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 passengers. trouble for sports direct, as it reveals its profits have fallen, retailer says it regrets rescuing house of fraser and the problems may be terminal. reality asserts itself at lloyd's after england nightmare day yesterday, they dismissed ireland for 38 for a face—saving victory in the test match. emperor nero. coming up, i knew horrible histories and hits the big screen, find out what they had made at that and the other big releases this week in the film review at 8:16 p:m.. borisjohnson says his plan to recruit 20,000 new police officers across england and wales

will begin within weeks and be 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 processing apparatus meant at home then, because police college in the country. as forces in england and wales turned their backs on ten yea rs and wales turned their backs on ten years in austerity. it was theresa may as home secretary who implemented the cuts. but now, her successof as prime implemented the cuts. but now, her successor as prime minister outdoing in what looked like election med, has made replacing that 20,000 lost officers when of his earliest

priorities. i think it's the most fundamental investment you can make and society. reducing crime, making oui’ and society. reducing crime, making our streets safer, safer streets equals more investment equals more business and jobs and growth. it's absolutely crucial for everyone in this country. this morning, capital woke up to me as of yet another murder, a young man fatally stabbed close to the famous abbey road studios, who would then lay dying in front of his mother. i spend a sharp uptick in violent crime has put the issue of police numbers back on the agenda. —— it's been. and for its ministers to reverse a ten decline. the number of police officers pete and 2009 close to “14,000, then the number of police officers pete and 2009 close to 144,000, then fell every year until this year, 50% last. police chiefs welcomed the new recruitment as incredibly grooved ——

good news but a shortage of trainers and police stations to house the new offices, it'll be a tall order. how realistic is it to increase the number of police opposites by 20,003 yea rs ? number of police opposites by 20,003 years? if ambitious and government themselves has said so, and it's real challenges and how you make all parts of the system faster and how we bring people with that kind of speed which would be unprecedented in the last decade. provided he provides a finding for the offices we welcome it since we have been calling fred as for the past three yea rs, calling fred as for the past three years, and if we don't increase the number of police officers, have been calling for this for the past three yea rs, calling for this for the past three years, and if we don't increase the number of police officers, then the whole problem gets wet —— worse and worse. for years, conservative party insisted that fight against crime, police number is not the key factor. now the new prime minister plans to increase members 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 that 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 2000 since 2010. its chief constable, dave thompson, said tonight that extra officers were badly needed to make up that shortfall. the police budget down by a quarter, we have over 2000 last obsessive theme being sent —— biggest reduction in the country think introduction placing huge stretches on policing services. if (we want to be done we want to be we its struggles, so that news today is good. do you think is a link between reduced number of offices or decrease number of officers and increasing crime? yes, i think there are some things about how it's changing the change at the numbers,

but the type of serious areas of violence we are concerned about like drugs markets, they require practise policing services and really that's ha rd policing services and really that's hard now, so the news is welcomed and will be numbers in that fight against crime. we're going to speak to detective warren, and has been a policeman for 22 years. he joins us live now, and thank you for speaking to us. first off, your reaction to this news that there could be extra 20,000, well actually, additional or is it replacement how do you see this? i think the announcement is very welcome, obviously placing —— policing has been hollowed out to an unrecognisable sort of position, but boris has said he wants at least 20,000 opposites and post all working diligently within the next three years, while if you look at

the number of officers we are likely to lose over the next few years, we are going to lose about 20,000 through this process is actually three or design, we're only going to be wary now. this allegation has been made like when you remember his time as the mayor, he said that he was going to include extra 5000 officers and it wasn't it was more officers and it wasn't it was more ofa officers and it wasn't it was more of a replacement for a lost officers, just to get a feel for what a low number of police officers as to the community, how did it affect the forests? it had a catastrophic effect, you know, they we re catastrophic effect, you know, they were investigating homicides, where intelligence is key to resolving this kind of issues, mr thompson touched on the supply of drugs and aware of county lines, and that level of exploitation. they are not getting intelligence and we used to getting intelligence and we used to get because we are not out there

patrolling, and we are too busy trying to mop up everything because there's not enough staff to respond, so there's not enough staff to respond, so our there's not enough staff to respond, so our community intelligent dries up, you cannot progress serious investigation if you do not have grassroots intelligence and what's happening in a community. so, how has the west midlands boris have to change its way of reacting to reports of crime? it's been really difficult. you know, ithink reports of crime? it's been really difficult. you know, i think mr thompson used this and i will again today you have less officers than in 1974, when the police was formed. they welded to completely different place than 1974 we are aware of how much my serious crime there is, of historical crime, you know the population has spiralled significantly since that time. they are adding to prioritise the resources we have meaning we have to attend to serious incidents as

quickly as possible because we have to, but the long—term, the problem—solving that used to be there, has got to go on the back burner rally. and whilst, you know that 20,000 offices who are supposed to be recruited and it is welcomed, we made it look across the whole system because it's been hollowed out as well, they are struggling. magistrate courts have been closed and no police stations any more because they been sold off. we have no one to refer people to come a diversionary work, you know, 20,000 police officers isn't going to resolve all of that, the whole system needs a massive investment to try to undo the last ten years. they are saying it's going to happen quickly, it's doable. it is the government talking to people like yourselves an order to make it work because we hear about a lot of

obstacles and problems that haven't been thought through. yes, and we are going to be recruiting 20,000 extra offices but when you boil it down, and three years' time it'll be the same position we are in now, and that's assuming we can try them all, and have your reservations about that, how are we supposed to try that, how are we supposed to try that may a fast train that many police opposites when there is no trainers. where will the house then and patrolled then and placed. i do think we have to give the new administration and governance in time to sort of get itself situated. they said today he doesn't think the offices is a silver bullet to resolve anything and that's what i wa nt to resolve anything and that's what i want to hear, hoping they will start to speak to billy paul at the front end of policing to understand what we need because in addition to all the pets we have had, we've had

pretty significant political interference and what should have been, an independent role. detective, thank you forjoining us. and we'll find out how this story and many others are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:40 and 11:30 this evening in the papers our guestsjoining me tonight are michael booker, deputy editor at the daily express, and the mirror columnist, susie boniface. borisjohnson will not call a general election before the deadline. the prime minister was speaking to reporters on his visit to the web minute —— west midlands and respond to accusations from the irish prime minister, that he is deliberately deciding to put the uk on a collision course with ireland and the european union. 0ur political correspondent is there now, and remind us, what was said today?

well, the battle lines between the european union and the uk over what happens next time brexit i think i've been trying. borisjohnson very clear that the current deal to him is that, at the backstop has to come out, it is going to agree to anything else. the european union is saying no, the deal stays and no deal is going to happen and that doesn't include the irish backstop, and that's see her insurance policy to avoid a hard border in ireland, no matter what happens. that's really angering some and the irish government and we have heard from the foreign minister stop live he seems to have made a deliberate decision to set britain on a collision course with the european union and with ireland. in relation to the brexit negotiations. and i think only he can answer questions as to why he's doing that, but i think it's made clear now, from that

leader is, that the approach that the british prime ministers seems to now be taking is not going to be the basis of an agreement. so that's the irish thinking baba borisjohnson says he's not trying to provoke anybody, and he was asked about this in the west today. i want to say to out in the west today. i want to say to our irish friends and repeatedly, under no circumstances, will the uk be instituting any kind of checks at the frontier or in northern ireland, we did not want that. at the uk will be coming out of the eu on october 31 and after we cannot, of course they will be also to discussions to be had with our irish fans about how to ensure that we have continued to frictionless trade which is what we want. so many questions by the prime minister also asking questions about the general. which he said he

doesn't want, you would not call it before the deadline, but there are many around here who i looking at what's going on and looking at the cabinet he put together, the advises he's got a number ten and thinking borisjohnson is he's got a number ten and thinking boris johnson is getting he's got a number ten and thinking borisjohnson is getting general election ready. that thinking goes like this. borisjohnson tries to get a new gal from europe they say now, borisjohnson says we will be without a deal, parliament blocks hand and he goes back to the country and says it's up to you back my government or a nokia brexit are due back to another party with whatever they offer. borisjohnson insists that's not what is planning to do, i general election is not as priority, but there are many people around here who think at a distinct possibility and i would not ruling out. thank you very much. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre. they you are, ben. 38 all out,

ireland streams of winning the first test match against england left in tatters, and chatters of splintered stu m ps after a tatters, and chatters of splintered stumps after a devastating fight back. it's remarkable turnaround from a team who bowled out 85 before lunch on wednesday, joe wilson was there. extend help, that's the problem, beautiful and horrible hope, ireland were here to gate crash cricket establishment to win at lloyd's. 182 runs, that's all they needed. every one of them would be chaired on and celebrated in a way lloyd's was getting used to. trouble was, there was only 38 of them. the runs, that is. anglin recovered at their intensity while stuart slept through teens before. here, chris was the arch companion and accuracy. the ever had

conditions and pitch conditions it suited them, english builders caught everything in ireland look like a tea m everything in ireland look like a team playing their very test match ever. defended and hit it, anything, it's easy from the seats. fighting sometimes seems impossible when you're doing it. decades of development and dedication and... 38 all out. england's weld cup spirit and garrett. we have come from the unknown, never in a position where we went to weld cup and have to decide be a part of that. and then very quickly have to adjust for a test cricket. i thought we were outstanding this morning i thought we we re outstanding this morning i thought we were about the exploited conditions beautifully. this'll be a preparation and so i thought they looked ahead to the ashes, that's next week. filing, a chance to play on stays like this who knows when that'll come again they must try to

remember that help rather than the next opportunity at today. and when's lemon had no chance every grant —— regaining, but they are after their first win of the series playing the first at 320 —— three 20s tonight, they won the toss and elected to the field and they been on the receiving and yet again, the captain has been doing most of the damage, 96 not out, short time ago wait five overs remaining, 161 — two. unpredictable tour de france took another dramatic twist, stage 19 have to be stopped before the final climb after hail and snow quick storms cause flooding and landslides. it all means we have a new leader analysis well, his team—mate egan is a favourite to win the race with one meaningful stage. ben has more. tour de france 2019

didn't have enough drama already, unbelievable scenes today at stage 19, avalanche caused by heavy hail blocking the route for the writer is on the dissent from the highest point at this year's to her. that night officials were left with no choice but to abandon their race, that means big change at the top. julian, the man and the yellow jersey, i no longer has that on taking away from him by the 22—year—old colombian team. now leading this year's to her, the welshman down to third, but dramatic scenes like i say, their race today have to be cut short, writers left confused and frustrated, because they'll need conclusion. tomorrow they'll need conclusion. tomorrow the race starts here in albertville, final stage in the alps before we move on to the very last stage in paris, tour france is up more

questions than answers. this is how the general classification looks with one meaningful stage at remaining. egan now has 48 second lead over chilean, more likely to defend the second spot been going for the land, the defending champion gary thomas 28 seconds further back, tomorrow it finishes at altitude. before we go, ferrari passes and practise against the german grand prix, and his team—mates top two for that session, and his mercedes. you can find more online. more coming later. 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. poppies pinned to my chest whilst they did whatever they wanted to do. he had handed over their names in police interviews, accusing high—profile figures of forming a vip paedophile ring. beech revelled in the attention he received, 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 nineties, wrote: in service of my queen and country, i have suffered both physically and emotionally. i can honestly say, however, i was never as badly wounded in all my time in the military as i have been by the allegations. the widow of lord brittan, who had died during the investigation, wrote: in the last year of his life, he had to face, while desperately ill, a series of entirely false allegations and smears of the very worst kind. my husband's name has now been cleared, but he will never know this.

and the godson of the former prime minister, sir edward heath, said: this has done untold damage to sir edward's reputation. sir edward heath was always, as he remains, wholly and categorically innocent of these depraved and wicked accusations. danieljanner, son of another falsely accused politician, spoke for his family. the effect is hard to describe, but it's 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. he was given an 18 year time for a number of offences lying about the abuse claims that's 12 counts of providing crescentjustice, abuse claims that's 12 counts of providing crescent justice, claiming compensation 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. thejudge said he secretly filming a boy indecently. the judge said he should serve half of that 18 year term. the judge also acknowledged it was a severe sentence, but of course we heard all the terrible testimony today at the damage at this man has done and they judge it sent the message he wanted to send out was this sentence should act as a deterrent. the uk continues to bask under a heatwave. the met office have said that that a new provisional record temperature was set yesterday reaching 38.7 degrees celcius in cambridge botanic garden.

today rail and air passengers have been struggling with delays following the searing heat of yesterday. there's disruption at heathrow, gatwick and stansted airports. a number of trains between london st pancras and the north of england as well as other services have been cancelled or delayed. there are delays on the eurostar between paris and london after a power cut disrupted services. 0ur transport correspondent tom burridge reports. we saw what the hot weather did to our railways last night. it was the stormy weather after that across europe 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 around 40 flights cancelled at gatwick, more than 100 here at heathrow, it's been a testing 24 hours for those catching a plane, even though, as we have been hearing, flights are getting in and out of this, the busiest airport in europe,

and things seem to be improving. not a comfortable wait at heathrow, where some flights were cancelled and many delayed. our first flight from manchester to heathrow was delayed by three hours, so we missed our connecting flight to rio and we can't fly out to rio until tomorrow. some passengers boarded, but the stormy weather last night meant that they were taken off their flight. it's been a tricky 24 hours at many uk airports, and passengers have been left stranded. i'm still in london and i am told i can't get to 0slo today or tomorrow. since we got to naples airport last night, we have had absolutely no information, no help, no staff anywhere. hopefully after last night's escapades, which left us waiting four or five hours and then boarded the plane and were told the food was spoiled and we were not allowed on the plane. a damaged rate also caused problems for the whole uk airspace.

it meant for a few hours today, fewer landings and ta ke—offs across the country. this is the busiest weekend of the yearfor airports, airlines and railway companies, and unfortunately, thousands, tens of thousands of people, will be waking up on saturday morning hundreds, thousands of miles from where they need to be. and after the chaos on the railways yesterday, fewer trains today. rachel faced a trickyjourney. i am heading to harrogate in north yorkshire. i should have gone from sandy in bedfordshire up through york. it should have taken an hour and a half to two hours. it's going to take me, i don't know, five or six hours according to this. we would like to apologise for any inconvenience. services were cancelled in different parts of the country, but the worst disruption was 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's relatively quiet at this station. it seems after the chaos of yesterday, some people decided not to travel. some passengers made 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. tom burridge, bbc news. the new northern ireland secretary julian smith says he does not believe the uk is on a collision course with the irish government when it comes to brexit. mr smith made the comments on a visit to belfast and londonderry, and said the priority was to solve the issue of the irish backstop and to get a deal through the house of commons. he earlier met with the main political parties at stormont as he attempts to reopen talks between the dup and sinn fein in an attempt to restore power sharing at stormont.

two premier league footballers have been the victims of an attempted carjacking, by an armed gang in london. arsenal players mesut ozil and sead kolasinac were targeted last night this video from social media appears to show saed kolasinac chasing off the armed robbers. the cloud said both escaped uninjured. there have been no arrests so far.> a british computer hacker has escaped a jail term in the united states over malicious hacking charges. marcus hutchins pleaded guilty to two charges of making malicious software, or malware, and faced a maximum sentence of ten years in jail. he successfully helped to stop a major hack which affected the nhs and many other organisations around the world in 2017. moscow has warned you can working in russia they could face consequences

after the uk media regulatorfind a russia today, £200,000 for breaching impartiality rules. it was during its coverage of the poisoning of former spy and his daughter in the conflict in syria. regulators say they broadcasted setting programmes over a period of months which it failed to preserve do it —— do impartiality in response, they said that fine was inappropriate and disproportionate. 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... what's been happening because this

goes back a week, doesn't it? we have been waiting and waiting for them to put out their result, originally they expected more than a week ago, that didn't happen in then to date with 7am it didn't happen over the course of the day today they just kept over the course of the day today theyjust kept getting delayed and delayed. finally they dropped around 5pm or so, delayed. finally they dropped around 5pm orso, and delayed. finally they dropped around 5pm or so, and unsurprisingly it wasn't good news is a say profits we re wasn't good news is a say profits were down, a seniorfigure is leaving and there also was disney is that the belgian authorities are demanding a tax bill on unpaid taxes to the tune of £600 million, that's deeply concerning. then there was a statement from a quite extraordinary statement, where he sounded deeply remorsefulfor statement, where he sounded deeply remorseful for the decision to buy house of fraser, which was purchased last august and it called the problems and house of fraser described as term in an effect if he had known in hindsight maybe maybe he would have made that decision, but it all helped drive underline profits down and they were down by

6% to about £290 million. difficulties at houser frazier i sound like to be expected, i mean, we've known for some time the department store is struggling, things have changed, consumers are shopping more online, translate them how they were several years ago, so that's part of the picture and then we also read today that could be star closures as well at houser frazier all that we don't know how many. so it's not looking too great for them. now, it's not, i guess one positive is if you take out as appraiser, their own income was up 1196 appraiser, their own income was up 11% so and it's up it's doing 0k. grandpa has been quite strong over the years although its pacing issues like rising competition, shifting online, the of special export stories and so on, so on, so that death had not grappling with issues, and then there arises sort of special export stories and so on, so that death had not grappling with issues, and then there's unpaid all the time —— details but it will be

worrying for everyone in my business, so the overall not good and on top of that you had the behaviour we talked about will announce the results but then they keep saying they'll do it. it's unusual behaviour from a public company, and it doesn't and stealth investor confidence, you can see that in the share price today, the shares opened down early morning trading, they did recover the quest of the day but then close down around 4%. up i cannot thank you very much for that —— that -- 0k, that —— 0k, thank you. let's look at the weather now with chris. hello, data is available showing temperatures reaching 30% in degrees celsius, a cambridge university botanic gardens. that is not temperature recording, but if it gets confirmed, and the next two weeks, it'll become the highest temperature ever recorded in the uk. looking at the wedding picture as he

had thursday night, outbreaks of rain become more expensive and across england, scotland maybe into prince of wales as well, temperature is not as hot as recent nights, 14-17d is not as hot as recent nights, 14—17d are more comfortable night sleep i had, perhaps still on the warm side for sleeping. for the weekend at the band of rain stretching across scotland and price in england as well, it weather find will be slow—moving, amount of rain we see from place to place his will va ry we see from place to place his will vary a lot, but with 40—60 mm press on, that's getting on with the rain, the risk of localised lighting with the risk of localised lighting with the rain for some lasting into sunday, that's getting on with the rain, the risk of localised lighting with the rain for some lasting into sunday, bacher rather. this is bbc news. the headlines... moves to recruit 20,000 more police officers beginning weeks says government, but is it achievable? it is ambitious and the government

itself has said it is ambitious and there are real challenges and how you make all parts of the system faster and how we bring people and at that kind of speed. no election before brexit, prime minister ruling out calling general election before october 31st. a paedophile who made false allegations of child murder and sexual abuse against famous people has been jailed for 18 years. after record—breaking heat yesterday, storms halt trains and planes causing more travel disruption for passengers. and coming up on the programme tens of thousands of gamers gathered in new york for the world championship for it fortnite with more prize money on offer than wimbledon. let's return to our top story... borisjohnson said his plans to repeat the micro create 20,000 more

officers in england and wales of the next three years will begin within weeks. the couege college of policing who trained officer welcomed the move. but said there is a adjustable challenges, including a lack of instructors. forces in england and wales lost more than 20,000 officers between 2009 and 2017. i spoke to marion fitzgerald and asked her whether she thought the target was achievable. if he says it is achievable, it will not do anybody any good because the policing is right. you lost a lot of officers but a lot of those officers have been at supervisory grades so u nless have been at supervisory grades so unless you have good experience are —— sergeants and inspectors to monitor and to keep an eye on those new officers, they are not going to learn very much. they will lack

supervision so you have not got that already. nor do you have the infrastructure because nobody talks about is the amount of investment that you are going to need and equipment but also the infrastructure that actual processes intelligence, crime pattern analysis that can process the people they arrest to get them through and into court and including witness support and someone, unless all of that is on the inside, this is about visible policing because it is popular. but visible policing will not work u nless visible policing will not work unless you invest in the invisible staff that enables it to work on the ground and unless you have the supervisors to get them the proper degree of supervision and so on. and telling large numbers of new recruits onto the police could be a recipe for disaster unless they are prepared to fund the rest and even then there are far too many in the system to accommodate as it now as.

when you look back to a decade ago, to you as you say the headline, that we have seen over the last 24 hours, do you have confidence that the government is going to see it through because he says within three yea rs through because he says within three years and what you are describing their is a much longer timescale, before these new officers become productive. there has to be investment in the whole police system in order to be able properly to accommodate and support new officers, it is not that they did not need new officers but it is no good happy new officers unless the system is there to support them. or they will not do theirjob properly. it is cosmetic and a very expensive cosmetic exercise. 0ne it is cosmetic and a very expensive cosmetic exercise. one thing i do remember is that when numbers start to go up, tony blair absolutely insisted that police forces had to accommodate all the new officers and the new breed of pcs as who are now gone and were quite valuable. 43% of

those have been lost since 2010. tony blair insisted that forces must accommodate these new officers. i had a chief constable who told me at that time quite sensibly if he gave me the budget to get a balanced work force i need including civilian staff to do things civilians can do, to invest in supervisory grades and also accommodate new probationers, that would be fine but did not tell mei that would be fine but did not tell me i have got to accommodate all these new officers. what sort of price tag are you putting on this?” am not dead on budgets but i am telling you it has to be a properly balanced investment and what is there already and the investment in there already and the investment in the supervisory grades in the training and trainers and so on to accommodate the new officers that they need and to bring them and at a rate in which the system can then absorb them. if you want to plan that properly rather than say

numbers off the top of your head to grab headlines but if you're going to do it with this, it will not help anyone but it might help with coming up anyone but it might help with coming up to the election. marion fitzgerald speaking to me earlier. wildfires are ravaging the architect, with large areas engulfed in flames. 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 actually be seen from space. earlier i spoke to mark, the senior scientist at the copernicus atmosphere monitoring service and he told me about the link between the fires and climate change. it seems in the case of the fires we have been monitoring the last six weeks orso, been monitoring the last six weeks or so, there is definitely occurring because of the higher temperature is as you've said and we also run

copernicus climate monitoring service and if we look at the climate anomalies but last month, temperature was much higher than average and things like the soil moisture and precipitation is much lower than average wet this means is thatis lower than average wet this means is that is much drier and warmer so when there is an ignition fires have been able to process and spread quite quickly and in the six weeks that we are monitoring them. they are still burning, the usual wildfire season can last right up until october so can you see this continuing or are there efforts to try to control them? that is right, for the northern hemisphere, the forest, the wildfire season exists from april in some cases three to october and if the conditions arise then buyers can really keep going and there is now, the fires in the siberian are taken are occurring in

a remote part of the world said there is little infrastructure or resources for actually fighting them and in some other places like alaska, the fires have been occurring closer to population centres particularly near fairbanks over the last couple of weeks so then there is a bit more impetus for fighting and extinguishing the fires but generally if they don't, they are but generally if they don't, they a re left but generally if they don't, they are left to burn and there is no rain coming, potentially they could last for another few weeks. we can see the pictures here and there's fires are raging. the fact that they can be seen from space, it does raise the question what that smoke is doing to air quality and also i presume a lot more carbon dioxide being released. fresh air, vegetation fires release a lot of polluta nts vegetation fires release a lot of pollutants and carbon dioxide and they release particulate matter and things that can get into the atmosphere and cause things like

ozone which is a major air—quality gas as well as the usual rules try to scare that we hear about. said this is really serious air—quality implications local to the fires and also the smell can last in the atmosphere for several weeks and so we can be transported thousands of kilometres and affects air—quality and place is a long way down when from where the fires are actually burning. how worried are you about the damage this is doing because like we said is described as unprecedented this year, what long—term damage are you concerned about for the ecosystem and really where you see where it is all the attention at the moment is at the arctic and what is going on there. it is concerning because they are happening exactly as you say in the arctic and we monitor fires year on year and arctic and we monitor fires year on yearandi arctic and we monitor fires year on year and i have been doing this for four or five years and always

focusing on the higher latitudes so it is not a surprise he would see some fire detections in the arctic circle in the summer months but to see them with such a concentration in sucha see them with such a concentration in such a long term activity, it is concerning because it is very far from, it is a very remote region and it is not pristine, the long—term damage in the direct climate impacts and enhancing the melting of sea ice and enhancing the melting of sea ice and also the surface will be altered and also the surface will be altered and also the ecosystem and the carbon cycle itself. we do not really know what this means for the carbon cycle. but clearly there has to be some impact. now then, video game tournaments are pretty big business. 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 £2.5 million. among the contestants are british teenage hopefuls. genotyping has more. it's the biggest gathering ever for the biggest game ever. the inaugural fortnite world cup whittled down 40 million wannabes to less than 200 finalists. now it's time for the cream of the crop to fight for the titles. 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 don'tjust 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 fortnite. 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 10 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's 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