his comments come ahead of tonight s penultimate conservative hustings with rishi sunak and liz truss facing tory votes in norwich. gcse results are out today for pupils in england, wales and northern ireland the pass rate is down on last year but higher than it was before the pandemic. good afternoon. pressure is growing on the government to help households and businesses cope with soaring energy costs. a think tank has called for a universal 30% cut in bills and businesses want covid style emergency grants to help companies that are struggling. the upper limit of what suppliers can charge per unit of energy in england, scotland and wales the energy price cap is set to be announced tomorrow. less than a year ago, a typical annual home energy bill was about £1,200, it s now about £2,000 and it s forecast tomorrow to reach £3,500 per year, payable from this october. there are further increases expected in january. back in may, the government promised a £15 billion support
experiences its biggest ever outbreak of avian flu. good morning from birmingham, where england are celebrating a double diving gold one for the team s teenage star at her first commonwealth games and another for the most experienced diver retaining his title. it s friday the 5th of august. our main story. a hosepipe ban will come into force in parts of southern england later today, as recent extreme temperatures and a lack of rainfall continue to put pressure on waterways and water supplies. southern water said the move, which affects the isle of wight and parts of hampshire, was a vital step . other bans will follow later in the month in kent, sussex and parts of wales. zoe conway has this report. i ve actually used the hosepipe more. frances and john are neighbours, friends, and very keen gardeners. from today, people living here near alresford in hampshire will be banned from using a hosepipe in their gardens. frances, do you think people will follow the rules? absolut
as parts of europe face a drought, the first in a series of hosepipe bans is due to come into force across the south of england to try and tackle water shortages. the american conspiracy theorist alexjones has been ordered to pay more than $4 million in damages after losing a defamation case for falsely claiming the sandy hook shooting was a hoax. hello, and welcome if you re watching in the uk or around the world. in the uk, the governor of the bank of england has defended the decision to raise interest rates, saying there s a real risk of soaring prices becoming embedded . yesterday, the bank warned of a recession as it raised interest rates by the largest amount in 27 years. the uk economy is forecast to shrink in the last three months of this year, as the bank predicts a recession that will last well into next year. the bank says that sharp increases in energy prices will push inflation to more than 13% a 42 year high and that the value of people s incomes is falli