this is bbc news. the headlines: a climbdown by hong kong's leadership after mass protests over their controversial extradition law. a major review of hospital food after the deaths of five patients from listeria is announced in england. hundreds more people are urged to leave their homes in lincolnshire because of flooding, brought on by heavy rain. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, the british—iranianjailed in iran, begins a new hunger strike in protest against her imprisonment. foreign secretaryjeremy hunt offered this message to iran. there is an innocent woman at the heart of this, she just wants to be back together with her daughter, gabriella, to reunite that family,

show you have humanity, show you have a heart, let nazanin come home. the gulf tanker explosions: two senior cabinet ministers accuse jeremy corbyn of not backing britain's interests by questioning if there's "credible evidence" for the attacks. and, click travels to los angeles for the biggest gaming convention in the world. that's in half an hour, here on bbc news. good afternoon. following huge protests, the leader of hong kong has suspended plans to introduce

a new law that would allow extraditions to mainland china. the proposals have prompted big demonstrations, including one last sunday where organisers said more than a million people took part. our china correspondent stephen mcdonell reports from hong kong. and a warning, the report contains some flashing images. the large demonstrations just days ago turned into running street battles with the police. it would prove the turning point in this stand—off. the hong kong government has been forced to concede that its controversial extradition bill has prompted ill will and division here. and the announcement came that it would be shelved, at least for the time being. i now announce that the government has decided to suspend the legislative amendment exercise, restart communication with all sectors of society, do more explanation work and listen to different views of society. a vast array of opposition groups say the extradition bill means facing mainline chinese courts controlled by the communist party, which can't guarantee a fair trial, and they say carrie lam ultimately still wants it introduced.

translation: hong kong people won't be cheated by the temporary suspension and carrie lam's comments will only make us more angry. the city enjoys freedoms guaranteed when the former british colony was handed back to china. a key part of that is having an independentjudiciary, which is why, for many people, the fight against extradition is a fight for everything this place stands for, and it's why they say they won't give up until the extradition proposal has gone for ever. protests planned for tomorrow will go ahead, with some calling for carrie lam to resign. the government hasn't given up yet, so i think we still have to fight for what we want, because this is not the end. delay of this bill may provide a truce for now, but with both sides digging in this relief of pressure could also only be temporary. stephen mcdonell,

bbc news, hong kong. the health secretary, matt hancock, has ordered what he called a root and branch review of hospital food, after two more patient deaths were linked to a listeria outbreak. a total of five people have now known to have died. production has been halted of the sandwiches and salads thought to have caused the outbreak. leigh milner reports. five people have now died after eating hospital sandwiches and salads containing listeria. two lost their lives here at the manchester royal infirmary, another at aintree hospital. it's not yet been revealed where the other two patients died, but public health england has confirmed that seven trusts across the country have been affected. the food standards agency ourself are trying to identify how this could have got in to the food chain. that is going to take

some time to do. but what we have done is taken steps to make sure that the product is no longer distributed and therefore the public and the nhs patients are safe. the health secretary, matt hancock, has now called for a review of nhs food. in a statement, he said... listeria typically causes mild food poisoning, but can prove fatal if people are already seriously ill. the first patient affected showed symptoms on the 25th of april. suspect salads and sandwiches were withdrawn on the 25th of may. public health england first warned about the outbreak on the 7th ofjune. the good food chain, which is being linked to the outbreak, has since voluntarily ceased production. as investigations continue, public health england insist any risk to the public remains low. leigh milner, bbc news.

a little earlier i spoke to dr nick phin, the deputy director of the national infection service at public health england. we very quickly identified this and on may 25, the products were withdrawn, we have now been working for over two weeks, and we have not seen any for over two weeks, and we have not seen any new cases since for over two weeks, and we have not seen any new cases since then, so thatis seen any new cases since then, so that is very encouraging. one of the things we have to be aware of is that listeria has a long incubation period. all i can say is, having taken the product off the market, people can have confidence, certainly, that there is no longer a risk from the source. these are products that we use, as part of the sandwiches, at the moment, the food standards agency are self, are trying to identify how this could have got into the food chain. that

is going to take some time to do, but what we have done is, taken steps to make sure that the product is no longer distributed, and therefore, the public and the nhs patients are safe. we are fairly confident that now we have identified it, working with the fsa and local authorities, steps have been taken to stop production, that this issue is no longer. nearly 300 more homes are being evacuated in lincolnshire because of fears a river could burst its banks again. people have already been moved to safety from a hundred properties in wainfleet near skegness after the river steeping overflowed. the raf flew in tonnes of gravel to try to repair the breach, but new areas are now under threat. our correspondent michael cowan has spent the morning in the town.

it was after the river steeping broke its banks after two months of rainfall fell in two days that raf chinook helicopters were flown in to fill the burst banks with 270 tonnes of sand bags, good news when they said that had stopped the flooding and river levels were starting to recede. but, people here still do not know when they can get back into their homes, and now fire crews work across the county, to feverishly pump water out of those affected houses. this is a very difficult situation for a close—knit local community. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, the british—iranianjailed in iran, has begun a new hunger strike in protest against her imprisonment. her husband, back in the uk, also plans tojoin her on hunger strike. the mother—of—one has been detained for the past three years after being accused of spying by the iranian authorities, a charge she strongly denies,

and sentenced to five years in jail. iran is "almost certainly" responsible for the attacks on two oil tankers in the gulf of oman, according to the foreign secretary, jeremy hunt. the us military released video footage yesterday which it said proved iran was behind thursday's attacks on two oil tankers, something iran has categorically denied. the labour leaderjeremy corbyn says there's no "credible evidence" iran is responsible, tweeting that the uk should ease tensions, rather than fuel a military escalation. six candidates remain in the race to be the next leader of the conservative party and the next prime minister, to replace theresa may. health secretary, matt hancock, pulled out of the contest yesterday but is yet to declare who he is backing. former foreign secretary and mayor

of london, boris johnson, remains the frontrunner and has confirmed he will participate in a bbc televised leadership debate. our political correspondent nick eardley is in central london. obviously, a lot of discussion taking place in the building behind you, update us on the latest? this was originally booked to be the meeting where a local tory associations were to get rid of theresa may, a vote of no confidence, to try to put pressure on her. they thought they may as well use the room anyway! over the last few hours we have had the six candidates in this hotel, all pitching to local party members, about why they should be the next prime minister, that is important because ultimately, the conservative members across the uk will be the ones who make the decision, as you say, borisjohnson, absolutely the front runner, when it comes to mps,

he is miles ahead, some of the small polls that we have seen of conservative members suggest he is miles ahead, when it comes to them, too. he did not speak when he arrived, he kept his head down, something he has done through a lot of the campaign so far, but we have heard from five of the six candidates, this morning, they have been saying, this race is not over, conservative leadership races can throw up some surprises, some of them have also been quite angry at them have also been quite angry at the suggestion that this could ultimately end up being a coronation of borisjohnson. ultimately end up being a coronation of boris johnson. here ultimately end up being a coronation of borisjohnson. here is the international development secretary, rory stewart. yes, that would be a disgrace. the public deserve a chance to look at these leaders, the members of the conservative party particularly, they deserve to have a choice. we should have learnt from the last time round.

coronations are not the way to do democratic processes. people are thinking ahead to the positions of the next cabinet. there is the suggestion that people are throwing in their lot with boris johnson, because they think he is most likely to be prime minister and best chance of being in government if they are on his team but that is not the feeling here, everyone else who is still standing is absolutely adamant that they are going to go ahead with it, we heard from jeremy hunt, the man who came second in the first poll, of tory mps, he was seen to ask this afternoon that if you look back to 2005, david cameron was not the front runner, he was coming second in the polls of tory mps, he turned it around, and 2016, theresa

may was untested when she took over in 2016, and that did not work out. sajid javid said the same thing, things did not turn out well when they have a coronation last time. do you know what, absolutely, boris johnson, miles ahead, the man to beat, half a foot in downing street already, and some others in this race are absolutely convinced that they can turn it round. exam board edexcel has launched an investigation into how part of an a—level maths paper was leaked online. blacked out images of two questions were shared on social media ahead of the exam yesterday. pearson, which runs edexcel, said the images were circulated "in a very limited way". it reassured students no—one would be advantaged or disadvantaged and they would not have to re—sit the paper. joining me now is harry

wright, from henley on thames who sat the exam yesterday. you sat the exam, how are you feeling? a bit vexed, if i you sat the exam, how are you feeling? a bit vexed, ifi am honest, because i put in a lot of work, i did not see the paper beforehand, it was a nice paper, i enjoyed it, but then coming out and looking on twitter and seeing people talking about it being leaked beforehand, that blew the wind out of my sails. pearson have responded, they have said no one is at an advantage or disadvantage, what did you of that? i cannot believe that is true, because it was on such a wide scale, anyone could access it for £70 online, spread over whats app for £70 online, spread over whats app and facebook group chats, that they will have no access to, so it

is really hard, and i think they are really limiting what they think the scope of how big it was is. i think carry on. i feel like saying no one will be advantaged or disadvantaged, it is very hard, when you are doing means testing for grade boundaries, it is hard to find the balance when it is hard to find the balance when it is hard to find the balance when it is hard to tell the exact number of people who had seen this paper beforehand. have you had any friends who have admitted to knowing that this was going on in the build—up? if i'm being honest, ifi this was going on in the build—up? if i'm being honest, if i looked online, i looked on twitter the night before and i saw there was rumours about a paper being leaked beforehand, blacked out questions, that you could buy it for £70, personally i did not believe it but i talked to a friend, they had seen it, none of us bought the paper, because we thought it was going to because we thought it was going to bea scam. because we thought it was going to be a scam. when you look down on it, we knew it was happening, and if we

knew, why ed excel, why are they not looking at twitter beforehand and seeing there is two clear questions let out before the exam was even sat. ? let out before the exam was even sat.? —— let out before the exam was even sat. ? —— edexcel let out before the exam was even sat. ? -- edexcel would let out before the exam was even sat.? -- edexcelwould you like let out before the exam was even sat. ? -- edexcel would you like to reset the paper, a fresh paper?|j believe... reset the paper, a fresh paper?” believe... if it comes down to it, thatis believe... if it comes down to it, that is definitely something that may need to be done, because... it is all about how you do at that subject, realistically, those people had an unfair advantage over us, i know they say they were not advantaged but clearly they were, they had seen the paper, they could have gone through it. if it comes down to it, i think we definitely should have a resit of the paper. i know edexcel have said they do not wa nt know edexcel have said they do not want that happening but it is still something that may need to happen. good luck, come august, thank you for joining good luck, come august, thank you forjoining us. the headlines:

the leader of hong kong backs down indefinitely after mass protests over their controversial extradition law to mainland china. a major review of hospital food, after incidents of listeria in england. the political row intesifies over gulf tanker explosions: two senior cabinet ministers accuse jeremy corbyn of not backing britain's interests by questioning if there's "credible evidence" for the attacks. in sport, at the cricket world cup, australia have set sri lanka 335 for victory, aaron finch opening and making 53. sri lanka, 79 without loss in reply. women's world cup, netherlands leading cameron, 2—1 early in the second half, in valencia. and justin roseis second half, in valencia. and justin rose is two shots behind the american, gary woodman, at pebble

beach, we will be back in the next hour with another update. —— valenciennes. let's return to the news that nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, the british uranium jailed in iran, has begun a new hunger strike in protest against her imprisonment. let's get more on this with our correspondent, andy moore. imprisoned in iran since 2016, accused of spying, a charge that she denies, her daughter, gabriella, is in iran, staying with her parents, she has recently celebrated her fifth birthday, and nazanin has said that if she were still in prison when she was five, she would go on

hunger strike, so there was an event outside the embassy, her husband said that he willjoin the hunger strike, not taking any food, just water, until his wife came off her hunger strike and i think we may be able to see what he said a few hours ago. in fairness, i had some wind back about understanding that gabriella's birthday was a marker, i said, we would be lucky if we get to the end ofjune would be lucky if we get to the end of june without another would be lucky if we get to the end ofjune without another hunger strike. previous phone call she had been quite tense, and stressed and angry, and, you know, distraught. today, she was quite calm, she had made the decision, she said she sent her letter to the judiciary, it has now started, and she is nervous, on the phone, but also calm. the hunger strike, for you, how long will it last? as long as she goes for it,

unknown territory, i've no idea, saying to other people, i'm glad i had my breakfast before this started! we will see, could be a day, could be three days, ten days, hopefully not much longer. we will ta ke hopefully not much longer. we will take it one day at a time. she has been on hunger strike earlier this year, about three days on that occasion, she said she wanted medical treatment so she went on hunger strike, briefly. her medical treatment so she went on hungerstrike, briefly. her husband has not been on hunger strike before but he says he will be outside the embassy, camping overnight, until his wife ends her strike or until she is released. thank you for the update. the italian film and opera director franco zeffirelli has died at the age of 96. in a career which spanned over 60 years some of his best known work included the taming of the shrew starring elizabeth taylor and richard burton and hamlet with mel gibson and glenn close.

lizo mzimba looks back at his life operatic music franco zeffirelli made his name as an opera director, on stage and occasionally on—screen. opera taught him how to deal with highly—strung and highly—talented performers. it is a simple as that, holding their hands. really dealing with vulnerable people. really charming little kids. they can't believe their luck and they are afraid. his experience proved useful when he made a film with a famously temperamental couple, richard burton and elizabeth taylor. his film version of romeo and juliet

was nominated for an oscar but was controversial. olivia hussey, then just 15, appeared topless. franco zeffirelli, who started out as a stage and screen designer, was sometimes attacked for self—indulgence and sentimentality. but jesus of nazareth, made for television, showed a different and more austere side to his work. if my kingdom were of this world, my followers would have fought to prevent me from being captured. in 2004, he was given an honorary knighthood. he had always been an anglophile. in terms of the country, i would like to see it married with my country. to make this marriage happen with my work and association with british character. such a traditional honour meant a lot to a director renowned for his love of formality, opulence and beauty.

let's get more on the six candidates who remain in the race to be the next leader of the conservative party and the next prime minister. now lets recap on who those candidates are who have made it to the next stage. former foreign secretary and mayor of london, boris johnson, remains the frontrunner and has confirmed he will participate in a bbc televised leadership debate and also a contender is michael gove, currently environment secretary who ran against boris in the last contest is running again. and another favourite

is previous health secretary jeremy hunt, now the foreign secretary. also running are sajid javid, the current home secretary. dominic raab, former brexit secretary who quit over may's withdrawal bill and finally, rory stewart, the international development secretary. well those were the candidates, but what do we know about the people who will choose them. the fate of the next conservative leader will be decided by around 160,000 tory members. research has confirmed... joining me now is lance stanbury, the chair of the conservative association west suffolk and greig baker is the chair

of the conservative association in canterbury. do you have a feel for who your members will be back in? not yet, the final two will be decided by the mps, so, over the next few weeks, after the final two have been chosen, then the candidates will be moving around the country, going to hustings. members will be attending, thatis hustings. members will be attending, that is hopefully where they will get a real sense notjust for the policies but the personalities. going to you, greg, obviously, hustings taking place today in central london, what are your members telling you, is there strong support for boris johnson? certainly strong support for a brexiteer, i'm standing outside the whole way, we have just had to hustings in central london, three things really strike me. the first, a huge amount of enthusiasm, and quite a lot of excitement in the hall, these candidates providing new ideas, and potentially a new direction for the party. the second thing, the biggest

round of applause lines were always around making sure that we leave the eu, at the end of october, either with a deal or if necessary without. the third thing that struck me, i don't know how many weetabix sajid javid had for breakfast but he gave a storming speech! i have seen him speak a few times, that is by far the best he has ever given. 0k, strong support for a brexiteer, so, before we talk about the possibility, we have had a lot of talk about a direct correlation taking place, but, if it is a brexiteer that people, that members do want, who should be in the final two ? do want, who should be in the final two? of course, speaking as an individual, i can't speak on behalf of my association because we don't know which one will be going for, absolutely, a brexiteer, but all the candidates, i was at the conference, and all the candidates said that they would be delivering brexit and there is an appetite within the body of the conservative party to ensure that we do leave in october. so, i

think all of them are definitely signed up to that. i also agree that there has been some fantastic policies coming through, a lot of discussion, and it is good to see a all the candidates speaking in free—form, they were all speaking without script, and i actually hope that they all do that and go forward into party conference, as well, because their personalities are coming across. boris johnson is the front runner, what is it about him, what are these qualities, if we take it forward, is he only a brexit leader, what happens post—brexit? that is one of the really interesting thing is, when he walked into the room today, there was a real electricity, everyone standing up real electricity, everyone standing up trying to get pictures of him on the phone, good laugh lines but also serious points, here's frontrunner, he has the ability to communicate but what was interesting was that in his speech he specifically cited policies that have been put forward

by other candidates, so that he wants to demonstrate that he wants to work with those people to help deliver them. i would also say, when sajid javid spoke, it was the only one who made an explicit pitch to get onto the ticket with boris johnson, so we can have a national debate. i want to turn back to you, we went through the breakdown, the characteristics of the tory membership... there has been criticism of that, because a lot of people are saying it does not reflect the rest of the country. do you think we should go straight to a general election, and let the country decide, once we have decided who is the leader of the party?” don't, the reason i say that, listening to brenda again, saying, what, another one? country does not wa nt what, another one? country does not want another general election this moment, we are in a parliamentary democracy, we have a constitution which means the largest party forms the government. and the leader of the government. and the leader of the largest party will be the prime minister. we must ensure that the winner of this contest will have a

good opportunity to get brexit through, but also, the candidates today were talking about the future. yes, brexit is here and now, but after that, there is a huge amount to be done and i am clear that the candidates expanded that today. finally, a coronation, or, see the process through? it is incredibly important to see the process threw for two reasons: the first, when the new prime minister shows they have the membership behind them, that will help manage the parliamentary party, they can demonstrate that mandate, and the second thing, prime ministers are normally chosen by a handful of mps in westminster, this time, 160,000 ordinary people spending every evening knocking on doors finding out what they care about, this has been the most well—informed prime minister we have had ina well—informed prime minister we have had in a long time. thank you very much forjoining us.

ido i do apologise, we have a spelling mistake, but thank you very much for your time. perfect weather coming up, here is phil. mishmash of weather, still some rain to be had but not with the intensity that has caused so many problems of late, showery band of rain moving to the eastern side of the british isles to finish off saturday, showers persist across northern parts of scotland, and return, later in the night, across parts of wales andindeed in the night, across parts of wales and indeed into the southern counties of england, not going to be a particularly cold night. here we are, sunday, make the most of the dry weather across the midlands, southern scotland, because as the day goes on, so the showers move from the south—west to cover many parts of the british isles. i wouldn't promise anybody a dry day by any means at all, keep some sunshine, temperature pushing towards 20 degrees.