jeffrey blue was a corporate financier, working for mike ashley at the time and he said mike ashley promisedin three years. he walked away from the pub that night thinking he had a deal. well mike ashley had a different version of events saying this was just a few drinks and nothing more, that the talk was banter and he dismissed the claim as nonsense. it has been a pretty colourful few days of evidence including a night down at the pub itself, drink fuelled. mike ashley, one of the wealthiest controversial bosses in retail had drunk so much that night that he could not remember the next puppy went to but today the judge ruled in his favour comprehensively. he concluded that no one would have thought that what was said in the pub that night was serious. adding the fact thatjeffrey blue had convinced himself that it was and legally binding agreement had been made, showed only that the human capacity wishful thinking you no bounds. so he faces an uphill struggle in this case and i think the moral of is get it in writing. thank you. from finding bombs to catching drug smugglers, a dog's sense o

mike ashley says that is nonsense. remember making a deal, it wasjets a bit of barroom banter. even if a deal of that nature had been struck, the fact that the sports direct prices did double by the next year had nothing really to do with mr bloom at all but is in fact due to the improved financial performance of the company. we have had some very entertaining, sometimes lurid scenes of management meetings held in pubs. they admit that everyone had had a view on the night in question, and we have an insight if you like into the way that sports direct is run. it is listed on the stock exchange but it is not a normal company. mike ashley owns 70% of the shares, he has an enormous moderate —— an enormous amount of influence. one of the maverick characters of british business. geoffrey bloom was myjob was to say that a lot of people felt uncomfortable involving in this business because of the steak for example. it was hisjob business because of the steak for example. it was his job to business because of the steak for exam

absolutely not, said mike ashley.st headlines. world leaders gather in hamburg for the g20 summit, as president trump calls moscow "destabilising" and warned pyongyang about its nuclear programme. a watchdog says a quarter of adult care services in england are not safe enough, and in some cases residents are not getting enough to eat or drink. bbc research reveals that more than 100 people have now been convicted of terrorist offences related to syria and iraq. an update on the market numbers for you — here's how london's and frankfurt ended the day. as you can see, they are all down. and in the the united states this is how the dow the european union's chief brexit negotiator, michel barnier has warned that britain will not be able to have what he called "frictionless trade" with the bloc after it leaves in 2019. mr barnier said british goods would be subject to checks to ensure they complied with eu standards once the country was outside the single market. older people are more likely to urge others to see a doctor

sports direct boss mike ashley has won a high court battle with an investment banker over a £15m dealf the deal, because he had drunk so much. ajudge will decide today whether11—month—old charlie gard should be able to leave great 0rmond street hospital to die at home. great 0rmond street say a hospice would be a more appropriate place for charlie given the level of medical support he needs. wildfires in south—eastern france have forced the evacuation of 10,000 people including british holidaymakers overnight. the fires have spread over almost 40 square kilometres along the mediterranean coast. those are the headlines. let's check out the sport with you. adam peaty was left stunned by his own performances as he continues to set the standard for great britain at the world aquatics championships. the olympic champion beat his own world record in the 50 metre breaststroke twice in one day, breaking the 26—second mark for the first time. he goes in the final today looking to set an even faster time. honestly, that is... this morning i went 26.1 and i thought it was going to be hard to bea

the billionaire founder of sports direct, mike ashley, has described himself as a power drinker who likesitness stand at the high court where he is being sued by a former employee who says mr ashley reneged on an agreement to pay him £15 million. jeffrey blue has testified that the agreement was made in a central london pub injanuary 2013, but mr ashley denies that. richard lister is at the high court. rather lively evidence. yes, and at times mike ashley was competent of, irritated, sighing, putting his head in his hands, making it clear he did not like the persistent accusation he had made this deal with the city investor with whom he was working. the deal was that if he could use his influence to double the share price of sports direct aid pounds per share within three years then mr ashley would pay him £50 million. mr ashley would pay him £50 million. mr ashley denies that deal was made but they both agree that they had a meeting at this pub in central london in january 2013 meeting at this pub in central london injanuary 2013 and mr blue says that is where the deal was done. we had c

the billionaire founder of sports direct, mike ashley has described himself as a "power drinker" whogh court where he is being sued by a former employee who says mr ashley reneged on an agreement to pay him £15 million. jeffrey blue has testified that the agreement was made in a central london pub injanuary 2013, but mr ashley denies that. richard lister has been following the case. at times, mike ashley was very competent, he was irritated, sighing loudly and putting his head in his hands. he was making very clear that he did not like the persistent accusation that he had made this deal with a city investor, jeffrey blue. according tojeffrey blue, the deal was that if he could use his influence to double the share price of sports direct to £8 a share within three years, mr ashley would pay him £15 million. mr ashley com pletely pay him £15 million. mr ashley completely denies that deal was made. they do both agree that they had a meeting at this pub, the horse and groom, in central london, january 2013. and groom, in central london, january 20 13. jeffrey blue says thatis january 20

the owner of sports direct, mike ashley, has won his legal battle with an investment banker over an allegedin a london pub. mr ashley told the high court he couldn't remember details of the conversation "as it was a night of heavy drinking," and denied he promised the banker the money if he doubled the company's share price. thejudge said no—one at the pub would have thought any offer mr ashley made was serious. the supreme court has ruled that charging people to bring cases before employment tribunals is unlawful. the government introduced the fees of up to £1,200 four years ago. now it must repay £32 million to claimants. the trade union, unison, had argued that the charges prevented workers getting access to justice. 0ur legal affairs correspondent clive coleman reports. a massive victory for unison at the highest court in the land. workers fees for bringing claims to employment tribunal ‘s gone. from builders to bankers, teachers two police officers, workers can bring tribunal claims for everything from unfair dismissal and pay disputes to discrimination. issuing a claim and having a tr

sports direct is run by the maverick entrepreneur, mike ashley. did fantastically well. they floated some shares. he runs it with an iron fist and owns 70% of the shares. he calls the shots and it turns out he also buys the shots! he had a big boozy meeting where he drank 12 pints of lager punctuated by vodka chasers. apparently he drew up into the fireplace. the case in the court at the moment is that on one of these boozy nights he said to one investment banker, if you can double the share price give you £15 million. it did happen and now he said it was nothing more than banter. the other guy said, no we have a proper understanding. very amusing story. it's well worth the read. my twitter question, a p pa re ntly read. my twitter question, apparently donald trump had trouble finding a hotel room at the 620 because he left it too late to book. i went to the frankfurt motor show and ended up staying in, it was more like a monastery cell, it was like a monastic cell. when you go to one of these big trade conventions like frankfurt motor show or the

the story on the other moment, mike ashley of sports direct, he has bought a 25% stake in computer gaming read all about it on the business pages online. you are watching business live. the us president hasjust are watching business live. the us president has just arrived in france where trade will feature heavily in his talks with president macron. markets have just opened his talks with president macron. markets havejust opened in europe. a mixed picture. not necessarily following the global rally we saw in asia overnight. the thought of wine probably conjures up images of vineyards in france, italy and australia. but increasingly wine from britain is starting to make a name for itself. the english wine industry grew 16% between 2015 and 2016 with revenues rising to $170 million. but it's still a minnow. by comparison, french wine sales exceeded $13 billion in 2015. we'rejoined by charlie holland, ceo and head winemaker at gusbourne vineyard. very warm welcome. thank you for having me. particularly warm welcome as you have brought some sparkling wine with you! i will try and do this wit

the owner of sports direct, mike ashley, has won his legal battle with an investment banker, over and the high court he couldn't remember details of the conversation as it was a night of heavy drinking and denied he promised the banker the money. the judge said no one at the pub would have thought the offer was serious at the time. making people pay to bring a case before an employment tribunal is unlawful and now the government is going to have to pay back over £32 million to claimants. the supreme court has ruled that the government's introduction of fees of up to £1,200 four years ago is inconsistent withjustice. our legal affairs correspondent clive coleman reports. a massive victory for unison at the highest court in the land. workers' fees for bringing claims to employment tribunals, gone. for the last four years, workers like ronnie, a courier, taking his employer to task over his employment status, faced a court fee he couldn't pay. he is still working for them and they're defending the action. he could only pay to bring his claim with the help of his union. most people worki

chief executive mike ashley said it had now taken steps to "minimise the short—term impact of currencyw that uk retail sales were better than expected last month. the amount of stuff we bought was up 0.6% compared with may. there was a boost from higher sales of summer clothing, shoes and household goods. the amount of money we spent on goods was also up by 0.4%. schools will all soon be out for the summer — but as temperatures rise — so too does the cost of holiday childcare. the family and childcare trust has given the bbc exclusive access to figures that showjust how much of a squeeze holiday care puts on family finances. since last year, the average cost has risen by 4%. so for one child — it‘s £124 per week of childcare. many families will struggle to afford that — especially as cheaper, council—run options are hard to find. so how do parents juggle that with work? and how big a business is summer holiday childcare? we can join our wales business correspondent now, brian meechan who‘s been looking at the cost of child care in wales, and, brian, it was a big issue during the welsh

boss mike ashley says he wants to turn the firm into the selfridges of sports — but how good a shapesports direct struggling because of the falling pound, that is the key reason, sports direct gets a lot of stock from asia. the pound has fallen and has cost them money. sports direct tried to mitigate that by taking out currency hedges, but that went wrong when a fall triggered off a payment under one of its contract which cost it 15 million. revenues have been pretty strong, and that might help to explain why its share price is up sharply this morning, that is down to changes that have been announced at board level, including the replacement, the belated replacement of the finance director who resigned in the wake of that currency problem last year. but, context is everything, isn‘t it. so if i step over here and change the view you are looking at for a moment. you can see that even with that spike today, sports direct share prize is less than half the level it was about 18 months to two years ago. the past 18 months have been pretty extraordinary for sports direct haven‘t they? extr

the owner of sports direct, mike ashley, has won his legal battle with an investment banker, over aney told the high court he couldn't remember details of the conversation, "as it was a night of heavy drinking", and denied he promised the banker the money if he doubled the company's share price. the judge said no—one at the pub would have thought any offer mr ashley made at the time was serious. one of the pope's most senior advisors has appeared in an australian court to face historic charges of sexual assault. cardinal george pell, who's a financial adviser to pope francis and a former archbishop of sydney and melbourne, is accused of multiple counts involving several complainants. his lawyer told magistrates he would be pleading not guilty. the british economy grew byjust 0.3% between april and june, according to the office for national statistics. the growth was driven by good retail figures and a booming film industry, but this is the economy's weakest six—month period for five years. simon gompertz has the details. everything we make, all our building, all the services provided

ashley: don't hold your breath, mr. president. i'm not sure about beautiful. fox news's mike emanuel with the latest on capitol hill about this. mike? reporter: ashley, the latest goal to republican sources getting revised bill text to senators by thursday. having the congressional budget office weighing in by early next week. having the vote in the senate by late next week. we'll see if the timeline holds. vice president mike pence told laura ingraham on her radio show he has not given up hope on health care reform. >> the senate now is literally within weeks delivering on the promise to the american people. the legislation before the senate, for which there is not yet agreement, but we are close. reporter: after telling voters they would get rid of obamacare since 2010, some key republicans say they must figure it out. >> it is huge. we've been promising this for seven years, for good reason. obamacare is failing. it is failing all around us. it is failing in pennsylvania. theme premiums are up 320% in couple years. reporter: chuck grassley expressed his frustration over th

between mike ashley and someone who wants money from him. sports direct, he says "i am a power drinker, ijust binge to get drunk" and there is a story of him doing a deal ina and there is a story of him doing a deal in a pub, and does it mean it is legally binding or not? some of his comments about how he does his company, they have been quite big. some saying he hasn't done himself any favours in terms of public image of. he would say, this is me, this is the person i am. this is what he was like on breakfast. this is how i do my life. let me get on with it. 0n the subject of meetings and how people conduct themselves, there is fascination when donald trump meets another litre, literally that moment of the handshake. he has had one or two awkward ones. is it a handshake ora two awkward ones. is it a handshake or a squeeze? yesterday of course donald trump meeting, you can see it, angela merkel. here is the shot, who is doing what, who looks more awkward. it is kind of compelling. todayis awkward. it is kind of compelling. today is the day w

chief executive mike ashley said it had now taken steps to "minimise the short—term impact of currencyse from the office for national statistics. the amount of stuff we bought was a 0.6%. the amount of money we spend on goods was also up by 0.4%. as temperatures rise, so does the cost of holiday childcare. the family and childcare trust has given the bbc exclusive access to figures that just show how the bbc exclusive access to figures thatjust show how much of a squeeze holiday care put on family finances. since last year, the average cost has risen by 4%. for one child, it is £124 per week of childcare. many families will struggle to afford that, especially as cheaper council run options are increasingly hard to find. how do parentsjuggle run options are increasingly hard to find. how do parents juggle that would work? is this simple case of businesses, demand, prices go up? that is true, parents have been dealt a double blow with prices up and availability down. the drop in availability is driving up prices. it is important to remember that many holiday childcare providers are small

ashley parker is an msnbc political analyst and reporter for "the washington post," joins our panel. mike peska, elise jordan, and robert traynham. ashley, at this point, how do they all wake up connected to the white house? scaramucci, steve bannon, reince priebus. they all can't exist. >> well, it's certainly an uneasy truce between them. i mean, i think still here scaramucci has the upper hand. to be clear, that sort of rant and that sort of behavior in any other white house that communications director would no longer be communicating and would have been fired and marched out the toor. he is still here and people in the white house are publicly defending him so proactively. the most interesting question is reince priebus, the chief of staff. he's been isolated for a while, hanging on very tenuously. in some ways it's an open question and some of it is up to reince. he's told friends and confidants he wants to stay for a full year and in theory that might still be able to happen. it depends on how much public humiliation the chief of staff is willing to take. i've been told the preside

mike. more the back and forth between ashley and robin when robin joins us live. that's coming up at 10a.o not miss it. we got questions for her. >> right >> she was -- >> it was hot on many levels. >>> first at 9:00, though, speaking of hot we do have to talk about the weather we've got heat wave on the way. temperatures could top 90 today. we can see triple digits though before the week is over. so let's get the details now from tuck who is back with first check of the forecast. hey, tucker. >> good morning, holly. yeah i'm not sure we'll see actual air temperatures of 100 degrees but heat index will be a hundred and it will be mighty uncomfortable starting tomorrow. today kind of that transition day. our average high temperature this time of year is 89. we'll probably be 90, 91 this afternoon. right about where we shall be then off and running starting top. another heat wave on the way. today is that transition from very comfortable low humidity temperatures in the 80s back near 90 today and well into the 90s tomorrow. 77 at reagan national. dulles 74 in baltimore. 75 degrees. little b

ashley chasing a story that started locally and has blown up and a national story. before that, i want to introduce a special guest, iconic tv legend of new york area, mike schneider, we have a special story we'll talk about with you later. but it would be great to have you here to weigh in on the stories, ashley you were chasing a story in pennsylvania, 4 missing young men. there have been developments. >> well, a major breakthrough in case of 4 missing men. district attorney attorney, said that 20-year-old cosmo dinardo is a person of interest. he wants to clear they are not calling him a suspect, he was arrested late monday at his home in bensalem, pennsylvania for an unrelated charge, and recharged with a firearm possession offense from february, he is not allowed to have a firearm. they said bail was say the at $1 million. >> that is our urging, he is a person of interest. i think that if somebody is charged with something, and is a person of interest, it is fair to say, you are a greater flight risk. >> the district attorney would not comment on if his parents are cooperating, he confirmed that main search site on lower york road debloj longs to the family, fb

ashley webster, scott shellady, mike murphy. i'm starting on a bright note.here, nenetlix, blowout numbers. so, mike, i think the stock is up, 13, $14. $13 higher. 8% higher, just have to squint to see that one. would you bts it at 175. >> i would sell it at you 5 al day to you. i would not buy it here. the company is losing money and spending a lot of money. this is a huge move up on strong subscriber growth. great quarteley but too expensive. you can't see them getting-- they're going to be losing money for years they said in the statement. stuart: let's hear about their debt poig stion. liz: it's $20 billion double what's shown on the balance sheet. they shoved a lot off the balance sheet. severe cash burn and cash flow negative and basically a stock price gain, the growth of that, outpacing the sales gain. stuart: well, well. ashley: does that make them a great target for someone 0 to come in and bts them out. liz: apple. >> disney. ashley: netflix is burning through money and the foundation is not very strong. someone could come in and it would be very a

ashley: north korea test launching that icbm that could be capable of carrying a nuclear weapon to u.s. soil. joining us now to talk about this, former cia covert operations. mikeaker. thank you for joining us. >> sure. ashley: this is a difficult situation to deal with. we can express outrage as much as we want with north korea, clearly they're going to do everything we want to do. how does mike baker feel they should be dealing with this in north korea. >> you're right. dealing with this, one of those situations where there aren't any good alternatives. what we can say is that china is, is still the key, it's the linchpin, the only country because of its economic aid, its financial aid and trade with north korea, it's really the only country that has the potential ability to change north korea's behavior prior to that unfortunate and ugly point where we have to consider military options to prevent them from getting to the point where they've got the ballistic military capability. the problem is that for two and a half decades plus, that theory, the idea of somehow diplomacy through china with north korea, is going to work. it hasn't happened. and so, we're no

someone who did sell the bill, ashley, someone who you did spend a lot of time reporting on. mike the house side. he went and spoke to governors, lukewarm reception, let's call it. is his star fading? does this play at all into his political power? >> two quick things. one as much as people may like the vice president, they're not going to vote for a bad bill. what they believe to be a bad bill and very hard to sell a bad bill, even if you're breaos wit some of these members. that only goes so far. he was the face of this. you have to wonder the president when something goes wrong never blames himself. he blames his chief of staff when management goes awry and when pence is pushing this bill, he may blame the vice president a little bit. >> in one sentence, what is the advice you would give to president trump today in this lunch? >> i think what he has to do is open up and say, where do we find how we can get together to move some things forward? it may not be everything we wanted to but to move everything forward. this is not the end. other things have to be done in health care a

joining us ashley webster, elizabeth mcdonald, steve cortez and mike murphy. mike,that's you.an any company realistically compete with amazon these days? >> no, wal-mart is the closest out there. no, amazon has built this so long and now they're in a position where they can reach everywhere, they can reach groceries we saw and then they went out and bought whole foods. they're getting what you want at a better price quicker than everyone out there. to the big box retailers, bricks and mortar, you see what's happening to them. amazon has built a moat so big, if you were betting, you'd bet against wal-mart, i don't know who else is out there. stuart: liz, i'm sort of looking at the ripple effect. some department stores are discounting cosmetics. the highest profit margin in their stores often. liz: that's true. stuart: now they're discounting it, that's because of amazon i'd say. liz: it is. it's a rare move to discount cosmetics. they're 15% off cosmetics at places like macy's. another ripple effect. we talked about the federal reserve president saying, hey, wait a second, noti

ashley: working the phone lines apparently. according to aides close to senator mike lee.n senator lee on saturday, where do you stand on the health care bill. he apparently told the president i'm still undecided he is concerned that the ted cruz freedom amendment is not in the new bill even though senate leadership argues it is. there is still lot of in the weeds arguing what is in, what is out. bottom line the president is on the phone, having just got back from france. straight on the phone to get these republicans in order or try to. we know he will get out front on tax cuts in middle of august barnstorming the width mess. ashley: right. stuart: he is on the phone actively working for health care reform which is what a lot of people have been urging him to do, get involved on stronger basis. ashley: apparently he heard that message. stuart: he did indeed. the market turned around, we're not up by much, three points as we speak. 21,640,000. i'm really amazed. wife of senator bernie sanders charged with bank fraud allegations. she calls this sexist. i find it sexist he i

mike pence wants to protect himself. whether or not there's something to protect himself from. it's making people nervous who are working in this administration. and you know, to kind of talk about something that ashley was saying just now is that you know, one of president trump's frustrations is that people in his administration haven't been able to kind of come to his rescue. you see this coming up a lot where it's not only the fact that he wants to kind of carry out his agenda but he wants his administration especially his inner circle to make this go away so that he can focus on that and kind of get in the good graces of you know, the american people and kind of carry on with that. it doesn't seem to be happening. a lot of his frustration not only is directed at the media but his inner circle that can't seem to protect him from this and get this narrative moving forward. >> we saw tillerson and mnuchin come to his aid this weekend only to be reversed by presidential tweets in both of their areas. we also haven't seen anyone notable resign. peter you just mentioned the attorney kasowitz of new york, the pro from manhattan. the president brought in to clean things up. he is a critical player in yo

ashley webster, thank you for being here. elizabeth make donald, thank you for your hard work. you two are the characters and i thank you. murphy and shelley d., you are all right. mike, to you first. i see signs that some people taking money off the table when it comes to the big five technology companies. the beginning every allocation of money to other stocks. >> rotation. >> we look at the earnings. we came into the big things for earnings growth. where are you getting growth? caterpillar. you can take some money off the big technology names because no one ever argued they were cheap. they were just a place to find growth. now you can allocate money elsewhere both having huge earnings quite a bit higher. that is healthy for the market. stuart: you are very much a trading kind of guy. are you seeing rotation out of the big-name techs? >> this is what we see right in front of our eyes. they spoke on amazon, netflix and google are raw and what traders would say is an overbought territory. relative staff telling us they are overbought. any news, even if it's good you will find a lot of hard profit. we are starting to see on technology stocks. what a great place in am