the problem this year, though, is that politics is centre stage. russia's entrant was not allowed into ukraine, the first time a eurovision host nation has barred a singer. ukraine said the artist had violated its border laws by visiting crimea, the ukrainian peninsula annexed by russia. she was back there this week, stoking the controversy. then there is brexit. theresa may thinks that will spoil our eurovision party. in current circumstances, i'm not sure how many votes we will get. but even before brexit, the uk was struggling in eurovision. that must be politics, mustn't it? the songs were bad, the performances were bad. that's the reason. i mean, nobody votes for us when the songs are bad and the singers are bad. and we had some bad ones, i tell you. so maybe, just maybe, with a good song and a great performance, the uk can achieve eurovision gold.

steve rosenberg, bbc news, kiev. let's catch up with the weather. thank you very much. afternoon. i will start with a sunny note because there is a lot of cloud today but the best is across scotland, this weather watcher picture proves that. you can see from the satellite and radar showing the rain. a lot of cloud out there. a band of rain moving northwards this morning, didn't amount to very much. there's been a lot of cloud further south too. through the afternoon we will see rain returning in to the west country and towards wales. there will be some sunshine breaking through that cloud as it continues to thin and break in the next couple of hours. the m4 corridor northwards likely to see hefty showers developing, some heavy with hail and thunder mixed in. watch out if you catch one. warm and humid you will notice. there is that rain continuing to push to southern

scotland. for much of northern ireland and scotland should and good deal of sunshine, especially western scotla nd deal of sunshine, especially western scotland where it will feel quite warm. that's in comparison to the east coast that will be chilly and grey and breezy. through the overnight period it looks like the rain will move northwards into south—west scotland. northern ireland may see a fair amount of rain during the overnight period. further south and east could see a few heavy showers, otherwise lengthy dryer interludes and it's going to bea mild dryer interludes and it's going to be a mild night. double figures for most. saturday, a few early showers across the south—east. another fairly cloudy day, particularly the northern half of the country where we start off with some rain and then see showers. some of these will be heavy across western scotland through the afternoon. a good chance of plenty of dry spells across central and eastern england. chilly across the north—east of scotland. saturday, this weather front sweeps through. it takes a band of rain northwards. it could be heavy but short—lived. this low pressure will bring windy weather on monday. that

weather front as it moves through saturday will introduce fresher air, we will lose that humidity. we will continue to see a day of sunshine and showers, mainly across northern and showers, mainly across northern and western areas. the south—east probably staying dry and warm again with plenty of sunshine. into the early pa rt with plenty of sunshine. into the early part of next week that low pressure will bring wet and windy conditions to the north and the west of the uk. further south and east a better chance of seeing the sunshine. it will also feel warm. we could see 25. thank you. that's it for now. time tojoin the bbc thank you. that's it for now. time to join the bbc news teams where manchester united have been given fewer than 20% of tickets for their europa league final against ajax in stockholm on may 24th. the friends arena has a capacity of 50,000, yet united supporters will only getaround 9,500. well here's how they secured their place in that final last night... already a goal up from the first leg, a header

from marouane felliani doubled the lead. united looked through then... but facundo roncaglia nodded vigo level with a few minutes remaining.... before he and eric bailly were sent off shortly after — bailly now misses the final against ajax, in 12 days... they are legally finished sunday and they will have 12 days to prepare for the final and we have three premier league matches to play. hopefully crystal palace doesn't need the last game. because in the last game i am going to make a lot of changes. birmingham city have confirmed that harry redknapp has signed a one year deal to stay on as manager at the club. redknapp took over from gianfranco zola last month,

and helped birmingham avoid relegation from the championship, with two wins from theirfinal two games. despite fan boycotts last season, league one and two clubs have voted to keep invited premier league and championship under—21 teams in the efl trophy for two more seasons 16 under—21 sides were added to the tournament in a one season trial. clubs were given the chance to vote on three options earlier this week: keeping academy teams, reverting to the old 48—team format or ending the competition. two—thirds of clubs supported the existing format, which also includes a £1m pound increase in prize money. the city of birmingham has confirmed this afternoon that it will bid to host the 2022 commonwealth games. the city has brought forward plans from a 2026 bid, after durban pulled out of hosting the event in five years' time. birmingham and liverpool councils both announced in march they intended to put their names forward to host the games. second practice is underway now in barcelona ahead of this weekend's spanish grand prix. lewis hamilton was fastest in the first session. the briton was more than a second quicker in barcelona than the current leader

in the drivers' standings — sebastian vettel. hamilton's mercedes team mate valteri bottas was second fastest. but mclaren‘s fernando alonso‘s session was cut short by an oil leakfrom his car — he posted on social media that it enabled him to spend the morning playing tennis instead! jonny brownlee says he's hungry to put the hurt of last year's world series behind him. he missed out on the world title in the heat of mexico, in the the last race of the season...as brother alistair famously helped him over the line. he's back in action in yokohama tomorrow and if it's going to be hot there, brownlee will be prepared for it, after working on preparing himself for the expected humidity. . .. i have to spend more time in hot and

humid conditions so that might have converted my conservatory into a seat chamber, most people set on a nice so far but main gates at 1137 degrees and second switch away and i have been any few sessions to try reduced to a hammer. that's all sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. the prime minister theresa may is campaigning in the north east of england in an attempt to make inroads into traditional labour heartlands. 0ur political correspondent vicki young is on the campaign trail with theresa may in berwick—upon—tweed. what is the prime minister up to?

this to first stop is actually act tories took from the liberal democrats sought the crank to fend off any suggestion of a liberal democrat revival in any country, trying to hold on to the seats they took. they are here because it is the launch and start of the campaign bus which you can see behind me. the most striking thing is that it is very much theresa may's name of their own big letters, the conservatives barely mentioned anything that is a saying they feel she has a winning card for the party and tory candidates they spoken to across the country say that her appeal is going down extremely well and they claim also in traditional labour areas so later today she will be going on to areas which really are not considered to be conservative traditional areas,

areas where labour has pretty big majorities but they say the tories think they can make inroads. they are think they can make inroads. they a re pretty think they can make inroads. they are pretty buoyed by the mural election that they won in this area just last week. theresa may came here and she is doing media interviews but earlier spoke to the conservative party crowd atmosphere. my message to voters is very simple. every vote for my local candidates across britain will strengthen my hand in those crucial brexit was haitian. the alternative is to risk making jeremy corbyn by minister and his senior liberal democrats, the scottish nationalists and others are lining up to put him into downing street and a carbon led coalition of chaos as a real possibility. later today the premise that will make a

speech and she will go further with that attack and jeremy corbyn. the policy announcements today, just making this a contest between her and the labour leader about leadership, and appeal to traditional labour voters say that she understood many had voted labour for generations, but what she is really trying to do is break down that tribal loyalty and say give me a chance and she will claim that jeremy corbyn has abandoned them and say that labour voters across the country are looking at what he believes in and says he no longer represents the core values of the labour party saw a direct pitch their two people who have voted labour all their lives. thank you. the liberal democrats have confirmed they would make the sale of cannabis legal if elected. they say they would allow licensed shops to sell the drug to over

18—year—olds. people would also be able to grow cannabis at home and to smoke at small social clubs. in 2014 a government report commissioned by the lender liberal democrat minister norman baker said there was no evidence that's tough enforcement of drug wars that have lower levels of usage. let's speak tojulian huppert from the liberal democrats. just explained the policy because a lot of people in this country think that all drugs are dangerous and that all drugs are dangerous and that they should never be legalised. for 15 years though almost we have had a system where cannabis and other drugs were legal, tobacco and alcohol which are very dangerous and illegal but everything else wasn't and it hasn't stopped people from having cannabis. millions of people have used and still use cannabis, it just hasn't worked. what it has done is given in full to criminal gangs who make a huge amount of money out of this and develop more and more

potent and harmful strains, skunks and space so the policy has made things much much worse. i don't want criminal gangs deciding who gets to have this, anyone with £20 can get it, i wanted to be regulated so it is safer for people. when you talk about skunk being a more dangerous form of cannabis than maybe was around 20 years ago, only saying that that was not then be legalised? absolutely. there are two components that you find cannabis, one which gives the high and one which is actually protective and in skunk there is a lot more of the high and a lot less a re there is a lot more of the high and a lot less are almost none of the protective component suite would say there is a maximum limit on how much of the active components can be and a minimum amount of the protective piece. it is a bit like alcohol, how much alcohol is there, there are limits and you can just get some backroom bootlegged liquor with

methanol, we make safer by law and would be able to regular by taking it away from the criminals. do you think it is a vote winning policy?” think it is a vote winning policy?|j think it is a vote winning policy?” think it is a vote winning policy?” think it should be welcomed by people who want to see people protected from the mental health problems we've seen with skunk. this will save lives and prevent young people getting into billy nasty things, it will make people rose lives better and free up the police so lives better and free up the police so that rather than arresting someone so that rather than arresting someone for having excellent cannabis, they can work on other things like sexual violence and domestic violence and all the things we would like the police to be spending their time on. people should be bullies with the policy that will protect children and everybody‘s mental health and free the police updated on with other things. and ask about another area of policy which is a manifesto commitment which would offer fathers an extra month of aid parental leave to encourage the greater sharing of

pa rental to encourage the greater sharing of parental responsibilities, is that something the country can afford?” think the real question is can it afford not to. there are huge benefits from fathers spending more time with the children particularly ata time with the children particularly at a very early stage and we managed to get through shared parental leave so to get through shared parental leave so that can be a more share arrangement between fathers and mothers, it is still far too rare for fathers to take time off to response time with that child early on. that makes it harderfor response time with that child early on. that makes it harder for those who want to, too often they face discrimination in the workplace, people who think bizarrely that a man shouldn't be living after his child when it is actually one of the greatest things they can do so i think this will be helpful for families and we will see the benefits for children and we can afford not to do it. in venezuela people are continuing to take to the streets in their thousands to protest against the government. the situation is becoming increasingly violent as riot police confront the demonstrators. over the past month nearly 40 people have been killed.

vladimir hernandez has spent a day out on the streets of the capital caracas. scenes like these in caracas are happening almost every day. thousands of venezuala ns are taking to the streets all around the country. these people are asking for fresh elections against president nicolas maduro. this is an economy in crisis, the inflation rate is estimated to be at over 700% and the economy is crashing. translation: i'm angry because of the economic crisis. i want to recover the country where i grew up. i don't want more young people dying in the protest. but like so often it is not long before things turn nasty. and this is what protesters in

caracas get every time they come out onto the street. the national guard threw tear gas at them. the government says they are cracking down on unauthorised protests and accuse the political opposition of trying to topple the elected president nicolas maduro. at least 39 people have died so far. many due to gunshot wounds. this man is the latest victim of venezuela's political crisis. you are a hero, shouts some of these masked demonstrators. they have shared the barricades

against the police. his friends say he loved playing football. he was allegedly shot in the chest in the latest drugs test in caracas. scenes of anger and frustration as another young man loses his life as the result of the political unrest in venezuela. a wave from the protest, i have come to one of the most deprived areas and caracas. i am here to meet a demonstrator from lost a kidney over a week ago after he said he had been shot at a protest. when i reached his home, he was watching a video with the shared on social media which should the moment of theft of a fellow protester. he later told me that this had been the first time he had cried in a decade. translation: we need to keep fighting but needs to find an alternative because they are killing us. it is a guns against rocks. despite the rise in

casualties, more protests are planned for the coming days. and with the economy in such dire straits, or on more venezuelans say they are willing to take the risk because they have nothing left to lose. in a moment, a summary of the business news this hour, but first the headlines on bbc news. jeremy corbyn sets out his vision on foreign policy — he says he isn't a pacifist and is prepared to use military force as a last resort. a coroner rules 14—year—old nasar ahmed died after a reaction to a school lunch — and sets out a range of measures aimed at protecting children with allergic reactions in schools. and at a meeting in ireland, tony blair says northern ireland must be a special case in brexit talks to "minimise any potential damage" to the agreement between northern ireland and the republic. just because you're a startup doesn't mean

you have to think small. london—based virtual reality firm, improbable, has raised $500m in one of the biggest investments in an early stage european technology business. japan's softbank is backing improbable in a funding round that values the business at more than $1bn. businesses in all parts of the uk, particularly rural areas, are experiencing full or partial ‘not—spots' in their mobile coverage — that's according to the british chambers of commerce. the survey shows that 70% of firms experience mobile ‘non—spots', areas of no mobile coverage by any operator, or ‘partial not—spots', where there is some coverage but not from all networks, in their local area. germany's economy grew strongly in the first three months of this year, driven by investment and consumption.

first—quarter gdp growth came in at an expected 0.6% — up from 0.4% in the last three months of 2016 more than half a million low earners have had to resort to borrowing money via credit cards, overdrafts and other sources to pay their rent during the past year, according to research. according to the housing charity shelter, many private renters were having to take on "desperate or dangerous debts" to keep a roof over their head. were having to take on "desperate or dangerous debts" to keep a roof over their head. joining me now is kate webb, shelter‘s head what do you mean by these desperate dangerous debt levels? it is quite a scary situation people are around, we find that one in three renters and work on lower earnings and actually had to borrow money over the past yearjust actually had to borrow money over the past year just to actually had to borrow money over the past yearjust to keep up with their rent payments. and we're not

talking about people borrowing from the mum or something, this is people actually taking out credit card debt, overd rafts actually taking out credit card debt, overdrafts and taking out loa ns debt, overdrafts and taking out loans just because the events they are having to pay are no ludicrously out of step with what people are actually owning. according to research, more than 500,000 people resorting to borrowing through credit cards and other resources. who do you classify as these low earners? we looked at people earning less tha n earners? we looked at people earning less than the average, this isn't just people in very and secure minimum wagejobs, just people in very and secure minimum wage jobs, this just people in very and secure minimum wagejobs, this is a huge swathes of the population for whom the governmentjust doesn't really offering anything in terms of housing, they are stuck privately renting off on very secure tenancies and once they have paid was very high rents are so many online lab landlords ask, they have very little over each month. they are managing to keep up with the red payments but that means getting into debt and it means cutting back on essentials and

it means they can't afford to save which for all of us fu told what ca rd which for all of us fu told what card and save hard, you will be able to buy a place, it feels like a pipe dream to people on lower earnings are struggling to get by month by month. according to countrywide, one of the biggest letting agencies and estate agents, rents are actually going down at the moment. they have recorded the first annual drop for six years. that is a very partial sample they are looking at. looking at the government ‘s own figures rents a re at the government ‘s own figures rents are continuing to rise and the gap between what people are earning and what rates are so huge that honestly even with a few years of stability is going to help people and that's why we are saying that this coming general election is a really important opportunity for whoever is next government to actually step in and offer something to people who are renting, working ha rd to people who are renting, working hard but finding they are just working to pay the rent each month and that is why we are calling today

for the next government to commit to 500,000 homes are clipping rents which will be genuinely affordable to people who are working on lower earnings. cross thank you. one of modern life's many frustrations is the low — or nonexistent — mobile phone signal in a so—called "not spot". and there are many of them, particularly when it comes to using mobile internet. for businesses, this can be damaging.a survey of almost 1,500 companies says businesses across the uk are being "hobbled" by nonexistent mobile internet coverage. the british chambers of commerce says one in two firms in urban areas complain about their service, while in the countryside it is nine in ten. most people around the uk say that their calls drop out, they can't get access to their e—mails or mobile internet. and that's stopping them from getting on and doing business. if we want our country to be successful, we need

to solve these problems. and i think the next government after the election can help us do that, by making sure that planning laws let masts be as high as they need to be, so that mobile phone signals get to people on our roads, on our railways and indeed, in our rural areas, where this problem is strongest. and of course, the regulator 0fcom needs to help as well, by making sure business customers get the service they were promised by mobile companies. here's a look at some other stories we're following today. the value of finance deals used to buy new cars has soared to a new monthly record, according to new figures from the finance and leasing association. motorists spent £3.6bn on car finance deals in march, a rise of 13% on the same month in 2016. and staying with cars, as the south korean government has ordered carmakers hyundai and kia motors to recall about 240,000 cars, after a tip off from a whistleblower. the ex—hyundai employee raised concern about defects which affected

12 different car models. it is the first time the country's government has issued a compulsory vehicle recall. the us and china will expand trade in beef and chicken and increase access for financial firms. china will allow us imports of beef no later than 16 july. by the samejuly deadline, the us will issue a proposed rule to allow chinese cooked poultry imports. shares in macy's plunged after the us department store owner said quarterly sales slid 7.5%. macys lost around 14% of its value — rivals kohls and jc penney were also down sharply amid fears about the health of the traditional us retail sector. the rise in online shopping has seen us department stores shed more than 32,000 jobs in the past year. now have a listen to this

announcement made to a group of paddle—boarders just off the coast of california. attention in the water. this is the orange county sheriff ‘s department. be advised state parks is asking us to make an announcement to let you know you are paddle boarding next to approximately 15 great white sharks. they are advising that you exit the water in a calm manner. that's the orange county sheriff's department warning a group of paddle—boarders they're swimming next to 15 great white sharks. a police helicopter spotted

the sharks near dana point, about an hour away from los angeles. a woman was bitten in the area at the end of april. time for a look at the weather... not looking that bad, but we do need the rain. there will be rain any form of showers, quite heavy through central areas and a band of rain moving northwards across england and wales this morning which didn't emerge to much. we'll see more rain returning into the west country and showers falling in scotland and the best for the sunshine. warmest in the north—west ions which the low 20s. further south a lot of cloud around. it is trying to send and break and that should allow for some sunshine to break through and when that happens to pitchers will rise because there is pretty humid and

you will start to see some showers and thunderstorms developing towards the running on. that could be thundery downpours and it will feel quite humid in the sunshine. there is the band of rain pushing into cumbria and southern scotland, for much of scotland and northern ireland, a lot of sunshine around like in the west. gray and shelley in the east particularly along the aberdeenshire coast. cloudy overnight with rain and western parts of scotland and northern ireland which could be substantial and further south lengthy dry spells and further south lengthy dry spells and full still remain quite chilly and full still remain quite chilly and murky across eastern scotland. must this is quite mild. into saturday some showers across the south—east and northern and western areas being quite heavy and thundery across west of scotland and the afternoon. further south could see a good deal sunshine around and fewer showers here and we could do with

more crossing the dead whales and it will feel quite warm maybe 20 degrees the south—east. for saturday nights this streets across the country, short lived in moderate rain in places which will introduce slightly fresher air suffer sunday we lose these haemolytic and it will be warm and southern and eastern parts with most of the showers across the north and west. low— pressure across the north and west. low—pressure next week with wet and windy weather north—west browse for the south—east we will have warmer airfrom the near the south—east we will have warmer air from the near constant suddenly be surprised if we see plenty of sunshine and temperature reaching around 25 degrees. jeremy corbyn says the war on terror

has not worked and fresh thinking is needed. the philosophy of first clinton has failed. to persist with it, it is a recipe for increasing not reducing threats and security. the liberal democrats say they would legalise the seal of cannabis if they were elected into government. and his first television interview since sacking the head of the fbi, president trump sets out his version of events. the coroner says the boy died asa of events. the coroner says the boy died as a reaction to his school once.