president biden is flying to the uk to strengthen ties that have frayed over northern ireland. and could the ashes fightback be on? england win the third test — australia lead the series 2—1. hello, i'm rich preston. welcome to the programme. 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. bbc news impartially covers stories about the corporation and, like other news organisations, is seeking further clarification. these are the key details we 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. the statement adds that the bbc investigations team has been "looking into this since it was raised and has 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" and the metropolitan police has confirmed it has been contacted. and the bbc�*s director—general says the bbc is in touch 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. earlier a government minister urged the bbc to move quickly. these are very, very serious allegations and the bbc needs to act swiftly. it needs to follow its procedures that it says it has in place. but i'm a former minister for safeguarding and i worked for 20 years in the criminaljustice system and so in all of this and in our conversations about it, we have to remember that there is a person, a young person at the centre of this. there's been pressure, too, from politicians on all sides. the bbc do need to speed

up their processes. it looks like these issues were raised in may, and we're now injuly and the presenter stayed on air. that's 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 that they were in touch with the family who have made the complaint. mr davie added that they would ensure the process is handled fairly and with care. helena wilkinson, bbc news. live now to news correspondent

charlotte gallagher who's in the newsroom. what is the latest we are hearing on this? iii what is the latest we are hearing on this? , ., , ., this? if you things have emerged this? if you things have emerged this afternoon, _ this? if you things have emerged this afternoon, firstly _ this? if you things have emerged this afternoon, firstly that - this? if you things have emerged this afternoon, firstly that the i this afternoon, firstly that the police have been contacted by the bbc about this and they have released a statement saying there has been initial contact, but no formal referral or allegation has been made. and also that the unnamed male presenter has now been suspended. that was confirmed by the director—general tim davie earlier. he also said that they first became aware about allegations in may, when these allegations were first made, and since then, the bbc investigation team has been looking into them, but he said allegations of a different nature are put to the bbc on thursday, but we don't know what those allegations are at the moment, how different they are, what they contain commas are still a lot of questions. also tim davie said at the bbc is now in touch with the

family at the centre of these accusations.— family at the centre of these accusations. ., ., ., , ., , , accusations. charlotte, obviously individuals at _ accusations. charlotte, obviously individuals at the _ accusations. charlotte, obviously individuals at the heart _ accusations. charlotte, obviously individuals at the heart of- accusations. charlotte, obviously individuals at the heart of this, i individuals at the heart of this, but in the spotlight is the bbc itself is an organisation. how damaging is this? it is incredibly dama . in: damaging is this? it is incredibly damaging and — damaging is this? it is incredibly damaging and could _ damaging is this? it is incredibly damaging and could be - damaging is this? it is incredibly - damaging and could be cataclysmic, i think. i mean, you have a question of trust. if these allegations are true, was it a breach of trust, an abuse of power? an older male presenter paying a teenager thousands and thousands of pounds for explicit sexual images which were funding a crack cocaine addiction. and also about trust. people have trust in the bbc, they want to trust the corporation. they are two things that could be massively significant. and these allegations, when they were made, why was the presenter not suspended? if they were as serious as we are being told, why were they allowed to remain on yourto make as many questions for the bbc as there are for the presenter himself.

charlotte, what kind of reactionary scene to the story? —— what kind of reaction are we seeing to this story? politicians have been quick to react, the former home secretary, priti patel said at the response was derisory, the labour shadow chancellor rachel reeves said at the bbc had to get its house in order and at the conservative minister victoria adkins said the bbc investigation had to be swift, it had to be dealt with swiftly. and people who have had nothing to do with the story had been forced to come out on social media and defend themselves, other male presenters at the bbc, because they have been falsely accused of being behind this, so rylan, gary lineker, jeremy vine, nicky campbell being defamed, libelled on social media and they have come out and said it is not them, so we may see more revelations about the story in

the newspapers tonight.— the newspapers tonight. charlotte gallaaher the newspapers tonight. charlotte gallagher in _ the newspapers tonight. charlotte gallagher in unusual, _ the newspapers tonight. charlotte gallagher in unusual, thank- the newspapers tonight. charlotte gallagher in unusual, thank you . gallagher in unusual, thank you very much. —— in our newsroom. our legal correspondent dominic casciani has answered some of the questions about this case. effectively, if you go on social media this weekend, there have been two burning questions. firstly, has there been a crime that's been committed? and secondly, why hasn't this individual been named? so let's go through these in turn — has any crime being committed? well, look, if these allegations turn out to be true, it's a fairly straightforward issue in terms of the criminaljustice system and what it says about the alleged incident. the presenter is accused of paying for sexually explicit photographs. those photographs are said to have come from somebody who was 17 years old at the time that this began. now, that individual would have been a teenager, would have been over the age of consent — which is 16 — but in terms of actually making these images, it's a crime. sorry, i beg your pardon — a child.

anyone under the age of 18 cannot consent to making those images and, therefore, it is a crime to make, take or possess what is known as an indecent image, and that can lead to up to ten years in prison. it's a very, very serious offence, this, and cases such as this are prosecuted around the country all the time in the crown courts. now, the second question perhaps is the harder one, i think, for the public to understand and i think this is where a lot of the speculation has been on social media, which is why is the media not naming the presenter? look, journalists have a legal right to investigate and uncover scandals, but in a situation like this, there are currently more questions than there are answers and that's where the law begins to bite. and there are two laws in particular we need to talk about. the first one is defamation. now, defamation is the law which protects everyone's personal reputation. whoever you are in society, you have a reputation, you have a legal right to that being protected from

highly damaging lies. now, if i said something untrue on air about you, for instance, rich, you could sue me for damages if i couldn't substantiate that later. those damages can be absolutely financially catastrophic to the person who's responsible for the lie or the untruth and, therefore, journalists have to be very, very careful about what they publish, what they broadcast, what they post on social media. they have to be very, very clear of their facts and that they have a defence to what they've said. it doesn't just stop with journalists as well. people on social media, they are basically under the same law as well. people don't really understand this, but anybody who's tweeting and speculates about names tonight, they could also be sued. that's the first law there which effectively acts as a brake on newsrooms because if people don't know the facts or are unsure

about the facts, it prevents them from broadcasting. the second is the emerging law of privacy. over the last 20 years or so, there have been more and more privacy cases before our courts. one of the most famous involved sir cliff richard, who successfully sued the bbc in i think 2018, when it reported that the police had searched his home. it turned out that the allegation the police were looking into was wholly false, it was an untrue allegation, he was an entirely innocent man, but the damage had already been done to his private life and, therefore, the courts awarded the case against the bbc. so privacy is in there as well as defamation. the two laws taken together, they don't necessarily effectively preventjournalists from undertaking investigations and exposing scandal, but they do act effectively as a means of preventing trial by media at the earliest stage of cases. and that's basically where we seem to be at the moment with an investigation going on, a lot of lack of clarity about facts. and it's in that kind of context that very few newsrooms would be prepared to actually name an individual. 0ur our legal correspondent there. we will bring any developments on the story as soon as we get them and you can follow things on the live page

on the bbc news website and at the bbc news app. moving on... 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. dr leslie vinjamuri, director of the us and americas programme at chatham house, has spoken to me earlier about the significance of this visit. for starters, really demonstrating the importance of this partnership, of this alliance in the run—up to the nato summit, which is going to be a difficult summit because there are some very big issues on the table in which not all nato members are agreed, and of course, we're thinking here about sweden's membership bid to be a full member of turkey

of nato, which turkey has held up, to be a full member ——of nato, which turkey has held up, and there's a very significant question about what terms and conditions will be agreed for the prospect of ukraine's membership in nato. very difficult issues, not the only ones and, of course, as as you mentioned, this meeting, president biden�*s trip to the uk also will be critical in demonstrating that despite the announcement that the us will supply cluster munitions to ukraine, that the us and the uk remain aligned as they travel to that nato summit. how do you think this issue of cluster bombs is going to be addressed by the two leaders when they meet face to face? i think the public conversation will be precisely what it's already been, with rishi sunakjust very clearly stating that the united kingdom is a signatory to the convention that bans the use of these weapons, but not going much further.

in other words, i think there will have been a very clear awareness of the debate in the united states, of the reasons for that very difficult, very contentious decision having been taken, but i don't think you will see the prime minister saying much more — in large part because the stakes are so high for ukraine right now and there is, as we know, a very serious problem with getting sufficient artillery and ammunition to ukraine. remember, that decision has been made as a time—limited decision on the lead—up to what what the us and others hope will be an ability to supply more artillery. and it's also one that's been made with conditions about how the ukrainians can use these weapons. again, it's facing a lot of backlash, but i don't think we're going to see that coming from the prime minister.

northern ireland has been a key bone of contention between the us and uk in the last year or so. what's the us position on that? well, i think that president biden has been very clear about his commitment to the good friday agreement, about his expectation that the uk will do everything that it can to secure the sanctity of that agreement and of that border, which is seen to be and is so critical for peace, between northern ireland and ireland. but i think that, you know, again, in recent months, president biden and prime minister sunak have both worked very hard, not only in real terms, but also symbolically, to demonstrate that they are moving past what has been... in the scheme of a very robust and very serious partnership, they're moving past what's been undoubtedly a very difficult period through the brexit years, through the transition, through the upheaval domestically here in the uk.

in september and october. i think since we've seen several meetings — prime minister sunak travelling to san diego, the announcement of the aukus deal, the his recent visit to washington and the announcement of the atlantic declaration. and now it's a short trip, but it's very significant to have a us president take the time on the way to a nato summit, which is packed with very serious issues, to stop in london to meet with the prime minister and with the king. 0ne one of the key issues nato summit will be relations between turkey and the united states and in the last few moments, turkey has confirmed that president erdogan has spoken on the phone with the president biden before he boarded his flight and a keyissue before he boarded his flight and a key issue in sweden's application to join, turkey angry that sweden has

shown support for the kurdistan�*s worker's party, which turkey considers a terrorist organisation. meanwhile, ukraine has welcomed home five army commanders captured by russia, who were being held in turkey after a prisoner swap. the men had been detained for over a year following the fierce and prolonged battle for control of the azovstal steel plant in mariupol. moscow has condemned their release, saying the move breaks the terms, of the prisoner swap deal. gordon corera has more 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, 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. let's get some of the day's other news now. the ukrainian and polish presidents have gathered to commemorate the volhynia massacres which took place between 1943 and 1916. they honoured victims in a church ceremony in an ukrainian city of lutsk. the massacres, in which 100,000 civilians died, are regarded by some poles as genocide, but ukrainians feel they were a persecuted minority and the subject has been a source of tension between the two countries. france has banned the sale, possession and transport of all fireworks and pyrotechnics to protect the public during the upcoming bastille day festivities. the prime minister said it was to prevent the risk of serious disturbances after rioting sparked by the killing of a teenager last month by police. pope francis has announced the names of 21 churchmen who will be elevated to the ranks of cardinals.

the new cardinals will come from various countries, including the united states, south africa, switzerland, south sudan and poland. they will be officially installed in a ceremony to be held in september and they'll be able to enter the conclave that will choose the next pope. 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 "surerfooting" — 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. janet yellen there. bats are known to be super—incubators for thousands of different viruses. since the covid—i9 pandemic, there s been growing interest in the flying mammals and the role they can play in so—called zoonotic spillover events — whereby diseases jump to humans. our global health correspondent naomi grimley has been given special access to a scientific research project in ghana which monitors bats. dusk is the witching hour at accra zoo. it's the best time for this group of scientists to test these bats for different viruses

and even superbugs. what we try to test for are resistant antimicrobials in the poo of the bats. so that's what we are trying to do. so the question is, is the bacteria in the poo resistant to antibiotics? exactly, that is the question. 0k, got it. yeah! bats are a mystery because they can carry all these different pathogens, including coronaviruses, but not get sick themselves. this is actually an adult female and i think it's even pregnant. kofi amponsah mensah is a conservationist at the university of ghana. he's worried that human activity is forcing bats to change their normal behaviour. it's increasingly becoming difficult for bats to live in their natural habitat, because we've encroached in it so much, we have modified it so much. thus there is constant contact with these bats.

so maybe bats are not to be blamed for all the troubles we are having. we are currently on our way... next stop on ourjourney, and kofi is leading me down a disused railway to a bushmeat market in accra. you can see some species on display... following the covid—i9 pandemic, there's been renewed interest in the whole idea of bushmeat. clearly, bushmeat markets are a pinch point where wild animals like bats come into real contact with people. this creates a risk scientists want to pre—empt. bushmeat and the trade in bushmeat is something that has been going on for thousands of years. it's entrenched in people's cultures, people's histories, right? it's important to understand these complexities, right? rather than calling forjust a blanket ban. as you can you can see from where we are, the trade is dominated mostly by women, and for a lot of these women, this is the only trade they know because it's been handed down from their grandparents to their mothers and now they are in the trade as well.

the bat droppings we saw earlier are tested here at this high security lab. it's all helping to expand knowledge about so—called zoonotic diseases. so since covid, we have now, i mean, we have kind of a broader understanding about viruses in terms of how they cause infections, how they manifest on humans and all that. so, yes, recently we started having other outbreaks — i mentioned marburg outbreak in ghana, we had lassa. before that we had yellow fever. so some of these, the systems that were set in place helped us to kind of go out there, do the investigations and stop the spread. there's still so much we don't know about bats and their immune systems, but research into them is being turbo—charged around the world. and here in ghana, they're doing their bit. naomi grimley, bbc news.

before we go, reminder of our top story. the bbc has confirmed that one of its male presenters has been suspended while an investigation is carried out into allegations that he paid a teenager for sexually explicit images. the corporation said it was working as quickly as possible to establish the facts and the appropriate next steps. the claims that the unnamed star paid some $45,000 — £35,000 — to the youth over three years were first reported in the sun newspaper. in an email to staff, the director—general, tim davie, said the bbc was taking the allegations "incredibly seriously". in the past few minutes, the metroplitan police has issued a statement, "the met has received initial contact from the bbc in relation to this matter but no formal referral or allegation has been made". we will keep you up—to—date on the story is and as we get any more. goodbye. hello. showers and thunderstorms this evening — not as extensive or as widespread as we saw through saturday evening. but through the week ahead, we're never going to

properly escape the rain. a fairly changeable week in store — showers, longer spells of rain. it means rainfall amounts going to vary quite widely from one place to the next. it will feel cooler and, at times, a little bit windier as well. not particularly cold for the next few days. this evening, low pressure still to the south—west, so the general wind flow is from a southerly direction. the band of cloud and rain that was affecting 0rkney pushes across shetland during the first part of the night, before clearing. the showers we've got elsewhere fade away. by and large, most will end up dry through the end of the night. and as we start monday morning, temperatures in rural parts could be down to single figures, most places double figures, but it does represent a bit of a drop to what we've seen on recent mornings. a fine commute, though, for most of you — dry, sunny spells quite widely, but quickly the cloud thickening up in the south—west and wales. the breeze picking up too. outbreaks of rain becoming extensive during the second half of the morning into lunchtime. thunderstorms breaking out in northern ireland and scotland, particularly to the north—east of scotland and then the north and west midlands through the afternoon, and northern england turning increasingly wet. some of that rain will be heavy, persistent and thundery.

to the south and east, though, some will stay dry. bit breezier than we saw on sunday, but that breeze still coming in from a southerly direction. 23 to 2a degrees here. temperatures in the high teens, low 20s to the north. now, as we go through monday evening, showers and thunderstorms become a bit more fragmented across the north of the country. but parts of wales, central and southern england, a band of heavier, more persistent rain will sweep its way from west to east, which on tuesday may take a while to clear east anglia and the south—east. away from that, it's sunshine and showers once again. showers heaviest, most frequent and thundery in parts of northern england, scotland and northern ireland. bit breezier through england and wales, too, on tuesday, and temperatures dropping a little bit more once again, but still high teens, low 20s — around where we should be for this stage injuly. it's as we go through wednesday and beyond, we start to see temperatures drop a bit more. low pressure becomes centred, then, to the west of norway and we bring the winds in from an increasingly north—westerly direction for a while.

still going to see plenty of showers around. those most frequent close to that low pressure system in the north where temperatures will only be around 13 to 16 degrees at times. further south, temperatures still in low 20s, fewer showers, greater chance of staying drier for longer.

that the bbc has made initial 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. the metropolitan polce has confirmed