a court hears that the england cricketer ben stokes could have killed someone, in a brawl outside 3 bristol nightclub. police bodycam footage of stokes after his arrest has been released. he's giving evidence now. charges have just been dropped against ryan hale, one of the other two defendants. we'll have the latest live from bristol crown court. also this lunchtime: the conservative party is looking into complaints about comments made by borisjohnson about muslim women who wear full—face veils. the us imposes new sanctions on russia, in the wake of the nerve agent attack on sergei and yulia skripal. a damning report says appalling sexual abuse took place for decades at two prestigious catholic private schools, on boys as young as seven. this is a very hard—hitting, very serious report that, as i say, over many years showed that the reputation of individuals and the reputation of the institution itself was far more important to people than the safety and protection of the children.

and: cycling's coming home. thousands are expected to welcome geraint thomas back to cardiff, and to celebrate his tour de france victory. coming up in the sport later in the hour on bbc news: we'll have the latest from the european championships, as katarina johnson—thompson takes the lead in the heptathlon. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. a court has heard claims that the england cricketer ben stokes ‘could have killed' another man during an alleged fight. the all—rounder — who was arrested outside a nightclub in the city last september — has just started giving evidence in his defence.

stokes, and one other man, deny a charge of affray. charges were today dropped against a third defendant. our correspondent, jon kay, is following the case at bristol crown court. yes, four days into this trial, the prosecution case has all been heard. and in the last few moments, the judge has decided that the case against one of these men, ryan hale, should be dropped. he has heard the evidence against ryan hale and the judge decided there is no case to a nswer judge decided there is no case to answer and the jury should find him not guilty. so he will leave cut in the next few minutes. that is why the next few minutes. that is why the cameras, the journalist waiting to hear from the cameras, the journalist waiting to hearfrom him. but the trial continues on to the defence stage. the trial of two men, cricketer ben stokes and the other defendant, ryan

ali. they are both charged with affray, they are both denying those charges. >> weather—macro: has just begun giving his version of events, but before he started in the witness box, we heard the prosecution case against him blush ben stokes has just begun. handcuffed in the back of a police car, this was the moment when ben stokes was arrested in september last year. the footage was shot on the body camera one by the arresting officers in the clifton area of bristol. just yards from the vehicle where the england cricketer was being detained, another man lay injured on the road. i will explain to you where you have been arrested... the footage was shown to the jury

yesterday as part of the prosecution case. video of the alleged incident close toa video of the alleged incident close to a nightclub has already been played to the jury. ben stokes and two other men, ryan ali and ryan hale, were charged with affray, something they all denied. images of the men's injuries have been shown to the cut. ben stokes told police at the time he had been acting in self—defence. this was 28—year—old ryan ali, former soldier ryan hale told police at the time he could not remember much of the incident. he described himself as an innocent bystander. and now, to recap, thejudge has agreed with that. he has told the jury agreed with that. he has told the jury to find ryan hale not guilty of affray, he will be leaving the cut very shortly. meanwhile, ben stokes the cricketer has just begun giving

his defence testimony, he has been asked about his background, the fact he was born in new zealand, he has taught about growing up and playing cricket in cumbria when he was a teenager. he has also been asked about some of the injuries. we saw photographs in that piece of the injuries that were shown from all the men to the jury yesterday. and the men to the jury yesterday. and the barrister ben stokes was asking about swellings on his hand. ben stokes told the jury from the witness box that the swelling to his hand and his knuckles was from an old cricketing injury that went back yea rs, old cricketing injury that went back years, something he had had operations for in the past rather than being a direct result of the allegations of what happened that night in september last year. so, ben stokes now giving his evidence. that will continue for some time. he denies affray, as does the other remaining defendant in this case,

ryan ali. the trial at bristol crown court continues. many thanks. it's understood the conservative party is looking into a number of complaints received about boris johnson's comments about the burka. writing in the daily telegraph earlier in the week, boris johnson compared women who wear the veils to bank—robbers and letterboxes. our political correspondent, jonathan blake, is in westminster. explain this update from the party, what is it saying today? boris johnson has faced several days of criticism after those comments you mentioned in the daily telegraph published on monday. brandon lewis the conservative party chairman called on him to apologise, and the prime minister did so as well. so far, he has shown no sign of doing that and today we understand that dozens that and today we understand that d oze ns of that and today we understand that dozens of complaints have been made to the conservative party about mr johnson's comments. they are now being looked into as a matter of course and the conservative party's

disciplinary procedures. now, there isa disciplinary procedures. now, there is a code of conduct, a set of rules which the conservative party has, which the conservative party has, which sets out in part that elected and appointed representatives of the party should lead by example to encourage and foster respect and tolerance. so as i say, those complaints would be looked into by party officials, there is then a three stage process which may be launched, under which written state m e nts launched, under which written statements can be obtained by those who have complained and mrjohnson himself, ben and independent panel may decide to take further action and the pa rty‘s may decide to take further action and the party's board could decide to expand or exclude somebody, boris johnson, from the party. it may not get that far or anything close to that. but a conservative party spokesman has said today that the code of conduct procedure is strictly confidential and a source close to borisjohnson has declined to comment. jonathan, thank you. the foreign secretary, jeremy hunt, has thanked the united states for standing firm with the uk, after washington introduced

new sanctions on russia following the salisbury nerve agent attack. the former russian spy sergei skripal and his daughter, yulia, were poisoned in the city in march. the us state department says russia violated international law by using chemical or biological weapons. the kremlin has denied any involvement. our washington correspondent, chris buckler, reports. an attack in the middle of england continues to have consequences for international relationships, and in imposing sanctions, america is making clear that it believes russia used the nerve agent novichok in an intended assassination here on the streets of salisbury. in the aftermath of the poisoning of the former russian double agent sergei skripal and his daughter, yulia, the united states was one of many countries that did take action. it expelled dozens of russian diplomats from the us, including many from its embassy in washington. and since then, members of congress have been pushing

for the state department to make a definitive statement that russia had broken international law by using a chemical or biological weapon. in making that determination, sanctions are being automatically imposed that will prevent the sale of some electronics and sensitive technologies to russia. that could put a strain on relationships, at a time when donald trump appears to be trying to reach out to vladimir putin, particularly as a second wave of harsher sanctions will follow, unless moscow gives reassurances that it won't use chemical weapons again and opens up some sites to inspectors within 90 days. the kremlin is likely to resist that. it continues to deny that it was involved in the attempted murder of sergei skripal and his daughter. however, the us isjust one of more than 20 countries who've taken formal action against russia, and the british government has welcomed what it called a ‘strong international response'. chris buckler, bbc news. well, in a moment, we'll

hearfrom our diplomatic correspondent, james robbins. but first, steve rosenberg, who's in moscow. well, what sort of reaction, what is being said where you are, steve? addictively negative reaction. one senior russian politician today said america was behaving like a police state, dispensing justice in the worst traditions of lynching. rather less colourful language from the kremlin today butjust as less colourful language from the kremlin today but just as firm. president putin's press secretary said these new sanctions were absolutely illegal and categorically unacceptable, and he repeated moscow's assertion that russia had nothing to do with the salisbury poisoning. and you get the feeling the kremlin is increasingly confused by the mixed messages coming from washington. on the one hand, the us president donald trump says he wants better relations with russia. but on the other hand, the list of us

sanctions against russia gets longer and longer. and all of this not only getting the kremlin down, but the russian national currency as well. the ruble has fallen to its lowest level against the dollar for two yea rs. steve, thank you. james is with me as well. so britain saying thank you to the states. and infirm, or will we see a change in our approach towards this? not in the short-term, i don't think. it is not surprising jeremy hunt shebang of the united states for what amounts to such extraordinarily muscular action, far beyond anything britain or her european allies have done. we have relied largely on the expulsion of diplomats and even bend the united states expelled a record number. there is a level of automatic city to this, there is a law from 1991 that absolutely mandates that this sort of thing has to happen if it is determined by the administration that any country broke the

prohibition of chemical weapons. it has been determined by the state department under pressure from congress therefore they had to act, they had no choice. they have gone bobby and anything that has been donein bobby and anything that has been done in europe and we could end up with a situation where aeroflot could not fly in and out of the united states if this situation deteriorates still further. jeremy hunt thanking them, but actually, the position here in the uk is significantly different. we rely on eu sanctions, the european union is clearly not in the mood to impose economic sanctions on this issue of what happened in salisbury. it has relied on diplomatic methods in the past. it could be in a post—brexit world, britain is armed with stronger unilateral teeth and it could and a new sanctions law under consideration mount unilateral action against russia, but that is a long way down the track. it is very much for now. a report from the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse has been sharply critical

of the way two private catholic boarding schools were run. it found appalling abuse took place over decades at ampleforth, in north yorkshire, and downside in somerset, and that the schools had both put their reputation ahead of protecting children. the schools have apologised for their failings. our religion editor, martin bashir, reports. downside school, in somerset. like ampleforth, in north yorkshire, described at the inquiry last december as resembling a "harry potter world of beguiling charm". but within these golden monastic buildings, predatory teachers sexually abused children as young as seven for over a0 years. today's report is a comprehensive condemnation of both schools, and their failure to protect children. it says the true scale of abuse is likely to be considerably higher than is reflected in the number of perpetrators convicted. it says monks in both institutions were very often

secretive and evasive, and that both ampleforth and downside prioritised the monks and their own reputations over the protection of children. this is a very hard—hitting, very serious report that, as i say, over many years, showed that the reputation of individuals and the reputation of the institution itself was far more important to people than the safety and protection of children. the report concludes with the disturbing observation that neither school, outside of the context of this inquiry, has ever apologised to the victims and their families. and martin is with me now. what more of these two school saying? in the last few minutes, they have both issued statements apologising, expressing bed deepest regret, describing changes in management and saying they have

instituted new protocols for safeguarding. but keep in mind that in 2001, the roman catholic church itself launched an inquiry, led by lord nolan, to look at the issue of children and their safety in catholic institutions. he made 83 recommendations. five years later, baroness, which was invited to review how the church was doing and she reported that at least 79 of the 83 recommendations were partially or to some extent being implemented. fast forward to today's report. this is what it says, we heard no evidence that downside and ampleforth did any more than pay lip service to the nolan report. they literally ignored their own inquiry and it has taken now this public inquiry for all of this to be dredged out and made public. and so, what on earth happens next? what could be the future? well, the

secretary to the inquiry, john o'brien, he said institutions that don't change will not survive. what is interesting is that the numbers at ampleforth have begun to decline. in 2013, there were 611 students, there are now 546. the number at downside is at its lowest ever, 375. that number has been described as threatening to its continued viability. and as you said earlier, the use of fee—paying schools. if pa rents the use of fee—paying schools. if parents don't feel they can entrust their children to these places, they will not send them and i think ultimately, that is howjudgment will be rendered against ampleforth and downside. all right, thank you, martin bashir. the time now, 18 minutes past one, a reminder of our top story this lunchtime. a court hears that the england cricketer ben stokes could have killed someone in a brawl outside a bristol nightclub. coming up — a giant row over public access

to northern ireland's most popular tourist sites. coming up in the sport in the next 15 minutes on bbc news, the latest transfer deadline news, butjose mourinho isn't confident the number of patients waiting more than one year for non—urgent surgery in england has risen sharply to more than 3,500, the highest in more than six years. the number went up by more than 400 injune alone. the latest figures also show that the number of people going into a&e units in england was at a record high injuly. our correspondent sarah campbell has more. for well over a year, richard, who's 69 years old, has been waiting for an operation on his knee. i can't walk and put any weight on the left leg,

cos it hurts quite badly. i do take painkillers, but it's not enough. and they promised me a new kneecap, and i'm still waiting. figures released today show that the number of patients waiting for more than a year for nonurgent surgery topped 3500 injune. that's the highest figure since april 2012. the number waiting more than 18 weeks has topped 500,000 for the first time in a decade. i think one of the things just to bear in mind about the numbers of people waiting over a year for elective surgery in a hospital is at 3500. just over ten years ago, it was touching 600,000, and the nhs put a lot of effort into bringing that number right down, and over a couple of years it brought it right down

to just a few hundred. so it is possible to do this, we don't necessarily have to live with growing numbers of people waiting over a year. last month was record—breaking in terms of attendance in a&e — well over 2 million people, the highest ever number in one month. it coincided with scorching temperatures experienced across much of england. health professionals say it's further evidence that the nhs is under pressure all year round. one of the things that really worries us is the traditional nhs pattern is we know we have a difficult time in winter. we then use the summer to recover, so what happens is the staff get a bit of a breather, we clear all of the elective—surgery waiting lists. but actually we've not been able to do any of that, so we're really worried about the fact that that means additional pressure kind of going into the coming winter. nhs england call last month's a&e figures unprecedented and point out that, despite the huge numbers attending, nine in ten people were dealt with within four hours.

sarah campbell, bbc news. councillors in northamptonshire have just voted to support an action plan that will lead to radical cuts to services and jobs, as they look to deal with a £70 million budget shortfall. one member of the public told councillors they were "shameful" and would have "blood on their hands" if they went ahead with the proposals. our correspondentjo black is in northampton. we have been hearing so much about this council recently, jo, what is being decided today, does it look like? well, the question faced by councillors here in northamptonshire is how do you save £70 million in this county by march of next year and still protect the vulnerable people who live here? and that is what councils have been talking about and debating here in northamptonshire today at county hall, the building i'm standing outside at the moment, and as you

say, in the last few minutes the action plan they are put in place, which was being voted on, has been voted through in the last few minutes, so more radical cuts coming down the line. and you can already see cuts coming, so bus subsidies have gone, libraries are under threat of closure, a new hq for the council which was opened not so long ago, about a year, has already been sold off, and the council leader told me that it is inevitable that there will be cuts to children's and aduu there will be cuts to children's and adult services, and that is what is mainly causing the concern here in northamptonshire. it was a highly charged meeting at times, let me just tell you some of the comments. one opposition councillor said the plans would endanger the lives of children and vulnerable adults. one member of the public said that the proposals were shameful and a disgrace. now, there are seven tory mps here in this county, and today one of them are spoken out about the situation in northamptonshire. he says it is notjust a local matter but a national matter, there are

national drivers at play, and he is asking for a meeting with the local government secretary, james brokenshire. the mp i am talking about says adult social care demand for rapidly elderly population is the elephant in the room, and he now wa nts the elephant in the room, and he now wants an urgent discussion about how local government is structured and financed. so like i say, that action plan has been approved here by the council today, but where the axe will fall and how deep the cuts will be we are still yet to find out. jo black, thank you. part of a popular beach in north yorkshire remains cordoned off, after a nine—year—old girl was killed by a rock fall yesterday afternoon. police say the girl suffered serious head injures after a section of cliff collapsed at seaton garth north of whitby. it's believed the girl was on holiday with her family. rya nair says it will cancel about one in six of its flights tomorrow because of a strike by pilots in several european countries. the industrial action is part of an ongoing row about pay and conditions. 400 flights are currently affected,

including more than 200 between germany and the uk. a strong aftershock has struck the indonesian island of lombok, four days after an earthquake killed more than 150 people. officials say 230 people are now known to have died after sunday's tremor. more than 150,000 people have been displaced. senators in argentina have voted by a narrow margin to reject a bill that would have allowed abortion during the first 14 weeks of a pregnancy. campaigners on both sides gathered outside the parliament for the crucial vote. currently, abortion is only legal in the country in cases of rape or when the mother's health is in danger. the influential roman catholic church had mounted a fierce campaign against the proposed law. the dramatic giant's causeway is northern ireland's most popular tourist atraction, and one ofjust four natural world heritage sites in the uk. now it's at the centre of a row

about whether tourists are being charged to see it. the national trust disputes claims that its signs surrounding the tourist hotspot are misleading, as our ireland correspondent emma vardy reports. this geological wonder attracted more than1 million visitors last year. legend has it the causeway was once the domain of warring giants. today it is the focus of a different battle. the site is managed by the national trust, although to walk down and see the giant's causeway is free. but some people believe the national trust's signage is designed to make people think they have to pay. they are trying to mislead people into thinking that they have to go into the visitors' centre here to see the giant's causeway. the giant's causeway is free, it belongs to the people of northern ireland, it's part of our heritage. there are no signs saying, "giant's causeway this way", which is through the tunnel behind me here, which is free. but there are plenty of signs here telling you to go

through the visitor centre, where at the moment you have to pay £11.50 to go into what is basically a cafe and a gift shop. signs to the visitor centre advertise the cost of guided tours. it's not immediately obvious where to go if you just want to take the public footpath. and it's small print like this that's got some people even more annoyed. this says access onto the giant's causeway stones is by permission of the national trust. we just came down here, but we wouldn't have known it was for free, it looks like you have to have a guided tour. we were told that we had to have tickets, and to be able to show those tickets when we came down, and it was worth it. signage at the entrance to the giant's causeway tells the public that they are using these paths with the permission of the national trust. if an investigation establishes that all of the parts must be asserted as public rights of way, this signage must be removed. the national trust denies that the signs on the way down here are misleading. it says it's made sure that the public right of way

is formally noted on the public register. despite some suspicions, the trust says there are no intentions to start charging for access to the giant's causeway in future. we're all about access as a conservation charity, and currently we allow people to access the whole site anyway. but if you want to come and enjoy the site using the visitor experience charge, then that's the best way to do it, we would argue. you get a guided tour, you get the audio tour, if you want to take that. the national trust says profits go back into maintaining the site and others on the north coast which also attract many visitors. the council wants the national trust signs to be made clearer and is determined to fight to get legal certainty so that visitors will be able to continue following in the footsteps of giants for free. emma vardy, bbc news, at the giant's causeway. he made history last month, becoming the first welshman to win the gruelling tour de france, and later this afternoon thousands of people are expected to line the streets of cardiff

to welcome home geraint thomas. the first minister, carwynjones, has described thomas's triumph as the stand—out moment in welsh sporting history. our correspondent tomos morgan is in cardiff. well, it's already getting busy outside the castle in the city centre as the country gets ready to recognise someone centre as the country gets ready to recognise someone who was already a double olympic champion, a commonwealth champion, and a triple world champion, but no doubt last month's tour de france victory was the pinnacle of geraint thomas's career, and preparations are well under way as the capital, the home crowd and geraint thomas and self gets ready to celebrate his crowning achievement. never before has the welsh capital prepared to celebrate a cycling victory like this. only rugby and football have ever brought cardiff to a standstill in the past. roads will be closed, and crowds will gather as the country celebrates

an accolade donned by only three other brits — geraint thomas, the first welshman to win the tour de france. today's homecoming will begin in cardiff bay, geraint thomas will then come to the city centre, where he, along with dozens of young cyclists from across wales, will ride down this street, all the way down to the castle. there, he'll meet the home crowd and truly celebrate what's been his crowning achievement. one of the young cyclists that'll be riding alongside the champion this afternoon will be 12—year—old elliw hunt from rhostryfan in north wales. i was so happy, i couldn't believe it. me and my dad went straight out to go on the bike when we knew that i'd be chosen. elliw will be joined by youngsters from thomas's first club, ca rd iff—based maindy flyers. the tour winner is seen as an inspiration here for the next generation of riders, hoping to follow in the champion's footsteps. to win the biggest event

in cycling is amazing. he takes the time to come down here and shows us his medals and gives us some tips to be a bigger and better rider. cycling participation has grown over recent years across wales, and the capital is now being seriously considered as a destination for future world cycling competitions. very realistic for the giro d'italia, which is one of the three grand tours. at the moment, the welsh government is in serious discussions with the organisers of the giro d'italia to bring it to wales in 2021. as they finish their final touches for thomas's triumphant return, the debate has already begun here as to whether his tour de france victory is the greatest achievement in welsh sporting history. thomas will be presented in cardiff

bay by welsh first minister carwyn jones outside the senedd, and when he arrives at the castle to greet the crowd, there will be more tributes, and amongst the crowd is another welsh sporting icons, former team—mates, welsh and british cyclist becky james, alongside team—mates, welsh and british cyclist beckyjames, alongside her boyfriend, rugby superstar george north. no doubt today will be a day to remember not just for welsh cycling enthusiasts, notjust for the welsh sporting public, but also for geraint thomas himself. fantastic, thank you very much, tomos morgan, enjoy it, wonderful celebrations in cardiff coming up a little bit later. let's have a look at the weather prospects with tomasz you know, they are asking me if summer you know, they are asking me if summer has gone, but we have got weeks of that still left. it has just turned to what it is supposed to be like across our part of the world, a bit of a