this is bbc news i'm martine croxall. the headlines at 8:00pm: 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. fresh investigations into the novichok nerve agent attack in salisbury — as wiltshire police widen their search. president trump tweets his response to an alleged tape recording regarding a payment to a playboy model, saying he did "nothing wrong". police seize 1.6 tonnes of cocaine off the coast of cornwall as two dutch men are remanded in custody. also this hour — hundreds of people have attended a candlelit vigil in honour of the 17 people killed when a missouri tour boat capsized. nine members of the same family are confirmed to have died. one of the surviving members of that family spoke of her trauma. i was yelling, i was screaming. finally i said, "lord, just let me die, let me die." i said, "i can't keep drowning.

ijust can't keep drowning." that's how i felt. coming up at 8:30... from mamma mia! here we go again to incredibles — mark kermode takes us through the latest releases in the film review: summer special. the government's scheme to install smart energy meters in millions of homes and small businesses across the country, has been heavily criticised by a group of mps. their report claims the project, costing £11 billion, will actually only end up saving consumers less than £1 a month. here's our business correspondent joe lynam. 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 that 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 0fgem and the suppliers to get a grip of this process. 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 deliver the savings we all expect. joe lynam, bbc news. and we'll find out how this story and many others are covered in tomorrow's front pages ff at 10:30 and 11:30pm this evening in the papers. our guests joining me tonight will be the home affairs editor at evening standard, martin bentham, and the political commentator, jo phillips police investigating the novichok nerve agent poisoning in salisbury,

have stepped up their searches of a park in the city. detectives have been focussing on a bench and public toilets, in queen elizabeth gardens. one of the victims of the poisoning, charlie rowley, was discharged from hospital yesterday. his partner, dawn sturgess, died two weeks ago. 0ur news correspondent simonjones, whose been at the scene in salisbury, sent us this update. you have got officers with protective suits who go into the park to try to search for clues. what we had around lunchtime is the officers heading over to that area, to a park bench. they took samples from that bench, and photos, and took away evidence bags as part of their investigation. what we do know is police are not prepared to give a running commentary on what they are doing. but we understand they have been able to speak to charlie rowley fairly extensively since his recovery has improved in hospital. we know he was released

yesterday, we don't know where he has been released. he can't return to his home in amesbury. that is because that remains part of the police investigation. hundreds of people have attended the funeral of six—year—old alesha macphail, who was raped and murdered on the isle of bute earlier this month. mourners were asked to wear her favorite colour of pink. a 16 year—old boy has been charged. the funeral took place near her home in north lanarkshire, from where catrina renton reports. everyone was asked to wear something pink, alesha's favourite colour. 0utside, dozens of ribbons were tied to the railings. inside, family and friends paid tribute to alesha. they called her the best big sister, best

daughter, best grand daughter anyone could ask for. alesha had just finished her second year of primary school. she always came into class with the big, beautiful smile of hers aren't tried her hardest in everything she did. it was an absolute pleasure to teach alesha. ales ha absolute pleasure to teach alesha. alesha had been visiting her grandparents on the isle of bute when she went missing. she was found deadin when she went missing. she was found dead in woodland. the 16—year—old boy has been charged with her rape and murder. her uncle cannot believe she has gone. alesha doesn't want anybody here to be sad and thinking about what has happened. the only thing i want today to be about is her. her tiny coffin was then taken to the waiting carriage as mourners formed a guard of honour to say goodbye. 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. 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. his campaign team denied know anything about that payment. it seems he 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 his offices, fbi agents apparently seized a secret recording in which mr trump discussed with his lawyer the possibility of paying money to keep her and quiet. perhaps by buying the rights to her story. in a statement, michael cohen's own lawyer said... the president left washington for a weekend at one of his golf clubs without answering questions. his representatives insist that no payments were made that could have broken election laws. but on twitter, mr trump made no attempt to hide his anger with both the fbi and mr cohen. he said, it was... there also remain questions

about the private conversations that donald trump had with vladimir putin at their summit in helsinki. his political opponents clearly believe that some of his words could yet come back to haunt him. i spoke to chris a little earlier and he explained the significance of the timing of the recording. like the payment to stormy daniels, who also claimed he had an affair with donald trump, if it was the case, it could potentially mean it

breached campaign finance laws. meanwhile, we have this investigation taking place into michael cohen and it is important to emphasise who michael cohen was. yes, he was donald trump's personal lawyer, but he was more than that. he was mr fixit, he may donald trump's problems go away and he intimately knew about donald trump's business. as a result we have these questions about what happened here and the fbi raided his office as a result of a referral from robert muller, the special counsel leading that investigation into russian meddling. it is going through all his business dealings and it seems this recording was one of a number of things seized from his office at the time. there does seem to be some concern from president trump and some anger that first of all, they found this recording and secondly they are continuing to investigate exactly what dealings michael cohen

was involved in. michael cohen's lawyer says when things come to light, it won't be michael cohen that it damages, so draw your own conclusions? the implication is it could hurt somebody else. it won't hurt michael palin, he said, it could hurt somebody else. and it is a pretty biking statement from michael cohen's legal representative. when he says no amount of spin will change what is on the tape. there will be many people in washington asking what exactly is on that tape. survivors of a tour boat which sank in a lake in the us state of missouri have been speaking for the first time since the disaster. 17 people, including nine members from the same family, died when the amphibious vehicle, called a ‘duck boat', went down in stormy weather on table rock lake. the victims were aged between one and 70. sophia tran—thomson reports. these boat passengers are filming a

sudden storm on table rock lake are well out on tour, seem unaware of the danger they are in. going under. further ahead of them, under the boat couldn't cope in the severe weather. of the 31 on board, more than half were killed. 0ne weather. of the 31 on board, more than half were killed. one of the survivors said as conditions worsened, the passengers were not told to put like that on, but to stay seated. i couldn't see anybody, i couldn't hear anything. ifelt like i was out there on my own. i was yelling and i was screaming. finally i said, lord, let me die, let me die. i can't keep drowning, i just can't keep drowning. that is how i felt. then ijust let go. i

started floating. nine members of herfamily died in started floating. nine members of her family died in the accident. according to the national weather service, the winds were over 100 kilometres per hour and the authority said the weather is the cause of the accident. the owner of the boat has also taken responsibility. what can i say? we are so responsibility. what can i say? we are so sorry responsibility. what can i say? we are so sorry this happened. something happened and we don't know exactly what it was. it doesn't matter, any time people suffer a loss like that, they cannot be replaced and it is absolutely devastating. investigators say a preliminary report should be com plete preliminary report should be complete in a month, but there are still several unanswered questions about whether the boat crew were aware of the weather warnings and wider passengers didn't have life vests on. two men have appeared in court

after 1.6 tonnes of cocaine was seized from a yacht off south west cornwall. the men, who are both dutch, were remanded in custody. janine jansen reports. the dutch flags yacht was intercepted 120 miles off the cornish coast on wednesday. the marcia was escorted into newlyn harbour by the border force cutter hmc vigilant. officers found bails of cocaine wrapped in plastic bags in a compartment underneath the decking. we have recovered a significant amount of controlled drugs, literally hundreds of millions of pounds worth, potentially even the second largest seizure in the uk, on a sailing vessel. an estimated two tonnes has been recovered from the vessel. the national crime agency, border force and devon and cornwall police officers remain on the scene. the two crew members — 59—year—old maarten peter pieterse and 44—year—old emile adriaanjeroen schoemaker — appeared at bristol magistrates' court this morning via video link, charged with drug importation offences. pieterse didn't enter a plea.

schoemaker pleaded not guilty. they were remanded in custody to appear at bristol crown court next month. janine jansen, 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 wiltshire police widen their search. president trump reacts to claims he was recorded discussing making a payment to a model as "inconceivable" and says he's done "nothing wrong". a full round—up of the sport now with holly. hello. 0ver a full round—up of the sport now with holly. hello. over in carnoustie, the americans are circling around a major tournament.

the third round has finished and once again the top of the leaderboard is heavily decorated with stars and stripes. jordan spieth, zander chevelle and kevin kisner share the lead on nine under par. but there was joy bejustin rose as he shot a splendid 64 as adam wilde reports. they call saturday at the open moving day and the also—rans have gone and the real competition gets going. leading the way, justin rose, seven under par and no one has ever done better at carnoustie in the open. the englishman commanding the early tension and that was until tiger woods came to the team. tiger woods, three times champion, reminding everyone what the game has been missing. whilst he was moving up been missing. whilst he was moving up the leaderboard, others were following. jordan spieth, last yea r‘s following. jordan spieth, last year's winner, with an eagle. the

open was now wide open and this is tommy fleetwood taking his share of the lead. there where plenty to wrestle it away again, kevin kisner remains amongst the players to catch and now rory mcilroy is beginning to have his say. the competition this thing is, no one yet is being allowed to feel at home on moving day. let's ta ke day. let's take a look at the leaderboard. three americans tied at the top, including the defending champion, jordan spieth, at nine under. and francesco molinari, the only non—american breaking up the us dominance at six under. tommy fleetwood and rory mcilroy, perhaps still in contention for the home nations. just couldn't mount the charge they were after today. the full leaderboard is on the bbc sport website.

lewis hamilton will start from 14th on the grid in tomorrow's german grand prix. he tried to push his mercedes back to the pits after breaking down in the first qualifying session. he is eight points behind sebastian vettel, he will be hopeful of increasing the lead as he starts his home race from pole position. world cup fever has returned this weekend as the women's hockey world cup got under way in london. england's bid for glory got off toa london. england's bid for glory got off to a sachet quiche start. they had to battle from 1—0 down that the draw. for england in pool b it is the united states who were beaten by ireland earlier, 3—1. the green army are top of the group for now, which isa are top of the group for now, which is a great start for ireland in their first world cup is a great start for ireland in theirfirst world cup in 16 is a great start for ireland in their first world cup in 16 years. he was happy to settle for second in

the 100 metres in a high—quality field on the first day of the anniversary games. he beat the commonwealth gold medallist and johann blake. he couldn't edge out the american, ronnie baker. johann blake. he couldn't edge out the american, ronnie bakerlj johann blake. he couldn't edge out the american, ronnie baker. i am feeling proud of myself considering iam nota feeling proud of myself considering i am not a 100 and run. this is a learning curve. my coach and i have been talking a lot and i am happy with the way iran. had my own composure, not thinking about the quys composure, not thinking about the guys who got up ahead of me and i just relaxed. british women's long jumping is in great shape at the moment. shara proctor edged out lorraine ugen by three centimetres, leaping 6.91 metres. that is all the sport and back to you for the moment. armed police are patrolling

wolverhampton tonight after a man was shot dead in the city centre. it happened in the park village area yesterday evening. detectives are now carrying out a murder investigation. emma thomas reports. valley road in park village, normally a residential street surrounded by houses, flats and a primary school. today it is the centre of a murder investigation. police called here at around 9pm following the sound of gunshots. 0fficers discovered the victim had been driven away to new cross hospital. armed police arrived at the hospital, early concerns alleged government was onside, were dispelled. the big ten, in his 20s, was transported to the queen elizabeth hospital in birmingham but died early this morning. the city's former mayor says the shooting will cause fear among local residents. former mayor says the shooting will cause fear among local residentsm is always sad when somebody dies but

whenever you have an incident people do tend to get worried and nervous, concerned about their families and their loved ones, particularly young teenagers. following the shooting, extra uniformed police with armed officers will patrol wolverhampton this weekend. it is only ever temporary, never consistent, sadly. they are never everywhere, so i don't know. it is the armed police looking at each other. if you are walking on your own, it is scary because you don't know who they are going to go for. detectives are asking people with any information to co nta ct asking people with any information to contact the force's 101 nonemergency number. the authorities injapan are urging people to take precautions as a severe heatwave continues. more than 30 people are reported to have died as a result of the heat over the last fortnight. in the city of kyoto, temperatures have hit,

or exceeded, 38 degrees, for seven consecutive days. the heatwave is also complicating recovery efforts in the west of the country, where around 200 people died in floods earlier this month. 0livia crellin reports. earlier this month, western japan looked like this. after being buffeted by severe storms and waves of up to nine metres. now, the waves look somewhat more inviting as temperatures have rocketed to over 40 celsius in some parts. a five—year nationwide high. translation: it's hot all overjapan. it was 39 celsius yesterday, and the day before. when i was a kid the hottest day was about 33 degrees. the recent climate is surely abnormal. it's a dangerous high. and it's already killed about 30 people. and with thousands were hospitalized for heat related conditions, authorities are urging people to stay hydrated. translation: my job is demanding so i majored to drink lots water.

thatjob is even more challenging for the volunteers taking part in flood recovery afterwards. they rain that out of perjapan led to flooding and landslides. over 200 people died and more than 2500 people who evacuated are still not ready to return. the heat is weighing on their minds as they continued the clean—up effort. translation: i will take care not to get sick from the heat because that would only cause trouble for other people. it's no longer rain, but raise down injapan. but rays down injapan. a new meteorological trial for assistance but for some, like these children soaking up the sun on a beach open for the first time since the country's 2011 tsunami, the weather means summer has arrived.

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. the education secretary damian hinds has said that schools need more cash and less stress. in an interview with the guardian, he said too many teachers in england are being overwhelmed by excessive workloads. the labour shadow education secretary angela rayner said ‘we need action, notjust warm words and sympathy‘. in his interview, mr hinds... helena brothwell is principal at queen elizabeth's academy in mansfield. she outlined the action she'd like mr hinds to take. i would like him to continue to

reassure school leaders that some of the bureaucracy around data entry and measuring regularly, that doesn't flatten the peg, itjust measures it. make sure we reduce and remove some of that bureaucracy. it would do a lot to improve the figures. he needs to improve the status of teachers, we have had decades having ourjob reduced to entertainers and ba by—sitters decades having ourjob reduced to entertainers and baby—sitters and that isn't what we do. we are trained to do this job and our status should be appropriate. also i think he needs to find us some money. 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're 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 exceptionally dry start to the summer, is forcing the closure of one of britain's longest waterways. 55—miles of the leeds and liverpool canal will shut for a month at the end ofjuly, because of concerns over water supplies. phil bodmer has the story. and narrow boat navigates the lock on the leeds liverpool canal. but at the end of the month, but will no

longer be possible as a 55 malls stretch of one briton's most popular waterways is closed because of a lack of water. we haven't got the water to feed into the canal to keep them going. it is a difficult decision to take but it is simply down to this glorious summer we are all enjoying. the leeds liverpool canal which crosses the pennines is the longest man—made waterway in britain. it is also one of the highest with water travelling downhill from huge reservoirs it is stored in. this isjust one of a number of reservoirs are high in the pennines which feeds the canal network. it is about 20% of its total capacity and sheep are beginning to graze where the water level should be. 50 millimetres of rain fell between the 1st ofjune and the 19th ofjuly this year, meaning this is the driest summer since records began. despite recent rain in the north—west of england, it's not enough to replenish the

depleted reserves. now it's time for a look at the weather with tomasz. it is going to be a humid night with a lot of cloud and moisture streaming off the atlantic. a lot of cloud tomorrow but for many the sun should eventually come out later on in the morning and into the afternoon. here is the cloud streaming off the atlantic, murky, misty and brazil eat around the coasts with a few clear spells in the south and east. very warm on sunday morning, 18 in cardiff. 13 in belfast and newcastle. start off murky tomorrow with rain in the western isles but the sun will eventually come out. a bright, sunny day at times with scattered clouds. temperatures in the high 20s across the south but mid 20s elsewhere.

shooting up in london, well over 30 degrees in the coming days.