and coming up in sportsday later in the hour on bbc news: the fixtures are out for the new prmier leaguethat starts next month — and there's a tough opening for the champions liverpool. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. thousands of gcse students in england, wales and northern ireland received their results today — and with grades set by teachers there were record pass rates. in england, those getting a grade 4 and above was up by 9%. and those getting the very top grades — that's 7 and above — was up by 25%. in wales, the numbers of pupils getting an a to a* rose by 26%. in northern ireland, too, the number of top grades was up by 5.7% on last year. so, for gcse students there's some relief after all the confusion and anxiety over this year's results. but spare a thought for half a million btec students who were told late last night that they'd have to wait while their results are also regraded. our education editor branwen jeffreys has spent the day in warrington in cheshire. the envelope some dread. that walk to the results table at school. gcse grades this year like no