this is bbc news, i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 11:00pm: the number of drug deaths in england and wales is the highest it has been since records began, prompting calls for better funding of treatment programmes. there at risk of violence, they are at risk of criminality, they are at risk of many things. can we keep all of them safe at the moment? no, we can't. a seized iranian tanker held in gibraltar is to be released, despite a last—minute plea by the us authorities. one, two, three... the proportion of a—level students getting the top grades drops to a 12—year low. standing here, you really

get a sense of the size of this creature. and we report from one of the biggest dinosaur graveyards in the world, where new species have been discovered. and at 11:30pm, we will be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers, sian griffiths, the education editor at the sunday times, and political commentator lance price. stay with us for that. good evening and welcome to bbc news. new figures out today reveal the extent of britain's drug crisis in the starkest terms possible. deaths caused by the misuse of drugs, mainly heroin and cocaine, hit a record high in england and wales last year. in scotland, too, drug—related deaths are at their highest. almost 3,000 people died from illicit drugs in england and wales last year.

that is a rise of 17% on the previous year. throughout the week here on bbc news, we have been reporting on one of the key factors behind this crisis, the supply of drugs from the cities to britain's towns and even villages, what police call the county lines. all too often, children are involved, and today our special correspondent ed thomas has been showing the police what he has discovered. as heroin deaths reach record highs, for three months, we've investigated the rise in county line drug dealing — exploited teenage drug runners, vulnerable, long—term users. just taking it to feel normal. with heroin and crack cocaine, trafficked hundreds of miles every week.

oh, my god! put your legs down. having watched that footage, it's quite distressing, really, because it's bringing home the reality. you can't not be shocked. as a police officer of 25 years' experience, that is the harsh reality of what is happening in towns and cities across our country. we showed our report to assistant chief constable chris green and to child safeguarding head sarah o'brien. at times during ourfilming, the flow of teenage drug mules between merseyside and north wales seemed relentless. you've got that there in case you get taxed, haven't you? this is notjust a st helens problem. this is a national problem. there are children out there on the street today who've gone missing, who we cannot keep safe. there are children out there today who are in the type of houses that you featured in your film. they are at risk. can we keep all of them safe at the moment?

no, we can't. put that knife down. so at the moment in st helens, children—wise, we have three missings. we discovered a network of children's homes in st helens targeted by county lines gangs. there's chaos. if it gets bigger, then there's just not enough of us. criminal exploitation is a crisis. and i think the funding is a crisis. mental health services are at breaking point. schools are at breaking point. social care's at breaking point. so we need more resource putting in. as we filmed in north wales, one officer told us he no longer arrested heroin and crack cocaine users for personal possession. his priority was to protect and safeguard child dealers. you lads are being detained under section 23... you ask any of the users, have i ever locked them up for having personal bits on them... as a person, i can absolutely understand someone making a decision to say, do you know what? i need to try and get into that

house to make sure that people are safe, to make sure i've not got any children in there from elsewhere who are vulnerable. officers provided this footage showing a young child being arrested. screaming stop biting! i'm not bleep biting. they said the child had slipped into crisis after being exploited by criminals. probably in that moment he was absolutely terrified. oh, my god! put your legs down. banging stop banging your head. and he's somebody's child. and we collectively as a society, particularly for these vulnerable young people who are in care for whatever reason, we need to protect them. quite often it is absolutely right that a young person needs to be arrested. it's justified, it's reasonable, and it's lawful. it doesn't make good watching. no cop comes into work wanting to go out and arrest children. no—one. as a nation, are we failing to protect our children? yes, i think we are,

from criminal exploitation. drug gangs, grooming thousands of vulnerable children. record drug deaths. county lines — one of the most complex policing challenges of the 21st century. ed thomas, bbc news. the authorities in gibraltar have released the iranian tanker seized by royal marines last month on suspicion of supplying oil to syria. the government of gibraltar says it has received written assurances from iran that the grace i won't deliver its cargo to a syrian refinery. the decision comes despite a last—minute attempt by the us department ofjustice to stop the tanker from being allowed to sail. tensions between iran and both the uk and the us have been ramping up over recent months. in may, four tankers were hit by blasts in the gulf of oman. iran denied us accusations that its forces had planted mines on the vessels. on 4july, the iranian oil tanker grace i was seized

by british royal marines near gibraltar. a fortnight later, iran's revolutionary guard seized the british—flagged oil tanker stena impero in the strait of hormuz. that ship is still being held. kasra naji is in gibraltar and has been monitoring today's events. and apparently the authorities in gibraltar received an e—mail from the department ofjustice, from the us, ati:30am this the department ofjustice, from the us, at 1:30am this morning, asking the gibraltar authorities to hand over this ship, grace one tanker, to them, because of a series of allegations. we don't know what those allegations are, or where. they were never made public. but the court in the end decided that there has been no formal request through the court to attend to this

particular issue. the local authorities didn't ask the court to attend to this, so the judge said, 0k, attend to this, so the judge said, ok, i'm not going to bother with this request from the us, because nobody asked me to, and i'm going to attend to the issue of releasing this ship. and this ship has been released now. it is not designated anymore. you can set sail any moment now. and you can probablyjust about see it over my right shoulder, in the distance, about a kilometre or two into the sea. and they are waiting for a new captain. once the new captain gets on the ship, that ship is set to sale. —— set to sail. the liberal democrat leader jo swinson says she is willing to meetjeremy corbyn to discuss plans to avoid a no—deal brexit. it follows a letter from the labour leader to opposition parties and conservative rebels calling for support on a no—confidence

motion to end boris johnson's premiership. if it passes, mr corbyn says he would become caretaker prime minister for a limited period and ask the eu for a delay in brexit. here is our political correspondent ben wright. just another day in westminster. a protest about the potential risk to farming from a no—deal brexit, and politiciansjostling to prove they have the best strategy for trying to stop it happening. labour'sjeremy corbyn has written to other opposition party leaders, asking them to back him as a caretaker prime minister. and that's why i'll put the motion of no confidence, and that's why we, the labour party, by far the largest opposition party, have i think a responsibility to take over to ensure there is no cliff—edge brexit. it is possible for mps to install a new prime minister without there being

a general election first. for that to happen, some tory mps would have to join forces with opposition parties, and that is a very big step to take. i think it would be absolutely extraordinary if any conservative mp considered even for one minute installing jeremy corbyn in downing street. you know, jeremy corbyn would wreck our economy. you know, he'd destroy people's jobs, their livelihoods. the snp do sound keen onjeremy corbyn‘s idea of trying to form a new government, delaying brexit again, and then holding an election. we'll work with anyone and we'll explore any option to stop brexit. it's no secret i'm not a great fan ofjeremy corbyn, but we won't rule out any option if it helps to avert what is a looming catastrophe. the lib dem leader, jo swinson, says she wants to talk withjeremy corbyn, but insists the labour leader does not have the commons support to become prime minister. there's no way he can unite rebel

conservatives and independents to stop borisjohnson. it's not even certain he would secure all the votes of labour mps. by refusing to back a jeremy corbyn—led interim government, aren't your own red lines scuppering the whole idea? jeremy corbyn, i think, in his heart of hearts, knows that he can't command a majority in the house of commons. and so this is about having a plan that works. so, among mps who want to try and stop a no—deal brexit, there is a big disagreement over methods and tactics. ministers insist that the uk will leave the eu at the end of october, whatever parliament attempts. if bringing down the government doesn't work, mps opposed to a no—deal brexit may try and force borisjohnson to ask the eu for another delay, but time is not on their side. ben wright, bbc news, westminster. police in malaysia investigating the death of the british teenager nora quoirin say they have found no evidence of violence. the 15—year—old from london was found dead ten days after she disappeared

while on holiday. a post—mortem examination found she had suffered internal bleeding, probably caused by hunger and stress. howard johnson reports from malaysia. after nora quoirin‘s body was discovered on tuesday, a senior pathologist was dispatched from the malaysian capital, kuala lumpur, to carry out a postmortem examination of the london teenager. today, at a police press conference, the first details of how she died were revealed. translation: the real cause of death was internal bleeding of the intestine, which may have been caused by not having any food over a long period of time. the state police chief went on to stress he believes there was no suspicion of foul play. nora is believed to have died about 2—3 days before her body was found.

in english: but there is no element of abduction or kidnapping. the teenager, who lived with her parents in london, had been missing for ten days. the family have always insisted, given nora's learning difficulties, it is very unlikely she would have walked off alone. the malaysian police have always treated nora's disappearance as a missing persons case. behind this gate is the road that leads to the palm oil plantation where nora's body was discovered on tuesday. today, the family said that they would like people to end the speculation about how nora died, and to give them the space to grieve in peace. although today's police announcement will have gone some way to clarify how nora died, the circumstances surrounding her disappearance still leaves many questions to be answered. howard johnson, bbc news, pantai, malaysia. a man has been stabbed outside the home office in central london. police say the victim's injuries are not life—threatening. a 29—year—old man has been arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and possessing cs spray.

the number of female students taking exams in a—level sciences has overtaken the number of males for the very first time. but the publication of a—level results for hundreds of thousands of students across the uk has also revealed a sharp drop in those awarded the top a and a* grades. here is frankie mccamley. 0k! i'm all right with that. oh, my gosh. oh my gosh, just about! the results are in, after weeks of waiting. for some, there is no hiding it is good news. an a in my epo, and then a, b, b. so i'm into manchester — i checked ucas, i'm in. just outside the college in stourbridge, there is a huge sense of relief. the wait is over.

tears of happiness — a day for celebration that the hard work paid off. across england, wales and northern ireland, the number of students getting top grades dipped slightly to 25.5%. the overall pass rate, though, was the same as last year, at 97.6%. and, after conscious efforts, for the first time, more girls took a science a—level than boys. now students have got their results, for those who want to go on to university, they have more choice and control than they ever have done before over what course they want to do and where they want to do it. it's a buyer's market. and students here are taking advantage of all sorts of options for the future. i'm going on to an apprenticeship in accountancy in audit in birmingham. i didn't want to walk out of a degree and not have any work experience. for me, the career i wanted, i had to go to university, which obviously i don't mind. kind of figure it out as i go along, and then see. maybe uni, maybe not,

but i only want to go if it's something i'm really interested in. in the college student support centre, olivia really wants to go to university, but she didn't get the grades. i'm not good at exams, so i stress myself out too much, and then i don't do as well as i could do. aston university clearing, how may i help you? she is one of many turning to clearing after doing better or worse than expected. but, with a dip in top grades, questions are being asked about standards. if you look at the reforms in both the a—levels and the btec qualifications, there's been quite a lot of changes. so we expected the number of as to come down, but i don't think that the standards are any less. in fact, i think they're pretty rigorous. after phoning around, olivia has been offered a place at the university of reading. one happy ending, following a day of mixed emotions across the country. frankie mccamley, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news: drug deaths in england and wales have hit a record high, with around a0 people now dying every week from illicit substances.

a seized iranian tanker held in gibraltar is to be released despite a last—minute plea by the us authorities. a—level results are out. the number of students getting the top grade drops to its lowest for more than a decade. at least three soldiers have been killed in an exchange of fire between pakistani and indian military forces along the line of control which divides the disputed territory of kashmir. meanwhile, there have been protests in birmingham and london over delhi's decision to remove the limited autonomy kashmir enjoyed in the parts of the territory india controls. thousands took part in the demonstrations. kashmir is india's only majority muslim state. our correspondent secunda kermani is in islamabad.

well, kermani is in islamabad. there were conflicting rep about well, there were conflicting reports about exactly what happened along the line of control. the pakistani military said three of its soldiers and five indian soldiers were killed, while the indian army denies suffering any losses. clashes between the two sides in that region aren't uncommon and this comes at a particularly dangerous moment. last week india stripped the part of india it controls a bit special more autonomous status. analysts believe this is part of a drive by the hindu nationalist government in india cracking down on a muslim—majority province, and the move has infuriated authorities in pakistan who believe kashmiris should be given the option to vote for independence from india and become pa rt independence from india and become part of pakistan. prime minister imran khan has called on the international community to intervene and tomorrow the un security council will hold a closed doors discussion about this. but indian officials

remain adamant their policy there is an internal matter, so tensions look set to escalate. secunda kermani. israel has banned two us congresswomen from visiting the country after donald trump claimed they hated israel and alljewish people. rashida taleeb and ilhan omar are democrats, who've criticised israel's policy, towards the palestinians. the israeli government says they've been denied entry, because of their support for a boycott of the country. our north america editor jon sopel reports. have two newly elected members of congress ever created the stir that ilhan omar and rashida tlaib have? they were the first two muslim women to be elected to the house. they're both on the left of the democratic party, neither is a fan of the israeli government, both are outspoken, and donald trump relishes going after them. omar has a history of launching vicious anti—semitic screeds.

all chant: "send her back!" her colleague, representative rashida tlaib... booing ..agreed with omagh's characterisation of 9/1! and said that members of congress who support israel forgot what country they represent. and they haven't been shy in dishing it straight back to him. we have said this president is racist, we have condemned his racist remarks. i believe he is fascist. this is normal political knock—about, but this morning donald trump tweeted this: moments later, israel announced its ban on the two congresswomen‘s visit. the government says it welcomes critics and criticism but... translation: israeli law prohibits the entry into israel of those who call for and work to impose boycotts on israel,

and this is what the interior minister decided regarding the two congresswomen, and i agree with him. for donald trump, this isn't about who goes in and out of israel, it's about the next election, and he wants to personify the democratic party as these two women. he's vilified them as being anti—semitic, left—wing extremists, anti—american. and the more that democrats get behind them, the more he likes it. but what israel stands to get out of this is harder to fathom. the us president and israeli prime minister are tight, but this decision hasn't only alienated democrats. many republicans are critical too, and even aipac, the pro—israel lobbying group, has said it's wrong. john sopel, bbc news, washington. one of the biggest dinosaur graveyards in the world is being excavated in wyoming in the united states. the dig, which has been

dubbed ‘mission jurassic‘, has already discovered more than a dozen fossils and footprints, and researchers think there may be more than 100 dinosaurs buried, including new species. the team says the site is so rich in bones it will keep them busy for at least 20 years. our science correspondent rebecca morrelle reports a hot, dusty landscape extending for miles. but imagine from this barren terrain a dinosaur graveyard where the bones of some of the biggest creatures ever to roam the earth are being discovered. where does this fit on this mass? that slot's straight in here. so, you found the pelvis? yeah, it's brilliant. that's amazing! the dig is called missionjurassic. what is fantastic about this site, there's multiple bones from at least a dozen individuals already poking out of the ground. when you realise we have only really scratched a corner of this square mile, there is going to be dozens if not 100 plus dinosaurs lurking

in the rocks of thejurassic here. this dinosaur drowned in a flash flood, and was then caught up ina logjam. the tree trunk it was crushed up against is still preserved millions of years later. these are just some of the amazing bones that are being discovered at this site. right here, you have an arm bone. next to it, a giant shoulder blade. and then you can just begin to see the backbone starting to emerge. and standing here, you really get a sense of the size of this creature. it's a type of sauropod which from nose to tail measured 30 metres long. and scientists think it might even be a species that's new to science. there are so many dinosaurs here. excavating each bone is a painstaking process. so it takes people power. but how do you tell bone from rock?

try licking it. 0k. quite sticky? yeah. because it's porous, and it's sucking onto your tongue. so that's... rock doesn't do that but bone does. the rocks are from thejurassic period 150 million years ago. a golden age when dinosaurs exploded in shape and size. dinosaurs are getting really, really, really big and there are loads of them. there are loads of different types and they are all walking around on these flood plains eating presumably huge forests. and that is a really good question actually. where were all these huge forests and how did they get enough food to eat? the dig is like going back in time. a meat—eating allosaurus has been found here and herds of plant—eating diplodocus also grazed on this landscape. before that, there was a vast inland sea. marine reptiles called ichthyosaurs were abundant in these waters. this dinosaur dig is expected to last 20 years but the team says the efforts will be worth it to unlock the secrets of the jurassic past. rebecca morelle, bbc news, wyoming.

earlier i spoke to andrew rossi, who's a paleo technician and educator at the wyoming dinosaur center in thermopolis. wyoming isjust wyoming is just the wyoming isjust the best wyoming is just the best place on the planet to find dinosaurs, because at the time that dinosaurs would have been living in this area, it was a low place surrounded by high places. when you have rain falling in the mountains, picking up sediment, it falls into this lower area and covered any dinosaur u nfortu nate area and covered any dinosaur unfortunate enough to die there. here in the bighorn basin in wyoming where they're digging, it's a fantastic dinosaur graveyard because conditions were perfect to preserve all their fossils conditions were perfect to preserve all theirfossils and conditions were perfect to preserve all their fossils and what you need for fossilisation is animals to be buried in an area where there is lots of water. i suppose with it being so dry and arid, that is helping conditions in later periods

as well? oh, absolutely. those dry conditions make it so they don't erode quite so quickly, but when you find the bones it's a race against time to get them out as quickly as possible to make sure they don't just ok and turn into dust. i understand that finding the footprints is also key in trying to track dinosaurs. can you just explain why the trackways are important? lol, a dinosaur only has one body while it's alive but it could potentially leave millions of footprints behind. by following the footprints, they can take you on a journey that can help you determine how fast a dinosaur might have been moving, if it was moving in a group, maybe it was a predator pursuing an u nfortu nate maybe it was a predator pursuing an unfortunate victim. footprints give you the indication of a behaviour of a dinosaur more than the bones. if you're lucky the footprints can lead you're lucky the footprints can lead you to a spot where a dinosaur

skeleton can be discovered. like a treasure hunt! you've got some of your friends they are behind you and on the desk, but with the fossils being dug up, what's going to happen to them? from what i understand, those fossils are going to be taken to three of the world's best museums and be taken on great displays but there is a lot of work to be done before that. we have a piece that we removed from our site at thermopolis, wyoming, when you remove them you put glue into them to help them stay stable and then you cover them with plasterjackets, strips of burlap, that protects them with a hard shell as there being transported thousands of miles to their new homes in indianapolis and london. it's notjust bones, because obviously the vegetation would have been preserved. what are we learning from that? what we're learning from

the vegetation at that time is it was a lot of fairly primitive plants stop if ferns and pine trees and conifers that we see today. what's interesting is if this plant life or how... we know it did support vast populations and herds of these longnecked sauropod dinosaurs, but these guys have such small heads, and small brains for that matter, we're trying to figure out how these very primitive plants could support so very primitive plants could support so many animals. the vegetation they find can give us a clue about dinosaur diets and how a small, simple plant could sustain a dinosaur that could weigh up to a0 times. andrew rossi there. and we'll be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers sian griffiths and lance price. that's coming up after the headlines at 11:30pm. now it's time for the weather with alina.

hello. you may well be thinking that august so far has not really felt like august, and one of the reasons is the jetstream, the winds high up in the atmosphere that dry our weather patterns. it's further south than we would expect at this time of year and like than we would expect at this time of yearand likea than we would expect at this time of year and like a conveyor belt, its pushed areas of low pressure from the atlantic to the uk and we've got another one on friday. another deep area of low pressure and once again the isobars are close together, so not just wet but windy as well and rain initially across scotland, northern ireland and north—west and south—west england and wales will slide south and east through the day and turning drier and brighter in northern ireland, scotland and the far north of england, albeit with blustery showers. this rain likely to linger across england and wales for much of the day and combine that with gusty winds, touching a5 mph for some southern and western coasts, a wet, blustery and cool afternoon and for further north there could 20 or 2! celsius and the

rain slowly clears away south and east on friday evening. eventually out of the way in early saturday morning but this area of low pressure continues to dominate our weather through the weekend, particularly for scotland and northern ireland where here we are likely to the most frequent showers perhaps merging to give longer spells of rain. likely to stay windy, strong gusts particularly for southern and western coasts. this is saturday, the overnight rain had cleared away from south—west england but plenty of showers in scotland and northern ireland merging to give longer spells in scotland. more scattered in england and wales, blowing through quickly on a blustery wind and temperatures perhaps 21 or 22, but more like the mid—to—high teens in scotland and northern ireland. by sunday, we've still got this area of low pressure dominating the scene and still generating showers particularly for northern ireland and scotland. again, heavy, merging to bring

longer spells, and more frequent