this is bbc news i'm rebecca jones. the headlines at 7:00... a man is jailed for 17 years for the manslaughter of a nurse who died after being splashed head to toe with acid. it's emerged the royal navy rescued the manchester arena suicide bomber from libya's civil war, three years before he carried out the attack. also this hour — president trump says collusion is not a crime — with timing that coincides with the opening of the first case brought by prosecutors investigating alleged links to russia. mr trump's former campaign manager paul manafort, faces tax and bank fraud charges although the case doesn't allege collusion. facebook says it's removed accounts thought to have been set up to influence this years mid—term us elections. pressure grows on labour to take action against an ally of its leader after he was recorded criticising members of thejewish community. the scandal of five—year—olds unable to speak in full sentences,

the education secretary pledges to tackle what he says is a gab that "just widens". good evening and welcome. a teenager has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for an acid killing. 19 year—old xeneral webster was fighting with another man in high wycombe when the acid he was carrying was knocked from his hand and hitjoanne rand, who happened to be sitting on a nearby bench. the nurse and mother of three, died days later. xeneral webster pleaded guilty to manslaughter. here's our correspondent jo black. it's a busy saturday afternoon

in high wycombe and jo rand is sitting on a bench in the town centre. nearby, and right next to other shoppers and families, xeneral webster is threatening another man with a bottle of high—strength sulphuric acid. the man panics and kicks the bottle away. it hitsjo‘s leg and she is sprayed with the liquid and as it starts to burn, she runs away to get help. moments later, webster goes and picks up the bottle of acid, puts on a balaclava and leaves the scene. jo suffered 5% burns and although she was released from hospital, she developed sepsis and died 11 days later. lots of doctors just looking at us and they said, "i'm afraid we can't do any more forjoanne, we are going to have to turn all the machines off. come and say goodbye." we just stood there, we watched the life drain out of her, her body shutting down. we just watched her die and it was the most

horrendous day of my life. of all of our lives. xeneral webster now has to face the consequences of his actions, but this will never bring back my mum. i have to live the rest of my life with the fact she will never be at my wedding or see me as i progress through life. this shouldn't have happened to her. this has had a huge impact on our lives. joanne rand had only been 47 when she died and his actions must bear responsibility for her tragic demise. in response, webster started swearing and shouting in court and had to be led away by doc officers. led away by dock officers. thames valley police say this is the first manslaughter conviction in relation to an acid attack and during their investigation it transpired that two months before joanne rand's death webster himself had been attacked by acid.

he knew what the consequences would be and still chose to use it and threatened it as a weapon, so a very tragic outcome. as jo's family try and move on without her, they are now calling for schools to teach youngsters the dangers and consequences that come with carrying acid. handing down the sentence at reading crown court the judge said there was no sentence which of this court can pass which would reflect the value ofjo's life. i spoke to one of her sisters straight after sentencing and she said xeneral webster could be locked up for the rest of his life and it still wouldn't be enough. and we'll find out how this story and many others are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:45 and 11:30 this evening in the papers.

our guests joining me tonight are camilla tominey, who's the political editor at the sunday express, and the political commentator, jane merrick. the trial of president donald trump's former campaign manager, paul manafort, on tax and bank fraud charges has opened in a court outside washington. it's the first case brought by federal prosecutors investigating alleged links between the trump campaign and russia. manafort has pleaded not guilty to all 18 charges, but could face up to 30 years injail. rajini vaidya—nah—thun reports. paul manafort held a coveted place in donald trump's inner circle as his campaign manager. just weeks after being seen at the republican national convention in 2016, his political career began to unravel. forced to quit over his alleged ties to foreign governments. today he is in jail, to foreign governments. today he is injail, facing charges relating to his work before he joined the trump

campaign. a court in virginia, ma nafort campaign. a court in virginia, manafort is accused of laundering millions of dollars in cash while he worked as a political consultant in ukraine. prosecutors say he funnelled the money to offshore accou nts funnelled the money to offshore accounts in exotic locations and with lavish purchases, buying multi—million dollar properties in new york and virginia and spending more than $1 million in men's clothing. mr manafort denies the charges. his former right—hand man, who also worked for donald trump is charged on a number of counts, but had most of those dropped in exchange for his cooperation during the investigation. he is expected to testify against mr manafort. the present isn't directly implicated in this trial, but these are the first charges brought by special counsel robert mueller who is investigating if the trump campaign colluded with the russians. in a tweet, donald

trump claimed collusion isn't a crime and denied there was any in the first place. small group of anti—trump protesters who gathered outside the court believed the campaign did have ties to russia. it is believed paul manafort does have the answers and as the trial gets under way, it is believed he could co—operate with the wider investigation. aid agencies are accused of being "almost complict" in sexual abuse across the sector, in a damning report by mps. the international development committee says the delivery of aid has been subverted by sexual predators — and that there's been a "culture of denial" since revelations that workers for 0xfam paid for sex while helping victims of the 2010 earthquake in haiti. charities have welcomed the report, and 0xfam concedes it has "further to go." here's our special correspondent, lucy manning. the charity workers were supposed to bring help, not abuse. they were supposed to bring

aid, not exploitation. but when people were at their most vulnerable, they couldn't rely on their rescuers. the mps‘ report finds charities and aid agencies have failed to deal with abuse, rape and its workers demanding six rape and its workers demanding sex in return for handing out food. we've reached the conclusion that in the aid sector, there has been complacency verging frankly, on complicity with what has happened. and that is because organisations, all too often have appeared more concerned to protect their own reputation in the sector rather than protecting victims and survivors. haiti, the aftermath of the earthquake in 2010. an investigation by the times earlier this year discovered 0xfam had covered up its staff using sex workers, exploiting vulnerable women and young girls. those who highlighted sexual abuse allegations were ignored. there wasn't the internal live ‘s

acknowledgements of quite how big an issue this was. it is hard for aid agencies focused on doing good things to acknowledge there was this systemic issue and the aid sector has had its meet too moment. had its me too moment. the charity sector has helped many but the report found abuse was an open secret, that the response was patchy and sluggish, little has changed since the uncovering of a sex for food scandal in west africa 16 years ago. there hasn't been change because organisations have become complacent, they have been left to their own devices, there is no external scrutiny or pressure. this is the second time in 16 years there has been global media attention to this. the international development committee recommends an independent

aid ombudsman to help victims, annual safeguarding reports, and a register of aid workers to try to stop sexual predators working in this sector. sometimes people target our industry to get access to these people. i think what is very welcome about this report is that recognition that this needs to be treated as kind of large—scale criminal activity. 0xfam says it is incredibly painful to read the report and it is truly sorry that it failed to protect vulnerable women in haiti. it says improvements have been made but it accepts all charities need to give the same priority to stopping sexual abuse as they do to saving lives when helping in disaster areas. the public gives money to help those in need but charities, the un and governments all stand accused of failing to tackle a problem ignored for years. lucy manning, bbc news. asmita naik was an expert witness to the international development committee's inquiry. you saw her there in lucy's report and shejoins us now. thank you so much. tell us a bit

more about what you make of the report's findings? i welcome the report's findings? i welcome the report because i feel this is the first time victims have been properly heard. this issue has been known about for the long—time but it really is a global resorts. give us an example perhaps of the kind of abuse that you knew about and talk to the parliamentary committee about? i was involved in a report going back to 2002 as a un save the children report and we were on a study tour in west africa in liberia, sierra leone and we uncovered sexual exploitation of children, trading aid for sex, with children, trading aid for sex, with children, biscuits, at appalling sheet and soap. it involved nine aid

agencies and peacekeeping individuals. it was an entrenched, endemic pattern of abuse. what was the response when you reported it? at the one level, there was global policy change for the first time on this issue. that was positive, general resolution, codes of conduct for the first time across the sector. that was very good, but 16 yea rs sector. that was very good, but 16 years on you realise there hasn't been proper implementation. why hasn't moore been done over the yea rs 7 hasn't moore been done over the years? i think there has been a lot of complacency. i don't think there has been the political will to implement these standards. i think other things have taken priority, whether it is reputation, funding rather than the rights of the victims. what kind of safeguards would you like to see going forward

and given your experience, how realistic you think it is we are actually going to see them? what we need now, we need external pressure and external scrutiny. what has happened over 16 years, the agencies have been allowed to get on with this for themselves. now, there needs to be external pressure, some form of external scrutiny. i was delighted to see the committee recommended and external ombudsman. victims can raise complaints themselves externally if they are not dealt with bubbly. i would like to see investment in prevention as well. unfortunately, we must leave it there. thank you very much. let's return to one of our earlier stories — the opening of the trial of president trump's former campaign

manager paul manafort. it's the first case brought by federal prosecutors investigating alleged links between the trump campaign and russia — and it comes on the same day that the president tweeted that "collusion" wasn't a crime. we can cross to our correspondent gary 0'donoghue who's in washington let's start with the tweet back collusion is not a crime. he denies there was any collusion with russia, so there was any collusion with russia, so what do you make of the timing of this tweet? the last few days has been to and fro and onslaughts around this issue of collusion. his lawyer, rudy giuliani, the former mayor of new york, has been talking about collusion not being a crime. it comes against the background of increased speculation of the one piece of concrete evidence or concrete example, if you like, of any connection between the trump campaign and russia during the election and that is the famous meeting of in june

election and that is the famous meeting of injune 2016 were president trump's sun took a meeting with the group of russians he believed would provide some dirt on hillary clinton. that is what we are talking about. did the president know? he denies knowing about that meeting. but his own lawyer, michael cohen, under investigation for his business dealings, he has said the president did know about that meeting. it comesjust hours, the tweet came hours before the start of this trial president trump's former campaign manager. he is not in court on charges of collusion, but how significant is that? it is significant is that? it is significant in the sense this is the first trial leading from that investigation by the special counsel, who is looking into those issues of alleged collusion. so this issues of alleged collusion. so this is thrown up by his investigations, his remit is sufficiently wide enough to pursue this. this is

president trump's former campaign manager, who is accused of bank and financialfraud, accused manager, who is accused of bank and financial fraud, accused of manager, who is accused of bank and financialfraud, accused of pushing tens of millions of dollars through accou nts tens of millions of dollars through accounts and not paying tax in the united states. he denies the charges against him but his former business associate has agreed to testify and cooperate with the prosecutors. it will be about a three—week trial. we know we have a jury, six women and six men have been in panel. that happened quicker than we thought it would and we should get opening state m e nts would and we should get opening statements in that trial this afternoon. has president trump made any comment on the trial. there was some indication he could pardon mr manafort, if he found him guilty, is that right? he can, the president can pardon anyone pretty much, in the united states. there has been

speculation around those who are caught up in the robert mueller investigation that the president might be willing to pardon them. he has sent out a couple of messages in terms of pardons already. not connected with this be connected with the controversial sheriff in arizona, who was convicted on immigration grounds for treating people pretty badly over there. he was pardoned by the president. there is some suggestion some of these people are going through the process in the hope there will be a pardon. it isa in the hope there will be a pardon. it is a high risk strategy because the kind of sentences paul manafort might be looking at are into 30 plus yea rs. if might be looking at are into 30 plus years. if the president chooses not to pardon him he could spend the rest of his life in prison, given he is 69. gary o'donoghue, thank you. the headlines on bbc news: a man is sentenced to 17 years in prison for an acid attack after a woman dies. salman abedi — who killed 22 people in the manchester arena attack,

was rescued from libya by a royal navy ship three years earlier. facebook says it's removed 32 accounts thought to have been set up to influence this years mid—term us elections. it's emerged that the man who carried out the manchester arena bombing last year, in which 22 people died, was rescued from the civil war in libya by a royal navy ship in 2014. 0ur correspondentjudith moritz is at the manchester arena— judith moritz has been following the case. we have always known haque ms enterprise was sent to libya in 2014 to help evacuate more than one hundred british national is caught up hundred british national is caught up in the fighting. the information that on board was salman abedi and

his brother and later became the man responsible for the bomb attack here at the arena. they were in libya visiting their parents and salman abedi was on the radar of security services but m15 couldn't find enough extremist activity they originally expected and they closed the file a month on him a month before the evacuation. was it a missed opportunity? some of those bereaved by the bomb said it was. it has also been said that as a british national he had the right to be rescued. the decision to close the file on salman abedi by the security services were not criticised by those who reviewed of what was known of salman abedi at the time of the attack. facebook says it's identified a coordinated attempt to influence november's mid—term elections in the united states. the social media giant says it's detected and removed 32 fake accounts and pages.

the company says it doesn't know who is behind these latest attacks and no link to russia has been established. let's speak to our north american technology reporter, dave lee. he's in san francisco. details of this is only emerging in the last hour, so can you tell us any more? facebook have put out a lot of information about what they call in authentic activity on their platform. as you mention, they have removed 32 pages and accounts from facebook and it may not seem like many but they did have over 1000 posts and 150 pieces of advertising and they did so using methods more sophisticated than what facebook have seen in the past. facebook said they have used a better system to hide their tracks and they bought

advertising using third party so it looked like they were being bought from within the us or canada. 0ne looked like they were being bought from within the us or canada. one of the interesting things about what this group was trying to do is they arranged 30 events in the real world, most of which was taken place and one was to happen in august, but facebook says it has shut that down. there are some links to the kremlin. facebook said these new accounts they found were operating fairly closely with accounts they knew to be coming out of russia, but they said they are still investigating and they are not 100% sure that can be linked to russia gesture. their hope is, as facebook will be seen 110w hope is, as facebook will be seen now as getting on top of this problem in a way it did before the last presidential election here. of course, in november there is the us mid—term elections facebook was under pressure not to release

information like it did on the vote in 2016. is there any word from facebook on how they came to detect this is going on? facebook says since they learned the lessons of what happened last time they have increased the number of staff they have looking for this kind of thing. they have enlisted the help of the atla ntic they have enlisted the help of the atlantic council, which was able to help them go through these posts and spot patterns that would suggest maybe it was a misinformation campaign, maybe these accounts were who they said they are because often they pose as regular americans looking to be involved in the political process. artificial intelligence plays a big part in finding this, but facebook did stress it is an ongoing situation. the chief operating officer facebook said it was an arms race to stay ahead of these actors, but on this particular campaign, this narrow

campaign, facebook feels it has managed to get on top of this one. dave,in managed to get on top of this one. dave, in san francisco, thanks for that. there are calls for labour to suspend a member of its ruling body, after he was recorded calling some members of thejewish community "trump fanatics." peter willsman, an ally ofjeremy corbyn, claimed that accusations of anti—semitism in the party have been invented. he's since apologised and said not all his remarks were accurately reported, as our political correspondent vicki young reports. do you plan to withdraw as a candidate from the nec? this is peter willsman, the man at the centre of yet another anti—semitism row in the labour party. he is a long—standing ally ofjeremy corbyn and is up for re—election to the party's ruling body. but some are calling on him to stand down after a recording emerged of him denying that labour had a problem with anti—semitism. they can falsify social media very easily and some of these people in thejewish community support trump. they are trump fanatics.

and all the rest of it. so i am not going to be lectured to by trump fanatics making up information without any evidence at all. so i think we should ask the 70 rabbis, where is your evidence of severe and widespread anti—semitism in this party? mr willsman has apologised, saying his remarks fell short and labour says the matter has been resolved. but the party's deputy leader tom watson tweeted, "peter willsman is and always has been a loudmouthed bully. he disgusts me." this jewish labour mp spoke out in the commons about the anti—semitic abuse she has received. the time for action is now. she wants tougher measures against mr willsman. i think it's only appropriate that he is suspended and investigated, and a formal inquiry is opened into that conduct because it is not acceptable. has labour done enough on anti—semitism, mr corbyn? jeremy corbyn has repeatedly

condemned all racism, butjewish leaders accuse him of being too soft on anti—semitic behaviour. in a statement today the labour party said: "we are committed to tackling and eradicating anti—semitism in all its forms in our party and our society. jeremy corbyn has asked labour's general secretary to make speeding up and strengthening our disciplinary procedures against anti—semitism a top priority." but in one north london council, labour activists are worried, saying they saw earlier this year how the anti—semitism row turned voters away. it made a big difference in the local elections. by all the evidence we are gathering, it seems to be the reason that barnet hasn't got a labour council, that could do a lot for the residents here. so it's already done damage, and until it is sorted out it will continue to do damage. labour has held inquiries about anti—semitism and there have been dozens of suspensions but some see peter willsman‘s case as a test forjeremy corbyn.

whether he is prepared to personally intervene against an ally or stay silent and let such behaviour go unpunished. vicki young, bbc news, westminster. more than a quarter of children in england starting primary school lack basic communication and literacy skills, according to new research. the education secretary, damian hinds says it's a "persistent scandal" and that chdren left behind early on, rarely catch up as adults. he's called on parents to read and learn new words with their children. here's our education editor bra nwen jeffreys. it might be summer but they're still coming to school. in one of london's poorest boroughs, a council—run scheme to help families keep learning, to give these children a love of words. some of my favourite words are "like" and "that" and "and". lovable, valuable and empathy. when you read or write you get good

gcses and then you get a good job. the school already runs classes for parents. they told me more advice can only help. if children learn what language is, and the sort of foundation blocks of it before they go to school, it gives them a head start. it doesn't take that long to read, five or ten minutes, you know. even if it is a nursery rhyme. reading to your child is one of the most important things that you can do with them. some parents will really welcome extra tips and advice. language skills are a basic building block of learning. but in the most disadvantaged communities, ten years of austerity have really whittled away at services, leading some to question this government's commitment to social mobility. if parents are trying their best already, why does he think some should be doing more? the shocking thing, if you like,

is then how the gap you have early on between kids from different backgrounds have different starts, how that gap widens as you go through school. do you agree with the chief inspector of schools that working—class communities often lack ambition? look, i think there is talent in every part of our community. we need to make sure that where people have talent, they have ability, they are also aware of the opportunities that are there. parents play an important part in that, schools play an important part in that. some parents might feel patronised, but at this school, they believe home matters too. reading a book at bedtime, reading to your child if your child is at a young age of five. those are the things that really have a big impact on further learning later in life. what no one can answer — how do you reach the families who don't get involved?

branwen jeffreys, bbc news. the sailor, tony bullimore, has died at the age of 79. he became famous in 1997 after surviving four days in the upturned hull of his boat during a round—the—world race. it was feared he had drowned when his boat capsized in the southern ocean — after four days he was spotted by an australian navy ship. he later met the queen and was praised for his "extraordinary feat of survival". now it's time for a look at the weather with tomas schafernaker so we had our spell of cooler weather and some rain but now it looks like the temperatures are going to soar once again and the headline is — but the heatwave will be back, in fact starting from about thursday across the south—east and then it will be warming up in other parts of the country too. but in the short term through tonight and into tomorrow, we've got clear skies,

no rain showers across east anglia, the midlands, in fact much of england and wales. the north west of scotland, here breezy with spots of rain and temperatures on the fresh side, around 11 to 13 degrees. and then tomorrow, sunny skies across the bulk of england i think and then it looks as if it will cloud over across western areas and we are expecting some rainfall in northern ireland. actually, turning quite murky around some of these western coasts. but temperatures starting to climb in the south east, mid or high 20s and into the mid—20s, even as far north as yorkshire. the outlook for the coming days, you can see how hot it turns in the south. hello this is bbc news with rebecca jones. the headlines. a man is sentenced to 17 years in prison for an acid attack which resulted in the death of a woman in high wycombe. joanne rand died 11 days after the acid was thrown over her. today xeneral webster was sentenced for manslaughter. it's emerged that the manchester

bomber — salman abedi — was rescued by the royal navy from libya's civil war — three years before he murdered 22 people at an ariana grande concert last year. facebook says it's removed 32 accounts thought to have been set up to influence this years mid—term us elections. donald trump tweets to say collusion is not a crime. it coincides with the opening of the first case brought by federal prosecutors investigating alleged links between the trump presidential campaign and russia. the president's former campaign manager — paul manafort — arrives at court to stand trial. aid agencies are acused of being ‘almost complicit‘ in sexual abuse across the sector — a damning mps report describes a culture of denial. their criticism comes after revelations emerged that 0xfam staff paid survivors

of an earthquake in haiti for sex. labour is urged to suspend a leading party member, after he was recorded describing some of thejewish community as ‘trump fa natics'. jewish leaders have called peter willsman‘s remarks disgusting. more now on the news that labour is facing growing calls to take action against an ally ofjeremy corbyn, who was recorded criticising members of the jewish community. during a meeting of the ruling national executive committee, peter willsman suggested jewish "trump fa natics" were behind accusations of anti—semitism in the party. he has since apologised — but the former cabinet minister, yvette cooper, said that wasn't enough. well, we can now speak to the journalist and labour activist, michael segalov. he joins us live from our westminster studio. do you condemn the comments by peter

willsman? completely, ithink he needs to be suspended from the party and his comments have no place in a political party especially from someone political party especially from someone supposedly so experienced. i think what needs to happen on the issueis think what needs to happen on the issue is thatjeremy corbyn needs to come out and make it clear it does not matter who these people are that there is no space for people who are anti—semitic in the labour party, as simple as that. do you know when peter willsman made these comments, was it two weeks ago? the meeting was it two weeks ago? the meeting was a few weeks ago, i have been out of the country so i only came across them in the media. i think it is important to remember that the vast majority of labour party members are

committed to fighting racism and prejudice and this is an important distraction from the work that they are trying to do. but when they are not dealt with efficiently and quickly, that is what needs to happen from this point onwards. quickly, that is what needs to happen from this point onwardslj understand happen from this point onwards.” understand jeremy corbyn was that this meeting with peter willsman and a p pa re ntly this meeting with peter willsman and apparently said nothing and indeed has said nothing about this. you have been unequivocal in your condemnation of these comments, can you understand that that leaves the impression that he is soft on this? i think what is happening at the moment in the labour party and in some small sections of it is that there is a bunker mentality and the idea that for years the labour party has been attacked by people looking to do it harm. although stories at the start of the jeremy corbyn premiership about him not wearing a

p°ppy, premiership about him not wearing a pom. all premiership about him not wearing a poppy, all those premiership about him not wearing a peppy, all those things, premiership about him not wearing a poppy, all those things, attempts to undermine the leadership. i think what has happened is that that mentality has not gone away and whilst the ratings have improved and numbers are growing to have a million people, some people still have that mentality. the reason corbyn was elected, he has achieved so corbyn was elected, he has achieved so much in changing the nature of politics in this country because people engage with him. he is human, he listened and understood. the difficulty is that his failure to come out and condemn these comments is undermining all the things that you say he has achieved. ijust want to see what you think it is his silence i find that he endorses these comments or is it that rather he is naive and perhaps even stupid and does not see the damage that

this is doing to the party? which is it that you might neither of those things, i think it is this siege mentality. there are many people around jeremy corbyn and he does need to take decisive action and thatis need to take decisive action and that is what i'm asking of him this evening. to come out and condemn unequivocally anti—semitism. i do not think it is about him being ignorant or stupid or not taken yet seriously but it is about taking yourself out of this siege mentality and realising that important action needs to be done now. i want to say this to be clear, anti—semitism is a problem in the labour party but also a problem outside. anti—semitic sentiments are higher in the conservative party and in ukip then

labour. but jewish conservative party and in ukip then labour. butjewish people in this country feel that labour is not the place for them and jeremy corbyn needs to understand that. if you are perceived to be anti—semitic then thatis perceived to be anti—semitic then that is a problem. imagine you're in room with jeremy that is a problem. imagine you're in room withjeremy corbyn, what does he need to say and do, you say something needs to be done, but to put this to bed? i think the long—term work is already being done by committed people in the labour party but there are short term things to do and the first thing is to condemn these comments and make sure that peter willsman is suspended from the labour party. i think the definition of anti—semitism has called such a fuss and the labour party needs to understand that trust between them and the jewish community

understand that trust between them and thejewish community is very length and they need to try to change that definition to make it more practicably workable. but that in fact has backfired because people do not have faith in the labour party to do that. so the main thing i think is forjeremy corbyn to come out and say unequivocally to his supporters, not the middlemen, but jeremy corbyn who captured the imagination of so many in this country and he needs to come out and make it clear that there is no room in the labour party for anti—semitism whether far right prejudice or these strange conspiracy theories that have been damaging throughout history about the rothschild family aboutjewish cabal running the media. and if you believe those things you are not welcome here. he did do that easily and he needs to do that. thank you so and he needs to do that. thank you so much. the opposition party in zimbabwe has claimed victory in the country's general election — and accused the electoral commission

there of unacceptable delays in announcing the results of the poll. a senior figure in the movement of democratic change accused the zanu pf party —which has been in power for nearly forty years — of interference with the people s will". 0ur africa editor fergal keane reports. this was a day in which conflicting hopes would finally collide. a day that began with the first results being posted outside polling stations. and a day of checking and listening. with this assurance to those who remembered rigged elections of the past. we are absolutely confident there was no cheating, we are absolutely confident there was no rigging and we would like to assure the zimbabwean people that we will not steal their choice of leader. we will not subvert their will. the opposition has alleged vote rigging but still claims victory.

supporters acting as if they'd already won. it did feel premature. the results show beyond reasonable doubt, that we have won this election. and inside, a senior party figure topped the sta kes. tendai biti claimed victory and accused the government of plotting the assassination of his leader. this is the moment when the atmosphere in this election campaign definitively changed. claims of an assassination order, of an attempt to steal the vote. zimbabwe is now moving into precarious territory. the opposition claims are aimed at influencing public and international opinion, ahead of an official announcement. but they drew this response from the ruling party. i am only asking for respect for the people's vote. it is disrespect to the zanu—pf, it is disrespect to the people's choice. up to now this election has

proceeded with calm and tolerance. it will take cool heads to keep it that way. fergal keane, bbc news, zimbabwe. more than a quarter of children in england starting primary school lack basic communication and literacy skills, according to new research. the education secretary damian hinds says it's a "persistent scandal" and that chdren left behind early on, rarely catch up as adults. he's called on parents to read and learn new words with their children, and asked charities and businesses to come up with ideas to help. let's go live to steve marsland, headteacher of russell scott primary in denton in greater manchester. good evening. how widespread is the problem in your experience? very widespread and getting worse. schools in areas like our own which

are high in terms of social deprivation, it is even worse u nfortu nately. deprivation, it is even worse unfortunately. council services are cut to the bone and schools are having to supplement their budgets in buying in speech therapy nowadays. so the problem has got worse over time, say in the last 20 yea rs ? worse over time, say in the last 20 years? today damian hinds is telling us years? today damian hinds is telling us about a new initiative but perhaps he ought to have gone back ten yea rs perhaps he ought to have gone back ten years ago whenjohn bercow actually told him what the problem was and that was poor services and cut backs in services in terms of speech and language services. if he is planning to cut by half those children who are struggling on entry to school by 2028, he could have

started that ten years ago. are you saying it is just the government to blame or have parents and even schools got to take some responsibility? we all have to take responsibility, parents are the first teachers of the children and i heard today that technology companies are getting involved, but there's nothing better than a parent in that matter in terms of weeding to their children. a few minutes every day, a bedtime, that would work wonders and fortunately that is on the increase, our school are trying to close that gap by teachers taking it in turns to read a story ona taking it in turns to read a story on a friday so parents can actually log in and teachers are reading the bedtime story to their children. to try to encourage parents to meet

with their children because it is so important. in this social media age could technology actually help, this might bea could technology actually help, this might be a way of engaging children perhaps? it could be, it works both ways and unfortunately i see children being picked up from school and instead of asking their children about their day, mum or dad has their nose into facebook or snatch at or whatever it might be rather than speaking to their children. that reflects on their children to so that reflects on their children to so they see that kind of social interaction or lack of it and they follow suit. but there are good language and communication apps and we have used them ourselves in schools but there's nothing better than speech and language and talking and in an language rich environment. so they have an early acquisition of language. but it is true that on

entry to school children in areas like our own which is 30% social deprivation, we have got children coming in the poorer language. we must leave it there, thank you. the headlines on bbc news. a man is sentenced to 17 years in prison for an acid attack after a woman dies. salman abedi — who killed 22 people in the manchester arena attack— was rescued from libya by a royal navy ship three years earlier. facebook says it's removed 32 accounts thought to have been set up to influence this years mid—term us elections. the education secretary says it's a scandal that children start school without being able to speak in full sentences. a brexit impact report commissioned

by a kent council has warned of potential traffic chaos on kent's roads, which could last for "many yea rs". the report by dover district council says dover and the m20 could be turned into a giant car park with lorries backed up 13 miles. it highlights what it calls a "major concern" about an increase in queuing lorries damaging air quality and also says pressure needs to be put on the government to ensure the free flow of traffic through the port of dover as a top priority in its brexit negotiations. simonjones reports. brexit is less than a year away but the warning is effects on the roads be felt for years. it could be chaotic and how long will it last, you cannot say. there are no plans i know at the moment for a plan b. the

government ‘s so—called temporary contingency plan, involves using a huge stretch of the 20 is a giant lorry park, that follows warnings that increasing checks on freight could lead to trafficjams stretching for 17 miles with the effeminate solution of an off—road lorry park would not be ready for yea rs. if lorry park would not be ready for years. if you lined up all the lorries passing through the port of doverin lorries passing through the port of dover in a single day it would stretch from here to calais and back again twice, a distance of around 100 miles. 2.6 million freight vehicles passed through the port of dover every year, representing 16 of the uk total trade in goods at a value of £119 billion. some in the town are concerned. it isjust going town are concerned. it isjust going to be traffic chaos. i think people who live here and traders, you will not be able to get around so you

will be just sort of stuck here. 0thers will be just sort of stuck here. others say let's stop the scaremongering. we need to see a bit less of project fear and a bit more action and investment so i say we need modern, cutting—edge custom systems funded by the treasury and we need to be able to take back our borders on day one. the government insists it is confident of reaching an agreement with the eu. we need to make contingencies but i do not envisage an ideal scenario because we're working towards a good deal that works for the uk and for the other countries. but the council says the time for delivery is now. summer's here and the tourist season is in full swing across the uk. the number of overseas visitors continues to grow, with the majority coming from the eu. last year was another record—breaker with more than 39 million tourists to the uk — and they spent more than 24 and a half billion pounds while here.

but how will the sector cope in post—brexit britain? with eight months to go until brexit, emma simpson's been to stratford upon avon to investigate. sha kespeare's country. looking at its best. welcome to anne hathaway's cottage... there's always a queue of visitors here and for foreign tourists, it is now cheaper thanks to the fall in the pound. well, the cheap pound is certainly nice for us. more choice and to visit more places. and spend more? and spend more! tourism has been on a roll since the brexit vote. but what about the road ahead? i'm going to be showing you some nice thatched properties. warwickshire's tourism boss says it's vital we continue to welcome eu visitors. people are worried that there could be a hardening of border controls and we need it to be

as easy as possible in particular for our european friends. you know, they're used to travelling around europe pretty easily, we want them to still know that they can come to the uk really easily. but it's the free flow of workers which poses a far bigger worry. next stop, one of stratford—upon—avon‘s top hotels. around a third of the workers here are from the eu. some left after the vote. now there are 11 vacancies to fill. housekeepers, spa therapists, receptionists, food and beverage waiting staff. all areas where we are trying to curently recruit and we have never seen such a broad issue inside our hotels. and that's before we leave the eu? absolutely, yes. which is, you know, even more worrying. he's not the only one looking for staff. in a town which has next to no unemployment. they need two full—time

scoopers here. 0h, lovely, thank you. as unemployment has fallen, tourism has been increasingly reliant on eu workers. they've filled almost half of all vacancies over the last three years. this industry reckons it's going to need a million new staff by 2024. the big question is, where are all these workers going to come from? so the ambition is to provide training for chefs and caterers... in this region, they are hoping to fill the gaps with home—grown talent. this local landmark is being turned into one of the uk's first hotel training schools. what is at stake is the future of the industry. i think if we don't start to train the future workforce, if we don't get more people involved in this industry, then there's a part of the economy that's at risk.

alas, poor yorick! we've had plenty of drama since the referendum. tourism now wants a smooth transition to the next act. emma simpson, bbc news, stratford—upon—avon. how fast is your broadband? some villages in england are enjoying some of the fastest speeds in the country. tired of waiting for the government's roll out of hi speed broadband to rural areas, a group of volunteers has gone ahead and installed it themselves. other communities are now following their lead. danny savage has been to killington in cumbria to meet the volunteers. the british countryside, a place where most teenagers and quite a few adults get a bit twitchy about wi—fi and getting online. take the newbold family for example, who live at rural cumbria, have dismal download speeds and can't get what their mates can.

snapchat, loads of stuff on instagram. download videos, youtube. is that a big difference to your life, does it matter? yes! it's having a think, it may work, it may not. in a nutshell, we've had to relocate our business to an office where we've got a decent internet connection. miles away? yes, four or five miles away. this rolled up wire and the cabinet here shows that in this case in cumbria, bt are putting the infrastructure in. but what local people say is what comes out of this isn't good enough, so they are putting in their own system which they say is faster and better. nearby, a not—for—profit venture is feeding fibre—optic cables through and under a field. a coalition of willing landowners is working with volunteers to bring superfast broadband to all of these remote properties. most weekends and even in the week, there will be stalwarts amongst us who are out with diggers, digging the trenches so this will have been going on virtually every week and all weekends for the past 18 months.

cable is now shooting out of the ground across these hillsides as the project spreads from farm, to business, to home. it's far better for us to do it for ourselves. it's quicker, less red tape. cheaper, because the landowners are part of the project. the government says ventures like this are part of the broader plan for connecting rural areas. soon, the fibre—optic box on the side of the newbold's home will be activated too, where maybe there'll be a bit less trampolining and more modern teenage pursuits. danny savage, bbc news, cumbria. thousands of puffins and other sea birds are set to benefit from the expansion of a protected area off the yorkshire coast. a special protection area is being extended to help secure the future of the birds on that particular stretch of coast. 0ur reporter phillip norton is in east yorkshire with the details. you join me here at what will be

the start of a newly extended special protection area for the birds, and i can tell you that the noise from these sea birds who are starting to bed down for the night is incredible. this part of the yorkshire coast is home to many thousands and thousands of birds including puffins, guillemots and ganets and this protection area will now be extended to filey meaning it will total almost 12 miles to better protect england's largest sea bird colony and it will mean that more than 4000 puffins will be given extra protection meaning they can live a safer life and that news has been welcomed by visitors to the area today. we live off the dorset coast and it's rare to see a puffin, whereas if we come up here we can see some. no doubt on the north coast we would

see more of them. it is fabulous news as they have been in decline for years. the reserve managerfor the rspb, alison, is with us, and you must be delighted with the announcement. we really are because this is years in the making. this is hours and hours of volunteer staff time counting the birds and working with partners and other managers across this head land to bring it to fruition. what does it mean to all of these birds? it means that the birds are afforded a safe place to breed and for a colony of this size and significance, that's really important. we are talking thousands and thousands. yes, last year we did a full colony count and counted every single bird across the 12 mile stretch and we found we had 300,000 breeding sea birds who produced about 100,000 offspring and tens of thousands

of river birds not breeding yet makes it one of the most important colonies in the uk and certainly the largest in england. and out to sea as well? we have designated an area where the birds spend time whether it is trading was socialising, things that are important to them. what does this mean to this coastal area? what it means as we have something very special, that we are protecting but the future and bringing hundreds of thousands of people to see this amazing spectacle which is pretty much unique. it's hoped today's announcement means the coastal environment and all of these sea birds can be enjoyed by many future generations to come. now it's time for a look at the weather. we had the spell of cooler weather

and some rain but now it looks like the temperature is going to sort once again and the headline is that the heat wave will be back and starting from around thursday across the south—east. then warming up in other parts of the country. through tonight and interested tomorrow we have clear skies, much of england and wales clear skies, breezy with some rain in the north west of scotland. then tomorrow sunny skies across the bulk of england and then it looks as though it will cloud over a cross western it looks as though it will cloud over across western areas and we do expect some rain in northern ireland. temperatures starting to climb in the south—east, made to high 20s. and the outlook for the coming days, you can seejust how

hot it tends in the south. and this is bbc news, i'm rebecca jones. the headlines at eight. a man is jailed for 17 years for the manslaughter of a nurse who died after being splashed head to toe with acid. it's emerged that the manchester bomber, salman abedi was rescued by the royal navy from libya's civil war three years before he murdered 22 people. the spectre of a giant ‘lorry park‘ on the m20 could last for years if there is a no—deal brexit — warns a council in kent. pressure grows on labour to take action against an ally of its leader after he was recorded criticising members of the jewish community. also this hour — president trump says collusion is not a crime — with timing that coincides with the opening of the first case brought by prosecutors investigating alleged links to russia.