here's our scotland political editor brian taylor. sunshine on st andrews' west sands and life's great, but watch out for that powerful incoming tide. this beautiful and historic university town is once again at the centre of political turmoil. a breakdown of the local election results in scotland put the liberal democrats very firmly in fourth place on 6.8% of the popular vote. so what do the leaders like tim farron do? do they go into a cupboard and cry? well, no, they take the alternative route, which is to target seats like north east fife where they reckon they have a chance. how are you? and the message on scotland's streets from tim farron — his party stands firmly against scottish independence. he found at least one kindred spirit. someone needs to give sturgeon a boot of the ours. it's a simple choice. undoubtedly, mr farron would choose more delicate language. in england, his colleague vince cable has been recorded suggesting that liberal democrat supporters might vote tactically for labour in certain areas. mr farron sidestepped any suggestion

of an anti—snp pact in scotland. individuals have to make their own choices and we are not in a case of being able to delegate or mandate anybody to vote in any particular direction. we are the one party standing for scotland in the uk and scotland in the eu — that's a powerful message wherever it is that you live. earlier, mr farron visited east dumbartonshire. his core message may be universal in content, but it's carefully distilled across a strictly limited number of target seats in scotland. the bbc has unveiled details of its general election special tv programmes, which will enable the public to question politicians in the run up to the poll on the 8th ofjune. david dimbleby will host two question time specials in which leaders will face audience questions consecutively. our media and arts correspondent david sillito explains what's happening. these are the bbc‘s plans. a series of two question time specials, the first will feature theresa may and jeremy corbyn

in the same programme but not sharing a stage. they will appear consecutively facing questions from the audience, and then there will be another question time special two days later with other party leaders appearing on election questions later in the evening. the leaders will face interviews from andrew neil, and also on the one show that will feature theresa may and her husband philip as well tomorrow. and then there will be this seven—way debate featuring senior party figures. and also another radio 1 debate. so that's it, ten hours of coverage on the bbc but not the debate that they wanted to have with the party leaders. more than 7000 migrants have been rescued in the mediterranean over the last few days, that's according to the italian coastguard. officials say as many as 200 are feared to have drowned. so far this year numbers are 50 % higher than at

the same time last year. they're thought to have made the treacherous crossing from libya, in search of a new life in europe. the bbc‘s reeta chakrabarti has spent the last week on a rescue ship. seven uneventful days at sea with the rescue mission, and then suddenly, this. we have two rowing boats, possibly also one other boat. team, please prepare on deck for rescue. a scene, said the crew, like never before. first two, then three, then, as we were spotted, more and yet more boatloads of people veering towards us, to rescue and safety. these women look really exhausted. they are coming on one by one. one woman i have seen has got a child with her. this toddler named blessing is one of the tiniest travellers. her mother, joy, who's nigerian, said she risked the journey because she could not return

to her home country. she'd been working in libya, where she was repeatedly kidnapped and ransomed for money. i would go to the market. one night, i got a taxi on my way, they stopped the taxi, dragged me inside, another car, they go and look me inside room, they told me to call my husband to bring money. i asked her what she hoped for from the future. if i see work, i will do it, because everything is asked of me. i have a baby. blessing is happily ignorant of her mother's grief and oblivious to the peril that she has just faced. still they come. goodness knows how many people are crammed into that rubber dinghy. they are all processed now, checked. this man is clearly in pain. the vast majority on board are men of working age from west and east africa and also from asia. there are many factors driving them but the turmoil in libya is key. last year broke records

for the number of migrants making the crossing and this year looks set to top that. italy has borne the weight of housing and caring for them, but opinion is hardening, with claims that these rescue missions are a taxi service for migrants and even that the aid agencies are colluding with libyan people smugglers to bring the migrants to europe. 0ur sole mission is to save the lives of people and especially children who are escaping violence, persecution and extreme poverty. we have no contact whatsoever with people smugglers. earlier in the week, a body was spotted. the sea is a graveyard, too. the search will go on. this crossing from libya has become an established route, run by ruthless criminals, who care little whether their desperate passengers will see another day. reeta chakrabarti, bbc news. 0fcom has said it is concerned about

the rising cost of calls to directory enquiries. £5.50 was the average price for a cool and one was nearly £9. they are worried ugly people —— they are worried elderly people will be particularly affected. the halifax bank says house prices in the uk fell by nought—point—two % between february and april, the first quarterly drop for more than four years. the lender says household finances are being squeezed by rising prices in the shops, weakening the demand for homes. there are fears of a drought in the uk this summer — as a lack of rainfall in the last few months has left some rivers and reservoirs with dwindling water levels. this met office map of rainfall in april shows that the majority of the uk experienced less than half the average amount — with southern england seeing the driest weather. across large parts of

britain at the moment, there's a lack of water. a dry spring, preceded by low winter rainfall, has left many riverbeds exposed. this wouldn't be an unusual widespread ight in late summer but it is rare in may. when i had a walk and ride round up there on friday, you get a lot of small ponds and wet holes that are usually there all the year round. they're all dry now, absolutely bone dry. there's nothing at all in the bottom of them. stuart herd has farmed here all his life. the riverbed drying up isn't unheard of but he's noticed the hillside springs are not right. you can tell that it has been a lot drier because we are actually noticing sheep that actually come down to the parts of the river that are, where water is still running. you are noticing sheep standing on the river bank, drinking, whereas ordinarily, they would be spread about up on the fells and drinking out of little springs and streams and things like that, which suggests that there isn't as much water up there as what there

has been in other times. other catchments are parched, too. these pictures were taken around england over the last few days, showing rivers many miles apart in a similar condition. but yorkshire water says there should not be widespread alarm. i think nationally, it's been very dry. up in yorkshire, i think it has been a dry winter, probably the driest in the last six years but we have seen recharge. sort of, every other month, we have seen some rainfall but in the last six weeks, we have just seen dry. a few dry months does not make a drought, though. it may be bone dry in some of the headwaters of these river catchments but we are a long way from a water crisis. a few miles down the valley, the wharf looks a lot more healthy and reservoir levels are holding up, too. a prolonged dry spell may change things but it would have to be for months. danny savage, bbc news,

upper wharfedale in north yorkshire. for the last 33 years, ackill beach in western ireland, has looked like this after being washed away.now, it looks like this, following hundreds of thousands of tonnes of sand being dumped back on the coastline,during a freak tide. local people now hope there'll even be a return of hotels, guesthouses and cafes, all forced to shut, after the beach washed away in 1984. keith doyle reports. achill island on the west coast of ireland has many beautiful beaches but for the past 30 years this was not one of them. however, nature has now returned dooagh beach to its former beauty. storms in the 19805 stripped the beach, but over ten days ocean currents have deposited thousands of tonnes of sand to recreate its 300—metre white sandy beach. the most probable reason this beach has reformed is due to two things.

it's either a change in sediment supply from further up or down the coast that has brought a fresh amount of sediment to this beach. or it could be due to a change in environmental conditions, either an alteration in the wave climate, or a series of tides that has provided the ideal conditions for this beach to reform. dooagh beach on achill island is just about as far west as you can get in ireland and europe. thousands of tourists visit here every year. having a new beach has delighted the locals and the tourist board. yesterday, we had gridlock here in the village with cars and camper vans and motorcyclists, and people coming from all over ireland and the uk to see our miraculous new beach. the people here have always spoke about their days on the beach, how they enjoyed coming down here as kids, and now to have it back for their kids is absolutely unbelievable. people of the island are thrilled. we already have five blue flag beaches. hopefully if we keep our beach

here at dooagh we will have a sixth. now that spring high tides have passed there is hope that the new beach will stay in place, at least for the summer. but this is the wild atlantic coast where the sea could reclaim the beach again, but for now people are making the most of this latest tourist attraction. keith doyle, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. the weather has been very dry lately and there is more dry weather on the way for most of this week. there is a change on the way, by the time we get the friday there could be some thunderstorms around but in the short—term the weather is looking good. look at this picture early today in scotland. it's not been like that everywhere. in the east cost, close to the north sea, you can see area stretching from eastern scotla nd can see area stretching from eastern

scotland to yorkshire and the south—east. of the western areas are enjoying sunshine. now james south—east. of the western areas are enjoying sunshine. nowjames through this evening, we have starry skies across western areas and it will keep the load, grey sky with wind from the north sea. tambe does not desperately now, around seven or eight celsius. tomorrow morning, across scotland, we will be waking up across scotland, we will be waking up to clear blue skies across western parts of scotland, selling weather for belfast, good around the irish sea. further england, there will be cloud and across cornwall and devon, and central and use in areas of yorkshire, are link on joined into newcastle, staying on the cloudy side. tomorrow, eastern and central areas will remain cloudy. some will remain chilly, knowledge and hull will feel on the cold side. temperatures will be barely up to double figures. western areas will see 18 degrees for

belfast. we will have a chilly night tomorrow, into wednesday. temperatures in towns and cities willdip to temperatures in towns and cities will dip to two only the start. then we have a fine, dry day. the north—east, global have thicker cloud and cold. wednesday and thursday will see changes. the low pressure will start sending thicker cloud and spots of rain in our direction. it won't be heavy rainfall but it means a change. further north is looking fine, glasgow has 17 celsius and into friday, we could see some thunderstorms developing across southern and central areas of the uk. through the weekend, the trend is south—westerly winds picking up and drawing in cloud and some occasional rain. the rain is on the way. administration this is bbc news. i'm clive myrie. administration the headlines at eight: the headlines at eight: the transition of power is under way in france as new elected president emmanuel macron prepares

to form his government. theresa may says the conservatives won't abandon their promise to reduce annual net migration to the ‘tens of thousands', despite the party repeatedly missing the target. jeremy corbyn says labour would provide free car parking a 35—year—old man has been charged in connection with dog attack in liverpool that left a two—year—old girl with serious injuries. new weapons are announced to fight late news on social media. facebook launches a national campaign with ten tips to help users