amol rajan, bbc news. don't forget you can get in touch with me on twitter — i'm @babitabbc.ay. hello, i'm marc edwards and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: a nail—biting finish, but hosts england hold their nerve to book a place in the women's cricket world cup final. wham—bam aubameyang. one of europe's most coveted strikers scores twice in a high—profile pre—season friendly. and michael matthews wins a windy stage 16 of the tour de france, while chris froome stays in the shelter to retain the race leader's yellow jersey. hello and thanks for joining us on sport today. we are going to kick things off at the women's cricket world cup, where drama and tension were served up aplenty. the first semi—final went right down to the wire, as hosts england held their nerve to book a place in the final. patrick gearey reports on their two—wicket win over south africa in bristol. what a game of cricket we have seen here today. a place in the grand

amol rajan, bbc news. there has been an unexpected fall in inflation. index was 2.6% injune, compared with 2.9% in may. the drop is partly due to a fall in fuel prices. but some economists believe it isjust a blip, saying inflation is likely to rise again. here is our economics correspondent andy verity. we're used to petrol being the motor of inflation, but last month, it dragged it down. between may and june, the cost of fuel dropped by more than a percentage point. and, instead of edging higher, as many expected, inflation generally fell back from 2.9% to 2.6%. one of the biggest elements that held inflation down was culture and recreation, everything from theatre tickets, to sports tickets, to video streaming on the internet. and another big downward pressure came from these — cheaper tablet computers. this afternoon, the governor of the bank of england gave his reaction to the figures. i think the first thing is, one doesn't want to put too much weight on any specific data point. the bigger picture remains the same. the reason why inflation is abov

amol rajan, bbc news.ay criticised the bbc, for paying women less than men for doing the same job, and she insisted the corporation must continue publishing its top salaries. elaine dunkley has more. a big welcome back to claudia!m a big welcome back to claudia! it is uncomfortable viewing. they are the bbc‘s top female presenters, watched by millions that paid less than their male counterparts. claudia winkleman is the highest—paid female earning over £450,000, followed by alex jones earning over £450,000, followed by alexjones on the one show. they pull in the ratings but when it comes to the salaries, the bbc‘s biggest male stars earn four times as much. former wimbledon champion and bbc commentator martina navratilova has fought for equality in sport and on—screen. navratilova has fought for equality in sport and on-screen. it is disappointing because the stuff i do for the bbc, they say we cannot pay you more, the pound is too weak, thenit you more, the pound is too weak, then it is too strong, we alr

amol rajan, thank you.ch expressed their dismay and disgust about the levels of salary if you are finding out that chris evans is paid £2.2 million, many of those who contacted newswatch expressed their dismay and disgust about the levels of. and there was also concern about the gender disparities in pay, with the top seven on the list all men and on the issue of race, the top 2a are all white. john rick warren had a similar are paid partly according one might assume that people are paid partly according to show is presented. one might assume that people are paid partly according to show is presented. for instance, john humphrys and jeremy vine by present tv quiz shows, which contribute to their wage bills, trickier factors are how replaceable each person is and how much they would earn elsewhere. that cuts no ice with david goodchild, who told us: that the bbc‘s director—general lord hall responded to all these points in an interview he gave on wednesday. he said the gender pay gap was lower at the bbc tha

amol rajan, bbc news. and local residents.wn, who resigned in the wake of the tragedy. wyre davis has the details. an emotionally charged and angry encounter. council since the grenfell disaster. after her predecessor's resignation. many of whom are in temporary accommodation. lost your home. to your preferences. who died on the ilithjune. one woman jangled the keys to her flat in which her daughter died. been killed, have died. few were placated by the council's reassuring promises. grenfell residents, she and her cabinet have no legitimacy. will not begin to heal. wyre davis, bbc news. in which a number of properties were searched. of terrorist publications. a woman who was also arrested has been released on bail. on transactions, made with a debit or credit card. companies, and small businesses. a year. next month in their ongoing dispute over pay. of august, when their current 14—day strike ends. industry, with 46 days of strikes so far. now on bbc news — it's newsnight. good evening. talking about pay and sometimes with g

amol rajan, bbc news.phire mining on the island is threatening the largest of the species, the indri. since late last year, more than a0,000 miners have gone to a remote area of rainforest in the east of the country, hoping to get rich. but the habitat of the indri, which is already critically endangered, is being destroyed. angus crawford reports now from madagascar. in the forests of madagascar there's a new sound, the sound of men working, poor men who want to get rich. they're here because of sapphires. this is the biggest rush in madagascar for more than 20 years. tens of thousands of people have moved here to clear the land and dig for gems. once virgin rainforest, felled and burned. now look, mine shafts and spoil heaps stretch across the valley. meet bruno and his sapphires. he's travelled 1,000 miles, invested all his money, for this. each morning the work takes him down into the dark. the pits are deep, very deep. thejob is cramped, back breaking and dangerous. in this, one of the poorest countri

well, amol rajan has been reporting on this story all week as bbc editor and hejoins on this story allk as bbc editor and he joins me on this story all week as bbc editor and hejoins me now. has it been awkward? not particularly, not particulalry. maybe i have a advantage in that i have not in here that long s0 i have not in here that long sol i have not in here that long so i haven't become best friends with various of the people i was reporting on. you are talking about people like huw edwards you are goingto end up working with but you just try very, very hard. you come across try very, very hard. you come across a try very, very hard. you come across a lot of awkward situations in journalism and you try very, very hard to think how would i cover this if it was another organisation, if it wasn't the bbc, and you try and go straight down the line. you come from newspapers, the independant in particular, has it affected how you view the row over bbc pay? i don't think it has affected how i view the row. basically i approach this as a hack, ido basically i approach this as a hack, i do

written by kevin myers, as "so obviously racist, it's surprisingly hurtful". 0ur media editor, amol rajan this. yesterday, in the irish edition of the sunday times, there was a call bya the sunday times, there was a call by a controversial list by somebody who is a regular contributor to the sunday edition of the irish times, kevin myers, and he wrote how bbc stars are paid and in that list, va nessa stars are paid and in that list, vanessa feltz and claudia winkleman, who arejewish, were reported. kevin myers said they were paid that much, he implied it was because they were jewish and he said jewish were not known for having lower salaries and is demanding less money. he said these things about how men deserve to be paid more because they are seldom found to be pregnant. it was intellectually incoherent and the question people would ask is how this got through. the usual process, i know this from a daisy newspapers, is the editor on the desk says, what do you think about writing? the columnist writes it and you check it with a headline to your editor. there is a question about how the i

david sillito, bbc news. 0ur media editor amol rajan is here.ant to do this and had its reservations. 0ne wonders what the longer term ramifications of this might be. the politics of it out of bad making. as you say, the bbc didn't want to do this. they fought a strong fight against the government saying they shouldn't be forced to make disclosures. they said this was going to be inflationary and would lead to pay rises and that it would also be a poacher ‘s charter, and that people would sweep in other bbc‘s talent. if that doesn't happen over the coming weeks and months, the government would say the bbc made these arguments, but that hasn't happened and they may say that it was a good thing and they we re that it was a good thing and they were lower the transit —— the threshold next year. based on the conversation i have had here at the bbc and at westminster, i would say this is the start of a pretty long ordealfor the this is the start of a pretty long ordeal for the corporation. thank you very much. you can see the full list of salaries, pu

david sillito, bbc news. 0ur media editor amol rajan is here.nces of this disclosure? well, as the excellent report went into, this is in essence a list of names and numbers and first of all people will take these numbers and say, oh my goodness, this person is paid this much, that's shocking. then they will question whether this report is complete because there are lots of people not on this list because they're paid by independent production companies and some people on the list like graham norton who get lots of money from the bbc because they are also paid by independent production companies. the broader issues are about gender equality. is the bbc in 2017 doing nearly enough to make sure its top on their and on—screen talent getting paid the same as men? people said this will cause people to us the pay rises and other broadcasters will try to sweep in for this talent. if that doesn't happen, maybe next year's annual report will get even more numbers and even more transparency. a big clean—up operation is taking place in cornwall after flash

a short time ago our media editor amol rajan talked us through the usual process of publishing a storyeltz and claudia winkleman were only top paid because they were jewish, and winkleman were only top paid because they werejewish, and he managed to be anti—semitic and misogynistic and said that maybe some women have junior sessions because they get pregnant and men do not. as a former newspaper and i thought it was very strange that this went to the various layers of bureaucracy. usually you have an editor speaking to the columnist who will ask what they're thinking about writing and then they will write it and stick it to an editor but at some point someone to an editor but at some point someone should have read it and thought it seemed crazy. it has offended a huge number of people including vanessa feltz to address the issue. when you write something it is read by a sub editor, features editor, whoever puts it to print, arranges it on the page, by the legal team and their editor. it is not like you just write it and it is in the paper. i couldn't understand how all those layers of

well, amol rajan has been reporting on this story all week, as the bbc‘s media editor and hejoins met become best friends with various of the people that i was reporting on. you are talking about people like huw edwards, that you have to end up working with, but you just try very, very hard. you come across a lots awkward situations injournalism, you just try very, very hard to think, how would i cover this as an organization if it wasn't the bbc, if i was somewhere else, and you try and do it straight down the line. you have, of course, come from newspapers, the independent in particular, has it affected how you view the row over bbc pay? i don't think it has affected how i view the row. basically i approach this as a hack, i do not appraoch this as a company man. it is a juicy story, it's fantastically gossipy and exciting details. at it's core, this is a story which is a list of names, a list of numbers and ifind it completely fascinating so as an old—fashioned hack, i think this is a really... i wouldn't say sexy story but a juicy one. a lot of viewers say there was too much self

piece, written by kevin myers, as "so obviously racist it's surprisingly hurtful". 0ur media editor amol rajanund to this, and what is likely to happen now? what happened was in yesterday's irish edition of the sunday times a controversial columnist known as kevin myers published a column where he said somebody outlandish things. he said that vanessa feltz and claudia winkleman were only in the list of top paid bbc stars because they were jewish and he list of top paid bbc stars because they werejewish and he managed not only to be anti—semitic but vaguely misogynistic as well saying that maybe some women had more junior positions because they get pregnant while men don't. it was bizarre. it was intellectually incoherent. as a former newspaperman it is strange how it got through the various layers of bureaucracy. usually a column editor will speak to the commerce and say what you think about writing and the columnist will say they have got this stuff coming and he will file a copy and you will ta ke and he will file a copy and you will take the edge and say what does what you got. at some poin

we can talk now to our media editor amol rajan who's outside broadcasting house.is is something to be busy strongly resisted. they said they didn't want these numbers to come out. they did publish how much they we re out. they did publish how much they were paying on air talent in the past but they didn't want the numbers to be attached to specific individuals because they say those individuals because they say those individuals will now ask for massive pay rises. why would they ask for pay rises. why would they ask for pay rises. why would they ask for pay rises and how toxic is all of this? i think it is potentially very toxic. some people will look at these numbers and say, hang on a second, this person is paid a huge amount more than me for doing something that's quite finance simple. there's also the issue you mentioned a moment ago about gender equality. of the 96 people, two thirds are men and only one third women. but i think the question is, why they resisted it, they would say that if you are one of those 96 people and you are paid pretty well, someone w