tonight at 10... an airstrike on a school bus in yemen leaves dozens dead. the international red cross says it's received the bodies of 29 children — scores of others have been injured. three years of war, between a saudi—led coalition, and rebels backed by iran, have left the country on the brink of collapse. my worry about yemen is that if we left it and it wasn t resolved, that we could look at syria plus in the years to come, and that would be very, very bad indeed. we'll be looking at the continuing, and so far fruitless, efforts to end the bloodshed. also tonight... the england cricketer, ben stokes, gives evidence for the first time in his trial over a brawl outside a bristol nightclub. two leading private catholic schools, are accused of covering up sexual abuse against pupils for more than four decades. a councilfacing a majorfunding crisis has approved huge cuts.

thejihadist group that carried out last year's barcelona attacks. we investigate their international connections. and, he says it's been a "crazy championships." adam peaty wins a fourth, european gold in glasgow. and coming up on sportsday on bbc news, all the latest from transfer deadline day, with everton busy signing three players, including yerry mina from barcelona ahead of tomorrow's new premier league season. good evening. the red cross says one of its hospitals has received the bodies of 29 children, killed after an airstrike on a school bus in a rebel—held area of northern yemen. 30 other children were

among scores injured. the saudi—led coalition flying fighter jets, defended the attack in saada, saying it was a "legitimate military action" aimed at a missile launcher. for more than three years, yemen has been divided by a fierce civil war. on one side is the internationally recognised government led by president mansour hadi, and backed by a saudi—led coalition, supported by the us, the uk and france. on the other side are houthi rebels, allied with iran. the united nations says the conflict has caused terrible suffering. 8 million yemenis face famine and three—quarters of the population is in need of humanitarian aid. the new un special envoy to the country, has told the bbc in his first interview, that yemen faces "collapse," unless a political solution can be found. our chief international correspondent lyse doucet has this report, and some of the pictures, you may find distressing. school bags on the backs, shock in

the eyes. children heading for a day out will stops a yemeni child's they ends like this all too often. many in hospital beds. —— a yemeni child's day. today, three to a bed and many more dead. this man says an air strike and many more dead. this man says an airstrike in the and many more dead. this man says an air strike in the market targeted the children's. our shops were open, he says can shoppers were just walking around. this was the school bus ina walking around. this was the school bus in a rebel controlled town. the saudi led coalition says it targeted missile launchers, taking aim at saudi cities, accusing the houthis of using children as human shields.

and adley, proxy war in the country teetering on the brink of collapse. i asked an envoy, what if the war does not stop? collapse, and massive, massive humanitarian suffering in yemen. and the effect of that on the region, a possible increase in terrorist activities in yemen. al-qaeda, islamic state. a failed state in yemen has extraordinary consequences for the region and their wider region and beyond. for that reason, we need to react now. it is already the world's worst humanitarian crisis. more of its people rely on food aid like this than anywhere else in the world. millions are on the verge of starving. the people desperate for peace but many doubtful. the warring

sides do not want stability for yemenis or the yemeni people to be masters of their own faith. we have had countless rounds of talks. they all failed. but the situation in yemen is now so bad, maybe there is a glimmerof yemen is now so bad, maybe there is a glimmer of hope that this conflict can be resolved. mr griffiths believes all sides are now ready for a political solution. the attacks are continuing and, the saudi led coalition was backed by the united states, britain, france, providing weapons and support. back is something we will be discussing in geneva. myjob is to provide the opportunity for the people of yemen to sit down and talk peace. that is what we are here for. we're here to do in what we are here for. we're here to doina what we are here for. we're here to do in a way that is consistent with security council resolutions which include the requirement for disarmament and withdrawal of forces. that is the best answer in

my view to the question about armaments on both sides. houthi rebels armed and trained by iran are still fighting. both sides say they are ready to attend talks in geneva next month. the first in two years after two failed rounds. if they keep failing, yemen itself will fail. and the latest talks next month. what are the chances of anything positive coming out of them?‘ what are the chances of anything positive coming out of them? a very big question in a big risk. all the main powers in this war, whether it is the british, the americans, the saudis backing the yemeni government oi’ saudis backing the yemeni government or the iranians backing the houthi rebels, they have all been saying for yea rs rebels, they have all been saying for years they want a political solution. martin griffiths has been shuffling between all the capitals. he insists he believes they mean it

this time. the problem in yemen, evenif this time. the problem in yemen, even if they are serious about talks, they also believe in trying to gain military advantage, to try to gain military advantage, to try to gain military advantage, to try to gain more ground. as we have seen yet again today with catastrophic human consequences, military action, despite all the denials by all of the players, saying they will take ca re the players, saying they will take care with the targeting, military action so often has these catastrophic, human consequences. so there needs to be talks but they are setting the bar very low. martin griffiths will bring togetherjust the yemenis, not the outside players. they may not even sit in the same room together. it willjust be talks about talks but he is hoping it will be a beginning. what i was hearing this week from yemenis from all sides, not the parties themselves were people who backed different sides, they all agree this will be hard, really hard and there are powerful forces who benefit from this war. they also say that yemenis

are tired, tired beyond anything any of us can imagine. the outside players have been clobbered by accusations of war crimes quit using starvation as a weapon of war. they all know this cannot go on but they cannot agree on how to stop it. yankee very much. —— thank you very much. and lyse will be answering some of your questions on social media for 30 minutes after the programme. you can tweet her at @bbclysedoucet using the hashtag #bbcnewsio. the england cricketer, ben stokes, says he was defending himself and others, during a fight outside a nightclub in bristol last year. giving evidence for the first time in his trial on a charge of affray, he told the jury he intervened after hearing homophobic abuse being shouted at two men. earlier, there were claims the cricketer "could have killed" one of the other men involved in the incident. stokes and another defendent deny affray, while charges against a third man have been dropped. jon kay reports from bristol crown court. sorry.

do you mind just loosening the right one on my wrist? handcuffed in the back of a police car. this is the moment ben stokes was arrested in september last year. it was shot on a police body camera, following the alleged incident in the clifton area of bristol. just yards from the vehicle, where the england cricketer was being detained, and other man lay injured on the ground. right. 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, and i've been told that you punched him. because he was... he was abusing my two friends for being gay. that's what i've been told at the moment. that's why i arrested you on suspicion of assault. the footage was shown to the jury yesterday, as part of the prosecution case. today, ben stokes came to court to give his account of what happened. he denies the charge of affray. standing in the witness box, he was played video footage, shot by a witness on the night of the alleged incident. the 27—year—old cricketer has said he stepped in to defend two gay men.

he denied mimicking them or making any homophobic comments himself. he insisted he was not drunk, or enraged and acted entirely in self defence. ben stokes held up his hand and showed it to the jury. he said photographs they had already seen of swollen joints were the result of cricketing injuries from years ago and nothing to do with the night in question. the jury has also been shown this footage of injuries suffered by 28—year—old ryan ali. he is also charged with affray and denies the count. ryan... this afternoon, a third man, ryan hale, was cleared. the court was told the former soldier felt he was an innocent bystander who had feared he was going to be killed. the judge said there was no case for him to answer and he was found not guilty of affray. iam happy. that's all. i am happy for myself. just got to see what happens now with the rest of the case, so, i won't

comment until then. after giving evidence for three hours, the england all—rounder left court with his wife this evening. ben stokes is due to return tomorrow for a fifth day as this trial continues. jon kay, bbc news, bristol crown court. a county council facing a funding shortfall of around £70 million has approved a plan for huge cuts to jobs and services. the conservative—run northamptonshire county council backed the proposals at a crisis meeting. campaigners against the cuts say they'll hit services for children and vulnerable adults. from northampton, our social affairs correspondent, alison holt, reports. it is people like roxanne who relies on 24—hour a day care, paid for by northamptonshire county council and families like the bakers who will feel the pain of the action plan approved by councillors today. the baker children have a range of learning and physical disabilities. their mum fears the £70 million of council cuts will mean important

help will not be there when needed. these children did not ask to be born with these difficulties, these families did not ask for these battles and yet that is what they face, day in and day out. and they have enough difficulties managing behaviours and managing medical routines, day to day that to add a lack of service on top of that, is just pushing families over the edge. and it is the uncertainty that really worries 34—year—old roxanne and her mum. roxanne has a neurological condition and feels she needs more support, not less. my fear is that the county council is... just going to tell me that... they're sorry, but they don't

have the money. the county council cannot continue to spend money it does not have... but today's meeting started with another warning for the conservative—run authority from its financial officer. councillors promised to protect the most vulnerable, but voted through plans for a radical reduction in services, despite some opposition. but northamptonshire is not alone in having problems. many county councils say they are facing financial difficulties and warn that reducing services to a minimum could soon become the norm. 0ther tory—run councils like surrey and east sussex have also said they face tough financial decisions. they blame significant cuts to the grant they get from central government. looking forward to getting home if possible? the leader of kent county council and the organisation representing county authorities that provide services like this care centre.

there are a number of other local authorities, four or five that i know of, that are teetering very near the cliff edge and all of us are struggling to balance our budgets next year, without making draconian cuts in front line services. the government has promised to reform council funding, but many authorities say more money is needed now. alison holt, bbc news, northampton. appleby an independent report into sexual abuse spanning four decades at two leading private catholic schools, says the attacks on children, were likely to be more widespread than previously thought. it found "appalling" abuse at ampleforth in north yorkshire, and at downside in somerset, and says both institutions tried to cover up numerous allegations. the children, as young as seven, were sexually abused by a number of monks, who were described as being "secretive, evasive and suspicious of anyone outside their benedictine order." 0ur religion editor, martin bashir, reports. they decorate some of england's most attractive landscapes.

downside school, here in somerset, and ampleforth in yorkshire — described as resembling a harry potter world of beguiling charm. but within these golden monastic buildings from the 19605 onwards, some teachers sexually abused children as young as seven. piers gra nt—ferris was described as a sadistic and violent abuser at ampleforth's prep school, where he taught for ten years from 1965. seen here on the right in 2006, he was found guilty on 20 counts of indecent assault and was one of ten staff at the schools to have been convicted or cautioned in the last 50 years. but, today's report said the true scale of abuse at ampleforth and downside is likely to have been much higher. this is a very hard—hitting, very serious report.

as i say, over many years, it showed that the reputation of individuals and the reputation of the institution itself was far more important to people than the safety and protection of the children. former students described their experience. one said the abuse caused him to shut down emotionally. another victim at downside begged to be rescued. those i turned to for help silenced me with guilt and shame, making me believe that i was a sinner. this charity is working with ampleforth on improving at safeguarding. the only natural step for them is for outside regulation. that's the only thing that's really going to solve this issue. so, the safeguarding and organisations need to be externally regulated. the catholic church, back in 2001, published its own review of safeguarding, which contained 83 recommendations. but, according to today's report, ampleforth and downside paid no more

than lip service to them. the report points out that, other than in the context of this inquiry, no public apology has ever been made to the victims. today, both schools issued statements, saying they acknowledged serious failings in the past and were trying to improve. martin bashir, bbc news. borisjohnson could be investigated, into whether he breached the conservative party's code of conduct, with his comments about muslim women wearing full face veils. it's understood dozens of complaints have been made. 0ur political correspondent vicki young is at westminster. people have got in touch with the party over this, what happens now? there was a storm of protests after borisjohnson there was a storm of protests after boris johnson described women there was a storm of protests after borisjohnson described women who w0 re borisjohnson described women who wore at the burqa and niqab looked like letter boxes and burglars and

those complaints have automatically triggered a process that will try to find out whether mrjohnson might have broken back conservative code of conduct. to give you a sense of what that is all about, one passage talks about party representatives who should lead by example, to encourage and foster respect and tolerance. this process is at an early stage and there is a broad spectrum of what might might be dismissed and they may not be investigated further, but at the other end, borisjohnson could be kicked out of the conservative party. there is internal party politics and the friends of mrjohnson say that some of those criticising him are trying to harm his chances of becoming leaders of the party. 0thers to harm his chances of becoming leaders of the party. others would argue that he is managing to do that by himself. thank you. the number of people waiting more than a year for non—urgent surgery in england, has risen sharply, to more than three and half thousand, the highest level in more than six years.

that's despite a pledge in 2014 by the previous health secretary to end "unacceptable" waiting times. the latest figures also show that the number of people, who used a&e departments in england, reached a record high injuly. our health editor hugh pym has more. richard has learned to live with parkinson's, but it is the constant pain in his knee which he finds the most difficult to cope with. he has waited well over a year for a knee replacement, or what should be routine surgery, but there have been four cancellations. he says if he had had it done one year ago, it would have made a big difference. hopefully, i would have been able to walk without having to use a walking frame, or walking sticks. i would have been able to get out more. but, ifeel like i am a prisoner in a room, because i cannot get out, no matter how hard i try. richard is one of a growing number in england who have been waiting

more than 12 months for operations. four years ago, the then health secretaryjeremy hunt said such waits were unacceptable and called for them to be eliminated. then there were about 570 waiting that time, now it is more than 3500. we know every winter this year, unfortunately the pressures on the nhs were such that we had to cancel routine operations for a couple of months. what that meant is not that patients did not need those operations, it meant that they had to wait longer for them and i think that is reflected in the increase in waiting times we are seeing today. with emergency care, there is continuing pressure on the nhs. last month saw a record number of people going into a&e units in england, underlining the point that with the nhs, there is no letup, whether it is winter or summer. nhs england said that in soaring temperatures, there had been an unprecedented summer surge, but others in the health service argued it was part of a long—running trend. generally, demand for nhs services

is going up and up and up and we are trying to grapple with that extra demand at a point where we have got real workforce shortages and, to be frank, we have been in the middle of a very long and prolonged financial squeeze on the nhs and trusts are finding it really difficult to cope with that extra demand. i fear being left behind. i feel very disgruntled that they have not put me on a priority list. richard has now been given a new date for his operation later this month. his local hospital said they were very sorry but they had a significant backlog of cases. richard's hope is it will not be too late to ease the pain and make a difference to his life. hugh pym, bbc news. a bbc investigation has revealed, that the jihadists behind last year's terror attacks in and around barcelona, were connected to another group of militants in france. in fact the police inquiry after the attacks, in which 16 people were killed and more than a hundred were injured, touched on 12 countries in all, including the uk.

in the second of his reports, our security correspondent, gordon corera, examines how a group of young men from a tiny town in spain became part of an international jihadist network. last august, a van ploughed into tourists, killing 1a. then five more members of the same group targeted pedestrians before they were shot. a year on, investigators are still trying to understand a unique cell, with a far—reaching network. the attackers were all from a small town called ripoll and included four sets of brothers and an imam — abdelbaki essati — who had known extremist links. the day before the barcelona attack, there'd been a massive explosion here in the seaside town of alcanar. police initially thought it had been a drugs factory but then realised something much more serious may have been averted.

these pictures reveal how the men had been using the house to build explosives which detonated by accident. translation: the explosion was huge. the magnitude of what was being cooked there, what was being generated there, could have demolished a large building. this is all that's left of what was once a bomb factory. here, amidst the rubble, police found a suicide vest and more than 100 gas canisters. we've learned that the original plan was to launch a major attack, notjust here in spain, but also across the border in france. testimony obtained by the bbc from one person who was at the house points to there having been a second cell. our investigation makes clear this was not an isolated group but one with links to 12 countries, including the uk. after the attack, so—called islamic state claimed the men were its soldiers and a document obtained by the bbc shows essati described himself in the same way.

he and others travelled widely but not all the warning signs were spotted. the cell were all of moroccan origin and many of the group went to morocco together in the weeks before the attack. we've been told essati met known extremists at this market. two members of the cell took a suspicious route to zurich in september 2016, flying to basle and then taking a train. it is suspected they met extremists linked to a mosque in winterthur. a week later, they, and another cell member, went to brussels. we've seen evidence that essati was regularly travelling back and forwards from spain to belgium. he'd been there in early 2016 to preach at this mosque. a belgian police officer concerned about him contacted a barcelona police officer but the message was only shared informally. there was actually a real lack of information, first of all on the belgian level. it was also clear that there was a lack of information

exchange between the catalan police and the federal spain police. and, in april 2017, just four months before the barcelona attacks, eight men — seven of moroccan descent — were arrested in and around barcelona, connected to the brussels attack. we have been told there were phone contacts between members of the barcelona cell and at least one person in the uk. that person is part of an ongoing, active investigation, according to french sources. it is here in france that there seems to have been the strongest connections. we've established that during one of the cell's many trips here to paris they contacted a number of people in the suburbs, who were using pay—as—you—go phones to hide their identities. they also filmed the eiffel tower and took this picture of one of the attackers. french investigators are still trying to work out if they were going to attack the site

themselves or work with the second cell based in the country. they were clearly involved in transnational terrorism. obviously, the threat was not only in spain, it was also in belgium and france and potentially other countries in europe. police have told us that, as a result of the barcelona attacks, extra security is now in place at the eiffel tower. the international connections show those planning attacks cross borders freely but the information needed to stop them does not always do the same. barcelona showed that information exchange was again crucial to identify anything that could prevent this to happen. so, every time we have a terrorist attack, for sure there's a failure. for sure we don't exchange information enough. barcelona was a sign of a new type of threat — close knit groups but with international support. it is a challenge which europe will urgently need to adapt to in order to prevent more attacks. gordon corera, bbc news, barcelona. the number of people killed

in last week's earthquake on the indonesian island of lombok, has more than doubled. officials say more than 250 people are now known to have died. since the 6.9—magnitude quake struck on sunday, there have been more than 350 aftershocks. around a hundred and fifty thousand people have been made homeless. russia has condemned what it's calling "unacceptable us sanctions,‘ imposed in response to the nerve agent attack in salisbury. the kremlin says it's now working on retaliatory measures. the us sanctions from the state department, have been welcomed by downing street, but the white house and president trump have yet to comment. steve rosenberg reports from moscow. in russia, there is one word that you hear and you see with increasing frequency. state television announces that america has launched yet another round of sanctions against moscow.

this time, washington is limiting exports to russia of sensitive technologies, some electronics, oil and gas production equipment. a response to the nerve agent attack on sergei and yulia skripal, an attack america says violated international law. today, moscow dismissed the allegations. down at the russian foreign ministry, they denounced the sanctions, and threatened retaliation. translation: whatever sanctions are taken against russia, reprisal measures will be identical. and this, less than a month after the helsinki summit, when donald trump told vladimir putin america and russia were destined for an extraordinary relationship. the kremlin doesn't blame donald trump personally for the sanctions. it knows he's under pressure back home. it knows, too, that russia has few

friends right now in washington, but there was a deep sense of disappointment here that the us president who says he wants better relations with russia simply hasn't delivered. russians are nervous. america is already threatening more sanctions in three months' time. the ruble has tumbled. people are starting to feel economic pain. in general, the quality of life becomes lower and lower, and this of course is worrying. russians seem resigned to more sanctions. they are expecting a very bumpy journey. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. huge crowds lined the streets of cardiff, to welcome home the winner of the tour de france, geraint thomas. the 32 year—old is the first welshman, and only the third briton, to win the race. he said he was overwhelmed by the numbers who'd turned out, to celebrate his victory. it's been a good day

for great britain at the european championships which are taking place in glasgow and berlin. adam peaty won his fourth gold in the pool, as part of the 4 by 100m medley relay team, and there were more medals in diving and athletics, as natalie pirks reports. cometh the hour, cometh the man. adam peaty made it four golds in four tonight, but this time he needed some help from his friends. it is gold to great britain! peaty‘s breaststroke leg in the four by 100 metres medley relay helped britain reel in the russians. confidence is clearly high.