the prince of wales tells an inquiry he never sought to influence a police investigation into an anglican bishop convicted of child sexual offences. prince charles had a long—standing friendship with peter ball, who was jailed in 2015. the prince said he felt deep personal regret for trusting peter ball when early reports of abuse emerged. the enquiry heard extract of the correspondence between the prince and peter ball, we will be asking how embarrassing revelations are for prince charles. also tonight, president tromp hailed the strongest us economic growth four yea rs. strongest us economic growth four years. —— president tromp. we are the economic envy of the entire world. when i meet the leaders of countries, the first thing they say, invariably, is, "mr president, so nice to meet you. congratulations on your economy." a six—year old boys dies after being shot with a pellet gun at a house in east yorkshire. soaring heat and then thunderstorms cause travel chaos in parts of the country, with

rail services hit. from extreme heat to extreme hail as the weather sta rts to extreme hail as the weather starts to break after weeks of high temperatures. and a blood moon in the night sky as the longest lunar eclipse of the century takes place tonight. and coming up on sportsday on bbc news, scaling new heights. geraint thomas extends his lead. the tour de france is his to lose. good evening. the prince of wales has told an inquiry that he at no stage sought to influence a police investigation into a bishop who was later convicted of paedophile offences. in a written statement to

the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, prince charles wrote he had been friends with peter ball, the former bishop of gloucester, for many years between 1970s and 1990s but he said he was unaware of his crimes and felt deep personal regret at being misled. peter ball, who is 86, was jailed in person. sophie long reports. —— who is 86, was jailed in 2015 and released in 2017, and is too ill to give evidence in person. and what hurts our hearts most... peter ball was a senior figure in the anglican church of the decades. he was bishop of lewes from 1977 until he became bishop of gloucester in 1992. he was a man with friends in high places. prince charles attended his installation and invited him to his home. but in 1993, peter ball resigned his position and accepted a caution for gross indecency. any message for the victims? i'm very sorry. it wasn't until 2015 that he was convicted for abusing 18 teenagers and young men and jailed.

today, while prince charles was at raf marham, he tried to distance himself from the man he once called a loyal friend. in a letter read out to the inquiry by its senior counsel, he said he had ceased contact with mr ball when he was found guilty of serious offences against young people. it remains a source of deep personal regret that i was one of many who were deceived over a long period of time about the true nature of mr ball's activities. clarence house said prince charles didn't know about the caution until 2009 and he said he hadn't been aware that a caution carried an acceptance of guilt. one of ball's victims, who wants to remain anonymous, told me he did not feel that was good enough. i felt very let down by prince charles. we have been fighting for 25 years for this inquiry. and the fact that prince charles did not come out and say that he was absolutely devastated as to what had happened

to us was hurtful. in 1997, peter ball and his brother were found this house in rural somerset, then owned by the duchy of cornwall. prince charles wrote to him, saying he longed to see him settled somewhere that gave him peace and tranquillity. the two men exchanged letters over two decades. "life continues to be pretty nasty for me," ball wrote to the prince. "it seems my accusers still want to continue their malicious campaign". "i wish i could do more," prince charles wrote later, "about the monstrous wrongs that have been done to you and the way you have been treated." two years later, the prince calls one of ball's accusers "a ghastly man", adding, "i will see off this horrid man if he tries anything again". in his letter to the inquiry, prince charles said he did not recall whether this was in reference to an individual accuser or a member of the press. prince charles said he hadn't been aware of the true context and details of the complaints

against peter ball until his trial in 2015. he said during the 1980s and ‘90s, there was a presumption you could take people such as bishops at their word, but he was clear that he never sought to influence the outcome of a police investigation into peter ball, nor did he instruct any of his staff to do so. sophie long, bbc news, south london. 0ur royal correspondent nicholas witchell is outside clarence house this evening. how embarrassing is all of this for prince charles? knowing what we know now, for prince charles to havret 0nazi did in 1995 expressing sympathy for the "monstrous wrongs" supposedly done to bishop ball is undoubtedly embarrassing, it suggests a degree of naivete and a disinclination to ask proper questions, for example about why he had had to resign as bishop of gloucester but that is a 2018

perspective, we must remember that backin perspective, we must remember that back in the 1990s, many people and institutions were failing to ask proper questions, the bbc included aboutjimmy savile. we must also remember that bishop ball was extremely well connected within the establishment. lawyers for some of the victims that they among the establishment, there were people who exhibited a wilful blindness towards his behaviour. in the case prince charles, two things to remember, firstly, he is keenly interested in his faith, and attracted to charismatic men of faith. he thought that bishop ball was interesting and engaging. the other thing to remember is that in the mid—19 90s, charles felt he was being fairly criticised by the media which may have made him unduly sympathetic to this figure. —— he was being u nfa i rly this figure. —— he was being unfairly criticised by the media. certainly today within clarence house, there is deep regret as the prince said in his statement. there is frustration and their raise anger

that the good faith which was invested in this man was so grievously betrayed. nicholas witchell, al royal correspondent, there. the us economy is growing at its fastest rate in four years, prompting president trump to describe it as historic. growth rose to 4.1% between april and june, driven by strong consumer spending and a surge in exports, as firms rush to beat new trade tariffs imposed on the us. the white house hopes the strong economy will divert attention from the controversy surrounding alleged russian involvement in the 2016 election. jon sopel reports. the sun shone and donald trump beamed as he basked in the warm glow of these latest economic figures. this is what he promised the american people and now 18 months or so into his presidency, he can say this is what he's delivered. these numbers are very, very sustainable. this isn't a one—time shot. i happen to think we're going to do extraordinarily well in our next report next quarter.

i think it's going to be outstanding. i won't go too strong because then if it's not quite as good, you will not let me forget it. the economy is powering ahead but these figures don't take account of the trade war launched against mexico, china and the european union and the retaliation taken against us products. and though donald trump says the economy is set fair, the effects of the tariffs are yet to feed through. i think there will probably be a lower number in the next quarter of data just because there will be some give—back. we had a temporary surge in exports and that is not going to happen, that is people buying stuff ahead of the tariffs going up. the other reason why these figures are such a welcome tonic is it allows the president to try to shift the conversation away from russia, a subject which took another murky twist last night. the white house believes that people will be much more interested in their wages, livelihoods and the state of the economy than they will be in whether there was collusion between donald trump and

the russians over the last election. michael cohen, his long—time lawyer and personal bag carrier, has let it be known that he is prepared to testify, that donald trump was lying when he said he knew nothing about meeting held at trump tower before the election, with a kremlin linked official promising to dish dirt on hillary clinton, a potentially explosive claim. donald trump's current lawyer was sent out to do a number on the ex—lawyer. warned me that if his back nobody that i know that knows him who hasn't warned me that if his back is up against the wall, he will lie like crazy because he's lied all his life. but this was rudy giuliani just a couple of month earlier. the man is an honest and honourable lawyer. the president entered the fray this morning, saying:. thank you very much, everybody. mr president, are you going to go to moscow? as donald trump left the south lawn,

there were no shouted questions about the economy. it was all russia. the issue thatjust won't go away. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. the uk is facing a democratic crisis caused by the growth in fake news. that is the verdict of mps in a report due to be published this weekend. it was leaked online by the former brive strategist dominic cummings. mps have been investigating the growth of break news of more than here. —— by the former vote leave strategist. rory cellan—jones is with me. what did this refund 7 cellan—jones is with me. what did this refund? a red maggot this inquiry has run for rind, from the facebook affair with cambridge analytica, harvesting data, to the behaviour of campaigners during the eu referendum campaign to questions foreign involvement in uk politics, the report aims to put all of that together but i think what will be most striking is some of the

language used, the relentless targeting of hundreds of partisan views would play to the fears and prejudices of people, that is one line from the report. and a warning democracy is at risk and now is the time to protect our shared values and a call for action against tech companies to make them be more responsible, what they post online, and an update on all the rules surrounding how elections are conducted in the digital age. what about the manner of it being leaked today? leaked by the vote leave director, dominic cummings, the former director, who himself will come in for severe criticism in the report, for refusing repeatedly to appear in front of the mps and his decision to leaked the report and attack the mps is not going to make relations between them any better. thank you. police are to launch a new investigation into the deaths of more than a50 patients who were given powerful painkillers at

gosport war memorial hospital in hampshire. an independent inquiry found that a further 200 people probably received similar drugs without medicaljustification. the panel claim the hospital had a disregard for human life and a culture of shortening lives. five people including a four—year—old boy have died following a road crash in north—east scotland. a minibus carrying italian tourists collided with a four by four on tourists collided with a four by fourona main tourists collided with a four by four on a main road near keith. it happened on the a96 in morayjust before midnight. the government is terminating its contracts with private firms running probation services in england and wales after admitting they are not providing value for money. the probation service was split into macro under reforms implemented in 2015 by the then justice macro under reforms implemented in 2015 by the thenjustice secretary chris grayling. 21 privately run companies gained contracts to supervise low and medium risk offenders while a state body, the

national probation service, was set up national probation service, was set up to supervise high risk offenders. but now all the private contracts will end in 2020, two years early, ata will end in 2020, two years early, at a cost to the taxpayer of £170 million. tom symons reports. lunch, shortly to be served in this 0ldham community centre. but back in the kitchen, the staff are also serving sentences. this is community payback. you have criminals working for you here. is that a bit odd, what do you think of that? it's great, to be quite honest. yeah, it is. we're happy with them, they don't ask us questions, and we don't ask them. i've been sent here because of benefit fraud, so obviously it's payback, isn't it? it's unpaid, but the fact i've been placed here, it's an amazing place. you know, when you've been convicted with something, you have to do your time, and it's the best way to do it. this is privatised probation. the government contracted out to encourage new ideas for getting criminals out of crime.

but its run into trouble, in particular, financial trouble. these companies are paid for each offender they persuade not to reoffend. but the courts have been sending fewer of them, partly because judges and magistrates are uncertain as to whether these sorts of schemes work. sure, since the new system was introduced, 2% fewer criminals are reoffending, but those who do are reoffending more often. the chief probation inspector says staff cuts mean they get less attention. a good proportion have been supervised by telephone, telephone—only contact. and i have long argued that is just unacceptable, that you don't change people by not engaging with them and not meeting and seeing them. the then—justice secretary chris grayling came up with the privatisation plan. mr grayling is culpable. he drove this through. against good advice, he should have

listened to the experts. he refused to even recognise his own internal risk assessments. they said there was an 80 or 90% chance of failure. so he bears a lot of responsibility. and so four years and four justice secretaries later, a rethink about the community rehabilitation companies. i think the level of support needs to be better than is the case at the moment and i think, to be honest, it has been a bit of a mixed picture. there have been some places where crcs have been working more effectively than others and i think we need to make sure that we raise the standards across the board. so he's terminating the contract two years early, in 2020. private companies will still be involved in future, but they will be given tougher standards to ensure they get more criminals out of crime. tom symonds, bbc news, 0ldham. ina in a six—year—old boy has died after

being shot at a pellet gun in east yorkshire. stanley metcalfe was visiting relatives at the time. he was starting the summer holidays by visiting relatives in the small rural village of sprightly when a pellet gun went off. stanley was rushed to hospital but died from his injuries. humberside police say it is not clear how the six—year—old came to be shot. we are still investigating the circumstances of what happened. initial indications are that this was a tragic accident involving a pellet gun. we have not made any arrests in connection with this incident but we are speaking to a number offamily this incident but we are speaking to a number of family members to assist us a number of family members to assist us with our enquiries. today the family home was cordoned off with police working inside and out. it is

understood that stanley was whether elderly relatives at the time of the shooting. humberside police say that not all such weapons require a licence they are working to establish whether the pellet gun involved needed one and whether its owner was registered. stanley's family are being supported by specialist officers. friends and neighbours have described the shooting as a surreal tragedy. judith moritz, bbc news, near hull. today was set to break records for the hottestjuly day ever, instead high to bridges gave way to hell storms and heavy rain in many parts of the country. it has caused problems on rail services especially in the north of england. in london... in surrey... in york... and in norfolk. the summer heatwave breaking in spectacularfashion. after weeks of baking temperatures,

the met office issued an amber warning for heavy rain and thunderstorms, over fears possible flash flooding could pose a risk to life. police have been warning of the dangers of wild swimming. a 13 —year—old boy remains missing in clacton and the body of a 17—year—old boy was found in a quarry lake in warwickshire. we were called at around 6:30pm last night, after concerns were raised for a 17—year—old boy who was reported to have entered the water. formal identification has yet to take place, but next of kin have been informed. earlier today, lightning caused severe destruction across the east coast mainline, after it damaged signalling equipment in york. it is actually stiflingly hot in here. there is no air conditioning, we have had no information about the air conditioning and the buffet is closed, there is nowhere to get water. the extreme weather led to travel problems for eurotunnel passengers. the heat causing issues with air conditioning and carriages.

we spent approximately five hours waiting in queues. there was nowhere to go, there was no refreshments, there was no updates. but in margate, those who could, took to the beach to enjoy the weather. the kids are off school, it is a lovely day, a day off work, you just want to be in the sunshine at the beach. you still always have to come out to the beaches, like i said, because of this heat in london, it is not very nice. there is the pool that i really like and the weather is very hot. and that heat is set to come back at the end of next week. chi chi izundu, bbc news. tsb has reported half yearly losses of £107 million. the bank blamed the botched introduction of a new it system that left nearly 2 million people struggling to access their

accou nts people struggling to access their accounts and which cost the company £176 million. it is one of the most expensive it failure is in british banking history. tsb says the service will not be back to normal until the start of next year. austria's chancellor has told theresa may it is important to avoid a hard brexit. the leaders have been meeting in salzburg for mrs may used a meeting with her czech counterpart to move her case for greater flexibility. the chief negotiator has ruled out the latest british proposals for future customs arrangements. from salzburg, james robbins sent this report which contains flash photography. arriving for a night at the opera at the end of yet another bruising brexit week. theresa may is finally starting her holidays with mozart's the magic flute, in the city of his birth. she is the guest of austria's chancellor, sebastian kurz. in a session of talks earlier, she tried to persuade him to urge a softer brexit stance

from the entire eu side. but, at this particularly tense moment, both deliberately said very little publicly. hopefully we can find a way that hopefully after brexit, the relations between the uk and austria and the uk and the european union will remain very strong. we are delivering on the vote that the british people made. they chose to leave the european union and we will deliver. so, could austria prove to be a british ally? this is a country both highly conservative and eurosceptic. hostile to migrants outside the eu, but not to freedom of movement inside it. the austrian foreign minister said brexit has pushed her country into deeper european unity. the current uncertainty of what brexit will be

like, has in a different way shaped austria in public opinion that people have become a little bit more pro—eu than they used to be. people have become a little bit more pro—eu than they used to be! little bit more supportive of the 27. exactly. it does not look like theresa may got much comfort from the czech prime minister either. another later she has been meeting here. some other eu leaders may be sympathetic, but, and it is a big but, when britain says you must bring first, they tend to stand solidly together and say, no, after you. so, for solidly together and say, no, after you. so, foers solidly together and say, no, after you. so, for mrs may, to my‘s mozart, a serious fairy tale, offers an escape and her holiday in italy does start tomorrow but it is only an interval before the hardest bargaining britain has everfaced. james robbins, bbc news, salzburg. with 19 gruelling stages completed, geraint thomas remain in a

commanding position as he attempts to become the first welshman to win the tour de france. he kept all his rivals are baked in the final mountain stage in the pyrenees. it means that only one race day stands between him and the trophy on sunday. 0ur sports correspondent was watching. in the picturesque pyrenees, a vision of calm. just perhaps not in the mind of geraint thomas. you could forgive him some nerves. this final day in a mountain ‘s was key to a long held dream. but like the heat, the climbs were rising. and the worst was yet to come. now they are on to the slopes, the big one. the beast. the legendary col du tourmalet is a 17 kilometre climb that could make or break these cyclists. but here, team sky were holding firm, their progress serena. firm, their progress serene. what goes up, though, must come down and as the mist cleared, so did the big picture. every second counts and roglic takes stage 19. primoz roglic‘s stage win bumped chris froome down to fourth place

but a final lung bursting efforts or geraint thomas outsprinted his nearest rival to claim second. only a time trial tragedy tomorrow could stop him going one better in paris. natalie pirks, bbc news. now, millions of people around the world a re now, millions of people around the world are scathing skivers tonight to catch the longest lunar eclipse the century is the moon passes through the shadow of the earth. those lucky love. to be taught by cloud cover can see the phenomenon known as a blood moon. victoria gill reports. passing through the shadow of our own planet. in the darkest skies, stargazers took in the view of the moon during the longest lunar eclipse of the century. 0ur natural satellite spent one hour and a3 minutes cast spectacularly red as it was totally eclipsed by the earth. the moon is passing right through the centre of the earth's shadow so it is where the earth's shadow is at its widest so it lasts the longest.

the only light from the sun that can reach it is actually the light that has been filtered through the earth's atmosphere and that is why it goes this beautiful dusky red colour. at the same time, our solar system neighbour, mars, will be as close as it is possible to be to the earth on its own journey around the sun, significantly improving our view of it. this recent picture captured by the hubble telescope shows the detail of a dust storm on the red planet. much of the uk is being covered by cloud but if even pockets of sky clear, the end of the eclipse could be visible until around midnight. during that time, a partially red moon will appear in the same south eastern skies as a bright red mars, so at least the weather has some time to perhaps grant us a glimpse of this celestial show. victoria gill, bbc news. that is it from mars. now on bbc news, it is time for the news where you. this is sportsday, live

from the bbc sport centre with me, chris mitchell. coming upforyou: peak performance. geraint thomas extends his lead at the tour de france. ferrari are fastest as lewis hamilton lags behind in practise for the hungary grand prix. and england's selectors will be smiling as rashid's turn continues. geraint thomas is now within touching distance of his first grand tour title. the welshman shrugged off any attempted attacks on today's 19th

stage at the tour de france. and he still looks strong. he increased his overall lead to two minutes and five seconds. drew savage has the details of the 19th stage. congratulations for geraint thomas dwellers. he needed to keep his lead but he ended up extended it. there were three mountains left. and he'd have help tackling them, from no less than the defending champion. the col du tourmalet, almost twice as high as snowdon, scaled successfully. the final climb, the col d'aubisque, where — as thomas had predicted — the attacks came. primoz roglic, the man in fourth place made his move. froome, third this morning, left behind. thomas was left exposed with his team—mate seemingly struggling. but he was equal to everything his rivals could manage. froome eventually fought his way back in. but it still wasn't over. roglic went for it again. thomas's lead looked safe enough, but that threatened froome's place on the podium.

the former ski—jumper flew away to win the stage by 19 seconds. roglic up to third overall, ahead of froome. but team sky achieved their main objective. thomas looked strongest and finished fastest — taking six bonus seconds that should help him keep the yellowjersey. so this is how the general classification looks with just tomorrow's time trial to go. and then the procession to paris. geraint thomas out in front with a commanding lead. note that chris froome, back down in fourth. he looked a little bit tired today and now he is lost some time. off the podium now. sebastian vettel was fastest in second practise at the hungarian grand prix. the ferrari driver took advantage of errors from other drivers to finishjust quicker than red bull's max verstappen. lewis hamilton, who has a championship lead of 17 points

over vettel, was three quarters of a second slower in fifth. italy's women pulled off a shock at the hockey world cup earlier, scoring with just five seconds remaining to beat south korea. that result means italy — who are the lowest ranked side in the tournament — have guaranteed themselves at least a play—off place. and you can see how surprised they we re and you can see how surprised they were about it themselves. they'll play the defending champions, the netherlands on sunday with the winner of that match guaranteed a place in the quarter—finals. and even a delay for rain and storms couldn't dampen the spirits at the hockey world cup. the coaches for the netherlands and china enjoying a friendly game of rock, paper, scissors whilst torrential rain and lightening caused play to be suspended. that game seemed to be a predictorfor the match, with the dutch cruising to a 7—1win over the chinese. hull kingston rovers held off a second half fightback from rivals hull fc as they hung on to win 20—16 in the super league.

rovers were 16 points up at half time, thanks largely to two trys from craig hall on his first game since rejoining the club. hull fought back to level in the second half but this penalty from danny tickle sealed the derby win. the other results for you. jermaine mcgillvary scored a second hat—trick in a row as huddersfield beat wakefield — huddersfield up to fifth after that win. second placed wigan beat the catalans dragons. struggling salford notched up their seventh win of the season beating leeds. with less than a week to go before the first test