this is bbc news i'm martine croxall. the headlines at eight. america's trade war with china intensifies as president trump more than doubles tariffs on many imported goods — from furniture to car parts. the uk economy gets a boost from stockpiling ahead of brexit — with gdp figures showing a rise of 0.5% in the first quarter. the inquest into the london bridge attacks hears the scene was like a war zone. tyler ferguson's fiancee christine archibald died after she was struck by the van. uber has floated on the new york stock exchange, but shares fell in early trading. less time to play — how schoolchildren are in lessons for up to an hour more than pupils 20 years ago. there is nothing more compelling to them and then a vulnerable woman.

observe. that's compelling to a man. and anne hathaway and rebel wilson team up as con—artists in the hustle. you can hear what mark kermode makes of that in the film review. good evening and welcome to bbc news. the trade war between the us and china has intensfied after president trump went ahead and more than doubled tariffs, a tax on imports — on 200 billion dollars worth of chinese products. furniture, car parts, handbags — are just some of the consumer goods made in china and imported into the us that will be affected. the us had already levied a 10% tariff on chinese goods last september. but today that rose to 25% — and beijing has vowed to retaliate.

our north america editor jon sopel reports. a bell can signify celebration, but it also can ring out a warning and today it felt like the latter after donald trump imposed much higher tariffs on chinese goods coming into the us. and fired out a warning to the world's second biggest economy that he is digging in for the long haul. he tweeted. .. president trump said yesterday that he'd received another good letterfrom president xi. he has a strong relationship. we believe a deal is possible. what president trump has made clear is we think we are in a very strong position either way. the chinese are in washington in the hope of concluding a deal. their lead negotiator said

increasing tariffs hurts everyone. translation: i came here with sincerity in these special circumstances, to engage in rational and candid exchanges with the us side. of course china believes raising tariffs in the current situation is not a solution to the problem. it will be harmful to china, the united states, and to the whole world. donald trump has often been accused of being too trigger—happy when it comes to tariffs, too keen to start a trade war. but on this, significantly, the democrats are behind him, they are urging him to remain tough. when it comes to trade and china, there is a feeling here that they have been allowed to get away with too much for too long. until a few days ago, all the mood music was positive. president xi would come to the us and sign a deal. the two sides were close to an agreement but last weekend, the president accused beijing of ratting on a deal to open up their market to us goods. in the middle of this are us farmers whose products have been hit by retaliatory tariffs

and they are desperate for a trade deal as soon as possible. we have almost waited almost too long, so the only thing that is really going to help us is if he makes a deal and china comes in and they guarantee to buy x amount of bushels. and us consumers, who are now going to find a range of imports costing way more in the shops. and if this carries on, it will be the global economy that will suffer. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. our correspondent in beijing, john sudworth, has more on the reaction from china to the tariffs. china is promising further retaliation, we do not know what form that will take yet, but make no mistake about it, these tariffs are further proof that donald trump, from beijing's point of view, is ripping up the rule book and turning a a0 year policy ofurther engagement with china into one of open hostility.

china does have some cards up its sleeve. do not forget these tariffs will hit american consumers just as much as they hit chinese suppliers. it will make a whole range of goods, things like chinese made furniture, electronic goods, vacuum cleaners, things like that more expensive for your average trump voting american. do not forget to that china does not have to worry about the electoral cycle. donald trump very much does have to worry about that, so you can argue he needs a deal and quicker and needs a deal more quickly then china needs a deal. this is a seismic recalibration of one of the most important trading and political relations of our time. it will take about two weeks for these tariffs to really kick in because at the moment, they only apply to goods that have not yet left port. so there is a glimmer of hope, sophie. it means there's two week period in which negotiatiors to both sides can get together now and try a step

back from the brink. and we'll have more on this story at 8.30. and find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages. at around 10:40 and 11:30 tonight in the papers — our guests joining me tonight are the deputy editor of the daily express, michael booker and the author and journalist, yasmin alibhai—brown. the uk economy had a boost in the first three months of this year as it grew by 0.5% — up from 0.2% in the previous quarter. the office for national statistics said the increase was partly driven by businesses stockpiling ahead of the expected brexit date. manufacturers saw their fastest expansion since the 1980s. our economics correspondent dharshini david reports. production lines at this manufacturer that supplies the car industry have gone into overdrive since the start of the year. they have stockpiled both raw materials and finished goods to protect against disruption in the event of an no—deal brexit in march.

normally holding sort of a weak‘s stock, somewhere in that region. we are holding much more than that, three, four or 56 weeks of stock, which isn't healthy for any business. but at least we have the confidence that if anything were to happen with the borders, we can continue to supply. he is not alone. this type of contingency planning meant a manufacturing activity grew at its fastest rate for over three decades by 3.2% in the first three months of 2019. add in consumer spending and gdp was up by 0.5% between january and march. a decent performance, but a different type of growth than had been expected just a few months ago. that was the past, what of the future? this cutting edge, rocket engine plant is a taste of what britain could be, thanks to an injection of private and public money.

we need businesses up and down the country to invest more to ensure the economy flourishes in the long term, creating even morejobs and ensuring higher wages. but, as the chancellor told me here, that kind of investment is still being held back by brexit uncertainty. business investment is much lower than we would like it to be. investment in infrastructure, investment in skills. we have to do that if we want to ensure the prosperity of future generations. tomorrow's technology may be dazzling, but the chancellor knows our current performance is underpowered. the boost from stockpiling was temporary, the payback may be weaker growth ahead. at least until brexit is cleared up. a canadian tourist whose fiance was killed in the london bridge attacks two years ago has described the chaos and mayhem that ensued and said the scene was like a war zone. tyler ferguson told the inquests at the old bailey that he'd been

walking across the bridge with his 30—year—old girlfriend christine archibald when she was struck by the van. he said moments before she was hit, they'd swapped places on the pavement. in court some of the people who tried to save her life broke down in tears as they described what happened. daniel sandford reports. chrissy archibald and her fiance, tyler ferguson, walking on london bridge on a summer's night. canadian tourists who'd just enjoyed dinner at a thai restaurant. two minutes after these cctv images, they stopped and kissed, and swapped sides, putting chrissy closer to the road. today, tyler ferguson told her inquest, i then noticed a relatively large white transit van on the pavement, hurtling towards chrissy and i.

chrissy was dragged along the road at speed and over the central reservation and cctv shows her fiance rushing to help her. there was a desperate effort to revive chrissy archibald, that involved an off—duty lifeguard, police officers, ambulancemen and doctors. but she had almost certainly died straightaway. tyler ferguson said the scene on london bridge was chaos and mayhem. it was, he said, a warzone. this afternoon, it emerged that, amidst the chaos, a team of firearms officers were among the first police on the scene. but they left their main guns in the vehicle to care for the injured on the bridge, unaware that people were being stabbed in nearby borough market. chrissy archibald's parents have come from canada for the inquest, and today had this to say through their lawyer. we are here to stand with other families who lost loved ones, and with those who were injured

on that horrific day. our heartfelt thanks go to all those who were on the bridge that night, and worked so hard to save chrissy. we were blessed that so many brave people rushed to help her and tyler. next week, the coroner will hear evidence of the second phase of that murderous night, when the attackers left their van and killed six more people with knives. shares in the ride—hailing app uber got off to a rocky start on its first day of trading on wall street, falling in value by around 8% compared to the listing price. uber‘s flotation on the stock exchange was the most eagerly anticipated since the debut of facebook in 2012. i've been speaking to our north america technology correspondent dave lee who's in san francisco, and asked him why uber has

priced its shares so conservatively. i think it is because the indication of the unease among investors about the future of their business, a company that in the first three months of this year alone, lost $1 billion and so it has a long way to go before aiken turned those numbers around. a huge company, operates all over the world, but currently heavily subsidizes his trip and offers to customers and so that is why it is losing money hand over fist. i think investors are also slightly concerned that window over back rivals, was that the same thing in the us, they also had a bit of a shaky start. —— uber‘s rivals, lyft. while this is the hottest property since facebook went public, i think there has not been the optimism you might expect from a new technology stock because normally, when these tech stocks begin trading, there is

a p0p tech stocks begin trading, there is a pop where the value shoots up, we have not seen that with over mac, andi have not seen that with over mac, and i think there could be some repercussions across the entire tech industry as a result. what are you buying into then in terms of their plan, likely future, if on paper is that the look that good a deal? -- it does not look. it is not unusual for a tech company to not be making any my many as he goes public. a spaghetti make a profit when it made a stock market debut. —— making any money when he goes public. —— facebook did not make a profit. you can look at the scale and it has a rep that the transfer industry, they can hopefully use that in order to eventually make a profit down the line. where a company like uber differs from facebook is one facebook first met public, there was a least a sense of the direction he could go in order to make profit. with uber, that is less clear, so they have to diversify their business. so picking up people in

cars, they are also offering bikes you can get on demand, they have a food delivery service, whether those small parts of the business will help make could be different sub that remains to be seen and also, when other factor that remains to be seen and also, when otherfactor on that remains to be seen and also, when other factor on this, eventually, many people think that uber will have driverless cars running theirfleets. uber will have driverless cars running their fleets. and that would remove the most expensive part of their operation, which is paying human drivers. but most of that will tell you that self driving cars are a long way away. that's most experts will tell you. uber will have to do more to make sure investors they happy. —— stay happy. the headlines on bbc news... america's trade war with china intensifies as president trump more than doubles tariffs on many imported goods — from furniture to car parts. the uk economy gets a boost from stockpiling ahead of brexit — with gdp figures showing a rise of 0.5% in the first quarter. the inquest into the london bridge attacks hears the scene was like a war zone. tyler ferguson's fiancee christine archibald died after she was struck by the van.

sport now and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's lizzie. hello. thank you. good evening. it's been quite a week in football and there's plenty more excitment to come because on sunday one of the closest title races in living memory will come to a conclusion. will it be manchester city or liverpool? city hold the advantage going into the final day of the season — with a one point lead. they're at brighton knowing they only need to match liverpool's result at home to wolves to retain their premier league title. there'll be a trophy standing—by at both stadia but pep guardiola is just delighted his team are in this position going into the final day. it is a dream to be here first of all, i did not expect a month ago when we were seven points against this liverpool, to be in this position we are in now, that is why it is a dream come true, and we have shown many many things.

now it is not the time to say how could we have done, because we have the chance to be champion if we win our game, and that we have to do. about that, it would make it back to back and we want to be and if it happens, it will be nice. practise for sunday's f1 spanish grand prix was dominated by mercedes again. championship leader valterri bottas was just quicker than his team mate lewis hamilton. bottas is a point ahead in the drivers' standings after four races. mercedes' performance in barcelona will have worried ferrari whose drivers are still yet to win a grand prix this season and charles leclerc could only manage third quickest ahead of sebastian vettel. the third practise starts tomorrow morning. matt wallace has a one shot lead giong into the third round of the british masters golf. the englishman hasn't made a single bogey in his two rounds in southport and leads on 12 under par... ahead of compatriot ross fisher and sweden's niklas lemke who came close to equalling the european record for consecutive birdies,

but came—up just short with eight in a row. roger federer has been knocked out of the madrid open in the quarterfinals — beaten by dominic thiem who had to come from a set down and save match points to end federer‘s clay—court return. the austrian won it 3—6, 7—6, 6—4 to set—up a meeting with world number one novak djokovic in the semi—finals. meanwhile in the women's event — simona halep is still no course to re—take the world number one spot. she's through to the final in madrid after beating belinda bencic. she'll play either kiki bertens or sloane stephens in the final and if she wins, halep will be the new world number one. olympic sailing champion giles scott says the decision to remove the finn class after next year's games will effectively end his olympic career. it's part of a major shake—up by world sailing who are seeking to improve gender equality and boost

the sport's youth appeal. it's a great shame for the class. it is something i hold quite close. in terms of other boats i would be able to sail, it is pretty limited. the most difficult thing is really not for someone like myself but for the younger guys coming through. it is fair to say that potentially the way it is unfolding has been a bit of a bitter pill to swallow for some. wales' coach warren gatland has agreed a deal to take charge of the british & irish lions on their tour of south africa in 2021. it'll be gatland's third lions job after their winning tour of australia in 2013 and a drawn series against the all blacks two years ago. the kiwi has also won three grand slams as wales coach including this year's six nations title but he's stepping down after the rugby world cup in the autum. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories

on the bbc sport website. that's bbc. c0. uk/sport. including the lead to playoffs in the scottish premiership. a light action. more for you later this evening. —— including the league 1. thank you. that will keep you of mischief. 19 minutes past eight. you are watching bbc news. two former police detectives have been jailed for sabotaging child abuse investigations. the old bailey heard sharon patterson and lee pollard forged documents and misled supervisors at essex police, in order to shut down inquiries and "avoid doing the work". patterson was sentenced to 18 months, while pollard was jailed for two years. our home affairs correspondent danny shaw gave us this update from the old bailey. this was an unusual case for two officers working for the essex police. they falsified paperwork and forged documents to bring criminal cases they were investigating to an end. thejudge told lee pollard and sharon patterson that they had

shut down cases to avoid doing the work. he said they had failed the victims and they had committed multiple acts of dishonesty. pollard was jailed for two years and patterson for 18 months. they will serve half of their sentences in prison before being released on licence. the details of the alleged offending where amounted to very high harm, according to thejudge. in pollard's case he destroyed photographs taken from the home of a suspect which could have been crucial evidence in a potential prosecution. in effect, what they had done is they try to bring the cases to an end. there was no monetary gain and it was to avoid doing the work, to cut corners and to short—circuit these investigations. there were strong mitigation put on behalf of sharon patterson. to the effect that she should be given a suspended prison term, she has three children and she has lost herjob, as has pollard.

but in the end the judge believed the offending was so serious he had to impose terms of imprisonment for both of the former detectives. danny shaw at the old bailey. a man with haemophilia infected with hiv during treatment as a child has told the infected blood inquiry that his parents were "bullied" into signing a waiver saying they wouldn't take the government back to court. andy evans said his parents signed the document during litigation against the department of health in 1991. they were told "nobody would receive anything" otherwise. thousands of patients were infected with hiv and hepatitis c through contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 80s. the united nations says at least 65 african migrants have drowned — after their boat capsized off the coast of tunisia. the incident happened around a0 miles from the city of sfax. state media reports say 16 people were rescued by localfishermen.

officials believe the boat set off from libya and the passengers are from countries in sub—saharan africa. a coroner has said that a schoolboy who flicked cheese at another pupil, despite being told he was allergic, was not intending to cause serious harm. 13 year—old karanbir cheema died after having a severe reaction at his school in london last year, when the cheese landed on his neck. the coroner said there was a "missed opportunity" at william perkin school, in greenford, to inform pupils about how severe his allergies were. aysha buksh reports. 13—year—old karanbir cheema had learned to manage his many allergies. he knew how to avoid nuts, soya and dairy products. two years ago, while at school in greenford, west london, a fellow pupil flicked at him a small piece of cheese. it went down his collar, his skin reacted badly and he went into anaphylactic shock. he later died in hospital. today, at the conclusion of the inquest into his death, his mother spoke of her loss. he was my only son, my only child.

the whole family, his grandad, his uncles, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunties, they all loved him. he was the star of the show. the inquest heard how karanbir went to the medical room and was given his asthma inhaler and antihistamines. when he became breathless and his scratching drew blood, his epipen was administered. it later transpired the adrenaline drug was out of date and it was not given soon enough. a narrative verdict was recorded by the coroner, who also criticised the school's health care provision. the coroner concluded that karanbir‘s fatal allergic reaction was extraordinarily rare. she said the boy who threw the cheese had carried out a thoughtless act, but she believed it was not calculated to cause harm. she said there were many other contributing factors such as his poorly controlled asthma, and she criticised the school for his inadequate care plan

and said they were ineffective in educating other pupils around the dangers of allergies. we believe parents should be confident that children who have severe allergies will be safe at school. care plans need to be more than a token gesture. we would expect schools to have an emergency plan in place, so that when a child attends the medical room and says they have been exposed to a known allergen, the first aid team know what to do and how to react. in response, the head teacher said there was a very good general awareness of his allergies, but those working with children who have severe allergies hope lessons will be learned. there needs to be much more consistency around the way that schools manage emergency situations. so education of staff around dealing with and recognising anaphylaxis and the key thing about getting the adrenaline used early. we, like the coroner, would like to see adrenaline pens wherever there are defibrillators, and that there is a general knowledge among the population

so they know how to use that adrenaline and how to recognise if somebody is having a severe allergic reaction. karanbir‘s parents say they hope the coroner recommendations are implemented, so no one else will have to suffer the way they have. they are also considering legal action. could we refreeze the north pole, as a way of repairing the damage done by climate change? it's just one of the ideas being examined by a new research centre at cambridge university. scientists there fear simply reducing greenhouse gas emissions won't be enough to stop irreversible damage to the environment. the project — the first of its kind — will examine new ideas, as well as those that have been dismissed in the past as too far—fetched. our science correspondent pallab ghosh reports. a scorched earth, where people are poorer and have less food because of severe droughts. there'll be more flooding and all the coral has gone. that's what we're headed for, unless we do more to cut

emissions of carbon dioxide. scientists at cambridge university fear that reducing co2 emissions on its own won't be enough. the man who's led efforts at the heart of government to combat climate change for 20 years is helping to set up a new research centre to develop ways of repairing the damage that's already been done. the urgency of the issue is such that we have very little time left. so we've got to pull out the stack of greenhouse gases that's already in the atmosphere and that means examining all the alternatives. we are looking for processes that are scalable, by which i mean processes that can take out billions of tonnes of greenhouse gases, each year. with trillions of tonnes of ice gone from both the earth's poles, the new centre will look at ways of refreezing them.

one idea is to have boats spray sea water into the clouds above the ice, to reflect sunlight away from them. another is to develop forests of artificial trees to absorb carbon dioxide — just like real forests, only better. and some think releasing shiny discs into space might act as a planetary parasol, reflecting sunlight and cooling the earth. in the past, these ideas have been described as too radical, too ambitious, even too risky. but now, scientists say we're running out of time and options to prevent damaging and irreversible climate change. the ipcc says that net co2 emissions will have to be zero by 2050, to avoid some of the worst scenarios. this at a time when chinese and indian industries need much more energy, as their nations grow. this is a global problem that we have to solve. we can't fail.

it's our duty to future generations that we succeed in this task that has been put upon us. and that means that we need to very carefully analyse, create the evidence base, so that sensible informed decisions can be made today that will last generations into the future. the scientists here believe that the earth's climate can be repaired, but they say new solutions need to be found and implemented within the next ten years, otherwise it may be too late. pallab ghosh, bbc news, cambridge. now it's time for a look at the weather with tomasz schafernaker. still a few showers around from earlier. we have had storms in the last few hours. it will be drier but there will be some showers around on saturday. not too many, hopefully. this is the forecast through the night so a lot of clear

weather and some showers around across eastern counties, lincolnshire and east anglia. there will be a touch of grass frost around northern areas outside of town and chilly in the south, only five degrees in cardiff first thing. tomorrow starts sunny in many areas and then the clouds will bubble up and then we expect showers from north—eastern england and parts of yorkshire and down towards the midlands. but not as many compared to what we had today. 17 the high in cardiff. the temperatures will gradually rise through the course of the weekend and next week we could see temperatures in the high teens widely across the uk.

hello, this is bbc news with martine croxall. the headlines. america's trade war with china intensifies as donald trump more than doubles tariffs on many imported goods, from furniture to car parts. the uk economy gets a boost from stockpiling ahead of brexit, with gdp figures showing a rise of 0.5% in the first quarter. the inquest into the london bridge attacks hears the scene was like a war zone. tyler ferguson's fiancee, christine archibald, died after she was struck by the van. uber has floated on the new york stock exchange, but shares fell in early trading. less time to play: how schoolchildren are in lessons for up to an hour more than pupils

20 years ago. more now on our top story, that trade talks between the united states and china have resumed in washington, after the us more than doubled tariffs on $200 billion worth of chinese goods. in the past few moments, donald trump has taken to twitter, where he's said... joining me now via webcam is the editor in chief of china dialogue, isabel hilton. welcome and thank you very much for

joining us this evening. what choice did donald trump have given that the arc of these negotiations? well, i think we have the curious spectacle of both sides playing extreme brinkmanship at the last minute will top the chinese have done this many times before, which you do the negotiations and as you come to the closing deal, there's a problem. and then you get a little bit more of a concession. the problem is that trump does this too, so donald trump over the weekend started with a series of quite difficult tweets, threatening these tariffs which have now been activated. so in the week where we were expecting to see a deal of some kind, at least a smoothing over of the relationship, things have gotten pretty tense and difficult. so the vice premier has

come all the way to washington and it looks like he will go away empty—handed. meanwhile the american consumer will end up paying an awful lot more for chinese goods, and china will have to find out the microwaves to retaliate against the us before the next round of talks. if not retaliating with tariffs of their own, what other options does china have? well, what's hurting the united states at the moment is the midwest, particularly the agriculture sector. so the wheat and soy farmers, who used to say a lot of their problems were with china, that no longer happens. china doesn't have the same range of possible responses in tariffs because china imports much less than the us then the us imports from china. but what does the us want to? it wants access to the chinese market, it wants its own companies to be able to do business unimpeded

in the chinese market. it wants its finance companies to be able to lend money — a whole range of demands that the us has put on china. china can simply make life very difficult for us companies operating in china, and that does include companies which manufacture their goods in china. so the tariffs that are going on these imports from china, many of them are us branded goods which have been made in china over the last 20-30 been made in china over the last 20—30 years. so there's no such thing as a simple trade war any more. it's not just thing as a simple trade war any more. it's notjust a question of slapping tariffs on to punish a country. we have very complex global supply chains, and it's very difficult to impose tariffs without hurting yourself at the same time. we are talking about tariffs, but what is this really about in the longer term? i think in the longer term, this is definitely a much more profound confrontation between a

rising power and the incumbent power. so china has a particular set of economic arrangements which are to do with its political model and economy. so the state and state owned enterprises, the finance and china are all intimately released. and they are linked around an economic strategy which is set by the government and communist party, and enacted by pretty much all these entities. now that's not all how western free—market economy works, where companies are — they're not entirely on their own, but they are expected to compete fairly with each other. and if they don't compete fairly, then the government intervenes to level the playing field. but the result of the confrontation between china in the us is that this particular set of arrangements in china enables chinese companies to undercut western companies in third markets,

in chinese markets. and when china was an emerging economy, that was tolerated. but china is now an advanced economy, the second largest in the world, and it's competing across the range of advanced technologies. it has global ambitions, and what the united states and europe are saying to china is that, since you are now an advanced economy, you have to compete on fair terms. and that's really what the fight is about. thank you very much forjoining us. great pleasure. school children in england have up to an hour less for break time, compared with 20 years ago. researchers at university college london say more lessons are being packed into the school day, leaving less time for children to play. the study says it means children are missing out on exercise, and the chance to learn vital social skills. it comes as a class of primary school pupils are to miss their sat

tests after their parents chose to boycott the exams. parents of children in year two at bealings school near woodbridge said over—testing was ruining the pupils' education. here's our education correspondent frankie mccamley. we're going into the forest, right there! an extra playtime on fridays for these pupils. they go to the local park to run around and play outside. i have learned making some pictures with things outside. sticks, leaves, flowers, we found ants and worms i hadn't seen before. then it's back to school in the afternoon. why is it so important to get these children out and about? we know most of these children don't have gardens they can run around in. they're working together as a team, working independently, which raises their self—esteem and self—confidence. research has found school break times in england have been getting shorter. just 1% of secondary schools now

have afternoon breaks, compared to a1% 25 years ago. in the same time frame, pupils aged 5—7 were found to have 45 minutes less break time per week, and 11—16—year—olds have 65 minutes less. education is broader than just academic learning. this is where these children are building friendships, they're learning the skills to be part of society. at a time when we are really worried about the amount of time they spend on screens, i think we need to give them as much opportunity for this as possible. government guidance states pupils should be given an appropriate break, so head teachers have the final say on the structure of the day. there is pressure on every head teacher and every school in the country to make sure children are performing academically. we've go those tables that say this school has done this well, but at the same time we need to prioritise outside time. school break times vary across the country, and that can often depend on where a school is located.

that can be restrictive for some schools. for others, it could mean lunchtime on the beach or running around in open fields. for this school in east london, it means this. obesity campaigners are calling for more rigid break time guidelines to make sure all children get daily exercise and, of course, have some fun in between. frankie mccamley, bbc news. let's take a look at some of this evening's other headlines. the broadcaster danny baker says he wants to "formally apologise for the outrage he caused" with his tweet about birth of the duke and duchess of sussex's son, which featured a picture of a chimpanzee. the presenter, who was sacked by bbc radio 5live yesterday, said it had been "one of the worst days" of his life. the high—street fashion chain select has gone into administration, putting around 1,800 jobs at risk. the company, which specialises in women's clothing aimed at 18—35—year—olds, has 169 stores across the uk, but has been

struggling for some time. stores will remain open for now, while administrators look for a buyer. one of the oldest toy shops in the world, hamley‘s, has been bought by india's richest man for £68 million. mukesh ambani's reliance brands business secured the deal to buy the retailer from c banner international, a chinese fashion conglomerate. the toy seller was founded in 1760 and operates 167 stores in 18 countries. tributes have been paid to the comedian, freddie starr, who has died at the age of 76. the entertainer who was born on merseyside rose to national prominence in the early 1970s after appearing on the tv talent show, opportunity knocks. it's understood he was found at his home on spain's costa del sol. david sillito looks back at his life. freddie starr! 1970, the royal variety show and for a young freddie starr, it was his moment.

# it's not unusual to be loved by anyone... it was all there, the impersonations, the manic energy, and a touch of danger. muhammad ali came along, yet the white people, the white promoters, they didn't want to know black people, they kept them to one side. how do you know? shut up, i'm talking! not many people would have done that with muhammad ali. the success that followed bought him a lifestyle of helicopters and horses. miinnehoma won the national. in the world of northern comedians, there was a touch of rock and roll about him. he's a lunatic, yes, an absolute lunatic! but everyone loved him.

but he was a lunatic, wasn't he? you wouldn't know what freddie starr was going to do when he came into a room. you wouldn't know. he would probably pick a television up ready to throw it out the window and put it back down again. he would have you on your nerves all the time, you'd be like that! and when the sun ran the fictitious headline, "freddie starr ate my hamster," it was almost believable. it used to be difficult, you were known as a difficult man... he may not have eaten any hamsters but there were four turbulent marriages, six children, none of whom would by the end speak to him. of course, his own father had been violent, he said he had broken his legs, but when freddie starr was accused, but never charged, of sexual assault, he looked a broken man. and when he sued his accuser for libel, he lost. the manic, wealthy funnyman of the ‘70s died alone in a small flat in spain.

care homes in england are to work more closely with doctors and pharmacists in a new scheme to try to reduce hospital admissions among the elderly. under the plans, gps will visit homes more regularly, allowing them to keep a closer watch on each resident's health, and ensure they have the right medication. it's hoped the plans will improve wellbeing, as well as cutting costs for the health service. rob sissons reports. it's a simple idea. it's been tested at this care home in derbyshire house in nottinghamshire and has reduced hospital admissions and cut the drugs bill. a gp practice buddies up with a care home, so residents' health can be checked with a doctor more. rachel visits every two weeks. is there anything urgent that we need to deal with initially? yeah. and what began as an experiment here in nottinghamshire

is now being rolled out across england's care homes. the major benefit is that the patients here get continuity of care, which we know is a problem across the nhs. we get to know the patients more, we get to know their families more, we can get more involved in understanding what they would want to happen should they become acutely unwell. across england, around 400,000 people live in 17,000 care homes. on average, residents take seven medicines a day. for many it's more than ten a day. charities have voiced concern for years that some residents may be on too much medication, criticising an over reliance on anti—psychotic medication for dementia patients as chemical cosh. the key thing, from our perspective, is to make sure that the right drugs are given at the right time. that people don't have drugs unnecessarily, because we know that that is not good for their health. well, since they had the extra support from the gp here, they say it's made a dramatic difference, improving the confidence of the staff and they're calling ambulances out less often.

most of the residents here want to avoid going into hospital. so, it has helped them stay here and be able to be treated here at their home. vic, who is 92, and his friends at the home seem to like it. it enables treatment to be given where necessary, much more quickly. and, generally, i think it gives the patient more confidence. i don't want to be on tablets. i prefer not to have any at all. now, nhs england's long—term plan involves recruiting thousands more clinical pharmacists. the aim — for every care home to have access to one. trying to make sure that where medicines are used they're the right medicines at the right doses for the right people. and we're making sure that everything's appropriate. it's all part of a shake—up in how medicines are managed. and it's hitting the right note here, an example of how health and social care are working closer together. rob sissons, bbc news, nottinghamshire.