this is bbc news. i'm ben bland. our top stories: the struggling department store house of frasier is bought for £90 million. what it means for its 17,500 staff remains unclear tonight. i think we are alljust trying to keep each other up, trying to stay motivated and find a good outcome. we hope they will find some solution, finally, you know? nothing is finished yet. the uk's feelgood summer is finished yet. the uk's feelgood summer boosts the economy. the warm weather, the royal wedding and the world cup ring improved growth figures of 0.4%. a muslim convert is facing life in jailfor a muslim convert is facing life in jail for plots to kill 100 a muslim convert is facing life in jailfor plots to kill 100 people in a terror attack outside a department store on oxford street. also this hour, 1600 people have been evacuated from campsites in southern france to front —— flash floods hit the region. a 70—year—old german man is missing after his caravan was swept away. and at 11:30pm i will be

taking another look at the papers with our reviewers. hello, if you havejustjoined us, good evening to you. the struggling department store house of fraser has been bought just hours department store house of fraser has been boughtjust hours after it went into administration. the new owner is sports direct, led by mike ashley. he says he wants to turn the chain into the harrods of the high street. sports direct is paying £90 million for the business, which is 169 years old. at the moment, house of fraser has 59 stores across the country. of those, 31 had been earmarked for closure. in a

statement, mr ashley said he would do his best to keep as many open as he possibly can. so this evening 17,500 employees of house of fraser wait to find out exactly what mike ashley's plans mean for their future. emma simpson has more. glasgow, warehouse of fraser began. its staff are fearing the worst.|j don't think i have an understanding of it yet, it hasn't really been explained to us at all.|j of it yet, it hasn't really been explained to us at all. i think we are just going to keep each other up, stay motivated and hope a good outcome. as workers were being briefed, shoppers had to wait. in hull, many worried about losing one of their favourite stores. now this one, where we going to shop? at ourage? but by the time the doors opened across the country, this 169—year—old chain had a new owner. what happened to house of fraser today is the most shocking

example yet of the distress that is currently playing out on our high streets. it's now in the hands of one of retail‘s most controversial and colourful bosses, who made his fortune with a chain known for stacking it high and selling it cheap. mike ashley is never far from the headlines, often for all the wrong reasons. a lot of cash there. yes, i've been to the casino. he has certainly done well. his business empire includes newcastle united football club and that controlling stake in sports direct, with nearly 500 stores, employing nearly 18,000 people. he owns the premium casual wear chain flannels and he has also taken a big stake in debenhams, french connection and already owned 11% already house of fraser. so what is he up to? he likes to gamble and i wouldn't bet against him. this retail expert has

worked closely with him. sports direct tried to buy house of fraser in 2014, so they have always had a long held ambition to own department stores. they already own some premium brands, but this gives him access to the tommy hilfigers, hugo bosses of the world in a more meaningful way. the question remains, how many of the 59 stores he wants to trade, but this is a once—in—a—lifetime opportunity. mike ashley says he will do his best to keep as many open as possible. 31 had already been due to close, like this one in darlington, and then there are the suppliers. this nottingham menswear company is one of many who are worried they won't be getting paid. the impact is, yes, it will affect jobs, yes, it could affect the suppliers and sadly we could seek supplies go bankrupt because of it. challenging times. the chairman of this department store is a retail veteran and speaks for the industry. it is a perfect storm,

where retailers are faced with quite big cost pressures at the same time the consumer is choosing to shop in different ways. as a result, we've seen quite a lot of this over the last six months or so. ifear there is more to come. the chancellor hinted again today that he is considering a tax on online retailers to level the playing field. many of house of fraser's problems, though, were self—inflicted, a weak business loaded with debt. it will take skill and an awful lot of investment to turn it around. emma simpson, bbc news. lord randall is the former conservative mp for uxbridge and south ruislip. he traded per 100 and... —— he told me what he thinks

change to retailers. i think retailing and customers have changed what they want, what they expect, but it has happened at such a rate that the retailers have been slow to catch up with it. obviously, online has made the biggest and most dramatic in fact, i think, on retailing, and certainly in department stores, the old idea of grace brothers, which we were often likened to, is no longer something that people actually enjoy it. apart from, and you have it in your package, some of the older generation, they are not so keen on online shopping and not so keen on the new ways. they want a bit of service. but unfortunately those old—fashioned stores service. but unfortunately those old —fashioned stores have service. but unfortunately those old—fashioned stores have been squeezed out. it is interesting, isn't it? the sort of store you are running, where you would have had a different products, but in the end,

really, you are curating, if you like, seems to have vanished. in the modern department stores, it basically seems to have been large spaces with lots of concessions, in other words, lots of brands, running their own business within them. that was a model from quite a few years ago. in fact, was a model from quite a few years ago. infact, we was a model from quite a few years ago. in fact, we were ourselves suggested that we could look at doing something like that. but you don't really have full control of it. and i think that's the other problem is that what we were ending up problem is that what we were ending up doing was actually being a showroom for goods, where people could then go online and order them. so they would come and have a look, get the benefit of the service, get the benefit of feeling and singing it, then order of someone else? that's certainly what happened to us with furniture and beds. i always thought we would carry on with its beaches people would want to actually touch, feel and have the advice, but of course now you get

that on reviews, not that the reviews are always that great. more impartial. it tends to be the people that have had a problem. but that is the way of the world. if i could be optimistic, i have a feeling it could all come around again. in retailing there are cycles. it may not be for a while. i could imagine that in 20 years time, the online giants will say, we have this fantastic idea, we will have a local place where you can actually go and see these products and order them there. but it is really tough and my heart goes out to all those house of fraser employees, because it is devastating for them, this news. i hope the new owner will be able to pull it out. london is probably as difficult as any were, and the cities, the smaller towns probably still have a following, but i have a bad feeling that's something is not

just going to be pulled out of the hat to them. that was lord randall, conservative peer. the england cricketer, ben stokes, has denied being very drunk and "enraged" when he got into a fight outside a nightclub in bristol last september. giving evidence for a second day at his trial, the 27—year—old admitted throwing several punches, but said he didn't remember knocking a man unconscious. he denies affray. the man he's accused of hitting is on trial alongside him. warmer weather, the football world cup and the royal wedding — all helped lift economic growth in the three months tojune. the office for national statistics says britan‘s economy grew by 0.4% in that period, compared with a rate of 0.2% in the first quarter of the year. but the ons added that underlying growth remained modest, and crucial exports were down — as our economics correspondent andy verity reports. a hot, dry summer, nice whilst it lasts, and the same applies to the economic climate, which warmed up in the second quarter of the year and forgot all about the beast from the east. this british—made crop sprayer uses cutting edge sat—nav technology,

so farmers can avoid re—spraying the same ground to an accuracy of an inch, and it's prospered on investment and exports. we've been able to expand on this site, we're making the site fit for purpose for going forward, because we see whatever happens with brexit, we export 40% of our product around the world to many different countries, and so we have people wanting our product. the heat may have helped the economy but it's far from a bumper harvest. in the eight years before the financial crisis, the economy grew by an average 2.8% per year, but in the eight years since then it's been far slower, just 1.9%. and the chancellor, philip hammond, is aware that growth overall in the year tojune was just 1.3%. are you really satisfied with that growth rate? obviously, we want our economic growth to be higher and we can do that by investing in skills, in infrastructure, in technology. there is no alternative but to keep investing in our economy, to improve our performance

and deliver the sustainably higher wages that we want to see in this country. the bank of england is convinced that the economy is now growing fast enough that there's a danger that wages take off, but that's highly controversial. although pay has grown by more than inflation, the average pay rise is still much smaller than it was before the financial crash. if the economy is growing fast enough, many of us aren't obviously reaping the benefits. we were looking for a bounce in the second quarter after that weak first quarter with all the snow, but, actually, the bounce we got was quite small, in our view, given all the supportive factors that you had, like the good weather. that goes back to a weak

underlying picture. you know, household spending growth has slowed quite a lot since 2016 because real wages and rising. people don't feel any richer, so they're not growing their spending. also not feeling richer were exporters of cars and planes. the weaker pound should mean it's cheaper for foreign customers to buy our cars, so they sell more. instead, exports dropped and imports rose and the gap between them, the trade deficit, more than doubled. while investment by companies has picked up, manufacturing is shrinking and share prices fell today. to traders there's one big, grey cloud forming on the economic horizon — the risk of no—deal brexit. andy verity, bbc news. a man has pleaded guilty to plotting a terrorist attack in central london, and raising money to fund terrorism. 26—year—old lewis ludlow from kent had planned to hire a van and target pedestrians on oxford street, at madame tussauds and at st paul's cathedral. he'd hoped to kill up to 100 people. he'll be sentenced in november. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford has more. this has always been a very unusual

case. lewis ludlow is an awkward looking or white convert from rochester who converted to islamophobia age of 16 and was quick we'd drawn into the world of the well—known radical extremist. he used to appear on demonstrations with chowdhury supporters, always looking slightly out of place. he recorded a youtube video saying he had once been a nazi but converted to islam after muslims had been friendly to him online after a brief on. by the time he was arrested in april, he was under extensive surveillance. he had been stopped a couple of months earlier at heathrow trying to travel to an area of the philippines with well—known links to so—called islamic state. after being stopped at heathrow before his ultimate arrest he recorded a video pledging allegiance to the leader of so—called islamic state, which was found on a discarded phone. he then

made a list of potential attack targets in london, including oxford street and madame tussauds, which he sent to an is contact. he suggested a possible man attack in which 100 people could be killed, though he had earlier admitted to his contacts that he couldn't drive because he had always been afraid of crashing. —— van attack. today, more than three months after being charged, he pleaded guilty by video link to preparing an act of terrorism in london, and when he was —— when he is sentenced in november his sentence is quite likely to be life. it the headlines on bbc news: the struggling department—store chain house of fraser is bought by mike ashley's sports direct for £90 million, but what it means for its 17,500 staff is still unclear. britain's feel good summer boosts the economy. the warm weather, the royal wedding, and the world cup bring improved growth figures of 0.4%. a muslim convert is facing life injailfor a plot to kill 100 people in a terror attack outside the disney store on oxford street. hundreds of people,

many of them foreign holidaymakers, have been moved to safety in the south of france after flash flooding tore through towns and villages. police are searching for a 70—year—old man who went missing while looking after children at a camp site near the river ardeche. the storms followed a period of unusually hot weather across much of europe. richard lister reports. after the heatwave, the deluge. hailstones as big as marbles fell in south—eastern france as thunderstorms rolled in. torrential rain turned drought—hit rivers into raging torrents. lapping at waterside homes, spilling over roads and causing chaos downstream. several campsites were quickly overwhelmed. the water moving through with such force that camping gear and picnic tables were swept away.

more than 400 police and firefighters fanned out to search for stranded tourists. some were found hypothermic and clinging to trees. these german teenagers were in a campsite near avignon when the floods struck. they were among more than 100 people who had to be rescued, most with only the clothes they were wearing. "we couldn't even take a suitcase", she said, "but the most important thing is that we are all ok". later, though, a german man in his 70s was reported missing. the caravan he took refuge in was swept away. in the ardeche gorge 150 people kayaking and hiking had to be led to safety. it was pretty intense, on the river and on the banks, seeing such devastation. i have witnessed the river come up quite a bit over the last 12 years that i have worked out here, but i have never witnessed it at this time of the year

when there are so many tourists here and i think that was the biggest thing that caught people out, was the fact that so many people did not know what they were doing. it was an abrupt and frightening finish to the holiday season for many. but the torrent swept debris through the surrounding towns and villages, causing damage here, too. vaison—la—romaine in provence became a giant water chute. in ardeche, streets churned with dangerous floodwater engulfing cars. the wind, rain and hail damaged roofs, broke windows and flooded basements. a violent end to a long, hot summer. richard lister, bbc news. turkey's currency has continued its sharp slide on the foreign exchanges, after president trump announced the us is doubling its tariffs on turkish steel and aluminium. the lira has lost about 20% of its value in 2a hours. president erdogan said the drop is part of a campaign led by foreign

powers — and urged people to buy lira with their foreign currency. our correspondent selin girit gave us this update from istanbul. china is continuing its contentious expansion in the south china sea, despite fervent opposition from its neighbours and their allies. the chinese government claims the entire area, within these lines, belongs to them. it's dredged areas of the sea in the spratly island chain to create military bases, to defend what it views as its territory. but the philippines, vietnam, malaysia, and brunei also lay claim to the resource—rich waters, while america says it won't sit back and allow china to dominate the area unchallenged. our correspondent rupert wingfield—hayesjoined a us plane on a reconnaissance flight to chart the chinese development. this is the chinese navy politely telling the us navy to go away. far out in the south china sea, we're approaching one of china's huge new island bases. it's very clear they

do not want us here. for the crew aboard this us navy p8 surveillance plane, this is now a daily encounter. it's a routine occurrence for us on these flights. it happens throughout the flight, when they come over and then we just go back with our standard response. it really has no effect on any operations or anything we do. as we close to 12 nautical miles, we can now see the huge extent of china's development out here. so, what we're seeing on the screen here is live pictures of a place called mischief reef. the last time i flew over here two—and—a—half years ago, it was really just a large pile of sand. now you can see there has been extensive construction. this is what it looked like then — millions of tonnes of sand being pumped onto the reef to create new land.

the first outline of a runway, but no buildings. look at the same place today — a forest of radar domes, aircraft hangars and maybe a building to park missile launchers. using the plane's high—powered camera, we watch as a group of vehicles drives down the runway. one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine... nine vehicles, moving. still looks like nothing on the runway, no aircraft present. these flights aren't just about surveillance. the americans are here to make a point. in the broadest sense, it's making sure that we maintain the rights that we have as a military aircraft, to fly in international airspace, maintain our presence in the area and show that we're not worried about the build—up that's happening and we're going to continue to stay down here in the south china sea. to understand what is at stake out here, listen to how the chinese navy today talked to an aircraft from a smaller, weaker neighbour, the philippines.

with the spaces, china is succeeding in changing the very geography of the south china sea. despite america's assurances, down here the tide of history appears to be flowing towards beijing. rupert wingfield hayes, bbc news, with the us navy in the south china sea. when a rare bird of prey was found on a northumberland roadside, he was just a couple of months old — and almost dead. the plan was to release the young red kite, called spencer, back into the wild, if he could be nursed back to health by staff at a wildlife centre. yet because of the trauma he'd suffered, they had no idea how spencer would react to being set free. sharuna sagar has the story. starting, dehydrated, barely alive,

spencer, the red kite was rescued from a country road and taken to a bird of prey centre in hexham. spent the whole night with spencer, a syringe with a tube, straight down into his stomach, with a high—protein rehydration fluid, just you would get if you are a human in intensive care. and we do that every two hours until the bird either recovers 01’ retires. two hours until the bird either recovers or retires. and, luckily, spencer recovered. within a week, spencer recovered. within a week, spencer is now ready to go back to where he came from, this time with a ring fitted to identify you and some medication to protect him from mites and flies. it is what we call playing possum. he isjust lying there and pretending. it is a defence mechanism. it stops predators wanting to eat them. hopefully that should see him on his way. the plan is to release him near

the spot in slaley where he was found by a passing biker.|j the spot in slaley where he was found by a passing biker. i was riding my bike, came round the corner, big bird in the middle of the road. as i approached it flapped away rubble weekly and ended up on the side of the road. the fact that he had made it through the night made my day. and the fact that we are here to release it back into the wild is even better. but spencer may not want to play ball. i am apprehensive that spencer plays possum and pretends to be dead. i won't know that until i opened the box to release him. the time has come for this kite to fly. go on, little man. no longer on a wing and a prayer, spencer is up and away and hopefully he will not be back. he was just showing off, hopefully he will not be back. he wasjust showing off, really, wasn't it? i will take that as a thank you.

thejob is a good one. must be well pleased with their hard work. and we'll be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers, the guardian columnist, dawn foster and henry zeffman, political correspondent, at the times. that's coming up after the headlines at 11:30. now it's time for the weather with darren bett. hello just to warn you there is no big area of high pressure across the uk, no heat wave on the way either. instead it will be much more changeable. that is how we ended the week. we had some very heavy rain in a short space of time, a short lived monsoon, if you like, led to localised flooding. over the weekend we will find everything coming in from the atlantic, but pretty slowly. this area of clout will be working its way towards the uk. it is on that area of low pressure and that weather system. it will put away this pomp of high pressure, the ridge of high pressure that has eased away those thundery downpours

from earlier on. saturday stutterer ancely for most of us. we have more clout in the south—west. that will push northwards and eastwards. essentially, it will cloud over more and more through the day. pockets of rain and drizzle through the south—west, further north and east it may well be dry and temperatures probably a little bit higher than they were on friday. that wetter weather, pockets of what weather as you see, continues to push northwards up towards scotland, though these two eastern parts of england overnight. there could be heavy bursts of rain, optically towards the south—west and into south wales. a woman i'd probably on saturday night, because there will be more cloud around ——a warm night. low pressure is getting that much closer. at one stage it looked like a windy weekend, but things are slowing down, the winds are lighter and the weather front is grinding to and the weather front is grinding to a halt, which is why we see the rain on sunday. outbreaks of rain across the uk, pushing northwards into scotland. it may well be that the midlands, northern and eastern

england become dry and bright, warm in the afternoon. muggy air will stop was the south—west we may hang on to rain throughout the day. that could be quite heavy. into monday, the band of rain is up towards the north of scotland. we are left with some sunshine and some showers. most of the show is down the eastern side, there could be heavy, potentially thunder as well. temperatures not changing much from the weekend, 19 in glasgow and belfast, 23 in london. a ridge of high pressure rise overnight. then we start to push into that area of low pressure and these weather fronts. they are quite ragged, not producing a loss of rain. mainly affecting western scotland, northern ireland, perhaps the far north—west of england. south is likely to be dry. sunshine around with that richer pressure. temperature starting to rise, up to 25 in london —— ridge of pressure. we could see another weather fronts coming in. when sir, more substantial rain,

perhaps, not to scotland and northern ireland, but northern england and north wales again. to the south and east it may well be dry. sunshine around. it will feel pretty warm. not the heat we had a week or so ago, but pretty warm. the jet stream will probably die further south on thursday, it will take a band of rents upwards. then it returns to was the north—west of the uk. it will be a bit on the warmer side of thejet. uk. it will be a bit on the warmer side of the jet. the jet stream picks up areas of low pressure and it tends to steer them, in this case, between scotland and iceland, allowing some weather fronts to move down across the uk. always more active weather fronts in the north—west, which is where we will find most of the rain coming in, together with stronger winds. always try and that bit warmer at times in the south—east. rather changeable weather, the winds are coming in from the atlantic. hello. this is bbc news with ben bland. we'll be taking a look at tomorrow

morning's papers in a moment. first, the headlines. the struggling department store chain house of fraser is bought by mike ashley's sports direct for £90 million, but what it means for its 17,500 staff is still unclear. britain's feelgood summer boosts the economy — the warm weather, the royal wedding and the world cup bring improved growth figures of 0.4%. a muslim convert is facing life injailfor a plot to kill a hundred people in a terror attack outside the disney store on oxford street. 1,600 people have been evacuated from camp sites after flash floods hit the south of france. the four we'd begin the papers, let

me bring you some breaking news —— before. one person has died after an explosion at a factory near salisbury in wiltshire. a fire brigade spokesman said the fai has been extinguished but investigations are under way into what happened. —— wiltshire police says it has been contained but there is no wider risk to the public. as i said, one person has died after a factory fire in salisbury near wiltshire. now, has died after a factory fire in salisbury nearwiltshire. now, let's move on to the front pages of the newspapers. the ft leads with the plunging value of the turkish currency, the lira, as president trump doubles metal tariffs on turkey. the tories are planning an "amazon tax" for online retailers, after house of fraser was bought by mike ashley — that's according to the mirror. the same story makes the front page of the guardian, which warns of an escalating high street crisis. and the i says the chancellor wants the new levy on tech giants to slow retail job losses.

backbencherjacob rees—mogg says the prime minister is setting up boris johnson for a "show trial" over his burka comments. that's in the telegraph. the sun also leads with the burka row, claiming tory chiefs are considering sending borisjohnson to diversity training. the daily mail has undated photos ofjeremy corbyn holding a wreath. the paper claims it's in the same cemetery where the munich olympics terrorists are buried. the express says veterans and mps are furious over "allegations of wrongdoing" by britain in cyprus between 1955 and 1960. so, a varied set of front pages. let's see what our reviewers make of it all. let's plunge in. let's begin with the financial times. mike ashley, the financial times. mike ashley, the knight in shining armour, the white knight coming on his horse to save the house of fraser at the last minute. yes, i'm clear if the 16,500 people who work the house of fraser cm asa