with a career that spanned seven decades, her family says she'd been suffering from pancreatic cancer. as soon as news of her death broke, tributes began pouring in from around the globe, from eltonjohn to diana ross, sir paul mccartney to sister sledge. such a grace about her, such a confidence, such a strength. she was a queen, literally. she was a queen. we'll be live outside the church in detroit where she began singing as a child. also tonight... the highest proportion of as and a*s for a—level students since 2012, despite changes to toughen the exams in england. up to 20 people are still missing after the motorway bridge collapsed in northern italy, but rescuers have all but given up hope of finding any more survivors. was the manchester arena bomber radicalised by an imam at his local mosque? we have a special report. were you trying to incite violence? were you calling for armed jihad? no, never did that. the england rugby player

danny cipriani has been fined £2,000 after pleading guilty to assault and resisting arrest at a bar injersey. coming up on bbc news, head coach trevor bayliss says the decision to recall ben stokes to the england squad was for the all—rounder‘s wellbeing. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. she was known as the queen of soul, one of the greatest stars of the 20th century. this morning, aretha franklin died at the age of 76 at her home in detroit in michigan, surrounded by her family. she was diagnosed with cancer eight years ago but only retired from performing last year. aretha franklin began singing as a child,

with a gospel choir at the church where herfather was minister. she went on to become a global star, selling more than 75 million records. aleem maqbool is in detroit for us tonight. yes, i'm outside the baptist church where once people were drawn to it because they heard of this powerful little girl's voice and they were drawn here when she was a star because she would come and sing here and she would give everyone food as well. but over the last week people have been drawn to this church because of the vigils hearing that she was in a serious condition. and now they come tell a tribute, many have been trying driving past playing aretha and talking about how much she meant to them. my colleague david sillito has been looking back

on the life of aretha franklin. the queen, aretha franklin! # looking out on the morning rain... the statement said simply that the matriarch of her family had gone, aretha franklin, the queens of song. i was born and raised on her music. 0h! i was born and raised on her music. oh! it's i was born and raised on her music. 0h! it'sa i was born and raised on her music. oh! it's a sad day. i'm going to miss seeing her in concerts but i've still got her music to live on so i'm good. # you make me feel... she had the best voice and when she sang you feel it in your soul. she always

sung something positive and nice. i rememberasa kid sung something positive and nice. i remember as a kid growing up like in the '50s and 60s and you hate for her to the '50s and 60s and you hate for herto go, she the '50s and 60s and you hate for her to go, she feels like family. herfinal her to go, she feels like family. her final concert her to go, she feels like family. herfinal concert was her to go, she feels like family. her final concert was last year, her health was failing but the voice was still there. the song, the anthem that captured everything about her. # r-e-s-p-e-c-t. .. miss that captured everything about her. # r-e-s-p-e-c-t... miss aretha franklin didn't ask for respect, she commanded it. and for the generation that followed, she was the benchmark for soul. she's the queen. i loved herfire, i for soul. she's the queen. i loved her fire, i loved for soul. she's the queen. i loved herfire, i loved her spirit, i loved the songs that she sang, i loved the songs that she sang, i loved that she could tell you off in a minute of song! she was great! amongst the tributes today, carole

king, what a life, she said. annie lennox, sir elton john king, what a life, she said. annie lennox, sir eltonjohn and from sir paul mccartney... her legacy are moments such as these at the funeral of martin luther king. and here, the inauguration of the first black american president. this is music that helped define pivotal moments in history. the emotional charge came from her childhood in gospel and in the church and listening to her father's preaching. it certainly served as a testing ground for me as a singer as well as many other good things came from the church. # you're no good...

# you're no good... # you're no good... # you're a lie and you're a cheetah... but there was also another side to her, one of her producers described it is a mysterious sorrow. she had lost her mother aged ten. she herself had had two children by the time she was 16. her private life was turbulent. but in public... she always projected strength. and after a career which dimmed in the ‘70s, she bounced back in the eighties. but it would be wrong to measure her by awards or sales. that tear perhaps captures it. this was soul music, who hardship and sorrow turned into beauty and hope. aretha franklin,

the queen of soul. and we had it confirmed in that statement from the family that aretha franklin died of advanced pancreatic cancer. it was clear that she had been ill for many years but it was not something that she wanted to talk about but she cancelled so many concerts because of ill—health and she lost so much wait that people knew that there was something wrong. but when she did perform, wait until the very end she gave her all. we heard from eltonjohn and he performed with aretha franklin in her last concert at the end of last yearin her last concert at the end of last year in an aids benefit concert and he said he was moved to tears, and that's what she did concert after concert, because of the power in her voice and also in the way that she conveyed in motion. —— emotion. but

it was more than just about the music industry where she had an impact. we talk about the way that she sang one hit back and changed the way people saying, the power in her voice, the diversity of the songs she sang, from gospel to jazz to blues to pop. but she had a bigger impact than that. barack 0bama talked about her making you forget about everything and just dancing. we spoke to people who lived in these very streets who say, during the civil rights movement, she was the kind of voice that could make you forget about that. and she was heavily linked with the civil rights movement, her father was was heavily linked with the civil rights movement, herfather was a good friend of martin luther king. and so, it's clear from all of the people that we've spoken to that this was a woman who not only changed the music industry, but in doing what she did, in becoming a successful black woman in the 1960s, she also changed the face of this

country as a whole. a—level students across england, wales and northern ireland have been getting their results today. they've received the highest proportion of as and a stars since 2012 despite major changes to the system. this year students in england were assessed mainly on their final exams rather than coursework. 26.4% of a—level entries got an a or a star. but with thousands of university places still available through clearing, many institutions are competing to attract students with offers. 0ur education editor branwen jeffreys reports from nottingham. exhausting, exciting and relief... excited, nervous, relieved. excited, erm, proud and a little bit nervous! i passed! relief after months of anxiety. for some, even i passed! relief after months of anxiety. forsome, even with i passed! relief after months of anxiety. for some, even with the highest grades, the hunt for the

place of their dreams in clearing begins. 0tis hopes to study medicine. with four as he'sjust begins. 0tis hopes to study medicine. with four as he's just one a* short of his offer. medicine. with four as he's just one a" short of his offer. not knowing whether i have got in yet or not is something that is at the back of my mind, it is stressing me but mostly iam mind, it is stressing me but mostly i am really hopeful. kyra is the first in herfamily i am really hopeful. kyra is the first in her family to go to uni. she got an unconditional offer from nottingham trent. it took a lot of the pressure off but it still made me want to work hard because i wanted to prove that i could still do it regardless. kyra got her grades, three bs and she chose her you need to stay local. but there is a worry that offers without grades could tempt others to ease off. 2296 could tempt others to ease off. 22% of our students received at least one unconditional offer. and for some, that may be an enabling thing in terms of taking the pressure off.

for others it will certainly erode the motivation to study. by eight o'clock this morning, 350,000 stu d e nts o'clock this morning, 350,000 students had accepted places. this year there are 3.5% fewer 18—year—olds. so, to compete for the best students, universities have already made almost 68,000 unconditional offers. there's so much emotion for students kicking up their results today. many weren't sure how they would do in these new a—levels. but even for those who dropped a grade or two it's a good year, because universities are competing fiercely to offer them a place. your fruit of the nottingham trent university clearing hotline... here, they promise a place in student housing with clearing places. 0ther student housing with clearing places. other universities have been more shameless, one offering £1500 cash every year. some universities may slash the grades needed but not

here. students come here to study for a degree and that means they have to have a good standard of education when they come here just it is not in our interest or in the interest of the student to get the student into university and then for them to drop out. now, they have to work out how to pay the rent. true will get one of the new welsh bands for living costs. when you weigh everything up and you can see that you are therefore four years and you're thinking the pros and cons, it has a massive effect and obviously money is king so... for others, the hunt for a place continues. branwen others, the hunt for a place continues. bra nwen jeffreys, others, the hunt for a place continues. branwenjeffreys, bbc news. up to 20 people are still missing following the collapse of a bridge in northern italy on tuesday. 38 people have been confirmed dead and rescue workers are continuing to search through the rubble of the morandi bridge in genoa. but hopes of finding anyone else alive are fading fast. senior politicians have accused the company that runs italy's motorways of not properly maintaining the bridge. 0ur correspondentjames reynolds is in genoa.

in genoa, a single terrifying moment is now frozen. more than two days on, these vehicles are stuck in the exact positions which they were abandoned when the rest of this bridge collapsed. nearest the edge is the basko food company truck. its driver, luigi, had the narrowest of escapes. the sampierdarena neighbourhood is right underneath the structure. relief workers have cleared the area. the homes may be knocked down. this morning, locals queued up to collect some of their possessions. these residents are prepared to wait patiently, but they also want answers. many say that they always believed the breach was unsafe. that the bridge was unsafe. translation: it's been years

we have been saying this bridge was dangerous. we talked about it almost every day. grazia di benedetto and her husband carlo were desperate to get home. translation: they are not letting us in, i need to pick up my medicines. this is awful. she took a moment to recover. it's too early to say what caused the collapse. among the factors that investigators will consider are... the quality of the concrete in the towers and supports and whether this had weakened. the diagonal cables that carried the road, known as stays. these were encased in concrete, making it hard for accurate checks to be carried out. and the metal connections that anchored the stays to the platform. the private company which operated the bridge, autostrade, has insisted

that it followed all safety procedures, but this doesn't satisfy italy's government. translation: we must ensure that everything is done according to standards, and i declare that in this story autostrade cannot reassure us of anything. here, at the scene of the collapse, rescuers continue to search for bodies. amid all the arguments, italy doesn't yet know exactly how many deaths it will be investigating. james reynolds, bbc news, genoa. the time is quarter past six. our top story this evening: the queen of soul — aretha franklin — has died at her home in detroit at the age of 76. and the england rugby player danny cipriani has been fined after pleading guilty to assault and resisting arrest at a bar injersey. coming up in sportsday on bbc news... fresh from winning two golds in the european championships in glasgow, 0lympic commonwealth diving champion jack laugher comes in to show off his medal. last year's suicide bombing

at manchester arena was the most deadly terror attack in the uk for over a decade. 23 people were killed and more than 130 people were injured. among the dead was the suicide bomber salman abedi. the mosque in didsbury in the south of the city which he attended was quick in the wake of the attack to condemn his actions. but questions still remain over how he came to be radicalised. the bbc has obtained a recording of a sermon delivered at the mosque six months before the bombing. we've played it to two islamic scholars who described it as a call "for armed jihad". the imam denies ever preaching radical islam or calling for armed jihad. our special correspondent ed thomas has this exclusive report. is this a call for armed jihad? heard not in syria or iraq

but in a mosque in manchester. it's wrong, it's evil, it shouldn't be happening in manchester. mustafa graf, these are your words. "you must dojihad in allah's path." tonight, we confront the imam in charge and reveal his connections to the manchester bomber salman abedi. sadly i wouldn't be surprised if salman abedi's horrific suicide bombing was partly inspired by this sermon. this audio was obtained by the bbc, a recording of friday prayers inside didsbury mosque in december 2016. the same mosque where salman abedi and his family would pray. we played the sermon in full to two islamic scholars.

the jihad he is referring to here is actually being on the battlefield. there's no ifs and buts in this. from the context of the way these texts are used, it's very clearly referring to militaryjihad, to armed jihad. the sermon focused on people suffering in syria, it included an appeal for donations, and also this... oh, dear. so...

dear, oh, dear. so he's reiterated a call not only to stop living a normal life, do something drastic, but to be with the small group of true muslims. he's giving them the narrative of them against us. he is psychologically and practically brainwashing young people into either travelling or to do something, to take action. we can't be sure where salman abedi was on the day of the sermon. but we've been told that, ten days after, he bought a ticket for the ariana grande concert. if abedi was in this congregation, i fear that this sermon may have contributed to his resolve to punish civilians in britain for somehow being complicit in the murder of muslims in syria. mustafa g raf refused to be interviewed.

mustafa, ed from bbc news... but we wanted to know why he gave the sermon inside the mosque. were you trying to incite violence? were you calling for armed jihad? no, never did that. well, do you want to take a look at these words? these are your words. mustafa graf, can we talk? after the manchester bomb, he condemned the attack. off—camera, he denied breaching islamist extremism. mustafa graf, these are your words. "you must dojihad in allah's path." this is what we know about the manchester imam. in 2011, he travelled from didsbury mosque to the front line during the libyan revolution. in this interview, mustafa graf talks about waiting for orders to attack. and here he is back home in manchester in 2015.

he's the leader of this group, demonstrating about the conflict in libya. ..are causing chaos in libya. months later, here's the same group in london. graf is not there, but watch as the camera moves right. wearing a red t—shirt, smiling. the manchester bomber, salman abedi. nearly two years before he'd murder 22 people. we shared our investigation with martin hibbert. he and his daughter were closest to salman abedi when his bomb exploded. he wanted to listen to mustafa graf‘s sermon. yeah, i'm speechless in a way. that it's going on... kind of 30 minutes away from here. you know, and that this was... you know, if he was in that room

that day, a week before christmas, a week later i was, you know, my daughter was unwrapping a surprise ariana grande ticket. this was martin and his daughter eve hours before the context. she's been left severely brain—damaged, she can't eat, she can't speak. she can't move the left side. if you could go and see this imam... yeah. what would you say to him? oh, god. i'd probably take him round to see eve. i don't think i'd need to say anything, really. our investigation heard at least five men who attended didsbury mosque either travelled to syria or have been jailed for supporting so—called islamic state. trustees of the mosque deny this. can we come inside? they said mustafa graf‘s sermon was highlighting

the plight of syrians. his use of the words jihad and mujahideen have been misinterpreted, and they don't tolerate extremist preaching. ed thomas, bbc news, manchester. iain livingstone has been named as the new chief constable of police scotland. he admitted his force must adjust to the social changes and officers must respond to the challenges of helping vulnerable people and supporting diversity. he added that new threats from cyberspace and abroad meant policing methods must change. the england cricket coach trevor bayliss has said he expects ben stokes to make a public apology, following the brawl which led to his arrest and trial for affray. the cricketer, who was found not guilty of the charge earlier this week, returned to training today. he's been included in england's squad for the third test against india, which starts on saturday. the england rugby international danny cipriani has been fined £2,000 after pleading guilty to common assault and resisting arrest after an incident in a nightclub

onjersey in the early hours of wednesday morning. the 30—year—old fly—half has apologised and say he's "mortified" by his actions. robert hall reports from jersey. reporter: danny, will you apologise for your actions? once again, danny cipriani was running the gauntlet of the cameras for an incident off the pitch. another cloud to hang low over a troubled playing career. this episode opened during a night out during a training trip tojersey. at a seafront bar, cipriani, who admitted having too much to drink, was involved in a confrontation with door staff during which he tried to grab the doorman‘s body mounted camera. after leaving the club, mr cipriani encountered a female police officer who was aware of that altercation. when she attempted to arrest him, he resisted. there was a brief scuffle during which she was slightly hurt and eventually, with the help of a second officer and watched by a small crowd,

danny cipriani was handcuffed and taken into custody. in court and later on social media, cipriani apologised for behaviour which he said had left him mortified. his return to the england side in june followed a series of misdemeanours — many associated with alcohol — the theft of a bottle of vodka, injuries after being hit by a bus whilst drunk, a drink—drive ban. his club are standing by him but tonight danny cipriani waits to find out whether his international career has faltered yet again. robert hall, bbc news, jersey. time for a look at the weather with stav da naos. good evening. it was quite a mixed day today with a mixture of rain, sunshine and also some heavy showers but tonight many places will be dry and it's going to be quite chilly for many of us. as we head through

to the evening and tonight, it looks like the showers will continue across the north—west corner of the country. most places will see clear skies and light winds and it will be call with temperatures out of town dipping into single figures. 0n friday we have another area of low pressure sweeping into western areas as the day wears on. we start the day off on a chilly note with sunshine fading away as this weather system sunshine fading away as this weather syste m m oves sunshine fading away as this weather system moves in bringing rain and stronger winds to northern ireland and western parts of britain as well. you can seek gusty winds to the north. to the south—east probably the best chance of seeing some holes in the cloud so it will feel warmer than this afternoon. again, high teens celsius further north. as we head into the weekend high pressure is with us for the first part of the weekend and this feature comes in later on to bring

some rain perhaps into some areas on sunday. generally speaking the first pa rt sunday. generally speaking the first part of the weekend looks bright, feeling humid as well in central, southern and eastern parts. a lot of dry weather around. some low cloud and murky conditions into the south—west. the temperatures are warmer than the last few days reaching 25 degrees on saturday afternoon. 0n reaching 25 degrees on saturday afternoon. on sunday more cloud around with outbreaks of rain through central, northern and western areas but still quite warm in the south with temperatures reaching 25 degrees so saturday is probably the most usable day of the weekend. thank you. well that's it from us. we'll leave you now with the sound of aretha franklin — the queen of soul — who died this morning at the age of 76. goodbye. # looking out on the morning rain

# i used to feel so uninspired # i used to feel so uninspired # and when i knew i had to face another day # lord, it made me feel so tired # lord, it made me feel so tired # before the day i met you, life was so one “— # before the day i met you, life was so one —— unkind # you are the key to my peace of mind # you make me feel # you make me feel # you make me feel like # you make me feel like a # you make me feel like a natural # you make me feel like a natural like a natural woman hello and welcome to sportsday. a look at the headlines now. aretha

franklin, the queen of soul, neighbour hits like apple to lead to respect and say a little row centres case has died at the age of 76. some of the biggest names in music and politics have been paying tribute.