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tv   Afternoon Live  BBC News  July 24, 2018 2:00pm-5:01pm BST

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hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. today at two. at least 60 people die as wildfires hit seaside resorts and towns close to athens. thanks god my family was completely safe because we have run down to the sea. in the meanwhile, a couple of people, two ladies, have lost their lives in my hands. hundreds of firefighters have been battling the blazes and the authorities are seeking international assistance. here, people are being warned to stay out of the sun — as temperatures continue to soar in parts of england. more pay for up to a million public sector workers including teachers and prison officers, but questions over where the money will come from. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport, with hugh ferris. roadside protests are pretty regular
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at the tour de france but this one was met with teargas and it accidentally blew into the eyes of the riders so the race had to be temporarily stopped just more later on those extraordinary scenes! and nick miller, looking hot? absolutely. heat, dangerous heat, taking its toll elsewhere in the world, too. and it is also very dry in places. coming up, we will be looking at where it has been dry for the longest in the uk and what sort of re cord we the longest in the uk and what sort of record we need to get to to break dry weather records, all of that coming up in the next half an hour. also coming up... members of the thai youth football team rescued from a flooded cave receive monk‘s orders — spending nine days living in a monastery in a tradition for males in thailand who experience adversity.
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hello and welcome to afternoon live. the shocking details of the wildfires ravishing larges swathes of mainland greece are becoming clear, with reports some people died in the arms of their loved ones as flames engulfed their cars and homes. more than 60 people have been killed in coastal towns and resorts near athens, more than 150 have been injured. in one resort alone 26 victims were found lying close together — survivors ran into the sea to escape. greece has declared three days of mourning and has asked other european countries for helicopters and additional firefighters to help tackle the fires in the coastal areas around attica. our correspondent richard lister has the latest. an avalanche of flames driven by high winds swept through these
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houses at terrifying speed. nothing was left behind. for many of the victims, there was simply no escape. a local mayor said he saw at least 100 homes and 200 vehicles on fire. some left it until the very last minute to leave, hoping against hope that their homes would be spared. but for the overstretched fire crews, this was an almost impossible battle. many people simply fled to the sea. the coast guard rescued almost 700 from nearby beaches. others were rescued from small boats offshore. translation: thankfully, the sea was there and we went into the sea because the flames were chasing us all the way to the water. it burnt our backs and we jumped into the water. translation: it was lightning fast. we didn't realise what had happened. you couldn't.
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it was the first time i've ever seen something like this. for others, trying to flee in a car proved a fatal mistake. flames fanned across roads leaving them trapped and helpless. the prime minister cut short a foreign visit to deal with the crisis, arriving ashen faced for a briefing. translation: we must at this moment all be in a constant state of alert. we must be unified and make the effort to face an exceptionally difficult situation for the country. a passenger on this flight into athens captured just what they are up against. those clouds are actually smoke and every patch of orange is another fire. 0n the ground, in daylight, the firestorm seems almost unstoppable. flames lapping at the side of the coastal highway into the capital. these resort areas are taking the brunt of it. many athenians have holiday homes here and it's the busiest time of the year. many people, including
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families with children, who are now on school holidays, were at their summer homes at the time and this partly explains the number of dead and the number of injured. residents are taking stock today of all they have lost, with homes and vehicles in ruins. others are mourning friends and family, too. in mati, this man discovered both his cars burnt out and his apartment damaged, but he is counting his blessings. thanks god, my family was completely safe. because we have run down to the sea. in the meanwhile, a couple of people, two ladies, have lost their lives in my hands. sirens emergency crews trying to beat back the flames are also making grim new discoveries, including 26 people huddled together, all overcome by smoke, children among them. translation: it seems some
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of them knew each other. we found them in small groups. they could have been friends or family who tried to protect themselves by hugging each other. as the wildfires rage on in greece, they promise to bring yet more of these apocalyptic scenes with them. this summer holiday season has become a national tragedy. richard lister, bbc news. it's not only europe that's in the grip of unusually high temperatures. japan is experiencing a record—breaking heatwave which contributed to the death of 65 people last week and more than 30,000 were admitted to hospital suffering from heat stroke. people are being warned to take precautions, because the heatwave shows no sign of abating. rupert wingfield—hayes reports from there. for more than two weeks now the sun has burned down injapan has burned down onjapan from a cloudless sky, with barely a waft of wind.
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outside the imperial palace in tokyo, the heat shimmer tells its own story. here the tourists are sweltering in only 37 degrees today. translation: china is hot now, but compared between tokyo and china, tokyo is hotter. a little further north in the city of kumagaya, it is considerably hotter. the thermometer here hit 41.1 degrees on monday, the highest ever recorded anywhere in japan. the heat is notjust uncomfortable, it is now extremely dangerous. at tokyo's emergency dispatch centre the calls are coming thick and fast. the ambulance crews are struggling to keep up as across japan more than 30,000 people have now been hospitalised with heatstroke or heat exhaustion. the elderly are most at risk. more than half of the deaths reported so far have been people over 65. in the ancient capital kyoto, the summer festivals are under way. here, it has been 38 degrees or more for a solid week, another record.
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all of this is being caused by a huge high—pressure dome that is sitting over the top of japan and korea. for the last two weeks it has refused to budge. the bad news is it could be here for another two. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in tokyo. well, a heatwave is still affecting us in this country, particularly in central and eastern england. and it's having an impact on business. the latest official retail figures suggest the food and drink sector is doing well but other retailers are struggling. katharine da costa reports. an iconic british ceremony, in untypically british weather. like thousands forced to wear uniforms or work outside, the ongoing heatwave means working conditions are challenging. we think it's important for the government to regulate now to introduce a maximum temperature in britain's workplaces.
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which we don't have at the moment. in the meantime, there are practical things employers can do working with unions and staff to make sure everyone is comfortable. providing cold drinks at work, relaxing dress codes, finding cool places for people to work, sensible approach so everyone can enjoy the sunshine and work in a comfortable way. but while some wither, other industries flourish. visit britain say tourism businesses across the country are expecting a bumper summer and with schools just breaking up, they are predicting record—breaking numbers of brits will holiday at home. and we're not the only ones attracted by the warm weather. it's fabulous, wonderful, great weather, we have been on a cruise, we are now in london, we are sorry it has not been raining for everyone in england, but we're glad it's not. the surge in sun—seekers means workers at means
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workers that this 20% this year. usually in the month ofjune, july, we are very quiet. but this year, june and july, we were fully working and manufacturing. the mediterranean weather is proving a hit with wine producers, some expecting the best ever year. david owns this vineyard in leicestershire. with just over two months to go until he begins harvesting, he predicts he will produce double the amount of wine he did last year. it's going absolutely wonderfully. last year, we made about 1800 bottles. in 2006, a similar year to this, we made 5000. that is the difference a good summer will make. but elsewhere, the dry prolonged weather is taking its toll, thousands of fish have been rescued
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from the river tarrant in dorset because sections are drying out, our green and pleasant land now looking in many parts brown and parched. and it's set to get even hotter, with temperatures expected to peak later this week. some news we are getting from west midlands police. a 47—year—old woman has suffered serious injuries after a corrosive substance was thrown in herface. a corrosive substance was thrown in her face. this happened in the ladywood area of birmingham this morning. police say it happened just after ten o'clock this morning. the 47—year—old woman is thought to have beenin 47—year—old woman is thought to have been in the visiting of northbrook street when the substance was thrown at her by someone on a passing moped 01’ at her by someone on a passing moped or pushbike. she has been taken to hospital with serious injuries to herface. hospital with serious injuries to her face. that the hospital with serious injuries to herface. that the newsjust hospital with serious injuries to her face. that the news just coming in from west midlands police. we will bring you more on that as we
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are at it. a fifth man has been arrested in connection with a suspected acid attack on a three—year—old boy in worcester on saturday. police believe the boy was deliberately attacked at a retail park in the city. he suffered severe burns to his arms and face. police have already made four arrests in london and wolverhampton. more than a million public sector workers will receive a pay rise this year. the government is announcing salary increases of up to three and a half percent for teachers, doctors and armed forces personnel. but it's expected that the treasury won't fund the pay rises directly, meaning savings will have to be made elsewhere, as our political correspondent jonathan blake explains. whether they're fighting fires or fighting on the front line, the armed forces are among 1 million public sector workers told today they can expect to pay rise. teachers, too, will get a significant increase. at the end of term, it's perhaps good news, but for some, long overdue. we've had four years of a pay rise which has been funded by schools cash budgets and clearly it
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needs to be centrally needs to be centrally funded, otherwise schools will become insolvent. clearly teachers deserve a pay rise, pay has been frozen for far too long and we are in the middle of a teacher recruitment crisis partly as a result of that. teachers in england will get a pay rise of up to 3.5%, the military will get a 2% increase, plus a one—off payment, police in england and wales can expect 2%, and prison staff in england and wales as well will get 2% with an added single sum. what we've been able to do the borders make sure everyone gets a significant pay rise, we've scrapped the cap, which everyone was calling for last year, i promised it last year and we have now delivered on it and people will get a decent pay rise which is thoroughly deserved. the big picture is there is no new money, no hand—outs from the chancellor to pay for this, so ministers will have to find the cash from existing budgets. there is no increase in funding to the public sector for this,
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so by increasing pay levels, albeit by less than the rate of inflation, that can only be paid for by cuts within public services. year after year, public sector workers have argued pay rises below inflation has meant that their real income has fallen. today's increases may be welcome news for some, but for many, it's still not enough. since 2011, teachers have lost 15% in real terms of their pay. so this does not catch it up, so we are looking for the government to build on this pay award, as departments go into the comprehensive spending review, we want the education department to argue for a sustained pay rise for teachers. can the government afford the pay rises, prime minister...? the prime minister may be pleased to deliver the news on the day parliament begins its summer break, but when it comes to paying for it,
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difficult decisions ahead. we can go to lauren smith, whojoins me now from that very hot balcony in westminster. now, the question on this is how this money is going to be raised? well, most of it seems to be raised? well, most of it seems to be coming from existing government budgets. —— norman smith. that does not necessarily mean it is going to come from front—line budgets. if you look at something like the pay rise that teaches, are getting something like 3.5%, that is not going to come from existing school budgets but instead from central government funds. so, in the case of the teachers, a lot of it, around 500 million, is going to come from the school improvement fund. so there is going to be extra money and it is going to be extra money and it is going to be paid for not locally but nationally, but it will involve money coming out of other, public services. so, in terms of public sector paper but where are we compared with where we were up in 2010? the honest truth is that if you are a public sector worker you
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are still well out of pocket. the unions estimate that you are probably about 15% down in real terms on your salary. today's increases of between 2% and 3%, that does not put you anywhere near where you were back in 2010 and let's be honest, you're probably not going to get back there for a very, very long time, because with inflation at 2.3%, if you are, for example, a prison officer and you only getting an increase of two plus 7%, then you're only just an increase of two plus 7%, then you're onlyjust nudging above inflation. so i think the hard truth is that many public service workers have taken is that many public service workers have ta ken probably is that many public service workers have taken probably a permanent hit to their salaries which they may never recover. albeit they were in line to take an even bigger hit, because the public sector pay freeze was planned to go right on until 2020. it has now ended. the curtain has come down on it across the public sector just so it's over, it's history. and that will be some relief to public sector workers but
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they have still lost an awful lot of money. part of this, of course, is to try and keep people in the public sector, to retain people and stop them leaving the nhs and schools, for example. so, retention and recruitment are crucial? and when you look at the way these pay settle m e nts you look at the way these pay settlements have been handed out, if you look at the money for nurses which was announced back in march, some of them got very significant pay increases, on average about 6% over three years, but some of them got really pretty large increases. that was focused on particular areas where they were having difficulty recruiting. likewise today, teachers who are the winners but it is in teaching where there has been the most serious issues around retention and recruitment. some estimates that around half of teachers apparently leave the profession within ten yea rs. leave the profession within ten years. so there is a real issue about trying to keep people in teaching and also in the nhs. norman, thank you very much. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines.
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at least 60 people have died in wildfires at least 60 people have died in wildfi res close at least 60 people have died in wildfires close to athens. here, people have been warned to stay out of the sun. about a million public sector workers have received their biggest pay rise in nearly ten yea rs, biggest pay rise in nearly ten years, marking the end of the 1% paid cap. in sport, a dramatic stoppage at the tour de france, police use pepper spray against protesters but it blows into the eyes of the riders just gareth southgate is one of 11 managers shortlisted for the best men's coach award by fifa. and frankie dettori has a riding ban reduced but will still miss the king george on saturday and two key races at goodwood next week as well after his appeal against the suspension was rejected. more sports just after half past. authorities in laos say hundreds of people are missing after a dam
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collapsed in the south—east of the country. state media is reporting that the hydroelectric dam in attapu province collapsed late on monday, causing flash floods with an estimated 50 billion cubic metres of water pouring through six villages. there are reports of several deaths, and more than six thousand people left homeless. let's speak to our correspondent nick beake, who is in nearby myanmar. do we know first of all what happened, why did the damn suddenly give way? simon, we've heard from some of the companies who have been constructing this huge project, five yea rs constructing this huge project, five years in the making, this dam. it was due to open next year and one of the thai companies involved has said that simply there was too much rainwater over the last few days and for some reason, we don't know oi, pa rt for some reason, we don't know oi, part of the dam collapsed. it was not said to be the largest dam but
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certainly one which was three quarters of a kilometre long, 16 metres high. and so when that broke away yesterday you can imagine people living nearby had very little time to escape the deluge of water that came pouring towards them. and we know that already there are deep concerns for around 100 people who are said to be missing, and we believe that 20 people now are said to have been confirmed dead. real concerns in laos about this disaster. the scale of it is mind—boggling but what about the rescue operation? this is something they have not really seen before, there have been partial collapses of dams in laos and concerns about the safety of these projects. we know the prime minister in laos has abandoned all meetings and has gone to the area to try and lead the operation. but the local officials meet seem to be really troubling. they have already put out an appeal for water and medicine and clothes
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and other supplies to help some of the people who've been moved from their homes. we think more than 6000 people have been forced to flee, and we've seen the footage of people clambering onto the top of submerged buildings to try and escape the rising water. 0ther buildings to try and escape the rising water. other people being moved to dry land that they can find in boats, scooping up any possessions they can. as you say, a huge operation for the authorities. a week after being released from hospital, following their two week ordeal trapped in a flooded cave in thailand, 11 young boys and their football coach have been taking part in a buddhist ceremony. it's their way of saying thank you to their rescuers. the boys have been ordained as novice monks, and will live in a monastery for 9 days — a tradition for males in thailand who experience adversity. 0livia crellin reports. they chant a temple retreat. further time for reflection for the thai football team and their coach, whose perilous ordeal made headlines around the world.
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the short visit will see 11 of the players taken through the process of becoming novice buddhist monks. shaving their heads is a part of that, as well as a symbol of bereavement. a former navy diver died during the complex operation. the boys will then meditate, pray and clean the temple for nine days, a thai lucky number. how many of you? 13? brilliant! lucky now, perhaps. these coming days will be very different to the nine the children and their coach spent in darkness, trapped in the flooded cave until two british divers found them. it would take a further nine days to complete the risky international rescue operation that captivated the rest of the world. this visit is the latest in a series of spiritual rites and activities that the boys have taken part in. last week the wild boars team visited a temple to be blessed.
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a ceremony was also conducted at the mouth of the cave to spiritually cleanse it. the good news of the group's rescue reverberated around the world but the impact will, of course, be felt strongest back home as the boys bring closure to their trauma and embark on a new beginning. 0livia crellin, bbc news. legislation passed by the scottish parliament is being challenged by the uk government for the first time. a case is being heard at the supreme court, about whether holyrood went beyond its jurisdiction by passing alternative brexit legislation to westminster. the supreme court is expected to rule on the case later in the year. the ministry of defence is to sell raf scampton in lincolnshire, the base from where the dambuster raid was launched in the second world war. the lincolnshire airbase has long been at the heart of raf
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operations and is home of the famous red arrows, employing around 600 people. but it's now being sold as the mod tries to save billions of pounds. the mod is also closing raf linton on 0use in north yorkshire, where 300 people work. don't forget — you can let us know what you think. tweet us using the hashtag afternoonlive. all the ways to contact us on screen right now. time for a look at the weather. and it's notjust a heat, it's the long period of dry whether? absolutely, and this is the driest spotin absolutely, and this is the driest spot in the uk. funnily enough it is a weather station, simon! and we only know anywhere is dry if it has
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got a weather station. there may be somewhere which has been drierfor longer but you record based on the weather stations which the met 0ffice weather stations which the met office has available across the uk. this one is near bury st edmunds, and that is in suffolk and we were talking about suffolk yesterday for the highest temperature. look how dry it looks. this weather station hasn't recorded any rain forgetting on 50 days. a little bit condensation at times but that is it. there are other weather stations which have gone over 60 days but they have had a little bit of rain, less tha n they have had a little bit of rain, less than one millimetre. but this has been basically bone dry for getting on 50 days of. so, what is the longest period of time we have had without rain? i am glad you asked me that because i have had a think about that as well. and with help from the met office, we found you can go back to 70 days in 1969. what were you doing then?|j
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you can go back to 70 days in 1969. what were you doing then? i was in school! i think you were teaching then! i wasn't actually born! suffolk, again, another dry time in suffolk. so, getting some of the highest temperatures and the driest weather as well. so long way to go to get to that but the question is, are we going to get to that? the resolution that going on in the atmosphere which might suggest there isa atmosphere which might suggest there is a bit of rain in the forecast. well, there is an amber warning for friday? there is a yellow beer where warning for thunderstorms for part of the uk, actually parts of east england, where there could be some torrential downpours. and there are some weather fronts coming. let me show you the big picture. it is high pressure at the moment. this isjust a week weather front which is dying away. but look to the west, low pressure gathering. thursday going into friday. it is starting to move
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in on friday from the west. that's the weather front bringing the thunderstorms to the east. and all of that goes through friday night and into saturday. so there could well be a bit of rain where it is most needed in the uk. you're going to tell us what is in store for the immediate future? the immediate future is still more baking heat for many areas in eastern england. there isa many areas in eastern england. there is a week weather front from northern england through parts of wales and the south—west of england, producing a bit of patchy rain. so no heat wave in this part of the uk 01’ no heat wave in this part of the uk or in scotland and northern ireland, where there are some pleasant spells with temperatures into the low 20s, really, really nice. but the heat is there again in east anglia and the south—east of england, even though temperatures are not quite as high as they were yesterday at the moment. tonight, that weatherfront fizzles out. it will be a dry night with the exception of some showers
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in the western isles. temperatures going down fairly decently in scotla nd going down fairly decently in scotland and northern ireland tonight with some getting into single figures. it is just really the heat and humidity hanging on in parts of east and south—east england, making it difficult for sleeping. tomorrow there could be isolated showers in certain areas, more especially northern ireland and north—west scotland. there could be a thundery one in the south—east later but very isolated. and it is warmer across the board. we are back into the low 30s, i think. and hotter still on thursday. back to the low pressure gathering to the west and the associated weather fronts. they are not in on thursday. what happens on thursday is we draw up what happens on thursday is we draw up some what happens on thursday is we draw up some more what happens on thursday is we draw up some more hot air more widely across the uk. so, on thursday, we will be feeling the heat in scotland and northern ireland. it will be getting up to the mid 20s here. more parts of england and wales will be
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up parts of england and wales will be up towards 30. but there is a chance in eastern and south—east england of 31: in eastern and south—east england of 3a or 35 celsius on thursday. it may even be achieved on friday as well. but friday is the changeover day. this is a selection of locations to give you an idea. nottingham, you might be in the zone for some possibly torrential thunderstorms on friday. parts of the east midlands and north—east england, most favoured. but by saturday all of that will clear through. nottingham goes down from 26 to 22. that is one example. there is a fresher feel across the uk. so, respite on the horizon, maybe even a bit of rain in suffolk. it looks like the hotter, dry weather comes back next week. this is bbc news. our latest headlines! in greece at least 60 have died and more than 150 others have been injured in wildfires near athens,
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prompting the greek prime minister to declare three days of national mourning. bodies have been found at sea, after people fled into the water to escape the flames. 65 people have now died injapan due to a record breaking heatwave, with more than 20,000 people were taken to hospital. the japanese weather agency have declared it a natural disaster. meanwhile back in the uk, there's no relenting in the hot weather, yesterday saw the hottest day of the year so far and temperatures are expected to rise higher still. 1 million public sectors are due to receive a pay rise. it will be up to 3.5% more for teachers. hundreds of people are missing after a dam under construction in southern laos collapsed, sending water flooding through six local villages. sport now and we can go over to hugh ferris. we have seen protests at the
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tour de france but nothing like this. its farmers to often protest on the side of the roads during the tour de france, often roads that are especially narrow, but this one brought the race to a halt and not necessarily in the way they planned. they threw bales of hay onto the road. police reacted by spraying what appeared to be tear gas at the protestors — problem was it blew into the faces stage 16 is heading from carcassone of some of the riders. stage 16 is heading from carcassone to bagneres—de—luchon — there were still 187km to go at the time. to the medical car.
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it's not the first time that protesters have interrupted a prominent race — in the 1984 paris—nice event bernard hinault punched one of the demonstrators. perhaps that was in the days before a tear gas but it was eventually sorted out this afternoon. let's talk about team sky because they have a problem. they are calling it a dream position because two of their british riders are first and second in the general classification. geraint thomas in the yellow jersey was affected by the yellow jersey was affected by the tear gas, just five stages to go and geraint thomas on the left here, chris froome on the right. chris froome has 1a team titles but
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thomas, leading by one minute 39 seconds to date, so over the coming days is, will chris froome support his team—mate or attack him? there are three stages this week and one time trial, everything will be sorted before the final professional stage on sunday. gareth southgate is one of 11 coaches nominated for the fifa best men's coach award. he led england to the semi finals of the world cup. chelsea's emma hayes is one of the managers to make the women's short list. she guided the blues to a league and cup double last season, and she was pregnant for most of the campaign as well. she gave birth to a boy two days after her side clinched the wsl title. turkish president recep erdogan has praised mesut 0zil
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after his decision to quit the german team, which has sparked a debate in the country about the governance of the national game. the german football association has denied allegations of racism made by the arsenal forward but they admit they could have done more to protect him from abuse. the german federation took exception to 0zil being photographed with president erdogan before the world cup, another german international ilkay gurdogan was also in the pictures, both have turkish heritage and some supporters groups called for the pair to be dropped from the squad. 0zil claims that he has been used as a scapegoat for germany's poor showing in russia and says he has been the victim of " racism and disrespect". elsewhere in the world of football, everton are expected to complete the signing of richarlison today. he's moving after just one season at watford, in a deal that could be worth up to £50 million. he worked with the new everton boss marco silva at vicarage road. the former leeds united player paul madeley has died at the age of 73.
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a one—club man, he played in every outfield position for the club during his 17—years playing career, winning every domestic trophy. don revvie called him rolls—royce — because he was a class act. frankie dettori will miss the king george at ascot after losing an appeal againsta riding ban. the 47—year—old italian was penalised for careless riding on angel's hideaway in the duchess of cambridge stakes at newmarket. stewards found him to have caused interference to main edition and la pelosa over a furlong out. a panel has reduced the ban from ten days to six but that means he'll miss out on ascot, and rides at the glorious goodwood festival. that's all the sport for now. more in the next hour. 0vercrowding on commuter trains to and from london declined slightly last year — but increased on routes into other major cities in england and wales.
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new figures from the department for transport show that nearly a quarter of all passengers had to stand on trains into the capital, while significant numbers were also unable to find a seat on services into manchester, birmingham and leeds. theo leggett reports. britain is basking in a heatwave, but for commuters who had to take the train, the sunshine just adds to the daily misery. rush—hour services are still heavily overcrowded and seats in very short supply. this was the scene on the 7:15am from east grinstead to london bridge, one of the most heavily used services in the country. new figures from the department for transport show overcrowding is getting worse on peak—time services across england and wales. commuters in cambridge and manchester have been badly affected. things have improved slightly on routes into london but it still has the highest proportion of trains straining at the seams. commuters here as london's king's cross have to cope with some of the worst levels of overcrowding in the whole country. trains coming in and out at peak times are typically carrying nearly 10% more passengers than they were designed to, and the situation at other major
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stations is almost as bad. passenger numbers have more or less doubled over the past 20 years and attempts to improve the network to cope with increasing demand have not always helped. it is difficult for the government to keep up with that capacity, that need for extra capacity with investment. they have been putting a lot in, but as we have seen, when you try to improve the railway, you need to bring in engineering works, closures, that has caused even worse problems for passengers every day. 0n routes into london during rush hour last year nearly a quarter of passengers had to stand. in manchester and birmingham it was 15%. the government admits there is a problem but insists it is investing a great deal of money to improve the network. it's why we are doing things like rebuilding liverpool lime street station at the moment, we have built the first link between manchester piccadilly manchester victoria, it is why we are spending money new trains across the north of england, making sure the rail
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system is fit for purpose for the 21st century with the capacity needed. it is overcrowded now but we are doing things to solve that. such promises are likely to be cold comfort for many of today's commuters as they look forward to a hot, bothered and heavily overcrowded journey home. let's go to norman smith who is still at westminster. cabinet ministers had a lucky escape yesterday when returning from their awayday cabinet in gateshead on the train, and big delays but from the pictures, they at least got a seat so they weren't cursed too badly. andy mcdonald is the shadow transport secretary. everyone wants
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to get around overcrowding but how will labour's policy of nationalisation help? people are now being priced off and put off using the railway, we are getting the modal shift from rail to road, and the reason is that we have a transport secretary who admits week doesn't run the railways well, he is absent as faras doesn't run the railways well, he is absent as far as they are concerned and if you are not focused on providing profit to private enterprise is and thinking about what a railway is for, connecting communities and growing economies and contributing to the environmental shift, that is what they should be focusing on and he doesn't have an answer. there is a simple choice, supply and demand, either provide more trains or price people off the trains to reduce
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demand. we want to get more people onto real, more investment in railways but if you cannot even organise timetables where you have to wait six months for the may timetable to be introduced, if you can't get the basics right and train drivers to take additional services, it says a lot about the fractured state of our railway. people are injuring horrendousjourneys state of our railway. people are injuring horrendous journeys on trains, undo your plans you would only bring the railways back into public ownership when franchises expire, which could be years by way. people drop out of competition because there is no real competition andl because there is no real competition and i will not extend franchises to existing franchisees are not making rewards, as the conservatives have
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done, so that makes concertinas the process rapidly but we were going about it in a thoughtful way and looking after the public purse and this will save money. we will not be wasting money on duplicated and fragmented cots and you will not see dividends shipped out of the country to pay for subsidies in germany or holland, so we will save that money and invested in our railway service. you are an member of the shadow cabinet, we saw the row in labour ra nks cabinet, we saw the row in labour ranks over anti—semitism, you were reported to be the man who complained about margaret hodge having that outburst atjeremy corbyn. i will not get into the details but for goodness' sake do we do not want to behave in a reasonable way, not shout abuse at anybody, colleagues or opposition
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members, so we want to take a step back and say i may disagree but i will express myself in robust terms but we will not have that at a personal level. at the moment we are dealing with harassment and bullying and we have to make sure we conduct ourselves in a civil way. there can be no question of disciplining margaret hodge, who lost family members in the holocaust, for preventing her anger over anti—semitism, you were not suggesting the party should discipline her? i'm simply suggesting we don't express ourselves in vitriolic terms and accuse somebody like jeremy corbyn of racism when he has devoted his entire life to fighting racism with every ounce of energy he has, and that's the wrong thing to do and we
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should try to calm this down. who could not feel for margaret, having had that familial history, that speaks volumes and i do not deny that but can we please just think about how we express ourselves and not keep additional hurt on each other? simon, mr corbyn was asked about this today and he said the party would now consult about its new code of conduct which has caused controversy. there is a question from a viewer who says, can i ask you about these pay rises for teachers that were the money has come from, she says its cuts in school improvements, that's where the money is coming from, and will that lead to a push towards new academies? all i
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that lead to a push towards new academies? alli can that lead to a push towards new academies? all i can say is what i was told by the trade unions, who are happy with the 3.5% but less happy about where the cash is coming from, which is this school improvement fund. i'm not an education bath but that money is meant to help struggling schools drive up standards. that will lose around £5 million, which will go towards teachers' pay rise, so there will be an effect on the sort of cash that can help struggling schools, so it will be paid for by an impact on struggling services but whether it will lead to more academies, i don't know. sorry to do that to you, it's what we do to politicians but what is the weather doing? it has clouded over, we will have to scrap these bulletins about heatwaves. the cloud is coming in.
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that's three hours of programming gone! you are watching afternoon live. don't forget you can text or tweet to me. the use of anti—depressants for children is on the rise. in the past three years 950,000 prescriptions were handed out in england, scotland and northern ireland. children aged 12 and under, saw the largest increase of 24%. paul connelly has more. antidepressants can have a powerful and often positive impact for people suffering from mental health issues, and a bbc investigation conducted by radio 4's file 0n four has discovered that in britain, more children than ever before are being prescribed the drugs. the figures were obtained by freedom of information requests and relate to a group of antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or ssris. they show that in england,
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over the past three years, there was a 15% rise in the number of these antidepressants prescribed to under—18s. in scotland, there was a 10% rise, whilst in northern ireland, the number rose by 6%, and there were 950,000 prescription items between april, 2015 and march, 2018. this is a very stressful time for young people. with the pressures of social media and some of the very distressing news articles around at the moment, we need to remember that young people have a lot of pressures on their wellbeing and it's actually a very positive thing, if young people are stepping forward and asking for help with their mental health. the department of health in england says they've pledged £1.7 billion to transform child and adolescent mental health services, whilst both northern ireland and scotland say it is a priority issue and they're increasing funding. alice is here and will bring us the
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business news in the moment, but first the headlines. in greece at least 60 have died and more than 150 others have been injured in wildfires near athens. people are warned to stay out of the sun during a heat wave in england. 1 million public sectors are due to receive a pay rise. here's your business headlines on afternoon live. the serious fraud office says it wants to reinstate fraud charges against barclays and barclays bank in connection with fund raising from qatar in 2008. in may, the crown court dismissed the charges against barclays bank but had the charges been upheld, it could have led to the loss of its banking licence. the sfo says it wants to challenge
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that decision to drop the charges. norton canes motorway services, on the m6 toll road, has topped the list of england's best pit—stops, with a 100% satisfaction rating. bottom is thurrock on the m25, with just 68% satisfied. the survey, carried out by travel watchdog, transport focus, also found that 92% of motorway service station customers were happy with their visits, although just 66% thought that the food and drink on sale was of good value. football and hot weather helped boost sales at supermarkets by 3.6% in the three months tojuly — with asda, which is in merger talks with sainsbury‘s, the best performing grocer. ka ntar world panel says that sales of beer and other drinks rose to £287 million — a record outside the christmas and easter periods. alphabet has posted better than expect results. it's google ‘s parent company.
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what's going on? that's right, the company has posted better than expected earnings. revenues at alphabet rose by 26% to hit almost $33 billion for the second quarter of the year. that's been driven by strong advertising demand and the news led to the company's shares soaring in after hours trade. it comes just days after google was handed a record fine by the eu for abusing its market position. alphabet chose to include the $5 billion fine in its latest results. it's got 90 days to comply with demands for change or face further penalties. perhaps the reason why the company
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and the market aren't too worried by this record fine art its cash reserves. the firm has cash reserves of $135 billion and could easily afford to pay the fine, but it says it will appeal the decision. and despite its recent negative press, it's had little impact on shares. in the last month alone, the compa ny‘s shares are up more than 5%. and over the past year, they're up nearly 24%. that is a huge number. let's get a little more detail now on this huge american company. joining us now live from new york stock exchange is our north america business correspondent, kim gittleson. despite this record fine from the eu, more good news for alphabet. you have seen shares here trading over 496 have seen shares here trading over 4% on wall street and it comes down to advertising revenue. google has shown that even in the face of
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increasing private key regulations in the eu and scrutiny in the us, it is still the key market leader when it comes to online search advertising. revenues in that sector increased by 20% and that has cheered investors, even though it is facing regulatory scrutiny and big fines, it generates enough revenue to cover those billion—dollar fines. but it does say it will contest that fine. i want to talk about another quintessential american brandt, harley—davidson, singled out by the eu for tariffs. it said its profit margins will be 9% or 10% this year compared to 20% a year ago, so what more can you tell us? harley— davidson is the more can you tell us?
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harley—davidson is the poster child for american motorcycles and the poster child for the impact of president trump's trade war, so the company is seeing increased commodity prices when it comes to the steel that goes into its motor bikes as a result of the import steel tariffs of 25% and then it has been hit by these retaliatory tariffs. it is trying to sell its motorcycles into the eu but if you wa nt motorcycles into the eu but if you want to buy a harley in germany or france, it will cost more and that could hurt demand, so we will see how the company handles these two areas of concern going forward. thank you, kim, on the floor of the new york stock exchange. so what about the markets? let's have a look, trading in the ftse100 has
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been fairly lacklustre in the last few weeks, trading in tight margins, traders all skittish over the uncertainty over brexit but it is on the up on tuesday, but fairly flat, up the up on tuesday, but fairly flat, up by the up on tuesday, but fairly flat, up by 0.85%, largely driven by trading in banks and the mining sector that offset weakness in energy stocks. royal mail is also on the up, largely thanks to hsbc upgrading the stock from buy to hold. super dry, the clothing train, a big fall, down nearly 8% thanks to a big fall, down nearly 8% thanks to a change in brokerage rating. it has been downgraded and that was after the co—founder sold his stake in the fashion retailer, so its rating being cut to hold, and the pound not
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doing well against the dollar, it keeps hovering around at $1.30 mark. a lot of people do not realise that super dry is a lot of people do not realise that superdry isa a lot of people do not realise that super dry is a british company. and not having a good day. alice, see you later. the world's first ivf baby is celebrating her 40th birthday this week. the arrival of louise brown at 0ldham general hospital stunned the world, but was a defining moment in fertility medicine and paved the way for around eight million ivf births across the world. fiona lamdin has been to a new exhibition at the science museum in london looking at the challenges faced by ivf pioneers. baby cries. the most public of arrivals into this world. at 5lb 12oz, louisejoy brown proved for the very first time in—vitro fertilisation actually worked. i was actually down town christmas shopping, when the post came. four decades on, i met her
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in the science museum in london. an exhibition charting the journey of ivf, one that louise brown has been on all her life. it is all here, louise's hospital tags, the letter sent to her mother telling her she was in the early stages of pregnancy, and the veryjar that held the petri dish with the embryo that was to become louise. i mean, out of all those people that were in the room when i was born, there's only two of us still alive. so i feel it is sort of my duty to go around and prove to people i am normal, prove that there is no problem with ivf children. the other person still alive is 82—year—old drjohn webster. he helped deliver louise. it was all done under a certain amount of secrecy. only the essential people involved had been told. 0h, she cried straightaway.
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which is great when any baby is born. that is the first thing you are listening for, whether it is delivered vaginally or by caesarean section. but she cried lustily. and as the browns returned home as a family of three, a flood of congratulations after her birth. over 400 cards, letters and telegrams from all over the world. # happy birthday, dear louise! the bbc filmed with louise 30 years ago on her tenth birthday. even then, she could explain the science behind her life. well, an egg got took out. the doctor put it in this funny dish. and he put it back in and then... told mummy to go home, and here i am. as she approaches her aoth, despite the attention at every milestone of her life,
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she is thankful for the team that brought her into the world. very special. without them, i would not be here. my sons would not be here. six million of us would not be here. i owe my life to those three people. they are just fantastic. for most people, it takes two to make a baby. in louise's case, countless other people and history went into making her. time for a look at the weather. here's nick miller. while many of us are having warm or hot sunny spells, there is an area of sickert cloud where some are getting outbreaks of rain to northern england and wales, either patchy rain or showers, otherwise our fresher feel to the weather in
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scotla nd our fresher feel to the weather in scotland and northern ireland, parts of wales and western england, where it will be another humid night to come, difficult forsleeping it will be another humid night to come, difficult for sleeping at a pleasa nt come, difficult for sleeping at a pleasant night across scotland, northern ireland, northern england, wales and western parts of england. you could see the odd shower popping up you could see the odd shower popping up in eastern england into the afternoon but more widely we will feel warmth from the sunshine on wednesday, thursday looks even hotter with rain and the west and thunderstorms in the east on friday. in operation hello, you're in operation watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. at least 60 people die as wildfires hit seaside resorts and towns close to athens. thanks god my family was completely safe because we have run down to the sea. in the meanwhile, a couple
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of people, two ladies, have lost their lives in my hands. hundreds of firefighters have been battling the blazes and the authorities are seeking international assistance. here, people are being warned to stay out of the sun as temperatures continue to soar in parts of england. more pay for up to a million public sector workers including teachers and prison officers, but questions over where the money will come from. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport, with hugh ferris. roadside protests are pretty regular at the tour de france but this one was met with teargas and it accidentally blew into the eyes of the riders so the race had to be temporarily stopped. yellow jersey geraint thomas was yellowjersey geraint thomas was one of those affected. i will explain more later. and with the
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all—important more later. and with the all—importa nt weather forecast, nick miller. yes, heat wave weather and not just miller. yes, heat wave weather and notjust in the uk, other parts of the world, too. but for the uk, how long before it cools down? i will have the full forecast coming up. also coming up... ref scampton in lincolnshire, home to the red arrows and the wartime dambusters squadron, is to be sold off by the ministry of defence. the shocking details of the wildfires ravishing larges of the wildfires ravishing large swathes of mainland greece are becoming clear, with reports some people died in the arms of their loved ones as flames engulfed their cars and homes. more than 60 people have been killed in coastal towns and resorts near athens, more than 150 have been injured.
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in one resort alone 26 victims were found lying close together — survivors ran into the sea to escape. greece has declared three days of mourning and has asked other european countries for helicopters and additional firefighters to help tackle the fires in the coastal areas around attica. 0ur correspondent richard lister has the latest. an avalanche of flame driven by high winds swept through these houses at terrifying speed. nothing was left behind. for many of the victims, there was simply no escape. a local mayor said he saw at least 100 homes and 200 vehicles on fire. some left it until the very last minute to leave, hoping against hope that their homes would be spared. but for the overstretched fire crews, this was an almost impossible battle. many people simply fled to the sea. the coastguard rescued almost 700
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from nearby beaches. others were rescued from small boats offshore. translation: thankfully, the sea was there and we went into the sea because the flames were chasing us all the way to the water. it burnt our backs and we jumped into the water. translation: it was lightning fast. we didn't realise what had happened. you couldn't. it was the first time i've ever seen something like this. for others, trying to flee in a car proved a fatal mistake. flames fanned across roads leaving them trapped and helpless. the prime minister cut short a foreign visit to deal with the crisis, arriving ashen faced for a briefing. translation: we must at this moment all be in a constant state of alert. we must be unified and make the effort to face an exceptionally difficult situation for the country. a passenger on this flight into athens captured just what they are up against. those clouds are actually smoke and every patch
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of orange is another fire. 0n the ground, in daylight, the firestorm seems almost unstoppable. flames lapping at the side of the coastal highway into the capital. these resort areas are taking the brunt of it. many athenians have holiday homes here and it's the busiest time of the year. many people, including families with children, who are now on school holidays, were at their summer homes at the time and this partly explains the number of dead and the number of injured. residents are taking stock today of all they have lost, with homes and vehicles in ruins. others are mourning friends and family, too. in mati, this man discovered both his cars burnt out and his apartment damaged, but he is counting his blessings. thanks god, my family was completely safe. because we have run down to the sea. in the meanwhile, a couple
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of people, two ladies, have lost their lives in my hands. sirens emergency crews trying to beat back the flames are also making grim new discoveries, including 26 people huddled together, all overcome by smoke, children among them. translation: it seems some of them knew each other. we found them in small groups. they could have been friends or family who tried to protect themselves by hugging each other. as the wildfires rage on in greece, they promise to bring yet more of these apocalyptic scenes with them. this summer holiday season has become a national tragedy. richard lister, bbc news. joining me now is the bureau chief
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for thomson reuters in athens. this has come as a huge shock to a nation — how unusual is this level of fire? it has been pretty shocking. the density, the density of the blaze and the fact that it happened in the space of a couple of hours was very shocking for everybody involved. greece had had forest fires in the past, there were some particularly devastating forest fires in 2007 in the peloponnese, when about 68 people died but this is particularly shocking, it happened in the space ofan shocking, it happened in the space of an afternoon. and it is the speed at which it seems to have spread which has caught everybody‘s surprise, people it is reported dead in theircars and surprise, people it is reported dead in their cars and homes, not even having time to get out? yeah, well,
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at the time very, very strong winds we re at the time very, very strong winds were blowing. it has been a particularly dry winter so there was a lot of dry vegetation in the area as well. and itjust created tinderbox conditions, ideal conditions forfire to tinderbox conditions, ideal conditions for fire to spread. 0bviously, conditions for fire to spread. obviously, we are talking tourist season and it is an area which is home to wealthier athenians? not exactly. it is an area which is popular as a retreat for pensioners. it also hosts a lot of children camping sites at this time of year. so, summer holiday camping sites for children. there are some holiday homes for wealthy individuals, yes. but, you know, there is also average greeks who live in this area. and the government in greece basically
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saying, we need help? yes. yes, they do, they have asked for the european union to activate the civil protection mechanism, and so far we've had a number of countries which have responded, including croatia, spain and cyprus. and just looking at the figures that we've got and the pictures that we see the newbury has to be that those figures are going to go out? yes. u nfortu nately. are going to go out? yes. unfortunately. yes, we still don't have a definitive number of missing persons. there are a number of individuals who are still unaccounted for but we don't know precisely how many. at the moment it appears that at least 60 individuals have died but that figure is likely to rise. in terms of bringing the blazes under control, how likely is it, is it dependent on the weather?
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well, the fire has pretty much but itself out, it has burned whatever itself out, it has burned whatever it was able to burn. the level of scope and davidge damage and devastation is pretty extensive. so there really isn't much left to burn in the area. and in the wider sense, greece under intense pressure financially, this is going to be devastating? it will be very challenging for them, yes. they're emerging from the bailout in august, in mid august, and yes, it will be quite challenging for them, yes. thank you. it's not only europe that's in the grip of unusually high temperatures. japan is experiencing a record—breaking heatwave which contributed to the death of 65 people last week and more than 30,000 were admitted to hospital suffering from heat stroke. people are being warned
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to take precautions, because the heatwave shows no sign of abating. rupert wingfield—hayes reports from there. for more than two weeks now the sun has burned down onjapan from a cloudless sky, with barely a waft of wind. outside the imperial palace in tokyo, the heat shimmer tells its own story. here the tourists are sweltering in only 37 degrees today. translation: china is hot now, but compared between tokyo and china, tokyo is hotter. a little further north in the city of kumagaya, it is considerably hotter. the thermometer here hit 41.1 degrees on monday, the highest ever recorded anywhere in japan. the heat is notjust uncomfortable, it is now extremely dangerous. at tokyo's emergency dispatch centre, the calls are coming thick and fast. the ambulance crews are struggling to keep up as across japan, more than 30,000 people have now been hospitalised with heatstroke
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or heat exhaustion. the elderly are most at risk. more than half of the deaths reported so far have been people over 65. in the ancient capital kyoto, the summer festivals are under way. here, it has been 38 degrees or more for a solid week, another record. all of this is being caused by a huge high—pressure dome that is sitting over the top of japan and korea. for the last two weeks it has refused to budge. the bad news is it could be here for another two. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in tokyo. the new brexit secretary dominic raabis the new brexit secretary dominic raab is giving evidence today to a commons committee, on the last day of term for mps as they prepare to head off for their summer break. it has been a particularly turbulent few weeks for the prime minister, as she tries to get cabinet agreement
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on her brexit agreement. let's take you to the committee, the chair is hilary benn and as well as dominic raab, 0liver robins, theresa may's your adviser, is involved. , which are used are working on those proposals? so, if i may, are used are working on those proposals? so, if! may, mr whittingdale, the prime minister says that they are not a departure from the principles that she set out at mansion house. what the cabinet agreed at chequers and is reflected in the statement issued that evening is that this is an evolution of the position that she set out at mansion house and consistent with it. she and her senior ministerial colleagues have been thinking continuously since mansion house about how to land those fundamentals in the negotiation that secretary of state and i are going to be negotiated. what was agreed at chequers was a series of further ways in which we could make that case compellingly. whether it is an evolution or a change, you say that
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the prime minister has been working with her senior ministers on these proposals, can i put to you the report which said, most ministers knew nothing of it until the monday before chequers, even brexit department ministers did not see the detail until thursday. the details we re detail until thursday. the details were kept from them — is that correct? i don't think so, no, mr whittingdale. the prime minister met a numberof her whittingdale. the prime minister met a number of her colleagues over the days and weeks in the run—up to that crucial having a meeting. the propositions contained in the white paper that was published a few days after chequers to in many respects on those conversations, including on collective agreements reached long before the chequers meeting. and i don't think it is a secret to say probably the largest number of meetings she had on the full range of issues was with the secretary of states predecessor. so her engagement with colleagues was constant. so you're saying that the
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then secretary of state for exiting then secretary of state for exiting the european union was fully familiar with the proposals which we re familiar with the proposals which were then put to the cabinet at chequers? so, the prime minister and the secretary of states meetings must remain between them but what i am seeing is that they saw the issue is absolutely in common and they we re is absolutely in common and they were working together well on how to try to resolve them just because the secretary of state at the time, his chief of staff has said there was a decision in the europe unit at no 10 at the highest level to circumvent the department, the imperative they had was to stop us holding the pen to produced a white paper — you don't except that? i don't. so, complaints from secretary of state and ministers that this was sprung upon them without any opportunity to influence the proposals is com pletely influence the proposals is completely wrong, is that correct? it's certainly not a picture of the days and weeks leading up to chequers that i or more importantly
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the prime minister would recognise. the secretary of state himself has suggested that that is the case... and can! suggested that that is the case... and can i now turn to the statement which the prime minister has issued today, which says that the europe unit will have overall responsibility for the preparation and conduct of the negotiations, drawing upon support from other departments — does that not rather suggest that the two of you should swa p pla ces suggest that the two of you should swap places because in actualfact you are the secretary of state in this and you are being supported by your official sitting next to you? ifi your official sitting next to you? if i may, what we have done is to try and make clear given some of the tensions and given the mixed functions that both the cabinet office were performing that both as a matter of the official level of advice that we get there is one team
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and that in terms of the ministerial chain of command, there is one team. and that the advice runs coherently and functions as effectively as possible through the ministerial chain of command as the statement that the prime minister has put out today makes crystal clear. she is in charge of negotiations, i deputise for herand we charge of negotiations, i deputise for her and we very much welcome the excellent advice that we get. these arrangements as we move into the final phase of negotiations up until october are meant to make sure that we have the most effective team. but asi we have the most effective team. but as i said, one team, one chain of command and that is the way we will get the best deal. the prime minister's statement refers to this as machinery of government changes and she makes clear that overall responsibility now rests with the europe unit in the cabinet office. is it not extraordinary that you run the department for getting the european union and yet you do not have overall responsibility that the negotiations? the prime minister has the overall ministerial
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responsibility and i deputise for heras responsibility and i deputise for her as the responsibility and i deputise for heras the number responsibility and i deputise for her as the number two. i think if you look back previously, the cabinet office has been performing a range of functions but so have a range of functions but so have a range of functions but so have a range of other rival functions not least the treasury. what this does is make it very clear that the different bits of dexeu cohere as one team and that the chain of ministerial command through me to the prime minister is very clear. the chain of command is through you via mr rollins to the prime minister because he has overall responsibility, not you. so, we have been very clear about this, and there is no tension between us, i think that is clear, that all the advice and all the meetings will be attended by the, with the prime minister as well, with the prime minister as well, with the prime ministerand minister as well, with the prime minister and that all the advice will come to be. and that's something, actually, on all sides we agreed very swiftly. this is the whitehall machinery of government
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changed to give effect to that. so, both of you would entirely reject the statement by the chief of staff of the former secretary of state that this gives rise to very serious questions about the constitutional propriety of having very unelected unit, almost licks only an unit in downing street, making policy, making without prejudice undertakings to brussels without real scrutiny and oversight of cabinet or strategy and negotiations subcommittee, all of that in your view is in peak gurning i wasn't there at the time of mrjackson, who i know very well and hold in very high esteem but what i am doing looking forward, and conscious of the tensions expressed previously is making sure with the prime minister, with holly robinson, that we have the most effective and coherent team going forward at this vital moment. .on going forward at this vital moment. . on this very point i do think that
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while the secretary of state clearly cannot comment on what happened before, mr robins can. mr chairmen it is now widely accepted that their well—briefed texts for the white paper, one which was wrong up for the department which had actually been circulated to other departments and a second one being drawn up by mr robbins in the cabinet office. and then we went to chequers and lo and behold it was mr robbins' version that was discussed and agreed to. now, if that is correct, first of all, is that correct, did that happen? and on whose authority, mr robbins, were you doing that? so, i'm very glad to be able to comment on this. there was never a second secret white paper. the text of, not a separate white paper, i said a separate text which became the white
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paper. no, there was not. there were a series of papers produced for the cabinet in the run—up to chequers, which was the subject of earlier questioning about the extent to which the prime minister have sought to bring colleagues into her review of the situation, the analysis in the run—up. the papers were cabinet itself, obviously, iwill the run—up. the papers were cabinet itself, obviously, i will not go into the detail of them but they set out the key policy choices and i think the choices were exactly ones that the previous secretary of state and other senior ministers saw as the key choices. and then in the days after the cabinet had reached agreement on the way forward the new white paper was brought up to date with the agreement reached at chequers. so, it was if i may say so, a rather standard and classic performance of cabinet assessing and understanding the evidence, reaching a set of agreements and then the collective public presentation of that document being taken forward by officials and then cleared by ministers in the usual way. that
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sounds very plausible but it doesn't tighten up with what the former secretary of state has said. he said that there were well drawn up plans, texts, if you like, for the white paper. and he made it quite clear that people would be pleased when they saw that white paper, it would give them certainty. but that wasn't the white paper that emerged after chequers. are you seriously telling me that you were not separately drafting a text which was presented at chequers, about itjust happened to emerge after they all got together and discussed it, is that feasible? you wrote the text, didn't you, for the white paper, which became the white paper? so, what i and my team did in concert with a lot of officials across whitehall, but more than anywhere else from dexeu, is prepared papers for the cabinet to consider at chequers. and those papers covered a range of issues, setting up options and
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recommendations in the usual way. dexeu had been preparing a draft white paper, most of which was not debated implicitly at chequers, because it related to other areas of policy, where the government's position was well—settled. and in the aftermath of chequers, that drafting was updated in line with the cabinet's agreement. that's the position and there is not much more to be said then that i don't think. i take it from that, chairman, that there was no separate text and mr robbins did not have any authority to do so and that basically itjust emerged from the dexeu draft. the white paper that was published was a white paper that was published was a white paper that was published was a white paper prepared by and published by the department for exiting the european union. and you did not have a separate text that you presented at any time at chequers? no, there were papers prepared for chequers... is the difference between papers and text, by the way? the distinction i am
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making and! by the way? the distinction i am making and i don't mean it to sound... ministers had before them at chequers a series of papers that allowed them to debate all the issues that were not intended as the public presentation of the government's view so that once agreement had been reached on the basis of those papers, then a job needs to be done to translate those into the way in which the government wants to present its policy. the person who decides what papers are presented to the cabinet ultimately is the prime minister? it is. ok, stephen crabb. can i start by asking you, mr robbins, how do you view the chequers agreement, how do you want it to be received by the people that you meet when you go across to brussels? should it be seen as an opening pitch that broadly gets us onto the right park to begin some kind of sensible negotiation with the commission tommy should it be seen as a final offer? i don't know whether you want to comment first, secretary of state. i think in
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fairness that is a political question rather than a technical one. we are very clear that we've come a long way with a principled and pragmatic approach which i think it would be too crude to say meets the eu halfway but certainly is mindful of the considerations they've got. it gives effect to our commitment to leave the customs union but maintains frictionless trade with the eu through the customs arrangement. it also avoids any return to the hard border. and i think bottas and the point i've made to our opposite numbers, respect fully, with goodwill and friendship, i have said this publicly, is that we need to see the same kind of energy and substantive engagement in the weeks ahead, and if we get that, we get that energy and the civility and pragmatism, we will get a deal in october. so, this is not a point of departure, we're far too late down the track for that. this is a serious, substantive offer. and we
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would expect it to be taken that way. and of course, actually, if you look at the way it was received by the eu, there were questions but it certainly wasn't dismissed out of hand. and that's why olly robbins andi hand. and that's why olly robbins and i will go back out to brussels and i will go back out to brussels andi and i will go back out to brussels and i will go back out to brussels and i will have an extended conversation and negotiation with michel barnier and that will be as we enter effectively the last three months of these negotiations. obviously, it is a negotiation, it ta kes two obviously, it is a negotiation, it takes two sides and we need to work with our european partners. but this is not the point of departure. let's bea is not the point of departure. let's be a bit clearer, because my interpretation of michel barnier's response to the chequers agreement was response to the chequers agreement was that it opened the gateway to begina was that it opened the gateway to begin a discussion. you're saying that's not how it should be received, that as far as you're concerned, there aren't going to be large, substantive changes now to the overall package agreed at chequers? no, i don't think we can say what the other side does in negotiation. what i'm saying is that we have been looking at various
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different models all the way along andi different models all the way along and i have come into this relatively late, as you will have noticed. but this is as we have engaged in that dialogue towards the end date of october, a real effort to get us across the line. and obviously, the detail. and i think most interestingly, the questions that we re interestingly, the questions that were asked about how it would work in practice, i think that is quite good place to be, to be answering questions on the substance, how will it work in practice, than going around in circles on theological principles. and i think that's good news for us. that's what we're going to be taking up this week. news for us. that's what we're going to be taking up this weekm news for us. that's what we're going to be taking up this week. it will be interesting to hear what persuaded you personally to come out in support of the chequers agreement, was it, for example, the economic arguments, because you genuinely believe that what was agreed at chequers minimises potential negative impacts of leaving the eu? or is it because it really is the only planet in town that stands a chance of getting
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close to satisfying all of the objectives for brexit that the leave campaign majoring the referendum and which the government made since around frictionless borders, leaving the customs union, maintaining an open border and so forth? dare i say it, i didn't when i viewed it think it, i didn't when i viewed it think it was all about me. but what i did think is that it was a principled and pragmatic way to give effect to the referendum, leave the customs union, which i always argued is cost crucially important but bridge the in relation to frictionless trade and crucially northern ireland. and i suppose perhaps beyond that, in an instinctive sense, we've got three months to go in these negotiations andi months to go in these negotiations and i think we should be fighting every minute of every hour of every day and every month to get the best deal we can get. that's why i came out in support of it. you spoke a lot about pragmatism in the days since taking the, who is that would lead some of us to believe that you
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will show some flexibility in the negotiations, to help at the right steel — are you able to give as any sense of where you would be willing to see some compromise? so, for example would you be willing to see a preferential migration scheme for eea workers if that helps land broadly the chequers package that you've signed up to? well, i think the first thing to say, whenever i've mentioned pragmatism it has followed the word principal. so we have got principles and pragmatism andi have got principles and pragmatism and i think it is a balance between the two. i am not going to drip feed our negotiating strategy and i want to protect the integrity of the negotiating room. ithink to protect the integrity of the negotiating room. i think free movement will end and we will take their control over our immigration policy. the white paper sets out sensible ability arrangements in relation to businesses wanting to bring top talent over here but also other things like tourism and the ability to come to this country and for us to go across to the continent. with ease. and the ability of students and our
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youngsters on both sides to take advantage of the educational opportunities and the cultural opportunities and the cultural opportunities on both sides. at all of that stuff's important and i think it has been made clear that in our approach, and this is as a matter of global international policy not just in matter of global international policy notjust in the eu, we will say in relation to our close trading partners, there is a sensible conversation to be had about preferential status in relation to visas or reciprocal immigration arrangements. i think that is the strategic ballpark we are in. also we need to the stressing the control over the borders and the ability to assert stronger checks, for example, preventative checks at the border... the brexit secretary of state giving evidence to the committee there. we will keep an eye on —— on that to see if any other issues are raised. he was sitting next to olly robbins, who leads the europe unit in the cabinet office, which reports
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directly to the prime minister and they were asked about the suggestion that theresa may has said she is taking personal control of eu withdrawal bill does the and is with the new brexit secretary, dominic raab, effectively deputising for her at talks and he said that was the case as it always had been. so, some clarification there. we will keep an eye on those discussions at the select committee and let you know if there are any more developments are. now, it is time for a look at the weather. you not quite as hot heat with affected areas of the mid and wales. no heatwave in scotland. pretty pleasant, but temperatures are still above average, still warm. no heatwave to those parts of wales, western england. it is in northern england, too, delivering some patchy rain. he might get a few showers along this area. through the afternoon. this is the boundary between the rather hot and humid air
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to the south—east, and the cooler, fresher weather towards the north—west of it. again, really present, you may get some sunshine, northern ireland and scotland. high teens and low 20s, but still near 30 celsius with that humility through east and south—east england. into tonight, the scenario cloud, it disappears along with any patchy rain. long clear spells overnight. a pretty good night for sleeping through much of scotland, western areas of england, it is just that rather warm and humid air staying with central and eastern and south—east england which makes it difficult to sleep in. into tomorrow, some cloud building after a largely sunny start. you mayjust catch a shallow, the west of northern ireland, or north—west scotland. elsewhere, with the exception of an isolated shower in the east of england, it will stay dry. temperatures edging up a few degrees, and we will get above 30 celsius in this heatwave affected
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areas. on thursday, low—pressure gas gathering in to the west of us. there will be a few showers around, as, plenty of sunshine, and the warmth will be felt more widely across the uk on thursday, so scotland, northern ireland and the warm spot into the mid—20s. higher temperatures will be across central and eastern areas of england, where we could be topping out at around 34, maybe 35 celsius. weatherford said the west do put in on friday, bringing outbreaks of rain into western areas. torrential thunderstorms bricking it for some eastern parts of england on friday, so keep an ion that. it will feel fresher at the start of the weekend. this is bbc world news, the headlines: in greece at least 74 have died
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and more than 150 others have been injured in wildfires near athens prompting the country's prime minister to declare three days of national mourning. 65 people have now died injapan in a record breaking and more than 30,000 have been taken to hospital with heat exhaustion. meanwhile back in the uk, there's no relenting in the hot weather yesterday saw the hottest day of the year so far and temperatures are expected to rise higher still. 1 million public sector works are set to receive a payrise the biggest in ten years. it sees a 2% annual increase for the armed forces and prison officers and up to 3.5% more for teachers. theresa may has announced that she will be personally leading brexit negotiations with the eu. dominic raab will lead on the domestic situations. hundreds of people are missing
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after a dam under construction in southern laos collapsed sending water flooding through six local villages. sport now on afternoon live: we are talking about state 16 of the tour de france. yes, a particularly strange stage of the tour de france. there is strong—feeling neverfar away from the tour de france, protests come in many forms — just as an example, since he won the race for the first time chris froome has had you're in thrown at him and he was spat at this year. you also often see farmers protest on the side of the road, looking to make a point, perhaps to disrupt the race if they can. well this one brought the race to a halt... but not in the way they'd planned. they threw bales of hay onto road, the police reacted by spraying what appeared to be tear gas at the protestors. the problem was it blew into
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the faces of some of the riders — peloton stopped and went to the medical car for attention. wiping their eyes with whites and also having bottles of water, as well to douse their eyes. stage 16 is heading from carcassone to bagneres—de—luchon — there were still 187km to go at the time... they did get going at all. team sky say it is not a problem to have the first two in the race. it is one of those situations here from football badgers, isn't it, having a good thing to deal with. team sky are calling this a dream position. two of team sky's british riders in first and second, just five competitive stages to go, geraint thomas and chris froome. tomas is currently leading.
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froome has won four tour titles. normally you'd expect him to be the one the team supports, thomas was leading by1 min 39 seconds before today's stage, so is froome going to support his friend and team mate or he could spend the state of the pyrenees attacking him, and that could maybe test the friends ship. there is also a time trial on saturday before the professional final stage. there is much to play out over the next five days. it would be very adjusting to see which tea m would be very adjusting to see which team sky rider potentially finishes top of the podium. england captain harry kane has been shortlisted for the best fever men's play award. england captain harry kane has been shortlisted
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for the best fifa men's player award after winning the golden boot during englannd's run to the world cup semi finals. he's included along with last year's winner cristiano ronaldo and lionel messi. premier league players kevin de bruyne, eden hazard and mo salah are also nominated. gareth southgate is one of 11 coaches nominated for the fifa best men's coach award. he led england to the semi finals of the world cup their best tournament run since 1990. manchester city manager pep guardiola is also nominated as is liverpool'sjurgen klopp. chelsea's emma hayes is one of the managers to make the women's short list. she guided the blues to a league and cup double last season and she was pregnant for most of the campaign as well. she gave birth to a boy two days after her side clinched the wsl title. turkish president recep erdogan has praised mesut 0zil after his decision to quit the german team, which has sparked a debate in the country about the governance of the national game. the german football association has denied allegations of racism made by the arsenal forward. but they admit they could have done more to protect him from abuse. the german federation took exception to 0zil being photographed with controversial turkish leader.
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president erdogan before the world cup, another german international ilkay gurdogan was also in the pictures, both have turkish heritage and some supporters groups called for the pair to be dropped from the squad. 0zil claims that he has been used as a scapegoat for germany's poor showing in russia and says he has been the victim of " racism and disrespect". frankie dettori will miss the king george at ascot after losing an appeal againsta riding ban. he was penalised for careless riding on angel's hideaway in the duchess of cambridge stakes at newmarket. stewards found him to have caused interference to main edition and la pelosa over a furlong out. a panel has reduced the ban from 10 days to six, but that means he'll miss out on ascot, and rides at the glorious goodwood festival. that's all the sport for now. we will have more for you in the next hour. thank you very much.
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retailers are struggling. an iconic british ceremony in and typically british ceremony in and typically british weather. like thousands forced to wear uniforms or work outside, the ongoing heatwave means working conditions are proving challenging. we think it is important that the government to regulate now, to introduce a maximum temperature on british workplace which we don't have at the moment. in the meantime, there are practical things that employers can do, work together with unions and make sure eve ryo ne together with unions and make sure everyone is comfortable with the hot weather. providing cold drinks, run axing dress codes, finding cool places for people to rest. so that everybody can enjoy the sunshine and work ina everybody can enjoy the sunshine and work in a comfortable way. so while some weather, other industries flourish. tourism businesses across
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the country are expecting a bumper summer. with schools just breaking up, they are predicting record numbers of brits will holiday at home. and we are not the only ones attracted by the warm weather.m home. and we are not the only ones attracted by the warm weather. it is fabulous. we have had great weather. we are doing london, and we are sorry that it has not been raining everybody in england, but we are... the surge in sun—seekers means that workers that this sun cream and a fracture in manchester are having to work overtime to meet demand. sales have gone up by 20% this year. normally, june, july, they are very quiet, we've built up through the stuff for the year, but this year, it isjune and stuff for the year, but this year, it is june and july stuff for the year, but this year, it isjune and july we are fully working on manufacture. the mediterranean weather is proving a
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hit two with wine producers, with some expecting the best ever year for british wine. david bates owns this vineyard in leicestershire, with just over two months to go until he begins harvesting, you predict he will produce double the amount of wine he did last year. predict he will produce double the amount of wine he did last yeahm is going wonderfully. lastly, we made about 1800 bottles. in 2006, which was a similar year to this, we made 5000. so, that is the difference. that the good summer could make. but elsewhere, the drive prolonged weather is taking its toll. thousands of fish have been rescued from this river in dorset because actions are drying out. our green and pleasant land now looking in many parts, brown and parched. and, it is set to get even hotter, temperatures expected to peak later this week. the ministry of defence is to sell... the ligature airbase
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has long been at the heart of raf operations, and is home to the famous red arrows. it has now been sold as the ministry of defence tries to save billions of pounds. they are also closing raf linton in north yorkshire where 300 people work. our correspondent katie austin is at raf scampton, now. what is the sense. if they're shark? this will not be a popular decision in lincolnshire. they are used to seeing the red arrows practice above the countryside, here, but this decision is all about money. here we have got a very historic airbase. it is where the dambusters 617 squadron prepared for their famous raid is where the dambusters 617 squadron prepared for theirfamous raid in world war ii. in modern times, it is home to now control centre, an important part of keeping our airspace is secure, and it is home to be red arrows, the aerobatic display team that act as ambassadors
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to britain and all over the world. the situation in the ministry of defence is that the budget is under a lot of pressure, and it has said that it wants to cut back its estate, to cut a third of its estate, to cut a third of its estate, diousse £3 billion by 2040. today, it was confirmed that part of those measures, raf scampton will sold off by 2022. it is also about making bfo is a better operation, but it has obviously decided that all of the airbases, the number that we have a ligature at the moment, cannot be sustained. it will need a lot of investment, which could be better spent elsewhere. the question hanging over this is what happens red arrows next? there is some anxiety that they may have to leave lincolnshire. aviation expert has said it is a good runway here. the mod is saying that it is looking to find a suitable alternative. and
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busy, we are talking about an escort in. they can move, but what about those who have been looking after the paint on the ground. there are a large number of people who have worked there for a very long time. that is right. there are 600 personnel based here. it is a blow to them. their future personnel based here. it is a blow to them. theirfuture is now uncertain, but at the moment, the right really many answers, as to what will happen after that. there is also the question, as well, in times of uncertainty, as to the tourist industry round here. a lot of people come to the area to see the red arrows, they are very famous. if i can use a cliched words, rather iconic in this area. so all those questions have led to a fairamount of so all those questions have led to a fair amount of concern among public figures locally, as to what the future holds. i should say that the mod is investing in the other raf basesin mod is investing in the other raf bases in the county, but as for scampton, it does look like its days are numbers. thank you very much. lots of people are texting and
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tweeting. david says, let's not forget raf scampton. sad to see scampton close. tweet is using the hashtag afternoon light. you can as well. authorities in laos say that hundreds of people are missing after a dam collapsed in the country. state media is reporting that the dam collapsed yesterday causing flash floods. it is estimated that 50 billion you big meters are pouring through villages. more than 6000 people are homeless. our correspondent is in nearby myanmar. we have heard from some of the
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companies that have been constructing these huge projects, five years any making, this dam. it was due to weather next year, and one of the tight companies involved said that there was too much rainwater over the last few days, or some reason, we don't know why, part of the dam collapsed. it was not said to be the largest dam, but certainly one that was three gorges ofa certainly one that was three gorges of a kilometre long, 60 metres high, and so, when that broke away yesterday, you can imagine people living nearby had very little time to escape the deluge of water that came pouring towards them. we know that already, there are deep concerns for around 100 people who are said to be missing, and we believe that 20 people now are said to have been confirmed dead. so real concerns in laos about this disaster. the scale is mind—boggling, but the rescue operation — what are they doing? well, this is something that they haven't really seen before. there
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haven't really seen before. there have been partial collapses of dams in laos. we know that the prime minister here has abandoned all meetings and gone to the area affected to try and lead the operation, but the local officials there, do seem to be really struggling. they have already put out an appeal for water, from medicine, clothes, othersorts of supplies, to help some of the people who have been moved from their homes. we think more than 6000 people have been forced to flee, and we have seen the footage of people clambering onto the top of submerged buildings to try and escape the rising water. also, other people being moved to dry land that they can find being moved to dry land that they canfind in being moved to dry land that they can find in boats, scooping up any positions that they can, so, as you say, a huge operation for the authorities, there, now. well that was our correspondence reporting earlierfrom myanmar. was our correspondence reporting earlier from myanmar. we was our correspondence reporting earlierfrom myanmar. we arejust hearing that the dup's ian paisley is to be suspended from the house of commons from the 4th of september.
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this follows a major breach of parliamentary rules. mps of confirmed that the last few minutes. this is part of his failure to declare to luxury family holidays paid for by the sri lankan government. mps supported the government. mps supported the government recommended by the committeejoin the government recommended by the committee join the commons debate in the last few minutes. mr paisley, was not present in the chamber for that debate. he said that those seeking a by—election after his breach of parliamentary rules well opportunists. it has not happened, but he has been dispensed with 30 days. it will of course be a problem for theresa may, as of course you count on dup support in the commons for a slim majority. we will bring you more reaction to that from westminster a little later on. now, you are looking afternoon light. alice will be bringing us all the business news, but first our headlines this afternoon. in greece at least 74 have died
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and more than 150 others have been injured in wildfires near athens prompting the country's prime minister to declare three days of national mourning. meanwhile back in the uk, there's no relenting in the hot weather yesterday saw the hottest day of the year so far and temperatures are expected to rise higher still. here's your business headlines on afternoon live: for european allies are claiming that france is breaking the rules. ryanair, easyjet, that france is breaking the rules. rya nair, easyjet, with that france is breaking the rules. ryanair, easyjet, with land the owner of ba and iberia are submitting their complaints of the eu condition. french at traffic controllers have stage if a reserved strike over reforms. trains had
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their highest levels of crowding, at peak times, 23% of passengers arriving into thej may morning peak time standing, however, the situation has improved according to the survey of train services in other major cities across england and wales. in cambridge, just 16% of passengers arriving in the morning peak time to stand, and in munster, that was 50%. football and hot weather helped boost sales at supermarkets by 3.6% in the three months tojuly with asda, which is in merger talks with sainsbury‘s, the best performing grocer. ka ntar world panel says that sales of beer and other drinks rose to £287 million a record outside the christmas and easter periods. without the world cup, england fans have turned to something else to support, theirfavourite have turned to something else to support, their favourite motorway service station? this is exciting. the result is in. the uk favourite pit stop was norton canes on the m6
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toll road in staffordshire, opened by... least favourite was direct service station on the m25 in essex, operated by motor. do like what we did there? can see in the meeting had it would have said that was a good idea. the top spots taken by norton canes on the m6 toll road could be controversial, because you have got to pay, so people could say, of course it will get the top spot. number two spot is taken by stafford southbound on the m6 in staffordshire, also operated by richer. that is interesting, because last year, the first year that there isa last year, the first year that there is a new poll was to conducted by the travel watchdog, transport focus, that pit stop was the second
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worst in the country, so it has improved by a staggering... it had a 7296 improved by a staggering... it had a 72% rating last year, now it has a 99% approval rating. clearly naming and shaming is working. get more on all of this. let's speak to the director at transport focus. what makes a good motorway service station and why does it matter? busy, you are paying for a service ofa busy, you are paying for a service of a road user, you want to get a good service from that, but more importantly, it is about safety. one in four road users said that they we re in four road users said that they were feeling a bit tired and stressed before they came off the motorway, and after the break, that reduced a 5%. ashley delivering a good safe environment for the road users to get refreshed, get back on the medway, and continue their journey. —— the medway, and continue their
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journey. — — actually the medway, and continue their journey. —— actually delivering. there is lots of stuff in there. making sure that the evidence is used to improve things for road users. haifaa al—mansour with the weaker pound, more and more are staying for holidays. these motorways —— staying for holidays. these motorways -- with the weaker pound, more and more of us are staying in the uk for holidays. we asked lots of road users, we asked at every touch points they had along the way, decision—making about when to come into use the services, parking the car, using the toilet, buying food, drink, that kind of thing. then leaving the services, as well. again, we need to get the evidence, because as you mentioned there, with stafford services, it is about making improvements. but always, when you compare top to bottom and look at some of the detail, there are things that can be improved and hopefully the operators will want to
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get on after the survey. ok, many thanks for that. now, we have mentioned the world cup. the hot weather is helping retail? absolutely right. specifically, the grocers. it looks it be success of the england team and the world cup, and the ongoing hot weather has rehab the supermarket chains. we have been staying away from the high street for result. particular thing thick alcohol sales. in that week that england played colombia and sweden, alcohol sales beat an absolute record for what we would usually purchase outside of both the easter period and christmas. we sport when —— we spent 27 william hands on that one week. notjust you and me. this is all of us. laughter . the biggest winner was aldi and
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co—op. conversely, tesco and sainsbury and waitrose, the actually shrank back a little bit, but tesco still maintained the larger share of the gross market. interesting stats. a quick look at the market. your graphics department is doing a lot there. but today, we have seen the royal mail have its brokerage rating increased by hsbc, upgraded from buy to hold, is that stuck up over 1%. superdrive, the clothing chain listed here in london, one of the big fall is on the market. thanks to a brokerage downgrades, cutting its rating to hole. the pound there, as we we re rating to hole. the pound there, as we were mentioning with this ongoing
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trend of staying at home for vacations. the ftse100 as we near the close, up just over 1%. vacations. the ftse100 as we near the close, upjust over1%. ok, see you later on. alice, thank you very much. let's get more on that decision to bus suspends ian paisley 30 sitting days in parliament. that go to our corresponded chris page from belfast. ithink go to our corresponded chris page from belfast. i think that is the longest that anybody has been suspended, isn't it? certainly the longest suspension of any mp since the 1940s. because began in 1949. no suspension as long as this is on the record. suspension 30 sitting days, the democratic mp from north antrim. heated to luxury holidays to sri la nka heated to luxury holidays to sri lanka in 2013, and those holidays we re lanka in 2013, and those holidays were paid for by this lankan garment and cost at least £50,000. he didn't —— the sri lankan government. he
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didn't declare it. he then wrote to the prime minister, david cameron, saying that britain should not support a un resolution on hospitality in the sri lankan. he did not disclose the hospitality he had received. now the parliament to standards commissioner has investigated and the common standards committee has said he is guilty of serious misconduct and bringing the house of commons into disrepute, so today, the mps have rubber—stamped the recommendation that he will be suspended for 30 days, and his pay will be stopped for 30 days. he will be the first mp to face what is good a recall petition. if 10% of voters, that is about seven and a half thousand people sign it, then mr paisley will have two stands down, and there will bea have two stands down, and there will be a by—election, and he said that he will want to stand in it shouldn't happen. thank you very much. more on that coming up along with the rest of the news, first, a
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weather update. it was many of us have warm and hot sunny spells, today, there is an area of thick cloud, particularly through north ended and wales. either side of that, and mainly dry, fresh fields of whether scotland and northern ireland, part of wales, western and good. compared with the heat and humidity to wards east and south—east england. another warm to come, difficult to sleep in, a pleasa nt come, difficult to sleep in, a pleasant night across scotland, northern ireland, western parts of england. temperatures dropped into the low teens. it will be a dry night. you could see a shower the far west of northern ireland, running into the western isles. the odd one popping up in eastern england throughout the afternoon, but more widely, we will hear someone in the sunshine, as we go on through wednesday, more spots coming up. up to 30 celsius. you are watching afternoon live.
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today at four, at least 74 people die as wildfires hate seaside resorts and towns to athens. thank god my family were probably safe because we ran down to the sea. in the meanwhile a couple of people, two ladies, have lost their lives in my hands. hundreds of firefighters have been battling the blazers and the authorities are seeking international assistance. here in the uk people are being warned to stay out of the sun as temperatures continue to soar in parts of england. trees may makes it clear she will take personal charge of the uk negotiations from now on.
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democratic unionist mp ian paisley is suspended from parliament for 30 days for not declaring to family holidays paid for by the sri lankan government. coming up, all the sport, tour de france shock. that's right, this stage of the tour has already been memorable, it has not even finished in the race stopped early on after the breeze attempt to deal with protesters went little awry, they used tear gas which went into the eyes of the riders instead. thank you. nick miller has the weather. you look like you're shrinking. or the grass is growing larger but that can't be right. the flavour is affecting large part of the uk but there is very serious weather elsewhere in the world. any respite in sight? we will look at that. also coming up, raf scampton in lincolnshire, home to the red arrows and one—time dambusters quadrant is to be sold
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off by the ministry of defence. this is afternoon live. now the shocking details of the wildfires ravaging raj —— large swathes of mainland greece are becoming clear with reports that some people died in the eyes of their loved ones as fla mes in the eyes of their loved ones as flames engulfed their cars and homes. more than 75 people have been killed in coastal towns and resorts near athens, more than 160 have been injured. in one resort alone 26 victims were found lying close together, survivors ran into the sea together, survivors ran into the sea to escape. greece has declared three days of mourning and has asked other european countries were helicopters and additional firefighters to help tackle the fires in coastal areas around attica. her correspondent has the latest. an avalanche of flame
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driven by high winds swept through these houses at high speed. nothing was left behind. for many of the victims it was simply no escape. a local mayor said he saw at least 100 homes and 200 vehicles on fire. some left it until the very last minute to leave, hoping against hope that their homes would be spared. but for their homes would be spared. but for the overstretched fire crews this was an almost an —— impossible battle. many people simply fled to the sea, the coast guard rescued almost 700 from nearby beaches, others were rescued from small boats offshore. translation: thankfully the sea was there and we went into the sea was there and we went into the sea was there and we went into the sea because the flames were chasing is all the way to the water. it burned her backs. wejumped into the water. and with lightning fast, we did not realise what had
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happened. we couldn't. it was the first time i'd ever seen something like this. for others tried to flee ina car like this. for others tried to flee in a car proved fatal mistake, fla mes in a car proved fatal mistake, flames fanned across road cleaning them trapped and helpless. the prime minister cut short a foreign visits to deal with the crisis, arriving ashen faced further briefing. translation: we must at this moment all be in a constant state of alert, we must be unified and make the effo rts we must be unified and make the efforts to make exceptionally difficult situation for the country. a passenger on this flight into athens captured just what they are up athens captured just what they are up against, those clouds actually smoke and every patch of orange is another fire. on the ground smoke and every patch of orange is anotherfire. on the ground in daylight the firestorm seems almost unstoppable. flames lapping at the side of the coastal highway into the capital. these resort areas are taking the brunt of it, many athenians have holiday homes here and it is the busiest time of the
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year. many people including families with children who are now on school holidays were at their summer homes at the time and this partly explains the number of dead and the number of injured. residents are taking stock today of all that they have lost with homes and vehicles in ruins. others are mourning friends and family, too. this man discovered both his cars burnt out at his apartment damaged. but he is counting his blessings. thank god my family was completely safe. because he ran down to the sea. in the meanwhile a couple of people, two ladies have lost their lives in my hands. emergency crews trying to beat back the flames, but also making grim new discoveries including 26 people huddled together
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all overcome by smoke. children among them. translation: it seems some of them knew each other, we found them in small groups. they could have been friends or family who tried to protect themselves by hugging each other. as well fires rage on increase the promised to bring yet more of these apocalyptic scenes with them, the summer holiday season has become a national tragedy. it is not a pity group of unusually high temperatures. japan is experiencing a record—breaking heatwave which contributed to the death of 65 people last week, more than 30,000 were admitted to hospital suffering from heat stroke. people are being warned to take precautions because the heatwave shows no sign of abating. for more than two weeks now the sun has burned down injapan from a cloudless sky, with barely a waft of winter. outside the imperial palace in tokyo the heat shimmer tells its own story. here the tourists are sweltering in only 37 degrees today.
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translation: china is hot now, but compared between tokyo and china, tokyo is hotter. a little further north in the city of kumagaya, it is considerably hotter. the thermometer here hit 41.1 degrees on monday, the highest ever recorded anywhere in japan. the heat is notjust uncomfortable, it is now extremely dangerous. at tokyo's emergency dispatch centre the calls are coming thick and fast. the ambulance crews are struggling to keep up as across japan more than 30,000 people have now been hospitalised with heatstroke or heat exhaustion. the elderly are most at risk — more than half of the deaths reported so far are in people over 65. in the ancient capital kyoto, the summer festivals are under way. here it has been 38 degrees or more for a solid week, another record. all of this is being caused
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by a huge high—pressure dome that is sitting over the top ofjapan and korea. for the last two weeks it has refused to budge. the bad news is it could be here for another two. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in tokyo. a heatwave is still affecting us in this country, particularly in central and eastern england. it is having an impact on business, the latest retail businesses the food and drink sector are doing well but other sectors are struggling. and iconic british ceremony in untypically british weather, like thousands forced to wear uniforms or work outside, the ongoing heatwave means working conditions are challenging. we think it is important for the government to regulate now to introduce a maximum temperature in britain's workplaces, which we don't have at the moment. in the meantime, there are practical things employers can do working with unions and staff to make sure everyone is comfortable in the hot weather.
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providing cold drinks at work, relaxing dress codes, finding cool places for people to work, a sensible approach so everyone can enjoy the sunshine and work in a comfortable way. but while some wither, other industries flourish. vist britain say tourism businesses across the country are expecting a bumper summer and with schools breaking up, they are predicting record—breaking numbers of brits will holiday at home. we are not the only ones are attracted by the warm weather. fabulous, we think it's wonderful, we've had great weather. we have been on a cruise, we are now doing london, we are sorry it has not been raining for everyone england, but we are glad it's not. the surge in sun—seekers means workers at the sun cream manufacturer in manchester are having to work overtime to meet demand. the company has seen sales rise by 20% this year. usually in the month ofjune, july, we are very quiet. we build up product for the year after. but this
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year, june and july, we were fully working and manufacturing. the mediterranean weather is proving a hit with wine producers, some expecting the best ever year for british wine. david bates owns this vineyard in leicestershire. with just over two months to go until he begins harvesting, he predicts he will produce double the amount of wine he did last year. absolutely wonderful. last year, we made about 1800 bottles. in 2006, a similaryear to this, we made 5000. that is the difference a good summer will make. elsewhere, the dry prolonged weather is taking its toll, thousands of fish have been rescued from the river tarrant in dorset because sections are drying out, our green and pleasant land now looking, in many parts, brown and parched. and it's set
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to get even hotter with temperatures expected to peak later this week. katharine da costa, bbc news. more than1 more than 1 million more than1 million public more than 1 million public sector workers will receive a pay rise this year, the government is announcing salary increases of up to see and half percent were teachers doctors and armed forces personnel. but it is expected that the treasury would fund the pay writer—director, meaning savings will have to be made elsewhere. whether they are fighting fires or on the front line, those in thee armed forces are among 1 million public sector workers told today they can expect a pay rise. teachers too will get a significant increase. at the end of term, perhaps good news, but forsome, long overdue. we have had four years of a pay rise which has been funded by schools' budgets, and it needs to be centrally funded otherwise schools will become insolvent. clearly teachers deserve a pay rise, pay has been frozen for far too long
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and we are in the middle of a teacher recruitment crisis which i think is partly as a result of that. teachers in england will get a pay rise of up to 3.5%, the military a 2% increase plus a one—off payment, police in england and wales can expect 2%, prison staff in england and wales as well will get 2% with an added single sum. what we have been able to do across the board is make sure everyone gets a significant pay rise, we have scrapped the cap, which everyone was calling for last year, i promised it last year and we have now delivered on it and people will get a decent pay rise which is thoroughly deserved. the big picture is there is no new money, no hand—outs from the chancellor to pay for this, so ministers will have to find the cash from existing budgets. there is no increase in funding to the public sector for this, so by increasing pay levels, albeit by less than the rate of inflation, it can only be paid for by cuts within public services. year after year, public sector
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workers have argued pay rises below inflation has meant their real income has fallen. today's increases may be welcome news for some, but for many, it is still not enough. since 2011, teachers have lost 15%, in real terms, of their pay. this does not catch it up, so we are looking for the government to build on the pay award, as the departments go into the comprehensive spending review, we want the education department to argue for sustained pay rises for teachers. can the government afford the pay rises? the prime minister may be pleased to deliver the news on the day parliament begins its summer break, but when it comes to paying for it, difficult decisions ahead. jonathan blake, bbc news, westminster. a fifth man has been arrested in suspecting that back in suspicion of suspected acid attack on a field in
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worcester on saturday. breeze believe the child was deliberately attacked. he suffered burns to his arms and face. police have already made four arrests in london and over hampton. a woman suffered serious facial industries are the corrosive substance was thrown at birmingham. the attack happened in the leader would any of the city at about ten o'clock this morning. the attacker was riding mopeds or push—bike. police are appealing for information. you are watching afternoon live, the headlines: at least 74 people have died as well fires head seaside resorts and towns close to athens. here people are being warned to stay out of the sun is temperatures continue to soar in parts of england. theresa may is taking personal control of brexit talks with the eu with dominik grabbed deputising for her. and in sport, a dramatic stoppage to france, police used tear gas against protesters but it wasn't the eyes of some riders instead. harry caine has
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been nominated for fifa's best player award for his role in the country was bad run to the semifinals of the world cup. also nominated, gareth southgate, one of 11 shortlisted for the men's coach award. morano on this storyjust after half past four. in the last half—hour mps have footage to suspend democratic unionist mp ian paisley from parliament for 30 days. the standards committee recommended the punishment after it found mr paisley had broken parliamentary rules by not declaring to family holidays that were paid for by the sri lankan government. it is the longest suspension of any mp since the 1940s. no suspensions as long as this are an even record. ian paisley suspended for 30 sitting days. what
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he did was, he took to luxury holidays to sri lanka in 2013 members of his family had ever paid for by the solanke government, because at least £50,000. he did not declare that the commons register of interest and he then wrote to david cameron saying britain should not support the un resolution on alleged human rights breaches in strong anchor and he did not tell mr cameron about the hospitality received from the sri lankan government. the daily telegraph broke the story and mr paisley then said it was divide of facts and logic. now the parliamentary standards commissioner has investigated, the common standards committee has said he is guilty of serious misconduct of bringing the house of commons into disrepute so today mps have rubber—stamped the committee's recommendation that mr paisley should be suspended for 30 sitting days at his pay will be stopped for 30 days. the wider significance of this you will be the first mp to face this particular
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type of petition. of of 10% voters in his constituency sign it then mr paisley will have to stand down and there will be a by—election but he said he will want to stand in that by—election should it happen. trees may has confirmed she is taking personal control of the eu we re taking personal control of the eu were stronger stations with dominik rab deputising for her. his department concentrating on domestic preparations. ian watson is in westminster for us now. is this new? it is new in the sense that it has been declared publicly, i think when we have that cleared out with david davis: with his staff, steve baker, the left and a common complaint which was that in effect david davis morse mobley with steve baker the model thusly, they said it had become some kind of the
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nearby the real work was being done elsewhere. in the cabinet office, a european and set up under the civil servant holly robinson had been moved to the prime minister ‘s orbit. after their combined was that begs you have been left to do, to fight at the home front again preparations should adhere and other things would happen in brussels and it would be marginalised. but the minister said today is the formalised that, to say that the unit takes the lead in negotiations and text to take the lead in domestic preparation but has also added that they are all acting together as one team. some people in the british committee that have been scrutinising the government legislation are not convinced, including john whittingdale. so in effect when both dominik rab and i would robinson appeared before the committee this afternoon, mr
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whittingdale wanted to know who was the real brexit secretary. at the moment. and perhaps as an variation of training places. cani of training places. can i now turn to the statement which the prime minister has issued today, which says that the good option and will have overall responsibility for the preparation and conduct of the negotiations, drawing upon support from other departments. does that not rather suggest that the two of you should rather swap places because you're the secretary of state and you're being supported by your official next year. what we have done is try and make clear given some of the tensions that you are understandable affected, and given the mixed functions of the cabinet office europe team and text you were performing that both as a matter of the official level of advice we get,
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that in terms of the ministerial chain of command there is one team and that the advice runs coherently and that the advice runs coherently and functions as effectively as possible through the ministerial chain of command, as the statement that the prime minister has put out today makes crystal clear, she is in charge of it was asians. i deputise for herand we charge of it was asians. i deputise for her and we very much welcome the advice you get. these arrangements as you move into the final phase of negotiations to maintain the most effective team. one team, one chain of command and that is the really get the best deal. the official line is one team and dominik rab said he is one team and dominik rab said he is not true to the brain minister, she is in overall charge in trying to suggest he's working together with the civil service is not that that the civil service is in charge. that did not satisfy that the civil service is in charge. that did not satisnyohn whittingdale who was very worried that an unelected unit at the heart of government was running these
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negotiations and he took up again the criticism i mentioned before of those who departed from the brexit department, particularly the formal —— former chief of staff who had been suggesting that in effect they have been burrowing away working on a white paper and future relationship, but a parallel process had been taking place elsewhere with civil servants reporting to the prime minister, almost a shadow government. so that allegation was put to both lee robbins and dominik rab but what had been on for this crucial chequers summit. the proposals would form the basis of the chequers agreement are a significant departure from the strategy set out by the prime minister in her mansion house speech. when did you start working on those proposals? ifi may speech. when did you start working on those proposals? if i may mr whittingdale, the prim minister said they are not, it apart from the principles that she set out in
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mansion house, and which the cabinet agreed at chequers and is reflected in the statement. this is an evolution of the statement she set out at mansion house. she and her ministerial colleagues have been thinking continuously since mansion house and munich about how to land those fundamentals in a negotiation with the secretary of state —— that the secretary of state and i are going to be conducting. what was agreed was a series of further ways in which we can make that case compelling. tommy robinson saying that effectively the chequers summit was an evolution not revolution. basically the prime minister doing things that were consistent with her previous position and there's no question of him writing some shadow white paper except to put up papers to the pool cabinet for them to discuss and the white paper was rewritten in the light of that. i am not sure that satisfied some of the
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critics, some people are desperately suspicious of this. one thing important to say was the dominik rab was emphasising that if you want to deal with the eu he was not clear at what point you may find it there is no deal but he said he is now working as new brexit secretary every hour and every week to try and get a deal in the months ahead. thank you. one week after being released from hospital following their two—week ordeal trapped in a flooded cave in thailand 11 young boys and football coach have been taking part in a buddhist ceremony. it is the way of saying thank you to the rescuers. the boys have been ordained as novice monks, and will live on a monitorfor nine days, a tradition for males in thailand who experience adversity. a temple retreat. further time for reflection for the thai football team and their coach, whose perilous ordeal made headlines around the world. the short visit will see 11 of the players taken through the process of becoming novice buddhist monks.
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shaving their heads is a part of that, as well as a symbol of bereavement. a former navy diver died during the complex operation. the boys will then meditate, pray and clean the temple for nine days, a thai lucky number. lucky now, perhaps. these coming days will be very different to the nine the children and their coach spent in darkness, trapped in the flooded cave until two british divers found them. it would take a further nine days to complete the risky international rescue operation that captivated the rest of the world. this visit is the latest in a series of spiritual rites and activities that the boys have taken part in. last week the wild boars team visited a temple to be blessed. a ceremony was also conducted at the mouth of the cave to spiritually cleanse it. the good news of the group's rescue
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reverberated around the world but the impact will, of course, be felt strongest back home as the boys bring closure to their trauma and embark on a new beginning. olivia crellin, bbc news. i want to show you, i will show you the door of downing street, a have seen before but i will show you again because what we're expecting some stages the departure of the prime minister and thai ambassador, and a number of the british divers, the rescue team who helped get those boys and their football coach out of those caves in thailand. so they are in there at the moment talking to the brain minister and the thai ambassador. and we will have a photograph taken in front of downing street. that is scheduled for right
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now. that is why we're showing you that picture. as soon as they leave that picture. as soon as they leave that door we will take you back to downing street for a picture of a remarkable group of men. they say they are not heroes, but those young boysin they are not heroes, but those young boys in thailand probably disagree. in the meantime let's look at the weather. forgive me if i pull away from that but we're talking about this heatwave. but it is the dryness also that is a huge issue here. there are weather fronts to show you here and we will get to that in a moment when we talk about much—needed rain coming into some parts of the uk and the parched earth in the forecast. but of course it is not just earth in the forecast. but of course it is notjust hot here, it is hot elsewhere in the world, too, and in japan there is a really horrible heatwave taking place at the moment. we have seen the pictures, this is excessive by anybody‘s standards.
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temperatures hitting 41.1 degrees on monday. that is the highest japan has ever recorded. we think someone was struggling now at around 33, the top temperatures yesterday, 41.1, the humidity as well. so some really difficult conditions in japan, the humidity as well. so some really difficult conditions injapan, it might bea difficult conditions injapan, it might be a bit of easing of that in future particularly towards the weekend weather is a topical weather system coming in, that is means the potential for flooding system coming in, that is means the potentialforflooding rain system coming in, that is means the potential for flooding rain later in the weekend from a potential —. temperatures will be a little then. i will come straight back to you. this is a major study as well but i wa nt to ta ke this is a major study as well but i want to take you to downing street because here we have theresa may and some of those involved in that rescue operation, and she is accompanied there by the thai ambassador. and having their photograph taken ambassador. and having their photograph ta ken with ambassador. and having their photograph taken with some of those diverse, you can seejust photograph taken with some of those diverse, you can see just over his shoulder in fact, the it consultant
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based in bristol who along with rick sta nton based in bristol who along with rick stanton one of the two divers who found those boys trapped, i do not a new trees amaze saying. the are you proud? very proud. i thank them for doing a fantastic job. thank you. said theresa may says she thanked all those who got involved, some of them as you can see accompanied by their families. they have been described as heroes, a description the refused, they say they just had a a description the refused, they say theyjust had a unique set of skills that were able to use them to help save the lives of those thai boys and their football coach who spent two weeks underground before being rescued in that three—day operation involving some of those divers we
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had just seen. so that is the latest from downing street, we return now to make. we were talking about japan, thousands of people being treated in hospital there. how unusual is all this, it seems to talk about hedonism in the world. it is extremely unusual injapan today temperatures like that, of course it is summerand temperatures like that, of course it is summer and there will be keys, as indicated there will be at it this week as the tropical weather system comes in, potentially 8—, and temperatures will no doubt go up again after that has gone through. —— potentially a typhoon. we talk about the largest part of the northern hemisphere, it is summer so some places will be dry and some will be hot but it is excessive heat we are seeing is well and it is due in part to a stagnant weather pattern, high pressure in control. you can see that stretching through scandinavia where there been ridiculous temperatures and dry weather as well and unless you change that weather pattern you're to maintain the add the dry weather. and of course faxing in cloud changes well, these temperatures are
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maybe starting from a higher base of the averages get higher so you do not have as far to go necessary to break new records. doggy about whether france, something that might change the pattern. from thursday to the weekend. we have not seen these we re the weekend. we have not seen these were quite some time, these are rain bearing whether france driven by low pressure coming into the uk, on friday we see some torrential thunderstorms across parts of the cinema but not as going into saturday the moving eastwards. there will be variable rain about, some inevitably but nothing to be disappointed with, but the potential for heavy rain on parched ground. once that has gone through, maybe not sunday— monday but next week it could be slightly dry with hotter weather coming back. we remain to see what impact will be had on this prolonged spell of dry weather were some spots are in excess of 50 days without significant rain. remarkable. through wednesday, more spots coming up. up to 30 celsius. it is hot out there again. some,
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temperatures have hit 30 celsius, with that baking sunshine particular cause east anglia into south—east england. not everywhere has had the sunshine today, there has been quite a bit of cloud the northern england, some have had a bit of rain, from that, as well. that has thrown temperatures down. that area of cloud divides the uk, fresh conditions in scotland and northern ireland, where in high teens and low 20s, ireland, where in high teens and low 205, it ireland, where in high teens and low 20s, it is written present in the sunny spells. tonight, area of cloud. blogs of dry weather, clear weather, round, too. a range of temperatures overnight, for many is, quite fresh, some spot in scotland into single figures, but the warmth and humidity across eastern and southern england is still there. if you do open the windows it will take ato you do open the windows it will take a to cool the house after the heat of day. sun showers to build tomorrow, they beat another night
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while and that it may be into northern ireland and bowled by scotland. highs of 30—31. we could see 33 tomorrow. back to these weather fans, gathering to the west on thursday. still not truly coming m, on thursday. still not truly coming in, further west to worry northern ireland, you are to see a bit of rain or some showers into northern scotla nd rain or some showers into northern scotland on thursday. elsewhere, plenty of sunshine to come, maybe an isolated shower in eastern parts of england, it could be found it, but it is about the heat really, on thursday. even scotla nd scotland and northern ireland, temperatures will have gone up into the mid—20s the the 13th in hot spots of wales. concede 34—35
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somewhere in east anglia and south—east england, you have got the humidity, as well. looks like the hottest day, although the heat mr bell in england on friday. it is a chart in nottingham, thunderstorms, on friday. could be torrential, east midlands, north—east engla nd, sadly the area out for on friday. . any west of the some storms to in scotland. any west of... notice on —— notice have gone down. next week, the dry hot weather looks like it'll come right tebbit as have gone down. next week, the drier hotter weather looks like it will come right back. this is bbc news. our latest this is
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bbc news. our latest died and more than 170 people have been injured in wildfires in ashton near in greece, at least 74 people have died and more than 170 people have been injured in wildfires in ashton near that has bonded three days of national hospital with heat exhaustion in japan. theresa national hospital with heat exhaustion injapan. theresa may has revealed that she will personally lead brexit negotiations with the more than 30,000 have been taken to hospital with heat exhaustion in japan. theresa may has revealed that she will personally lead brexit negotiations with the that he had broken parliamentary rules by not dominic raab will lead on domestic preparations. dup mp ian paisley has been banned for the house of commons the 30 days after it was found that he had broken parliamentary rules by not declaring two family paid for by the sri paid for by the sri lankan government. there is strong—feeling neverfar away from the tour de france, protests come in many forms — just as an example, since he won the race for the first
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time chris froome has had you're in thrown at him and he was spat at this year. you also often see farmers protest on the side of the road, looking to make a point, perhaps to disrupt the race if they can. well this one brought the race to a halt... but not in the way they'd planned. they threw bales of hay onto road, the police reacted by spraying what appeared to be tear gas at the protestors. the problem was it blew into the faces of some of the riders — peloton stopped and went to the medical car for attention. wiping their eyes with whites and also having bottles of water, as well to douse their eyes. it was a dramatic start to a stage that also had a it was a dramatic start to a stage that also had a dramatic does the yellowjersey still belong to the does the yellow
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jersey still belong to thejerry thomas —— jerry say how difficult it actually is to just finished each and every stage safely. another british rider, add it was heading for the stage victory. he crashed on we should say how difficult it actually is to just finished each and every stage safely. another british rider, adding it was heading for the stage victory. he crashed on the final. he was. he was overtaken as he was on the by someone who by someone who went on to's race. yates ended up finishing third second stage victory of this year's race. yates ended up finishing third back onto leader, gilbert crashed into a wall. not to be seen very few seconds before he got back onto his still no sign as to whether chris froome, a full time will actually attack his team—mate in those final four stages. another stage in the pyrenees tomorrow, with a tough summit finish. it could well be
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england captain harry kane has been shortlisted for the best fifa men's player award after winning the golden boot during englannd's run to the world cup semi finals. he's included along with last year's winner cristiano ronaldo and lionel messi. premier league players kevin de bruyne, eden hazard and mo salah are also nominated. gareth southgate is one of 11 coaches nominated for the fifa best men's coach award. he led england to the semi finals of the world cup their best tournament run since 1990. manchester city manager pep guardiola is also nominated as is liverpool'sjurgen klopp. chelsea's emma hayes is one of the managers to make the women's short list. she guided the blues to a league and cup double last season and she was pregnant for most of the campaign as well. she gave birth to a boy two days after her side clinched the wsl title. will actually attack his team—mate in those final four stages. another stage in the pyrenees tomorrow, with
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a tough summit finish. it could well be richard cruise has one britonfencing medal since 1945. he beat but then he lost andrew davies earlier in the day, but then he lost of five sports to have uk sport funding removed back in 2016. that is all your‘s carlos in the final. fencing was one of five sports to have uk sport funding removed back in 2016. that are now, holly hamilton will be with you in the next hour. now,. nationwide. we can go to katie austen raf scampton, the soon—to—be life outside raf scampton, the soon—to—be former home of the red is not the first time this year. we will find that is not the first time this year. we will find out to close
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raf scampton? well, it's is really all about money. the ministry in just a moment. the question, katie, is why have they decided to close raf scampton? well, it is really all about money. the ministry 2040. as pa rt about money. the ministry 2040. as part of that it confirmed today, that raf scampton will be sold by 2022. this is a very historic site. it is webby dambusters repaired in the modern day, it was into an air control centre, but as he might have had, it is also the home of the red arrows at the moment. a popular aerobatic display team. this has not gone down very well and we spoke to the local npf quickly about this and this is what he said. we are all
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very disappointed, this is a historic base in the home of the passengers and falklands. it has beena passengers and falklands. it has been a tremendous pace for the red arrows and i'm sorry to see it go. could you have done more? have been fighting for years to keep it open and it was an immigrant spaces before, it has always been about marginaland before, it has always been about marginal and the fact is the raf is not swallow that was 40 years ago. this is a technical decision taken by senior raf officers and i'm afraid that is very little we can do about it. i am working closely with the county council to get a bright future for the base. where could the red arrows go next? that is the question everybody wants to know, the ministry of defence said this site will need a lot of investment followed to the fit for purpose in the future so it would never be the home of the red arrows into the future, but experts in her defence have been saying that the concern about whether the red arrows will be able to stay in lincolnshire at all
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because there are three other airbases, but they are all very busy operational airbases. this one has a very long runway, it is kind of ideally placed a lot of ways so the question on everyone's lips is where will the red arrows go? the ministry of defence said they are looking into other fit for purpose alternatives. but today it is a very uncertain day for the 600 personnel who work at this site, as they know they will no longer work year from 2022. let's go to cambridge now, we talk about northampton town council. you andi about northampton town council. you and i have spoken about this before, and i have spoken about this before, and it is essential that we are talking about it again. to put it frankly, it simply does not happen. backin frankly, it simply does not happen. back in debris, when we last spoke, the council issued its emergency spending controls, it became the first council in 20 years to do that. now it has issued a second one
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injust that. now it has issued a second one in just five that. now it has issued a second one injust five months. that. now it has issued a second one in just five months. this that. now it has issued a second one injust five months. this is unprecedented territory. no other council has ever done this. this is a council that was warning it was out of cash for quite some time. a leader at the end of last year told me demands, they have a legal responsibility to pay for other things, and they have a legal duty, as do all councils to balance the books. they simply cannot spend more money than they actually have by law. when northamptonshire's chief finance officer looked at the account in debris, and looked to cf there was a chance... he had no choice, but to issue one of these notices. they are called a section 114, effectively, they ban all new spending, other than for a real essentials, things like child protection. now, they did manage to find the money to balance the books, but what has happened today is that they now think they will run out of
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money before the end of march next year. so, here we are again, the only way to stop it is to save 60—70 million pounds before then. and where do those cuts come from? who knows. abb can read negotiating contracts, but it is a massive amount of money, and the council faces challenges almost every time it tries to cut services. just as an example, it outlines a string of library closures damocles is if you months ago, that very decision —— library closures if you months ago, that fray decision is... i am hoping to find out and look east and it wa nts all to find out and look east and it wants all the options might be, but it is difficult to imagine any of that does not involve service job cuts at the somewhere. a lot of counties around the country could say that we are facing different times, but why is this council be only one in this position? well, there was this big investigation to find out earlier this year. the governing inspectors go through everything with a fine toothed comb,
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they found evidence of financial mismanagement, bad decisions proving costly, failure to take tough decisions, that bad things. the council leader resign. the council, in their defence, say that be published and has grown faster than most of the other places that we talk. they have got a rapidly ageing population, a high number of children in care, and they do believe that funding from central government hasn't kept pace with that, but back in debris, there were other council saying that they were issuing similar spending controls. strangely, though, today's news will not affect people living in northamptonshire all that much by now, because those spending limits backin now, because those spending limits back in february were never lifted, city council is still operating under those conditions. i guess that people that cannot really breathe a sigh of relief over there, because undoubtedly there will be eight few big changes ahead. plenty more on bbc look east. that is katie austen
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at raf scampton. a sad day there today. fachie forjoining us. see you later. —— thank you very much joining us. and, if you would like to see more on any of those stories commie can access them via the bbc i player, and a reminder, we go nationwide every weekday afternoon at 430 year run afternoon light. # here on afternoon live. hundreds of people are missing in southern laos after a flash flood on monday caused by the collapse of a billion dollar dam project. several people have already been confirmed dead and more than six—thousand are homeless. our correspondent
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is in nearby myanmar. we have heard from some of the companies that have been constructing these huge projects, five years any making, this dam. it was due to weather next year, and one of the tight companies involved said that there was too much rainwater over the last few days, or some reason, we don't know why, part of the dam collapsed. it was not said to be the largest dam, but certainly one that was three gorges of a kilometre long, 60 metres high, and so, when that broke away yesterday, you can imagine people living nearby had very little time to escape the deluge of water that came pouring towards them. we know that already, there are deep concerns for around 100 people who are said to be missing, and we believe that 20 people now are said to have been confirmed dead. so real concerns in laos about this disaster. the scale is mind—boggling, but the rescue operation — what are they doing? well, this is something that they haven't really seen before. there have been partial collapses of dams in laos. there have also been concerns about
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the safety of these projects. we know that the prime minister here has abandoned all meetings and gone to the area affected to try and lead the operation, but the local officials there, do seem to be really struggling. they have already put out an appeal for water, from medicine, clothes, othersorts of supplies, to help some of the people who have been moved from their homes. we think more than 6000 people have been forced to flee, and we have seen the footage of people clambering onto the top of submerged buildings to try and escape the rising water. also, other people being moved to dry land that they can find in boats, scooping up any possessions that they can, so, as you say, a huge operation for the authorities, there, now. firefighters in greece say the number of people killed in wildfires around athens has risen to 74, nearly 200 have been injured. here,
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people have been warned to stay out of the sun as temperatures continue to soar in parts of england. theresa may is taking personal control of brexit talks, with the eu. brexit secretary, dominic raab is to deputise for her. fags, simon. here are your business headlines on afternoon live today. four european airlines are claiming that france is breaking eu law because striking by air traffic controllers is restricting freedom of movement. reiner, easyjet, with and iag, that is the ba owner and iberia owner, also committing that complaint to the eu commission. there have been a number of strikes over the government's economic reforms. train services in the capital have the highest levels of crowding into dozens 17, according to the latest data for the department for transport. at peak times, 22% of passengers arriving into london
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doing the morning rush hour were standing, however, the situation has improved, according to the survey of train services in other major cities across england and wales. in cambridge, 16% of passengers arriving in peak times had to stand. while in magister, the figure was just 15%. and football, and hot weather help boost sales in the supermarkets. harley—davidson falling out with the president donald trump because they are warning that his trade war will harm business. yes, of course, harley—davidson was singled out by the eu to be a target that harris in response to those european exporters, which go to the us on
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which donald trump has placed tariffs. so, yes, harley—davidson are now saying that if profit margins will be drastically down on last year. they are saying, 9—10% profit margins this year, compared to 20% a year ago, however, in its most to 20% a year ago, however, in its m ost rece nt to 20% a year ago, however, in its most recent quarterly profit performance, it was actually beaten expectations, largely thanks to sales outside of the us, they were up sales outside of the us, they were up by sales outside of the us, they were up by over 2.4%. clearly, the market outside of the us really crucial to this iconic american motorcycle maker. now, another company in the spotlight, that is superdry, falling on the footsie today. down nearly 10%, and that is all because one of the co—founders of this large clothing brand has sold a big part of his share in the company. he sold 6.7% of the company which is not worth around £71 million, according to today's estimates, and yet it has
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had a huge effect on its share price. —— seven 1p. he says he wants to leave the firm to focus on charity work. we have been covering a story about public sector pay going up. the sum public sector workers, but the big question is where would the money come from, where would the money come from, where is it good to be?fi where would the money come from, where is it good to be? 1 million public sector workers are going to get their largest pay rise for ten yea rs get their largest pay rise for ten years under these new plans unveiled for the government, but it has got some economists out there wondering where will this money come from, what impact could have on the monetary thinking by the bank of england, because what impact could hire wages have an inflation in the country, and therefore, the decisions that the bank of england makes... we could see those interest rates that they have been suggesting for year rates that they have been suggesting for year 's? exactly. my next guest is an expert on this topic. jeremy stretch. hejoins me now, head of
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strategy at cibc world markets. really good to talk to. there's talk to you about the potential monetary invitations of that pay rise through a million public sector workers. what you think a happen?” a million public sector workers. what you think a happen? i think it is interesting that these public sector workers who have had that they held down for some several years are now go to see their salaries increase, but the problem is, the bank of england, particularly bank of england's chief economist, have been focused on the prospect of higher wages diving up inflation, and causing or needing interest rates to be heightened accordingly. if they may well find that next week, they will see their borrowing costs being influenced by the bank of england potentially hiking interest rates by a quarter ofa hiking interest rates by a quarter of a percentage. said the government giving with one hand, while the bank of england potentially takes with the other. let's talk now about
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harley—davidson, that simon and i we re harley—davidson, that simon and i were just harley—davidson, that simon and i werejust mentioning, that quintessential american brand, singled out by the eu, when it comes to tariffs. and yet, we still saw its quarterly performance beat expectations, a sign that its sales outside the us are so important. what do we think could happen if this trade war continues?” what do we think could happen if this trade war continues? i think one of the point that i would pick up one of the point that i would pick up on is the fact that they are talking about their margins being cut significantly. but their gross margins were produced the up on 20%, andi margins were produced the up on 20%, and i think it is pretty elevated, and i think it is pretty elevated, and a number of companies would have liked it. even if we are seeing how those margins can be cut in half, they are still making or having a reasonable degree of profitability. it is fascinating, club because president trump realised after the event that harley—davidson already had four factories outside of the us, two in asia and one in austria and south america. the obvious area where it is a gap between europe,
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and of course, if this trade war we re and of course, if this trade war were to really ramp up, then perhaps the company may be forced to continue a another operation outside the us, may be looking at europe. lastly, superdry, he surprised by the extent in which the share price has dropped today, after one of the shareholders sold a large portion of his day? investors are always very worried when somebody who has been very important to the business that's back. in that context, the usual not be too surprised, by the immediate market reaction, but i think those investors that are stuck with the company since its flotation in 2010 will have seen their performance in terms of their stockholding proved to be well supported over time, and yes, it is a bit ofa supported over time, and yes, it is a bit of a difficulty, but in the context of the business, which is one of the brightest spot in the uk could sector, the market will withstand it, and the drop will be short lived. many thanks. shall we
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have a look at the markets. yes, the ftse100 has been in positive territory or session today, but with no great movement. that is essentially flat. and it really is effective on how the footsie has been performing over the last couple of weeks. nervousness about brexit division agents, very narrow terms, no one making any great moves, there. at the bottom of your screen, there. at the bottom of your screen, the pound as you can see continuing to languish in this fairly weak position of the dollar 30. it has been there for awhile now. royal mail, just want to talk briefly about that. it has been on the up today. largely banks the hsbc upgrading its stock., is the —— co nve rse upgrading its stock., is the —— converse the, superdry taking a real hammering today after the announcement that one of its co—founders and selling a huge chunk of estate within the company. well,
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thatisit of estate within the company. well, that is it from the afternoon live team. next, the bbc news, bad first catch up with the weather. hello, not quite as hot in each wave affected areas of england today. no heatwave in northern ireland and scotland, and it is quite pleasant way get disease and sunshine. temperatures are still above average. it is still warm. now, heath bray —— heatwave, too, this area of cloutier. its northern england, delivering patchy rain in places. you might get a few showers along this area of data loud and through the afternoon. this is the boundary between the rather hot and humid airto the boundary between the rather hot and humid air to the south—east, with the cooler fresher weather towards the cooler fresher weather towards the north—west of it. again, really pleasa nt the north—west of it. again, really pleasant way get some sunshine. northern ireland and scotland, into the high team, late 20s, but still near 30 celsius without humility through south east england. into tonight, an area of cloud, you lose
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sight of it, and it disappears along with any patchy rain, overnightjust a few showers brushing the far north—west of scotland. actually a pretty good night the sleeping. it is just that rather warm and humid as staying with central and eastern southern england, so that makes it difficult to sleep. into tomorrow, some cloud building after a largely sunny start. you might catch a shower, north—west scotland, ireland. elsewhere it will stay dry, and temperatures edging up a few degrees, we will get above 30 celsius and those heatwave affected areas. on thursday, low—pressure gathering to the west of us, not really pushing those weather fronts injust yet, but really pushing those weather fronts in just yet, but the further west you are in northern ireland, and in the north—west scotland, there will bea the north—west scotland, there will be a few showers out, and elsewhere, plenty of sunshine, and the warmth will be felt more widely across the uk, on thursday. in scotland and
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northern ireland, the one spot into the mid—20s, and the high—temperature 's will be across central and eastern areas of england, and we could see topping at around 34, maybe 35 celsius. whether france in the west you put in on friday, freeing outbreaks of rain into western areas. a chance of some torrential thunderstorms breaking out across some eastern part of england on friday. we'll keep an eye on it. that will clearfor the weekend, it will feel fresher right across the uk. today at 5pm... flames sweep across coastal towns near athens leaving 74 dead, in greece's worst fire disaster in a decade. hundreds of emergency crews are battling the wildfires in the attica region, fanned by strong winds. thank god my family was completely safe because we have run down to the sea.
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in the meanwhile, a couple of people, two ladies have lost their lives in my hands. 26 people perished, found huddled together in the seaside village of mati, where the heat and flames devoured everything in their path. we'll have the latest from greece where the wildfires still rage and some may have been deliberately started. the other main stories on bbc news at 5...
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