this is bbc news. the headlines at 9: the new brexit secretary, dominic raab, admits he's still persuading some cabinet ministers to back the prime minister's blueprint for leaving the european union. a woman who lost nine members of her family in the missouri duck boat disaster claims the captain told passengers they wouldn't need lifejackets. he said, "above you are your life jackets. there are three sizes." he said, "i'm going to show you where they are but you won't need them." israel says it's rescued hundreds of white helmets civil defence workers and their families from a war zone in southern syria. also this hour: could the sale of realfur be banned in the uk? a committee of mps calls for a total ban after shops are found selling real fur labelled as fake. virgin media customers lose access to ten tv channels after a row betweeh the company and uktv over fees. the defending open champion,

jordan spieth, is one of three players tied for the lead heading into the final round of the championship at carnoustie. and our sunday morning edition of the papers is at 9.35. this morning's reviewers are political editor of the sun on sunday, dave wooding, and the journalist and author shyama perera. very good morning to you. welcome to bbc news. the new brexit secretary, dominic raab, has admitted that he is still persuading other members of the cabinet that theresa may's strategy for leaving the eu is the best plan. in an interview with the sunday telegraph, he also issued a fresh warning to the eu that britain could refuse to pay its £39 billion so—called divorce bill unless a trade deal is struck.

let's get more from our political correspondent jonathan blake. good morning. this is starting with your sleeves rolled up after only one day of negotiations in brussels for the new man in charge brexit. yes, dominic raab has not been brexit secretary for very long but it is something of a bat is fire with those negotiations picking up in brussels again. —— baptism of fire. he is staking his ground as a committed brexiteer. he of course campaigns to leave the eu during the referendum. and he is reminding eve ryo ne referendum. and he is reminding everyone under the principle that the government have often repeated that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, that the money that the uk has agreed to pay the eu upon leaving could be withheld if the government doesn't get the trade deal that it wants. what is perhaps more interesting dominic raab‘s admission that there are still members of the cabinet who need persuading that the agreement

reached at chequers and the subsequent white paper published by the government with theresa may's vision for brexit, some members of the cabinet still need persuading that that is indeed the right way forward. i will read what he said. we wa nt forward. i will read what he said. we want to make sure that we can persuade everyone, the grassroots voters, parliamentary voters and ministers in cabinet that we have got th e best deal and the best plan to get the best needed reminding, is still very much alive and showing that debate about the way forward for brexit, if we needed reminding, is still very much alive and well. the newspapers suggest that esther mcvey and penny mordaunt have so far not publicly declared their support for the cabinet blueprint. but the prime minister told us that cabinet collective responsibility had been restored, so borisjohnson and david davis jumped, but they have stayed. whether they liked or not, presumably they have committed themselves. would assume so. cabinet responsibility has been restored. after the resignation of david davis

and boris johnson, after the resignation of david davis and borisjohnson, who took a couple of days to digests what happened at chequers and decided they couldn't put their names to it, we have seen cabinet ministers backing it in public. despite reported minutes of the meeting at chequers, they were lea ked the meeting at chequers, they were leaked to a couple of newspapers, and we saw quotes from various ministers criticising the deal, but the important thing now is whether they supported in public or not. and it will become, i think, interesting in the next few days and weeks negotiations go on. and perhaps we start to see that agreement is likely and picked as both sides give ground and make concessions in those negotiations as to how far the cabinet can indeed keep in line behind that deal. —— that agreement is unpicked. i am sure a lot of mps are looking forward to the recess that begins on tuesday. some of them will not come back now and they will have gone on holiday with their kids. in a sense, westminster needs a break because we seem to have reached an amp us, and until the

negotiations with brussels proceed further, it feels like it is hanging in the airand further, it feels like it is hanging in the air and it can't be resolved. yes, it is a tricky time. there were sighs of relief all round when the government escaped just about unscathed from those votes that went through parliament in terms of the legislation that will see the brexit agreement put into law. the government suffered one defeat, but on the key vote, itjust about government suffered one defeat, but on the key vote, it just about won. mps will go away for the summer. there is this slight unease around the prime minister's position and how the negotiations will go. we know they will continue over the summer now know they will continue over the summer now which was not originally the plan. they will be important in terms of what mood mps, particularly tory mps, come back with in the autumn after the summer break. are they spoiling for a fight or happy with how things have gone? interesting times ahead, ever. as jonathan blake, thank you very much. a woman who lost nine members

of her family in a tourist boat accident on a lake in the united states has been describing the disaster. tia coleman said passengers were told they would not need lifejackets but if she had managed to reach one she might have saved her three children. 14 other passengers were killed in the disaster. i couldn't see anybody. i couldn't hear anything. i could hear screams. ijust — it felt like i was out there on my own. and i was yelling and i was screaming and finally i said "lord, just let me die, let me die." i said, "i can't, i can't keep drowning, ijust can't keep drowning." and then ijust let go. and i started floating. police are continuing their investigation of a park in salisbury where they believe a couple was poisoned by novichok. charlie rowley, whose partner dawn sturgess died, has left hospital but is still unable to return to his home which remains cordoned off. katy austin reports. the source of the novichok has been found, but forensic searches go on. a park bench was the focus on saturday.

nearly two weeks after dawn stu rgess died, charlie rowley was discharged from hospital. his brother hasn't been able to contact him since. i phoned the hospital and they confirmed he had been released and there was an official statement. i haven't spoken to him yet but i hope to in the next few days. it was at charlie rowley‘s home here in amesbury that the small bottle containing the nerve agent was found. charlie has now spoken with detectives, who are now looking into what he has told them, and while there's no evidence he or dawn sturgess were specifically targeted, charlie has been given personal safety advice. it's unclear where he is at the moment, or whether he will be able to return to normal life soon. people in salisbury also wonder when normality can return to their city. ifeel, as a local, that we haven't necessarily been kept in the picture of what's going on. because we are very local, we live five minutes away from all of this. and for salisbury, it has been hugely disruptive. it's really affecting the city,

which is tragic. i don't actually find it that worrying. it is reassuring that they are actually doing something. they've got to be covered to be able to look for what they are looking for and if they think there's something there, they need to be completely covered, so ijust think the sooner they find what they are looking for, the better. but the investigation into the latest tragic contamination incident is far from over with counter—terror detectives not yet saying who they think is responsible. katy austin, bbc news. jordan says it's taken in 800 syrian white helmet rescuers and their families from war—torn southern syria. the volunteer rescuers have been evacuated by bus overnight through the israeli—occupied golan heights. the civil defence workers and theirfamilies had been trapped by a syrian government offensive in the south—west of the country. the israeli defence forces have tweeted, describing the evacuation as an exceptional humanitarian gesture at the request of the us and european countries. jordan says it's agreed to give them safe passage to be resettled in britain, canada and germany, due to a risk to their lives. it comes a day after hundreds of rebels and theirfamilies arrived in hama

province in northwest syria after being evacuated from quneitra, which borders the golan heights, after a deal was struck with the syrian government. the white helmets have rescued thousands of syrian civilians trapped under the rubble after air strikes, shelling or blasts in rebel—held territory. since the volunteer network was founded in 2013, at least 200 volunteers have died and another 500 have been injured. mps are calling for a consultation on whether the sale of realfur should be banned in the uk. the environment, food and rural affairs committee has been investigating why many high street retailers illegally sold fur described as fake which had in fact come from animals. sarah corker reports.

in the 1990s, evocative anti—fur campaigns raised awareness of the issue. decades on, some shoppers have been unwittingly buying real fur labelled as fake. it emerged that several major retailers had sold products described as artificial but tests showed were made from fox, rabbit and chinchilla. now an inquiry by the environment, food and rural affairs committee accuses retailers of being complacent about the problem. disgusting. absolutely disgusting. i would be devastated if i went and bought, you know, an item that i thought was faux fur and actually it turned out that some poor animal or animals had been slaughtered. i'd be devastated. the reason why people buy fake fur is so that they're not wearing real fur, so it's pretty shocking that they can get away with that, really. i'd be disgusted to find out that something was an animal product that i hadn't knowingly bought into. so i don't think it's acceptable in any way, shape or form. furfarming was banned in the uk in 2000 but it is legal to sell some types of real fur imported from other countries

if it is accurately labelled. and eu regulations do ban the trade of fur from domestic cats, dogs or commercial seal hunts. during this inquiry, evidence was taken from retailers here in camden to learn how realfur was mis—sold as fake, and what changes have been put in place to make sure it doesn't happen again. and the report calls for clearer labelling and stronger enforcement of the rules by trading standards. mps also want the government to begin a consultation on whether the sale of all types of real fur should be outlawed. sarah corker, bbc news. joining me now is the chair of the environment, food and rural affairs committee, neil parish mp. i'm afraid we have dragged to you into the bristol studio! thank you for leaving god's own county to come and see us. tell us about the continued existence of real fur often in shops who say they have no further policy. how has this problem

come about? yes, if people don't wa nt to come about? yes, if people don't want to buy fur, they want to make sure that it is fake and not real. the biggest problem is there is a lot of low quality, poor animal welfare standards are being bred and produced in china. this is then being slipped into garments. it is true, pom—pom, all sorts of things going into garments. manufacturers probably think we are giving them real fur so what are they complaining about? but if you are consumer, you want to be sure of what you are buying. is there a domestic source of fake fur that people could get from suppliers in this country? is this ultimately cost driven thing? it is mostly imported. not all. some of the main shops in the high street have also been stocking real fur as fake. a

lot of it has been online sales as well. we had people like amazon in and boohoo and not on the high street. wheels are took evidence from camden market as well. in fairness, it is quite difficult to tell sometimes. the trouble is that some of these retailers and online sellers have actually been involved in or three four cases where they have been selling realfur as in or three four cases where they have been selling real fur as fake. beginjim is not getting what they want. trading standards, i think, need to take a case against one of these companies to really highlight to the companies that they really must pull up their socks. —— consumers are not getting what they want. historically real fur was a lwa ys want. historically real fur was always much more expensive than fake fur so it wasn't really happening but now i rather fear it will carry on happening, and that is why we wa nt on happening, and that is why we want this action taken. london bbc,

sky, the humane society, they have all brought information to us, so it has been a good inquiry but now we wa nt has been a good inquiry but now we want action. the government has said that as a member of the eu it is not possible to bring in extra restrictions to the fur trade but brexit is not the trinity —— brexit is an opportunity. now they have said they will closely looked at it. that is not the same! having chaired a select committee for lots of yea rs, a select committee for lots of years, you have got to keep going, and we want the government to have a consultation with the public to decide whether we want a complete ban on furas decide whether we want a complete ban on fur as well and we also want better labelling. products from an animal origin, that is what is talked about, and we could make that much clearer. we will keep the pressure on government. that is the nature of what we do. we keep going. you do indeed. good luck with that.

neil parish, thank you for being with us on bbc news. now we can talk more about a story i mentioned a few minutes ago. that is the evacuation of members of the white helmets, the volu nteers of members of the white helmets, the volunteers who have helped civilians during the course of the syrian war. they and their families were evacuated through jordan. some they and their families were evacuated throuthordan. some of there will be coming to britain eventually and germany and other countries including the usa. joining us now from tel aviv is paul ronzheimer. apologies if i mispronounced your name! you are the chief international correspondent for bild newspaper in germany. am i right in thinking that you saw this handover taking place? that is right. i have been covering this story for the past few days. i knew this operation was planned. i didn't know if it was

really happening and i didn't know when. i was lucky to see yesterday night around 9:30pm movement at the border, unusual movement. i saw buses, military vehicles, and then i was able to confirm the story. it was able to confirm the story. it was actually happening. with my sources inside syria and european diplomats. from the point where i was standing, i could see the evacuation, out at the end the buses full of white helmets and their families were brought out. we are seeing your footage now as you describe it. what is the catalyst for this handover? why was it necessary to get these volunteers and their families out? it was necessary because the white helmets asa necessary because the white helmets as a rescue group received a lot of

threats, death threats. it was very clear that if the syrian regime got back the whole of the territory, most of these white helmets would have been killed. what the syrian regime, the biggest enemies, publicly talk about them as their enemies, accusing them of being spies from the west. that is why there were diplomatic efforts in the past weeks to get them out, which we re very past weeks to get them out, which were very tough. it was a very hard negotiation with all sides. with israel. this was an historic night. up israel. this was an historic night. up to 800 people crossed into israel. they were always against refugees getting into the country. they only agreed to it because the white helmets left through jordan, and from jordan berry will go to germany, the uk and canada. is this

further evidence, in yourjudgment, that really the syrian war is coming to an end? president assad really is now back in control of large parts of the country and able to assert his authority in a way that for his critics and his enemies means they have got to get out? absolutely. i could witness that, i could see that actually, from this is really point at the border. before the liberation started, i saw a lot of bombing, gunfire, and the terrible war inside syria. i don't think it is over yet. there are still cities like idlib where lots of opposition groups are, and the syrian regime and the russians still fight heavily. a lot of bombing against civilians in this area. i don't see any hand for this war, but what we can all witness is

that president assad is actually getting back more and more territory. —— i don't see any near end for this war. he is also killing lots of people. thank you for being with us and giving us your account of that extraordinary development overnight. paulfrom of that extraordinary development overnight. paul from bild of that extraordinary development overnight. paulfrom bild newspaper in germany. police in los angeles have arrested a suspect after he held a0 people hostage inside a supermarket for three hours. the gunman barricaded himself inside the store after crashing his car and exchanging fire with officers. a woman was shot dead inside the shop before he surrendered. japan is in the grip of an intense heatwave that has killed more than 30 people and caused thousands to be taken ill. temperatures reached 40.7 degrees during a record—breaking week where thermometers haven't dipped below 38 degrees. the soaring temperatures are complicating recovery efforts following floods and landslides, which killed more than 200 people earlier this month. cuba's national assembly is debating the draft of a new constitution

which could introduce radical changes to the communist country's economic and social policies. private ownership of property might be recognised for the first time in 50 years and same—sex marriage legalised. will grant reports from havana. after decades of soviet style socialism, glimpses of meaningful change in cuba. the 1976 constitution isn'tjust going to be reformed, it's being completely rewritten. key to the changes private property, recognised on the communist—run island for the first time in generations. naturally, the state will remain the biggest actor in this caribbean controlled economy, but including private property rights in the new constitution gives legal protection to the thousands of small businesses which cropped up since raul castro changed the economic rules a decade ago. whether small restaurants or modest accommodation, private enterprise has been propping up the boom in cuban tourism.

finally their right to exist will be enshrined in law. politically term limits are to be imposed on the new president, miguel diaz canel, of two consecutive five—year terms. and socially, too, a huge breakthrough. after decades of a shameful record on gay rights, now there will be a recognition will be a recognition of marriage in cuba as no longer solely between a man and a woman but simply between two people instead. translation: the principles of equality, justice and humanism that our project has are reinforced by the possibility of marriage between two people. i think it's fair. we have discussed it a lot. it's fair. astonishingly even the very word "communism" has been struck from the constitution, replaced with the more accessible "socialism".

these were the sorts of changes the obama administration had hoped to foster through its engagement with cuba, but since president trump took office, the bilateral relationship has almost completely frozen once again. as always, change in cuba is glacially slow. even once this new constitution is approved, it must still go to a national referendum, but the leadership here hope that by recognising private property, they will boost a stagnant economy, and by legalising same—sex marriage, they will better reflect a more modern cu ban society. will grant, bbc news, havana. virgin media customers have lost access to ten tv channels showing popular shows including taskmaster, red dwarf and one born every minute. it's all down to a row between the company and uktv over fees. uktv says virgin wanted to cut the amount it paid for the channels but virgin says uktv is unable to provide programming on demand, because of restrictions imposed by its joint owner, the bbc. the channels disappearing include dave and gold.

i'm joined now by steve north from uktv and david bouchier from virgin media. let's see if we can try and get to the bottom of this. thank you both for coming in. isaw the bottom of this. thank you both for coming in. i saw that you had a fairand frank for coming in. i saw that you had a fair and frank exchange of views on brea kfast fair and frank exchange of views on breakfast this morning and some of our viewers will have seen that. if ican our viewers will have seen that. if i canjust our viewers will have seen that. if i can just summarise this, putting it very simply, they are your channels, but you have taken them away from virgin. what is your explanation? we have been in negotiation with virgin for a number of months to extend our current deal with them and unfortunately we haven't been able to come to a resolution on that. the reality is that virgin media have offered us a significant cut in fees to broadcast our channels. that is not fair to the viewers, it really isn't. our viewers pay substantial amounts

of money to virgin media on a monthly basis, to watch those channels, and they expect a certain level of quality of content for that. we have invested more money year—on—year in that content and ensuring that we can continue to do thatis ensuring that we can continue to do that is fundamental to us. ensuring that we can continue to do that is fundamentalto us. steve has got to pay for these programmes and he depends on the money you pay him to generate the programmes and you wa nt to to generate the programmes and you want to cut the money. why?m to generate the programmes and you want to cut the money. why? it is important to draw a distinction between the uktv free to air channels and the page channels. this is brinkmanship. up until last week they had offered us a deal on the free to view channels, which is dave. and we are committed to bringing our customers the best entertainment on tv and we can do that because those channels are funded through advertising. what we bring is 4 million eyeballs to allow steve and his colleagues to make that great television. what they are doing by pulling those channels away from us is taking that away. but you are except that you are asking them to ta ke are except that you are asking them to take less money? not for the

freeview channels. we are still open to discussion about that. where we disagree is that they have taken the view at the 11th hour. up until a week ago we were still talking about carrying their free channels including dave, their most popular channel. the biggest blackout they are causing is their own decision to pull dave from us. these channels are available free anyway, so even if you would have lost them from virgin overnight, they can go and watch them on freeview and freesat. and actually for the viewers, it is an inconvenience but not really... that is exactly the point. if i watched dave on satellite, i don't p5y~ watched dave on satellite, i don't pay. if i wanted online, i don't p5y~ pay. if i wanted online, i don't pay. and on freeview. so why should our customers be discriminated against? why should they be hijacked and pay for services that they can watch for free elsewhere? previously virgin has not paid forfree watch for free elsewhere? previously virgin has not paid for free to air channels and now we are asking them to. we have offered to continue

putting our channels on the virgin platform. i have got to correct that. that is not the case. this is a negotiating position. not at all. we have offered to continue with the same deal that we currently have. david mentioned earlier that we have never played for those channels in the past and we are not asking them to in the future. we are asking for them to pay for the portfolio of channels at the same level. if i buy a package for you, i don't get to choose individual channels. you get this set and you pay for this and you this set and you pay for this and y°u pay this set and you pay for this and you pay more for extra things. they are saying all or nothing. that is the first time that we have gone into a negotiation with any channel provider where they have been so adamant. this is very obvious. they are using the leverage of their free to air channels to try and extract more money for the page channels. there is nothing wrong with that when talking about the paid channels, but the only people suffering their viewers and our

customers. if they want to behave like that, they cannot then say that they have the interests of viewers and customers that hard. they don't. everywhere else in the uk, you can find those channels and for free. that is why we think it is a negative position. i have to challenge that we are not there for our viewers. it is absolutely about our viewers. it is absolutely about our viewers. it is absolutely about our viewers. we are being asked to ta ke our viewers. we are being asked to take less investment at a time virgin is asking customers to pay more for their paid subscription then 12 months ago. we have being asked to take less money for the content. on the paid television side, the investment that our customers want is programming when they want to watch it and where they wa nt they want to watch it and where they want to watch it, on demand programming. because of the parent company, the bbc, then settlement with uktv, they deny them those

rights. and we simply expect to get fair value which must include on demand. they can't deliver that because the bbc won't let them have it. i don't think it is right for our customers that diva and i should be debating this in public. —— steve and i. but the free channels back on airand we can and i. but the free channels back on air and we can have a proper discussion about value but in the negotiating room. we have no interest ina negotiating room. we have no interest in a public negotiation. there is bbc content through uktv on the virgin platform. but also we supply thousands of hours to virgin on demand every year. our numbers this year are on demand every year. our numbers this yearare up on demand every year. our numbers this year are up by more than one third for our viewing figures. let me ask you both about this because ofcom have just published a report coming out this week, a big report that you will have both seen. for the first time, uk subscriptions to streaming organisations like netflix

and amazon have overtaken paid tv subscriptions like yours. 15.4 million for the top three netflix, amazon prime, and now tv, and 15.1 million for paid tv over here. you are both tied to a model that is dying. that is the point and when it comes to on demand, the numbers you have quoted and the streaming services you have named, netflix, on steve's paid channel, gold, they have faulty towers, but they can't give us the box set and it goes to netflix. it is changing but more importantly growing. there are more people watching television sets than ever before and 90% of that time is watching traditional fuming and traditional content. it is not a dying industry at all and the vast majority of viewers are watching traditional television and that is what viewers want and what we will give them. will you kiss and make up

before the end of the day? our door is always open and we want to keep talking. they withdrew the channels, not us. thank you so much for being so sporting and talking to us on bbc news this morning and explaining why it might be ourfault! turning five is a milestone for any youngster, but for prince george the occasion has been marked with the release of his latest official photograph. the third in line's birthday is today and he is flashing a beaming grin for the photo, which was taken after the christening of his baby brother louis last week. the young prince is no stranger to taking a good photograph though. this is one of the first pictures we saw of him back injuly 2013. a year later we caught another glimpse of that cheeky smile in his christmas portrait. at two, he was keeping his mother the duchess of cambridge busy as he started to explore a little bit more. aged three and with another sibling vying for his parents attention he was still managing to make his presence felt.