this is bbc news. the headlines at 11:00pm: a sharp rise in crime recorded by police in england and wales, with knife attacks, murder and manslaughter all on the increase. we can't do as much as we used to do, or can't do it as effectively. that causes real frustrations to our officiers, as well, who simply want to do the bestjob for the public. and that's a real concern. the new brexit secretary, dominic raab, is in brussels, promising to inject new energy into the uk's approach to the brexit process. four months after the skripals were poisoned in salisbury, there are reports that police know the identity of the russian suspects. also coming up: theresa may is expected to tell the eu to evolve its position on brexit away from unworkable ideas. using a speech in belfast tomorrow, the prime minister will repeat her refusal to contemplate a backstop deal that treats northern ireland

differently to the rest of the uk. and extending the hand of friendship? the white house says president trump is to invite vladimir putin to washington this autumn. good evening. crime recorded in england and wales has risen sharply, and the sharpest rise was in violent crime, according to the latest figures from the office for national statistics. the number of killings and murders rose by 12% in the 12 months to march, and crimes involving a knife rose by 16% in the same period.

there was a 30% increase in the number of robberies, which include muggings. other data shows that the rate of solving crimes has fallen, as our home affairs correspondent tom symonds explains. when more violent crime is being reported, this is the sort of crime fighting that is needed. we are with a specialist team tackling the moped gangs, tonight active in west london. radio: same suspects are known to carry weapons, including hammers and knives. they use these nippy scooters to steal and terrify, driving up the number of reported robberies. police say they hunt in packs, because scooters are hard to stop. we need two or three vehicles to make a box. two men have run a red on a type

of scooter often used by the gangs. come and have a chat. just stand there for us. there is no evidence they are involved in robbery. it is all about getting the officers into the right place at the right time, in force, to target specific types of crime like this, and these officers do believe they are now making a difference. in their area, the city of london, there were 56 moped robberies in january, but just two last month, a small dent in the national crime figures. is it a bit depressing to see the crime figures going up when you are doing this kind of work? it is. it'd be wrong of me to say it isn't, because we want to be out there, to be seen to be working well. we do know that there are days when we will suffer offences, because we can't be

everywhere at the same time. true, reported crime is rising. but increasingly, police also have to deal with other social problems, which aren't crime. simultaneously, police numbers have been cut to 1996 levels. certainly the officers i lead and my members are really, really frustrated, as much as the public are, that we can't do as much as we used to do, or can't do it as effectively. that causes real frustration to our officers, who simply want to do the bestjob for the public, and that's a real concern. in london today, there were more raids in the fight against knife crime, up again in these figures. 67 people have been arrested in this targeted operation this week. but what the numbers don't describe is the damage violent crime does to people's lives, like the family of daniel fox, stabbed to death in merseyside. another mother losing another son. they were so close. he used to look after her when she —

when he was little, ‘cause linda suffered from illnesses, and daniel did look after her. it's just devastated the whole family. it's so unreal to us. we've still not taken it in. stand by, right, right, right. back in london, they are trying to catch another moped. contrary to what many believe, the police are not banned from pursuing two—wheelers if the risk is manageable. but, within seconds, he slips between some bollards and disappears. maybe tomorrow. the new brexit secretary, dominic raab, has promised to intensify and energise the negotiations with brussels. he was speaking after his first talks with the eu's chief negotiator, michel barnier. the meeting came as the european commission advised eu states to prepare for a no—deal brexit, a situation where no formal agreement would be reached by the end of next march. from brussels, our europe editor katya adler reports. a new face in brussels,

confronting the same old brexit challenges. michel barnier, the eu's by now rather dour chief negotiator, has been in on this process from the start. our challenge will be to find common ground between the fundamental principles that define the eu and the uk positions. the smiling enthusiasm of the new brexit secretary came in stark contrast. i come out today to discuss the detailed proposals that we have got in our white paper, that you will have seen, and i'm looking forward to, with renewed energy, vigor and vim, heating up the negotiations, and making sure we're in the best position to get the best deal. is the government stable enough

to make a deal with brussels? dominic raab‘s upbeat message doesn't quite match the political turmoil we've seen this week in westminster. the eu is not convinced by the new brexit secretary's calm, confident message. are you sure? we really presented several positions, and great britain was facing even some resignings of ministers and state secretaries. now, we have a new brexit secretary. which has got the eu thinking that the possibility of the uk crashing out of the club without a deal has become a lot more likely. but what exactly is this no—deal brexit? all this brexit terminology, the political toings and froings, it can make the brexit process seem very theoretical and far away from our everyday lives. which is why the european commission has come up with this, a stark warning about planes, trains and queues at borders, published just as britain's new brexit secretary arrives in town. it is a reminder to eu countries

to do more contingency planning, in case, after more than a0 years of being intertwined, the uk and the eu now break apart without any practical agreement in place of how to work together after brexit. remember these kind of border queues when there have been hold—ups in calais in the past? well, expect the same or worse, says the european commission in its paper, if freight trucks, passenger vehicles and travellers themselves are subject to new, post—brexit checks between the uk and the eu. the eu paper has more warnings of potential disruptions for europeans, including airports, if eu—uk aviation and passenger rights deals are no longer valid. businesses, too, could be affected if the uk is a key exporter or importer of goods, or in the financial services sector.

and in security terms, with the uk being taken off eu intelligence sharing databases. a no—deal brexit could have a big impact on northern ireland, too. the prime minister arrived there this evening at the start of a two—day visit. first stop — a china factory, the perfect setting to make assurances about safeguarding the fragile peace process while preventing the uk from breaking apart. disagreement over the irish border is possibly the biggest elephant in the room in eu—uk brexit talks, with the potential to shatter whatever other progress is made. theresa may is to urge the european union to evolve its position on brexit, and not fall back on what she calls unworkable ideas. in a speech in belfast tomorrow, the prime minister is expected to reiterate her refusal to contemplate any backstop deal that treats northern ireland differently to the rest of the uk. our political correspondent iain watson is at westminster. hejoins us now. what

he joins us now. what else can we expect theresa may to stay in this speech? i think the main thrust of the speech will be to say to michel barnier, in effect, through a megaphone diplomacy, that the prime minister has got this brexit blueprint agreed at chequers, she has lost two cabinet ministers over it. she will tell them to be flexible, not to nitpick but to actually be not much more flexible in its approach as well but she will reiterate that there is a red line about northern ireland. she will not leave northern ireland in the same rules as the republic, and create an internal customs border within the united kingdom, she said that something she wouldn't do and no british prime minister would, so she is making that very, very clear in a speech tomorrow. but to some extent she is still being overshadowed, somewhat, by problems at westminster, because when she was in northern ireland she was asked about the pairing row that is going on at westminster, and she said that the party chairman, brandon lewis, and her chief whip julian smith

party chairman, brandon lewis, and her chief whipjulian smith made an honest mistake. now, what she was referring to, of course, was that crucial trade ill, that vote that the government won byjust six votes on tuesday. brandon lewis had undertaken not to vote on a crucial division, because on the other side of the argument, the liberal democrat mp joe of the argument, the liberal democrat mpjoe swensen couldn't do so, she was on maternity leave. nevertheless he went ahead and voted anyway, and at westminster lots of people are blaming the chief whip, julian smith, for this. they are suggesting that it was in an honest mistake but in fact he was instructing people to do so, to break this, if you like, gentleman's agreements, and in effect to, asjoe swensen called it, too cheap. so the pressure is growing here tonight because privately some mps are saying he ought to go. publicly the conservative mp heidi allen said she asked and confronted the chief whip greatly on whether this was intentional rather than a mistake. she didn't get a satisfactory

answer, so she didn't get a satisfactory answer, so she has concluded it is intentional. therefore to some extent his honour, trust, has been called into question. and from theresa may's point of view, having already lost two cabinet ministers over brexit, she does not want to lose a third cabinet minister, but julian smith is looking to vulnerable. -- looking particularly vulnerable. the white house has announced that president donald trump is inviting the russian president to visit the united states in the autumn. discussions about the visit are already underway, according to the president's spokeswoman. our correspondent chris buckler is in washington. chris, this announcement of this meeting has come, i presume, out of the blue. yes, with days of fallout from that first summit between vladimir putin and donald trump in helsinki at the start of the week, in which of course we had those rather contradict tree messages coming from donald trump, in which he said he was tough on russia but got on so well with vladimir putin.

he appeared to dismiss his intelligence agencies' assessment that frankly russia had interfered in elections and was a threat to us democracy, saying he had been misunderstood and he had misspoken. and of course, these continue to be issues that are being talked about in washington. but he is now inviting vladimir putin to come to the white house, to have a conversation with him, and to continue his discussions. it has taken people are back, and notjust as far as politicians here are concerned. also within the intelligence agencies, as well. dan coats is the director of national intelligence, in washington, he was actually on stage at a security forum in aspen and he was being interviewed, and all of a sudden this was announced, that potentially vladimir putin was coming to washington. when he was told that, on stage, his reply was to say, really? on stage, his reply was to say, really ? ca n on stage, his reply was to say, really? can you say that began? and then he said, well, that is going to be special. i think there will be a lot of people taken aback, particularly with this continued scrutiny on the relationship between the two presidents.

the headlines on bbc news: the number of violent crimes recorded in england and wales has reached its highest level for a decade, with knife crime up 16%. the new brexit secretary, dominic raab, has promised to intensify negotiations on britain's exit from the european union. he was speaking after his first talks in brussels. and the white house says discussions are underway for president putin to visit washington this autumn. police are reported to have identified several suspects responsible for the chemical attack on a former russian spy and his daughter in salisbury in march. the press association has reported that police believe several russians identified through cctv were involved in the attempted murder of sergei and yulia skripal. earlier this month, dawn sturgess, from wiltshire, died

after being poisoned by the novichok nerve agent. her partner remains in hospital. police believe the incidents are linked, as our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford reports. in central salisbury this afternoon, troops in gas masks again, gathering possible evidence of the nerve agent attack. the focus on this occasion, a large plastic container which was taken away for examination. it is now more than four months since sergei skripal and his daughter yulia fell ill, not long after leaving his home, here in a quiet cul—de—sac, where they had become contaminated by a russian—made military grade nerve agent, a novichok, that had been smeared or sprayed on his front door. the cnn network in the united states suggested today that detectives have used cctv and facial recognition software to isolate pictures of two suspects seen leaving britain soon after the attack, though it is not known

if they are russian and it's not clear they have been fully identified. counterterrorism detectives refused to discuss the reports, leaving only the russian ambassador to comment. unfortunately, we don't have official statements of the british side. i want to hear that from the scotland yard or the foreign office. a lot of versions that we hear, you know, in the newspapers, they are not supported by the statements the attack ended up taking dawn sturgess's life. she is thought to have been contaminated by a perfume bottle, which somehow ended up in her partner's flat. the inquest into her death opened and adjourned at the local coroner's court today. the coroner confirmed that police had recovered a bottle of liquid novichok. one of the last places dawn sturgess went before falling ill was the queen elizabeth gardens in salisbury. that has been the focus of the police searches for the last two days.

detectives now have a bottle of the possible chemical weapon and may have images of two suspects to work with. this unique investigation appears to be edging gently forward. daniel sandford, bbc news, salisbury. 8,000 troops, paying new scottish rates of income tax introduced earlier this year, are to receive a rebate from the uk government. 70% of military personnel in scotland pay up to £1,000 more a year than their colleagues in the rest of the uk. the ministry of defence says it's making the payment to ensure troops are treated equally. the scottish government says armed forces' families benefit from services not available elsewhere, such as free tuition and prescriptions. our scotland editor sarah smith has the story. faslane naval base on the clyde, home to uk's fleet nuclear submarines. keep 20 metres. keep 20 metres, roger. the submariners who operate them, the helicopter pilots who fly

in here, are all paying more income tax than their comrades serving elsewhere because they are stationed in scotland. the mod say it is unfair for troops in scotland to be left out of pocket, so they will make a payment to cover the tax changes, at the cost of about £4 million. down the river, the defence secretary is inspecting new navy frigates being built. he has not yet been able to secure a boost in defence spending or a pay rise for his forces but he can afford to make a political attack on scottish tax rates. service personnel don't have a choice as to where they are stationed. that's why we decided it was very important to act because they don't have a say as to whether they are stationed in scotland, england, wales, or abroad. so we felt that there was a disparity that we wanted to address. an army staff sergeant serving in scotland pays about £117 more in scottish income tax. a full colonel could pay over £1000 more.

but 30% of the forces in scotland, the lowest paid, pay less income tax and they will get to keep the difference. the scottish government argues that military families stationed in scotland enjoy more generous public spending. if you are a serving armed forces personnel stationed here in scotland, you benefit by the investment we make in public services. so that is why, if you are sending one of your children to university, you don't have to pay £9,000 per year. that is why you don't have to pay £8.80 for a prescription charge. now that military personnel are being reimbursed for higher scottish taxes, other people working for the uk government in scotland may hope they will get the same, but there are no plans to extend the compensation beyond the armed forces. sarah smith, bbc news, faslane. plastic bags that biodegrade have been hailed as one answer to the huge amount of plastic polluting the environment. the british manufacturers of so—called oxo—biodegradable bags claim they break down to nothing, and the technology is widely used across africa and the middle east.

but now the european commission is considering banning the bags because of fears they're not what they seem. our correspondent angus crawford reports. is this a solution to the plastics crisis? ordinary plastic with a simple chemical additive. its makers call it oxo—biodegradable. one of the manufacturers is a british company. its product is called d2w. you know this is going to convert basically organically to materials similar to a leaf. it couldn't be better. d2w automatically breaks down... they have promotional videos, and big name supporters. here's environmentalist chris packham on the bbc‘s one show. there are technologies out there, now. oxo—biodegradable plastics which will break down very easily...

what he didn't declare on the programme, he's one of symphony's paid advisers. the bbc says he's done nothing wrong, and he didn't want to talk to us about it. d2w is now being used in many countries. here in the ivory coast in west africa, for example, where even water is sold in plastic bags. millions per day. they have banned normal bags, encouraging people to use oxo, from manufacturers around the world. including the british d2w. they even have a special police unit, whose job is to track down and seize ordinary plastic. look at this. it's not popular, but that is the law. hundreds of millions of plastic bags get into the rivers and oceans every year. this technology is meant to provide a solution. if you chuck this away,

manufacturers say that within about two years it will break down to nothing, on land or at sea. but does it really? here's one way to find out. quite a lot of marine life on here now, after several years in the sea... thousands of miles away, hanging in the water, bags placed in the sea at plymouth university. this bag is labelled as d2w. we have had this bag in the sea for more than two years, now. it's probably still strong enough to carry your shopping home in. what's more, scientists fear when they do break down, they may create tiny pieces. under the microscope, a bag that's more than ten years old. it's degraded as a carrier bag. you could no longer carry your shopping in it, that bit is true. but is this an environmental solution? what we've now got is millions of very small pieces of plastic. the european commission agrees, and is moving to restrict or may

even ban oxo products across the eu. it says that there is no evidence oxo—degradable plastic will fully biodegrade in a reasonable time. the eu's report refers to misleading claims to consumers, and warns of a potential increase in littering. it concludes that oxo—degradable technology is not a solution for the environment. that's just bad science, according to one british manufacturer. it insists the product does fully biodegrade. this is what we describe as an insurance policy, if it ends up in the environment, it probably wouldn't even get to the ocean as a piece of plastic. it would probably end up in the ocean as a biodegradable material. but if you do just drop it in the ocean, which has been our studies, we have shown, versus non—degradable products, that it degrades and biodegrades

an awful lot faster than conventional plastics. in ivory coast, the debate has moved on. the government is now talking about banning all plastic bags, including oxos. the solution here, then, not better plastic but no plastic at all. angus crawford, bbc news, in abuja in the ivory coast. it's emerged the high—end british fashion label, burberry, controversially burns and destroys £28.6 million worth of unsold clothes, accessories and perfume last year. experts say limiting any surplus product is crucial to keeping the brand exclusive, but environmental campaigners are angry about the level of waste. a little earlier i spoke to basma khalifa, a fashion stylist and brand expert, she explained why brands destroy their old products. it all comes down to brand

protection. so many brands spend thousands and thousands of pounds creating a brand. they have a target market. they want to hit the target market. they want to hit the target market. if they see people wearing things they don't want them to wear because it is not the target market they need to protect it. there is huge issues with destroying things and you shouldn't. from a brand perspective i can see why they do it. so is it about them not wanting the wrong people to it kind of is and fashion clothing is a hierarchy. rich people where rich clothes and not poor people but a people of a different demographic where different demographic where different clothes, high street clothes and i get it. the high end need to keep the clientele high end. so yes. burberry is in the spotlight, but how common is it? everyone does it, burberry are in the limelight, but if i am honest it is not just burberry. the limelight, but if i am honest it is notjust burberry. is it confined to luxury brands? not at all. i work

with high—street brands, when i was in university i worked in retail and plenty of brands would destroy the clothes after the sales. some people would say, well, produce fewer clothes. if we could predict how to buy fewer clothes, i don't eat any brand could predict the intake and how much people are going to buy. it is not that easy. manchester university is the scene of a heated dispute over the cultural legacy of the english poet rudyard kipling. the words of kipling's famous poem ‘if,’ which featured on a mural at the newly—refurbished students' union, have been painted over by students, who say kipling was a racist who dehumanised non—white people. the words were replaced by those of the american civil rights activist maya angelou, as our correspondent elaine dunkley reports. students at the university of manchester painting over the poem if, one of rudyard kipling's most famous works. it's being replaced with still i rise by the african—american

author and black civil rights activist maya angelou. you may write me down in history... with your bitter, twisted lies... you may trod me in the very dirt... but still, like dust, i rise. i felt angry. i felt a very strong emotional reaction. these students say it's about challenging ideas about historical figures celebrated on campuses. we want to make sure those brown and black voices are heard, and we want... that's literally what our students wanted, so that's why we decided to take this stance as a whole team. in his poem the white man's burden, he referred to people of colour as half devil, half child. we didn't feel like that was appropriate. is it sanitising, erasing history? you can see physically on the wall, we made the decision not to completely erase kipling's poem. you can still see it in the background. it has been smudged over but our intention was people would come up to the wall and they would see this piece of art and ask questions. so they would be like, "what was there before? why was it painted over?"

rudyard kipling was born in india in 1865. his books include children's classics such as thejungle book. but there is also a darker side to his work which celebrates colonialism, imperialism and empire. chanting: rhodes must fall! take it down! controversial figures of the past present modern—day dilemmas. at oxford university, there's been a high—profile campaign to remove a statue of imperialist cecil rhodes, but some argue it's sanitising history. if we didn't read kipling in the early 21st century, if we didn't read him as part of a wider and nuanced understanding of what empire was and how it came about, then we lose an important part of the story. it's immensely important to look at what we call the subalterns — in other words, the people who were the victims of empire. while to some it's rewriting and whitewashing the past, the challenge on campuses is addressing a lack of visible black influential figures and reviewing history with a different lens. elaine dunkley, bbc news. now it's time for a

look at the weather. there is a change in our weather. some rain in the forecast although not for all of us and not for too long either. many of us had a fine end to the day. for northern and western parts of the country, welcomed the cloud has been gathering. and that is the verse on what is to come. you can see on the satellite picture this stripe of cloud, devious and atlantic weather system, and it has been awhile since we have is crossing the british isles, and it will bring outbreaks of rain, in across northern scotland and northern ireland, the odd heavy burst, but the rent and will fizzle as it sinks further south and east. for eastern scotland and england and wales it will be dry through the night. quite warm and muggy in the south—east, 17 or 18 the minimum temperature. here we are looking at plenty of sunshine to take us through the first part of friday.

the weather front here been done into northern england, wales, the south—west of england, all the while sizzling away, turning light and patchy as far as the rain goes. scotla nd patchy as far as the rain goes. scotland and northern ireland will be left with cloud and doubt whether, 19 degrees. temperatures well into the 20s in the south—east. and if you are looking for rain in the south—eastern corner, the chancellor that comes during friday evening in the form of heat and miss thunder storms. not everyone will see one of these, but if you catch one you will know about it. it could bea one you will know about it. it could be a lot of rain in a short space of time. the showers and thunderstorms will tend to move to the south as we move through friday night and into saturday. and saturday we are back to largely dry weather again. some spells of sunshine, patchy cloud floating around, the small chance of a shower and the temperature is beginning to nudge upwards again with 20- 27 beginning to nudge upwards again with 20— 27 degrees. and as we look