08/08/2016 BBC News at Ten

More medals for Team GB in Rio after Adam Peaty leads

His victory ended a 28-year wait for a British man

to truimph in the pool and set a new word record.

I can't actually believe it's happened.

I'm going to have to slap myself, I think, a few times!

Tonight, it's Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow's turn

to celebrate their synchronised diving bronze, taking the British

And with the focus now on the men's gymnastics,

The pictures that prove British special forces

are on the ground inside Syria, supporting rebels

A court ruling that could boost Jeremy Corbyn as he faces Owen Smith

And hinting at what was once unthinkable -

Japan's Emperor Akihito suggests that he may want to retire.

And coming up in Olympic Sportsday on BBC News:

Ed Ling takes Great Britain's third medal

at the Olympics - winning shooting bronze

with the prospect of more to come in diving and gymnastics.

For nearly 30 years, no British man had won

The 21-year-old from Uttoxeter smashed his own world record to win

the 100m breaststroke in the early hours of this morning.

It was Team GB's first medal, followed within minutes by a silver

Our Sports Editor Dan Roan has our first report from Rio.

As a boy, Adam Peaty was afraid of the water, he certainly has

No one in history has ever swum faster, not in the 100

As he closed in on Olympic glory, the battle was not with his rivals,

The gold line represents Peaty's own world record.

Like his opponents, it did not stand a chance.

COMMENTATOR: This is brilliant, fantastic, Adam Peaty takes the gold

medal by an absolute street, wonderful world record.

History will show Peaty won in 57.13 seconds, but this is

a triumph which has taken much longer than that.

It is surreal, to get Team GB's first gold but this is the product

I came out tonight, took the first 50 easy and then came back

Everything that has got it down in the last few years,

but more importantly I've done this for my country and it

Back home, it may have been the early hours but this

was a moment not to be missed, not at Peaty's swimming

And certainly not here in Uttoxeter, where from her living room

Mavis Williams urged her grandson on.

Back in Rio today, Peaty's parents left to wonder at how

It really came to me when he was on the podium

That really brought tears to my eyes, I thought, "oh,

my goodness, my son is up there," because we have watched

the Olympics before, but I never really imagined,

even though I knew this was his dream and I thought

he would achieve it at some point, but not this soon.

This was the last time a British man won an Olympic swimming gold,

Today he told me that Peaty was in a class of his own.

To be that much ahead, what it means is he's

You search for the perfect swim, I swam so many times in 15 years

He had the perfect swim, the perfect race, and what he did

last night, he managed to string it altogether.

In just the second day of competition, Team GB managed

what proved beyond them at London 2012, a gold medal in the pool.

Adam Peaty's astonishing performance last night establishing him as one

of his country's top sports stars, and the success did not end there.

Just minutes after Peaty claimed his country's first medal

Denied a chance to compete in 2012 because of illness,

Jazz Carlin, winning silver in the 400 metres freestyle.

Obviously I was sitting watching Adam break the world

record and win the gold and that was a special feeling.

I had goose bumps before I swam so I knew I had to stay relaxed

Meanwhile the most decorated Olympian of them all,

Michael Phelps, was at it again, winning his 19th gold medal

after helping the United States clinch the men's 4x100 metre

freestyle relay, but it was the one which Adam Peaty held that set

swimming alight and ignited Britain's medal charge

In the last hour, Tom Daley and his synchronised

diving partner, Dan Goodfellow, have been competing in the men's 10m

It was the fourth British medal of the Games,

coming soon after Ed Ling took a bronze in the shooting.

He is the farmer from Somerset taking on the best in the world. Ed

Ling, his third Olympics but his first major impact. After losing his

semifinal, the shoot off for bronze and he took his chance with both

hands. The 33-year-old, coached by his father, will now head home to

oversee the harvest but for now he can celebrate the moment of his

career. And there are more hopes of British success in the diving. One

of the stars of London 2012, Tom Daley, looking to add another medal

to his collection. He was competing in the synchronised event with Dan

Goodfellow, with one dive left in bronze medal spot their rivals could

only look on as they counted down for glory. It was good, but would it

be good enough? An agonising wait for the judges, before finally...

That's what it meant, another medal, another celebration, another moment

for Tom Daley to treasure. We are over the moon, and I pounced on him

at the end and I didn't realise we were going backwards until we were

in the water! After individual bronze in London, then, another

bronze for Tom Daley alongside the 19-year-old Dan Goodfellow. They

only started training less than a year ago but already Olympic

medallists. Well, this evening Team GB's men

gymnasts are in action in the all-round team

gymnastics final. Four years ago in London,

they won a bronze and Natalie Pirks has been watching them

in Rio's Olympic Arena If bronze in London was a watershed

moment for British gymnastics, its rise since has been stratospheric.

Strickler come dancing winner Louis Smith is the elder statesman of this

talented team, and in Max Whitlock they possess Britain's first ever

gymnastics champion. No longer plucky contenders, this team is

world-class. But after winning silver in this event at last year 's

World Championships, this team is facing something it has never

experienced at an Olympic Games before - expectation. Bryn Bevan,

competing months after a double leg break, got Britain off to a good

start on the rings. The team in fourth place going on to the second

piece of apparatus. The higher the difficulty, the better the score but

only if you mail your landing. Max Whitlock slightly out of alignment

on the vault. But Christian Thomist' execution was superb and the team

knew it -- Kristian Thomas. Britain jumping into bronze medal position

after two rotations. Russia were the ones to watch, with Japan and

Britain left trailing their wake. Past the halfway stage, Britain were

a picture of concentration, knowing they were in touch of a medal. Nile

Wilson's high bar routine was high in difficulty and beautifully

executed. The perfect dismount prompting screams of joy so Britain

were still looking good for a medal with their best piece of apparatus

to come. Britain are still in that bronze medal position after five

rotations, as I said they are now on to their final bit of kit, the

pommel horse. That's their best one, Max Whitlock is the world champion,

Louis Smith is the silver medallist from the world, so if they nail

their routines and Britain should win a medal here to match the bronze

medal they won in London. Let's have a very quick look at the

medal table. China are top with four golds,

followed by the USA Just out of the top ten

are host nation Brazil, who picked up their first

gold tonight too. BBC News has obtained exclusive

photographs which confirm that British special forces are operating

on the ground inside Syria. They've been alongside moderate

rebels of the New Syrian Army in the battle against

the so-called Islamic State just across from the border

with Jordan and Iraq. The rebels are based

at Al Tanaf camp, as our Middle East Correspondent,

Quentin Sommerville reports. This is the first glimpse

of Britain's secretive British special forces hoping

to defend a Syrian rebel base They are a small but lethal

force, only a dozen men. The threat here is grave,

they have come laden with weaponry to fight their way

out of any trouble. These exclusive pictures obtained

by the BBC are from June, immediately after an IS attack

killed around nine of the moderate An IS suicide attack

on Al Tanaf just yesterday. It once belonged to IS militants

and they are determined to take it back but the New Syrian Army

again fought them off. Their spokesman, who doesn't

want to be identified, won't comment on the pictures

of British special forces We are receiving special forces

training from British We are also getting weapons

and equipment from the Pentagon And here is that air

support in action. An American fighter taking out

another IS car bomb at Al Tanaf. On more than one occasion,

British special forces have crossed the border here in Jordan,

but further east than here, into Few groups have received such close

and personal support That closeness has led to ridicule

from the Islamic State and there have been setbacks

on the battlefield, but still this small band of fighters continues

to endure and continues to receive After viewing these pictures,

the Ministry of Defence said it wouldn't comment on special

forces operations. Generally, conventional

troops need Parliamentary That doesn't apply

to special forces. The numbers may be small

but on the front lines in the fight against Islamic State,

they are making a difference. At least 70 people have been killed

in a suicide bombing More than 100 people

were wounded in the explosion Many of the victims

were lawyers and journalists. It's unclear who carried out

the attack a faction of the Pakistani Taliban

and so-called Islamic State have The Labour leadership contest has

taken a new twist after a High Court ruling which could give tens

of thousands of new members A judge found in favour of five

new members who had accused Labour's National Executive Committee

of excluding them from voting The ruling is thought to be likely

to benefit Jeremy Corbyn - the Labour Party says it

will appeal against it. Our Political Correspondent,

Alex Forsyth reports. As he campaigns

across the country the momentum behind

Jeremy Corbyn is clear. And today while campaigning

in Bristol, another boost for his The High Court's ruled

thousands of new Labour members can vote

for the party's next leader. It's not clear but most are thought

to back this From the judgment that was given

today the judge seemed very clear that his decision

was that all members of the party should

have the right to vote in the

leadership contest. Surely that has to be

the right decision. Labour's ruling committee had

said those who joined the party after January

12 wouldn't get a vote unless they paid ?25

to about a quarter of the current

membership. Now the court said the new joiners

can automatically vote, of five people who took the case to

court. She joined Labour in June

because of its current leader. And you know that what he says

he's going to actually So how do you feel that

you can now vote for him what we all joined up

for. But the challenger's

still upbeat, convinced he has support, and calling for a longer

contest to prove it. At our best we're always

a mass movement so we should be nothing other than pleased

that there are so many people taking part in what is an incredible

democratic exercise. I'm just going to carry

on doing what I'm doing. The fact a court has had to rule

on an internal matter is a sign The party's National

Executive Committee says it The party leader's allies

have condemned that as a If the ruling stands it's likely

it will bolster Jeremy Corbyn's chance of victory and that

would only deepen divisions. For all of his support,

many MPs feel Labour's unelectable

under his leadership. Some fear this contest

could cause a split. There's tough times

ahead for the party. The BBC has seen a leaked copy

of a highly critical report about a ?400 million Government

scheme to help troubled families. It was introduced by David Cameron

in response to the 2011 riots But the independent report has

questioned whether the intervention had any impact on unemployment,

truancy or criminality. The Government says a final report

has yet to be completed. Thousands of rail commuters suffered

major disruption today at the beginning of a five-day

strike by Southern, which runs services between London

and Sussex and Surrey. The operator, Govia Thameslink,

is embroiled in a row with the RMT union over plans to remove

conductors from trains. I've been doing this

for nearly 20 years and this They are cancelled and delayed every

single day, it is ridiculous. Maybe they'll run,

maybe they won't run. Maybe I'll get to see the kids

before they go to bed And it's all down to people who are,

at best, incompetent. This is what the dispute is all

about, who should close the doors. Southern wants the drivers to do it

so the guards can But the guards' union is worried

that will mean a cut Their main concern,

though, is safety. There were similar strikes

on ScotRail trains that ended Even though Southern and other

companies do run some trains without them,

them, they say this We want to make a change to improve

services to customers, to get staff on board to be able

to better look after our customers and give them better service

and the RMT are finding that Last month, Southern cut 350

trains from its timetable because of persistent problems,

and today they reckon 60% But outside Victoria station,

passengers' frustration There's people losing their jobs

and getting disciplined at work because they can't

get in to work on time. RMT has done everything it possibly

can to minimise the inconvenience for customers who have to endure

lies being told by the company They have had to endure

a horrendous service provided Commuters trudged home

through more uncertainty. Four more days of this,

and other strikes could follow. Dan Johnson, BBC News,

at London Victoria Station. His father was treated by many

in Japan as a living god. But now Emperor Akihito has done

what would have been unthinkable just a generation ago -

addressed the nation hinting that But the 82 year-old, who has been

treated for cancer, did not explicitly say he wanted

to abdicate, because Japanese Our correspondent Rupert Wingfield

Hayes reports from Tokyo. Never before has the Japanese

emperor gone on television like this TRANSLATION: In coping

with the ageing of the emperor, I think it is not possible

to continue reducing perpetually the Emperor's acts

in matters of state. The language is vague

but the message is clear. The 82-year-old Emperor wants

to step down. The trouble is there is no

way for him to do so. Akihito's father, Emperor Hirohito,

was the last to be After World War II, he was forced

to declare himself a human being. But Japan's right wing has never

accepted that being And so, when Akihito ascended

the Chrysanthemum throne, there was no provision

for him to ever retire. Unlike other monarchs,

Emperor Akihito is not allowed to say he wants to abdicate

or demand a change in the law. Instead, he has appealed directly

to the Japanese people, telling them "I'm getting older and

weaker and I cannot go on forever". Outside the palace today,

there was widespread TRANSLATION: If the Emperor needs

to abdicate, then we feel I'm sure we all consent,

we all feel he is loved But some here say the 82 year-old

monarch may have a larger objective He is well aware that once

they get to revising the Imperial Household law,

if they do, that there for the ability for women

to succeed the Emperor. Emperor Akihito's son has just one

child, Princess Aiko. Does her grandfather hope that

one day she will ascend Rupert Wingfield Hayes,

BBC News, in Tokyo.