good afternoon. the prime minister has announced that the threat level facing the uk is being reduced from critical to severe, following significant progress by police in their investigation into the manchester bombing. it means that an attack is no longer regarded as "imminent", but remains "highly likely". soldiers who have been assisting police, will be withdrawn from the streets from midnight on monday. overnight police in manchester made two more arrests. they are now questioning 11 men over the attack by salman abedi on monday. from manchester our home affairs correspondent tom symonds reports. the other morning in manchester, another area of the city evacuated. this is a terrorism investigation thatis this is a terrorism investigation that is not yet over. this time it was moss said. alice had been searching here for some time and this morning roads were closed again and bomb disposal team arrived. they are trying to work out where the

bomb was made or it components stored and that means there was a co nsta nt stored and that means there was a constant risk. the investigation is focusing on food salman abedi new, with more arrests. a blast this morning as police in cheetham hill blew open this door in yet another raid. local people have helped us establish the identities of the 20 and 22—year—old men arrested here last night. we have established a link between one and are member of salman abedi's family. the police investigation is to start with the bomber, find out who his friends and acquaintances are and arrest them. we have a good understanding of his movements and are more certain of his risks. the prime minister could make this statement.” his risks. the prime minister could make this statement. 1 tack has made

the decision to reduce the threat level from critical to severe. a threat level of severe means an attack is highly likely. a country should remain vigilant. so far this bank holiday weekend at least, the high levels of police activity around the country will continue. 0ur correspondentjudith moritz is in albert square in central manchester. what do you see as the significance of this? statement by the prime minister? this significant is there a duction of the threat level to severe, from eminem ‘s to highly likely. theresa may said the public must remain vigilant. you can see the carpet of flowers and balloons

and tributes continues to grow in manchester. people have been talking to me about their feelings. in terms of what that will mean to the public, the bank holiday weekend is the crucial point. theresa may has said that revived maximum reassurance to be book, the reduction in the threat level in terms of reducing the number of soldiers on the street, supporting the police, that was taken place until midnight on monday. immediately, you will not see a difference. the events will have the same amount of security as they had planned. after midnight on monday there will be a reduction in soldiers who will return to normal duties. but everyone reminded to stay vigilant. what are members of the public saying? i wanted to find out whether the reduction in the threat level feels different to people here. spending time around this square, where the mood is

remaining sombre and serious, people have taken their decisions to come into the city centre, they want to be here, but i ask them how they feel about safety and coming into manchester. i spoke to a few people about how they now feel in the knowledge that the threat level has been reduced. lam glad i am glad that the army will not be on the streets but i don't feel reassured we have the police numbers we need, we need i did police force which is funded well and i support community policing. it made you more secure having that. only five days after something so critical happening, to reduce it so quickly, there is still a lot of investigation going ahead. but the results of the said that you trust the fact the investigation has shown that maybe it is not the threat that we thought, so you could feel a bit comforted about that. in the last few minutes, the chief

co nsta ble in the last few minutes, the chief constable ian hopkins has said in response to the announcement from the government that the level of resources we have available to us remains the same as we continue to ta ke remains the same as we continue to take positive action. this morning greater manchester police continuing to search properties in the cheetham hilland to search properties in the cheetham hill and moss said areas, with two people arrested. british airways passengers around the world are facing delays, after the company suffered a global it failure. plane have been grounded at many airports, with some passengers reporting chaotic scenes. including heathrow, gatwick, belfast and leeds. the airline has apologised and said it's "working to resolve the problem". our business correspondent joe lyam reports. this is what happens when there is a major it failure. queues were snaking out of the door at terminal five at heathrow will stop for hundreds of passengers, the bank holiday didn't start well. very

little information being made available by british airways themselves. people have been standing in queues for up to 70,90, 120 minutes in some cases. the queue stretches from the cheque in desks to the back of the terminal and to the front of the terminal where all the front of the terminal where all the taxes are delivering people. and it wasn't just at heathrow airport. philip bloom was stuck on the tarmac in belfast. we got on the plane, we accelerated and just as we got to the speed to take off, hit the bra kes the speed to take off, hit the brakes and that was it. british airways says it is experiencing an it outage which has affected the airline's global network and it is working to resolve the issue. staff had to resolve to old—fashioned messaging. when i got to the airport, the queue was outside the door. it seemed a very confused and people were very exasperated. there

have been reports of severe delays for ba flights at gatwick as well as those in europe hoping to return to britain. some planes have taken off at heathrow airport but it should appears to have caused a major backlog, which may make the long weekend very long indeed. president trump's son—in—law and senior advisorjared kushner, discussed opening a secret communications channel with the kremlin, according to media reports. the fbi is investigating mr kushner as part of a wider probe into alleged russian interference in the us election campaign. with all the sport, here's richard askam at the bbc sport centre. we'll start with the fa cup final, where premier league champions chelsea could clinch the double in antonio conte's first season in charge. they face an arsenal side aiming to finish a poor season on a high. let's get the latest from wembley from our reporter ollie foster. and, ollie, before you talk about the match itself, after the terrible events in manchester this week, no doubt

there is a heightened security presence at today's final? yes. we are over four hours from kick—off but you can see many of the 90,000 fans are already arriving. the fa want them to get here and no later than one hour before kick—off because there is an enhanced security operation in place. we expect 600 police officers, many armed and highly visible. there will bea armed and highly visible. there will be a minute ‘s silence before kick—off and the joke of cambridge will lay a commemorative wreath. —— duke of cambridge. for arson link what a disappointing season. years on for donachie responded to criticism. the lack of respect and sons ages a

disgrace. i believe there is a difference a team being criticised and being treated in a way that a human being does not deserve to be treated. we have to forget for this moment that we won the league and to be concentrated on this target because don't forget this is a fantastic target and we do not know if in the future we will have another possibility to win this trophy. it should be a fascinating match. that is across the bbc, kick—off 530. celtic are looking to complete the domestic treble this afternoon when they face aberdeen in the scottish cup final. celtic are unbeaten in domestic football this season, and a win this afternoon would make it 47 matches without defeat. for us, we plan for every

eventuality. we have played different shapes, systems, but the style always remains the same. we have won different types of games. what i expect is that it will be a difficult game. we probably need are near— perfect of arms from difficult game. we probably need are near—perfect of arms from the majority. we can have all the preparation we want and have a game plan, it is important we try to stick to it, but good players ask questions of year and you have to deal with certain situations on the day and there are decisions to be made. there are two domestic rugby union finals as well. irish side munster take on the welshmen of scarlets in the proi2 this evening, but before that, league leaders wasps face exeter in the final of the aviva premiership. it didn't feel like we had achieved everything we wanted to the season by winning the semi and getting to the final but that is only a feeling and feelings have to be backed up by actions. it is key that we go out

and perform at the level we can as a club. it would be lovely to get our hands on a trophy, it would be nice to be home and dry. a premiership final is beyond our dreams a couple of seasons ago but we are there and we want to do ourselves justice. that is all the sport. you can see more on all of today's stories on the bbc news channel. the next news on bbc one is at four o'clock. bye for now. hello. you're watching the bbc news channel. some breaking news regarding the

british airways it failure. they say they have cancelled all flights from heathrow and gatwick before 6pm today because of what they call a major it system failure that is causing very severe disruption to flight causing very severe disruption to flight operations worldwide. all flights from heathrow and gatwick cancelled before 6pm because of the it system failure. it may be that more information will emerge about flights elsewhere beyond heathrow and gatwick. we have heard over the last few hours that flights in other parts of the world have been affected and in other uk airports. the system failure is clearly significant and the effect in terms of flight cancellations will run for at least the rest of the afternoon. the prime minister has announced that the uk terror threat level has

been reduced from critical to severe, which means an attack is highly likely. the move comes after theresa may chaired another meeting of the government's emergency committee, cobra, to discuss the impact of monday's bombing at the manchester arena. i have just chaired a meeting of cobra this morning where i have been updated by the police and security services on the investigation into monday's terrible attack in manchester. a significant amount of police activity took place over the last 2a hours, and there are now 11 suspects in custody. in light of these developments, jtac has taken the decision to reduce the threat level from critical to severe. the public should be clear that this threat level means an attack is highly likely. the country should remain vigilant. in recent days, members of the armed forces have assisted police in providing reassurance to the public under operation temperer.

many large events are taking place this bank holiday weekend. detailed security plans are already in place. to provide maximum reassurance to the public, operation temperer will continue to operate until the bank holiday concludes. then from monday at midnight onwards, there will be a well planned and gradual withdrawal of members of the armed forces, who will return to normal duties. the police will make a statement shortly to give further details of how this will take place. since the attack on monday, our police and security services and nhs staff have worked round the clock in difficult and traumatic circumstances and on behalf of the country i would like to take this opportunity to thank them all for their tremendous service. meanwhile, police investigating

the manchester bombing have made two further arrests, and raided more properties in the city. it means 11 people are now in custody in relation to monday's attack. homes in the moss side area have been evacuated as police carry out a further raid. let's speak to our correspondent dan johnson. a large number of streets in moss side were evacuated a few hours ago. an army bomb disposal team was brought in as police searched a property in the terrace behind me, behind the police van. in the last 40 behind the police van. in the last a0 minutes, the bomb disposal team has left and so has the fire service and the police cordon has been reduced so many people were able to get back to their homes but this street is still cordoned off and searches are still going on. we don't know if anyone has been arrested. neighbours described a man

being taken away but police have not confirmed that. there have been other searches and other arrests across manchester this morning. it is an indication of how this police investigation is rippling out across the city and beyond as police follow up the city and beyond as police follow up all the leads and conduct more raids, more searches and make more arrests. ii raids, more searches and make more arrests. 11 people in custody, 13 arrests. 11 people in custody, 13 arrests were made but two people have been released without charge. i broke the news to people here that the uk threat level was registered from critical to severe, good news on the face of it, but people year said it doesn't feel like that to them because of the number of police officers on the streets and the intensity of police activity. a number of casualties being treated in hospital, there are still 63 people receiving treatment and 20 of those aren't receiving critical

care, meaning they are in a serious condition. here is more about what theresa may said about the terror level being lowered. the announcement came after the announcement chaired another meeting of the emergency committee cobra to discuss the impact of monday's bombing at the manchester arena. in the past few moments, mark rowley, senior counterterrorism officer has given this update. the rapid pace and progress of the investigation is continuing, three more arrests overnight, 11 men in custody. 17 searches i've concluded our continuing on various addresses, largely in the north—west. and we get a greater understanding of the preparation of the bomb. much more

still to do. there will be more arrests and searches but this greater clarity and progress has led the independent body that assesses threat, j the independent body that assesses threat,j ptak, the independent body that assesses threat, j ptak, to the independent body that assesses threat,j ptak, to come to the independent body that assesses threat, j ptak, to come to the conclusion that the threat is no longer imminent. the prime minister has therefore announced that the level has moved from critical to severe which still means an attack is likely. the public may be wondering what that means for the events they will be going to over the weekend. practical and precautionary reasons, we decided that the resources we planned for this weekend's events will continue. there will still be a high police present, some armed and some unarmed. at the end of the bank holiday, we will be settling down some of that presence, and we will start to phase out the military support that we have had from

operation temperer. if you see anything you are worried about, please call us on the anti—terrorism hotline. zero 800 789321. you mentioned that the threat level was reduced one notch so can people be assured that you have the investigation under control? they assessed the process we made enables them to lower the threat level and they have said the threat is no longer imminent. we can take some assurance that there aren't people attached from the current case you might want to launch a bomb. we have been assured the threat is no longer imminent. a number of big events going on but there will also be

heightened security at those events. i hope people can still enjoy themselves and be reassured by the higher level of policing and recognise that we are keeping that in place on a precautionary basis through the weekend that we will step down resource and when we get past the bank holiday. getting you up—to—date on events at heathrow. british airways says it has cancelled all flights from heathrow and gatwick before 6pm today because of a major it system failure. let's go to heathrow. what is happening? we have had that statement in the last few minutes to say that all british airways flights from here at heathrow and gatwick are suspended until at least 6pm. we have heard from people at the terminal that

there are long queues and people waiting to get checked in and that staff have had to revert to whiteboards because of the electronic information board is not working. this is an indication of how severe the problem is and not just at heathrow and gatwick, we have heard from ba passengers around the world that flights have been delayed or in some places passengers we re delayed or in some places passengers were in planes on the tarmac waiting to ta ke were in planes on the tarmac waiting to take off. it is a substantial rob them, we have heard it is a global —— substantial problem, a global outage. we do not know if it is a cyber attack. we have not heard much from british airways about what has caused this outage. let's go inside the terminal, terminal five, let's go inside the terminal, terminalfive, which is where british airways flights go from.

caroline meaby is waiting to board a flight to istanbul she joins us from heathrow airport now. tell us what you have been told. we have just been told that nothing is happening and there are no flights until 6pm. before that we were not told very much. there were no tan i announcement is. i managed to find out that the flight plans which are usually computer—generated have not been generated and therefore it is not legal for them to fly the planes so we have in hanging around, i think they were trying to find out if they could generate them manually but we were then told they could not. we have been stuck here since 80 am today. and no sign yet of knowing any further, it could be 6pm

or later. we were looking forward to being in istanbul by now but that is not going to happen. being in istanbul by now but that is not going to happenlj being in istanbul by now but that is not going to happen. i hope you get some better news soon. in the wake of the terror attack in manchester earlier this week, extra police officers have been called in to help with security at radio one's big weekend music festival. other security measures have also been put in place at the festival taking place in hull. 50,000 music fans are expected. our correspondent noel phillips is live at radio 1's big weekend in hull for us now. good afternoon. even though security is tight, it hasn't stopped thousands of young people coming out for radio 1's big weekend. this is europe's largest free festival. people are having a lot of fun. the

festival is well on the way. even though there is a large police presence, that hasn't stopped people having fun. people have been searched, they have come in, got something to eat, they're watching the show. what is important to stress is that even though security has been busted, there is no credible threat to festivalgoers here today. their headline act, katy perry, and many others, all decided they wanted to play, they came to hull and they are performing. i have been speaking to imagine dragons who will be playing in around 30 minutes. imagine dragons, you're performing, headlining the main stage in a short while. how are you feeling? we are excited. we have a new album coming out onjune 23 and to come out here and get a chance to play some of the new songs, we will play some for the first time to a uk audience, it is an awesome opportunity for us and we love the festival. it is a little while since we have been at a uk festival. how important are your uk audience?

amazing. they always go crazy here. it is a different experience to doing something in america. the festivals are a step up. they camp out, they get muddy and messy and they don't care, it is a big party. how important is it to be here at radio one's big weekend? i know we have seen and heard about tragic events earlier this week. why was it important for you to be here? i think it is important for artists and fans around the world to show that no individual will put fear into our hearts and ruin music for the world. it is tragic what happened and we mourn and send our love and respect to those people affected by that but the music will continue and we will not let it represent what music is, music is love and equality and happiness. yeah, that what it is to us. that relationship that artists like yourselves have with your fans, that is important. no artist is anything without their fans and we are

fortunate enough to have the best fans in the world and to be coming and playing our first summer festival in the uk, there is no feeling like it. first festival in the uk for six months, we have been here many times before and it feels good to be back. i mean this year. yeah. this year. imagine dragons talking a few moments ago. there is three minutes of silence at the festival to remember those who died in manchester. time for a look at the weather. we had summarily thunderstorms and showers across central and southern parts of the uk this morning. now we focus on a cluster of thunderstorms developing in north—west england,

staffordshire, cheshire, into north wales. they will develop across yorkshire and north england this afternoon and some could be intense, flash flooding, lightning. weather warnings are in force. a hot day for the north of scotland. elsewhere, cooler. thunderstorms in the north go on for a while. they is down overnight. some rain in northern and western scotland, cloudy skies, clear spells in the south. the northern half of the country starts cloudy and it may hold an to the cloud. to the south, some sunshine, feeling warm again, the risk of showers and thunderstorms moving from the south later on. they will spread northwards. on sunday night into bank holiday monday the could be heavy downpours in some places. warm and humid night in the surveys. elsewhere turning cooler. hello.

this is bbc news. the terror threat level in the uk, that was increased to the highest status of ‘critical‘ following the manchester bombing has been reduced to ‘severe'. a threat level of severe means an attack is highly likely. the country should remain vigilant. police and army bomb disposal experts have begun an evacuation in moss side as part of an ongoing search linked to the manchester arena attack. british airways says it's cancelled all flights before 6pm tonight because of a major it failure causing severe disruption to its operations worldwide. there are new revelations about president trump's son in law, jared kushner, and his alleged involvement in secret dealings with russia. us media is reporting that the fbi is investigating claims he discussed opening a secret communications channel with the kremlin. leaders of the g7 leading industrial nations have failed to reach agreement on climate change

at a summit in italy. differences remain between the us president and other countries. the national autistic society has expressed deep concern about proposals to try to reduce the number of children diagnosed with autism. the plans are being considered by one nhs trust in south—west london. now on bbc news. hull is nearly half way through being the uk's 2017 city of culture. anne—marie tasker and kofi smiles have the latest instalment of what's happening in the year—long celebration. hello, and welcome to hull, the uk city of culture. the uk city of culture. showcasing the brightest and the best of contemporary culture has brought

us here to hull's cemetery for a circus performance with a difference. and continuing our celebration of difference, we meet matt fraser who will be putting his disability centre stage to play shakespeare's richard iii. i'm a deformed actor playing a deformed character for the first time in britain, which is extraordinary that it should be the first but it's exciting that i get to do it. we will meet the army of 2017 volunteers giving