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". also coming up this hour: what's in a name? the european space agency looks for help naming its new mars rover. the robot is currently called exomars, but the agency is hopes members of the public will suggest something a little more inspiring. and, at 3:30pm, the click team heads to farnborough international airshow in search of the future of aviation.

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 aren't 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 as estimated, where i have to keep updating them, manually phoning them just 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 may 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're really 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, because 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's 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 of smart meters.

the smart meter roll—out marks the key transition towards a greener, smarter, cheaper energy future where we can have things like electric vehicles and renewable energy. the alternative is a dirty, expensive system that makes all of our bills 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 our bills are expensive because we, as consumers, are paying for the programme. it's not being funded by the industry, it's being funded by a levy on people's energy bills, and we are not getting value for money. if all we're going to save at the end of the day is £11 per year, it's nice to have the extra £11 per year, but people would say it's being outweighed by the amount that is added to my bill to fund this roll—out. so that £11 is £11 in your pocket that you wouldn't otherwise have. it's important to remember that. but that's just the average saving. 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. or going out in the rain to top it up. why are metres going dead 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 everyone 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're used to our phone having upgrades on it. this is all that is happening with smart metering, the idea that these are obsolete is simply not true. what about the schedule? do you think mps are wrong in that in the report? as far as you are concerned, they are wrong to say that? yes. 0k. the 2020 target for completing this roll—out, do you accept that is not now realistic anymore? i think it's a really challenging thing to do. there are 13,000 smart meters being installed every day, that's lots of brilliant engineers going out into homes doing something really challenging and important

for this country. you would have to do 420,000 per month, i'm sorry, at the moment it is 420,000 per month, which is presumably your 13,000 per day figure. but you would need to actually do 1.3 million per month if the 2020 target is to be met. would it not be more honest to say to people, we willjust roll out as is appropriate over the time, rather than chasing a deadline which doesn't mean anything to anyone? ina sense, in a sense, you have hit upon something. the deadline isn't what is important to people — what is important to people is, will i have better technology in my home? with smart meters, they will. there is obviously a debate to be had by politicians and the public about what the deadlines should be and how fast to do things, 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 anymore. if this installation, as mps suggest, is costing £1 billion more than originally budgeted, who is making up that shortfall? so, even if they are right about that, and i've not seen the economics, it will still save billions of pounds over its lifetime. that's not my question. who will end up paying for it if it costs more than budgeted? so, we all pay for everything in our homes... so, it will be on our bills? effectively, our bills will be more expensive if this costs more than has been planned? i dispute the premise of the question. these meters will bring our bills down. every £1 invested in smart meters yields £1.50 in savings. in other words, the answer to that is, yes, it will cost more. any extra cost is not going to be borne by the companies, it is going to be borne by the payment bills. i cannot answer that. the key point is, smart meters save on our bills. that's what people need to know about smart meters. in infrastructure investment, if 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 meter from our energy company. because that's when we save on energy. regardless of what happens across the system, if you get a smart meter, you start saving money, that's what people need to do. 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. simonjones is in salisbury. simon, tell us more about this latest phase of the police investigation? well, here in the centre of salisbury to date we've had what should be a strange sight, but for the people in this city, it's becoming all too familiar, seeing police officers in those tents behind me get into their protection suits and then head out

further into the park. we saw them examining a park bench, they were taking swabs of that bench and photographs, they had evidence bags which they filled with material for further analysis. earlier in the day we also saw some toilets at the entrance to the park surrounded by protective barriers. so, it certainly seems things are being that up in this area at the moment, and that could possibly be because the met police confirmed that they have been able to speak now at some length to charlie brougham me, he has now been released from hospital, he was released just a date —— to charlie rowley. initially, when his condition went from critical to stable, the police were able to talk to him briefly, they described it as a brief conversation. we now know that has been much more dialogue, and it is potentially mr rowley himself who has pointed police to this particular area. do we know if there is any plans for mr rowley to lead to the media? well, at the moment, we don't know where he is ——

to speak. he is unable to return home because his houses are all being guarded, it's part of the police investigation. so all his houseis police investigation. so all his house is still being guarded. but hospital staff said they were pleased he is well enough to be released, they say they will be giving him ongoing support notjust for his health but his mental well—being, he has to try to come to terms with the fact that he was poisoned with this nerve agent, and also the fact that his partner died in hospital having also been exposed to it. he is likely to have some stories to tell. what the police have said is they are giving him advice about his own personal security. they wouldn't say whether he's been offered any sort of police protection. 0fficers keen to point out that they do not have any reason to believe that he and his partner we re to believe that he and his partner were deliberately targeted. it seems it may have been an offshoot of the original poisoning of the skripals that landed the two of them in

hospital and led to one of them losing their life. you reflected on how the site of police searchers are becoming commonplace in this area. if isa becoming commonplace in this area. if is a sense —— give us a sense of the impact on the local people here? you get a mixed reaction, really. in some ways, people are reassured about seeing officers at a police cordon is like the one we are standing at the fact that they are taking it seriously. the thing that alarms them is people in the protective suits, because it leads to the question, what is out there? what are the police looking for? the police are not prepared to give a running commentary on this. everything we are hearing from public health england is that there was no danger of releasing mr rowley back into the community, he is not likely to be a danger to anyone he comes into contact with. and the message is for people to simply be vigilant, do not pick up anything strange hole don't pick up anything you haven't dropped yourself will stop any people here are rather weary of it. they accept the police

need to do thatjob and fully investigate. but many of them simply say, we want our city back. simon jones in salisbury, thank you. 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 a0 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. sophia tran—thompson, bbc news. 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. in sport is mac the leaders are due

out on the court shortly in the third round of the open. justin rose had thejoint third round of the open. justin rose had the joint lowest round at carnoustie in the championship. lewis hamilton will start from 14th at morra's german grand prix at hockenheim. his vehicle broke down in qualifying. england's women are trailing 1—0 at the queen elizabeth 0lympic trailing 1—0 at the queen elizabeth olympic park in london against india. iwill olympic park in london against india. i will be back with a full date in the next hour. 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. 0ur 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... 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 a0 degrees. more than 2,000 have been taken to hospital. 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. roads, ports and airports are set to be extremely busy this weekend,

as millions of us embark on oui’ 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 a0 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 girl guides have launched new badges which they say reflects the modern world. they include vlogging, human rights, mixing nonalcoholic drinks and mindfulness.

younger guides, aged 10—1a, 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. 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's 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 it's 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. they get up to 60 mph — quicker than a formula one car — 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! 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 thought 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. see, this is probably one

of the most important ones, because you've 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. 0ne 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, foot down. 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've gone. what a way to end — running out of fuel. i've done that a few times on the motorway, not on a 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. always more than one way to get to the finish. mike bushell reporting. 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. absolutely lovely pictures to see. now it's time for a look at the weather, with stav danaos.

hello there. apart from a few showers around this evening, most races will end the day on a fine note, tomorrow is looking similar to pa rt note, tomorrow is looking similar to part one of the weekend. very warm and sunny across england and wales, more cloud in the north and west. this evening and overnight it will stay very cloudy across much of scotla nd stay very cloudy across much of scotland and northern ireland, north—west england and north wales, spots of rain of course western scotla nd spots of rain of course western scotland and the western isles, where there is a bit more of a breeze. a warm and muggy night, especially in the valleys, no lower than 1a-18dc. it is especially in the valleys, no lower than 1a—18dc. it is a warm start to sunday, a fair amount of cloud around, the sunshine breaking through across eastern scotland, eastern england, much of the midlands south west and a portion of wales becoming warm into the afternoon. mid to upper 20s, but a lwa ys afternoon. mid to upper 20s, but always more cloud and breeze across the north—west corner, without recovering. staying for everyone and

turning hot and recovering. staying for everyone and turning hotand humid recovering. staying for everyone and turning hot and humid across southern areas in the next week. always a bit cloudier and cooler in the north.