this is bbc news. the headlines. 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 northern powerhouse rail. that's why we're here this morning. we want to inject some pace into this so 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 mp for sheffield hallam, jared o'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 8.30, talking movies reviews the year's blockbuster season. 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. and our chief political correspondent vicki young gave more detail of borisjohnson‘s's spending pledges and how he might fund them. he's only been prime minister four days. he's spent an awful lot of money. if you look at that list of pledges, it goes way beyond one railway line. talks about social care, about more police, better broadband,

a better funded education. of course, all of that is going to cost more and it's not entirely clear where the money's going to come from. this is the easy part, going around the country saying what he wants to happen with his wish list. the implication is that it will involve more borrowing, but we simply don't know the answers yet. now, it's interesting that he's focusing on the domestic agenda. i don't think he wants to get swamped by brexit in the same way that his predecessor did. of course there is some politics in this. choosing to come here to manchester for his first speech as prime minister is really putting out a signal, and i think it does suggest he is in full campaign mode, even though his team say there are no chances of an early election, and i think he surely does have his sights on some of those labour brexit—voting seats. 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 boris johnson supporter nadine dorries will become a minister at the department of health. simon clarke has been appointed

a junior treasury minister. meanwhile, james duddridge becomes a brexit minister. the independent mp, jared o'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 £1 billion a year supporting research, most of it in the uk. katy austin has more. jasmin 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. police say they have detained more than a thousand people at an unsanctioned gathering in moscow. this follows several weeks of controversy over moscow authorities‘ refusal to allow several dozen independent candidates onto the ballot for city

elections in september. two police were targeted with pepper spray, police report. police warned people from moscow not to come out for this unsanctioned protest but people came out anyway and soon they paid void by being dragged into custody. the arrests we re dragged into custody. the arrests were met with defiance. the police are trying to push back the protesters, who came here because the candidates they support were not allowed to participate in elections. we don't know how many people came to protest but plenty of people are angry that the candidates they've been supporting were denied the chance to participate in the vote. those who came out despite police warnings are used to sites like this. they voiced their anger again and again. i'm against these thieves, he says, president putin, they are like a gang, simply taking

and taking from russia. election authorities say the grounds for dismissing the candidates are legitimate because signatures gathered for their support are not valid. the opposition hopes the anger around city elections will snowball into a wider antiestablishment campaign. but committed as they are, these protesters weren't out in numbers capable of doing that. over 1,000 passengers have been moved 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 overflowed because of several hours of heavy rainfall, which meant the express couldn't go further. people were stuck on board for nearly 15 hours. they ran out of food and drinking water. then, a massive rescue effort was launched. boats were sent in and dozens of 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. mumbai and the area surrounding it, has seen intense rainfall since friday. as have other parts of the country. this is video from rajasthan in western india. assam, in the country's north—east, is also facing floods. hundreds have already lost their lives this year, in weeks of monsoon 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. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's azi farni. colombia's egan bernal is set to win the tour de france. he'll go into tomorrow's final stage to paris uncontested,

bernal has a one minute 11 second advantage over the defending champion geraint thomas, who is also his team—mate. today's stage was won by italy's vincenzo nibali while bernal and thomas finished together, arm—in—arm, 17 seconds further back. patrick gearey reports. on top of the mountain, and on top of the world. egan bernal, a 22—year—old colombian, will almost certainly become the third youngest winner in the history of the tour de france. born in the andes and crowned in the alps, bernal was followed all the way to the top by his countrymen, who had never seen a colombian win this race. bernal‘s job was to stay in yellow and maintain his lead over the short and dirty seven—mile course. last year's winner, britton‘s geraint thomas, and the rest of team ineos, playing wingmen, protecting him from threats. like the man in blue behind him, frenchmanjulain alaphilippe was the chaser. but that takes a toll on these punishing slopes. this the moment france's bid for a first tour winner in 3a years ran out of puff. thomas was now second,

but launched no challenge, effectively handing over the title to his team—mate. they will ride together again in paris tomorrow. all egan bernal must do is on his bike. he has climbed his mountain already. patrick geary, bbc news. here's the confirmation of the general classification. 22—year—old bernal set to win his first tour title, with thomas in second and steven kruijswijk in third. france's julian alaphillippe — who held the yellowjersey for so much of the race — will finish fifth. lewis hamilton will start tomorrow's german grand prix on pole position despite having been ill this week. red bull's max verstappen will start in second place with hamilton's mercedes team—mate valtteri bottas in third. it was a miserable day for ferrari. both their cars suffered technical problems and will start near the back of the grid. craig templeton reports. hockenheim means homecoming for sebastian vettel,

and ferrari's pace in practice created an air of expectation. on his opening qualifying lap, though, there was something clearly wrong. the pit stop beckoned. despite ferrari's efforts, they were unable to get him back on the track, and he will start tomorrow's race from 20th place. it's also a mercedes's home track — they're celebrating 125 years of racing this week, and have revisioned the car and their attire. it may look different, but lewis hamilton remains the same driver and went fastest in the second and third rounds. charles leclair also looked quick, but ferrari's luck went from bad to worse — and other mechanical issue. he'll start at tenth. hamilton couldn't improve on his earlier time, but it didn't matter as neither valtteri bottas nor max verstappen could better it. so qualification tells a story of the season so far — the story of ferrari misfortune and the story of mercedes dominance. craig templeton, bbc news.

leeds rhinos have won the women's challenge cup for a second year in a row. and they beat the same team — castleford — in the process. it was pretty close for a while, 10—10 before courtney hill went overfor the rhinos with 20 minutes to go. 16—10 the final score at the university of bolton stadium. warrington will play st helens in rugby league's challenge cup final. warrington were made to work for their victory by a well drilled hull fc side, but eventually won 22—14. joe philbin went over late on, to secure warrington‘s third challenge cup final in four seasons. part—time side halifax put up a brave fight against st helens in the other semi, but in the end saints proved too strong, running infour tries to win 26—2. it's the first time they've reached the final since 2008. that's all the sport for now.

in just under a year, athletes from around the world will descend onjapan for the tokyo 0lympics. in just under a year, athletes from around the world will descend onjapan for the tokyo 0lympics. the baseball competition will be held in the city of fukishima, 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 people's 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 0lympic 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 fu kushima 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. 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 impero 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.

president trump has welcomed a us supreme court ruling allowing him to divert military funds to pay for a wall along the mexican border. the court ruled that $2.5 billion could be used to construct a section of the wall in california, arizona and new mexico. the project — which is a core pledge of the trump presidency — has been fiercely opposed by democrats. 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 their 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 that client and move them on and get them out of therapy. we're in the early days of this research, but the more scientists and therapists can 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. tens of thousands of e—sports fans are filling a new york stadium this weekend to see who will be crowned the fortnite world champion and walk away with a record breaking £2.11 million prize. flushing meadows is more famous for tennis but the winners of these tournaments could take home far more than novak djokovic and simona halep won at wimbledon. and 11 british players are in the running, including two teenagers, 15 year old benji fish and 1a

year old kyle jackson. 0ur correspondentjoe tidy is at flushing meadows in new york. we're we' re halfway we're halfway through this massive eventin we're halfway through this massive event in each sports. it is the fortnite world cup and it isn't looking very good for brits. two strong british players. 15 of the best pairs in the world are fighting in this shoot up game. we are following kyle jackson, and benji fish. they are not having a good start. we are into the fourth game now. i'm not sure what the situation is but currently they both need a miracle to stay in it. victor benson, you are part of a large gaming organisation. what do you do? i take care of talent, connected to different titles. we are at the

world cup with one of our aspiring young talents, called spieth. his name is jake smith, british, can you tell me about him. he got the big new players together and they fighting the last six months to get here. he'sa fighting the last six months to get here. he's a big personality in the eu fortnite scene. he is playing tomorrow in the solo. 0ne eu fortnite scene. he is playing tomorrow in the solo. one of the older players here, 18, which is quite hilarious! what are his chances? if he does what he's best at, letting himself become the beast in the moment, it's about getting confidence, taking care of yourself, he has a big chance of getting in the top ten. what does this mean for you as a company and as someone involved in a sports as the industry. is it just involved in a sports as the industry. is itjust a big event that has a lot of money behind it? it is something that goes beyond what e sports and gaming has done. we will look at fortnite and epic as

being the first major titles. this is incredible for the players but also the people who don't follow these kind of things, mothers and seeing their kids playing games may think differently of it after they've seen this event. the players we are watching, especially benji fish and the other player, they have been pegged for glory. it isn't looking good but are you hopeful they can bullet out of the bag? they come from a tight group of friends and anyone from that group can always come back, it doesn't matter what they do in the first three games, there can be miracles and there will be miracles. let's hope so. there will be miracles. let's hope so. thank you. it's all go here, a p pa re ntly so. thank you. it's all go here, apparently a sell—out, 20,000 tickets today and tomorrow. there are tickets today and tomorrow. there a re lots of tickets today and tomorrow. there are lots of empty seats so i'm not sure its capacity that you'd get with the us open that is held in the same stadium. thanks. now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor