this is bbc news, the headlines an eight—year—old girl dies and more than a dozen people are injured after a car crashes into a primary school in south london. the firm that owned the titan submersible , which killed all five people on board following an implosion , suspends its commercial operations. in ukraine, five people have been killed in a russian rocket attack on an apartment building in lviv. and meta — the company behind instagram — launches �*threads�* — as a rival to twitter. the labour leader sir keir starmer has promised to smash what he calls the " class ceiling' by boosting education for poorer children.

he has pledged to improve pupil's speaking skills — and said he wants half a million more children to reach their early learning targets by 2030. the speech on labour's education policy was interrupted by green protestors. our political editor chris mason reports. the smiles are big, the dreams are bigger at this primary school in rochester in kent. how does society match boundless aspiration with providing the opportunities to ensure they come true? what would you like to be when you grow up? i would like to be a rugby player. i would like to be a graphic designer and make movies. tell me what you would like to be when you grow up. a scientist. what do you like playing with the car? it's not playing, it's working. good point! in gillingham, keir starmer said he wanted to tear down barriers to home.

down barriers to hope. more children must reach early learning targets, he said, snobbery must go. alongside his albeit broad vision for the economy, the health service, energy and crime, he said... so too will i introduce a curriculum fit for the digital age. so too will i fight for vocational training to be respected as much as university education, so too will i drag our education system into the future and shatter our class ceiling. not everyone was convinced. some protesters accused him of a u—turn on environmental promises, and the conservatives claim his emphasis on improving speaking skills was all talk. it is all the way through the curriculum so that is nonsense. reading is the most important thing to get knowledge into children. through our reforms and improvements in standards, we are now fourth in the world for reading.

that is amazing. but some teachers in england were on strike yesterday and they are on strike tomorrow. but some teachers in england were on strike yesterday and they are on strike tomorrow. this is for conservative ministers to sort, but how would labour do it? i would require my education secretary to be in the room negotiating an outcome. you only resolve it if you are in the room negotiating. i'm not clear how you would resolve it and crucially if you would pay teachers more. any negotiation involves people compromising. the race, the balancing act of governing and opposition, it's about choices. labour is desperate to be seen to be careful with money and so is careful in its promises, too. the political back—and—forth is heating up. chris mason, bbc news, in kent. i'm joined now by conservative mp, david johnston.

thank you for coming the programme. do you like the labour party idea of increasing the focus on speaking skills for children? i increasing the focus on speaking skills for children?— skills for children? i don't think ou skills for children? i don't think you would _ skills for children? i don't think you would find _ skills for children? i don't think you would find anybody - skills for children? i don't think you would find anybody that . skills for children? i don't think - you would find anybody that doesn't agree speaking skills are important for children, the key point is this is already right the week throughout the curriculum, it's also in the curriculum of how we trained teachers as well, for how they conduct themselves in the christ class from the message. given we have been waiting 3.5 years from educational policies from the labour party, what we got today was a disappointment.— party, what we got today was a disappointment. what's about to tar: et? disappointment. what's about to target? should _ disappointment. what's about to target? should more _ disappointment. what's about to target? should more children . disappointment. what's about to target? should more children hit disappointment. what's about to - target? should more children hit the early learning targets earlier? the? early learning targets earlier? they absolutely should _ early learning targets earlier? they absolutely should be _ early learning targets earlier? tie: absolutely should be hitting early learning targets earlier? tie11. absolutely should be hitting targets as soon as possible, from the youngest age. in order to do that what you need to care about what happens in the home environment,

which is why it is so important that the government has created family hubs to support parents with how they support their children, why it's created a tutoring programme to help supplement what is going on in schools. we didn't hear a huge amount from labour today about what they would do to help children hit those early targets, and there were a few gaps today that were missing. they haven't been in power, you have. are you frustrated that more hasn't been done on social mobility? social mobility was a key theme in my career and if you look at what the government has done, we are not up the government has done, we are not up to 88% of schools which are good and outstanding, which is up from 60% when we came into office. we have also seen a english premonition school children rank the best western readers in the world, which is also important for social mobility. what we got from keir starmer today where words about why

social mobility is important, but his only solution seems to be teaching children to speak well which, as i said, is already in the curriculum for some numbers from the social committees commission, in 2020 they said roughly one quarter of disadvantaged students get passes in matt's and jesse's, where otherwise that number have, that good gap isn't good enough is it? the gap isn't good enough. what the government has tried to do during academy news academy schools and others is to close that gap for disadvantaged children because anybody who cares about education, that should be the number one focus, trying to close that gap, and that's what the government is focus on. this phrase, a class ceiling, that's a people will recognise that across the uk right now and they would perhaps be frustrated that all the time the conservatives have been in power, it has been a long time, it

hasn't felt like it is gotten better. fix. hasn't felt like it is gotten better. �* , ., ., better. a few things have gotten better. a few things have gotten better like the _ better. a few things have gotten better like the standards - better. a few things have gotten better like the standards in - better like the standards in schools, that the number of disadvantaged young people are going to university and so on. the key point here is that this isn'tjust about what government does wassup so, everybody from families, when they bring up their children, to schools, two universities to professions, if you look at some professions, if you look at some professions like medicine, medicine is the most socially exclusive profession in the country. with only 6% of doctors from a working—class back on. your 24% more likely to become a doctor if your parent is a doctor. our policy here in whitehall is trying to fix that, we all have a role to play. we is trying to fix that, we all have a role to play-— role to play. we really leave it there. thank _ role to play. we really leave it there. thank you _ role to play. we really leave it there. thank you for _ role to play. we really leave it there. thank you for coming i role to play. we really leave it| there. thank you for coming in the programme david johnson. i'm joined by simon kidwell, president of the national association of head teachers union.

he's been a head teacherfor i6 he's been a head teacherfor 16 years and currently works out of hartford manor primary school in cheshire, a member of the labour party. thank you for coming in programme. good evening. what was your response lives to sir keir starmer? i your response lives to sir keir starmer?— your response lives to sir keir starmer? ., , ., starmer? i thought he settled a clear and ambitious _ starmer? i thought he settled a clear and ambitious vision - starmer? i thought he settled a clear and ambitious vision for i clear and ambitious vision for schools and i think therefore things that resonated with me as a school leader. the first one was a focus on early years, getting children off to the best art, which we know from research is the most important time to start narrowing the gap. the focus on speaking fluently, i think is important, and focus on schools, schools have been doing and emphasising that, making sure we do more of it is a good thing. just emphasising that, making sure we do more of it is a good thing.— more of it is a good thing. just to “um in more of it is a good thing. just to jump in there. — more of it is a good thing. just to jump in there, david _ more of it is a good thing. just to jump in there, david johnson - more of it is a good thing. just toj jump in there, david johnson was more of it is a good thing. just to - jump in there, david johnson was and what we do it all the way through schools. �* , ., ., what we do it all the way through schools. �* , . ., .,. schools. i've been a head teacher for 18 years _ schools. i've been a head teacher for 18 years and _ schools. i've been a head teacher

for 18 years and i _ schools. i've been a head teacher for 18 years and i know _ schools. i've been a head teacher for 18 years and i know we - schools. i've been a head teacher for 18 years and i know we don't i schools. i've been a head teacher. for 18 years and i know we don't do enough of it. it's something which we can do more of. i think we value the written output far too much and we can do better and making sure we value and timetable and teach those vocal skills the labour party were talking about today. so, i think i was also heartened by the inspection performance, we know inspection is really changing in school at the moment and those are things that resonated with me.— moment and those are things that resonated with me. what about things that weren't in — resonated with me. what about things that weren't in there? _ resonated with me. what about things that weren't in there? what _ resonated with me. what about things that weren't in there? what would - that weren't in there? what would you have liked to see an emphasis on? ~ ., ., , ., ., on? we need a long-term plan for education. — on? we need a long-term plan for education, and _ on? we need a long-term plan for education, and we _ on? we need a long-term plan for education, and we need _ on? we need a long-term plan for education, and we need a - on? we need a long-term plan for. education, and we need a long-term education, and we need a long—term funding plan. the things they are speaking about, extending nursery care and provision, training teachers in how to teach focuses, making sure we retain teachers and pay them an appropriate rage all those things weren't explicitly outlined, so we need to have more recruits. we have recruitment crisis

in schools. ., �*, recruits. we have recruitment crisis in schools-— in schools. that's focus on that, the -a in schools. that's focus on that, the pay for _ in schools. that's focus on that, the pay for some _ in schools. that's focus on that, the pay for some it's _ in schools. that's focus on that, the pay for some it's a - in schools. that's focus on that, the pay for some it's a crucial i the pay for some it's a crucial issue, a live issue right now, isn't it? , ., . , it? yes, we are currently in pay disute it? yes, we are currently in pay disuute and _ it? yes, we are currently in pay dispute and all _ it? yes, we are currently in pay dispute and all the _ it? yes, we are currently in pay dispute and all the teaching - it? yes, we are currently in pay . dispute and all the teaching unions have reached out to their members so we could theoretically go and see all the teaching unions out on strike if the government don't get about her own the table and resolve theissue about her own the table and resolve the issue or on pay and workload. thank you for coming on the programme. the social media giant, meta — which owns facebook, whatsapp and instagram — now has another app. the firm has launched threads, and according to boss mark zuckerberg, there have been ten million sign—ups in the first seven hours. the app is linked to instagram and is widely seen as a rival to twitter. meta describes it as a "text based conversation app". users are able to post up to 500 characters of text, and five minutes of video and pictures. it isn't yet available in the european union because of regulatory concerns.

earlier mr zuckerberg said keeping the platform "friendly... will ultimately be the key to its success". to which, mr musk responded in a tweet: "it is infinitely preferable to be attacked by strangers on twitter, than indulge in the false happiness of hide—the—pain instagram." earlier we spoke to dan sodergren, a digital marketing and technology expert. well, it seems like a very basic version of twitter, which, of course it is. it's a stripped down version of it. and let's be fair, microblogging is not as actually owned by twitter, and it's not really a new idea.

it's not a particularly complex piece of technology to build. there are other things like mastodon that do this and blue sky, and there's lots of other competitors to twitter. but of course, mark zuckerberg has done a fantastic thing by linking this to instagram, which means distribution is its kind of killer feature. it can then grab hold of the 2.3 billion people that instagram have got, and just by a couple of clicks, you can actually follow the same people you follow on instagram. so this is the reason why it's gone so viral, so very quickly. and that's an amazing thing. you know, first time first time tech founders think about product, second time tech's tech founders think about distribution. and mark, of course, with everything else that he owns has cracked it. interesting. so a glowing review so far. and what do you make of the timing of the release? well, again, i must confess it's not a glowing review of the app itself, but of just the way that they've done it and the way they've tied it all together. you've got to remember that data is the new oil. so they've done a very, very clever move here. they're trying to get as much data from people as possible. and as you say, the timing of the move is fantastic because of course, elon musk and twitter is a little bit on its knees. it only has like 400 million active

users itself of monthly active users itself. and of course, the way that elon musk has been running it, you could argue, is almost a textbook for not doing it tech company particularly well. however, he is also or was one of the richest people in the world. so i'm not arguing against his business acumen. it's just whether he can run a social media company. it's kind of proving he can't. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. bbc news, bringing you different stories from across the uk. a library with a twist. instead of books, this is a library of things — full of electronics like this popular carpet cleaner — expertly maintained by technical specialist turned librarian jamie hillier, responsible for looking after the collections of a dozen such libraries across london. when people are renting and they're moving accommodation, the landlord requires them to get the carpets clean before moving out. and it's quite expensive to pay someone to come and do that as a service. but to borrow one from us, £20.50 a day. electronic libraries within regular literature libraries, like this one in southwark, an operation recently voted one of the country's top 100 social enterprises.

southwark is one of london's most populated boroughs. the council has backed the initiative, in part to curb the 400 tonnes of electric waste that's generated here every year. you're live with bbc news india's top court is set to deliver its verdict on whether same sex marriage can be allowed. it's a proposal that has sharply divided opinion in the country. while the government and religious groups have opposed the idea, the lgbtq+ community is hopeful that the court will once again show the way five years after it decriminalised homosexuality. arunoday mukharji reports. i'm just saying we want to get married. you are not a normal human being. how are their lives getting i

affected by people like us? the fight for rights is louder than ever. forging ahead. demanding change. excited and hopeful that the supreme court will now recognise same sex marriage. it's what these men have been wanting a college romance. they have been together for 15 years in fifth. they want to get married and have what every indian married couple has. equal rights. we both want to be parents. we want to start a family. and we can't adopt children. and we can't start a family. we can go for surrogacy. jointly owning property or even things. like if there's a medical emergency, what right does he have to take decisions on my behalf? so just sort of emotional reasons but also practical reasons. this judgment means a lot for our day to day life. the supreme court deliberations

are already a win. even that was unthinkable when they were growing up. there was a lot of mockery and phobia in society, even though we were best friends for everyone. if there was like an intimate moment between two guys, it was a butt ofjokes. i was always terrified and scared. i mean, anyway, i'm not going to have a personal future, but this would end my social life and this would end my professional life. marriage is not only. a question of dignity, as if that were not enough. it is also a bouquet of rights that lgbtq people are being denied. | india's constitution is key to this issue. it promises equality to all. 0pposing sides have fought it out in the country's highest court. right to get a particular social relationship recognised as a marriage is not a fundamental right. a formerjudge of the

delhi high court agrees. claims it's against india's culture. he and 20 other formerjudges wrote to the supreme court against the proposal. translation: what is same sex marriage? i it's an abnormality. a marriage should be between a man and a woman. how can same sex couples adopt society? but why should society interfere? are they not part of the same society? so if they are part of the same society, then shouldn't they have the same rights? but that's only if they comply by the existing societal norms. it took 70 years for the supreme court to legalise gay sex in 2018. the verdict triggered hope that the right to marry might not be far behind. it's rare to see members of the lgbtq+ community claim public spaces like these in a country like india, where social stigma and taboo are still very much associated with sexual identity.

people over here say that gatherings like these are a show of strength. global estimates say the community is now 10% of india's population. this decision is notjust about same sex marriage, but also about the path the country takes for equal rights. arunoday mukharji, bbc news, delhi. now, we have seen a lot of growth in the world of ai generated art, but how about a robot who uses al to actually pait what it sees? that's exactly what the robot ai—da does, and earlier i caught up with her and her creator, aidan meller.. very excited to present you this robot. the first first ultra—realistic robot artist and we are at this conference organised by the united nations. what are at this conference organised by the united nations.—

are at this conference organised by the united nations. what can she do? she is very unusual— the united nations. what can she do? she is very unusual in _ the united nations. what can she do? she is very unusual in that _ the united nations. what can she do? she is very unusual in that she - the united nations. what can she do? she is very unusual in that she can - she is very unusual in that she can paint and she is very unusual in that she can paintand draw she is very unusual in that she can paint and draw by sight, she has cameras in her eyes and is able to look like you do and actually paint what she sees, which is an extra shorter thing to watch and process. mason, can i ask her a question? can you relate a question for me question mark very nice of you, so sorry about that. could you ask her about her artwork? can sorry about that. could you ask her about her artwork?— about her artwork? can you tell us somethin: about her artwork? can you tell us something about _ about her artwork? can you tell us something about your _ about her artwork? can you tell us something about your artwork? i in my artistic. just in case we

couldn't quite _ in my artistic. just in case we couldn't quite hear— in my artistic. just in case we couldn't quite hear that, - in my artistic. just in case we | couldn't quite hear that, could in my artistic. just in case we - couldn't quite hear that, could you do a rough translation for us was to mark so ada, last night at the meeting dinner, was the keynote speaker, incredible as it may sound, a robot as a keynote speaker. she also did a a robot as a keynote speaker. sue: also did a performance a robot as a keynote speaker. 5ie: also did a performance which was they get into the role of ai and biotechnology, we are on the brink of being able to do, life extension. el of being able to do, life extension. e1 is that frightening it looks like we are indeed able to extend life. what she did was a presentation, for the first time, a world premiere of her performance, looking at the whole greek myth of us and to finesse, us was in love with to finesse, us was in love with to finesse but you to finesse was a mere mortals and was given immortal life and as a result of that us was excited but sadly he got older and older, she forgot that ask for

eternal youth without immortality and she did that performs of that. this is bbc news. that why why why the mp chris pincher is facing an eight—week suspension from the commons, after an inquiry found that he groped two men at a private members club in london. parliament's standards committee said the former conservative deputy chief whip's behaviour was "completely inappropriate" and an "abuse of power". mr pincher apologised and resigned from borisjohnson's government when the allegations emerged last year — but he denied breaching the code of conduct. mrjohnson's handling of the situation led to the fall of his government, after a wave of ministerial resignations. 0ur political correspondent leila nathoo reports. a connection that brought down a government. pincher by name, pincher by nature. now, has the prime minister ever said words to that effect?

i'm not going to trivialise what happened. how borisjohnson dealt with sexual harassment claims against chris pincher last year was the catalyst of his downfall. now a parliamentary committee has given its verdict on mr pincher�*s behaviour. it was at this private members' club one night lastjune that chris pincher drunkenly groped two men. the report describes that physical contact as "unwanted, upsetting and deeply inappropriate", and it said it had a significant impact on those involved. the committee goes on to say this was an... they say it... and the report concludes that... chris pincher today again apologised for his actions. the committee has recommended his suspension from the house for eight weeks. in the commons, labour asked when mps would get to vote on the sanction.

the committee found that the actions of the member significantly affected the public�*s perception of this house. i'm afraid to say that shamefully, it appears the conservative party have protected and even promoted him, despite a previous investigation into his conduct. the honourable member concerned has ten days to appeal, and we must let due process run its course. but she knows that we take these matters incredibly seriously. this is yet another aftershock of the chaotic collapse of borisjohnson's government. now there's the prospect of a fifth by—election triggered by a tory mp. that's a headache rishi sunak could do without. today, another reminder of the type of behaviour westminster doesn't want to be associated with — chris pincher, another mp leaving parliament under a cloud. leila nathoo, bbc news, westminster.

the uk cabinet office has lost a legal challenge to block the handover of borisjohnson's unredacted whatsapp messages, notebooks and diaries to the covid inquiry. the department argued it should not submit material that it said was "unambiguously irrelevant" , but high courtjudges said the government should not decide what was releva nt. it has until monday afternoon to hand over the documents. 0ur political correspondent damian grammaticas has more. this is a row that blew up between the official coronavirus inquiry thatis the official coronavirus inquiry that is now under at looking into the governments handling of the government itself where the inquiry chair had asked to see the whatsapp messages exchanged between boris johnson and other senior officials. a few dozen of them so matt hancock was one of them, the senior medical figures involved in handling the pandemic, senior civil servants, and she wanted to see all of those

whatsapp messages and boris johnson's personal header in darius and his government diary, or that communication. the government came back and said it wanted to redact things and put a black pen through stuff. she said it was in her power to demand that, they try to change it, took her to court, and have confidence of a lost here. which i think it won't surprise many legal observers watching, wondering how strong the governments argument was. the twojudges at strong the governments argument was. the two judges at the high court i said the government cannot withhold information from this public inquiry, it cannot argue that she's acting irrationally. it cannot argue that the information she wants might be irrelevant because that is for her to decide. so, the government tested it now plans to comply with the ruling suck once appeal against it. and baroness highlights and said they must hand over information by 4pm on monday.

hello there. temperatures have been a little bit below average for the first week ofjuly. however, things are set to get a lot hotter as we look at the forecast for tomorrow — more on that in a second. today, many of us have had drier weather with some spells of sunshine and some showers, though, for scotland and some heavy rain in northern ireland, all tied in with this thick cloud you can see on the satellite picture, and weather fronts that have been bringing some heavy rain to the northwest, well, that's being caused by this area of low pressure. it's on friday, as that low swings back out into the north atlantic, that we start to get these southerly winds moving in, and it's that that boosts our temperatures. so, a big jump in heat tomorrow with highs getting up to 29 degrees celsius in the hottest parts of the country. now, before we see that heat arrive, overnight tonight, we've got some rain, the rain turning heavy for a time as it pushes northwards across scotland. then the rain probably becomes a little bit lighter and patchy, at least for a time, for scotland

and for northern ireland. a little bit of rain for a time across northwest england. 0therwise, england and wales looking largely dry with some clear spells. it will be a warmer night than we've seen over recent nights. for friday, then, we've got the remnants of that weather system bringing some rain to northern ireland and scotland to start the day. that will clear away and the weather will turn brighter as we head into the afternoon. it's across england and wales that we'll have sunshine really from dawn till dusk, and it's across england, wales, that we'll see the highest temperatures, widely around 26 for east wales, the midlands, northern england, but as high as 29 degrees celsius around london and the southeast of england. and it does mean we could see the highest temperature of the whole of the wimbledon championship, potentially, during friday, with temperatures certainly getting into the high 20s here. 0n into the weekend's forecast — we'll keep the warm weather going, but there's a risk of some thundery showers initially working into the west, and then as a plume of moisture gets pulled in from europe, we might well see storms breaking out ahead across parts of eastern england, eastern scotland. one or two of the showers could be torrential, but at the same time, there will be some areas that dodge the downpours altogether and stay dry. temperatures still on the warm side for eastern england — could see temperatures into

the mid—20s for northern scotland. for sunday, again, it's a day of sunshine and showers, but there could be some more organised clumps of rain moving up from the continent. a bit of uncertainty about where that might be, but it could be that we see some torrential rain across eastern areas of england. if that happens, we could see, well, about half a month's worth of rainfall in just a few hours. so there's a risk of seeing some localised flooding, but a bit of uncertaintyjust yet.

and this is the context. hello, i'm christian fraser,

as for prigozhin, he is in st petersburg. he may have gone to moscow this morning or somewhere else. he is not on the territory of belarus. the only thing that the kremlin is concerned about is potential for next armed rebellions from other actors and they are also really concerned about making sure that prigozhin doesn't go down as a martyr. so what is happening, what is actually going on — who knows?