in addition to their own inquiries. joe biden begins his journey to the uk, but he's flying into a disagreement over sending cluster bombs to ukraine. and could the ashes fightback be on? england win the third test. australia lead the series 2—1. hello. the bbc says an unnamed male presenter who is alleged to have paid thousands of pounds to a teenager in exchange for explicit sexual images has been suspended. the corporation released a statement and the director general, tim davie, sent an internal email to bbc staff. bbc news impartially covers stories about the wider corporation and, like other news organisations, is seeking further clarification from the corporation on the story. let's look at the details

we do have so far. the male presenter who is accused of paying a teenager for sexually explicit photographs has been suspended. the bbc says it became aware of a complaint in may. mr davie�*s email adds that the bbc investigations team have been "looking into this since it was raised and have been actively following up". according to the bbc statement, new allegations "of a different nature" were put to the corporation on thursday. the bbc says it is in touch with "external authorities" — which are understood to be the police — over the matter, in addition to its own enquiries. and the director general says the bbc is in contact with the family referenced in media reports. helena wilkinson has more. the bbc has this afternoon confirmed one of its presenters, accused of paying a teenager tens of thousands of pounds for sexually explicit photos, has been suspended. it's understood the bbc has also been in

touch with the police. these developments follow further serious allegations today about an unnamed high—profile bbc presenter. in new claims, the youngster�*s mother told the sun on sunday the presenter was pictured in his underwear, ready for her child to perform for him. in an email to staff this afternoon, the director—general, tim davie, said they became aware of a complaint in may and the bbc investigations team have been looking into it since it was raised and have been actively following it up. the bbc said they were alerted to new allegations of a different nature on thursday. there's been mounting pressure on the corporation to act. today culture secretary lucy frazer held urgent talks with the bbc director—general tim davie and said she was assured the corporation was investigating swiftly and sensitively. the allegations first emerged

in the sun yesterday. the paper isn't naming the presenter for legal reasons. it's claimed the bbc star paid around £35,000 to a 17—year—old over a three—year period in return for explicit photos. the young person's mother told the paper her child, now 20, used the money to fund a crack cocaine habit. the family told the sun they complained to the bbc about the presenter in may, but became frustrated that the star remained on air. this afternoon, the culture secretary, who described the allegations as deeply concerning, spoke to the bbc�*s director general tim davie. the bbc do need to speed up theur processes. it looks like these issues were raised in may, we're now injuly and the presenter stayed on air. in all of the sand in our

conversations about it, we have to remember that there is a person, young person at the centre of this. there has been pressure to from politicians on all sides. the there has been pressure to from politicians on all sides.— there has been pressure to from politicians on all sides. the bbc do need to speed _ politicians on all sides. the bbc do need to speed up _ politicians on all sides. the bbc do need to speed up their— politicians on all sides. the bbc do need to speed up their processes. | politicians on all sides. the bbc do | need to speed up their processes. it looks_ need to speed up their processes. it looks like these issues were raised in may, _ looks like these issues were raised in may, we — looks like these issues were raised in may, we are now injuly, the presenter— in may, we are now injuly, the presenter stayed on air. that is not good _ presenter stayed on air. that is not good enough. there is no doubt the bbc is in a serious crisis. the corporation has many questions to answer, including what investigations went on when the family contacted the bbc in may? was the presenter made aware the allegations had been made? and should the investigation have been more thorough? the bbc�*s director general said he was taking the allegations incredibly seriously and they were incredibly seriously and they were in touch with the family who made the complaint. mr davie said he would ensure the process was handled

with care. live now to our culture correspondent, lizo mzimba, in the newsroom. pressure has been mounting on the bbc all day, hasn't it?— bbc all day, hasn't it? yes, it has been. it bbc all day, hasn't it? yes, it has been- it has _ bbc all day, hasn't it? yes, it has been. it has been _ bbc all day, hasn't it? yes, it has been. it has been mounting - bbc all day, hasn't it? yes, it has been. it has been mounting for. bbc all day, hasn't it? yes, it has. been. it has been mounting for the past couple of days, in fact. and one of the reasons is because we have not been quite sure what has been going on behind the scenes, what the detail of some of these actions that the bbc has now said it has been taking, what has been going on there. what will probably turn out to be the most significant things when all this eventually emerges is when the young individual�*s family made that initial complaint to the bbc in may, what did they tell the bbc? did the bbc question the presenter involved? and also, what evidence was presented to or found or sought by the bbc at that point? there was i

going to be the crucial questions. in the statement and the tim davie email to staff, they emphasised that a new allegations, different allegations were put to the bbc last thursday and again, all those questions will apply. what did the bbc learn then? how different was that? does it actually mean people might think it is reasonable that the bbc did not suspend the presenter back in may? and also, they have said that the presenter has been suspended. some people would say, if you have these new allegations back on thursday, three daysis allegations back on thursday, three days is an awfully long time. all that they have actually said as they are confirming that the presenter has been suspended. if at one end of the scale, the presenter was only suspended today, that is a three days, and when people look at this and all the information is more out there, it may be decided that actually, that was too long, or it may be decided that it is a reasonable length of time. it may be conversely that the bbc suspended the presenter last thursday or

friday, very soon after those new allegations were made, but they have only chosen to make it public today. this highlights what is one of the crucial thing is that people expect from the bbc, they expect them to do the right things behind the scenes, that will be examined, but they also expect the bbc to be transparent, to communicate what they are doing, and evenif communicate what they are doing, and even if they are doing all the right things behind the scenes, which is by no means guaranteed, but might well be possible when all this is looked at, people might still criticise them for not communicating what they were doing to the public, who, of course, the people so much invested in the bbc, its programmes, its presenters who are, of course, the conduit between the bbc�*s content and the audience sitting at home. . ~ content and the audience sitting at home. ., ~ ,., content and the audience sitting at home. . ~' ,. , content and the audience sitting at home. ., ~ y., , . content and the audience sitting at home. . ~ ,. , . ., content and the audience sitting at home. ., ~ , . ., ., home. thank you very much for that anal sis home. thank you very much for that analysis and — home. thank you very much for that analysis and update, _ home. thank you very much for that analysis and update, lizo _ home. thank you very much for that analysis and update, lizo mzimba i home. thank you very much for that analysis and update, lizo mzimba ini analysis and update, lizo mzimba in our newsroom there. 0ur political correspondent,

jonathan blake, has more details on the government's response following the culture secretary's talks with the bbc earlier pressure has been growing on the bbc, not least from politicians, and that came to a head this morning when we were told that the culture secretary, lucy frazer, would be meeting the bbc director—general, orspeaking to the bbc director—general, tim davie, later today. we were told that officials had stressed the need for the claims to be investigated urgently and sensitively. since then, as you've said, lucy frazer has tweeted to say that she had spoken to tim davie and had been assured the bbc was acting swiftly and sensitively. she went on to say that given the nature of the allegations, it was important that the bbc was now given the space to conduct its investigation, establish the facts and take appropriate action. she said she would be kept updated. now, before all of that, last night conservative mps spoke out, including caroline dinenage, the chair of the culture, media and sport select committee, calling on the bbc to take action, saying they had questions to answer, and calling for an investigation

and an explanation. the former conservative home secretary priti patel also spoke out, saying that the bbc�*s response had been derisory, accusing it of being a faceless and unaccountable organisation. and then this morning from the labour side, the shadow chancellor rachel reeves saying that the bbc needed to get its house in order and that its response so far had not been good enough, calling for greater clarity on what had happened. well, we now have that statement from the bbc confirming that a member of staff has been suspended. we have lucy frazer, the culture secretary, calling for the bbc to be given space and time to conduct its investigation. that may mean that the pressure on the corporation eases slightly for now, but it certainly won't go away. that was our political correspondent, jonathan blake on the political developments that have happened today, those conversations

between the culture secretary andy director—general the bbc, tim davie. we will bring any developments on the story as and when we get them. you can follow things on the live page on the bbc news website and the bbc news app as well. let's look at some other news now. this the us president, joe biden, is on his way to the uk, travelling from the dover air force base in delaware en route to london ahead of a meeting with the prime minister, rishi sunak in downing street on monday morning. he'll then meet with king charles. the us and uk have disagreed in public over the decision to send american cluster bombs to ukraine. the issue has dominated the build—up to the visit. to discuss this visit, i am joined by sir kim darroch, british ambassador to the usa between 2016 and 2019. thank you very much forjoining us. firstly, some people might not know why these cluster munitions are controversial. can you just explain to us why they are such an issue for

so many? i to us why they are such an issue for so man ? . ., ., , ., so many? i am not an expert on munitions. — so many? i am not an expert on munitions, but _ so many? i am not an expert on munitions, but these _ so many? i am not an expert on munitions, but these are - so many? i am not an expert onj munitions, but these are bombs so many? i am not an expert on - munitions, but these are bombs which as they approach the target, they separate out into lots of smaller bombs, clusters of bombs, and the point of them is to maximise the number of casualties who are damaged or killed by these weapons, so they are specifically designed to maximise human casualties when they impact. maximise human casualties when they im act. �* ., maximise human casualties when they imact. �* ., , ., maximise human casualties when they imact. �* ., ,. ~' , impact. and do you think they will dominate conversations? - impact. and do you think they will dominate conversations? clearly i dominate conversations? clearly ukraine will be high up on the agenda between the two heads of state, but you have been in these meetings. what kind of insight with you say, in terms of what is higher up, in terms of what the two leaders are well talk about, will this feature prominently? bill specifically _ feature prominently? bill specifically on _ feature prominently? e: ii specifically on the cluster bombs issue, i would specifically on the cluster bombs issue, iwould be specifically on the cluster bombs issue, i would be very surprised if

they dominated this. really surprised if they were up for discussion at all. the uk has signed up discussion at all. the uk has signed up to an international convention that says we will not use cluster bombs, we will not manufacture them, and we will discourage others from using them. a number of european countries have signed up as well. neither russia nor the united states will want ukraine signed up to this end for a number of reasons, i think the americans agonised for quite a long time about whether to provide these weapons to the ukrainians. i think what they are doing is filling a gap because of the shortage of supplies of shells and ammunition to the ukrainians to enable them to continue to prosecute this counteroffensive against these russian lines on ukrainian territory. i think what the prime minister and president will focus on

is the nature of the summit that comes up later this week and, in particular, the issue of what is said at that summit about ukraine's bid for membership. i think there is no question that ukraine will get accepted as a nato member at this meeting. that will not happen, but it is whether they will get a step forward now, to say they are closer to nato membership than they were before the summit, which is quite a controversial within nato and i think the prime minister and president will want to be going in as the two leading members of nato in the same position on that. and it is a relatively short trip, really. we remember the days president tratnik is to visit, they seemed a lot longer. == tratnik is to visit, they seemed a lot longer-— tratnik is to visit, they seemed a lot longer. -- president trump. i did a lot of— lot longer. -- president trump. i did a lot of visits _ lot longer. -- president trump. i did a lot of visits with _ lot longer. -- president trump. i did a lot of visits with prime - did a lot of visits with prime ministers and 2a hours any country

was pretty normal. remember, that the prime minister and the president have seen each other i think five times already in the last few months. including the premise of�*s visit to the white house only a few weeks ago, so they have seen a lot of each other —— the prime minister's visit to the white house. i think he is coming in part not having come to the coronation for his first meeting with charles, king charles in windsor castle, and that is the sort of visit, the sort of meeting and photographs that go down very well with an american audience. they remain fascinated with our royal family. they remain fascinated with our royalfamily. and i think the meeting with sue knight will be useful to basically coordinate lines on the nato summit —— the meeting with sunak. but to me it feels quite normal for the with sunak. but to me it feels quite normalfor the bilateral with sunak. but to me it feels quite normal for the bilateral stopover on your way to a big international meeting like the summit. and your way to a big international meeting like the summit. and he is off to welcome _ meeting like the summit. and he is off to welcome the _ meeting like the summit. and he is off to welcome the latest _ meeting like the summit. and he is off to welcome the latest member.

meeting like the summit. and he is. off to welcome the latest member of nato as well, finland, president biden. .: : .: nato as well, finland, president biden. . , ., biden. that is a good point. it would have — biden. that is a good point. it would have seemed _ biden. that is a good point. it - would have seemed extraordinary a few years ago to have had finland and sweden, with long traditions of neutrality, applying to join and sweden, with long traditions of neutrality, applying tojoin nato, and that is exactly what has happened. it is another one of the unintended consequences of a vladimir putin's appalling act in ukraine. ., ., ~ vladimir putin's appalling act in ukraine. ., ., ., ukraine. lord darroch, thank you for “oininu us. ukraine. lord darroch, thank you for joining us. president _ ukraine. lord darroch, thank you for joining us. president biden - ukraine. lord darroch, thank you for joining us. president biden has- joining us. president biden has already left the us and due this evening in london. ukraine has welcomed home five army commanders, who were being held in turkey, after a prisoner swap. the men were captured over a year ago during the fierce and prolonged battle for control of the azovstal steel plant in mariupol. russia has condemed their return, saying it breaks the terms of the prisoner swap agreement. gordon corera reports now from kyiv. ukraine's president welcoming home five commanders at a ceremony in the city of lviv.

translation: they were fighting for ukraine. - they survived russian captivity. they spent over 300 days in turkey. it is time for them to be home. the returning men were greeted by their families. translation: from today onwards, we will continue | the fight together with you. we will definitely have our say in the battle. with each day passing, we are advancing, destroying the enemy. the five had spent three months defending the vast azovstal steel plant in the city of mariupol. plant in the city of mariupol, holed up in bunkers and tunnels, keeping the russians at bay. finally, the men had been ordered to surrender. under a prisoner swap deal, they were later freed but were supposed to remain in turkey. the men's return has been widely celebrated here in ukraine, but an angry russia has said it was not informed and that

ukraine and turkey had gone against the terms of the deal. the release came after president zelensky met with president erdogan in turkey ahead of an upcoming nato summit. turkey's leader saying ukraine deserved to be invited into the alliance. president zelensky returned home not just with that endorsement, but also five military heroes by his side. live now to our security correspondent gordon corera. what has the response been to the release of these prisoners? widespread satisfaction here in kyiv, although it is worth seeing in the last years it has emerged the turkish and russian foreign ministers have spoken and it seems one of the subjects was at this prisoner release in the past they are so, and russia has expressed his

pleasure, saying it went against the terms of the deal, so some concern from russia at what has happened. potentially risk these people could go back to the battlefield and fight against russia, but here in ukraine, certainly there is widespread celebration at the fact these men have now returned. pond celebration at the fact these men have now returned.— celebration at the fact these men have now returned. and gordon, we have now returned. and gordon, we have the nato _ have now returned. and gordon, we have the nato summit _ have now returned. and gordon, we have the nato summit coming - have now returned. and gordon, we have the nato summit coming up. i have now returned. and gordon, we - have the nato summit coming up. what sort of impact will this moment, this significant event have on that summit question well, i think there are a lot of eyes here on the summit in vilnius in the next few days. it will be an important moment for ukraine. i think there is a lot of expectation here. they are being careful not to set too high a bar for what they want, but they do feel that given the way they have been fighting, effectively on nato's eastern flank against russia, they need more than just a vague promises from this upcoming summit and they need some kind of a clear pathway to membership. and so i think there will be a lot of focus here. we will

see president zelensky may well go, it is not 100% confirmed yet, but thatis it is not 100% confirmed yet, but that is certainly an important moment for ukraine and how far it feels it will be supported by its nato allies and in what way and for how long. nato allies and in what way and for how lonu. .: ~ nato allies and in what way and for how lonu. ., ~ ,., nato allies and in what way and for how lonu. .: ~' ,., ., nato allies and in what way and for how lon. .: ~' ,., ., ., nato allies and in what way and for how lon. . ~' ., ., ., how long. thank you gordon for that, our security — how long. thank you gordon for that, our security correspondent _ how long. thank you gordon for that, our security correspondent gordon i our security correspondent gordon corera there from kyiv. the us treasury secretary, janet yellen, is leaving china after a visit to try and strengthen economic ties, saying she believes the two countries can have a healthy relationship. while in china, ms yellen held ten hours of talks with senior chinese officials — saying the meetings had put relations between the two countries on a "surer footing" after a long period of tensions over trade and other issues. here's ms yellen speaking at a press conference earlier. the us and china have significant disagreements. those disagreements need to be communicated clearly and directly. but president biden and i do not see the relationship between the us and china through the frame of

great power conflict. we believe that the world is big enough for both of our countries to thrive. both nations have an obligation to responsibly manage this relationship, to find a way to live together and share in global prosperity. that was janet yellen, the us treasury secretary. 0ur correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes has been following the story from bangkok and he gave us this analysis of ms yellen's visit to china. very broadly speaking, i think this trip has gone as well as anyone could have expected. firstly, janet yellen said she had managed to reestablish direct, face—to—face, respectful communications between china and the united states. and that's something that's been missing for really a very long time. secondly, she was able to meet face—to—face with china's new new team, particularly in the economy. and that means she really, referring to yesterday, on saturday, she spent most of the day

with he lifeng, vice premier and the man in charge of china's economy, very close to president xijinping, a very key figure in the new chinese administration. you know, no—one from the us administration has done that before, so that's important. the other thing janet yellen went to great lengths to do during this trip is to try and convince the chinese leadership that the biden administration, unlike the previous trump administration, is not openly hostile to china. she said they do not view the relationship through the prism of big power conflict and that america was not going to decouple its economy from china. whether chinese officials believe that or not, we do not know and we haven't had a readout from them yet. i think, in conclusion — i mean, i think this shows that dialogue is happening again. more dialogue will come in the next few months. there will be more visits by us officials and chinese officials the other way.

but you know, most experts you talk to say this is now a very difficult relationship and one that is going to need careful management in the long term if it is going to remain stable, and that this progress made in the last few days is good, but it is fragile. rupert wingfield—hayes speaking to us from bangkok. it's a year since thousands of protestors in sri lanka stormed the residence of the president, demanding that he resign. demonstrators from all over the country marched on colombo protesting against the mismanagement of the country's economic crisis. extraordinary images were seen all around the world, including protesters taking a dip in the presidential swimming pool. in the 12 months since that day, the country has suffered desperate shortages of essentials after the government ran out of foreign currency. the environmental campaign group just stop 0il says it wasn't behind a protest at the wedding this weekend of the former uk chancellor, george osborne.

after leaving the church in somerset with his new wife, thea rogers, a woman threw orange confetti over the couple. despite sharing the video of the incident on social media, the campaign group says it doesn't know who she is. england have won the third ashes test against australia by three wickets in a dramatic day at headingley. it was a day that was left to bowlers chris woakes and mark wood to drag the hosts over the line in pursuit of 251. england's win makes the series 2—1 to australia with two tests to play. there's a nine—day break before the fourth test at old trafford starts on wednesday, 19thjuly. look away now if you don't want to know the results of the formula 1 race. max verstappen has won the british formula 1 grand prix at silverstone. the red bull driver took his sixth successive win this season and his second at the british grand prix. he was followed by two british

drivers — mclaren's lando norris, who finished second, and lewis hamilton, who came third for mercedes. cows are one of the biggest producers of the greenhouse gas methane in the uk, but pioneering research could help limit their emissions by using a natural plant extract. it comes from daffodils and adding it to cattle feed seems to help improve the health of the animals' guts, cutting down on natural methane production. globally, livestock produces an estimated fourteen percent of greenhouse gas emissions. the substance was tested in a laboratory using an artificial cow stomach and it led to a 30% cut in methane. let's return to our top story this hour, and a bbc presenter accused of paying a teenager for sexually explicit photographs has been suspended by the corporation. let's take a look at some of the statement released by the bbc this afternoon. it reads, "the bbc takes any

allegations seriously and we have robust internal processes in place to proactively deal with such allegations. it adds, "this is a complex and fast—moving set of circumstances and the bbc is working as quickly as possible to establish the facts in order to properly inform appropriate next steps." the statement says it's important that these matters are handled fairly and with care. and the corporation confirms a male member of staff has been suspended. the statement also adds, "we expect to be in a position to provide a further update in the coming days as the process continues". stay with us here on bbc news. we will have all the latest updates on our website, bbc.co.uk/news. thanks for watching. hello, showers and thunderstorms this evening, not as widespread and

extensive as we saw through saturday evening. a fairly changeable week in store, longer spells of rain. rainfall amounts will vary widely from place to place. it will feel cool from place to place. it will feel cool, a little windier as well, not particularly cold for the next few days. low pressure still to the south—west so the general wind flow is from a southerly direction. the band of cloud and rain affecting 0rkney pushes across shetland for the first part of the night before clearing. showers elsewhere fade away. by and large, most will end up dry through the end of the night. monday morning, temperatures in rural parts could be down to single figures. it represents a bit of a drop to what we have seen a recent mornings. if an commute for most of you, dry sunny spells, quite widely, but the cloud to clean up, south—west and wales breeze picking up my south—west and wales breeze picking up my outbreaks of rain becoming a during the second half of the morning until lunchtime. thunderstorms breaking it, in northern ireland and scotland, particularly to the north—east of scotland, and scotland, particularly to the north—east of scotland, then an north—west wetlands in the afternoon and england turning

increasingly wet. that will be increasingly wet. that will be increasingly heavy and thundery. think like a brazier in dundee, but that pays coming in from a southerly direction. here. —— things looking busier. as we go through monday evening, showers and thunderstorms become fragmented across the north of the country, the parts of wales, central england, a band of more persistent and heavy rain... it may take it well to clear east anglia and the south—east. away from that, to sunshine and showers once again. showers heaviest, most we can and thundery in parts of northern england, scotland and northern ireland. a bit busier through northern england and ireland too. temperatures dropping a little more again. high teens or 20s, where we should be for the stage ofjuly. as we go through wednesday and beyond, we go through wednesday and beyond, we start to see temperatures drop a bit more. low pressure becomes central to the west of norway. we bring the winds in from an increasingly north—westerly direction for a while. plenty of

showers around, those most frequent close to that low pressure system in the north where temperatures will only be around 13—16 celsius at times. temperatures still in the low 20s, greater chance of staying dry for longer in the south.

this is bbc news — the headlines... the bbc has confirmed one of its male presenters has been suspended — while an investigation is carried

out into allegations he paid a teenagerfor sexually explicit images.