month's migrant boat sinking. president biden promises to defend every inch of nato territory, as he meets nordic leaders in helsinki. we meets nordic leaders in helsinki. , stand at a point in history where the decisions we make now are going to determine the course of history for the next four, five, six decades. and the oscar winning actor kevin spacey tells a court he's a "big flirt" but he denies behaving aggressively at his sexual assault trial in london. hello, i'm matthew amroliwala. welcome to verified live, three hours of breaking stories, and checking out the truth behind them. we start with a major development here in the uk. after months of strikes among public sector workers, the government has said it will accept the recommendations

from the pay review bodies in full — but it came with a warning from the prime minister, rishi sunak, that this was a final offer and further industrial action would not change that decision. the teaching unions responded immediately, saying they would recommend their members accept the offer. and end strike action. the announcement came as junior doctors began five days of strikes, what their union calls, the longest stirke action in the history of the nhs. they're demanding a pay increase of 35%. ministers have said, that's "unreasonable" and risks fuelling inflation. we'll have more on that in a minute. let's have a quick look, though, at the recommendations, which affect millions of workers. police officers have been offered 7%. consultants, dentists and gps, 6%. junior doctors, 6%. prison officers, 7%. the armed forces, 5%.

teachers 6.5%. this was rishi sunak a little earlier. i can confirm today that we are accepting the headline recommendations of the pay review bodies in full. but we will not fund them by borrowing more or increasing your taxes. it would not be right to increase taxes on everyone to pay some people more, particularly when household budgets are so tight. nor would it be right to pay for them by higher borrowing because higher borrowing simply makes inflation worse. instead, because we only have a fixed pot of money to spend from, that means government departments have had to find efficiencies and savings elsewhere, in order to prioritise paying public sector workers more. now, there is a clear message here. there are always choices. budgets are not infinite. when some ask for higher pay,

that will always create pressures elsewhere, costs which must ultimately be borne by the taxpayer or by spending less on our other priorities. so that is our decision. and having honoured the independent pay review process, i urge all union leaders to accept these pay offers and call off their strikes. so, that was rishi sunak�*s plea for an end to strike action — but how significant was his statement that this is his "final offer"? i asked our political correspondent charlotte rose. well, he's going to say that because he wants to see an end to the strikes, so clearly saying, "however many "more strikes there are, it is not going to make "a difference," he hopes to draw a line under this. interestingly, you were going through the pay rises for different parts of the public sector there. overall, increases between 5—7%. we were saying this morning that government departments had budgeted for around 3.5%, so clearly a gap there to be found

and people were asking, "where is that money going to come "from, if the government were to accept all the independent " pay bodies�* recommendations? " which, of course, they have. we heard rishi sunak saying in that clip that essentially the money is going to have to come from savings within departmental budgets orfrom prioritisation. he said he wasn't going to commit to any further government borrowing because that could increase inflation and he said he wasn't going to increase taxes because he couldn't ask uk households to pay more at this time to fund pay rises for only some people. so the next question, of course, is, "are the unions "going to accept this?" we've already had an early reaction from four of the teaching unions. they say they are delighted with the 6.5% pay increase and they are pleased that in terms of the re—prioritisation of funding, that is not going to affect, as they have described it, "front line services." so, it won't impact on schools' budgets.

they say they will be putting this to their members and recommending they accept it. critically, we have not yet heard from some of the other unions. we have not yet heard from the police, from prison officers, from the armed forces or, of course, from the major health unions and this is, of course, as we have said, in the context ofjunior doctors beginning a five—day strike from this morning, lasting into next week. and of course, we know the bma were asking for an increase of 35% to make up for what they say is a shortfall in pay over the last decade, so of course today's offer of 6% is only really a fifth of what they have been asking for. we have also been getting reaction from some of the political parties. the labour leader, sir keir starmer, has been speaking at the unite conference in brighton and he says these pay increases will now be subject to negotiation with the unions, by which i guess he means being put to votes by union members. and he says he is not

going to wade into that, but he said that his party would have failed if it can't break the stranglehold of low pay. now, of course, he was speaking at a union event, so you might sense that he was speaking to the audience in the room. we have also heard from the liberal democrats, who say the prime minister must now "come clean" over what they describe as "savage cuts" now facing hospitals and schools in order to afford these pay increases. let's turn back to the five—day junior doctors' strike in england — our correspondent simonjones has been gauging reaction to the government's announcement — among strikers gathered outside university college hospital in london. this is one of the largest hospital trusts in the country and junior doctors walked out at 7am this morning. they are demanding a 35% pay rise. the government says it is prepared to give them a 6% pay rise for the coming year, following the recommendation of the independent pay review body. let's talk now to a couple

of the junior doctors here, dr alex and dr rebecca. alex, tell me first of all, you're asking for 35%. what do you make of the 6% offer? i think i will have to look at it properly because we have onlyjust heard what it involves and, you know, if there's anything going forwards, but obviously that is far off what we are asking for. and i think when you consider the impact of the strike so far, i think to settle for that, you'd question, why are we striking in the first place? how do you feel being on strike today? it must be difficult because you're going into the profession wanting to help people and today you have been standing on a picket line. it is difficult, it is really frustrating. no one goes into medical school to do what we have had to do today, but we feel like we have to do this in order to protect both the future of a doctor's career in this country,

but also for the nhs as a whole, because if staff, if the conditions and pay keep deteriorating as they are, we are not going to have the staff that we need to provide the health care this country needs. let's turn to rebecca now. i know you work in maternity here. yes. no such thing as a typical day, but give us an idea of what you face when you go into work and how challenging it can be. so, it is an absolute privilege to do the job that i do. - i love it. and at the same time, | it is very, very intense. it is the same job, if you have seen this is going to hurt, _ which i think was a bbc production, it is that same job. _ i would say it is normal— for emergency buzzers to be ringing, it's normal for there to be| life—threatening situations for pregnant people _ and their babies every single day. and we want to provide care that is notjust safe, - but excellent to those people. it is intense and it is not an easyjob to do. - and i think that we see shifts that go unfilled every single week, - that need to be filled, - are put out as additional locums and i think that needs to change.

a couple of junior doctors a couple ofjunior doctors on the picket line. i spoke a short while ago to professor alison leary, an expert in the health care workforce — and i asked her where the junior doctors' 35% pay demand leaves the sector. i think it is going to be interesting to see how the junior doctors vote on that offer. one of the things we really do need to we really do need to consider, that even professions that have accepted a pay offer, so for example the nurses and physios and occupational therapists, they accepted a 5% offer. however, there is still quite a lot of discontent in that sector, so the real issue is whether a pay offer will actually retain staff. retention is a serious issue in the nhs. i was going to ask you exactly that as my next question. in terms of the big issues, how do you navigate between basic pay and retention? which is causing the most problems at the moment? pay is definitely a lever for retention. we know that.

it is not the only lever for retention. so, one of the other issues we really see now is things for particularly the junior doctors, like training opportunities. so, a junior doctor might sound like it is a career entry—level, but actuallyjunior doctors range from everything from people who have just left medical school to people who are just about to become consultants, so it is a very, very wide range and we know that there are issues around the way that they are able to access training to become specialists, for example in obstetrics or anaesthetists, so that is also a challenge, but also their working conditions. they move around the country quite frequently, so it is not only pay, but also their working conditions. a quick twin final thought because it is such a tussle, isn't it, internationally to try and attract doctors and other health care workers? hmm. that continues, and in terms of this sort of pay award, even if it was accepted at 6%,

there is no new money, so what are the consequences of that on the wider nhs, do you think? i think there are two very serious consequences of that. the pay awards, we have been told the deficit has to be found from local budgets and the only way you can do that, really, is to de—professionalise your workforce and have lower skilled people, cheaper workers working in that area. the other is that there is a global shortage of health care workers of every kind and it is a global market and we have to be competitive as a country in that global market. pay restraint won't help with that. that is this health sector. turning to teachers, kevin courtney, joint general secretary of the national education union, joined me a little while ago and started with this clarification. we haven't suspended strike action, because we haven't got any strike action to suspend. but we had some strikes last week. it's a pity we had to have those straits, it's a pity the government didn't come forward with this

pre—that, but we haven't got any other strike action currently scheduled, although we are in a ballot of our members. on the package that the government has put to us, of fully implementing the strb recommendation of 6.5% on all pay spine points and all allowances, and of 900 million new money for schools, which we have been guaranteed doesn't come out of any front line services, so it's not coming from 16 to 19 or send or school capital, we think those are steps in the right direction. there is also a commitment signed off by the prime minister to look at workload problems, workload reduction for teachers, which is driving people out of the profession. we think this package, it's not everything we wanted, but it's good enough for us to put it to members with a recommendation that they vote for it, that we end the campaign

of industrial action, the forward campaign that we haven't declared yet, that we would end it, and then we would go back to normal relations with government and normal campaigning to get better pay and better funding for our schools, but not with industrial action in the immediate next period. you roll several issues into one. let's return to where the money comes from in terms of the budgets, coming from existing budgets, do you think it can be done, then? we know that this is a sector already under severe strain. it's not coming from school budgets, it's not coming from 16 to 19 or send or school capital. we've been told that there are some underspend is in the department underspends in the department that the treasury would normally claw back, and the treasury is allowing the department to keep them. now, that's the treasury funding it, as far as i'm concerned. there are a number of matters like that that are going on, so we feel that this 900 million is not going to impact on front line services.

about, about levies on migrants. it is certainly not coming from this other thing that mr sunak talked about, about levies on migrants. there is no sense that that is happening in education. we think that what will happen is, if the government, if the dfe doesn't have to hand its underspends back to the treasury, that allows them to fund this, and in the next comprehensive spending review these will be built into the baseline, so in practice, we've got new money for education. the main teaching unions talking to mejust a short while ago. we were watching the pictures from helsinki a short while ago. the question and answer session withjoe biden. i mentioned one of the points are little while ago, that president putin, in his view, has already lost the war in ukraine. joe biden upbeat about the progress that is being made. his assessment of ukraine's

counterattack, he was asked about that, and he said it was likely, he thought, to ultimately prompt russian negotiations. in terms of yevgeny prigozhin, who like that potential mutiny, he said he needed to be careful, quote, careful, of poisoning, given some of the things we have seen in recent years. finally, he said he was serious about prison exchanges to free the wall streetjournal reporter who is wall street journal reporter who is being wall streetjournal reporter who is being held currently in russia. three or four of the lines that emerged from the news conference. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some of the other stories making headlines here in the uk. new figures suggest the uk economy shrank in may, but not by as much as economists had predicted. gdp fell by 0.1% compared with the month before. analysts had forecast a bigger drop because of the extra bank holiday in may to mark

the king's coronation. drivers are being urged to brace themselves for higher costs when dropping off friends and family at some of the uk's biggests airports this summer. the rac says charges for short—stay visits have risen by almost a third. operators have defended the hikes, saying the extra revenue is reinvested into services to help keep costs down for passengers. the royal veterinary college has estimated that in 2021 more than 10% of puppies bought in the uk were imported illegally. that's more than double the figure for 2019. the rvc also says that animals brought into the uk illegally are more at risk of having been exposed to infectious diseases abroad. you're live with bbc news. let's turn to that disturbing case

we were talking about an oracle. a judge has... ronan kanda was killed within yards of his family home in june last year when he was attacked with a sword and a machete. the judge told the wolverhampton crown court that the 217—year—olds could be named to send out a strong message about the seriousness of knife crime. let's go back to our correspondent is covering this case in wolverhampton. he has more for us. let's cross to him. the two people who have now been jailed today are both 16 —— were both 16 at the time. cctv footage shown during the time. cctv footage shown during the trial was absolutely horrific. it shows run and walking along the street outside his house with headphones on, and suddenly behind him the pairappear headphones on, and suddenly behind him the pair appear wielding massive weapons. they use that to kill him.

today, thejudge weapons. they use that to kill him. today, the judge talked about the national scourge of knife crime here. here we have another teenager killed by teenagers carrying weapons which they thought was ok to carry. we have the family with me will stop firstly, the two have been sentenced to detention for life, with minimum sentences of 18 and 16 years respectively. you are expecting that, are you happy? we respectively. you are expecting that, are you happy?— that, are you happy? we were expecting _ that, are you happy? we were expecting that. _ that, are you happy? we were expecting that, but _ that, are you happy? we were expecting that, but we - that, are you happy? we were expecting that, but we are - that, are you happy? we werej expecting that, but we are not that, are you happy? we were - expecting that, but we are not happy with it. we wish there was more, everything was on cctv. it was in front of the judge and jury, but we knew was going to be the case. the 'ud . e knew was going to be the case. the “udue said knew was going to be the case. the judge said they wanted to send a

message out to allow us to name the defendants and talk about the scourge of light crime —— knife crime. scourge of light crime -- knife crime. �* . , , scourge of light crime -- knife crime. �* ., , _ ., ., ., ., crime. i'm happy to give a name to the murderers. _ crime. i'm happy to give a name to the murderers. they _ crime. i'm happy to give a name to the murderers. they needed - crime. i'm happy to give a name to the murderers. they needed to - crime. i'm happy to give a name to the murderers. they needed to be | the murderers. they needed to be told. the 16—year—olds, i hope they can pass this message to the other 16—year—old that your name will be released as well if you take such actions. all of you made a very powerful vixen personal statements, but powerful vixen personal statements, bu - , powerful vixen personal statements, bu- , powerful vixen personal statements, bu-, . , powerful vixen personal statements, but but you directly addressed the defendants? _ but but you directly addressed the defendants? i— but but you directly addressed the defendants? i know— but but you directly addressed the defendants? i know that - but but you directly addressed the defendants? i know that my - but but you directly addressed the i defendants? i know that my brother would never — defendants? i know that my brother would never have _ defendants? i know that my brother would never have carried _ defendants? i know that my brother would never have carried a - defendants? i know that my brother would never have carried a knife - would never have carried a knife because — would never have carried a knife because of— would never have carried a knife because of his upbringing, because we would _ because of his upbringing, because we would never let ronan, ronan would _ we would never let ronan, ronan would never do that. i alsojust want _ would never do that. ialsojust want to— would never do that. i alsojust want to say, the post office in which — want to say, the post office in which pradjeet veadhasa picked up the knife. — which pradjeet veadhasa picked up the knife, they are also culpable for what — the knife, they are also culpable for what happened. gne the knife, they are also culpable for what happened.—

the knife, they are also culpable for what happened. one of the things we talked about _ for what happened. one of the things we talked about was _ for what happened. one of the things we talked about was greater - we talked about was greater regulation, which is what you are campaigning for with yourjustice campaigning for with your justice for campaigning for with yourjustice for ronan t—shirts. the 16—year—olds were able to buy online these weapons, and pick them out without adequate age checks. dad, you are obviously emotional like this. you think these weapons should be banned. do you think enough is being done to stop teenagers getting these weapons? ida. done to stop teenagers getting these wea ons? ., , ,., done to stop teenagers getting these weaons? ., , ,., ., _ ., weapons? no, it is so easy for them to use aliases _ weapons? no, it is so easy for them to use aliases to _ weapons? no, it is so easy for them to use aliases to order _ weapons? no, it is so easy for them to use aliases to order them - weapons? no, it is so easy for them to use aliases to order them online. | to use aliases to order them online. the worst_ to use aliases to order them online. the worst thing _ to use aliases to order them online. the worst thing is _ to use aliases to order them online. the worst thing is when _ to use aliases to order them online. the worst thing is when they - to use aliases to order them online. the worst thing is when they picked | the worst thing is when they picked up the worst thing is when they picked up this— the worst thing is when they picked up this weapon _ the worst thing is when they picked up this weapon from _ the worst thing is when they picked up this weapon from the _ the worst thing is when they picked up this weapon from the post - the worst thing is when they picked i up this weapon from the post office, they should — up this weapon from the post office, they should have _ up this weapon from the post office, they should have sent _ up this weapon from the post office, they should have sent a _ up this weapon from the post office, they should have sent a message . up this weapon from the post office, they should have sent a message to| they should have sent a message to they should have sent a message to the post— they should have sent a message to the post office — they should have sent a message to the post office saying, _ they should have sent a message to the post office saying, listen, - the post office saying, listen, someone _ the post office saying, listen, someone will _ the post office saying, listen, someone will pick _ the post office saying, listen, someone will pick this - the post office saying, listen, | someone will pick this weapon the post office saying, listen, - someone will pick this weapon up, make _ someone will pick this weapon up, make sure — someone will pick this weapon up, make sure you _ someone will pick this weapon up, make sure you check— someone will pick this weapon up, make sure you check their- someone will pick this weapon up, make sure you check their id, - someone will pick this weapon up, i make sure you check their id, make sure they— make sure you check their id, make sure they are — make sure you check their id, make sure they are over— make sure you check their id, make sure they are over 18 _ make sure you check their id, make sure they are over 18 or— make sure you check their id, make sure they are over 18 or 21, - sure they are over 18 or 21, whatever— sure they are over 18 or 21, whatever age, _ sure they are over 18 or 21, whatever age, and - sure they are over 18 or 21, whatever age, and no- sure they are over 18 or 21, - whatever age, and no identification was checked — whatever age, and no identification was checked. he _ whatever age, and no identification was checked. he was _ whatever age, and no identification was checked. he was allowed - whatever age, and no identification was checked. he was allowed to i whatever age, and no identification was checked. he was allowed to go whatever age, and no identification. was checked. he was allowed to go to the post— was checked. he was allowed to go to the post office. — was checked. he was allowed to go to the post office, pick— was checked. he was allowed to go to the post office, pick his— was checked. he was allowed to go to the post office, pick his package, - the post office, pick his package, io the post office, pick his package, do home, — the post office, pick his package, do home, unwrap— the post office, pick his package, go home, unwrap it, _ the post office, pick his package, go home, unwrap it, a _ the post office, pick his package, go home, unwrap it, a big- the post office, pick his package, i go home, unwrap it, a big sword,... thank— go home, unwrap it, a big sword,... thank you _

go home, unwrap it, a big sword,... thank you very — go home, unwrap it, a big sword,... thank you very much _ go home, unwrap it, a big sword,... thank you very much all _ go home, unwrap it, a big sword,... thank you very much all of - go home, unwrap it, a big sword,... thank you very much all of you. - go home, unwrap it, a big sword,... thank you very much all of you. justj thank you very much all of you. just to reiterate, the website is not doing anything illegal. they used a false id in the first place. i know west midlands police and the minister for policing will be speaking to the —— you have spoken to the family will be looking at tighter regulations on the future. it is feared a further 500 people may have died in the sinking of a migrant boat. it has emerged that because gardner told to keep quiet. let's cross to nick speak at bbc verify. tell us a bit more about what established here. for verify. tell us a bit more about what established here.- verify. tell us a bit more about what established here. for the past month or so — what established here. for the past month or so we've _ what established here. for the past month or so we've been _ what established here. for the past month or so we've been trying - what established here. for the past month or so we've been trying to i month or so we've been trying to

find out more about what happened to this boat and all the people on board. let's go back to the beginning. we know the boat set off from the north libyan coast. the idea was that people would go to italy. they didn't want to go to greece. if i look in more detail at this part, survivors have told us that they actually got on smaller boats on the coast there, and were taken into international waters ta ken into international waters further out taken into international waters further out to sea before they got on the biggerfishing further out to sea before they got on the bigger fishing vessel. further out to sea before they got on the biggerfishing vessel. as further out to sea before they got on the bigger fishing vessel. as we know, thejourney did not on the bigger fishing vessel. as we know, the journey did not go as intended. this is the route we think it took before the migrant boat capsized and sank off the coast of greece. this red line shows the journey of a boat called the faithful warrior. remember that name, it is important. this vessel was asked to bring water and food to the stricken boat. i want to show you this video that has come out. this is the migrant boat, and it is significant. if you look at it, you

can see it is at a precarious angle there. the greek coastguard insisted that the boat was not in danger and didn't need to be rescued in any way. we have managed to verify this video. you can see a bigger vessel in the background. what we did was take a photograph of the faithful warrior, and if you look at this particular detail, the windows on board, you have a pattern of two large windows, two smaller ones, and then two big ones, although it is partially obscured. if you take that and compare it with a video we have, you have the two bigger windows and two smaller windows and the two bigger ones again. we also took the tracking data from this vessel, and it all matches. this sort of evidence, also with that of survivors, basically there is more questions for the coastguard. we asked them for an interview, these are serious allegations, the fact

that they did not do enough, or even that they did not do enough, or even that they did not do enough, or even that they cost the boat to capsize. unfortunately, we had nothing back from the greek authorities. the actor, kevin spacey, who's accused of sexual assault, has told his trial that he's a "big flirt", but the allegations "make no logical sense". mr spacey told southwark crown court that he'd lost his job and reputation in a matter of days when the claims emerged. greg mackenzie is outside southwark crown court in london. it is the first time the court has heard from the actor kevin spacey who was testifying in the witness box today. he said his world exploded in 2017 when an online article was published accusing him of attempting to sexually assault an actor in america. the actor went on to say that he lost his job, reputation in a matter of days. he says he has not worked in the film or television industry for six years, and thanked those in the

industry that has stuck by him. as you say there, he admitted in court that he was a big flirt, and that he felt crushed and betrayed by a man he claims had stabbed him in the back. this is pertaining to one of the four men who claim he has sexually assaulted them almost 20 years ago. the actor is accused of 12 counts of sexual assault against four individual men, all of whom do not know each other, but are aged between 20 and 30. tomorrow, kevin spacey, who is 63, will be cross examined by the prosecution. the trial continues.— trial continues. thank you very much. trial continues. thank you very much- we _ trial continues. thank you very much. we are _ trial continues. thank you very much. we are about _ trial continues. thank you very much. we are about to - trial continues. thank you very much. we are about to take i trial continues. thank you very much. we are about to take a| trial continues. thank you very - much. we are about to take a short break, and when we are back will have the latest on these heatwaves in the us, also heatwaves right across europe. top temperatures expected to be 48 celsius in places at some stage today. more of that here in just at some stage today. more of that here injust a moment at some stage today. more of that here in just a moment or two.

hello there. another one of those days where the cloud is building up to give us some showers, probably not quite as many or as heavy as yesterday and not quite as windy either, but temperatures very similar to yesterday. they're not quite as high as they normally are at this time of the year. we'll still have some showers late afternoon to evening, particularly heavy ones in northern scotland. but there is more cloud continuing to push up from the south—west and that is going to bring pockets of rain through northern ireland, northern england heading into southern scotland, but it is this wet weather arriving in the south—west that will bring quite a significant change in weatherfor tomorrow. south—western parts of england, southern and western wales that could be quite windy tomorrow, approaching gale force and some rough seas picking up as well, and not only that, we have this rain. the first area of rain is somewhat lighter, it'll head north into scotland, but this will develop more widely across england and wales and northern ireland, could be heavy or possibly thundery in places.

perhaps not so much rain in the south—east, could be quite muggy here for a while, but again temperatures not changing too much. the winds pick up across england and wales and it is all around that area of low pressure here, this is not a typical summer weather pattern, that low pressure pushing north through the weekend and it will bring some unusually windy weather for this time of the year. there is some rain around as well that could be heavy and thundery and again it is staying rather cool as well. we have some windy weather for england and wales on saturday. the biggest impacts are probably more likely to be across this area where the winds could be gusting 50—55 mph, particularly around southern coasts and hills. but it will be windy across the whole of england and wales and we will see these downpours developing more widely, perhaps even thundery as well. not quite so windy for scotland and northern ireland, but we do have some areas of rain here as well, all dampening down those temperatures to 18—20 . there may be a bit of sunshine in between those downpours, we may see a bit more sunshine for the second

half of the weekend as the low pressure continues to move north, tending to pull away and taking away the strongest of the winds as well. the strongest of the winds are more likely to be across scotland, northern england, perhaps northern ireland. there will still be some showers around, but a bit more sunshine to come as well, those winds not as strong across the southern parts of the uk, but it is still cool.