this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at ten: mps warn british democracy is in crisis because of targeted campaigns of hate and misinformation on social media. the chief constable of the west midlands admits his police force is, at times, providing a poor service, and apologises. we are incredibly busy at this time. the level of calls we receive in the summer are very, very challenging. sometimes, that service that we provide at those peak times doesn't meet what the public expect. welcome relief for some — as the cool air arrives, but strong winds could cause travel disruption, as temperatures drop across the uk. also coming up this hour... millions gaze upon the glory of a blood moon, during what was the 21st century‘s longest lunar eclipse. for those lucky enough to see it, the moon passed across the shadow of the earth last night, painting it red. and at 10:30, rajan datar goes all peter o'toole on us — he's injordan, for an action—packed re—enactment of lawrence of arabia. that's the travel show, in half an hour, here on bbc news.

good morning. welcome to bbc news. voters are being systematically manipulated by the spread of fake news, according to a group of mps. a report from the commons culture, digital media and sport select committee, which was leaked by one of the witnesses, warns the uk is facing a "democratic crisis." the commitee says there should be tighter regulation of social media networks and news measures to combat attempts to interfere with elections. our technology correspondent, rory cellan—jones, reports. this report pulls together the story of an inquiry which has roamed far and wide,

looking into the scandal over cambridge analytica's harvesting of facebook data, examining the use of data during the eu referendum campaign, and the extent of foreign interference in uk politics. it's the language used which is most striking — there's talk of the relentless targeting of hyper—partisan views, which play to the fears and prejudices of people. it warns that our democracy is at risk and calls for action to protect it. among the measures the mps demand are new rules to make online political campaigning more transparent, and greater powers for the electoral commission. they are also fiercely critical of the former director of vote leave, dominic cummings, who refused to appear before them. his decision to leak their report two days before they planned to publish it is unlikely to improve relations. rory cellan—jones, bbc news. let's talk to our political correspondent, susana mendonca. there has been a lot of grumbling

about the potential impact of social media and targeted advertising on elections and on voters, in the states and here. does this report in any way nailed this problem?” states and here. does this report in any way nailed this problem? i think it says what mps have been saying for some time, what they have been concerned about, whether or not there has been an impact as a result of this, what they referred to ask fa ke of this, what they referred to ask fake news, on our own elections here, and they referred to the eu referendum and that is one reason they have been so focused on looking at this issue. they have been looking into this issue since 2017. the cambridge analytica scandal, which suggested that people's private data had been harvested from facebook in order to manipulate the m essa 9 es facebook in order to manipulate the messages sent to them ahead of the us elections, that was one issue that the mps looked into. they also looked into the use of data during the eu referendum campaign, if people were being manipulated. and

the extent of potentially foreign interference in uk politics. they are all things politicians have been concerned about, and this interim report we are supposed to get tomorrow, it was leaked by one of the people they have criticised, a director of vote leave, the official campaign supporting leaving the eu during the referendum. what they are trying to get across is this message that they think that the laws need to be changed because in terms of political advertising, we already have laws in order to make sure that the leaflets she received have got the leaflets she received have got the names. so you know who is behind it? exactly. if you look at the some of the recommendations in the leaked report we have had, they are talking about how those laws need to be changed so you can have an imprint that makes it clear where those m essa 9 es that makes it clear where those messages are coming from, that what they have seen is people are being targeted specifically according to their own interests. for example, if you are their own interests. for example, if

you a re interested their own interests. for example, if you are interested in immigration or animal welfare, you're getting m essa 9 es animal welfare, you're getting messages sent you other people not getting and that information should be available for everybody and there should be a register meaning everybody should see what everybody else is being targeted with. in terms of the practicalities of what they would like to do, they are talking about more powers for example for the election commission to regulate this. they are very much putting the onus on the social media companies to say, it is not good enough to say, we're not responsible for the content, we are just a on which other people you —— of publishing, they say that is not good enough because of the sensitive nature of some of the stock. this is a battle we see notjust in terms of the uk's response to facebook and other big social media companies, and in the us, there is concern about whether they are a platform or about whether they are a platform or a publisher. as a publisher, you are subject to stricter rules already. the mps are saying there should be a halfway house between it. perhaps

there should be some other way to identify a media company so that they do have greater restrictions upon them. they also talk about potentially taxing them and having a levy on them which would be used for educating people about potential fa ke educating people about potential fake news and for regulating the system which of course would cost money. in terms of electro commission, that limits as to what they can impose as a fine so they are talking about increasing the restrictions they could impose on companies which breached the rules. this would require a change to the law, and this is a committee of backbench mps and an interim report coming out tomorrow and another report at the end of the year, but it is something government would have to act upon to legislate on this. our political corresponded, thanks very much. and we will talk about the difference between facts and opinions later this hour. many will welcome some cooler weather today,

but strong winds could cause travel disruption, as temperatures drop across the uk. two months of sunshine and dry weather mean that some parched trees are at risk of falling over when hit by anticipated gusts of a0 to 50 miles per hour. ben ando reports. from sunshine by the sea... to hailstones in the streets... and lightning overhead. man: whoa! it may have felt like four seasons in one day for parts of the uk, as storms swept in to bring the heatwave to an end. cooler temperatures may have brought some relief to those feeling the heat of the last few weeks, but for travellers, there seemed little respite, with ongoing problems with air—conditioning equipment leading to long queues at the channel tunnel and bad weather creating hazardous conditions on the road. in york, storms caused signalling problems on the railways and caused the singer sir tom jones to cancel a comeback show at the city's racecourse. the organisers said...

bad weather overnight is causing delays and cancellations for other flights at airports including edinburgh, birmingham and luton. looking ahead, forecasters say temperatures will stay lower today, but the big issue could be high winds, with gusts of up to 50 miles an hour — and that could be more of a problem than usual because dried—out trees have branches and trunks that are more brittle and prone to breaking which could, in turn, lead to more disruption, delay and disgru ntlement. ben ando, bbc news. travel disruption continues for many across the uk after the hot and stormy weather yesterday. at the moment, there are delays of up to five hours on the eurotunnel. they've asked passengers not to travel unless ‘absolutely necessary.‘ p&0 ferries are asking customers to allow an extra 90 minutes to clear all security checks at dover. and members of the rmt union at south western railway and eurostar are on strike for 2h hours over separate disputes.

south western railway says half of its services — in south—west london and southern counties of england — will be cancelled. but eurostar say a normal service will run. and this was the scene at stansted airport this morning. thunderstorms across europe had a knock—on effect — with delays and cancellations. stansted say there are no cancellations today, but there delays and some restrictions because of storm activity in europe. and the long queues this morning were caused by passengers spending the night in the airport. the advice today is to check with your individual airline before you fly. the chief constable of england's second largest police force has admitted it sometimes provides a poor service that fails to meet public expectations. in an interview with the bbc, west midlands police chief dave thompson said budget cuts meant a full range of policing could not be delivered. sima kotecha reports. a taxidriver in birmingham.

he says one afternoon, a group of men threw some bricks at him. he claims the police response was nil. i don't feel safe. they are not scared of police because they feel they will not get caught. that's what they told you on your face. like other police forces across the country, west midlands police admits, at times, it's struggling. the man in charge says, sorry. the demand on the service is going up because, actually, local authorities and other services have been reduced, so more vulnerable people come into the place. and we are absolutely at a point where that is not a sustainable position for policing anymore. and i'm sorry about that, but that's the reality of where policing is now. all the forces across the uk have seen their funding cut since 2010. new figures show the number of frontline police officers in england and wales has reduced by 20,000 over the same period. the government says this force will get millions of extra cash over the next year and that it expects the police to investigate every crime properly. but according to the officer who leads the force, that's simply not possible.

sima kotecha, bbc news, in the west midlands. an international arrest warrant has been issued for a man who killed a woman in a speedboat accident on the river thames in london in 2015. jack shepherd, who has been on the run since may, was found guilty of the manslaughter of charlotte brown, and sentenced to six years in prison at the old bailey yesterday. charlotte's mum, roz, and her sister, katie, have been at the old bailey for the duration of the trial, and have appealed for him to turn up and face justice. theyjoined us earlier with met police family liaison 0fficer gavin seeley. katie explained how events at the court unfolded. we didn't have any indication of why, really. 0ur opinion was that he isa why, really. 0ur opinion was that he is a coward. which was confirmed in a statement that he had written

earlier this week. and the judge read it out yesterday and he said that the reason was that he didn't wa nt to that the reason was that he didn't want to face us and that he was a coward. we knew on the friday before trial, so we were going to trial on the monday morning and both chris andl the monday morning and both chris and i went to the old bailey, an admin hearing, we had an inclination that something was going on, and then in that hearing, we heard for then in that hearing, we heard for the first time that jack shepherd is most unlikely to attend his trial. got a big decision to make at that point. it's friday, the family have geared up to and a half years, three years to get to the stage, this monday of trial. do i tell the family on that friday by a phone call because they are out of london, risk losing their weekend, or worrying over the weekend, or do i tell them face—to—face? i made the decision to talk to roz mum and

graham dad face—to—face on the monday morning because then we got the next question is, what happens? we then have a legal argument on the monday morning, it's a manslaughter case at the old bailey, do we have this trial in his absence, or are we instructed by the judge to go find him and then we'll have the trial when we find him? he has brought devastation to our family, it is an understatement. we mustn't lose sight of the fact that charlotte has lost her life and it was a totally unnecessary loss lost her life and it was a totally unnecessary loss of life. she had everything to live for, she was young, she'd been to university, she had gained a very good job, she literally had everything to live for and he didn't get that one second consequence in his mind that night that his actions would take her life. a 24—year—old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and sexual activity with a child, following the death of a 13—year—old girl. lucy mchugh‘s body was found in woodland in southampton on thursday, after she was reported missing.

the man remains in custody. the charities commission is looking into claims that thejoseph rowntree charitable trust gave more than £100,000 to a group linked to a banned terrorist organisation in northern ireland. according to the times, the group teach na failte shares offices in belfast with the political wing of the inla — a banned paramilitary group, responsible for numerous killings. the trust's website says its work is intended to promote the peace process. the final campaign rallies are taking place in zimbabwe, ahead of monday's presidential elections. the vote is the first since robert mugabe was ousted in november. mr mugabe's successor and former close colleague — the zanu—pf leader emmerson mnangagwa — is hoping to legitimise his rule. one of america's most powerful media executives is under investigation by the tv network he runs — cbs — after being accused of sexual misconduct. several women have told

the new yorker magazine that les moonves harassed them. mr moonves has admitted making some women feel uncomfortable, but denies assault. shares in cbs have plummeted. 0ur correspondent, chris buckler, reports from washington. leslie moonves has been a leading figure at the american network cbs for almost 25 years, with a track record for finding stars and developing programmes. but now he's found himself facing accusations reported on his own channel's news programmes. in news just out tonight, the new yorker magazine has reported that six women have accused cbs chairman and ceo leslie moonves of sexual harassment. the new yorker magazine says the six women claim, among other things, that mr moonves physically intimidated them, forcibly touched and kissed them, or threatened to wreck their careers. the cbs boss has denied that, although he has apologised for making some women uncomfortable in the way he made advances decades ago.

in a statement, the television network said... mr moonves, who is married to the well—known cbs presenterjulie chen, has been an outspoken supporter of the #me too movement. now he's accused of allegations very similar to ones he's so publicly criticised. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. the headlines on bbc news... mps warn british democracy is in crisis because of targeted campaigns of hate and misinformation on social media. the chief constable of the west midlands admits his police force is, at times, providing a poor service —— and apologises welcome relief for some, as the cool air arrives — but strong winds could cause travel disruption, as temperatures as temperatures drop across the uk.

and settled in europe as well, making what is happening in the tour de france more exciting. mike can tell us about the prospects for geraint thomas and everything else, good morning. yes, good morning. is this the day geraint thomas... all but seals his place in history as the first welshman to win the tour de france. he takes a healthy lead into today's, pivotal time trial — the last competitive stage of the race. drew savage has more. one day more. today's time trial is the last barrier to geraint thomas riding into paris to take his place on the biggest podium of all. he began yesterday with mountains on his mind. 0n the start line in lourdes, welsh cycling fans were hoping their man's time had finally come. thomas and team sky weren't expecting an easy ride, and they didn't get one on the final

day in the pyrenees. he does have the strongest team in the race, including chris froome, but eventually, their numbers dwindled and, as fourth—placed primoz roglic attacked, froome fell behind, leaving thomas potentially exposed without his last remaining ally. the yellow jersey under threat, but the welshman held firm. his rivals couldn't break him. roglic tried again on the way down and, this time, managed to escape. but froome had recovered and led the chase on thomas's behalf, ensuring roglic couldn't threaten the overall lead — although he did win the stage to take third place overall from froome. but the four—times champion had done his bit for thomas, setting up the man in yellow to sprint home for six bonus seconds — notjust defended his lead, but extending it. congratulations well earned. drew savage, bbc news. so this is how it looks, going into the time trial today. geraint thomas hasn't dropped a single second, to dumoulin, over the race.

he takes a two—minute five—second lead into the race against the clock. chris froome needs to claw back 1a seconds on, primoz roglic — but the slovenian is handy in the time trials too. (pres) so the all important time trial starts at 11 o'clock so the all—important time trial starts at 11 o'clock but the competitors go off in reverse order at 90 second intervals. the top 20 are split by two—minute breaks so geraint thomas is last offjust before half past 3. chris froome is chasing a podium place after slipping off it yesterday. he goes offjust after twenty past 3. they're expected to complete the course in around 45 minutes britain's 0lympic bronze medallist vicky holland has won the edmonton leg of the world triathlon series. it was an imperious performance from holland — who led out of the water, and the bike, before breaking clear, of a number of athletes on the run, including australian ashleigh gentle. and adding to her win in the city in 2015. a trio of british athletes, followed her in third, fourth and fifth so well done too to georgia taylor—brown, jess learmonth and jodie stimpson. jonnie brownlee finished 5th in the men's race.

i wasn't sure how that was going to play out. we had a big group of us running together. i know i had been running together. i know i had been running well but i know ashley is such a class competitor and the british girls as well, so ijust kept the pressure on and i sensed that she disappeared from my shoulder with about 700 ago so i couldn't go back then. the force india f1 team will complete the remainder of the hungarian grand prix weekend, despite being place into administration. it's understood the team, owe more than £160 million to its creditors. 0n the track, final practice gets under way injust over 30 minutes, with sebastian vettel looking like the man to catch in qualifying. he was fastest in friday practice, with lewis hamilton well off the pace liverpool managerjurgen klopp insists he doesn't have to win the premier league this season — as his opposite number at manchester united jose mourinho suggests. the two teams are in michigan ahead of a pre—season friendly tonight. mourinho has implied liverpool's outlay of around £170 million this summer makes them "big candidates" for the title but liverpool defender virgil van

dijk says silverware isn't their only focus. we are not, only to play to get trophies, visit, you want to play good football, you want to enjoy your football. but i think one thing comes with another. if you enjoy your football and work hard and win games obviously, you have a bigger chance to win trophies. yes, you know, i'm enjoying every bit of it. there is a great team atmosphere in the group and i think it's very exciting time to be either a liverpool fan or a liverpool player. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more in the next hour. thank you very much. we will be back for more sport with mike later. 0ur our main story, warning of a democratic crisis. in the uk, due to the spread of "pernicious views" and the manipulation of personal data.

the digital, culture, media and sport committee has been investigating disinformation and fake news following the cambridge analytica data scandal. let's get more on this with will moy, director at full fact. full fact is an independent fact—checking charity based in the uk. as the director, you set that up because you were concerned about giving reliable sources of information. how does this report play into that concern when it is applied to politics? 0k, first, lots of people were involved but i have been there from the beginning at full fact. we had been tackling this for eight years and our dayjob is asking politicians and journalists and people in the public eye, you have make this public line, can you back it up, where the sources and is it true? if not, please correct the record. we work from hundreds of thousands examples of whether things stuck up. a lot of things appear online and presumably some is used in was glad that housing. absolutely, there is a lot of focus on mine but when you talk to the public about what they understand by

this horribly vague term fake news, people say it is politicians lying to me, it is bad journalism and it is online. we need to be very careful. but when it comes to political advertising, we are in a really poor to time. we have been warning since at least the first election that targeted advertising is undermining the ability of people to scrutinise election arguments. why is that? because in the olden days, as it were. we are not that old, but it feels like it now!m you wanted to advertise to millions of people, you got an advert in the newspaper, and billboards, and everybody could see it and those who disagrees could argue back and journalists could ask you questions to back it up. nowadays, you can advertise and only target it at a certain group of people and the rest of the country won't necessarily know you're doing that if you are doing it online to targeted platforms. selections are no longer a shared experience and that is not what a democracy is about. -- elections. politicians always try to

polish their message and focus it and aim it at particular groups. how individual has it got. you have exa m ples of individual has it got. you have examples of how individual it is possible to get with political advertising. it is very hard know because this stuff is not transparent but elite facebook white paper published by bloomberg said the donald trump campaign used 6.9 million different variations of adverts, 6.9 million, so there is no possibility any individual could look at those and scrutinise them. it is individually generated adverts by computers. what can be done and how does this report pick—up on the potential for trying to change this environment? firstly, the report says, we have a way to go, we need to get the principles right, we need to get the principles right, we need to a cce pt to get the principles right, we need to accept that technology is improving and it will leave us

fighting the last war. but it says we need to update our election law and we need to do that urgently. there could be an election at any time which would be very tiring for fa ct time which would be very tiring for fact checkers, and it could happen. if it happens right now, our election law is dangerously out of date so we need a law that says political advertising must be transparent and published in real—time and in readable formats, so in real—time and in readable formats, soina real—time and in readable formats, so in a database computers can access. and testing real-time. so as access. and testing real-time. so as a vote and as an individual interested in what is happening, you can check and see what messages are being sent to everybody even if you have not specifically received those messages? exactly, and on top of that, we need to do that large scale with computer data bases. full that, we need to do that large scale with computer databases. full fact, thank you very much, fascinating stuff! thank you. millions of people have witnessed the longest lunar

eclipse this century, as the moon passed through the shadow of the earth turning a mysterious red. known as a "blood moon", the eclipse lasted for one hour and 43 minutes and coincided with the closest pass of mars for fifteen years. stefan levy has more. it was a spectacular sight for stargazers across the globe. the moon bathed night skies with its red glow for one hour and 43 minutes, as it was totally eclipsed by the earth. the display was visible from most of the southern hemisphere, but the best views were across eastern europe, east africa, and asia, where the entire eclipse was visible. the moon is passing right through the centre of the earth's shadow, so it's where the earth's shadow is at its widest, and so it lasts the longest. and the only light from the sun that can reach it is actually the light that's been filtered through the earth's atmosphere, and that's why it goes this beautiful dusky red colour. catching a glimpse of the eclipse was hit—and—miss for stargazers in the uk, due to cloudy conditions, but the lucky ones managed to see the moon go fully red. stefan levy, bbc news. and in brazil, people of all ages

we re and in brazil, people of all ages were out to enjoy the spectacle. and in brazil, people of all ages were out to enjoy the spectaclem is very beautiful, very beautiful. it was great being here and the moon was very beautiful. more so with this telescope. it was very interesting to see at the beginning, when the moon appeared, when it became very clear, and bit by bit, big bird throwing shadow. i thought it was very pretty and i like to planet mars very —— even more which you could see right into the moon. 0ver you could see right into the moon. over the coming days, mars will be at its closest point to earth since 2003, but the lunar eclipse doesn't just coincide with the red planet's close approach. skywatchers will also be treated to a particularly good few of venus, jupiter and saturn. and if you didn't manage to catch this year's when eclipse, you can take solace in the knowledge that the next one is a mere six months away. stefan levy, bbc news. female skippers have taken first and second place in the clipper round the world yacht race —

a first in team ocean racing. the 40,000 nautical mile race set off eleven months ago and ended in liverpool this morning. well, earlier, our news correspondent ian haslam spoke to excited fans on the finish line. we arrived at six a:m., there was no one here and now that thousands. a fantastic app is there. you might see the river mersey behind. the boats have been behind us, the final race is over, the 13th race, eight legs. since we left liverpool 11 months ago. let's talk to the supporters here. i like a bit of enthusiasm in the morning! you are supporting team liverpool and your son is on board? yes, james, we are from the cayman islands and we came back to see him back in. how long has he been away for? 11 months. has he done sailing before? he has done

sailing from the caribbean and offshore things. no, this was amazing, it was epic. you have travelled 40,000 nautical miles over a period of 11 months. that is really gruelling! how proud you of this man? so proud, i can't even tell you how proud i am! go, james, we love you! very nice. fetching wicks as well! speaking of which, look at this! tell us who you are supporting? visit seattle. the team which had come second overall. notable because its skipper, the professional on—board, it is nicky henderson, 25 years old, from guildford. so successful. she was an excellent skipper. she made some good decisions and she found the wind when she needed it. you made a good decision with this headgear! somebody had the bright idea we should welcome them with wigs so we

did! you are breathtaking! you are a firefighter byjob, did! you are breathtaking! you are a firefighter by job, but did! you are breathtaking! you are a firefighter byjob, but you have taken part in one leg of this for the team that finished runners—up, how good has it been? it has been completely different, fantastic. it has been great to see the team coming in. it is going to be a really good day celebrating seeing them back in. history has been made them back in. history has been made the year, australian wendy took the first women ever to win around the world yacht race, you must be so proud of her and your team—mate. world yacht race, you must be so proud of her and your team-mate. to have a female one and two is the best outcome for women it in sport and pleased my team have done so well and they came second, the women have dominated, they have done fantastic, i am have dominated, they have done fantastic, lam really have dominated, they have done fantastic, i am really pleased. our work is done, it is really busy here and a good atmosphere and you can 110w and a good atmosphere and you can now apply to take part in this next year if you so wish. i thought