at point—blank range. a 71—year—old man is charged with attempted murder. sir keir starmer rolls up his sleeves to set out what he calls his first steps as prime minister if he wins the general election. inside london's pentonville prison — the first to create a sensory cell to help prisoners with conditions like autism or adhd. and the royal photos, unseen until now, that are going on display at buckingham palace. on newsnight at 10.30pm — sir keir starmer does a pledge card. six promises to the electorate, should labour win the election — that's one more than tony blair made in 1997. but what did he leave off? good evening. animal waste may have contaminated

water supplies in south devon, meaning around 40,000 people are now being told to boil their water before they drink it. south west water believes a faulty air valve in a pipe in a farmer's field that leads to a reservoir is the likely source of a waterborne parasite infection that causes sickness and diarrhoea. 22 cases of cryptosporidium have been confirmed so far in brixham. residents in the area are being told it could be another week before the problem is sorted. 0ur south of england correspondent jenny kumah is in brixham tonight. it's been a day of people telling me about their frustration and disappointment at the situation here, but tonight, people are slightly closer to knowing the answers to the key questions of what may have caused the outbreak and how long the disruption could go on for. this primary school playground

should be full of kids. instead, pupils are at home. the head closed the school because it hadn't had any bottled water delivered. it's obviously to protect the children from obviously becoming quite sick and ill. jessica is at home with her four children, as well as looking after herfriend's. she is not impressed that south west water is offering compensation of £115. it's notjust the cost of bottled water or having to boil the kettle. a lot of people have had to take days off work today, people are struggling due to the cost of living and this is an added pressure to family. and many other customers have been telling us they feel let down and that they're not getting a good enough service. you're offering people £115 in compensation. we appreciate we've had a significant impact on customers' lives and health. that doesn't compensate for the impact of this incident, but we are working as hard as we can. for over a week people in this area have been falling ill, with symptoms including diarrhoea and vomiting. many blamed the tap water. on tuesday, south west water said their tests showed

it was safe to drink. but by wednesday, there was a u—turn, when tests carried out in the early hours found water near this storage site was contaminated. most of us, we will recover- eventually, but it does last longer than other causes of diarrhoea. people are typically ill _ for about two weeks with diarrhoea with this and there is no effective antibiotic to clear it in humans, . so it is something that you just have to bear until you recoverl from it, unfortunately. today, news that a potential source of the outbreak has been found. a damaged air valve, possibly contaminated with animal faeces, in a field near this reservoir. more than 128,000 bottles of water have been delivered, but some say they're struggling to get what they need. this iraqi—born businessman decided to help. no problem. he spent £400 buying this water

to provide it forfree. i come from one country, they help us, now it is my pleasure to help back. but it could be a week before the tap water is back to normal. jenny kumah, bbc news, devon. a 71—year—old man has been charged with the attempted murder of slovakia's prime minister. robert fico remains in a critical condition in hospital after he was shot five times at close range yesterday. it was the first major assassination attempt on a european political leader for more than 20 years. ministers say they believe the gunman acted alone, describing the attack as politically motivated. 0ur eastern europe correspondent sarah rainsford reports. awarning, a warning, her piece shows the moment of the shooting. at the spot where a man tried to kill a prime minister, there is a hole where a bullet hit

a tree and a faint stain of blood. small traces of a giant moment that has shocked slovakia deeply. it was early afternoon when robert fico strode out of a meeting and towards a group of supporters, but on the edges of the crowd was the gunman. he looks the other way at first, then abruptly pulls out a gun, points at the prime minister and fires five times. gunshots. by the third shot, he's being tackled by security officers as the prime minister tumbles to the floor. mr fico is then dragged to his car and rushed to hospital. the gunman detained and handcuffed. you were filming with the prime minister. dana was reporting on the prime minister's visit to her town. she says the gunman didn't stand out at all until he attacked. nothing special. he stay and was...looked normal.

man waiting for our prime minister. robert fico had come from this event, offering support for a small—town economy. but on the big stage, he's a populist who opposes sending arms to ukraine and will block its entry to nato. he also thinks vladimir putin has been demonised. his government claims these issues infuriated the gunman and drove him to this attack. the interior minister describes him as a lone wolf, but the government's accusing the opposition here and the media of whipping up tension and hatred. given that mr fico himself often uses very confrontational language, inflammatory language himself, would you agree that he is at least, or the government is at least partially to blame for the tensions in slovak society right now? translation: robert fico won elections for the fifth time. - then a frustrated part of the political spectrum

and the media started a six—month hunt which has ended like this. i'm not pointing fingers, but you phrased a question to divert attention from the real reasons that led to this — the prime minister is still in intensive care, but his life is no longer at risk, after an attack that has exposed huge divisions here and their danger. sarah rainsford, bbc news, bratislava. sir keir starmer has set out this — what he says would be his "first steps" as prime minister. at an event in essex this morning, the labour leader unveiled the six—point plan to take to voters ahead of a general election expected later this year. he rejected suggestions that his party was scaling back its ambitions and said the plans were fully costed and would be delivered in the first term of a labour government. labour will also soon unveil separate sets of priorities for scotland and wales. the conservatives called his speech "another relaunch". 0ur political editor chris mason reports.

flashing red — the morning commute in purfleet in essex today. the commuters — the people who want to run the country before the year is out. they were heading for a film studio, of all places. promises, pamphlets, pledges, and no shortage of razzmatazz. and — this stuff doesn't happen by accident — keir starmer, minus a jacket and tie, sleeves rolled up. these are our first steps. they enable us, if you like, to look the public in the eye and say, this is our down payment on change, these are the first shoots of the change that you deserve to see. first steps that are ready to go, fully costed and fully funded. they're making promises on schools, borders, anti—social behaviour, security, energy, the economy, and an extra 40,000 appointments in the nhs in england every week. 0ne card, six steps, in your hand —

a plan to change the country. thank you all so much. labour are remarkably good, let's put it bluntly, at losing general elections. do you find yourself getting jittery, getting nervous, that you might throw it all away? we are never, ever going be complacent about this coming general election. was this a launch venue — but for a summer election that's not happened? we're going to be ready— for an election whenever it comes. we would have been ready in may| if the prime minister had have had the bottle to call it then. is it a bit like being on an anxiety drink this, for you, an election campaign starting, labour seemingly on a path towards victory and it all goes pear—shaped? it's a kind of relief that it's not me. it's not him now — it's this man. keir starmer, you want 40,000 more appointments a week in the nhs in england. can you be specific — by when? i think we can start on this straight away. without getting ahead of ourselves, i do know we've got to be ready, and that's why we're already having

discussions with nhs staff about how we would operate this model, so i think we can do that pretty swiftly. there are other changes i've set out this morning... "pretty swiftly" is quite vague, isn't it? is it not really a promise if you can't actually put a time frame on it? yes, it is. from day one, minute one, we will be working on this to deliver itjust as quickly as possible. and here's some more evidence on election�*s not far off. i've done a lot of things in this job, but being here is probably on the more intimidating end of things i've had to do! the prime minister spent his lunchtime on loose women. but i am focused on that election, right? i'm focused on the choice at that election, because we've been through a lot but i do think actually the things that we're doing are starting to make a difference. we are not there yet, of course. prime minister, sadly we are out of time. . the election is the choice about the future. the choice is, look, who can deliver a secure future for you and your family. do come back and tell us when the election is. - and yes, there will be plenty more appointments on tv sets, maybe even film sets.

an industry of political persuasion, before polling day wanders along. chris is with me now. it was a well choreographed event, a big event. what about the timing? why now? what are they trying to achieve? the event was _ are they trying to achieve? the event was quite _ are they trying to achieve? tue: event was quite something, are they trying to achieve? tte: event was quite something, it was choreographed, there was the screens, the graphics, it will have cost them i suspect one heck of a lot of money, and watching it, being there, you could have half imagined there, you could have half imagined the election campaign formally was already under way, that the prime minister had been to the palace and there was a date in the diary a couple of weeks away, yet the indications are it could be a couple of months into the autumn, so what's going on here? one is labour want to maintaina going on here? one is labour want to maintain a sense of momentum and gain attention stop the other thing they want to do with the actual idea is that we heard from keir starmer, these promises, is to give themselves something to talk about for the next couple of months until

the election formally begins, a retail offer, as politicians like to call it, for people who perhaps pay a fleeting attention to politics. but when you put the two things together, the razzmatazz and the promises, what i witness is a labour party that has been scarred by four defeats in a row, it's kind of tattooed into it psychology, that sense of losing, losing and losing again, and a determination to leave nothing to chance, to try and ensure they can book the historical trend which is that the conservatives win far more elections than they do quite chris mason, our political editor, thank you. defence lawyers at the hush money trial of donald trump in new york have continued to try to undermine the credibility of his former lawyer michael cohen, who's a key witness for the prosecution. he's giving his third day of testimony against the former us president, who denies falsifying business records to cover up his alleged sexual encounter with the porn star stormy daniels. john sudworth is in new york.

tell us more about what's been happening in court today. well, michael cohen _ happening in court today. well, michael cohen faced _ happening in court today. well, michael cohen faced another. happening in court today. -tt michael cohen faced another hours long gruelling barrage of questions from donald trump �*s defence lawyers. they are trying to portray him as a compulsive liar, out for revenge. for example, they played thejury revenge. for example, they played the jury a comment mr cohen made revenge. for example, they played thejury a comment mr cohen made in one of his podcasts, in which he said he wanted to see donald trump rot injail. for his part, mr cohen remained fairly calm on the stand, conceding at times that he had been dishonest, but his contention is that when he lied, when he committed criminal acts, they were done at the behest of, on behalf of, his former boss. now, thejury may be behest of, on behalf of, his former boss. now, the jury may be asked to decide which of these two interpretations they believe fairly soon. a verdict expected if not next

week then the week after in a case of course with major ramifications for this year's presidential election and arguably for the future of american democracy. here you have a former president, the first in history to face criminal trial, a man who attempted to cling to power after the 2020 election and who is claiming without evidence that proceedings in the building behind me are an attempt now to tip the scales of democracy in favour of his opponent, joe biden. all the while mr trump is surrounded by throngs of republican politicians up from washington in such numbers that it has begun to affect the scheduling of business in congress. you would want to say you couldn't make any of this up except of course in recent years in american politics, that phrase has begun to lose some of its meaning for slightjohn sudworth in new york, thank you. he was dubbed britain's kindest plumber — for helping vulnerable people for free — but a bbc investigation has found

that james anderson's business in fact faked stories that helped raise millions of pounds in donations. his plumbing and heating company, depher, has used photos of people on social media without their consent, and in some cases, made untrue claims about the elderly people who were featured. mr anderson has defended himself against some of the allegations, but admitted mistakes were made. 0ur uk editor ed thomas has the story. now, you won't meet. people more remarkable than the plumberjames anderson. james anderson's acts of kindness moved the nation. his name isjames anderson. he's a plumber who couldn't stand seeing people getting cold because they didn't have enough money for boiler repairs. we put a shoutout on social media. we've analysed those social media accounts, many linked to fundraising appeals. known as britain's kindest plumber. ..uncovering misleading, false posts.

so far, he's helped over 2 million people across the country. ..allegations vulnerable people have been exploited. even catching the attention of actor hugh grant. one of the most shocking was this, posted injune 2022. an elderly woman, covered with an emoji, upset and desperate. it says, "when i got there, she had a noose ready to commit suicide". the truth is that her name wasjoyce, and she died years before the story ofjames anderson saving her life. we tracked down joyce's daughter, andrea. joyce's kitchen. she had no idea her mother's image was being used by depher. "when i got there.. ...she had a noose ready to commit suicide. how do you describe that post? a lie, it's a complete lie. this image of a noose was also posted, linked to fundraising pages.

how do you sleep at night? it's like vulnerable people, like my mother, is their moneymaking machine. james anderson has helped many people with free boilers, gas and electricity payments. but we found multiple examples of misleading posts. this one claims the woman with the hidden face died from carbon monoxide. we later learned the story was fake. hey, you all right? hi, ed from bbc news. james anderson agreed to speak to us about his company's use of social media. really appreciate you speaking to us and... starting with this story, aboutjoyce and thoughts of suicide. i didn't put that on. that's from depher�*s account. is that post true? that post is not true, no. the family has said that is a lie. what do you want to say to that family? well, i'vejust said, i apologise to the family, but i will have to look further into that, onto the old account.

and the carbon monoxide death story. it's depher�*s post, but how it got onto depher�*s account, i don't know. that is a disgusting, misleading post, yeah. and i apologise from the bottom of my heart. is that a lie? that is a lie, whoever�*s put that on, yeah. here we are today. we also found this serious safeguarding failure, a video posted onjames anderson's facebook page. 0k? just doing a little video. we've blurred his image, but anderson asks the elderly man if he's 0k to be filmed. are you 0k to be on this video or do you not want to be on it? oh, god, no. no, 0k, nota problem. "oh, god, no". no, 0k, nota problem. but his image was posted repeatedly for years and linked to fundraising pages worth £270,000. are you 0k to be on this video? the man is clearly filmed saying no. right, ok, i accept that. will you return this money? i'll return what funding is connected to that if the people who have donated it want that money back.

we also wanted clarity on how much money depher has spent. we've spent over £3 million, 0k. is £3 million, correct, yes or no? i don't know. you don't know? i don't know. 0k. we've helped over 2 million people. 2,150,000, to be exact. that's exact? that's. .. yeah, they're made up figures. they're guesstimates. they�* re guesstimates, yeah. they're guesstimates. yeah, guesstimates. if i have to get on my knees and apologise for the rest of my life, i will. butjames anderson also said he was a victim of online trolls. he now faces an investigation by the fundraising regulator. ed thomas, bbc news, burnley. the russian president vladimir putin has travelled to beijing for talks with china's president xi jinping and pledged a new era of partnership between their two countries. china has rolled out the red carpet for president putin, on his first foreign trip since being sworn in for a fifth presidential term. the two leaders have vowed to work together

against what they called "destructive and hostile" us policies. 0ur china correspondent laura bicker is in beijing. day two of this visit is about to begin. day two of this visit is about to beuin. ~ . day two of this visit is about to betin,~ ., .., day two of this visit is about to beuin.~ ., , .. begin. what can we expect? well, we have “ust begin. what can we expect? well, we have just seen — begin. what can we expect? well, we have just seen a _ begin. what can we expect? well, we have just seen a joint _ begin. what can we expect? well, we have just seen a joint communication | have just seen a joint communication between the two where they have pledged to deepen cooperation against what you mentioned, hostile forces. by that, they mean the west. crucially, they have also pledged deep and military cooperation. that means morejoint deep and military cooperation. that means more joint military exercises. now, that will worry washington. the two leaders have made it clear on this state visit that they stand shoulder to shoulder. china has become a key economic lifeline for a heavily sanctioned and isolated russia. butjust a few heavily sanctioned and isolated russia. but just a few weeks earlier, the us secretary of state was here in beijing, urging president xi to distance himself from moscow and start providing ——

stop providing key components russia can use against ukraine, meaning drones and tanks. washington stands ready to sanction beijing, including beijing banks, if that doesn't stop. in a few hours, president putin will fly north to a chinese city called harbin. this is a city with deep russian influences. there, he will emphasise shared history, culture and shared economy. but while he is there, president xi has calculation is of his own to make. he needs stable ties with the west to help an ailing economy. he doesn't need the threat of more sanction. so while his dearfriends and threat of more sanction. so while his dear friends and comrades mr putin may have come here to ask for more support, it might be more than mr xi is willing to give.— mr xi is willing to give. laura bicker, thank— mr xi is willing to give. laura bicker, thank you. _ the un's top court has resumed hearings on a case brought by south africa, accusing israel of genocide in gaza

and seeking an emergency halt to its offensive in rafah. israel is due to respond tomorrow. tonight is where's foreign minister accused south africa of providing biased and false claims. there's been intense scrutiny of the words used by the international court of justice in january. our home and legal affairs correspondent, dominic casciani, is here to explain. today's hearing at the international court ofjustice at the hague is a follow—on from the case brought by south africa there last december. it wants the icj to rule that israel is committing genocide against the palestinian people in relation to how it is fighting the war against hamas in the gaza strip. when the court ruled injanuary, the judges stressed that they didn't need to say — for now at least — whether palestinians had been victims of genocide. instead, they ruled that they had "plausible rights" to be protected from it — and that those rights were at risk.

that was then widely reported as meaning there was "a plausible risk of genocide" — but not everyone agreed and it became a global legal debate. joan donoghue was president of the icj at the time and has recently retired. and she's told the bbc that some reporting of the court's finding has been wrong. this is something we're correcting that's often said in the media. it didn't decide that the claim of genocide was plausible. the shorthand that often appears, which is that there's a plausible case of genocide, isn't what the court decided. the icj deals with complex legal disputes involving nations, relating to international law and treaties. south africa is arguing that israel has breached the convention on genocide. it's brought the case out of what it says is solidarity with palestinians and because gaza is not a nation state that can go to the court itself. so what's happened today? the court's decision on whether israel has committed or allowed genocide in the gaza strip could

take years to come. so south africa wants immediate measures to protect palestinians today. it wants the icj to order israel to stop its offensive and not invade rafah, allow access to war crimes investigators, and report back to the court on how it is preventing genocide from occurring in light of what the court has already said. tomorrow, israel makes its case — it has the same amount of time in court. dominic, thank you. up to half of people in prison in england and wales — that's around 40,000 — are thought to have conditions like autism, adhd or learning difficulties. now a prison in north london has set up a special unit that brings together prisoners with complex needs. and staff at pentonville prison say it's working — there's less violence, less self—harm and fewer staff are going sick. lucy watkinson has been given exclusive access. birdsong. birdsong and bright leds.

so this is the sensory room. this prison cell has had a spectacular makeover. this helps if people are having a major crisis. it's a place used by some to decompress. we had one guy — he would go mad, he would start trying to fight staff. we put him in here — within 20 minutes, half an hour, back to normal. staff here think they're on to something. we have the proof here that it's working. this room and our landing, it's amazing. if you think back to that last interaction we had, and then, like... i'm not banging the door, screaming and shouting. i stephen's a regular user of the sensory room. he has adhd, dyslexia, learning difficulties, and a heroin addiction. for 20 years, he's been on a constant rinse and repeat cycle, in and out of prison, for mostly commercial burglary to fund his drug addiction, but says being on the unit has made him want to change.

nothing has caught my attention so much that it's made me - want to do the work, to help me change. this work needs to be done i so that the next 20 years ain't like the first 20 years. it's such a challenging environment to be in. keys. doors. gates. the best way to get everyone's attention is to shout because there's so many people in such a confined space. for those who struggle with sensory needs, it can be absolutely overwhelming. you used to be that naughty child. you know, the one that got- detention, the one who got kicked out of class because they thought you was being disruptive - or abusive or aggressive. now, they've seen, actually, - he's got something wrong with him. if we do something in a different- way, we might get different results. these prisoners will be the ones in the cells on normal location who are being violent, smashing cells and self—harming. so the actual landing itself... so tucked away in the basement, they're putting people like stephen with complex needs together and treating them differently.

we knock on the door, they have earplugs, we have fidget toys if they need them. there's more prison staff, men don't share cells, and there's access for stephen to groups like this. there's a lot of boredom, isn't there? and a lot of people get on different drugs from that. like spice. a lot of bang up. a lot of bang up, yeah. outside, i'm 100 miles an hour and 100 milesl an hour on drugs as well. so it's double trouble. in here, i'm drug free. i've seen, overtime, how their behaviour has completely changed — when they're away from certain influences. it's amazing what just more time and more, like, investment from staff can do. you can't just lock people away and throw away the key. i can imagine people looking at this will say, why should prisoners have a space like this? a lot of the people that have got a neurodiverse issue are committing real petty crimes that is keeping them to come back to prison, back to prison. if they can have a sense of being, a sense of worth by being in here

and we can try and help them with that, then... ..put a sensory room in every single prison in the country, as far as i'm concerned. lucy watkinson, bbc news, pentonville prison. this photograph of the late queen in 1968 has never been shown in public before. it is one of many that have just gone on display for the first time at the king's gallery in buckingham palace. cecil beaton also took this — a different view of his famous portrait of queen elizabeth on her coronation day. daniela relph has been taking a look. from the private albums to public display. four royal mothers and their babies, all born in 1964. the late queen, princess margaret, princess alexandra and the duchess of kent. the picture was taken as a thank you to their doctor. it's one of a number of unseen royal photos from the family archive. alongside informal pictures are more

contemporary images, including from the wedding of the prince and princess of wales. there is one picture which i discussed with them which i hoped we might do. i call it the tumble. we had three minutes to do it, but three minutes isn't very long to take a portrait. and the reason i mention that is because all the expressions and all the movements and all the positions are very spontaneous. some images are displayed as contact sheets. others have the photographers' notes and annotations attached. these are proofs from the 1953 coronation, taken by photographer cecil beaton. the exhibition has been in the planning for ten years. tell us why you like this image of the late queen so much? we have a very stark, pale background. and also, she's not wearing any of her traditional royal trappings such as tiaras or importantjewellery. she comes through as really kind of the woman behind the monarchy. the collection shows the impact

photography has had on the public perception of royalty. daniela relph, bbc news, the king's gallery in buckingham palace. time for a look at the weather. here's chris fawkes.