is just out of this world. like, itjust gives me a whole new sense of freedom and passion and achievement. go, go, go, go, go. i'm just happy again. she wants people to know there's always hope. itjust took a unique friendship for her to see it. did he save you, do you think? yeah, ido. and if anything ever happened to him, it'd just break my heart because i look at him and think, you gave me my life back. you literally give me me back. natalie perks, bbc news, halifax. time for a look at the weather. here's louise lear. we really don't know where we are from one day to the next. it was cold and frosty this morning, can you believe it, this is the lake district where temperatures got down

as low as minus four degrees. white spread cold out to the west under the clear skies. it's all coming to an end because we've got quite a lot of cloud and rain arriving as we speak so a bit of a north—south divide with the weather story this afternoon. you can see the cloud piling on across scotland bringing outbreaks of rain. somewhat erratically moving its way out of scotland into northern england and across north wales. clouding over a cross england and wales. we might continue to see some late afternoon sunshine across east anglia and the south—east and here temperatures could peak at 15 celsius but cooler and disappointing elsewhere. through this evening and overnight the rain will think its way steadily southwards. it's going to bring a blanket of cloud through the night as well. clear skies into scotland and northern england, with a brisk wind and a few scattered showers, so here, a chillier start but further south all completely different first thing tomorrow morning. a lot of cloud. it will be a dull, drab, dreary start to friday morning, slowly brightening up into the

afternoon with sunny spells, a few scattered showers and a brisk north—west wind. in fact, gusting to 40 north—west wind. in fact, gusting to a0 miles an hour in eastern scotland. that will take the edge off the feel of things once again particularly in eastern scotland. 0nly highs of 8 degrees. but with a little shelter to the south—west we should see if we are lucky 1a—15. into the weekend, location, location, location is important. further west you will have the sunshine, you could have highs of 17 degrees but in the east the wind direction bringing in a lot of cloud, a call feel to the story. high pressure with the scent of the weekend. there will be a lot of dry weather around but the wind direction once again is playing its part. this north—easterly driving in this cool air from scandinavia across the cold north sea, so here it could be cold and cloudy for some and you can see that on saturday, the cloud filtering in from the east. furtherwest, the cloud filtering in from the east. further west, with some brightness, we will be chasing cloud

amounts around i suspect on saturday, but by the time we get into sunday there will be a west— east divide. cloudy, cooler, with temperatures struggling a little at the east but further west we will see more in the way of sunshine and we could possibly see a high of 17 degrees in northern ireland, something to look forward to. thanks, louise. and that's bbc news at one. now it's time to join our colleagues for the news where you are. have a hello and welcome to sportsday. no more replays — from next season, fa cup games from the first round proper onwards will be decided on the day. the ecb's major restructure to women's cricket — eight counties will host professional women's teams from 2025.

and as the first round of the world snooker championship is drawn, does the crucible have a future as host of the event? the as host of the event? sport needs to grow and evoi so the sport needs to grow and evolve, so unless the crucible can hold more people, it is inevitable that it moves. welcome to the programme. let's start with the big news from the last couple of hours, that fa cup replays will bescrapped from next season. from the first round proper onwards, all ties will be decided in one leg, as part of an agreement between the football association and the premier league. joining me now for more on this story is our correspondent laura scott.

what more can you tell us? it is not exactly a huge shock, this is a long anticipated change to the fa cup structure, but it is nonetheless controversial. it depends who you ask how they will view this change. this is part of a six—year deal that the fa have signed with the premier league, the fa claim it will strengthen the competition. the premier league have given more money to the grassroots game. but the main changes that we have seen today are the fact that they will be no replays throughout the competition and also that the games will be played on weekends only. we will now seem more exclusive weekends set aside for the fa cup, we know that the final one now be on the penultimate weekend of the premier league season. there will be no clashes with premier league fixtures from the fourth round, fifth round and quarterfinals. there will be more money trickling down the game

but nonetheless for non—league clubs, the likes of newport county who played spares nav claim 2018, this will deny them what has been a lucrative side of the fa cup. i may have been able to house these replays are go—to the big premier league clubs, they have benefited hugely from matchday revenue and tv revenue. we are told there will be any increase in put facilities fees, the tv fees when games are moved away from the cpm kick—off, but nonetheless depending on who you ask, for many some of the magic of the fa cup will be lost because of this overhaul.— from domestic to european football now. it was a disappointing night in the champions league for english teams last night, but there are opportunities ahead tonight, albeit tough ones, in the europa league this evening. we'll start with liverpool, who face a seemingly impossible task of coming back from three goals down away to atalanta, but manager jurgen klopp hasn't completely written off their chances of progression yet.

a lot of minutes we had last week, really good moments, unlucky but they were completely deserved, a really good game, played externally well. so that is it now, let's start with a much better performance. let's try to win the game and we will see how much time is left in the end, that's all. west ham could be boosted by a returning jarrod bowen, as they aim to turn around a 2—0 deficit when they welcome german champions bayer leverkusen to the london stadium. david moyes wants his team to remain calm in the second leg. you have to say we went to leverkuesen and we got to the 83rd minute, before they scored the first goal, we have to have that patients

and trying to find a way of winning the game or certainly get ourselves back a couple of games —— goals in front. we will try and do a khan do everything we can, but also we need to be careful, manful how we do it. —— mindful. aston villa kick things off this evening, away at lille — it gets under way at 5.a5. should they progress, they'll face the winners of 0lympiacos and fenerbache. stay across all of tonight's games on the bbc sport website. the england and wales cricket board has announced eight counties that will host professional women's teams as part of a major restructure of the domestic game from 2025. the plans will see the creation of a three—tiered domestic competition structure which the ecb says could lead to an 80% increase in professional women's players in england and wales by 2029. jane dougall has been across this story and joins me now.

this is been seen as something of a new era in women's cricket add et al. starts next summer. eight counties selected for tier 1. durham, essex, hampshire, lancashire, nottinghamshire, somerset, surrey and warwickshire. two more will be added in 2027 and a further two in 2029, ultimately there will be three tiers with 12 teams at the top, no room for promotion relegation in the first three years. most importantly, the £8 million of new funding every year by 2027. the whole point of the restructure is to aim for an 80% increase in professional female cricketers by 2029. big commitment and big ambitions for the growth of the game. some counties disappointed at not being selected? all 18 first—class counties and the mcc were invited to tender,

yorkshire were not successful, however along with glamorgan, they willjoin tier1 and 2027 and be given funding to help promote their pathways as well. despite that, they said they were surprised and disappointed that they issued a strong statement saying... yorkshire has a rich ethnicity makes it as part of our ongoing work to be the most welcoming and inclusive club in the country. we use women girls cricket as the cornerstone, we believe we hit all of the criteria set out. that has raised a few eyebrows. yorkshire cricket club has been accused of not being inclusive in the recent past, in fact they admitted four charges of racism last year following allegations from former spinner as heathrow seek. that involve the men's game and the club have since taken steps to address those issues, there is no suggestion that is why they were not given the initial tier1 status, but some have expressed surprise at such a robust response.

some have expressed surprise at such a robust response-_ snooker now, and the draw is out for the first round of the world championship, which gets under way on saturday, with live coverage across the bbc. ronnie 0'sullivan will play jackson page in the first round as he bids for a record eighth title in the modern era. the draw in full is on the bbc sport website. earlier, world number three mark allen spoke to 5 live about the event, traditionally held at the crucible in sheffield, and admitted the tournament may have to move from the venue. i'm a i'm a traditionalist and that i love the game and i know the history of it, but times change and the sport needs to grow and evolve, so unless the crucible can find a way to hold more people, it is inevitable that it moves. i am not one to be pushing for that, it moves. i am not one to be pushing forthat, i it moves. i am not one to be pushing for that, i love the crucible and its atmosphere, a lot of history attached, but it might need to move away from the crucible, a sad statement. away from the crucible, a sad statement-—

away from the crucible, a sad statement._ i | away from the crucible, a sad - statement._ i hope statement. stay in the uk? i hope so, it hope — statement. stay in the uk? i hope so, it hope it _ statement. stay in the uk? i hope so, it hope it will, _ statement. stay in the uk? i hope so, it hope it will, uk _ statement. stay in the uk? i hope so, it hope it will, uk snooker- statement. stay in the uk? i hope so, it hope it will, uk snooker in l so, it hope it will, uk snooker in general has been amassing part of the history of the sport so i don't want it to move to far. —— been massive part. british number one cameron norrie is through to the quarterfinals of the barcelona 0pen after beating spain's roberto bautista agut in straight sets. norrie took the first set by six games to four before two early breaks at the start of the second set put him on the way to victory. the brit will face argentina's tomas martin etcheverry in the last eight after he beat brandon nakashima by two sets to one. to the women's six nations now. ireland have made two changes for saturday's women's six nations game against england at twickenham. francesca mcghie will make her first start of this year's tournament for scotland in their game away to italy. that's one of four changes for bryan easson�*s side. all the team news is on the bbc sport website. a reminder of our top story here on sportsday — replays in the fa cup have been scrapped from the first

round proper next season. plenty more on that on the bbc sport website. but from me and the rest of the team at the bbc sport centre, goodbye. you're watching bbc news. i'm nicky schiller. let's get more on one of our top stories — the news that the conservative mp mark menzies has been suspended by the parliamentary party after claims he misused campaign funds. the times newspaper alleges he used local party funds to pay off this what he reportedly called "bad people" who had locked him in a flat. mr menzies "strongly" disputes the allegations. the conservative party was made aware of the allegations three months ago and says it's investigating. well the labour leader sir keir starmer says there are a lot of unanswered questions about the claims — he was speaking during a visit to middlesborough. here's what he had to say

on that and other issues. i am here at teesport taking the opportunity to talk to the workforce about the plans for this port. it is a deepwater port with a huge amount of space for business and huge potentialfor the future. and to talk through the plan for generational investment £1.8 billion into our ports, notjust to keep them going, to make them fit for the future, particularly the transition to clean power, which will bring with it securejobs in the past, in the surrounding areas, lower energy bills, energy security and that secure future that so many people know we need for our country. —— in the port. -- in the port. a question about mark menzies, _ -- in the port. a question about mark menzies, the _ -- in the port. a question about mark menzies, the reaction - -- in the port. a question about mark menzies, the reaction to l mark menzies, the reaction to developments on the conservative party front. the general reaction to

that and your reaction to the news that and your reaction to the news that tory chief whip has reportedly known about these allegations since january. known about these allegations since janua . ., ., , , known about these allegations since janua . ., ., ., january. there are obviously a lot of unanswered _ january. there are obviously a lot of unanswered questions - january. there are obviously a lot of unanswered questions in - january. there are obviously a lot i of unanswered questions in relation to these allegations. not least why it seems the conservative party took so long at and why they have —— whether they have reported it to the police. i will be honest, there is a degree of frustration as well, we're weeks away from important local and oral elections when there is a lot of positive arguments that we want to make about the change we could bring about in these elections, and yet again we are talking about this behaviour by tory mps. if ever you need it, evidence of why we need to turn the page on their shower and have a fresh start with labour, it is in these allegations coming out today. abs, is in these allegations coming out toda . �* , ., ., ., .,

is in these allegations coming out toda. ,., ., ., today. a question about one of your own colleagues, _ today. a question about one of your own colleagues, angela _ today. a question about one of your own colleagues, angela rayner, -