germany's chancellor says his government is investigating an apparent russian intercept of military officers discussing details about the conflict in ukraine. olaf scholz, who's been meeting the pope at the vatican, called it a very serious matter. and tonight is one of the biggest nights in british music — the brit awards — which recognises the best pop music of the year. head online to find all our latest coverage. now on bbc news, it is sports day. hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm gavin ramjaun. starting as he means to go on, defending champion max verstappen opens the f1 season with a win in bahrain.

liverpool leave it late — very late — against nottingham forest to take all three points and extend their lead at the top. in the women's super league — everton score a cracker against manchester city. also coming up on sportsday... we'll have all the latest at the world athletics indoor championships as home favouritejemma reekie makes it through to the 800m final. hello there, and welcome along to the programme. a day of drama in the football to come but we start with formula one, and the season opening bahrain grand prix. with all the drama off the track for red bull, the team and defending champion max verstappen picked up where they left off last season, verstappen leading his team—mate in a dominant win. our correspondent

laura scott reports. if there is one person keen to get a grip on the narrative, it is christian horner. having spent weeks denying allegations of inappropriate behaviour, he arrived for the first race flanked by his wife and former spice girl geri horner. a display of unity in the desert amid the drama. it is lights out and away we go! who better to diffuse the heat surrounding red bull than the cool—headed max verstappen? a slick start kept the world champion in front and his rivals were soon nowhere to be seen. hope for lewis hamilton soon fell flat courtesy of a battery issue, and then this. grabbing the bull by the horns, max verstappen made it into a procession. his team—mate sergio perez the nearest challenger, some 20 seconds behind.

picking up where he lost left off last year, he was focused, fast and first. a 1—2 for the team, much to christian horner�*s delight. thank you very much. red bull starting the season with a bang, bringing the team together, but the turbulence off the track continues. laura scott, bbc news. so, the perfect start to the season for max verstappen. here's what he had to say a little earlier. unbelievable. i think today went even better than expected, i think the car was really nice to drive on every compound, and i think we had a lot of pace and it was super enjoyable to drive today. we stayed out of trouble and a great start to the year. it could not have been better. a huge win for max verstappen today. to the premier league now, and several late goals which proved the difference, which was very much the case at the city ground, as liverpool scored a winner deep into stoppage against nottingham forest to pull four points clear at the top of the table. it looked as though it would end goalless, but in the ninth minute of added time at the end of the match, darwin nunez, on as a substitute forjurgen klopp�*s side,

headed home from an alexis mac allister ball back into the box, when the reds were throwing everything at the forest goal in search of the winner. and they got it, much to the delight of the manager, with a bit of breathing room now between his side and their rivals. forest remain a place above the bottom three. to get through with the points tally was, for us, a big fight. it never was easy, it never came easy to us. you could be 2—0 up after 20 minutes and we have not had that for a while. it's really tough. we don't wave the white flag. we will fight, we will keep fighting and let's see. more drama for everton today, in the news this week after having their points deduction reduced. but two stoppage time west ham goals ruined their day at goodison park. everton took the lead thanks to beto, who'd earlier missed a penalty. the hammers fought back, though — kurt zouma equalised. tomas soucek then scored a second for them, with edson alvarez completing

the win for west ham, who move up to seventh with their second victory in a row. the boys showed great resilience, stuck at it and maybe a few things went for us today which have not gone in the last 6—8 weeks. people getting sent off and penalty kicks, so quite a few things that have not gone our way. today the goalkeeper makes a great save from the penalty and we scored, thomas scored a brilliant goal and the third one is a counter attack. well done to the lads, they did a brilliantjob today. late goals at tottenham too, ange postecoglou's side coming from behind to beat crystal palace in north london. son heung min capped off the 3—1win, which moved them closer to fourth place at the time. christian romero and timo werner with the other goals for spurs. it's palace manager oliver glasner's first defeat in charge of the side, they stay 14th. chelsea scored late on to pick up a point against london rivals brentford, with a 2—2 draw in their first

premier league game since losing the carabao cup final. axel disasi's header from a cole palmer corner was enough to rescue a point for the visitors, who found themselves behind after a wonderful acrobatic effort from yoane wissa. chelsea remain in the bottom half of the table with brentford moving back up into 15th. in the last few moments, aston villa have beaten luton to strengthen their hopes of a top four finish. villa took the lead early on through this header from ollie watkins, before the england striker then added a second before the break. they looked to be cruising but luton fought back, carlton morris got the equaliser to set up a grand stand finish. but in the dying moments, lucas digne�*s header sealed a huge win for unai emery�*s side, who are now five points clear of spurs in fifth. luton stay in the bottom three. confirmation of those results, then. in the other games, a big win for newcastle united against wolves, who put their recent wobble

to one side. goals from alexander isak, anthony gordon and tino livramento. and fulham are among the goals, too, with a comfortable 3—0 win over brighton. they're 12th, but nowjust a point behind chelsea. in the championship, a shock result as leaders leicester lost 2—1 at home to qpr, while ipswich have jumped into second place above leeds, who failed beat io—man huddersfield in the lunchtime game. the terriers had taken the lead, michal helik poking home from close range. however, a second yellow for captain jonathan hogg gave leeds the chance to capitalise. and they did, just past the hour mark, danieljames involved in the build—up. it was patrick bamford who slid in to rescue a point in a west yorkshire derby, huddersfield drop to 21st. meanwhile, southampton left it late, scoring in injury time to beat birmingham 4—3 in an extraordinary game. norwich closed the gap on the play—off spaces, beating sunderland, as hull dropped points. ipswich capitalised on leeds�* draw to move within three points

of leaders leicester. stoke, meanwhile, beat middlesbrough 2—0 but stay in the relegation places as a result of qpr's win at leicester. wins also for millwall, sheffield wednesday and swansea. manchester city have moved clear at the top of the women's super league. they maintained their push for the title with a 2—1 home win over everton. their rivals chelsea and arsenal play tomorrow. nick parrott reports. it was the victory that mattered most to manchester city, but in the wsl title race, goal difference could ultimately be the difference. the last time these sides met, manchester city won 4—1. when the toffees put themselves in a sticky situation, there was only going to be one outcome. there were heroics from courtney brosnan, pulling off several saves. she was perhaps fortunate to stay on the pitch after the referee

missed her hitting the ball with her hand outside the area. on the one occasion city really slipped up, everton failed to punish them. lauren hemp doubled the hosts�* advantage after the second half and few would expect a comeback from everton. a spectacular goal arrived a few minutes later but they could not build on the wonder strike, instead relying on the brilliance of brosnan to keep the scoreline respectable. city are now three points clear at the top of the league until at least sunday afternoon, but if chelsea beat leicester by two clear goals, they will return to the top spot. another twist in the scottish premiership this afternoon, as rangers were beaten at ibrox by motherwell, which brings to an end their ii—game winning streak and opens the door for rivals celtic to leapfrog them at the top of the table tomorrow. dan casey got the winner in motherwell�*s 2—1 victory. rangers remain two points clear for now.

in other games, dundee drew 2—2 with kilmarnock, hibs beat second from bottom ross county 2—0. st mirren are up to fourth after beating aberdeen 2—1. football's lawmakers have ruled out the implementation so called �*blue cards�* as part of a sin—bin trial for players in elite leagues. but the international football association board have agreed to measures which they hope will help improve player behaviour. our reporter simon stone has more. football's rule makers, ifab, did agree some trials at their meeting in this magnificent hotel behind me. they agreed that in certain circumstances, only the captains could approach referees, they agreed on cooling off periods where if there has been a confrontation, both sides must go back to the edge of their own penalty areas, and they also agreed an eight—second rule for goalkeepers to hold the ball.

all these trials can come in at the third tier and below if leagues apply for them. what they did not agree was the implementation of blue cards for sin bins or to extend the trial for the sin bins themselves. nevertheless, ifab insist the welfare of referees is one of their major priorities. the problem affects 90% plus of our game. we cannot get enough match officials in and cannot keep them and playing grassroots football, you see it all the time. the behaviour is not good, it is a cancer in our game as we said last year. we were really determined to come up with a range of solutions to improve the behaviour at grassroots level. ifab also confirmed the trial over referees announcing var decisions in the stadium will continue into the olympics this year and they also confirmed

that permanent concussion substitutes was now in law and could be implemented anywhere. temporary concussion substitutes remain under review, but there is no plan to bring them in just yet. let's have a quick look at some of the other stories making the headlines today. rory mcilroy is competing in the third round at the cognizant classic in florida. he's currently —7 through nine holes, which is four shots off the lead. two—time tour de france champion taday pogarcher has won the prestigious strade bianchi one—day race in italy for the second time in his career. the slovenian took the lead with 50 miles to go and rode alone for two hours before crossing the finish line in siena. britain's tom pidcock, who won last year, finished fourth. the women's race was decided in the last 500 metres, when world champion lotte kopecky surged past italian champion elisa longo borghini. belgium's kopecky went on to claim her second victory in the race having also won

two years ago. cheltenham gold cup—winning trainer mark bradstock has died at the age of 66 after a long illness. bradstock also won the 2011 hennessy gold cup with carruthers and the 2018 bet365 gold cup with step back. josh kerr and laura muir are bidding to win gold in front of a home crowd at the world athletics indoor championships tonight. they both go in the 3000 metre finals after 8pm and you can follow all the action on bbc two. earlier, great britain's jemma reekie made it through to sunday's 800m final and the american grant holloway showed his dominance in the 60m hurdles. in the past few minutes, he's just ran fastest in the semi—finals. jeanette kwakye has more from glasgow.

day two of the world athletics indoor championships, and they have been going over the hurdles. holloway has not been beaten in the past ten years and it is his to lose. he has underlined his ranking as the favourite coming into this, looking extremely strong and good to see david king going through to the next round. the supremacy of grant holloway, you canjust admire. i asked him what is the motivation, because it is difficult to know you are so far ahead of the competition, but he still wants to win. many will be looking at a world record maybe? maybe, he has shown it, so he's having fun with it, it is his stage and he has the space to perform on it. we must speak aboutjemma reekie, supreme in her running. it was great, two great races, really and gave us a lot of information to mull over and build for a really exciting final.

she will not have it all her way, and even the other racer who led the rest of the race, that is really hard to do. it does not always pay off, but she could still go through to the final. there are huge challenges as well, but she is showing she is running well, can respond and race in different ways and, most importantly, she believes in herself. the reigning olympic and world long jump champion, miltiadis tentoglou, has threatened to quit the discipline if the sport implements a rule change to eliminate foul jumps. tentoglou earlier today added the world indoor title to his collection in glasgow. the amendment proposed by world athletics involves introducing a take—off zone to make it more appealing to fans. something the champion is very against. the jump itself is very easy. the hard part is the run up. i guarantee not many people see it. they want to remove this and after this, lots of people will say it is the easiest event

and lots of people will be able to do it. my second comment is that if that happens, i will not do long jump any more. molly caudery is currently going for gold right now in the pole vault final. she's in great form — just last month she recorded a jump of 4.85m at the uk indoor championships, and will be one of the favourites to win gold this evening. i love being a pole vaulter because i love the terrifying aspect of it. i love the adrenaline rush, the feeling like you are flying. i got into athletics when i was about ten years old, i went to my local track, i was a full—time gymnast until then and then went into athletics and tried all different events and filtered into pole vault and that became my favourite. the setup at home in cornwall is quite basic, there is a track and there's no indoorfacility

for three hours. it was cold, it was raining, you just get on with it. in both my commonwealth games experiences, they are my favourite memories. as an 18—year—old it was so overwhelming but so much fun and that will definitely be my favourite memory ever. three perfect jumps! ijust remember the sound and pride that came with it. last night, i had a dream i came third and i woke up and thought it was a dream, and now i am here and i came second! there is no doubt every athlete will have an injury in their career and being that age i am, i have been unlucky so far. i was in the gym at home and i actually chopped

my finger off, nearly 90% through. it took me three surgeries and set me back three months. i have down days but stay positive and have so much visualisation. when i wasn'tjumping, i was still staying in touch with it all. last year, i was injured all the way through until may, so i did not have much of a winter's season training, so to make the world team is amazing for me. i had no expectations going into it. to stay in the competition... you can see what that means to her! and then came fifth, beyond what i would have expected. my life has changed a lot since then for the better and i don't really have the words to describe how i am feeling at the moment. i have not had any injuries this winter and that has allowed me to really gain some consistency in training and build week by week, block by block and that's allowed me to get where i am. going into the british championships last week, i was technically

the favourite and i felt a lot of pressure but that made me jump as high as i did and i thrive off that kind of pressure. i would just love to carry on my consistency. i havejumped 83, 84 and 86 this year and if i can carry this into worlds, that could be where the medals are at. we will see. there are just six months to go to until the paralympics, and one of great britain's medal hopefuls is swimmer suzanna hext from cornwall. suzanna was paralysed from the waist down in 2012, and watched the london games from her hospital bed. she was inspired, and that helped her overcome many more challenges, including completely losing her hearing. thanks to her dog, kimmy, things have dramatically improved. our reporter damian derrick went to meet them. kimmy has completely transformed my life. i feel like a different person now. i am less anxious, i feel less

isolated, less vulnerable. these two have become inseparable over the past year — wherever you find suze, kimmy is sure to be there providing practical and emotional support. she is like my little shadow. when we are together, we are a little partnership, a little team. this is no better demonstrated than at home. suze has had cochlear implants for more than two years but needs time without them. when you are deaf, it can be over stimulating, it can be sensory overload and people do not understand that and it can be really hard and exhausting. so i like that time in my bubble. i can do that now.

door bell rings. it means she can actually relax as kimmy is there to alert her to the door bell and a variety of alarms. her health issues have often affected her in competition, like tokyo 2020, where she had to pull out afterjust two races. but the world championships last year boosted her confidence and made her even more determined to get to paris this summer. all the emotions under the sun there. the last however many years of setbacks, complications, everyone standing by me to get to that point, that thought of being in paris and being able to replicate that is incredible it would be amazing. a dream come true. suze has learned that managing her health will continue to be a roller—coaster ride, but one thing she can be sure of, if that dream does come true, kimmy will be by her side. a wonderful story there. glasgow warriors beat benneton 19—9 to go top of the united rugby championship.

there was only six points in it heading into the final ten, before this crucial try from tom jordan settled it. warriors are a point clear of leinster, who are in action against cardiff. elsewhere, connacht beat scarlets 26—10. leeds rhinos made it two home super league wins out of two as they got past catalans dragons at headingley. the game was poised at 10—10 heading into the final 15 minutes, before ash handley�*s second try of the match sealed the win by 18—10. the rhinos move up to sixth win the win. ——with the win. at the end of every football season, hundreds of professional players are out of contract looking for new clubs. the majority find new deals, but for those who don't, it can be extremely tough as they try to find work. james burridge has spoken to several players about life as a forgotten footballer. there isjust a long period of uncertainty. if anybody says they are not worried or upset about it, they are not

being honest with you. it is a tough subject. last summer, michael kelly was celebrating at wembley having just won promotion with carlisle. the next day his manager sat him down in the team hotel to say his contract was not being renewed. he was one of hundreds of players in the football league now looking for a new club. it is very difficult to keep going when you have one bad day, and it can quickly spiral into two or three bad days and you are thinking, why do i bother? liam moore spent nearly 19 months without a game and suffered a seriously injury, then his contract ran out at reading. he finally signed at northampton this month. trying to get a job after being out for so long is a high—risk for any club, so it took longer than i would've hoped. it was emotional or myself and i remember the manager asked me after the game how it felt and it was a whirlwind.

you picture coming on the pitch but you cannot picture the emotions on the day. it was a big step, just crossing the line. his team—mate has got used to the scrap for a contract. after five months without a club, he joined the cobblers in october. you are searching for that want or purpose, and that is a big thing, you lose the sense of being a footballer, which is all you have ever known. you are waiting for that phone call. that is the hardest part. you can take an honest no, but when you do not get a reply from someone you thought you were quite close with or thought might take a chance on you, it is the hardest part. the professional footballers association run an out—of—contract training camp every summer to help players maintain their physical and mental fitness. michael kelly attended and was eventually signed by mk dons. the biggest disservice i could have done to myself is give up, walk away, just think, it is not worth it, it is not worth my time.

it clearly was. i'm back at a football club enjoying myself, playing games. it has helped me in football, when you spend so long out of the game and you come to appreciate life at home a bit more. i used to get so worked up if i made mistakes but now it is almost, it has helped me so much in keeping me level—headed. i make a mistake and it goes out of my mind straightaway and i'm straight back into the game. for this to happen and for these months to go by without getting what i want has taught me more patience, more meaning in life if you want to go deeper in terms of football not being everything. life has gone on without a club and i have been fine, i have my kids and my family, so that side has been good for me. stepping back into the game now, it makes me see the game in a different light.

that's all the sport for now. a reminder of our top story — max verstappen has made the perfect start to the new formula 1 season with a comfortable win at the bahrain grand prix. and liverpool have extended their lead at the top of the table after what could prove to be a crucial stoppage time goal against nottingham forst. more on the website — bbc.co.uk hello. it's been quite a cold day, hasn't it? a lot of cloud, frequent showers. we had that snow earlier on across parts of england and wales, but the skies are starting to clear across some parts of the country. a touch of frost on the way, some fog, too, but showers never too far away in northern england and scotland. let's start with the air mass saturday evening — the blue colours indicating the relatively cold air

over us and that will be in place in the short term. if we look at the satellite picture, the recent snapshot here, these rugged, swirling cloud structures across england and wales. same in scotland, too — these are shower clouds. but in between these gaps in the clouds will become bigger through the course of this evening. but look at that, 9pm, two degrees in some spots in the midlands. still some wet weather around merseyside southern scotland. but notice this persistent rain moving into central and eastern scotland. a bit of snow across the mountains there. but to the south of that, those skies clearing and the temperatures early on sunday morning, even in some city centres as far south as the south coast of england, could be around freezing or below. so certainly a chilly start to sunday on the way. now, here's the weather map for sunday. weather fronts in the north sea and generally to the north of scotland. and there's another one coming our way, but we're sort of in between weather systems. that also implies it's going to be a slightly brighter day on sunday. remember, a chilly start, a frost in places, but a fog, too. and then through the day, generally bright or sunny skies,

i think out towards the south and the west, perhaps a bit more cloud around east anglia, the southeast, maybe the lincolnshire coastline with that weather front close by. but overall a brighter day for most of us. and, as a result, it's going to feel a little bit, let's say, less cold. now, into monday morning, another weather front moves into south western and western parts of the uk. it also moves across ireland here, some rain, strengthening winds, too, but it tends to kind of stall out towards the west during the day. so that does mean that many central and eastern areas — certainly eastern scotland — should have a bright, if not sunny day, for example, around aberdeenshire. how about the outlook for the week ahead? a bit of a mixed bag, but the temperatures holding around double figures, i think, across most parts of the uk. that's it. bye.

live from london, this is bbc news. us military planes have begun dropping aid into gaza after president biden pledged to do so on friday. the un says many of the people injured in an aid convoy rush in gaza on thursday were wounded by gun shots. germany's chancellor says his government is investigating an apparent russian intercept of military officers discussing details about the conflict in ukraine. and tonight is one of the biggest nights in british music — the brit awards — which recognise

the best pop music of the year. hello, i'm samantha simmonds. we begin with the conflict in gaza where the us military has carried out it's first air—drop of food aid amid a growing humanitarian crisis in the territory following months of war. thousands of meals have been parachuted in by three military planes. it follows a pledge on friday by president biden to do so. us vice president kamala harris will meet with israeli war cabinet member benny gantz at the white house on monday as washington seeks to reach a deal for a temporary ceasefire and increase the flow of aid to gaza. a us official said today the framework for a deal that would establish a six—week ceasefire in gaza is in place with israel's agreement and depends on hamas agreeing to release hostages. but the violence continues. at least 13 palestinians, including a medic, are reported

to have been killed by an israeli air strike near a hospital in rafah.