this is bbc news. the headlines at 2:00pm. prime minister borisjohnson pledges to fund a new high—speed rail route between manchester and leeds. it's time we put some real substance into the idea of the northern powerhouse rail. that's why we're here this morning. we want to inject some pace into this so that we can unlock jobs and boost growth. president trump praises borisjohnson — and says talks on what he calls a "very substantial" us—uk trade deal are under way. the uk's biggest charitable funder of scientific research, the wellcome trust, says a no—deal brexit threatens the uk science industry. riot police fire tear gas at protesters in hong kong after tens of thousands march through the town where gangs attacked pro—democracy activists last weekend. gareth bale looks set to leave real madrid to join chinese

club jiangsu suning, reportedly earning the player £1 millon a week. and coming up, hard drive talks to katherine legge about blazing a trail with her first all female motorsport team. good afternoon. welcome to bbc news. the prime minister has pledged to fund a new high—speed rail route between leeds and manchester. borisjohnson says it will "turbo—charge the economy". it is thought the new route is part of the government's wider investment commitment to the north of england, set to cost around £39 billion. but labour have cast doubt on the plan, saying mrjohnson failed to deliver on infrastructure when he was mayor of london. tom barton reports.

in manchester, they're expanding the tram network, spending millions on improving public transport. but the new prime minister says he wants to go further, promising to build a fast railway line between this city and leeds, 35 miles away. i want to be the prime minister who does with northern powerhouse rail what we did for crossrail in london, and today, i'm going to deliver on my commitment to that vision with a pledge to fund the leeds to manchester route. but while local leaders have welcomed that promise, the chief executive for transport for the north told the prime minister that the proposed line doesn't go nearly far enough. we want to have liverpool, sheffield, hull and newcastle all getting the benefit, as well as leeds and manchester. well, there you go, barry, 39 billion, a number to conjure with, i dare say.

but you're absolutely right, barry, and you're writing your aspiration and we support that. labour says today's announcement is just reheated promises, pointing out that improvements to northern rail services have been on the table for years. jeremy corbyn, though, said he would go much further. when the government set up its powerhouse for the north, they had an office in whitehall to administer it. we are moving the treasury to the north, we're moving an awful lot to the north, in order to ensure that that fairness of national investment begins to be a reality. both leaders are promising that they are the man to rebalance the british economy, as they target northern voters ahead of a possible election later this year. tom barton, bbc news. well, our correspondent judith moritz was at boris johnson's speech. he talked about there being a hopelessness in many northern towns,

but was quick then to say that is not the fault of the people living there but of politicians who have failed them time and time again. he said he wanted to put that right. how were those remarks met by people who live and work here? henry morrison is with me, director of the northern powerhouse partnership. henry, your partnership was established by george osborne, five years ago the northern powerhouse and these announcements around rail were being made. one criticism was that not a lot has happened since, do you take confidence with what borisjohnson has said today? the reality is that andy burnham who was in that audience, along with ben houchen the conservative mayor of the tees valley, those jobs were created because of the northern powerhouse, the idea of sending power back to the northern cities. but in the last three years and theresa may's government, the progress could be described as lacklustre at best. in the first week of his new premiership, borisjohnson has sent a very clear message that he wants a decentralise power, but is also committed to the george osborne legacy.

in this building five years ago, we were promised a rail line between leeds and manchester. we now have a commitment on the table, a line through leeds and onto manchester as well as a network across the north, but actually the first step, the manchester part, will be funded — which i think is a good step forward. the crucial thing may well prove to be the network across the north. a lot is being made about links between leeds and manchester, but you yourself asked the question about towns and cities like bradford. is this really going to cover everywhere around the north of england? on that new line, there is a proposal for a city centre station in bradford. that is what businesses in the north are in favour of. you also have the case to build a new line out of manchester, to serve both traffic north and south, but also east and west through manchester airport and onto liverpool. which would give access to people in yorkshire where i live to manchester airport more easily, which is an equivalent to heathrow, a heathrow of the north. you could make a very strong economic case

for that whole network, and i believe borisjohnson has indicated the most expensive part, which is building a new line across the pennines, is in our grasp and the government's prepared to fund it. a lot of the other upgrades, for instance improving the track between newcastle and york, york and leeds, some of that could be done a lot sooner, actually. so i think we're going to see this big commitment, that new line which we want to see, and improvement of the line and the relationship between manchester and leeds to bring those cities closer together, is one set closer today. but that isn't any use if it doesn't come with a network that also includes places like liverpool, hull, newcastle. and what boris johnson said in the questions was that the government, as it was under theresa may was looking at that, but we were previously waiting a long time to get a decision on northern powerhouse rail. by accelerating that decision, that is what businesspeople want to see and we will be making a decision in the autumn rather than dragging this out. i think particularly if there is no question that we need improvements between leeds and manchester, that means we can debate the detail, which is, for instance, making sure bradford gets real

benefits, making sure that places like sheffield really benefit. what about the cost of this, though? it all sounds optimistic, there were people in the room saying you need to plan for a no—deal brexit. realistically, can he pay for it? the thing about infrastructure is in the uk we historically under—invested, and the labour party were here in the north yesterday and make exactly the same case that compared to the oecd, we spend far too little on infrastructure in this country. the reality is northern powerhouse rail is already in the infrastructure commission plan, alongside hs2. and within 1.2% of our gross domestic products, which is the current target what we should spend on infrastructure, we can afford all of those projects with ease. i think what borisjohnson is saying is that he has committed personally to not getting in the way of those projects. but we as northern leaders, business leaders, our mayors and civic leaders across the pennines, need to get into the detail of it now, make sure that our plan is accepted by government and make

sure that we get it built — because it is notjust enough to talk about infrastructure, you have to deliver it. i think that today what we have got is very much the backing of the prime minister, but it's for us to lead this and we should be driving forward with it. because if we have leaders and powers, we can do much more for ourselves because we don't always want to rely on the support of prime ministers. we want to be permanently in control of our own destiny and notjust for the next months, and i think that is the battle, to permanently transfer power to the north of england and that will genuinely fulfil the mission that the northern powerhouse missiong that george osborne started in this very building building five years ago. thank you much, henry. as henry was saying, the devil will be in the detail, broadbrush announcements have been welcomed across the spectrum. the labour mayor of greater

manchester andy burnham has said that to him it feels as though the north of england has been put further up the agenda than it has been before. that has been welcomed. but people are saying we want to see the detail of how this will play out and want to see it moving along as quickly as possible. us president donald trump has said talks are under way to agree what he says will be a "very substa ntial" trade deal with the uk after brexit. speaking after a phone call with the new prime minister yesterday, the president said borisjohnson would do a greatjob. boris and i just spoke. i congratulated him and he's all set to go. he's gonna be — i think he'll be — do a greatjob. we're working already on a trade agreement. and i think it will be a very substantial trade agreement. you know, we can do with the uk — we can do three to four times — we were actually impeded by their relationship with the european union. we were very much impeded on trade.

let's talk to drjennifer cassidy, a former diplomatic attache at the eu and un and now a lecturer in politics at oxford university. she's in faro in portugal. thank you forjoining us. let me ask you about the straightforward tone of the president's remarks. typical trump in many ways, confident, no obstacles stand in my way, a trade deal can be done very simply and a big one at that, one might even expand the amount of trade between the uk in the us. what's your reading of that and the prospects of getting a deal quickly? well, in summation, what i say regarding anything, any statement president trump comes outwith, i say disappointed but not surprised. so, as we heard from the clip, regarding

his remarks on the uk us trade deal, there is nothing new regarding his lack of substance, his lack of detail and his terrifyingly optimistic or indeed if it's just a strategic use of a narrative to say three orfour times, six strategic use of a narrative to say three or four times, six times trade is going to increase. there is absolutely no detail and we are seeing the same with the prime minister in the uk. what the experts are saying regardless of what party they are aligned with, this isn't going to happen for tiny issues, negotiation issues, bureaucratic issues. it's worrying to hear these narratives without any counter factual evidence. downing street is delighted and says the two men when they spoke yesterday, agreed it would be an opportunity that no longer being part of the eu would give more flexibility for the uk to

reach a trade deal with the us. what might be the sorts of obstacles that might be the sorts of obstacles that mightarise? might be the sorts of obstacles that might arise? of course, and we seen ita might arise? of course, and we seen it a few days ago, with the speaker of the house, the democratic speaker of the house, the democratic speaker of the house nancy pelosi giving another interview to the irish times. she paid a visit to ireland a couple of months ago, visiting the north and the south. regarding the border. so, she unequivocally said, if the uk reject the backstop, in other words if the uk leaves on the 3ist other words if the uk leaves on the 31st of october without a deal, thereby rejecting the backstop, de fa cto, thereby rejecting the backstop, de facto, there will be no trade deal given to the us and the uk. so the house of representatives has a formal role in trade policy? the president presumably can't go ahead without any deal having to be ratified. precisely. that's why, as

isaid, ratified. precisely. that's why, as i said, it's worrying that these narratives of extreme optimism that can be so easily bought into in a time of such fear and uncertainty. many people, but they aren't being counted. she noted again and again that for a trade deal to be passed in congress, it doesn't matter whether it is a trade deal with a partner that has a special historic relationship. it's very, very hard to get a trade deal passed in congress. i did say hard because of opposition but simply timing, bureaucratic, negotiation rules. my cell being involved in negotiations, diplomacy and politics is an institution of protocol and bureaucracy. this isn't going to be instantaneous and i think that's something we need to keep. philip hammond said this a number of weeks ago that we can not have the narrative that it is going to be as

quick and easy and negotiation simply won't exist and the trade deal will magically appear. that's not the reality. thank you. britain's thriving science sector would be put at risk by a no deal brexit. that's the warning from the head of the wellcome trust, the uk's biggest charitable funder of scientific research. the trust spends around £1 billion a year supporting research, most of it in the uk. katy austin has more. yasmin is a scientist from germany, researching sex chromosomes at the francis crick institute in london. she's not sure whether to stay in the uk, though, because the country's leaving the eu. my feeling is that over the next 10, 20 years, if brexit actually happens, especially if it happens without a deal, which seems likely now, that uk science is on a decline, with regards to, yeah, funding opportunities, positions that are available,

attractiveness of living here. you could see this place as a symbol of britain's status as a science superpower — europe's largest biomedical research facility under one roof, with 1200 researchers working here from across the globe. the director here warns continued success relies on collaboration that he says is incompatible with a no deal brexit and notjust because millions of pounds in funding would be at risk. it's our reputation, it's being able to attract people. it's making them feel comfortable here. all of this is injeopardy if we are turning our back on europe and saying, "we don't really care about you." and what it will mean is, is we have to follow the rules and regulations that we've had no role or impact on in setting up ourselves. so, in fact, we lose power, we lose freedom, rather than gaining it. now britain's biggest science charity has written to the prime minister,

praising his vision for a thriving science sector but describing no deal as a threat. we're already a science superpower, but there are some clouds on the horizon, which if we don't banish them, could erode that position. what we are anxious about is that the science that is done here goes on being excellent, and to do that it requires both more investment and support from the government, it also requires an immigration policy that welcomes to this country the best researchers in the world, and their families. in a statement, number 10 said the prime minister is committed to supporting the uk science sector, to take full advantage of opportunities outside of the eu, so it can offer the best environment for cutting—edge research and the best global talent. katy austin, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news: prime minister boris johnson pledges to fund a new high—speed rail route between manchester and leeds. president trump

praises borisjohnson and says talks on what he calls a very substantial us—uk trade deal are under way. the uk's biggest charitable funder of scientific research, the wellcome trust, says a no deal brexit threatens the science industry. police in hong kong have fired tear gas at an unauthorised protest involving thousands of demonstrators. the march was in response to attacks on pro—democracy activists by armed men last week. protests began seven weeks ago against a planned extradition law. let's take a look at the scenes of that protest in hong kong. there is a further stand—off with protesters. tear gas was fired earlier in the course of proceedings, but despite the ban on demonstrations and gatherings, a large numberof demonstrations and gatherings, a large number of people have gathered

in the area, and crowd mass action has been threatened, none of which has been threatened, none of which has materialised, but they have been clashes between protesters and the police. our correspondent is there. this was sparked in part by the attem pts this was sparked in part by the attempts last weekend, which we saw last sunday, and you were reporting on, by these gangs in white shirts, attacking some of the anti—government protesters. have we learnt more in the course of the week about who these people were? yes, certainly some of those white shirted gang members, the police have said that at least some of them we re have said that at least some of them were triad members. today's protest is an illegal gathering, and these people are taking part in it. many tens of thousands of people have taken part and this is the front—line of what is left of the protest. they say they want an enquiry, they want to know why the police took so long to get to that train station behind me. there is an

escalator going up there. that is where the attacks took place last week, so they have returned to the scene of the crime, if we can put it that way, despite the fact the police told them not to come here today. there is lots of anger because those triad gangs attacked protesters, they were waiting there when they came home. where the given information to know when the protesters would arrive? ordinary hong kong citizens were caught up on that. this call, they are actually saying to move back, and this could bea sign saying to move back, and this could be a sign that they are starting to leave the area. before we go too far, i will bring it around so you can see where they are retreating from. at the end of the street, with the lights, that is where the riot police are. you can see their shields. they came in pretty hard today, firing tear gas, rubber bullets, moving with their shields

and batons. they also were met with projectiles, rocks, poles, bricks, the protesters were throwing the tear gas back at the riot police. every weekend, the clashes are becoming more and more violent, yet there is no sign to the end of the political crisis in hong kong. the movement wants more than it did before rather than less. it has changed from a movement wanting an end to this unpopular extradition bill, allowing extradition to mainland chinese courts, controlled by the communist party, into a broader defence of the freedoms in hong kong and the call for genuine democracy here. is there any indication that the patience of the authorities is running out? the protesters have become more confrontational and more critical of the authorities. carrie lam says the extradition bill is of the agenda for now but it has not necessarily gone away. is there any sign that they might want to crack

down on the protest? well, they are trying. the problem is the protesters are becoming bolder —— more emboldened. there is more riot police, they are using rubber bullets and i suppose they could escalate to water cannons or things like that. the nuclear option, if you like, would be for the people's liberation army to be brought onto the streets to take back control of hong kong, but at the moment, it is not stopping. every week we are seeing protest, we are in the eighth week of this crisis, another protesters plan tomorrow, and it always seems to start off with a peaceful march, and in the end, the protesters are really taking it to the authorities and they are not afraid to fight against them, even though they are getting arrested, people are getting injured, they are being hit with tear gas canisters, rubber bullets, they risk arrest and imprisonment.

imagine throwing bricks at the police and things like that. if you are assaulting a police officer, it isa are assaulting a police officer, it is a serious crime. despite all of that, the protest movement does not seem to be losing any wind, in fact, quite the opposite. you will keep us up—to—date with that. i am you will keep us up—to—date with that. iam moving back you will keep us up—to—date with that. i am moving back towards the train station. thanks very much. stephen mcdonnell will keep us up—to—date with developments through the course of the evening. breaking news which we have just got. it is about the former labour mp, now the independent labour mp for sheffield hallam. jared o'mara. you may recall he has been under pressure for some time. that partly came as a result of some tweets from earlier in his career, before he became an mp. he became an mp at the last election. he has had a difficult couple of years at westminster. he has issued a

statement this afternoon. earlier in the week, one of his prize advisers took to the mp's twitter account to resign publicly and denounce him as an mp. jared o'mara has put out a statement through his own phone. it says, iam not statement through his own phone. it says, i am not well and statement through his own phone. it says, iam not welland i'm in the process of receiving medical help. please let everyone be assured that i will be tendering my resignation through official parliamentary procedure as soon as the new term starts. i am procedure as soon as the new term starts. iam not procedure as soon as the new term starts. i am not in any fit state to continue. i reiterate my apologies to my constituents, the people of sheffield and the people of the uk. he is referring to a procedure which is called an office of profit under the crown. legally, anyone who takes up the crown. legally, anyone who takes up such an office, and there are a couple which are always available, the manner of not state and i cannot remember the expression but it is to do with the chiltern hundreds. it is

the steward of the manner of north stand. those jobs are the steward of the manner of north stand. thosejobs are in the steward of the manner of north stand. those jobs are in the gift of the chancellor of the exchequer. jared o'mara will apply for whichever one of those is currently va ca nt whichever one of those is currently vacant and that will allow a by—election to be held in sheffield hallam. he will automatically be disqualified when he takes up one of those jobs from sitting as a member of parliament, because he will be receiving money from the crown and could not be a representative of the people and in paid service of the crime. that is the idea for it, worth looking up on the parliamentary website if you want details. a whole list of people who have claimed both jobs. details. a whole list of people who have claimed bothjobs. he will apply for one of those and be granted it and that will end his parliamentary career. jared o'mara, originally elected as the sheffield hallam mp for the labour party, now sits as an independent. he will resign presumably when parliament returns in the autumn. it will be for the party that won the seat to determine when the by—election is to

be held. we have one by—election pending on thursday, in a conservative held seats. if boris johnson loses that's it, his existing majority of three falls to one. police in russia have detained more than 300 demonstrators who gathered in moscow to demand free and fair local elections. thousands of people attended the protest which was called for by the jailed opposition leader alexei navalny to pressure authorities into allowing opposition candidates to run in a local vote in moscow, which they are currently barred from. more than 700 passengers have been rescued from an express train trapped by torrential rains near the indian city of mumbai. helicopters, boats and diving teams were deployed after the train became stranded close to the town of vangani. passengers were told to remain on board, but were left without food or waterfor 15 hours. rail passengers between london st pancras and nottingham and sheffield have been urged not to travel as disruption caused by hot weather enters a third day, and train conductors go on strike.

the extreme heat earlier in the week damaged overhead line equipment, causing long delays. it sagged. train companies have told customers to expect a reduced service until monday. sports direct says it regrets rescuing house of fraser and has warned that there will be more store closures. sports direct boss mike ashley said the problems at the department store were "nothing short of terminal." andy moore reports. for house of fraser staff worried about their future, there's little reason for optimism in this set of results. the chain of stores employed around 17,000 people when mike ashley rescued it last year, and saved 31 of its 59 stores from closure. a handful of shutdowns since, but now there's the prospect of more closures to come. the smaller stores are especially at risk. mike ashley said about the house of fraser buyout:

mr ashley said some stores were still losing money, even though their rent had been cut to nothing. sports direct results were due to be published 11 days ago, but they were delayed time and time again. the reason for that now appears to be this huge £605 million tax bill demanded by the belgian authorities. the company believes it's unlikely it will actually have to pay that full amount. and there's also been a loss of £55 million at house of fraser since that company was taken over. mike ashley said, with the gift of hindsight, he might have made a different decision about stepping to rescue the chain. andy moore, bbc news. a charity says it has "serious concerns" over loopholes in the direct debit system. action on elder abuse says direct debit bank transfers are open to abuse by fraudsters,

with the elderly and vulnerable most at risk. radio four‘s money box programme has been investigating the issue. it was discovered through a lady who came to money box and she said that after her mother died, a couple of years ago, she looked at her bank statements and discovered she was paying very large amounts of money, £600 a month in some cases, to a mobile phone company, to vodafone, and obviously this was not her phone. the total paid was around £14,000 over the space of four yea rs. and when she complained about this to her bank, lloyds, lloyd said that they thought the direct debit had been legitimately set up. now lloyds did not know about the lady's dementia which she had before that, but they rejected sue's complaint on the grounds this

was legitimately set up and when we enquired into it, it turned out that when a direct debit is initially set up, a lot of checks are done, who you are, what your income is, what your credit record is and so on but after that, you can say to the supplier, vodafone in this case, by the way, can you now send that bill to another bank account, move the direct debit to another bank account and at that stage, it seems no further checks are made, except just to confirm the bank account exists, so this is the loophole that this case has identified, and action on elder abuse is now very concerned about. that is paul lewis from money box. the programme is on the iplayer. the summer heatwave has broken records across the world, and not even the arctic has escaped the dramatic rise in temperatures. there have been hundreds of wildfires within forests in the arctic circle, including siberia, alaska and greenland. plumes of smoke from the fires can be seen from space. ramzan karmali has more. wildfires are ravaging the arctic. areas of northern siberia, northern scandinavia and greenland have been engulfed in flames. lightning often triggers fires in the region but this year,

they are lasting longer. this fire at grouse creek in alaska has been burning since the 10th ofjuly. so far, over two million acres of forest land have been scorched in the state. the temperature was much higher than the average, and also things like the soil moisture and the amount of precipitation is much lower than the average. what this means is it's much drier, much warmer, so when there is an ignition, then the fires have been able to persist and spread quite quickly, and endure. arctic fires are common between may and october but higher temperatures, blamed on climate change, have meant the fires this year have been more intense. global satellites are now tracking a swathe of new and ongoing wildfires within the arctic circle. smoke is affecting large areas, engulfing some places completely. cities in eastern russia have noted a significant fall in air quality, with many people seeking medical help. translation: smoke is a horror. you're choking and feel dizzy because the smell of the smoke