hello, you're watching afternoon live, i'm simon mccoy. today at 2pm... they've gone, yeah. what about the two other labs? —— lads. police body—camera footage is released of the moment cricketer ben stokes is arrested, as he begins giving evidence at his trial for affray. huge cuts to services and jobs in northamptonshire as the council votes on trying to tackle a £70 million budget shortfall. borisjohnson faces an inquiry over comments he made about muslim women who wearfull face veils. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport. another busy day at the european championships in germany in scotland, strong start from katarina johnson—thompson in the heptathlon. all of the details coming up later. thanks, olly. and thomasz has all the weather. it will remain pretty mixed over the

next few days, but back to what summer next few days, but back to what summer should be like in our part of the world can look cool, breezy with a few showers. thanks, thomasz. also coming up, we'll be live in cardiff, as welsh cycling hero geraint thomas returns home from his historic win at the tour de france. thousands of people are expected on the streets to welcome him. good afternoon. the england cricketer ben stokes has begun giving evidence at his trial at bristol crown court. he and another defendant are accused of affray, after being arrested outside a nightclub in the city last september. a third man, ryan hales, was today ordered to be freed after charges against him were dropped. this morning, police released bodycam footage of ben stokes being arrested.

our correspondent, jon kay, has been following the case. sorry, do you mind just loosening that right one on my wrist? 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 a body camera worn by the arresting officer 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. that's all i've been told at the moment, so that's why i've arrested you on suspicion of assault, 0k? that's absolutely fine. the footage was shown to the jury yesterday as part of the prosecution case. 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 hales, were all charged with a count of affray, something they all denied. images of the men's injuries have been shown to the court. ben stokes told police at the time he had been acting in self defence. this was 28—year—old ryan ali. former soldier ryan hales told police at the time that he couldn't remember much of the incident. he described himself as an innocent bystander. our correspondent, phil mackie, is outside bristol crown court with the latest developments. ben stokes has started giving evidence? yeah, he is about to resume after the lunchtime adjournment. today the big development in the trial was one of the three men charged with affray, ryan hales had been cleared. the judge said, it is right i should

exercise my responsibility by directing you there is no case to a nswer directing you there is no case to answer against ryan hales, and the prosecution have alleged he picked up prosecution have alleged he picked upa prosecution have alleged he picked up a metal pole, seen on some of the video cctv carrion, but there was no evidence he had used it. in the end, he has been cleared, he left court saying he was relieved and happy about the case. the trial continues. against ben stokes and ryan ali, the man u have seen pictures of after the incident. ben stokes has been running through a fence before the fight -- running through a fence before the fight —— the man you have seen pictures of. england have been playing west indies and they won. ben stokes had said a number of players and wires had been out to celebrate and players had gone on a nightclub and then it was just him and alex hales who returned. the key pa rt and alex hales who returned. the key part of the cross case —— the prosecution case, at some point, as

he tried to get back into the nightclub, after due, arguing with the dorman, a fight broke out. police witness statements he gave after his arrest, he said he had been trying to defend two game then he felt were under attack from ryan ali and ryan hales and he will be cross—examined no doubt later on as well today. —— two gay men. cross—examined no doubt later on as well today. -- two gay men. the police body camera footage we have seen today was shown to the jury yesterday? yeah and only released to the media today. the pc were in the body camera, you can hear her voice explaining the ben stokes why he had been arrested and also when stokes then at the point of arrest saying, i was trying to defend my friends, pointing to the two gay men who were involved in this incident in clifton

last year. the latest from the stop crown court, back to you later, thank you. —— from bristol crown court. county councillors in northamptonshire have voted to support an action plan that will lead to radical cuts to services and jobs — as they try to deal with a 70 million pound 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 correspondent, jo black, is in northampton for us now. a very difficult afternoon ahead? how do you say £70 million by march next year and still protect the vulnerable people in this county? that is the challenge facing councillors in northamptonshire. as you were saying, they have been talking and debating about an action plan about how to save money today at the council. in the last hour, that has been voted through. as you can imagine, that has brought a lot

of concern with regard to this because not only are things like bus subsidies being cut, 21 local libraries under threat of closure, the new hq the council was based on, the—year—old, already sold off. those sorts of cuts are already happening, but now people are really worried about children and adult services, what will happen to them now the action plan has been put through? as you we re plan has been put through? as you were pointing out, a highly charged meeting and at times some comments from members of the public, the proposals are shameful and a disgrace, she said. an opposition councillor said, the plans will endanger the lives of children and vulnerable adults. the chief finance officer said the authority cannot continue to spend money it does not have. i have just continue to spend money it does not have. i havejust had continue to spend money it does not have. i have just had a continue to spend money it does not have. i havejust had a chat continue to spend money it does not have. i have just had a chat with tony, one of two commissioners in northamptonshire, brought in three months ago off the back of a government report into the financial

mismanagement at this council. i spoke to him about the cuts and he said, i know there is a lot of focus on the cuts, but he said this council spends more on children's services than any other county council in the country and therefore there is scope for the cuts. he understands why people would worry because everything is happening all at once. even though the action plan has been voted through today, we are still awaiting more detail, so whether —— so were the cuts will come, we are still waiting to find out. thank you. it's understood the conservative party is looking into a number of complaints received about boris johnson's comments about the burqa. writing in the daily telegraph earlier in the week, mrjohnson compared women who wear a full face veil to bank robbers and letterboxes. he has also been criticised by the house of commons watchdog for taking thejob house of commons watchdog for taking the job with the daily telegraph the short time after quitting his ministerial post. he had failed to comply with the rules, taking the

job before getting guidance from the committee. 0ur political correspondent, jonathan blake, is in westminster for us. first of all, the burqa row which is gathering pace? yes, several days since the comments by borisjohnson in the daily telegraph on monday in which he likened muslim women wearing the full face veil the bank robbers and letterboxes and described it as ridiculous. there has been criticism from senior members of the conservative party, the prime minister said he should apologise, the chairman saying as well. and today we learn dozens of complaints have been made to the conservative party about mr johnson's comments. those complaints will be looked into as a matter of course under the pa rty‘s will be looked into as a matter of course under the party's code of conduct procedure. there will be three stages, firstly, complaints will be assessed and if the officer looking at them decides they are

trivial or without merit, they can be thrown out straightaway. then an independent panel will look further into the complaints, gaza written evidence from those who make them and possibly mrjohnson himself, —— gather written evidence. they will decide whether to take action and whether to refer the complaint to the party board which is chaired by the party board which is chaired by the conservative party chairman, brandon lewis. they can take action including but not limited to suspending someone or excluding them from the party. the process may not get that far, but under the code of conduct rules that the conservative party has, these complaints are being looked into as a matter of course and to give you an idea of the ground the conservative party's code of conduct covers, it says, elected representatives and officials of the party should lead by example and encourage and foster respect and tolerance. that process will now run its course, we do not

have no —— we do not know how long it would last. an official saying today that the code of conduct process is strictly confidential. what about the house of commons committee looking at his contract with the daily telegraph, they are not happy, how much trouble is he in with them? a slap on the wrists. a government body, the office of the advisory committee on business appointments, they published this letter online today which goes into some detail about the job that mr johnson took with the daily telegraph after resigning as foreign secretary earlier this month, he resigned as the minister on the 9th ofjuly and signed a contract with the telegraph a few days later. under the rules, he should have sought advice from the committee about that job to sought advice from the committee about thatjob to receive guidance on whether it was appropriate for him asa on whether it was appropriate for him as a former minister to take it up. he did not do that in the time allocated. he only did it

retrospectively after signing his contract with the telegraph and the committee watchdog is not happy. it said he is clearly breaking the ministerial code, retrospectively, if you like, not a minister anymore, and it is unacceptable he did not seek advice. he will not face punishment but they have ruled he needs to amend his contract with the daily telegraph to specify that no privileged information will be used in his reporting. thank you very much. 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 double agent, 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.

0ur 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 attempted 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 the strong international response. chris buckler, bbc news. within the last hour, a spokesperson for the russian foreign ministery has accused the us of damaging ties between the two countries and warned of retaliatory measures to come. russia has warned multiple times that using force and using ultimatums when talking with us is futile. russia is going to develop

a response to this very hostile step on the part of washington. and once again, against this backdrop, the reassurances coming from the american administration, they are ready to keep bettering the relationship with russia, they seem hypocritical. unfortunately, their actions justify that they are not ready to do that. let's talked to david mortlock, former white house advisor and sanction expert who has worked on iran sanctions policy for the national security council under president barack 0bama. there some eyebrows raised us to where it has taken so long for this to happen. i think it is part of a fairly robust response by the us to the sergei skripal and yulia

poisoning. the us expelled about 60 diplomats and joined a strong statement of condemnation against russia for orchestrating the attack in salisbury and this is really part of that response, the continuation of that response, the continuation of it. obviously, it takes time to make the assessment, a legal determination, the terms of the statute, the chemical and biological weapons statue, that it has been met. but the administration has followed through on it and imposed additional sanctions that will restrict exports of some items to russia. but really what matters is what happens next and now the statute has been triggered, in 90 days, if russia does not agree the commitments on chemical and biological weapons, if it does not agree to inspections by international inspectors, un or other, additional sanctions could go into effect, but it is true the

administration has broad discretion on that, an open question what happens 90 days from now.|j on that, an open question what happens 90 days from now. i do not know if you were a betting man, but it is highly unlikely russia will say anything other than no to that. i would not put my money on yes. i think i would be shocked if the administration took this action on the assumption that the russians would come through. i think they are absolutely understand the possibility, the likelihood, that russia will simply say, no, thanks. but the administration has a lot of discussion about what sanctions to impose 90 days from now so it has plenty of options available to either come through with a strong rebuff on russia or temper the measures based on what the president decides. president trump on twitter, absolutely nothing about this at all. well, you know, he is not one

to be reluctant to weigh in on twitter, that is for sure. it is a real surprise. this is a fundamental problem with the administration's approach on russia. you see the state department, the treasury department, they are absolutely trying to hold russia to account for its violations of international law, whether it is the poisoning in the uk, interference in us elections, cyber attacks, russia's ongoing intervention in ukraine and syria, but at the same time, you see the president stand next vladimir putin and say he takes putin's word at face value and frankly, the end result is a really muddled message from the us administration. u nfortu nately, from the us administration. unfortunately, all of those tough responses, the absolutely justified responses, the absolutely justified responses from the rest of the administration, the message is

diluted and confused by the president's statements. and his actions because a letter has been delivered to vladimir putin in the last 12 hours, we do not know what is in it, but there is that nagging question, has vladimir putin got something on donald trump? his actions of the last 12 hours doing nothing to dissipate that, do they? i could certainly speculate, as to what putin might have on trump, what was in the letter, what they discussed in the two and a half hours in helsinki withjust their interpreters in the room. we would love to know. but the reality is, we also saw with our own eyes and heard with our only is what the president said standing next to vladimir putin ata said standing next to vladimir putin at a press conference and what it boiled down to was, trump said, he took putin at face value, he took his word for it that they did not intervene in the us elections, in

contravention of the president's own intelligence community. that obviously is really concerning and really does die looped and send a mixed message regarding the administration's response to russia. david, very good for you to join us. thank you. you're watching afternoon live. these are our headlines... body camera footage of the moment cricketer ben stokes was arrested has been released. the all—rounder is accused of affray and is giving evidence at his trial in bristol today. northamptonshire county council has approved massive cuts to jobs and services in a bid to combat a £70 million budget shortfall. the conservative party is looking into complaints about comments made by borisjohnson about muslim women who wearfull face veils. the number of patients waiting more than 12 months the nonurgent surgery

is at its highest level for more than six years. the european championships, the athletics continues in berlin where katarina johnson—thompson has started her bid for heptathlon gold medal. top of the standings after the hurdles and highjump. the tra nsfer the hurdles and highjump. the transfer window shuts today, still no play in the second test between india and england because of the weather at lord's, england 1— up in the five test series. i will be back with all of the details on those stories in the next ten minutes. 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. 0ur 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. martin bashir, bbc news. 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. 0ur correspondent, sarah campbell, has more. for well over a year, richard, forwell overa year, richard, 69, has been waiting for an operation on his knee. i cannot walk, i cannot put any weight on the left leg. it

hurts quite badly. i do take painkillers, but it is not enough. they promised me a new kneecap and i am still waiting. figures released today showed that the number of patients waiting for more than a yearfor patients waiting for more than a year for nonurgent surgery topped 3500 injune, the highest figure since april, 2012. the number waiting more than 18 weeks has topped half a million for the first time ina topped half a million for the first time in a decade. i think one of the things to bear in mind about the numbers of people waiting over a yearfor numbers of people waiting over a year for elective surgery in hospital is that 3500, just over ten yea rs hospital is that 3500, just over ten years ago, it was touching 600,000. the nhs put a lot of effort into bringing that number right down. 0ver bringing that number right down. over a couple of years, it brought it right down to just a few hundred.

so it is possible to do this, we do not necessarily have to live with the growing number 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 is further evidence the nhs is under pressure all year round. one of the things that worries us is the traditional nhs patent is we have a difficult time in winter and we use the summer to recover so what happens is the staff get a breather, we cleared the elective surgery waiting lists, but we have not been able to do that. we are worried about the fact it means additional pressure going into the coming winter. nhs england called last month's a&e figure is unprecedented and despite the huge numbers attending, it said nine in ten people were dealt with within four

hours. sarah campbell, bbc news. now the weather. you have got... some figures, some of us will remember the summer of 1976, the drought, the figures suggest we have been to a longer period of sun? drought, the figures suggest we have been to a longer period of summ is very interesting because we have actually had more days of 30 degrees 01’ more actually had more days of 30 degrees or more in the country than in 1976, 26 days, through the summer, 30 degrees or more, it is a lot for our climate. just to give you an indication of what we normally get in the summer, 2010, we had six, 2011, three days of 30 degrees. that averages about five. we have had 26. going back to 1976, there were a couple less, 24. the interesting thing is, we are not through the summer thing is, we are not through the summer yet, that number could still rise. is there a trend here? looking

at of the other years, there does seem an increase? at of the other years, there does seem an increase? this could be a coincidence, but with the warming climate, you would expect heatwaves to be more frequent. but this one is com pletely to be more frequent. but this one is completely going down in the history books. anybody in this country for the last month, i would put £1 on to say they had been bitten somewhere. buy something nasty. yes, the bugs. everyone has been bitten somewhere, i certainly have, legs, arms, all over. i was doing research, trying to find out whether it is the heat making the bugs more aggressive, and apparently, no, it is very simple, we are out in our shorts and t—shirts and we have the windows openin t—shirts and we have the windows open in the night and they fly in and bite us. on the nhs website, an interesting bit of advice, in order

to not attract them, you should avoid frequent things like soap, perfume, shower gels, in the middle of the heatwave! interesting! 0bviously working for some! of the heatwave! interesting! obviously working for some! anyway. let us move on, the cloud, which illustrate it, its name. i made up the name, angel's wing cloud. i read it as gospel. it does look like an angel's wing. it is an angel must have lost its wing in battle and it turned to unicorn dust... is there a thing the —— is there anything meteorological? a beautiful picture. you will bring the forecast. there has been a break in the weather.

everyone now looking towards the weekend and what is in store and buy magic we can now go to tomasz schafernaker with the weather forecast. very different to that angel's wing, very threatening, we will see more of these in the next few days, quite a mixture of sunshine and showers and it is going to be pretty u nsettled. and it is going to be pretty unsettled. very turbulent across the north atlantic. this is where the sunshine is, to the south. these we re sunshine is, to the south. these were the systems will be heading our way. showing you the bigger picture of what is happening, a dip in the jet stream. think of the cool air across the north pole as blue plasticine, when you get a dip in the jet stream, it drags the cooler air in ourdirection. the jet stream, it drags the cooler air in our direction. where you have air in our direction. where you have a peek, a rich, in thejet stream, the warm air is dragged up, that is what sometimes gives us the

changeable weather. we are in the trough at the moment, we in place, temperatures nowhere near what they we re temperatures nowhere near what they were days ago, particularly in the south where we were hitting 33. end of the afternoon, rainy weather, still need the rain, we want more rainfall. but it looks as though the afternoon is looking pretty wet from norwich to essex, but eventually clearing. this area of low pressure, not so little, bringing nasty conditions to the low countries, and when it plays, we are in the wake of the low and it is clear skies and quite nippy. a few showers. but whether skies are clear, temperatures down to single figures, pretty chilly night. friday, in between weather systems, that is the one affecting parts of scandinavia, bringing strong winds and heavy rain

denmark and norway, we have air coming off the atlantic, sunshine and showers, typical summer's day. though 20s in the south, high teens in the north. this is exactly what it should be this time of year. the weekend is looking a little bit mixed, low—pressure rolling in meaning cloud and rain but not for everybody and not all the time. i do not want to write off the weekend but it will be quite changeable. glasgow might see sunshine on saturday, sunday might be wetter. same for aberdeen. the further south, the warm it gets and by the time you get to southampton and london, in the 20s, and second half of the weekend, in london, could be mid—20s, perhaps around 26. feels like to some of us summer has grown toa like to some of us summer has grown

to a halt but it hasn't. remember, we are only the second week of august, then september is still pretty good as well, yes, looking more unsettled, but it is pretty much where we should be this time of the year. for the moment, does not look like there are any heatwaves on the way for now. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. they've gone, yeah. body camera footage of the moment

cricketer ben stokes was arrested after a fight last year has been released. the all—rounder, who is accused of affray, took to the stand today to give evidence in his defence. councillors in northamptonshire have voted to support an action plan that will lead to radical cuts to services and jobs. the county council are trying to deal with a £70 million budget shortfall. complaints about borisjohnson's comments on muslim woman wearing burkas are to be investigated by the conservative party. the uk has welcomed new american sanctions on russia, imposed after the us state department ruled that the kremlin and had used a lethal nerve agent against former spy sergei skripal and his daughter. sport now on afternoon live with 0lly foster. you are here this morning, has been

describing what it was like. she has been describing it. she says it has an olympic vibe. she loves the fact it isn't just the an olympic vibe. she loves the fact it isn'tjust the track cycling, but you have gymnastics going on. we've had 0pen water swimming in loch lomond, the women's triathlon is underway in the strathclyde country park just outside glasgow, and the athletics continue in berlin. the heptathlon started today , great britain's katarina johnson—thompson is the commonwealth champion, but this is going to be a much tougher competition becasue one of her opponents is nafi thiam, the belgian who is world and olympic champion, kjt was fourth after the opening sprint hurdles, she went to top of the standings in the hithump. it is one of her strongest events and she managed a season's best of 1 metre 91 centimetres. she's 51 points ahead of world and olympic champion nafi thiam. the shot putt and 200 metres are coming up this evening one of the final events

of the championships is the men's cycling road race in glasgow on sunday. but after taking medical advice mark cavendish has withdrawn from the british team. the former world champion on the road and the most successful sprinter in the history of the tour de france failed to finish last month's tour, and the team say that the exertions of competition after a combination of injuries and illness has taken it's toll. he'll be replaced by mark christian . a .abig . a big blow for the championships, he was one of their stars. cavendish not able to compete. it's transfer deadline day in england, much business going on? nothing major, there was chelsea's 71 million pound signing of kepe arrizabalega yesterday a record for a keeper, that saw thibaut courtois leave stamford bridge real madrid showed him off this morning, he signed for around

£31 million and has signed a six year contract at the bernabeu. midfielder mateo kovacic has helped that deal go through by moving the other way on loan west ham have signed striker lucas perez from arsenal, he spent last season on loan at his old club deportivo la coruna. the fee is £4million. arsenal paid 17 million for him 2 years ago. they have taken a bit of a hat. manchester united manager jose mourinho had hoped to bring in two more players, warning that it would be ‘a difficult season' if he couldn't , but the clock is ticking and speaking today he was his usual cheerful self when asked about possible signings.. iam not i am not confident. it closes today. it is time, for me, to stop thinking

about the market, because the market will be closed. i will have two focus on the players i have. we're still waiting for play in the second test between england and india. it hasn't stopped raining. ben stokes in the side, stokes of course is attending his court case in bristol. when play does start, we will get to see 20—year—old 0llie pope, who will win his first cap. the surrey batsman is in the side in place of dawid malan and will bat at four. england are 1—0 up in the series. great britain's wheelchair rugby team have missed out on a place in the final of the world championships in sydney. they lost to the hosts australia by 59 points to 57, in an incredibly tight match. they have never made it to a major world final — they'll take on the united states tomorrow for bronze. wheelchair rugby lost its uk sport funding after failing to win a paralympic medal in rio but the sport was given some

financial support to compete at these world championships. that's all the sport for now. another powerful earthquake has hit the indonesian island of lombok, causing more damage to the already devastated area. it follows a quake on sunday which killed 230 people, according to the head of the provincial search and rescue agency on the island. the latest tremors sent locals fleeing into the streets to escape collapsing buildings. with more, here's david campanale. after a series of hundreds of tremors since sunday, now a major aftershock. it startled rescue workers who had been digging through rubble or trying to get aid to survivors of the earlier larger quake. it left already traumatised residents terrified. in the devastated north of the island, buildings and walls

already weakened have collapsed. eyewitnesses describe people running out into roads even as rocks tumble down from the hillsides. officials say the epicentre of the aftershock was on land and so there has been no risk ofa tsunami. this latest quake was also felt in bali, at the international airport, people were filmed shouting and running for the exits down escalators and across the main hall. 0n lombok, most people live in basic housing in small committees. tens of thousands are now sleeping out in the open air or in the ruins of their homes. after this latest quake, announcements were made by the authorities at the evacuation site urging people to remain calm or to stay inside tents or to find open space if near buildings. a humanitarian crisis now looms on the island where thousands

are in desperate need of clean water, food, medicine and shelter. emergency workers have been reaching more remote areas as they continue their rescue missions. according to the red cross, they have come across some villages which have completely collapsed. the official death toll from sunday's quake is expected to continue to rise, with the disaster mitigation agency describing a big increase in the past 24 hours. the argentinian senate has narrowly voted down a proposal to liberalise the country's strict abortion laws. the issue has divided the country after an acrimonious campaign. from buenos aires, katy watson reports. on one side of congress, celebration. 0n the other, sadness.

and after the vote, there was also anger, as the two sides came face—to—face. just like injune, when the lower house narrowly voted in favour of the bill, it was a long day in congress. translation: this law doesn't obligate, nor does it recommend anyone have an abortion. the only thing this law does is defend the right to choose. if there were no law, we would be contributing to doing so in a clandestine manner. the business of some clinics, some doctors, to the unsafe sale of the extremely expensive abortion drug, as we all know. the law makes it possible a right which is safe practice. but unlike the lower house, there was much more opposition to the bill in the conservative senate. religious groups had stepped up their campaign to make sure the bill didn't become law. translation: we want to tell the whole world argentina is not

in favour of abortion. argentina does not want abortion within its country because it brings destruction of all lives. and it's not the solution for these women who need help. they need us to be next to them. they need love, and this bill does not give that. this bill gives a death solution. while the politicians deliberated, the campaigners shouted. throughout the debate, they made sure their voices were heard. as the day went on, the weather worsened, but it didn't stop people heading to the streets. the green—scarved pro—choice campaigners wanted to see if history could be made. those in blue were determined it wouldn't. most of argentinians are pro—life and want another option for the mother. do think argentina is not ready for legalising abortion yet? will it come?

i don't think civilisation is ready for the legalisation of abortion. i think everyone has the right to life. after yet another marathon session in congress, the decision has been made. there will be no change in the law yet. these people are happy, but campaigners say it is not the end of the road for them yet. for those who wanted abortion legalised, hope ran out early on. the streets emptied before senators even started voting. they knew their fight was over for now. we will come back next year. it's really important, nowadays, so many people are rooting for you, that never did. so i think it's really important. it's a big change for us. translation: we will continue going out onto the streets and continue fighting for the rights of women. we've started a fight, and until we win we won't give up. it's a debate that most people agree will return to argentina's congress once again.

katie watson, bbc news in buenos aires. regular physical activity three to five times a week is the optimal amount for improving mental well—being according to research published in the medicaljournal the lancet. more than a million people took part in a study in the united states which found that all types of activity, including housework and mowing the lawn, were found to be positive but overdoing things was counter—productive. our health reporter laura foster has more. it's long been known that exercise keeps the body healthy, and now we're really beginning to learn more about the effect it has on the mind. switch! new research, which surveyed more than a million people, found that those who exercised said they suffered from poor mental health less often than those who didn't. it's one of the reasons people come to this running cloud in didsbury. go, go, go, go, go! feel really good coming away from it. so no matter how your day's been, you know, if you push yourself, you're going to be

happy at the end of it. exercise in general is the best way by far for me to de—stress. it gives me a lot of freedom and confidence, and it's helped me get over a lot of depression. the strength of the impact is also linked to linked to how much time was spent exercising. the biggest reduction in poor mental health came when people exercised for between half an hour to an hour at a time. if you exercised for an hour and a half, you'd still see an improvement, but it would be smaller. but the survey suggests there can be such a thing as too much exercise. being active for more than three hours a day was associated with worse mental health than not exercising at all. but does being inactive lead to poorer mental health, or does poorer mental health mean you're less likely to get active? at this point, experts can't determine which one causes the other. laura foster, bbc news. alice is here — in a moment he/she will be telling police release bodycam footage

of ben stokes after his arrest as the court hears he could have killed someone in a brawl outside a bristol nightclub, he's giving evicence now. northamptonshire county council has approved massive cuts to jobs and services in a bid to combat a seventy million pound budget shortfall. the conservative party is investigating complaints over comments boris johnson made about muslim women who wearfull face veils. here's your business headlines on afternoon live uk rental prices could rise as much as 15% over the next five years — that's the warning from the royal institution of chartered surveyors who say the lack of new rental properties could drive up prices. sterling has recovered very slightly against the dollar after big falls over the past 24 hours. the falls happened after the markets

showed concern that a no brexit trade deal will be reached with the european union. yesterday it dipped below 1.29 against the dollar for the first time in almost a year. the united states says it will impose fresh sanctions on russia after determining it used nerve agent against a former russian double agent living in the uk. britain welcomed the move, which will see new financial sanctions take effect on or around 22nd august. the news sent the russian rouble to its lowest level since november 2016. the struggling department store chain house of fraser has set a deadline of 20 august to secure fresh funding. house of fraser told the luxembourg stock exchange that "discussions continue" with potential investors. so uber‘s had some bad news in new york, what's happened? well, new york has become the first major us city to approve

a cap on the number of cars available through ride hailing apps. it's also agreed to set minimum pay conditions for drivers. two really big changes today. what's been the reaction? as you would expect — ride hailing apps like uber and lyft have criticised the move as bad for consumers. however, yellow cab drivers and anti—congestion campaigners — who have been pushing for this type of regulation after the number of app—based cars soared in recent years — have been celebrating, with the new york taxi workers alliance describing it on its website as a historic victory the number of these apps have

totally eclipsed the number of yellow cards. and tie congestion campaigners really welcoming this move. blueberries not be? goober is not happy, no. well let's cross to new york now, where our north american business correspondent kim gittleseon joins us. a hugely divisive move because consumers love the ease and cost of these right hailing apps. it has become a major issue in the city, hasn't it? not only for these yellow cab drivers, but also when it comes to the sheer volume of congestion on the streets. you mention some of the key numbers here, the reason i would say that uber are unhappy is that they

plan on making their debut stock market in 2019. if this spread outside of new york city, that could significantly hamper their ability to grow and it could dampen investor ‘s enthusiasm for these apps as they try to raise money. uber is finally done something like $62 billion. £50 billion. that is a pretty high valuation. particularly if it is looking at the ability to grow within its main market. that is why you will see quite a bit of defensiveness from the companies, you will see lobbying campaigns. i was opening both apps on my phone before i came to talk to you, both of them have messages to riders right now saying that they should

oppose these moves. it will be interesting to see how this plays out, if people do actually protest that they need these apps. as you mentioned, new york city cab drivers are very happy with this move. they have hailed it as a victory. particularly because many of them have cited low wages as one reason that we have seen a significant number of taxi driver suicides here in new york city. they say that they cannot make a wage, a living wage here. that is why moves like this are needed. this is an incredibly emotive into issue, isn't it? it has the support of the new york mayor. the major question is is this going to spread beyond new york city? what has been the immediate reaction to the share price? neither of them

publicly trading at. they are planning on making their public stock market debuts in 2019. they are still some of the biggest privately held companies here in the united states. i think the main question is whether or not they continue with their timeline to enter public marketeer or if this leads to some sort of re—evaluation. all eyes will be on any potential flotation. for now, many thanks. let's have a look at the markets. all major european markets are dipping today. particularly on the ftse 100. dipping today. particularly on the ftse100. the share price was down as much as 10% at one point. the company is blaming this on the summer heatwave are encouraging uk

citizens to stay at home. the other big story of the day has been the slight recovery that we have seen in sterling. it dropped hugely in the last 24—hour is to its lowest level that we have seen in a. it is recovering slightly against both currencies. we are keeping a close eye on it. i shall talk to you later. the giant's causeway — northern ireland's most popular tourist atraction, and one ofjust four natural world heritage sites in the uk — is at the centre of a row about whether tourists are being charged to see it. access to the causeway is free of charge, but some have claimed that national trust signs surrounding the site mislead people into thinking they need to buy tickets. 0ur 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. time for a look at the weather. here's tomasz in the last few days, we really have seen some dramatic shifts in the weather patterns. from the heatwave in the south, to much cooler weather. for many of us, it really is a picture of sunshine and showers in the coming days. actually, the atlantic is looking a lot more active right now, we have a tropical storm out there in the atlantic. the weather systems are brewing in the northern portion of the ocean. now, i want to show you the jet stream. this is a dip in thejet stream. when we see dips in the jet stream,

that means we are seeing colder air. that is what is over us right now. whereas, the heat that we had is now transferred way towards the east of us. this is what it looks like during the rush hour. actually, a lot of fine weather around across the bulk of the uk. beautiful weather in the lake district down to wales. it has been cloudy and grotty across the south—east and east anglia. this is a nasty area of low pressure that will be bringing some really stormy conditions to parts of the low country. possibly into denmark as well, through the night. fortunately, that low is missing us. we are in the wake of it. we have got some fairly fresh conditions out there. it will be quite a chilly night. single figures out in rural spots. even in london, 11 or 12 degrees, which is really quite cool compared to the lows that we have been getting so far. they have been mostly in the mid—or high teens. let's have a look at the weather for friday. we are waking up to plenty of sunshine. notice there are some

blobs on the weather map. these are individual showers that will be moving through. if you are out for a lengthy period of time on friday, take a brolly. there could be some dark clouds on the horizon. you might get a downpour. most of the time, friday is looking bright. in the sunshine, it is still going to feel warm. the august sun is very powerful. saturday and sunday, we are expecting some low pressure to roll in off the atlantic. you can see weather fronts, there is well. that does mean rain. not all the time and not absolutely everywhere, but if we look at some of the cities then through saturday and sunday, you can see there is a lot of cloud around. the temperatures are fairly cool. in the south, there will be a little bit of rain around, too. the temperatures will be picking up briefly there, inland. goodbye. hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy.

today at three. they've gone, yeah. police body camera footage is released of the moment cricketer ben stokes is arrested — as he begins giving evidence at his trial for affray. the conservatives investigate complaints over borisjohnson's comments about muslim women who wear full face veils. huge cuts to services and jobs in northamptonshire — as the council votes on trying to tackle a 70 million pound budget shortfall. coming up on afternoon live all the sport. there have been more british medals at the european championship, silver in the diving, also been a strong start for katrina johnson—thompson in the with the weather here is tomasz. and it is going to remain mixed,

back to what summer should be like across our part of the world. cool, breezy with a thanks thomasz. also coming up — we'll be live in cardiff, as welsh cycling hero geraint thomas returns home from his historic win at the tour de france. thousands of people are expected on the streets to welcome him. hello everyone, this is afternoon live. i'm simon mccoy. the england cricketer ben stokes has begun giving evidence at his trial at bristol crown court. he and another defendant are accused of affray — after being arrested outside a nightclub in the city last september. earlier today, a third man, ryan hale, had charges against him dropped. this morning, police released bodycam footage of ben stokes being arrested. 0ur correspondentjon kay has been following the case. sorry, do you mind just loosening that right one on my wrist.

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 a body camera worn by the arresting officer, 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. right, the reason, i'll explain to you why you've been arrested as well. yeah. is because there's a guy over there, that's covered in blood and i've been told you've punched him. because he was abusing my two friends... that's all i've been told at the moment, that's why i've arrested you on suspicion of assault. the footage was shown to the jury yesterday, as part of the prosecution case. do you understand why i've arrested you? yeah. 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 all charged with a count of affray, something they all denied.

images of the men's injuries have been shown to the court. ben stokes told police at the time he had been acting in self—defence. this was 28—year—old ryan ali, former soldier. this was 28—year—old ryan ali. former soldier. ryan hale told police at the time he couldn't remember much of the incident. he described himself as an innocent bystander. this afternoon, after legal submissions, the charge against ryan hale was dropped. the judge told the jury there was no case for him to answer, and he was found not guilty. i'm happy. that's all, i'm happy for myself, just got to see what happens now, with the rest of the case. so i won't comment until then. with the prosecution case now over, the defence begin, with ben stokes first to give evidence. both he and the other remaining defendant, ryan ali, deny affray. jon kay, bbc news, bristol crown court. i've been speaking to our correspondent phil mackie

who is outside bristol crown court. today, obviously the big development in the trial was that ryan hale, one the three men charged has been clear it was after a morning adjournment when thejudge addressed it was after a morning adjournment when the judge addressed the jury, he said having analysed the evidence i have decided it is right to direct you there is no case to answer, the third defendant in the case, prosecution had alleged he picked up a metal pole which he was seen on some of that rctv footage carrying but there was no evidence he had usedit but there was no evidence he had used it and in fact in the end, he has been cleared, he left court saying he was relieved and happy about the case. but the case, the trial continue, simon, against ben stokes and ryan ali, the man you have seen pictures of after the incident last year, ben stokes has been running through events before the fight, earlier in the evening, england had been playing the west

indies in bristol in a one day international which had had won, he said a number of players and their wives had gone out for dinner to celebrate then the players who had gone on to mbargo, after they left and went on it was just him and alex hales who returned. the key part of the prosecution case, we have heard earlier in the trial was that at some point as he tried to get back into the mbargo nightclub after 2.00 in the morning and argued with the door men this fight broke out, in police witness statement, which he gave after his arrest he said he had been trying to defend two gay men who he felt were under attack from mr ali who he felt were under attack from mrali and mr who he felt were under attack from mr ali and mr hale. this police body camera footage we have seen today, was shown to the jury yesterday. yes, and only released to the media today, pc staidy alway, you can hear her explaining why he had been arrested and also mr stokes then, at

the point of arrest, saying i was trying to defend my friends over there, he was pointing to the two 93v there, he was pointing to the two gay men, william 0'connor there, he was pointing to the two gay men, william o'connor and kai barry who were involved in this fracas, outside in the is street in the early hours county councillors in northamptonshire have voted to support an action plan that will lead to "radical" cuts to services and jobs — as they try 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. 0ur correspondentjo black gave us the latest from northampton. yes, simon, how do you save £70 million by march next year, and still protect the vulnerable people here in this county —— county? that is the challenge that faces councillor here, as you were saying they have been talking and debating

an adebayor akinfenwaion plan about how they can save money here, and with the last hour, that has been just been voted through, so, as you can imagine, that has brought a lot of concern with regard to this, because not only are things like bus subsidies being cut, 21 local libraries look under threat of closure, a new hq the council were based in, that has already been sold off, the cuts are already happening, but now, people are really really worried about children's service, aduu worried about children's service, adult service, what is going to happen to them now that this action plan has been put through? and as you were pointing out, it was a highly charged meetings, at times some comments from a member of public, the proposals are shameful she said and a disgrace, one opposition councillor said the plans will endanger lives of children and vulnerable adult, but the chief finance officer here said that the authority cannot continue to spend money that it doesn't have. now, i have had a chat with tony mcardle.

he is one of two commissioners here in northamptonshire that were brought in three months ago off the back a government report into the financial mismanagement that has happened at this council. he said i know there is a lot of focus on the cut, but he said that this council spends more on children's services than any other county council in the country and therefore there is scope for the cut, he says he understands why people would be worried because everything is happening at all understand. what is going to happen is decisions will be made by the authority, with i hope our support as commissioners to reorganise the service, so that the authority returns to financial balance while protecting services out there that are the most important ones people would expect to see. even though the plan has been voted through today, we are still awaiting more detail, s0 we are still awaiting more detail, so where the axe will fall, where the cuts will. co—we are still waiting to —— we preponderance

the conservative party is looking into a number of complaints received about boris johnson's comments about the burqa. writing in the daily telegraph earlier in the week mrjohnson compared women who wear a full face veil to bank—robbers and letterboxes. the former foreign secretary has also been criticised by the house of commons watchdog for taking a job with the daily telegraph a short time after quitting his ministerial post. the committee which advises on business appointments said that mrjohnson had failed to comply with the rules and called it "unacceptable" that he'd taken thejob before getting guidance from the committee. 0ur correspondentjonathan blake gave he this update a short time ago. several days since the comments by borisjohnson ago. several days since the comments by boris johnson in ago. several days since the comments by borisjohnson in the daily telegraph on monday, in which he likened muslim women wearing a full face veil to bank robbers and letter boxes and said it was ridiculous, there has been criticism from senior members of the conservative party in the last few day, the prime minister saying he should apologise, the

conservative party chairman saying s0 conservative party chairman saying so as conservative party chairman saying so as well. today we learn that dozens so as well. today we learn that d oze ns of so as well. today we learn that dozens of complaints have been made to the conservative party about mr johnson's comment, those complaint also be looked into as a matter of course, under the pa rty‘s also be looked into as a matter of course, under the party's code of conduct procedure. there will be three stages to that, first of all, the complaints will be assessed and if the officer decides they are trivial or without merit they can be thrown out but then an independent panel will look into them further, and they will then decide whether to ta ke and they will then decide whether to take action and ultimately, whether to decide to refer the complaint to the party board, which is chaired by the party board, which is chaired by the conservative party chairman brandon lewis, they can take action which includes but isn't limited to suspending someone or excluding them from the party. this process may not get that far, it may not get anything like that far but under the

code of conduct rules that the conservative party has, these complaints are being looked into as a matter of course, to give you an idea of the ground the conservative pa rty‘s idea of the ground the conservative party's code of conduct covers it saysin party's code of conduct covers it says in part elected representatives and officials of the party should lead by example, and encourage and foster respect and tolerance. so that process will now run its course, we don't know how long it will last, and the conservative party spokesman says officially today, only that the code of conduct process is strictly confidential. what about this house of commons committee looking at this contract he has with the daily telegraph, he took it up soon after he left as foreign secretary, how much trouble is he in with them? this is a government body, and they have published this letter online today, which goes into some detail, about thejob which goes into some detail, about the job that which goes into some detail, about thejob that mrjohnson which goes into some detail, about the job that mrjohnson took with the job that mrjohnson took with the daily telegraph after resigning

as foreign secretary earlier this month. he resigned as the minister on 9thjuly month. he resigned as the minister on 9th july and month. he resigned as the minister on 9thjuly and signed a contract a few days later with the telegraph. under the rules the code of conduct he should have sought advice from this committee about thatjob, to receive guidance on whether it was appropriate for him as a former minister, to take it up or not. now he didn't do that, in the time allocated. he only did it retrospectively after signing his contract with the telegraph and the committee watchdog is not happy about that, it said he is clearly broken the ministerial code, retrospectively if you like because he is is not a minister any more and it is unacceptable that he didn't seek their advice. so, it is unacceptable that he didn't seek theiradvice. so, he it is unacceptable that he didn't seek their advice. so, he won't face any punishment or sanction but they have ruled that he needs to. a mend his contract with the daily telegraph, to specify that no privileged information will be used in his reporting. 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. 0ur 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. a spokesperson for the russian foreign ministery has accused the us

of damaging ties between the two countries — and warned of retaliatory measures to come. russia has warned multiple times that using force and mao times when talking with us is futile. russia is going to develop a response to this very hostile step on the part of washington, and once again against this backdrop, the reassurances coming from the american administration to keep battering the relationship with russia seem hip chris tick, unfortunately their actions are justified they are not ready to do that. puff you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. police release bodycam footage of ben stokes after his arrest as the court hears he could have killed someone in a brawl outside a bristol nightclub —

he's giving evicence now. the conservative party is investigating complaints over comments boris johnson made about muslim women who wearfull face veils. northamptonshire county council has approved massive cuts to jobs and services in a bid to combat a seventy million pound budget shortfall. also coming up — the number of patients waiting more than 12 months for non—urgent surgery in england is at its highest level in over six years. ypocritic, puff more british medals at the european championships, matthew dixon and noel weapons inspector ya p5 dixon and noel weapons inspector yaps won silver in edinburgh. chelsea have been showing off their record signing, the world's most expensive goalkeeper. and the first round of the pga championship under way, rory mcilroy is playing in a group with tiger woods, he is currently level par after two hole, i will have full

details in the next ten minutes. see you 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. 0ur 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 40 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. 0ur correspondent 0livia richwald is at ampleforth for us now. a damning report. absolutely, this

is ampleforth school, in a beautiful north yorkshire low care, it is endly lick, it costs up to £35,000 a year to accepted your children here. today's report is shocking and upsetting. it details abuse going back 40 years, to as recent as 2010. it says that children were abused inside and outside the school. there was physical an sexual abuse, some times ina was physical an sexual abuse, some times in a communal set, one of the most notorious cases was that of teacher pierce grant ferris, who was jailed in 2006 for 20 counts of indecent assault, the report says 10 people have been cautioned or convicted for the sexual abuse of children but the scale is likely to be far greater than is known and some of the accused perpetrators have since died. ampleforth has prioritised its reputation and monks

ahead of the children. has there been any response from the school following this report? yes, there has, it is the school holidays at the moment but there are a lot people here and we did ask for an interview but a statement was issued instead. in that statement the school welcomed the report, it offered a heartfelt apology to anyone who has suffered abuse, it says it's completely focussed on the safety a nd says it's completely focussed on the safety and wellbeing of children, of the pupils coming here, and they are working on is a safeguarding charter and they are committed to implementing meaningful change. in april this year the charity commission took over the responsibility here, for child welfare, it was that concerned about what high pressure —— had been 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. 0ur correspondent sarah campbell has more. for well over a year, richard, 69, has been waiting for an operation on his knee. i cannot walk, i cannot put any weight on the left leg. it hurts quite badly. i do take painkillers, but it is not enough. they promised me a new kneecap and i am still waiting. figures released today showed that the number of patients waiting for more than a year for non—urgent surgery topped 3500 in june, the highest figure since april, 2012. the number waiting more than 18 weeks has topped half a million for the first time in a decade. i think one of the things to bear in mind about the numbers of people waiting over a year for elective

surgery in hospital is that 3500, just over ten years ago, it was touching 600,000. the nhs put a lot of effort into bringing that number right down. over a couple of years, it brought it right down to just a few hundred. so it is possible to do this, we do not necessarily have to live with the growing number 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 is further evidence the nhs is under pressure all year round. one of the things that worries us is the traditional nhs patent is we have a difficult time in winter and we use the summer to recover so what happens is the staff get a breather, we clear the elective surgery waiting lists,

but we have not been able to do that. we are worried about the fact it means additional pressure going into the coming winter. nhs england called last month's a&e figure is unprecedented figures unprecedented and despite the huge numbers attending, it said nine in ten people were dealt with within four hours. sarah campbell, bbc news. someone who knows about the weather figures that we are hearing about there is tomasz. and an interesting analysis with the drought of 76. yes, one thing that certainly has been the case in the south this summer is that parts of the uk have had a drierfirst part than summer is that parts of the uk have had a drier first part than 76, that is one thing that has been more severe in the short—term, lack of rainfall, but the temperatures... hang ona rainfall, but the temperatures... hang on a minute, i think that is working. no, it is not. switch it on. chat among yourself while we

deal with a technical issue. this is tomasz, we can hear him now. i interrupted you but nobody knows that because they couldn't hear you. we have counted that so far, this summer we have had 26 days of temperatures of 30 degrees or more, which is a tremendous amount, i want to tell you in the uk we maybe have four or five day, we to tell you in the uk we maybe have four orfive day, we have had 26. compare that to 1976 where we had fewer, we had 24, but the difference of 76 was that there seem to be a more prolonged sustained period of greater heat. this year has been different. the heat has been redistributed in chunks over the summers redistributed in chunks over the summer s that is interesting because we associate 76 with the drought and we associate 76 with the drought and we haven't seen, most part of the country haven't seen any real drought this time the difference with 76 was the first 18 months or

so with 76 was the first 18 months or so preceding the summer were very dry in the uk any way any way so the soil moisture was low, the reservoir levels were low, then came that very hot summer and it evaporated and we had the problem with the water. in the short—term it may have been drier, driest on record in the south—east for those particular months but overall the impacts haven't been so great. a lot of people who have been enduring this heatwave have also suffered a few bites as a result. oh yes. the insects have been out. we are looking at a picture that, wasn't a bite. that was something else. but, yes, so what has been going on? so we we re yes, so what has been going on? so we were looking at, people were sending in tweet, how they have been suffering, so far this summer, been bitten everywhere, and is it the case that the hot weather makes the bugs more aggressive? probably turns out we have had the windows open and we have been bitten, we have been wearing fewer clothes or maybe

nothing at all, to cool down, but somebody suggested the fact that bugs are polykemothermic. where did that come from? from the internet! bugs, and their metabolism increases. they fly round a bit more. yes. let us move on. because a particular type of cloud you want to talk about and it is there. and it is called cirrus... it is a christian hornery name for it. i took a picture and it looks similar took a picture and it looks similar to an angel's wing so it is an angel's wing cloud. i think it is beautiful. it is a cirrus cloud. any way, pretty picture there. you go and get ready for the forecast

because here on afternoon live i wa nt to because here on afternoon live i want to bring breaking new, we are hearing that ant mcpartlin, one of the partnership of ant and dec, he will take a break from television presenting until 2019. he will miss the next series of i'm a celebrity get me out of here and take away. that is a statement coming from itv. his much publicised difficulties have led to a driving ban, and also toa have led to a driving ban, and also to a spell in rehab, but he will ta ke to a spell in rehab, but he will take a break from television presenting from 2019. that is only a few months away. we will have more on that later. let us return to the weather and with the forecast w the clouds, here is i , dark clouds looming, and that is really the story over the next few day, it is going to be that classic

british summer, mixed bag, it won't be raining all the time, we needed our brollies in the south—east and east anglia, we had a lot of cloud you can east anglia, we had a lot of cloud you can see east anglia, we had a lot of cloud you can see the cloud on the satellite image here, there are is a lot more weather systems out in the atlantic, heading in our direction, yes, some are heading to us for the weekend as well. i want to show you the big picture across the globe. this is the jet stream, this the big picture across the globe. this is thejet stream, this is the big picture across the globe. this is the jet stream, this is the air, so orange is warm. blue is cold. when it dip, think of blue as blue plasticine, when it dips it drags the cold air down, that is why when we have dips in the jet stream cooler air comes up, when the jet strea m cooler air comes up, when the jet stream goes up like that it ridges upwards, the orange plasticine gets pushed up and then you get the sort of ying and yang, that is what governs the weather, it is the jet strea m governs the weather, it is the jet stream that flip—flops and meanders round the globe. this is what we have more or less right now, so we have more or less right now, so we have that rain across east anglia and the south—east. for many of us

it isa and the south—east. for many of us it is a fine day, but this rain will ta ke it is a fine day, but this rain will take time to clear away, we probably think by the time we get to the second half of the rush hour it is out the way. focussing on this be a bit, it could bring nasty weather for our friends bit, it could bring nasty weather for ourfriends and bit, it could bring nasty weather for our friends and neighbours bit, it could bring nasty weather for ourfriends and neighbours round the low country, stormy conditions out to sea. thunder and lightning, that will transfer to the east. i know you don't care about that, you wa nt to know you don't care about that, you want to any what the weather is doing, clear skies, there with a few scattered showers and nippy it is going to be a nippy night, temperatures outside of towns and cities will be into single figure, we are not used to that. here is friday, we have are between weather systems. we are in the middle of the weather system, so that means a bright friday on the way, with scattered shower, so if you are out for any length of time take a brolly in case. most of the time the weather is looking fine, bright,

sunny, low 20s in the south, high teens in the knot and sunday, saturday and sunday one of the weather systems does decide to roll in off the atlantic, you can see weather fronts across the uk, what does that mean, that does mean that we are in for some cloud and rain, a quick summary, here is the south, you can quick summary, here is the south, you can see quick summary, here is the south, you can see outbreaks of rain from time to time in the west there for cardiff but london could be warming up cardiff but london could be warming up back in to the mid 20s, which isa this is bbc news — our latest headlines. what about the two other lads? ben stokes continues to give evidence in court during his trial for affray. ealier, police released body camera footage of the moment the cricketer was arrested . complaints about borisjohnson's comments on muslim woman wearing burkas are to be investigated under the conservative party's code of conduct.

councillors in northamptonshire have voted to support an action plan that will lead to drastic cuts to services and jobs. the county council is under emergency spending controls as it grapples with a £70 million budget shortfall. the uk has welcomed new american sanctions on russia, imposed after the us state department ruled that the kremlin had used a lethal nerve agent against former spy sergei skripal and his daughter. sport now on afternoon live with 0lly foster. more success in the diving pool? yes. it is a multi sport event, it is in germany, it is all over scotland. the diving pool is in edinburgh. laura williams and matt dixon took silver. both just 18. edinburgh. laura williams and matt dixon took silver. bothjust18. no strangers to the podium. they won

european bronze in budapest last year. and also commonwealth silver earlier this year. the youngest competitors in that event, russia took the gold. the first—ever heptathlon, that started earlier in berlin. it is going to be a much topic competition,. but this is going to be a much tougher competition becasue one of her opponents is nafi thiam, the belgian who is world and olympic champion, kjt was fourth after the opening sprint hurdles, she went to top of the standings in the hithump. it is one of her strongest events and she managed a season's best of 1 metre 91 centimetres. she's 51 points ahead of world and olympic champion nafi thiam. the belgian was 10 centimetres off her personal best. the shot putt are coming up this evening the last couple of minutes, another silver medaljust outside glasgow.

it's transfer deadline day in england, much business going on? we saw a lot of it yesterday. £71 million by chelsea signing of kepe arrizabalega yesterday a record for a keeper, he has signed a seven—year deal. a massive gamble, but obviously highly rated if is with £71 million. thibaut courtois left stamford bridge real madrid showed him off this

morning, he signed for around £31 million and has signed a six year contract at the bernabeu. midfielder mateo kovacic has helped that deal go through by moving the other way on loan west ham have signed striker lucas perez from arsenal, he spent last season on loan at his old club deportivo la coruna. the fee is £4million. arsenal paid 17 million for him 2 years ago. they have taken a bit of a hat. manchester united manager jose mourinho had hoped to bring in two more players, warning that it would be ‘a difficult season' if he couldn't , but the clock is ticking and speaking today he was his usual cheerful self when asked about possible signings.. i am not confident. it closes today. it is time, for me, to stop thinking about the market, because the market will be closed. i will have to focus on the players i have. we're still waiting

for play in the second test between england and india. it hasn't stopped raining. chris woakes or moeen ali will replace ben stokes in the side, stokes of course is attending his court case in bristol. when play does start, we will get to see 20—year—old 0llie pope, who will win his first cap. the surrey batsman is in the side in place of dawid malan and will bat at four. england are 1—0 up in the series. that is all this board for now. the final golf major got going in the last couple of hours. you can follow that on the bbc website. we will be back with more in the next half—hour. another powerful earthquake has hit the indonesian island of lombok, causing more damage to the already devastated area. it follows a quake on sunday which killed 230 people, according to the head of the provincial search and rescue agency on the island.

the latest tremors sent locals fleeing into the streets to escape collapsing buildings. with more, here's david campanale. after a series of hundreds of tremors since sunday, now a major aftershock. it startled rescue workers who had been digging through rubble or trying to get aid to survivors of the earlier larger quake. it left already traumatised residents terrified. in the devastated north of the island, buildings and walls already weakened have collapsed. eyewitnesses describe people running out into roads even as rocks tumble down from the hillsides. officials say the epicentre of the aftershock was on land and so there has been no risk ofa tsunami. this latest quake was also felt in bali, at the international airport, people were filmed shouting

and running for the exits down escalators and across the main hall. 0n lombok, most people live in basic housing in small committees. tens of thousands are now sleeping out in the open air or in the ruins of their homes. after this latest quake, announcements were made by the authorities at the evacuation site urging people to remain calm or to stay inside tents or to find open space if near buildings. a humanitarian crisis now looms on the island where thousands are in desperate need of clean water, food, medicine and shelter. emergency workers have been reaching more remote areas as they continue their rescue missions. according to the red cross, they have come across some villages which have completely collapsed. the official death toll from sunday's quake is expected

to continue to rise, with the disaster mitigation agency describing a big increase in the past 24 hours. the argentinian senate has narrowly voted down a proposal to liberalise the country's strict abortion laws. the issue has divided the country after an acrimonious campaign. from buenos aires, katy watson reports. on one side of congress, celebration. 0n the other, sadness. and after the vote, there was also anger, as the two sides came face—to—face. just like injune, when the lower house narrowly voted in favour of the bill, it was a long day in congress. translation: this law doesn't obligate, nor does it recommend anyone have an abortion. the only thing this law does is defend the right to choose. if there were no law, we would be contributing to doing

so in a clandestine manner. the business of some clinics, some doctors, to the unsafe sale of the extremely expensive abortion drug, as we all know. the law makes it possible a right which is safe practice. but unlike the lower house, there was much more opposition to the bill in the conservative senate. religious groups had stepped up their campaign to make sure the bill didn't become law. translation: we want to tell the whole world argentina is not in favour of abortion. argentina does not want abortion within its country because it brings destruction of all lives. and it's not the solution for these women who need help. they need us to be next to them. they need love, and this bill does not give that. this bill gives a death solution. while the politicians deliberated, the campaigners shouted.

throughout the debate, they made sure their voices were heard. as the day went on, the weather worsened, but it didn't stop people heading to the streets. the green—scarved pro—choice campaigners wanted to see if history could be made. those in blue were determined it wouldn't. most of argentinians are pro—life and want another option for the mother. do think argentina is not ready for legalising abortion yet? will it come? i don't think civilisation is ready for the legalisation of abortion. i think everyone has the right to life. after yet another marathon session in congress, the decision has been made. there will be no change in the law yet. these people are happy, but campaigners say it is not the end of the road for them yet. for those who wanted abortion

legalised, hope ran out early on. the streets emptied before senators even started voting. they knew their fight was over for now. we will come back next year. it's really important, nowadays, so many people are rooting for you, that never did. so i think it's really important. it's a big change for us. translation: we will continue going out onto the streets and continue fighting for the rights of women. we've started a fight, and until we win we won't give up. it's a debate that most people agree will return to argentina's congress once again. katie watson, bbc news in buenos aires. regular physical activity three to five times a week is the optimal amount for improving mental well—being according to research published in the medicaljournal the lancet. more than a million people took part in a study in the united states which found that all types of activity, including housework and mowing the lawn, were found to be positive but overdoing things was counter—productive. our health reporter laura foster has more. it's long been known that exercise

keeps the body healthy, and now we're really beginning to learn more about the effect it has on the mind. switch! new research, which surveyed more than a million people, found that those who exercised said they suffered from poor mental health less often than those who didn't. it's one of the reasons people come to this running club in didsbury. go, go, go, go, go! feel really good coming away from it. so no matter how your day's been, you know, if you push yourself, you're going to be happy at the end of it. exercise in general is the best way by far for me to de—stress. it gives me a lot of freedom and confidence, and it's helped me get over a lot of depression. the strength of the impact is also linked to linked to how much time was spent exercising. the biggest reduction in poor mental health came when people exercised for between half an hour to an hour at a time. if you exercised for an hour and a half, you'd still see an improvement, but it would be smaller. but the survey suggests there can be

such a thing as too much exercise. being active for more than three hours a day was associated with worse mental health than not exercising at all. but does being inactive lead to poorer mental health, or does poorer mental health mean you're less likely to get active? at this point, experts can't determine which one causes the other. laura foster, bbc news. alice is here — in a moment she will be telling us what's hot and what's not in the business news. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. police release bodycam footage of ben stokes after his arrest as the court hears he could have killed someone in a brawl outside a bristol nightclub — he's giving evicence now. the conservative party is investigating complaints over comments boris johnson made about muslim women who wearfull face veils. northamptonshire county council has approved massive cuts to jobs and services in a bid to combat a seventy million pound budget shortfall.

here's your business headlines on afternoon live uk rental prices could rise as much as 15% over the next five years — that's the warning from the royal institution of chartered surveyors who say the lack of new rental properties could drive up prices. sterling has recovered very slightly against the dollar after big falls over the past 24 hours. the falls happened after the markets showed concern that a no brexit trade deal will be reached with the european union. yesterday it dipped below 1.29 against the dollar for the first time in almost a year. the struggling department store chain house of fraser has set a deadline of 20 august to secure fresh funding. house of fraser told the luxembourg stock exchange that "discussions continue" with potential investors. it's been a week since the bank of england

raised interest rates, has the economy felt any impact? i think it's too soon to see any immediate impact, but the rate rise last thursday from 0.5% to 0.75% — by a unanimous vote — clearly suggests the bank of england see's the uk economy expanding in the nearfuture, solid employment levels, more consumer spending and the potentialfor wages to rise. but the bank of england is not alone in taking action — we've seen interest rate rises in the united states and india recently, suggesting the global economy is on a strong footing. it's not all good news for everyone. joining us now is guy anker, who's the deputy editor of money saving expert. what can we expect the effect to be

on consumers what can we expect the effect to be on consumers of this rate rise? for mortgages, if you are on a fixed rate nothing is going to happen. the big head is for people on variable mortgages, expected to go up by .25 of 8%. that is going to add up to £250 a yea r. of 8%. that is going to add up to £250 a year. what this is is a wake—up call for people with mortgages to check whether you can save thousands by switching. if you have a fixed, nothing is going to change. if you are coming to the end ofa change. if you are coming to the end of a fixed, become appointment soon. seaview can save if you have a variable mortgage. rates are still ultralow, we do expect rates for new

customers to go up shortly. there is urgency there. good news for people with mortgages, potentially the chance to see an opportunity. let's talk about savers. we are often told that higher rates are good for savers. but we already know that one major building society — nationside — is not planning to pass on last week's 0.25% rate rise in full to savers — the first sign that big financial institutions will use the base rate to increase profit margins. are other high street banks likely to follow suit? tsb, the bank that has had a lot of bad headlines recently, it you said it would not pass on the full rate rise to all of its customers. if you have savings, this is a wake—up call. even if it goes up, you will

be way off the best rates. if you are prepared to fix your money away for a year or longer. whatever happens, some banks and building societies are being bad and not passing on the full rise. whatever happens, check if you can get a much better return on your savings. this should be a wake—up call for everyone. shall we see what is happening with the markets? london's ftse 100 shall we see what is happening with the markets? london's ftse100 no great exception. we have seen sterling do this massive drop against both the dollar and the you wrote. but it has clawed back some of its losses to day. the travel

agent is the big story. this is weather—related? yes, agent is the big story. this is weather—related ? yes, they agent is the big story. this is weather—related? yes, they are blaming the warm weather on people choosing to stay at home rather than have their holidays abroad. i won't be talking to you later! no! see you later. we have got a special event. wales is getting ready to welcome home the winner of the tour de france — geraint thomas. he'll be cycling through the streets of cardiff to be honoured at a special ceremony at cardiff castle — and in about quarter of an hour we'll bring you a special programme live from the city. while we're waiting for that, let's speak to our correspondent jordan davies, who's in cardiff ahead of the celebrations. lots of people expected to come out andjoin in the lots of people expected to come out and join in the celebrations? and they have come out. the crowds have

certainly turned out. to welcome their hometown he wrote geraint thomas, fresh from that historic wind. years being hosted by the first minister. let me take you through what is going to happen today. they will emerge out onto the stage. 0nto a special yellow stage. they will address the crowd, to a huge cheer, and then darren thomas will have to get back on his bike. he will be riding from the outskirts of cardiff, accompanied by 50 youngsters. they expect the streets to be lined by thousands of people. up to be lined by thousands of people. up to cardiff castle, where is national ceremony will take place. his wind hasn't used the nation. it has infused cyclists and the wider

public. not least at his hometown club. they are gathered at his club to watch. they say has wayne harris and views the next generation of writers in wales. —— they say has wayne has infused the next generation of writers in wales. the first minister thinks this is the greatest individual sporting triumph in wales. you can see here, this crowd would not disagree with that. the streets are expected to be lined with thousands of fans and well—wishers. the excitement built as the tour to france progressed. there will be a big celebration here in the capital. you can see the

whole geraint thomas homecoming parade here on the bbc news channel at 4:15pm. ant mcpartlin will take a break from television presenting until 2019. itv says the tv host will miss the next series of i'm a celebrity... get me out of here! — as well as ant and dec‘s saturday night takeaway. it comes after he was found guilty of drink driving offences following an incident in west london earlier this year. 0ur entertainment correspondent lizo mzimba is here. is this a surprise? not really a surprise. there was always going to bea surprise. there was always going to be a sense that he was going to take quite a long time to move on from this conviction. he admitted he had a lot of personal problems and that he had gone into treatment for the issues in his life which culminated in that guilty plea to drink—driving backin in that guilty plea to drink—driving

back in march when he was banned for 20 months and fined more than £85,000. ina 20 months and fined more than £85,000. in a sense, it is not surprisingly dirty is not going to be ready for saturday night takeaway. they are arresting the series? yes. and won't be giving at and deck won't be doing that. dec will be doing i'm a celebrity by himself. we will see him going to thejungle by himself. we will see him going to the jungle by himself. himself. we will see him going to thejungle by himself. of himself. we will see him going to the jungle by himself. of course, himself. we will see him going to thejungle by himself. of course, he wishes ant all the best. this is a big deal. these are the two biggest ratings shows. so much of their

entertainment content has basically been based on the friendship, banter and popularity of tonne free the friendship that they have. they will want to make time to make sure that they get this right. there was something of a public backlash following that arrest. it could've been a lot more serious. somebody could have been killed. in sense, itv want to make sure that the public are ready to welcome him back and that the public feel he has taken this and that the public feel he has ta ken this absolutely and that the public feel he has taken this absolutely seriously and has taken the time to put themselves back on the right path. 2019 is only five months away. yes, but they

won't be having one of their highest ratings programmes. it is a big deal. they haven't said what might be happening with the next series of britain's got talent. itv are having a pretty good time. they had a wonderful world cup. the england sgppy wonderful world cup. the england sappy final —— the england semifinal. that programme that you won't have heard of, love ireland did very well for them as well. still, they do want ant and dec back on still, they do want ant and dec back on the screen together. to do that, ant needs to have been away and to

have improved on those problems. to have improved on those problems. time for a look at the weather. here's tomasz in the last few days, we really have seen some dramatic shifts in the weather patterns. from the heatwave in the south, to much cooler weather. for many of us, it really is a picture of sunshine and showers in the coming days. actually, the atlantic is looking a lot more active right now, we have a tropical storm out there in the atlantic. the weather systems are brewing in the northern portion of the ocean. now, i want to show you the jet stream. this is a dip in thejet stream. when we see dips in the jet stream, that means we are seeing colder air. that is what is over us right now. whereas, the heat that we had is now transferred way towards the east of us. this is what it looks like during the rush hour. actually, a lot of fine weather around across the bulk of the uk. beautiful weather in the lake district down to wales. it has been cloudy and grotty across the south—east and east anglia. this is a nasty area of low pressure that will be bringing some really stormy conditions to parts of the low country.

possibly into denmark as well, through the night. fortunately, that low is missing us. we are in the wake of it. we have got some fairly fresh conditions out there. it will be quite a chilly night. single figures out in rural spots. even in london, 11 or 12 degrees, which is really quite cool compared to the lows that we have been getting so far. they have been mostly in the mid—or high teens. let's have a look at the weather for friday. we are waking up to plenty of sunshine. notice there are some blobs on the weather map. these are individual showers that will be moving through. if you are out for a lengthy period of time on friday, take a brolly. there could be some dark clouds on the horizon. you might get a downpour. most of the time, friday is looking bright. in the sunshine, it is still going to feel warm. the august sun is very powerful. saturday and sunday, we are expecting some low pressure to roll in off the atlantic. you can see weather fronts, there is well. that does mean rain. not all the time and not absolutely

everywhere, but if we look at some of the cities then through saturday and sunday, you can see there is a lot of cloud around. the temperatures are fairly cool. in the south, there will be a little bit of rain around, too. the temperatures will be picking up briefly there, inland. goodbye. hello, you're watching afternoon live. i'm simon mccoy. today at four. have the gun? no, they are still there. what about the two gay guys? they have gone. could you loosen? the conservatives investigate complaints over borisjohnson's comments about muslim women who wear full face veils. huge cuts to services and jobs

in northamptonshire — as the council votes on trying to tackle a 70 million pound budget shortfall. coming up on afternoon live all the sport — 0lly foster. eighth day of the european championships. a couple of silvers for britain in the winning's triathlon and also the diving. details coming up later. thank you very much for that. and with the weather, thomas. who looks very much like 0llie. we are going to leave you. do you know what the weather is? probably not. let's have a look at what is happening a little later on. at what is happening a little later on. we will be live in wales as geraint thomas is welcomed home after his victory. crowds have gathered here to welcome home the hometown hero on the back of his historic tour de france win.

hello, everyone. iam hello, everyone. i am simon mccoy. the england cricketer ben stokes has begun giving evidence at his trial at bristol crown court. he and another defendant are accused of affray — after being arrested outside a nightclub in the city last september. earlier today, a third man, ryan hale, had charges against him dropped. this morning, police released bodycam footage of ben stokes being arrested. 0ur correspondentjon kay has been following the case. sorry, do you mind just loosening that right one on my wrist. 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 a body camera worn by the arresting officer, 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. right, the reason, i'll

explain to you why you've been arrested as well. yeah. is because there's a guy over there, that's covered in blood and i've been told you've punched him. because he was abusing my two friends... that's all i've been told at the moment, that's why i've arrested you on suspicion of assault. the footage was shown to the jury yesterday, as part of the prosecution case. do you understand why i've arrested you ? yeah. 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 all charged with a count of affray, something they all denied. images of the men's injuries have been shown to the court. 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 couldn't remember much of the incident. he described himself as an innocent bystander. this afternoon, after legal submissions, the charge against ryan hale was dropped. the judge told the jury there was no case for him to answer, and he was found not guilty. i'm happy. that's all, i'm happy for myself, just got to see what happens now, with the rest of the case. so i won't comment until then. with the prosecution case now over, the defence begin, with ben stokes first to give evidence. both he and the other remaining defendant, ryan ali, deny affray. jon kay, bbc news, bristol crown court. 0ur correspondent phil mackie is outside bristol crown court with the latest developments. what else has ben stokes been saying in the witness box? he has been in the witness box for about three hours now. he is now going through the fight itself. we have seen it on footage shown to the jury several

times during which he can be seen punching and knocking out two men, geraint —— ryan ali and ryan hale. he knew that other people could have been the target of these men. he says that ryan ali had threatened him with a bottle and said somebody ran at him with a bottle. he said it was self—defence, he did what i could to keep himself and those around him safe. he said ryan ali his co—defendants tried to hit him with a bottle in the street outside the nightclub in the early hours of the nightclub in the early hours of the morning. he said he denied making homophobic comments to a couple and said it was the other two men who made those comments which is why he stepped in. he felt

threatened and he believed a gay couple was being threatened as well. and a quick word about this camera footage, body footage from the police. the court heard and saw yesterday but was released to the media this morning. you have just seen a media this morning. you have just seen a little bit of that and there was about 15 minutes of it in all. the arrest was made a few minutes after the assaults. and you heard her say to ben stokes do you know why you have been arrested and he said he was only defending his friends and pointed off—camera to the two gay men is who he believed we re the two gay men is who he believed were being threatened. both he and ryan ali denied charges of affray. i would expect that ben stokes will be backin would expect that ben stokes will be back in the witness box tomorrow to be cross—examined and the trial, we have been told throughout, is expected to end sometime next week.

thank you very much for that. county councillors in northamptonshire have voted to support an action plan that will lead to radical cuts to services and jobs — as they try 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. 0ur correspondentjo black is in northampton for us now. do we have any details on how this is going to bite? no, not yet. the councillors have been voting today on an councillors have been voting today on an action plan this morning. they we re on an action plan this morning. they were ina on an action plan this morning. they were in a meeting this morning for several hours. this action plan was voted through earlier today. the challenge at the council have got here is how they save £70 million by march of next year while still protecting elderly and vulnerable adults and children in this county. that is what has got people really concerned about this because there are already cuts that can be seen, subsidised bus routes, for example,

have gone already, libraries, 21 libraries are they are under threat closure. that is due to take place in september, there is a pause on that at the moment but people still fea rful that at the moment but people still fearful they will close. road maintenance has been scaled back. become the leader has said it is inevitable that money will come out of the services for vulnerable children and adults. as you can imagine, that causes great worry in a county like this. as you were just pointing out, there was a meeting today, highly charged at some points, members of the public not happy, as you can imagine. and opposing counsel said plans will endanger the lives of children and vulnerable adults. a member of the public said that the proposals were shameful and a disgrace. we won't know more detail yet, probably in a couple of months‘ time when things have been sorted through. there is a task force which has been launched to look at things, to look at how services can be restructured and to

see how money services can be restructured and to see how money can services can be restructured and to see how money can be saved. i spoke earlier to tony mcardle, a commissioner here, this council is now run by two commissioners to help run things here off the back of a report which talked about financial mismanagement at this council. i spoke to him earlier and this is what he had to say. now, what is going to happen in the next few months is decisions will be made by the authority with, i hope, our support as commissioners to reorganise those services, to get into some of the things which are not as efficient as they should be so that the authority returns to financial balance whilst protecting services out there that are the most important ones that people would expect to see. another thing tony mcardle told me is that this council spends more on children‘s services than any other cou nty children‘s services than any other county council in britain. he said it is regrettable that this will happen but that there is scope for these cuts. he‘s notes there is an

emphasis on cuts and people are worried. thank you very much. the conservative party is looking into a number of complaints received about boris johnson‘s comments about the burqa. writing in the daily telegraph earlier in the week mrjohnson compared women who wear a full face veil to bank—robbers and letterboxes. the former foreign secretary has also been criticised by the house of commons watchdog for taking a job with the daily telegraph a short time after quitting his ministerial post. the committee which advises on business appointments said that mrjohnson had failed to comply with the rules and called it "unacceptable" that he‘d taken thejob before getting guidance from the committee. several days now since those comments by boris johnson in the daily telegraph on monday in which he likened muslim women wearing a full face veil to bank robbers and letterboxes and described it as ridiculous. there have been, as we have reported, criticism from senior members of the conservative party in the last few days. the prime minister saying he should apologise,

the conservative party chairman saying so as well. and today we learned that dozens of complaints have been made to the conservative party about mrjohnson‘s comments. now, those complaints will be looked into as a matter of course under the party‘s code of conduct procedure. there will be three stages to that. first of all, the complaints will be assessed and if the offers that first of all, the complaints will be assessed and if the officer looking that looking at them decides that they are trivial or without merit, they can be thrown out simply straightaway. but then an independent panel will look further into the complaints. they will gather written evidence from those who have made them and possibly mrjohnson himself as well, and they will then decide whether to take action and ultimately whether to decide to refer the complaint to the party board which is chaired by the conservative party chairman brandon lewis. and they can take action which includes but isn‘t limited to suspending someone or even excluding them from the party.

now, this process may not get that far, it may not get anything like that far, but under the code of conduct rules that the conservative party has, these complaints are being looked into as a matter of course. and just to give you an idea of the ground the conservative party‘s code of conduct covers, it says in part that elected representatives and officials of the party should lead by example and encourage and foster respect and tolerance. so that process will now run its course. we don‘t know how long it will last and a conservative party spokesman saying officially today only that the code of conduct process is strictly confidential. 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. 0ur 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. wiltshire police say the operational costs for dealing with the two novichok incidents in salisbury and amesbury are likely to exceed £10 million. the police and crime commissioner for wiltshire and swindon, angus macpherson, says he fully expects all costs to be covered by the government. part of a popular beach in north yorkshire remains cordoned off after a 9—year—old girl was killed by a rock fall yesterday

afternoon, has been reopened. 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. a strong aftershock has struck the indonesian island of lombok, four days after an earthquake. officials say 230 people are now known to have died after sunday‘s tremor. more than 150,000 people have been displaced. we can now cross over to our special programme, where tour de france 2018 winner — geraint thomas — celebrates his win in his home city of cardiff. he has become the first welshman to win the race after it culminated in paris last month. bbc wales‘ claire summers is there. hello, good afternoon and a warm

welcome to a special programme. this is the stuff of dreams. he is the down—to—earth boy from cardiff who somehow won the biggest contest of all in cycling, the tour de france. we are here this afternoon to bring new coverage of geraint thomas‘s homecoming celebration. i am here standing outside cardiff castle. geraint will be making his way here very shortly. but it all starts this afternoon in cardiff bay, amazing scenes there. i have never seen it looking so ghetto. he will be welcomed by the first minister on the steps of the senate. —— i have never seen the steps of the senate. —— i have never seen it looking so yellow. he will be getting on his bike once

more and he will be joining 45 young riders in a pellet on. it may not be the chance to leave they put the clouds are wrapped lining the route to welcome him home. stay with others to celebrate. his incredible achievement. he is now the first welshman to win the tour de france and he has conquered one of the toughest and gruelling challenges there is in sport. it takes place over three weeks. there are 21 stages with just two rest days. he will have covered more than 2000 miles in alland will have covered more than 2000 miles in all and spent more than 80 hours in his saddle. if you have been lucky enough to meet him, you will know he is one of the most down—to—earth men in sport so i do wonder what he will be thinking as his home city of cardiff and a very proud welsh nation all come together to welcome him home efficiently. as isaid, to welcome him home efficiently. as i said, proceedings starting this

afternoon in cardiff bay. we are expecting geraint thomas within the next few minutes and a reggae brass band are getting the party started. at the moment, geraint thomas is inside meeting dignitaries. he is chatting to the first minister and the presiding officer. i have been formed on the menu today welsh cakes because he is fond of them. it has fuelled his journey to tour de france glory. also inside his yellowjersey. he will be putting it on later. i hope he has washed it after his journey in france. and inside a special portrait of geraint will be unveiled as well. earlier run he recorded a message to the organisers thanking them for all of their hard work and he wondered if anybody would turn up. well, geraint thomas, here is your answer. thousands of people are

here to pay tribute to you. thousands are here for the national... many more have made their way to cardiff bay to see geraint thomas, the latest welsh sporting icon. a heads up for you, later on today you might hear a song. it has become a unofficial anthem for geraint thomas‘s anthem. a special cover version will be performed here. i hear geraint thomas is pretty fond of it as well. he often sings along whenever it is performed anywhere on the continent. iam sure performed anywhere on the continent. i am sure you are wondering. i have been singing it for days. it is getting busy here. amazing scenes in cardiff bay. just a stone throw from

me, geraint thomas will cycle. kate morgan is therefore is now. the crowds are gathering here on saint mary street. still a little while until the main mary street. still a little while untilthe main man mary street. still a little while until the main man arrives. 0ne star has arrived, that is geraint thomas‘s bike. there have been plenty of photographs, the odd lucky fan plenty of photographs, the odd lucky fa n allowed plenty of photographs, the odd lucky fan allowed to touch it and it has been very popular with a collection of riders behind me. they will accompany geraint thomas towards the castle. 45 in total. they are young riders from 60 different clubs from all around wales. there are many different clubs. all of wales is

represented here today. these are young and talented riders. they will to follow in geraint thomas‘s footsteps. they are youth ambassadors and role models for the school. the question going forward todayis school. the question going forward today is how do you take a moment like this in the history books and push the momentum forward. he will wa nt to push the momentum forward. he will want to see that as well. this is incredible. we have seen crowds on a big sporting occasions before. two yea rs big sporting occasions before. two years ago, wales reaching the semifinals of the year rose. but nothing quite compares to this. this is that the very top of sporting achievements and this is why. this

isa achievements and this is why. this is a huge sporting moment. thank you very much. the band hasjust started, the crowd is growing by the minute and we just met blanche who is geraint‘s dog and she is kitted out in yellow. his wife made it for her last night machine looks the part. that‘s talk to a man who lived and breathed every second of the tour de france. every bump in the road, every twist and turn, every kind and dissent. you may have heard him commentating on bbc five live. sum this up for rose, gareth. cardiff city, capital of wales, it has been closed before for big sporting events. 0ne has been closed before for big sporting events. one man is doing this today, how much of an achievement is this? one event and what. .. 0f achievement is this? one event and what. .. of the achievement is this? one event and what... of the most iconic event of his sport. the yellowjersey is

iconic. six years ago, not a single brit had won the tour de france. chris room and bradley wiggins have done that. it has been a long time since a frenchman has won his own event and now a welsh man is celebrating. it is the toughest eventin celebrating. it is the toughest event in sport and there will be no proud person than geraint thomas. you spoke to him after each stage, you know he is very unassuming and humble. he is usually with his team—mates, what will he make of this? here in his home city comedy scenes, this reception, what will he be thinking? i think he will be a touch embarrassed with the force. most welsh people don‘t like a fuss. he isa most welsh people don‘t like a fuss. he is a humble man. he is unassuming. he doesn‘t light up the room but if you spend time in his company, he is a fascinating,

interesting and confident person. yes, he looks like he is slightly awkward, but he will know that his achievements demand an event like this one. it demands that the nation of wales comes out and celebrate what has been an incredible performance to win, as he said, i won the tour de france, man. it was disbelief from geraint thomas that he had done this. if it hasn‘t already, it will finally sink in. many people who don‘t follow cycling... they might have been thinking he is 32, where has this come from? he has won enough things in his career, two 0lympic come from? he has won enough things in his career, two olympic gold medals on the track, a very different discipline. you have got to bea different discipline. you have got to be a bit bigger and heavier. he has been bouncing back and forth

from track cycling to road cycling and sometimes that means he has not been able to quite perform at his best. his ninth tour, his —— he suffered, he was at the back almost every day. in previous years he has shown that he is capable what we called the grand tours. he was a clear favourite last year to win in italy before misfortune when he crashed. he has crashed a lot and this year we saw a more mature sometimes more sensible geraint thomas. he took his opportunities but he didn‘t take too many risks. and the other issue which we will touch upon this afternoon, wasn‘t that expected because there was a certain chris who was plan a. to be

fair, he wasn‘t the bookies favourite, he wasn‘t even the favourite, he wasn‘t even the favourite within his own team. cycling is a very complex sport. it seems simple, the first past the post wins, however, if you are cycling into the wind, it takes up 30% more energy than cycling behind somebody so team tactics are residential and team sky will generally have one rider that doesn‘t have to work. doesn‘t have to go and get the water bottles, the food, and the decision was made at the start of this tour de france that chris froome would be the plan a, the leader however, geraint was a decent back—up. he was given protected status as well. geraint thomas is became the strongest. things are about to get under way, let‘s head live to cardiff bay. in the middle, i think you know who

he is, geraint thomas! cheering speaks welsh before we hear from the man of the moment... speaks welsh welcome to cardiff bay. speaks welsh and on behalf of all of your

country, we are welcoming you home, we are celebrating your success with you in your city and in your country. you have been heralded by your own personal anthem. you will leave these steps to the sound of your national anthem. and the biggest flag in wales, their biggest red dragon in the world is behind you in your honour. but i did think even the shoulders of geraint thomas could wrap that flag around himself. you have lifted our hearts and we

celebrate your success. you have put our country and flag on the world stage. cheering and you have achieved such greatness in your sport and for your sport and we are very, very in your sport and for your sport and we are very, very grateful for all you have done from your country as well as your sport. speaks welsh cheering

a country of poets, of singers and cyclists, and if you rugby players and football players as well, i‘m sure! we celebrate and salute your success and we thank you for sharing your success with us as your country. congratulations, geraint! cheering applause speaks welsh speaks welsh

ladies and gentlemen, a warm welcome to the steps of the senedd and isn't it wonderful to be here with our hero, geraint thomas, and wasn't it wonderful to see our flag on the shoulders of geraint thomas on the champs—elys es. he went to a high school near here, he's from cardiff, what is it about that town, rugby players, and now we have, born in

cardiff, someone who can really represent wales. and what a dream he had, it has come true, they say, dream in black and white, but geraint tramped in yellow —— dreams in yellow, he has brought it back to wales, if i had said there would come a time when a welsh rider wins the tour de france, you would not believe me, but you can see the grit, the training, the dedication, all those hours put in that led to his great victory. in politics you spend a lot of time trying to sell wales to the world, geraint has done more in 21 days thanl geraint has done more in 21 days than i could have done in 21 years! cheering and so, from me, geraint, from the whole country, thank you so much for

what thanks for giving so much inspiration to so many cyclists out there, thank you for saying to so many young people, you can do what i have done, you may be the first winner of the tour de france in wales, but i am pretty sure you will not be the last. thanks for all you have done for the sport, thank you for all you have done for wales. the best of luck in the future! cheering let‘s hear from the hero let‘s hearfrom the hero himself, geraint, i‘m not going to give you the microphone because i know what you do with microphones... laughter you tend to drop them. have you something to show us? yeah, i thought i would bring one along with me. there, that's the one! cheering it is mental, i'm used to people

cheering as i ride along, i was a bit worried it would just be my wife and the dog coming out today here, but this is bonkers, this support has been insane, whether it is on the side of the road, on twitter, or just back home... all i can say is, thank you. you seem a bit shocked, did you not expect this this afternoon? no, not at all, iwas wondering if the cheering was for these guys at first, surely it is not for me. i wasjust, like, overwhelming, i really appreciate the support, it means a lot. 21 stages, three weeks, how tough was it? i thought it would be harder, i felt pretty good... laughter obviously, it is tough, the hard pa rt obviously, it is tough, the hard

part is getting there in that position. the race wasjust a dream, every day it went to plan, could not ask for anything more. you are always thinking about the process and winning the race and then suddenly, the aftermath, takes you by surprise and it is incredible. what is next, a well—deserved holiday? may be a few more beers. that could keep me going for a while. hopefully i will sort out my race programme now, a couple while. hopefully i will sort out my race programme now, a couple of months to go. holiday in october. quite a few youngsters in the crowd, have you got a message for them? follow your dreams. do what you love to do. anything is possible with ha rd to do. anything is possible with hard work. never easy, there will

always be hard moments. if you really wa nt always be hard moments. if you really want to do something, go for it. one other thing, on the champs—elys es you have a welsh dragon behind your back but we did not get to hear the amazon... do you wa nt to not get to hear the amazon... do you want to hear is now? why not! with a big choir. perfect, let's go! # mae hen wlad fy nhadau yn annwyl i mi # gwlad beirdd a chantorion, enwogion o fri # ei gwrol ryfelwyr, gwladgarwyr tra mad

# dros ryddid collasant eu gwaed. # # gwlad, gwlad # pleidiol wyf i‘m gwlad # tra mor yn fur i‘r bur hoff bau # o bydded i‘r heniaith barhau. # # hen gymru fynyddig, paradwys y bardd # pob dyffryn, pob clogwyn, i‘m golwg sydd hardd # trwy deimlad gwladgarol, mor swynol yw si # ei nentydd, afonydd, i mi. #

your hero in yellow, mr geraint thomas! studio: amazing scenes in cardiff bay, you can see the ration on the face of geraint thomas. looking pretty gobsmacked, what this means to them, thousands of people turning out. he will see more people gathering, the crowd is gathering by the minute. the crowd is growing by the minute. the crowd is growing by the second, lots of anticipation, lots of excitement, lots of youngsters here, all wanting to see their champion. we will leave events there. it was quite interesting, it

gave us an insight into the man, he is so call, he was like a rock star, the coolest man on the stage, the coolest man in cardiff bay. likeability is a very difficult thing to measure, we always expect our heroes to be well polished, struck with big shoulders, and extremely confident, geraint thomas isa extremely confident, geraint thomas is a very different guy, what is refreshing in this day of closely controlled the art, and media relations, where you say the right things, you prepped a script, and you deliver the script, when you are asked, you don‘t expect it to be harder. you answer the question in the manner that pr dictates, what geraint thomas does is behave like most people. he stood on the podium in paris, got the name of his team—mates! it was a shambolic a cce pta nce team—mates! it was a shambolic acceptance speech, but that‘s what people do, that‘s what your uncle

did at the wedding, that is what people who you like doing real life, i think what you can see in geraint thomas more than anybody is somebody you can relate to. the difficulties relating what he did on the bike, thatis relating what he did on the bike, that is different. makes him likeable. in terms of team sky, probably the most and popular team in world cycling, has it changed their perception. they are the most unpopular team in the peloton, for a number of reasons, success is one of them. there is an expression in the world of cycling that cycling has become robotic, that you plan things and that success is organised. in the peloton here‘s a more popular character but however, again, team sky have churned out another tour de

france excess will stop he to be the leader of the best team in the world you have to be pretty special, if not the best will stop poets, singers, cyclists. what has he done for cycling, carwyn jones has said that he has done more than he would ever attempt to do in 21 yea rs he would ever attempt to do in 21 years in 21 days, he has put wales and cycling on the map. bike sales are up in cardiff! but in addition what is brilliant, we are never going to win. the most important legacy for geraint thomas is not the

fa ct legacy for geraint thomas is not the fact that there is a little kid who might win the tour de france himself, but if every little kid goes out on their bike, and mum, and dad, and we live in a cycle friendly country, that is the true legacy of the success. more from you in just a moment, geraint is on his way, we are counting down to the moment he comes round the corner, he will ride on the street behind me on his bike down st mary‘s streets in the heart of the capital, kate morgan is there with some possible future champions. yes! riders gathering. no more excited than these three young riders. down same area speak to the castle. hayden and max are joining us, hayden, tell me about the moment you found out you would write the first ever welshman to win the tour de france through cardiff?” first ever welshman to win the tour de france through cardiff? i didn't

really think my mother and father we re really think my mother and father were telling the truth. i got a lot of feedback people saying well done, andl of feedback people saying well done, and i thought, i am actually going to see geraint thomas. in an extreme in it he will arrive, and you will cycle with him, what does that feel like? just amazing, so exciting to go and ride with the tour de france winner. andre scale of one to ten, how excited are you? ten! you have met him before. here's a nice bloke, i met met him before. here's a nice bloke, imet him met him before. here's a nice bloke, i met him when i was much younger, i don‘t really remember but he is a nice bloke. you are a youth ambassador for cycling, is this good? the publicity is amazing. how long have you been cycling, what do you want to do in the future?|j long have you been cycling, what do you want to do in the future? i want to bea

you want to do in the future? i want to be a cycle cross rider, i‘m pretty excited. what was it like watching geraint thomas in the tour de france? all my company were watching it from a big cafe. —— my family. on the time trial we were travelling back from holiday. i want to say to them, well done, and how amazing he was riding out the full. i'm very excited. the crowds are huge out here. huge occasion so far,

you get the honour of asking him a question on this stage, what will you ask in full. you have the best seat in the house. —— what will you ask him? you are in the vip area. we will sit down and enjoy close seats to the stage. i will let you go, he is on his way, in formation behind us. we are waiting, it won't be much longer. three of 45 riders who will get the incredible opportunity to accompany the tour de france winner geraint thomas through cardiff on this day. i would quite like to know

what geraint thomas has for brea kfast, what geraint thomas has for breakfast, any insight? a lot of fuel, a lot of carbs, a lot of porridge and oats would not surprise me, something that will help him fuel the day, generally in the tour de france they burn 5000 calories on a day on the bicycle so they will be eating a lot. a lot of heavy nutrition, a lot of carbohydrates, rice, sugar, trying to burn it, what you do on a bike, you burn energy very quickly, you refuel. give us more of an insight into what sacrifices it takes to win the tour de france, what is his life like in the build—up to a race like this? de france, what is his life like in the build-up to a race like this? he has two lifestyles, two wardrobes, he says, he certainly had that up until two or three years ago, when he got even more committed, his first wardrobe was the season wardrobe, tight—fitting, and then he called it his pregnancy clothes, the off—season, he would put on weight, eat what he wanted, drink what he wanted, because the life of a

professional cyclist is not fun. think of a jockey, on the bike they can eat whatever they want, off it, you want to be as light as possible, because the likely you are, in simple terms, the quicker you will get up the hill, the more weight you carry, the more it will slow you down. it has the watch what he eats and he has to train extremely hard. he will be up every single day, even christmas day, he will go out for a ride and then after that, beyond his training, he would not want to burn any calories, no going upstairs, a lwa ys any calories, no going upstairs, always taking the lift, going down the shop, jump in the car. pretty unhealthy the shop, jump in the car. pretty u nhealthy lifestyle the shop, jump in the car. pretty unhealthy lifestyle beyond the b i cycle! unhealthy lifestyle beyond the bicycle! that is because his work is such that he wants to use every single piece of energy in his training. certainly deserves to do that now, certainly deserves to chill out. geraint is on his way, he

has just left cardiff bay, let‘s head back there quickly, we have caught up with some people who watch their hero on stage and were delighted to see him. geraint thomas looked pretty shell—shocked onstage, like at many events here, i have never seen it as packed as it was here today, let's speak with some people who made the journey. why was it important for you to be here today?” journey. why was it important for you to be here today? i am a cyclist myself, i came down for this initially, but when i heard this was on, it was the icing on the cake. his achievements have been absolutely phenomenal, i watched the tour, when you achieved the back to back, i knew then that he had it in him, and, it brought tears to my

eyes, at the end of that few weeks. it was absolutely incredible. thank you very much. what do you make of it today? absolutely fantastic, especially for someone of alfie‘s age, he can then see what he could potentially achieve. his dad does triathlons so he is well into his cycling. we‘ve got a bike, having way. and who is this on your t—shirt? way. and who is this on your t-shirt? geraint he rides a bike! thank you very much. yellow is in, the yellow jersey, that thank you very much. yellow is in, the yellowjersey, that geraint thomas won over in france, that is why people are wearing it. were you into cycling before the tour de france? yeah, i like cycling a lot andl france? yeah, i like cycling a lot and i cycle with my family but it was really cool to see him win the tour de france. where are you from

originally? new york. beamed right across the world? the tour de france? we watched every part of it, it was really fun. thank you for yourtime. it was really fun. thank you for your time. let's ask you, grange thomas, welsh sporting icon, where do you think he ranks alongside gareth bale and joe cole saggy, where dizzy rank among the welsh sporting heroes? probably up there, does not get the opportunity to perform all the time like gareth bale does but it has been so call that he has been able to get so famous oak quickly and it is nice so quickly that there so famous so quickly that there so famous so quickly but it is nice that he has got so famous so quickly. —— was primed and ready, what he did over three weeks was absolutely amazing. people like myself, i don‘t

cycle, obviously, as you can see, but makes you want to watch it, can we go out on the bike, inspires everybody, proud to be welsh. to go cycling and to think about what we will do tomorrow. get on the bike and enjoy yourselves. lastly, to you, on the t—shirt, must be selling like hot cakes, what have you enjoyed today? amazing, came here at 2:30pm, party atmosphere, so many people have come to watch him. i think he was totally gobsmacked, really, with the amount of people, with the welsh tradition, people to

be able to say thank you, and he has said thank you to the general public who have thanked him over the last 21 days. truly amazing afternoon near, back to you. my goodness, getting exciting out, this crowd almost bursting behind us, members of geraint ‘s friends and family are just arriving in front of the stage, and we are with some of them now, over to you. what an excited and proud group of friends and family we have here, a great deal travelled to paris for the final stage of the tour de france all those weeks ago. i'm pleased to say that so many of them have made it here to cardiff, brown today, i am here with hillary, and ——iam —— lam here —— i am here with geraint thomas's parents, hillary and hywel.”

—— i am here with geraint thomas's parents, hillary and hywel. i can't imagine how he must be feeling, he was not expecting any thing to actually turn up, i think he is surprised, so it is surreal, really. that seems to be the word, we have seen that seems to be the word, we have seen the teams lined for football teams and rugby teams but this is all for your son falls. it is well—deserved. all for your son falls. it is well-deserved. we saw how emotional you were in paris, unexpected win for many, as it sank in a few days later? it has taken a long time to soak in because i never expected it. wonderful moments to see him coming m, wonderful moments to see him coming in, winning it, and big celebrations after. i have just in, winning it, and big celebrations after. i havejust seen in, winning it, and big celebrations after. i have just seen george north here, does this give a geraint bragging rights over his rugby playing friends, is this a bigger

crowd ? playing friends, is this a bigger crowd? absolutely, they will have to beat the all blacks if they want to beat the all blacks if they want to be as good as geraint winning the tour de france! you mentioned has a ring the last few days have been. —— surreal. have you had a chance to catch up? not really, hywel did yesterday but i was working. hopefully i will be able to zoom, he has been roaming from one place to another. came back to cardiff yesterday. i did not see him. hopefully, today, iwill. yesterday. i did not see him. hopefully, today, i will. that is the scale of the achievement, you cannot see your the scale of the achievement, you cannot see your son. the scale of the achievement, you cannot see your son. you have had a chance to see him, hywel, we know that he is a very unassuming guy, any changes in the last few days? no, he has been so tired, i don't think he knows where he is, back to germany, then back to cardiff, this

is happening every day. yesterday, at 10pm, did not leave until half past three. that is what he has got to do. part of the game for him now. is life changing for you as well, will you be jetting to monaco to see geraint in future? when it all dies down, we have been to monaco on holiday, but we will go home, it won‘t be like this all the time. when he does arrive back here, how do you see him responding?” when he does arrive back here, how do you see him responding? i think he is going to be very emotional. it looked like he was going to burst into tears, so emotional. thank you very much, both of you. expecting

tears again from geraint with an emotional speech, we expect more of that later. thank you very much. tour de france when a geraint thomas did not think any was going to turn up, can you believe it! —— tour de france winner. there he is, the man in the yellow jersey, france winner. there he is, the man in the yellowjersey, incredible scenes, getting ready to write here at two cardiff castle, making his way down st. mary straight, you may be able to see a few young riders behind him now. —— st. mary‘s street. they will for my palate and as he gets on his bike, 32 members of accredited clubs across wales are among the 44 riders. ready to go now, ages ten to 16, a mixture of them ride for fun, now, ages ten to 16, a mixture of them ride forfun, some are competitive, some of the british champions in the mix. clubs represented from all over wales including geraint thomas‘s former

club, look at him, smiling, giving eve ryo ne club, look at him, smiling, giving everyone the thumbs up, hang out of windows to see him. members of the clu b windows to see him. members of the club that develop olympic gold medal winners elinor barker and in a deal and geraint thomas, the maindy flyer, along with the rank thomas‘s team—mate at the tour de france, luke rowe. gareth, you are very keen to see what shoes he has on, we have representatives from rhyl cycling club. he is wearing what we would call regular daps, that is a welsh term for trainers, cyclist where specialist shoes, clip onto the pedals, is feet stuck in the pedals but for walking a little more difficult. those are regular trainers, it will make it easy for

him to go to the podium and he won‘t be walking around like a penguin. we don‘t want him slipping when he gets to the stage! what about that bicycle ? to the stage! what about that bicycle? that will be one that he used for the tour, fascinating, if you are a professional cyclist, you make is think you would see him riding around cardiff, he does not go riding around cardiff, he does not go out very often. that you me at six think. he would not be wearing the yellow jersey other than six think. he would not be wearing the yellowjersey other than today but all professional riders must wear their team kit at all times, so if you ever see someone you think is geraint thomas and he‘s not wearing tea m geraint thomas and he‘s not wearing team sky, it is not him. really good tip! and he will never wear the yellow jersey unless it tip! and he will never wear the yellowjersey unless it is today. if you are a cycling aficionado, only those who have won the yellowjersey at the tour de france have the will write to wear it at any time. —— have the right. i think he is allowed that privilege. his legacy

at the maindy flyers has never been in doubt but these children, these youngsters, riding behind a welshman, tour de france winner, geraint thomas, the most inspirational thing that could ever happen to them? yes, and we heard from the parents of geraint thomas, a bit of background, he went to the maindy flyers as a 12—year—old, no background in cycling, his family, no connection to cycling, whereas his team—mate, luke rowe, he had in steeped in cycling. but here is what can happen, riding up st. mary‘s street, having been celebrating at the champs—elys es, in the yellow jersey, winner of the tour de france. great scenes, smiling, waving to the crowd, have you ever seen waving to the crowd, have you ever seen him cycle so slowly? laughter most amateur cyclists have all

fallen at the traffic lights when their feet are clipped ten. incredible scenes, incredible pictures. he would have walked up and down st mary street himself a few times, not on a bike, not at this time of day, perhaps later on in the afternoon. it is the one place in cardiff which is very different at night than by day. fantastic! he seems to really be enjoying this. look at the smile on his face! soaking up every minute of it. they are cheering because he is about to turn the corner and come round the bend.