hello, i'm loren taylor. rishi sunak has launched the conservative party's election manifesto, promising a raft of new measures, that he says "will enable working people to keep more of the money," they earn. he was speaking at the silverstone race track, and made pledges on tax, housing, and immigration, including another 2p cut in the pound, in national insurance, plus the abolition of the main self employed rate. there'll be help for first—time buyers, with the scrapping of stamp duty on homes up to £425,000, and a new help to buy scheme. there's also a commitment to halve migration, and have regular flights to rwanda, for those entering the uk illegally. chris mason was at the launch today. halfway through this election race, it's the moment for the cardboard boxes. within them, bundles of promises not always kept that set out a party's blueprint for the next five years. so the manifesto is here, so is the cabinet, then the prime minister. music, applause, and ovations from party supporters, yes, but also this — a candid acknowledgement rishi sunak about how you may feel about him and the conservatives. i'm not blind to the fact that people are frustrated with our party and frustrated with me. things are not always been easy, and we have not got everything right. but we are the only party in this election with big ideas to make our country a better place to live. a central theme of this manifesto is tax cuts, including a promise of another 2p cut in national insurance. by 2027, we will have halved national insurance to 6% — that is a tax cut, my friends, worth £1,300 to the average worker. rishi sunak praised the enterprise and risk taking of the self—employed, and said this. in the next parliament, we will scrap entirely the main rate of self—employed national insurance. and, having acknowledged on bbc panorama last night that it has become harder to buy a home in recent years, the prime minister said he wanted to make it easier. for the first—time buyers, purchasing a home up £425,000, we will abolish stamp duty entirely. stamp duty is a tax on buying a home in england and northern ireland. next, what about the plan to send some migrants rwanda? some conservatives say it's time the uk left the european convention on human rights to make this easier. but mr sunak stopped short of saying that. if we are forced to choose between our security and the jurisdiction of a foreign court, including the echr, we will always choose our nation's security. for much of the last 18 months, you have tried everything to try and revive conservative fortunes, and not much appears to have worked. could we rename this document today your last—chance saloon? well, chris, i've been very clear when i got thisjob, that we were in for a very difficult time of the country. if you want a secure future, if you want lower taxes and if you want your pensions protected, more sensible approach to net zero, and you want your borders secure, vote conservative at the selection. and there ended perhaps this man's last big set piece moment to change his fortunes. time, then, to scuttle through the crowds and talk to some cabinet ministers. what do you make of that? i think this is a really exciting manifesto for the future, and what i love about it is that it addresses every stage of our lives. if this is the game—changer, why are you standing down? me? i'm an old war horse that's been put out to grass because we need a new generation to support the prime minister in the future. this is a fudge—a—rama on the echr, isn't it? the safety of rwanda act makes it clear that - if there is a contradiction _ between an adjudication in a foreign court and our ability i to protect our borders, we protect our borders. are you going to win? this is absolutely in our grasp. i know we are behind in the polls... i notice you're not saying yes. it's an election, and i can't - predict the outcome of an election, that's not myjob. the outcome of the election is yourjob at home. the cases the different parties are making are becoming clearer. chris mason, bbc news, silverstone. well, how's the conservative manifesto going down in the tory heartlands? at the last election, aldershot was comfortably held by the conservatives — but now, labour has high hopes of taking the seat, after success in the may local elections. danjohnson, has spent the day in the town. this is a military town with a conservative tradition. but all sort of things in aldershot are changing, and political loyalties are shifting, too. so much so that labour could now have a chance here in the seat that's been conservative for over 100 years. so, will tory election manifesto promises take much difference? iam interested, definitely, yes. i've reached the age i am now, 63, i've always been a socialist, i've started warming towards the tories. ijust know i'm not going to vote conservative. whatever they say in their manifesto — can i ask how and why? ijust don't think it's going very well at the moment, and i think we need a change. i'd love to get on i the property ladder. renting's not great, so having my own place be lovely, yeah. - would that sway your vote? probably, yeah, actually, - because it's within my interests. so, who should serve? david's only ever voted for a conservative government. security also means the security of knowing you will have dignity in retirement. so, the promise of a tax cut for pensioners — do you like the sound that, david? i am blessed with enough that it won't make a significant difference to me, but for many it would be a good help, yes. are you any more likely to vote for rishi sunak this time, having heard what he's had to say? not more likely at this stage. i have to hear what others offer, and mull over the real meaning of what rishi sunak is saying, before deciding. a growing town means gps under pressure — and this one's still uncertain. i'm really pleased that he's still planning to put the vaping ban in place. what do you want to hear? i want to hear investment in primary care. we're the gatekeepers for the nhs, we keep costs down and make things effective. and we're on the doorsteps for patients to reach us. and one more doctor at the surgery will make such a difference. sharon is living with parkinson's and wants to be heard. make our streets safe, and make our roads safe and the potholes filled in. all the little things that make our country look untidy. there's been nobody strong enough, in my opinion, in the conservatives to govern our country. so will you vote labour this time? yes — or reform, can't decide. decisions to make. danjohnson, bbc news, in aldershot. and there is a full list of the candidates standing in aldershot on our website. labour is promising to create 100,000 extra dental appointments for children, in a bid to clear backlogs in england. the new appointments would be for urgent and emergency care, and on evenings and weekends. access to an nhs dentist has become increasingly difficult in many areas, with tooth decay the most common reason children aged 5—9 are being admitted to hospital. i'm not prepared to simply stand by and let that happen — which is why we've championed supervised teeth cleaning, we've been watching that this morning. and i don't really care what people call it — if the price for a child of not taking action is losing your teeth between the ages of 6—10, that's a price that's too high, as far as i'm concerned. also on the campaign trail, the liberal democrats are calling for a new rural gp fund, to support doctors' surgeries around the country. they say it forms part of a package of measures, worth £1 billion, aimed at improving medical services, and giving patients a legal right to see a gp, within a week. the snp has been campaigning in aberdeenshire today. the party says any new drilling licenses for oil and gas need to meet a climate test, contribute to energy security and allow net zero goals to be met. it argues labour "doesn't believe in new licenses" and the conservatives have adopted a "climate denial position". here's the snp�*s westminster leader, stephen flynn. i leader, stephen flynn. don't frankly think it matte very i don't frankly think it matters very much, because the tories are finished. everyone knows they are finished. everyone knows they are finished. you can promise everything under the sun — he's not going to be the prime minister injust a the prime minister in just a few weeks' time, he'll be back off to california. what we need to do is therefore shine a light on what keir starmer�*s positions are. he believes in the continuation of £18 billion worth of public sector cuts and breaks it, which has crippled the scottish economy, and he believes in the continuation of very many policies which have impacted people in scotland on a daily basis. that's not good enough, and that's why we need snp mps in westminster putting scotland first. 0nly we can provide that in this election. scotland's parties have their leaders debate in around an hour here on the bbc news channel. the snp, the scottish conservatives, scottish labour, scottish liberal democrats, and the scottish greens will all take part. the programme will allow a live audience to put forward questions. let's speak to our scotland correspondent lorna gordon, who's in glasgow. so what kind of issues are likely to come up in those questions from the audience? it’s come up in those questions from the audience? �* , , audience? it's interesting, the university _ audience? it's interesting, the university debating _ audience? it's interesting, the university debating team - audience? it's interesting, the university debating team here | audience? it's interesting, the - university debating team here has been crowned world champions five times — but it's the politicians who tonight will be put through the paces. as you say, the leaders of the five main political parties here in scotland will face questions for the first time from an audience of voters in this general election campaign. it's a mixture of undecided voters and others who have said they support various political parties, a cross—section of voters from across scotland. i think in terms of the issues that might be covered, it's likely that there may be questions from the audience on devolved issues like health and education — and that in a sense points to the complexity of voting here in scotland, those are issues that are decided at hollyrood by the government across in edinburgh. however, it always plays a part in influencing how people vote in a general election campaign — and part of the reason for that is that it's the westminster government that ultimately controls the purse strings and decides on the block grant that comes back to scotland in funds those devolved policy areas like health and education. in past debates, independence of the union has been one area of focus. if you look at the election campaigns so far, that might be slightly less of an issue, but almost certainly one of the issues that will come up is the decision by douglas ross, the leader of the scottish conservatives, to put his name forward for a westminster seat late last week — then just yesterday, saying he will resign as leader of the scottish conservatives at the end of this general election campaign. so the leader of the conservatives will take to the stage this evening to answer questions — but injust a this evening to answer questions — but in just a couple weeks' time, he'll be leader no longer. he said that his handling of the situation over the past few days could've been handled better, that some of his colleagues were uncomfortable with the decision he made, so he's decided to stand down. but it is an area that perhaps the people in the audience will want to ask a question of, and certainly his opponents on the stage, the other four leaders of the stage, the other four leaders of the main political parties here in scotland, may sense an opportunity to attack him on that, as well. lorna, thank you. and you can watch the full debate at 8pm here on the news channel. president biden�*s son, hunter, has been found guilty of lying about his drug use to buy a gun illegally in 2018. in a written statement, he said he was more grateful for the love and support he'd experienced from his family and friends than he was disappointed by the outcome. president biden said he remained proud of how his son had fought addiction, and that he would accept the outcome. 0ur north america editor sarah smith has this report from wilmington, in delaware. drugs, guns, prostitutes — this trial was peppered with a multitude of lurid details about hunter biden�*s private life and the chaos that came from his self—acknowledged addiction to crack cocaine. prosecutors argued that hunter biden had committed a crime by lying on a federal form about his drug use when buying a .38 calibre revolver in october 2018. that gun, along with the remnants of crack and drug paraphernalia, were discovered in his car by his then—partner, hallie biden, who was also his sister—in—law, the widow of his brother beau, who died of cancer three years earlier. prosecutors showed video of her trying to dispose of the weapon in a dumpster. and she told the court, "i realise it was a stupid idea now, but i was panicking." "why did you panic?" asked the prosecutor. "because i didn't want him to hurt himself and i didn't want my kids to find it and hurt themselves." hunter biden has already chronicled much of his struggles with drug addiction in a book, excerpts of which were entered into evidence and read by the author himself in the audio version. smoking crack cocaine every three days soon became smoking every two days. then every other day. then every hour of every day. but throughout the case, the defence argued that hunter biden believed himself clean in october 2018. his lawyer said that the president's son was not using drugs when he bought that gun and that it was never loaded, never carried, never used during the 11 days he owned it. hunter biden�*s stepmother, the first lady, jill biden, attended nearly every day of this trial, appearing emotional as some of the evidence was laid out. this case has clearly put the whole family under great stress. just before leaving for d—day commemorations in france, the president himself issued a statement saying he was proud of his son for beating his addiction. hunter biden's wilful- refusal to comply with... hunter biden has also long been a target for republicans in congress, who've been investigating accusations he made money by peddling influence when his father was vice president. no charges have resulted from that, and attempts to impeachjoe biden in connection with his son's business dealings have stalled. this is not the only criminal case against hunter biden — he's also due to go on trial in california in early september for allegedly failing to pay more than $1 million in taxes. my colleague carl nasman is in wilmington. so what comes next for hunter biden? this is really not the end of the road here at all, and there's another trial — we will get to that in a second. in terms of what happens next in delaware, the sentencing date will need to be set. the judge today, after the sentencing date will need to be set. thejudge today, after the historic guilty verdict was read out, did not set out a day for the sentencing. we know should happen within 120 set out a day for the sentencing. we know should happen within120 days, so 3—4 months— that would take us pretty close to the november election, when dick? hunter biden is facing a maximum sentences of 25 years behind bars. very few legal experts say he would ever possibly serve that much time. the sentencing guidelines in this case are about 10-13 guidelines in this case are about 10—13 years, hunter biden does not have a previous criminal record, he only owned the gun for 11 days and didn't use it. many legal experts say he would not serve jail time at all. there's also the chance of an appeal, and something he might have appeal, and something he might have a better shot at an appeal than he did his defence of the actual trial that we just saw taking place. he could challenge the actual statute that bars addicts or drug users from a democrat in the first place, something that might pick up in the courts. coming up next, there's a third criminal trial he's facing where he allegedly failed to pay more than $1 million in taxes — he denies those charges, he's pleaded not guilty, but that's a trial they can come up in september — again, very close to the present election come november.— very close to the present election come november. what is the political fallout likely — come november. what is the political fallout likely to _ come november. what is the political fallout likely to be _ come november. what is the political fallout likely to be from _ come november. what is the political fallout likely to be from this? -- - fallout likely to be from this? » presidential election come november. it's interesting to hear from some republicans who have been long—term critics of hunter biden who have also tried to link some of his alleged misdeeds to the president. it's almost been greeted with a bit of a yawn — we saw one conservative commentator on twitter use that exact word as he saw the verdict come out — but at the same time, this could be used as some ammunition against those claims we've been hearing repeated by donald trump that the justice department has been used against him, that this has become political. some people might argue that if the us department ofjustice is indeed out to get president donald trump, why is he attacking the current president's son? many democrats fear a conviction here today, and now marking hunter biden as a convicted criminal will may be less and some of the impact that donald trump has been facing from his conviction just a few days ago. been facing from his conviction 'ust a few days ago.�* been facing from his conviction 'ust a few days age.�* been facing from his conviction 'ust a few days ago. thank you very much indeed. the us secretary of state, antony blinken, has announced more than $400 million in humanitarian assistance for gaza. he was speaking at an emergency aid conference injordan during his tour of the middle east. earlier during his trip tojerusalem, mr blinken repeated his calls for hamas to accept the terms of a ceasefire deal in gaza. the plan — proposed by president biden would — see more humanitarian aid delivered and hostages released, and was backed last night by the united nations security council. today, i'm announcing an additional $404 million in new aid to palestinians, in addition to the more than $1.8 million in development, economic, and humanitarian aid the united states has provided since 2021. as we conveyed directly to the israeli government, it is crucial to speed up the inspection of trucks and reduce backlogs, to provide greater clarity on and shorten the list of prohibited goods, to increase visas for aid workers and process them more quickly, to create clearer, more effective channels for humanitarian groups to de—conflict with idf operations, to surve life—saving medicine and equipment, to provide everything necessary to repair water and sanitation systems. —— to surge. and israel must take further steps to reduce civilian casualties. speaking at the conference, the un under secretary general for humanitarian affairs, martin griffiths, welcomed the un security council resolution backing a gaza ceasefire proposal. we hope very much that that consensus decision by the council last night will have the impact that you're describing as needed. and we all know —and today was another confirmation of this — that this is absolutely clear, what we all need for the people of gaza is a ceasefire. we've been saying that for months. this is simply one more nail in the coffin of those people who think that continuing the fighting in gaza, the rafah operation that we all predicted was going to be the nightmare that it is, and it is almost worse than we predicted, as we know from this last weekend. i hope the consensus of international opinion that we've seen also today in this meeting, hosted byjordan and co—chaired with egypt, does have that impact and notjust for the united states, but for all those governments sitting around that table yesterday in new york, for all those governments sitting around the table here today injordan, take the action that you know is right and that the people expect of you. let's hope. ajury has been sworn in, in the retrial of the former nurse, lucy letby. she's charged with attempting to murder a baby in chester, in february 2016. judith moritz has been at manchester crown court. just after the jurors were sworn, the trialjudge addressed them — with lucy letby watching from behind the glass wall dock here of courtroom number seven — and he told them that, almost a year ago, she was convicted of murdering and attempting to murder a number of babies. the judge said to the jury, "it's highly likely that you will have known something about this case at the time last year when the verdicts were returned," he said, "we accept that. "but it's important that you try her in this case solely on the evidence presented to you in court, and not anything you may have read or heard about it." well, in this case, lucy letby is charged with one count of attempted murder — the attempted murder of a baby girl in february 2016 — and the judge told the jury that that is a count which the jury in the original trial could not decide upon. now lucy letby denies that charge, and we expect the prosecution will open their case tomorrow. police in rome believe that a robbery in the jewellery store, bulgari, was carried out by thieves who entered through sewage tunnels. the gang are thought to have tunnelled hundreds of metres, beneath rome's trevi fountain, using a pneumatic drill to break into the shop on the prestigious via dei condotti, before stealing half a million euros' worth ofjewels. cctv is being examined, and police are now combing the sewage tunnels which seem to have helped the gang become stinking rich. it's not been a month since king charles' official portrait was unveiled to the public, but it's now been defaced by animal rights protesters. two supporters of the group animal rising entered a gallery in london, plastering the painting with the face of wallace, from wallace and gromit, and a speech bubble reading, "no cheese, gromit. "look at all this cruelty on rspca farms!" the group says it wants to draw the king's attention to the treatment of animals on rspca assured farms, calling for the endorsement system to be dropped. they claim the posters can be easily removed — only being affixed with water. you can catch up any time with all the coverage of the elections by checking out our website. we have a live page there, there's also a section which invites you to talk about the issues that you want to talk about, so your voice your vote, there's details there of rishi sunak�*s manifesto launched today for the conservatives, and there will be the conservatives, and there will be the labour, live dems, and other party information on there. also a reminder at 8pm, there's a debate in scotland which will carry here on the news channel as well. now it's time for a look at the weather with elizabeth rizzini. hello there, good evening. well, it's been another day of sunny spells with some showers. blustery, chilly northwesterly winds blowing towards north sea—facing coasts once again. the air is cold for the time of year certainly, but it still feels pleasantly warm — the best of the sunshine, the sun just as strong as it is everyjune. and there'll be more in the way of sunshine probably tomorrow — the driest—looking day of the week. not completely dry, still a few showers around, and certainly a chilly start to the day. now we've got high pressure building in from the west, killing off a lot of those showers. and the winds will be a lot lighter — and they're falling lighter overnight tonight. now, it's likely to be just as cold tonight as it was last night, when some of our temperatures drop back to low single figures. there will be some clear spells developing, a lot of dry weather around. widely, we'll see 5—9 celsius — but as i said, in some of the rural sheltered spots, temperatures will be a lot lower than this. so, it's a cold start to wednesday morning, but once again, quite a bit of early sunshine around. variable amounts of cloud, and the cloud will tend to build through the day. most of the showers will be across eastern areas of england, further north and west, then it should be largely dry, perhaps 1—2 very isolated showers. lighter winds, but temperatures still disappointingly low for the time of year, just 12—17 celsius. now, as we look into thursday, we start to see a few changes. so it's already a wet start to the day across northern ireland — this rain will be pushing eastwards across wales, pushing through into central areas of england, eventually reaching northern scotland and possibly southeast england, but not until we get to the end of the afternoon. brisk winds up through irish sea coasts, but it's milder, particularly out towards the north and the west there, with temperatures rising back up into the mid—teens in celsius. low pressure remains very much in charge, too, as we head through friday and the weekend. so, there'll be showers, there'll be longer spells of rain around at times, and brisk south—westerly winds blowing. but the air will be milder — it will be especially milder by night as well, with temperatures rising by day, back up to the seasonal average. won't be raining all the time, there'll also be some sunny spells around, and it will feel pleasantly warm in the best of the sunshine, of course, but some unsettled, milder weather as we head through the second half of this week. bye—bye for now. this is bbc news. headlines. rishi sunak launches the conservative party manifesto with promises on tax cuts and reducing immigration. america's top diplomat announces more than $400 million of aid for gaza. in the past few minutes, a senior hamas official has confirmed that it bbc it has submitted its response to a cease—fire deal. hunter biden is found guilty of three felony gun charges in the first criminal conviction of a child of a sitting us president. a portrait of the king is targeted by animal rights protesters just one month after being hung at a gallery in london. around 2 million british ex—pats are getting their boat back onjuly four. in the past, any uk citizen who lived abroad for more than 15 years was not as you but to participate, but the rules have been change. 0ur european respondent nick beake provided.