not surprisingly, shares in centrica fell 5% in early trade.our business editor, simonjack, put this question to the chief executive of centrica, iain conn, earlier on today. well, first of all, let me put it in perspective — we did see a reduction of 3a0,000 accounts in the uk, and 226,000 globally. so, slightly less globally. that is against a much higher number last year. so, the rate of losses of customers has halved this year. and what we're seeing is, in advance of a price cap coming in, we are aiming to move as many customers as we can off the standard variable tariff onto other tariffs, and within that 300,000 number you mentioned, about 900,000 customers have actually moved onto other tariffs within the british gas system. so, actually we're being quite successful in offering new things for customers that they want. you say you've been quite successful — you're still losing. you've lost 3a0,000 customers, and this is at a moment when you're trying to sell them new services — they like connected home, running your gas and heating usage

they lost nearly 1 few years for centrica.accounts last year, that a flood of exodus, if you like, has continued. some people get both gas and electricity. in fact 341,000 customer accounts we re in fact 341,000 customer accounts were actually lost. he said he hoped that eventually the tide would not have a ptly that eventually the tide would not have aptly termed, but at least stop. our goal is to stabilise the total customer account number and then to grow it. what we are seeing is falls in our energy supply customer numbers. our home services numbers, our british gas engineer accounts, have actually gone up in the first half of this year. for the first time since 2011. so, overall, i believe we're now seeing the beginnings of our ability to stabilise customer numbers. he didn't say when that was going to be, and even some of the growth numbers in managed services will not offset that. there is another challenge, 3.5 million of their customers are on variable tariffs, often the most expensive deals. by the end of the year th

its parent company, centrica, losing on the day.e headlines are coming up on the bbc news channel. in a moment, we'll say goodbye to viewers on bbc two. this is bbc news. these are the top stories developing at midday. charities are guilty of ‘complacency verging on complicity‘ over sexual abuse by staff — says a damning report by mps on international aid agencies. in the aid sector, it has been complacency verging on complicity with what has happened. that is because organisations all too often have appeared more concerned to protect their own reputation in the sector rather than protecting victims and survivors. it's emerged that salman abedi — who killed 22 people at manchester arena — was rescued from libya by a royal navy ship three years earlier. a warning from us intelligence — reports of increased activity at a nulear site — despite the trump—kim summit. british gas loses more than three hundred thousand customer accounts in the first half of this year. also coming up — what will the uk leaving the eu mean for your holidays?

this morning we‘ve had results from its parent company, centrica, for the first half of the year.customers were using more energy, it was cold for a protracted period when we were burning more gas and british gas sales expensive gas to put it simply. but why are the profits still down? costs have increased, wholesale costs and network costs, everything that goes into making up a bill have risen in price. don't they pass those on? they do, british gas made a clear reference in their results they didn‘t pass all of it on and they made reference to the fa ct on and they made reference to the fact other energy suppliers have increased prices since they did earlier in the year. there are suppliers that have increased prices more than once in 2018, so it could bea more than once in 2018, so it could be a reference to things to come. do you think we could see big price rises from british gas on the horizon? anything is possible, wouldn‘t want to set too many expectations but there are more than one energy supplier who have increased energy prices more than once, in the big six and the sm

but the exodus is slowing, according to the boss of parent company centrica.k to you in six months‘ time, you won't have lost any more customers? i'm not going to give you a prediction about when we'll actually stabilise customer numbers and customer accounts in consumer, but it's definitely slowing. there are dozens of smaller, new competitors who don't pay environmental levies, which gives them a price advantage. there's 80 energy suppliers now in the uk, so so much competition that british gas would really struggle to gain customers nowadays, they're almost certainly going to lose every year. also, on the price comparison websites, there'sjust a sea of cheaper deals from smaller suppliers. you have to scroll down a long, long way to get to a british gas deal, so they're struggling to gain new customers. but, 3.5 million british gas customers are still on expensive, standard, variable rate tariffs which the government has pledged to cap by the end of this year. the company insists that could end up with some customers paying more. it's a price control and wh

explosiÓn de tuberÍas de vapor este jueves en una cÉntrica intersecciÓn de new york afectó numerososimpieza profunda. blanca: el trabajo de limpieza no ha parado. ahora con mÁs rapidez, todo residentes del Área han sido evacuados. los trabajadores pueden regresar a los edificios para continuar con la ardua tarea. >> es muy peligroso. es algo que verdaderamente hay que usar con protecciÓn. blanca: lo descubrieron como un volcÁn que erupciÓn o en plena quinta avenida . durante horas emitiÓ algo y fuego por la explosiÓn de las tuberÍas de vapor, ubicadas en la quinta avenida en la calle 21. en la calle 21.50 edificios en la zona fueron evacuados. el alcalde dijo que se encontraron residuos de asbesto en las tuberÍas instaladas en 1932. el Área tenÍa que ser desinfectada. >> aÚn estamos en peligro por. que no se ve, son tan pequeÑa las partÍculas parece estar limpio, pero no. blanca: mariana lleva ocho aÑos trabajando y limpiando asbesto, explicÓ que ese camión sirve para desinfectar cada vez que salen de Áreas contaminadas.duc cambiarnos la ropa y salir al Área normal. blanca: se estima

. >>> este grupo de ancianos bloquea el paso durante horas por una cÉntrica avenida de caracas llevaban para pagarles lo correspondiente a su pensiÓn. >>> nos estÁn matando de hambre. >>> a diferencias de protestas de aÑo pasado las de este aÑo es son por darse de manera espanto nea. >>> este sociÓlogo dice que si el gobierno no atiende las quejas, podrÍa perder el control del paÍs. >>> allÍ no hay miedo, porque creo que las personas han dicho bueno quÉ mÁs tenemos que perder, puede hacer mÁs decadencia mÁs hambre. >>> las quejas tambiÉn han salido de los trabajadores del han sido tomados por empleados que dicen incumplimiento en los pagos. >>> adriana mucpara las noticia telemundo. >>> (♪mÚsica♪). >>> las televisores inteligentes son cada vez mÁs comunes, sin embargo es bueno saber que muchos de estos aparatos registran nuestra actividad en la pantalla sin que nos demos cuenta. >>> mÁs de 40.000.000 de hogares estadounidenses poseen televisores inteligentes estas pantallas conectan a internet y permiten acceder a sitios pero tambiÉn pueden estar reximando informaciÓn personal sin que t

ramÓn: reunidos en las calles cÉntricas del cerrito, madre de familia y activistas...amilias. residentes del cerrito al igual que en otras ciudades a travÉs del paÍs, se congregaron para celebrar y apoyar la decisiÓn de un juez que el orden al gobierno de presidente trump para que reunificar a las familias que ha separado en la frontera y cuyo plazo vence el dÍa de hoy. >> para protestar en particular por la separaciÓn de las familias, que han sido separados de sus padres al entrar a estados unidos. ramÓn: alguna cuestión de quÉ se debe que la administraciÓn no ha cumplido con la decisiÓn para reunir a miles de niÑos inmigrantes con sus padres. >> para tratar de poner a los niÑos juntos y tratar de ver cÓmo las leyes puede entender todo esto. ramÓn: de un total de 2500 menores que debieron ser unificados con sus padres, aÚn faltan cientos pero hay quienes creen que el gobierno no cumplirÁ al seÑalar que podrá desconocerse el paradero de los menores. este activista dice que especÍficamente oyes la fecha que ordenÓ juez federal para que todos esos niÑos se reencuentran c

first half of this year, according to ian conn, the chief executive of the firm's parent company centricaprofits at its consumer business have fallen by 20% to £430 million. but, mr conn said the rate of customer losses has halved since last year and he hopes the numbers will stabilise. 0ur our goal is to stabilise and then to grow it. what we are seeing is false in our energy supply customer numbers. 0ur in our energy supply customer numbers. our home services numbers, are british gas engineer accounts have actually gone up in the first half of this year. the first time since 2011. so overall i believe we are now seeing the beginnings of our ability to stabilise customer numbers. this is 0utside source live from the bbc newsroom. 0ur lead story is? facebook announces its identified dozens of fake accounts thought to be engaging in political activity in the run up to november 5 us midterm elections. 0ther other stories from around the bbc newsroom. at least 15 people have died in an attack on a government building in the city of jalalabad in afghanistan. gunmen set off several explosives

another big mover in the uk is centrica, the owner of british gas.n 5%. they have basically said their customer account basically said their customer accou nt losses, basically said their customer account losses, another 140 , 000 customers account losses, another 140,000 customers have laughed at them and thatis customers have laughed at them and that is why their shares are languishing. let's look to wall street. paul blake has the details. well, as wall street presses ahead with earnings season, the focus turns to apple, which will announce its results after the closing bell. as ever, traders will be glued to sales figures for the iphone, and the company is expected to say it sold about 42 million of them in its most recent quarter. but wall street will also have an eye out for information on apple's services business, which the company has been trying to grow in recent years. that's things like new subscriptions for apple music, icloud storage and app store transactions. unlike google, which is facing a fine from the eu, or facebook, which is emb

centrica's chief executive said the rate of customer losses had halved since last year and they hopeing wholesale energy costs, and against that the total margin has been stable and our operating profits broadly stable, down a%. that's a summary of the latest bbc news. here's some sport now with chris. murray comes back froma set down to win. he beat mackenzie mcdonald at the washington open, but showed real grit to go the 2.5 hours. he will play the british number one, kyle edmund, next. geraint thomas says chris froome was a true gentlemen when it became clear he had the best chance of winning the tour. thomas said it was anything but awkward. dame sarah storey is calling for a women's tour de france. britain's most decorated paralympian rode in the one day event but says she and others are ready for more. england's rochelle ‘rocky‘ clark has announced her retirement from international rugby. the 37—year—old prop, a world cup winner in 201a, won 137 caps during her 15—year international career. she's england's most capped player of all time. that's all the sport for now. see you la

but the exodus is slowing, according to the boss of parent company centrica.s in consumer, but it‘s definitely slowing. there are dozens of smaller, new competitors who don‘t pay in environmental levies, which gives them a price advantage. there's 80 energy suppliers now in the uk, so so much competition that british gas would really struggle to gain customers nowadays, they're almost certainly going to lose every year. there's 80 energy suppliers now in the uk, so so much competition a sea of cheaper deals from smaller suppliers. you have to scroll down a long, long way to get to a british gas deal, so they're struggling to gain new customers. but, 3.5 million british gas customers are still on expensive, standard, variable rate tariffs which the government has pledged to cap by the end of this year. the company insists that could end up with some customers paying more. it‘s a price control and wherever price controls have been put in place in competitive energy markets, customers have lost out. they‘ve lost out because of less competition, prices tend to bun

speaking to the bbc, centrica boss iain conn said the rate of customer losses had halved since last yearis formally looking into the possiblity of import tariffs on cars and auto parts — which president trump has suggested could be as high as 25%. that would have a huge worldwide impact. last year the united states imported more than $190 billion of cars — nearly 98% of those came from countries represented in geneva. components for cars are also under threat of tariffs. and that‘s led to warnings that they could lead to prices for us consumers going up between $2,000 and $6,000 a car. so huge implications both for the eu and for us customers. let‘s get more on this now. our north america business reporter, paul blake, joins us now. they re meeting to discuss a response to us investigations that lead to tariffs ? ?explain to us just what these are. these so—called section 232 investigations, the same thing that led to the steel and aluminium ta riffs last led to the steel and aluminium tariffs last month, they are looking at whether imports are affecting national security in the us, and