the immigration policies from the bbc verify hub-— bbc verify hub.ify hub. yes, the i conservatives so that their bbc verify hub. yes, the - conservatives so that their visa reforms are already working, they are getting net migration down. there is an annual cap for the users. specifically, the home secretaryjames users. specifically, the home secretary james cleverly says the net migration has been cut by a tenth last year and that the existing restrictions will prevent 300,000 people from being eligible to come to the uk in the future. is that accurate? well, it is correct that accurate? well, it is correct that net migration fell by around 10% in 1923 to 685,000 from 764,000 a year before. however, this was largely due to a major drop in people coming to the uk from hong kong and ukraine via humanitarian rates, not the government's these are measures which only came into effect this year. james cleverly claimed today that the reason the government didn't deliver lower net migration before 2016 was at the uk within the european union, and was subje

looking at the perspective of bbc verify and the perspective of bbc verify and the politicians, and theirng me isjoe twyman co—founder and director of the polling company, deltapoll. get to speak to you. what are your plans for the two hours my how do you measure how audiences around the country are responding? there you measure how audiences around the country are responding?— country are responding? there are two was to — country are responding? there are two was to look _ country are responding? there are two was to look at _ country are responding? there are two was to look at it. _ country are responding? there are two was to look at it. look - country are responding? there are two was to look at it. look at - country are responding? there are two was to look at it. look at the i two was to look at it. look at the immediate impact that events like this have which can be measured in snap polls, but the more interesting thing particularly know it is is the media landscape particularly with social media has changed so much, it is more about what happens in the days that follow, the stor

bbc verify found this claim to _ did. bbc verify found this claim to be _ did.y have is - here is that moment. the problem they have is they are radical, — problem they have is they are radical, because _ problem they have is they are radical, because they - problem they have is they are radical, because they will - problem they have is they are | radical, because they will take the life — radical, because they will take the life of— radical, because they will take the life of a _ radical, because they will take the life of a child _ radical, because they will take the life of a child in _ radical, because they will take the life of a child in the - the life of a child in the eighth— the life of a child in the eighth month, - the life of a child in the eighth month, the - the life of a child in thei eighth month, the ninth the life of a child in the - eighth month, the ninth month, and even — eighth month, the ninth month, and even after— eighth month, the ninth month, and even after birth, _ eighth month, the ninth month, and even after birth, after- and even a

nick erli from a bbc verify, and just to add, nick is right, lots going on the life page, bbc verifyrecall... in the bbc�*s first election debate earlier in the month, we spoke to representatives from the seven biggest parties in great britain, which included the conservatives and labour. we asked the other five for their reaction to tonight's debate. here's those who replied. it was like a third—rate vaudeville act. the big things that should have been mentioned weren't mentioned. scotland wasn't mentioned once, brexit wasn't mentioned once, even in the response to the question about the trading relationship with europe. and austerity wasn't mentioned once. and for that reason, this represents, this election — and i've been in elections for a0 years now — it represents the biggest fraud on the people of the uk and on scotland i've ever seen. if you listened to the debate tonight, i think the gentleman in the audience who really hit the nail on the head was the gentleman who said, "is this really the best that we've got?" and actually, what we've seen over the last few weeks is that

jake horton has more form the bbc verify hub.for both countries. that change at the start of the year when the north korean leader, kimjong—un, announced his country would no longer pursue the ambition. now bbc verify has obtained new satellite images which show that north korea has become building what appears to be sections of a wall on the border with south korea, highlighted here. we've highlighted several structures which have been recently built which, combined, coverabout one which have been recently built which, combined, cover about one km of land. these barriers are near the eastern end of the demilitarised zone, between north and south korea — which is known as the dmz. this is effectively a buffer zone between the two countries, which is still technically at war because they never signed a peace treaty almost 70 years after the end of the korean war. now have a look at the long, continuous structure in this image, which was taken earlier this month. the exact date construction began is unclear due to a lack of previou

bbc verify will take a close _ the average worker.m the other main parties from our correspondents on the campaign trail. america's top diplomat says that if the latest peace plan for gaza,

that's according to new satellite images analysed by bbc verify.sions between the two countries. wild chimpanzees have been recorded seeking out medicinal plants to eat when they're sick or injured. scientists studying the animals in a forest reserve in uganda collected samples of the plants the animals used. many were found to have antibacterial or anti—inflammatory properties, and in every case the chimpanzee recovered after eating them. three popular sunscreens have failed effectiveness tests carried out by the consumer organisation which?. it spot—checked 26 different lotions, and said while many did live up to the promises made on the bottle, not all offered the protection that they claimed to. 0ur correspondent alison freeman explains. we are all told to put plenty on in the sun trying to keep us safe from its harmful effects. butjust as summer seems to have finally arrived, spot checks on sunscreens by consumer group which? have found some are not offering as much protection as they claim. after testing 26 in total, which? said three popular

jake horton has more form the bbc verify hub.that his country would no longer pursue that ambition. bbc verify has obtained new satellite images which show that north korea has begun building what appears to be sections of wall near the border with south korea, which you can see highlighted here. we�*ve identified several structures which have been recently built which, combined, coverabout one kilometre of land. these barriers are near the eastern end of the demilitarised zone between north and south korea, which is known as the dmz. this is effectively a buffer zone between the two countries, which are still technically at war because they never signed a peace treaty almost 70 years after the end of the korean war. have a look at the long, continuous structure in this image, which was taken earlier this month. the exact date construction began is unclear due to a lack of previous high resolution imagery in the area, but this image, which was taken at the end of last year, shows that the barrier clearly wasn�*t there. we have al

thank you very much indeed, nick, so bbc verify's work. indeed, nick, so bbc verify's work will be andt university so let's look at how we assess what we hear from both men and we have patrick english from the polling company yougov he was their director of analytics and i suppose when it comes to analytics, moments like this generates a lot of them. they certainly do generally a lot of stories and this will be more about the stories tonight, not so many people watch these debates, but more about how they come across in the media and which looks more prime ministerial and which ones do voters look at and just to run the country and how that will shape a boat off behaviour as we move forward. hagar behaviour as we move forward. how ruickl do behaviour as we move forward. how quickly do you _ behaviour as we move forward. how quickly do you try _ behaviour as we move forward. how quickly do you try to measure that? we do a snap poll so we will try to get an immediate reaction from the voters on what they thought about the debate and over the course of the debate and over the course of th

what do you make of the bbc verify report showing some sort of wall is being built on the border?or having me. it is unusual, and the fact that north korea has been constructing this wall for what seemed like several months, i would like to point out that the context in which this is happening -- we had the putin-kim summit a couple days ago where they side of comprehensive strategic partnership, other ways to really jab the sides of the united states and north korea, that was affecting tensions and south korea, it suggests that this is not atypical of north korea to do this. this might be north korea planning for further provocations and to fortify a military presence along the border. it is a violation of where the two countries agreed not to execute any hostilities across the dmz. rajini: what might this wall be for? >> coue vaous options. it could be to create options t monitosokorean behavior or to monitor the activities of noh koreasn wh north korean north koreans who want to escape north korea. itould be planning operations on t sth. that is where we have to be more vigilan

quote, there is more money going into the nhs today than there has been in history, and i'm sure it bbc verifyto it and yes he is right. this data here is from the health think tank, this year, if you look at that redline here, spending adjusted for prices is set to be more than it has ever been. just a wee bit higher than it was during the pandemic, but when you look at that figure, one thing to bear in mind, the charity, the kings fund has pointed it out, the rate of increase in health spending has slowed down the conservatives in the austerity from 2010 onwards, so that figure could be higher, and it's worth remembering that the population has increased, so most people probably expected to go up a bit. yes, rishi sunak set bbc verify that challenge, we have checked, i should say would are looking to stuff thatjohn swinney said and ed davey said, and we will have more in the morning on bbc breakfast and radio for explain in more about what we have been fact checking for the four of them. it we have been fact checking for the four of them-— we have been fact checking for the four of them. it

bbc verify has obtained new satellite images which prove that north korea has started building what looksy... like parts of a wall on the border with south korea. we highlighted these areas, we identified several built structures with a total length of approximately 1 km. this wall is located near the eastern one. edge of the demilitarized zone between the north and south korea, which is called dmz for short. it is effectively a buffer zone between two countries that are still technically at war. since they never signed a peace treaty more than 70 years after the end of the korean war. look at the elongated structure. these photos were taken earlier this month. the exact date of the start of construction is unknown due to the lack of good quality images in this area. but this photo taken at the end of last year shows that there was definitely no barrier here. we also found evidence that this area was cleared. this picture was taken at the end of last year and this one was taken this month. here it is clearly visible that this strip of land on the part of the demilitarized zone controlled

it's an assertion that nick eardley from bbc verify is going to put to the test.�*s dubious claim labour would put tax up £2,000. now, there's a claim from labour that risks misleading people too. this is it — that mortgages would go up £11,800 under the conservatives. mentioned on the airwaves by senior labour figures, posted here by rachel reeves and keir starmer today. to understand why this is potentially misleading, let's look at how labour reached the figure. they've gone through the conservatives' manifesto and done their own sums. the conservatives say they will raise £12 billion from a welfare crackdown — there are big questions about that figure. but labour assume they'll raise nothing. labour also reckon plans for national service would cost a lot more than the tory manifesto says — not £2.5 billion but £5.2 billion. and putting those and other assumptions together, labour have calculated there would be a £71 billion spending gap. labour have then assumed the conservatives would borrow all of that money, and then assumed that extra debt would push inter

�* after this i'm sure bbc verify after this debate — i'm sure bbc verify after this debate will verifyt for you. yes, _ debate will verify that for you. yes. we — debate will verify that for you. yes, we have and yes, he is right. this data is from the nuffield trust and this year you can see health spending, just for prices, is set to be more than it's ever been, just higher than it was during the pandemic. one thing to bear in mind though is it has been pointed out that the rate of increase in health spending has slowed under the conservatives, particularly in the austerity year so this could have been higher. let's look at another claim about the nhs. this time the nhs in scotland and the snp leader john swinney. scotland has the best—performing accident—and—emergency system in the united kingdom, and has had for the last ten years. you can see it has gone up in scotland since january 2022, but, yes, for most of the decade in scotland, a smaller proportion of people are waiting more than four hours in a&e compared to england and to wales. finally, let's look at the lib dem leader, e

but as i say, first, let's hearfrom bbc verify and nick to explain those figures.ly claimed divided that by the number of working families in the country. —— a £38.5 billion gap. the conservatives have divided that by the number of working households and come up with their £2,000 figure. note: this is over a four—year period, so about £500 a year. the prime minister said last night this was the work of independent treasury officials. it is true that treasury did most of the the sums, but political advisors who work for the chancellor were the ones who set the terms of the calculations by making assumptions about labour's policies. this is the policy list the conservative party produced and how much it would allegedly cost. but not all of it has been costed by the treasury. these ones here come from other documents. for this one, labour's green prosperity fund, the conservatives rely on a labour policy document, but that document says the funding would come through a windfall tax on energy companies and borrowing. let's look at this one — in—sourcing, to use the jar

harry, i'll come back to you, the team at bbc verify - before.cuts and spending in the next parliament. among the tax cuts, additional 2p cut to national insurance costing £10 billion per year, raising income tax personal allowance at which you pay tax for pensioners, £2.4 billion, per yearfigures. the tax for pensioners, £2.4 billion, per year figures. the spending pledges including the youth national service scheme, £1 billion price tag, 100,000 new apprenticeships costing £1 million —— £1 billion, taking defence spending to 2.5% of gdp. how will these things be paid for? this is where there are questions. the two proposed revenue raises, £16 billion from tax avoidance come down. £12 billion welfare reform. provided hmrc is given extra resources and is well directed by stress how much in pounds and pass an avoidance comp would raise but it is uncertain. bigger problems to the £12 billion welfare seven figure, according to public finance experts, the institute for fiscal studies said raising this figure looks difficult in the extreme, and easing

plenty of updates on the sky news live event on our bbc lives page as well as fact checks from bbc verifylow average temperatures across most parts of the uk. with that, we've seen a fair amount of cloud, but also a fair amount of dry weather. this cool air mass, though, is set to be replaced by something that — on the face of it — looks a little bit warmer, a change in wind direction. but with that, we see this frontal system pushing in from the west. that will bring some heavy rain and some quite brisk winds. and i think by virtue of the cloud, the rain, the strong winds, it will still feel rather cool for many of us. but, actually, through tonight, it is going to be decidedly chilly where we keep these clear skies overhead. we'll see a few mist and fog patches here and there, cloud and rain then spreading into parts of northern ireland, perhaps the far west of wales, the west of cornwall, by the end of the night here, turning a little bit milder. but where we keep those clear skies, decidedly chilly to start thursday morning. some parts of scotland out in the countryside starting their

a lot to keep our team of fact—checkers busy here at bbc verify.

nick eardley from bbc verify.g the financial times political correspondent and the westminster editor at lead uk. i asked anna what she thought of last night's debate. i asked anna what she thought of last night's debate-— night's debate. i think it kind of substantiated _ night's debate. i think it kind of substantiated a _ night's debate. i think it kind of substantiated a lot _ night's debate. i think it kind of substantiated a lot of _ night's debate. i think it kind of substantiated a lot of people'sl substantiated a lot of people's feelings this week that these debates are quite unsatisfying, they are unsatisfying for people who don't know much about politics and are trying to tune in and understand are trying to tune in and understand a bit more because people are constantly talking over each other, contradicting each other, they are quite unedifying. they are unsatisfying for people who follow politics very closely, desperately trying to see those arguments be explained well and clearly. my takeaway from y

bbc verify is going to be here tonight looking at exactly that.ring — based on some of the claims that we've heard from keir starmer and rishi sunak in the past few days. and i wanted to mention a couple of things, that if you hear them tonight, you should cast a sceptical ear over. let's start with the economy. it's a key battleground. both parties have made big claims about what the other�*s policies would mean. so what are the facts? well, this is what the conservatives are claiming — that there's a £38 billion gap in labour's spending plans and to fill it, taxes will have to go up. it's worth being sceptical about this figure, though. it's based on treasury calculations, but the assumptions come from political advisers and some of them are questionable. for example, that doing things through the public sector is always a lot less efficient. labour have a claim of their own that we wanted to scrutinise. this one — that the conservatives have £71 billion of unfunded spending commitments. again, a big dollop of caution on this one. it includes an

bbc verify investigated the numbers, concluding that what the prime minister said risked misleading people, this is overfour years, so about £500 a year. the prime minister said last night that this was the work of independent treasury officials and it is true that the treasury did most of the sums. but political advisers who work for the chancellor were the ones who set the terms of the calculations by making assumptions about labour's policies. the following day, the office for statistics regulation criticised the prime minister's failure to mention that the £2,000 number was a total spread over four years. and it emerged that the treasury's top civil servant had warned the conservatives that the claim should not be presented as having been produced by them. but rishi sunak defended the claim. stephen cushion was impressed by the reporting he saw, calling it "a watershed moment in impartial reporting,

as it's going on, highlights of what's being said but also clarifications or context come from bbc verifythat is the bbc duck —— the -- the bbc —— the bbc news website. political editor, hello albert. thank you for joining us and there is a huge amount of aspects to an election campaign, whatare amount of aspects to an election campaign, what are you particularly looking forward to this evening? this election campaign as bit as predictable as the polls have not budged much but the feeling in both campuses this is the big one in the audience of the bbc and edited between the two leaders, if anyone is going to move the dial, this is where it will be. and rishi sunak is quite good at these come actually, the feeling on his team and he really went for thejugular the feeling on his team and he really went for the jugular fenster keir starmer and at the beginning, itv debated a few weeks ago at the beginning of the campaign, putting people rememberfrom beginning of the campaign, putting people remember from that is the line the rishi sunak was trying to land on an keir starmer being slow to res

there will be a lot more from bbc verified. my colleaaue lot more from bbc verified. h, there will be clear spells and sunshine on friday morning. temperatures as we start the day it degrees in norwich, 13 in belfast. we will have more clout and splashes of rain. this will bring more outbreaks and persistent rains to the west of scotland and then south—west of wales and south—west of england. come further east, 22 for newcastle and 24 degrees in london. that system will break apart and leave a residue of cloud across some parts of the uk on saturday. we will see a fair amount of cloud developing across northern ireland and scotland which would give the odd shower. self, more sunshine but chance of a few showers. temperatures in northern scotland 14 or 15 degrees, but more generally from 18 to 20 degrees. next week will term warmer and temperatures may peak at 27, 20 8 degrees. but there is uncertainty about how long that will last. we set the conservative party is director of campaigning is being looked into by the gambling commission about a bet made about the timing

ben chu from bbc verify has been looking at reform's policies — and can tell us more live from the bbcich is what they call their manifesto. there would apparently be large personal tax cuts including, lifting the threshold for paying income tax to £20,000 per year. lowering fuel duty by 20p per litre scrapping vat on energy bills. then there are large spending pledges, including increasing defence spending to 3% of gdp within six years increasing nhs spending by £17 billion per year. so how is all this to be paid for? reform says it would "slash government waste" including by stopping the bank of england paying commercial banks interest — saving £35 billion per year, scrapping net—zero environmental targets — saving £30 billion per year. halving the foreign aid budget — saving £6 billion a year. economists, including those at the independent institute for fiscal studies, are doubtful about many of these claims. for instance on banking — this is complex but what you need to know is that this would effectively be a tax on the commercial banks and experts estimate it would be likely to r

bbc verify�*s nick eardley is in the newsroom in london.2 months _ last 12 months compared to the 12 months before. in order to fully solve _ months before. in order to fully solve this— months before. in order to fully solve this problem you need a deterrent. there are tens of thousands. 50,000 people have come since rishi sunak has been prime minister. 50,000 across the channel. let has been prime minister. 50,000 across the channel.— has been prime minister. 50,000 across the channel. let me show you what has happened _ across the channel. let me show you what has happened in _ across the channel. let me show you what has happened in the _ across the channel. let me show you what has happened in the last - across the channel. let me show you what has happened in the last few. what has happened in the last few years. there is no doubt when you look at this graphic here that the number of small boats has gone up considerably overall and when you add this together keir starmer was right to say that 50,000 people have entered the country on

lots of claims and counter claims have been made during the debate and bbc verify�*s nick eardley�*st on tax rises. they're at the highest level for 70 years. let's start with that claim that taxes would go up £2,000 for every working family under labour. that's based on a dossier the conservative party put together. it claims there's a 58.5 billion black hole in labour's spending plans. but this is important. some of the assumptions behind the calculations to get this are questionable. it assumes, for example, that it's always a lot less efficient for the public sector to do things than the private sector. so a dollop of caution here when it comes to that claim. labour, by the way, have made some questionable claims of their own. they didn't come up tonight, but there is more on the bbc website. next, the overall taxation level. it is right to say, as you can see from this graphic, that the tax take since the general election has gone up compared to the size of the economy. you can see it going up. it's forecast to actually go up quite a lot towards the end there, in part because in

bbc verify will take a close _ the average worker. verify will take a close look _ the average worker. bbc verify will take a close look at _ the average worker. bbc verify will take a close look at the _ take a close look at the conservative manifesto and check whether or not their costings add up. as campaigning continues across the country will have the latest from the other main parties from our correspondents on the campaign trail. america's top diplomat says that if the latest peace plan for gaza, backed by the un security council, fails it will be down the convicted paedophile gary glitter is ordered to pay over £500,000 in damages to one of his victims of sexual abuse. apple teams up victims of sexual abuse. apple teams up with chatgpt for what it calls apple intelligence. and cuts to immigration if the conservatives are re—elected next month. the prime minister launched the party bus might manifest the this morning at silverstone, home of the british grand prix, hoping to pull voters minds back to policies after recent setbac

bbc verify�*s nick eardley has been looking into the figures and is here to explain.lion gap in labour's spending plans. the conservatives have divided that by the number of working households and come up with their £2,000 figure. note — this is over a four—year period, so about £500 a year. the prime minister said last night this was the work of independent treasury officials. it is true that the treasury did most of the the sums but political advisers, who work for the chancellor, were the ones who set the terms of the calculations by making assumptions about labour's policies. this is the policy list the conservative party produced and how much it would allegedly cost. but not all of it has been costed by the treasury. these ones here come from other documents. for this one, labour's green prosperity fund, the conservatives rely on a labour policy document. but labour insist this evening the funding would come through a windfall tax on energy companies and borrowing. let's look at this one — in—sourcing, to use the jargon. that's bringing contracts back into the pu

a lot to keep our team of fact—checkers busy here at bbc verify. taxes by £2,000. no we won't. that's a lie. by £2,000 per working household. penny, your government have raised taxes... crosstalk. we have, and we hated putting the taxes up. we've looked at this a lot in the last few days and the figure is misleading because the £2,000 is over four years and the figures the conservatives have used to calculate it are dubious. both the conservatives and labour are promising not to increase income tax, national insurance or vat during the next parliament. obviously there's a lot of politics in this too, but when it comes to the facts, that's where we're at. there was also a big claim that cuts are coming when it comes to public spending, whoever gets the keys to number ten. there's £18 billion of cuts coming down the line agreed to by angela rayner and penny mordaunt. the tories and the labour both know that they're going to cut public sector investment to come, and that's going to have dramatic consequences on the nhs in the devolved nations. let me

there are a lot more fact checks from bbc verify now on the bbc news website.orning's newspapers. let's have a look at some of the front pages. the guardian leads on what it calls an "ill—tempered debate". it talks about the fact that the two leaders actually tore into each other�*s election promises. the i newspaper describes it as an "angry tv clash". its front page also previews a story it has on the tories considering announcing a policy of leaving the european court of human rights — something which could theoretically make it easier to carry out the rwanda plan. across newspapers which have traditionally been supportive of the conservatives, rishi sunak�*s debate performance has been getting positive reviews. "kapow — feisty rishi floors starmer over £2,000 tax rise" reads the front of the daily express. labour rejects the figure used by sunak, because it is based on assumptions provided by tory political advisers. sunak landed "big blows" according to the daily mail. post—debate polling by yougov suggested the prime minister had won a narrow victory, com

can get the latest from the campaigns, as well as analysis from our correspondents, whilst the bbc verifyched against marine le pen�*s far—right national rally party. there were protests in towns and cities across the country after the party�*s success in european elections prompted president macron to call a snap parliamentary election. the demonstrations were called by trade unions and left—wing parties, who have formed an alliance to counter the far—right in the election. in paris, riot police scuffled with protesters. seven people were arrested. —— nine people. to south africa now, and cyril ramaphosa has spoken of a new era of hope for the country, after being re—elected president as leader of a national unity government. his african national congress party was forced to reach a power—sharing agreement after it lost its outright majority in last month�*s elections. the anc�*s main partner is its former long—time opponent, the democratic alliance. mr ramphosa said the south african people expected the parties involved to work together to tackle poverty, unemployment and inequality. it

our policy and analysis correspondent ben chu and the team at bbc verify have been taking a closer looksh national party's manifesto and does it add up? it's important to recognise this is not a manifesto for a party which has aspirations to form a uk wide government but it is nevertheless framed through that prism because this is a westminster election. because of the way the uk system works, when it comes to devolved areas like health or education, the devolved nations get a share of the increase granted to england only services, which is loosely based on their relative population shares. given scotland's population is roughly a tenth of the size of england's, if the uk government increased nhs england spending by £10 billion, the westminster grant given to scotland to spend on its priorities would also rise by a tent, about £1 billion. the snp manifesto calls for a boost to nhs england spending of £16 billion per year relative to the current plans, so scotland would get an additional £1.6 billion. let's look at how that compares to what are national parties are actually pledging in t

the bbc verify team has been assessing some of those key figures. ben chu can tell us more.o for a party with aspirations to form a uk wide government but the snp manifesto is looked at through that prism because it is a westminster election. because of the way the system works, with devolved areas like health and education, devolved nations get their share of the increase granted to england only services, loosely based on the relative population shares. given scotland's population is roughly a tenth of the size of england's, if the uk government increased uk england spending, the westminster grant would also rise by a tenth, £1 billion. the snp manifesto calls for a boost to nhs england spending relative to current plans. scotland will get an additional £1.6 billion. let's see how that compares with what other national parties are pledging in their manifestos on health. labour's manifesto pledges a £1.8 billion a year increase in nhs spending current to the baseline were some way off what the snp would be calling for. the conservatives would commit a smaller increase, aroun

here's bbc verify�*s ben chu.'d be able to save £12 billion as a result of measures they have announced in their manifesto. and it's these savings which they say would help enable them to pay for their tax cuts. but labour is saying that the welfare measures in the tory manifesto have already been announced as government policy, and factored in by the government's official forecaster when setting it's baseline for public�*s money. the upshot according to labour, there's a hole of at least £12 billion in the tory manifesto's costings, which means there are some stone add up. the prime minister has rejected that as untrue, so who is right, the tories were labour? the answer is that both are being somewhat misleading. now, some of the welfare measures in the tory manifesto were previously announced. including... to encourage people back to work. and these were scored by the 0bra and projected to increase employment. labour has a point there. some of the tory manifesto welfare measures were not scored, including for n

you can get the latest from the campaigns as well as analysis from our correspondents, whilst the bbc verifyns. you can find that on the bbc news website or app. i have some breaking news that has just come in in the past few minutes. the israeli army says that eight soldiers have been killed in an operational activity in south gaza. this isjust come in in the last couple of minutes. i willjust repeat that, eight israeli soldiers have been killed in a blast in southern gaza according to the israeli military. there are no further details that we have of the incident at this stage. but what we have heard from writers in the past couple of minutes is that the armed wing of hamas said earlier that it had killed and wounded a number of israeli soldiers in an ambush on an armoured personnel carrier in the southern city of rafah. that particular detail coming from writers there, just to reiterate the news, eight israeli soldiers have been killed in a blast in southern gaza according to the israeli military. it's time to have a look at sports news so let's go to the sports centre. we start with the

ben chu, from the bbc verify team, has been analysing the pledges and seeing if the numbers add up.y, what is in the green party manifesto and does it add up? well, their key spending pledge is £50 billion extra per year for health and social care, and to pay for it an increase in taxes, which they say would raise up to £70 billion. so which taxes do they think should go up? among them are employee national insurance, capital gains tax, carbon taxes and a new wealth tax raising they say £15 billion. so let's focus on this last one. the greens say that this would be levied at a rate of 1% on the assets of people with more than £10 million and at 2% on those with more than £1 billion. would that work? well, a lot would depend on the design of the wealth tax and some tax experts are sceptical that it would raise the amount claimed year after year. but the wealth tax expert arun advani of the university of warwickjudges that aiming to raise this total amount of new tax money, over £50 billion, including from new wealth taxes, is economically credible, although the merits of doing so are

ben that crunching the numbers together with the bbc verify team. l for wales. the party leader focused fairerfunding dealfor wales. the party leaderfocused on fairerfunding dealfor wales. the party leader focused on the economy saying wales was owed £a billion from the hs2 rail project. it also wants taxes levied on oil and gas companies and closer ties with the eu. , , ., companies and closer ties with the eu. , y ., ., companies and closer ties with the eu. firstly fair funding for wales. plaid cymru _ eu. firstly fair funding for wales. plaid cymru is — eu. firstly fair funding for wales. plaid cymru is the _ eu. firstly fair funding for wales. plaid cymru is the only _ eu. firstly fair funding for wales. plaid cymru is the only party - eu. firstly fair funding for wales. - plaid cymru is the only party became for the... the barnett formula. it is not a begging bowl. it isjust doing what is right on h is two. the trouble with —— the troubled high—speed rail project. because it is classed as england and wales, northern ireland and scotland are com

at bbc verify, we've been looking into whether tax, spending and economic pledges of the reform party's the latest headlines. the israeli prime minister has disbanded his government's war cabinet in the wake of the resignation earlier this month of benny gantz. ultra—nationalist ministers had demanded that they be allowed to take his place. benjamin netanyahu is now expected to make key

story live on the bbc . follow the story live on the bbc news website and read the latest from bbc verifytruction in central gaza following that raid by the israeli military. back in february, dave myers, tv presenter and one half of the cooking duo the hairy bikers, died at the age of 66, two years after revealing he had been diagnosed with cancer. to celebrate the popular tv chef's life, thousands of bikers will ride from london to dave's hometown of barrow—in—furness today — in what is being dubbed "dave day". jayne mccubbin has more. today is being renamed. and for britain's bikers, all roads lead to one place. it's going to be dave day. when we say we're havin g a great day or having a good day, we're not going to say that any more. we're going to say, "i'm having a dave day." dave day, bring it on! dave myers was one half of tv�*s hairy bikers, along with best mate, si king. thousands of bikers have set off from london this morning, all heading to barrow in furness, the hometown of one half of the much—loved hairy bikers, dave myers. it's pretty amazing, isn't it? and everybody�*s g

bbc verify�*s nick eardley has been looking into the figures.tions. it was this, £38.5 billion black hole is what they claim, and they have basically divided that by the number of working families in the country and come up with this figure, £2094. now, that is over a four—year period, so about £500 a year. the prime minister said last night that this was the work of independent treasury officials. it is true to say that treasury did most of the sums, but political advisors who work for the chancellor were the ones who set the terms of the calculations by making assumptions about labour's policies. now over here, we can show you, this is the policy list the conservative party produced and how much it would allegedly cost. but not all of it has been costed by the treasury. these three at the bottom that have been highlighted there, they come from other documents. for example, this one, the green prosperity plan, comes from a labour policy document, but labour insist this evening the funding would come through a windfall tax on energy companies an

we have a whole team of correspondence doing that, bbc verify as well, we'll do that, bbc verify as wellyton, the constituency - the education secretary. i grew up in hayton, the constituency of- in hayton, the constituency of harold — in hayton, the constituency of harold wilson, in a die labour family — harold wilson, in a die labour family. 92% of the children i grew up family. 92% of the children i grew up with_ family. 92% of the children i grew up with failed to get gcses or all levels _ up with failed to get gcses or all levels as— up with failed to get gcses or all levels as they were that provide opportunities they needed to thrive in life _ opportunities they needed to thrive in life and _ opportunities they needed to thrive in life and it did not need to be this way. — in life and it did not need to be this way. i— in life and it did not need to be this way, i knew my classmates were as talented _ this way, i knew my classmates were as talented as anyone else i had met in life _ as talented as anyone else i had met in life by— as talented as anyone else i had met in life by th

can get the latest from the campaigns, as well as analysis from our correspondents, whilst the bbc verifyurday for the trooping the colour parade where the princess of wales made her first official public appearance since announcing she was being treated for cancer. catherine joined the rest of the royal family at the annual event to mark the king�*s official birthday. it�*s the first royal engagement she has carried out this year. the king — who is also having cancer treatment — travelled by carriage instead of riding on horseback as he has done in the past. charlotte gallagher reports. a much—anticipated moment — the princess of wales back in the public eye. all eyes on her for her first appearance since she announced her cancer diagnosis. she was a huge draw for the crowds in central london today. this is a day full of tradition and spectacle, but it�*s also about family. the king and queen in their carriage. it�*s his first trooping the colour since his own cancer diagnosis and he chose not to travel on horseback. national anthem plays the troops taking part in this annual celebration

whereas the bbc verify team will look at the claims made by politicians. for scotland at the euros, as they suffered a bruising 5—1 defeat to hosts germany in the opening match of the tournament. meanwhile, spain is now 3—0 up against croatia. over the next month, 24 nations will battle for the title, with tens of thousands of fans cheering their teams on. joining me now is nicky bandini who�*s an italian football pundit and european football broadcaster, mina rzouki. welcome to both. there start with you mina. what do you think is going to the sector over the next a few weeks? i to the sector over the next a few weeks? . ., , ., ., ., weeks? i am hoping for a cinderella sto if weeks? i am hoping for a cinderella story if i'm — weeks? i am hoping for a cinderella story if i'm being — weeks? i am hoping for a cinderella story if i'm being really— weeks? i am hoping for a cinderella story if i'm being really honest. - story if i�*m being really honest. i�*m hoping for a few shocks. teams that we didn�*t think we do something special to some the special. if yo

running every day with all of the campaigning and analysis from our political correspondence and the bbc verifyou can find that on the bbc news website and app. england's footballers are making final preparations for their first match at the euro 24 finals in germany tonight where they face serbia. the manager, gareth southgate, has said his players will need to be exceptional to progress beyond the group stages. john watson has been talking to former england goal keeper joe hart and asked him about the mood in the england camp. the mood will be ready, they'll be excited, it's what they do and what they do best. the boys play at a really high level, they've been working hard as a group and i'm sure they'll have all the instructions they need and will be ready to execute when it comes to game time. what is it like? you've been there, you been part of squads at major tournaments. you know the players really well, having onlyjust retired from professional football. is it a wonderful atmosphere in there among the players when you are playing for a major trophy? you flip between the two, there is no

bbc verify is going to be here tonight looking at exactly that.if you hear them tonight, you should cast a sceptical ear over. let's start with the economy. it's a key battleground. both parties have made big claims about what the other�*s policies would mean. so what are the facts? well, this is what the conservatives are claiming — that there's a £38 billion gap in labour's spending plans and to fill it, taxes will have to go up. it's worth being sceptical about this figure, though. it's based on treasury calculations, but the assumptions come from political advisers and some of them are questionable. for example, that doing things through the public sector is always a lot less efficient. labour have a claim of their own that we wanted to scrutinise. this one — that the conservatives have £71 billion of unfunded spending commitments. again, a big dollop of caution on this one. it includes an assumption that the conservatives will scrap national insurance. the tories have said they'd like to do that eventually, but not any time soon, and they say

it's an assertion that nick eardley from bbc verify is going to put to the test. claim now, there's a claim from labour that risks misleading people too. this is it — that mortgages would go up £1i,800 under the conservatives. mentioned on the airwaves by senior labour figures, posted here by rachel reeves and keir starmer today. to understand why this is potentially misleading, let's look at how labour reached the figure. they've gone through the conservatives' manifesto and done their own sums. the conservatives say they will raise £12 billion from a welfare crackdown — there are big questions about that sum. but labour assume they'll raise nothing. labour also reckon plans for national service would cost a lot more than the tory manifesto says — not £2.5 billion but £5.2 billion. and putting those and other assumptions together, labour have calculated there would be a £71 billion spending gap. labour have then assumed the conservatives would borrow all of that money, and then assumed that extra debt would push interest rates up as a result. so a number of quest

. —— bbc verified.e, we have these four people being locked _ sunak. yes, of course, we have these four people being locked into - sunak. yes, of course, we have these four people being locked into over i four people being locked into over alleged election betting, including two tory candidates. clearly, that is now a cloud hanging over the conservative campaign. it is not the first cloud that has hung over this conservative campaign. and perhaps rishi sunak who addressed us time —— night during question time debate, he said it was incredibly angry about the allegations and if anyone was found to have broken the rules committee would boot them out of the party and they should face the full consequences of the law. perhaps again today, he will be hoping to try and bring some reset moment. where we are heading is north wales, where rishi sunak is going to be there as part of the launch of the welsh manifesto, conservative welsh manifesto. but for rishi sunak, the challenge here has been throughout the cam

nick eardley from bbc verify has been looking at the participants and some of the issues they'll be debatingquick reminder who they are conservatives, labour, lib dems, snp, greens, reform. lots for us to fact check and scrutinise tonight. but ijust wanted to remind you of some of the contentious claims that have dominated the week so far and why you should be aware of them. this was the most contentious claim from tuesday's debate the prime minister's claim that under labour tax will go up £2,000. that statement, though, is misleading. the 2000 firstly, is over four years. it's about £500 a year. it's also based on political assumptions. some of them are dubious. labour have said they won't put up income tax, national insurance or vat, but labour have a dubious claim of their own. this one that there's a £71 billion gap in the conservative spending plans. the problem is that's based on the assumption that the conservatives will do things that they've said they won't, like scrapping national insurance in the next few years. so if either of these claims tonight, it is fair to be sceptical. no

bbc verify�*s nick eardley has been looking at the main exchanges and fact—checking the claims and counter—claimse a lot of claims in the debate last night, a lot to keep our team of fact checkers busy and be busy verify. let's start with a claim that dominated the debate this week. �* ., ., , claim that dominated the debate this week. �* . , . this week. angela rayner and the labour — this week. angela rayner and the labour party, _ this week. angela rayner and the labour party, keir- this week. angela rayner and | the labour party, keir starmer confirmed this week, they will put up your taxes by £2000. by £2000 per working household. you have raised it to the highest _ you have raised it to the highest level in 75 years. we have and _ highest level in 75 years. we have and we _ highest level in 75 years. - have and we hated it. highest level in 75 years. we have and we hated it. we . highest level in 75 years. we - have and we hated it. we looked at this and _ have and we hated it. we looked at this and the _ have and we hated it. we looked at this and the figure _ have and we hated it. we look

bbc verify�*s nick eardley has been looking at the latest opinion polls.ggesting what voters might be thinking. this is the bbc poll tracker. the dots are individual polls, the line is the average. this goes back to 2020 — for much of this period, the conservatives, in blue, were ahead of labour, in red. that starts to change in early 2021. a big change here after reports of parties in downing street during the pandemic start to emerge. there's a huge increase in the gap after the liz truss mini—budget. but let's focus in on the picture over the election campaign. a health warning — many standing for parliament, senior politicians, are sceptical about these numbers. polls can be wrong. but, with that in mind, let's look at labour. they have had a comfortable lead for some time now — about 20% over the conservatives, even with a dip since the start pf the campaign, at around 40%. there have been different predictions of what this could mean for a labour majority, but the poll lead is consistent. the conservatives have seen a dip in their vote over the campa