the office of the prince of wales has insisted that all rules were followed when the prince's charitable fund took a donation of a millon pounds from the bin laden family of saudi arabia two years after osama bin laden was killed. the chair of the public inquiry investigating a major post office scandal has called for the process of compensation for victims to be sped up. more than 600 subpostmasters were given criminal convictions when a faulty it system made it look like money was missing from their branches. 81 people have now had their convictions quashed. our consumer affairs correspondent colletta smith reports. delight at the court of appeal as the record is set straight. after all this time, now the weight has been lifted. but this court victory isn't the end of the road. the post office took hundreds of thousands of pounds from sub—postmasters like richard to cover what looked like shortfalls at branches, leaving people financially ruined. imprisoned while pregnant, seema lost her home too. she has been cleared for a year but hasn't got a settlement from the post office yet. no money can replace what damage has been done by the post office to us. but at least we would be able to have a life together back home, where we are supposed to be. sharon was a sub—postmaster in sunderland, accused of theft by the post office and only survived thanks to money from herfamily. i want my life back, i want to be able to walk about and hold my head up and and say, i got compensation because they did me wrong. what does the post office feel about that? the chair of the public inquiry into this scandal was so concerned about slow progress around compensation that he held the post office's feet to the fire in a special hearing. the post office have been forced to admit to this inquiry that they hadn't expected thousands of applications for compensation, that they did not have enough staff processing the claims, that they have just been dealing with simple refunds first and that hundreds of victims have not yet received an initial offer of compensation. they have supported... the pressure from the inquiry seemed to be working. in parliament, there was good news for 500 sub—postmasters who have been excluded from full compensation. postmasters will be contacted in the coming weeks to submit an application, after which we aim to distribute the funds within a few weeks of receiving that application. but since the cabinet reshuffle, a few weeks ago, there is now a new minister in charge. jane hunt says she is keen to press on but refused an interview with me about the issue of compensation. in what has now become a scandal within a scandal, victims are running out of money and time, as the rather complicated compensation process grinds slowly on. colletta smith, bbc news. now on bbc news, take me to the opera. zeinab badawi heads to la scala in milan, one of the world's most prestigious opera houses. i've been an opera fan for decades, and i want to share my passion with you. so i'm on a mission to find out how opera is making itself fit for the future. this time i'm meeting some of the top creatives who make sure that the magic happens so that the big stars can shine so brightly on the night. i feel it really like a pilot. i mean, we are ready. the plane is fine. we have checked everything we could check. we take off, but then anything can happen. la scala in milan is one of the greatest opera houses and a firm favourite here is the thrilling bulgarian soprano sonya yoncheva. i think it's a special moment where instrumentalists and voice are collaborating in a way that they inspire each other. everyone likes sonya. she's a gorgeous voice, first of all, she's a very good musician. the art of putting together an opera and how it's being reimagined in the 21st century. let me take you to the opera. voices chatter sitting in the audience at la scala in milan waiting for the curtain to go up is an experience that always excites me. and the reason why is that for me, opera is a complete art form. there's great singing, of course, but also music skills, acting, movement and even sometimes dance. and the artistic and technical teams working behind the scenes to deliver amazing sets, costumes, make—up and wigs, well, the listjust goes on and on. la gioconda was written in the 1870s by italian composer ponchielli. it means "the happy woman." but in fact, it's a tragic story of a young heroine in 17th century it means "the happy woman." but in fact, it's a tragic story of a young heroine in 17th century venice who sacrifices her life to save her true love, the sea captain, enzo. dominique mayer runs la scala. he says it's important to take a gamble with an opera like la gioconda. i think, first of all, it's very difficult to find the right performance to do it. and of course, it's also maybe more difficult to sell out because people like very well—known operas. but ourjob is also to bring unknown operas or less known operas into the theatres. of course, it's a great help to have a great star. but first of all, we are looking for the right performer. this is not very easy. so if on top of that, if the singer is a great star, it helps, of course. but we need the complete package. of course, the casting is vital, but getting the set and staging right for la gioconda is an immense challenge. there are 175 performers on stage, including ballet dancers. the plot involves scenes in sumptuous palaces, a colourful carnival and a ship in flames, all of which provide plenty of scope for ambitious and cutting edge design and technology. i've come to la scala's workshop, not far from the theatre, to see the network of teams involved in putting together a traditional opera such as la gioconda. to start off, the backdrop to any opera is quite literally the stage set, and this set for la gioconda is a kind of transparent backdrop, so you can have the action both in front and behind it. the sets for this performance were created at la scala's workshop. sergio mariotti is the chief stage designer. he knows what kind of audience reaction he wants his team to deliver. davide livermore is director of la gioconda. how do you go about staging a complex opera such as la gioconda? i want to create a relation with the score. i am alone with the score and i want to create in my mind the way to tell the story. and then i share every information with my crew. i want a crew, a personal crew around me for certain custom and dance and light designer. i work with my costume designer, with my set designer, with lighting and video and with them is a fantastic journey. the modern audience cannot understand the work that need for an incredible production because we have... he exhales. ..2,000 technicians around me on stage. i have a little town. students from the la scala academy have the opportunity to learn on the job from professionals like sergio, who is himself a graduate of the academy. lara, hi. i understand you're a student here working at the la scala workshop. yeah. for me, it's wonderful. and it's a great opportunity because i get to learn working at real productions. and this is my first time painting on a backdrop, and ifeel that i'm learning a lot here because i really get to create and paint and learn the techniques, and i'm glad that i'm working with this wonderful team. the la scala academy provides a more comprehensive training in singing, dancing and theatrical production than any other similar institution. the academy has existed in its present form since 2001, but its roots go back centuries. luisa vinci is its general manager. hi. he's quite a handsome devil. thank you. i've often heard it said that at the academy you teach the students in the la scala method. as well as the sets in an opera production, audiences love the costumes and these need to be made and fitted with incredible care. at the academy, i ask one of the students how long it takes to make a dress for a soprano. for my opinion, at least one month. one month? because it's basically all made by hand. it requires a lot of people, a lot of time, and we have to be super patient. it's extraordinary what difference a costume, make—up and headdress can make to a performer. this one is actually mostly made of pasta. it is italy, after all. once you put it on, you immediately get a sense of the character that you have to slot into. so i guess i'm now a valkyrie in wagner's opera. however, spending a fortune on lavish costumes and sets is incompatible with growing demands for environmentally sustainable practices. and this aspect of opera production offers great potential for change. when one constructs sets, one should be very careful and and know exactly what we will do once we don't use these sets any more. we will reduce co2 from about 52% in two years, so it's really possible. we are now planning a revolution. all opera houses are having to deal with the challenges of sustainability, as well as ensuring that audiences can enjoy the big spectacle they expect from a live performance. now, we must change every action and we can choose action that creates value with the sustainability and the theatre can tell, can — can communicate the importance of sustainability to our society. so, staging a traditional opera in the 21st century is complex, but opera is musical theatre. so, above all, the role of the musician, conductor and singer is of paramount importance. frederic chaslin is conducting the orchestra for la gioconda. if you visualize the stage from the point of view of the conductor, you have this big bar that is actually the stage and the orchestra is underneath — doesn't see what is on stage. the stage doesn't see what is underneath. and tries to connect them through, of course, his gestures. and that's where, actually, the conductor is absolutely indispensable. so, the singers are even more complicated than the orchestra because they have strong personalities and it's sometimes extremely difficult to guide them. we can feel the tensions coming and our role is actually to soothe this and to make the road clear. to find out more about how top singers and conductors work together, we catch up with the acclaimed bulgarian soprano sonya yoncheva. i think there's a special moment where instruments and voice are collaborating in a way that they inspire each other together. human voice is a natural instrument. sonya has a particularly close insight into working with conductors — she's married to one, venezuelan—born domingo hindoyan. here, they perform together in liverpool, in north west england, where domingo is music director of the royal liverpool philharmonic. for me, it was also very personal, you know, because i am his wife. so, i'm coming here to make not only music, but also somehow to present our family. i found it very sweet. to me, it reminds me the very first time we met, because we met on stage. i was singing and he was conducting me and that was the very first time i had a crush on him — and he on me, i suppose. of course, always so hard to find a date with her. it's just such, such a busy soprano. to see the chemistry between her and the orchestra, with sound, with colours, and then, we add the audience that was into it completely, it makes a special performance. she's a great musician so, for a conductor, it'sjust a pleasure because she has the right instincts in music. when sonya is in a full opera production, she shares the stage with a cast from across continents. and the cosmopolitan nature of her work extends to her personal life, too. well, first of all, the nationalities, bulgarian and venezuelan, is totally, you know, 12,000 miles away with some oriental—flavoured bulgarian has this slavic root. myself, i'm a son of a syrian—armenian mother with a turkish grandmother. it's quite complicated. it adds different flavours to our big mixed salad. and today, today we have two kids and they are really kind of the mirror of what we are. applause sonya believes that having children has had a big impact on her stage performances. i remember, for instance, doing madea, who is so angry at her husband that she kills basically her kids. and for me, not being a mother and performing this role, it was going to be harder to understand her. you know, i'm an actress on stage. clearly, being a great singer is not enough. you have to inhabit a character on stage. it's opening night for la gioconda and it'sjust under an hour before curtain is up, so i'm going to see if i can grab a quick word with some of the performers in tonight's opera. buona sera. a lot of people, a lot of arts are here. in one opera, we have the ballet, we have the, we have the chorus, we have the orchestra, we have all the soloists. this production is a very big production and it's very important to work together, everybody. for me, it's very important because when i say in this mode, i'm stefano. when i took this, i change totally and is and so i'm aldo. the love interest in la gioconda? yes. because for me, in my mind when i'm singing, i switch and much more concentration for understand all. and coming in the stage. the costume makes all the difference? yeah, all the difference. see, i mean, the level of this. house, it is absolutely top notch from the make—up department to the administration - to everybody from - the production — stage managers, orchestra, chorus. this house is like a family for me. it's almost 7:30pm and the audience are taking their seats and i get a sense that i'm in for a real treat tonight. chorus sings vigorously music reaches crescendo applause i really love la gioconda, despite its tragic plot. and judging by the applause, so too did the audience. but i wonder if they really appreciate all the work that goes into staging such an opera. i was thinking about who created all this. and with the glitter and the dresses and with the singing and the coordination, it seems to be so, such a huge work. i'm kind of a little bit of a technical person coming from a lot of technical backgrounds. so that definitely plays into enjoying the opera as well as the singers. yes, lots of talent. i'm sitting there thinking, - how are they even doing this? i don't know how they created these amazing sets. - so for sure, i think that's as much a part of it as the singing. - it's such an expression of emotion. and so it's the singing, it's the costumes, it's the passion. i can only imagine that it's years and years of training for everyone involved in the production, from the set designers to the folks behind the stage, making everything work perfectly. yes. much respect for all of it. i certainly have more insights into what it takes to stage an opera, and it's absolutely magical when it all comes together. applause next time... the superstar tenorjonas kaufmann tells me about his journey to global fame and how it's tough to stay at the top. hello. the rain that fell for some of us in the last couple of days ofjuly doesn't really change the fact that it was a very dry month for many parts of the uk, but especially down towards the south. so, what about the first week of august? well, this chart shows the rainfall we're expecting to accumulate over the coming days. the darker colours show where the wettest weather will be up to the north—west, the lighter colours suggesting that very little rain will fall in the south, where we really do need it. for monday morning, this ridge of high pressure in charge of our weather, so a mainly dry start to the week. one or two sharp showers from this cloud that'll be sitting in place across parts of eastern england. that should tend to clear. then, lots of sunshine, but then we see cloud rolling in from the west, bringing rain into northern ireland around lunchtime and then into south west scotland, west wales, far south west of england, across the isle of man, maybe into north west england later in the day. those are your afternoon temperatures. 18 or 19 for glasgow and belfast, 27 degrees in london. still some warmth and humidity around. for the commonwealth games in birmingham and the west midlands, some spells of sunshine, temperatures of 2a or 25 degrees. but as we go through monday night, we will see this area of cloud rolling its way eastwards with some outbreaks of rain — some quite heavy rain in places — particularly for north wales, north west england. a lot of mist and murk, some low cloud on what will be a very warm and muggy night, actually — 14—18 degrees as we begin tuesday morning. for tuesday, a lot of cloud and some rain around first thing. some particularly heavy bursts for northern england, wales, parts of the midlands and east anglia. precious little of that rain getting down into the south, where we really do need some. by the afternoon, signs of something a little brighter, although western coasts of wales, the south—west likely to stay cloudy and drizzly. a few showers in the north—west of scotland. quite a windy day — those are the average wind speeds, the gusts will be stronger than that — but that wind coming from quite a warm direction, still high levels of humidity — 23 for aberdeen, 27 for london. bit of a change, though, through tuesday night into wednesday as this cold front sinks its way south—eastwards. behind that, we change the wind direction, we get into north—westerly winds, and that will start to introduce cooler conditions — fresher conditions, too — across the uk by day and by night. it will turn mostly dry, aside from just a few showers. 17 in belfast by friday, 2a in london. welcome to bbc news — i'm david eades. our top stories: england's women footballers win their first ever major tournament — they beat germany 2—1 in the european championship final at wembley. chanting. cheering. it's the first major football title for any english national side, for nearly 60 years. it's like a moment in history. like, hopefully it's goign to bring massive change for girls and women in sport. absolutely brilliant. cannot believe it. 2—1, england, get in! in other news — us house speaker nancy pelosi
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