the iconic landfall has spanned the thames river in the heart of london since $894.00. richard smith is a city guide in london since 2012 he's been showing tourists around what may be europe's most famous bridge the fairytale towers are the ultimate monument to victorian in the style but the bridge which draws almost a 1000000 tourists a year also has some morton element. in 2014 through. high in the experience here it's out of reach each of these panels why is our behalf a ton. of sense for me to stick. strong economic 350 people on here 5 elephants were never managed to get for an offensive to lift our salvation recall prove that. the tower bridge was built at the end of the 19th century to relieve the jam packed streets of london which had the most traffic in the world at the time construction took 8 years architect horace jones based his design strictly on the style of the famous tower of london. it wasn't until the silver coronation jubilee of queen elizabeth the 2nd in 1977 that the steel parts were painted in britain's national colors red white and. today the 244

eventually a public inquiry made recommendations for improved river safety, including more lifeboat stations along the thames traffic control, allows our centre at woolwich to monitor the traffic on the river. a memorial service is being held today to remember those killed in the disaster 30 years ago. our correspondent tarah welsh is on the river thames for us now — what's the significance of today? how has it been marked? as we have been hearing, it was 30 year ago that 51 people lost their lives on this stretch of thames. in southwark cathedral there was a service attended by survivors and families of those that were lost that night. there was a vigil up here last night attended by families and relatives as well and also the rnli, the police boat and the port of london authority boats stood here to mark that occasion, because of course it was the inquiry into the sinking that made the authorities work together and the whole reason the rnli is on the thames, they have saved hundreds of lives since they we re saved hundreds of lives since they were established here in 2002 and that came out of the inquiry.

eventually a public inquiry made recommendations for improved river safety, including more lifeboat stations along the thamesis calls for a backstop saying he has no alternative and they say yes to 19 to go. 20-year-olds charged with the murder of pc andrew harper while investigating a burglary last week. and regulator launching an investigation into the outage leaving millions of people without power and it could lead to fines. russia says it won‘t hand over radiation data to a nuclear watchdog which has raised concerns about an explosion at a military testing facility earlier this month. moscow says five people were killed. the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty organisation wants to know why four russian monitoring sites went off—line after the accident in the northern region of arkhangelsk. two days after the reported explosion, the two nearest testing stations in kirov and dubna stopped transmitting data. a spokesperson for the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty organization confirmed issues at the stations and said they‘d also experienced issues receiving data from sites at zalesovo and bilibino

marchioness disaster. 51 people died when the pleasure boat sank after colliding with a dredger on the river thamest southwark cathedral. earlier, petals were thrown into the water close to the site of the disaster as the names of all those who died were read out. firefighters say they have seen an increase in the number of people filming emergency incidents rather than phoning 999. the london fire brigade has launched a campaign after receiving a drop in the number of reports received, despite lots of footage regularly appearing online. those behind the project say any delay in calling the emergency services can have devastating consequences. after spending almost every day together since they got married 60 years ago, derek and eirwin oliver have been forced apart by illness. when his wife moved into a care home with dementia, derek continued to visit her daily until earlier this year when he became bedbound from a terminal diagnosis. now a charity has helped them both be together again, as tomos morgan reports. married for over half a century, spending almost every day together. even after his w

a bbc london investigation has discovered antibiotic resistant bugs in the river thames and in hyde park'sey say waste water is a hotbed for such bugs and more effective treatment should be considered. thames water says it's still investigating. if you're carrying extra resistance then you spread it around. so you might give it to an elderly patient who is in a hospital ward. when you visit your granny or something. then, you know, where increasing the level of resistance in the general population. rail passengers are being warned to avoid travelling on the east coast mainline this weekend. it'll be closed for the first time in 20 years. there'll be no trains to or from king's cross on saturday and sunday so work on track upgrades can continue. there'll be a limited service on the rest of the line. a textile designer is bringing somali women across london together through her art workshops. hafza yusuf runs a weekly group for a number of elderly women living in sheltered homes. she says for many it's the first time they've tried art classes, and it helps break language barriers and they ge

the view across the river thames. there will be centring today, not wet and windy everywhere.50. consisting in the last half hour or so, a0 or 50. we'll continue to be so. the low pressure, the cloud still wrapped around, starting to bring in strong wind. england and wales the focus, even inland gusts of a0-50 wales the focus, even inland gusts of a0—50 mph. not unusual at other times of the year but august commentary is in full leaf, there could be the tree down, some damage, bridge restrictions, ferries cancelled. keep abreast on bbc local radio throughout the day. notjust the wind, some rain, wet conditions. wettest the borders of and england. two inches, 50 millimetres across parts of cumbria. lots of surface water, minorflooding parts of cumbria. lots of surface water, minor flooding through the day. some might ease off. we will see heavier showers developed across parts of scotland into the afternoon. the breeze. to pick up in the hebrides, scotland and northern ireland ina the hebrides, scotland and northern ireland in a light wind today. in the sunshine, pleasant, you

since the disaster, a number of changes have been bought in on the thames, to make the river safer. ur traffic control, it allows our centre at woolwich to monitor —— monitor all of the traffic on the river. some employees working at the coffee chain "costa" in essex have had money deducted from their payslips. the bbc spoke to 13 workers who say they were told it was for training, orfor being late, which they described as unfair. costa coffee and the firm that operates the franchise business said they are taking the allegations very seriously, and urged employees to speak to their managers if they had concerns. a pensionerfrom ascot a pensioner from ascot has become a social media hit after his granddaughter posted a video of him on line. the 20—year—old needed extra support after having hip surgery and 82—year—old keith was there to lend a hand, even seen their painting her nails. ayla's original twitter post has been viewed by 11 million people. let's take a look at the travel situation now. if we look at the camera in brixton, there's one lane closed on the a23 southbound for gas

river thames, houses like? sunny, already. a bit hazy earlier on.alk you through it, in terms of the heat we have had. it has come in bursts rather than constant heat. take you back to close to the end ofjune, when temperatures got above 30 celsius, 34 in london. then a month later when we had another burst of heat. what a burst of heat that was! extreme heat, the uk plasma highest temperature on record, 38.7 at cambridge. since then, temperatures have come down. quite a bit of rain, flooding in places as well. fast forward a month and we are about to turn those temperatures up again, 31 celsius. it looks like the hottest day will be on sunday, through eastern and south—eastern parts of england. across the board, going above average. the significance of that, the record for the late summer bank holiday weekend is 31.5 so it looks like it will come close. in terms of the bank holiday itself, on monday the record is 28.2 in england, 28.9 in the channel islands unlikely we will beat that on monday. i have to say, although a lot of people look at this a

on the bank of the thames, the construction work to build a 16—mile sewage tunnel underneath the rivermen. the work and pensions secretary amber rudd, loading record women's employment and good numbers onjobs generally and wages. the unemployment rate did rise a little. i am delighted to see these strong numbers and also growing levels of wages over inflation for the 17th month running. the unemployment rate has gone up for the first time in a couple of years? i looked at that, it is a very small increase and it means more people will be looking for work. she kept herjob last month after signing up to the prime minister's no—deal brexit if necessary policy. she cautions her cabinet colleagues about a rumoured plan to set an election date so parliament is not sitting until after we leave the eu. i will play my part in cabinet and privately with the prime minister and ministers, in arguing strongly for respecting parliamentary sovereignty. i am a member of parliament, the prime minister and cabinet members are members of parliament. we need to remember where our authority comes from. but

our economics editor faisal islam reports. 0n the bank of the thames, the construction work to build a 16 mile sewage tunnel underneath the riverwomen. the work and pensions secretary amber rudd, loading record women's employment and good numbers onjobs generally women's employment and good numbers on jobs generally and wages. the unemployment rate did rise a little. iam unemployment rate did rise a little. i am delighted to see these strong numbers and also growing levels of wages over inflation for the 17th month running. the unemployment rate has gone up for the first time in a couple of years? i looked at that, it isa couple of years? i looked at that, it is a very small increase and it means more people will be looking for work. she kept herjob last month after signing up to the prime minister's no—deal brexit if necessary policy. she cautions her cabinet colleagues about a rumoured plan to set an election date so parliament is not sitting until after we leave the eu. are you saying you can back a situation where an election is held on purpose so that parliament doesn't have its say are no deal? i will play my part in cabi

their worst levels are in the south—east with just 3% of rivers in the thames basin area being classed to be given a good ecological rating. a challenge in places that are densely populated and growing. simon dedman, bbc news, cambridgeshire. ecologist andrew singer told the bbc people should be wary about swimming in the uk's rivers, as currently, only 14% of rivers in england and along the scottish and welsh borders comply with eu expectations. no river in the uk, because of the sewage, is a river that is safe to be swimming in. it doesn't mean that every time you go swimming there will be something that happens to you. that is the risk that people choose to take. so there are loads of free swimmers, and they all, you know, the really hardcore ones will say, "oh, i never get sick." thing is a lot of them didn't know that maybe when they first started going swimming they were sick, but they wouldn't have attributed it to having gone swimming in a river that they didn't realise was receiving raw sewage, or even treated sewage. you don't... we have so many sewage works. we are on a rive

a fundraiser set up by thames valley police federation has raised more than £120,000 to support his family. the search is continuing for a six—year—old boy who fell into a river seen since saturday afternoon when he fell into the river stour in sandwich during a family fishing trip. more than 100 emergency services workers and 200 volunteers have taken part in efforts to find him. a leading consultant claims that the failure to identify and treat a rare spinal injury could be costing the nhs hundreds of millions of pounds a year. that's far more than official figures suggest. patients with cauda equina syndrome need emergency surgery to avoid severe damage to organs and limbs. the nhs says it is committed to reducing avoidable harm to patients. 0ur legal correspondent clive coleman reports. i used a wheelchair forfive or six months. cauda equina syndrome is rare but, for people who have it, like those at this support group and their loved ones and carers, the effects can be devastating. they don't see me at home crying every night or struggling, lying in bed, trying to get the energy to get up, put my brave face on and pretend everything is all right. martin,

thames haven't significantly improved since the marchioness disaster 30 years ago. the port of london authority say the tragedy which claimed 51 lives led to a series of safety improvements on the rivertrying to identify four suspects. mrjones believes he may have been targetted for his well—documented anti—fascist views. i can't remember hearing anything. it was just kicks, punches everywhere and yelling, the general kind of melee. but given the context of the far right attacks i've had in the last year, i think there's absolutely conceivable explanation for why there would be one specific targeted attack on me. a number of farmers on the outskirts of london and the home counties are calling for more financial support as they struggle to cope with extreme weather. they say higher rents and mortgages make it harder to remain financially viable, particularly after last yea r‘s dry summer and winter, which means water after heavy rain isn't being absorbed into the ground. let's take a look at the travel situation now. tfl severe delays between liverpool street and shenfield due while we fix a faulty train. the central line has problems too. on the roads, in south east london new cross

thames valley police shortly. the scottish government is to nationalise ferguson marine engineering — the last civilian shipyard on the rivertish government has now stepped in. 0ur scotland correspondent lorna gordon is at the port. some better news after a week of uncertainty. yes, we give uncertainty, in fact, uncertainty. yes, we give uncertainty, infact, in many uncertainty. yes, we give uncertainty, in fact, in many ways a couple of years of uncertainty. this has all come down to a disputed contract, a long—running dispute over to ferries for the state owned very company here. you can see one of the ferries behind me here. the original cost for the contract was £97 million, but it is a complicated bill, these are due fuel ferries and a run on liquefied natural gas, and marine diesel. they are meant to be the first of their kind in the world and it has proved difficult. the originalfixed—price and it has proved difficult. the original fixed—price contract was for £97 million, and now it is expected to cost roughly double that, and that is complete them. the question was, who pays for that cost for the dispute between th

river while out fishing with his family. the man accused of murdering pc andrew harper has appeared in court via video—link from prison. the thamesf his family and friends. on the other side of the court were three members of pc andrew harper's family, all of them listening to what was essentially a technical and administrative hearing today. the main decision taken today was that the trial ofjed foster will take place onjanuary the 20th next year. it will take place here at reading crown court, and we are told it will last about three weeks. at the same time today, thejudge issued an order to the media telling them not to use any photos ofjed foster in future, because he said identification will be an issue in this trial. there was no application for bail on the part of mr foster's legal team, and he was remanded in custody. ryanair is at the high court in london to try to stop its pilots from striking from tomorrow, for 48 hours. the airline has already this morning succeeded in preventing its pilots based in dublin from carrying out a similar stoppage. president trump has cancelled a state visit to denmark — after its prime mi