this is bbc news. the headlines at 7pm... prime minister borisjohnson pledges to fund a new high—speed rail route between manchester and leeds. it is time we put some real substance into the idea of northern powerhouse rail which is why we are here this morning. we want to inject some pace so we can here this morning. we want to inject some pace so we can unlockjobs 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 mp for sheffield hallam, jared 0 mara, says he is to resign as a member of parliament — to deal with personal issues. 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. and coming up at 7.30, sportsday takes a closer look at egan bernal, who is poised to become the first colombian to win the tour de france after finishing today's penultimate stage in the yellowjersey. good evening. borisjohnson has pledged to fund a new high—speed rail link between leeds and manchester, that he says will "turbo—charge the economy". he was speaking on a visit to the north west, with the full details of his proposals, to be published in the autumn. but labour says the plans are a rehash of past failed promises from the conservatives. here's our chief political

correspondent, vicki young. taking his first steps as prime minister, boris johnson is promising a bright, optimistic future. but he's not the first conservative to come to manchester offering more investment for the north of england. at the science and industry museum mrjohnson said action was needed to combat the hopelessness felt by those living in some northern towns. it isn't really the fault of the places and certainly isn't the fault of the people growing up there. they haven't failed, it's we, us, the politicians, our politics, that have failed them. and our plan now in this new government that i lead is to unite our country and to level up. he announced a 5.6 billion fund to improve transport and broadband in 100 towns and committed to a new, fast rail link between manchester and leeds.

as far as i'm concerned that is just the beginning of our commitments and our investments. we want to see this whole thing done. many of the people sitting here have heard warm words about the northern powerhouse for five years. and have had really absolutely no progress whatsoever. are you really going to have the money for all these other pledges that you have made? so the answer to that is yes. and i think the answer to the point about the northern powerhouse, i really do want to help deliver it, i think it is a fantastic idea, it's a fantastic project and its time has come. there is a lot more to do, this is a down payment from the current prime minister, but it is a lot more than we saw from theresa may who frankly, was disappointing on this agenda. i think today has been a massive step forward and we should be celebrating that. but keeping the pressure on governmentjust to make sure that commitment is anchored and delivered on. but commuters here are demanding more than one new rail line. it costs £4 here for a single bus journey. £1.50 in london. how can that be right? so when it comes to funding, we need the same kind of subsidy

that london has had for decades. borisjohnson says the investment will open up new opportunities and turbo—charge the economy. it's all good. yes, all good as long as it happens! at least he is positive, which makes a change. that is what i would say, positive. he's very positive and that's what we need. what they promise and what they deliver is always completely different. and i have no faith in borisjohnson as prime minister. absolutely anything he can do to make life better for people is good. whether he can deliver or not, we will wait and see. drawing up a to—do list is the easy part. making it happen is the real challenge. vicki young reporting there. with me is our political correspondent, jonathan blake. the challenge is making it happen and where does he think he can do this where other administrations failed? people have to take his word for it but it is a commitment and

pledge to him to find this one part ofa pledge to him to find this one part of a bigger overall project to improve railings to the south and north of england and in between cities in the north of england at but the details of how much it will cost and where that money will come friendly do not know at this stage and downing street say that the plan will be fleshed out in the autumn but this is the kind of promised at this stage and downing street say that the plan will be fleshed out in the autumn but this is the kind of promise that boycejohnson wants and dominated by his do or die pledge to deliver brexit by the end of 0ctober, it may with or without a deal and it is clearly has time and number ten wants to put the focus on bread and butter issues eye—catching he hopes vote winning pledges like the 20,000 extra police officers like this one in terms of rail being to the north of england and it feels very much like he is on campaign fighting and although he and downing street deny they want an election

before the end of october or before 2022, the view of many people in westminster is that it may well be the voicejohnson‘s westminster is that it may well be the voice johnson's hand westminster is that it may well be the voicejohnson‘s hand forests and end up having to mandate the majority of parliament. many thanks indeed. and, borisjohnson has been continuing to make a number of junior ministerial appointments. the former london mayoral candidate zac goldsmith has been made an environment minister. while, long—term borisjohnson supporter nadine dorries will become a minister at the department of health. simon clarke has been appointed a junior treasury minister. and, james duddridge become a brexit minister. the independent mp, jared 0'mara, says he'll resign, when parliament returns in september. he was elected as the labour mp for sheffield hallam in 2017, but quit the party last year, after being suspended for alleged misogynistic and homophobic comments online. he announced earlier this week he'd be taking time out,

after being accused by a former aide, of "not caring about his constituents. " 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 a billion pounds a year supporting research — most of it in the uk. katy austin has more. jasimin 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. and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:30 and 11:30 this evening in the papers. our guests joining me tonight are katherine forster, reporter at the sunday times and the home editor at the london

evening standard, martin bentham. riot police in hong kong have fired tear gas at protestors, taking part in an unauthorised demonstration. thousands had gathered, but after police warnings a small group refused to disperse, throwing bricks and stones, in the northern district of yuen long. the march was in condemnation of an attack on pro—democracy protestors last weekend, by masked men. 0ur asia correspondent nick beake reports. tear gas, rubber bullets, and anger filled the stifling summer air. welcome to another weekend in hong kong. this is now the rhythm of life. you find a police force trying to contain an eighth consecutive week of demonstrations. and these are the protesters who won't back down — tens of thousands of them. "shame on you," they shout, towards officers they say failed to protect them last weekend here in a town near the chinese border.

men in white, suspected to be triad gang members, had attacked pro—democracy activists at a metro station, sending more than a0 to hospital. hong kong police had tried to ban today's march. it didn't work. and once again, as night fell, ha rd—core protesters faced off against them. the police have now lost patience and have asked the demonstrators to leave this area, and they haven't. they've already fired tear gas, so street by street, they're coming through and clearing the way. repairing public confidence will be an even harder task. i'm very angry because the police are supposed to protect the people in hong kong — the hong kong people, they're supposed to protect us. but instead, they don't — they stepped back when the triad attacked people. the police used too much force and violence against the protesters and the citizens. so we are here to demonstrate.

tonight, a show of force to restore order — for now, at least. the protesters say they'll be back on the streets tomorrow. nick beake, bbc news, hong kong. police in russia have detained more than 500 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. police in northern ireland say they believed dissident republicans tried to murder officers with a ‘viable device' in county armagh last night. according to the authorities a loud bang was heard on tully—gally road in craigavon at about midnight on friday where a device was later recovered. police said they believe the attack was set up to target officers

responding to a call from the public. officials from russia, india and the philippines have met with crew members of the stena imperio tanker. the british—flagged tanker was siezed by iran's revolutionary guard last week. the officials from the crew's home countries report that the sailors are in good health, and work continues to secure their release along with the vessel. over 1000 passengers have been ferried to safety from an express train trapped by torrential rains near the indian city of mumbai. helicopters, boats and diving teams were deployed by the authorities after the train was stranded on friday night close to the town of vangani. heavy rains have battered mumbai and the state of maharashtra. yogita limaye reports. stuck in a flood, a train with 20 coaches, carrying hundreds of

passengers. a river near the tracks ove rflowed passengers. a river near the tracks overflowed because of several hours of heavy rainfall. it meant that the express could go no further. people we re express could go no further. people were stuck on board for nearly 15 hours. they had run out of food and drinking water. then, a massive rescue effort was launched, boats it's worse and and and dozens of rescuers. slowly, they brought eve ryo ne rescuers. slowly, they brought everyone out to safety. nine pregnant women are reported to be among those evacuated. helicopters had also been put on standby. mum buy and the area surrounding and have seen intense rainfall since friday, as have other parts of the country. this is video in western indiana. in the country's northeast is also facing floods and hundreds have already lost their lives this year and weeks of rainfall and in

many regions more bad weather is predicted. the headlines on bbc news... prime minister borisjohnson 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 mp for sheffield hallam, jared 0 mara, says he is to resign as a member of parliament — to deal with personal issues. injust under a year, athletes from around the world will this plan, —— send on japan for the tokyo 0lympics. the baseball competition will be held in the city of fukushima, where a nuclear accident occurred in 2011. it was the world's second biggest

nuclear disaster, after chernobyl. the decision to host the sport there has attracted controversy, as david mcdaid has been finding out. translation: this is my home. i can never go back there. these photographs are all mr kumagami has to remind him of the house he lived in for a0 years. like 160,000 others, he was evacuated in 2011 when the great east japan earthquake devastated parts of fukushima prefecture. 19,000 people lost their lives and the radiation that spread when the daiichi nuclear plant exploded sealed off whole towns, including mr kumagami's. now he has a new home, but his family in tokyo don't visit any more. i've lived here for eight years now, but they've not come to see me once. i ask him why. they're afraid of the radiation. it makes me quite sad. in a region damaged and tarnished by that radioactive association, sport is trying to help. the fukushima red hopes baseball team is run by a former

american major leaguer with no prior link to the area. translation: after the disaster, i felt a lot of sympathy for people trying to get on with life and i thought "is there anything i can do?" so i thought we could bring a smile to peoples' faces through baseball. and when they come to the games, we can help them forget about any stress they have. and even though it's 300km from the capital, the organisers of the tokyo 0lympics have also seen an opportunity by staging baseball and softball here. translation: we want to use the olympics being staged in order to demonstrate how far fukushima has come since the disaster. we want people to see that fukushima is an appealing place to visit. this is the azuma stadium just outside fukushima city, where they're getting ready to host seven olympic baseball and softball matches next summer. butjust about 50 miles in that direction lies the damaged

daiichi nuclear power plant and exclusion zone. and so, the question of personal safety does remain for many prospective visitors. this is azuma stadium in fukushima city. here at safecast, they've monitored radiation levels since 2011. places where the olympic events are going to be held, like azuma stadium and fukushima city, the radiation levels are pretty much normal. it's not very different to tokyo, or — and even lower than a lot european cities or other parts of the world — so in that sense, people should feel confident that it's ok to be there. with such assurances in mind, mr kumagami hopes the games can have a positive impact. i think if people from lots of different countries come to fukushima and enjoy themselves, then it could be really helpful for our recovery process. and if outside perceptions can change, perhaps those closer to home might, too. david mcdaid, bbc news, fukushima. the use of electric scooters has become increasingly popular in many european cities and in the us. they're now available

for hire in more than 100 cities across the world. but after the recent deaths of riders in london and paris, how safe are they? tom edwards has been investigating. rush hour in islington and a handful of e—scooter riders are getting stopped by police. here, they're getting a warning, but officers have given out fines. for riders like david, who bought his electric scooter last week, it's frustrating. i think it's really hard because they are such a good vehicle for the city. they're reducing congestion, they're reducing pollution. you really want to be able to have something like this to use. i think because the law is old, it is, it's a bit of a grey area, it's just falling between two stools. i think we really need to resolve it because this is the thing you want to have in the city rather than all this traffic. e—scooter safety hit the headlines after the death of the presenter emily hartridge here in battersea three weeks ago.

even though they are illegal on public roads and pavements, thousands are used every day in the capital. it's really important that we just make sure that people do understand that it is illegal now, that there are risks associated with using e—scooters in public, they are not intended for the roads or the pavements. so we will educate the public and where we need to, we will take enforcement action. their supporters say they are cheap, convenient, and have no emissions. and transport for london want new laws introduced quickly to help regulate them. let's keep the pavements clear. let's put specifications around the scooters, if they're going to be allowed, to mean that they're safe, for example, limited on the speeds. but also, let's have an ability to prevent clutter, so they can't just be left everywhere, particularly on a rental scheme. the met says around 100 riders have been stopped this week. other countries have regulated e—scooters.

the government says it's reviewing their use, but for many, that's taking too long. tom edwards, bbc news, london. music therapy can be used to relieve stress and treat depression, and can also help dementia patients deal with their memory loss. and, as any specialist will tell you, the best sessions are when the therapist and patient are on the same wavelength. now researchers in cambridge have shown that music can help to synchronise our brains. here's our science correspondent richard westcott. this is a real music therapy session. but with a significant difference. patient and therapist are having their brains monitored while they talk and listen to the music. it's an experiment by scientists at anglia ruskin university in cambridge and, for the first time, it's physically shown what therapists have felt for years.

what we can see here in purple is the line of the patient and here the line of the therapist. when a session is going well, the brain of the therapist and their patient becomes synchronised. the patient has a strong emotional experience and then, after that strong emotional experience, we can see that the therapist and patient are on the same wavelength here. they really are in sync. we know that music therapy is a really effective way of helping patients. and what's critical is to find those moments where the patient is connecting with the therapist and that's why i'm wearing this natty headgear, because it's about measuring brain activity. your research, you've taken a therapist, measured the brain, and the patient, and you can see when they're aligning when they're listening to music, can't you? absolutely, yes. how do you use that practically to improve therapy sessions? what we can do, there are more and more tiny mobile tools that we can attach to patients and then we could have it on a live background, you know,

that the therapist could monitor the emotional state of the patient. first of all, could you just say your name so we've just got it on the card? yep, alex street. the whole of human existence is about having functional, satisfying relationships, and these people come to therapy because it's not happening. we use music as a nonverbal way of interacting so that we can work towards them being able to use words and language and talk about how they feel and then have much more satisfying relationships. what this gives us is a practical way of seeing what's happening between the client and the therapist, because there's this synchrony in brain activity and that then informs us of the best way to use music with our clients and move them on and get them out of therapy. we're in the early days of this research, but the more scientists than therapists and understand

what's going on in the brain during sessions, the more effective they can make the treatment for patients. richard westcott, bbc news, cambridge. 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 is very strong. the fires are releasing copious volumes of carbon dioxide, which scientists say

will make our planet even warmer. that means wildfires like these will become even more common. ramzan karmali, bbc news. with what is happening in the arctic circle, let's see what weather is getting closer to home with matt taylor. things have stayed on the warm and sunny side for it many here even though there is a heat wave that feels like a distant memory. getting close to 2a degrees and shetland of all places and one of the warmer spots, due to the southwest of the country 2425 degrees in dorset but some replace the sunshine with cloud and rain and just online from hastings, two inches of rainfall in the last 24 hours. it must come from this weather front here that process and tonight and some thunderstorms and yorkshire at the moment. we could see them roll away northwards and

westwards and some areas largely wet today and tonight, and northern island about to get wet and it might cause some fighting for the next 24 hours. temptress may be single figures in rural starts of the day and we will see a bit more sunshine develop up to the southern coastal counties where it is raining today. it is northwest midlands all the way through to the north and east of ireland but the heaviest of the rain affecting isle of man and liverpool areas to. humid air and increased chance of heavy storms and thunderstorms and scotland tomorrow. one or two spots could be out to around 25 celsius once again and still a humid around 25 celsius once again and stilla humid air around 25 celsius once again and still a humid air mass with your. as he finish sunday, it will start to push into it sunday night and monday and rain will is across many areas

and rain will is across many areas and a few more areas of rain and scotland. rate in the day it will bring some heavy rain but also gusty winds and it will put off camping and that sort of area. may be a bit grey and murky on the eastern coast but temperatures we have the sunshine widely into the 20s and may be made 20s once again across eastern england. moving its way northwards, southwest england and wales, printed heavy and fender and shower us warm enough in the sunshine but that story through the week ahead, the sunshine comes out and you will feel pretty warm. showers are set to develop a little bit more widely. see you in half an hour.

hello, this is bbc news with ben bland. the headlines. prime minister borisjohnson pledges to fund a new high—speed rail route between manchester and leeds. donald 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. the mp for sheffield hallam, jared o'mara, says he is to resign as a member of parliament to deal with personal issues. riot police fire tear gas at protesters in hong kong after tens of thousands march through the town where gangs