this is bbc news. i'm annita mcvey. the headlines: not—so—smart smart meters? a criticism of delays in the multi—billion—pound roll—out scheme, which may only save some customers £11 a year. police in wiltshire widen their search for clues into the novichok poisonings, as a man who was left critically ill in amesbury is discharged from hospital. nine people from the same family were among the 17 who died when an amphibious boat capsized on a lake in missouri. president trump tweets his response to an alleged tape recording regarding a payment to a playboy model, saying he did "nothing wrong". and in 30 minutes: bbc wales investigates uncovers a global network funding terror attacks. that's in welsh web of terror, at 2:30pm. good afternoon.

the multi—billion—pound project to install smart energy meters has been heavily criticised by a group of mps. they've warned it's likely to save customers just £11 per year. the report says the programme risks falling behind schedule and ending up heavily over budget. our business correspondent, joe lynam, reports. malcolm got a smart meter so every year he could save enough energy... it's the biggest infrastructure projects you've probably never probably heard of. costing £11 billion, the mass roll—out of smart meters into 30 million homes throughout the uk is designed to cut our bills and make our lives easier, but things are not going to plan. the mobile phone mast isjust there, it's touching distance. warren lives in london,

and he's having problems with his smart meter connection. this so—called smart meter wasn't so smart after all. i'm finding my bill still comes through is estimated, and i have to keep updating them, manually phoning them to give them an actual reading. until they finally reset the meter, and they confirmed that it was sending its readings again. the big infrastructure group of mps says smart meters may not be so bright after all. it says the government is rolling out technology which may be out of date already in some areas and it may be useless due to insufficient mobile coverage. and the cost savings for consumers that were expected might not materialise. certainly consumers won't get anywhere near what they were promised originally. it's already down to just about £11 from the originally projected £26. it's likely to fall further, as well, as the problems with this roll—out continue. and we are calling on government, on ofgem and the suppliers to get a grip of this process.

the smart metering thing... not so, according to the group charged with rolling out the new technology. this infrastructure upgrade is the biggest one that's happening in energy in our lifetimes, so it's really important that people get to talk about this debate, but the thing everyone needs to know is to get a smart meter, it's going to save us all billions of pounds over the next few years. building an entirely new mobile network to reach 65 million people from scratch is not easy, not cheap and fraught with potential problems. the government says it's a third of the way there. others say it's the wrong technology, it is behind schedule and won't to deliver the savings we all expect. joe lynam, bbc news. well, a little earlier, my colleague shaun ley spoke to the robert cheesewright, the director of policy at smart energy gb, the firm publicising the use —— the firm publicising the use of smart meters. a greener, smarter, cheaper... the

alternative is a dirty, expensive system that all of our bills for more expensive and more wasteful than they need to be. i'm sorry to interrupt you, but the argument for a lot of people would be that the bills are expensive because we as consumers are paying for the programme, it's not being funded by the industry, it is being funded by a levy on people's energy bills and we are not getting for money. if all we are not getting for money. if all we are not getting for money. if all we are going to save at the end of the day is £11 biglia, it's nice to have £11 per year, but they would say, it is being outweighed by the amount that is added to my bill to fund this roll—up. amount that is added to my bill to fund this roll-up. that is £11 in your pocket that you wouldn't otherwise have. we hear from thousands of smart energy owners across the country and some of them are saving tens, and in some cases over £100 with their smart meter.

you never know what you're going to find out about your energy once you've got... and part of that is because of the behavioural change you hope will follow from people being able to look in real time and see what energy they're going to use? i don't think anybody, even the people who've written this report, we had grant shapps a little earlier on bbc news, don't dispute those benefits. what they say is that the way this has been carried out has actually minimised the benefits and increased the dis—benefits. take an example. why on earth are energy companies still installing machines that are effectively going to be obsolete in a very short amount of time? no smart meter is ever obsolete. the only meters in this country that are obsolete are analogue meters that leave people crawling under the stairs to read their meter. orgoing or going out orgoing out in or going out in the rain to top it up. why are metres going deaf when people switch energy suppliers? the first generation of smart meters, if you switch, many people get to keep a smart service when they do, but for some people, their meters will temporarily start to act like an

analog meter. the good news for anyone watching this if they will all be rolled into a national smart data network. you need to further be changing the equipment in houses? they will be updated over the air, consumers will have to do nothing, there's no hassle. this is common, all of our technology upgrades all the time, we are used to our phone having upgrades on it. what about the schedule? bmps are wrong in that in the report? as far as you are concerned, they are wrong to say that? yes. 0k. by 2020 target for completing this roll—out, do you accept that is not now realistic any more? i think it's a really challenging thing to do. there are 13,000 smart meters being installed every day, engineers going out into homes doing something challenging and important for this country. you would have to do 420,000 per month am sorry, would have to do 420,000 per month am sorry, at the moment it is for hundred and 20,000 per month, which

is presumably your 13,000 per day figure. but you would need to do £1.3 million per month if the 2020 target is to be met. would you not say, we will just target is to be met. would you not say, we willjust roll out as is appropriate over the time rather than chasing a deadline which doesn't mean anything to anyone? the deadline isn't what is important to people, what is important to people is, well i have better technology in my home? with smart meters, they will. there is a debate to be had by politicians and in public, but actually, for all the people watching today, theyjust need to know if they get a smart meter, they finally get control of their energy use, they save money and are playing their part in a greener future where we can have the renewables we need and we don't have dirty, expensive energy any more. if this installation is costing £1 billion more than originally budgeted, who is making up that shortfall? so, evenif is making up that shortfall? so, even if they are right about that, and i've not seen the economics, i would still save billions of pounds

over its lifetime. that is not my question, who will end up paying for it if it cost more than budgeted. we all pay for everything in our homes... effectively, our bills will be more expensive if this cost more than has been planned?” be more expensive if this cost more than has been planned? i dispute the premise of the question. these meters will bring our bills down. everyone pound invested in smart meters yields £1 50 everyone pound invested in smart meters yields £150 in savings. everyone pound invested in smart meters yields £1 50 in savings. any extra cost is not going to be borne by the companies, it is going to be won by the payment bills. by the companies, it is going to be won by the payment billslj by the companies, it is going to be won by the payment bills. i cannot a nswer won by the payment bills. i cannot answer that. the key point is, smart meters save on our bills. in infrastructure investment, things cost more, then things cost more, but this is an investment in our future, our country, our energy, it is really vital and we all need to do it. the best thing we can do is pick up the phone and get a smart meterfrom our energy pick up the phone and get a smart meter from our energy company. regardless of what happens across

the system, if you get a smart meter, you start saving money, that's what people need to do. that was robert she's right, the director of policy at smart energy gp. police in salisbury have stepped up their search of a park in the centre of the city, where two victims of the novichok poisoning may have picked up a contaminated bottle. charlie rowley was released from hospital yesterday. his partner died. our correspondent simon jones is in salisbury. well, the search has certainly intensified during the course of the morning. initially, we saw the public toilets behind me surrounded by barriers. then, in the heat of the sun, we saw a number of police officers put on protective suits and head towards the centre of the park, where they were able to carry out the search of a park bench. we saw them taking swabs, we saw them taking photos, and they also took away evidence bags. now, the police are not commenting why specifically they are looking intensively at the park at this moment, but we do know they have been able to speak at length to charlie rowley since he has been discharged from hospital.

now, what we know according to the police is he has been offered advice on his own security. what they're not saying is whether he's been offered any sort of police protection. but they say ultimately what is intensifying this is the fact that they want to get to the bottom of this, and that is why this search is continuing. simonjones reporting. nine members of the same family were among those killed when a boat capsized on a lake popular with tourists in the us state of missouri. 17 people died when the amphibious vehicle, called a duck boat, went down in poor weather. the safety record of duck boats has come under scrutiny. more than 40 have died in accidents aboard them in the last 20 years. sophia tran—thomson reports. hundreds of mourners gather around cars for a vigil in the parking lot where the table rock lake tourist boats depart. it's thought that they belong to the passengers who died.

this duck boat made it back to shore. the passengers filming the storm apparently unaware of the danger they were in. oh, my god. it's going under. further out, this boat was sunk in the severe sudden storm. of the 31 on board, less than half survived. among the 17 who died, nine were from one family. this picture has been shared by local media. only the woman on the far left and the boy on the far right are thought to have survived. we'll be working arduously to determine what happened, why it happened, and how to prevent it from happening again. it will be very important to the investigation that the vessel is raised. there is the intent to salvage vessel. an assessment and an analysis of it and its condition will definitely be key to the investigation. there was a severe weather

warning, so investigators are looking into why the boats were on the water, and if the passengers had safety vests on. it was a pretty severe storm. my husband was like, "this is crazy," severe winds and things, and then we come back and hear about this, and i just got sick. duck boats can travel on both roads and water. they are used as tour vehicles in many places around the world, but following several accidents in recent years, their safety record is now under scrutiny. investigators say a primary report should be ready in a month but a full enquiry could take up to a year. sophia candappa and, bbc news. the funeral of six—year—old alesha macphail, who was murdered earlier this month while on holiday on the isle of bute, has been held this morning. those attending were asked to wear pink — alesha's favourite colour. she was reported missing from her grandmother s house a few days into a summer break.

a 16—year—old boy has been charged with her rape and murder. facebook has suspended an american data analytics firm while it investigates claims it built surveillance tools with users' information. the company, crimson hexagon, is said to have worked with a group linked to the kremlin and us government agencies. two men have appeared in court in bristol following what's been described as a "significant seizure of cocaine" from a boat in the english channel. the dutch nationals were charged after a yacht was intercepted off the coast of south—west cornwall on thursday. the national crime agency says the exact quantity of cocaine is not yet known. the fbi is reported to have seized a secret recording of donald trump discussing a payment to a former playboy model. the new york times says the tapes were discovered in the offices of mr trump's former lawyer during a police raid. our washington correspondent, chris buckler, reports. karen mcdougal was a model for hugh hefner's playboy magazine, and she claims that she had an affair with donald trump that lasted for months.

# and i'm proud to be an american... their alleged relationship took place a decade before mr trump ran for president. but in the months leading up to that vote, karen mcdougal sold her story to a tabloid newspaper. however, the national enquirer, which is owned by one of donald trump's friends, never published it. his campaign team denied knowing anything about that payment. but it seems donald trump did talk about it with this man, his former lawyer and so—called fixer, michael cohen, who is currently under investigation for a series of possible offences. in a raid on mr cohen's offices, fbi agents apparently seized a secret recording in which mr trump discussed with his lawyer the possibility of paying money to keep ms mcdougal quiet, perhaps by buying the rights to her story. reporter: sir, can you talk about michael cohen? the president left washington for a weekend at one of his golf clubs without answering that question. but payments to bury embarrassing

stories about an election candidate could potentially be seen as breaking campaign finance laws, although his representatives insist that no cash was actually handed over. in a statement, michael cohen's own lawyer said... donald trump's political opponents are also still trying to discover exactly what he said to vladimir putin during their private meeting in helsinki, amid the controversy over plans to invite the russian president to the white house this autumn. they believe there is a possibility that mr trump's own words could yet come back to haunt him. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. president trump has tweeted a response to the news of the tapes.

he claimed it was "inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer s office". the time is 2:16pm. israeli forces have carried out a series of attacks across the gaza strip after a soldier was shot dead at the border. at least four palestinians are reported to have been killed. hamas, which controls gaza, said both sides had now agreed to a ceasefire. injapan, at least 20 people have died in heat—related incidents. weeks after being hit by floods, parts of the country are now experiencing a heatwave. temperatures hsve risen above 40 degrees, and more than 2,000 have been taken to hospital. the headlines on bbc news: mps criticise delays

to the £11 billion smart meter roll—out scheme, as a new report questions the value of the technology to customers. fresh investigations into the nerve agent attack in salisbury, as a man poisoned by novichok in amesbury is discharged from hospital. nine members of the same family are confirmed to be among the 17 people who died when an amphibious vehicle sank in missouri. roads, ports and airports are set to be extremely busy this weekend, as millions of us embark on our summer getaways. with schools in england and wales breaking up for the summer, there could be lengthy delays as more than nine million road journeys are expected to be made between friday and sunday. ben ando reports. if yesterday was frantic friday, today could be standstill saturday. travel experts say more than 5 million people are expected to set off this weekend on getaway trips at the start of

the school holidays, and that means super—busy roads, airports and railways. at this time of year, it's really avoiding the peak times. so over the weekend, it tends to be lunchtime, so if you can go earlier in the morning or later at night. and also, you then get the advantage you're not stuck in a hot car when the sun is bearing down, or indeed the thunderstorms that are predicted in some areas. for staycationers, roads in south—west england, particularly the m5 and a303, look likely to be the worst—hit, while the port of dover is expecting its busiest outbound day of the summer, as thousands head to the continent. and a further 2.5 million are taking to the skies, with heathrow expecting 500,000, 250,000 at gatwick, and 160,000 passengers through manchester. weekend engineering works are causing disruption on the railways, too. the mainline linking london and the west country is blocked, meaning diversions of 40 minutes, and in scotland, the line linking glasgow and

motherwell is also closed. and here at king's cross and st pancras, passengers are facing ongoing disruption caused by the botched introduction of a new timetable back in may. but there is one piece of good news for weary rail users. virgin trains are dropping evening peak restrictions every friday until the end of august, in an effort to spread loadings and cut congestion. ben ando, bbc news. the european space agency is asking for the public‘s help to name their new mars rover. the robot is currently called exomars, but it's hoped the public can come up with something a little more inspiring, as caroline rigby reports. it is a competition that's, well, out of this world — what to call a robot set to explore mars in 2021. currently called exomars, this six—wheeled rover will travel across the red planet in search of life.

capable of drilling to depths of two metres, it will also look for microbes deep below the surface. it's set to be a fascinating mission, and that is why scientists from the european space agency think this little robot deserves a big name. in america, nasa has previously opted to call its mars rovers names like opportunity and curiosity, and the european space agency has launched a public competition to find something equally inspiring. any other names, any other ideas? british astronaut tim peake is leading the hunt, which he hopes will inspire future generations to follow in his footsteps. it's always nice to give something a name, especially when is going on such an ambitious journey to voyage to the red planet. well, i don't think we are going to end up with boaty mcboatface on this mars rover! that was, of course,

the name chosen by more than 100,000 people for this polar explorer ship in 2016. butjust in case you are tempted by the likes of rovey mcroverface, for exomars, be warned — an expert panel will have the final say. caroline rigby, bbc news. the girl guides have launched new badges which they say reflects the modern world. they include vlogging, human rights, mixing non—alcoholic drinks and mindfulness. younger guides, aged 10—14, will be trained to spot media bias and discuss human rights, while older ones can learn the art of festival—going and how to be an entrepreneur. as temperatures remain high, this spell of hot weather is being compared to the longest heatwave in britain in living memory, 1976. the met office says there is no significant sign of change any time soon, as forecasters expect temperatures to feel even hotter next week. speaking to us earlier, jim dale,

a senior risk meteorologist, said it's been a year of extreme weather. i think we go back to 1995 first. that's the most recent, what you might call heatwave that lasted. i think we've probably now surpassed that. this is always a bit like comparing apples, pears and pomegranates, if you like. they're not all the same, and never one season is the same as the next. but i think as an entirety — by that i mean sunshine, temperature, and lack of rainfall — i think this is comparing very well with ‘95, and it's getting close to 1976, but not in terms of the extreme of temperatures yet. we almost missed spring out. we went from winter, virtually, in mid—april everything changed. we suddenly metamorphosised into summer. we've been there ever since. so, how long's it going to last? at the moment, it's a real battle. there's low pressure going to be sitting off the north—west of scotland. that, this week, anyway, will start to punctuate some of the heat in the north

and the west particularly. so the extreme of heat is always going to be in the south—east. so london, east anglia, up to the midlands. that's about where the extremes are. and that will continue all week long, and we will probably see, my guess is, a temperature of about 33 degrees. that's probably the height we're going to see this week. moving into august, i don't see any immediate change. my gut instinct is to believe this won't last forever, and it certainly will not. and going back to 1976, that one ended in september, early september, with flash floods, big floods. news on the continuing good weather there. they go from 0—60 faster than a formula one car can, and yet speedway bikes have no gears and no brakes. this weekend is the biggest of the speedway calendar, with the british grand prix taking place at the principality stadium in cardiff. to get a taste of these most extreme motorbikes, mike bushelljoined britain s rising star robert lambert in training. the glitz and the glamour

welcomes those in a sport that's all about true grit. faster acceleration than formula one cars, hitting the bends with no brakes at 70 mph, while your rivals shower you in shale. the world's best speedway riders have gathered in cardiff for the british grand prix — the highlight of the calendar. it's such a big stadium, and not normally used for speedway. it's normally used for rugby, football, that kind of thing, so to put thousands of tons of shale down and get the fans in there will make this such a great atmosphere. over in norfolk, robert has been putting in the laps at his home track at kings lynn, and practising those flying starts. away he goes, my goodness! 0h! you can feel the air vibrate as he shoots around. you can see why it's the most extreme form of motorcycling. he is out racing most days, if not in the uk, in sweden or poland, where the sport has a higher profile.

and despite being one of the form riders, he knows he is always on the edge. there's always that fear, but if you think about it, you wouldn't be able to race. it's kind of a "no fear" sport, and i've got no fear, so i'm definitely suited to this. while his body is prepared for the physical demands by a set of gruelling exercises. straight arms and rotate. keep your hips still, and rotate the body. this is probably one of the most important ones, because you have a lot of turning and whipping around as you go around the corners. so this is it — the moment of truth. my little untrained hands trying to tame this, the ultimate in motorcycling. my palms have never been so sweaty, knees so shaky. let the clutch out, not too many revs, let the clutch out. i was told that many experienced bike riders don't make the first bend, due to the power in the throttle — hence my cautious start. and i remember what happened to former breakfast colleague chris hollins, on the left here, over a decade ago. one slip of the wrist,

and i'll be off! he's doing all right for his first go. not many people get around the first corner, i'll tell you that now. it feels incredible! it feels like it wants to take you away into the north sea. it is so fast, so powerful. around the corner. of course, i'm not going to win any races at this speed, but even at this pace, my arms were so stiff by the time my sixth lap came to an unexpected end. this is as fast as i have gone. what a way to end, running out of fuel. i've done that a few times on the motorway, not on the speedway track. this is something you won't see as the professionals take to the track in cardiff this weekend, for one of sport's great spectacles. mike bushell always game for trying a new sport! more than 1,000 spectators

gathered to cheer on the release of two sea turtles who were rescued and rehabilitated at an animal hospital in florida. they've been fitted with satellite—trackers and returned to the ocean to become part of the "‘tour de turtles" — an annual event that follows the long—distance migration of different species of sea turtles. fantastic to see them. being released back into the wild. now it's time for a look at the weather with stav. high, and me too, thank you very much. things are hotting up again so all high, anita. certainly in the next week. scotland and northern ireland, more cloud around, breeze and like patchy rain. showers likely to develop across southern parts of britain, cornwall into east anglia, ina britain, cornwall into east anglia, in a derek and all mine. most places will stay dry, dull in a diagonal

line. overnight, a warm and muggy one across the board, especially in the south, a lot of cloud in north—western areas. hill fog amat mist and murk, this air is moisture laden. that's going to bring further big cloud in northern and western coast on into sunday, spots of rain, some of it quite heavy across western scotland. rest of the brightness, eastern pennines into wales, where it will be for everyone, mid to upper set is my 20s. set to get hotter for some of us 20s. set to get hotter for some of us next week. —— mid to upper 20s. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines. new searches are taking place in salisbury as part of the police investigation into novichok poisonings in wiltshire. the government's defended its multi—billion pound scheme to install smart energy meters after a group of mps and peers said the project was failing to deliver value for money. nine members of the same

family are confirmed to have died when an amphibious vehicle sank on a lake in missouri. president trump tweets his response to an alleged tape recording regarding a payment to a playboy model, saying he did ‘nothing wrong'. two dutch men have been remanded in custody after border force police seized 1.6 tonnes of cocaine off the coast of cornwall. now on bbc news, we'll hear why a man from cardiff was at the centre of a terrorism network which sent money to isis supporters across the globe. wyre davies travels thousands of miles following the money trail in the special programme, welsh web of terror. siful sujan was a hard—working, unassuming entrepreneur.

an established part of the bangladeshi community in south wales, he'd studied here and set up his own businesses. he lived on this street, near pontypridd, with his wife