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 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. they have been

waiting a while and they are about to see geraint thomas, the winner of the tour de france, come around the bend any minute now. it is not quite paris or the chandra lees says that cardiff is a sporting city and it is doing us proud today. —— the chance to alleviate. the tens of thousands, the hundreds of thousands who have lined the streets of cardiff bay, st mary street, turning towards cardiff castle, to celebrate what was an incredible achievement. a month ago with geraint thomas imagine he would be here right now wearing yellow, celebrating the fact he had won the tour de france? it is difficult to think back to those days because it seems like a natural fit. what does it take to win the toughest

challenge in cycling? fitness, strength, durability, passion, sensibility, bike handling skills and you need to be a tough cookie. he is certainly bad. —— certainly bat. ladies and gentlemen, tour de france champion, geraint thomas. come here are set. before you we give you your official welcome we must get your reaction to that. i mean, what was that like? it is bonkers. i cannot believe it. you focus on the race and crossing the line first and things you do not think about the aftermath. i was thinking, i want some commission on all these g

t—shirts. some commission on all these g t-shirts. it is a tenner a pop. this support has been insane, 04 coming out. get your breath back. i know it has been a long ride. the lord mayor of cardiff, dianne reeves, ladies and gents. what an entrance that was! first of all, of warm welcome to geraint thomas will stop welcome home, geraint thomas. thank you. i think i can speak for everyone here today that is what geraint thomas has achieved is remarkable. his dedication... we are going to leave the special coverage finau but we

are very much keeping an eye on and here —— and here on cardiff. what a glorious sight that has been for the last hour or so! thousands and thousands of people on the streets of cardiff to welcome a proper sporting hero. only the third written to win the tour de france and the first welshman, hence that rapturous reception. —— the third writ on. we will be talking to some in his first cycled with geraint thomas a long time ago. you will have much more from cardiff over the course of the hour. we will leave the celebrations for now. we will be back from cardiff in a little while. you are watching bbc news. i am jane hill. we start with the continuing

trial at bristol crown court. the england cricketer ben stokes has begun giving evidence in his trial for affray in bristol. he has denied being drunk when arrested after a fight outside a nightclub in the city last year. he says he stepped in after hearing homophobic abuse being shouted at two men. earlier the court heard claims that the cricketer ‘could have killed' another man during the incident. stokes, and one other man, deny a charge of affray. charges were dropped against a third defendant earlier on today. matt coles reports. hands cuffed in the back of a police car, this was then stokes moments after his arrest in bristol last year. the footage was shot on the arresting officer's body camera, just yards from the vehicle where

the cricketer was being detained another man lay injured on the road. i will explain why you have been arrested. this footage was shown in court yesterday, released this morning as pa rt yesterday, released this morning as part of the prosecution case. video of the incident itself has also been played to the jury. one of the three men facing trial, a former soldier, who had been knocked unconscious, has now walked free. he maintained he was an innocent bystander enjoying friendly banter with a gay couple when he was attacked. the judge said he had no case to answer and was found not guilty.|j judge said he had no case to answer and was found not guilty. i was happy for myself. i had to see what happens with the rest of the case. happy for myself. i had to see what happens with the rest of the caselj

will not comment until then. ryan ali, whose injuries were shown to the court, remains on trial alongside ben stokes, he began giving evidence this afternoon. the cricketer denied this seemingly camp gesture was him mocking a gay couple outside the embargo club. he said this moment when he appears to throw something at that was not him licking elite cigarette as the prosecution claimed. this is the same gay couple, together with ryan hale, moving away from the club. the cricketer said mr ali had shouted homophobic abuse at them and he had stepped in. from the witness box you said —— he said he was threatened by mrali. he said —— he said he was threatened by mr ali. he took the decision to get involved. the brawl followed next ending in ryan hale and ryan ali both being knocked out. then stokes and ryan ali deny the charge of affray and a trial is expected to continue into next week. —— then stokes.

our correspondent, phil mackie, is outside bristol crown court. this is the first day that ben stokes has been heard from directly. explain a little bit more about the proceedings today. as you remember, during the prosecution case that we have seen a lot of phone footage of the fight itself will stop you have seen more the fight itself will stop you have seen more of it there. this is where stokes is seen throwing punches. the man who was cleared today in a police statement said he felt he could die under attack from stokes. we heard evidence from the doorman who had refused entry into the nightclub in the early hours of the morning. he was described as being angry and spiteful mimicking a gay couple in an offensive manner. he had his chance to put his version of events and said none of that was true. he had not been angry and spiteful, he had been messing around and having fun with the gay couple

outside the nightclub. he told the court that ryan ali had threatened him with a bottle and heard the remarks made. he said he stepped in. as soon as i decided to get involved in everything was in self defence. i could to keep myself and those around me say. that is what he said in the police interview after he was arrested as well. borisjohnson could face an investigation into whether he breached the conservative party's code of conduct, following his comments about muslim women wearing burkas. it's understood the party has received dozens of complaints after the former foreign secretary compared women who wear the full—face veil to "letter boxes". our political correspondent, susanna mendonca, is in westminster. so, what could this actually mean,

this procedure? what the understand is that now there has to be a three stage process. at the moment we understand that borisjohnson's case is in the first stage. complaints are assessed. borisjohnson has the opportunity to respond in the party official decides whether the case has merit. if it does not it can be thrown out completely at this stage if it does have merit it will go to the next stage where an independent panel will look at whether he broke the code of conduct. they could take it to the third stage were it goes to the party board. at that point the party board could decide whether oi’ the party board could decide whether or not to suspend an mp or throw an mp out of the party altogether. it is important to note at the moment we are nowhere near that stage. they are looking at it in the initial stages, looking at whether or not he broke the code of conduct. it says that conservative officials and elected representatives must lead by

example to ring courage and foster respect and tolerance. that is what the code says. we have had dozens of complaints made to the conservative party in feuding one from the conservative muslim forum. —— including one. he has said he should have the whip removed. also letters from 100 muslim women who have said they think the whip should be withdrawn as well. they are looking into the case and it is not clear whether or not it will move, as i say, onto the next stages. this is an issue that has caused a of upset within the party. thank you for now. we will talk more about that story after half—past. at least twenty—nine children are reported to have been killed in an air—strike which hit a school bus in northern yemen. most of those who died were under the age of ten. the bus had been travelling close

to a market in sa'dah province when it was struck. the saudi—led coalition which backs yemen's government have called the strike "legitimate military action" and says it was targeting rebels who'd launched missiles from the area earlier this week. a report from the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse has been sharply critical of the way two private catholic boarding schools were run. it found appalling abuse took place over decades at ampleforth in north yorkshire, and downside in somerset, and that the schools had both put their reputation ahead of protecting children. the schools have apologised for their failings. our religion editor, martin bashir, reports. downside school, in somerset. like ampleforth, in north yorkshire, described at the inquiry last december as resembling a "harry potter world of beguiling charm". but within these golden monastic buildings, predatory teachers sexually abused children as young as seven for over 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. the headlines on bbc news...

a court hears evidence from the england cricketer ben stokes, at his trial for affray. he says he stepped in after homophobic abuse was shouted at two men. boris johnson faces a possible investigation into breaches of the conservative party code of conduct, following his comments about muslim women who wear burqas. a damning report says appalling sexual abuse took place for decades at two elite catholic boarding schools, on boys as young as seven. in the sport, jack law has won gold in the three metre springboard at the european championships. it follows the gold he won in the same event at the commonwealth games in glasgow. the summer transfer window

is closed. chelsea have been showing off their star signing, the world's most expensive keypad. golf's final major of the year, the us pga championship is under way with rory mcilroy currently three shots off the lead. i will be back with more on those stories at 5:30 p:m.. see you then. thank you. we will see you later. councillors in northamptonshire have voted to support an action plan that will lead to radical cuts to services and jobs, as they look to deal with a £70 million budget shortfall. one member of the public told councillors they were "shameful" and would have "blood on their hands" if they went ahead with the proposals. tony mcardle is the lead commissioner, who's been appointed by the secretary of state, to make sure the council meets it's financial duties and delivers essential services. mr mcardle described the next step for the county council. 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. andrew lewer is the conservative mp for northampton south, and a former council leader. he's outside the northamptonshire county council building for us. good evening to you. what would you say first of all to people who pay their council tax and who, as we reported back and say that if essential services are cut, some councillors will have blood on the hands? what i would say is northamptonshire county council has had mismanagement and got itself

into a very difficult situation which will be very difficult to get out of. what i see as my role as a member of parliament is to call for solutions to that and that is both the extra 20 billion the government has announced being focused into aduu has announced being focused into adult care, notjust the nhs, but also to ensure the new green paper on adult care actually provide sustainable funding solutions for local government. although this has happened to northamptonshire now because of local mismanagement were other authorities are not too far down the road in years to come and we need a solution for northamptonshire and the rest of local government as well. the situation that northamptonshire finds itself are you saying that is almost entirely because of cuts from central government and particularly with reference to adult social care? is it really all about that one particular issue? adult social care

is the largest buy it anyway item of expenditure. new solutions are required for that. there is a government green paper which was supposed to come out earlier this year but has not come out yet. we need to come out as soon as possible. it is promised for the all too many to be quite radical to come up too many to be quite radical to come up with new ideas for this. —— for the autumn. we need radical, forward—thinking solutions to get local government and adult care contracts. it is not a service that eve ryo ne contracts. it is not a service that everyone uses but it is expensive and vital and we need to be more creative in the future as governments from the last century have promised. they need to deliver and we hope this will deliver that.

are there people in that building your standing are there people in that building yourstanding in are there people in that building your standing in front of who should be taking more responsibility for? the funding issue has been well—known for some time that the cou nty well—known for some time that the county council was spending money, or budgeting for expenditure, when it knew it simply was not going to have enough in its offers? both the local government association report from last autumn and the commissioners report since then have made that very clear. what i am here to do, and other northamptonshire mps are the same, is to meet with government ministers, with secretaries of state, to ensure from the national end, the new team here trying to do the right thing locally get support nationally it needs as well. before we let you go, as a member of the conservative party, i interested in your views on the former foreign secretary boris johnson. what should he do in light

of the growing number of complaints that have been made about the comments he made about women wearing the burqa? it may not have been the case that the way boris expressed himself pacific lee would have been the wording i would use. —— specifically. it is an issue for society to deal with. there should not be a no—go zone when it comes to freedom of speech and expressing views. although i would not have used those words bringing the issue up used those words bringing the issue up and saying what boris did which was that he does not support a ban on burqa, which is right. i do not support that i do not support a ban on expressing opinions. has he spoil the opportunity of having a debate which you and others has said should be had by using such intemperate

language, by talking about letterboxes ? language, by talking about letterboxes? it is debate that should be had. i would not have expressed myself in that way but he pulled's concerns that have been expressed to me as member of parliament are legitimate as well. thank you for your time this evening. the foreign secretary, jeremy hunt, has thanked the united states for ‘standing firm' with the uk, after washington introduced new sanctions on russia following the salisbury nerve agent attack. the former russian spy sergei skripal, and his daughter yulia, were poisoned in the city in march. the us state department says russia violated international law by using chemical or biological weapons. the kremlin has denied any involvement. our washington correspondent chris buckler reports. an attack in the middle of england continues to have consequences

for international relationships, and in imposing sanctions, america is making clear that it believes russia used the nerve agent novichok in an intended assassination here on the streets of salisbury. in the aftermath of the poisoning of the former russian double agent sergei skripal and his daughter, yulia, the united states was one of many countries that did take action. it expelled dozens of russian diplomats from the us, including many from its embassy in washington. and since then, members of congress have been pushing for the state department to make a definitive statement that russia had broken international law by using a chemical or biological weapon. in making that determination, sanctions are being automatically imposed that will prevent the sale of some electronics and sensitive technologies to russia. that could put a strain on relationships, at a time when donald trump appears to be trying to reach out to vladimir putin, particularly as a second wave of harsher sanctions will follow, unless moscow gives reassurances that it won't use chemical weapons again and opens up some sites to inspectors within 90 days.

the kremlin is likely to resist that. it continues to deny that it was involved in the attempted murder of sergei skripal and his daughter. however, the us isjust one of more than 20 countries who've taken formal action against russia, and the british government has welcomed what it called a ‘strong international response'. chris buckler, bbc news. now i look at a few stories in brief. rya nair says it will cancel about one in six of its flights tomorrow because of a strike by pilots in several european countries. the industrial action is part of an ongoing row about pay and conditions. 400 flights are currently affected, including more than 200 between germany and the uk. the death toll on the indonesian island of lombok has risen to 259 — four days after a powerful earthquake struck the region. the area has been hit by more than 350 aftershocks, including one today with a magnitude of 5.9. officials say more victims

are expected to be found in the rubble as the search for survivors continues. itv has announced that ant mcpartlin will take a break from television presenting until 2019. ant stepped down from his tv work in march following his arrest on suspicion of drink driving following a car crash. he will miss the next series of i‘m a celebrity... get me out of here!, which dec donnelly will present alone. and ant and dec‘s saturday night takeaway which will return in 2020. the number of patients waiting more than one year for non—urgent surgery in england has risen sharply, to more than 3,500 — the highest in more than six years. the number went up by more than 400 injune alone. the latest figures also show that the number of people going into a&e units in england was at a record high injuly. our correspondent sarah campbell has more.

for well over a year, richard, 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 nonurgent 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 pattern 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 figures unprecedented and despite the huge numbers attending, it said nine in ten people were dealt with within four hours. sarah campbell, bbc news. much more coming up in the next half an hour. time for a look at the weather. here‘s tomasz with the forecast. today has been the greatest and rainiest day in london we have had for a little while. other parts of the country have been bathing in sunshine. it is the south—eastern portion of the country that has had a cloud and rain. year is on the satellite image. in the atlantic we

have more weather system is heading our way and they are heading just in time for the weekend. as for this evening we say goodbye to the rain in east anglia which will eventually clear. a beautiful sunset for many of us. there should be beautiful pictures coming in later. we have the right clout will beautiful sons —— sunsets. it will be very fresh, 8 degrees, may be lower than that. city centres just into double figures. tamara is a mixture of sunshine and showers with a bit of a breeze. temperatures low 20s, no warmer than that. extreme degrees in belfast. this is bbc news. the headlines... a court hears evidence from the england cricketer, ben stokes, at his trial for affray. he says he stepped in after homophobic abuse was shouted at two men. there‘s a guy over there that‘s

covered in blood and i‘ve been told that you punched him. because he was abusing my two friends for being gay. that‘s what i‘ve been told so that‘s why i‘ve arrested you on suspicion of assault. boris johnson faces a possible investigation into breaches of the conservative party code of conduct, following his comments about muslim women who wear burqas. a damning report says appalling sexual abuse took place for decades at two elite catholic boarding schools, sometimes on boys as young as seven. russia condemns new us sanctions imposed in response to the salisbury nerve agent attack — a spokeperson for vladimir putin calls them "absolutely illegal" and thousands of people line the streets of cardiff to welcome home tour de france winner geraint thomas. fantastic scenes there in cardiff.

let‘s catch up with the sport news. hello. afternoon. more success for great britain in the diving pool in edinburgh. jack laugher has won gold in the 3 metre springboard. it‘s his second gold in the championships after victory in the one metre event. it follows up the gold that he won in the same event, in the same pool at the commonwealth games in glasgow four years ago. britain‘s noah williams and matt dixon took silver in the 10m synchronised platform event. they‘re both just 18 — but they are no strangers to the podium at major events, having won european bronze in budapest last year and taking silver behind tom daley and dan goodfellow at the commonwealth games in april. russia won the gold today. ben proud folowed up his 50m butterfly silver — with his first ever european title. he can offically can call himself the fastest man in water in europe winning gold in the 50 metres

freestyle in 21.34 seconds. earlier, britain‘sjess learmonth took silver in the triathlon behind former olympic champion nicola spirig. she now has a silver medal to go with the one she won at the commonwealth games earlier this year. learmonth was the defending european champion but finished behind spirig, the olympic champion at london 2012 that is a hard course, definitely. i‘ve struggled at points but i am delighted with seconds. you said to me you get across the line and you say, thank goodness it was over. does that is what you are feeling today? that is what im feeling every time. when i am back at the hotel i think, iam time. when i am back at the hotel i think, i am finished and done. the summer transfer window has shut... the big money was spent yesterday. £71 million by chelsea on kepa arriza—bal—aga a record for a goalkeeper,

he joined from athletic bilbao. chelsea showed him off today, known as kepa, kepa he‘s currently second choice for spain behind manchester united‘s david de gea. chelsea met the release clause with the deal surpassing alisson‘s £66.8m move to liverpool. he‘s signed a seven—year contract at the club. their former number one thibaut courtois has left chelsea with 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. one deal which went through late on... everton have completed the signing of barcelona defender yerry mina for £27.19m as well as former shakhtar donetsk winger bernard. 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 £4—million.

arsenal paid 17 million for him 2 years ago. 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 window has closed and ealier he was his usual cheerful self when asked about possible additions. iam not i am not confident. i am not confident. the market closes today. it is time for me to stop thinking about the market, because the market will be closed. so i will have two focus an the players i have. that‘s all the sport for now. the final golf major of the year the uspga got going in the last couple of hours. ian poulter has made a decent start you can find more on all those stories on the bbc

sport website. all of the commentary for you on the website. more for you at 6:30pm. thank you very much indeed. thank you and more from cardiff to come. thousands of people out on the streets to see geraint thomas. mortar, from that. —— more to come from that. let‘s get more on the news that boris johnson faces a possible investigation into breaches of the conservative party code of conduct following his remarks about muslim women who wear the burqa. the former foreign secretary said they "look like bank robbers or letter boxes". the conservative party has received dozens of complaints as a result. let‘s discuss the complaints and what all of this means. joining me from westminster is the deputy political editor of the times, sam coates. very good evening to you. good

evening. a quick thought first of all about the investigation, the code of conduct that is laid down. what could this mean potentially? it is quite important to be clear about what has happened today. they have been a number of complaints about boris johnson‘s article been a number of complaints about borisjohnson‘s article in the daily telegraph. that means that is a small investigation begun into what the complaint says. there is somebody currently working out whether or not to make this a big deal and escalate this issue to a popular 3—person panel, or not. that isa popular 3—person panel, or not. that is a big decision but it is an automatic consequence of it being a complaint. the fact that there is an investigation is no judgment complaint. the fact that there is an investigation is nojudgment on complaint. the fact that there is an investigation is no judgment on what borisjohnson has investigation is no judgment on what boris johnson has done investigation is no judgment on what borisjohnson has done so far. that is important because it means this episode could go either way. we

could decide to escalate or de—escalated. as it were, given on the confrontation. can it take a while? under the code of conduct, we promise a speedy decision at this stage. this individual does not have a lot of evidence to go through. there is the column. i would expect the decision to come today or tomorrow. i think if they went into a full blown enquiry with multiple people, they would then have to consider what people have been suspended or expelled for in the past, what presidents that would set if they did sanction him, they would have to sanction other people and then gets my confiscated. whether or not they are going to do proper enquiry will have to come pretty quickly. it is august, it is recess, we think borisjohnson is not in the country, he has upset a lot of

people, other people are supporting him, the bottom line is everybody is talking about boris johnson. him, the bottom line is everybody is talking about borisjohnson. is that exactly what he wanted? was this the plan? ithink exactly what he wanted? was this the plan? i think to a certain extent, yes. i think the significance of this is bigger than this. we have seen this is bigger than this. we have seen day after day for nine months a brexit civil war inside the conservative party. those two camps irreconcilable over the direction to ta ke irreconcilable over the direction to take the country. i wonder whether this week we have seen the opening of something new and even more worrying for those secure about the conservative party teacher, that brexit war expanding into a cultural war. people are taking sides along brexit lines it would seem as to issues of free speech, women‘s rights, freedom of expression, and i think it is quite noticeable that people are taking hard signs,

positions within one party. that is a question that if you have both sides in the party, whether it can come together, whether the divisions which are very personal and about things more than brexit, whether those divisions can ever be bridged. it is going to take leadership to fuel the sewers that are currently really live inside the conservative party. it is a question not ofjust borisjohnson who represents the party for a big wing of the party, but also a testament from how we are moving from a brexit war to the cultural civil war. is it happening because people think that come christmas, theresa may will not be the leader and this is all part of that campaign, is fundamentally that? i think there is something in that. i hesitate to say this too strongly but there is an absence of

very strong leadership at the top. she is not the kind of person who stands on a desk and says, follow me, iam stands on a desk and says, follow me, i am going to heal the wounds. she is a low—key prime minister and in that environment, different factions bubble up and fight amongst themselves. that is one of the reasons why the conservative party is in the messages end. whether a future leader could heal this, who knows? always good to talk to you. you are still smiling. a long summer. thank you very much. more now on northamptonshire county council, who have voted to support an action plan that will lead to radical cuts to services and jobs — as they look to deal with a £70 million budget shortfall. all but one of the conservative councillors backed the action plan earlier, and the council must now work out the impact it will have on individual services and jobs. let‘s go now to jo black who is outside the northamptonshire county council building for us.

hello. yes, £70 million needs to be saved by march next year. whilst still protecting vulnerable people in this county. that is the challenge that is facing councillors here in northamptonshire. we have spoken to politicians today that now let‘s speak to people who might be affected by the decision. i have jenny from a charity that helps people with learning difficulties and health issues and i have david jones from the health watch bathampton sure, a body that represents sick and vulnerable people. —— northamptonshire. this plan to reduce money, is going to be rubber—stamped today. plan to reduce money, is going to be rubber-stamped today. what is your reaction? my reaction is mixed because the one thing i am pleased

about is that they have a duty to protect society's most vulnerable and they have announced they are going to examine contracts and look at where they have made, or where they can make, spending cuts. as a representative of the voluntary sector, i welcome this. we representative of the voluntary sector, iwelcome this. we have representative of the voluntary sector, i welcome this. we have a vibrant and sector, i welcome this. we have a vibra nt and viable sector, i welcome this. we have a vibrant and viable charitable servers out there that is currently delivering these type of contracts andl delivering these type of contracts and i look forward to working with the council to help them save even more money by signposting people to the likes of the charities, and let's save some money. if cuts to come down the line, how was it affect a charity like yours? how would the people that you represent the affected? they would be affected in every walk of their life. they are society's most vulnerable. without day centres and respite centres, these people cannot make

simple choices for the themselves. cuts have been made which have affected how many days per week they can come. any further cuts would be catastrophic, in my opinion. this plan today, we did not get much detail, does that create a sense of speculation and worry with yourself and your members? i have service users asking me on an hourly basis, can they still come in tomorrow? we are reassuring them the best i can. we have staff who are worried. we are all worried how these cuts could impact on our services. i really do have faith that they will make the right decisions. they cannot cut and already cut service to the bone. you can only wallpaper over the cracks for so long. the walls will fall

eventually and no further cuts to the most vulnerable, ijust cannot see how they can. thank you. what about you ? see how they can. thank you. what about you? jenny says she welcomes a reassessment of services. are you worried as well? this is a desperate situation. today we're talking about this affecting local councils across the country. that has a knock on effect of the health service and police who have to pick up the crises that the council cannot deal with. we are focusing today on the council. the real challenge is how we get to a better public services and frankly, the government has got to provide support for that transition. the council has accepted its situation today. they have accepted there is a challenge. now the government has to step in. if they do not, let's be clear, the people who will pay the price will

be the most vulnerable people. let's be the most vulnerable people. let's be clear who they are, children who are at risk of abuse, elderly people who are at the risk of going into residential care, people with learning difficulties, people with mental health problems. those problems do not go away because the council services are not there. if the council is not able to help, they go to police, the good a&e. this is a challenge for the whole country that the government has got to face up to. thank you both for coming. the action plan has been rubber—stamped today but there is lots more to do and we do not know where the axe will fall and how deep the cuts will be until may be one month ahead. thank you. we will be talking about it again. thanks for now. the headlines on bbc news... a court hears evidence from the england cricketer ben stokes, at his trial for affray. he says he stepped in after homophobic abuse was shouted at two men.

boris johnson faces a possible investigation into breaches of the conservative party code of conduct, following his comments about muslim women who wear burkas. a damning report says appalling sexual abuse took place for decades at two elite catholic boarding schools, sometimes on boys as young as seven. a quick look at the markets for you. as promised, we are going to return to cardiff this evening. there has been wonderful scenes there for the last hour or two. geraint thomas has been well and truly welcomed home. thousands of people are out on the streets there, cheering and seeing

him cycling again. it follows on and that amazing achievement, winning the tour de france. he is only the third briton and the first welshman to win. let‘s go to cardiff and speak to debbie because she was geraint thomas‘s cycling coach when he was a child. it has been a fantastic afternoon. your thoughts on the celebrations we have been seeing. it is amazing. icannot believe that the turnout here. i think i thought there might be a couple hundred but i would not like to guess how many people are here. they have come from all over, young and old, people on bikes dressed in yellow. it is wonderful. tell as when you first met the man that we now call the winner of the tour de france. he was barely ten, a thing,

when you met him. yes, he was nine or ten years old. he started riding around the track one day. he had a goal and, yes, look where he has ended up. it is unbelievable. you are at the founder of the maindy flyers cycling club. what did you think of him, when you first saw him get on a bike and he‘s 31 take part? was at one of those situations when is isa was at one of those situations when is is a young boy with talent? note, when he started off he was like all of the other children. —— no. he did not have any special talents. he was an ordinary boy who had a go on a bike. he had good team—mates. when he got to about 13 or 14 is when he started to progress and focused on what he was doing and he started to

win competitions and he progressed from there. it took a couple of yea rs, from there. it took a couple of years, but still quite young when he showed some talent. yes. do you think he would have got into cycling had there not been that facilitate? had he not almost, can i say, almost doubled across your cycling club? had he not almost, can i say, almost doubled across your cycling club7m is such a fantastic story. he went for a swim at the local swimming pool and we were just starting to put the cycling club their anti—social children going around the track and he came back with his dad and had a cold himself. if it was not for that moment in time, i think he would never have found cycling. cycling and wales has a lot to be grateful for. it cycling. cycling and wales has a lot to be gratefulfor. it is interesting that you see wales has a lot to be grateful for. we have had the these glorious scenes today of him cycling through the city centre.

do you think this can be a moment to inspire youngsters, to encourage youngsters into sport? into cycling and perhaps into other sports? definitely. he is a role model, but an ordinary boy who came and tried something and was good at it. it was nothing more than that. for maindy flyers cycling club, it proves that facilitate based cycling is the way to develop the sport that way. if kids want to have fun and ride the bike, it makes them safer bike riders, they can do that. if they wa nt to riders, they can do that. if they want to compete, we can do that. they can to get as far as they want to. a final thought about the man himself. looking to the future, can there be more to come? has he got it in him to push on through and win another 2—d france, do you think? ——

2-d another 2—d france, do you think? —— 2—d france? another 2—d france, do you think? —— 2-d france? i hope so. who knows what the future will bring. we all hope so. enjoy the celebrations. a beautiful evening. debbie, lovely to talk to you. debbie, the founder of the maindy flyers cycling club. she is among many thousands of people out on the streets of cardiff tonight. let‘s stay with the topic of taking exercise of some form or another. 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! i 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 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 and 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. the dramatic giant‘s causeway is northern ireland‘s most popular tourist atraction, and one ofjust four natural world heritage sites in the uk. now, it‘s at the centre of a row about whether tourists are being charged to see it. the national trust disputes claims that its signs surrounding the tourist hotspot are misleading, as our ireland correspondent emma vardy reports. this geological wonder attracted more than a 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. so beautiful, isn‘t it? time for a look at the weather. here‘s tomasz with the forecast. it appears that summer has come to an abruptand, it appears that summer has come to an abrupt and, particularly in the south—east. do not wish it away. we still have august to get through. september is often nice as well. let‘s not write some of. for many of us, it is a sigh of relief. not

everybody likes 30 celsius. this is the forecast. back to our classic mix of sunshine and showers. if you look at the atlantic, it is looking to psy—tu rvy. look at the atlantic, it is looking topsy—turvy. more weather systems are forming. more than we have had lately. you see this dip in the jet stream, when it dips, it cools and brings the cooler air from the north. that is what is over us right now. for some of us, it is quite fresh. 17 celsius in london. it is going to be nippy. if you are going to be in the garden at 9pm, it will feel quite cool. goodbye to the rainfall that we have had in the south—east as well. finally goodbye. we still need some rainfall. it is a nasty low pressure that is going to bring stormy conditions to some

countries like denmark. we are in the week here where it is clear whether, showers but temperatures down to 11 celsius in central london early in the morning. some of us are down to five celsius in scotland. he is friday‘s weather forecast. down to five celsius in scotland. he is friday‘s weatherforecast. the weather is not looking too bad. occasionally, the rain will be interrupted. a ten or 15 minute shower and then the sun is out. still fresh. 16 in belfast. london getting up to 21 celsius. saturday and sunday is looking mixed. the low pressure that i showed you earlier on, here is one of the pressure that is rolling in off the atlantic. it will bring cloud and rain as well. it will not be raining all of the

time. here is an example of the north of the uk. in the south, we are still hanging on to the warmth. if anything, there is a chance that if the winds swing direction, temperatures could get back up to 26 celsius in the south. that is it from me. goodbye. england cricketer ben stokes takes the stand in his trial over a brawl

outside a bristol nightclub. he says he only became involved to defend himself and others before police arrived. right, the reason... i‘ll explain to you why you‘ve been arrested as well. yeah. it‘s because there‘s a guy over there, who‘s covered in blood... yeah. and i‘ve been told you‘ve punched him. because he was abusing my two friends for being gay. stokes, and one other defendent, deny affray. also on the programme... a report finds that two leading catholic schools covered up the sexual abuse of pupils by staff, over four decades. the number of dead in the lombok earthquake in indonesia rises to more than 250. the conservative party is examining dozens of complaints about boris johnson‘s comments on muslim women and full face veils.