A warm welcome to the programme, briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. Also in the programme the nhs wants you to tap in to amazons alexa for Expert Health advice. Instead of many sources the Voice Assisted Technology will automatically search the nhs choices website when uk users ask questions. What do you think . Is this an effective way of reducing demand on the nhs . Do you trust alexa . Get in touch, just use bbcthebriefing. The two men vying to be britains next Prime Minister, Boris Johnson and jeremy hunt, have taken part in a live televised debate. They clashed over brexit, economic policies and the qualities needed to lead the country. Mrjohnson said it was crucial that britain leaves the eu on the 31st october with or without a deal, butjeremy hunt accused him of peddling optimism. Ian watson has more. It was the first time that the candidates had gone head to head. And they werent slow to lock horns. Borisjohnson said the uk must leave the uk by october the 31st, but jeremy hunt wanted to know what his opponent would do if this didnt happen. No, no, ir asked if youd resign, boris, and you didnt answer the question. Will you resign if you dont deliver it, yes or no . In return, borisjohnson wondered why jeremy hunt was scared to say if hed absolutely leave the eu by halloween. How much further, how many more days exactly would he be willing to delay . How about christmas . Ouch and jeremy hunt had a rather unconventional accusation to make. The difference between you and me is you are peddling optimism. They also seem to be clear blue water on what would happen to the uk ambassador across the pond. He has fallen foul of donald trump. Ambassador across the pond. He has fallen foul of Donald Trumpm ambassador across the pond. He has fallen foul of donald trump. If i am the next Prime Minister, the ambassador in washington stays. Borisjohnson was less categoric. Ambassador in washington stays. Boris johnson was less categorici andi Boris Johnson was less categorici and i alone will decide who takes important and politically sensitive jobs. Jeremy hunt is the underdog who said he would bite more than Boris Johnsons ankles who said he would bite more than borisjohnsons ankles but who said he would bite more than Boris Johnsons ankles but the front runner wasnt savaged, much to competitors frustration. He has this great ability, you ask them a question, he puts a smile on your face and you forget what the question was. And this sums up how much of a slagging match weve seen. Asked to say what quality he admired in his opponent, borisjohnson seemed to struggle. Errmmm. Laughter. I greatly value his ability to change his mind. And this event changed a few minds with neither candidate delivering a knockout blow. Iain watson, bbc news. With me is cornelia meyer, ceo of mrl corporation, a business consultancy. A regular here on the briefing. Good morning. Lovely to see you. Good morning. Lovely to see you. Good morning. You watched the debate. What are your thoughts . morning. You watched the debate. What are your thoughts . I thought at some stage, make it stop, please why . Well, it was painful because it lacked a little bit of a reality check. They both talked about how they would renegotiate a deal with brussels. Well, it seems when you listen to what they say in brussels, theyre not up for renegotiating it. And by the way, theyre in the mode of changing their leadership in brussels, so this is not a good time to renegotiate anything. So in terms of being so disconnected to reality, it made my heart sink, because it just looks like a no deal brexit might become more and more likely. But both candidates, bothjeremy huntand but both candidates, bothjeremy hunt and Boris Johnson, but both candidates, bothjeremy hunt and borisjohnson, half to present their plan as to how they will enable the uk to leave the european union. I didnt see a plan ididnt european union. I didnt see a plan i didnt see a plan as you say, they have two present something from that point of view and getting a new deal with brussels, some sort of deal, is what they are both saying they want to do and as you say, leadership is changing in brussels, so leadership is changing in brussels, so therefore that might bring change. I dont know, because first the new leadership needs to get their feet the new leadership needs to get theirfeet under the the new leadership needs to get their feet under the desk. Young kerr leads on the 31st. We dont know, 31st ofjuly. Young kerr leads on the 31st of october, which is precisely when we going to crash out, so it looks so this is very tricky. The timing of these things is very tricky. I wasnt convinced. I have to say that boris commanded the room, hes very good at these things, he commanded the room and he will probably get it because look at the conservative membership. Average age 57, male predominantly, predominantly affluent, predominantly affluent, predominantly in the south east of the country. Looks like he will get it. I felt for when the country. Looks like he will get it. Ifelt for when he the country. Looks like he will get it. I felt for when he said the country. Looks like he will get it. Ifelt for when he said every poll that you look at in the country ido poll that you look at in the country i do better than boris. Well, never mind, the country isnt voting for him. It is the conservative Party Membership voting for him. Thank you for now. Cornelia will be backdating for now. Cornelia will be backdating for our news briefing. Plenty to discuss there, plenty to get our teeth stuck into. Lets discuss our second top story of the day. A senior us general says the United States is seeking to set up an International Military coalition to safeguard strategic waters off iran and yemen. Last month, the us blamed iranian backed fighters for attacks on two tankers in the region. Let speak to peter bowes, who is in north america for us. Peter, tell us more about what this senior general is proposing. General dunford said he wants to set up what hes describing as an International Military coalition to ensure freedom of navigation through those crucial waters around iran and yemen. Of course, crucial waters for international trade. The idea is the us would provide command and control ships and the hope is other nations with the political will to be involved in this will provide votes to set up patrols between those major ships, larger to set up patrols between those majorships, largerships to set up patrols between those major ships, larger ships provided by the United States stop either current stage of this process is the us is apparently looking at the military and options of other nations willing to be involved to assess what they can contribute to this. It may well, he says, start quite small with a relatively small number of nations taking part but could grow over time considering, as i mentioned, the crucial importance of those waterways for international trade. Yeah, they are very crucial, some 4 Million Barrels of oil passing through nearly everyday to the rest of the world and actually, oil tankers have been attacked on two occasions, havent they . Iran has been blamed both times, and yet its still not clear who was behind those attacks. Thats correct. Of course, the political tensions between iran and the us have been skyhigh in recent weeks, and the us, of course, blamed iran for shooting down a us drone in the region. That raised tensions further. And we were led to believe we were essentially ten minutes away from a major escalation in this conflict with military action potentially by the us which was called off at the last minute by President Donald Trump because he was concerned about the number of iranians who could be killed. All right, peter, thank you very much. Peter bowes there with the latest on that story. Lets brief you on some of the other stories making the news. President trump says he will look at the how the labor secretary Alexander Acosta handled the case of the financierjeffrey epstein while he was a prosecutor in florida. Mr epstein was offered a plea deal by acosta in 2008, after pleading guilty to prostitution charges. On monday in a new york court, epstein pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges. Official us figures show a sharp fall in the number of migrants being apprehended along the mexican border. The Us Government said us border patrols caught about 104,000 migrants injune, 28 fewer than in may. China has urged the United States to revoke a planned arms sale to taiwan, describing it as a serious violation of international law. The Chinese ForeignMinistry Said the 2. 2 billion weapons deal, including tanks and missiles, was a crude interference in chinas internal affairs. Ross perot, the texas billionaire who shook up american politics in the 1990s, has died at the age of 89. He was diagnosed with leukaemia earlier this year. Ross perot received nearly a fifth of the popular vote when he first ran for president in 1992, the election in which bill clinton defeated george bush. Stay with us on bbc news, still to come the little girl from war ravaged yemen saved by surgeons in jordan. Central london has been rocked by a series of terrorist attacks. Police say there have been many casualties, and there is growing speculation that alqaeda was responsible. Germany will be the hosts of the 2006 football world cup, and they pipped the favourites, south africa, by a single vote. In south africa, the possibility of losing hadnt even been contemplated, and celebration parties were cancelled. The man entered the palace through a downstairs window and made his way to the queens private bedroom. Then he asked her for a cigarette, and on the pretext of arranging for some to be brought, she summoned a footman on duty, who took the man away. One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world. Education is the only solution. Applause youre watching the briefing. Our headlines the two contenders to be the uks next Prime Minister clashed in a face to face televisied leadership debate. The focus was on brexit, the economy, and the qualities needed to be the countrys leader. The us seeks to set up an International Military coalition to protect waters off iran and yemen. In yemen, a child under the age of five is dying from preventable causes every ten minutes, thats according to the united nations. With the civil war there now in its fifth year, the un says the situation is desperate. But some children have been saved, like six year old yusra who desperately needed life saving treatment abroad. Thanks to donations after her story was told on the bbc, she got it. Our International Correspondent orla guerin reports. Look, its good . Again. Hand painting a new future. For six year old yusra, not just childs play, her careful brush strokes are colouring an artificial eye. Oh, excellent. Just like the one shes about to receive. Its the last stage of months of life saving treatment at the King Hussein Cancer Center in jordan, all funded through donations. Yusra has come smiling through, surviving an aggressive tumour which claimed her left eye. Her specialist now hoping to hide her scars and heal her trauma. Her reaction says it all. And doctors say she has been a tonic for them. When i see her i try to give her love, but she give me first, with smile, with hug etc. She likes life. Shes a wonderful girl, a beautiful girl. If you look to her smile, only her smile, you will be happy. If you are tired, you will be relaxed. Shes a lovely girl. I love her. It was a very different picture last october when we met yusra and her family in war torn yemen. They were sheltering in a disused shop in the capital sanaa. Yusra desperately needed treatment abroad but was trapped by a saudi ban on civilian flights. After we highlighted her case, several organisations came together and managed to get her tojordan. Yusra has been in the best of hands there and her surgeon says she is now cancer free. But she has a genetic condition, so follow up checks are being arranged in yemen. He worries about her future in a war zone. This is what breaks my heart. We are not politicians, we cannot solve the issues. We do what we can do as medical doctors. We can make the connections with others and we hope and wish for her the best health. For this one at yemeni child, there was a way out, an escape from war, but not forever. This was yusras last visit to the park before swapping the playgrounds of oman for the Battle Ground that is yemen. Her devoted mother hayat all too aware of the risks. Translation when a missile lands nearby, our tents are torn to pieces and we lie on the ground to avoid the debris. There was an air strike on the farm next to us. Im frightened to go back. But with yusras treatment completed, it was time to pack up suitcases almost as big as she is. Yusra is now back in her homeland, surrounded by her extended family. She is a pint sized study in courage, but in yemen every day is a fight for survival. Orla guerin, bbc news. Heres our briefing on some of the key events happening later. We begin with the launch of the global conference for media freedom, here in london. Foreign secretaryjeremy hunt co hosts the event with the canadian government and amal clooney. Now to armenia where European Council president donald tusk will meet with Prime MinisterNikol Pashinyan and take a walk around Europe Square in yerevan. And finally to new york city. And its party time for the United StatesWomens National soccer team which claimed its fourth world cup title on sunday in a 2 0 victory over the netherlands. They will be honored with a ticker tape parade in manhattan. Now its time to get all the latest from the bbc sports Serena Williams had to overcome a battle on display from her fellow american to make it through to the final four. The grants and when eventually managed to win in three sets, taking over two hours, and will go to the next round. The home favourite wasnt happy when questioned about it afterwards. Favourite wasnt happy when questioned about it afterwardslj questioned about it afterwards. dont have much else to say to your question. I am asking you a somebody who wants to go on from here, learn from this, and when a grandson, one day. Is it not something. Please dont patronise me. You are patronising me in the way you are asking your question was of your being disrespectful and you patronising me, im fashion a competitor who did her best. That is all the rest of that. And the cricket world cup semifinals, we will go into reserve day after poor weather hampered the matter on tuesday. New zealand one the torch and elected to bat and would 2 five when the rain intervened. The players i have been the conditions improve on wednesday. The mens quarter finals take to the court at wimbledon with the top three seeds all involved, the third seeded to turn wimer nadal or play,. So far it has been easy for him and i dont think hes ready, im a big fan of his game, i think hes got one of the best backhands in the game, he isa the best backhands in the game, he is a great return player, solid mentally, it was thought he was a great talent and his family 16 or 17 yea rs great talent and his family 16 or 17 years old. In the tour de france, the leaders yellow jazzy after winning stage iii on monday, the frenchman steam met took stage iv joseph. Frenchman steam met took stage iv joseph. The africa cup of nations got under way cairo,. The overwhelming favourites, against opponents you never reach this stage before. Nigeria taken south africa, the tempe take knock out the hopes host. The tempe take knock out the hopes host. Things and go away in the group stages but we wanted to remind them to stick together as a nation, support us through thick and thin. The positive criticism we got, we took it with a pinch of salt and we took it with a pinch of salt and we moved on and prove to them that we moved on and prove to them that we had to do ourjob as best as possible. They do on wednesday the United States womens foot term fresh from the world cup very in france, will be honoured with a victory parade in new york. The squad arrived in a state in a party mood after beating the netherlands and the final at now have five games up and the final at now have five games up starting with the republic of ireland next month after they play a host of matches around the country. We had earlier that Serena Williams is due to the semifinals and the singles and revelled in but she is also through to the mixed doubles with andy murray. This is how she wa nts with andy murray. This is how she wants down from a straight sets when, by having a casual pedal on a stationary bike holding her daughter. You can get all the sport use at our website. But from me and the rest of the team, that is your wednesday sport briefing. What shape is wednesday . And do your favourite songs have a colour . If you said yes to either you may have synesthesia. More than half a Million People are thought to have senses that trigger images when they hear sounds or feelings of being touched when they see others being touched. Now researchers at Sussex University want people with a specific form of synesthesia to come forward to help them unravel why some of us are better at understanding other peoples feelings. David sillito reports. This is jake palmer, there is Something Interesting going on in his brain. He has what is called synaesthesia, his senses overlap and merge so synaesthesia, his senses overlap and merge so for instance, sound triggers images of colours and shapes and to help explain, we played him some music. That sounds, a lot of colour, blue, blue coming off that sound. Thats quite red and orange. Her voice is like a pastel the green colour. So the colour of the green colour. So the colour of the sitar, the main sitar that is happening there, is payable. That bed is like pulling the rug out. But it was blue. The days of the week of colours and shapes. Wednesday, for instance. Wednesday is like a beehive, barley twisting. Its got a colour . Yes, like black, a few bits of white and there but it is mainly a golden brown colour. Do you ever worry about this . No. No way. Ok, so each of these weekly lines is one of the electorate recordings from each of your scalp size. It is not that unusual. More than half a million of us unusual. More than half a million of us have some form synaesthesia and researchers here at Sussex University think it help i could help on the some of the mysteries of social life, which brings us to the rubber hand test. It is an illusion. Your real hand is hidden behind a screen behind in front of you is a rubber hand, stroked and after a few seconds, something odd can happen. The feeling seems to be coming from the rubber hand. Its not a real hand but its really convincing. Im a bit freaked out. I feel like i want to move it. But i cant. I my gosh, that is weird. Feel like i want to move it. But i cant. I my gosh, that is weirdfl is weird, isnt it . Of course, its not just is weird, isnt it . Of course, its notjust an is weird, isnt it . Of course, its not just an illusion. Is weird, isnt it . Of course, its notjust an illusion. There are some signs behind this. This experiment shows how easily sensors can be tracked and offers a clue about how the brain processes feelings. We can use this in the lab to try and understand more about body representation and another thing we do in the lab is that we work with people that had this thing called mirror touched on the seizure. So mirror touched on the seizure. So mirror touched on the seizure. So mirror touched synaesthesia is where you feel touch on your body when you said happen to somebody else. So if i were to touch my face like this, you would fill it on your cheek as well. And if you happen to have mirror touch, sussex wants to talk to you because that sense of feeling what others feel appears to be linked to a vital life skill. Empathy. A way to understand the size of shared emotions. Lets ta ke lets take a look at what bbc news is looking at today. That is basically the idea that amazon has done a deal with the National Health service. From this week the Voice Assisted Technology is automatically searching the nhs choices website when uk users ask for Health Related advice. Is this an effective way of reducing demand on the nhs . Let us know your thoughts use bbcthebriefing. Stay with us here on bbc news so much more to come. Hello. Some fairly mixed prospects in terms of the weather across the uk in the coming days. Looking pretty showery across the northern half of the uk whereas towards the south, i think sunny spells will tend to win out. But there is a chance of a shower just about anywhere as low pressure increasingly comes into play in our weather set up. High pressure, though, does cling on to the south, hence the prospects being somewhat drier here. And that bodes well for wedensdays pla yat wimbledon. I think we should get away with a day of uninterrupted play fingers crossed. Just a slightly raised risk of a shower later on in the afternoon. Wednesday will dawn, though, with some fairly extensive showery rain across scotland and Northern Ireland. Scotland will see things drying up a little through the middle part of the day but then a risk of some heavy thundery showers in the north east later on. Could be some thundery rain developing across eastern england. And it looks like well definitely get some more organised rain pushing into Northern Ireland later on. And just light winds which does mean, where showers develop, and if they are heavy ones, they can tend to stick around. Theres just nothing to brush them out of the way. So potentially some high rainfall totals in one or two spots. To the south, however, it looks like things will stay dry even overnight into thursday. Where our showers become more widespread across wales, the midlands, northern england. Easing off a little, that rain, by the end of the night for Northern Ireland. A pretty humid feeling night. Overnight lows of 12 14. Quite a humid day on thursday as well. The showers perhaps somewhat fewer and further between on thursday but a risk of some heavier ones again in eastern areas with the north east of scotland being favoured perhaps for some heavier thunderstorms. Perhaps a few later in the days across western wales as well. As our week comes to a close, the low pressure is starting to push away to east of us, which means eastern areas will be at greatest risk of seeing some showers. Maybe the odd heavier thundery one across eastern england, maybe eastern scotland too. But towards the west, generally drier prospects. Some cloud around. But the reason things are settling . There goes the low, here comes at the high and this is what takes us into the weekend, this area of high pressure. I cant promise you 100 it will be entirely dry. Theres a risk of a few showers in the east on saturday, in the west on sunday, but certainly much quieter with some sunshine. This is the business briefing. Im sally bundock. Reforming retirement brazilian lawmakers are set to vote through a dramatic rise in the pension age, and workers are not happy. Grilled on the Hill Investors look for Interest Rate clues as fed Chairmanjerome Powell faces lawmakers questions. And on Financial Markets in asia its a mixed session yet again, as investors brace themselves for what the Us Central Bank chief will say