plus, us presidentjoe biden kicks off his three—nation tour in the uk ahead of a crucial nato summit. and russia and turkiye�*s foreign ministers speak after ankara releases five ukrainian azovstal commanders. hello. i'm helena humphrey. the bbc has suspended an unnamed presenter and contacted the police over allegations he gave tens of thousands of pounds to a teenager in return for sexually explicit photographs. the corporation, which was told by the young person's family about the allegations back in may, says new information came to light on thursday, and it's now investigating all the claims. the bbc is now in touch with the family. and in the last few hours the sun newspaper has printed

claims the presenter contacted the family in recent days. our media editor katie razzall has more. for the best part of 48 hours, the bbc has been splashed across many of the front pages. today was an attempt to prove it hadn't been slow to act in the face of a serious complaint, an effort to take control of the narrative. this afternoon, the bbc announced it has suspended the still—unnamed presenter at the heart of the allegations and also contacted the police. the bbc first became aware of a complaint in may, it said in a statement. new allegations were put to us on thursday of a different nature. and in addition to our own inquiries, we've also been in touch with external authorities, in line with our protocols. those new allegations. the devastating story in the sun newspaper yesterday that a male presenter had paid an individual £35,000 over three years in return

for sexually explicit images beginning when that person was 17. a possible criminal offence. today's newspaper had new allegations about the bbc star described as known to millions that he stripped to his underpants in a video call with the young person. with a pressure to act intensifying, a government minister and a member of the shadow cabinet weighed in this morning. 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 criminal justice 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. the bbc do need to speed up their processes. it looks like that these issues were raised in may and we're now in july and the presenter stayed on air. that's not good enough. the culture secretary held talks with the director general tim davie soon after and came away apparently

reassured that the bbc is investigating swiftly and sensitively and should, she said, be given space to establish the facts and take action because these are just allegations. they may not be true. this is reputationally damaging for the bbc, which still has questions to answer, not least in terms of what exactly it did in may after the family's complaint and whether it knew at that point that potential criminality might be involved. how many attempts were made to contact the family after they complained 7 was the presenter interviewed and should he have been taken off air? tonight the metropolitan police told bbc news that it has received initial contact from the bbc but that no formal referral or allegation has been made. it will, it says, require additional information before determining what further action should follow. the bbc has said it expects to be able to provide a further update on this story in the coming days. but as a publicly funded corporation, it depends on trust. trust that is earned. the bbc has faced a series

of crises in recent months. for some, its reputation is already tarnished. we can only fullyjudge how damaging this latest crisis will be when the full facts of the story are known. 0ur news correspondent charlotte gallagher has more. we have heard more revelations from the sun newspaper. this from the sun newspaper. was the newspaper that first this was the newspaper that first reported it a few days ago. they are saying this person contacted the young person, made a panic phone call saying "what have you done?" and asked them to ask their mother to put a stop to the investigation. the mother as well has told the sun newspaper that she is upset with the bbc. she is saying the bbc never contacted herfor a proper interview when she first made those allegations back in may. so, more claims, more revelations in the sun newspaper tomorrow and in other

newspapers. now, lots of people are asking "why are we not naming this presenter?" and it is a really good question and it is a legal reason. firstly, defamation. that is a law that protects people from lies being spread about them essentially and if you sue someone for defamation you can win a lot of money and the second reason is the right to a person's privacy which is a law in the uk so that is the two reasons why at the moment this mail presenter is still unnamed, but, of course, it has not stopped people speculating on social media and a number of high—profile bbc presenters have come out and said it is not them. the director general tim davie today condemned all these rumours about different male presenters who have been innocent and have been caught up in this story. us presidentjoe biden has touched down in london for a brief uk visit on his way to a major nato summit in lithuania. he's scheduled to meet with prime minister rishi sunak

amid concerns from the uk and other nato allies over his decision to send cluster bombs to ukraine. the meeting with mr sunak will be their fifth in as many months. on monday, mr biden is also due to hold his first talks with king charles iii since his coronation. those conversations at windsor castle are expected to focus on environmental issues. london is the first stop on a packed european trip for mr biden. on tuesday, the president and prime minister will travel to the lithuanian capital vilnius for a two—day nato summit. then on thursday, biden will make his final stop in finland — nato's newest member nation — where he will attend the us—nordic leaders' summit. meanwhile, ahead of that nato summit, there are questions about two nations hoping to join the bloc — ukraine and sweden. president biden spoke on sunday with turkish president recep tayyip erdogan about sweden's bid tojoin nato — a move that has been held up by turkiye. also on sunday, president biden addressed ukraine's potential membership, telling cnn the war

with russia must end first. i don't think there is unanimity in nato about whether or not to bring ukraine into the nato family now, at this moment, in the middle of a war. i think we can work it out, but i think it is premature to call for a vote now, because there are other qualifications that need to be met including democratisation of some of those issues. live now to the bbc�*s tom brada in london. tom, the us president touched down a couple of hours ago. what can we expect from the visit? so, this is not a fully fledged a state visit. in fact, it is only a fleeting one but president biden will be hoping to cram a lot into a short

period of time. he is presumably sleeping behind me in winfield house, the official residence of the ambassador to the uk. later on monday he will head to meet prime minister rishi sunak at downing street where they are expected to cover a range of issues in a meeting of around 30—a0 minutes, we expect, from clean energy to artificial intelligence but predominantly talking about the war in ukraine. from there he will then travel on to windsor where he is going to meet king charles and it will be the first time that he met the king since charles became king because joe since charles became king becausejoe biden did not attend the coronation. instead, sending his wife, doctorjill biden, the first lady. we know that king charles is a massive advocate of environmental issues that we are expecting them to discuss climate change initiatives, close to the king's heart.— initiatives, close to the king's heart. and all of this cominu king's heart. and all of this coming at _ king's heart. and all of this coming at a _ king's heart. and all of this coming at a time _ king's heart. and all of this coming at a time when - king's heart. and all of this coming at a time when we | king's heart. and all of this l coming at a time when we do know that several nato allies have questioned the biden administration's decision to

send cluster munitions to ukraine. do we know if that topic will be one that comes up for discussion there in london? so, we don't know the specific details of what they are going to be talking about, but it certainly comes at a time, this meeting, when there is a little bit of discomfort thanks to that announcement on friday. just to remind people what is cluster munitions are, they are a rap and which drop multiple bomblets onto an area and the risk is that not all of these bomblets will detonate and in which case they are called a dud and there is always the risk that a civilian may pick one of them up and there could be untold damage later down the line to the civilian population. the point is that the uk and in fact the majority of nato allies have signed up to a specific convention — there are 123 countries signed up there are 123 countries signed up to this convention which prohibits the production and the use of these particular weapons. russia, ukraine and the us are not signatories to this. and at this point the

us�*s decision to supply ukraine with these weapons is going to be a point of friction and one that we imagined they might thrash out at that meeting with rishi sunak on monday and perhaps later in the week in vilnius at that nato summit. the bbc�*s tom brada there in london. tom, thanks a lot for that. 0ur security correspondent frank gardner has more on mr biden�*s week in london and in vilnius this is potentially an awkward visit at a very crucial time. why? because the nato alliance faces a number of questions and it needs to try and present a united front. the two—day vilnius nato summit on tuesday and wednesday is coming at a crucial time in ukraine war but it also comes at a time when america is out on its own when it comes to cluster bombs. the decision taken in the last few days by america to supply ukraine with these very controversial weapons has not gone down well with its allies. it has been pretty much

condemned by human rights groups right across the world. britain has come out to say "we're not going to be doing it" because britain is a signatory to the convention on cluster munitions and its main has condemned it. so has canada. not in strong terms, but they are not sympathetic to it. so, there is that issue. then there is the issue about who should become the next head of nato, the next secretary general. because there is a bit of disagreement over this they are going to extend the current nato secretary general for another year. nato secretary general for anotheryear. he nato secretary general for another year. he is already in his late 60s now and was planning to retire. now, britain wanted ben wallace, the uk defence secretary, to be the next head of nato. that was backed by the baltic states, latvia, lithuania, etc, but it was not backed by the united states, crucially, which instead seems to favour the eu had ursula von der leyen. that too is controversial because she has a poor record as

germany's defence minister. germany's defence minister. germany really ramped down its defence on her watch. then, of course, there are the more parochial issues, you could say, between the us and britain. the transatlantic alliance, the special relationship, is not in it the best shape. there is still enormous sharing of military and intelligence expertise at mid and low levels, but up at the top? president biden did not — he chose to the coronation of king charles iii in may. he sent his wife, the first lady, but he did not come to it. this is a once in a generation event, people presume, and he chose not to come to it and that i think is seen by some people as a bit of a snob. he spent plenty of time in ireland. he likes to stress his irish roots and he has sometimes made comments that would imply possibly that he is

more fond of ireland than of britain and that he is not particularly fond of britain. i am sure the white house will go to great lengths to dispel this and he has a good personal rapport with king charles. they share the same view on climate change and the environment. they will have a lot to talk about and they have met before. they have got a good personal chemistry. when it comes to the political side of things, rishi sunak has reached out and tried really hard to repair the special relationship but he has only got one meeting in less than one day to do it soak the transatlantic alliance is a bit of a work in progress. it is not the warmest it has ever been but let's see how this translates and whether it will lead to some kind of unified position in nato in the coming week at vilnius in lithuania. frank gardner there. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

1000 and 53 feet above sea level, the fish of the river are being hunted, not to be eaten but to be counted. this stream has everything that a fish could want from when it hatches. the water quality is excellent. we don't have the urban areas or the agriculture that would impact on it. it really is the lungs of the river in terms of salmon. it is a pristine environment. mark walker started fishing for salmon here on the ex at the age of six. you can't guarantee you will see salmon on the ex anymore. it is happening everywhere on every major river in the country. salmon numbers are in catastrophic decline. he blames global warming and exploitation at sea, but at a local level, water quality, deteriorating weirs and fish passes, and bad planning.

you're live with bbc news. a second child has died after a car crashed into a school in south—west london on thursday. the metropolitan police named the victim as 8—year—old nuria sajjad. her family in a statement described nuria as "the light of our lives". on thursday, it was confirmed that 8—year—old selena lau had died as a result of her injuries. a woman in her 40s remains in hospital in serious condition. a number of other people, including a 7 month old girl, a number of other people, including a 7—month—old girl, were also hospitalized with non—life threatening injuries. the driver of the car, a 46—year—old woman from wimbledon, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. 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. applause 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 laterfreed, 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 notjust with that endorsement, but also five military heroes by his side. that report by gordon corera. in other news: pope francis has announced the names of 21 churchmen who will be elevated to cardinals. the new cardinals will come from countries including the united states, south africa, switzerland, south sudan and poland. they will be officially installed in a ceremony in september, then will be able to enter the conclave that will choose the next pope. france has banned the sale, possession and transport of all fireworks and

pyrotechnics during 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. in the uk, the cost—of—living crisis is putting immense pressure on families right across britain. official figures show the sharpest drop in household incomes on record. but for many, having to face hardship and uncertainty isn't new. our special correspondent, fergal keane, has returned to see some hard pressed communities and individuals he first visited more than 20 years ago. it's a journey that reveals stories of resilience and courage, as he reports now from govan in glasgow. the big boats are back. in a clyde shipyard that's thriving again.

i'm retracing steps i first took over 20 years ago. how you doing, boys? back then, the shipyard was in decline. this wasjohn brown, a welder, on the day he lost his job. i'm no a number. i'm a man, i'm a human being and they will never, ever take my dignity fae me. i've come back to govan to discover what happened tojohn. 0h, fer...sake! how are you? good to see you! an unstable world means warships are in demand and john brown is back at work in the bae systems yard, except now he's a full—time union convenor. no more welding, john. naw, no more welding. there is a god! here in 2000, he was fighting for a job. nowjohn�*s facing a harder challenge.

you don't actually understand it... he's been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis — ms — a disease of the central nervous system. absolutely. it's robbed me of my vigour. it's has robbed me of my strength. it's...robbed me, ifeel, although others don't notice it, of my words, right? i can't often find words. that's very distressing for me. my memory started to go at times. i promised i'd come back later in the year to see how he was doing. 20 years ago, in the hard world beyond the shipyard gates, i'd also encountered seven—year—old danny mccuish, the son of a man struggling with long term unemployment. when i caught up with a teenage danny a decade later, he was also unemployed, a boy without hope. it's pretty miserable,

sort of soul—destroying, in a way, just being unemployed. i would take anyjob going about. i'm on my way to find out what's become of danny. danny, how you doing, mate? somebody who saw our last interview offered danny an apprenticeship as a heating engineer. so here is an opportunity. naebody would look at me and one opportunity changed that and i'm quite happy with everything i've been able to do since. look at you. look at the happy home you've made. you've got to do what you've got to do, so i quite happily work away doing what i need to do for my family, for me. six months on, i've returned to seejohn brown. deepening mental health struggles took him

to a dark place, to think of ending his life. yes. 0n more than one occasion. what has stopped you? a conversation with myself, because i'm self—aware. and nowjohn�*s made a momentous decision about work. i'm going, i'm going before i retire. i can't make it to 66. i physically cannot do it. john plans to become a climate change campaigner. but you're still a fighter. yes, to the end. fergal keane, bbc news, govan. it's one of the most endangered birds in britain, but now, the curlew population could be on the rise again. a project on the south east coast of england has seen a0 eggs hatch

and two months later the chicks are set to be released into the wild next week. yvette austin has been to the isle of sheppey in kent to find out more. they're europe's largest wading bird, the long break for finding food in the mud, and their call — distinctive. but their numbers are in steep decline in lowland areas, so these chicks are being given a helping hand for their start in life. so the problem with the curlew is they live over 30 years and so we haven't really noticed their numbers dropping, but now we really are, and they're dropping quickly. that's really driven by — there have been more of us, and we're using the land more intensively, like, cutting grass earlier or perhaps we're leaving more rubbish out and there are more foxes around to eat the curlews' eggs. so, they're not producing chicks that turn into adults. the eggs were collected by experts in northern england, where their numbers are much higher. to much relief, they hatched in may, at three sites chosen for the project — dorset, west sussex, and here

on the isle of sheppey. so after about six days on average, we started bringing them out here, and then they'd have these huts with some heat lamps inside and a little mat as well in there just to have something to cosy up to. and then they had a little small area that they can move out into and get used to the grass and obviously what they're going to need to get used to in the wild. and now they're running around. how do you feel about it? cause they are so beautiful, aren't they? they're just such beautiful birds. yes, they are. it's very rewarding to see them growing up into proper curlews and making the adult noises and having flight attempts. the curlews are due to be released next week into this, their new home — 3,300 acres of wet grassland and meadow. and from then on, they'll be fending for themselves. there's 250 pairs in lowland england still breeding. if we do nothing, that would be zero in the next 20 years. so that would be a local extinction. they're still breeding well

in the moorlands where there's support for them, but in lowland england, they're going to be gone and i think that would be a bit of a tragic situation. they're such an iconic bird of the estuaries in the winter and they're just amazing waders. they're the largest species of wader and they're really iconic. curlews will usually go back to the place where they hatched for breeding themselves. so it's hoped the chicks will choose this vast nature reserve at elmley to return to each year. yvette austin, bbc news on the isle of sheppey. thank you for watching bbc news. do stay with us if you can. hello there. the weekend was quite a mixed bag. we saw some pretty heavy, thundery downpours across more western parts of the country. further east, it was a bit drier,

with some spells of sunshine. but temperatures were coming down through the weekend, and that's the theme as we move through this upcoming week. low pressure in charge. it will feel cool for the time of year. showers or longer spells of rain and winds will be a feature, particularly towards the end of the week — all down to low pressure. monday, not a bad start for many areas, but we've got a new set of weather fronts slowly pushing into south—west england, wales, with stronger winds here for the morning and that will continue to journey its way northwards into the midlands, northern england, as well. some of this rain could be heavy and thundery. elsewhere, after a fine start, it's going to be one of sunshine and showers, though i think the far south—east of england and in towards east anglia should tend to remain drier, with lengthy sunny spells. winds will be a feature, then, across the south—west. those are mean wind speeds. lighter further north. temperatures ranging from high teens, low 20s in the north, maybe 23 or 2a degrees in the south—east. that rain continues to move northwards across the country during monday night. we see another batch of rain pushing into south—west england, wales, the midlands,

and this will continue to drift towards the east in the early hours of tuesday. again, some of this could be heavy and thundery. to the south of it, quite a warm and muggy night to come. to the north of it, a little bit fresher, where we'll have clear spells and showers. for tuesday, then, our area of low pressure starts to drift northwards to the north—east of the uk, and that will bring plenty of showers to the country, pretty much from the word go, across the north. this area of rain will take its time to clear the south and east of england through the tuesday morning. eventually, it will do and then all areasjoin in sunshine and showers. most of these will be affecting scotland, northern ireland, northern and western parts of england and wales. again, the high teens in the north, a little bit fresher across the south—east. then beyond tuesday through wednesday, thursday, that area of low pressure moves to the north. it allows west, north—westerly winds to move down across the country, again, with plenty of showers. further low pressure systems will be moving into western areas by the end of the week and into next week. and so, a very unsettled rest

of the week to come, with showers or longer spells of rain, some sunnier moments, as well, but it will feel quite cool, particularly when winds pick up at times, too.

v0|ceover: this is bbc news.