raye. hello, i'm lucy gray. we start this hour here in the uk, where party leaders are kicking off a weekend of campaigning around the country ahead of the general election on the 4th ofjuly. so far today, rishi sunak has been in the north of england, where he delivered his message to voters at a pub. it comes after the cabinet minister michael gove announced that he was joining a growing list of conservative mps who will be standing down at the election. meanwhile, the labour leader sir keir starmer has been out meeting voters in the west midlands, where he told voters that stabilising the economy would be a number one priority. let's speak to our political correspondent harry farley who is in the west midlands now. what has sir keir starmer been saying today? this what has sir keir starmer been saying today?— what has sir keir starmer been saying today? this is exactly the kind of seat _ saying today? this is exactly the kind of seat and _

saying today? this is exactly the kind of seat and area _ saying today? this is exactly the kind of seat and area that - saying today? this is exactly the | kind of seat and area that labour need to win back if they are going to win a majority in parliament on july the 4th. we are at stafford rangers football club. sir keir starmer making a habit of appearing at lower league football clubs and doing campaign visits in places like this. his message this morning was very much focused on the economy, labour arguing under the conservatives britain has gotten poorer. rishi sunak in yorkshire was making the case that his economic plan is working, he saying that the economy is turning a corner. the other news today is the number of mps deciding to step down and most prominent among them is michael gove, a long serving cabinet ministerfor the gove, a long serving cabinet minister for the conservatives, former education and justice secretary and the current levelling up secretary and the current levelling up and housing secretary. i asked sir keir starmerfor his response up and housing secretary. i asked sir keir starmer for his response to the number of mps, particularly conservative mps are stepping down

and primarily his response to michael gove's decision. michael gove is stepping down and i obviously wish him well. . do think— it's significant he is stepping down because i think he's got a reputation of delivering in government and when someone of his seniority and reputation effectively says that he doesn't have faith in what rishi sunak is putting forward in this election, it does beg the question, why should voters have faith in what rishi sunak is putting forward when his senior politicians don't have faith and are basically getting off the bus? it's worth saying that michael gove in his resignation letter made a point of praising rishi sunak and his chances at the upcoming general election. here in stafford, a bit of row developing about labour's plans for workers' rights, they have been rebranded this morning and say a new dealfor rebranded this morning and say a new deal for workers' rights, rebranded this morning and say a new

dealfor workers' rights, labour's deal for workers' rights, labour's plan dealfor workers' rights, labour's plan to make work pay. unite the union, one of the biggest unions and supporters of the labour party are not happy, they say it has more holes than a swiss cheese. i asked keir starmer and he denied there had been any watering down and said it was a key part of labour's plant to grow the economy. both parties very much focused on the economy, rishi sunak in yorkshire and keir starmer with me here in stafford at stafford rangers football club. the liberal democrats leader, sir ed davey, has been campaigning in chichester today. our correspondent aruna iyengar is there. ed davey has been out on a boat, this boat behind me, with the lib dems candidate called jess brown fuller, on a little boat trip around the harbour, highlighting the beauties of this area and this is a beautiful constituency for the lib dems because they are hoping to make

inroads here. it's going to be a tough task because the tories have a majority of 21,000. the incumbent at the moment is the education secretary gillian keegan so the lib dems really are going to have their work cut out to make inroads, but they have some things on their side — they did really well in local council elections last year, they control the district council and the city council of chichester. today, they will be launching their sewage policy, so it is kind of relevant that he has been out on the water. sir ed davey wants to bring home that liberal democrat message that they will be looking after waters, lakes, rivers, seas, they're concerned about clean water in the uk so they are launching their policy today, one plank of that policy will be to replace the water regulator 0fwat with a new oversight organisation which would involve local grassroots organisations such as environmental groups, which would be on the board of this regulator.

they also want to see water bosses' bonuses cut and feel that water bosses' bonuses should not happen if there are sewage outages, so that's just part of the lib dems' policy that they are outlining today in chichester. the prime minister rishi sunak has been campaigning in his constituency of north yorkshire. 0ur political correspondent jack fenwick has more. he's been talking to veterans in a pub. in truth, it's been a quieter day for the prime minister than the last few days, he had been sitting around the country but we are not expecting to hear any more from him today after this morning which was pretty low— key. he didn't address michael gove and others standing down. what we have heard from the conservatives today is more of a focus on the economy.

that comes after the influential think—tank, the institute for fiscal studies, said that the public finances are hanging over this campaign like a dark cloud. we have the chancellorjeremy hunt in an interview with the daily telegraph this morning saying he would be focusing on tax cuts for working people, cuts to national insurance top of the two he has already done. he also talked about tax cuts that would boost growth and tax cuts for people who earn between 100,000 and 125,000 a year. not so much on the conservatives are stepping down which i'm sure will be at the forefront of the prime minister and other conservatives' minds but lots more on the economy. to israel now, where the military has continued its attacks across gaza — including in the city of rafah — despite the un's top court ordering it to immediately stop its offensive there on friday. the european union's top diplomat says the bloc will have to make a choice between supporting israel, or international institutions and the rule of law.

josep borrell was speaking after the un's highest court ruled that israel had to halt its military offensive in response to a case brought by south africa. they've accused israel of violating the un genocide convention in gaza. israel has said no power on earth will stop it going after hamas. 0ur diplomatic correspondent paul adams is injerusalem. there's certainly no sign yet of a letup in israel's military campaign in the southern gaza strip. we've heard reports this morning of fresh air strikes in the rafah area. what we don't yet know is the situation on the ground. we know that israeli troops and armour are poised very close to the center of rafah, but they haven't yet gone into the centre of that built—up area. and we don't know exactly what the military�*s plans are. israel continues to say that the operation is limited. it highlights the fact that it has given civilians lots of opportunity to move out of harm's way. but the un's humanitarian affairs boss, martin griffiths, tweeted last night that there is nothing limited about this campaign.

he said, and i quote, "the ground incursion in rafah has displaced more than 800,000 people, fleeing once again in fear for their lives and arriving in areas without adequate shelter, latrines and clean water". so the un's view is that this is having a major impact on the civilian population of the southern gaza strip and one that is not being properly addressed from the point of view of aid and shelter and everything else that people need. of course, there is still the fear of what happens to the hundreds of thousands of people who are still in rafah, who have yet to flee, who have yet to be told to flee by the israelis. what happens to them if indeed a full—scale invasion of the city takes place? 0ne slight development on the aid situation last night following a call betweenjoe biden and the egyptian leader abdel fattah el—sisi. egypt has agreed to send trucks that were backed—up,

waiting to go into through the rafah crossing, which is closed has been for the last two or three weeks, egypt has agreed to send those trucks round to the kerem shalom crossing, that is the israeli crossing nearby that could help the flow of aid into the southern gaza strip, but it's a little early to know. a teenager has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a knife attack left one woman dead and another critically injured at a beach in bournemouth. with me is our correspondent chi chi izundu. what do we know so far? this is actually breaking news because in the last few minutes are 17—year—old from lancashire has been arrested on suspicion of murder. the incident happened last night, police were called to a just before 11:a5pm last night were sadly a 34—year—old woman was pronounced dead at the scene. herfamily have been told. a 38—year—old woman was taken to

hospital and her condition is being described as serious. police say the people in the area should expect to see an increased police presence over the next couple of days, they have actually opened up quite a large cord and about a mile long from the beach to bournemouth pier to conduct their investigation and say that people should expect the cording be to there for a while. it's the bank holiday weekend, whether for once is really lovely but people are turning people away from that portion of the beach to continue their investigation and they are still calling for any witnesses or anyone with any information to come forward. extreme temperatures are continuing to grip pakistan, with some parts of the country expected to reach 50 degrees celsius. punjab and sindh provinces are the worst affected. schools in punjab are closing a week early for the summer holidays, although exams will go ahead as planned. people have been told to avoid

direct sunlight and advised to stay indoors during the hottest times of the day. 0ur bbc urdu correspondent saher baloch has more. pakistan is in the middle of an intense heat wave with hundreds of heat stroke victims being treated in hospitals across the country. temperatures soared to 49 celsius this week in mohenjo daro, which is in the southern sindh province of pakistan. these temperatures are more than eight centigrade above may's average daytime temperature. authorities in punjab have been forced to close the schools for a week and are advising people to remain indoors and to remain hydrated at the same time. many labourers, however, have continued to work out of financial necessity and are out on the streets. these high may temperatures have followed the country's wettest april since 1961, with more than double the usual monthly rainfall. these wild changes in weather patterns have been attributed to human—made climate change, which has led to significant flooding and record breaking high

temperatures across the country, which has also caused devastation across the country in recent years. the high temperatures are forecast to continue through through this weekend and into next week with temperatures in the capital city of islamabad, for instance, expected to exceed a0 centigrade at the moment. now those high temperatures we've been hearing about in pakistand have extended into india too, where voting has begun in the sixth round of india's general election. people across the country are casting their votes, including in the capital, delhi. the six—week long campaign began in april with prime minister, narendra modi's ruling bjp party, looking to secure a third term in office. more than 111 million people in 58 constituencies across eight states and federal territories are eligible to vote in the sixth phase. the results are expected onjune 4th. now it's time for a look at today's

sport with paul scott. good afternoon. speculation about the future of manchester united manager erik ten hag is continuing, just hours ahead of his team's fa cup final against manchester city, with club legend peter schmeichel telling the bbc he would be "very surprised" if ten hag remains in charge, regardless of the outcome of today's match. united are refusing to comment, but in an interview with dutch media, ten hag says he's been given assurances that the club's rebuild under new co—owner sirjim ratcliffe will continue with him in charge. schmeichel wants the club to show more patience with their managers. without saying that i want erik ten hag to lose hisjob, i'd be very surprised if he is a manager next year, to be honest because the way they have been going about the first couple of months in charge, it very much points to they want a new and clean start and they wanted to be their project. i really hate the fact that manchester united has become a club that keeps a manager

for a short period of time then when things are not going in the right direction, you sack him. no such uncertainty at manchester city, with pep guardiola's side aiming to do the "double—double" — that's winning the league and fa cup twice in a row. they're strong favourites, but guardiola is wary of an upset. ina long in a long period, we have been better than in years, it's obvious. facts. every game, we are there. but in one game, everything can happen in one game, everything can happen in the players know it and feel it, and i hope we are ready to play the last game of the season and to try. the fa cup is wow, it's nice, the fa cup is the fa cup, that's why it deserves all our focus. it's also cup final day in scotland, with celtic and rangers meeting in the showpiece event for the first time in more than 20 years. celtic were unbeaten against rangers in theirfour premiership games this season. jane dougall is at hampden park.

the fans are starting to filter into hampden park ahead of the oldest competition in association football. this will be the 150th scottish cup final and for the first time in 22 years, the old firm, rangers and celtic, will be facing each other in this final. back in 2002, it was rangers who won the competition on that day but going into this match, celtic will probably be the favourites. they have already won the league title, although rangers did win the league cup earlier this season. there will be a 50—50 split of fans inside this stadium and that will be the first time for a long time because our way fans are currently not allowed at old firm matches. however, with half of the fans being celtic supporters and half of the fans being rangers supporters, that will make for an electric atmosphere at hampden park. there is nothing like an old firm rivalry. there will be some bitter

battles between these two teams but whatever happens, it will be a significant day in scottish football. bbc sport understands that vincent kompany has agreed a deal in principle to become the new bayern munich coach. the germany side moved for kompany after a series of rejections in their search for a successor to thomas tuchel. kompany�*s new deal is believed to run through until 2027, with bayern set to pay burnley over £10 million in compensation. and in the last few minutes it has also been confirmed that manchester united's record goal—scorer wayne rooney has been appointed as the new head coach of plymouth argyle. rooney is keen to re—establish his reputation after a disastrous spell at birmingham city when he lost nine games out of 15. it's his fourth managerial role since retiring three years ago. in formula one, charles leclerc has topped final practice ahead of qualifying for the monaco grand prix, despite an improved showing by world champion max verstappen.

the red bull driver has struggled so far in the principality, but was second, just under two—tenths behind leclerc. mercedes' lewis hamilton continued his strong weekend by finishing third. you can follow live text updates from qualifying later on the bbc sport website. and that's all the sport for now. let's take a look at a couple of other stories making news today. singapore airlines says it has decided not to serve meals on its planes when the seat belt sign is on. the announcement comes after one passenger died and dozens were injured during severe turbulence on a singapore airlines flight from london to singapore. and a group of mps in the uk have said the next government should consider a total ban on smartphones for children under the age of 16. the education select committee says it's heard shocking statistics on the damage being done to young people by excessive screen time. it's calling for whoever wins the general election injuly to take urgent action.

political rallies are taking place across south africa today as parties make theirfinal attemps to win support ahead of wednesday's election. it's expected to be the most tightly contested poll since democracy was introduced 30 years ago. analysts say the governing african national congress is at risk of losing its overall majority for the first time. i've been speaking with our correspondent, catherine byaruhanga, who is following events from the anc�*s final pre—election rally in johannesburg. the atmosphere is electric. there is pumping music playing out from the speakers. i'm sure people around the world would know of south africa's amapiano music. the crowds have been dancing here. this has been a bruising election for the anc though, poll after poll shows the party losing its outright majority in parliament.

the last polls from just a few days ago showed that it would gain about 40% of the seats. this is a huge come—down from the 57% it was able to win last time back in 2019. now there are huge challenges for the anc as it holds rallies like this, trying to convince south africans to vote for it. 0n the one hand, there are questions about what it has done during the last three decades in power. there are questions about creating jobs, the lack of electricity and poor health services as well. but there have also been divisions within the anc, some of its biggest leaders, for example, the former president jacob zuma, have left. he has started his own party that is competing against anc for the same votes. there's also the party ofjulius malema, who used to be a youth leader within the anc. he formed the eff, they are holding their own rally today. the big question is with these

elections, there is the prospect that the anc would lose its majority. this will be a first for south africa since its democratic elections, and it would have to form a coalition with other parties and that could possibly cause instability for governance in the country. but today, as you can see behind me, the anc is saying it's ready to go to the polls on wednesday and it anticipates that it will get a majority of the votes come wednesday. applying make—up, eating fast food and using a laptop are just some of the activities drivers have been filmed doing while on the motorway. they were caught by warwickshire police officers in an unmarked lorry and the footage was released by national highways ahead of a safety campaign. laura tra nt reports. we've got customers for you. car nearside, a lady is putting her makeup on while she's trying to drive. footage released by national

highways has revealed just some of the reckless behavior of drivers behind the wheel. so he is driving with no hands on the steering wheel. so van to the nearside, bloke is having his mcdonald's and he's got no hands on the steering wheel, he's steering with his knees. so lane two, no control at all on the steering wheel, steering with his knees, he's eating his mcdonald's. now he's picking up a drink. so drink in left hand, chips on the right hand. these two offenses are among over 46,150 detected as part of national highways' 0peration tramline campaign, which aims to improve safety on roads. the reason she keeps swerving is because she keeps looking at the mirror and not on the road. the rac says being distracted behind the wheel seems to be on the rise. this is unbelievably dangerous. having no hands on the wheel, it beggars belief. the dangers, the consequences are absolutely frightening. the latest government data shows there have been more fatal collisions due to distraction than at any other point in the last ten years.

a58 people lost their lives due to distraction and we have this kind of behaviour on our roads. it is absolutely frightening. just don't need this kind of behaviour on our roads. driving is dangerous enough without people not properly concentrating and being distracted. 0n the m40, this driver was captured using her phone and laptop, oblivious to her actions being caught on camera by the campaign's unmarked hgv. she's scrolling through, hands on the phone. we'lljust pull off now so you can pull her over. it looks like she's updating some kind of messaging. the offence of using a phone behind the wheel carries six penalty points on the licence and a £200 fine. warwickshire police said their aim is to save lives, but while education of drivers is their priority, due to the high stakes involved in some driving offences officers will be robust

in their actions. laura trant, bbc news. radio 0ne's big weekend kicked off yesterday for a jam—packed bank holiday. let's speak to bbc newsbeat presenter prai over at the festival in luton. i hear that the big name later on todayis i hear that the big name later on today is raye. talk it through what's going on today and later on. welcome to luton, not far from london, at radio 1's big weekend. behind me right now you can probably hear the beat ofjoel currie who is getting the crowd warmed up. all the build—up is to raye, six time brit winner this year, she is going to be in the main stage later tonight, so many people are so excited to see her but i've been speaking to but also so many people still getting over last night, chase and status

were incredible, one hour and ten minutes set that ended in fireworks and one thing about chase and status, i was talking to them backstage before they went on stage for their incredible set, they were first on the big weekend line—up in 2009 when it was in swindon, i was talking to them about how staying relevant for so many years, and they are so on top of their game, they were incredible last night, so a fresh crowd here today ready to go again. i fresh crowd here today ready to go aaain. ., , , ., fresh crowd here today ready to go aaain. , ., , . ., again. i hope they got sun cream because it _ again. i hope they got sun cream because it looks _ again. i hope they got sun cream because it looks like _ again. i hope they got sun cream because it looks like a _ again. i hope they got sun cream because it looks like a lovely - again. i hope they got sun cream| because it looks like a lovely day. i've had to take myjacket off, the sun is really pounding down at the moment. you can see bucket hats around, lots of sunglasses and all types of colours, people are pretty prepared, i would say.—

prepared, i would say. thank you from radio _ prepared, i would say. thank you from radio 1's _ prepared, i would say. thank you from radio 1's big _ prepared, i would say. thank you from radio 1's big weekend. - prepared, i would say. thank you i from radio 1's big weekend. there's plenty more on all of the stories that we are covering on our website, we will be keeping you across all of the general election campaigning going on today, it seems like every party leader is out and about or has been at some point. full details on our live page on the bbc website. plenty more to come after half past. i'll be back with the headlines. you can get me on social media, @lucyegray. thanks for watching. hello there, it's a bit warmer today, but the headline for the rest of the bank holiday weekend is going to be a mixture of some warm

sunshine but we are going to find some heavy and thundery showers breaking out as well. this is what has been happening recently, this cloud heading into the southwest, starting to bring some rain, also this cloud spoiling the weather across parts of east anglia, moving to lincolnshire and towards the northeast of england, a bit of rain on that. we could make 20 celsius around the moray firth, down merseyside and towards london where we are seeing one or two showers perhaps. there is that first area of cloud coming in from the north sea which will bring heavier rain northwards into scotland overnight and rain coming into the southwest will pivot northwards and eastwards across england and wales so a lot of cloud over night. it's going to be turning wetter overnight, temperatures typically down to 10 celsius or 11 celsius. we start with those two areas of rain, they will be moving northwards through the day, that region should move away from scotland. following that, we will get some sunshine but also some showers. those could turn heavy and thundery. the brighter risk of those slow—moving thundery downpours will

be across northern england, parts of the midlands towards norfolk and perhaps suffolk. these are the temperatures, because of the showers, temperatures aren't as high, could make 19 across east anglia and the southeast. those thundery showers are still there into the early evening, they will tend to fade, a wet weather moving northwards into scotland then clearing away overnight. heading into a bank holiday monday, we await more weather fronts from the atlantic next week. still low pressure close by which will bring with it some more showers. not quite as earlier on bank holiday monday, most of the heavy, thundery showers towards parts of scotland, may be the northeast of england. there will be showers elsewhere but it's likely to be a better day for bank holiday monday, across northern england, much of the midlands and east anglia, temperatures around 16 or 17 celsius. those temperatures are not going to change a great deal for the rest of next week, we will have a southwesterly wind for a while. later in the week it might turn northwesterly and cooler in the

northwesterly and cooler in the northwest but the rest of the week is going to remain unsettled. sunshine at times but spells of rain and perhaps others, some of them on the heavy side. —— perhaps showers.

this is bbc news. the headlines... party leaders hit the campaign trail in the uk's general election, as a growing list of tory mps say they'll be standing down. the main parties are being urged to be open about the state of public

finances and labour leader sir keir starmer told voters that stabilising the economy would be their number one priority. israel continues its attacks in gaza, including in rafah, despite the un's top court ordering it to immediately stop its offensive there on friday. the european union's top diplomat says the bloc will have to make a choice between supporting israel, or international institutions and the rule of law. with south africa's general election just days away, will nelson mandela's legacy be enough to secure another anc win, or will voters turn away? as political parties hold their final campaign rallies, an opinion poll released on friday suggested that the governing african national congress was losing ground. now on bbc news... talking movies: cannes film festival special.