Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, fans here and around the world, welcome to the Oval for the opening game of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019.
The first ever cricket World Cup took place in England in 1975 and I'm delighted that the UK will once again play host to this wonderful global sporting event featuring ten incredible teams who, thanks to the UK’s cultural diversity, will feel as though they are competing in front of a home crowd every time they take to the field.
Cities across England and Wales will come alive over the next six weeks as World Cup fever sweeps the nation once more and I am sure that the players will show their appreciation with some fantastic performances and great sportsmanship.
Good luck to all of the teams and thank you to everyone who has played a part in making this tournament happen.
Here’s to a brilliant six weeks of sport. Trust me, you won’t want to miss any of it.
I am now honoured to declare the ICC Mens Cricket World Cup 2019 in England and Wales – OPEN!
"Rape the whole flat to teach them a lesson," one message read. "Oh god. I would hate to be in the firing line if I had a vagina," said another. Anna - not her real name - was scrolling through hundreds of sexually violent messages on a Facebook group chat. To her horror, she and her female university friends were mentioned dozens of times. The men writing the messages were - like Anna - studying humanities at Warwick University. But they weren't just her coursemates. They were her close friends. In the weeks that followed Anna's discovery of the chat, word spread across campus. What begun as a private "lads' chat" quickly escalated. Anna and a female friend - one of those also targeted in the chat - complained to the university. After an internal investigation, one student was expelled and given a lifetime campus ban, two were given 10-year bans and also expelled, and two more were excluded for a year. But after two of the men had their 10-year bans reduced to 12 months, serious questions were raised about the university’s handling of its investigation. A year on, the university is still raw from the fall-out with many students and academics asking: what went so wrong at Warwick? 'Lads' chat' Early last year, Anna, then 19, was sitting on the sofa in her student house when a stream of explicit messages began popping up on her friend's laptop. As more came through, she asked him what they were about, and he laughed. "He said: 'Well, if you think that's bad you might want to see our lads' chat'," Anna says. "That's when he took me through a year and a half's worth of rape threats." As she sat there, she saw in the Facebook chat that he and his friends had changed their names to those of notorious serial killers and serial rapists. "They were talking about a fellow student. They were talking about abducting her, chaining her to the bed, making her urinate on herself, and then sleep in it." Much of the content was even more graphic. "This wasn't just a flippant comment," Anna says. "This was an entire online community... they were proud that it was horrific." She searched the chat for references of her own name. It came up hundreds of times. At first, Anna says her male friend dismissed the chat's contents as "how boys talk", saying it was a joke. She continued scrolling, taking screenshots as she went. "I just told him that it was for my own peace of mind," Anna says. "He could see me getting more upset and more upset. And I think that's when it started to dawn on him that this was probably a lot more serious than he thought it was." Soon, he took a different tone, suggesting he'd known the contents were unacceptable and that he'd shown it to her to protect her. But as she flicked back through reams of messages about gang rape and genital mutilation, her instincts told her otherwise. "I didn't know what to do because these people [in the chat] were a huge part of my life," she says. A few days later she went back to her parents' house for the Easter break. But the prospect of returning to face the men again gave her panic attacks. "I was getting my stuff ready to go back and I couldn't go through the door," she says. It was then she decided to complain to the university. 'Potential for conflict' After Anna and one other friend who was repeatedly targeted in the chat submitted their complaint to the university, they were told they would be formally interviewed. But one thing stuck out: the man who would be interviewing them was the university's director of press. "I thought straight away it was a very strange appointment for an investigating officer," Anna says. As head of the press office, Peter Dunn was responsible for dealing with the media and protecting Warwick's reputation as one of the top universities in the UK. As investigating officer, he was responsible for examining misconduct allegations and recommending which punishments - if any - the men should face. Mr Dunn held both of these roles, despite the case gaining national media attention after it was reported by the student paperThe Boar. In February 2019, the university admitted "the potential for conflict" between Mr Dunn's two roles, but insisted relevant press duties were "delegated" during the investigation.However, in one email seen by the BBC, Mr Dunn told the women he was planning to release a statement to the media about their case during the investigation, and asked for their feedback. "It just felt really violating," Anna says. "This person that's writing press statements knows such intimate details about my life. It was a very surreal experience." The university told the BBC: "We appreciate there are legitimate questions raised about the university's handling of this extremely delicate case. We continue to support the investigating officer for this case, Peter Dunn." A month after the women were interviewed, five of the men involved in the chat were banned from the university. Two were banned for 10 years, two were banned for one year, and one was given a lifetime campus ban. Anna and her friend said they were not kept informed of the outcome and instead found out in the press, meaning they didn't know which punishments corresponded to which men. But her case wasn't closed - the two men who had been banned for 10 years appealed against the decision. #ShameOnYouWarwick After a four-month wait - which the university put down in part to a staff member taking a late summer holiday - they had their bans reduced from 10 years to just one. "I was never given an explanation. We were told new evidence had come to light but I don't know what the new evidence is," says Anna. "I was starting to feel like I was going to have to finally drop this... I felt like it was just me and my other complainant against an entire institution that was never ever going to listen to us." Anna and her friend made one last attempt to outline their concerns about the investigation to the university. But vice chancellor Prof Stuart Croft wrote to them saying he found "no evidence of procedural irregularity or bias" and declared the investigation closed. Three weeks later, one female student connected to the case went on Twitter and soon #ShameOnYouWarwick started trending. The story was once again the subject of intense media scrutiny. Academic departments began publicly distancing themselves from the university management. Soon after,Prof Croft released a 1,000-word statementin which he spoke extensively about his reaction to reading the chat, saying it "produced a feeling of utter revulsion". But his comments were regarded as tone deaf by the student community. Three days later, he announced the men who had had their punishments reduced would not return to the university. It is not clear whether it was the university or the men who had made this decision. But this did not stem the feelings of anger on campus: two days later hundreds of students and academic staff marched on the offices of senior management. On the morning of the protest the university released a statement to the press saying they were "deeply sorry" for the distress caused to the victims. The women involved never received a personal apology from the university. Never want to go again The case at Warwick has raised questions about how universities deal with serious sexual misconduct and problems arising in online chat groups. The university has since launched a review into its disciplinary and appeals processes, which is due to conclude in summer 2019. Prof Croft told the BBC he hoped the review would "demonstrate our learnings and help our community to better live our values". But there has been no sense of closure for the women involved. Anna, now in her third year, is revising for her final university exam on Friday. "The university caused so much pain and so much damage and this is carrying on over a year later," she says. "The trauma of feeling strong enough to come forward and being punished for that by the university is probably the most damaging part of this. "I don't want to go to my graduation. I just can't wait to never have to go to Warwick ever again." Update: The university released a statement on Tuesday in response to the BBC's story, saying it "apologised for any part we played in causing distress to members of our community", and adding that it was making changes"which minimise the chances of these mistakes being repeated".
British banks last month approved the greatest number of mortgages since February 2017, adding to signs that the housing market may be over the worst of its pre-Brexit slowdown, a survey showed on Tuesday.
Banks approved 42,989 mortgages in April, up from 40,564 in March and 11.5% higher than a year ago, marking the biggest annual increase since March 2016, according to seasonally-adjusted figures from industry body UK Finance.
Net mortgage lending rose by 1.795 billion pounds last month, a smaller increase than March’s 2.440 billion pound rise which was the largest in 15 months.
Britain’s housing market slowed sharply in the run-up to the original March Brexit deadline but consumer spending has remained solid, driving economic growth just as businesses have cut investment spending due to Brexit uncertainty.
UK Finance said consumer lending increased 3.8% year-on-year in April, slowing a little from March’s growth rate of 4.1% which was the highest in nine months.
Lending figures from the Bank of England, which cover a broader section of Britain’s finance industry, are due on Friday.
Pic-Stansted is the fourth busiest airport in the UK/wp/bbc
staff reporter(wp/bbc):::
The worst UK airport for flight delays last year was London Stansted, an investigation has found.
Passengers were kept waiting on flights for an average of 25 minutes at the Essex airport in 2018, according to the Press Association.
Belfast City (George Best) recorded the best performance with an eight-minute average delay, analysis of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data revealed.
Stansted blamed "adverse weather and air traffic control issues".
The airport is the fourth busiest in the UK and its main users are low-cost eastern European airlines and Ryanair, which has its biggest base there.
Birmingham and London Luton, with average delays of 19 minutes, had the joint second worst performance.
Scheduled and chartered flight from 24 major UK airports were ranked in the investigation but cancelled flights were not included.
The average flight delay for all featured airports was 16 minutes in 2018.
'Completely unacceptable'
The second best airport was Liverpool (John Lennon) - 10 minutes - followed by Doncaster Sheffield, Exeter and Bournemouth, all with 12-minute average delays.
Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: "It's completely unacceptable for passengers to be regularly delayed by nearly half an hour.
"These delays aren't just an inconvenience but can leave holidaymakers hundreds of pounds out of pocket because of missed connections, transfers and fines for picking up their hire car late.
"Airlines should stop passing the buck and make it easier for their passengers by finally introducing automatic compensation."
A spokesman for Stansted blamed "a particularly challenging summer last year", saying that "adverse weather and air traffic control issues had a dramatic impact on airline on-time performance".
A multimillion-pound investment by Ryanair to support its ground operation at the airport "has already helped deliver significant service improvements to flight punctuality", the spokesman added.
Pic-Oritse Williams denied raping the woman after a concert in December 2016/wp/bbc
Crime reporter(wp/bbc):::
Former JLS star Oritse Williams has been found not guilty of raping a woman in his hotel room.
The singer, 32, denied the attack after a concert in Wolverhampton in December 2016.
The ex-boyband member's tour manager Jamien Nagadhana, 32, was also found not guilty of sexual assault and assault by penetration.
Prosecutors alleged Mr Williams, of Croydon, south London, "jumped on the woman" as she looked for her phone.
During a nine-day trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Mr Williams said he met the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and two friends at a meet-and-greet event at a nightclub.
Mr Williams told jurors he got along "very, very well" with the woman and she had initiated a "highly sexually charged" display in a VIP area at the venue.
He said they then engaged in consensual sex in his hotel room, but this ended in embarrassment when he was "unable to perform" sexually.Mr Nagadhana, from Hounslow in west London, said he had tried to start a threesome, because the sex was "cringey" and he thought the woman was "probably not" enjoying it.
He told the court he had touched the woman in an intimate area for five to six seconds, reasonably believing she was consenting, but she did not respond and he went back to his bed.
The woman told the court she lay "like a dead body" during sex, which she said she "didn't want to happen".
But Mr Williams said she had asked to spend the night with him and also thanked him when they parted company.
'Three years of hell'
Mark Cotter QC, defending Mr Williams, suggested the accusations against the singer were influenced by the "extreme reaction" of the complainant's friend after being told of the consensual encounter.
He said there was "no realistic answer as to why he [Mr Williams] would do it".
Jurors deliberated for about two hours before Mr Williams and Mr Nagadhana were unanimously acquitted.
Mr Williams' former bandmate Marvin Humes celebrated the verdict on social media, saying it marked the end of "three years of hell" for his friend.Mr Hume's wife, television presenter Rochelle Humes, praised "one of the kindest, most gentle, thoughtful men I know", on her Instagram account.
Alastair Campbell has defended his decision to vote for the Lib Dems in the European elections after he was expelled from the Labour Party.
Tony Blair's former spin doctor said he was voting tactically.
He said he would "always be Labour" but acted "in the best interests of what the Labour Party should be doing" by supporting a pro-Remain party.
Shadow minister Dawn Butler said members who admitted voting for another party were "automatically excluded".
"It's just part of the rule book. Everyone knows that," she said.
Mr Campbell, a lead campaigner for another Brexit referendum, revealed he had voted Lib Dem during the BBC's election night broadcast on Sunday.
Appeal
Speaking to reporters after his expulsion, he said he believed other Labour MPs, councillors and peers voted in the same way as he did to try and make the leadership alter its position on Brexit.
The party lost ground in the European elections, and some figures have called for Jeremy Corbyn to unequivocally back another referendum to win back support, especially from Remainers.
"I don't think I've left the Labour Party, and I'll always be Labour. I suspect I will be in and around Labour longer than some of the people around Jeremy Corbyn at the moment", he added.
He said he would appeal against the decision to expel him.
He added that he wanted to vote Labour at the next general election, but it would "depend on the policy that the Labour Party puts forward between now and then in relation to Brexit".In Twitter posts earlier, Mr Campbell claimed the decision also "contrasts with our era" when Mr Blair was "pressed" to withdraw the Labour whip from Jeremy Corbyn for voting against the party - but the then PM said no.
Speaking after Mr Campbell's expulsion, former Labour Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth admitted he also voted for a different party last week.
He told BBC Coventry & Warwickshire: "Having recently voted Labour in local elections, I voted Green in the Euro elections having never voted other than Labour before in my entire life.
"I didn't intend to make this public, but now Alastair has been expelled for doing the same I feel obliged to do so."
Who is Alastair Campbell?Mr Campbell was a political journalist before coming to prominence in Whitehall as a key member of the Labour PM's staff in 1994.
He served as Mr Blair's chief press secretary until 2000 and was a controversial figure, heavily involved in policy, including over the Iraq War.
Since leaving government, he has opened up about his struggles with depression and alcoholism, and works with a number of charities.
He also campaigns for the People's Vote and is editor-at-large of The New European magazine.
Labour MPs have taken to Twitter to criticise the move to expel Alastair Campbell.
Jess Phillips, who represents Birmingham Yardley, tweeted that Mr Campbell was "expelled quicker than a man who threatened to kill me [and] quicker than a man in my [local party] who denied the Holocaust", adding: "Both are only still suspended."
Barking MP and campaigner against anti-Semitism Margaret Hodge said the party's "priorities are all wrong",
And former Lord Chancellor in Mr Blair's government, Lord Charles Falconer, said Mr Campbell was "Labour through and through", adding: "Voting [Lib Dem] once in a lifetime on one issue should not lead to expulsion."
But Labour activist and commentator Owen Jones questioned why there was "controversy" over his expulsion, adding: "The rule is, if you say you're voting for another party, you auto exclude yourself.
"Those arguing this rule shouldn't apply to Alastair Campbell do so because they agree with him and for no other reason."
The party agreed a policy at its last conference that if Parliament voted down the government's withdrawal deal with the EU - which it has effectively done three times - or talks ended in no-deal, there should be a general election.
But if it could not force one, conference agreed that the party "must support all options remaining on the table, including campaigning for a public vote".
Deputy leader Tom Watson said that nuanced stance had led to "electoral catastrophe", while former PM Tony Blair said it was not "possible to sit on the fence on Europe and appeal to both sides".
After the results, Mr Corbyn insisted his policy had been "very clear" all along - but sent a letter to his MPs, saying it was "clear that the deadlock in Parliament can now only be broken by the issue going back to the people through a general election or a public vote".
British employers offered staff pay rises averaging 2.5% as part of wage settlements in the three months to April, industry data showed on Thursday, matching the trend seen earlier in 2019.
Human resources data firm XpertHR said pay settlements had hovered around the same for the past four months, despite a small pick-up in inflation.
“Many of the current pay awards are lower than employees received in 2018, suggesting that there is little scope for higher rises this year,” XpertHR analyst Sheila Attwood said.
After years of real-terms falls in pay, Britain’s workers have had some of the biggest pay rises in a decade in recent months due to a tight labour market, though they are modest compared to pre-financial crisis rates of pay growth.
The risk of a disruptive Brexit has made some employers keener to hire new staff, who can be sacked if the economy sours, than to make long-term labour-saving investments.
Pay settlement data is typically lower than the headline measure of wage growth, as it does not include pay increases gained through changing jobs or promotions.
Official data last week showed average annual wage growth was 3.2% in the first quarter of 2019, down from a 10-year high of 3.5% earlier in the year.
The Bank of England forecast this month that pay growth would ease to 3% this year. Nonetheless, the central bank is concerned inflation will stick above its 2% target unless it raises interest rates slightly over the next couple of years.
A three-year PSPO would give police officers powers to disperse individuals and groups and issue fines.
The council said complaints over crime and anti-social behaviour had increased "significantly" over the last 12 months.
But Jo Shemmans, from Birmingham Unite Community, said: "Sleeping in a doorway is not a crime if you don't have a home, asking for a few pence for a cup of tea is not a crime if you don't have recourse to public funds.
"We accept that Birmingham City Council want to keep our streets safe, but we don't feel that homeless people should bare the brunt," she told 50 people outside the council offices at a protest in Victoria Square on Tuesday.
Councillor Majid Mahmood is one of a group of members who oppose the plan.
He said: "The council should focus on finding ways to help the most vulnerable. It should not criminalise them and slap them with fines they can't possibly pay."
Birmingham City Council said the PSPO was "not designed to target homelessness or rough sleeping".
"This proposal has been made following a significant increase in incidents, public complaints and intelligence reports that have been received by the council over the past 12 months regarding crime and anti-social behaviour and the increase in youth violence in the city," a statement said.
"Having this PSPO in place will help us to protect the public, which includes the homeless community."
The area covered by the order would extend across the city centre from the Jewellery Quarter to Digbeth.
A man has been charged with the murder of his 73-year-old father who was found fatally wounded at a house in Dorset.
Robert Hodgson suffered a head injury at the property in Ridgeway, Sherborne, on Tuesday. He was airlifted to hospital but later died.
Dominic Hodgson, 36, who is from Sherborne, is due before Weymouth magistrates on Friday.
A cordon remains in place around the property and police are continuing to conduct house-to-house inquiries.
Police were called to Ridgeway at 17:11 BST on Tuesday to reports of a serious assault.
A post-mortem examination on Wednesday concluded Mr Hodgson died as a result of a head injury, Dorset Police said.
Det Insp Simon Huxter said: "Family liaison officers have updated Robert's family with this development and our thoughts are with them all at this extremely difficult time."
A man in his 40s has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a couple were found dead at their north Kensington home.
Police were called at 06:40 BST to a flat in Adair Tower, Appleford Road, where the bodies of a man and a woman in their late 60s were discovered.
Officers were alerted to the address by Surrey police, who were contacted by a man known to both victims, police said.
The Met Police force is now trying to trace relatives of the couple.
A crime scene remains in place at Adair Tower.
Det Ch Insp Rob Pack said: "This is an awful case where an elderly couple have been found dead in their home.
"My team are busy carrying out a number of inquiries including local CCTV footage review, house-to-house inquiries and forensic work but need to hear from those who have information."
A man who admitted battering his girlfriend to death with a crowbar has been jailed for life.
Benjamin Topping, 25, beat Rosie Darbyshire, 27, "beyond recognition" with 50 blows in Pope Lane, Preston, in February, police said.
They said it was seen by two witnesses who were then chased by Topping as he wielded the crowbar, before he threw the weapon at a third person.
Topping, of Preston, was ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years.
Police said Ms Darbyshire was found on a pavement in the early hours of 7 February "beaten beyond recognition".
She suffered severe head and facial injuries from at least 50 separate blows, said police. She also had injuries to her arms and hands from trying to defend herself.
Det Ch Insp Geoff Hurst from Lancashire Police said: "This was a senseless murder where a talented, defenceless young lady needlessly lost her life in the most appalling way.
"Ben Topping is a dangerous individual who attacked Rosie with such savagery, she was unrecognisable and died almost straight away.
"He has left a nine-year-old boy without a mother and a family who will never be the same again."
Ms Darbyshire's family said after sentencing they were "relieved" Topping pleaded guilty earlier at Preston Crown Court.
"No sentence will ever feel enough to show the value of Rosie's life and the loss we feel," they said in a statement.
"We want to thank the police involved in Rosie's case and the prosecutor. They have treated the case, us as a family and Rosie's memory with invaluable respect and dignity.
"Now we are no longer stuck in limbo we will try to live our new reality and ensure that Rosie's son lives a happy life and will always share memories of his beautiful mum."
The case has been referred to the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) as "standard practice" because Lancashire Constabulary had been in contact with Ms Darbyshire prior to her death.
