rebecca vardy loses her high court libel case against colleen rooney. vardy sued rooney after the latter accused her of leaking her private information to the sun. rebekah vardy was called by the judge of being an unreliable witness and today could not have gone much worse for her. also this lunchtime: police in lincolnshire arrest two people after a nine—year—old girl died in a suspected stabbing. we do believe this to be an isolated incident and we're not yet in a position to name the victim. her parents are being supported by specially trained officers at this very difficult time and i can only imagine the grief and pain they're going through. the government says people

will receive the £400 to help with rising energy bills in six—monthly installments from october. # neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours #. tears on ramsey street as the last episode of the soap opera neighbours airs in the uk later today. and coming up on the bbc news channel. england have won the first gold of the commonwealth games. olympic silver medallist alex yee took the title in the triathlon. good afternoon and welcomes to the bbc news at one. rebekah vardy has lost her libel case, which had become known as the �*wagatha christie�* trial, at the high court. vardy had sued coleen rooney

after the latter accused her of leaking private information about her to the tabloid press. both women have huge social media followings and business interests, having leveraged their exposure as the wives of famous football players. our correspondent, colin paterson, has been following the trial and is at the high court this lunchtime. this court this lunchtime. has been a disastrous mornir for this has been a disastrous morning for rebekah vardy. the judge said she was not a credible witness, she said that coleen rooney's original accuse a repost from 2019 in which he said rebekah vardy had leaked stories about her from coleen rooney's private instagram account to the sun newspaper was true. we had that rebekah vardy also was likely to have destroyed evidence. it was the trial that brought two footballers wives face to face in court. coleen rooney, wife of england's all—time top scorer wayne rooney and rebekah vardy, wife of leicester city

strikerjamie vardy. the trial attracted huge media interest. camera crews jostled for position outside and reporters and columnists had to queue to get a ringside seat for this courtroom drama. now thejudgment has been published online. the winner, coleen rooney. coleen rooney has struck a major victory. a major home run here. and it makes her look, in a sense, a certain amount of a statesperson over this. she understands the game. vardy doesn't. the case all centred on accusation made by coleen rooney in october 2019. she had been doing some detective work to investigate who was allegedly leaking information from her private instagram account to the sun newspaper. coleen rooney created fake stories to try to deduce who was behind the leaks. she allegedly blocked every account apart from rebekah vardy�*s. days later, the stories appeared in the sun. only then, and after the use of ten

dots to ramp up the tension, did coleen rooney reveal in an online post that the one account she had allowed to read these works of fiction was rebekah vardy�*s. it was rebekah vardy who brought this legal action, and as she arrived for her first day in the witness box, much would depend on how she gave evidence. it did not go well. she was accused by coleen rooney's legal team of being evasive, of changing her story, of lying under oath. rebekah vardy was described as an attention seeker who wanted to appear in the newspapers. coleen rooney told the court at the euros in 2016 when there was a commotion nearby. it was rebekah vardy switching seats to sit behind her, allegedly to be in the photographs. the court heard rebekah vardy used her agent, caroline watt, seen on the left, to leak the stories to the sun. these included tales about the state of rooney's marriage.

caroline watt did not give evidence in court for health reasons and her mobile phone, which could have provided a data trail, went missing in the north sea. in the witness box on the first day of her evidence, rebekah vardy broke down in tears. this happened again on subsequent days. at one point the judge paused proceedings to allow her to recover. i was in court only a few feet from rebekah vardy as she sat there crying, with her head in her hands, looking like she was thinking, "why did i ever bring this to court?" the contrast with the composure coleen rooney showed while giving evidence was striking. each day coleen rooney was accompanied by her husband, wayne, as she arrived at court. she told how her privacy had been invaded. information and photographs she wanted to share with only a few trusted friends and family were repeatedly leaked to the sun. this is why she set out to find out who was behind the leaks. she also said she had repeatedly tried to settle the case privately

to avoid going to court, but rebekah vardy refused. when it was wayne rooney's turn in the witness box he said he was not aware of his wife's online detective work until the day she posted her accusation. he described the traumatic impact whole case had had on her, with her becoming a different mother, a different wife. after today's judgment, coleen rooney will feel herself vindicated in her detective work. meanwhile, rebekah vardy�*s reputation has taken a hit and there will be big legal bills that need to be paid. and colinjoins me now. what more have we found out today from the court? coleen rooney has just issued a statement giving her reaction to the judgment. she says, naturally, iam pleased thejudge has judgment. she says, naturally, iam pleased the judge has found in favour with herjudgment pleased the judge has found in favour with her judgment today. pleased the judge has found in favour with herjudgment today. it was never a case i have a sort of wanted. i never believed it should

have gone to court at such expense in times of hardship for so many people when the money could have been far better spent helping others. what was crucial for coleen rooney today was when they got the judge said, that original tweet was fundamentally true and in the judgment, she lists all the posts that coleen rooney made on her instagram account which she believed rebekah vardy, in conjunction with her agent leaked to the sun newspaper, and the list is lengthy. there is a post about the marriage of the rooney is. there was a picture of them in pyjamas and there was speculation about who had taken the photo and it was in a difficult time in the marriage of them. there was a car crash in washington which coleen rooney was furious about it making the papers, because she wasn't even driving the car and it wasn't even driving the car and it was reported wrongly. and the fake posts that coleen rooney put out as

bait to find out who had been leaking the stories. the gender selection one, the one about going to mexico to try and make sure their next child was a girl. completely made up, leaked to the sun newspaper and thejudge said made up, leaked to the sun newspaper and the judge said she believes that rebekah vardy and caroline what did those leaks. it is interesting when you look at what the judge is saying, it was a very lengthy judgment and we are still working our way through it, but when talking about rebekah vardy, she says her evidence was not credible. contrast that with the rooney is gave honest and reliable evidence. rebekah vardy could appeal, it will be interesting to see if she's had enough or she will fight back.— will fight back. colin paterson, thank you _ will fight back. colin paterson, thank you very _ will fight back. colin paterson, thank you very much _ will fight back. colin paterson, thank you very much at - will fight back. colin paterson, thank you very much at the - will fight back. colin paterson, i thank you very much at the high court. two people have been arrested in connection with the death of a nine—year—old girl after a suspected stabbing in lincolnshire. police launched a murder investigation following the incident in boston last night. we're respecting the wishes

of the family and those who are investigating at this moment in time by not releasing her details. obviously as and when we can, we will do, but our priority at the moment really is on supporting the family, supporting those who knew her, and trying to identify the offender from this and bringing them tojustice. our midlands correspondent navtej johal is at the scene in boston. navtej, what more do we know? this is such an awful incident, this little girl was of primary school age. schools broke up here last week and this is the first week of the summer holidays. we don't know a great deal about the girl, other than she was nine years old and police have declined to give any more details and they have also declined to give any more details about the two arrests. they have not confirmed whether they are adults or juveniles or what they have been arrested on suspicion. regardless, this incident has

we are on the side of hard—working families with e6 we are on the side of hard—working families with £6 billion of financial support.- families with £6 billion of financial support. now we are heafina financial support. now we are hearing the — financial support. now we are hearing the details _ financial support. now we are hearing the details of- financial support. now we are hearing the details of how - financial support. now we are| hearing the details of how and financial support. now we are - hearing the details of how and when the money will arise. the direct debit customers, £66 will be deducted automatically from new monthly payments in october and november... to do anything either. that same amount will be automatically credited onto their accounts each month. butjust over two million homes have a traditional prepayment meter like this,

where you have to take a key down to your local shop or post office, give them cash and get money added into your account that you then plug in to turn on the gas and electricity. and getting money to those homes is going to be much more difficult. they should get vouchers each month to use to top up, arriving as a text, an email or a letter through the post. hi, love, you all right? good to see you. i spoke to winston when the price cap increased a few months ago. now, even in summer, the credit doesn't last long. extra money from the government will help, but won't be enough. it's the skin off the rice pudding. it really is, you know. grateful, yes, of course we're grateful, you know, but if it's costing me £5 a day and they're giving me £1100, how long is that actually going to last? i can't afford to run a bath. that's mad. if you were to get a text message

or an email saying, "here's £66, click on this link," would you do it? would you be worried? i'd think it was a scam. you know, what happened to the people who are not like that, who are not savvy, tech savvy? there's a lot of people that are falling through the cracks. that's why energy charities are worried. for several reasons, people might not open that post. they might have a bad relationship with their supplier. they might be in debt to their supplier and be afraid to open those those envelopes. so we expect some prepayment customers to miss out. prepayment customers are already paying the most for their energy, but the government says it's reasonable that every household is being given the same amount. there are many people who are not on means—tested benefits that are perhaps just above the benefit level, but are still really struggling with these really high bills. so we thought this was the fairest and easiest way to distribute the money. however welcome, with energy prices rising again at the start

of october, that money will drain even faster. karl smith, bbc news, in manchester. you can get more information on the cost of living crisis on our website. it includes details of how fast prices are rising and tips to save money. just head to bbc.co.uk/news. southern water has become the first in the country to introduce a hosepipe ban this summer. it will come into force next week in hampshire and the isle of wight. people won't be allowed to use sprinklers or hoses to water gardens, clean cars or fill ponds and swimming pools. it comes as england recorded its driestjuly in over 100 years. scientists say the record temperatures in the uk last week would not have happened without man—made climate change. a global team that includes experts from imperial college london and the met office has been running complex weather models in recent days to establish the extent to which greenhouse gas emissions made the heatwave worse. here's our climate

correspondent, jonah fisher. the hot weather of early last week was unprecedented, with high temperatures recorded across much of the uk. a0 degrees celsius was felt here for the very first time. our transport network creaked, and the heat combined with dry weather to lower water levels and create conditions forfires to spread. for a long time, it's been clear that global warming makes heatwaves more frequent and more intense. but in recent years there have been big advances in climate modelling, which means scientists are able to look at what's behind specific weather events, like last week's extremely hot few days. having these temperatures... climatologists, including experts from imperial college, london and the met office, have been working round the clock, looking at whether human actions made last week's heatwave worse. we would not have had last week's temperatures without climate change,

that's for sure. so these temperatures are at least two degrees higher than they would have been without climate change, but much likely that the real number is closer to what we see in the observations, which is about four degrees. so climate change absolutely played a really, really big role. that's with the world warming by 1.1 degree. with global greenhouse gas emissions yet to start falling, even hotter weather and more heatwaves look inevitable. the implications are that if we want to keep a heatwave like this a rare event, we really have to get to net zero greenhouse gas emissions very soon. the current goal is net zero emissions by 2050. to reach it, we're going to have to stop using fossil fuels to run our cars, warm our homes and

generate electricity. jonah fisher, bbc news. weather forecasters faced an unprecedented level of online abuse during this month's extreme heat in the uk. the bbc�*s team received hundreds of abusive tweets and emails questioning their reports and telling them to "get a grip", as temperatures hit a record 40c. most of the abuse seems to have been prompted when links were made between the heatwave and climate change. met office and royal meteorological society forecasters were also targeted. the government has admitted that it needs to improve its response to international crises, after criticism of the withdrawal from afghanistan last summer. a foreign affairs select committee inquiry described the uk's handling of the pull—out as a "disaster." officials said they were determined to raise standards, and regretted that some afghans had been put at risk. our diplomatic correspondent caroline hawley reports. chaotic scenes last summer as desperate afghans scrambled to escape the taliban takeover.

in a mass evacuation the uk brought 15,000 people out. but the report of the mps inquiry earlier this year was withering in its criticism of how the government handled the withdrawal, finding multiple failings of intelligence, diplomacy and planning. failings that could have cost lives. many afghans who worked to support the british mission did not make it out. we've abandoned thousands who still live in danger because they helped isaf forces, they supported the british effort, but are now pursued by the taliban. and there is now a confusing and chaotic process to assist those who are seeking to exit afghanistan even today. the foreign affairs committee said the evacuation process had been open to arbitrary political intervention. senior officials, including the foreign secretary, had been on holiday when kabulfell. i have reflected a lot

since august on my leave, and if i had my time again i would have come back from my leave earlier than i did. the government says last summer's crisis was unprecedented and presented huge challenges to all those involved. but it concedes there are fundamental lessons to learn. caroline hawley, bbc news. our top story this lunchtime: rebekah vardy has lost the high court libel claim she brought against coleen rooney over a social media post, in what's become known as the "wagatha christie" case. and as the commonwealth games in birmingham gets under way, i'm here at edgbaston cricket ground for the first ever women's t20 match. coming up on the bbc news channel. lewis hamilton leads the tributes to four—time f1 champion sebastian vettel — after he announced he'll retire at the end of the season.

a counter—offensive by ukrainian troops in the south of the country is gathering momentum around the occupied city of kherson, according to the uk ministry of defence. earlier this week, a key bridge in moscow—controlled territory was destroyed, effectively cutting off the russian troops. when the russian troops first rolled into kherson, there were weeks of street protests. now the resistance has moved underground. sarah rainsford has been to meet some of ukraine's shadow army working behind enemy lines to help free kherson. they tumble off buses every day here, mostly women and children, fleeing russian occupation in southern ukraine. exhausted and still wary, because it's a long, tense trip from a life where even a text message supporting ukraine can get you arrested.

when russian forces invaded kherson, big crowds came out in protest. they chanted at heavily armed troops to go home. and then the russians hit back. explosion. but the resistance didn't die. it moved underground. we arranged to meet some of that shadow army. they asked us not to reveal where or who they are. translation: the resistance movement is huge. _ it's total resistance. this man told me how the partisans operate behind enemy lines. so look here. someone's driving, they know there's a military base that the occupiers have taken over, so they drive by and film it all. that way we know what kind of kit the russians have.

the information is then passed on to ukraine's military. resistance is dangerous, though. denis mironov was caught gathering intelligence and weapons for the partisans. he was beaten so badly, he died in custody. his mother has evidence denis was tortured by russia's fsb security service. translation: but they simply beat him to death. _ they tied him to a door, wrapped tape around his head, and they beat my son so badly that his ribs were broken by the first blow. but it looks like the fightback for kherson has begun. ukraine says it's destroying russian ammunition depots.

hitting key bridges to disrupt their supply lines. weapons from the west are starting to make a difference here. sarah rainsford, bbc news, in southern ukraine. the presidents of the united states and china have warned each other over taiwan during a phone call lasting more than two hours. president biden told xi jinping that washington strongly opposes any unilateral moves to undermine stability across the taiwan straits. president xi said that those who played with fire would only get burnt. a union representing easyjet pilots based in spain says its members will go on strike for nine days in august. they're demanding that the airline reestablishes pilots' working conditions from before the coronavirus pandemic and offers a new multi—year contract deal. a separate strike by cabin crew this weekend was called off after an agreement on salary was reached. asos, boohoo and asda are being investigated by uk's

competition watchdog over claims about the sustainability of theirfashion products. concerns include the use of vague language which may suggest collections are greener than they actually are. asos says it's committed to providing clear and accurate information. the other two companies haven't yet commented. after 37 years and nearly 9,000 episodes, the last episode of the soap opera neighbours is screening tonight in the uk. kylie minogue and jason donovan returned for the show, offering viewers "the perfect blend' of tear—jerking nostalgia from the programme's heyday. david sillito reports. # neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours. feeling so emotional, i am so glad i can share _ feeling so emotional, i am so glad i can share it— feeling so emotional, i am so glad i can share it with everybody, we laughed — can share it with everybody, we laughed and cried together and just

to be here — laughed and cried together and just to be here and watch it. wow, laughed and cried together and 'ust to be here and watch it. wow, really feelin: it. to be here and watch it. wow, really feeling it- it — to be here and watch it. wow, really feeling it. it was _ to be here and watch it. wow, really feeling it. it was an _ to be here and watch it. wow, really feeling it. it was an evening - to be here and watch it. wow, really feeling it. it was an evening of - feeling it. it was an evening of sleeping bags, smiles and tears and the chance to watch the final neighbours in the place where it all happened. it neighbours in the place where it all ha ened. ., , ., .,, happened. it really got me. i was in tears by the — happened. it really got me. i was in tears by the end. _ happened. it really got me. i was in tears by the end. they _ happened. it really got me. i was in tears by the end. they did - happened. it really got me. i was in tears by the end. they did it - happened. it really got me. i was in tears by the end. they did it in - happened. it really got me. i was in tears by the end. they did it in a - tears by the end. they did it in a really nice _ tears by the end. they did it in a really nice way _ tears by the end. they did it in a really nice way but _ tears by the end. they did it in a really nice way but i _ tears by the end. they did it in a really nice way but i was - tears by the end. they did it in aj really nice way but i was actually crying _ really nice way but i was actually crying at — really nice way but i was actually crying at the end. so really nice way but i was actually crying at the end.— crying at the end. so sad. i 'ust cannot believe they're �* crying at the end. so sad. ijust cannot believe they're doing . crying at the end. so sad. ijustl cannot believe they're doing this crying at the end. so sad. ijust - cannot believe they're doing this to us. it cannot believe they're doing this to us. ., , cannot believe they're doing this to us, ., , ., cannot believe they're doing this to us, ., ., cannot believe they're doing this to us. it was also a chance for many of its famous — us. it was also a chance for many of its famous former _ us. it was also a chance for many of its famous former stars _ us. it was also a chance for many of its famous former stars to - us. it was also a chance for many of its famous former stars to say - its famous former stars to say goodbye, among them scott and charlene, kylie and jason. you never foruet charlene, kylie and jason. you never forget where — charlene, kylie and jason. you never forget where you _ charlene, kylie and jason. you never forget where you come _ charlene, kylie and jason. you never forget where you come from - charlene, kylie and jason. you never forget where you come from in - charlene, kylie and jason. you never forget where you come from in life. | forget where you come from in life. you neverforget forget where you come from in life. you never forget your roots and to see today the amount of talent that has come back to neighbours, shows just how much that show meant to them. i knew we needed to shout out loud about this show and what this

moment meant to a lot of people and how proud we are to have been part of something that changed all our lives. �* h, . of something that changed all our lives. �* . . of something that changed all our lives. . ., ., ., ., lives. and so a final moment of neighbourly _ lives. and so a final moment of neighbourly togetherness - lives. and so a final moment of neighbourly togetherness to . neighbourly togetherness to celebrate it all, the daily dramas, to bouncer�*s dream. and theirfans who read it had become good friends. —— and the fans who really had become good friends. david sillito, bbc news. last night the commonwealth games officially began with a huge ceremony celebrating commonwealth and the host city, birmingham. today 16 gold medals are up for grabs at the games as events get under way. more than 5,000 athletes will take part in 11 days of competition. my colleague reeta chakrabarti was there and joins us now. reeta. it was a thrilling night for the athletes and the audience, with an opening ceremony that celebrated all that was best about brum, past and present.

prince charles formally opened what he called the friendly games, which he said reminds all commonwealth nations of the connections they have with each other. the focus now moves swiftly on to the events, which is of course what it is all about. so let's nowjoin laura scott, who's at the velodrome in london taking in today's cycling events. it is worth pointing out although the games are taking place in birmingham and the west midlands at this one event is in london. absolutely. this is where the cycling took place during london 2012 and it is hosting the cycling during the birmingham two thirds and 22. i am during the birmingham two thirds and 22. iam right during the birmingham two thirds and 22. i am right in the heart of the velodrome under a very frantic morning and the crowds ofjust about filtered out ahead of a busy evening session with six gold medals up for grabs and team england in two of the

gold medal races, the men's team pursuit and men's team sprint. we also seen a crowd favourite dame laura kenny back on the track after a very difficult year for her personally, she and her english team—mates are into the bronze medal race in that women's team pursuit and they will go up against team wales. it's been a good morning for team scotland with eileen mcglynn giving herself the chance of her first ever commonwealth gold medal after winning medals. and then the man trying to become the most decorated scottish athlete in history going in the men's tandem time trial. we have had david beckham and ronaldo in action here at the velodrome today. not the footballers but two very promising cyclists from india!

laura scott, thank you very much. nesta mcgregor is at sutton park where the sprint traithalon was held this morning. what is happening? good afternoon. the forecast for today isn't the low 20s, perfect date for the cycle and run but i reckon the swimming was still a little bit chilly. alex yee is picking up his medal right now. was the english 24—year—old who won the first gold medal of these games. the national anthem is about to start in the background. it was a very competitive rate, hayden wilde led for most of it but it's about endurance and stamina and alex yee took the lead with eight few kilometres to go and never looked back. very commercial at the end, hugging mum and dad, apparently they are off for a curry later and dad is

paying, obviously. in the next ball, england, defending champions from australia, comfortably beating trinidad and tobago, in the swimming pool it was a great morning for scotland, toni shaw is into the finals of the final. we're sticking around because the women's triathlon is coming up next, the name to watch out for its england's georgia taylor brown, a phenomenal year and she could cap it with commonwealth gold. alex yee picking up his medal, the national anthem is playing. there's a full 11 days of sport coming up during the course of these games — they are to some extent having to share the limelight with the euro football final this weekend — but for sports lovers, this isjust a bonanza of a summer. much more from us in birmingham throughout the day, but for now i'll hand back to you, martine. time for a look at the weather. here's ben rich.