this is bbc news i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 7pm. borisjohnson says 20,000 more police will be on duty in three years. but is the target, achievable? i think it is the most fundamental investment you can make in society. reducing crime, making our streets safer. carl beech, a paedophile who made false allegations of murder and child sexual abuse against famous people, has been jailed for 18 years. one of his victims , harvey proctor, has condemned him tonight. more travel disruption for passengers after yesterday's hate.

trouble for sports direct, as the retailer's financial results show a fall in earnings. reality asserts itself at lord's after a nightmare day yesterday. they have a face—saving victory in the test match. and tens of thousands of gamers are gathered in new york for the world championship of fortnite — with more prize money on offer than wimbledon. borisjohnson says his plan to recruit 2,000 new police officers across england and wales, will begin within weeks, and completed in just three years.

this would restore officer numbers back to levels not seen for a decade, after cuts under the coalition government, and successive conservative administrations. the move has been welcomed, but there are warnings of logistical challenges, including a lack of training instructors. our home affairs correspondent, daniel sandford has the story. the passing out parade this month at hendon, the biggest police college in the country, as forces in england and wales started to turn their backs on ten years of austerity. it was theresa may as home secretary who implemented the cuts. but now her successor as prime minister out doing selfies in election mode it looked, has said replacing the offices is an early priority. looked, has said replacing the offices is an early priorityli think it is the most fundamental

investment you can make in society. reducing crime, making our streets safer. safer streets equals more investment, equalsjobs, equals growth. it is absolutely crucial for everywhere in this country. this morning the capital woke up to news of yet another murder, a young man fatally stabbed close to the famous abbey road studios, who then lay dying in front of his mother. it has been a sharp uptake in violent crime that has put the issue of police numbers back on the agenda and forced ministers to reverse what has been a ten year decline. a number of police officers in england and wales peaked in 2009 at close to 1a4,000, then fell every year until this year. 15% of the workforce was lost. police chiefs welcomed the new recruitment drive is incredibly good news but with a shortage of trainers and even police stations to house the new officers, it will be a tall

order. how realistic is it to increase the numbers of police officers by 20,000 injust increase the numbers of police officers by 20,000 in just three yea rs 7 officers by 20,000 in just three years? it is ambitious, the government itself has said it is ambitious and there are some real challenges and how you make all parts of the system faster and how you bring people in that kind of speed, which would be unprecedented in the last decade. providing he provides a new funding for the police officers, we would obviously welcome it, since we have been calling for this for the past three yea rs. if we calling for this for the past three years. if we don't increase the numbers of police on the streets, the problems get worse and worse. for years, the conservative party insisted that in a fight against crime, police numbers were not the key factor. now, the new prime minister plans to increase numbers to exactly where they were ten years ago. west midlands police forcibly retired almost 600 officers with 30 years service under the controversial regulation a19.

the court of appeal ruled in 2017 the measure used against four other police forces didn't amount to age discrimination. the overall headcount in the west midlands has dropped by more than two thousand since 2010. its chief constable, dave thompson, said tonight that extra officers were badly needed to make up that shortfall. the budget has come down by a quarter, we have 2000 less officers. it has been a huge reduction in that has based a huge stress on police services, we are less proactive than we wa nt services, we are less proactive than we want to be. today is very, very good news. do you think there is a link between a reduced number of offices or are decreasing in number offices or are decreasing in number of officers and an increase in crime? yes. there are some things about how crime recording is changing but the type of serious areas of violence that we are

concerned about, drug markets, they require proactive police services, that has become really hard. so this news is really welcome that we will boost numbers in the fight against crime. we'll have more on the story when i speak to warren heinz later in the programme. stay with us for that. carl beech, the man found guilty of lying about the existence of a paedophile ring, involving several prominent people, has been jailed for 18 years. he'd been convicted after a trial at newcastle crown court, of making false allegations of murder and sexual abuse against a number of public figures, including the former home secretary, the late lord brittan. in a victim impact statement, his widow, lady brittan, said her desperately—ill husband, had faced entirely false allegations "of the very worst kind" and he would never know his name had been cleared. our home affairs correspondent, june kelly reports. as he lived his life as a school governor and hospital inspector,

carl beech watched others suffer as a result of his lies. puppies pinned to my chest while they did whatever they wanted to do. he had handed over their names in police interviews, accusing high—profile figures are forming a vip paedophile ring. beech revelled in the attention he received, because he was —— before he was exposed as a paedophile himself and a cruel and dangerous manipulator. today it was the turn of those whose lives he tried to destroy to have their voices heard. the former mp harvey proctor lost his home and hisjob because he was under suspicion. carl beech claimed he had actually murdered two boys. beech listened from the dock as a series of powerful and poignant victim impact statements were read to the packed courtroom. lord bramall, a former chief of the defence staff, now in his 90s, wrote:

the widow of lord britton, who had died during the investigation, wrote: and the godson of the former prime minister sir edward heath, said: danieljanner, son of another falsely accused politician, spoke for his family. the effect is hard to describe it is the stigma of an allegation as serious as rape against a loving father. harvey proctor later

gave a news conference. my life, my repute, my future as i had planned it to be, and my belief in british institutions and fairness, have gone. the metropolitan police assertion that his allegations were credible and true is already part of my obituary. beech wanted to put other people in the dock, but he is now beginning a long prison sentence. carl beech was given this 18 year term for a number of offences, lying about his abuse claims, 12 counts of perverting the course ofjustice, claiming compensation for dna by lying about those claims, and also paedophile offences. he had admitted downloading hundreds of sexual images of young boys and secretly

filming a boy indecently. the justice that he should serve half of that 18 year term. the judge also acknowledged that it was a severe sentence but of course we've heard all this terrible testimony in court today of the damage this man has done and the judge said the method she wanted to send out was that sentence should act as a deterrent. now, the prime minister has been responding to accusations from the irish foreign minister that he is deliberately deciding to set the uk ona deliberately deciding to set the uk on a collision course with ireland and the european union. well, our political correspondent, nick ea rd ley, political correspondent, nick eardley, is at westminster. remind us eardley, is at westminster. remind us what has been said today. the big battle lines for any discussion between the uk and the european union on brexit have been drawn already. boris johnson union on brexit have been drawn already. borisjohnson has made it clear that he won't accept any brexit deal that includes the backstop, that insurance policy to make sure there is never a hard

border on the island —— of ireland. that is a lackey with the eu wants. it says the backstop is —— it says -- is it says the backstop is —— it says __ is __ it says the backstop is —— it says —— is —— that is what the eu once. it says the backstop is essential. he seems to have made a deliberate decision to set britain on a collision course with the european union and with ireland. any relation to the brexit negotiations. only he can answer the question as to why he is doing that but i think it has been made very clear from the tea shop for, from michelle barnier, from president tusk and young kerr that the approach the british prime minister seems to be taking is not going to be the basis of an agreement. boris johnson has been focusing on domestic policy, try to say he's got more in his locker than

just brexit but there is no doubt that leaving the european union is the biggest sale that he had to tory members and it will be the thing that defines the first few months of his premiership. he was what he had to say in response to mr coveney. his premiership. he was what he had to say in response to mr coveneylj wa nt to to say in response to mr coveneylj want to say to our irish friends, under no circumstances will the uk be instituting any kind of checks at the frontier of northern ireland. of course not, we don't want that, but the uk will be coming out of the eu on october the 31st, and after we come out, there will be all sorts of discussions to be had with our irish friends to how to ensure we have continuous frictionless trade, which is what we want. questions around general election continue. what has he said about that? that it won't

happen before the 31st of october, he guarantees bill will not head back to the polls before we leave the european union. it is complicated because there is a chance he might be forced into it. if you look at the team he has put in place in number ten, a lot of folk are thinking that it is a war game cabinet ready for a general election. the simple rationale behind those who think we could be heading in that direction is theirs. borisjohnson was to get a new deal with european union, the european union says no, so he says he is ready to leave without a deal, followed behind me tries to block that and if he succeeds, mrjohnson ends up going back to the country. he said that is not what he wants to do, he said today he absolutely won't hold a general election before the 31st of october but we know that things here can move very fast, there are many in westminster that think it could happen. indeed it does. nick, thank you very much.

the met office says a new provisional temperature was set. 37.8 celsius. that was in cambridge. today, rail and air passengers have been struggling yet again with the laser following the searing heat of yesterday. a number of trains between london st pancras and the north of england, as well as other services, have been cancelled or delayed. overnight, engineers couldn't repair all the overhead cables, the power cables that had sagged in the heat, there is also disruption at heathrow, gatwick, and sta nsted disruption at heathrow, gatwick, and stansted airports. disruption at heathrow, gatwick, and sta nsted airports. 0ur transport correspondent, tom burridge, has all the details. we sell the hot weather did last night, it was the stormy weather last night which has caused problems at our airports and some hellish journeys for passengers. better today on the railways but by no means perfect. but with a0 flights

cancelled at gatwick, more than 100 heathrow, it has been a testing 2a hours for those catching a plane, even though flights are getting in and out of this, the busiest airport in europe, and things seem to be improving. not a comfortable weight at heathrow. we missed our connecting flight to rio. we can't fly out to rio until tomorrow. some passengers boarded but the stormy weather last night meant they were taken off air flight. it meant they were taken off air flight. it has been a tricky 2a hours at many uk airports. and passengers have been left stranded. i can't get today or tomorrow. we have had absolutely no information, no health, no staff, anywhere. hopefully, after last month of mac

escapades, after waiting four or five hours, we have been told all the food was spoiled. a few hours today, take us across the country. this is the busiest weekend of the year, for airports, airlines and railway companies and unfortunately, thousands, tens of thousands of people are going to be waking up on saturday morning, hundreds of thousands of miles from where they need to be. after the chaos in the railways yesterday, fewer trains today. rachael faced railways yesterday, fewer trains today. rachaelfaced a railways yesterday, fewer trains today. rachael faced a tricky journey. i'm heading to harrogate in north yorkshire, i should have gone from bedfordshire up through york, it should have taken me an hour and a half, two hours, it is going to ta ke a half, two hours, it is going to take me, i don't know, five or six hours, according to this. services we re hours, according to this. services were cancelled in different parts of

the country but the worst disruption on this line, where overhead wires we re on this line, where overhead wires were still being repaired. there have been very few trains heading in and out of london to hear and other parts of the midland throughout the morning but it is relatively quiet at the station, it seems out of the chaos of yesterday, some people decided not to travel. some passengers made the most of a long wait on the tarmac at heathrow last night. but with the eurostar down this afternoon, misery, too, for passengers waiting here in paris and in london. borisjohnson boris johnson says borisjohnson says the recruitment of 20,000 new police officers in england and wales will begin within weeks. carl beech, a paedophile who made false allegations of murder and type child sexual abuse events famous

people has been jailed child sexual abuse events famous people has beenjailed for 18 child sexual abuse events famous people has been jailed for 18 years. after record—breaking heat yesterday, storms holt rail and plains, causing more travel disruption for passengers. now, a drug for women suffering from advanced ovarian cancer has been approved for use in newly diagnosed patients in england. the trial showed that the drug had delayed their progression of the cancer for three years. 600 women with a hereditary type of the disease could benefit each year. when florence was a6, she was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer and told she had less than 18 months to live. she had two major surgeries and underwent four separate rounds of chemotherapy. obviously you're in emotional shock. i had two young children and you don't care too much what you have to go through physically, it is the impact on your family is your first concern, and telling your children you have this diagnosis.

that was almost ten years ago. it was only after aggressive treatment that florence was eligible for 0laparib, a drug that can halt the progression of the disease. now it has been made available to patients in england sooner, when they've responded well to their first round of chemotherapy. often it presents at a very late stage because the symptoms that women sufferfrom are, can be nonspecific, such as abdominal bloating, pain, difficulty going to the toilet, tiredness, loss of appetite and these symptoms can overlap with many conditions that are not cancer related. this medicine is for women with the hereditary brca gene mutation, which angelian jolie reveled she has. it affects around one in a00 people and significantly increases the risk of breast and ovarian cancers. ovarian cancer is a devastating disease that is really difficult to diagnose and treat, and has a really high recurrence rate, but the clinical trials with this drug have shown a reduction in the risk of the cancer spreading by 70% — which is huge.

the disease did not progress among almost two thirds of women who were given 0laparib during the trial. usually 70% of patients relapse within three years. doctor says the drug could cully have the potential to even cure over ran cancer in some people. florence has been taking it for 28 months. 0laparib has prolonged my life, given my life, changed my life, all of those three things. without 0laparib, 100% i wouldn't be here, ijust wouldn't be here. charities say it is vital that women with ovarian cancer are screened for the brca gene mutation so they don't miss out. a decision about prescribing it at an earlier stage is expected to be made in the rest of the united kingdom, in the coming months. the new northern ireland secretary says he doesn't believe the uk is on a collision course with the irish

government when it comes to brexit. mrsmith government when it comes to brexit. mr smith made the comments on a visit to belfast in londonderry and that his priority was to solve the issue of the irish backstop and you get a deal through the house of commons. he met earlier with the main political parties at stormont in an attempt to reopen talks between the dup and sinn fein with the aim of restoring power sharing at stormont. 0ur ireland correspondent in londonderry gave us her assessment of the visit. julian smith was doing his best to be positive about his hopes of finding a solution to the irish border today, saying you can leave in 0ctober today, saying you can leave in october the 31st and that that very difficult situation will get sorted out but for all of his optimism and, you know, which is coming off the back of borisjohnson's new, fresh, optimistic driven approach to sorting the border out, that is in the face, of course, in the last few days we have heard the irish prime minister saying borisjohnson

days we have heard the irish prime minister saying boris johnson in days we have heard the irish prime minister saying borisjohnson in in the real world and this, the foreign mr nurse said his comments have been very unhelpful so it is not easy to come here to northern ireland and face the cameras are local politicians and say it will all be fine, but that is the linejulian smith has been having to hold since he has come here. he met all the parties at stormont this morning. his big challenge there will be trying to get sinn fein and the dup to broker a new power—sharing agreement because northern ireland has been without a government for more than two and a half years and it has been difficult to make any progress in that area with the big disputes on brexit running alongside. it is a big brief, difficult one to take on with northern ireland, all the historical layers of tension and conflict that come with thisjob layers of tension and conflict that come with this job which still play into all the political issues of the modern day, and he has to charter a course very carefully of course through the two big tribes here. all those contacts between the

nationalists and the unionist parties, and he did a pretty ginger, pretty cautious, if you like, press conference facing his first question is when the media, clearly doesn't wa nt to is when the media, clearly doesn't want to put a foot wrong. you could also tell he had been briefed very carefully to say derry, londonderry, at every single mention, a place which has historical tensions over the naming. you could tell he was taking a very cautious approach today and had been very well briefed by his special advisers, but very big challenges ahead forjulian smith, not least to get this place with a government up and running again. let's discuss the issues facing the new irish secretary with a professor of irish politics at the university of liverpool. thank you for speaking to us. what you make of genius in as appointment? it is a shrewd appointment? it is a shrewd appointment in some ways because

julian smith arrives with plenty of knowledge about northern ireland because he has been keeping the dup suite for the last two years. as chief whip, he basically signed sealed and delivered the deal with the dup. that creates problems because nationalist may say his new secretary of state, he is not even handy, he has spent the last two yea rs handy, he has spent the last two years keeping them sweet and the next two years trying to say there is not a general election. so, he arrives with plenty of goodwill from people but really with a horrible m trade dominated obviously by brexit but also the need to revive the assembly. we have not had a northern ireland assembly for approaching 1000 days, and although his predecessor reduced the salaries of assembly members, they are still getting paid, but there is no sign of them arriving back at work. quite a full intro. talking about some of those tasks that await him, as you have mentioned, what does he have to be very careful about? when you look

at karen bradley? and ensuring that it doesn't make the same mistakes, how will he have to tread? he will have to tread carefully and i don't think there is any prospect of the assembly coming back until late autumn at the very earliest. what we saw over the last few days at westminster was legislation going through which basically postponed the need for an election that they we re the need for an election that they were supposed to be to a northern ireland assembly that doesn't exist. why is there no assembly? a whole range of reasons, some of which have been addressed in recent day in westminster because same—sex marriage will be legalised in a boat —— autumn, as i will abortion, so some of the controversial issues are being addressed but some remain. an irish language act really bitterly divide the dup and sinn fein. it is, there are complicated legacy issues, then there is brexit, the language that we heard from the foreign minister about the uk government

being on a collision course under borisjohnson was being on a collision course under boris johnson was probably the strongest language that the irish government has used so far can. it is inconceivable that you could restore political institutions in northern ireland whilst the prox set —— prospect of a hard brexit still looms. the irish prime minister saying that until brexit as a result, it will be difficult to see the two parties coming together to restore the executive. i'm quite interested in terms of brexit, jonathan powell, who worked on the good friday agreement, said this is not just about trade, this good friday agreement, said this is notjust about trade, this is about identity and the backstop. just give us identity and the backstop. just give us your view on that. yes, what the good friday agreement did was help make the border dividing ireland relatively seamless. the republicans, it is the border that matters, not about hard or soft brexit, but felt soft nationalist, the dormancy of the border made them relatively content. but what will you have is a reinvigorated border.

lots of checks on things, there will bea lots of checks on things, there will be a reinvigoration of that border. soon, we are going to be moving, given the political stalemate, from the politics of the border to the logistics. what absolutely happens in terms of the checks that take place on either side of the border? the european union has made crystal clear it is going to defend the integrity of its single market so looks like we will be leaving without a deal by the 31st of 0ctober without a deal by the 31st of october and that means that border which has been silent for those two decades since the good friday agreement, basically comes back into play. with all the significance of that for nationalists who ultimately long term politically don't want that border to exist. 0k, thank you very much indeed. this is bbc news, two premier league footballers have been victims an attempted carjacking by an armed gang in london stop arsenal players mesut 0zil and sead kolasinac london stop d kolasinac

were targeted last night — this video from social media appears to show saed kolasinac chasing off the armed robbers. the club said both escaped uninjured. there have been no arrests so far. england's cricketers have beaten ireland by 1a3 runs, to win their one off test at lord's. the hosts bowled the irish out, for the lowest ever score on the ground in a test, just 38 runs. joe wilson was watching. what england managed to bring to this test match was an intensity, and tent of purpose, which they said they lacked. it is difficult to raise your game and be mentally fresh after so much has already happened this summer. but the ashes are next week, everybody knows that, and this match will have served as some kind of preparation for that. stuart broad will feel a lot better about his game about having taken the wickets today. that was a point thatjo reid came back to at the close of play. will these

conditions, so favourable for the bowlers, actually be replicated during the series against australia? and therefore is it really a meaningful time of preparation? i guess time, as ever, will tell. as for irish cricket, when will they get a stage like this, an opportunity like this? 182 runs to wina opportunity like this? 182 runs to win a test match at lord's, crushing sense of missed opportunity must live with them tonight. i guess they must have to remember what they did early in the test that got them today's position of hope. let's get the weather. new data has been available and it shows temperatures reached 38.7 celsius at cambridge university botanic gardens. this is a provisional temperature recording but if it gets confirmed by the met office over the next days or weeks, it will become the highest temperature ever recorded in the uk, that was at the peak of the heatwave during thursday. look at the weather

picture as we had britain be denied, outbreaks of rain will become more expansive across england, scotland, and may be parts of wales as well. temperature is not as hot as recent nights, 1a to 17 degrees so a more comfortablemy head. a little on the warm side still for sleeping. the weekend, band of rain stretching across goal and puzzling there as well. the weather front will be slow moving, the amount of rain we see from place to place will vary a lot but with a0 to 60 millimetres for some, that is getting on for a month's worth of rain so there is a risk of localised flooding, for some —— some, lasting into sunday. there is your weather.

this is bbc news, the headlines: borisjohnson this is bbc news, the headlines: boris johnson says this is bbc news, the headlines: borisjohnson says 20,000 more police will be on duty in three yea rs, police will be on duty in three years, but is the target achievable? i think it's the most fundamental investment you can make in society, reducing crime, making our streets safer. coral beach, a paedophile who made false allegations of murder and child sex abuse against famous people, has been jailed child sex abuse against famous people, has beenjailed for 18 yea rs. after people, has beenjailed for 18 years. after record—breaking heat yesterday, storms halted trains and planes, causing more travel disruption for passengers. trouble for sports direct, is it reveals its profits have fallen. the real taylor says it regrets rescuing house a

favour and that the store's problems may be terminal. reality asserts itself at lord's after england's nightmare day yesterday, they dismiss ireland forjust 38 for a face—saving victory in the test match. and is coming up in the programme: tens of thousands of gamers are gathered in new york for the world championship of fortnite, with more prize money on offer than wimbledon. let's return to our top story now, and the prime minister borisjohnson says his plans to recruit 20,000 more police officers in england and wales over the next three years will begin within weeks. the college of policing, which trains officers, welcomed the move, but said there are logistical challenges, including a lack of instructors. forces in england and wales lost more than 20,000 officers between 2009 and 2017. marian fitzgerald is the visiting professor of criminology at the university

of kent, shejoins me from our 0xford studio. thank you forjoining us. first of all, is the target achievable? erm, well, if he says the target is achievable and he will throw the money at it, it is. it won't do anyone any good, because the college of policing is right. you've lost a lot of officers, but a lot of those officers have been at supervisory grades. so unless you have good, experienced sergeants and inspectors to supervise, to induct and monitor and to keep an eye on those new officers, they're not going to learn very much, they will like supervision, so you haven't got that already. naughty have the infrastructure, because what nobody talks about is the amount of investment you need in kit and equipment, but also the

infrastructure that processes intelligence, crime pattern analysis, that can process the people they arrest to get them through and into courts, including witness support and so on. unless all of that is they are, this is about a visible policing, because it's about a visible policing, because its popular. but visible policing will not work unless you invest in the invisible stuff that enables it to work on the ground and unless you have the supervisors to give them the proper degree of supervision and so on. so throwing large numbers of new recruits onto the police could bea new recruits onto the police could be a recipe for disaster, unless you're prepared to fund the rest, and even then, there are far too many in the system to accommodate as it now is. white talks when you think back to a decade ago when they first started to it cut police numbers, as you say, their headline as we saw over the last 2a hours, you have confidence in the government is going to see it

through? he says within three years, what you are describing there is a much longer timescale before these new officers become productive?” think there has to be investment in the hope of the system in order to be able to properly accommodate and support new officers. it's not that they just need a support new officers. it's not that theyjust need a new officers, but it's no good having new officers u nless it's no good having new officers unless the system is there to support them or they won't be able to do theirjob properly. it'sjust an expensive cosmetic exercise. the one thing i do think also, when the barber started to go up, tony blair insisted that police forces had to accommodate all these new officers and new breed of pcsos, who have now gone, and turned out to actually be quite valuable. a3% of those have been lost since 2010. tony blair was insisting forces must accommodate these new officers, and they had to be pcsos. i constable who said to me at the time, very sensibly, if he

gave me the budget to get a balanced workforce that i needs, including civilian staff to do the things civilians can do, to invest in supervisory grades and also to accommodate new probationers, that would be fine, but don't tell me i've got to accommodate all these new officers. what sort of price tag are you putting on this? i don't know if you heard me, what sort of estimated price tag are you putting on how much this will cost if it's to be done properly? 0h, on how much this will cost if it's to be done properly? oh, that's a shame, it appears that we've lost our connection to the professor. can we try again, can you hear me? yes, ican.| we try again, can you hear me? yes, i can. iwas we try again, can you hear me? yes, i can. i wasjust asking how much estimated this should cost if it is to be done properly? i'm not good on

budgets, i can't tell you that is, i just know it has to be a properly balanced investment with what's there already and the infrastructure and equipment that is needed and the investment in the supervisory grades and the training to accommodate the new officers that they need and to bring them in at a rate in which the system bring them in at a rate in which the syste m ca n bring them in at a rate in which the system can absorb them. if you want to actually plan that properly rather than announcing numbers off the top of your head to grab headlines, fine, you have my backing. but if you're going to do it like this, it is of no use to anyone, but it might help in and they are on up to an election. finally, how is policing changed over the decades? it's gone up and down in terms of numbers of officers, but did you hear what i said about when it tony blair insisted... ? said about when it tony blair insisted. . . ? i'm said about when it tony blair insisted...? i'm thinking more about the nature of policing, what are police officers having to deal with, what new demands do society place in the legal system? there is a real

problem with the fact that a lot of the crime you are now dealing with, including crimes of violence, i happening online, through chat rooms, through tweets and controls and so on. if you're serious about tackling that, you're going to need more officers looking at material inside the station and that doesn't equate with the need to throw more officers onto the streets, because they look reassuring. that's the nature of crime that has changed that police have to deal with, but a lot of it is not now happening on the streets, and we haven't come to terms with that is. it's not fashionable with politicians because they know what the public wants to do is see more police officers, because it reassures them. it will not do with crime as it's now happening. bank you very much.

in syria, where, according to the united nations, air strikes by the government's armed forces and its allies have killed at least 100 people in the last ten days. 26 of them were children. the un's human rights chief, michelle bachelet, has accused the international community of treating the violence with, as she puts it, apparent indifference. the fighting has been taking place in idlib provice, in the northwest of syria, which is one of the last strongholds of the rebel groups which rose up against president bashir. imogen foulkes reports. five—year—old girl, trying to save her baby sister from a air strike. but just hours later, her baby sister from a air strike. butjust hours later, she herself died from her injuries. idlib is stereo syria still in rebel hands. it's also home to millions of civilians. the united nations has warned for months that a battle here

was, at a huge cost to civilian life. of the area are supposed to be a de—escalation zone, but in recent weeks, syrian forces have stepped up their operations. 103 people have been killed in the last ten days alone, one quarter of them children. this latest, relentless campaign of air strikes by the government and its allies has continued to hit at medical facilities, its allies has continued to hit at medicalfacilities, schools its allies has continued to hit at medical facilities, schools and other civilian infrastructures, such as markets and bakeries. these are civilian objects, and it seems highly unlikely, given the consistent pattern of such attacks, that they are all being hit by accident. intentional attacks against civilians are war crimes, and those who have watered them or count them out or criminally responsible for their actions. syria and its ally russia both denied deliberately targeting civilians. nevertheless, men women and children are dying in the air strikes, and to the un's frustration, there is little sign of international

concern. in talks as air strikes kill and concern. in talks as air strikes killand maim concern. in talks as air strikes kill and maim several a week, there seems to be a collective shrug. the security council is paralysed by the consistent failure of its five permanent members to agree to use their power and influence to stop their power and influence to stop the fighting and killing once and for all. many of the people in idlib fled there from aleppo. they have already endured one brutal struggle for control of a city, now, in what could be the last decisive battle before it syria returns entirely to president assad was my control, they have nowhere to go. libya's red crescent says it has recovered the bodies of 62 migrants a day after one of the deadliest shipwrecks this year in the mediterranean. the united nations is calling

for safe passage to be found for refugees so they do not have to get on a boat. a british computer hacker has escaped a jail sentence in the united states over malicious hacking charges. he pleaded guilty to two charges. he pleaded guilty to two charges of making malicious software and faced a maximum sentence of ten yea rs and faced a maximum sentence of ten years injail. and faced a maximum sentence of ten years in jail. successfully help to stop a major hack, which affected the nhs and many other organisations around the world in 2017. the retailer sports direct, has published its delayed financial results and reported a fall in earnings following its takeover of house of fraser. sports direct‘s owner mike ashley described the problems with the department store chain, which it bought last august, as nothing short of terminal, and said turning the business around wouldn't be quick or easy. 0ur reporter nina nanji is with me now.

just take us through what's been taking place today and over the past week? we have been waiting and waiting for sport direct‘s results. they were originally meant to be at more than a week ago, they were delayed and then were meant to be out at 7am this morning. all through the day, they kept getting delayed to. it was hard to know exactly what was going on. eventually, they did drop around 5pm today, not surprisingly, it's good news. their profits were down, a senior figure is leaving, and then you've have this demand for unpaid taxes of about £600 million from the belgian taxman. all that is quite concerning. 0n taxman. all that is quite concerning. on top of it all, it said it regrets its purchase of house of fraser and that the problems they were described as terminal. this strong language. looking at the numbers, the underlying profits were down 6% to 290 million. this was down to the difficulties it had in integrating

house of fraser, which it bought out of administration last august. the difficulties of house of fraser shouldn't come as a surprise, at the time, there was a lot of fanfare, my ghastly describing revitalising the brand and turning it into the harrods of the high street —— my ghastly describing. but this is a troubled assets and you can't get away from that fact. it had a lot of problems and we're not really shopping and apartment sure us as we used to. consumer trends are changing and people are more online. so it's grappling with all that on one hand. 0n the other hand, you have sports direct itself, where the growth has been fairly strong but also facing rising competition from online and also from a special sports tours and so on. and on top of it all, you have this unpaid tax bill, deeply concerning for stakeholders and shareholders alike, worrying for anyone involved in the business. some good news, sales up

around 10% for the year, but overall, not very good, not a pretty picture. then to cap it off, you have the behaviour of the company today, it kept saying just a few more hours, we will release the numbers, not the sort of behaviour you expect from a publicly listed company. it's very unusual and doesn't instill investor confidence. that was reflected in the share price today, the shares down on early morning trading and then bounce back but did close around for% down. thank you for that. wildfires are ravaging the arctic, with large areas of siberia, northern scandinavia, alaska and greenland engulfed in flames. although lightning frequently triggers fires in the region, this year they have been worsened by summer temperatures that are higher than average because of climate change. plumes of smoke from the fires can be seen from space. we are joined via webcam by mark parrington, senior scientist

at the copernicus atmosphere monitoring service, who provide data related to air pollution and greenhouse gases. can we definitely say this is a direct relationship with time a change? good evening. it seems in the case of the fires we've been monitoring in recent weeks, they are definitely occurring because of the higher temperatures. we run also a climate monitoring service, and if we look at the climate anomalies for the last month, the temperature was much higher than average, and also things like the soil moisture and amount of precipitation is much lower than average. this means it's much drier and warmer, so when there is information, the fires have been able to persist and spread quickly and endure for the six weeks we have

been monitoring them. they're still burning and the usual wildfire seasonit burning and the usual wildfire season it can't last up until october. can you see this continuing, or other efforts to control them? for the continuing, or other efforts to controlthem? for the northern hemisphere, the wildfire season exits from april until october. if the conditions are right, these fires can really keep going. the fires can really keep going. the fires in siberia are recurring in the remote part of the world, so there is little infrastructure or resources to fight them. and some other places, alaska, for example, the fires have been occurring closer to population centres, particularly in the last couple of weeks, so there's a bit more impetus for fighting and extend wishing the fires. generally, if they're going to be left to burn and there's no

rain coming, potentially they could last for another few weeks. we can see the pictures, those fires are raging. the fact they can be seen from space, it does raise the question of what that smoke is doing to our quality. also, i presume, there's a lot more carbon dioxide being released? there's a lot more carbon dioxide being released ? and there's a lot more carbon dioxide being released? and talk vegetation fires do release a lot of pollutants, as well as carbon dioxide, they release of particulate matter and things that can get into the atmosphere and cause things like ozone, which is a major air gas, as well as the usual... this has really serious air—quality implications local to the fires, and also the smoke can last in the atmosphere for several weeks. can be transported thousands of kilometres and affect air quality in places a long way downwind from where the fires are actually burning. how worried are

you about the damage this is doing? it is being described as unprecedented this year, the scale and intensity. what sort of long—term damage are you concerned about in the ecosystem? when you see where it is, all attention at the moment is on the arctic and what's going on there? it is concerning because they are happening in the arctic. we monitorfires year—on—year and i've been doing this now for five years, always focusing on the higher latitudes. it's not a surprise you to see some fire detection is within the arctic circle in the summer months, but to see them with such a concentration and such a long term activity is concerning, because it's very far, a very re m ote concerning, because it's very far, a very remote region, it is thought of as pristine. at the long—term damages to the direct climate impact

and the sea ice and mounting of that and the sea ice and mounting of that and also the alteration of the surface. the ecosystem and the carbon cycle itself. we don't really know what this will mean for the carbon cycle, but clearly there has to be some impact. thank you. some of the world's best video gamers are limbering up for the biggest ever e—sports tournament, taking place this weekend in new york. the winner of the fortnite world cup will pocket nearly two and a half million pounds, and asjoe tidy reports, some of the competitors are still teenagers. it's the biggest gathering ever for the biggest game ever. the inaugural fortnight world cup whittled down a0 million wannabes to less than 200 finalists. now it's time for the cream of the crop to fight for the title. some of the favourites are british, including kyle jackson, known online as mongrel.

it's a lot more serious than people think. it's not just playing a game for fun. you have to play for consecutive months a lot every day. you just don't get here through chance. another contender is 15—year—old benjy fish from middlesex. him and his team—mate have both qualified as a duo and individually, meaning they're guaranteed $100,000 each before a single shot is fired. i think it'll be a bit different when i'm on the stage because i've never been on a huge stage like that before. i've only ever played in my bedroom. but right now, i'm really confident. benjy and his parents bet big on this sport. his mum and manager, anne, decided to home—school him so he could concentrate on fortnight. certainly, when the potential of the world cup came up we knew he was going to be competing with guys that were going to be practising for ten or 12 hours a day so i wanted to give him the best opportunity. it's a sell—out here at the arthur ashe stadium, with tens of thousands of fans expected over the weekend and

potentially millions more online. it's also a big moment in the maker of fortnite's history as they can finally say they're a big player in e—sports. according to analysts, the global e—sports market will exceed the billion dollar revenue mark this year. almost all the finalists are boys under the age of 16 but some celebrities playing over the weekend include 13—year—old rising star ewok, who has made waves as the first major streamer who is deaf. fortnite's rise to this point has not been without controversy. prince harry once called for it to be banned for being too addictive. but for these players it has already changed their lives — and with the prizes on offer here, some are dreaming of even bigger things. and joe tidy is in new york for us. great to see you there, what's been going on today? them and talk today about 20,000 people have flooded through the gates here for the

pro—am, a celebrity fun day, really. the real finals kick pro—am, a celebrity fun day, really. the realfinals kick off pro—am, a celebrity fun day, really. the real finals kick off tomorrow, but that hasn't stopped the masses flocking here. they are set up a fan festival behind me, events have been going on through the morning and afternoon. you can see a zip line here, this is the classic fortnite branding, this cartoon aesthetic. people have been zipping across all day over the fountains, this is all pa rt day over the fountains, this is all part of the look and feel of fortnite. big figures involved, how much is it costing to put on? a lot of money. epic games, who make fortnite, they pledged $100 million for all their tournaments because they want to be a big player in esports. did say they wanted to put $100 million aside, but 30 million is going to be ring fenced for all the prizes inside the stadium over the prizes inside the stadium over the three days. might say how can a

free game afford this? because of characters like this, this is frozen red night this character will cost you $25. if you're a buyer who wants to play in this character's skin, you have to pay for it. there are millions of players worldwide, they all want the latest skins and gadgets, they will pay the money to do that. and you can see some players who have come out to say hello to find. i'm not sure who they are, but they seem big by the crowds they have here. a lot of these people and they play inside their bedrooms, but they are not nervous, because they play online against thousands of people each time they go thousands of people each time they 9° up thousands of people each time they go up and they have millions of followers, and they have huge audiences who watch them. as a parent, it's quite... uncomfortable watching that there is. a lot of those children are quite clearly not

18 years old, there is a lot of controversy surrounding this, and we're looking at money of £2.5 million or dollars, what sort of reaction have the people behind fortnite been saying to criticism? they will always say they only supply what is demanded of them. the audience and community absolutely love this game, it's a bigger game in the world and has been for a long time. someone industry suggested to speak now, but even then we have at least 100 million playing, even when it starts to date. rev game so started to come up, but they haven't matched the fever pitch of excitement around this. there are some concerns of these players are young, but speaking to esports stars, it is about reaction speeds, which favours young players. summer only 13, but they have an advantage over the older players. i say or do, they're only 23! but their reaction

speeds aren't as fast. just getting them in the pro leagues, getting them in the pro leagues, getting them to make as much money as possible and then get out of the game. a lot of them are being protected in some respects by these tea m protected in some respects by these team organisations that manage the players and they are also being managed by their parents, some of them, as well. you saw anne, one of them, as well. you saw anne, one of the managers of one of the stars of the managers of one of the stars of the game, she has had to learn and navigate her way around the community. she has to consider this a real profession., it took some time. one of the gamers in the press conference that his dad and taken seriously, he said, you can do for a year, if you get the same amount of money has been a year, you can do it. he got the same amount of money ina it. he got the same amount of money in a month. times they are a changing, thank you. time for the thinking now. the

heatwave is over for all of us, new data showing that during the peak on thursday, temperatures reached 38.7 celsius in cambridge university botanic garden. this is a professional recording, but forgets confirmed, it will be the uk's new highest object ever. the heatwave was unprecedented, with new temperature record set in germany, belgium, netherlands and luxembourg. looking at our weather through the nights, heavy rain will develop. becoming more expensive over scotla nd becoming more expensive over scotland and england, including areas of england and wales in times. northern ireland should be dry. temperatures down on recent times, 14 temperatures down on recent times, 1a the lows. overnight sitting much more comfortable compared to the last few days. this weekend's weather dominated by the same fronts that will be slow moving. that will cause problems with localised

flooding a possibility. starting on saturday with heavy rain around, stretching across scotland and parts of england as well on this diagonal. with this, the rain will be coming along with heavy bursts, so the amounts we get will vary from place to place, but some could see heavy and persistent rain. coffee scotland clearing up as the day goes on, and should be a decent day. the best of the sunshine, in parts of wales and south east —— south england. sunday the same weather, different day. at the same weather, different day. at the rain slips westwards but a little brighter for scotland with a mixture of sunshine and showers, and still come across south west england and wales, saying mainly dry. that is the best of the weekend weather is the best of the weekend weather is likely to be. the rainfall totals will mount over the weekend, up to 60 millimetres smack in some places,

perhaps more over the hills. so there is the threat of some localised flooding issues in some places and the risk of limited disruption out and about. into next week, a lot of unsettled weather initially, but becoming drier, sunnier and warmer later in the week. that's weather.

this is bbc news. the headlines... moves to recruit 20,000 more police officers beginning weeks as government, but is it achievable? it's ambitious and government themselves has said it is ambitious, there are real challenges and how you make all parts of the system faster and how we bring people at that kind of speed. no election before brexit, prime minister ruling out calling general election before 0ctober out calling general election before october 31. made false allegations of murder and child sexual abuse against famous people is jailed for 18 years. after record—breaking heat

yesterday, storms and hot trains and planes causing more travel disruption for