donald trump is celebrating the strongest us economic growth in four years despite warnings it might not last. the increase of 4%, between april and june, was driven by strong consumer spending and a surge in exports. the president has described the figures as "historic." millions of people have been gazing skywards to catch the longest lunar eclipse this century as the moon passes through the shadow of the earth, causing it to glow red. the phenomenon, known as a blood moon, coincides with the closest pass of mars for 15 years. a sexual misconduct investigation has been launched at cbs, one of the big us tv networks. claims going back several decades have been made against the broadcaster's chairman and chief executive, leslie moonves. shares in cbs fell more than 6% on news of the claims. a 6—year—old boy has died after being shot with a pellet gun, at a house in east yorkshire. stanley metcalfe was visiting relatives in the village of sproatley at the time. judith moritz reports.

stanley metcalf was visiting relatives in the village of sproatley at the time. stanley loved football, here showing his support for his local team, hull city. he was starting the summer holidays by visiting relatives in the small rural village of sproatley when a pellet gun went off. stanley was rushed to hospital but died of his injuries. humberside police say it is not clear how the 6—year—old came to be shot. we are still investigating the circumstances of what exactly happened. the 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 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 stanley was with elderly relatives at the time of the shooting. humberside police say that although not all such weapons require a license, they are working to establish whether the pellet gun

involved needed one, and if so, 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. now on bbc news, our world. it was a murder that sent shock waves around the world. a prominent russian journalist has been shot dead. arkady babchenko was an outspoken critic of president vladimir putin. just weeks after the novichok poisonings in salisbury, another apparent attack on foreign soil. but a day later arkady babchenko was back from the dead. tonight, for the first time, the inside story of the fake murder. translation: they put pigs‘ blood in my mouth and then when i was shot, i fell to my knees and coughed

to make the blood splatter. babchenko‘s wife tells her side of the story. translation: you just can't believe it. you don't want to believe it. and we track down the hit man. it's a tale worthy of a spy thriller, but in an age of fake news, was the truth the real casualty? i'm jonah fisher. for the last few weeks i've been on the trail of an extraordinary murder mystery. it happened here in kiev, the capital of ukraine. and at the heart of it is one man. babchenko is a russianjournalist. he fled moscow last year after receiving death threats and got a job with the ukrainian tv station. he is an outspoken critic of vladimir putin. babchenko is a russianjournalist.

he fled moscow last year after receiving death threats and got a job with the ukrainian tv station. he is an outspoken critic of vladimir putin. translation: he's a usurper, a little dictator who lives completely in his own world. he wants to be like napoleon. collecting together all russian lands. but ukraine, which sees itself as being at war with russia, can be a dangerous place for putin's opponents. in the last two years several dissident russian journalists and politicians have been killed in kiev. exactly who was behind the murders remains unclear. our story begins earlier this year. was arkady babchenko about to become the next target?

very nice to meet you. welcome. how are you doing? i'm glad to see you. happy to see you too! crazy times. yes. oleksiy tsymbaliuk is an unlikely assassin. tsymbaliuk tells me how in april this year he met an old contact,

an arms manufacturer called borys herman. tsymbaliuk claims herman was looking to arrange the murder of arkady babchenko, on behalf of a wealthy client. and when he told you that he wanted you to kill babchenko, what did you say? and did you plan to go through with it? tsymbaliuk agreed to carry out herman's request. but at the same time,

tipped off the sbu, ukraine's intelligence service. they suspected russia could be behind it and decided to stage the killing of the journalist. the sbu's boss is vasyl hrytsak. why was the decision taken to fake arkady babchenko‘s murderer? translation: because we were told that there were several units in ukraine and that this assassination is just a test run for others. only by staging this crime could we get the list of targets. we had to know more about who was involved in preparing and commissioning this terrible crime. the sbu rigged tsymbaliuk up with a secret camera which they say shows money being handed over for babchenko‘s murder. what was the price for killing him? did you discuss how the murder would be carried out?

it was time to let arkady babchenko know that there was a price on his head. sbu agents told him of their audacious plot. they wanted to stage his murder to flush out those who had ordered the killing. translation: my first thought was not to trust them, that maybe it's a setup. ijust wanted to grab my family and flee somewhere like australia or antarctica where they can't find us. but then it became clear to me, why should we run? here are people who came to kill, and we have a chance to stop them. we need to do this. why should we do nothing? now arkady babchenko

had to let his wife, olga, in on the plan. translation: my first reaction was not shock but fear. that awful fear when you realise, this is not a movie or tv. this is really all happening right now to your family in your house. and you just can't believe it. you don't want to believe it. i asked arkady, what are we going to do? without hesitation, he replied he had made a decision. we will catch these reptiles. a few weeks later, at the babchenkos‘ kiev apartment, they had a visit from the fake assassin. translation: according to the story we had agreed beforehand, i came back from the grocery store. i opened the door and at that moment i was supposedly shot in the back. when i was shot, i fell to my knees. sbu agents had arranged a make—up artist to help stage the murder scene.

translation: when i was lying on the floor, the make—up artist put pigs‘ blood inside the bullet holes. my lips were smeared, they poured the blood into my mouth. they poured it underneath me. fake assassin oleksiy tsymbaliuk and i retrace his steps from that night. babchenko's wife olga had been waiting in the wings. now it was time for her to take centre stage. translation: after the killer left, i waited a little while.

then i called an ambulance. i explained the situation that i'd come out of the bathroom and found my husband in a pool of blood. the police arrived quickly, after about five minutes. the first officers were aware of the special operation, but they also brought with them lots of other policemen who didn't know. translation: my wife told them, i'm a russian journalist, and they all said oh, here we go again. paramedics were also soon on the scene. they had been briefed on the fake murder plot. and were ready to play along. translation: they started to treat me. because there were other people there who could see us through the window. we drove for a while and then, as planned, i began to die. now the fake murder plot moved

into its next phase. starting with a message to arkady babchenko's old friend and boss, tvjournalist, aider muzhdabaev. translation: we knew if we told aider first, translation: i took the car and immediately began to look for him in hospitals. his wife told me he was wounded and had to be taken away. on the way, i got the tragic news from police that he had died in an ambulance. so i went straight to his apartment. it's a huge loss forjournalism because he was one of the few

individuals who wrote the real truth about russia and that's why he was killed. translation: aider arrived first. it hurts to remember how he wept like a child whose mother had just been killed in front of him. i've never seen a man cry so much before. he just howled. and how did that make you feel? because of course, you knew that it was all fake? translation: to watch those close to you suffering is unbearable. translation: we arrived at the morgue.

throughout all this, i had to act like i was a murdered man. because there were journalists waiting outside. the strangest two to three hours of my life was when i was sitting in the morgue, wrapped in a sheet like gandhi. smoking and watching tv news about what a wonderful guy i was, and next door a pathologist was sawing a skull, performing an autopsy. what were you thinking about while arkady was at the morgue? translation: i envied him because he didn't have to talk to anyone. i thought he was probably in a peaceful place at this point.

and i was stuck in this agony. that night the sbu leaked this picture of the fake murder scene on to social media. news of babchenko's death was about to go global. news of his death came just weeks after russia was blamed by the british government for poisoning the skripals in salisbury. russia was now being accused of involvement in the plot to kill babchenko. we are sorry to hear accusations of our country being involved

in this crime as it was presented by ukrainian officials. within a couple of hours we were trying to plan how we can present the truth. because we are accused of doing all evil on earth. meanwhile, in kiev sbu agents had the middleman, borys herman, under surveillance, hoping it would provide conclusive proof that russia had ordered the killing. translation: yes, we had a plan to wait for longer to allow things to develop. the next day borys herman was supposed to pay off tsymbaliuk for the completed job. but there was lots of noise around the case. all the media was talking about it. at that point we found herman had bought a ticket to leave ukraine so we had to take some steps. sbu agents swooped on an unsuspecting borys herman. 20 hours after the murder,

the sbu called what seemed a routine press conference. no one expected this. babchenko was back. screaming. watching on, his colleagues at the news channel atr, who had been reporting on his death all day. translation: when i saw him i felt a huge sense of relief that he was alive. i ran outside and just lay on the grass for over an hour looking at the sky. it felt very good. translation: first, i would like to apologise

for what all of you had to experience, for what you had to go through. i have buried friends and colleagues many times and i know the sickening feeling. newsrooms across the world backtracked fast. back from the dead, but the questions soon mounted. why had a self—styled truth teller agreed to play the starring role in a fake news story? translation: when they tell you someone has paid to have you killed, do you say, no, i refuse help? because it will violate the ethical standards of journalism ? if you do that people will be murdered because this network will not be exposed. go on, then, but i won't be part of it. so will we ever know the full truth

about who wanted to kill babchenko? the sbu say that when they arrested borys herman they found a hit list which had been sent from russia. but they have yet to produce clear evidence of a link to russia's security services. translation: the role of the russian security services in preparing the assassination of a russian citizen and journalist, babchenko, will be proved by us in court, i am sure of that. russia crossed a red line a while ago. russia is using illegal methods. russia is trying to kill its opponents on foreign soil, to intimidate those opponents who are still in russia. this is ridiculous, this is absolutely absurd. the russian state has nothing to do

with arkady babchenko. he is a free man in the free world, he can do what he wants. and actually before that case nobody even... i mean the international community on a high level, nobody has no idea who is arkady babchenko. honestly. if there is a russian link, as ukraine claims, it leads through the only man who has so far been arrested. the middleman. this is a court hearing for borys herman, the man allegedly at the centre of this plot. it is a chance for him to put his case and try and explain his role in this bizarre episode. borys herman admits plotting both with the fake assassin and a contact in russia. but his defence is that he too was playing a role and was also

working with ukraine's sbu. why should we believe that you didn't want to kill arkady babchenko? what this ultimately boils down to is are you working as an agent for russia? mr herman's story has changed several times and despite repeated requests from the bbc, he has been unable to back up his claim, that he was working with the sbu. so what are we to make of this extraordinary tale, where nothing is quite as it seems? translation: we definitely believe the operation is a success.

even if you just save the life of arkady babchenko, it is a success. thanks to this operation we have also got a list of 47 potential targets — journalists, activists past and present, citizens of the russian federation. why should i believe what you are telling me now? i went out there and i reported what your organisation told us that night. it turned out to be lies. now you are speaking to me again. is this the truth this time? this murder was being prepared for real. real money was being paid. other units were working for real and the list of 47 potential victims is real. so the ends ultimately have justified the means? definitely. but in the context of the propaganda

war with russia could this end up being a massive own goal? did they realise what they did? because nobody will trust the ukrainians and the ukrainian government any more in any sort of future cases. the show over, its leading players are now trying to move on. what is next for you after this, oleksy? what does your future hold? translation: of course i am worried. we do not feel safe. at the moment, yes, we are in a safe place.

but eventually it will be necessary to go out into the wider world and what will happen then? we don't know. translation: i do not control my destiny any more. everything has gone down the drain, life is once again broken. and still you dare ask me why i criticise putin so much? that is why i don't like him. why the hell do they have to come here and kill people? the world is in the grip of an information war, a battle of facts against fakes, truth versus fiction, with trust a priceless commodity. babchenko survived, but the work of those fighting for the truth has become that much harder. hello there.

violent thunderstorms broke out across southern and central parts of the country late on friday. this marks the end of the current heatwave. the thunderstorms continued to clear northwards and eastwards and then things turn cooler, with showers following on behind. that is the culprit for the change to our weather, the big area of low pressure that has been moving in off the atlantic. you see the thunderstorms, a line of them across east anglia and into england and eastern scotland. as we head into the early hours of saturday, most of the thunderstorms will clear

off into the north sea. they could, however, mingle on a bit longer into the north—east of scotland. behind those, further pulses of rain pushing in to start saturday morning. it is going to be slightly cooler and fresher here but for england and wales, again, another warm and humid night. saturday, we start off with showery rain, maybe some of the country. quite a wet start for north—east scotland. some of these producing longer spells of rain in northern ireland. could be even heavier thunder across england and into the west of wales. this is something we have not seen for a while, blustery winds. i have got the wind areas on here because it is going to be quite gusty, 20 to 40 miles an hour in some places. it is going to be a lot cooler and fresher to what we have been used to. 10 degrees cooler now than what we saw thursday and friday. the low pressure is still with us as we head into part two of the weekend.

in fact, this feature running up in the south—western parts of england could bring a spell of storms. windier and cooler pretty much across the board. some of this rain will be pretty heavy and prolonged, good news for gardeners and growers, as it continues to push its way northwards into much of scotland. behind that, we could see a few sunny breaks, but it is going to be another windy day, particularly across england and wales, and even fresher on saturday, temperatures at best 21 or 22 across southern areas. closer to the high teens celsius further north. yes, it is going to be a cool, fresh week, with some strong outbreaks of rain. the signs are as we head into the new working week, high—pressure continues to push in and these temperatures are going to be on the rise again. this is bbc news.

i'm duncan golestani. our top stories: donald trump celebrates the strongest us economic growth in four years despite warnings it might not last. the president takes credit for putting america first. 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 spectacular night sky show for millions as a blood moon rises — in the longest lunar eclipse this century. the cbs television network investigates allegations of sexual misconduct against its top executive.