24/07/2017 BBC News at Six

The parents of the terminally-ill baby Charlie Gard give

up their legal fight to give him experimental treatment in the US.

The 11 month old's parents paid tearful tribute to him,

saying letting him go is the hardest thing they'll ever have to do.

We are now going to spend our last precious moments

Who unfortunately won't make his first birthday in just

Great Ormond Street Hospital, where Charlie is being treated,

spoke of the respect they had for "the agony, desolation

A new government strategy to develop batteries that store power

The household products that have shrunk in size -

We have a special report from Greenland, on the impact

British scientists have come to Greenland to see how rapidly

the ice is going to melt and what that means for sea

And could England's cricket World Cup win herald

Coming up on Sportsday at half-past on BBC News,

Adam Peaty is on top of the world again.

He has won Great Britain's first gold in the pool in Budapest.

The parents of the terminally-ill baby Charlie Gard have

ended their legal battle to take him to the US for

Charlie's father Chris Gard gave an emotional statement

outside the High Court, saying they were now

going to spend their last precious moments with their son,

who would not now make his first birthday in just

Earlier, their lawyer told the Court that "time had

run out" for the baby, as an American doctor who examined

Charlie had said he was no longer willing to offer the therapy,

after seeing the results of a new MRI scan last week.

Here's our Medical Correspondent Fergus Walsh.

The fight over Charlie Gard's future is over. This desperately sick

little boy will now be allowed to die. Justice for Charlie! Justice

but Charlie! After a hugely emotional hearing, where his parents

said they had agreed to let their son go. They emerge to face the

world's media. Our son is an absolute moray and we could not be

proud of him and we will miss him terribly. -- warrior. His body heart

and soul may soon be gone, but his spirit will live on for eternity and

he will make a difference to people's lives for years to come, we

will make sure of that. We are now going to spend our last precious

moments with our son, Charlie, who unfortunately will not make his

first birthday in just under two weeks' time. Charlie has been in

Great Ormond Street Hospital since October. He has a serious inherited

condition, mitochondrial depletion syndrome. He cannot move, feed or

breathe unaided. The central question in this case was whether

this powder, nucleoside therapy which is added to food could boost

his muscle function. His parents raised ?1.3 billion for the

treatment in the United States. That money will now go to a foundation in

Charlie but-macro name. But Great Ormond Street backed by many

independent experts said the treatment was futile because Charlie

had suffered a catastrophic and irreversible brain damage. Because

Charlie's parents and doctors could not agree, the matter went to the

High Court. In April the judge ruled that Charlie's suffering should end.

His life support be withdrawn. Every legal appeal brought by Charlie's

parents failed and then came interventions from the Pope and

Donald Trump, the latter tweeting an offer of help. And this has been an

extraordinary case, our battle over the fate of a baby boy which was

fought out not just here in court but internationally. The judge said

it was one of the pitfalls of social media that the watching world felt

it right to have opinions without knowing the facts of the case. He

said the courts's Paramount consideration had been Charlie's

best interest at all times. The case came back to court when an American

urologist claimed new evidence showed his nucleoside therapy could

help Charlie and last week he flew over to examine him. New MRI body

scans were ordered. On Friday, Charlie's parents accepted that

these showed his muscle wasting was now so severe he was beyond help. It

is an incredibly brave decision by Charlie's parents, they have thought

for themselves what the new evidence shows and they have reached a

conclusion, probably the judge would have reached the same. It is very

brave of them to do it without waiting to hear what he had to say.

In court Connie Yates said they would be Honda for the rest of their

lives by being what it is, what of their son had received the treatment

months earlier. She said he had the potential to be a normal boy but it

was now too late. For Charlie, we say mummy and daddy, we love you so

much. We always have and we always well and we are so sorry that we

could not save you. The parents are now with Charlie in his final hours.

Great Ormond Street said the agony, desolation and bravery of their

decision humbled all who worked there.

Charlie's parents clearly still feel if action had been taken earlier,

They do. It was hugely emotional in court. Members of the press, lawyers

and the public were moved to tears when Connie Yates in anguish said if

our son had been treated earlier, maybe he would eventually be a

normal and healthy boy, but the hard reality is that all the experts who

examined Charlie in this country say that since January, since he had

those brain seizures in January, he has been beyond help, they feared he

was suffering and the kind of thing was to end his life-support. Now,

the hospital and the parents have come together to deal with this

appalling next stage when Charlie's ventilator will be switched off at

some point and then this tragic case, which has touched the hearts

of people across the world will come to a conclusion. Fergus, many

thanks. Our medical correspondent there.

Consumers in the UK could save up to 40 billion pounds by 2050

through major changes to the way electricity is made, used

The Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark announced plans to invest

a quarter of a billion pounds in battery technology -

saying he wanted the UK to lead the world in its development.

From obvious things like our phones to London's new whispering black

cab... Here on secret tests in Norway to this experimental

aircraft, battery power is taking off around the world. The problem is

they still run out too quickly so today the government has promised to

invest millions the technology. Joining together, the research,

development and application and the manufacture of energy storage

technologies and specifically battery storage is a huge

opportunity for the energy sector and the automotive sector alike.

Right now, Britain is a front runner with battery research, like here at

Warwick university where they are trying to solve the two biggest

issues, making batteries weigh less and last longer. This room is four

times drier than the centre of the Sahara desert because it is where

they physically put the batteries together and any moisture can

ruin the process. They are taking sheets like there's containing the

lithium ions and they are sandwiching them together in this

machine. Here they have welcomed this latest investment but warned

that competition from China, Japan, Korea and America is serious. We are

producing the cells that we are producing, even by our competitors,

they are saying that it is 80 or 90% better than what they have got. But

we have got to keep it up. They will catch up and they will beat us if we

do not watch it. As governments around the world scramble to cut

pollution, demand for batteries is soaring. In China, they used ?5

million worth of batteries three years ago, that will double by next

year. It is the same story across Western Europe, again production

will nearly double from 1.2 billion to ?2.3 billion. Batteries could

also make wind and solar power more productive. One idea being floated

is to use old electric car batteries to store energy from wind turbines.

I think we will see and people are already working on this in the UK,

to combine batteries with the production of renewable power. If

you can do that successfully, at scale, you can remove the challenge

that the wind does not blow all the time and the sun does not always

shine and you can have a continuous flow of energy into the grid. The

future looks electric, but now the pressure is on to make a batteries

that can keep up. Richard Westcott, BBC News, Coventry.

Police searching for the missing toddler Ben Needham have found signs

of blood on part of a sandal, and on soil in a toy car.

Ben was 21 months old when he disappeared on the Greek island

South Yorkshire Police said forensic work was being carried out

in Aberdeen to try to extract DNA from the blood.

Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who's also one

of his key advisors, has been appearing before

He released his opening statement, denying any wrong-doing or collusion

with Russian government officials during the Presidential

The meeting is behind closed doors, but we can speak to our

North America Editor Jon Sopel who's at the White House for us.

How significant a moment is this in the ongoing saga of alleged links

I think it is very significant indeed because this is the most

senior person in the Trump entourage who finds himself in the cross hairs

of this sprawling Russia investigation. Now Jared Kushner is

someone who has stayed in the shadows, he only appeared on camera

once but you can see this thing behind me, huge numbers of

reporters, Jared Kushner is about to come out and give a statement on the

hearing. We know it beforehand, he said I did not collude or know of

anyone else in the campaign who colluded with any foreign government

and with respect to my contacts with Russia Russian representatives,

there were hardly any. And of that meeting that was organised by Donald

Trump Junior with Russian officials, he said that was time not well

spent. The committee will want to have asked him, what worried the

nature of the meetings that you had and why, if they were so

insignificant and so fleeting, weren't you more transparent about

them? Donald Trump, as you might expect, has been on Twitter again,

saying why aren't the committees and investigators and of course our

Attorney General looking into crooked Hillary's crimes and Russian

relations? Donald Trump has been consistent throughout, this whole

thing is fake news and utterly phoney. The American phrase is is

that it is nothing burger but it is nothing burger which seems with each

few weeks to get more and more substance. Thank you.

More than two and half thousand products have reduced in size over

the last five years - but we're still paying

New findings show that chocolate bars, toilet rolls,

and coffee are just some of the items to have been

effected by the phenomenon, dubbed Shrinkflation.

Some companies are blaming the rising costs of ingredients

Andrex has always prided itself on being sought strong and unbeatable

along. But now we hear it is getting shorter. So spend your pennies

wisely. And Maltesers, 187 calories, actually, we'll have even fewer

calories, because you will not find as many of them in the bag. Back in

the old days when I was spending my pocket money on pick and mix, 50p

certainly went a lot further. Thank you. Nowadays, some companies are

choosing not to raise their prices, but make things smaller. Which means

they go more quickly. Can I have some more cola bottles please? While

many of us could probably do with cutting back on our confectionery

consumption, some products suffering so-called Shrinkflation could be

considered essentials. Take Andrex toilet roll for example, that is now

19 sheets shorter. A packet of McVitie 's dark chocolate digestives

is now 32 grams lighter and a carton of Tropicana orange and raspberry is

now 850 millilitres, you use to get a whole litre. Some consumers are

not impressed. It is not fair. It's not right. On low income families

and people with children to feed, it is not really fair, is it? If the

packaging is made to look the same size and so it looks the same size

but it actually is not, then no. You still lose out in the long run, we

will not buy it again. What can we do? Nothing, really. We have to put

up with it. And it is something that analysts say we will have to get

used to. It is a hidden inflation, Shrinkflation, but those consumers

are less likely to notice the smaller package than they are to

notice higher prices in the shops and that makes it easier, it is the

lesser of two evils for producers who are looking to manage the higher

castes and the imported prices due to the fall in the pound.

Manufacturers say their products are just as good and they are just

trying to keep them affordable. Sophie Long, BBC News.

The time is 6:--pm. Our top story this evening.

The parents of the terminally-ill baby Charlie Gard have given up

their legal fight to get him experimental treatment in the US.

British holidaymakers being overcharged on currency

Coming up in Sportsday in the next 15 minutes on BBC News:

Manchester City continue to be the summers big spenders,

they've made Benjamin Mendy the most expensive defender in the world.

Greenland is one of the most remote parts of our planet -

but changes there could affect us here in the UK.

Scientists are worried the country's ice sheet is melting

That could see ocean levels rise and low-lying areas around

Our science editor David Shukman has this exclusive report.

A vivid blue snakes across the Greenland ice sheets.

A beautiful sight, but when the ice here melts,

On the horizon, the ice sheet looms ahead of us.

We've joined a team of British scientists.

They're trying to understand how the ice is changing.

We touched down in one of the remotest corners of the planet.

a home in an utterly barren wilderness.

From the air, all you can really see is what looks like a vast

expanse of endless white, but that isn't the whole story.

Because what's hard to grasp as I stand here is that this is just

the surface of a vast mass of ice that's unbelievably thick.

So, let's imagine cutting it away right in front of me.

The ice sheet stretches for as much as two miles, three kilometres,

from the surface here, right down to the rock below.

In fact, it's so thick, you could take the world's tallest

building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and fit four of them

And as we walk around, there's a real surprise,

And the darker a surface, the more it absorbs the sun's rays.

And like wearing a black T-shirt on a hot day,

You've got this dark ice here. Yeah, so we've got a dark surface...

Mark Tranter the chief scientist here says one

reason for the dark ice is algae, tiny plants.

The algae are microscopically small, but they may be having a big impact.

What we want to know is how far the algae can spread over

the Greenland ice sheet as the climate warms.

And it might well be that they will cause more melting,

and an acceleration of sea-level rise.

In the evening light, the shimmer of gentle streams,

Until recently, the melting in summer was balanced

But in the last 20 years, the flows of water have multiplied,

ach one adding to the level of the oceans.

No one's saying that this whole thing is going to melt

in the next decade, or even in the next hundred,

or even the next thousand years, but it doesn't all have to melt

Only a small amount, a very small portion of this ice

sheet has to melt to raise sea levels, and then threaten millions

of people in coastal communities around the world.

What's striking is that this massive block of ice may be vulnerable

if more algae darken the surface and lead to faster melting.

Down at the edge of the ice sheet, the streams become a torrent.

We already know that melt water is raising the level

of the sea bit by bit, but the researchers here

want to find out whether that rise will accelerate.

And for people in low-lying areas of Florida, Bangladesh,

parts of Britain, getting an accurate forecast really matters.

David Shukman, BBC News in Greenland.

A brief look at some of the day's other other news stories:

Police have arrested a teenager on terror offences

The 16-year-old boy, from Kent, was detained yesterday as he was due

He currently remains in police custody.

Ryanair says it could cut fares by as much as 9% on some routes,

after similar comments by rival airlines in recent weeks.

The company has reported a 55% rise in pre-tax profits,

to just over ?350 million in the three months

The Scottish Whiskey Association is challenging the Scottish

Government's plans to introduce minimum unit pricing for alcohol

It claims there are already ways to do this such

as an increase in excise duty, and that Holyrood's approach

There'll be a judgement from the Supreme Court at a later date.

When we go on holiday, we're paying hundreds of millions

of pounds in unnecessary charges when we use our debit

and credit cards overseas, according to a BBC investigation.

The issue arises when we opt to pay in pounds rather

Simon Gompertz has been looking into how much we're losing.

Amsterdam - famous for its art, for its canals, its cheese,

And now for tourists, having to be careful that they're

It's when you're asked whether you want to pay

The Dutch themselves are flagging up the danger.

Let me warn those that are offered to pay by card,

and then the shop owner says, "Would you like me to give

you the exchange rate of what it would be in pounds?"

You'll end up paying a lot more than you anticipated.

The Netherlands tops a list of countries to be wary of.

For instance, when you take what you buy to the till.

What happens is that you're given the choice between paying

in the local currency, euros, and then it is

exchanged at the MasterCard or Visa official rate.

Or choosing to pay in your own currency, pounds, for me.

And then it is up to the shop's bank what rate you get.

Here, paying in pounds meant the exchange rate

But in a cafe nearby, I stood to lose 5%.

And the rate they want to take off your cashier if you chose

Many holiday-makers, like these on a cycling tour,

are mystified by the choices when they pay by card.

I never really sure which one's the right one to choose.

We were paying for our hotel room, and we ended up paying quite

a significant amount more because of the exchange

Here's the cost based on the average charge of 6%.

UK tourists around the world who choose the wrong

option are paying an extra ?500 million a year.

This tour guide says the shops and restaurants should be warning

I find it interesting that the vendors themselves don't

actually really know what is going on with their cards.

And that, I think, should be corrected, because a vendor

could actually tell the customer to be aware of this,

and then they don't feel may be guilty, I don't know.

What's going on is legal as long as they show you the rate.

But remember, if you're using a card on holiday,

it's almost always better to pay in the local currency.

Simon Gompertz, BBC News in Amsterdam.

An opportunity that can't be missed - that's according to the head

of women's cricket Clare Connor following their stunning

England beat India by nine runs in front of a sell-out 26,000

Our Sports Editor Dan Roan has been asking if this is a watershed

It was the perfect platform for Women's Sport.

England's cricketers crowned champions on home soil.

Anya Shrubsole had been the team's hero, her record-breaking spell

of 6-46 securing a thrilling victory over India.

Before the match, her father Ian posted photos of his daughter

And this morning, in the exact same spot and after a night

of celebrations, she told me what it was like to return

I remember being here as a nine-year old watching,

and wishing one day I could be back here playing.

Never in my wildest dream did I think it would

be unable cup final. It has come true, that dream.

It shows you can have a dream, and sometimes they do come true.

England have won the tournament at Lord's before in 1993.

Back then, they weren't allowed to go into the pavilion unaccompanied.

Today, in the hallowed Long room, the woman in charge told me

We have to celebrate properly, and enjoy this moment,

and the players had to enjoy it, but certainly, we all have to start

thinking very strategically about what opportunities

This is about a lot more than what this team achieved

Both in terms of the attendance here in the ground,

and the estimated 100 million television audience following

the action around the world. It broke all records.

The sense that this was the defining moment of a ground-breaking summer

Johanna Konta's already become the first British woman

in a Wimbledon semifinal for 39 years.

England's footballers, meanwhile, are doing well at the Euros,

But away from performances, there is still a gender gap.

In terms of prize-money, 83% of sports now award

women and men equally, and 5% of sports media coverage

is dedicated to women, and even less when it comes

I think there's still a long way to go in terms of women

in the boardroom, and women running sport, as well as being

participants, women in coaching, women in refereeing and umpiring,

all of us know there is still a long way to go.

It emerged today that despite preparing to defend

their World Cup title next month, most of England's rugby players

will not have their contracts renewed by the RFU.

On a day when England's cricketing World Champions were busy trying

to leave a legacy with this coaching session at Lord's, it was a reminder

of how tough life can still be for some sportswomen.

But for the next generation, never before has there been so much

Time for a look at the weather. Here's Tomasz Schaferbaker.

Sometimes there is a nice change to the weather, and the change today

was that Scotland was the hottest place in the country, 26 Celsius.

Look at this picture off the coast of the Highlands. Looking again, it

looks like something in the tropics, a stunning day across so many

western parts of the UK. Another one from Scotland, also sunny skies.

Here we have London. Very disappointing today, cool and

drizzly. A cloud stretching from the Yorkshire coastline through

Lincolnshire, East Anglia into the South East am a miserable afternoon

here. Western areas enjoying that fine weather. Tonight, eastern

areas, particularly East Anglia, hanging onto cloud with spots of

rain. Foremost, a dry night. Not desperately cold, around 13 or 14 in

most major towns and cities. Tomorrow, overall looking across the

UK, it will be the best day of the week. The reason I say that is that

eastern areas will brighten up, the West will be fine, too. Not so warm

in south-west Scotland, 20 degrees in Glasgow, but London and southern

towns and cities will end up the warmest. On Wednesday, all change, a

strong jet stream pushing the low pressure we have forecast in the

direction of the UK. Weather fronts with it as well. It means the rain

will splash across the UK, but we are talking about may be six hours

of heavy rain. Then this bit here, that is later in the afternoon, so

things are going to brighten up. It will be very windy. Lots of isobars

on weather maps means blustery weather. Thursday is a blustery day

across the UK with showers, sunshine, too. Mixed towards the end

of the week. A bit of a wash out for a time on Wednesday, not all through

the day. Thursday and Friday, a mixed bag, temperatures in the 20s

there in the south. A roller-coaster as I said earlier on this week.

The parents of the terminally ill baby Charlie Gard have given up

their legal fight to get him experimental treatment in the US.

That's all from the BBC News at Six. So it's goodbye from me.

And on BBC One, we now join the BBC's news teams where you are.