hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm julian worricker. today at 2... mps call for rules around e—cigarettes to be relaxed so they can be more widely used and accepted in society. italy's transport ministry is investigating the private operator of the motorway bridge that collapsed in genoa on tuesday, killing at least 38 people. tributes to a star: following the death of the queen of soul, aretha franklin, the pop stars of today acknowledge the impact she had on their careers. she touched every genre, everything was influenced in some way by the way she sang. and they will forever be influenced by her because her voice, her emotion, hersincerity, is unforgettable. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport with holly hamilton. coming up, just four days after

being found not guilty of affray, ben stokes is set to make his england return in the third test against india tomorrow. but that does mean sam curran has been dropped. we will hear from does mean sam curran has been dropped. we will hearfrom captain joe root at 2.30. and the weather forecast. the weekend is nearly upon us and it is looking like saturday will probably be the better day of the two with regards to dry out bright weather. someday, we could see some rain for some of us. join me laterfor someday, we could see some rain for some of us. join me later for the details. also coming up... quiet halls of residence and alcohol—free flats — the growing trend for less noise and more study at the uk's universities. hello, everyone. this is afternoon live.

a committee of mps is calling for the government to throw its support behind vaping as a safe alternative to cigarettes. the science and technology committee says e—cigarettes help tens of thousands of smokers quit every year. but earlier this week, researchers at the university of birmingham warned that e—cigarettes may not be as safe as people think. nearly 3 million people in the uk currently use them. our health correspondent catherine burns reports. they look similar, but this committee says e—cigarettes are substantially different to conventional ones. they don't produce carbon monoxide or tar. and so the best estimate is that they are 95% less harmful. david holder used to smoke up to 30 a day, but hasn't had a cigarette for two and a half years now. he says e—cigarettes helped him to quit. vaping has made a massive, massive difference. my sense of taste, sense of smell, i'm a chef, so it's

imperative for my job. when i thought i was seasoning food perfectly, i was way off. and now i can taste things i never tasted before. i can play with my children, i'm not out of breath. it's just made a remarkable difference. almost 3 million people in the uk use e—cigarettes, and every year tens of thousands of them manage to successfully stop smoking. the committee of mps calls smoking a national health crisis and says e—cigarettes are a golden opportunity to save lives. my message to the nhs is, take this issue far more seriously. we cannot tolerate the continued death toll of 79,000 people in england alone every single yearfrom smoking. vaping is one route to help problem smokers give up and we should be doing far more to encourage it. we're very lucky in this country to have a health department and a government that really understands vaping and gets behind it as part of their smoking cessation programmes. i think what's frustrating

is the fact that the general public think that vaping is just as harmful as smoking. i think getting that public health message out there is the most crucial thing we can do. butjust this week, a study from the university of birmingham criticised vaping, with research showing it sped up the death of lung cells and may trigger lung diseases later in life. what we would caution is that to replace smoking with e—cigarette use is not a risk—free alternative. and our research has shown that there may well be significant health risks associated with prolonged e—cigarette use. e—cigarettes are still relatively new. they've been in the uk for just 11 years now. the committee says there needs to be more research into the effects of using them in the long term. catherine burns, bbc news. our health editor hugh pym has been analysing the findings of the report: the key thing from this report is to

ta ke the key thing from this report is to take on the evidence that has already been put out there, that this does help smokers give up. there are 470,000 people according to the report who are moving from smoking tobacco onto vaping, and thousands of them giving up smoking. that is seen as a huge public health benefit. the report is saying the nhs should embrace e—cigarette and make them available. there are mental health trusts who do allow patients to use e—cigarettes on the premises in some areas, but a third of them don't. there are smoking cessation clinics run by local authorities which suggest vaping, whereas in other areas, they don't. so that is confusing and the report as saying there has to be clearer guidance. this is definitely a public health benefit. but are they safe 7 public health benefit. but are they safe? nobody can say that for sure. there needs to be more long term research. we heard thatjust there in the peace and we have heard it again this morning, that you can't have definitive research for another few years at least, because the

product has only been available for just over a decade. it is possible there could be side effects affecting users' lungs. but we don't have any authoritative research, although there have been reports here and there that there could be problems. so do you want the public health benefit which brings smokers of to ba cco, health benefit which brings smokers of tobacco, or do we wait some time for research which has affected people's lives who would otherwise have gone on to them? the other point this research raises is making them more available for public places, maybe outside bus or train stations. does that then affect other travellers who say, we don't like the vapour all around us? so a lot of unanswered questions, but certainly a big ongoing debate. that was our health editor hugh pym with his reflections on that report. in a few minutes we'll be speaking to rosanna 0'connor, director of alcohol, drugs and tobacco at public health england. the italian government has begun a formal investigation into the private operator of the motorway bridge that collapsed in genoa on tuesday,

killing at least 38 people. it's given the company, autostrade, 15 days to report back on how it met its contractual obligations to maintain the structure. the firm insists it carried out the required regular inspections. meanwhile, the coffins of 12 of the victims were blessed by a local bishop ahead of a state funeral, due to be held tomorrow. it will be attended by italy's president and prime minister, but some of the bereaved relatives say they will not take part. 0ur correspondent dan johnson is in genoa. they're into a fourth day now of chipping away at that huge pile of rubble, shifting those concrete blocks, trying to find the people who are still missing and also building up a picture of exactly what went wrong here, what brought down that bridge. every piece that they move is being photographed as part of the investigation. but it's a huge job with still much more work to do.

the rescuers are expecting to be here for another two days at least. we have still a lot of work to do, because we have to recover all the big things. as you can see, it's not so simple because we have huge elements and the structural concrete is very heavy to move. do you know how many people are missing? we don't have a sharp number. we know that it's between ten and 20 persons. and your teams have been working now for more than three days and nights. how are they bearing up? how difficult is this work? it's very difficult, because we are working 28 hours a day. but we have a shift rotation for the personnel, so we can face it with this kind of intervention. there's also a huge area here to be made safe and overnight they've started moving some of the cars and trucks that were stranded on what's left of the bridge.

they'd stood there since tuesday, when it collapsed, as a mark of what a lucky escape some people had. but everyone here is aware ofjust how deadly this disaster and today they will start burying the dead, about 17 funerals expected to take place this afternoon. some of those families have said they don't want to be part of the official state funeral that will be held here tomorrow. the bitterness and anger really has grown in the aftermath of this bridge collapse, politicians pointing the finger of blame in different directions, but firmly at the company that was in charge of running this bridge and maintaining italy's motorway network. there have been calls for the company to pay for all the costs associated with this disaster, notjust rebuilding the bridge, but also re—homing people who have had to be moved and compensating the families of the victims. the company itself says it's too early to draw conclusions and the investigation work needs to go on. that investigation work is very detailed and difficult and is sure to take some time. that was our correspondent dan johnson in genoa.

the former pakistan cricket captain imran khan has been confirmed this afternoon as the country's next prime minister. his pti party gained the most seats in last month's elections. our correspondent secunder kermani is in islamabad. tell us more about what has led to today. this vote was something of a formality because as you say, imran khan's pti party won the most seats in last month's elections. they didn't getan in last month's elections. they didn't get an overall majority, but it was able to form one by allying with a number of other smaller parties. today members of the pakistani parliament voted on who they wanted to see as the next prime minister. imran khan received 176 votes. his political rivalfrom minister. imran khan received 176 votes. his political rival from the outgoing party received 96 votes. that announcement led to cheers and

applause from imran khan's party and chanting from the political opposition. imran khan was elected ona opposition. imran khan was elected on a promise to create a corruption free, more equal society. on a promise to create a corruption free, more equalsociety. his on a promise to create a corruption free, more equal society. his slogan was a new pakistan, which he says will entail a society where everyone is accountable, rich or poor, and where services for ordinary people are much better than they currently are. there are huge challenge is at the moment for pakistani society, over 20 million children out of school, one of the highest rates of infa nt school, one of the highest rates of infant mortality in the world. but imran khan will face mounting financial crisis at the same time, which means that any increases in public spending might be difficult. pakistan is also a country with a very troubled political past. no prime minister in pakistani history has ever successfully completed a full term in office. you mentioned those sweeping desires to improve

equality and rid the country of corruption, which most people would think is a good aim to have. how much detail at this point has been he been prepared to put on how he will arrive at those big games? —— big aims. this has been one of the criticism of imran khan's party, that they haven't been detailed enoughin that they haven't been detailed enough in their plans. certainly in the lead up to this election, they did come up with an action plan for the first 100 days if they were to be elected. i spoke to imran khan a few days before the election and he said that if he were to win the election, sorting out the economy would be his number one priority because of this mounting financial crisis which means that pakistan needs around $12 billion in the next couple of months pumped into the economy because there is a crisis

with the amount of foreign currency reserves that pakistan has at the moment. but imran khan certainly has a real weight of expectations on his shoulders. it's the first time someone shoulders. it's the first time someone outside of the two main parties in pakistan has managed to break through for decades. so a lot of people in pakistan are expecting big things from him. whether he will be able to carry out the kind of structural reforms that need to be implemented to get rid of corruption and improve services for ordinary people, we will have to see. thank you very much, secunder kermani in islamabad. more now on a committee of mps calling for the government to throw its support behind vaping as a safe alternative to cigarettes. the science and technology committee says e—cigarettes can help smokers quit, but researchers from the university of birmingham suggest that e—cigarettes may not be as safe as people think.

joining me from our westminster studio is rosanna 0'connor, director of alcohol, drugs and tobacco at public health england. what is your organisation's view of what his parliamentary committee is saying? we welcome the report. we are pleased to see that it endorses the approach that public health england has been taking to e—cigarette ‘s and to be making very clear to the public that e—cigarettes are very much less risky than smoking cigarettes. it is good news. itjoins the body of evidence and the voices in this country and in the usa about the relative safety of e—cigarette in comparison to smoking, which kills people. there are still doubters. i mentioned what the university of birmingham has said on this subject.

how much credence do you give those voices? well, there are doubters and there always will be. we are not saying that e—cigarettes are entirely safe, and we agree with norman lamb's committee that there needs to be more research and we needs to be more research and we need to keep an eye on all the evidence. however, we are confident that the figure we use of e—cigarette is being 95% safer than cigarettes stands. what about the view that it is something people will do as a way of getting themselves off smoking? how much evidence is there for that? there is an enormous amount of evidence that people are switching of their own accord to vaping. it clearly is the favoured route for people to stop smoking and the evidence shows that using e—cigarettes along with smoking cessation support to help

people stop smoking is the most effective way of people quitting. people stop smoking is the most effective way of people quittinglj suppose where there might be doubt, and they're suppose where there might be doubt, and they‘ re probably suppose where there might be doubt, and they're probably yet is on the scrutiny of this because time has allowed it, but if the idea that if you're a teenager, perhaps, and you start to vapour, you might at some point see that as a gateway to smoking the real thing. we don't know whether that is happening, do we? well, all the credible studies to date show that e—cigarettes are not a gateway to smoking for young people. young people experiment across a whole range of topics. but all the evidence to date shows that young people who vape our young smokers and that e—cigarettes are not a gateway to people smoking or

to non—vaping young people starting to non—vaping young people starting to vape. that is one of the things we are hoping this report from the science and technology committee will help us to bust that myth that e—cigarettes are gateway for young people to smoking. thank you very much. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. mps call for rules around e—cigarettes to be relaxed so they can be more widely used and accepted in society. italy's transport ministry has begun investigating the private operator of the motorway bridge that collapsed in genoa on tuesday, killing at least 38 people. pakistan's parliament has elected the former cricketer, imran khan, as the country's new leader. he will be sworn in tomorrow. tributes continue to pour in for aretha franklin: the singer stevie wonder says he will forever be influenced by her. we'll hear his tribute in full shortly. in sport, ben stokes will play for

england to morrow. the all—rounder has been named in that interface india in the third test, just days after being cleared of affray. that means sam curran misses out. cameron bancroft, the australia opener who was banned for nine months after admitting to ball tampering, will play in england next year. he signed for durham for the 2019th season. and manchester city confirmed midfielder kevin de bruyne will be out for three months with a knee injury, sustained during training earlier this week. i will be back with more on all those stories at 2.30. the department store chain house of fraser has cancelled all its online orders because of a dispute with its warehouse operator. the retailer, which was bought out of administration by sports direct a week ago, says it will refund customers who haven't received their goods.

0ne leading fashion brand —jigsaw — has pulled stock out of some house of fraser stores. our business correspondent jonty bloom explains what's been happening. the suppliers who have provided all the stock for house of fraser have lost millions of pounds. and one of those suppliers, the logistics company which deals with the online side of the business, is refusing to handle house of fraser stores, which means that customers like miss paterson in dalkeith are uncertain about where they stand. after placing an order with house of fraser online last friday, i am now expecting my delivery this week. i got an e—mail this morning that came into myjunk got an e—mail this morning that came into my junk e—mails. got an e—mail this morning that came into myjunk e—mails. this is a generic e—mail that i believe they are sending to everybody who placed an order online are sending to everybody who placed an orderonline in are sending to everybody who placed an order online in the last week or so, just advising that they are going to cancel and refund everybody's orders because they can't fulfil delivery. the problem i haveis can't fulfil delivery. the problem i have is that i used a gift card and when the order went through, i

assume everything was fine, so i binned the gift card and i don't know how i am going to be able to get my money back. i have deleted them andl get my money back. i have deleted them and i have had no response. i called their customer service line this morning. unfortunately, they are not taking any calls. so short of going into the store, i'm not sure what my options are. jigsaw, the well—known fashion brand, has 20 concessions at house of fraser stores and has started picking unsold stock which it still owns out of those stores. many other suppliers don't have that option. house of fraser owns the stock. but this illustrates a wider problem. this company owed millions of pounds to suppliers. they lost out when it went bust and they are still expected to continue serving the new company, even though it is somewhere where they have lost a vast amount of money in the past. the prisons minister, rory stewart, has said he will resign if his campaign to tackle violence and drugs behind bars doesn't succeed within 12 months. ten of england's most challenging prisons are to be given a total

of £10 million to bolster security, improve living conditions and raise standards of leadership. labour has called on the government to go "much further". as the government looks to turn around struggling prisons, our home affairs correspondent danny shaw has been given exclusive access to 0akwood prison near wolverhampton, to see how it's been transformed into an institution inspectors describe as "impressive". i do it because i feel like it's my way of giving back to society. ben has got a job in prison. he's nearing the end of a 19—year sentence for plotting to supply cocaine. he's been at 0akwood for five years and has become a mentor, a middleman between prison officers and prisoners. basically, dealing with problems, tensions in the society. a lot of guys come in with a vengeance against authority. a lot of it has to be empathy. shared experiences.

relating your own experiences to the individual. it's about connecting with the individual. and not making anyjudgment. and it's about treating prisoners with respect. 0akwood was one of the first prisons to have in—cell telephones so inmates could keep in touch with their families. some prisoners can wear their own clothes and staff are encouraged to defuse tension through dialogue. they do not carry batons. batons are weapons, as i see it. i've no time for them myself. that's my own personal choice. i would rather have people engaging with each other and finding solutions than resorting to drawing a baton to resolve an issue. my prison operates without batons very successfully. but after 0akwood opened, six years ago, staff struggled to keep control. prisoners staged a rooftop protest in 2013 and a year later, there was a riot. one of britain's biggest and newest prisons was a laughing stock. now there's a positive mood

at the jail, reflected in a glowing inspection report which praised the way inmates are consulted and involved in decision—making. for a man to have gone through working with one of our mentors and come through the other side, it gives us that level of assurance that actually, these projects are working and that we're actually providing a place where prisoners can a place where prisoners here can develop and grow as men and, hopefully, be released into the community as men with something to offer. and that means being employable. in this workshop, prisoners are assembling parts for a private company, learning skills and getting experience that will help them on the outside. but 0akwood still has a long way to go. like many prisons, violence has increased. illicit drugs are readily available and incidents of self—harm remain high. try and get in touch with them and they should help you with that. ben, though, is showing

that there's hope. prisoners can take the initiative, helping each other to get through their sentence and stay on the right side of the tracks. danny shaw, bbc news, at 0akwood prison. fans around the world are continuing to pay tribute to "the queen of soul", aretha franklin, who died yesterday. mourners have been paying their respects at the baptist church in detroit where she began singing as a child — and at sites across the united states. jenny kumah reports. # r-e-s-p-e-c-t, find out what it means to me. # r—e—s—p—e—c—t, take care, tcb. today the world is still reeling from the loss of a soul legend. aretha franklin was a distinctive talent. # the moment i wake up, before i put on my make up... the daughter of a gospel singing mother and baptist preacher father went on to find global fame in a career spanning six decades. # i say a little prayerfor you.

her fellow music greats continue to pay their respects. she was just a consistently great human being and... she always, even with the turmoil that may have been happening in her life, even through her illness, she did not put that on anybody else. she believed that most of all, she was doing god's work, and she was. she broughtjoy to a lot of lives and her voice and the essence of her will long live in all of us that are here right now. throughout her career, she turned her hand to a variety of genre. she even learned to sing opera... # and what his name is none shall know... standing in at the last minute to perform at the grammys.

i taught her the aria for a private party for luciano pavarotti and as fate would have it, she was in new york at the time and luciano fell ill at the last moment, and ms franklin was called in 30 minutes beforehand, with no rehearsal, and sang his signature aria. i think she brought her voice to opera. shejust had such a distinctive sound. you could hear within a measure of any song that it was the queen of soul. 0vernight, fans gathered to celebrate her life at the apollo theatre in new york, where she performed more than a dozen times. in her hometown of detroit,

more flowers have been placed outside the church where she sang gospel as a child. # say a little prayerfor you. here in london, the kingdom choir who performed at the wedding of the duke and duchess of sussex showed their respects. described as a musical genius with a voice of poetry and power, aretha franklin's legacy looks set to live on. # you make me feel like a natural woman. time for a look at the weather... iam i am sensing cloud. there is some cloud! does it feel chilly to you?

it wasn't old enough for any frost, but this was as cool as it would get foran but this was as cool as it would get for an august morning. we have been used to seeing temperatures overnight no lower than the teams, but parts of east anglia we re the teams, but parts of east anglia were down to 5 degrees, so it did feel really chilly. we had a wedge of cooler air which moved down from the north—west. light winds and clear skies, the perfect recipe for that. so a one—off chilly stuck to the day because things are set to warm up again as the day because things are set to warm up again as we the day because things are set to warm up again as we get into the weekend. some of it is because we are importing some moist tropical airfrom the are importing some moist tropical air from the south west because of this area of high pressure. this is the weather system which is moving into the west of the country today. this feature down here is a subtropical storm which has developed over the middle atlantic. not a true type of tropical storm,

but it is heading into our conveyor system. that is yesterday's rain which moved through the south—east. you can see it pushing its way into the system, which will drive eastwards this weekend. we are expecting it to arrive at our shores as an area of low pressure with strong winds and rain on sunday. this will be the spoiler for some of us on this will be the spoiler for some of us on sunday because sunday will be the drier and better day with more sunshine. we are going to import this warm and humid air to our shores. this afternoon, we have this weather system which has arrived on our shores. the wet and windy weather will be across all of the north and west of the country. the further south and east you are, you are closer to that ridge of high pressure. though the rain will be fairly persistent across much of western scotland and perhaps north—west england into north—west wales for a time this afternoon. you can see blustery west and

south—westerly wind. eastern parts of the country will see the best of the shelter and the best of the drier weather. quite gusty across the irish sea coast, particularly around western scotland and northern ireland. it will be warmer after that chilly start in the south—east. temperatures are going to keep climbing as we get into the weekend. 0vernight, the rain will peter out across western areas, although we will see a lingering weather front through central scotland. we are importing milder air through central scotland. we are importing milderairand it will feel quite different for saturday morning. for the weekend, feel quite different for saturday morning. forthe weekend, saturday will be the drier day of the two. sunday, we will see rain from that subtropical storm ernesto. for saturday, still some rain through parts of northern ireland and central and southern scotland because of that lingering weather front, but some sunshine to the north of scotland. england and wales will see the best of the sunshine,

especially the eastern side of england. more cloud across south—western coasts, as it will be breezy here and that warm air will move up. and there it comes, subtropical storm ernesto arriving across central portions of the country. it could bring heavy rain for the likes of north—west wales and cumbria on the west of the pennines, maybe west and south—west scotland. then it continues to push eastwards into the north sea. quite blustery as well for england and wales, but the winds are right across the north of scotland, with some sunshine. by the latter part of the day, or you could see a few holes in the cloud. temperatures are a little bit warmer. so things are warming up, not necessarily wall—to—wall sunshine. there will be quite a bit of cloud and rear are expecting rain for many of us on sunday. this is bbc news —

our latest headlines. mps call for rules around e—cigarettes to be relaxed so they can be more widely used and accepted in society. italy's transport ministry is investigating the private operator of the motorway bridge that collapsed in genoa on tuesday, killing at least 38 people. as £10 million in funding is announced to tackle drugs and violence in england's

worst prisons prisons minister rory stewart says he will resign in a year if things don't get better. house of fraser is cancelling all online orders and refunding customers. it comes after a dispute with its warehouse operator which meant deliveries would be delayed. she touched every genre and every singer was influenced in some way by the way she sang. stevie wonder pays tribute to aretha franklin, who died of cancer yesterday. sport now on afternoon live with holly hamilton. ben stokes will make his return this weekend... should this come as much of a surprise? it should be a surprise. we knew he was back in training with the england squad, just three days after he was found not guilty of affray. many thought he might take a break from the sport but instead head coach trevor bayliss brought him back into the squad insisting it was

for his own well—being. we now know he will feature during the second test against india at trent bridge tomorrow with england currently leading the series 2—0. joe root has named his squad and says ben stokes is desperate to get out there and perform. but it's at the expense of young sam curran, who was dropped from the site. it can't have been an easy decision forjoe root. it was a lwa ys easy decision forjoe root. it was always going to be the issue, with ben stokes packed in, who would miss out? especially given sam curran's recent performances. he was man of the match after the first test at edgbaston. and it certainly wsan't an easy decision for captain joe root who described it as one of the most difficult since becoming captain but with stokes — he does have the experience something sam curran is lacking and root said stokes desperate to get out there and perform again. we had two days practice to gauge

that on, in terms of fitness and making sure he was physically ready to play. i sat him down last night and asked him brutally and honestly, are you in the right place to play for england again. he assured me that he is absolutely ready to go and perform at his best. i have no worries or doubts that he will not be able to go and deliver like he has done so many times for england. durham have signed cameron bancroft, the australia opener who was banned for nine months after admitting to ball—tampering during a test match. just to warn you, there's some flash photography coming up. he was part of the scandal that shook the sport, with australia captain steve smith and vice—captain david warner also suspended. bancroft admitted to using sandpaper on the ball in a game against south africa in march and his deal with somerset was cancelled. he'lljoin durham next year. manchester city's tilt on a successful title defence has taken an early blow with the news they will be without their influential midfielder kevin de bruyne for around three months.

the club has confirmed that the belgium international suffered a knee ligament injury in training on wednesday. it's the same knee he injured in early 2016 that kept him out for 10 weeks and although the club say he won't need surgery, he's likely to be sidelined until mid—november. ellie simmonds qualified second fastest for tonight's 400 metres freestyle s6 final at the european para swimming championships in dublin. simmonds won her heat, ahead of maisie summers—newton, who beat her to the 200 metres title on tuesday. this will be her last race of the competition — and simmonds says she will put her all into getting top spot on the podium. it's a lot faster time than i expected. it felt really good. but you never know what everyone is going to turn out tonight. maisie

has been on fine form this week. there is everything to play for, to be honest tonight. really enjoyed my 100 breaststroke. really happy to come away with silver. really unexpected. get a good rest and give it everything i've got. tonight is my last race of the europeans so we'll see how it goes. and alice tai is well—placed to win a second gold at these championships — she was quickest in qualifying for the 100 metres freestyle final and she holds the world record in this event. that's all the sport for nowjulian. stars in the music industry continue to pay tribute to the singer aretha franklin. the queen of soul died yesterday at her home in detroit. she was 76 years old. speaking on cbs television's this morning, an emotional stevie wonder spoke of the last moments he spent with aretha. we talked about doing some music. it

was maybe two months ago, we had been talking about it. there was a song i had written called the future and we were going to write and sing it together. and so... clears throat i thought i had cried my last tear. i decided on monday i would go and see her, travelling from la to detroit to see her. spoke with her. she wasn't able to speak back, but she could hear me. i said all the things i have always said. told her to say hello to my sister. that i lost this year as well. but she did

incredible music, and incredible singer. she touched every genre and every singer singer. she touched every genre and every singer was singer. she touched every genre and every singer was influenced in some way by the way she sang. and they will forever be influenced by her because of her voice, her emotion, her sincerity is unforgettable. i remember hearing her saying at benjamin franklin's church when i was little, four or five years old. my was little, four or five years old. my mother would listen to the church services on sunday. and so the voices i remember most in my life would be doctor king, her voice, and her father, reverend franklin. would be doctor king, her voice, and herfather, reverend franklin. and growing older, i always remember

john lennon's song imagine. 0ne growing older, i always remember john lennon's song imagine. one of those emotional things. what stands out for you personally and professionally about aretha franklin? what stands out to you about her? she wasjust consistently about her? she wasjust consistently a great human being. and she always, even with whatever turmoil may have been happening in her life, even with her illness, she didn't put that on anyone else. she believed, i think, like most of us, that she was doing god's work. and she was. she broughtjoy to doing god's work. and she was. she brought joy to a doing god's work. and she was. she broughtjoy to a lot of lives. her voice and her essence will live long with us. you also started in a church when you were younger. talk about that experience and how it is

so about that experience and how it is so particular to her music.|j about that experience and how it is so particular to her music. i think, obviously, the church is a place where we learn all the various riffs and various forms of seeing. being influenced by gospel music, the roots, and me hearing all the various sounds and singers in detroit, being raised in detroit, that was the reason that i was inspired. and she was a great inspiration. one of the hardest questions to answer that people asking across the world now. what was your favourite aretha franklin song? let me ask you about respect. the new york times describes it as two minutes and 28 seconds of a quick trip to the emotional gym.|j knew respect from 0tis

quick trip to the emotional gym.|j knew respect from otis redding. and when i heard her sing it it was almost like hearing a whole new song. it's amazing what she did with the song. 0riginally done by 0tis redding, but another similarity to that was the song that i wrote until you come back to me i did it, and we we re you come back to me i did it, and we were going to put it on an album, i think, but we never did. the greatest gift for me was when i heard her sing until you come back to me. somebody said on one of the channels yesterday, when she sings a song, she takes it and you don't get it back! laughter . and you don't mind her taking it at all. i don't. . and you don't mind her taking it at all. idon't. do . and you don't mind her taking it at all. i don't. do you have something you want to do for us this morning? i know it's early! it might be too early! i love you, aretha.

and that's about everything. i'm really too emotional to think about singing right now. i understand. but it's a celebration. we have to celebrate her life and continue the legacy by letting people of all the various genres hear the music that influenced us all. studio: stevie wonder speaking on american cbs television during their brea kfast american cbs television during their breakfast programme. universities are offering party—free student halls to meet the increasing demand among undergraduates for a decent nights sleep. some students are said to be opting out of the traditional fresher experience in favour of quiet halls of residence, and alcohol—free flats. a number of institutions now have dedicated blocks of rooms where noise levels are kept toa minimum. joining me now from our salford studio is paul burns, accommodation office manager at the university of manchester — one of the universities

offering quiet rooms and alcohol—free flats. good afternoon. how popular are these rooms? it varies from year to year but when we started the project five years ago we put 60 rooms aside and refilled them. this year was 28 rooms but should demand exceed that then we will reallocate accommodation to match that demand. we are fortunate that we have a sufficient stock offerings that we can sufficient stock offerings that we ca n flex sufficient stock offerings that we can flex our portfolio to meet whatever demand we need. take is back five years when it began. what sparked the initial demand? request from a group of students to have an area where alcohol was actually banned. we said that simply isn't practical, you can't police something like that, you can't go into people's rooms and search for alcohol. but we could create what we called a lifestyle moderated zone where people who didn't want to adopt what might be called the

typical and stereotypical undergraduate experience in the uk, people wanting a quieter time could go for that area. it's not really true to say there is a ban on alcohol, however if people opt for those areas, they tend to be the people who will not abuse alcohol and it tends to be a quieter area. people who will not abuse alcohol and it tends to be a quieter arealj was and it tends to be a quieter areal was going to ask about the band, clearly it's not practical. no, we can ban smoking, we have smoke detectors. but we can't physically enforce and alcohol ban. that's not the type of institution we are anyway. the sweeping headline to this is that we are portraying stu d e nts this is that we are portraying students now as people who party less and study more. is that what we ta ke less and study more. is that what we take out of this? i think some of the things i have heard in the media in the last week have really got this wrong. it's not a case of people partying less now. there has been a willingness in the past to portray students as a single type, a

single cohort. i think young people over generations have been unfairly portrayed. yes, there have always been people who want to go to university and party. if any of my ex—student friends are watching, they will probably remember my experience is better than i can! but having said that there have always been a significant number of people who come to university who don't wa nt to who come to university who don't want to abuse drink and drugs. the difference is we are now recognising that need. there are lots of different students out there and young people have always been u nfa i rly young people have always been unfairly portrayed as being people who want to unfairly exceed in their substances. i don't think that is the case. generalisations aside, is there something behind the fact that going to university now costs a lot more money than it did?l going to university now costs a lot more money than it did? i think that's an explanation, for sure. there are other factors as well, cultural and religious reasons. a

lot of young people really place value on their health. an institution like the university of manchester, there is a phenomenal range of sports people can engage in and volunteer activities, whether it's working in the community or environmental activities. when people have so much more to do at university today and what was available to me in the 1980s, with all those things to do after you have been doing your course studies, perhaps there isn't the same amount of time to go out and get drunk as people might imagine. there is an awful lot to do at university and its so much more than just causes. and for sure, finances will also play a factor. thank you for speaking to ask, paul, from the university of manchester, joining us from salford. in a moment we will be going through what's hot and what's not in the business news. first, a look at the headlines on afternoon live. and as you've been hearing, mps call for rules around e—cigarettes to be relaxed so they can be more widely used

and accepted in society. italy's transport ministry has begun investigating the private operator of the motorway bridge that collapsed in genoa on tuesday, killing at least 38 people. pakistan's parliament has elected the former cricketer imran khan as the country's new leader. he will be sworn in tomorrow. here's your business headlines on afternoon live. house of fraser has cancelled all its online orders after a dispute with its warehouse operator. it's going to refund all the customers affected. the company also announced that sales fell almost 8% in the 13 weeks to the end of april. the war of words between the united states and turkey continues, with washington threatening more economic sanctions, unless turkey frees a detained american pastor. the row has sent the lira plunging to historic lows agains the dollar. and elon musk says he wasn't high

on cannabis when he tweeted about taking his electric car company tesla private. he's faced intense scrutiny after saying he might take the company private at a price of $420 a share. 420 is american slang for cannabis. so google staff are angry about plans for a possible new service for china. hundreds of staff have written to the company about this. they're worried about reports of a censored service for china. i have to say these reports are unconfirmed so far. reports say that google has been secretly working on a serivce — called dragonfly — which would block certain search terms like human rights and religion.

this is what is alleged. and that it would also possibly block certain websites. this has angered some employees who fear they have been unwittingly working on technology that will help china suppress free expression. we're now joined from new york by paul blake. you have laid out what this dragonfly project reportedly is. they are concerned it could help the chinese communist party suppress expression. hundreds of employees have written to the google executive staff to say that dragonfly raises urgent moral and ethical questions that they urgently need more transparency, a seat at the table and a commitment to clear and open processes. they need to know what they are building, what it is they are building on a day to day basis and how it will affect people potentially in china, people who

might be fighting for greater democracy and rights and that type of thing. they have written this letter and say it might come into violation with google's don't do evil code of conduct, the principle that was present when the company was founded in the late 1990s. google has had quite a chequered history in china. they used to operate in china quite regularly but they pulled out of the country eight years ago saying essentially, in protest, over the communist party's on processes around censorship. they alleged they had been hacked as well. since april they have now been toying with the idea of going back. we have seen reports going around that they are considering relaunching a service that would essentially come into compliance with the chinese government demands on censorship and what the chinese government sees as dissent. the

staff haven't just been government sees as dissent. the staff haven'tjust been talking about dealings in china. they have had other concerns. in april stories emerged about a programme google was developing for the us pentagon, artificial intelligence for us military drones. that upset a number of google employees. there was a backlash and they said it was against their principles and the principles of the company. that programme ended after that backlash from staff and the relationship between google and the us military on that project has now ended. and a word on ba rclays? on that project has now ended. and a word on barclays? subdued trade on the ftse. 0ne trader saying the markets on full on holiday mode. russian steelmaker evraz has been

clawing back some ground after falls yesterday — worries about future growth. kingfisher — which owns b&q - seeing its share price under pressure for a second day, despite reporting better sales growth in the second quarter. that;s because of fears about slowing demand for diy products. oil prices are quite firm — that's because of renewed fears abour disruption to supplies because of geopolitical tensions. and that's the lot until next time. more than 300 people are feared to have died in the southern indian state of kerala after the worst monsoon floods in almost a century — nearly a quarter of a million people have been made homeless. thousands of people are still believed to be marooned by the floodwaters, and more heavy rain is expected.

yogita limaye reports. the only route out of a flooded home. this child is among several people that have been airlifted in kerala. dozens of helicopters are pulling out as many as they can. shouting those who can are walking miles to safety. but beyond the surging water, there are tens of thousands who are still stuck waiting to be rescued. the monsoon always brings heavy rainfall to kerala. but locals say this year is different. translation: after 36 years, it's the first time that such flooding is happening here. it's a disaster for the whole population. shelters have been set up wherever possible. locals are volunteering, cooking food and distributing

supplies to people who have been left homeless. cochin airport, the busiest in kerala, is unrecognisable. its runway resembles a river. rescue teams are being dispatched from other airports. these teams are engaged in basically rescue and evacuation works, medicalfirst response, and they are tackling the situations arising out of landslides, building collapses. and also assisting the state administration, distributing relief materials over there. river levels are rising, the government has been forced to open dam gates. and there's more rainfall expected in the coming days. yogita limaye, bbc news, mumbai. last month, he made history by becoming the first welshman to win the tour de france — now geraint thomas is to have that remarkable achievement further recognised. the national velodrome in newport,

where thomas has trained since it opened in 2003, is be renamed in his honour. it will be called the geraint thomas national velodrome of wales. the tour de france winner says it's a huge honour, and he hopes it will help inspire the next generation of welsh cyclists. time for a look at the weather. if it cool start this morning, certainly for the time of year but we saw plenty of sunshine across central and south—eastern areas of the country before the rain moved into the north and west. the rain will peter out tonight, largely dry and not as chilly as last night. the west, south—westerly winds and warm and humid aircoming west, south—westerly winds and warm and humid air coming off the near atla ntic and humid air coming off the near atlantic as we move through friday night and into the weekend. looks like most of the rain across central areas will tends to peter out overnight, a largely dry one with lengthy clear spells and more clout

across western areas. still breezy but not as chilly as last night, temperatures around 12—16d. a warm start to saturday, certainly. we are under the influence of high pressure for most of the country and this weather front will bring outbreaks of rain to northern areas, and this feature could bring some rain to northern central areas as we had through sunday. saturday isn't a bad looking day with lots of dry weather around. sunshine and the weather front bringing thicker cloud and outbreaks of rain across northern areas. england and wales largely dry. variable amounts of cloud coming and going, tending to be thickest across the western hills because of this west, south—westerly wind. but because of the sunny spells... quite breezy but not as is windy as it will be for the north. northern scotland staying largely dry. the wind arrows are on to show it will be quite a blustery day

especially across scotland, northern ireland and the far north of england. across england and wales, mid 20s, very pleasant, with many sunny spells. as we had through the weekend and into sunday, this feature makes inroads across our shores, detaining the residents of subtropical storm ernesto. some fairly humid weather again to england and wales is the quite windy across central and southern areas. some rain could be heavy across central and northern areas as it pushes off to the north sea, but far north of scotland remained dry. the low 20s in northern ireland, mid 20s further south. holding onto fairly cloudy weather into next week. most of the cloud with a bit of drizzle will be across the north and west areas. but it will generally feel on the warm side. hello, you're watching afternoon live. today at 3... mps call for rules around e—cigarettes to be relaxed

so they can be more widely used and accepted in society. italy's transport ministry is investigating the private operator of the motorway bridge that collapsed in genoa on tuesday, killing at least 38 people. tributes to a star: following the death of the queen of soul, aretha franklin, the pop stars of today acknowledge the impact she had on their careers. she touched every genre. every singer was influenced in some way by the way she sang. and they will forever be influenced by her because her voice, her emotion, her sincerity, is unforgettable. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport. just live, all the sport. four days after being found not guilty just four days after being found not guilty of affray, ben stokes will make his england return in the third test against india tomorrow and the

rfu will have broken their silence over danny cipriani's arrest for common assault. i will have the latest on that at 3.30. stav has all the weather. looks like saturday will be the better day of the weekend and was regards to drier and brighter weather. sunday could see some rain for some of us. join me laterfor all the details. also coming up — quiet halls of residence and alcohol—free flats — the growing trend for less noise and more study at the uk's universities. hello, everyone. this is afternoon live. i'mjulian

i'm julian worricker. a committee of mps is calling for the government to throw its support behind vaping as a safe alternative to cigarettes. the science and technology committee says e—cigarettes help tens of thousands of smokers quit every year. but earlier this week, researchers at the university of birmingham warned that e—cigarettes may not be as safe as people think. nearly 3 million people in the uk currently use them. our health correspondent catherine burns reports. they look similar, but this committee says e—cigarettes are substantially different to conventional ones. they don't produce carbon monoxide or tar. and so the best estimate is that they are 95% less harmful. david holder used to smoke up to 30 a day, but hasn't had a cigarette for two and a half years now. he says e—cigarettes helped him to quit. vaping has made a massive, massive difference. my sense of taste, sense of smell, i'm a chef, so it's imperative for myjob. when i thought i was seasoning food perfectly, i was way off. and now i can taste things i never tasted before.

i can play with my children, i'm not out of breath. it's just made a remarkable difference. almost 3 million people in the uk use e—cigarettes, and every year tens of thousands of them manage to successfully stop smoking. the committee of mps calls smoking a national health crisis and says e—cigarettes are a golden opportunity to save lives. my message to the nhs is, take this issue far more seriously. we cannot tolerate the continued death toll of 79,000 people in england alone every single yearfrom smoking. vaping is one route to help problem smokers give up and we should be doing far more to encourage it. we're very lucky in this country to have a health department and a government that really understands vaping and gets behind it as part of their smoking cessation programmes. i think what's frustrating is the fact that the general public think that vaping is just as harmful as smoking. i think getting that public health message out there is the most

crucial thing we can do. but just this week, a study from the university of birmingham criticised vaping, with research showing it sped up the death of lung cells and may trigger lung diseases later in life. what we would caution is that to replace smoking with e—cigarette use is not a risk—free alternative. and our research has shown that there may well be significant health risks associated with prolonged e—cigarette use. e—cigarettes are still relatively new. they've been in the uk for just 11 years now. the committee says there needs to be more research into the effects of using them in the long term. catherine burns, bbc news. our health editor hugh pym has been analysing the findings of the report: the key thing from this report

is to take on the evidence that's already been put out there, that this does help smokers give up. there are 470,000 people according to the report who are moving from smoking tobacco onto vaping, and thousands of them giving up smoking. that is seen as a huge public health benefit. the report is saying the nhs should embrace e—cigarette and make them available. there are mental health trusts who do allow patients to use e—cigarettes on the premises in some areas, but a third of them don't. there are smoking cessation clinics run by local authorities which suggest vaping, whereas in other areas, they don't. so that is confusing and the report is saying there has to be clearer guidance. this is definitely a public health benefit. but are they safe? nobody can say that for sure. there needs to be more long term research. we heard thatjust there in the piece and we've heard it again this morning, that you can't have definitive research for another few years at least, because the product has only been available forjust over a decade. it's possible there could be side

effects affecting users' lungs. but we don't have any authoritative research, although there have been reports here and there that there could be problems. so do you want the public health benefit which brings smokers off tobacco, or do we wait some time for research and that has affected people's lives who would otherwise have gone on to them? the other point this research raises is making them more available for public places, maybe outside bus or train stations. does that then affect other travellers who say, we don't like the vapour all around us? so a lot of unanswered questions, but certainly a big ongoing debate. ) earlier i spoke to rosanna 0'connor, director of alcohol, drugs and tobacco at public health england, and began by asking for her views on the report. we welcome the report.

we are pleased to see that it endorses the approach that public health england has been taking to e—cigarettes and to be making very clear to the public that e—cigarettes are very much less risky than smoking cigarettes. it's good news. itjoins the body of evidence and the voices in this country and in the usa about the relative of e—cigarettes in comparison to smoking, which kills people. there are still doubters. i mentioned what the university of birmingham has said on this subject. how much credence do you give those voices? well, there are doubters and there always will be. we are not saying that e—cigarettes are needs to be more research and we need to keep an eye on all the evidence. however, we are absolutely confident that the figure we use of e—cigarette is being 95% safer than cigarettes stands. what about the view that it's something people

will do as a way of getting themselves off smoking? how much evidence is there for that? there's an enormous amount of evidence that people are switching of their own accord to vaping. it clearly is the favoured route for people to stop smoking and the evidence shows that using e—cigarettes, along with smoking cessation support to help people stop smoking, is the most effective way of people quitting. i suppose where there might be doubt, and there probably isn't yet the scrutiny of this because time hasn't allowed it, but it's the idea that if you're a teenager, perhaps, and you start to vape, you might at some point see that as a gateway to smoking the real thing. we don't know whether that is happening, do we? well, all the credible studies to date show that e—cigarettes are

not a gateway to smoking for young people. young people experiment across a whole range of topics. but all the evidence to date shows that young people who vape are young smokers and that e—cigarettes are not a gateway to people smoking or to non—vaping young people starting to vape. that is one of the things we're hoping this report from the science and technology committee will help us to bust that myth that e—cigarettes are gateway for young people to smoking. the italian government has begun a formal investigation into the private operator of the motorway bridge that collapsed in genoa on tuesday, killing at least 38 people. it's given the company 15 days

to report back on how it met its contractual obligations to maintain the structure. the firm insists it carried out the required regular inspections. meanwhile, the coffins of 12 of the victims were blessed by a local bishop ahead of a state funeral, due to be held tomorrow. it will be attended by italy's president and prime minister, but some of the bereaved relatives say they will not take part. 0ur correspondent dan johnson is in genoa. they're into a fourth day now of chipping away at that huge pile of rubble, shifting those concrete blocks, trying to find the people who are still missing and also building up a picture of exactly what went wrong here, what brought down that bridge. every piece that they move is being photographed as part of the investigation. but it's a huge job with still much more work to do. the rescuers are expecting to be here for another two days at least. we have still a lot of work to do, because we have to recover all the big things.

as you can see, it's not so simple because we have huge elements and the structural concrete is very heavy to move. do you know how many people are missing? we don't have a sharp number. we know that it's between ten and 20 persons. and your teams have been working now for more than three days and nights. how are they bearing up? how difficult is this work? it's very difficult, because we are working 28 hours a day. but we have a shift rotation for the personnel, so we can face it with this kind of intervention. there's also a huge area here to be made safe and overnight they've started moving some of the cars and trucks that were stranded on what's left of the bridge. they'd stood there since tuesday, when it collapsed, as a mark of what a lucky escape some people had. but everyone here is aware

ofjust how deadly this disaster was and today they will start burying the dead, about 17 funerals expected to take place this afternoon. some of those families have said they don't want to be part of the official state funeral that will be held here tomorrow. the bitterness and anger really has grown in the aftermath of this bridge collapse, politicians pointing the finger of blame in different directions, but firmly at the company that was in charge of running this bridge and maintaining italy's motorway network. there have been calls for the company to pay for all the costs associated with this disaster, notjust rebuilding the bridge, but also re—homing people who have had to be moved and compensating the families of the victims. the company itself says it's too early to draw conclusions and the investigation work needs to go on. that investigation work is very detailed and difficult and is sure to take some time. in the past hour it's been confirmed that more than 300 people are feared

to have died in the southern indian state of kerala after the worst monsoon floods in almost a century — nearly a quarter of a million people have been made homeless. thousands of people are still believed to be marooned by the floodwaters, and more heavy rain is expected. yogita limaye reports. the only route out of a flooded home. this child is among several people that have been airlifted in kerala. dozens of helicopters are pulling out as many as they can. shouting. those who can are walking miles to safety. but beyond the surging water, there are tens of thousands who are still stuck, waiting to be rescued. the monsoon always brings heavy rainfall to kerala. but locals say this year is different. translation: after 36 years, it's the first time that such

flooding is happening here. it's a disaster for the whole population. shelters have been set up wherever possible. locals are volunteering, cooking food and distributing supplies to people who've been left homeless. cochin airport, the busiest in kerala, is unrecognisable. its runway resembles a river. rescue teams are being dispatched from other airports. these teams are engaged in basically rescue and evacuation works, medicalfirst response, and they are tackling the situations arising out of landslides, building collapse and also assisting the state administration, distributing relief materials over there. river levels are rising, the government has been forced to open dam gates. and there's more rainfall expected in the coming days. yogita limaye, bbc news, mumbai. the former pakistan cricket captain

imran khan has been confirmed this afternoon as the country's next prime minister. his pti party gained the most seats in last month's elections. 0ur correspondent secunder kermani was in islamabad and told us more about what led to today. this vote was something of a formality because as you say, imran khan's pti party won the most seats in last month's elections. they didn't get an overall majority, but it was able to form one by allying with a number of other smaller parties. today members of the pakistani parliament voted on who they wanted to see as the next prime minister. imran khan received 176 votes. his political rival from the outgoing pml—n party received 96 votes.

that announcement led to cheers and applause from imran khan's party and chants from the political opposition. imran khan was elected on a promise to create a corruption—free, more equal society. his slogan was "a new pakistan", which he says will entail a society where everyone is accountable, rich or poor, and where services for ordinary people are much better than they currently are. there are huge challenges at the moment for pakistani society, over 20 million children out of school, one of the highest rates of infant mortality in the world. but imran khan will face mounting financial crisis at the same time, which means that any increases in public spending might be difficult. pakistan is also a country with a very troubled political past. no prime minister in pakistani history has ever successfully completed a full term in office. you mentioned those sweeping desires to improve equality and rid the country of corruption, which most people would think is a good aim to have.

how much detail at this point has been he been prepared to put on how he will arrive at those big aims? this has been one of the criticisms of imran khan's party, that they haven't been detailed enough in their plans. certainly in the lead—up to this election, they did come up with an action plan for the first 100 days if they were to be elected. i spoke to imran khan a few days before the election and he said that if he were to win the election, sorting out the economy would be his number one priority because of this mounting financial crisis which means that pakistan needs around $12 billion in the next in the next couple of months pumped into the economy because there is a crisis with the amount of foreign currency reserves that

pakistan has at the moment. but imran khan certainly has a real weight of expectations on his shoulders. the pml—n and the ppp, has managed to break through for decades. so a lot of people in pakistan are expecting big things from him. whether he will be able to carry out the kind of structural reforms that need to be implemented to get rid of corruption and improve services for ordinary people, we will have to see. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines: mps call for rules around e—cigarettes to be relaxed so they can be more widely used and accepted in society. more than 300 are thought to have

died in monsoon floods in kerala. pakistan's parliament has elected the former cricketer, imran khan, as the country's new leader. he will be sworn in tomorrow. in sports, ben stokes will play for england tomorrow. he has been named in the team to face india in the third test, just days after being cleared of affray. sam torrance misses out. england fly half danny cipriani has been charged by the rfu following his conviction for assault, resisting arrest on a pre—season tourin resisting arrest on a pre—season tour in gloucester. he will face a disciplinary panel next week. and manchester city confirmed midfielder kevin de bruyne will be out with a knee injury sustained during training earlier this week. i will be back with all those stories that 3.30. a boy is in a critical condition and another is seriously ill after four teenagers were stabbed on a south london housing estate. it happened yesterday evening in camberwell, south london. police say the victims are between 15 and 16 years old.

six boys, also aged 15 and 16, have been arrested. we can go now to our correspondent simonjones, who is in camberwell. tell us more about the events of last evening. the police are saying if you need an example of the utter senselessness of knife crime, this is it. four people were taken to hospital, aged around 15 and 16. one is in hospital, aged around 15 and 16. one isina hospital, aged around 15 and 16. one is in a critical condition, one is serious but stable and two others have been taken to hospital in south london. there are thought to not have any life—threatening injuries. witnesses here save yesterday evening, they saw a group of young people running around. then the witnesses say they heard some shouting and commotion and then one of them said they saw a boy ‘s bag around a corner and then fall to the ground. then they saw the emergency

services arrived and give that boy treatment. people here are saying it's very shocking, what they saw, and a very distressing scene. the police say they have made six arrests. those arrests are again boys aged around 15 or 16. they have been arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and violent disorder. the sad reality in big cities like london is that stabbings do take place. what is unusual in this case is the number of people who have ended up in hospital after this, and the age of them and the arrests that have been made. the police are appealing for witnesses, anyone who saw what happened to contact them. they say this is senseless and they want to get details of what happened. they say it is too early to talk about what the motive might have been. thank you. proposals outlining how the local government in northamptonshire could function after the council is abolished have been published. the report comes after the county council agreed to save 70 million

through radical cuts. let's go to our political correspondent tom barton. this is pretty drastic stuff. it is. essentially, these eight councils, the seven districts and the county in northamptonshire are, to put it colloquially, voting for christmas. they are all saying they accept that the problems are so bad that the whole way that local government in northamptonshire is one needs to be reconfigured and they all need to be abolished and remodelled into two new authorities. this is what was recommended after a government inspection of northamptonshire cou nty inspection of northamptonshire county council in march this year. the inspector said the problems at the county council were so deep and ingrained that the only option was a clea n ingrained that the only option was a clean sheet, leaving the past behind, essentially saying that he

thought that what we were seeing today was the only way forward. but there is a warning from the eight councils who have written this report are saying that while restructuring local government and the county will help make things work better and will save some money, it won't be enough. and if they don't get more government funding, they will simply inherit existing financial instability at the county council and we could see the county council and we could see the problems we have seen over the last six months carrying on even into these new authorities. last six months carrying on even into these new authoritiesm last six months carrying on even into these new authorities. if that dramatic reorganisation takes place, what guarantee is there that the services that those respective authorities are currently running will continue to be run while all that goes on? that is the big question and the big concern from these councils. they look at northamptonshire, which just a

couple of weeks ago said it needed to save £70 million out of a £400 million budget by the end of this coming march in order to balance its books this year. they look at that and they go, if we inherit those problems, we are not going to be able to carry on doing anything like what we do at the moment. we may not be able to do much at all. that is why they are saying to the government, we need to find a way, before all this comes on stream, they are looking at the first elections being held in may 2020. they are saying on the one hand, you need to firstly balance the county council's books before any of this happens, but also, you can't number the two new authorities with the debts and problems of the county council. so they are asking for two things. 0n the one hand, they are asking for extra money to help them

transition from the old structure into this new structure. they say £30 million should help them do that and to make the sorts of changes they need to be stable in the future. but they are also saying that if there are any liabilities which are left over from northamptonshire county council, they should be hived off from the two new authorities and put into a separate organisation which won't do anything, but will sit there and potentially charge council tax to local residents and then that council tax will be used to pay down any remaining debts once the county council has been closed down. thank you. the department store chain house of fraser has cancelled all its online orders, because of a dispute with its warehouse operator. the retailer, which was bought out of administration by sports direct a week ago, says it will refund customers who haven't received their goods. 0ne leading fashion brand —jigsaw — has pulled stock out of some house of fraser stores.

our business correspondent jonty bloom explains what's been happening. the suppliers who had provided all the stock for house of fraser have lost hundreds of millions of pounds. and one of those suppliers, the logistics company which deals with the online side of the business, is refusing to handle house of fraser stores, which means that customers like ms patterson in dalkeith are uncertain about where they stand. after placing an order with house of fraser online last friday, online last friday, i was expecting my delivery this week. i got an e—mail this morning that came into myjunk e—mails. this is a generic e—mail that i believe they're sending to everybody who placed an order online in the last week or so, just advising that they're going to cancel and refund everybody's orders because they

can't fulfil delivery. the problem i have is that i used a gift card and when the order went through, i assumed everything was fine, so i binned the gift card and i don't know how i am going to be able to get my money back. i have tweeted them and i have had no response. i called their customer service line this morning. unfortunately, they are not taking any calls. so short of going into the store, i'm not sure what my options are. jigsaw, the well—known fashion brand, has 20 concessions at house of fraser stores and has started taking unsold stock which it still owns out of those stores. many other suppliers don't have that option. house of fraser owns the stock. but this illustrates a wider problem. this company owed millions of pounds to suppliers. they lost out when it went bust and they are still expected to continue serving the new company, even though it is somewhere where they have lost a vast amount of money in the past. now it's time for a look at the weather with stav danaos. it was a cool start this morning, certainly for the time of year, but we saw quite a bit of sunshine across central and eastern areas of

the country before rain moved into much of the north and west. tonight, by the time the rain will peter out, it will be dry and not as chilly as last night. that is because well starting to import some west south—westerly winds and warm and humid airoff the south—westerly winds and warm and humid air off the near atlantic as we head through friday night and into the weekend. most of the rain across central areas will peter out overnight. it will be a largely dry one, with lengthy clear spells. still quite breezy, but not as chilly as last night. so it will be a warm start on saturday. we are under the influence of high pressure for most of the country. this weather front will bring outbreaks of rain to northern areas. this feature could bring us some rain to northern and central areas as we head to sunday. but saturday is not a bad looking day. a lot of dry weather around. there may be outbreaks of rain across northern areas, but for england and wales, it will be largely dry. there will be

variable amounts of cloud, thickest across the western hills because of the west south—westerly wind. but in the west south—westerly wind. but in the sunni areas, it will feel very pleasant. northern scotland will stay largely dry. it will be quite a blustery day, especially across scotland, northern ireland and the north of england. across the border, it will feel very pleasant in any sunny spells. as we head through the weekend and sunday, this weather front will carry the remnants of sub tropical storm ernesto, bringing humid air, particularly to england and wales. quite windy across central and southern parts. some of the rain could be heavy across central and northern areas. but the far north of scotland will stay largely dry. a warmer feel across the board with the low 20s in

northern ireland, mid 20s for south. we hold on the cloudy weather into next week. it will feel generally on the warm side. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. the worst monsoon floods in parts of india for almost a century kill more than 300 people in kerala — more rain is on the way. mps call for rules around e—cigarettes to be relaxed so they can be more widely used and accepted in society. italy's transport ministry is investigating the private operator of the motorway bridge that collapsed in genoa on tuesday, killing at least 38 people. as £10 million in funding is announced to tackle drugs and violence in england's worst prisons, prisons minister rory stewart says he will resign in a year if things don't get better. house of fraser is cancelling all online orders and refunding customers. it comes after a dispute with its warehouse operator which meant deliveries would be delayed. she touched every genre and every singer was influenced in some way by the way she sang.

stevie wonder pays tribute to aretha franklin, who died of cancer yesterday. sport now on afternoon live. ben stokes will make his return this weekend... we knew he was back in training with the england squad — just three days after he was found not guilty of affray so you wouldn't blame him for taking a bit of a break. but instead, he'll make his return in the third test against india at trent bridge tomorrow. captainjoe root has named in his side — with stokes taking the place of sam curran, who you might remember was named man of the match in england's win in the first test. this is something joe root has actually described as one of the most difficult decisions he's had to make since becoming captain but he says he feels very confident stokes will be able to go out

and put in a performance tomorrow. we had two days practice to gauge that on, in terms of fitness and making sure he was physically ready to play. i sat him down last night and asked him brutally and honestly, are you in the right place to play for england again. he assured me that he is absolutely ready to go and perform at his best. i have no worries or doubts that he will not be able to go and deliver like he has done so many times for england. you can understand why it's a difficult situation forjoe root but experience wins out at the end of the day. another sporting headline

maker this week, danny cipriani, and the rfu have made an announcement today. the england fly—half danny cipriani has been charged by the rfu following his conviction for common assault in jersey which has put his international career in serious jeopardy. he's already been left out of gloucester‘s squad for their pre—season friendly against ulster tomorrow following the incident on wednesday. it has been ordered to pay compensation and a fine. today he was charged by the rfu with conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game. next week you'll have to explain himself to the england rugby chiefs to have chance of keeping his saliva being in the rugby world cup squad heading to japan next year. manchester city manager pep guardiola says the intense footballing schedule has contributed to the injury of his midfielder kevin de bruyne. the club has confirmed that the belgian international suffered a knee ligament injury

in training on wednesday. it's the same knee he injured in early 2016 that kept him out for 10 weeks and although the club say he won't need surgery, he's likely to be sidelined until mid—november. of course, for him, for his family, these long injuries are never wanted, but they are accepted as pa rt wanted, but they are accepted as part of the game. and especially with the amount of games in the season, players can fall down. sometimes it's normal. they don't rest. it was a tough season last season. they came back and showed recovery. we demand in the first moment, come on, let's go, because we are in this competition. and of course human beings have a limit. and sometimes these kind of things happen. the wbc world heavyweight champion deontay wilder says there is "no question" he will fight tyson fury later this year. the american was speaking at todays weigh—in ahead of fury‘s bout with francesco pianeta

in belfast tomorrow. as soon as they get this guy to weigh—in then it's done. two fighters, let's get it done. me and tyson fury, we talked to each other. we will make the fight there and then. i told we will make the fight there and then. itold him we will make the fight there and then. i told him to get with his people, he told me to get with mine, and we got it together. if two fighters want a fight, they will fight. if they don't want to fight, thenit fight. if they don't want to fight, then it comes with a lot of things that gets in the way of things. more of that interview on the website. that's all the sport for now. stars in the music industry continue to pay tribute to the singer aretha franklin. the queen of soul died yesterday at her home in detroit. she was 76 years old. speaking on cbs television's this morning, an emotional with aretha.

stevie wonder spoke of the last moments he spent with aretha. we talked about doing some music. it was maybe two months ago, we had been talking about it. there was a song i had written called the future and we were going to write and sing it together. and so... clears throat i thought i had cried my last tear. i decided on monday i would go and see her, travelling from la to detroit to see her. spoke with her. she wasn't able to speak back, but her family felt she could hear me. i said all the things i have always said. told her to say hello to my sister. that i lost this year as well. but she did incredible music, an incredible singer.

she touched every genre and every singer was influenced in some way by the way she sang. and they will forever be influenced by her because of her voice, her emotion, her sincerity is unforgettable. i remember hearing her singing at reverend franklin's church when i was little, four or five years old. my mother would listen to the church services on sunday. and so the voices i remember most in my life would be doctor king, her voice, and her father, reverend franklin. and growing older, i always remember john lennon's song imagine. one of those emotional things. what stands out for you personally

and professionally about aretha franklin? what stands out to you about her? she was just consistently a great human being. and she always, even with whatever turmoil may have been happening in her life, even with her illness, she didn't put that on anyone else. she believed, i think, most of all that she was doing god's work. and she was. she broughtjoy to a lot of lives. her voice and her essence will live long with us. you also started in a church when you were younger. talk about that experience and how it is so particular to her music. i think, obviously, the church is a place where we learn all the various riffs and various

forms of seeing. being influenced by gospel music, the roots, and me hearing all the various sounds and singers in detroit, being raised in detroit, that was the reason that i was inspired. and she was a great inspiration. one of the hardest questions to answer that people are asking across the world now. what was your favourite aretha franklin song? let me ask you about respect. the new york times describes it as two minutes and 28 seconds of a quick trip to the emotional gym. i knew respect from otis redding. and when i heard her sing it it was almost like hearing a whole new song. it's amazing what she did with the song.

0riginally done by otis redding, but another similarity to that was the song that i wrote until you come back to me, i did it, and we were going to put it on an album, i think, but we never did. the greatest gift for me was when i heard her sing until you come back to me. somebody said on one of the channels yesterday, when she sings your song, she takes it and you don't get it back! laughter and you don't mind her taking it at all. i don't. do you have something you want to do for us this morning? i know it's early! it might be too early! i love you, aretha. and that's about everything. i'm really too emotional to think about singing right now. i understand.

but it's a celebration. we have to celebrate her life and continue the legacy by letting people of all the various genres hear the music that influenced us all. that was stevie wonder on cbs television in the states this morning. singer smokey robinson was a long term friend of aretha franklin — he told cbs about their friendship which developed while they grew up in detriot. in detroit, we lived in the hood, in the hood hood. but in the middle we re the hood hood. but in the middle were two plush blocks, some mansion is right in the middle. an amazing place. they lived on one of those blocks because reverend franklin was one of the biggest ministers in the country. we went around to see that new house, which was a mansion. we we re new house, which was a mansion. we were walking through the house, and

i hear this little voice and a piano playing somewhere in this room. and this voice coming. i peeked in and there is a wreath sitting at the piano and playing and singing almost like she did as an adult, and she was probably just five like she did as an adult, and she was probablyjust five years old. that's how i first met her. what was it like performing with her side by side? you guys did that many times. it was always wonderful to do anything with aretha. she was like my ace, she was my baby. we were really, really close. to do anything with her was always a joy. can you talk a little bit about the cultural moment that both you and she embodied in america at a time when african—americans, it was a very tough part of american history. she was a cultural icon and was at the ce ntre was a cultural icon and was at the centre of a cultural change. was a cultural icon and was at the centre of a cultural changel

was a cultural icon and was at the centre of a cultural change. i would say that we all grew up in that era. we grew up in new road ‘s parks —— we grew up in the rosa parks era, as i call it. we marched with doctor martin luther king and did everything we had to do at that time. we turned the other cheek, and did everything we had to do under those circumstances, and it was hard, but it was part of the master plan and it worked pretty well. there was only one aretha. she is in a league of her own and can't be replaced, but who are some of the younger generation singers that she respected and thought had a future as leaders in the music industry? aretha was like me, she loved music, and she loved to new artists. when i see people talking about today, the music business is in trouble because

the new artists are this and that, but there are some wonderful new artists out there. show business has artists out there. show business has a great future according to what's out there with new artists. aretha appreciated that. i don't know who she would specifically have said, this is my favourite new artist, but she appreciates the new artists out there. her granddaughter is a great singer, my granddaughter! it goes on and on. we have certainly lost a legend. what do you think the music world has lost with the death of aretha franklin and in terms of what she meant to us musically? just her presence. i talked to aretha about five weeks ago, and her plan was she would retire from doing performances, but she was always going to record. she said she wouldn't do any more dates but would continue to record. but she has left us with a musical legacy that kids who haven't even been born yet will

have a chance to experience. an impressive guest list on cbs this morning! ina in a moment, what's hot and not in the business news. first a look at the business news. first a look at the headlines. more than three hundred people are feared to have died in the southern indian state of kerala after the worst monsoon floods in almost a century. mps call for rules around e—cigarettes to be relaxed so they can be more widely used and accepted in society. italy's transport ministry has begun investigating the private operator of the motorway bridge that collapsed in genoa on tuesday, killing at least 38 people. here's your business headlines on afternoon live. house of fraser has cancelled all its online orders after a dispute with its warehouse operator. it's going to refund all the customers affected. the company also announced that sales fell almost 8% in the 13

weeks to the end of april. we will have more on that in just a moment. the war of words between the united states and turkey continues — with washington threatening more economic sanctions, unless turkey frees a detained american pastor. the row has sent the lira plunging to historic lows agains the dollar. and elon musk says he wasn't high on cannabis when he tweeted about taking his electric car company tesla private. he's faced intense scrutiny after saying he might take the company private at a price of $420 a share. 420 is american slang for cannabis. pretty dramatic step from house of fraser? yes, particularly given we are in the online age. the company is halting all online orders for the time being. that is after hundreds

of customers angrily complained they hadn't got stuff that they ordered. you would be angry! of course, where's my stuff?! it centres on the company of the that runs the warehouses for house of fraser. house of fraser say they will compensate people. that company is owed around £30 million, so they stopped processing orders online last week. how big a blow for this is the company? it's a pretty big blow to the customer base, who will be pretty fed up with having to wait and having their orders cancelled. but i think it's probably representative of the trouble that

house of fraser is in. let's not forget, this is a business that has failed and mike ashley's cash injection wasn't a rescue deal. he brought the company out of administration, so effectively the ownership has entirely changed. that has changed the dynamic in terms of how it deals with suppliers, who might be owed money and might not be able to get any of that back. that will put their hackles up and means they are in very difficult negotiations with sports direct, who own house of fraser now. it doesn't bode well for building trust in the brand. that's right. you probably have a few different aspects of that. first and foremost, the customers of house of fraser. second is with the suppliers of house of fraser. because they are obviously key to the future. the whole idea

from mike ashley is to get lots of brands and very high—end brands into house of fraser to lure customers in. they will want to do business with a company that treats them well. how long do you think it will ta ke to well. how long do you think it will take to sort out? i think it will ta ke take to sort out? i think it will take a while. we saw this was a business that was brought to its knees, it went into administration, and with any change of ownership there are lots of things that need to be done, particularly in terms of looking at the storage state. we know mike ashley intends to close some stores but he says fewer than we re some stores but he says fewer than were planned under the previous rescue scheme. we'll have to wait and see on this one, but i suspect it will roll on for some time yet. i'm sure it will. thanks forjoining us. the markets we re thanks forjoining us. the markets were a bit quiet an hour ago. but it

is friday and august. people are on holiday. not a lot going on in the way of trade. tepid trading on the footsie. 0ne stock that is moving is the russian steel company evraz. yesterday saw big falls after plans for expansion, but perhaps people are taking a bit of profit and that has put the price up again at evraz. kingfisher, the company that owns b & kingfisher, the company that owns b 80, kingfisher, the company that owns b & q, they are under the cosh, because there are doubts about the appetite people have in the short to mid term for doing diy. that's lifeblood the company. that is having that impact on the share price. brent crude, that's looking quite buoyant in terms of price because there are concerns now with

geopolitical tensions affecting oil producing parts of the world could disrupt the flow of oil, making the price of oil go up. that's where we see the uplift in the share price. thank you for that assessment. see you in an hour. the prisons minister, rory stewart, has said he will resign if his campaign to tackle violence and drugs behind bars doesn't succeed within 12 months. ten of england's most challenging prisons are to be given a total of £10 million to bolster security, improve living conditions and raise standards of leadership. labour has called on the government to go "much further". as the government looks to turnaround struggling prisons, our home affairs correspondent danny shaw has been given exclusive access to 0akwood prison near wolverhampton, to see how it's been transformed into an institution inspectors describe as "impressive". i do it because i feel it is my way of giving back to society. ben has got a job in prison.

he is nearing the end of a 19—year sentence for plotting to supply cocaine. he's been at 0akwood for five years. and has become a mentor, a middleman between prison officers and prisoners. basically dealing with problems and solutions in society. and tensions in society. a lot of guys come in with a vengeance against authority. a lot of it has to be empathy. shared experiences. relating your own experiences to the individual. it's about connecting with the individual. and not making anyjudgment. and it's about treating prisoners with respect. 0akwood was one of the first prisons to have in—cell telephones so inmates could keep in touch with theirfamilies. some prisoners can wear their own clothes and staff are encouraged to defuse tension through dialogue. they do not carry batons. batons are weapons, as i see it.

i've no time for them myself. that's my own personal choice. i would rather have people engaging with each other and finding solutions than resorting to drawing a baton to resolve an issue. my prison operates without batons very successfully. but after 0akwood opened, six years ago, staff struggled to keep control. prisoners staged a rooftop protest in 2013 and, a year later, there was a riot. one of britain's biggest and newest prisons was a laughing stock. now, there's a positive mood at the jail, reflected in a glowing inspection report which praised the way inmates are consulted and involved in decision—making. for a man to have gone through working with one of our mentors and come through the other side, it gives us that level of assurance that actually these projects are working. and that we're actually providing a place where prisoners can develop and grow as men. and, hopefully, be released into the community as men with something to offer.

and that means being employable. in this workshop, prisoners are assembling parts for a private company, learning skills and getting experience that will help them on the outside. but 0akwood still has a long way to go. like many prisons, violence has increased. illicit drugs are readily available and incidents of self—harm remain high. try and get in touch with them and they should help you with that. ben, though, is showing that there is hope. prisoners can take the initiative, helping each other to get through their sentence and stay on the right side of the tracks. danny shaw, bbc news, at 0akwood prison. time for a look at the weather... a pretty cool start this morning, certainly for the time of year but we saw plenty of sunshine across central and south—eastern

areas of the country before the rain moved into much of the north and west. the rain will peter out tonight, largely dry and not as chilly as last night. that's because we're importing some of the west, south—westerly winds and warm and humid air coming off the near atlantic as we move through friday night and into the weekend. looks like most of the rain across central areas will tend to peter out overnight, a largely dry one with lengthy clear spells and more cloud across western areas. still quite breezy but not as chilly as last night, temperatures around 12—16 degrees. a warm start to saturday, certainly. we are under the influence of high pressure for most of the country and this weather front will bring outbreaks of rain to northern areas, and this feature could bring some rain to northern central areas as we head through sunday. saturday isn't a bad looking day with lots of dry weather around. sunshine and the weather front bringing thicker cloud and outbreaks of rain across northern areas. england and wales will be largely dry. variable amounts of cloud coming and going, tending to be thickest across the western hills because of this west, south—westerly wind.

but in the sunny spells it will feel very pleasant indeed. quite breezy but not as windy as it will be for the north. the weather front bringing thicker cloud and outbreaks of rain. northern scotland staying largely dry. the wind arrows are on to show it will be quite a blustery day especially across scotland, northern ireland and the far north of england. warmer across the border. across england and wales, mid—20s, very pleasant, with many sunny spells. as we head through the weekend and into sunday, this feature makes inroads across our shores, retaining the remnants of subtropical storm ernesto. some fairly humid weather again to england and wales and quite windy across central and southern areas. some rain could be heavy across central and northern areas as it pushes off to the north sea, but the far north of scotland remains dry. the low 20s in northern ireland, mid 20s further south. a warmerfeel a warmer feel right across the

board. holding onto fairly cloudy weather into next week. most of the cloud with a bit of drizzle will be across the north and west areas. but it will generally feel on the warm side. hello, you're watching afternoon live. today at 4... more than 300 people die in kerala, southern india, as the country experiences the worst monsoon floods in almost a century — more rain is on the way. mps call for rules around e—cigarettes to be relaxed so they can be more widely used and accepted in society. italy's transport ministry is investigating the private operator of the motorway bridge that collapsed in genoa on tuesday, killing at least 38 people. tributes to a star: following the death of the queen of soul, aretha franklin, the pop stars of today acknowledge the impact she had on their careers. she touched every genre. every singer was influenced in some way by the way she sang. and they will forever be influenced by her

because her voice, her emotion, her sincerity, is unforgettable. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport — with holly. just four days after being found not guilty of affray, ben stokes will make his england return in the third test against india tomorrow. and the rfu have broken their silence over danny cipriani's arrest for common assault. i will have all the latest at 4.30. it has been a disappointing day across western parts of the country with a lot of cloud, wind and rain. some sunshine in the south—east, but temperatures will creep up further over the weekend. there will also be rain, especially on sunday. thanks, stav.

also coming up — quiet halls of residence and alcohol—free flats — the growing trend for less noise and more study at the uk's universities. hello, everyone — this is afternoon live. more than 300 people are feared to have died in the indian state of kerala after the worst monsoon floods in almost a century — nearly a quarter of a million people have been made homeless. the state government said many of those who died were crushed under debris caused by landslides. thousands of people in the southern indian state are still believed to be marooned by the floodwaters, and more heavy rain is expected. yogita limaye reports. the only route out of a flooded home. this child is among several people

that have been airlifted in kerala. dozens of helicopters are pulling out as many as they can. shouting. those who can are walking miles to safety. but beyond the surging water, there are tens of thousands who are still stuck, waiting to be rescued. the monsoon always brings heavy rainfall to kerala. but locals say this year is different. translation: after 36 years, it's the first time that such flooding is happening here. it's a disaster for the whole population. shelters have been set up wherever possible. locals are volunteering, cooking food and distributing supplies to people who've been left homeless.

cochin airport, the busiest in kerala, is unrecognisable. its runway resembles a river. rescue teams are being dispatched from other airports. these teams are engaged in basically rescue and evacuation works, medicalfirst response, and they are tackling the situations arising out of landslides, building collapse and also assisting the state administration, distributing relief materials over there. river levels are rising, the government has been forced to open dam gates. and there's more rainfall expected in the coming days. yogita limaye, bbc news, mumbai. a committee of mps is calling for the government to throw its support behind vaping as a safe alternative to cigarettes. the science and technology committee says e—cigarettes help tens of thousands of smokers quit every year. but earlier this week,

researchers at the university of birmingham warned that e—cigarettes may not be as safe as people think. nearly 3 million people in the uk currently use them. our health correspondent catherine burns reports. they look similar, but this committee says e—cigarettes are substantially different to conventional ones. they don't produce carbon monoxide or tar. and so the best estimate is that they are 95% less harmful. david holder used to smoke up to 30 a day, but hasn't had a cigarette for two and a half years now. he says e—cigarettes helped him to quit. vaping has made a massive, massive difference. my sense of taste, sense of smell, i'm a chef, so it's imperative for myjob. when i thought i was seasoning food perfectly, i was way off. and now i can taste things i never tasted before. i can play with my children, i'm not out of breath. it's just made a remarkable difference.

almost 3 million people in the uk use e—cigarettes, and every year tens of thousands of them manage to successfully stop smoking. the committee of mps calls smoking a national health crisis and says e—cigarettes are a golden opportunity to save lives. my message to the nhs is, take this issue far more seriously. we cannot tolerate the continued death toll of 79,000 people in england alone every single yearfrom smoking. vaping is one route to help problem smokers give up and we should be doing far more to encourage it. we're very lucky in this country to have a health department and a government that really understands vaping and gets behind it as part of their smoking cessation programmes. i think what's frustrating is the fact that the general public think that vaping is just as harmful as smoking. i think getting that public health message out there is the most crucial thing we can do. but just this week, a study from the university of birmingham criticised vaping, with research showing it sped up the death of lung cells and may

trigger lung diseases later in life. what we would caution is that to replace smoking with e—cigarette use is not a risk—free alternative. and our research has shown that there may well be significant health risks associated with prolonged e—cigarette use. e—cigarettes are still relatively new. they've been in the uk for just 11 years now. the committee says there needs to be more research into the effects of using them in the long term. catherine burns, bbc news. the italian government has begun a formal investigation into the private operator of the motorway bridge that collapsed in genoa on tuesday, killing at least 38 people. it's given the company 15 days to report back on how it met its contractual obligations to maintain the structure. the firm insists it carried out the required regular inspections. meanwhile, the coffins of 12 of the victims were blessed by a local bishop ahead of a state funeral, due to be held tomorrow. it will be attended by italy's

president and prime minister, but some of the bereaved relatives say they will not take part. 0ur correspondent dan johnson is in genoa. they're into a fourth day now of chipping away at that huge pile of rubble, shifting those concrete blocks, trying to find the people who are still missing and also building up a picture of exactly what went wrong here, what brought down that bridge. every piece that they move is being photographed as part of the investigation. but it's a huge job with still much more work to do. the rescuers are expecting to be here for another two days at least. we have still a lot of work to do, because we have to recover all the big things. as you can see, it's not so simple because we have huge elements and the structural concrete is very heavy to move. do you know how many people are missing? we don't have a sharp number.

we know that it's between ten and 20 persons. and your teams have been working now for more than three days and nights. how are they bearing up? how difficult is this work? it's very difficult, because we are working 28 hours a day. but we have a shift rotation for the personnel, so we can face it with this kind of intervention. there's also a huge area here to be made safe and overnight they've started moving some of the cars and trucks that were stranded on what's left of the bridge. they'd stood there since tuesday, when it collapsed, as a mark of what a lucky escape some people had. but everyone here is aware ofjust how deadly this disaster was and today they will start burying the dead, about 17 funerals expected to take place this afternoon. some of those families have said they don't want to be part of the official state funeral that will be held here tomorrow. the bitterness and anger really has grown in the aftermath

of this bridge collapse, politicians pointing the finger of blame in different directions, but firmly at the company that was in charge of running this bridge and maintaining italy's motorway network. there have been calls for the company to pay for all the costs associated with this disaster, notjust rebuilding the bridge, but also re—homing people who have had to be moved and compensating the families of the victims. the company itself says it's too early to draw conclusions and the investigation work needs to go on. that investigation work is very detailed and difficult and is sure to take some time. that was our correspondent, dan johnson in genoa. the former pakistan cricket captain imran khan has been confirmed this afternoon as the country's next prime minister. his pti party gained the most seats in last month's elections. 0ur correspondent secunder kermani was in islamabad and told us more about what led to today. this vote was something of a formality because as you say, imran khan's pti party won the most seats in last month's elections. they didn't get an overall majority,

but it was able to form one by allying with a number of other smaller parties. today members of the pakistani parliament voted on who they wanted to see as the next prime minister. imran khan received 176 votes. his political rival from the outgoing pml—n party received 96 votes. that announcement led to cheers and applause from imran khan's party and chants from the political opposition. imran khan was elected on a promise to create a corruption—free, more equal society. his slogan was "a new pakistan", which he says will entail a society where everyone is accountable, rich or poor, and where services for ordinary people are much better than they currently are. there are huge challenges at the moment for pakistani society,

over 20 million children out of school, one of the highest rates of infant mortality in the world. but imran khan will face mounting financial crisis at the same time, which means that any increases in public spending might be difficult. pakistan is also a country with a very troubled political past. no prime minister in pakistani history has ever successfully completed a full term in office. you mentioned those sweeping desires to improve equality and rid the country of corruption, which most people would think is a good aim to have. how much detail at this point has been he been prepared to put on how he will arrive at those big aims? this has been one of the criticisms of imran khan's party, that they haven't been detailed enough in their plans. certainly in the lead—up to this election, they did come up with an action plan for the first

100 days if they were to be elected. i spoke to imran khan a few days before the election and he said that if he were to win the election, sorting out the economy would be his number one priority because of this mounting financial crisis which means that pakistan needs around $12 billion in the next in the next couple of months pumped into the economy because there is a crisis with the amount of foreign currency reserves that pakistan has at the moment. but imran khan certainly has a real weight of expectations on his shoulders. it's the first time someone outside the two main parties,

the pml—n and the ppp, has managed to break through for decades. so a lot of people in pakistan are expecting big things from him. whether he will be able to carry out the kind of structural reforms that need to be implemented to get rid of corruption and improve services for ordinary people, we'll have to see. secunder kermani in islamabad. a boy is in a critical condition and another is seriously ill after four teenagers were stabbed on a south london housing estate. it happened yesterday evening in camberwell, south london. police say the victims are between 15 and 16 years old. we can go now to our correspondent simonjones, who is in camberwell. tell us more about the events of last evening. the police have strongly condemned what happened here. they say if you needed an example of the utter senselessness of knife crime, this would be it. witnesses say yesterday evening, they saw around 30 boys running around this estate. 0ne they saw around 30 boys running around this estate. one said she heard a voice shouting, help, help, and then a group of other boys ran off. 0ther and then a group of other boys ran off. other witnesses say they saw a

boy stagger around a corner near this building, holding his stomach and then collapsed to the ground. a very serious event here. four boys had to be taken to hospital. they are aged 15 and 16. one of them remains ina are aged 15 and 16. one of them remains in a critical condition in south london. a second boy is said to be serious, but stable. and the injuries of two others were not thought to be particularly serious. the police have arrested six people aged 15 and 16 on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and violent disorder. the police are appealing for witnesses to what happened here. it isa for witnesses to what happened here. it is a sad fact of life that in big cities like london, stabbings are relatively common. what makes this one out of the ordinary is the age of those involved, both those who have been stabbed and those who have been arrested aged 15 and 16. at the fa ct been arrested aged 15 and 16. at the fact that you had four stabbings in a single space yesterday evening, thatis a single space yesterday evening, that is why the police are appealing

for witnesses. they are determined to get to the bottom of what they describe as this senseless crime. simonjones, describe as this senseless crime. simon jones, thank you. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines: more than 300 people are feared to have died in the southern indian state of kerala after the worst monsoon floods in almost a century. mps call for rules around e—cigarettes to be relaxed so they can be more widely used and accepted in society. italy's transport ministry has begun investigating the private operator of the motorway bridge that collapsed in genoa on tuesday, killing at least 38 people. in sport, ben stokes will play for england tomorrow. the all—rounder has been named in that interface india in the third test, just days after being cleared of affray. but it does mean sam curran misses out. england fly—half danny cipriani has been charged by the rfu following his conviction for assault and resisting arrest on a pre—season tour with gloucester. he will face a

disciplinary panel next week. and manchester city confirmed midfielder kevin de bruyne will be out for the three months with a knee injury sustained during training earlier this week. i will be back with more on all those stories at 4.30. proposals outlining how the local government in northamptonshire could function after the council is abolished have been published. the report comes after the county council agreed to save 70 million through radical cuts. a little earlier, i spoke to our political correspondent tom barton. essentially, these eight councils, the seven districts and the county in northamptonshire are, to put it colloquially, voting for christmas. they're all saying they accept that the problems are so bad that the whole way that local government in northamptonshire is run needs to be reconfigured and they all need to be abolished and remodelled into

two new authorities. this is what was recommended after a government inspection of northamptonshire county council in march this year. the inspector said the problems at the county council were so deep and ingrained that the only option was a clean sheet, leaving the past behind, essentially saying that he thought that what we were seeing proposed today was the only way forward. but there is a warning from the eight councils who have written this report, saying that while restructuring local government and the county will help make things work better and will save some money, it won't be enough. and if they don't get more government funding, they will simply inherit existing financial instability at the county council and we could see the problems we have seen over the last six months carrying on even into these new authorities.

the prisons minister, rory stewart, has said he will resign if his campaign to tackle violence and drugs behind bars doesn't succeed within 12 months. ten of england's most challenging prisons are to be given a total of £10 million to bolster security, improve living conditions and raise standards of leadership. labour has called on the government to go "much further". as the government looks to turnaround struggling prisons, our home affairs correspondent danny shaw has been given exclusive access to 0akwood prison near wolverhampton, to see how it's been transformed into an institution inspectors describe as "impressive". i do it because i feel like it's my way of giving back to society. ben has got a job in prison. he's nearing the end of a 19—year sentence for plotting to supply cocaine.

he's been at 0akwood for five years and has become a mentor, a middleman between prison officers and prisoners. basically, dealing with problems, tensions in the society. a lot of guys come in with a vengeance against authority. a lot of it has to be empathy. shared experiences. relating your own experiences to the individual. it's about connecting with the individual. and not making anyjudgment. and it's about treating prisoners with respect. 0akwood was one of the first prisons to have in—cell telephones so inmates could keep in touch with theirfamilies. some prisoners can wear their own clothes and staff are encouraged to defuse tension through dialogue. they do not carry batons. batons are weapons, as i see it. i've no time for them myself. that's my own personal choice. i would rather have people engaging with each other and finding

solutions than resorting to drawing a baton to resolve an issue. my prison operates without batons very successfully. but after 0akwood opened, six years ago, staff struggled to keep control. prisoners staged a rooftop protest in 2013 and a year later, there was a riot. one of britain's biggest and newest prisons was a laughing stock. now there's a positive mood at the jail, reflected in a glowing inspection report which praised the way inmates are consulted and involved in decision—making. for a man to have gone through working with one of our mentors and come through the other side, it gives us that level of assurance that actually, these projects are working and that we're actually providing a place where prisoners can and that we're actually providing a place where prisoners here can develop and grow as men and, hopefully, be released into the community as men with something to offer. and that means being employable. in this workshop, prisoners are assembling parts for a private company, learning skills and getting

experience that will help them on the outside. but 0akwood still has a long way to go. like many prisons, violence has increased. illicit drugs are readily available and incidents of self—harm remain high. try and get in touch with them and they should help you with that. ben, though, is showing that there's hope. prisoners can take the initiative, helping each other to get through their sentence and stay on the right side of the tracks. danny shaw, bbc news, at 0akwood prison. hundreds of people have gathered in rotherham for the funeral of the comedian, barry chuckle, who died earlier this month aged 73. his brother, paul, who appeared alongside him in the long—running bbc children's series, chucklevision, was one of the pallbearers. the service for family and close friends was held at the home of rotherham football club, where barry was an honorary president. universities are offering party—free student halls to meet the increasing

demand among undergraduates for a decent nights sleep. some students are said to be opting out of the traditional fresher experience in favour of quiet halls of residence, and alcohol—free flats. a number of institutions now have dedicated blocks of rooms where noise levels are kept toa minimum. a little earlier paul burns, accommodation office manager at the university of manchester, told me how these quiet rooms and alochol—free halls came about. there was a request from a group of stu d e nts to there was a request from a group of students to have an area where alcohol was actually banned. and we said that was not practical, you can't police a band like that. you can't police a band like that. you can't go into people's rooms and search for alcohol. but we could create what we call a lifestyle moderated zone, where people who don't want to adopt what might be called the traditional stereotypical undergraduate experience in the uk, people opting for a quieter time could go for that area. so it's not

true to say there is a ban on alcohol, but if people opt for that area, they tend to be people who are not going to abuse alcohol and it tends to be a quieter area. clearly, a ban is not practical. no.. we can ban smoking and we have smoke detectors which detective people are breaking the ban, but clearly, there was no way you can physically enforce and alcohol ban, and that is not the kind of approach we take anyway. i was guilty of making this sweeping statement that the top of the hour, that we are putting stu d e nts the hour, that we are putting students as being people who party less and study more. is that what we ta ke less and study more. is that what we take from this? some of the things i have heard in the media have got this wrong. i don't think it is a case of people partying us now. i think there has been a willingness in the past to portray students as a single cohort. i think young people over generations have been unfairly

portrayed. yes, there have always been people wanting to go to university and party. i could be accused of that. if any of my student friends are watching, they probably remember my experience is better than i remembered! but there has always been a significant number of people that come to university and don't wish abuse drink or drugs. the difference is that now we are recognising that need. but there are lots of different types of students andi lots of different types of students and i think young people are u nfa i rly and i think young people are unfairly portrayed as having been people who wish to exceed all sorts of substances. i don't think that is the case. generalisations aside, is there something behind the fact that going to university now costs a lot more money than it did? that is an explanation, for sure. but there are other factors. there are cultural and religious reasons. i think a lot of young people place a lot of value on their health. at an institution

like the university of manchester, there is a phenomenal range of sports that people can engage in an volunteer activities, whether it is work in the community or doing environmental activities. and people have more to do at university today than what was available to me in the 19805. with than what was available to me in the 1980s. with all those things to do after you have been doing your core studies, perhaps there is in the same amount of time to go out and get drunk as people might imagine. there is an awful lot to do at university. it is so much more than just courses. but for sure, finances play a factor. that was paul burns, who spoke to me earlier from the university of manchester. let's return to the news that more than 300 people are feared to have died in the indian state of kerala. parvinder singh is from the indian red cross, who have been working as part of the rescue and relief effort in kerala over the past few days.

he's in the capital new delhi. bring us up—to—date on the picture in kerala as far as you know it. thank you for highlighting the issue. as you have been hearing, it issue. as you have been hearing, it is one of the worst floods that the state of kerala has seen in the last 100 years. and the situation is unfolding as we speak with more rain forecast over the weekend. the official death toll we have is currently at 160 plus, and ijust heard you say 300. i guess it is likely to rise. the view on the ground is that the water might keep rising and people have been sending sos messages through social media. the magnitude of the floods that have hit kerala has really overwhelmed rescue relief efforts.

there has been a strong response, particularly in the last couple of days since the 8th of august. the rains have really been pouring down and water is flowing from river banks. the dams in kerala, including one of the largest dams in asia, and all of that has meant that 14 districts of the state, it is pan state flooding right now. electricity has been taken off to avoid electrocution related accidents. the water supply has been disrupted. around 200,000 people are in the camps. 2500 camps have been set up. there is a concerted effort from ngos and government agencies. and we have heard of very strong effo rts and we have heard of very strong efforts being made to take people with choppers and to rescue them. but there was a lot that the state

and people are coping with and it doesn't seem to be relenting yet. the prime minister of india is expected to make an aerial survey tomorrow which shows the level of escalation that this scenario has taken. we at the red cross have been working on the ground for the last two weeks, ever since the flooding started. 0ur two weeks, ever since the flooding started. our efforts have been in combination with what is happening in the camps. they need in the camps is currently for portable rink in water, food, clothing, sanitary napkins, medical care and shelter related material. the important thing to realise is that while there are people in the camps who have been there for a while, a week or so, there are also people who are still in need of rescue. so a lot of co—ordination is required. kerala as

a state needs our prayers and combined efforts to save more lives. we appreciate you updating us and good luck with your relief efforts. parvinder singh, talking to us from new delhi about the situation in kerala, the indian southern state. now let's look at the whether closer to home. stav is here. nothing as extreme as that. we know south asia has seen some of the heaviest rainfall in the world during the monsoon season, and different areas of the exceptional heavy rain on and off. but the guest smack of how much rain has fallen there, the next few days, we might find out a firmer figure of how much has fallen, to give people an idea. it is obviously still raining, so rainfall amounts are still collecting. back home, it's a different story. nothing as heavy as that. we have a conveyor

system of weather fronts across the atla ntic towards system of weather fronts across the atlantic towards our shores. let me cast your eyes down to this system. this is sub tropical storm ernesto. it isa this is sub tropical storm ernesto. it is a different structure to a proper tropical storm in that it hasn't formed of a very warm water, but it is still exceptional that it has formed this far north out of the tropics. it is heading northwards and will get caught up in the jet strea m and will get caught up in the jet stream and arrive on our shores on sunday. nothing too unusual. last weekend, we had another tropical storm which got caught up in a system we had, causing heavy rain. i was away at the time, but i was told it was pretty wet. you chose a good day to be away! but it is nothing unusual, these systems do occur. it will get caught into a weather system which will arrive on sunday. this area of rain has been affecting the uk this afternoon. it has been windy, with the isobars close

together. here is sub tropical storm ernesto, arriving on sunday, initially over the republic of ireland and then we'll cross into central parts of the country to bring a wet spell of weather. but back to the here and now — it has been a miserable day across western areas. the winds will ease over the next few hours. across the south and east, it has been pleasant. you can see where the rain has been in the last few hours across much of the west. it has been quite fragmented and as it has moved eastwards, it is tending to break up and fizzle out. for the next few hours, it will stay blustery, particularly across scotla nd blustery, particularly across scotland and northern ireland into northern england. lighter winds further south. temperatures are a bit better than yesterday. as we head into overnight, the rain tends

to peter out, although it may linger across central and southern scotland and perhaps north—west england. generally dry to the north of it, and drierfurther south. generally dry to the north of it, and drier further south. a generally dry to the north of it, and drierfurther south. a milder night that last night. for the weekend, it is a mixed one. saturday looks like the better, drier and brighter day. sunday will have that system bringing some rain to our shores. saturday will be cloudy across western areas with the best of the sunshine across central and eastern parts. we could continue to see showery rented for central and southern scotland into northern ireland. dudley of that, —— to the north of that, we will see some sunshine. it will be assumed for england and wales. —— it will be humid. then here come the remnants of sub tropical storm ernesto, mixed in with an area of low pressure to bring some wet weather through central portions of the country. we

could see a lot of rain across the north—west of wales and perhaps west of the pennines. eventually, it will push into the north sea. we could see something brighter across the north—west. it will be a breezy day across england and wales. temperatures again on the one side. it is going to feel quite humid, because this system will bring up some tropical and moist air. next week, things will calm down. we have a big area of high pressure settling in. it will be quite warm across the south. average temperatures further north. towards the end of next week, it looks like the north—westerly winds will dig in and it will turn cooler. but it is not too bad in outlook. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. the worst monsoon floods in parts of india for almost a century kill more than 300 people in kerala — more rain is on the way. mps call for rules around e—cigarettes to be relaxed so they can be more widely used

and accepted in society. italy's transport ministry is investigating the private operator of the motorway bridge that collapsed in genoa on tuesday, killing at least 38 people. as £10 million in funding is announced to tackle drugs and violence in england's worst prisons, prisons minister rory stewart says he will resign in a year if things don't get better. house of fraser is cancelling all online orders and refunding customers. it comes after a dispute with its warehouse operator, which meant deliveries would be delayed. sport now on afternoon live with holly hamilton. ben stokes will make his return this weekend. but sam curran unlucky to miss out? this was always going to be an issue really —

with the decision to bring stokes back into the fold after he was found not guilty of affray — who would he be replacing? well, earlier captainjoe root named him in his side to face india in the third test — and it's young sam curran who gets the chop — you might remember he was named man of the match in england's win in the first test. and this decision is something joe root has actually described as one of the most difficult decisions he's had to make since becoming test captain but he says he feels very confident stokes will be able to go out and put in a performance tomorrow. we had two days practice to gauge that on, in terms of fitness and making sure he was physically ready to play. i sat him down last night and asked him brutally and honestly, are you in the right place to play for england again. he assured me that he is absolutely ready to go and perform at his best. i have no worries or doubts that he will not be able to go and deliver like he has done so many times for england. england fans will be

hoping he can deliver — with a 2—0 lead going into the third test, victory in nottingham would seal the five—match series for england. and a club against country row brewing over danny cipriani in rugby union. we thought the issue had been dealt with following his arrest in jersey on wednesday. this afternoon... remember by this morning it seemed the issue had been dealt with following his arrest injersey on wednesday — he'd been charged and ordered to pay compensation... but this afternoon, the rfu has said the england fly half will be charged internally — with "conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game" it means he'll have to face a disciplinary hearing next week

where he'll have to explain himself to english rugby chief to keep alive any hope of being part of england s rugby world cup squad injapan next year. his club gloucester have since responded to that with its ceo stating they are extremely disappointed by the decision to begin disciplinary action against cipriani. they also say they feel that the decision has been influenced by the significant media coverage and not based on the actualfacts. manchester city manager pep guardiola says the intense footballing schedule has contributed to the injury of his midfielder kevin de bruyne. the club has confirmed that the belgian international suffered a knee ligament injury in training on wednesday. it's the same knee he injured in early 2016 that kept him out for 10 weeks and although the club say he won't need surgery, he's likely to be sidelined until mid—november. they don't rest. it was a tough season last season. he came back and showed recovery. we demand in the first moment,

come on, let's go, because we are in this competition. and of course human beings have a limit. and sometimes these kind of things happen. that's all the sport for now. chris mitchell have more for you in the next hour. now on afternoon live, let's go nationwide, and see what's happening around the country in our daily visit to the bbc newsrooms around the uk. let's go to mary rhodes in birmingham where local residents have been voicing their opposition to a new initiative to house homeless people in a disused aston tower block. good to see you. and katie hunter is in glasgow for us. she's been looking at a local authority initiative to provide free sanitary products in all public buildings to help combat period poverty. thought to be a uk first. mary, why is this plank is so

controversial? it's a stand-off between birmingham city council and local residents, the council has a legal obligation to house people, but those living next to the tower block earmarked as temporary accommodation say it's the wrong site. it centres on a tower block called barry jackson tower in aston, and if you know the geography of birmingham it's not very far from the aston villa football ground. it was going to be demolished but the council have decided to turn it into temporary accommodation for pregnant women and the homeless. this area is notorious for crime. that flat in itself has had so many criminal activities taking place in there, anybody could say, barry jackson tower. .. they need to knock it down. we are fed up of aston being a dumping ground. they never seem to put anything positive into this area. it's always a negative. you can sense the frustration from

some local residents. but like many big cities, birmingham has a huge homelessness problem. there are more than 2000 people in temporary accommodation. notjust than 2000 people in temporary accommodation. not just homeless people, in temporary accommodation, including 500 in bed and breakfasts. nearly 200 housed outside the city, and that's because of a lack of suitable accommodation inside the city. some families housed as far away as stoke—on—trent and milton keynes. what has been the council response to the concerns from local residents? they have a legal obligation to house people at risk of becoming homeless. as the figures suggest, it is a challenge and co nsta nt suggest, it is a challenge and constant balancing act between putting a roof over people's heads and community cohesion. we are aware of those concerns, and we are putting in place a number of different things to ensure that those are minimised. the staff on site, there will be, at peak times, between ten and 12 of our staff in the building and four staff overnight, 365 nights of the year. those words from the council, they

have done nothing to address the anger of people living nearby. the tower block will be refurbished in the coming months with families placed there on a temporary basis forup to four placed there on a temporary basis for up to four months. there will be communal areas on entire floors as well as individual flats. communal areas on entire floors as well as individualflats. the council see this as a temporary solution to the problem of homelessness and trying to re—home people in birmingham. more on the programme at 6:30pm. women and girls in north ayrshire are able to access free sanitary products as part of a scheme to fight period poverty. how will it work in practice?l scheme to fight period poverty. how will it work in practice? i have spent the morning in kilwinning library, one of 100 or so buildings across north ayrshire where women

can get free sanitary products. it's a simple scheme, there are vending machines in the toilets but instead of putting cash into those machines, women and girls can press a button to release tampons and towels. the idea is to help people who struggle to pay for sanitary products by making them free and easily accessible. from now on, these vending machines will be in places like libraries, community centres and public offices owned by the council. i spoke to teenagers into winning this morning who support the move for various reasons. —— teenagers in kilwinning. a lot of young people can't afford to have the money to go out and spend on sanitary products, which has led to instances where a lot of young people have used newspapers, socks, things you shouldn't really use, really unhealthy and bad for the body. it's breaking down the taboo, so it's not something that's an issue to talk about, because it shouldn't be. it's natural, it's something all women go through, so why shouldn't we talk about it? some simply can't afford to buy these products. how widespread is

period poverty? research by the charity plan international say one in ten girls has been a unable to buy sanitary products and half are embarrassed to talk about periods. the amount spent varies every month from person—to—person. some will get by with just spending a couple of pounds per month but for others it can do much more expensive. sanitary products are already free in schools in north ayrshire, that was introduced recently. tens of thousands of tampons have already been handed out. the local authority makes the point that it's notjust teenagers who can struggle to pay for cemetery products, which is why they have decided to extend the scheme. it'sjust giving a growing body of evidence of how some women are not able to afford what is essentially a basic need. it's not something that they choose. it certainly doesn't wait along to see how much they've got in their purse. so i think it's about normalising it, making sure these essential items are available.

from this term the scottish government is funding free sanitary products in schools and universities and following a pilot scheme in aberdeen it is funding free products in some areas for women on low incomes. campaigners who want to end period poverty say free sanitary products should be available to all women, no matter where they live. thank you to katie in glasgow and mary in birmingham. if you would like to see more on any of those stories, you can access them through the bbc iplayer. we go nationwide every weekday afternoon at 4:30pm here on afternoon live. fans around the world are continuing to pay tribute to the queen of soul, aretha franklin, who died yesterday. mourners have been paying their respects at the baptist church in detroit where she began singing as a child — and at sites

across the united states. jenny kumah reports. # r-e-s-p-e-c-t, find out what it means to me. today the world is still reeling from the loss of a soul legend. aretha franklin was a distinctive talent. # the moment i wake up, before i put on my make up... the daughter of a gospel singing mother and baptist preacher father went on to find global fame in a career spanning six decades. # i say a little prayerfor you. her fellow music greats continue to pay their respects. she was just a consistently great human being and... she always, even with whatever turmoil may have been happening in her life, even through her illness, she did not put that on anybody else.

she believed that most of all, she was doing god's work, and she was. she broughtjoy to a lot of lives and her voice and the essence of her will long live in all of us that are here right now. throughout her career, she turned her hand to a variety of genre. she even learned to sing opera... # and what his name is none shall know... standing in at the last minute to perform at the grammys. i taught her the aria for a private party for luciano pavarotti and as fate would have it, she was in new york at the time and luciano fell ill at the last moment, and ms franklin was called in 30 minutes beforehand, with no rehearsal, and sang his signature aria.

i think she brought her voice to opera. shejust had such a distinctive sound. you could hear within a measure of any song that it was the queen of soul. 0vernight, fans gathered to celebrate her life at the apollo theatre in new york, where she performed more than a dozen times. in her hometown of detroit, more flowers have been placed outside the church where she sang gospel as a child. # say a little prayerfor you. here in london, the kingdom choir who performed at the wedding of the duke and duchess of sussex showed their respects. described as a musical genius with a voice of poetry and power, aretha franklin's legacy looks set

to live on. # you make me feel like a natural woman. president trump has commented on his decision this week to revoke the clearance of former cia director, an outspoken critic, john brennan. speaking to reporters, he said he had received praised for stripping mr brennan of access to classified information. i've gotten a tremendous response from having done that because security clearances are very important to me. very, very important. i've had a tremendous response for having done that. there's no silence. if anything, i've given him a bigger voice. many people don't know who he is and now

he has a bigger voice, and that's ok with me because i like taking on voices like that. i've never respected him. i've never had a lot of respect. if you knew anything, why didn't you report it before you we re why didn't you report it before you were before all these committees. he had a chance to report and never did. thisjust had a chance to report and never did. this just came had a chance to report and never did. thisjust came up had a chance to report and never did. this just came up lately, had a chance to report and never did. thisjust came up lately, and it's a disgusting thing, frankly. look, i say it, i say it again, that whole situation is a rigged witchhunt. it is a rigged deal. they should be looking at the other side. they should be looking at all the people that got fired by them. all of the people that got fired, they should be looking at bruce and his wife nellie for dealing with, by the way, indirectly, russians. they should be looking at steel, all these fbi guys who got fired and demoted. it's really you... it's not us. it's a rigged witchhunt. i've

said it for a long time. that was president trump speaking within the last hour or so. in a moment we will be looking at what's hot and not in the business news. first, a look at the business news. first, a look at the headlines. more than 300 people are feared to have died in the southern indian state of kerala after the worst monsoon floods in almost a century. mps call for rules around e—cigarettes to be relaxed so they can be more widely used and accepted in society. italy's transport ministry has begun investigating the private operator of the motorway bridge that collapsed in genoa on tuesday, killing at least 38 people. here's your business headlines on afternoon live. house of fraser has cancelled all its online orders after a dispute with its warehouse operator. it's going to refund all the customers affected. the company also announced that

sales fell almost 8% in the 13 weeks to the end of april. the war of words between the united states and turkey continues, with washington threatening more economic sanctions, unless turkey frees a detained american pastor. the row has sent the lira plunging to historic lows agains the dollar. and elon musk says he wasn't high on cannabis when he tweeted about taking his electric car company tesla private. he's faced intense scrutiny after saying he might take the company private at a price of $420 dollars a share. 420 is american slang for cannabis. a busy week for business news. let's start with the house of fraser developments today. pretty amazing stuff going on. for the time being stopping all online orders after hundreds of people complained that they hadn't got the stuff they ordered online. it centres on a

dispute with a supplier, but house of fraser says it will actually give all the money back to people who haven't had their deliveries, but it's still not a great move for the company. staying with retail, unexpectedly good news this week. that's right, for once! injuly we saw the retail sales figures come in at 3.5% higher than it was for the same period last year. a lot of that growth came from people ordering online. if you recall, july was really hot so it seems people were staying off the high street and ordering from the cool of their own home. tesla has been in the news this week. you can't get away from it. elon musk, the big question is whether he can take the electric car company whether he can take the electric car com pa ny tesla whether he can take the electric car company tesla private. a lot of questions about where he will get the money to do this. if he is going to do it. we can cross now for more on this to richard hunter, the a nalyst. let's start with that tesla

question. if you were a gambling man, and i'm sure you are not, but what would you make of these plans to get tesla private? will it happen or not? it sounds as though it will. ina lot or not? it sounds as though it will. in a lot of ways you could write this stuff. you have a price moving situation being announced by elon musk on twitter. he has mentioned the 420 figure, as you have just said. there are question marks over whether that is the right forum to be announcing this kind of stuff. he said funding had been secured, but at that stage you couldn't back it up. later in a week he had a blog that went into more detail, i suspect he was given advice. overnight there was a tv interview saying he was working 120 hour weeks and is basically a bit frazzled. what is now necessary is for a lot of these details to be filled in. has he got the saudi arabian king of the sovereign wealth fund in the

background? the sovereign wealth fund in the background ? will 420 the sovereign wealth fund in the background? will 420 happen? and has he discussed it in detail with the tesla board? let's talk about retail sales. what was behind the retail spike injuly? sales. what was behind the retail spike in july? we had a number of things, as you mentioned, we had the weather. we also have the world cup, and we have seen a number of companies reporting in the last few weeks who clearly benefited from the fa ct weeks who clearly benefited from the fact england got rather further than expected. it shows something of a resilience in the uk economy, people are just getting on with it, until we really know what is happening with brexit. and wage growth isjust about outstripping inflation as well. it's not necessarily something well. it's not necessarily something we can expect to repeat itself for the rest of the year, but it's one of those we can take while the going is good. we will leave it there, richard, thanks forjoining us. that's all the business news from me. that's it for today. next is the bbc

news at five o'clock. time for a look at the weather. a pretty cool start this morning, certainly for the time of year but we saw plenty of sunshine across central and south—eastern areas of the country before the rain moved into much of the north and west. the rain will peter out tonight, largely dry and not as chilly as last night. that's because we're importing some of the west, south—westerly winds and warm and humid air coming off the near atlantic as we move through friday night and into the weekend. looks like most of the rain across central areas will tend to peter out overnight, a largely dry one with lengthy clear spells and more cloud across western areas. still quite breezy but not as chilly as last night, temperatures around 12—16 degrees. a warm start to saturday, certainly. we are under the influence of high pressure for most of the country and this weather front will bring outbreaks of rain to northern areas, and this feature could bring some rain to northern central areas as we head through sunday. saturday isn't a bad looking day with lots of dry weather around. sunshine and the weather front

bringing thicker cloud and outbreaks of rain across northern areas. england and wales will be largely dry. variable amounts of cloud coming and going, tending to be thickest across the western hills because of this moist west, south—westerly wind. but in the sunny spells it will feel very pleasant indeed. quite breezy but not as windy as it will be for the north. the weather front bringing thicker cloud and outbreaks of rain. that's the central and southern scotla nd that's the central and southern scotland and maybe northern ireland. northern scotland staying largely dry. the wind arrows are on to show it will be quite a blustery day especially across scotland, northern ireland and the far north of england. warmer across the border. across england and wales, mid—20s, very pleasant, with many sunny spells. as we head through the weekend and into sunday, this feature makes inroads across our shores, retaining the remnants of subtropical storm ernesto. some fairly humid weather again to england and wales and quite windy across central and southern areas. some rain could be heavy across central and northern areas

as it pushes off to the north sea, but the far north of scotland remains dry. a warmer feel right across the board. the low 20s in northern ireland, mid 20s further south. holding onto fairly cloudy weather into next week. most of the cloud with a bit of drizzle will be across the north and west areas. but it will generally feel on the warm side. today at 5pm: more than 300 people have died in the worst monsoon floods in some parts of india for nearly a century. rescuers are desperately trying to reach thousands of people who are trapped. 200,000 people have been made homeless. translation: after 36 years, it's the first time that such flooding is happening here. it's a disaster for the whole population. we'll have the latest from the region. the other main stories on bbc news at 5: mps call for the rules around e—cigarettes to be relaxed. they say they help people to stop smoking. the prisons minister, rory stewart,

promises to resign if he fails to reduce the level of drugs and violence in jails within a year. ben stokes will play in the third test against india, just days after being found not guilty of affray.