this is bbc news, i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 12pm. storm warnings as a big operation continues to prevent a catastrophic collapse of the damaged dam in derbyshire. the prime minister visits whaley bridge and promises a "major rebuild" to make the dam safe. this is a major problem. if that dam goes, you know the potential disruption that can wreak on the whole of the village below. residents have been allowed into their homes briefly, but have been

told it could be a week for they are allowed to return for good. the home secretary tells criminals they should "literally feel terror" at the thought of breaking the law. the authorities in hong kong are preparing for a ninth consecutive weekend of protests. both pro—beijing and pro—democracy activists are preparing to hold simultaneous mass rallies. and click looks at the technology used in producing food with less environmental impact. that's in half an hour, here on bbc news. our top story today — engineers have spent the night pumping thousands of gallons of water from the toddbrook reservoir, in derbyshire — which is threatening to burst through a dam and flood the town beneath it. attempts have been made to shore up the dam at whaley bridge, which was damaged on thursday, and yesterday raf helicopters spent hours trying to reinforce the structure.

the authorities say there is a "substantial threat to life" if it fails completely and a severe weather warning remains in place — for the areas seen here in red. some residents in whaley bridge will be allowed to return briefly today, to collect essentials. jane—frances kelly has more. the prime minister flew in to see the dam for himself and to meet displaced residents. nice to see you. some appeared pleased to meet him,

enjoying a diversion from the stress of the last few days, but he was also heckled. fix the infrastructure so this doesn't happen again! we are! borisjohnson also met some of the emergency service crews who have been working around the clock. well, it is looking dodgy, but stable is how i would describe it. i mean, they have done an amazing job. as you can tell, the chinooks have brought in about 400 bags of stone, huge, huge quantities have aggregate gone into that hole and you still can't really tell that the hole has been filled. so, there is a major, major structural problem with the dam. raf chinook crews have been carefully dropping bag after bag in an attempt to hold back 300 million gallons of water. the fire service are also hoping to install more pumps over the weekend to reduce water levels. the dam was built in the 19th century and has a simple construction of clay surrounded by mud. in order to relieve pressure during torrential downpours, it was designed to allow water to flow over the top. but the flow on wednesday was so powerful, it damaged the structure. i must stress that the structural integrity of the dam wall is still at a critical level and there is still a substantial threat to life should the dam wall fail. so our plea is that we would ask for residents to continue to heed

police advice and stay away from whaley bridge. but because many were made to leave so quickly, the authorities are now allowing one resident per household to return to their homes for 15 minutes to collect pets and other vital possessions. when everyone will return for good remains uncertain. jane—frances kelly, bbc news. speaking to bbc breakfast the environment minister therese coffey said that dams do have safety checks regularly and people can be confident that they are safe, but this was an extraordinary weather event which could not have been forecast. this is a category a reservoir, recognising the risks, and that is why they already have to have independent engineers who do regular inspections. it is important people have confidence that around the country the reservoirs are inspected regularly. of course we are building up new policies, a new strategy to anticipate more events like this happening in terms of intensive rainfall. that is why we want to increase our resilience, aware of the issues that could become greater and greater

with the climate change we are experiencing. let's talk to our reporter luxmy gopal, who's in whaley bridge. it luxmy gopal, who's in whaley bridge. might seem about it might seem strange to be talking about a potential dam collapse and imminent rainstorms when it is so hot and sunny here at whaley bridge, but the message from the authorities and the message throughout the morning is there is still a risk to life if the dam breaches. behind me is the police cordon where residents have been allowed to pop home for 15 minutes to collect any essential items they were not able to collect on thursday, when the area down there, laura whaley bridge, was evacuated. there has been a red a steady stream of residents and the police —— there has been a steady strea m police —— there has been a steady stream of residents and the police are keeping track of who is going so they have a record and can call them

back immediately if there is any update. i have one of the residents with me, what have you seen today? it was good to see the level dropping at the reservoir. —— i have the local mp with me today. no it looks to me to have gone down two or three metres, which is great to see, but to get it down to the level that the dam is damaged that, it needs to get down about eight or ten metres, so get down about eight or ten metres, so there is still a way to go, so they are doing really well. is there any update to when residents will be allowed home, well they be allowed another 15 minute window? roadblocks are being really reasonable, people have had to leave cats at home, her having to head back to feed their

pets, and requests are being treated reasonably and people are not trying to take advantage of the fact that that window is there for them, so at the moment it is working well, obviously we cannot have any assurances oi'i obviously we cannot have any assurances on the obviously we cannot have any assurances on the safety of the dam until we have seen what happens with the weather over the next few days, when there is just torrential rain hmmfi when there is just torrential rain forecast again, and the level in the reservoir rises very quickly as it did last week. the emergency services have been hard at work four days. have you got enough resources to make sure they continue the work over the next few days?” to make sure they continue the work over the next few days? i think the work the emergency services are doing, the raf, with the chinook helicopter dropping aggregate, we have the canal agency and rivers trust in doing work shoring up the dam, and doing work with the fire and rescue service. there is a lot of police resource needed to secure

the area, and the police are particularly stretched in derbyshire, so i think they may be needing some assistance for the police force here, but the officers here over the town are doing a brilliantjob. here over the town are doing a brilliant job. just briefly, you are about to take a collection of donations to the emergency services now, aren't you? i am, when i called in there this morning, they had lots of crisps and biscuits, brilliant donations from people, it is obviously a really hot day, they wanted more drinks fruit, fruit juice and sand ridges, so i have been calling the local supermarkets, waitrose and morrisons have been brilliant, and the co—op and sainsbury's, and they have been making donations, which i'm just about to take up to them for lunch. i will let you go and do that. mp richard george, thank you. just briefly, we mentioned we do have the met office weather warning. —— ruth george. we have met office yellow

warning is in the next 2a to 48 hours, warning is in the next 24 to 48 hours, which adds a sense of urgency for the work carried out to shore up the dam and pump the water out. thanks very much for the update. the home secretary, priti patel, has said she wants criminals to "feel terror" at the thought of committing an offence. in herfirst interview since being appointed last month, she said her mission was to restore public confidence in policing. ms patel also distanced herself from her past comments supporting the death penalty. 0ur political correspondent mark lobel says the prime minister and the new home secretary are keen to shore up the conservatives' traditional image of being the party of law and order. borisjohnson has pledged to bring back 20,000 police officers cut since 2010, they are hoping to bring back over the next three years, with over £1 billion of spending, with recruitment starting in september for england and wales. and priti patel wanting to change the image of the party, to be the party of law and order once again after a rise in recorded crime and violent crime.

she is using herfirst interview here with the mail to say that police officers should be empowered to do the job, and they may relax the regulations on stop and search in order to get criminals to feel terror on the streets, and also taking a harder line on drug use. she points to cannabis use, which some would consider less bad, if you like, on the scale of drug use. she is saying police officers shouldn't turn a blind eye to drug use, even cannabis use. the other area creating interest was that in the past she had declared her support for the reintroduction of the death penalty. something that parliament has blocked for the last 50 years, ever since it was suspended and eventually abolished for the crime of murder. what is she saying on the subject? you don't hear much about capital punishment or the death penalty in britain, do you? she's feeling the need to say that she is not an active supporter

of capital punishment, and saying that quotes that had surfaced from the past were taken out of context. there is no doubt that she certainly supported the reintroduction of capital punishment, she told the bbc did that she did in 2011, the mail on sunday. she is trying to reframe the debate away from those comments to say that she has no intention of picking up her former beliefs in this currentjob, and instead focusing on the need for policing to be more robust. hong kong is bracing for a ninth consecutive weekend of pro—democracy protests. activists are preparing to hold another mass rally, despite increasing stern warnings from china's central government about the unrest. the demonstrations began in response to a move to allow the extradition of suspects to mainland china. 0ur correspondent stephen mcdonell is in hong kong at the rally.

it is pretty peaceful here at the moment. this is a pro—democracy rally, i am sure you can see people in black are gathering, marking down this street, and even though they were not given permission for this, they were allowed to gather here. thousands of people have been moving down the streets, this is the main street of the area known as mongkok. people are heading down towards the harbour in that direction. at the same time, across the harbour, there is a pro—beijing rally, thousands of people as well, but not so many as the pro—democracy gathering, but nevertheless there are thousands

there, rival rallies taking place at the same time. both, i guess, trying to show they have wider support than the other. however, many more people at the pro—democracy rally at the moment. on thursday the people's liberation army released a video on social media of anti—riots demonstration taking place, and commentators drew conclusions that this was a kind of very unsubtle hint that if protesters did not kind of calm down quickly, there might be action taken against them. is there any indication from the hong kong authorities that they are minded to ask for help from the mainland? i think that is what the boffins would call signalling, so they are telling all of these people who have come out here today, potentially if things get really bad, that is what we could do. at the moment, though, the hong kong government has said that is just rumours, that the people's liberation army would be called out this weekend because there has been this sort of mad rumour—fest this week that martial law could be declared this weekend. the government in hong kong says it is not going to do that,

so while they are keeping that in their back pocket as an option of last resort, and it would be an option of last resort really, there is no indication we are moving to that quite yet. the telecommunications industry says the prime minister will have to take fast and far—reaching action if his promise to deliver full fibre broadband years ahead of schedule is to be met. in an open letter, three trade bodies tell borisjohnson "100% fibre coverage requires a 100% commitment from government." our business correspondent katy austin reports. good internet is now a priority for hotel guests like those in southend. the manager here says the speed and reliability of full fibre broadband have been game changing. we've been able to increase our bandwidth and this is giving the customer a much, much faster and better, much more consistent experience throughout. at the moment, most of the country can get superfast broadband. that's a mixture of fibre and copper technology that results in a download speed of 24 megabits

per second 01’ more. full fibre uses fibre—optic cables to connect the exchange directly to properties, and that results in download speeds of one gigabyte per second or more. of one gigabit per second or more. at the moment, only about 7% of the uk can get full fibre. borisjohnson has said there should be full fibre for all by 2025, eight years before the current target. three industry bodies have said the ambition is welcome. but in a letter to number ten, they have said four specific problems need solving first within 12 months. there just are not sufficient quality people to be able to dig up the streets and work on this stuff, and as well as that, we also need a reduction in the amount of red tape and regulation that just slows everything down. one of their demands is for plans allowing providers access to land when landlords are not responding.

a difficult ask, according to one analyst. it requires a carefully worded piece of legislation, which takes into account business owners, building owners, landowners, as well as telecommunication service providers, and let's face it, the government has other things, other pressing, urgent issues that they need to deal with. the telecoms industry is setting a challenge to the new prime minister. the government told us it is committed to creating the right opportunities for investment and speeding up digital infrastructure roll—out. katy austin, bbc news. more than 50 firefighters have been battling a fire that broke out at a holiday inn in walsall. emergency services were called to the hotel yesterday afternoon, which has been almost completely destroyed by the fire. no—one was injured, and the hotel said all their guests and employees have been accounted for. the headlines on bbc news...

storm warnings have been issued as a big operation continues to prevent a catastrophic collapse of the damaged dam in whaley bridge in derbyshire. the home secretary tells criminals they should "literally feel terror" at the thought of breaking the law. the authorities in hong kong are preparing for a ninth consecutive weekend of protests, by both pro—beijing and pro—democracy activists. large clouds of painted lady butterflies are being spotted across the uk, particularly scotland. the phenomenon happens once a decade — when the colourful insects turn up in huge numbers having migrated from europe and africa. sightings of painted ladies — otherwise known as vanessa cardui — have prompted countless pictures and videos to be posted to social media. simon milne is regius keeper at the royal botanic

garden in edinburgh. good afternoon. have you already seen signs of a big number of painted ladies? we have, yes, this week seen thousands upon thousands of painted lady butterflies moving through the royal botanic gardens in edinburgh, and in people's and gardens. a fantastic experience for people to get close to nature and get familiar with painted ladies, if i may say so! wonderful stories and biology. i think my mum warned me about something like that, but that must have been another sort of painted lady. 0n the question of why this happens, i will be clear why every ten or so years —— this happens, i will be clear why every ten 01’ so years —— are we clear why every ten or so years we get a huge population of the species? there are many factors, one is climate, the population dynamics. el nino could have an impact as well, and also predators, such as

wasps in africa. i suspect it is a combination of factors which triggers mass migration. you would expect to see in a normal year, how many, in the botanic gardens?‘ rough figure? we get them here every year probably on any one week, we might see ten or 15,... it is a lovely image as well, the cloud of butterflies, it is not that thing of spotting a butterfly, it is gone, and among the flowers, it is they are all around you. this is a good news story, i spend all of my time at the mechanics dealing with programmes around the world —— the botanic gardens, and this is not threatened butterfly, and how lovely to celebrate that, and it is a good way of engaging people with the natural world, so put aside pokemon

put aside brexit, and join in the butterfly conservation. let's be inspired by nature, notjust the beauty, but also to conservatory future generations. on the questions of butterfly conservation, there has been a lot of concern over the last few years that numbers are declining for all kind of other environmental reasons, some to do with development, what is the picture now in terms of butterfly populations in this country? the butterfly won —— what do we know about it? we know that some species are reducing numbers, and those with gardens or window boxes will see a reduction in certain species at certain times of the year, so overall the picture is not good, mainly due climate change,

intensive farming methods, habitat destruction. notjust here in britain, but across other parts of the world from where the butterflies migrate. just so people have a sense of the season as it were, for how much longer can we hope to see them this summer? there are not so many now in edinburgh, they are moving north. some of them will end up in iceland. the painted lady is the only butterfly recorded in iceland. we will start to see some of them come back, so there will be a backward migration. not as many going up because many will die on the way. they have a life cycle of two weeks after they have probated in their chrysalis, so this is about successful red successive generations breeding. —— pupated. there are also other butterflies that are black with little spots, let's enjoy the whole ecology of the butterfly. thank you for sharing

your enthusiasm and delight at the painted ladies, make the most of them being amongst us. painted and well travelled. a 55—year—old ultra—runner has become the fastest woman to travel by foot between john 0'groats and lands end. sharon gayter covered the 822 miles in 12 days, 11 hours, 6 minutes, and 7 seconds. the previous record, set in 2008 and run from lands end tojohn 0'groats, was more than four hours longer. earlier i caught up with a very tired sharon gayterfrom lands end. you can train your legs, train your muscles, but you cannot train the impact over 12 days. are you quite a strong walker, or do you try to go quite gentle? i am a very quiet runner, you hear a gentle pitter patter,

i make peoplejump out their skin, they don't hear me coming. i'm very gentle on my feet. but that intensity, i suppose, will inevitably cause some damage. so, what have you been doing through the course of the journey to kind of mitigate the effects on your body? because i gatherfrom hearing steph on breakfast this morning, you haven't been getting a lot of sleep, so you have been running most of the day into quite well into the night. yes, i had a little strategy i used, i run for three hours then have a short break to try to put some food, with my feet in iced water, then i run again. so i run six blocks of three hours a day, and that leavesjust three hours for sleep. how did you plan this? presumably you had to be quite careful about how you established the stages to ensure you can make the kind of progress you needed to. presumably you never thought you would get the record down that much? i had a plan for 12 days,

and i hoped to do that, but there was a contingency so you kind of know things might not go according to plan, so there is a cushion so if things go wrong you have something to play with, you don't plan it to the wire because you know things can happen unexpectedly, like bridge closures, which did happen! lost in sites where there should be a subway, so things sort of slowed me down which were out of my control. the singer and impressionist, joe longthorne, has died at the age of 64. a statement on the performer‘s website said he passed away peacefully in the early hours of this morning at his home in blackpool. he'd been having treatment for leukaemia for several years. during his careerjoe entertained millions, with best—selling albums and appearances at the royal variety show, before he was made an mbe in 2012. now it's time for a look at the weather with susan powell.

a lot of dry weather to be found across the uk for the first half of the weekend. tomorrow, a different story across northern britain with the return of heavy showers and the risk of significant downpours. i cannot promise a dry story this afternoon, difficult to pick out, but there are some isolated heavier showers across some parts of scotland, northern england and the midlands as the afternoon pans out. maybe the odd one for the south—east. the majority enjoying sunny spells. cloud and patchy rain for northern ireland, and heavy showers through the evening and overnight, which will start to approach western scotland by the end of the night. 0vernight lows of 14 and 15 degrees. sunday, sunshine for southern britain but across the northern half, more showers breaking out as the day pans out, slow moving with hail and thunder, and again the risk of some localised flooding.

hello this is bbc news. the headlines. storm warnings have been issued as a big operation continues to prevent a catastrophic collapse of the damaged dam in whaley bridge in derbyshire. the prime minister visits whaley bridge and promises a "major rebuild" to make the dam safe. the home secretary tells criminals they should "literally feel terror" at the thought of breaking the law. protesters have gathered in hong kong for the ninth weekend in a row amid mounting tensions with the authorities. pro—democracy supporters are marching through moan kok while pro—beijing supporters are holding a separate rally in central hong kong.

president trump is deciding who who to appoint. john ratcliffe has pulled out and it has been criticism he liked the expedient expertise to ta ke he liked the expedient expertise to take on the role. washington correspondent is explaining why he with the resource on. john ratcliffe is basically a congressman who is regarded by some of us as being relatively junior. but he is also regarded by the president as being something of a donald trump loyalist. at recent congressional hearings for example he was one of the individuals who very aggressively questioned the former special counsel robert muller and certainly impressed the president by doing that. but the media have been picking over his cv and raised questions about whether he really has the experience to oversee 17 civilian and military intelligence agencies in the united states and also questioning whether or not

he necessarily has the achievements that he has put down in his resume. for example they have maybe suggested that in his role as prosecutor he has exaggerated just exactly what work he did in terms of counterterrorism, trying to shine a better light on that. all of that pressure has come down to the point president trump seems to have advised him that rather than facing all of the scrutiny it might be better for him to walk away. as a result the president is now looking for somebody else to take that very crucial role. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, good afternoon. if you are an england cricket fan, oh dear oh dear, never raise those expectations too much. england started the third day with a big lead, six wickets in

hand, looking comfortable and they trailed australia byjust 17 runs at 11am but it has been australia's morning. three wickets went in 11 balls, pat cummins and patterssen are doing the damage. angling by 17 with two wickets remaining. the third round of the british open is under way, three fetish players teeing off within the top ten including the defending champion. —— three british players. they are a lwa ys three british players. they are always behind you and even when i hole a three footer the seeker one, georgia and that helps my