hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm martine croxall. today at two: all charges are dropped against a former police chief inspector accused of trying to blame liverpool fans for the hillsborough disaster. my my involvement in the event around hillsborough has often been misrepresented, even in parliament. since then, i have been forced to deny strenuously that i have done anything wrong in the aftermath. the sister of one of the victims of the hillsborough tragedy says she's deeply distressed by the decision. very disappointed that they have led us families down, they have let the 96 down and they have also let down the families who are no longer alive to see this journey through to the end. 18 members of the windrush generation who could have been wrongfully removed or detained are to receive a formal government apology. microsoft says it's blocked russian

attempts to launch cyber—attacks against conservative political groups in the us. coming up on afternoon live all the sport with chris mitchell — england's batsmen collapse in the third test. it feels like we are waiting for the inevitable with england 88—4 and the need to bat for another day and a half to save the test match against india, a highly unlikely scenario. thanks, chris. and stav has all the weather. turning fresherfor most of us later in the week. swirling much cooler by the end of the week so if you are liking the warmth then enjoy today and some of the model because it really is all change later in the week. thanks stav. also coming up — we meet the remarkable ensemble made up of blind and partially deaf performers who will make

their proms debut next week. hello everyone — this is afternoon live. a former police chief, sir norman bettison, who was accused of trying to blame liverpool fans for the 1989 hillsborough disaster, has had all charges against him dropped. he'd been accused of telling lies about whether or not he'd tried to blame fans for the tragedy, and also about his own role in the aftermath. prosecutors said insufficient evidence meant there was no real prospect of a conviction. speaking outside court, sir norman expressed sympathy for the victims — but said today's outcome vindicated him. our correspondent fiona trott is outside court for us. inside court sir norman bettison sat

yards away from relatives of those who died, he remained calm and composed when told he will not stand trial. the cps explains why, they said since the charges were first brought there have been a number of developments, changes in the evidence of two witnesses, one has passed away and the cps says there is no longer a realistic prospect of conviction. although he wasn't centrally involved on the day of the hillsborough disaster, sir norman bettison's name has long been linked with its aftermath. in the wake of the tragedy, sir norman, then a chief inspector, was part of a team that gathered evidence about the police for the taylor public inquiry. 96 liverpool fans died when the terraces at hillsborough became overcrowded in 1989. sir norman was accused of trying to blame the fans. in 1998, he was appointed chief constable of merseyside, home

to many of the bereaved families. his appointment was deeply unpopular, and touring tv studios, sir norman asked for support. for goodness' sake, give me a chance, i think that people generally, my experience of life is that people generally and i think people in merseyside in particular, are fair—minded people, they'll judge for themselves, they'll look into the whites of my eyes, they will ask me questions and they will decide for themselves. give me that chance, that's what i'm saying. last year, sir norman was charged with lying about his role in relation to hillsborough when he applied to become merseyside chief constable in 1998. now, those charges have been dropped. sir norman was also facing prosecution for misconduct in public office when he was chief constable of west yorkshire in 2012. he was accused of sending out a press release claiming that he'd never blamed fans for the disaster. those charges have also been dropped. sir norman has always denied any wrongdoing and now, he will know longer stand trial. five other men are still facing prosecution on separate charges

for the disaster and its aftermath. judith moritz, bbc news. during the hearing today sir norman bettison's lawyers said there had been political interfered and in this case and he criticised maria eagle mp and said she had asserted under the cover of parliamentary privilege that sir norman had been pa rt privilege that sir norman had been part of a unit that deflected blame from south yorkshire police and he said this claim was simply untrue. after the hearing sir norman bettison give this statement. my involvement in the event around hillsborough has often been missed represented, even in parliament. since then, i have been forced to deny strenuously that i have done anything wrong in the aftermath of the disaster. the cps have been speaking to

relatives today to explain how they reached their decision and we have heard from one relative and she says some families will be exercising their right to an independent review under the right to review scheme. today that has been supported by politicians here in the north—west. louise brooks whose brother was killed in the tragedy, says she let down. —— she feels let down. very disappointed that they have led us families down, they have let the 96 down and they have also let down the families who are no longer alive to see this journey through to the end. the charges against sir norman bettison have been dropped today but this is just bettison have been dropped today but this isjust one part bettison have been dropped today but this is just one part of the legal process. five other people are still due to stand trial, including the

match commander on the day of the hillsborough disaster who is charged with manslaughter by cross negligence of 95 football supporters. —— gross negligence. the home secretary sajid javid is to provide a formal apology to 18 members of the windrush generation who it is believed could have been wrongfully removed from the uk or held in immigration detention. our home affairs correspondent danny shaw is here. remind us of the background to this. this goes back to april when it emerged thousands of people potentially who came to britain from caribbean countries and other commonwealth countries to work in the 19605 and early 705 had potentially been denied the right to live in britain, even though that was their entitlement. some of these people, it appeals, was their entitlement. some of these people, itappeal5, have was their entitlement. some of these people, it appeals, have been

treated really appallingly, possibly detained, possibly remove from the country, forced to leave theirjobs because re5trictions country, forced to leave theirjobs because restrictions have been tightened up in recent years. it eventually led, you may remember, to the resignation of amber rudd a5 home secretary, the new home secretary came in with a determination to try and get on top of the problem and he has been producing regular statistics and figures and updates to the home 0ffice committee and today we have got that from him. what more will they get, other than an apology? what they will also get is a direction towards claiming compensation. they will be given advice and help on how to do that. but how can compensate for the fact some of these individuals have been removed from britain, potentially unlawfully, some of them have been locked up in immigration removal centre is so it has affected their

whole lives in some cases. 0ut centre is so it has affected their whole lives in some cases. out of the5e whole lives in some cases. out of these 18 individuals, 12 of them we re these 18 individuals, 12 of them were removed or deported after there5a may became home secretary in 2010. that is clearly significant because it will be said this is something to do with the hostile environment policy. there were others against whom action was taken prior to 2010 and because russian government coming into power. how has immigration policy changed a5 how has immigration policy changed asa how has immigration policy changed a5 a result —— prior to the coalition government coming into power. they have tried to speed up the way windrush migrants can claim. 2272 people have been given document5 showing that they have the right to be in britain as a result of the ta5k be in britain as a result of the task force that was setup in april. coming back to the 18 individuals, there may well be more people who

we re there may well be more people who were wrongfully detained or removed from britain because there is were wrongfully detained or removed from britain because there i5164 who from britain because there is164 who potentially fall into that category, the 18 cases identified so farare category, the 18 cases identified so far a re clearly category, the 18 cases identified so far are clearly the most serious exa m ple5 far are clearly the most serious exa m ples of far are clearly the most serious examples of potential unlawful treatment but it could be amongst tho5e treatment but it could be amongst those 164 in total there are others who may receive an apology in time. nhs providers — which represents hospitals and ambulance services in england — has warned of a risk to services if britain leaves the eu without a deal. in a letter, seen by the bbc, the group criticises health bo55e5 and ministers for a lack of planning and says drug supplies could run out if there's no agreement. 0ur political correspondent iain wat5on reports. could we be facing a health emergency? a group representing nhs ho5pital5 and ambulance services in england have written to senior health 5ervice officials expressing concern about what will happen if britain leaves the eu without a deal. in the letter, nhs providers say

that while active national leadership is essential, instead hospitals are having to develop contingency plans individually in a vacuum and without national planning and coordination, there could be both stockpiles and shortages of medicine. a former health minister who backs a so—called people's vote on a brexit deal say5 he shares the concerns. drug shortages, drug shortages, food shortages, medical equipment shortages, staff shortages, the only way out, given this will happen in march next year, is to put this issue back to the people in another referendum. the labour leadership are not calling for a new referendum but they are claiming the nhs could become a casualty of brexit. there has to be a ready supply of medicines across europe and i am quite frightened of the idea that we have to stockpile medicines in the event of there being a no—deal brexit. the government is emphasising it

fully expects to get a deal with the eu, the brexit secretary dominic raab is in brussels for further talks today. on thursday ministers will be issuing advice on how to prepare for no deal and i am told there will be detailed plans for the nhs. it is very clear that we can avoid any of the scenarios by goodwill on both sides and coming to an agreement over britain's future relationship with europe. whether the fears of some in the nhs are ever realised will depend not just on what plans are put in place in britain, but also what is agreed here in brussels. iain watson, bbc news. meanwhile, the brexit secretary dominic raab is in brussels for the latest round of talks with the eu negotiator michel barnier. 0ur europe correspondent adam fleming is in brussels. what's on the agenda? the agenda

looks very similar to all the other rounds of talks between dominic raab and michel barnier. the first is the withdrawal agreement that will seal the terms of the uk's divorce. there are still outstanding issues such as settling disputes arise as the result of that treaty and what about protection for regional products like champagne and cornish pasties, which might seem bizarre that that is still a sticking point but it is. and the really big sticking point which is how do you avoid the reintroduction of checks on the border in ireland if that cannot be sorted out as part of the future relationship. the future relationship. the future relationship is the second thing on the agenda and the date will be discussing the white paper published injuly by discussing the white paper published in july by the discussing the white paper published injuly by the uk government which set out this idea of a common rule book for goods and agriculture and a

pretty complicated customs arrangements which means you would not need a border in ireland. the eu side has not rejected that what they have asked lots of probing questions andi have asked lots of probing questions and i imagine they will be asking more to aboutjust how that could work and trying to give reassurances from the uk. the last time michel barnier talk about that plan he said, hang on, would the eu really wa nt to said, hang on, would the eu really want to outsource control of its customs processes to the uk? so the uk will be doing what's the assurance about that. it is fiendishly complicated, most of this, so have many answers is dominic raab likely to have? there was a round of talks last week at officials level with no politicians and it does not sound like the mid a lot of progress so some in brussels are seeing what is the point of this round of talks and has anything

actually changed to mean things could move forward? some people are saying is this isjust could move forward? some people are saying is this is just sending a message that both sides are prepared to work in what is normally a pretty quiet period in brussels, the summer holidays. these brexit talks basically the only business taking place today each year. it looked like i was not even going to be in a press c0 nfe re nce like i was not even going to be in a press conference 01’ like i was not even going to be in a press conference or statements by the two men afterwards but we just heard in the last few minutes that at about 4:15pm dominic raab and michel barnier will be appealing to tell us some about what they got on. the clock is ticking, both sides wa nt to the clock is ticking, both sides want to get the agreement more less agreed by october so it can be rubber—stamped by the leaders of the other 27 remaining countries and then go through the ratification process at the european and british parliaments and then a separate documents, the so—called political declaration, sketching out the shape of the future relationship. it

sounds like just done the amongst traffic. i hope you're not. i'm actually on a traffic island on a roundabout outside the european commission. i'm not stood on the road, don't worry. health and safety first. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines: former police chief sir norman bettison will not be prosecuted over alleged lies he told following the hillsborough disaster, as charges against him are dropped. 18 members of the windrush generation who could have been wrongfully removed or detained are to receive a formal government apology. technology firm microsoft says it's stopped russian attempts to launch cyber—attacks against us conservative groups and coming up — research reveals that three quarters of maternity units across the uk are failing to follow guidelines which should offer pregnant women the choice of a caesarean. in sport, england are paying a heavy

toll for the inability to stay at the crease and bats, 94—4 on the third day and india needs six more wickets to win. manchester united say there is nothing to discuss rumours that the dan... i will be back with more on those stories in about 15 minutes. pressure is mounting on the chancellor to loosen the purse strings ahead of this autumn's budget — after official figures showed the public finances were in better shape than expected. figures released this morning by the office for national statistics showed that the government took in £2 billion more than it spent last month, the healthiestjuly surplus for 18 years. 0ur economics correspondent andy verity is here. the £2 billion you mention as the figure for the public finances for

july. figure for the public finances for july- july figure for the public finances for july. july is always a good month for the exchequer because you get payments from the self—employed people were they pay in injanuary and july so sometimes the chancellor has more money flowing in than out but this time the surplus was actually bigger than it has been for actually bigger than it has been for a very long time. £2 billion and then looking at the financial year until this point you get a significant number, we have only borrowed about 13 billion, eight or 9 billion less than last year and the lowest since 2002. then you look at what has happened to the debt. the national debt, which is all of the overspend and deficit added up, is about £1.8 trillion. you compare that to the size of the economy which is about 2.1 trillion and so you have got a percentage figure of round about 84% of the value of the

economy. even though the debt is still growing in nominal terms, the actual percentage is coming down. that means, in theory at least, the debt is getting more manageable. what are the implications for public spending? the whole premise of austerity has been for the past eight years we have had a problem with public finances, they are getting less and less manageable. but if they are getting more manageable that premise falls away and people press for more money for the nhs, more money for schools. there are other austerity measures still going through, for example, 10 million claimants or benefits are seeing those benefits not go up at all with inflation soared following in real terms. it is one thing for the chancellor to say we have got to do this if the public finances are looking unmanageable but if they become more manageable it becomes less easy to

say we need to freeze benefits. the chancellor will be faced with these choices, does he soften his lying on a study day or does he do something popular like a tax cut —— soften his line on austerity. a 27—year—old man has appeared in court charged with two counts of attempted murder after a woman and her mother were attacked with a hammer in south—east london. joe xuereb was remanded in custody and will appear at the old bailey on 18th september. the women — 30—year—old city worker ania gos and her 64—year—old mother — remain critically ill in hospital following the attack. at least eleven people have been killed, and others are missing, after flash flooding hit a popular tourist walking spot in south—western italy. the victims had been hiking through a gorge in the pollino national park in calabria. 18 people were rescued and the search for survivors carried on into the night. local officials say the exact number of those unaccounted

for is still unclear. cctv footage has been released of the moment an italian motorway bridge collapsed, killing 43 people. 200 metres of the carriageway, in genoa, suddenly fell last tuesday. the collapse has led to a fierce debate about the country's infrastructure. the technology giant, microsoft, says it's managed to stop russian hackers from launching cyber—attacks against us political organisations. the software company claims the hackers were planning to steal data, but security staff prevented the phishing attack. let's speak to our moscow correspondent steve rosenberg. what is the reaction been from the kremlin? you could sum up their reaction by a short phrase, nothing to do with us. a short while ago vladimir putin's press secretary said we do not know what hackers you are talking about and we do not know what influence they are supposed to

have had elections and we do not understand what evidence you have, we have seen nothing. i think that is to be expected, a typical denial from the kremlin, saying there was nothing about the hackers linked to russian military intelligence. but this hacking group fancy blair have come up before? fa ncy fancy they have come up several times as being linked to russian military intelligence. this coming out on the dayjeremy hunt is due to make a keynote speech in america criticising russia and accusing them of floating established rules of international conduct, accusing them of aggressive and more lying behaviour. there has also been a reaction to that from moscow with the russian foreign

minister saying britain has a very high opinion of itself and jeremy hunt expecting to call on the eu to come up with comprehensive sanctions against russia and responding to russia's transgressions with one voice. the russian foreign secretary mocks that anna said it is a bit rich for a country that is leaving the eu to try to dictate eu foreign policy —— he mocked that and send. we can speak now to cyber security expert proffessor bill buchanan from edinburgh napier university. tell us what you know about this group fancy bear that are implicated. fancy bear are a cyber espionage group. 0ur traditional military surveillance methods are now going towards cyber methods. they have been involved in a range of activities, from the anti—doping

agency activities in 2016, then some usa and the french elections. all of which are alleged. how big a problem are these attacks and how did it work? a fishing attack is a serious problem and it succeeds many times. recent research shows a 34% of people any company would actually click on the message an administrator phishing e—mail. the event might go to a fake website and enter their user details once the hackers get that they can obviously get access to sensitive systems. microsoft say they prevented these pretty major attacks that would have been against conservative political groups in the us. how would microsoft have gone

about doing that? it is normally done because a hacker or register a domain name that looks quite like the actual domain name so we would see it with something like 0ffice 365 or e—mail login where the hacker will create a fake domain and when a user clicks on a link it looks as though they actually have a valid website and they put their own username and password in. but then typically what happens is that there isa typically what happens is that there is a redirect back into the normal login system so users actually think there is nothing wrong and they go about their normal business. what can we as users do to prevent this? i think we see it all the time and hopefully we are getting much more educated about the signs. we will see netflix subscription details

coming in, apple logins and so on and we really need to understand that we should not be clicking on links from e—mails that look suspicious. wise words, i hope we keep you advice. thank you. the time for a look at the weather. we are going far afield today to talk about typhoons. we are going to the far east because the west pacific has been pretty active with tropical storms compared to the atla ntic tropical storms compared to the atlantic which has been quiet because of lower sea temperatures and we have seen some sahara dust. but it is different in the west pacific with several hitting eastern china, not massive but they brought the very heavy rain. ijust want to bring your attention to these two systems here. when you think how big are the

pacific is, they are enormous. they can range from being a very small and severe to severe and huge, some of the largest have been in the specific —— pacific. it is even bigger body of water so the systems are bigger. this one is not as strong as this other one. you can see the eye of the storm there, when you see the eye clearly it means they are very strong. this is about a category three storm that you would see in the atlantic. this one will move into honshu island injapan later this week but this one will bring some very strong winds to the islands of the south of japan and maybe brush past here. then it will head into south korea. korea has

seen very head into south korea. korea has seen very intense heatwave this summer, fatal heatwave, this system will bring a sudden change, drop in temperature. massive drop in temperature. massive drop in temperature with gusts up to 100 mph bya temperature with gusts up to 100 mph by a round thursday and torrential rain soaked anybody travelling to this region this week, there is likely to be a severe impact in the airport both in japan likely to be a severe impact in the airport both injapan and south korea. a quick question for robert, why are they called typhoons and not dickens? different areas of the world named things differently, hurricane is in the atlantic, typhoons in this part of the pacific and cyclones around the indian ocean and down towards australia. but they are all the same thing, it is a tropical storm. very good question. thing, it is a tropical storm. very good questionlj thing, it is a tropical storm. very good question. i could have a nswered very good question. i could have answered that actually, very

gratifying. 0ur weather then. nothing like that but getting colder? for south korea a drop in temperature are lots of rain and four is a significant drop in temperature to end the week, much cooler than what we have been used to for a long time and we could see some overnight frost in some places. lovely afternoon and continues to be with lots of sunshine around in between the clouds, feeling quite warm as well. the humid air has been moving up from the south—west. this weather front will be the game changer through wednesday. for this afternoon you can see there will be variable amounts of cloud and good sunny spells perhaps the odd light shower in eastern scotland and eastern england. feeling very warm in the sunshine with light winds. temperatures pretty lovely for

summer, mid 205, we could see maybe 27 in the south—east. as we head into this evening and overnight most places are dry further south, drizzle across western hills but for scotla nd drizzle across western hills but for scotland and northern ireland we will have some wet and windy weather, some pretty heavy rain possible. another warm and muggy night to the south. for wednesday that weather front across northern areas moved south—eastwards and as it reaches the central uk it will tend to ease down and no more than a band of cloud but behind it cooler air balloons. it will be cool and fresh across scotland and northern ireland with one or two showers but also some sunshine. the rain will be light through the central part of the country and that will be the dividing line. given some sunshine

we could reach 27 celsius again but thatis we could reach 27 celsius again but that is the last of the warm days. further north and west lower closer to 14 celsius. spreading south eastwards a cross to 14 celsius. spreading south eastwards across thursday, not reaching the south—east until later in the day, some rain in the south—east, some fairly warm and muqqy south—east, some fairly warm and muggy conditions but the fresh air winds out eventually, some showers to the north. by friday it is much cooler everywhere. sunshine and blustery showers at into the weekend, into the mid teens across the board. the night—time will become chilly. this is bbc news. our latest headlines: a former police chief, sir norman bettison,

who was accused of trying to blame liverpool fans for the 1989 hillsborough disaster, has had all charges against him dropped. home secretary sajid javid will provide a formal apology to 18 members of the windrush generation, who could have been wrongfully removed from the uk or detained. microsoft says it's foiled attempts by russian hackers to steal data from conservative think—tanks and organisations in the united states, by seizing control of six fake websites. official figures show the government took in £2 billion more than it spent last month. it's the biggest surplus in the month ofjuly for 18 years. and coming up on afternoon live — the london fire brigade criticises love island for rolling out what it claims are offensive cliches that put off female fire fighters. sport now on afternoon live, with chris mitchell. what's happened to england's top—order batsmen?

i don't know! i don't why i'm smiling! it is calamitous! england at 120-4 smiling! it is calamitous! england at 120—4 they need— 20 to win, that is not going to happen. they need to bat for one and a half days, that is unlikely to happen. what has happened to the top batsmen? i don't know. the england opener alastair cook is the top english test run scorer. 0ne cook is the top english test run scorer. one of the best batsmen in the world. his average now is below 20. he is really out of form. joe root as well is having trouble out there. england are having trouble batting. perhaps it is the prominence of one—day cricket anstey 20 cricket right now. but england don't seem to be able to occupy the crease. that is the state of play. england 120—4. to be fair, jos buttler and ben stokes have put on a partnership of 50 but they are batting like it is a one—day game.

whatsapp slogs to the boundaries, quite entertaining for the fans at trent bridge but it will not win a test match. there is a problem with england's batting, we are not quite sure what it is or what to do about it. if you knew, you would be in charge! i would! maybe, not yet. if you knew, you would be in charge! iwould! maybe, not yet. speculation overjose mourinho. it is taught and it is rumour but football loves rumour. but there is something behind it. he was happy throughout russia and happy throughout russia and happy throughout the summer, and there was the loss at the weekend to brighton. that was a surprise and he looks grumpy and he sounds grumpy and he has rated his team saying they made incredible mistakes at the weekend. a united source, they have said to the bbc, why would we discuss zinedine zidane, the man linked to thejob, when there is nojob to be had? 0rclubs thejob, when there is nojob to be had? 0r clubs do this, don't they

pushed up when they are about to sack their manager, they back the manager. itjust sack their manager, they back the manager. it just makes sack their manager, they back the manager. itjust makes all this talk ofa manager. itjust makes all this talk of a more prominent. we will have to wait and see, they play tottenham monday week and if they lose that, the talk will ramp even more. the rugby players' association has called on the rfu to drop its case against danny cipriani. the gloucester fly—half pleaded guilty to assault and resisting arrest following an incident outside a nightclub in jersey. the players' union says they "believe that it was appropriate for the matter to be dealt with by the club through its own disciplinary procedures". the rfu says it'll continue with its own disciplinary charge. meanwhile, sale's chris ashton is facing an rfu disciplinary panel this afternoon. it's after he was cited for a tip tackle in a pre—season friendly. if found guilty he could miss the opening six matches of the new premiership season. 0lympic sprint legend usain bolt says he is ready to prove the doubters wrong by signing a professional football contract. he turned 32 today, and this is how he celebrated, his first training session with the central coast mariners — an australian a—league side.

the eight—times olympic gold medallist has been given an open—ended trial with the club, who finished bottom of the league last season. cynics says it's nothing more than a publicity stunt. a warning — there is some flash photography coming up. iam not i am not setting myself any targets to say, this is what i'm going to do. i'm just going to put in the work, you know what i mean? this is my first chance of playing, chance to train and to get to level to play asa to train and to get to level to play as a professional footballer so to train and to get to level to play as a professionalfootballer so i don't know what to expect. so i am just here to push myself, to learn as much as possible. i told the coach from the start, listen, i am here with a blank slate, no matter what i have learned, no matter what i have seen on tv. for me, i am here

to learn and to get better. england winning the test match not going to happen, usain bolt playing professional football, not happen, usain bolt playing professionalfootball, not going happen, usain bolt playing professional football, not going to happen, i don't think so. that is all the sport for now. chris, thank you very much, nice mixture of stories. foreign secretaryjeremy hunt is speaking today of the need to "rebuild the western alliance" as he called on the eu to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with the united states and consider further sanctions against russia. he's due to give his first speech abroad as foreign secretary, in washington, in half an hour's time. i'm joined by our diplomatic correspondent, jonathan marcus. this is his first speech abroad. what can we tell the thrust of this is going to be? perhaps something about his approach as france secretary? indeed, new man in the job, first major speech as foreign secretary. i think a very clear thrust, that is that he wants to see the defence of the liberal international order, liberal values.

an order which he sees as being under threat from a number of challenges. major countries like russia flouting the rules of international behaviour. the changing east—west economic balances, the fraught democracies in aspects of our own systems and the continuing threat from islamist terror. he nonetheless believes that liberal order is what has ensured growing prosperity of huge numbers of people around the world. and in a post—brexit britain, he is setting out the mark—up of where britain, he hopes, will stand in trying to further that international order. as pa rt further that international order. as part of that, a call to allies to stand up to russia. well, indeed. and particularly in the light of upcoming additional american sanctions against russia costs of its use of chemical weapons in the attack in salisbury. it is interesting because, of course, britain got a very united response

from its allies, probably a more definite and significant response that many people might have believed in the immediate aftermath of the attack, probably because the evidence that the british government put before them is probably quite convincing. 0f put before them is probably quite convincing. of course, there are differences in europe as their differences in europe as their differences in europe as their differences in the united states between many on capitol hill and the president, for example, on exactly how tough you should be with russia. but mr hunt is urging britain's european union allies to go further with sanctions and not to become out of step with the actions that are being taken by the united states. but also, at the same time, a warning to the eu to be careful about how they proceed with the brexit negotiations. well, indeed, a very clear warning. he is still a p pa re ntly very clear warning. he is still apparently optimistic that there will be a deal, but he described the risk of a messy divorce is being in

opposition to the friendships britain was looking for and he saw that this could lead to real cracks between britain and its european allies. he described that in an interview earlier on the bbc today as the geo—strategic are for europe. now, many people might put the boot on the other foot and say, well, if you want unity and to enhance alliances between like—minded, liberal minded countries, why perhaps is the government is taking britain out of europe? well, we know the reason for that is because the british people have spoken. but that is what makes this speech interesting. you have the two pillars of british foreign policy over decades now, the european union on the one hand, we are leaving. and a very close relationship with the united states, which is, shall we say, problematic? given the temperament and style of president trump. even the mr hunt i think this morning recognised that mr trump was

not the typical american president. whilst we are trying to be very close to the americans on those issues where we can be, we are still insisting that we want to do the decent thing with europe and to maintain close ties even after brexit. thank you very much. three—quarters of maternity units across the uk are failing to offer pregnant women caesareans in line with national guidelines. expectant mothers can request a c—section, but a childbirth charity has found only a quarter of trusts are fully complying with the guidelines — and that a number of trusts are refusing all requests for elective caesareans. jamilla malik reports. having a baby is, for most women, one of the happiest times of their lives. but most mothers would probably admit to being anxious about the birth itself. for some, it goes well beyond that. six years ago, when lucy gave birth to her first child, she had a serious haemorrhage,

leaving her needing surgery and separated from her daughter. she was eventually diagnosed with symptoms of post—traumatic stress disorder. i do remember my daughter being placed on my tummy after i had just given birth to her and then suddenly, just like a red sheet, just... just completely soaked the bed. and then i was just rushed to theatre. when lucy was pregnant again earlier this year, she asked for a caesarean to avoid going through any more physical and emotional trauma. under the guidelines, she was within her rights to do so.

lucy was told she could not have the cesarean. during her second labour, she had another haemorrhage. her daughter ended up in neonatal intensive care. u nfortu nately, she was taken to nicu. she had to have rescue breaths when she came out and my other half saw her, all purple. she got taken one way and i got taken to theatre because i suffered from another haemorrhage. and it was horrific. lucy says the consultant did not listen to her concerns. he did not look at the what ifs, he was just going on the fact of — this is your second birth, there is no reason why it should happen again. but actually, he did not look into why we were anxious about it. it's really a postcode lottery. women have a huge amount of confusion over what they will be allowed to access, whether a cesarean will be granted and what kind of time frame. it costs more to have a cesarean section compared to a vaginal delivery. so just how feasible is it to offer the procedure when it's been asked for? 2011, a nice cost estimate put cesarean birth at about £600. more expensive than a vaginal birth.

so, absolutely, a cesarean birth costs more. i don't think there are any circumstances under which if you feel that a woman has been informed, understands her choices and chooses that you could deny her the right to have it. lucy is still living with the impact of not being given that choice. we've decided that we wouldn't have any more children. i physically and emotionally couldn't go through that again. women like lucy say they can't change what happened to them, but the hope is that other women will be given the right to choose how they give birth. the head of the london fire brigade has criticised the reality tv show love island for reinforcing stereotypes of firefighters as muscle—bound men. commissioner dany cotton said such portrayals discouraged young women from joining the service, and she criticised the itv2 show‘s fireman challenge for "rolling out every offensive cliche possible." chi chi izundu reports. 0h,

oh, look, it is fireman sam! rolling about every offensive cliche possible. that is how a senior member of the london fire brigade has criticised this show. commissioner dany cotton, seen here in the middle, has urged advertisers, journalists and marketers to stop using lazy images of firefighters, saying they reinforce the misconception that all firefighters are muscle—bound men. adding, no wonder so many young women are put off by that. just 300 of the fire brigade in london's 5,000 operational firefighters are women. the comments come as the brigade launches a campaign to improve equality and gender within the organisation. i get off the truck and they point at me and then they go, no, not a fireman, i don't know what to call you. i have had fireman lady, i have had fire lady, fire person... some people would argue that this isjust entertainment.

yes, but as with any sort of entertainment, you have to be careful about the stereotype that you are portraying. and that is not what happens, that is not the stereotype. hi, we're checking all the smoke alarms on the street... but it is notjust tv programmes causing concern. adverts which have appeared on our screens over the years have been criticised as reinforcing gender stereotypes. the reason it's harmful is because it limits the opportunities and potential of people, sometimes very young people, it stops them wanting to grow up to do certain roles and that brings costs to them themselves, to society and to the economy as well. and for dany cotton, the first female to hold the most senior post in the london fire brigade, she's hoping a different portrayal of firefighters will help dispel the idea that the service is a very masculine environment and a sexist field. ben is here to tell us the business

news in moment. first, the headlines. former police chief sir norman bettison will not be prosecuted over alleged lies he told following the hillsborough disaster — as charges against him are dropped. 18 members of the windrush generation who could have been wrongfully removed or detained are to receive a formal government apology. technology firm microsoft says it's stopped russian attempts to launch cyber—attacks against us conservative groups. hello. here's your business headlines on afternoon live: as we've been hearing, britain recorded its biggest budget surplus for the month ofjuly in 18 years. the surplus — that's how much more came in than was spent — was £2 billion last month. that excludes state—controlled banks. it's more than double the surplus in july last year. well above forecasts too, and was thanks to more tax payments coming in. house of fraser's flagship

store on oxford street in london will now stay open. the chain's new owner has agreed new terms with its landlord. the store had been due to close under a restructuring plan that house of fraser announced injune. but the department store group fell into administration earlier this month. it was then bought by mike ashley's sports direct, who says he plans to keep eight out of ten of its shops open. donald trump has again accused china of manipulating its currency to combat us tariffs. he made the accusation in an interview with reuters. it echoes claims the us president made during his 2016 campaign and repeated last month. mr trump also criticised the head of the us federal reserve for raising interest rates, prompting the dollar to fall. the us and china will hold talks in washington this week on trade. president trump has accused china — and the eu — of currency maniuplation. what exactly does he mean by that?

yes, a country can intentionally undervalue its currency by selling its own currency to drive down its value. that makes its exports cheaper and more attractive to foreign buyers. currency manipulation is difficult to prove though. 0ne one way is by selling a lot of currency so there is a lot of availability and that drives down the value. some think that china has acted to weaken its currency. 0thers think that is down to the relative strength of the dollar because of the performance of the us economy. in april, the treasury department said no us trading partner was manipulating its currency. mrtrump has manipulating its currency. mr trump has also been criticising someone close to home. yes, the chair of the federal reserve, president trump says he is disappointed the central bank have

raised rates so quickly, tend to make a currency stronger which makes you us exports less competitive. we can get more on this now from our north america business correspondent. but talk about the criticisms first of china. donald trump has made those accusations before, slightly awkward the timing given that chinese officials are in washington to sort out the trade row. of course, as ever president donald trump has pristine timing when it comes to these issues. most around the world don't think china is manipulating its currency, but italy at this specific moment, we have heard of anything complains that the dollar is significantly lower after president donald trump's comments and maybe he is the one engaging in and maybe he is the one engaging in a currency when ablation. 0verall, it is macroeconomic factors that dictate the strength or weakness of the currency and the fact is even though president donald trump would

like to see american exports increased, helped by a weaker dollar, the us economy is growing, the federal reserve is raising interest rates and these things are combining to give the us a stronger currency relative to the euro, relative to the chinese currency, and that is the thing that president trump doesn't like. it is not that other countries are engaging in currency manipulation, it is sheer macro economics, to be quite honest. we were just talking about president trump's criticism of the chair of the federal reserve, jerome powell. normally, the federal reserve should stand apart from political influence. as the president crossed a line on this now? you are right. this is generally seen as a taboo. presidents before donald trump have resisted the temptation to criticise america's central bank or at least interferes significantly in monetary policy and that is because history serves as a good guide. under president nixon, he engaged in a bit

of manipulation when it became —— when it came to america's central bank and interest rates were kept artificially low and america's net —— experienced a period of high inflation which was a lesson, don't mix politics and inflation because you might not like the end result. we have seen quite a few raised eyebrows to the comments from president trump, the second he has made this summer targeting jerome powell, saying he doesn't like the fed raising interest rates and he thinks he should be given some help by the fed. jerome powell has repeated that he won't be swayed by any political interference. he has a term that last longer than any specific president and he will do what is best for the us economy. so we have not seen any significant fallout on the markets, which suggests most people believe that jerome powell will do the right thing and slowly raise interest rates in the us as the us economy continues to grow. thanks very much. at the new york stock exchange. lots around today on

working enviroments. and is this right?! workers in open—plan offices are more active and less stressed than those with desks in cubicles or private offices? i know — try telling that to anyone who works in an open plan office who can't find anywhere private to make a phone call! but, yes, researchers in this us study by the university of arizona say the activity thing could be because you do have to make an effort to find privacy to talk away from your desk. they used chest sensors to track movement and heart rate in different buildings over three days. office workers tended to be a sedentary group compared to other workers say in factories. so the reserachers said the potential health benefits of open—plan offices should not be ignored. and just look what we have got behind us! example of that, people walking around. but this could be a thing of

the past. in this —— in the uk, the study has found only a minority of workers do the traditional 9—5, just 6% of people according to this yougov survey and almost half work flexibly. when they asked what people's most preferred working times would be, the most popular choice is eight o'clock until four o'clock and second most popular was 7am until 3pm so 9—5 may be awake to make a living, but not for all. dolly! a bit out of date. thank you so much. see you later. the bbc proms has gained a reputation for showcasing new and unique talent and, in another first, next week, it'll host one of the only disability—led orchestras in the uk. the bournemouth symphony orchestra resound ensemble was formed less than a year ago by musicians who have conditions like blindness, autism and partial deafness. 0ur disability correspondent, nikki fox, has been to meet them ahead of their debut.

rehearsing mozart, an orchestra like no other. everyone in this ensemble has a disability and they are about to make their debut at the proms. the group of six musicians were selected from auditions only nine months ago. they all have different disabilities, ranging from hearing loss to autism. james has cerebral palsy and is breaking new ground in the world of classical music by conducting with his head. this is one of the ensemble's final rehearsals before the proms,

where they will be performing this composition alongside 52 members of the bournemouth symphony orchestra. so everything has to be spot—on. one man keeping an eye on rehearsals is alexander campkin. he has used his own experience of living with multiple sclerosis to compose ‘hoping', an intricate six—minute movement. when i was sitting on the audition panel for the group, all of my preconceptions were just smashed to the ground, when i realised that we have an absolute wealth of talent and that i could write music as virtuosic and as difficult as i wanted. but one consideration he had to make was to incorporate an electronic instrument.

you can do a whole octave with very little movement. this is the linnstrument. it has helped charlotte reconnect with music, after she lost the ability to play piano when she was 12. can i have a go? of course. i've been dying. let's hope that within the next 5—10 years that people with disabilities are just the normal part of any orchestra, and people who run them are just happy to adapt. this will be the group's first major performance and will be held in a less formal setting, with a relaxed attitude to movement and noise. it's hoped it will notjust encourage concert—goers with a whole range of disabilities, but that seeing these role models on stage at the proms, playing world—class music, may untap hidden talent. nikki fox, bbc news. the bournemouth sympony 0rchestra resound ensemble

will make their proms debut on monday. you can listen live on bbc radio three. breaking news now, the united states is saying it has imposed sanctions on two russians and one slovakian firm under a us programme targeting malicious cyber related activities. this is the us treasury saying they have decided to carry those sanctions out. of course, it comes on the day that microsoft have said they have foiled several attempts by russian hackers. we are going to be hearing from jeremy hunt as he mixes first policy speech as foreign secretary in the us at three o'clock. stay with us for that. time for a look at the weather. here's stav da naos. hello, not bad today across many areas and the sunshine has been quite warm, albeit humid. a change overnight and rain pushes into the

north west. we will see a weather front. it will arrive and the outer hebrides early overnight, spread south into scotland and northern ireland with heavy bursts of rain and turning breezy. elsewhere, variable cloud and clear spells. again, anotherfairly variable cloud and clear spells. again, another fairly warm variable cloud and clear spells. again, anotherfairly warm and muggy night, especially in the south. we start tomorrow morning on a mix note. drive for much of england and wales with variable cloud, sunny spells across the northwest and this weather front head south and east, listening out as it reaches the midlands and towards wales. the dividing line between something cooler and bright and fresh to the northwest and warm and humid again in the south east. 27 celsius. and to end the week, it turns much cooler and fresher for all abuzz with blustery and heavy showers and sunny spells. hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm martine croxall.

today at 3: all charges are dropped against a former police chief inspector accused of trying to blame liverpool fans for the hillsborough disaster. my my involvement in the events around hillsborough has often been misrepresented, even in parliament. since then, i have been forced to deny strenuously that i have done anything wrong in the aftermath of the disaster. the sister of one of the victims of the hillsborough tragedy says she's deeply distressed by the decision. very disappointed that they have led us families down, they have let the 96 down and they have also let down the families who are no longer alive to see this journey through to the end. 18 members of the windrush generation who could have been wrongfully removed or detained are to receive a formal government apology. microsoft says it's blocked russian

attempts to launch cyber—attacks against conservative political groups in the us. coming up on afternoon live all the sport — chris mitchell. england's batsmen struggling? the sun is shining at trent bridge an england are enjoying an interlude of solid batting. thye're 132—for—4. india need six wickets to win the third test. stav has all the weather. it's a pretty decent afternoon with a good spells of sunshine and feeling warm but the warmth and will not last. turning much cooler and fresher for all of not last. turning much cooler and fresherfor all of us by not last. turning much cooler and fresher for all of us by the end of the week and into the weekend. also coming up — we meet the remarkable ensemble — made up of blind and partially deaf performers — who will make their proms debut next week. good afternoon and well, to

afternoon live. we are waiting forjeremy hunt to make his first speech as foreign secretary in washington and he's expected to call to impose tougher sanctions on russia in response to the salisbury nerve agent attack earlier year. the us is tragedy has said further sanctions are to be imposed by the united states and two russians and one russian firm and a slovakian company, under a us

programme targeting malicious cyber related activities. we are also likely to hear the foreign secretary colling on the eu to create a stronger alliance to stand shoulder to shoulder with russia. we will keep an eye on that podium and take you to russia as soon and —— as soon as we seejeremy hunt arrive. a former police chief, sir norman bettison, who was accused of trying to blame liverpool fans for the 1989 hillsborough disaster, has had all charges against him dropped. he'd been accused of telling lies about whether or not he'd tried to blame fans for the tragedy, and also about his own role in the aftermath. prosecutors said insufficient evidence meant there was no real prospect of a conviction. speaking outside court, sir norman expressed sympathy for the victims — but said today's outcome vindicated him. judith moritz reports. although he wasn't centrally involved on the day of the hillsborough disaster, sir norman bettison's name has long been linked with its aftermath.

in the wake of the tragedy, sir norman, then a chief inspector, was part of a team that gathered evidence about the police for the taylor public inquiry. 96 liverpool fans died when the terraces at hillsborough became overcrowded in 1989. sir norman was accused of trying to blame the fans. in 1998, he was appointed chief constable of merseyside, home to many of the bereaved families. his appointment was deeply unpopular, and touring tv studios, sir norman asked for support. for goodness' sake, give me a chance, i think that people generally, my experience of life is that people generally and i think people in merseyside in particular, are fair—minded people, they'll judge for themselves, they'll look into the whites of my eyes, they will ask me questions and they will decide for themselves. give me that chance, that's what i'm saying. last year, sir norman was charged with lying about his role in relation to hillsborough when he applied to become merseyside chief constable in 1998. now, those charges

have been dropped. sir norman was also facing prosecution for misconduct in public office when he was chief constable of west yorkshire in 2012. he was accused of sending out a press release claiming that he'd never blamed fans for the disaster. those charges have also been dropped. sir norman has always denied any wrongdoing and now, he will know longer stand trial. five other men are still facing prosecution on separate charges for the disaster and its aftermath. judith moritz, bbc news. following the hearing at preston crown court sir norman bettison gave this statement. my involvement in the events around hillsborough has often been misrepresented, even in parliament. since then, i have been forced to deny strenuously that i have done anything wrong in the aftermath of the disaster. family members of some

of the hillsborough victims have been giving their reaction to the decision, including louise brookes, whose brother, andrew, died in the disaster. i'm very disappointed that they have led us families down, they have let the 96 down and they have also let down the families who are no longer alive to see this journey through to the end. the home secretary is to make a formal apology to 18 members of the windrush generation who may have been wrongfully detained or removed from the uk. sajid javid said he was committed to providing them with the support and compensation they deserve. our home affairs correspondent danny shaw told me the background to the decision. this all goes back to april when it emerged thousands of people potentially who had come to britain from caribbean countries and other

commonwealth countries to work in the 19605 and early 705 had potentially been denied the right to live in britain, even though that was their entitlement. some of these people, it appears, was their entitlement. some of these people, itappears, have was their entitlement. some of these people, it appears, have been treated appallingly, possibly detained and removed from their country and forced to leave their jobs because restrictions have been tightened up in recent years. it eventually led to the resignation of amber rudd as home secretary, sajid javid came in to replace her with a determination to get on top of the problem and he has been producing regular statistics and updates to the home affairs committee, and today that's what we've got. what more will they get than an apology? what are these 18 individuals will also get is a direction towards claiming compensation. they will be given advice and help on how to do

that. but how can it compensate in some of these cases for the fact some of these cases for the fact some of these individuals have been removed from the country, potentially unlawfully, some have been locked up in immigration removal centres, it has affected their whole lives. we have learned out of these 18 individuals, 12 of them were removed or deported after theresa may became home secretary in 2010, that is significant because it will be said this is something to do with the hostile environment policy. but there were others against whom action was taken prior to 2010 and the coalition government coming into power. how has immigration policy changed as a result? the government has started a task force to speed up the way windrush migrants can claim their right to be in the country and we have updated figures on that and 2272 people have

been given documents showing they have the right to be in britain as a result of the task force being set up. coming back to the 18 individuals, there may well be more people who were wrongfully detained or wrongfully removed from britain because there is 164 who potentially fall into that category, the 18 cases identified by the home office is so farare cases identified by the home office is so far are clearly the most serious examples of potential unlawful treatment but it could will be amongst those 164 in total there are others who may receive an apology in time. one of those caught up apology in time. one of those caught up in this windrush scandal has been speaking about the decision to offer an apology. anthony was twice wrongfully detained and threatened with deportation and he has called for compensation to be paid

urgently. he said an apology is all very well and good but for me, personally, i am still going through the windrush scandal. he said he urgently needed action after accruing significant bets after been able to work for nearly three years. he said it has been backing up —— accruing significant debts. he goes on to say something should have been done a long time ago, it is supposed to be up and running. i'm sure it is not just to be up and running. i'm sure it is notjust me going through it, i am notjust me going through it, i am not just fighting for notjust me going through it, i am notjust fighting for myself, i am fighting for the 18. he said he finally returned to work last week after finally getting his finally returned to work last week afterfinally getting his biometric residence permits after the scandal was made public. pressure is mounting on the chancellor to loosen the purse strings ahead of this autumn's budget — after official figures showed the public finances were in better shape than expected. figures released this morning by the office

for national statistics showed that the government took in £2 billion more than it spent last month, the healthiestjuly surplus for 18 years. the £2 billion you mention as the figure for the public finances for july. july is always a good month for the exchequer because you get payments from the self—employed people were they pay in injanuary and july so sometimes the chancellor has more money flowing in than out but this time the surplus was actually bigger than it has been for a very long time. and then looking at the financial year until this point you get a significant number, we have only borrowed about 13 billion, eight or 9 billion less than last year and the lowest since 2002. then you look at what has happened to the debt. the national debt, which is all of the overspend and deficit added up, is about £1.8 trillion. you compare that to the size of the economy, which is about 2.1 trillion

and so you have got a percentage figure of around about 84% of the value of the economy. even though the debt is still growing in nominal terms, the actual percentage is coming down. that means, in theory at least, the debt is getting more manageable. what are the implications for public spending? the whole premise of austerity has been for the past eight years we have had a problem with public finances, that they are getting less and less manageable. but if they are getting more manageable that premise falls away and people press for more money for the nhs, more money for schools. there are other austerity measures still going through, for example, 10 million claimants on benefits are seeing those benefits not go up at all with inflation, falling in real terms.

it is one thing for the chancellor to say we have got to do this if the public finances are looking unmanageable but if they become more manageable it becomes less easy to say we need to freeze benefits. the chancellor will be faced with these does he soften his line on austerity or does he do something popular like a tax cut? nhs providers — which represents hospitals and ambulance services in england — has warned of a risk to services if britain leaves the eu without a deal. in a letter, seen by the bbc, the group criticises health bosses and ministers for a lack of planning and says drug supplies could run out if there's no agreement. 0ur political correspondent iain watson reports. could we be facing a health emergency? a group representing nhs hospitals and ambulance services in england have written to senior health

service officials expressing concern about what will happen if britain leaves the eu without a deal. in the letter, nhs providers say that while active national leadership is essential, instead hospitals are having to develop contingency plans individually in a vacuum and without national planning and coordination, there could be both stockpiles and shortages of medicine. a former health minister who backs a so—called people's vote on a brexit deal says he shares the concerns. drug shortages, drug shortages, food shortages, medical equipment shortages, staff shortages, the only way out, given this will happen in march next year, is to put this issue back to the people in another referendum. the labour leadership are not calling for a new referendum but they are claiming the nhs could become a casualty of brexit. there has to be a ready supply of medicines across europe and i am quite frightened of the idea that we have to stockpile medicines in the event of there being a no—deal brexit.

the government is emphasising it fully expects to get a deal with the eu, the brexit secretary dominic raab is in brussels for further talks today. on thursday ministers will be issuing advice on how to prepare for no deal and i am told there will be detailed plans for the nhs. it is very clear that we can avoid any of the scenarios by goodwill on both sides and coming to an agreement over britain's future relationship with europe. whether the fears of some in the nhs are ever realised will depend not just on what plans are put in place in britain, but also what is agreed here in brussels. iain watson, bbc news. meanwhile, the brexit secretary dominic raab is in brussels for the latest round of talks with the eu negotiator michel barnier. the agenda looks very similar to all the other

rounds of talks between dominic raab and michel barnier. the first subject is the withdrawal agreement that will seal the terms of the uk's divorce. there are still outstanding issues such as settling disputes that arise as the result of that treaty and what about protection for regional products like champagne and cornish pasties, which might seem bizarre that that is still a sticking point but it is. and the really big sticking point, which is how do you avoid the reintroduction of checks on the border in ireland, if that cannot be sorted out as part of the future relationship. the future relationship is the second thing on the agenda and they will be discussing the white paper published injuly by the uk government which set out this idea of a common rule book for goods and agriculture and a pretty complicated customs arrangements which means you

would not need a border in ireland. the eu side has not rejected that, but they have asked lots of probing questions and i imagine they will be asking more aboutjust how that could work and trying to give ——get reassurances from the uk. the last time michel barnier talked about that plan he said, hang on, would the eu really want to outsource control of its customs processes to the uk? so the uk will be doing a lot of reassurance about that. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines: former police chief sir norman bettison will not be prosecuted over alleged lies he told following the hillsborough disaster, as charges against him are dropped. 18 members of the windrush generation who could have been wrongfully removed or detained are to receive a formal government apology. technology firm microsoft says it's stopped russian attempts to launch cyber—attacks against us conservative groups.

in sport, josh butler makes 50 as he and ben stokes provide much—needed resista nce and ben stokes provide much—needed resistance on the fourth day of the third test with england 158—4, india needs six more wickets. jose mourinho is going nowhere, united say there is nothing to discuss about rumours that zinedine zidane has been linked with the job. and the rugby players union has called on danny cipriani's case to be dropped by the rugby authorities. we will be heading to washington in just a moment to cheer from jamie hunt —— here from jeremy hunt at his first press conference as foreign secretary. the technology giant, microsoft,

says it's managed to stop russian hackers from launching cyber—attacks against us political organisations. the software company claims the hackers were planning to steal data — but security staff prevented the phishing attack. a short while ago vladimir putin's press secretary said that we do not know what hackers you are talking about, we do not know what influence they are supposed to have had on elections and we don't understand what evidence you have, we have seen nothing. i think that is to be expected, a typical denial from the kremlin in moscow claiming it knows nothing at all but any attempt by a hacker is linked to russia military intelligence to hack into political organisations in america. this hacking group fancy bear have come up before, haven't they? they have. 0ver come up before, haven't they? they have. over the past two or three yea rs have. over the past two or three years they have been mentioned

several times as a group linked or pa rt several times as a group linked or part of... we must leave steve and now we can join jeremy part of... we must leave steve and now we can joinjeremy hunt live part of... we must leave steve and now we canjoinjeremy hunt live in washington for his first speech as foreign secretary. ifi foreign secretary. if i may, thank you, it is an honour to be here in this city and in this very distinguished institute. i want to start, if i may, by going back not to the last century, but the century before that. in 1898, when theodore roosevelt, just completed his tenure as the relatively lowly assistant secretary of the navy. he said, there comes a time and the life of a nation, as in the life of an individual, when it must face great responsibilities. we have now reached that time. all we can decide is whether we shall bear ourselves

well or ill. history will surely judge the united states lived up to his challenge. thanks to wise decisions made by him and his successors, strong american leadership has put in place a global order that has led to unparalleled peace and prosperity. no small part of that contribution has been made by the united states institute for peace and i am privileged to be making these comments here today. this period in our history has seen not just the defeat this period in our history has seen notjust the defeat of this period in our history has seen not just the defeat of fascism this period in our history has seen notjust the defeat of fascism and communism, but the emergence of an international order based on the application of the law, rather than might. the result, an exponential growth in trade leading to extraordinary advances in economic

and social prosperity across the globe. this is borne out by virtually every indicator, even if they struggle to capture the headlines. for example, notwithstanding terrible recent bloodshed in syria, the number of conflict related deaths has fallen from five per hundred thousand people in 1984 to just from five per hundred thousand people in 1984 tojust 1.2 from five per hundred thousand people in 1984tojust1.2 people per 100,000 in 2016. at the same time, average life expectancy has risen from 31 in 1900 to 72 last year. if you look at the poorest countries, you see even more spectacular progress. when i was born in 1966, half of humanity lived in extreme poverty. now it is just 996. in extreme poverty. now it is just 9%. with 137,000

in extreme poverty. now it is just 9%. with137,000 people emerging from this condition every single day over the past 25 years. it's probably not hyperbole to say this period has been the most productive and successful in the 300,000 years that homo sapiens have existed. but how confident can we be that this democratic, political and economic order which has done us so proud will actually be sustained? after the fall of the berlin wall, many assumed we had reached the end of history, the western liberal democracies were so obviously the best the way of running a society that no one would ever question their uniquely successful combination of economic and political freedoms. combination of economic and politicalfreedoms. indeed what combination of economic and political freedoms. indeed what we used to call western values have in some ways become universal, adopted by citizens in africa and asia as

much as europe and america. what we do now will such unalloyed optimism was misplaced. not only is our democratic model declining in attractiveness for too many people, but globalisation itself appears in retreat. whilst in the 30 years after 1970 the number of democracy is increased from 32 up to 77, in the periods in 2006 freedom has been in decline. according to freedom house, 71 countries suffered net declines in political rights and civil liberties just last year. less than half of un member states are designated three. four developments in particular should give us cause for concern. firstly, the established rules of international conduct are repeatedly been floated

by major countries like russia. the seizure of crimea in 2014 was the first time territory has been annexed in europe by force of arms since 1945. in fact it was not the kremlin's first editorial incursion of the century, which was the invasion of georgia —— territorial incursion. at the same time we have also seen the open flouting of international norms on the use of chemical weapons by both russia and syria. in contravention of the chemical weapons convention 1997 to which both countries are parties. as a result, hundreds have died horrific deaths in syria. this march, the russian government even used a banned nerve agent on the streets of salisbury in britain in an attempt to assassinate. 0ne

british citizen was tragically killed as a result. such aggressive underlying behaviour undermines the international order that keeps us safe and of course we must engage with moscow but we must also be blunt, russia's foreign policy under president vladimir putin has made the world a more dangerous place. the second challenge is the changing east west the balance of power. by 2030 china is forecast to overtake america as the world was my biggest economy. 800 million chinese have lifted themselves out of a grinding poverty, surely something everyone should welcome. by 2050 china and india are projected to account for a greater share of global gdp than the g-7. greater share of global gdp than the g—7. compared to less than half of that level today. but with economic power comes political responsibility. whilst china has

been vocal in its support for some features of the existing system, particular element that enable it to trade freely with the world, it has been left supportive —— less supportive in other areas. our hope must be for consistent, strong backing from china for the international rules —based author and the key will be to get the right balance of competition and cooperation so we can secure shared objectives whenever possible. and then there is the third challenge, namely, the fraying domestic support for democratic systems in our own countries. since the financial crash of 2008, many voters have started to question on globalisation and reject

political leaders of the associate as defending it. this is combined with a sense that attempts to export our own economic and political model to countries like iraq have ended up a spectacularfailures. to countries like iraq have ended up a spectacular failures. the to countries like iraq have ended up a spectacularfailures. the —— disenchantment is so bad that according to one paul one in ten people in europe and one in six in america think it would be a good thing for the army to rule. added to which our basic challenges to the plumbing of our systems, the heart of any democracy is freedom of expression, which allow citizens to access independent information to help decide who to vote for what the ubiquity of fake news, social media targeting and foreign attempts to manipulate elections, have undermined confidence that this can actually happen. the result is cynicism about both democratic systems and the elites who run them.

a cynicism that will be further fuelled if companies with a global reach such as google were to accept censorship as the price of entry into the chinese market. the result of all of this as those of us, myself included, who strongly support the basic tenets of the post—1945 international order find that we are notjust having to make the arguments for it abroad, but at home as well. we should never be complacent about one further challenge, namely, the continuing threat from islamist inspired terrorism. this continues to use distorted religious dogma to reject the entire basis of the international order, including the modern state system itself which they would like to replace with a so—called caliphate. since the dark days of 911 in new york and 77 in london we have made a great military

progress towards defeating extremism but we have made far less progress in understanding why those movements came about in the first place, so we can came about in the first place, so we ca n p reve nt came about in the first place, so we can prevent their re—emergence and nor have we reassured our own people that such ideologies will never be allowed to threaten our own culture. so how should we respond to these challenges? i want to suggest three things in particular. firstly we need to rebuild the strongest possible alliances between countries that share the same values. the visible advantage that won night of the cold war was military capability. the invisible weapon was a rock—solid alliance of like—minded nations that sat behind it. those

shared values meant that no opponent was never in doubt about our red lines. henry kissinger, who i am privileged to be meeting in a couple of days in new york, said that credibility for a state plays the role of character for a human credibility for a state plays the role of characterfor a human being. it provides a guarantee that its assurances can be relied on by friends against threats taken seriously by adversaries. but instead of building up our credibility, we have been weakening it. a limp response to russia's intervention in georgia in 2008 can only have made the 2014th annexation of crimea more likely. a failure to respond to president assad's use of sarin gas must be pa rt assad's use of sarin gas must be part of the rain why he chose to use chemical weapons again in 2014, 2015, 2017 and in april this year.

not every hostile action constitutes the crossing of a red line and we will always need a graduated menu of responses, but the strengthening of our credibility in support of a rules —based international order must become a central goal of foreign policy. those who don't share our values need to know that there will always be a serious price to pay if red lines are crossed, weather territorial incursions, the use of banned weapons, or are increasingly cyber attacks. and part of that credibility comes from unity. we showed that this year with a strong united response from 28 allies of the use of chemical weapons in salisbury. 153 russian intelligence officials we re were expelled including 60 who were removed by the united states more than any other country and the us has since gone

further by announcing sanctions combined with the decisive us military response to assad's use of chemical weapons in douma in april joined by britain and france we can see that the red lines on chemical weapons use have started to regain credibility. today the united kingdom asks its allies to go further, by calling on the european union to ensure its sanctions against russia are comprehensive and that we truly stand shoulder to shoulder with the us. that means coming out and responding to transgressions with one voice wherever and whenever they occurred, from the streets of salisbury to the heart of crimea. we need to remember the importance of unity notjust on this issue but on other issues also whether it is halting the malign influence of iran, ending the conflict in syria and yemen,

denuclearise in the korean peninsula orfair burden sharing denuclearise in the korean peninsula or fair burden sharing within nato where president trump is surely right to urge higher defence spending by european allies as britain is doing. making compromises for the sake of unity will always be necessary. we should neverforget margaret thatcher‘s words, it is in a country's interests to keep faith with its allies, states in the sense i like people. —— are like people. if you have a reputation for its acting favours and not returning them the favours dry up. and one of them the favours dry up. and one of the biggest threat to european unity would be a chaotic, no—deal brexit. britain will of course find a way to prosper and we have faced many greater challenges in our history. we will always be a dependable ally for the us and all countries that share our values. but the risk of a

messy divorce as opposed to the friendship we seek would be a fissure in relations between european allies that would take a generation to heals a geostrategic errorfor europe at generation to heals a geostrategic error for europe at an extremely vulnerable time in our history. so asi vulnerable time in our history. so as i have been saying to european governments now is the time of the european commission to engage with an open mind with a fair and constructive proposal made by the prime minister. but all of us the united states, the european union, and the uk, a strategic choice we make on these issues will have a profound impact on the solidity of our democratic and economic systems. in the face of these new challenges now is surely the time to rebuild the unity of purpose we know is essential. the second response to

the challenges we face will take longer. but it is even more important. we need to regain the economic momentum that ultimately lies at the root of political power. power follows money. if we want to project our values we need competitive economys stop professor paul kennedy of yale university defines the process of rise and fall amongst the great powers as being the result of differentials in growth rates and technological change leading to ships in the global economic balances which in turn gradually impinge upon political and military balances. but of course knows this well. in the 19th century thanks to the industrial revolution and the invention of steam powered mass production we eclipsed all of our rivals and became the first truly global power in history. now, of course as per countries develop

their share of global wealth will increase and we should welcome that. but we also need to stay in the game. recent improvements in us growth rates a re game. recent improvements in us growth rates are encouraging, but all of us need to play to our strengths. free and open societies are not just strengths. free and open societies are notjust the best hedge against corruption that constrains economic growth in so many countries. they are also the natural incubators of innovative technological advances that our modern economies. asjohn stewart mill butted, genius can only read in an atmosphere of freedom —— at it. in the top ten countries of this year's global innovation index nearly all by liberal mattresses, britain is would come at the us is sexed and those two countries account for 19 of the world's top 20 universities. china's astonishing

march into a! and robotics show that our leadership in creativity and innovation is not unchallenged. we in britain are responding with a modern industrial strategy focused on the fourth industrial revolution, and including major educational reforms along with the biggest investment in rail since victorian times, but there is much more to do and we must all prove in this new era that free, open capitalist values are the key to economic renewal and prosperity. free trade is critical to that. and the united kingdom warmly welcomes the support from the us administration for a uk us free—trade deal. the final response to the challenges we face is to be to get our own house in order. dissatisfaction with the way society works is nothing new, although social media can get spread wildfire. but we are putting our

heads in the sand if we think we can blame social media by pretending that some of the causes of that resentment are not real, whether caused by the decline in real incomes for many americans and europeans dislocation caused changes in technology or the identity concerns of many voters caused by immigration. to reject those concerns has been held by a minority of voters with a liberal views is to make a dangerous mistake. in britain and 52% of our country who voted to leave the eu cannot be dismissed as far right extremists. nor the many who seek change in the us. our two histories share a common thread of the benefits of freedom and prosperity, progressively being shared by more and more of our peoples. but if our electorates

believe that such benefits are no longer being shared fairly between political elites and the people they represent, resentment boiled over, expressing such resentment is an affirmation and not a rejection of the core democratic instinct that a society must work for all its citizens. so the sooner we address those concerns the stronger our democracies will be. part of that must be to address concerns about the basic versioning of our democracies. given the importance of the online world for political communication the rules governing online activity in the run—up to elections should surely be as strict as those elsewhere, and moderate electorates should be given confidence that the results cannot be influenced by the cyber activities of other countries. at the same time we need to restore confidence in the multilateral

institutions whose job is to protect the stability of the international order and the values it depends on. no one understood the importance of this task better than kofi annan, a humane and principled leader who embodied the best of the year when during his ten years as secretary general and his death last saturday we all morning. —— but he would have been the first two advise that all too often those institutions are seen as talking shops with little capacity to engineer real change, and given that they said that the heart of the international rules —based order, the uk and the us must continue to make common cause to progress bold and necessary reforms. these are just three of the many possible responses to the challenges we face. but if the issues seem daunting, history also tells us that

nothing is inevitable. the progress we made it didn't happen by accident, but rather as the result of extraordinary endeavour, and difficult choices made at critical moments. i started with teddy roosevelt, so let me finish with his formidable knees eleanor, who said that in working for the dignity and freedom of the human race, to retreat. just as others before us, now is the time to move forward with clarity and purpose. thank you. applause we will nowjust start we will now just start with a we will nowjust start with a small number of questions from the media andi number of questions from the media and i will start with susannah from

hp. —— and i will start with susannah from hp. -- hp. thank you for doing this. you have talked about the relationship between credibility and unity and the importance in building confidence in multilateral institutions, how do you propose doing this when so many countries, the uk, and the us are increasingly going it alone and withdrawing from the rules —based international order that you talked about?” the rules —based international order that you talked about? i don't believe that either the uk or the us are doing that. we have to recognise the way that multilateral organisations were set up in the 20th century is not necessarily the way that they need to work in the 21st—century. and we need to work together to reform those institutions because as you rightly say they are very important for the rules —based order but i think it is very clear from president trump's

first period in office that he is not an isolationist, this is a president who wants to engage in the world, but he is very open about the pa rt world, but he is very open about the part of international alliances and work. so i think he is right to say that european allies need to share more of the burden of keeping nato military defence spending properly funded and he is right to challenge all of us where things aren't working as well as they could, but in the end this is about finding a way to make these alliances work and i think that is what is incredibly important and that is the appointment i am making this morning. next, cordelia from sky news. thank you very much, foreign secretary. you are calling on the european union to go further in its sanctions against russia. the european commission has already said that robust measures are in place. they also have countries like

austria and italy that want to maintain economic ties with moscow. exactly what we were asking for and exactly how do you intend to influence european union manually be at? i think it is important to say that the european union and our european allies actuallyjoined with britain and calls from theresa may and by predecessor in taking very robust action earlier this year when we first had the salisbury tax, so i think this is why we can draw some confidence in what is happening —— salisbury attacks, there will be red lines when it comes to the use of chemical weapons. but we have heard recently that the united states is prepared to go a step further and we are now in the 90 day period where they are considering whether they will be legally obliged to implement further sanctions and all i am saying in my speech here is that

this attack happened on european soil and we must make sure that we are standing shoulder to shoulder with the united states and it doesn't mean to say that we will react in exactly the same way as the united states, but this is a very important time for transatlantic unity and for european unity, so i am sure we will have big discussions inside the eu while we're still a pa rt inside the eu while we're still a part of it about these issues. but actually when i go and visit european foreign ministries, i met 15 foreign ministers so far, this is one thing that everyone agrees on, but we need to protect, preserve and strengthen the time to that is the point i'm making. next, cullimore from the atlantic. thank you. today is the first anniversary of president trump's south asia review in afghanistan. the uk recently announced that it was sending 440

more military personnel to afghanistan. given the carnage there this week, over the afghanistan. given the carnage there this week, overthe past afghanistan. given the carnage there this week, over the past week, afghanistan. given the carnage there this week, overthe past week, is this week, overthe past week, is this an open—ended commitment? this week, overthe past week, is this an open-ended commitment? well, we hope not stop it is very —— we hope not. it is very important priority for the united states and united kingdom that we can find a way of drawing this conflict to a close as quickly as possible but we are also in this for the long haul and a stable afghanistan is very important for both our countries. i think it is very important to say in that context that there is no closer military alliance anywhere in the world than between the united states and the united kingdom. we have british defence personnel in 34 of the 50 us states, 23,000 us defence personnel in the united kingdom itself, and the work we are doing in afghanistan as in many other places isi afghanistan as in many other places is i think a symbol ofjust how important the partnership is between the us and the uk in terms of

upholding the international order. jessica from the wall street journal. trump has been openly pushing britain to give up on the run deal and to work on squeezing iran economically through sanctions and other measures, —— iran deal. we we re and other measures, —— iran deal. we were wondering if the uk was prepared to reconsider its approach towards iran and if it doesn't do that, what impact could that have on the uk us relationship at this time when you are trying to negotiate a deal with them? you can when you are trying to negotiate a dealwith them? you can be when you are trying to negotiate a deal with them? you can be the closest of allies and that still doesn't mean that you don't have things that you occasionally disagree on. that was the case in the cold war, there were very lively discussions between margaret thatcher and drug raid on that time, this is when we do have a genuine difference of opinion, —— ronald

reagan at that time. the best way to stop iran developing nuclear weapons is to stick with the nuclear deal and the administration as a different view. but i don't think we should let that obscure the huge numbers of areas in that part of the world and across the globe where we are absolutely aligned. when it comes to iran's activities in the middle east we work with the investigation with the united states, very successfully to curb their activities in lebanon, iraq, yemen, syriac, and this is somewhere where i think we have the same vision but we have the differences as to how we get there. final question from robert moore of itv. thank you, foreign secretary and good morning. as an aside in your speech in reference to the last

answer you talked about your ambition to end the conflict in yemen. i wonder is an incoming foreign secretary, held personally comfortable you are with british and indeed american weapon sales to riyadh, i indeed american weapon sales to riyadh, lam indeed american weapon sales to riyadh, i am asking end the light of an attack that killed 40 schoolchildren, possibly a missile with the uk guidance system on it, i wonder they are having second thoughts about that, if you are thinking about putting conditions on it to riyadh given the escalating and cataclysmic humanitarian situation in yemen. we look at that humanitarian situation with the huge amount of concern, it is possible to see the reports of what happened in that bus in yemen with that being very concerned about what is happening. saudi arabia is a close military ally and they help us keep the streets of britain safe, and so that relationship is very important

to us but it doesn't mean we don't raise concerns about what happened with the saudi foreign minister as i did last week, so that is a very important part of what i have to do is foreign secretary, but when it comes to the mechanics of arms sales but i would say is we have one of the strictest systems in the world, in britain because we keep under review the agreements under which the sales are made and make sure that they are used in a way that is consistent with the agreements made when they were sold and that is something we will continue to do. absolutely, not least, kathy morris from channel 4. 0che kylie morris. thank you, foreign secretary. donald trump's public protestations are not in line with britain's view that vladimir putin is a real danger to democracy. he has been reluctant publicly to admonish russia, then

there his personal embrace of vladimir putin and his slow embrace of sanctions. how can you be confident that president trump agrees with britain in terms of the threat posed by russia? president trump is the most active president on social media that has ever been in the history of the united states, probably the history of the world actually, and he is particularly active on twitter and is a very different style of politics, very important to look at what he does as well as what he says. when it comes to sanctions, it was this administration that first said that they were going to take economic action against russia as a result of what happened in salisbury. it wasn't europe, it was the united states that were first to do that. i think if you look at the actions of president trump, what you see is an approach to foreign policy that is

different to his predecessors but it is absolutely focused on upholding the international order, but he does it in the international order, but he does itina the international order, but he does it in a different way and what he is saying is where there are things there is not working the way to corbynite, but in the case —— he is going to call them out. it is important to have a dialogue because he isa important to have a dialogue because he is a major nuclear power the same reason as at resident he is prepared to ta ke reason as at resident he is prepared to take big political risks to meet kimjong—un, to take big political risks to meet kim jong—un, there has to take big political risks to meet kimjong—un, there has been difficult situations but if you look at his actions he is prepared to be very tough, tough actually done a number of his predecessors, to make sure that people get the message about the vital red lines when it comes to the international order. so iam now comes to the international order. so i am now going to hand over to ambassador bill taylor and we will have a moderated discussion with the

audience here. thank you. studio: there we have the foreign secretaryjeremy studio: there we have the foreign secretary jeremy hunt making studio: there we have the foreign secretaryjeremy hunt making his first speech in this new role at the us institute of peace in washington dc. he argued that the values underpinning the international rules —based system as he called it that has kept us safe for decades are under threat. he in particular pointed to the actions of russia, with regard to crimea, and also the undermining of democratic systems, and also the rise of china as a superpower and then he went on to talk about the possible responses the alliances that are necessary. he said that only by working together can like—minded free democratic states like the uk and the united states maintain their collective economic and diplomatic strength, fundamental to ensuring values and freedoms that are very much prized

by those nations. we will get more, some reaction tojeremy hunt's first speech as foreign secretary later here on bbc news. we are also expecting to hear from here on bbc news. we are also expecting to hearfrom dominic rab and michel barnier about the brexit talks which are under way in brussels and there will be a press conference we are told at a quarter past, we will keep an eye on that and bring it to you when we see it appear. i'm a look at weather forecast. we are expecting some changes by the end of the week. much cooler and fresher for all of us. blustery showers and sunny spells. in the short term we hold onto the warmth a bit longer with cloud and sunny spells. into tonight it should stay dry and muggy for most of us. variable cloud and some holes appearing from time to time. in the north—west this weather front will

continue to intrude into the north—west corner during the night. it will bring outbreaks of heavy and persistent rain into western scotla nd persistent rain into western scotland and northern ireland, south—east into much of scotland by the end of the night. to the south another warm and mighty one with variable cloud and clear spells. still having that warm and humid air for england and wales on wednesday, across the north—west cooler air continuing to sink south. this weather front will die a death as it moves south—east and it will lie through central parts of the country to wednesday morning bringing outbreaks of rain, tending to fizzle outbreaks of rain, tending to fizzle out into the midlands and north listing them. there will be something cooler and fresher across north—west into the afternoon into something more warm and humid in the south—east, 27 celsius given some sunny spells. that first weather front continues to sink south—east and bring outbreaks of rain here on wednesday night into thursday

morning. the next cold front arrives in the north—west bringing some significantly cooler air and plenty of blustery showers. some quite heavy as well. we lose the first weather front on the south—east. sky is up weather front on the south—east. sky isupa weather front on the south—east. sky is up a little bit. slightly cooler here but much cooler and fresher air will arrive across the north—west. around the low to mid teens, the south—east holding onto the warmth for a day longer, 21 or 23. on friday the much cooler and fresher air spreads across the country, a run of north—westerly winds, quite brisk at times feeding in plenty of showers predicted to the north and west and there will be blustery showers. the source of that cold there comes down from greenland. significantly colder for all of us by the end of the week with plenty of heavy and blustery showers but also some good spells of sunshine in between. hello, you're watching afternoon live —

i'm martine croxall. today at 4.00. all charges are dropped against a former police chief inspector accused of trying to blame liverpool fans for the hillsborough disaster. my involvement in the events around hillsborough has often been misrepresented, even in parliament. since then, i've been forced to deny strenuously that i have done anything wrong in the aftermath of the disaster. the sister of one of the victims of the hillsborough tragedy says she's deeply distressed by the decision. i'm just very disappointed that they've let us families down, they've let the 96 down and they've also let down the families who are no longer alive to see this journey through to the end. in his first speech as foreign secretary, jeremy hunt has called on the eu to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with the us and consider further sanctions against russia. aggressive and malign behaviour

undermines the international order that keeps us safe. 0f undermines the international order that keeps us safe. of course we must engage with moscow but we must also be blunt. russia's foreign policy under president putin has made the world a more dangerous place. microsoft says it's blocked russian attempts to launch cyber—attacks against conservative political groups in the us. 18 members of the windrush generation who could have been wrongfully removed or detained are to receive a formal government apology. coming up on afternoon live — all the sport. how are england getting on now? it's not all doom and gloom! england have made it to tea without losing any more wickets. tea and cake for stokes and buttler then with the score at 173—4. india need just six wickets to win the third test. and we have all the weather. it's

certainly going to turn chilly. it's lovely out there at the moment with some glorious sunshine. make the most of it because it will be turning a lot more chilly by the end of the week for all of us. thanks, stav. also coming up. we meet the remarkable ensemble made up of blind and partially deaf performers who will make their proms debut next week. hello, everyone — this is afternoon live. i'm martine croxall. a former police chief, sir norman bettison, who was accused of trying to blame liverpool fans for the 1989 hillsborough disaster has had all charges against him dropped. he'd been accused of telling lies about whether or not he'd tried

to blame fans for the tragedy, and also about his own role in the aftermath. prosecutors said insufficient evidence meant there was no real prospect of a conviction. speaking outside court, sir norman expressed sympathy for the victims — but said today's outcome vindicated him. 0ur correspondent fiona trott is at preston crown court. he remained calm and composed when he was told he will not stand trial. the crown prosecution service has explained why. they say since the charges were first brought there have been a number of developments. there have been changes in the evidence of two witnesses. 0ne witness has passed away and the cps says there is no longer any realistic prospect of a prosecution. although he wasn't centrally involved on the day of the hillsborough disaster, sir norman bettison's name has long been linked with its aftermath. in the wake of the tragedy,

sir norman, then a chief inspector, was part of a team that gathered evidence about the police for the taylor public inquiry. 96 liverpool fans died when the terraces at hillsborough became overcrowded in 1989. sir norman was accused of trying to blame the fans. in 1998, he was appointed chief constable of merseyside, home to many of the bereaved families. his appointment was deeply unpopular, and touring tv studios, sir norman asked for support. for goodness' sake, give me a chance, i think that people generally, my experience of life is that people generally and i think people in merseyside in particular, are fair—minded people, they'll judge for themselves, they'll look into the whites of my eyes, they will ask me questions and they will decide for themselves. give me that chance, that's what i'm saying. last year, sir norman was charged with lying about his role in relation to hillsborough when he applied to become merseyside chief constable in 1998. now, those charges have been dropped. sir norman was also facing prosecution for misconduct in public office when he was chief constable of west yorkshire in 2012.

he was accused of sending out a press release claiming that he'd never blamed fans for the disaster. those charges have also been dropped. sir norman has always denied any wrongdoing and now, he will no longer stand trial. five other men are still facing prosecution on separate charges for the disaster and its aftermath. judith moritz, bbc news. during the hearing his lawyer said there had been political interference in this case and he criticised maria eagle mp. he said she had asserted under the cover of parliamentary privilege that sir norman was part of a unit that deflected blame from south yorkshire police. he said today that this claim was simply an true. after the hearing sir norman bettison gave this statement. my involvement in

the events around hillsborough has often been misrepresented, even in parliament. since then i have been forced to deny strenuously that i have done anything wrong in the aftermath of the disaster. the cps has been speaking to relatives explain how they reached their decision. we've heard from one relative who said that some families will be exercising their right to an independent review under the right to refuse scheme. today that has been supported by politicians here in the north—west. louise hunt sues brother andrew was killed in the tragedy she feels let down —— louise hunt brookes. they've let the

families down, the 96 down and also the families who are no longer alive to see thisjourney the families who are no longer alive to see this journey through to the end. the charges against sir norman bettison have been dropped today but this is just bettison have been dropped today but this isjust one part bettison have been dropped today but this is just one part of the legal process. five other people are still due to stand trial, the match commander on the day of the disaster who is charged with manslaughter by gross negligence of 95 football supporters. the brexit secretary dominic raab is in brussels this afternoon for the latest round of talks with the eu negotiator michel barnier. we're expecting to hear from them shortly but first our europe correspondent adam fleming is in there — adam what can we expect from this meeting? i'm not sure exactly what we are going to hearfrom them

i'm not sure exactly what we are going to hear from them when they ta ke to going to hear from them when they take to the podium is because neither side is predicting this week of talks will see a big breakthrough. the agenda has been similarto breakthrough. the agenda has been similar to the previous times dominic raab has met michel barnier. certainly the brexit treaty that will seal the terms of the uk's divorce. the stumbling blocks have been there for some time now. how do you sort out the governance of that treaty, in other words solving disputes and interpreting things as a result of it. there is still disagreement about protecting regional products like champagne and cornish pasties. and the big one, how do you come up with a back—up plan to make sure you don't have to reintroduce any kind of checks at the border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland. pretty familiar themes. the second half is about the future relationship. they are about to start negotiating the political declaration which will be

signed by both sides sketching out the framework for the future relationship between the uk and the eu. dominic raab will be selling the chequers plan agreed by the cabinet at the start of the summer, the idea ofa at the start of the summer, the idea of a common will book when it comes to goods and agriculture, and i imagine the eu will be asking lots of questions about that and how that can be consistent with their view that being out of the eu can't be as good as being in. michel barnier has had lots of questions about regulations and customs and i'm sure the uk will be trying to supply lots of a nswers. the uk will be trying to supply lots of answers. we'll find out more in less tha n of answers. we'll find out more in less than ten minutes when they take to the podium. thank you. we will be back there when they appear. jeremy hunt is urging the eu to impose more sanctions on russia following the salisbury poisonings. he's giving his first speech in the united states as foreign secretary. mr hunt said the russian president, vladimir putin, had made the world less safe.

the established rules of international conduct are repeatedly being flouted by major countries like russia. the seizure of crimea in 2014 was the first time territory has been annexed in europe by force of arms since 1945. in fact it was not the kremlin's first territorial incursion this century, which was the invasion of georgia in 2008. at the invasion of georgia in 2008. at the same time we've also seen the open flouting of international norms on the use of chemical weapons by both russia and syria. in contravention of the chemical weapons convention 1997 to which both countries parties. as a result, hundreds have died horrific deaths in syria. this march, the russian government even used a band nerve

agents on the streets of salt brie in britain in an attempt to assassinate sergei skripal and yulia skripal. 0ne assassinate sergei skripal and yulia skripal. one british citizen was tragically killed as a result. such aggressive and malign behaviour undermines the international order that keeps us safe. 0f undermines the international order that keeps us safe. of course we must engage with moscow, but we must also be blunt. russia's foreign policy under president putin has made the world a more dangerous place. in addition, the freign secretary called on the european union to join the united states in imposing economic sanction on russia. those who don't share our values need to know there will always be a serious price to pay if red lines are crossed. whether territorial incursions, the use of banned weapons or increasingly cyber attacks. part of that credibility comes from unity. we showed that

this year with a strong, united response from 28 allies to the use of chemical weapons in salisbury. 153 russian intelligence officials we re 153 russian intelligence officials were expelled including 60 who were removed by the united states, more than any other country. the us has gone further by announcing sanctions, combined with the decisive us military response to assad's use of chemical weapons in douma in april, we can see that the red lines and chemical weapon use have started to read —— regain credibility. today the uk asks its allies to go further, by calling on the eu to ensure its sanctions against russia are comprehensive and that we truly stand shoulder to shoulder with the us. that means calling out and responding to transgressions with one voice,

wherever and whenever they occur from the streets of salt brie to the of crimea. the technology firm, microsoft, says it has managed to stop russian attempts to hack information from us political organisations. the company said it acted on a court order last week to disrupt six domain names set up by a group known as strontium, which is linked to the russian government. russia has denied any involvement, with kremlin officials accusing microsoft of playing political games. earlier i spoke to our moscow correspondent, steve rosenberg, who told us more about the kremlin's denial of involvement. a short while ago dmitry peskov, vladimir putin's press secretary, said we don't know what taxes you are talking about, we don't know what influence they are supposed to have had an elections, we don't understand what evidence you have. we have seen nothing at all. i think that's to be expected, a typical

denialfrom the kremlin, moscow claiming it knows nothing about any attempt by hackers linked to russian military intelligence to hack into political organisations in america. this hacking group fancy bear have come up before, haven't they? they have. 0ver come up before, haven't they? they have. over the last two or three yea rs have. over the last two or three years they've been mentioned as a group that is linked or part of russian military intelligence. this isn't particularly new. this all coming out on the dayjeremy hunt is due to make a keynote speech in america criticising russia and accusing them of flouting the established rules of international conduct, accusing the russians of aggressive and malign behaviour. there has been a reaction to that already from moscow, the russian foreign minister saying britain has a very high opinion of itself and jeremy hunt expecting to call on the

european union to come up with comprehensive sanctions against russia and to respond to russian transgressions with one voice. dmitri lover —— mr lavrov said it was a bit rich for a company leaving the eu to try and dictate russian foreign policy. a 27—year—old man has appeared in court charged with two counts of attempted murder after a woman and her mother were attacked with a hammer in south—east london. joe shwareb was remanded in custody. the women — 30—year—old city worker ania gos and her 64—year—old mother remain critically ill in hospital following the attack. 0ur correspondentjenny kumah is outside the court. what has happened today? well, he appeared at bromley magistrates' court this afternoon. he spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth. he is alleged to have attacked two women, a mother and

daughter, ania gos and her 64—year—old mother who we understand was on holiday visiting her daughter from poland. he is facing two charges of attempted murder. the two women are in hospital in a critical condition. the alleged incident took place on sunday afternoon just after midday. it happened in elton. the police arrested joe xuereb after they launched a media appeal. today joe xuereb has been remanded in custody and is due to appear at the 0ld custody and is due to appear at the old bailey on september the 18th. thank you. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines all charges are dropped against a former police chief inspector accused of trying to blame liverpool fans for the hillsborough disaster. in his first speech

as foreign secretary, jeremy hunt has called on the eu to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with the us and consider further sanctions against russia. microsoft says it's blocked russian attempts to launch cyber—attacks against conservative political groups in the us 18 members of the windrush generation who could have been wrongfully removed or detained are to receive a formal government apology. and in the sport, jos buttler makes his 50 as he and ben stokes provide some much—needed resistance on the fourth day of the third test. england are 180—4, india needs six wickets to win. jose mourinho is going nowhere. united says there is nothing to discuss regarding rumours that zinedine zidane has been lined up that zinedine zidane has been lined upfor that zinedine zidane has been lined up for thejob. that zinedine zidane has been lined up for the job. the that zinedine zidane has been lined up for thejob. the rugby players association has called on the rfu to drop its case against danny cipriani. i will be back with more on those stories in 15 minutes. the home secretary is to make

a formal apology to 18 members of the windrush generation who may have been wrongfully detained or removed from the uk. sajid javid said he was committed to providing them with the support and compensation they deserve. our home affairs correspondent danny shaw told me the background to the decision. this all goes back to april when it emerged that thousands of people potentially had come to britain from caribbean countries and other commonwealth countries to work in the 19605 and early 705 had potentially been denied the right to live in britain even though that was their entitlement. some of these people, it appears, their entitlement. some of these people, itappears, have their entitlement. some of these people, it appears, have been treated appallingly. possibly detained, possibly removed from the country, forced to leave theirjobs because restrictions have been tightened up under the so—called hostile environment policy. it led eventually to the resignation of

amber rudd as home secretary. sajid javid came in with the determination to try and get on top of the problem and he has been producing regular statistics and figures and updates to the home affairs committee. today that's what we've got from him. what more will they get than an apology? what these 18 individuals will get is clearly a direction towards claiming compensation. they will be given advice and help on how to do that. how can it compensate for the fa ct that. how can it compensate for the fact some of these individuals have been removed from britain, potentially wrongfully or unlawfully? some of them have been locked up in removal centres, so it has affected their whole lives. what we've learned is that out of the 18 individuals who are all caribbean nationals, 12 of them were removed or deported after theresa may became home secretary in 2010. that's

clearly significant because it will be said that this is something to do with the hostile environment policy. but then there were others against whom action was taken prior to 2010, prior to the coalition government. how has immigration policy changed asa how has immigration policy changed as a result? the government has put ina number of as a result? the government has put in a number of measures including a task force to try and speed up the wa ke task force to try and speed up the wake windrush migrants can claim their right to be in the uk. we've got some updated figures to date. 2272 people have been given documents showing they had the right to be in britain as a result of the task force being set up. coming back to the 18 individuals, there may well be more people who were wrongfully detained or wrongfully removed from britain, because there isa removed from britain, because there is a pool of 164 who potentially fall into that category. the 18 cases identified by the home office are cases identified by the home office a re clearly cases identified by the home office are clearly the most serious

exa m ples of are clearly the most serious examples of potential unlawful treatment. it could be that amongst those 164 total there are others who may receive an apology in time. at least 11 people have been killed, and others are missing, after flash flooding hit a popular tourist walking spot in south—western italy. the victims had been hiking through a gorge in the pollino nationa park in calabria. 18 people were rescued and the search for survivors carried on into the night. local officials say the exact number of those unaccounted for is still unclear. cctv footage has been released of the moment an italian motorway bridge collapsed, killing 43 people. 200 metres of the carriageway, in genoa, suddenly fell last tuesday. the collapse has led to a fierce debate about the country's infrastructure. middle—aged men who suffer from the common condition of an enlarged prostate could soon be spared surgery thanks to a new steam treatment.

the procedure, which can be done as a day—case under local anaesthetic or sedation, involves injecting small amounts of steam into the prostate. the health watchdog nice is expected to give the green light for routine treatment on the nhs on wednesday. the pope will meet victims of sexual abuse when he visits ireland this weekend. he is due to arrive on saturday for a two—day visit. earlier this week he condemned the atrocities of child sexual abuse and clerical cover—ups in a strongly worded letter to the world's1.2 billion catholics. protesters have arranged a series of rallies coinciding with his visit. pressure is mounting on the chancellor to loosen the purse strings ahead of this autumn's budget — after official figures showed the public finances were in better shape than expected. figures released this morning by the office for national statistics showed that the government took in £2 billion more than it spent last month,

the healthiestjuly surplus for 18 years. 0ur economics correspondent andy verity explained more. july is always a good month for the exchequer because you get these payments from self—employed people under the self—assessment regime where they pay in injanuary and july. sometimes the chancellor has more money flowing in and he has flowing out. this time that surplus, £2 billion, was bigger than it's been for a very long time. £2 billion, and then if you look at the financial year until this point you get a really significant number. we've only borrowed about 13 billion, it was about 8-9,000,000,000 less billion, it was about 8—9,000,000,000 less than last year and the lowest since 2002. there does seem a bit of scope. then you look at what has happened to the debt. the national debt which is all of the deficits added up over the yea rs, of the deficits added up over the years, which is about £1.8 trillion. you compare that to the size of the

economy, which is about £2.1 trillion. you've got a percentage figure of around 84% of the value of the economy. even though the debt is still growing in nominal terms, the actual percentage is coming down. that means in theory at least the debt is getting more manageable not lest. what is the implication for public spending? the premise of austerity has been that for the last eight years we've had a problem with the public finances. they are getting less and less manageable. but if they are getting more manageable, that premise falls away and people start pressing for more money for the nhs, more money for schools. there are other austerity measures still going through. what example, 10 million claimants benefits have seen those benefits not going up at all with inflation so effectively falling in real terms. it's one thing that the

chancellor to say yes, we've got to do that if public finances are unmanageable, but if they are looking more manageable it becomes politically more difficult to say we should throw another half a million people into poverty, according to thejoseph people into poverty, according to the joseph rowntree foundation we need to freeze benefits. so does the chancellor soften his line on austerity or do something popular like a tax cut? we are still waiting for the brexit secretary dominic raab and the eu chief brexit negotiator michel barnier to appear in brussels. we understand they may have been delayed by 25 minutes. we will go to them, assuming i am still on air. i'm sure we will feature what they've got to tell us about their latest talks on brexit. time for a look at the weather. we are going quite far afield and are going to look at some typhoons

threatening to make landfall. i thought it would be quite interesting to go over to the far east because it's pretty quiet across the atlantic ocean. cooler than average sea surface temperatures and some sahara dust, both of these combinations lead to a lack in tropical storm development. it's a different story across the west pacific. there have been a few tropical storms in the last couple of months with flooding in parts of china. we are focusing onjapan and south korea because these tropical storms have their ice set on landmasses to the north. this typhoon is the one that could cause some problems towards the end of the week. it's got a very definite eye and storms with a distinct eye are usually strong. the other one is

developing an eye as well. this is going to continue to move north west. it could bring some flooding to the islands in the south of japan, just as it passes. then it's going to go in a north—east direction to make landfall in south korea by around thursday into friday. the other tropical storm will make landfall in honshu island forjapan. this strong typhoon, the eye could move right over seoul so we could see some torrential rain there. after the heatwave most of there. after the heatwave most of the korean peninsular has had throughout the summer, it looks like they are going to see a massive change for the next few days. anyone travelling to this area by the end of the week, there could be some significant travel disruption. and

our weather? it's pretty warm out there, around 27 degrees in the south—east. the end of this week is looking much cooler and fresher. a gorgeous photograph from dorset showing how much sunshine there is out there. it will continue to be warm and humid for many of us. we are still tapping into the warm south westerly wind from the atla ntic south westerly wind from the atlantic across our shores. something cooler weights across the north west behind a series of weather fronts. for the end north west behind a series of weatherfronts. for the end of today, fine for england and wales with lots of sunshine around. more ofa with lots of sunshine around. more of a brief developing in the north—west corner of the country. as we head into the evening, a fine and foremost places but overnight we will see that band of rain moving into much of scotland and northern

ireland along with stronger winds. fresher moving into the western isles behind this weather front. to the south of it, most of england and wales will see a dry night. another warm and muggy one. on wednesday we can see this weather front continuing to move south—east. quite intense but as it moves further south it will continue to weaken. rain through northern ireland, central and southern scotland tomorrow morning. the weather fronts thinking south into central areas. it will be lighter, patchy rain. another warm day in the south—east, something cooler and fresher moving into scotland and northern ireland. cooler air making inroads in the north—west on thursday. it doesn't reach the far south—east until later in the day. but weather front

continues to move south into southern england and east anglia during wednesday night. by thursday morning it will be lying across the south—east. temperatures muggy but the north and west cooler and fresher. 0n the north and west cooler and fresher. on thursday some of that rain in the south—east. skies will brighten and the cooler, fresher air will arrive in east anglia and the south—east. further north and west, sunshine and blustery showers. temperatures will fall away later in the day. on friday, cooler and fresher feel for all and the weekend looking pretty chilly with blustery winds, sunny spells and showers. 0vernight frost in a few locations. this is bbc news — our latest headlines... a former police chief, sir norman bettison, who was accused of trying to blame liverpool fans for the 1989 hillsborough disaster, has had all charges against him dropped.

in his first speech as foreign secretary, jeremy hunt said vladimir putin has made the world a less safe place and urged the eu to considerfurther sanctions against russia. microsoft says it's foiled attempts by russian hackers to steal data from conservative think—tanks and organisations in the united states, by seizing control of six fake websites. home secretary sajid javid will provide a formal apology to 18 members of the windrush generation who could have been wrongfully removed from the uk or detained. sport now on afternoon live with chris mitchell. let's start at trent bridge. by the england batsmen mounting a fightback? they are and it is wonderful to watch. 194—4. ben

stokes with an individual comeback of his own, 1—run off his 50, and this week after he was found not guilty of afraid in bristol. you can save yourself, —— cpu itself. they need 521 to win. that's not get too excited. that is a huge task. it would be a record, the highest run chase in a fourth innings to win a test match was by the west indies in 2003 when they made 418, but it is good for england because it is batting practice with them proving they can bat like test batsmen, and it is also good for test cricket, test cricket we often find is over after two or three days, this looks like it could go into the fifth and final day. india only need six wickets and you would think if they got a wicked here this evening perhaps some others would follow quickly. at the moment england doing well and that is good. how serious

is this speculation aboutjose mourinho? it is difficult because this is that and football clubs rumours and this is the rumour mill but there is something behind it and i think if you look at his past there is definitely a pattern. evil is that with key players, he is openly unhappy and form dips. all of that has happened at manchester united. it happened at chelsea and real madrid. they lost to brighton was unexpected, he has been openly unhappy due to the lack of summer signings, he said his team was poor at the weekend and there have been the ongoing stories that he and paul pogba is star players aren't getting on. but what is actually happening? a united source has told us here that why would we discuss zinedine zidane, a man who has been linked to old trafford, when there is nojob on offer? this is what happened when

a manager looks like he might be sacked, the club stands behind them and say we give him ourfull support. tottenham next week for manchester united. if they lose there, the talk will only become louder. the rugby players association has called on the rfu to drop its case against danny cipriani. the gloucester fly—half pleaded guilty to assault and resisting arrest following an incident outside a nightclub in jersey. the players union says they "believe that it was appropriate "for the matter to be dealt with by the club through its own "disciplinary procedures." the rfu says it'll continue with its own disciplinary charge. meanwhile sale's chris ashton is facing an rfu disciplinary panel this afternoon. it's after he was cited for a tip tackle in a pre—season friendly. if found guilty he could miss the opening six matches of the new premiership season. 0lympic sprint legend usain bolt says he is ready to prove the doubters wrong by signing a professional football contract. he turned 32 today, and this is how he celebrated — his first training session with the central coast mariners,

an australian a league side. the eight—times olympic gold medallist has been given an open—ended trial with the club who finished bottom of the league last season. cynics says it nothing more than a publicity stunt — a warning there is some flash photography coming up. iam not i am not setting myself and it targets to say this is what i'm going to do. i willjust that in the work. this is my first chance, getting the chance to train and get toa getting the chance to train and get to a level to play professional football so i don't know what to expect. i am football so i don't know what to expect. iam here football so i don't know what to expect. i am here to push myself, learn as much as possible, i told the coach from the start that i am here with a blank slate, no matter what i learnt or seen on tv, for me it isa

what i learnt or seen on tv, for me it is a blank slate and i'm here to learn and get better. it would be great to see him playing football, but i am not sure we will. stranger things have happened. they might get him out there. he would certainly be fast. i would put him in goal! thank you, chris. 0xfam has been left tens of millions of pounds by a british businessman — richard cousins — who was killed along with members of his family in a plane crash in australia last new year's eve. its thought to be the biggest single donation to the charity. 0xfam has been struggling to recover from a sex abuse scandal, which led to a significant reduction in public donations this year. this summer 0xfam announced it had to make cuts of £16 million. richard galpin has the story. a tragedy last new year's eve near sydney. a seaplane taking british tourists on a sightseeing tour of the area had crashed into a river killing everyone on board. the businessman richard cousins

was head of one of the world's largest catering companies. with him in the plane were his two sons, edward and william, and his fiancee, emma bowden, and her daughter, heather. the uk actually is doing extremely well... mr cousins was known for his humanity. what wasn't known was that he'd reportedly changed his will using a special clause so most of his money would go to 0xfam if he and his children died together. a common tragedy clause is just a clause stipulating who the beneficiaries will be if your immediate family were to all pass away at the same time. so it's also called a wipeout clause and it also could be known as a disaster scenario clause as well. at the 0xfam offices today, there's been astonishment at the money they'll now receive. it could be the biggest amount ever given to 0xfam by an individual donor. in a statement, the aid agency said... "we are extremely grateful for this

bequest, of which we've only "recently been notified. "we're working with the family and our board of trustees "to identify how the money will be used." and it could not have come at a more important time. 0xfam is still reeling from a scandal which has lead to cuts in its funding after some of its staff who were working here in haiti, following the massive earthquake eight years ago, were accused of sexual misconduct. well, clearly, any charity that receives a donation of that size, it's going to make an incredible difference to the causes that they're working on. so, a donation of this size for 0xfam is going to be incredibly important and i suspect will be something that sustains them for a number of years. 0xfam has been planning to make swingeing cuts to save millions of pounds as a result of the scandal. but now, with the money left by richard cousins, it could help the aid agency turn a corner after one of the worst years in its history.

richard galpin, bbc news. 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 rogerjohnson in manchester where a lake distict mountain rescue team has warned hikers about trekking unequipped, afterfour were rescued over the weekend. tell us what happened. this is a group of people, four of them who decided to spend the night in something called the cave halfway up the dove crag, past the fairfield

horseshoe range. 0n the side of dove crag, this thing, cave and they decided they would go up and spend the night there. it featured on a series called hidden britain on the bbc in 2016 and that led to an increase in the number of people who knew about it and wanted to spend the night. if you look online will see people spending the night. the bbc say that when the programme went on air it was made very clear that he should not do this if not properly equipped. they went up with one waterproof coat between them, a double sleeping bag for the four of them and a rug, that was all they had, they planned to spend the night and they didn't get that far, it is very treacherous. they were found sheltering behind the ball and were rescued by a rescue team. they were not impressed as you can see from

one of their members now. they had gone up with minimal amount of kit, in that four people had one waterproof jacket in that four people had one waterproofjacket between in that four people had one waterproof jacket between them, in that four people had one waterproofjacket between them, one double sleeping bag and a rug that had no idea what they were going to deal with, i couldn't find and they ended up sheltering in a while. going up the priest's hole, on a par if not more of a challenge...m going up the priest's hole, on a par if not more of a challenge... if you know the lake district, he referenced two very narrow ridge is going up hell valley, but at places that are no wider than the span of my arms, that is pretty treacherous. you can see the priest's hole there. but how small it is on the mountainside, how difficult it is to reach. really even the most well—equipped, you almost have to have your mountaineering equipment, ropes and urging us to get there because it is not easy to reach,

certainly they have not got the right gear. what advice our mountain rescue issuing? we are heading towards the bank holiday weekend and lots of people had the lake district and enjoy walking on the hills, not just there but faces right around the united kingdom, please they say make sure you are a cut because in the hills as everybody knows the weather can turn in an instant step i was reading the papers and the weekend, the mayor of mont blanc the story about the number of people who try and go there and he said if you go sailing it is legal you have to wear a lightjacket, go sailing it is legal you have to wear a light jacket, he go sailing it is legal you have to wear a lightjacket, he said why do you think it is ok to try and climb mont blanc in a pair of trainers? people don't do was go with the right gear, if at all possible you should have the right equipment because as we saw at the weekend people —— things contained in an insta nt people —— things contained in an instant and you can find yourself in difficulty and other people, volu nteers difficulty and other people, volunteers and the modern rescue teams, after but their own lives at risk to go and get you out of trouble. conditions can change so quickly. thank you. rogerjohnson.

thank you for taking as nationwide seven. “— thank you for taking as nationwide seven. —— taking as nationwide this afternoon. you can find those stories on the iplayer. we go nationwide every afternoon at 4:30pm here on afternoon live. the bbc proms has gained a reputation for showcasing new and unique talent, and in another first, next week it'll host one of the only disability—led 0rchestras in the uk. the bournemouth symphony orchestra resound ensemble was formed less than a year ago by musicians who have conditions like blindness, autism and partial deafness. 0ur disability correspondent, nikki fox has been to meet them ahead of their debut. rehearsing mozart, an orchestra like no other. everyone in this ensemble has a disability and they are about

to make their debut at the proms. the group of six musicians were selected from auditions only nine months ago. they all have different disabilities, ranging from hearing loss to autism. james has cerebral palsy and is breaking new ground in the world of classical music by conducting with his head. this is one of ensemble's final rehearsals before the proms,

that could brussels, we can hear dominic raab and michel barnier speaking after their latest round of brexit talks. thank you and good afternoon to an and thank you for your presence. dominic and i have focused on what needs to be done in our three work streams. number one, abe back to —— backstop solution for avoiding a hard border on the island of ireland. number two, avoiding a hard border on the island of ireland. numbertwo, the avoiding a hard border on the island of ireland. number two, the other outstanding issues for agreement,

the protection of existing geographical indications along borders. three, the political declaration on our future relationship. four teams will sit together again tomorrow and try and progress. last week our teams already had discussions on the island of ireland, northern ireland, as you know we need legally operational backstop in the withdrawal agreement. they must find pragmatic solutions in line —— we must find pragmatic solutions in line with the commitments made by prime minister may in december and march and we must be dramatised the issue and spell out which controls are needed where and how they should be done. next time we meet dominic

andi be done. next time we meet dominic and i will take stock on this work. the negotiations are now entering the final stage. we have agreed that the final stage. we have agreed that the eu and the uk will negotiate continuously from now on. and dominic andi continuously from now on. and dominic and i will meet regularly to ta ke dominic and i will meet regularly to take stock and move the negotiations forward. ladies and gentlemen, the principles of the eu in these negotiations are well known and have been consistent for the last two yea rs. been consistent for the last two years. they have been defined by the eu leaders with a great sense of responsibility for the european project and integrity of the single market. also the eu respects the choice made by the uk government. we can find common ground based on the

eu principles on the one hand and the other hand, the choices made by the other hand, the choices made by the uk. as i said injuly we are more, far more advanced in defining that common ground for foreign policy and security van for the economic relationship. 0ur challenge for the coming weeks is to try and define an ambitious partnership between the uk and the eu, a partnership that has no precedent. this partnership has to respect the single market and the foundations of the european project. and if this is well understood we can conclude the negotiations successfully. now i give the floor to dominic. thank you and can! give the floor to dominic. thank you and can i thank you and your team are posting is today? we have had a

positive said the discussions which have been very useful on all of the three main categories and issues, the withdrawal agreement outstanding separation issues are northern ireland, we have reaffirmed our commitment to the undertakings of the joint report but we must come up with solutions that are deliverable for the communities affected. that is the key. 0n the future relationship doesn't talk both about the economic partnership and areas where we have made some good progress but think on the security corporation, there are still some mike mckimm dishes to overcome. northern ireland a think we both recognise that. but ozil on the future relationship and it is important to view the whole deal as a package. we agree we need to step up a package. we agree we need to step up the intensity of the negotiations as we come into the final phase. we have agreed to meet regularly and resolved at the political level there is outstanding issues that remain on the technical consideration. i am remain on the technical

consideration. lam pleased remain on the technical consideration. i am pleased with michelle we have agreed to meet next week and oche michel barnier. we have agreed to meet on all those issues and there are still gaps and we have had an honest conversation about this. equally on our side we feel we have showed the ambition, the energy and pragmatism and i know how committed michel is to ensuring a deal and if we have that ambition and pragmatism and the energy on both sides i'm confident we can use the agreement in october. thank you very much. time allows briton questions. thank you. mark stone from sky news. mr barnier, to you first of all some in the uk will listen to what you just said and they will openly now say some have already been saying, to hell with that, we leave no deal because the eu side is simply not budging on bit. the dark about the principles being clearly defined for the past two years and you simply haven't moved. what is your response to that? you don't appear to be budging

on the eu side to what the british are saying is a negotiation and they have moved, for you, are saying is a negotiation and they have moved, foryou, mr rabb, a are saying is a negotiation and they have moved, for you, mr rabb, a lot of people in the uk will be quite confused because the prospect of no deal apparently is now very high, some in your party and some of whom are in government are saying that no deal is fine, but it is not something we should be scared of, others are saying that no deal would bea others are saying that no deal would be a disaster, you say you're not planning for a deal, but on thursday due were planning to ordeal, on thursday they are clearly going to plan for no deal, what is the reality and how likely is no deal and is it good or is it bad? can you be honest with the public? and a final thought for you, mr barnier, i haven't heard you use your hill walking analogies for quite some time, you talk about walking in the hills, you like walking in the hills, you like walking in the hills, you like walking in the hills, you talked about at all that before, where are we on this brexit turning right now? —— brexitjourney right now?

translation: i often say it is all a question of rest, you have to be careful what is going on other side, things that might fall on your head, and after that was summit. normally you don't make speeches every five minutes when you're walking in the hills. you save your breath, it is a long path. we're not at the end of it yet. you said that we haven't changed our principles over two yea rs, changed our principles over two years, but why would we, how would you change principles on which the european union is based? why would you? the european union, the uk is leaving the european union, not the other way around, jk is leaving and

it is their choice and we respect that choice —— we regret that by the european union is based on values and rules. it is a whole system which is integrated with rules and laws and standards of supervision, certification etc, which the uk knows very, very well, because we bolted together, didn't we? we have been building up over some 40 or so yea rs been building up over some 40 or so years together, so those principles will remain our principles because thatis will remain our principles because that is a way it is. they are the principles we have been working on and on which the single market is based. that is well understood i think, that we can still find common ground between the guidelines of the european council which represent my mandate, and the seven heads of

state in government decided that the white paper which promised to study seriously and i am doing because there are points of agreement, dominic said something about internal security, external security, defence, on many subjects there is agreement and we will be able to build this future declaration. but i say this very frankly because i owe the truth to you about the question of the economic relationship, there are still areas of disagreement because what is in the white paper contradicts in some areas, on some points, things which are my guidelines, the guidelines of the european council. on other things there is convergence, an ambitious free trade agreement is a point on which we would agree. first of all i say we agree with michel, that we keep our eyes on the summit and accentuate the positives and there are many, but we have to close down the areas of disagreement. on the

question you asked me about no deal, our actions speak louder than words. we are out here, i am here seeing michel again, we are out here, i am here seeing michelagain, i we are out here, i am here seeing michel again, i shall be returning next week, we will be picking up the intensity of the negotiations, we agree on that, the political level, we need to vitalise these talks and get technical discussion into political resolution, but the responsible thing for any government to do and is to make sure we are prepared for all eventualities in negotiations. in medicine for example. as you will see when we set out the plans, some of these hair raising scare stories are far from the truth and i will explain the context on thursday, but today the overriding focus and in the weeks ahead is trying to get the best deal, good for the ahead is trying to get the best deal, good forthe uk, good ahead is trying to get the best deal, good for the uk, good with eu. —— good for the eu. deal, good for the uk, good with eu. -- good for the eu. translation:

translation: the idea of an agreement in october, how realistic is that now? . you have to take the dates of theresa may chose for the department —— departure of the european union, the 30th of march, it is enshrined in your india look —— uk now. if you look back at that date, the 30th of march 2019, the day on which the uk will no longer be a member of the european union whilst remaining if we reach an agreement for 21 months in the single market and customs union, and in european policies, they can stand, backwards from there towards now, to take account of the time which is necessary, for

ratification, that is a given, it will take a certain amount of time to ratify the agreement, on both sides, that takes a final decision on the withdrawal agreement and political declaration well before the end of the year, i will not say october, a few days here, beginning of november, but not much later than that. on the prospect of a deal, there are three ingredients, ambition on the substance, energy, and pragmatism and, maize and we are committed with that and that we get a deal, it is that simple. facing the probability of a hard brexit if you don't agree to something, could you don't agree to something, could you imagine that may be facing the big risk of a hard brexit, to

revision of the decision, to say, ok, maybe it is not the best thing to stay, but the risk of all these things could happen or even better than a hard brexit, could you imagine that you revise this process ? imagine that you revise this process? suddenly on the uk side, no, we will be leaving in march of next year, we will be prepared for all eventualities in negotiation but again we come here and i come here with renewed commitment and energy and vim and vigour to put into the negotiations to get ourselves across the line. translation: studio: we will leave them, speaking to the media there after their brexit discussions in brussels this afternoon. they have concentrated on three issues, avoiding a hard border on the island of ireland, the political declaration and the future relationship between the uk and the

eu. mr barnier says we can find common ground between the eu principles and the uk decision to leave. more on that in the bbc news at five ben brown. today at 5. all charges dropped against sir norman bettison — the former police chief who was accused of trying to blame liverpool fans for the 1989 hillsborough disaster. the former chief constable faced four counts of misconduct in a public office — but there was insufficient evidence to proceed with the case. he's welcomed the ruling. i have been forced to deny strenuously that i have done anything wrong in the aftermath of the disaster. and today's outcome vindicates that position. families of the victims say they're

devastated by the decision and will seek an independent review of the case. i am just very disappointed that they've let us families down. they've let the 96 down and they've