying germany is free to make independent decisions. this nato summit has barely started and already we're seeing from 28 nato leaders, they want to talk about strength and unity in the face of

the perceived threat from russia. donald trump is saying that comes with a price and he accuses germany and other countries, in his words, of not paying their way. it has been a year since nato leaders first met the us president and were publicly berated by him for failing to spend 296 berated by him for failing to spend 2% of their gross domestic product on defence as they had pledged to do over the next kate. as theresa may —— next decade. as theresa may arrived this morning, she told reporters the uk is one of the few men are doing their bit for the alliance. nato is as vital today as it ever has been in the uk's commitment to it remains as that fast as ever and we show that, we lead by example, not only by meeting target of spending 2% of gdp on defence, but also 20% of our defence budget on equipment and in the way in which we deploy thousands of armed forces personnel are nato operations around the world. privately, european diplomats talk

of the summit being a damage limitation exercise in the face of open american criticism. but for nato, these public outburst at triggered more countries to invest in the alive even if they see it as an in the alive even if they see it as n ugly in the alive even if they see it as an ugly we to do politics. —— in the alliance. 0ur chief international correspondent lyse doucet is at the summit in brussels. quite a target from donald trump, what has the reaction been? well it is an ugly way to do politics, unusual, unpredictable i heard and indeed unwelcome. but at that table, at the conversation between president trump and the nato secretary generaljens stoltenberg praised the leadership and the message of president trump saying that kind of angry talk actually had an impactand that kind of angry talk actually had an impact and that nato nations including germany whose spending has gone up by 80% actually was bearing results. i think behind nato leaders

are saying it does not have to be this way. one defence minister said to be privately we are not going to get involved in this kind of tit—for—tat. we are quite used to watch president trump has been saying but we will respond in our own way. and that will be interesting to hear what they will stay behind closed doors because we know in public it is pretty nasty. but maybe having some result. facebook has been fined a record £500,000 by the information commissioner over its misuse of data. the regulator has been investigating how the details of tens of millions of users ended up in the hands of the political consultancy cambridge analytica. the commissioner raised concerns about political parties buying personal information from what it called "data brokers". here's our correspondent theo leggett. this is the biggest investigation of its kind ever undertaken in the uk. the information commissioner has been looking at the way personal

data has been used for political purposes for more than a year. political parties, data analysis companies and major social media platforms have all come under scrutiny. documents have been pored over and offices raided. a major pa rt over and offices raided. a major part of the enquiry has been looking at facebook. the social media giant has already admitted data from up to 87 million users may have been acquired without their consent by a company called cambridge analytica. it is looking at allegations that that date it was misused by both sides in the eu referendum campaign. by sides in the eu referendum campaign. by making sure that advertising and other information was directly targeted at those most likely to be influenced by it. we looked to the campaigns on both sides, on the leave side and the remain side and again we have found some contraventions of the law, we also have found misuse of data and our investigation continues so we have

not finished yet in october we had to have final report. but we are taking action against some of the campaigns and some of the players. the information commissioner is planning to find facebook have £1 million. the company has admitted it did not do enough in response to claims that data was being misused. at the enquiry goes well beyond facebook and cambridge analytica. the ico says it is sending warning letters to 11 political parties and meanwhile politicians themselves say you data protection laws should have a big impact. the ico has investigated the breach of the data protection act which goes back to 1998, we now have new laws in place which are much more stringent, much more protection for people and they are the best in the world. so we would hope in future that people will be protected against this sort of unlawful activity i facebook and by cambridge analytica. the proposed fine for facebook may be small

change for an online giant but it is still a powerful statement of intent. it shows that the regulator is taking the issue very seriously and in the future of the fines could be much bigger. our top story this lunchtime. england's footballers are preparing to take on croatia for a place in the world cup final. and coming up. the moorland fires. how did they affect the air we breathe? england's footballers are on their way to moscow for their world cup semifinal — they take on croatia in six hours time. it's emerged that the 12 boys rescued from a cave in thailand were heavily sedated to keep them calm, and were only semi—conscious as they were brought out by divers. officials say the boys and their coach are in ‘good health' as they recover from their ordeal and showing no signs of stress.

the bbc has been told that if the last rescues had not been carried out yesterday — today would have been ‘virtually impossible' because of rising water levels. from northern thailand, dan johnson reports. these are the final four to leave the tham luang cave. the last of the rescue team to reach safety. they brought with them 12 boys and their football coach, and a wave of relief after a tense wait over two weeks. as the international divers had told we are beginning to learn more about how extraordinary the rescue was. how whether boys when you saw them? they were sedated, unconscious. the doctor administered drugs to make them sedated? they had to, it was a big risk to put someone in that

situation. officials in thailand initially denied dropping the boys but we are told the all came out semiconscious and strapped to an experienced cave diver. this man led the underwater dive team, and even he had his doubts about this dangerous rescue. translation: idid not dangerous rescue. translation: i did not think we would do this well, we just had a i did not think we would do this well, wejust had a bit i did not think we would do this well, we just had a bit of hope that the kids were still alive but we had to move forward and do it. it was a tiny bit of hope but we had to succeed. we had to hold onto that hope and the end we found out they we re hope and the end we found out they were all alive. so i'm very happy. and so is the rest of this country. it isa and so is the rest of this country. it is a moment to celebrate but there are families still to be reunited and classmates eager to see theirfriends. translation: as soon as he walks into the classroom we'll give his birthday cake and some gifts we made ourselves. we will sing a song for him and everyone will tell him how they feel.

there were so many people involved in the rescue operation it will take a long time for things here to wind down. there's a lot of satisfaction at thejob down. there's a lot of satisfaction at the job well down. there's a lot of satisfaction at thejob well done down. there's a lot of satisfaction at the job well done but i think the enormity of what they have achieved is only just starting enormity of what they have achieved is onlyjust starting to sink in. the recovery will take time as well, this day in hospital will continue and the boys are remarkably well, considering. translation: we plan to scale back on the preventative medication but we're still giving medicine to those who have lung infections for the next seven days. this is the period of time when we need to take care of them. the case has been cleared and them. the case has been cleared and the boys can begin to move on. the hows and whys will come later, the challenge, the pain and the amazing outcome will all live long in the memory. the bbc has revealed that its ten best paid stars are men —

despite efforts to close the gender pay gap between its highest earning presenters. there are two women in the top 15 — claudia winkleman and vanessa feltz. match of the day host gary lineker is the biggest earner at the corporation, taking home around one and three quarter million pounds a year. our media correspondent david sillito reports. the revelation last year the big pay gap between male and female stars of the bbc provoked outrage from many women in the corporation. the annual report today is with you that some women have had pay rises and some men have had cuts. jeremy vine lost around one third of his £700,000 salary, john humphrys publicly reported salary is also drop from around £6,000, to £400,000. last year men outnumbered women on the list 321. —— three to one.

we're now told that that is closer to 60—40 with an ambition in the next year or so to make it 50—50. but if you look at the top ten highest paid staff at the moment, they are still all men. these things take time, what i am concentrating on is ensuring we are seen concentrating on is ensuring we are seen to make real progress. so sarah montague is one of the number of women who have made it onto the list of top paid dissenters. the number earning £2000 or more has doubled. names such as tess daly have disappeared from the list because they are employed by bbc studios, they are employed by bbc studios, the bbc production arm, now operating as a private business. the report shows they're making progress on equal pay that there is still further to go. in some ways the report is a backward step because many people, their pay has not been included this year because they work for bbc studios. so the bbc highest

paid star now on the list is gary lineker with more than £1.7 million. highest—paid woman is 13th on the list. bbc women say there is still a long way to go. over recent weeks firefighters across the uk have been struggling to deal with dozens of wildfires. but what impact do they have on the air we breathe? scientists are now taking to the skies to try assess what sort of pollution these sort of fires are causing. our science correspondent victoria gill reports. ravaged peatland is still burning, two weeks after the wildfire on saddleworth moor started. and with forecasts suggesting that this summer could bring more wildfires in the uk and across europe, these researchers are taking to the smoky sky. tthis airborne

laboratory, a converted passenger plane fitted with an instrument that sucks in samples of our atmosphere is heading into the smoke to work out what wildfires mean for the air that we breathe. we look at live data from the aircraft to identify when we think we're going through a plume and when we think we are in a plume, we hit a button and that takes a sample of airfrom outside the aircraft which we collect for analysis way down the line. entire ecosystems have been wiped out in two major fires that are still burning in the north of england. incidents that the fire service has described some of the worst it has ever seen. you can see the fire is still smouldering away. the saddleworth moor fire started on the 24th ofjune and you can still see it burning, the peatland is definitely burning and a lot of people are wondering why this fire has become so big when there are controlled burns on moorland and peatland reasonably frequently. one of the reasons is this peatland is so degraded, historic air pollution meant that the moss which contained so much moisture was killed by acid rain and that means this peatland

has really dried out. so with the drought conditions and a lot of very dry heather, it gives a lot of fuel for this fire which is why it has become so huge. on board, the instruments reveal a spike in methane, a greenhouse gas and air pollutant carbon monoxide. back on the ground, the team will work out the smoke's exact chemical make up. potentially, if these types of fires are going to happen more often in a changing climate and potentially a drier climate in the uk, we need to understand what is being emitted from them and therefore how that's going to affect the atmosphere going into the future. it isa it is a mission to capture this pollution as it drifts into our towns and cities. back to news of the cave rescue in thailand. let's bring you some dramatic

new pictures of the thai cave rescue operation taking place. the pictures from the thai navy seals show some of the rescuers working in the confined spaces of the cave system. and we were hearing that the boys we re and we were hearing that the boys were sedated to keep them calm as they were brought out of the cave network. they have all been successfully rescued. much more on those new pictures coming in throughout the afternoon on the bbc news channel. the duke and duchess of sussex are carrying out a second day of engagements in dublin on their first official overseas visit since their wedding in may. this morning, prince harry and meghan markle met the irish president michael higgins and his wife, along with their two dogs. the royal couple then visited croke park stadium, before travelling to trinity college to see the books of kells. time for a look at the weather. here's ben rich. some of the shine has come off the

way. slightly lower temperatures & over some rain, that is how it looked in dumfries and galloway earlier on, still sunshine to be had, candida are seeing plenty of it today. the satellite picture shows a pheromone to cloud in eastern areas and in this cloud around the north—west, that has been producing some slower north—west, that has been producing some slower areas north—west, that has been producing some slower areas of rain. the rain here very thin and tending to fizzle. elsewhere some small chances for a showerfurther fizzle. elsewhere some small chances for a shower further south, temperatures up to 25 degrees. what if you are watching the big match this evening? this is the forecast the seven o'clock and across much of england and wales there will be some sunny spells around to close out the dave coss small chance for a