kicked off training pitches and not having the same equipment, so it is important that they live up to that. some of the day's other sports news now and ireland will qualify for the 2019 cricket world cup if they beat afghanistan tomorrow following a surprise defeat for the hosts zimbabwe in harare. they would have secured a top two spot, but they fell just three runs secured a top two spot, but they felljust three runs short of their target. and in cape town, at dean elgar hit his 11th test century as south africa finished the third test against australia on 266—8. the series is currently tied at one win apiece. judge trump isn't the players championship finals in snooker after thrashing neal robertson. he took just over two hours to win the tournament which included one century break. trump faces ronnie o'sullivan in the last four. there are just over

o'sullivan in the last four. there arejust over six o'sullivan in the last four. there are just over six hours to go until the lights go green and formula 1 roars back into action with first practice ahead of this weekend's opening race in australia. the drivers and teams headed to melbourne this week to prepare with much fanfare. a great formula 1 season should leave you feeling shaken, rather than stirred. last year, stoffel vandoorne and fernando alonso could have been forgiven for wanting a stiff drink. they probably spent more time in this simulator than racing as their mclaren team was troubled by reliability. the new cap marks a return back to their historic papaya orange colour. alonso will hope it does not leave him red—faced. alonso will hope it does not leave him red-faced. there has been concern for many teams and also for us, but we addressed everything and the fact in the last couple of weeks, so we should be in a strong position for australia and you can capitalise on some of the things that may happen to the other teams.

the field will be stacked against the spaniard, repeating this on the podium. but one man guaranteed to be drenched in the stuff is lewis hamilton. winning nine races last season saw hamilton. winning nine races last season saw him crowned champion for a fourth time and pre—season testing indicates that is unlikely to change. unless the rory and sebastian vettel can improve. the ultimate goal is to be the best and you go up against the best. it has been a great experience to ray sebastian, he has the four world titles and the most of any other driver. this is an exciting year for formula 1 fans. the car is great, stuff to come, plenty to look forward to. but usually around this point, you don't know where the others also it is a bit pointless to come here and say that you will blow everyone away based on testing.|j think we are in good shape. red bull complained of the engines leaving them a bit lacklustre last season. but they have been seen as a bit edgy, with a temperament that can

get them through. these last few yea rs get them through. these last few years hasn't been easy because the tea m years hasn't been easy because the team came from four straight titles and getting beat now four years. but oui’ and getting beat now four years. but our mindset and sometimes aggression behind the wheel is keeping motivation alive for everyone. in a couple of hours, the fun stunts and promotions. and the business will begin. the time for talking is over, but the question remains, can formula 1 live up to its hype? and you can follow the action from melbourne across the bbc, a fascinating season. that is all the time we have, much more throughout the evening here. from the team, goodbye for now. more on the news that a british company that makes uk passports has failed to win the contract to produce the new blue

cover versions which will be reintroduced after brexit. de la rue — which makes passports for more than 110 countries — said it was disappointed by the decision to award the work to a franco—dutch firm. i'm joined now by ian mearns — the labour mp for gateshead where de la rue have one of their manufacturing bases — employing around 600 people, with roughly 100 of them in the passport division. thank you for being with us. what do you think of this decision? it is going to save britain about £120 million. firstly, the french government would not dream of awarding the contract to manufacture french passports to a british company. they have used eu procurement rules and national security as a reason for getting around those rules. so i think that is perverse from that perspective. but also, given the fact this is half £1 billion contract and the majority of that half £1 billion

would be in staff wages, staff salaries and production costs, it means that the uk exchequer will forego the think on tax, national insurance, vat receipts from the staff wages and corporation tax income from the profits the company would make on that contract. so it is not a very good economically sound investment from the british government investing in the new uk passport being manufactured in france. but de la rue, which is in your constituency, they make passports for about 110 other countries so surely they are depriving people in those countries which may be make passports of their jobs? do you know that the 40 countries de la rue make passports for have equivalent companies with the printing and security intensive printing capacity to manufacture passports to that standard? that is

unlikely, frankly, because this is a very specialised game we are in. and i will correct one thing, the fact is it is in gateshead but not my constituency, a nearby constituency. but a proportion of british passports have been made overseas since 2009. have you been complaining about this ever since 2009? well, they were euro passports. european union style passports. european union style passports. but this is about manufacturing a new post—brexit uk passport for british citizens. and one would have thought that one of the benefits of brexit, if there are any, would be the new uk passport would be manufactured safely and securely here in britain. that now is not going to be the case unless we can get the government to change this very silly decision. you say it is silly, but they say these are the rules of healthy competition. de la

rue was just rules of healthy competition. de la rue wasjust more rules of healthy competition. de la rue was just more expensive. if this decision is saving more than £100 million, that is money that could go towards funding a new school or a new hospital. well, why do the french government circumvent eu rules of that exact same nature on the grounds of national—security to manufacture french passports in france? and as i have said, by awarding the contract to the lowest tender, possibly £100 million cheaper, i don't know, there before going significant income tax and vat and national insurance revenues from the exchequer, also corporation tax profits from de la rue themselves. thank you for being with us. that is the labour mp for gateshead. time for a look at the weather with darren. good evening, spells of rain from the atlantic during the next day or

two. not everywhere, mind you. we have this thick cloud which has brought rain to western parts. that moves east, but very little rain across east anglia and the south east. heavy rain further west, but the main way to the range transfers north towards scotland with heavy rain in cumbria and across dumfries and galloway. but very little later in the night towards eastern parts of england and cloud breaks in wales and the south—west. we have strong and the south—west. we have strong and gusty wind so mild night, 5—7d. sunshine across england and wales on friday, the rain clearing in northern england and showers following behind, things improving in northern ireland and more rain across scotland with strong and gusty winds. the winds drop out for a while until we get wet and windy weather in the far south—west by the end of the day. highs of 12, or even 13, degrees. goodbye. you're watching beyond 100 days. donald trump slaps billions of dollars in tariffs on imports from china and warns this

isjust the beginning. the european union is still in limbo — it's not clear here in brussels whether they've won an exemption from these american sanctions or not. mr trump said the us trade deficit with china is out of control but financial markets didn't like the announcement. they fell on fears of a trade war. if they charge us, we charge them the same thing is about is how it has got to be. it has not been a way for many decades. president trump's lead lawyer in the investigation into alleged russian interference resigns. also on the programme...