good afternoon. government documents have revealed how hm revenue and customs use a traffic light system to rate the tax arrangements of people who've been nominated for an honour. that's according to an official document seen by the times. it's claimed the system has meant some high profile nominees may not have received awards as a result. jonathan blake reports. a trip to buckingham palace beckons for those who make the annual honours lists. recognition from the establishment of outstanding service in theirfield. but how much of a say does the taxman have in who is chosen for the highest honours each year? a document obtained by the times sets out a traffic light system used by hmrc to rate those nominated. red for high risk nominees, amber for those whose tax activity is likely to cause adverse comment, and green for those who pose a low risk. it's claimed the risk factor is based on whether hmrc‘s reputation will be damaged by someone receiving an honour exposed as having avoided paying tax. it is absolutely wrong

that the government have been trying to conceal what has long been widely known to exist. i think it is to the credit of the information commissioner and the press that they have now brought this into the light of day. i think it is important the public understands that the inland revenue is being tough on abusive tax avoidance. the warnings given are time—limited, which may explain why ken dodd was knighted last year before he died. the comedian was prosecuted and later acquitted for tax evasion in 1989. the system may also shed light on why other celebrities appear to have been overlooked. i think it's only reasonable that every precaution is taken by the honours system that it isn't brought into disrepute. but that should certainly not debar high profile individuals who have achieved an enormous amount in a particular field and also for charity, from not being honoured if they have done nothing unlawful. the government said it was a matter of long—standing policy that departments including hmrc were

invited to contribute to the honours nomination process to protect the system's integrity. jonathan blake, bbc news. passengers on northern rail are facing problems travelling today because of a fresh strike in a long—running dispute over the role of train guards. it comes after a summer of problems for people using northern‘s services after a new timetable led to widespread cancellations. our correspondent sharon barbour is in blackpool for us. sharon, has there been a lot of disruption? disruption across the north, as you say. felt really acutely in blackpool because it is the most important weekend of the year for them, the illuminations came on last night, thousands of people will be coming again today to see those. britney spears is playing in concert so britney spears is playing in concert so many thousands making their way here for that. how will they get home? to noise. the trains. at

7:30pm. the strike is about guards on trains. the union sea driver only system is unsafe for passengers. they say this is about safety over profit, and northern rail see their priority today is to get people to where they want to go and they are keen to carry on with discussions, but any chance of this being resolved quickly is pretty slim, certainly not this weekend. there is more strike action every weekend on saturday throughout september. the unions are firm that they are going nowhere unless the northern rail system nowhere unless the northern rail syste m kee p nowhere unless the northern rail system keep the guards on the trains. back to you. thank you. the foreign office is seeking the release of a british—iranian woman imprisoned in iran during a ministerial visit to the country today. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe is serving a five—year jail sentence after being convicted of spying. she's always denied the charges. she was recently granted a temporary release of three days but attempts to extend it were rejected by the iranian authorities. a man has appeared in court charged with the murders of a mother

and daughter in solihull. janbaz tarin is accused of stabbing to death his former partner raneem oudeh and her mother khaola saleem. simon jones is outside birmingham magistrates court. the court appearance of janbaz tarin lasted for only around 90 seconds. he spoke to give his name, his address and date of birth. he was told that the charges he is facing a double murderer so serious that the case has to be transferred to crown court, so he will be back in birmingham on tuesday for that to happen. he was arrested on thursday and charged late last night. that has led to this court appearance. his former partner and her mother we re his former partner and her mother were found stabbed to death outside their home in solihull on monday. theirfamily have their home in solihull on monday. their family have issued a statement in which they have thanked the local community for their support and they say two lives have been cut short

tragically. police have also thanked local people for what they call a fantastic response to their appeals for information and they say they are supporting the family at this extremely difficult time. thank you. the queen and other members of the royal family are expected to attend the braemar gathering this afternoon, the biggest event in the highland games calendar. the queen will officially open a new highland games centre, named for the prince of wales. catriona renton is there for us. welcome to the braemar gathering, one of the most famous, if not the most famous highland games in the world. you can see and hear that things are in full swing, getting ready for some royal visitors later today. the braemar gathering has been taking place since 1832, the oldest highland games in scotland, with all the traditional heavy events, tossing the caber, throwing the hammer, dancing, piping and the tug. people come from all over the world

to ta ke people come from all over the world to take part and watch. it is a must own the royal programme. prince charles has been coming since he was a child. it is fitting that the queen and the duke of rothesay, his scottish title, will open the new pavilion in his name. it is a heritage centre full of all things highland games so people can experience them all year round. the gathering is expected to attract 15,000 people, more than 15 times the population of the village of braemar. it takes a lot of planning. this is 18 months worth of work for me, to bring this together, with the tea m me, to bring this together, with the team i have, so that we have one day a year, the first saturday in september, when people come from all over the globe to enjoy a traditional highland games. the royalfamily traditional highland games. the royal family attend every year. the queen started coming when she was seven queen started coming when she was seve n years queen started coming when she was seven years old, traditional games that continues to be passed on through the generations.

ido through the generations. i do not think he has much tossing of the caber to tell us about but mike busheu bushell is at the bbc sports centre. none of that but plenty of drama. good afternoon, and england's hopes of building a match winning lead in the 11th test in southampton have been hindered by two quick wickets on day 3, as james burford reports. this is a match and sees hanging in the balance, and today, another swing of the pendulum. when it is as tight as this, you need your best players to stand up. alastair cook was planning for this to be the start of a match—winning contribution, the first boundary of the day. he would be hoping tomorrow's back pages bore his name and they may do, but perhaps for the wrong reasons. one for 12, swing and a connection, but after some juggling. a connection, but after some juggling, a catch. not his series so far. moeen ali was

a surprise at number three, so affected with the ball yesterday, but unconvincing with the bat today. in the south coast sunshine, a good session could well decide the series and india were making their move. another swinging delivery and another edge. so close to surviving. not to be and not the start england we re not to be and not the start england were after. the margins are so small. joe root and keaton jennings had begun to steady the ship. but in the last few minutes they've lost the wicket ofjennings — lbw to shami. they're now at lunch, and england are 92 for 3, a lead of 65. it is very much anybody‘s test match. liverpool are on course to continue their perfect start to the new premier league season, thanks to sadio mane keeping up his own record of scoring in every match so far. their fourth game is at leicester and that early goal still separates the two sides. leicester are on top at the moment. staying with the premier league, and today marks 10 years since

sheikh mansour bought manchester city and changed the course of the club's history. the sheikh's abu dhabi united group bought city for £200 million on 1st september 2008 and in the decade since then they've spent almost 1.5 billion on players, won three premier league titles and become established as one of europe's superpowers. one man who's been there throughout is captain vincent komapny. the club already had a state—of—the—art stadium, and it was a club with a lot of history, so it was a big club already, it was just it did not have a big club mentality, or eight lost it somewhere along the road, and i think the progress was tremendous in terms of how, we always had the basics, but from wendy to the other, we had no excuse environment created. we had everything to focus

on football and be successful. england's women have a world cup to look forward to. they beat wales in their winner takes all qualifiying match in newport last night. toni duggan opened the scoring before jill scott added a second. england made their domination telling the end. there were three goals in quick succession. nikita parris wrapped it up with a third to send england through to the finals in france next year. wales will need results to go their way if they're to get into the play—offs. there is still hold. to the us open, and serena won the battle of the williams sisters to progress through to fourth round. the 23—time grand slam champion beat sister venus in straight sets, and said it was the best she'd played since returning to the sport after taking time out to have her daughter last september. rafael nadal‘s also through to the last 16, but was made to work for it by russia's karen khachanov. nadal was a set and a break down at one point, but fought back to win in four sets.

and sebastian vettel topped the timesheets in final practice as ferrari try to end an eight year wait for pole position at the italian grand prix. the german just had the edge over championship rival lewis hamilton. kimi raikkonen in the other ferrari was third quickest at monza. that's all the sport for now. plenty going on. mike bushell, thanks very much. you can see more on all today's stories on the bbc news channel. the next news on bbc 0ne news channel. the next news on bbc one will be at 5:10 p:m.. for all of us “— one will be at 5:10 p:m.. for all of us —— from all of us and the hello. you're watching the bbc news channel. let's get more on our top story today, and the revelations in the times that the government is examining the tax status of people who are nominated for honours. earlier i spoke tojolyon maugham, qc, director of the good law project

and a tax specialist. he told me that he is not against hmrc vetting potential recipients of honours . the honours system rewards people who have made a contribution to society. that is a much, much higher bar than asking whether somebody has broken the law. it's not the case that everybody who has avoided breaking the law gets an honour. we are looking for positive contribution and a positive contribution looked at in the round. it seems to me that if you deliberately shrugged off obligations of the democratically elected government based on using the tax system to contribute to society, that should weigh in the moral balance when it comes to considering whether or not you or to be recognised by society with an honour. what about the argument that people who are involved in these tax avoidance schemes, which are legal and hmrc has not made illegal or legislate to make illegal,

often they don't know the details of them. they are simply told by their accountants we will manage your affairs in the way that best protect your interests. and effectively, leave it at that? i think there is a lot of force in that point. we know that different individuals have different degrees of financial sophistication. they are more and less able to assess the quality, the technical quality of their behaviour and the moral consequences of that behaviour. so, if you are financially sophisticated, you work in the city, or have engaged in artificial behaviours, that certainly carries a much higher moral taint, it seems to me, than somebody who comes from a working—class background, without support structures around them to enable them to process the moral

quality of the paper on which there are engaging. as somebody who has litigated these schemes over several decades, they can be very difficult to assess. we know that some types of behaviour that is described as tax avoidance is behaviour encouraged by the government because it wishes people behave in the ways of tax release too. i haven't seen any evidence to suggest that the government is getting this profoundly wrong. and i absolutely do think that in principle, it is right to look at tax behaviour in deciding whether or not somebody ought to be awarded an honour. the headlines on bbc news...

an investigation claims hm revenue & customs blocks people from receiving honours — if they're found to be avoiding tax. a man has appeared in court, charged with the murder of a mother and daughter, who were stabbed outside their home in solihull. more than two thirds of northern rail services have been cancelled today, in a dispute over driver—only operated trains the united states is ending all funding for the un's palestinian refugee agency. more than five million refugees are supported by the group, but the us state department says the organisation is "irredeemably flawed". a spokesperson for the agency said it rejected the criticism and was deeply disappointed. we reject in the strongest possible terms the criticism that unrwa's schools and health care centres are flawed in any way. these programmes have a proven track record in

creating one of the most successful human development processes in the middle east. something the world bank has praised as adding to the public good. 0n bank has praised as adding to the public good. on this question of refugees, what perpetuates the crisis, is not unrwa, it's the failure of the political parties to bring political resolution and to resolve the plight of the refugee according to all of the international acceptable paradigms for resolving this conflict. the refugees status is resolved within the context of a political solution. that was the spokesman for the united nation relief and works agency which is having its funding cut by the usa. agency which is having its funding cut by the usa. and our middle east correspondent yolande knell has been explaining why this has happened now. we saw at the start of this year that the us was freezing $300 million that it had planned to give

to unrwa, passed overjust 60 million back then. the agency needed to make and specified reforms, also that it was trying to press the palestinians to return to peace talks with israel. at the end of last year, talks with israel. at the end of last yea r, after talks with israel. at the end of last year, after the us announced that it was recognising jerusalem as israel's capital, the palestinian leadership have cut off relations with the us. so this is really confirming what many had suspected for quite awhile, because this unrwa issue had not been resolved through the year, it has been battling to this gap in finances because the us was the largest donor. it supports around 700 schools in this region. there are about half a million palestinian refugee children who attend these schools. it was in doubt, just a few weeks ago, whether

the new school term would start, we have seen pupils going back to school in recent days. unrwa are still saying that it is not sure if it will be able to keep schools open beyond the end of the month. and on top of that, a lot of other services top of that, a lot of other services to in terms of health care and food aid. for example, many of the 1.3 million palestinian refugees in gaza, the majority of the 2 million population is reliant on food aid and other assistance. russian forces are beginning a week long naval exercise in the mediterranean sea. the kremlin says the operation is justified, due to a failure by the west to deal with militants in syria's idlib province. there are signs that the syrian government is preparing an offensive against the last remaining rebel stronghold. a host of stars including stevie wonder and bill clinton were among the many well wishers saying goodbye to aretha franklin at her funeral in detroit yesterday. the memorial service lasted over seven hours and also featured music from ariana grande and chaka khan.

0ur north america correspondent aleem maqbool was there. a culmination of two weeks of tribute since the passing of aretha franklin. a public that adored her queued for hours to get inside the church, to get a chance to say their final goodbyes to the queen of soul. i could not sit at home and watch it on television. being here really brings in the real feel. her message and what he represented the people of african descendants in this country, the music, it is healing, it is powerful, it isjoyful. paying their last respects to her before she was laid to rest,

the stars and dignitaries reflected the reach of aretha franklin's impact and a legacy that goes beyond the music industry alone. # i'm going up yonder... she lived with faith, not without failure but overcoming her failures. she lived with power. not without weakness but overcoming her weaknesses. ijust loved her. goodness, greatness... we would have never known the queen of soul.

we would never have known the joy that she brought to us. and when i would go to her shows and watch her sing it would be the best feeling in the world. nothing sounded better to me than the way my grandma sings. her voice made you feel something. you felt every word, every note, every emotion in the songs she sang. her voice brought peace. the world is celebrating you. and the world is mourning you. and the world is going to miss you. # you make me feel like a natural woman... there is no doubt the often tough, troubled life of aretha franklin ultimately yielded such towering achievements has touched many who

came after her. her legacy will continue to inspire long into the future. celebrations there. all hospital car parks are now free to use in wales, after the last site to charge ditched its fees. the welsh government announced ten years ago that it would end hospital parking charges. a contract with a firm at prince philip hospital in carmarthen ended yesterday, meaning it's free to park there from now on. parking fees at scottish hospitals ended in 2008, except for where the facility is run by a private firm. but you still pay in northern ireland and england. have you ever had a chance meeting with an old flame

and wondered what might have been? in the 1950s, ruth holt and ron 0wen courted for a short time before going their separate ways. but almost 60 years later they met up in the same sheltered housing accommodation, and next week, at the ages of 79 and 84, they're getting married. beccy barr went to meet them. love blooms in unexpected places. when ron moved into sheltered accommodation in saint and a series of coincidences prompted the warden to realise of coincidences prompted the warden to ron may have known one of the residents from before. he said there's an old girlfriend of yours, called ruth. isaid ruth? i don't know any ruth. he couldn't get to my flat because it was upstairs and he has problems with

his hip. i thought, upstairs and he has problems with his hip. ithought, i'll upstairs and he has problems with his hip. i thought, i'll have to go over there. there was a knock at my door, and this good lady was stood there and said, hello, i'm ruth. what did you think when he opened the door? he'd looked just the same to me, really. apart from the here colour. he'sjust the same. still the ron ie new years ago. it's been ha rd the ron ie new years ago. it's been hard these last few years, until i met ron again. it's wonderful now. ron andrews stated in the 1950s when they worked at british aerospace in preston. grant left to work as an entertainer and ruth was only 18, she married and lived in saudi arabia and india, raising two children before divorcing.|j arabia and india, raising two children before divorcing. i was so alone for so long. it's nice to be with a person you really want to be

with. i wouldn't have married anybody else, definitely not. you area anybody else, definitely not. you are a lucky man. very, very. you are making me cry. slowly but surely i realised i was getting happier and happier, and now i'm perfectly willing to say i've never been as happy in my life. it's wonderful. i feeljust the same. i've never been as happy. we haven't had a wrong word. she doesn't get chance to get one in! four years ago they met again, now they are counting down to the big day. the ceremony will be followed by a party in the communal hall. i've beg, steeled and borrowed. i would like anyone who can offer them borrowed. i would like anyone who can offerthem a borrowed. i would like anyone who can offer them a nice honeymoon, come forward and offer. after the long journey back together they

share a message for all of us. you can find the right one, go for it. and our very best wishes to them both on their wedding. a giant balloon depicting london mayor sadiq khan wearing a bright yellow bikini is flying over westminster. 0rganisers raised more than 58,000 pounds for the 29 foot blimp as part of a campaign seeking to remove mr khan from his post. it comes after the london mayor defended the flying of a donald trump ‘blimp' over the capital during the us president's visit last month. the mayor of london says that yellow is not his colour, apparently! let's ta ke is not his colour, apparently! let's take a look at the weather prospects now, is it worth keeping those bikinis out? or shall we mothball them? hello, bikini weatherfor

some, perhaps. 0n the first day of september it looks like bikini weather here in this weather watcher picture from the isle of wight. it isn't like that everywhere, but some of us enjoying a sony starts to september. it's the first day of meteorological autumn, so this was the picture earlier on. further north and west, some cloud thick enoughin north and west, some cloud thick enough in scotland to produce outbreaks of rain and drizzle. this is the satellite picture, you can see that extensive cloud, thick enough to produce some drizzle. extra cloud in northern ireland and wales. in the cloudy areas we will see sony breaks. the best of the sun shining eastern and central parts of england, temperatures up to 2a or 25 degrees. extra cloud on the south west and wales, parts of north—west

england. into northern ireland and scotland. there are breaks in the cloud across scotland. around the mari coast, for example. lengthy spells of sunshine and temperatures up spells of sunshine and temperatures up to 20 degrees in inverness. this evening and tonight, western areas continue to see areas of cloud feeding in, misty, murky and damp. clear spells across central and eastern areas of the uk, one or two spots, those temperatures in single digits. foremost, holding up between 12 and 15 degrees. into tomorrow, a similar day on the face of it, the best of the sunshine across the east. we may push these areas of cloud further east, midlands may be a bit cloudier than today. the south—west a little brighter than today. as the frontal system approaches we will see outbreaks of rain later on, more of a breeze away from these areas and temperatures up to 25, maybe 26 degrees. into monday

we pushed that frontal system a little bit further south—eastwards, not a huge amount of rain on it, but behind the front we draw down some cooler fresher conditions from the north—west. warm across the south—east, split fortunes on monday, whether friends south—east, split fortunes on monday, whetherfriends move slowly south—eastwards bring outbreaks of rain, sunny spells and a warm day. something cooler and fresher, mostly dry, again with some sunshine. deeper into next week it looks largely dry, not as warm as the weekend, but they should be spells of sunshine with temperatures up to 19 or 20 degrees. for september, that's not bad. hello this is bbc news. the headlines... official documents have revealed that the government is examining the tax status of people who are nominated for honours. hmrc is using a traffic—light system to rate their tax affairs. a man has appeared in court,

charged with the murder of a mother and daughter, who were stabbed outside their home in solihull. more than two thirds of northern rail services have been cancelled today, in a dispute over driver—only operated trains. the united states has ended its funding for the un's palestinian refugee agency, calling it flawed. the organisation has rejected the criticism and expressed deep disappointment.