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 shower. experiencing thicker cloud and slow—moving area of rain. the

forecast for the match itself in moscow, let's take a look at what is likely to be going on. some showers this afternoon but they should fizzle out as the match kicks off. and clear spells to see us towards its conclusion. back home clear skies of times overnight and some showers. for scotland and northern ireland still more clout and spots of rain and drizzle times. temperatures around 13, i7 of rain and drizzle times. temperatures around 13, 17 degrees. so tomorrow staying quite cloudy across large parts of scotland and northern ireland. but preserved in scotla nd northern ireland. but preserved in scotland and down across england and wales we will see some sunny spells but also some showers across western areas in particular. quite hit and miss but they could be on the heavy side. i mentioned showers on

thursday, by friday across southern scotla nd thursday, by friday across southern scotland and western parts of england and wales summerbee showers could be really happy. but not everywhere is going to get them to stop so this is not reliable rainfall for the garden but some places will get quite a downpour. in southern areas going into the weekend the temperatures likely to climb. high pressure is in charge. there could be some patchy rain further north. temperatures in the south could get close to 30 degrees. perhaps in time for a world cup final, who knows. further north it will always be cooler perhaps with a little rain at times. that's all from us. but before we go, good luck england and here's a flavour of how fans up and down the country are getting in the mood for tonight's big match. # football's coming home! # it's coming home, it's coming... yes, we believe! we're going to win, we're going to win 2—0 at least! music: football's coming home.

come on, england! singing it's going to be a great party. but probably what's going to happen is, it's coming home! that was a nice introduction, wasn't it? good afternoon, it's 1.30pm and here's your latest sports news.

only one place to start — moscow — where gareth southgate has urged his england side to make history in their huge world cup semifinal against croatia. history in their huge world cup england have been training this morning at a fifa training ground in moscow. the match kicks off at seven o'clock tonight at the luzhniki stadium, and that's where we find out sports news correspondent richard conway, too. richard, it is the big one. it is, welcome to the luzhniki stadium, there will be 80,000 fans packed in here via kick—off time, seven o'clock in the uk, nine o'clock here, final operation is under way, they have been painting the lines and getting the nets on. we are expecting between 3000 and 5000 england fans to make it in here tonight, maybe more, could be estimates of up to 10,000 in moscow in total, some without tickets. we

should have team news very soon within the next few hours as well, not expecting many changes from gareth southgate, i think he will stick with the team he knows. history awaits the winner of this game, against france in the world cup final back here at the luzhniki on sunday. england and gareth southgate knows what lies ahead. history could be raid, thank much, richard conway. so what of england's opponents tonight — croatia? they have a squad with so much experience — their players have nine champions league titles between them — four of those belong to luka modric. he plays alongside another superstar ivan rakitic in midfield. those two play for spain's two leading sides real madrid and barcelona. rakitic, modric and striker mario mandzukic all made their croatia debuts more than a decade ago — they've spent a lot of time playing together, unlike england's team. so they will be ready for the big

match tonight. to the all england club, and its men's quarter finals day at wimbledon. of the eight men remaining, only one has yet to play in a grand slam final. john watson is there for us and john, we could be in for quite some day... yes, a special day for the wimbledon faithful, not least because we have the big three back in the last eight in the men's singles for the first time since 2011, larger federal, rafa nadal and novak djokovic. we will start with the progress of roger federer, he has serenely moved through to the quarterfinals and is on top once again in his quarterfinal. interesting to note, on court number one at the moment, for the first time in 20 matches roger federer in the more unfamiliar surroundings of court number one, but he is 11—2 up after an early break against kevin anderson, who reached the us final last year. so roger federer progressing well at the moment out on court number one.

he now has a double break on court number one. let's go to centre court. centre court, novak djokovic is up against kei nishikori. djokovic as we now had elbow surgery earlier on this year, struggles with form and fitness, but he is showing signs of getting back to his best. 4-3 signs of getting back to his best. 11—3 up after a break and milos raonic againstjohn isner as well, another quarterfinal tie. it will be interesting to note what raonic‘s coach be doing, goran ivanisevic. if that match brands late there could bea that match brands late there could be a clash with the kick—off of the england — croatia game. we know he has said he will go off and watch the game somewhere in the modern. keep your eyes peeled for goran ivanisevic later. he will be watching it on his phone later, i am sure. just time to remind you that stage five of the tour de france is underway, you can follow it live on the bbc sport website — bbc.co.uk/sport.

i'll have more for you in the next hour. loving the waistcoat! since that now immortal piece of commentary — "they think it's all over... it is now" — the life of an england football fan has been a pretty torturous one. the 52 years of hurt have followed a familiar pattern: low expectations, hope, growing confidence and then the inevitable disappointment, only to do it all again at the next tournament. could this time be different? jayne mccubbin has been meeting the fans. across england, prayers are being sent up. i believe in god, and i believe england can win. yes! high—five, reverend bob. may allah and god make everything easy for england, and make them win, and make the whole community come together, and that. two faiths, one belief, and it is a belief which is growing. matt?

yes. do you believe? i believe we are going to win 3—0. colin, do you believe? yes, we're going to win 2—0 at least. how old were you in 1966? i wasn't born in 1966. i am so sorry! laughter. 0k, success is written in the history books, and since then, there have been so many upsets, so many tears. commentator: and england are out of the world cup! oh yea, oh yea! but you know what they say about history. what has made the difference this time, david? what has made the difference? i think it's the team spirit, and the fact they have to prove themselves. none of them come with big reputations, like the messis and ronaldos. this is their chance, may have taken it. we send our best wishes for victory for the england team today! cheering.

expectations couldn't be higher. really excited, yes. worryingly excited. you know, when you've brought out a wind machine, you really have hit peak excitement. but let's be fair — not everyone is in on this moment. not allowed to watch coronation street. i know, disaster! what is your name? marion. welsh? of course. who are you supporting, marion? viva le france! get out of here! # it's coming home, it's coming home... but this could be the start of a day for dreaming big. who knows — it mightjust happen. it will! it's going to happen.

in a moment, we'll have all the business news, but first the headlines on bbc news... england fans prepare to support their team ahead of their semifinal clash with croatia this evening. a tirade from president trump ahead of the nato summit: he claims germany is totally controlled by russia. the man poisoned by novichok nerve agent in wiltshire speaks to police for the first time. iam i am rachel horne, in the business news... the bidding warfor sky heats up, as 21st century fox increases its offerfor the uk broadcaster to {211.5 billion. that's £2.5 billion more than the bid from fox's rival comcast. — more on that in a moment. the global trade war escalates after the united states hits china with fresh tariffs worth £150 billion — beijing's not happy and neither are financial markets.

and shares in burberry fell sharply after the luxury fashion retailer warned that tourist numbers in the uk are falling. the firm also announced its first quarter results, which showed a 3% rise in like—for—like sales for the three months tojune. rupert murdoch's 21st century fox has increased its offer for uk broadcaster sky to {211.5 billion, topping a previous offer from rival bidder comcast. fox is expecting to get regulatory approval for the deal this week. but some analysts are expecting a counter offerfrom comcast soon, which made a £22 billion bid for sky back in february. joining me know is laith khalaf, who's the senior analyst at hargreaves la nsdown. laith, why do both comcast and fox want sky so badly? good afternoon, rachel. sky

basically, they are both offer a pretty lucrative european business. what is pricing is how much they are willing to pay for that business, and the price tag hasjust willing to pay for that business, and the price tag has just been ratcheting up echoes obviously they are battling each other but also in the background of course, these big traditional media companies also battling netflix, and amazon who have really stolen a march on them, in terms of content and subscribers. we mention fox is looking to get regulatory approval in the uk this week for a deal, they have been trying to get it since 2016. they already own about 39% of sky, trying to buy that extra 61%. what are the issues there? it has been a long old road because they have been concerns the deal would hand too much control over the uk media to the murdoch family. that looks like that issue

has probably been cleared up by the fa ct has probably been cleared up by the fact that there is kind of a secondary bidding war going on for fox itself, so disney and comcast are battling out for vokes. disney currently in full position on that one and it looks like because sky news will ultimately cede to disney, that will be less of a consent of the uk regulators, so all eyes expecting the deal to be waved through, with that concession sky moves through, with that concession sky m oves a cross through, with that concession sky moves across “— through, with that concession sky moves across —— sky news moves to disney's control whatever happens. you mention the surprising amount of money the rival bidders are prepared to pay for sky. it would seem in the short—term the real winners are the shareholders. what sort of profits could be looking at? they are huge winners, if you look at the share price before the bidding war started, before the bidding war started, before the bidding war started, it was £7 70, today's bid has taken it up to £14, so you are talking about very steep, almost doubling of shareholders money in a fairly short space of time. and look

at the market price today, it is actually nearer to £15. that tells you that the market thinks there are still more bidding to come, that comcast will come back with a counter offer, and it will still be a fairly long road ahead i think but at the end of it there is a huge payday for sky shareholders. thank you very much. in other business news — oil prices have fallen — 0pec, the cartel of oil producing nations, issued a report this morning saying they expect demand to fall next year because growth in consumption will slow and rivals will pump more oil — also libya's national oil company has regained control of four export terminals in the east of the country, which will increase supply, and there are concerns that the us china trade war could add to a drop in demand. the uk's data protection watchdog intends to hit facebook with a £500,000 fine for data breaches — the maximum sum allowed. the information commissioner's office said facebook had failed to ensure another company — cambridge analytica — had deleted users' data. the ico also plans to bring a criminal action against scl elections, which is the defunct parent company of

cambridge analytica. and the head of uber‘s human resources department — liane hornsey — has resigned following an investigation into how she handled allegations of racial discrimination at the firm. her departure comes just a year after the firm's founder, travis kalanick, left under a cloud following reports of gender discrimination and harassment. before we go, a look at the market. i mention the us— china trade deal and at israeli escalating, we saw ta riffs and at israeli escalating, we saw tariffs and matched by china, markets across the world are down, investors are markets across the world are down, investors a re released markets across the world are down, investors are released out in to get concerned as to how this could escalate. share price barratt developments, their share price up 3%. brent crude or oil

price up 3%. brent crude or oil price dropping. that is it from business, i will be back with all of the news throughout the afternoon. we will take you back to that dramatic rescue in thailand, we have just received new pictures of the rescue itself inside the cave system. these are the boy is actually being brought out along the cave system in that three—day operation to rescue the 12 boys and therefore the coach had been trapped in that cave for more than a fortnight. and it has emerged now that the boys were passed along through the cave system on stretchers, and that they had been heavily sedated, so they were effectively sleeping. 0ne heavily sedated, so they were effectively sleeping. one of the great fears of the rescuers were that the boys would panic as they we re that the boys would panic as they were being brought out, and so they

we re were being brought out, and so they were given sedatives to keep them calm. a former serial diver with the thai navy said that the boys, some of them were asleep, some of them we re of them were asleep, some of them were groggy, just wriggling their fingers, that is how they were brought out, sedated and therefore calm. no panic at all. a remarkable three—day rescue operation to bring out those boys and their coach. we are also hearing it was just the nick of time, because we knew there we re nick of time, because we knew there were rising waters because of monsoon rains, and it is now being said that if they had not got the last of the boys out, today the water levels might well have been too high and they would not have been able to rescue the final few boys and their coach. so does him that they did get them outjust in the nick of time. what has also emerged as well as that

international team of rescuers who went into the caves to bring them out, including elite british cave divers who were part of the team. but there was also it has now emerged an australian diver, an australian expert diver, who was also an anaesthetist, and it seems that he had a pretty critical role to play in bringing out the boys and perhaps administering those sedatives was just mentioning. 0ne of the concerns of the psychologists has been that they will have been traumatised by this ordeal from wondering if they would ever get out alive, but apparently they are in pretty good physical condition. you

are seeing the guide rope established in the system so it was easierfor the divers to established in the system so it was easier for the divers to get in and out, such a mammoth and incredible effort by so many people, international rescuers from around the world, including british divers. these are the first dramatic pictures of the boys themselves being carried out, and as i said, heavily sedated, you can see them in those tinfoil covers to keep them warm, and brought out alive, perhaps against all the odds, 12 boys and their coach rescued alive, wonderful story. with theresa may away at the nato summit, cabinet office minister david lidington stood in and faced the shadow foreign secretary, emily thornberry, at prime ministers questions. the pair clashed over the government's handling of the brexit negotiations. 0ur assistant political editor norman smith is in westminster to tell us more. good afternoon, then, sometimes you

say if you are asking the questions, sometimes it is easy, and this week was probably one of those occasions, because emily thornberry, well, she had some of the unguarded remarks about donald trump is at the boris, the whole chequers summit and then the whole chequers summit and then the resignations, 24 emily thornberry to go out, which she julie did, giving it a sort of three lions twist. have a listen. let me wish gareth southgate and in this team as much luck, for this match and hopefully for the final on sunday. i may know very little about football but even ican see very little about football but even i can see that england's progress so far other world cup shows what can be achieved when all the individual players work effectively as a team... laughter when there is a clear game plan, and

when they are all working together, and of course when everybody respects and listens to the manager. so can! respects and listens to the manager. so can i simply asked the minister of state what lessons he thinks the england team could teach this shambles of a government? mr speaker, i think that the england team does teach some good lessons, which is about the importance of having a clear plan, which the leader... which the team captain has the full support of the squad in delivering, and we will of course be publishing tomorrow full details of the united kingdom plan for brexit, which we will be putting to the

british public and to our 27 european partners. they're actually they‘ re actually followed they're actually followed quite a detail explained about the new customs deal that the government is trying to put together. an awful lot of people were scratching their heads let's try and boiler down and keep it to the abc. i am joined by labour'sjenny keep it to the abc. i am joined by labour's jenny chapman, the keep it to the abc. i am joined by labour'sjenny chapman, the tory‘s grant shapps and the liberal democrat danny wilson. the charge is that it democrat danny wilson. the charge is thatitis democrat danny wilson. the charge is that it is a half baked, back door customs union plan, so you guys ought to quite like it. but what we wa nt ought to quite like it. but what we want isa ought to quite like it. but what we want is a customs union and we are not impressed with the chequers plan. it leaves out services. you have these two parallel customs processes operating on the borders. we think it is unworkable. it is a bureaucratic nightmare. we don't think business will support this, they already indicating that they don't. we think there is a long road left to travel in this and the tories don't seem to like it either.

so it is difficult to see how this will get through as it is. just to be clear, we know mrs may's chief of staff has briefed opposition mps presumably in the hope that, the hour she might be to get some support from labour. are you saying really there is no chance labour could support this? let's look at the white paper that comes out tomorrow, but i went to that thing and it was the three pages we had already seen published with some doodles really. i did not find it particularly persuasive, and i think they will have to do a lot better than that. grant shapps, from your side there are probably 50 or 60, who knows, ha rd—core side there are probably 50 or 60, who knows, hard—core tory brexiteers who knows, hard—core tory brexiteers who will not exist, and therefore there is no way mrs may will get this package through unless labour come on board. i think the mep daniel hannon, probably has this right, the chequers deal is about

the end deal, if europe now accepted it, then i think the 50 or 60 of mike colleagues or at least the vast majority would probably just about except this. i think if daniel hannan is saying it, someone who has been on the leading edge of this for a long time, the problem is if europe looks at this and says it is a good start but much more we want you to do, then i think there will bea you to do, then i think there will be a real problem selling and not just the conservative party but to parliament as a whole. that is the difficulty. but when you start to look at the detail, and i'm afraid it does take some time to run through, it is not a bad set of propositions for what should happen when we leave. sammy wilson, we heard david davis in his resignation interview talking about the sword of da mocles interview talking about the sword of damocles and the shape of the northern ireland back stock hanging over this parliament. given it is there, doesn't it make this chequers package a non—runner for you? there, doesn't it make this chequers package a non—runner for you ?m there, doesn't it make this chequers package a non-runner for you? it is unfortunate that the very start of this process the prime minister accented that the sword of damocles

was over all of our heads and now we are having to live with that. but as faras we are are having to live with that. but as far as we are concerned, and the prime minister has laid this down as her red line, there will be no division of the united kingdom. that is what we will be looking for in these negotiations, and i have just got to find some way of untying the cord which holds this sword over all of our heads. she has to do that. i think she should take a line out of donald trump 's think she should take a line out of donald trump '5 macbook in dealing with the eu, straightforward, no— nonsense. with the eu, straightforward, no—nonsense. he said that to the european countries and they are all starting to play up to nato now. we need a bit of the trump is into our negotiations with the eu. need a bit of the trump is into our negotiations with the eui need a bit of the trump is into our negotiations with the eu. i am told something more important than brexit, and it is the weather. ben rich, i think you have the weather for us. i do. good afternoon, thank you very much indeed, the weather actually throwing a little more drama in ourdirection actually throwing a little more drama in our direction we have been used to have laid. some of us have

even seen some rain across western scotland in particular. but it is not like that everywhere. county durham still getting some blue sky. we have been samit patel two areas of cloud, one across the east, one across the northwest, this one that has been bringing the rain in north—western scotland and northern ireland as well. further south as we get to see some swelled sunshine, those temperatures about 25 or 26 degrees. just a small chance for one or two showers as well. if you are watching the big match at seven o'clock, this is how we expect things to look. a bit patchy cloud, some sunny spells across much of england and wales, a small chance of a shower across the midlands northern england. eastern scotland holding onto some brightness but western scotland, northern ireland more in the way of cloud, this is how it will look in moscow, we suspect. diving underneath the

clouds to find the stadium, you can see some afternoon showers, which will tend to fizzle away by the time the match begins and we will see some clear spells to figure through to full—time. during this evening and tonight, it is a mixture of clear spells and patchy cloud, still potentially one or two showers, more cloud generally for northern ireland and scotland, still the odd spot of rain, temperatures not falling far, 13 to 17 degrees. into tomorrow, pretty mixed fare across scotland, particularly the northern half. more in the way of cloud, the odd spot of rain still limping slowly eastwards, quite a loss of cloud through northern ireland. sunny spells, but that could spawn some showers, some heavy ones across south—west scotland. the showers become if anything more widespread. they will still be hit and miss, if you are desperate for some rain in the garden, don't rely on this, but if you catch a shower on friday it could be heavy, thundery, some hail

thrown into good measure, most likely from southern scotland down into central and western england and wales. high—pressure holding firm to the most part as we head into the weekend, so southern and eastern areas looking mostly dried. some strengthening winds as well. down to the south, the heat builds its way backin the south, the heat builds its way back in again. the southern areas temperatures may be 2930 into the weekend but always a bit cooler further north. hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. today at 2pm. less than five hours to go till kick—off. england are one game away from a world cup final — but a strong croatia team stand in their way before history can be made. they've got the whole country in the palm of their hand and that'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 at

them and were desperate for them to to get to that world cup final. dramatic new pictures emerge of the operation to rescue 12 boys and their football coach from a cave in thailand — with the bbc understanding they were heavily sedated to prevent them panicking. the man poisoned by novichok speaks to police