hello. you're watching afternoon live. i'm simon mccoy. today at 2pm: sergei skripal, poisoned alongside his daughter in the salisbury attack, is improving rapidly and is now no longer critical in hospital. calls for communities to mobilise against knife crime after yet more attacks in london. a sugar tax comes into force, increasing the price of many soft drinks, as part of a government drive to help tackle obesity. coming up on afternoon live: all the sport. with azi and the latest from the commonwealth games. good afternoon, simon. i will be speaking about sibling rivalry at the game, where katie and john archibald have both won muddles in australia's gold coast. tahti won muddles in australia's gold coast. ta hti took won muddles in australia's gold coast. tahti took gold whilst her all the brother took silver in the men's 4000 metre individual pursuit. there's plenty of medals to talk about and a two. we'll have the details a little later. thanks, azi.

ben rich, it's been lovely, but there's a weekend coming! it's that cliche, a real mixed bag. the weather throwing just about everything at us, but it will at least mild. i'll have all the details, plus the weather at the commonwealth games. thanks, ben. also coming up: mixed martial arts fighter conor mcgregor, ufc‘s lightweight champion and the sport's biggest star, is charged with assault in new york after an attack on a bus carrying sporting rivals. hello, everyone. this is afternoon live. i'm simon mccoy. sergei skripal, the former russian double—agent — the man at the centre of the salisbury nerve—agent attack — is getting better in hospital. in the last half—hour, a statement from salisbury hospital said he was responding well to treatment — and improving rapidly. well, the diplomatic and propaganda battle over the poisoning moved to a war of words at the un last

night, as the uk and russian ambassador swapped quotes from lewis carroll — no, really — with moscow accusing the uk of "playing with fire". a cousin of yulia skripal has told the bbc the phone call recording released yesterday is genuine. viktoria skripal, who lives in moscow, recorded the conversation, which was later broadcast on russian state television. here's our diplomatic correspondent, james landale. the former russian intelligence officer sergei skripal may remain critically ill, but his 33—year—old daughter yulia says she is recovering. so attention is focusing on what she knows about the nerve—agent attack that left them both fighting for their lives in salisbury. for now, ms skripal has refused to see russian diplomats. but russian television claimed she had spoken to her cousin viktoria by phone. she's been offered help by the russian authorities to travel to britain to see yulia skripal — if she is granted a visa.

but she told newsnight of her concerns. at the united nations, the diplomatic confrontation continued, with britain again insisting that it was highly likely that russia was behind the attack, and russia denying it had ever made novichok nerve agent — let alone used it. translation: we have told our british colleagues that you're playing with fire, and you will be sorry. i think the metaphor that i find most apt is that of an arsonist turned firefighter. but in this particular instance, the arsonist wishes to investigate his own fire. for now, despite all the kremlin‘s protestations, the uk continues to retain the support of its allies, both at the un and the european union — allies who are prepared to say so in public. spain has shown full solidarity with our british friends and allies. we were, you know, satisfied with the explanation that they provided us with both

directly and in brussels. the focus now will turn to the investigation by the international chemical weapons watchdog into the nerve agent used in salisbury. it's expected to complete its work next week. james landale, bbc news. and our diplomatic correspondent, james landale, is here now. first of all, the news that sergei skripal is recovering. and on a personal level, that's great news. but there are lots of people who are going to want to talk to him. yes, they are, and i don't think they are going to be able to immediately dropped him. the note from the medical director at salisbury district hospital repeatedly says that she is going to insist on the privacy both of mr skripal and his daughter, yulia, throughout this. but she does say that he is responding well to treatment, that he is improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition. now, the significance of that means that

the significance of that means that the two key individuals at the heart of this investigation we now know are getting better. at some point, they will be able to speak. that means that all of those people who wish to ask them questions will be able to us questions, both the british investigators, and also all of those russians, the investigators, the russian diplomats and others, saying they really, really wa nt and others, saying they really, really want to speak to these two so they can get their version of events. they will be able to suck my to shed light —— they will be able to shed light —— they will be able to shed light on where they were, and that is significant in the investigation. there have been questions raised about how much of an ex—spy he was and what he had been up to in recent years, who will get a ccess been up to in recent years, who will get access to him was yellow he is a free agent and can speak to him he wishes to speak to. i would imagine that initially at some point when his recovery progresses he will be informed by the british authorities that there will be an offer of consular that there will be an offer of

c0 nsu la i’ a ccess that there will be an offer of consular access from the russian embassy. the officer was —— that offer was made to the daughter, julia, who has declined to take up the offer. but he will be made that offer. the british government is obliged to that under diplomatic laws. but obviously british investigators will want to interview both of these individuals and say, what were you doing, what happened, when did you first feel ill, all of those obvious questions which will have a huge impact on this investigation. the other thing that this development will do is that it will provide new opportunities for the russians and others to present their own explanations for what they think happened. for example, the recovery of yulia skripal was used by some of the russians to say, look, what kind of a nerve agent attack with this, that she was able to survive so quickly? for example, we have but russian ambassador to the un last night saying, there is a

british television programme called midsummer murders, the british know lots of different ways of killing people, far more imaginative than this one, which was not very effective. those sort of arguments will be made additionally because of the recovery of mr skripal. the midsummer murders, the use of lewis carol, the use by the russian ambassador of parolo, carol, the use by the russian ambassador of pa rolo, there carol, the use by the russian ambassador of parolo, there is a slightly surreal feel to what is a very, very serious diplomatic browse all of her cool borrow. it is very surreal but it has a broader context. er shun diplomats and russian intellectuals —— russian diplomats. they are very fond of british literature. i have conversations with russian diplomats and officials and they amaze me with their knowledge of british literature it puts me to shame sometimes. that is the context in which you should see the way that russian diplomats use these literary allusions, sometimes the british audience is left a bit puzzled because they might not be as familiar with some of these at the

time. you are right, the russians have been criticised for appearing to trivialise some of this. and the russian ambassador to the uk was asked about this directly yesterday. because he was, you know, making jokes about it. he said, no, we take this very seriously. his argument is, russia uses twitterfor this very seriously. his argument is, russia uses twitter for humour but delivers it's more serious m essa 9 es but delivers it's more serious messages through other mediums. clearly the use of humour is a deliberate part of the russian information battle that is going on at the moment. thank you, james landale. you are watching afternoon live. police in london have held a community meeting this morning about the recent series of knife crimes and killings in london. there were seven stabbings in the capital yesterday, with a number of teenagers wounded. john mcmanus is at scotland yard. simon, this meeting was held with police and community leaders and

groups from parts of the capital which have been most affected by this apparent surge, this apparent rise in fatal migraine. we already know that four people died earlier this week —— fatal knife crime. three of them were teenagers. that was a combination of knife and gun attacks. the mets told us this morning that there were seven stabbing attacks in different parts of the capital yesterday. most of them also involving teenagers. 315—year—old, for example, were stabbed in east london. a 13—year—old boy was also stabbed with critical injuries. two men in their 20s and 40s were also targeted throughout the day and across all parts of the capital. this is a very serious problem that the met wants to get to grips with. if you look at the number of average knife attacks in london in the year leading up to march 2017, the average was actually 12 knife attacks per day. yesterday there were seven. that obviously is much fewer. but the metropolitan police is really concerned about the

fatality rate. we know that 52 people have died in violent attacks, most of them involving knives, since the beginning of this year across the beginning of this year across the capital. some also involving guns. this is something that the met really wa nts guns. this is something that the met really wants to get to grips with. hence they help this meeting this morning, it was about hearing from communities themselves, from those affected, about what their experiences were what they think the solutions might be. the metropolitan police commissioner, cressida dick, searchable form a new unit of 120 officers. they will tackle this problem right from the start —— said she will form a new unit. she is going to use more intelligence led policing on the ground and use stop and search, which is sometimes a controversial option. after the meeting today, the met police issued a statement about what they said you could actually do and what they wa nted could actually do and what they wanted the communities to do as well to tackle that problem. they said that they had been absolutely clear that they had been absolutely clear that they had been absolutely clear that they can't tackle knife crime alone. they said they can't enforce

their way out of this problem. and they need the help of communities. they said they wanted to mobilise communities to help the police do theirjob and bring down this apparent surge in fatal knife crime. don mcmanus at scotland yard, thank you very much. let's pick up on that. ken marsh is the chairman of the metropolitan police federation, and joins me now. it's not just it's notjust a police problem, but what has gone on in the last six months to make this up well, this figure out way new york's murder rate? well, write clearly it's not purely down to the police to deal with this. we are called in the works and we will do everything we can to stop this happening. —— a cog in the works. recently, over the last few weeks and several months prior to that we have seen an increase in knife crime. there's been all sorts of things thrown around in relation to it. one of the big ones is media, which we have seen, a lot of transit conversation in media. you mean social media?

social media, where individuals are bidding up the behaviour of certain individuals. we have to see that stopped immediately by the government. some would say, well, that they help to the police, you are able to pre—empt things because you will have seen things before the trouble really starts. but are there enough officers who are monitoring social media to get an idea of where trouble may come? well, quite clearly we are struggling with that, as you are fully aware, financially oui’ as you are fully aware, financially our numbers are being cut. they've been cut. we are nowjust below 30,000. we are talking about a further 2000 plus going. it's very ha rd to further 2000 plus going. it's very hard to deliver the service we've been delivering with those sort of cuts. let's take the numbers out of this and talk about tax ex. there was a time when —— talk about tactics. there was a time when you we re tactics. there was a time when you were going into trouble areas and getting those they felt responsible, taking them away from the scene and allowing the community, weeks and months later, to repair the damage.

those days are gone. should they be back with you look we would like them back, yes. that is ourjob, to stop people committing crimes on the streets of london. we want to see an increase in stop and search and tsg and more priority policing on the streets to take back the streets. at the moment, the youth seem to think they have impunity to do what they want. why isn't that happening? is there a sense, the stop and search argument we hear about all the time, many people say that the met is too worried about the image, it has become so pc that they are terrified of upsetting communities, and that is at the heart of this as well. you have seen recently, the police get bashed from all areas, by the prime minister, by the home secretary, about how we do ourjobs. if we were left on to do so might —— left alone to do ourjobs, we could get on with it correctly. i do believe there should be so up and searched but i don't believe the public should fear

it, all my colleagues in uniform have body worn cameras, we have nothing to hide and we want to make the streets safe. thank you very much, ken marsh from the police federation. let's get more on that breaking news that the former russian spy sergei skripal is recovering and no longer in a critical condition after the nerve agent attack in salisbury this month. 0ur correspondentjessica parker is in salisbury. we have had a statement i reckon from salisbury district hospital, where i am now, from doctor christine blanchard, who with the medical director here. it is quite a lengthy statement. the key bit comes at the end of the statement. she says she wants to update us on the condition of the father sergei skripal, the former double agent will stop we are told he is responding well to treatment. improving rapidly and is no longer ina improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition. that really is the key bit of this date mid, the breaking news we've had this afternoon directly from this hospital. it is quite a lengthy

statement and i will read you something else of what doctor christine bann chad has told us. she said... following intense media coverage yesterday, yesterday we heard that yulia skripal had been awake for earlier week and —— for nearly a week and her strength is growing and she thanked the people of salisbury. doctor christine blanchard goes on to say she wants to ta ke blanchard goes on to say she wants to take the opportunity to update us on the condition of the two remaining patients being treated at salisbury district hospital, yulia skripal and sergei skripal. yulia skripal‘s condition has improved to sta ble skripal‘s condition has improved to stable and she can look forward to the day where she is well enough to leave hospital. any speculation, she says, on when that date will be used that, speculation. in the meantime, yulia has asked for privacy whilst she continues to get better, something i would urge the media to respect. she then goes on to update us respect. she then goes on to update us about the condition of the

father, sergei skripal, who is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly, no longer in a critical condition. of course, it's 110w critical condition. of course, it's now just over a critical condition. of course, it's nowjust over a month since sergey and yulia were found on that bench in salisbury city. jessica parker, thank you very much. you're watching afternoon live. these are our headlines: sergei skripal, the former russian double—agent who was poisoned in the nerve—agent attack in salisbury, is recovering well and is no longer in a critical condition, according to doctors. seven more people are stabbed in london overnight, including a 13—year—old boy, as the series of violent crimes across the capital this year continues. a new sugar tax of up to 24p a litre comes into force in the uk in a bid to tackle childhood obesity and tooth decay. and in port... scotland's katie archibald has her first and in port... scotland's katie archibald has herfirst commonwealth games gold. she won the women's 3000 metre individual pursuit final ahead of the home favourite. jordan spieth leads the masters by two shots, the

second round is just leads the masters by two shots, the second round isjust getting under way. defending champion surrogate garcia has it all to do after a disastrous first day. will surrogate garcia. there's the light in the desert or daniel ricciardo as he topped the time sheets in first practice aired of this weekend's bahrain grand prix. a new tax of up to 24p a litre is added from today on soft drinks with a high sugar content. it's part of an initiative by the government to try to tackle obesity and tooth decay. the treasury says food and drink manufacturers have already reduced the amount of sugar in more than half their products, which means the levy is unlikely to bring in as much revenue as had been forecast. our health correspondent, james gallagher, reports. they are some of our favourite drinks, but the sugar tax means they're now more expensive, or the recipe's been changed. the sugar content of ribena and lucozade has been more than halved. artificial sweeteners

are being used instead. but pepsi is sticking to its sweet recipe, and will now cost more. as is coca—cola, although it will come in smaller, more expensive 1.5 litre bottles. so how big is the tax? drinks that are more than around 5% sugar will be taxed at 18p per litre. those that are more than 8% sugar will be taxed at 24p per litre. the amount the treasury expects to raise has already fallen from £500 million a year to £240 million, so many soft drinks have been redesigned. changes to irn—bru led to an online campaign, and even people stockpiling scotland's other national drink. this tax is not universally popular. rather than addressing the cause of the problem, it's just taxing people that can probably not afford to pay any more for it anyway. i want to discourage my children from being able to go out and buy a fizzy drink, so all the better as far as i'm concerned. i don't think it will make a difference, really. they're just making it more expensive for us.

as long as it's going to be more healthy to children, or even grown—ups, i think that makes a difference. the aim of taxing the white stuff in our drinks is to help combat the obesity epidemic. only a handful of other countries, including mexico, norway and france, have tried it. these are products that the industry have created demand for. so it's also their responsibility to change them, particularly now that we have such strong evidence that levels of sugar in children are so high, and they do have an impact on their health. so if we are concerned about children's health and we are, then we need to look at how we could improve this. but some commentators question whether the tax will be effective. 0ur consumption of soft drinks is prolific. we need hydration, but on the other hand, from a calorie point of view, there's such an easy availability of calories. wherever you look, there's more shops selling food than ever before. there are more products, and portion sizes are getting bigger all the time. so really, soft drinks are a drop

in the ocean compared with the overall obesity problem. the soft drink style in our supermarkets is changing. but it will take some time to see how the sugar tax affects businesses, our shopping habits and our health. james gallacher, bbc news. conor mcgregor, one of the world's most famous martial arts fighters, has been arrested in new york and charged with three counts of assault. the irish former two—weight champion in the ultimate fighting championship, a sport which uses mixed martial arts, was one of a group of men alleged to have vandalised a bus containing rivalfighters. richard conway reports. even in a sport where hype comes as standard, conor mcgregor may have overplayed his hand. as the ufc held a media promotion day in new york, mcgregor and his entourage stormed the backstage area, attacking a coach containing otherfighters. you all right, mike? the video appears to show mcgregor attempting to throw a barrier, while others rain objects

towards the vehicle. a number of those on board are believed to have been injured by glass fragments. the irishman, who turned himself into police, is now in custody, and is due to appear in court later today. a star of ufc, he was seemingly incensed of being stripped of his title, but his long—term future in the sport now appears to be in majorjeopardy. you want to grab 30 (bleep) friends and come down here and do what you did today? it's disgusting, and i don't think anybody is going to be, you know, huge conor mcgregor fans after this. ufc is a sport that uses a brutal mix of martial arts. but mcgregor turned to boxing last year, fighting and losing to floyd mayweather in one of the most lucrative bouts in history. having not returned to ufc since then, the decision was made to remove his championship belt. an agent provocateur, he revels in courting controversy and being outspoken. i will reign supreme.

there'll be a new king. that's it, there will be a new king. all publicity is said to be good publicity, especially for a man who has forged a career as a flamboyant outsider. but any criminal conviction could yet see conor mcgregor lose his right to fight in america. richard conway, bbc news. thousands of palestinians are taking part in a second friday of protests along the israel—gaza border. at least 20 people have been shot dead there by israeli security forces in the past week. well, palestinians here have set fire to a big pile of tyres. that's the black smoke that you can see billowing across into israel. there are similar scenes at another four protest camps along the 40 miles of the israel—gaza border. the palestinians are trying to use these as a smoke screen, because they know that there are israeli soldiers waiting just on the other side of that border, close to where you can see that sand embankment, and that there are snipers among them. so far, what we've seen here is several people being injured. we've seen the israelis

using tear gas against them. but the israeli military has been very clear that it has not changed its rules. if it sees palestinians approaching the fence, trying to damage it, trying to cross illegally into israel, then it will open fire. it's very worried about a mass infiltration into israel. and it accuses the hamas leaders in gaza of trying to stir up troubles along the border using these protests as a guise. palestinians, though, when you speak to people here they're very clear that they're here because of the right of return for palestinian refugees. it's an issue that people really care about. it's nearly 70 years ago that the state of israel was created. and that's when hundreds of thousands of palestinians were forced to leave their homes or forced to flee. israel, of course, completely rejects any claim of theirs to go back to that land or to their home villages. yolande knell reporting from the

gaza border with israel. the former south african president jacob zuma has appeared at a court in durban ahead of his trial for corruption. he's accused of accepting a bribe over a $2.5 billion government arms deal in the 1990s. mr zuma denies all the charges. 0ur correspondent nomsa maseko is in durban. what's happened today? there was a very brief court appearance here at the high court in durban. the former president, jacob zuma, was accused, and there was almost a representative from the french arms company —— there was also a representative. from the arms company accused of having paid a bribe to jacob zuma. both of them have denied any wrongdoing. there was a very short court appearance. shortly after that, jacob zuma came out of the courtroom surrounded by

the clergy who prayed for him before he entered the courtroom. he then addressed hundreds of supporters here. he told them that he believes that these are trumped up charges and that they came as a result of a political conspiracy, and that he believes also that they will regret reinstating the charges against him. so, the court appearance of jacob zuma was then postponed to the 8th ofjune. 0k, thank you very much. bringing you some breaking news, we are hearing from scotland yard detectives investigating the shooting of a 17—year—old girl in totte n ha m shooting of a 17—year—old girl in tottenham have made an arrest, this isa tottenham have made an arrest, this is a 30—year—old man arrested this morning at an address in the ee nine area, around the hackney area, on suspicion of murder —— theme nine area. this is in connection with the shooting dead of tanesha melbourne, who was killed in tottenham on

monday night after shots were fired as she stood in a doorway. the doorway of her home. that news just coming in, detectives investigating the shooting of tanesha melbourne, they have arrested a 30—year—old man who was arrested earlier this morning at an address in the e9 area of the capital on suspicion of murder. this is afternoon live. that's go to the other side of the world and see what's happening in the weather! some people have their eyes focused on this part of the world because of the commonwealth games, the weather is obviously much more lovely and sunny on the gold coast on here at home. what we have got konta gating things is cycling iris. you can see the way the winds are spinning. —— complicating things is cyclone rs. that is nothing that is cyclone rs. that is nothing that is going to disrupt anything of the events or anything like that, temperatures in britain about 28

degrees. i think you would take this... certainly at the moment! . maybe golf is more your scene... shall we show a map of the united states now?! eight we will spin all the way around the world... it's not his first time! we are looking at augusta, georgia, there is trouble looming on the horizon in the shape of this weather front. they have had aof of this weather front. they have had a of across this part of the us recently, with torrential downpours of rain and thunderstorms. look at the way the map exposed to live on saturday, torrential downpours and thunderstorms. if there's one thing golfers don't like, its uncertainty! no, wait, that's the city. mike gapes lightning! there could be some of that on saturday. it looks a little bit better after that. if there was water, sergio garcia will find it, for sure! but

so do for people who know about golf! we'd better move on! lets hear the forecast for there! this is the weather here at home, a mixed out for the weekend. this picture came from a weather watcher in somerset, cloudy weather doesn't always have to be disappointing. they look like ufos, yes, but it is a cloud, not a spaceship, don't worry, don't call us spaceship, don't worry, don't call us about that! here is the satellite picture. a lot of cloud pushing in from the west. it's not all about the club today. we are bringing some very mild air in from the south. temperatures from the southeast or approaching 18 degrees. but even though there's quite a lot of cloud and some hazy sunshine, the best of that across the southeast, it's a different story up to the north—west. not a great story in the west of scotland. heavy bursts of rain, is strong southerly breeze. not so bad across the eastern side of scotland, things brightening up

for northern ireland. hefty showers and sunny spells through the afternoon. cloud from wales into the south—west. further east, when you get that sunshine, that's what you're temperatures are up to, 17-18d. as you're temperatures are up to, 17—18d. as we go into the weekend, through friday night, you can see the rain persists across the north—western corner. then a fair amount of dry weather, the odd mist and fog patch to be had, then in the south—west we see another clutch of heavy downpours pushing in by the end of the night. not a cold might, 4-9d, end of the night. not a cold might, 4—9d, a mild feel to take us into saturday morning. the real troublemaker this weekend will be this weather front, which troublemaker this weekend will be this weatherfront, which is going to sit around wriggling in place on the british isles all weekend long, along the line of that weather front we will send pulses of wet weather. here is a blob of rain across wales, the midlands, into northern england. this may shift a bit further west, a little bit troublesome for us to get the detail. but for northern ireland, for scotland, i'm hopeful

of something a bit brighter, some spells of sunshine. temperatures could lift up to 17—18d. this troublesome weather front is still with us into sunday, pulses of rain running northwards along it. sunday looks likely to bring showery rain in across the south, a lot of cloud around, mistand in across the south, a lot of cloud around, mist and fog to start off. some brighter grimaces if you are lucky and some spells of sunshine. wherever you while, that mild feel stays with us —— wherever you. do sum things up for this weekend, it isa sum things up for this weekend, it is a mixed bag. a mild field to the weather. —— a mild feel. there will be some breaks in the cloud and some rain at times as well. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. sergei skripal — poisoned alongside his daughter in the salisbury attack — is improving rapidly — and is now no longer critical in hospital. in the last few minutes a 30 year old man has been arrested

in connection with the murder of 17 year old tanesha melbourne in tottenham. police in london say there were seven more stabbings in the capital yesterday, with a number of teenagers wounded. among the latest incidents, a 13 year—old boy was left with serious injuries in newham, and two 15 year—olds were stabbed in mile end. a soft drink sugar tax of up to 24 pence a litre — comes into force in the uk in a bid to reduce childhood obesity and tooth decay. many manufacturers have pre—empted the law by cutting the sugar content in their drinks. about 9 million people will pay more towards their pensions from today. the minimum contribution is going up from 1% of income to 3%. sport now on afternoon live with azi farni. england, scotland and wales have all won gold at the commonwealth games today but there's one family in particular who will be celebrating the most. yes indeed.

scottish siblings, katie and john archibald, who both won medals today. katie went first, the 24 year old won gold in the women's 3000 metre individual pursuit for scotland's second gold of the games. she was up against the home favourite rebecca wiasak, who had the support of the crowd. and though wiasak had the better start, archibald was stronger in the finish. less than an hour later her older brother john took silver in the men's 4000 metre individual pursuit, behind england's charlie tanfield who took gold. it's pretty remarkable becausejohn archibald only converted to the track from the road last year. he's actually a former swimmer, who only got a taste for cycling while commuting to work on his bike. so there's hope for us yet simon! studio: how does that help explain that the gold medal for wales? it's come from a former painter decorator. yes, weightlifter gareth evans.

he gave up the decorating in 2012 to go full time in the sport and it's paid off. he's kept up wales' record of getting at least one medal at every games since 1958. joe lynskey has more. the welsh way in sport is strength of mind and strength of body, gareth evansis of mind and strength of body, gareth evans is a weightlifter with a fly half's turn of speed, or the strain was for his country and his family, he has had to fight for finding just is third games but all the temple was the gold medal and he earned it in his own way. —— all he came for was the gold medal. it has been 20 yea rs was the gold medal. it has been 20 years in the making and i knew i could do it. i could never take this away from my little girl. i can't wait to show her this and have this around her neck. england have set the early pace in the swimming pool, the early pace in the swimming pool, the lions have come forward, and for 21—year—old sarah vaizey any medal would have done but with one good sprint gold can be in touching distance. commentator: she has got

it! gold—medal to sarah vaizey. pretty mental, this time last year i got my first british title and now i'm the commonwealth champion. gold a lwa ys i'm the commonwealth champion. gold always looks certain on the, what stage or alice tai. australia now have seven gold medals, and they bleed the table, —— they bleed the table. away from home. he arrived at the olympics, but it could be at the commonwealth games where he is truly remembered, now the game ‘s most decorated swimmer and could equal the overall record. this could become a beautiful games. the second round of the masters is just getting underway in augusta. the 2015 championjordan spieth

leads the way after the first round, he's on 6 under after a run of five birides in a row on the back nine at augusta, rory mcilroy is 3 off the lead. tiger woods is 1 over in his first major in over 2 years. daniel ricciardo has topped the timesheets in first practice ahead of this weekend's bahrain grand prix. the red bull driver was three tenths of a second quicker than the mercedes of valtteri bottas at the bahrain international circuit. britain's lewis hamilton was more than a second off the pace in fifth place, immediately behind sebastian vettel who won the opening race of the season in australia a fortnight ago. that's all the sport for now. studio: thanks for joining studio: thanks forjoining us. more now on that ground—breaking sugar tax on soft drinks which comes into force in the uk today. the government hopes it will reduce childhood obesity and tooth decay.

many manufacturers have pre—empted the law by cutting the sugar content in their drinks. i'm joined by celebrity chef jamie 0liver‘s head of nutritionjenny rosborough. they have introduced it, will it work? yes, like you said, many companies, 50% of them have reduced the sugar in their drinks ahead of this tax that was introduced today, so that means a lot of sugar is essentially removed already in the first place. even if people continued to drink those same drinks, they are having less sugar. but much more needs to be done? the sugar tax is important, a good day for public health because it is the government saying, we have a responsibility to help protect the health of our children, we have gone beyonce, the parents i got to make a healthy choice —— we have gone beyond now, the parents have got to make a healthy choice, so this is

the gateway for the government to do more. hopefully they will announce restrictions on marketing and advertising of those foods and drinks which are high in saturated fats and salt and sugar. this is very positive. parents are dealing with children who like these sugary drinks and who get their... who want their fizzy drinks and who get their... who want theirfizzy drinks, so drinks and who get their... who want their fizzy drinks, so what can you do? to persuade them that other drinks which are not as sugary, are just as good. there is support from the public, the majority of the public are behind the sugar tax according to polls, because parents wa nt according to polls, because parents want that support to get their children to have less sugar, they have got to accept it takes a bit of time to change our taste preferences toa time to change our taste preferences to a less sweet taste, and water is the healthiest choice, but making it more exciting, putting in cucumber

and other flavouring. cucumber, really? laughter what about orange squash question mark —— orange squash? 0rangejuice has problems of its own in terms of teeth. fruit juice is has problems of its own in terms of teeth. fruitjuice is made from 10096 free, that doesn't come under the sugar tax because it contains nutrients, vitamins and minerals and it contributes to your five a day, but even in the single portions they are sold in two big a portion. it does contain a lot of sugars that attacked the teeth and it causes tooth decay. getting the message out there that we should not be having too much of it and we want to be eating our fruit and too much of it and we want to be eating ourfruit and not too much of it and we want to be eating our fruit and not drinking it. the next big move for the government? we are waiting for next

restrictions on marketing and advertising because as long as the companies say, parents should make a healthy choice, what is free choice when we are being heavily influenced all the time by these different tactics? jenny, thanks forjoining us. the former president of south korea, park geun—hye, has been found guilty of abuse of power, bribery and coercion. a court in the capital seoul ruled that while in office, she had forced companies to donate the equivalent of more than £50 million to two foundations controlled by her close friend. the former president resigned when the allegations emerged last year. 0ur correspondent laura bicker is in seoul. this is the culmination of a scandal that has rocked the political elite and in golf summer south korea's biggest corporations and companies —— in golf summer. it has seen the former president soon to be imprisoned, and other leaders of the largest companies like samsung have also fallen out of the law. but people here want more changes to

come. i was outside the court as the verdict was read aloud. she shouts in korean. defiant, supporters of the former president scream her name. the protest grows louder as the verdict at a nearby courtroom is declared. 24 years in prison and a near $17 million fine. a bitter blow for a right—wing leader who fashioned herself as the daughter of the nation. we don't accept it, the charges are crazy. translation: this is an act that violates global human rights. we cannot accept the result at all. there is nojustice in south korea. despite these protests in support of president park, the majority of south koreans hope today's verdict marks a turning point, the severing of ties between presidential power and the biggest companies in south korea.

and also a clean break from authoritarian rule. park geun—hye was the daughter of park chung—hee, who seized power in a coup in 1961. he ruled for 18 years, until he was gunned down in 1979. she entered the political arena just after the global financial crisis in 2008. a worried older generation saw her as a saviour. she won the presidency by a slim margin of 51%. her close childhood friend and adviser, choi soon—sil, was the first to be caught up in a web of corruption charges. together, they used their presidential privileges to pressure huge corporations for millions of dollars in donations. week after week, the streets of seoul were bathed in candlelight as the list of allegations grew. protesters gathered in their millions to overthrow a leader they saw as corrupt.

today, they watched as the verdict was heard on live television. translation: i think the verdict was generous, i think she should be sentenced to life. park geun—hye will appeal, but it will be watched closely by those who have hoped and fought for justice. the powers of the presidency and those of the large conglomerate have been so long into link that it will been so long into link that it will be very difficult to on tangle that web but the new leader here in seoul has promised to unleash new laws, anti—corruption has promised to unleash new laws, anti—corru ption laws, to has promised to unleash new laws, anti—corruption laws, to tackle this, but what is clear by the protests that you have seen that ousted park geun—hye, people will no longer here put up with corruption, and if they see that in people in

power, well, they are prepared to help remove them. studio: laura there in seoul. the number of prisoners in england and wales has dropped to its lowest level for more than seven years. the ministry ofjustice says there are more than 83,000 people currently in prison — that's down 2,000 in the past four months. at the same time, the number of offenders released early on electronic tags has been rising rapidly, passing the 3,000 mark. a new income tax system begins in scotland today. it will mean many people pay less tax, but some will be charged more. until now, holyrood had matched the tax arrangements in the rest of the uk, with three bands. under the new system, there are four bands ranging from a low income rate, at 19%, to a top rate, at 46%. prince harry and meghan markle are in bath. they've been watching athletes compete in trials to pick the uk

team for the invictus games, which will take place in sydney later this year. prince harry founded the games, which are for wounded, or sick armed service personnel and veterans. the first tournament was staged in london in 2014. some breaking news. the m6 has been closed because of a crash. multiple fire engines and ambience is have been sent to the scene, one of the lorries has jackknifed. this happened at two o'clock this afternoon. 45 minutes ago. more on that as we get it but at the moment the m6 is closed between junctions 15 and 16. in a moment the business news with ben bland. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. sergei skripal, the former russian double agent who was poisoned in the nerve agent attack in salisbury, is recovering well and is no longer in a critical condition according to doctors.

a 30—year—old man has been arrested in connection with the murder of 17—year—old tanesha melbourne—bla ke in north london on monday. a new sugar tax of up to 24p a litre comes into force in the uk — in a bid to tackle childhood obesity and tooth decay. here's your business headlines on afternoon live. millions of people on auto—enrolment pensions will see their minimum contributions triple from today. the government's raising the amount which will need to be paid into the schemes. employees will have to pay at least 3% cent of their income, with employers adding another 2%. britain's economy chalked up solid productivity growth in the last three months of 2017. labour productivity, or output per hour worked, rose by 0.7% in the fourth quarter of 2017 junk mailfrom the royal mail! it's been fined £12,000 for sending nuisance emails to people who had opted out. it sent 327,000 messages to those people, advertising lower prices for parcels.

royal mail argues the emails were a service rather than marketing. the information commissioner disagreed — and said the firm broke the law. there is absolutely no let up in this trade dispute between the us and china, is there? yes, i thought you were going to mention that. we have had another twist. donald trump has told his officials to look at possibly bringing in a further $100 billion of tariffs against china. that's on top of the $50bn worth of chinese goods he proposed to put tariffs on earlier in the week — which china responded to with a similar level of proposed tariffs. china's ministry of commerce responded, saying china would "not hesitate to pay any price" to defend its interests. in response to mr trump's latest announcement, foreign minister wang yi said: "china and the us as two world powers should treat each other

on a basis of equality and with respect". who gets hurt? if you ask them — each other. but these are the world's two biggest economies. so as this trade spat has escalated stock markets around the world have fallen because investors fear that it could hit global economic growth — given the size of these two countries' economies. president trump has accused china of intellectual property theft — and harming us businesses. china denies that. but these tariffs are designed to make each other‘s imports more expensive. that might discourage shoppers from buying those products — ultimately that hits profits and possiblyjobs in the country where those goods come from. joining us now is kim gittleson, our north america business correspondent. this latest proposal would take the

total value of chinese imports that would face tariffs to $153 billion, where does this go next? this is a pretty and political situation, and i don't want to wage any guesses —— pretty uncertain political situation. an interesting aspect of this, the us has only sold a certain amount of goods into china, $130 billion worth. it suggests there might be another angle to this and the chinese will have to figure out a way to retaliate in kind to the words of president trump that won't necessarily involved harris. investors are quite serene about this latest element —— necessarily involve tariffs. it suggests many

people think that the $100 billion figure from president trump is an opening gambit and not something that will necessarily be realised in the months to come. the first friday of the month, we have the latest us jobs data, what is the picture? kind of disappointing, 103,000 jobs created in the us economy, but we are looking at the trend and in the month of february the number ofjobs created was revised upwards and that shows overall the us economy is doing quite well. one thing investors pay attention to is wage growth. americans are taking home a bigger pay cheques and that is something significant. something that suggests american workers are

finally recovering from the financial crisis and that the us federal reserve '5 and the central bank will have recovered as they look to increase interest rates from re cord look to increase interest rates from record lows look to increase interest rates from re cord lows in look to increase interest rates from record lows in the coming years. thanks forjoining us. a rather noisy floor at the new york stock exchange there. and now the markets. a bit of green on there in the ftse 100 but still be concerned about the us china trade war, but i have picked out a few specific stocks. retailers amongst the big fall is. the city has downgraded shares for marks & spencer and next and that has affected them. that is a little snapshot of the ftse100 and some of the constituents. you were here when

i read you the story about prince harry and meghan markle in bath. someone has tweeted and said, did i think that they were in the bath. that is absolutely not true! talk to you later. an american company has announced plans to launch the first ever space hotel into orbit. 0rion span aims to send its aurora station hotel into space by 2021. the company says the hotel will be the same size as the cabin of a private jet plane, and will orbit at around 320km above the earth's surface. a 12 day stay orbiting the earth will cost nearly $10 million. the company hopes to have the first paying guests up there in 2022. a little earlier on the victoria derbyshire

programme, matthew price spoke to the entrepreneur, adventurer and space advocate per wimmer. per is a founding astronaut with sir richard branson‘s virgin galactic programme and was asked whether it was worth the pricetag. it sounds like an awful lot of money but if the price is right, which we don't know yet, we don't know if they can make a profit at those levels, but it is actually good value for money, believe it or not. today the only option is if you are a private or a nasa astronaut is to fly on the russian spacecraft to the international space station and if you were to purchase such a ticket, and it is difficult to make it available, it would set you back about $50 million, so below ten minute dollars is actually relatively inexpensive in that context. i'm just wondering relatively inexpensive in that context. i'mjust wondering how relatively inexpensive in that context. i'm just wondering how this will work. it is about the size of the capsule in a private jet, will work. it is about the size of the capsule in a privatejet, so not much room to lounge around and have

your morning coffee. no, that is true, you could find more space in a 5—star luxury hotel but that is not why you are going. it is a truly unique once—in—a—lifetime experience where you will see the earth, planet earth, from a place that less than 600 people have ever visited. it will be the trip of a lifetime, a unique experience, and that is what the 21st—century travellers and adventurers want to go, the planet has been explored. i have been studying about the french colonists when they came here to vietnam, and the experiences they had, that was then, but today if you want to be an adventure you have got to go to space, you have got to go beyond the earth's atmosphere. and this offer from 0rion span is very exciting and helpful and i hope they will be able to execute on the mission. that is

my next question. do you honestly think that this will happen, at least one day? even if this project doesn't happen. it will happen one day, for certain, but whether it will be with 0rion span... there are also others involved. bigelow has spent $500 million on constructing and testing hotels in space so there isa and testing hotels in space so there is a big drive to get out there and there is demand from private astronaut enthusiasts and researchers and probably also national governments so it will happen one day, but whether this one will be successful or not remains to be seen. two critical factors, the cost and ability and availability of transportation up there and at the moment you don't have many options. there is a rocket from the russians and a few others, but there aren't many people who can take you up

beyond the atmosphere. secondly, financing has yet to be shown, ham at financing this company has bought up at financing this company has bought up —— how the financing this company has got. like all these things, these are the games of billionaires, as we have seen with sir richard branson on galactic the rocket i will be flying on, which made a very successful power test today. we are getting there. time for a look at the weather. here's ben rich. good afternoon. spit fortunes in our weather forecast today but where ever you are it is a lot cloudier than yesterday. this is the satellite picture, the area of low pressure spinning down to the south—west, the frontal system, working its way in from the atlantic, but we are drawing in some

pretty mild air. temperatures around 18 through what is left of the afternoon. hazy sunshine around, the best that in eastern areas, further north and west, we have thicker cloud. this is how the forecast looks into friday evening, outbreaks of rain in western scotland and eastern scotland is largely dry. skies are brightening in northern ireland. fairamount of skies are brightening in northern ireland. fair amount of cloud for england and wales. temperatures holding up quite nicely as we go into the first part of the evening. 0vernight, we continue to have mild air wafting from the south but the winds will slow down. rain persisting in the north west and then we have a fresh crop of very heavy downpours pushing into the south—west later in the night. that is the headache during

we -—. we gufto— we n {semi mild ~7 " all. us. 722 first for ' z: 722 ilslforthe 2: weather front responsible for the pulse of rain will be sitting in place as we go into sunday, another pulse of moisture, so it looks likely we will have another batch of showers across scotland and south—eastern areas. missed and fog patches to begin elsewhere, but some brea ks patches to begin elsewhere, but some breaks in the cloud and some sunny spells coming through, and still relatively mild, 13 in edinburgh and 15 in london. the weekend will feel mild, often quite cloudy, but if you are lucky you will have sunshine,

but rain at times as well. hello. you're watching afternoon live. i'm simon mccoy. today at 3pm: sergei skripal, poisoned alongside his daughter in the salisbury attack, is improving rapidly and is now no longer critical in hospital. a 30—year—old man is arrested in connection with the murder of 17—year—old tanesha melbourne—bla ke in north london. meanwhile, there are calls for communities to mobilise against knife crime after yet more attacks in the capital. a sugar tax comes into force, increasing the price of many soft drinks, as part of a government drive to help tackle obesity. coming up on afternoon live: all the sport. with azi, and the commonwealth games, it's all looking good? brother and sister katie and john archibald have both won medals at the game today. katie took old in the game today. katie took old in the women's 3000 metre individual pursuit, whilst her older brother john took silver in the men's 4000

metre individual pursuit. i'll have more on those on the day's of the medals a little later. rate, azi, talk to you later on —— the day's other medal. and ben rich has the weather. it's the classic weather cliche this weekend — a real mixed bag. there will be some sunshine around. generally, though, it will be quite cloudy. some rain at times, but at least it will feel mild. all the weather details coming up. thanks, ben. also coming up: mixed martial arts fighter conor mcgregor, ufc‘s lightweight champion and the sport's biggest star, is charged with assault in new york after an attack on a bus carrying sporting rivals. sergei skripaliheiolmel

well, the diplomatic and propaganda h to a war of words at the un last night, as the uk and russian ambassador swapped quotes from lewis carroll — no, really — with moscow accusing the uk of "playing with fire". here's our diplomatic correspondent, james landale. when surrogate and yulia skripal we re when surrogate and yulia skripal were poisoned four weeks ago, they we re were poisoned four weeks ago, they were left critically ill, but they are now recovering. this skripal said yesterday her strength is growing, and a statement from salisbury hospital said that her father, a former russian intelligence officer, was responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and no longer in a critical condition. so, attention will now focus on what they both can say agent

left them so well. for now, ms skripal has refused to see russian diplomats. what russian television claimed she had spoken to her cousin by phone. she has been offered help by phone. she has been offered help by the russian authorities to travel to britain to see yulia skripal if she is granted a visa. but she told newsnight of her concerns. at the united nations, the diplomatic confrontation continued, with britain again insisting that it was highly likely that russia was behind the attack, and russia denying it had ever made novichok nerve agent — let alone used it. translation: we have told our british colleagues that you're playing with fire, and you will be sorry. i think the metaphor that i find most apt is that of an arsonist—tumed—firefighter. but in this particular instance, the arsonist wishes to investigate his own fire. for now, despite all the kremlin's protestations, the uk continues to retain the support of its allies, both at the un and the european union — allies who are prepared to say

so in public. spain has shown full solidarity with our british friends and allies. we were, you know, satisfied with the explanations that they provided us with, both directly and in brussels. the focus now will turn to the investigation by the international chemical weapons watchdog into the nerve—agent used in salisbury. it's expected to complete its work next week. james landale, bbc news. 0ur correspondentjessica parker is in salisbury. jessica? well, i think this statement that we've had from salisbury district hospital gives you a sense of the intense media interest that the hospital feels it's been under. the statement has come from a hospital's medical director, doctor christine blanchard. in it, the key point

really that we've learnt about this afternoon is she's told us that the condition of sergei skripal, he is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly, and crucially, no longer in a critical condition. of course, yesterday we heard that his daughter yulia skripal come in a statement directly from her, that she had been awake for over a week and her strength is improving daily. we have had a bit more from salisbury district hospital and doctor christine bann child. she says... hollowing intense media coverage i would like to update you on the condition of the two remaining patients being treated in salisbury. last thursday, i'm inform you that yulia skripal‘s condition has improved and can look forward to the day she is well enough to leave hospital. any speculation on when that date will be is just that as max becky lynch. in the meantime, yulia has asked for privacy whilst she continues to get better, something i would like to urge the

media to respect. you can get a sense that a hospital feels it is under intense media scrutiny since the statement came out today from yulia skripal, and now we have had the update that sergei skripal is no longer in a critical condition. jessica parker, thank you. police in london have arrested a 30—year—old man on suspicion of the murder of 17—year—old tanesha melbourne—blake, who was shot dead on monday night. earlier, police held a community meeting about the recent series of violent crimes and killings in london. there were seven stabbings in the capital yesterday, with a number of teenagers wounded. in a moment, we'll be speaking to the met police's former head of diversity and former head of policing in tottenham, victor 0lisa. first, let's get more from our correspondent simonjones who's also here with me now. this was a drive—by shooting on monday evening. the police told us they have arrested a 30—year—old man on suspicion of murder. he is being held in a london police station, where he is going to be questioned.

this happened at around 9:30pm in the evening. tanesha was with a group of friends when a car went past and fired shots into that group of people. she was hit. paramedics tried to save her life forever an hour, but she was pronounced dead shortly before 11pm. the police, on giving news of this arrest, or appealing once again for what this is. they are describing this is a terrible crime. they believe there are people out there who will know more information who haven't yet come forward —— appealing for witnesses. they want to know the type of car that was used, how many people were in the car, how many people were in the car, how many people were in the car, how many people were in the group that was shot at. they understand people may have divided loyalties, but they say, take a moment, take a step back, think about this, this was a teenage girl gunned down in the street, do the right thing. four months into the deer, more than 50 murders in the capital alone so far. where are we with all of this —— four months into the year. yesterday we had seven further stabbings in the capital, fortunately none of those were fatal. i was at hackney

yesterday evening, where there was a protest, people are saying, enough is enough, we've had enough of this violence. a man came up to mejust as it was starting, he brought his mobile phone and he showed me pictures he had taken in the aftermath of another stabbing that had taken place just two aftermath of another stabbing that had taken placejust two miles aftermath of another stabbing that had taken place just two miles down the road. in that, you could see a couple of the victims. they looked very young. it turns out they were 15—year—old boys. 0ne very young. it turns out they were 15—year—old boys. one of those have had his clothes taken off and paramedics were assessing his wounds. another one was covered in a foil blanket. it brought home just how young people are who are involved in this and how many people are involved in this. the met are trying to reassure people, they have met community groups today to tell them, we are getting on top of this problem. just a bit of context, the met are very worried about a number of people who have died. there is seven stabbings yesterday, but last year, the average number of stabbings was 12. it really is the fatal stabbings that is causing so many headaches and so much concern.

simon, thank you. victor elisa is for ahead of policing in tottenham. we are talking about areas that you move we welcome more what another is going on? the way we look at this is, as if it is something that has just happened. but this has been a build—up over the last number of yea rs. build—up over the last number of years. some of the things that people talk about, lack of police officers on the street, they talk about, you know, amenities available to young people, whether it is you've got. does that ring true to you? yes, it does. -- whether it is youth clubs. it is not necessarily just down to the council. if you look what the police deal with at the moment, an increase and focus on cybercrime, a focus on safeguarding, there is a focus on dealing with historical allegations. these officers have to come from somewhere, you know, and if the pool of uniform officers to form a specialist unit, we've got a shortage of detectives, that necessarily leads to a reduction in the number of officers who can be on the number of officers who can be on the streets. was a joke in the 80s

and 90s that if the police were in doubt they set up a squad. i know you've heard that. there was a time when you had the tsg, a special unit which would go into problem areas like this. they were heavy. the tsg are still available and they do magnificent work. they not only do the public order stuff, they do the specialist, when a critical incident occurs, they will do the house —— house to house and the searching. the tsg's role is multifaceted. it isa the tsg's role is multifaceted. it is a small group of people who we are asking to do an enormous amount of work. whilst they are doing all of work. whilst they are doing all of that react with stuff and the really critical stuff, local reactive stuff. the time that is available for them to do some of the proactive stuff, maybe the stop and search, i know it is contentious, but the time to do that is not available. stop and search from my perspective as a professional officer now retired, it is a good tactic. police officers in public

place in uniform doing something, that ranges from police officers talking to people, what we describe as stop and talk, stop and account, to stop and search if there is a need to do so. we recognise that officers need to do that equitably, fairly, legally, and explain what's happening. they didn't and lawday, but now they have body cameras. absolutely. —— didn't and lawday. that could be part of the measures holding the police to account. the point i want to make, i think the talk of saying, police should not use stop and search, is not a useful one. we've got to a time where police officers are free to use stop and search, that is not use. what what are they afraid of? they are afraid of complaints, because people believe that they are carrying out stop and search because it is discriminatory. we talk about disproportionality. police officers believe, take my area, click

totte n ha m , believe, take my area, click tottenha m, ta ke believe, take my area, click tottenham, take the demographic, police officers believe that if i am stopping a young black man, i will get complained about. maybe rightly, maybe wrongly, but that has an impact on their perception so they don't carry out the act of ado. as police in your area, have they lost control of the streets with zieler they haven't lost control, you know, but the language, the concern that there could be a complaint, they are reticent, you know, to have that engagement. that gives the impression to residents, probably in the area that i do speak to in other parts of london, that the police are not engaging the way that they ought to. when we see some of the crimes that we have seen, the stabbing that you talked about, the seven stabbings, none of them fatal, thank goodness, but that still seven people who have been stabbed, still seven occasions where the assailant had a weapon. some of those people could have been stopped, or, if the police were able to do stop and search with confidence, some of

those people may be deterred or prevented from carrying those weapons, i think that's what we should get back to. give offers us the confidence to be able to use that tactic and use it properly, so give offers us the confidence. we used to have members of the community who act as observers, they went with police officers to carry out operations. we have an officers monitoring group. we have a whole plethora of possibilities of holding officers individually and the met is an organisation to account. i think we ought to do that, rather than, you know, deterring or preventing officers to use that tactic. because the outcome is, how young people are getting killed, they are getting stabbed and injured. we must be able to do something that contributes to reducing that. i'm not saying stop and search is the only solution, but it isa and search is the only solution, but it is a factor that helps. fixer, good to talk to you. thank you both very much. —— victor. thousands of palestinians are taking part in a second friday of protests along the israel—gaza border. at least 20 people have been shot dead there by israeli security forces in the past week.

this from yolande knell. well, palestinians here have set fire to a big pile of tyres. that's the black smoke that you can see billowing across into israel. there are similar scenes at another four protest camps along the 40 miles of the israel—gaza border. the palestinians are trying to use these as a smoke screen, because they know that there are israeli soldiers waiting just on the other side of that border, close to where you can see that sand embankment, and that there are snipers among them. so far, what we've seen here is several people being injured. we've seen the israelis using tear gas against them. but the israeli military has been very clear that it has not changed its rules. if it sees palestinians approaching the fence, trying to damage it, trying to cross illegally into israel, then it will open fire. it's very worried about a mass infiltration into israel. and it accuses the hamas leaders here in gaza of trying to stir up troubles along the border using these protests as a guise. palestinians, though, when you speak to people here,

they're very clear that they're here because of the right of return for palestinian refugees. it's an issue that people really care about. it's nearly 70 years ago that the state of israel was created. and that's when hundreds of thousands of palestinians were forced to leave their homes or forced to flee. israel, of course, completely rejects any claim of theirs to go back to that land and to their home villages. yolande knell reporting. you're watching afternoon live. these are our headlines: sergei skripal, the former russian double—agent who was poisoned in the nerve—agent attack in salisbury, is recovering well and is no longer in a critical condition, according to doctors. a 30—year—old man is arrested in connection with the murder of 17—year—old tanesha melbourne—bla ke in north london on monday. a new sugar tax of up to 24p a litre comes into force in the uk in a bid to tackle childhood obesity and tooth decay. and in sport — scotland's katie

archibald has her first and in sport — scotland's katie archibald has herfirst commonwealth games title. she won gold in the women's 3000 metre individual pursuit title, whilst her brother john took silver in the men's 4000 metre individual pursuit. a two of the masters is under way, with jordan spieth leading the way. the 2015 champion tees off in the next hour. england ian poulter is among the early starters today, he started with a birdie and a bogey. and manchester city boss pep guardiola says what his side have done this season would be impossible to repeat. city could win the premier league title with a win over manchester united tomorrow. i'll have more on those stories just after 3:30pm. a news about a taxi driver from chesterfield who has died at altercation at manchester airport. he was picking up passengers when it

happened. waiter manchester police say they were called to reports of and assault at a car park at terminal two. ambulances were called shortly afterwards after reports of a man collapsing, he was taken to hospital and died later. it is believed he may have had a heart attack, although this has not been confirmed. a police investigation is under way. mr taylor, known confirmed. a police investigation is underway. mrtaylor, known as brent, was described by friends as one of the nicest people you could meet. there was an altercation at mentor is the airport this morning leading to the death of william greg taylor —— at manchester airport this morning. —— william brent taylor. a new tax of up to 24p a litre is added from today on soft drinks with a high sugar content. it's part of an initiative by the government to try to tackle obesity and tooth decay. the treasury says food and drink manufacturers have already reduced the amount of sugar in more than half their products, which means the levy is unlikely to bring in as much revenue as had been forecast.

our health correspondent, james gallagher, reports. they're some of our favourite drinks, but the sugar tax means they're now more expensive, or the recipe's been changed. the sugar content of ribena and lucozade has been more than halved. artificial sweeteners are being used instead. but pepsi is sticking to its sweet recipe, and will now cost more. as is coca—cola, although it will come in smaller, more expensive 1.5 litre bottles. so how big is the tax? drinks that are more than around 5% sugar will be taxed at 18p per litre. those that are more than 8% sugar will be taxed at 24p per litre. the amount the treasury expects to raise has already fallen from £500 million a year to £240 million, as so many soft drinks have been redesigned. changes to irn—bru led to an online campaign, and even people stockpiling scotland's other national drink. this tax is not universally popular. rather than addressing the cause of the problem, it's just taxing people that can probably not afford to pay any more for it anyway.

i want to discourage my children from being able to go out and buy a fizzy drink, so all the better as far as i'm concerned. i don't think it will make a difference, really. they're just making it more expensive for us. as long as it's going to be more healthy to children, or even grown—ups, i think that makes a difference. the aim of taxing the white stuff in our drinks is to help combat the obesity epidemic. only a handful of other countries, including mexico, norway and france, have tried it. these are products that the industry have created demand for. so it's also their responsibility to change them, particularly now that we have such strong evidence that levels of sugar in children are so high, and they do have an impact on their health. so if we are concerned about children's health, and we are, then we need to look at how we could improve this. but some commentators question whether the tax will be effective. 0ur consumption of soft drinks is prolific. we need hydration, but on the other hand, from a calorie point of view, there's such an easy

availability of calories. wherever you look, there's more shops selling food than ever before. there are more products, and portion sizes are getting bigger all the time. so really, soft drinks are a drop in the ocean compared with the overall obesity problem. the soft drink style in our supermarkets is changing. but it will take some time to see how the sugar tax affects businesses, our shopping habits and our health. james gallacher, bbc news. i'm joined by dentist dr saul konviser from the dental and wellbeing trust. i'm assuming you welcome this step? asa i'm assuming you welcome this step? as a dentist and as a father, any product that is —— any policy that is going to prevent people from purchasing these drinks and reducing the consumption is only a good win, it can only be beneficial to our children and their health, not only preventing tooth decay, obesity,

heart disease and all these things. the assumption that if you brush your teeth twice a day, however old your teeth twice a day, however old you are, that staves off any difficulty, is that a miss? of course it's good to brush your teeth. but if you are consuming, sugary drinks, if you are having a can of coke straight after school and you have got sugar sitting on your teeth having not cleaned them properly, that is going to damage them. fizzy drinks, acidity, sugar, it can penetrate through smaller children's teeth much quicker, put them at high risk of tooth decay, and we know the risk of that, in fa ct and we know the risk of that, in fact is and that remit to children's health. and when it goes wrong, you are the one they go to. when they open their mouths, what do you see? asa open their mouths, what do you see? as a dentist and a father and working with the charity, the dental wellness trust, it is heartbreaking, it is one of the worst things you can do, taking out a tooth of a child for years old because it is so

decayed and infected, they have been ridiculed by their friends, decayed and infected, they have been ridiculed by theirfriends, there are social factors, it is notjust the trauma of the child having to have an injection in the mouth, sometimes they have to be referred to hospitalfor sometimes they have to be referred to hospital for sedation, sometimes they have to be referred to hospitalfor sedation, even general anaesthetic. imagine a three—year—old, your child who is three, having a general anaesthetic. 0rchids are three and five, you know the pressure of, —— your kids. i wa nt the pressure of, —— your kids. i want a the pressure of, —— your kids. i wanta can the pressure of, —— your kids. i want a can of coke or whatever. what are you going to do? my mind that i say to all of my children, parents i know that come in as patients, no fizzy drinks for children. at all?! i believe that young children, especially beneath the age of five or six years old, should be consuming fizzy drinks. there is no nutritional benefit whatsoever. what three—year—old cares about nutritional benefits? if the parents can make the decision for them, we don't give our child a can of year

after dinner when they are six years old, why are we giving them a can of fizzy drink? there is no nutritional benefit whatsoever. what do you do instead ? benefit whatsoever. what do you do instead? that's all very well... are fantastic campaigns, public health england and the change for life campaign and be sugar tax, all of these things are helping raise awareness and helping people make informed decisions that, you know, there are healthier options. don't give fizzy drinks, don't consume sugary drinks, sweets, chocolate and snacks on such a regular basis. the frequency of consumption is what's damaging. told in only need water, they don't need fizzy drinks. just having water —— children only need water. and reducing the frequency in which we consume these drinks are five. white what do parents need to look out for two avoid the horror scenario that you describe? parents should be bringing their children to the dentist as soon as a baby to the p°p5 the dentist as soon as a baby to the pops out, even if it's

six—month—old, bring the child to the dentist, have the conversation with the dentist, how do i look after the teeth? how do i them? what types of food and drinks are good and bad? it is the early years that we need to get children having healthy habits. is there something that you can do to protect there? we can teach parents how to brush them, we wa nt can teach parents how to brush them, we want to make sure that they are getting fluoride toothpaste onto the teeth, not having hot chocolate when they go to bed so that there is sugar sitting on the teeth. you still see a lot of this, what ribena sitting on their teeth, you can imagine what that is going to do pray for —— what that is going to do toa pray for —— what that is going to do to a three—year—old's teeth. it's terrible, and the worst thing is that it's preventable, and that's why things like the sugar tax, the education prevention policies and programmes which are available, these are all things which i support, and the charity, the dental wellness trust, supports. good diet, brushing your teeth, attendance at

the dentist from an early age to start healthy habits. if we get healthy habits from an early age, it isa healthy habits from an early age, it is a chance to make a real difference and save the health of our children. thank you very much. you're welcome. conor mcgregor, one of the world's most famous martial arts fighters, has been arrested in new york and charged with three counts of assault. the irish former two—weight champion in the ultimate fighting championship, a sport which uses mixed martial arts, was one of a group of men alleged to have vandalised a bus containing rivalfighters. richard conway reports. even in a sport where hype comes as standard, conor mcgregor may have overplayed his hand. as the ufc held a media promotion day in new york, mcgregor and his entourage stormed the backstage area, attacking a coach containing otherfighters. you all right, mike? the video appears to show mcgregor attempting to throw a barrier, while others rain objects towards the vehicle. a number of those on board are believed to have been injured by glass fragments. the irishman, who turned himself

into police, is now in custody, and is due to appear in court later today. a star of ufc, he was seemingly incensed of being stripped of his title, but his long—term future in the sport now appears to be in majorjeopardy. you want to grab 30 (bleep) friends and come down here and do what you did today? it's disgusting, and i don't think anybody is going to be, you know, huge conor mcgregor fans after this. ufc is a sport that uses a brutal mix of martial arts. but mcgregor turned to boxing last summer, fighting and losing to floyd mayweather in one of the most lucrative bouts in history. having not returned to ufc since then, a decision was made to remove his championship belt. an agent provocateur, he revels in courting controversy and being outspoken. i will reign supreme. there'll be a new king. that's it, there will be a new king.

all publicity is said to be good publicity, especially for a man who has forged a career as a flamboyant outsider. but any criminal conviction could yet see conor mcgregor lose his right to fight in america. richard conway, bbc news. eric bristow, the five—time world darts champion, has died at the age of 60. his huge success in the 1980s helped the game to win a mass audience. eric bristow had a heart attack in liverpool last night. the crowd at a tournament there chanted his name when his death was announced. our sports correspondent, 0lly foster, looks back at his life. # there's only one... eric bristow! #. many of the thousands of darts fans who chanted his name last night had met eric bristow just a few hours earlier in liverpool at a hospitality event

before he was suddenly taken ill. the "crafty cockney" was king of the oche, a poster boy who helped drag the sport out of the pubs and gave it public recognition. i think eric really took it to a different level. i knew eric when he was 17 years old, we used to go around different pubs and clubs playing for money, in tournaments. he was a good marksman. really cocky. that was eric. he was a good lad. the first of bristow‘s five world titles came in 1980. rivalries with bobby george, john lowe, jocky wilson marked his dynasty — a boom time for darts. but he was the best. when i finished playing darts, my name is in the record books. iwant playing darts, my name is in the record books. i want to set such a high standard by the time i finished. luckily i'm young for it as well, and i've got plenty more yea rs as well, and i've got plenty more years in front of me. when somebody younger comes along they say, he's

going to be the new bristow, we'll see how good he is, you know what i mean? he was bettered by phil taylor, the man he meant what, who was to become the greatest of all time. bristow‘s influence on the sport was huge. he lost his job as a television pundit 18 months ago following comments on social media about the victims of barry bennell, something he apologised for. but he was such a popular figure on the circuit. there were tears and tributes last night, and there will be many more. remembering eric bristow, who has died at the age of 60. headlines coming up. good afternoon. after the glorious sunshine of yesterday, today is generally a cloudier affair. particularly in the west, where we've seen so much rain. the rain continues through the night in the north west of scotland. drier whether elsewhere, until a fresh clutch of heavy downpours pushes in towards the south west and wales by the end of the night.

it will be mild, and the winds will tend to ease as the night goes on. so, there could be the odd mist and fog patch around tomorrow morning. then a fair amount of dry weather. but this area of rain likely to move across western areas of england, wales, the midlands, up into northern england by the afternoon. the rain tending to fizzle away. something a bit brighter across scotland and northern ireland, maybe some brighter spells down towards the south east, and temperatures in double digits wherever you are. sunday looks likely to bring another area of showery rain in across the south. elsewhere, the odd mist and fog patch first thing. then a largely dry day. some spells of sunshine, just the odd shower, and still feeling mild wherever you are. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. sergei skripal — poisoned alongside his daughter in the salisbury attack — is improving rapidly — and is no longer in a critical condition.

a 30 year old man has been arrested in connection with the murder of 17 year old tanesha melbourne, who was shot in tottenham on easter monday. police in london say there were seven more stabbings in the capital yesterday, with a number of teenagers wounded. among the latest incidents, a 13 year—old boy was left with serious injuries in newham, and two 15 year—olds were stabbed in mile end. a soft drink sugar tax of up to 24 pence a litre — comes into force in the uk in a bid to reduce childhood obesity and tooth decay. many manufacturers have pre—empted the law by cutting the sugar content in their drinks. about 9 million people will pay more towards their pensions from today. the minimum contribution is going up from 1% of income to 3%. sport now on afternoon live with azi farni. we are looking at gold medals at the commonwealth games. england, scotland and wales have all won gold at the commonwealth games today but there's one family

in particular who will be celebrating the most. yes, good afternoon. scottish siblings, katie and john archibald, who both won medals today. katie went first, the 24 year old won gold in the women's 3000 metre individual pursuit for scotland's second gold of the games. she was up against the home favourite rebecca wiasak, who had the support of the crowd. earlier in the day katie had set a new commonwealth games record. less than an hour later her older brother john took silver in the men's 4000 metre individual pursuit, behind england's charlie tanfield who took gold. it's pretty remarkable becausejohn archibald only converted to the track from the road last year. he's actually a former swimmer, who only got a taste for cycling while commuting to work on his bike. and wales have won their first gold of the games. it's come from a former painter and decorator. yes, weightlifter gareth evans.

he gave up the decorating in 2012 to go full time in the sport and it's paid off. he's kept up wales' record of getting at least one weightlifting medal at every games since 1958. joe lynskey has more. the welsh way in sport is strength of mind and strength of body. gareth evans is a weightlifter with a fly half's turn of speed. all the strain was for his country and his family. evans has had to fight for funding just to makee his third games but all he came for was the gold medal and he earned it in his own way. it's been 20 years in the making. i knew i could do it. the best day of your life? i could never take this away from my little girl. i can't wait to show her this and have this around her neck. england have set the early pace in the pool. even before adam peaty‘s finals.

the lions have come forward. and for 21—year—old sarah vaizey any medal would have done but with one good sprint gold can be in touching distance. commentator: she's got it! gold medal to sarah vaizey! it's pretty mental. this time last year i got my first british title and now i'm the commonwealth champion. it's crazy. gold always looked certain on the commonwealth stage for allison tai. australia now have seven gold medals, and they lead the table. away from home this is the man to watch. you might remember his father. he is the most down—to—earth, beautiful bore you will ever meet in your life. i love you. —— beautiful boy you will ever meet in your life. he arrived at the olympics,

but it could be at the commonwealth games where he is truly remembered — now the games most decorated swimmer and could equal the overall record. for bert‘s beautiful boy this could become a beautiful games. the second round of the masters is just getting underway in augusta. the 2015 championjordan spieth leads the way after the first round, he's on 6 under after a run of five birdies in a row on the back nine at augusta, rory mcilroy is 3 off the lead. ian poulter is at two over par. pep guardiola said it would be impossible for any side to repeat what his side have achieved this season, they will take the title to borrow if they win but standing in their way are their rivals manchester united. of course, it is almost done. like the situation with liverpool, they are almost done, to

go through, and our position is similar, we are close to being champions. we have that chance. it isa champions. we have that chance. it is a coincidence because it is a derby match but that doesn't matter for —— and we don't think that we are going to prepare for this, winning the premier league against manchester united. that's all the sport for now. studio: thanks forjoining us. we have some fighters —— pictures conor mcgregor. he has been released from prison. he was seen attacking a coach carrying rivals teams and he has been charged with assault. he has appeared in court. he turned himself into police

custody earlier in the day. he appeared at brooklyn criminal court appeared at brooklyn criminal court a short time ago. the incident occurred at a place where he had gathered to promote saturday's show. conor mcgregor was with a fellow fighter who was due to be in action at the weekend. young people from across the uk and the republic of ireland will be given a rotary young citizen award this weekend to celebrate the inspirational work they have done in their community. the awards started over 10 years ago, and rewards young people who have all undertaken extraordinary work — from tackling homelessness to saving lives. one of the winners is jamala 0sman — who's been credited for turning her life around. don't be nervous. i'm freaking out! don't. you should be very calm, you have been through a difficult time.

i want to put this in the context of what is going on at the moment because we are talking about young black lives which are blighted early on and ended up with crime and that is the background you were looking at? growing up i did not have the best start in life and i lost my mother at a young age for stop i was kicked out of my father's home at a young age and i could not even comprehend how i got to the stage at 14. school was not a priority so i found myself toying with these other paths. those of us who don't know about that, how does it work? you leave school and you have nothing to do, what kind of influences are out there? i mean, there's so much negativity, and rather looking at what these young people are doing, like knife crime and drugs, we need

to look at what is causing it. it is leaving school and not having anything to do afterwards and that is what is going to tempt people more towards that path and there are many deep—rooted issues, they need to be addressed first rather than looking at the tragic events that are happening as a consequence. those issues, they are what everyone at the moment is trying to work out. from your background, losing your pa rent from your background, losing your parent and then being kicked out. dealing with bereavement and the support in dealing with that, there is not enough therapy for that. hardly any support for that in terms of dealing with the mental health issues that these young people have, many of these young kids carrying knives it is because they are scared and we need to deal with those issues first. what are they scared of? other kids the same age? senior

figures in the community? it is not having a sense of direction. when i left home and i didn't have a sense of direction and a lack of purpose, thatis of direction and a lack of purpose, that is what will make me entertained those things, but having direction. —— not having direction. it is that, that is what we need these young people to have, a purpose, something to drive them. looking at these pictures, because this illustrates what you have done. you have turned your life around and you became a carerfor those siblings from whom you were pulled apart. i was 14 when i left home, and my older brother was a key figure in my life in terms of supporting me when i was 18. dealing with all of that. one of the issues

people talk about is a lack of a male influence. is that an issue for young black families? it is unfair for me to comment because every situation is different but not having a traditional home doesn't play into that a lot, with a mother and father. i know a lot of people from single—parent background homes and have been successful. there are many issues, these people need role models, whether they find that at home or at school, they need role models. are their role models in the community? some people say community centres have been closed down. that is the case, we used to complain that we have nothing to do, and asian people have on —— and these young people have nothing to do other than be on

instagram. unless we tackle the core issues, we will not get anywhere. where does social media fit into this? it makes it worse how? social media is very powerful, and it portrays a lifestyle where everything can happen straightaway and asa everything can happen straightaway and as a young person you are looking at that, wondering how this 16—year—old has all of this and made all this money, how can i make it as quickly as them, and young people need to realise the internet is one thing but in real life you have got to work hard. and sit down and study and work hard. you have illustrated it perfectly, but why do you think you have a won this award? i'm thrilled. and excited for the reason why is because my story gives young people hope, to say that you can

come from a background with a lack of opportunities, no direction of where you are going, and still find a way out. the way i did it, my teachers did believe in me but nobody really thought i would get my gcses nobody really thought i would get my g cs es let nobody really thought i would get my gcses let alone get a degree and to become one of the youngest bank managers in the country, banking is a profession that no one in my community ever mentioned. yes, you have been working for barclays bank. yes, they have changed my life, incredible organisation. after school there are other opportunities out there, rather than forcing them to go to university, it is not fair everyone, so these young people will disengage automatically unless they realise there are other avenues for them to achieve their goals and i would recommend an apprenticeship to someone who doesn't know what they wa nt to someone who doesn't know what they want to do but once to acquit

themselves and get an education and have some experience —— wants to acquit themselves for. every thought of going into politics? —— have you thought. i haven't, to be honest. you should think about it.|j thought. i haven't, to be honest. you should think about it. i don't think they are ready for me! you would be great. thanks forjoining us. the former south african president, jacob zuma has appeared at a court in durban, ahead of his trial for corruption. he's accused of accepting a bribe over a $2.5 billion government arms deal in the 1990s. mr zuma denies all the charges. 0ur africa correspondent, nomsa maseko is following the story from durban... it was a brief appearance, jacob zuma was accused, and there was a representative from the french arms company that is accused of having repaid a bribe to jacob zuma. both

of them have denied any wrongdoing. it was a very short court appearance, jacob zuma came out of the court room afterwards surrounded by the clergy who prayed for him before he entered the court room and he then addressed hundreds of supporters and he told them that he believes that these are trumped up charges and that they came as a result of a political conspiracy. and that he also believes they will regret reinstating the charges against him. the court appearance of jacob zuma was then postponed until the 8th ofjune. in a moment the business news. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. sergei skripal, the former russian double agent who was poisoned in the nerve agent attack in salisbury, is recovering well and is no longer in a critical condition according to doctors. a 30—year—old man is arrested in connection with the murder of 17—year—old

tanesha melbourne—bla ke in north london on monday. a new sugar tax of up to 24 pence a litre comes into force in the uk — in a bid to tackle childhood obesity and tooth decay. here's your business headlines on afternoon live. britain's economy chalked up solid productivity growth in the last three months of 2017. labour productivity, or output per hour worked, rose by 0.7% in the fourth quarter of 2017. millions of people on auto—enrolment pensions will see their minimum contributions triple from today. the government's raising the amount which will need to be paid into the schemes. employees will have to pay at least 3% of their income, with employers adding another 2%. more on this in a moment. and conviviality brands bargain booze and wine rack are set to be sold to food wholesaler bestway for £7m. conviviality‘s retail arm,

which also includes the ws retail and select convenience chains, was looking for suitors after the company ran into financial difficulty. the sale is expected to save 2,000 jobs at the chains. it's hardly a day when people will be popping the champagne — but it's the start of a new year isn't it? yes — the new tax year begins! pensions are the eye catching area. those on the auto enrolment schemes will see the minimum they put in triple from 1% of income to 3% of income. that means a chunk more of your income will automatically go into the pension. so what does that mean in actual money amounts? someone earning an average salary of £27,000 — and currently paying in 1% — will have to pay an extra £350 or so this year.

but the amount you can earn tax free goes up to £11,850 per year. it will be going up to around 500 or £600 in total. but the amount you can earn tax free goes up to £11,850 per year. at the moment it's £11,500. and the 40% tax rate for higher earners will kick in on earnings above £46,350, up from £45,000). much bigger changes in scotland? we will come on to that in a moment. you have jumped the will come on to that in a moment. you havejumped the gun! let's speak to jasmine birtles — financial expert. funnily enough, i was just about to

do that. for those watching in scotland, we will come onto the issue, but firstly, talk us through the pension issue and why this has been done and what people can do about this, because for some people this might be quite a hit, where they think they can't afford to lose that money from their pay packet. as you say it will increase, and until yesterday the minimum contributions was 1% from employees and 1% from employers but from today goes up to from employees and 2% from employers. but the good news as far as i'm concerned is that research from now pensions says 88% of people are going to stick with it. only about one in ten are wondering whether to opt out or to continue

going. i hope that most people do stick with it because frankly even 596 stick with it because frankly even 5% of your income is a relatively small amount to be putting away for your future. the government knows this and that is why next year it will go up again. over the course of the next few years it will gradually increase so that we put enough away for our futures. that could be said for our futures. that could be said for some people, that this is important to put this money aside for a comfortable retirement but there will be people who are feeling there will be people who are feeling the cost of living pressures and the squeeze on incomes and their wages are not squeeze on incomes and their wages a re not really squeeze on incomes and their wages are not really keeping up with price inflation, people can opt out? they can. the only thing is, if you possibly can, don't, i'm saying, because not only are you putting in money yourself, you are effectively getting free money added in by your employer '5 anti—government ads in

the tax that you would have paid on that —— your employers and the government ads in the tax. i'm self—employed. no one pays into my pension but i would be very happy for someone to do that. if you are employed and you are being offered this, i would consider it, because you are otherwise opting out of what is essentially a free gift it seems to me. jasmine, thanks forjoining us. did you know there are bigger changes to taxes in scotland? you can tell me all about it! scotland's new system of income tax rates and bands has come into force today. the changes, which were signed off by msps alongside the scottish government budget in february, will see many pay less tax, but some pay more.

until today, holyrood had matched the structure of the tax system in the rest of the uk, with three bands. the new scottish system adds a 19% "starter" rate for those on low incomes. it also adds a penny to the higher and top rates, bringing them to 41% and 46%. there's a calculator online. we will be talking about this in our nationwide segment later. i want to talk about this, though. ben, explain what we're seeing in the screen... airbus is building a new super—tra nsporter, the beluga xl, an aircraft capable of carrying wings and other parts from its factories for assembly at its base in toulouse. how does that fly? i don't know why i'm asking you! laughter big engines! airbus already has an existing aircraft but says with rising output it needs an even bigger transporter. the aerospace giant makes wings for its airliners

at a factory in north wales. theo leggett has been to its headquarters in the south of france — where airbus is working on a brand new super—tra nsporter — for more on this, head to our website. they also show you a beluga whale and it is amazing how similar they are. i think that is where they got the name from. do you think? laughter lets get the markets out of the way. the ftse100 — has edged down slightly this afternoon. there's some strong downward pull from retailers — they were among the worst performers as downgrades from citi sent marks & spencer and next shares were down. a bright spot — to be found among utility company stocks like centrica, united utilities and sse. go to the website for more details.

that's all the business news. news that a fraudster has been jailed forfour and news that a fraudster has been jailed for four and a half years after she posed as a grenfell tower survivor in a scam for £19,000, staying at the hilton hotel as part of the help from the survivors fund. she apparently live that her husband had been killed in the fire at the tower block —— she apparently lied. and that her child was fighting for her life. she claimed her son was left in intensive care after the fire. she has beenjailed forfour and a half years after her scam. next month will mark the first anniversary of the manchester terror attack.

one of the 22 people killed at the ariana grande concert was martyn hett. since martyn's death, his brother daniel has been reflecting on the experience of dealing with grief, and has created a video game about what it's like to lose a sibling. tim muffett has more. exploring grief through a game. he was two years younger than me and we were worlds apart, completely different as people. i'm a lot quieter than he was. just larger than life, life of the party guy, and yeah, we miss him. i created this game in response to everything that i went through last year. it does loosely tell the story of what happened, but it doesn't mention any people or any places, it's more about the experience that i went through. the loss levels consists of many stages. they address the most difficult circumstances imaginable. i was taken into the room at the time and i knew that ijust had to be sit down and be given the news. my parents' house the next day,

we were quite literally swamped with flowers and cards from strangers. i revisited the arena and saw the roses that were scattered over the floor that marked the victims. you're dealing with grief, with loss. that's quite unusual, it seems, for a videogame to deal with those issues. it is, but there is sort of an untapped strength in video games, and i think as a medium, they are often dismissed, i think. the game will premiere at an exhibition called now play this at somerset house in london. the theme this year is whether gaming can help make sense of the world around us. for my games, i give them away for nothing, so i've produced this game for this exhibition and when it's finished, i will put it online and everyone can experience it in exactly the same way. how cathartic has this been? yeah, very, very cathartic. i think there's enormous scope for therapy and catharsis

in creative work and i don't think videogames are any different. you can use games, even very simplistic ones, to explore themes that are notjust shooting and killing. the anniversary of martyn's death is coming up. how have you coped over the past year? it's been a difficult sort of year, of course, but i think everybody is dealing with it in different ways, certainly. for me, keeping busy and making things and doing things that are productive, dealing with stuff is how i've dealt... it's difficult, i'm sure it's going to continue to be difficult but being active in this kind of way is a great help for me. a videogame like no other. almost a year after his death, martyn hett‘s ability to inspire others can still be seen and heard. tim muffett, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. here's ben rich. good afternoon. after the glorious sunshine

of yesterday, today is generally a cloudier affair. particularly in the west, where we've seen so much rain. the rain continues through the night in the north west of scotland. drier whether elsewhere, until a fresh clutch of heavy downpours pushes in towards the south west and wales by the end of the night. it will be mild, and the winds will tend to ease as the night goes on. so, there could be the odd mist and fog patch around tomorrow morning. then a fair amount of dry weather. but this area of rain likely to move across western areas of england, wales, the midlands, up into northern england by the afternoon. the rain tending to fizzle away. something a bit brighter across scotland and northern ireland, maybe some brighter spells down towards the south east, and temperatures in double digits wherever you are. sunday looks likely to bring another area of showery rain in across the south. elsewhere, the odd mist and fog patch first thing. then a largely dry day. some spells of sunshine, just the odd shower, and still feeling mild wherever you are. hello, you're watching afternoon live.

i'm simon mccoy. today at 4pm: sergei skripal, poisoned alongside his daughter in the salisbury attack, is improving rapidly and is now no longer critical in hospital. a 30—year—old man is arrested in connection with the murder of 17—year—old tanesha melbourne—bla ke in north london. the united states imposes new sanctions on seven russian oligarchs, accusing them of "malign activity around the globe". a sugar tax comes into force, increasing the price of many soft drinks, as part of a government drive to help tackle obesity. coming up on afternoon live: all the sport. and the latest from the commonwealth games, azi. and also the masters, where overnight leaderjordan spieth is teeing off his second round. the 2015 champion leads by two shots after day one. rory mcilroy has darted too. he is three shots off the lead. i'll have the latest bandings for you in the next hour.

azi, thank you very much. and ben rich has all the weather. in the capital we have got up to 70 degrees, the warmest day of the year so far. what does the weekend have in store? —— 17 degrees. i'll tell you in about half an hour. thanks, ben. also coming up: mixed martial arts fighter conor mcgregor, ufc‘s lightweight champion and the sport's biggest star, is due to appear in a new york courtroom shortly charged with assault after an attack on a bus carrying sporting rivals. hello, everyone, this is afternoon live. i'm simon mccoy. sergei skripal, the former russian double—agent at the centre of the salisbury nerve—agent attack, is getting better in hospital. a statement from salisbury hospital earlier this afternoon said he was responding well to treatment and improving rapidly. well, the diplomatic and propaganda battle over the poisoning moved to the un last night, as the uk and russian ambassador swapped quotes

from lewis carroll — no, really — with moscow accusing the uk of "playing with fire". here's our diplomatic correspondent, james landale. our diplomatic correspondent, james landale, reports. when sergei and yulia skripal were poisoned with nerve agent in sailsbury four weeks ago, they were left critically ill, for a time in a coma. but they are now both recovering. ms skripal said yesterday her strength was growing. and a statement from salisbury hospital said that her father, a former russian intelligence officer, was responding well to treatment — improving rapidly and no longer in a critical condition. so, attention will now focus on what they both can say about the nerve—agent attack that left them so ill. for now, ms skripal has refused to see russian diplomats. but russian television claimed she had spoken to her cousin viktoria by phone. she's been offered help by the russian authorities to travel to britain to see yulia skripal, if she's granted a visa. but she told newsnight of her concerns. at the united nations,

the diplomatic confrontation continued, with britain again insisting that it was highly likely that russia was behind the attack, and russia denying it had ever made novichok nerve agent — let alone used it. translation: we have told our british colleagues that you're playing with fire, and you will be sorry. i think the metaphor that i find most apt is that of an arsonist—tumed—firefighter. but in this particular instance, the arsonist wishes to investigate his own fire. for now, despite all the kremlin's protestations, the uk continues to retain the support of its allies, both at the un and the european union — allies who are prepared to say so in public. spain has shown full solidarity with our british friends and allies. we were, you know, satisfied with the explanations that they provided us with, both directly and in brussels. the focus now will turn to the investigation

by the international chemical weapons watchdog into the nerve—agent used in salisbury. it's expected to complete its work next week. james landale, bbc news. our correspondentjessica parker is in salisbury. and for the second day, encouraging news about their treatment and recovery. yes, that's right, we've had this statement from salisbury district hospital this afternoon, straight from the medical director in fact, dr christine blanchard. let me bring you some of what she says in that statement. the most crucial part, of course, actually comes in the last few lines, where she says" sergei skripal is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly, and no longer in a critical condition." a key point. let me bring you some more of the statement. "following

intense media coverage, i would like to ta ke intense media coverage, i would like to take the opportunity to update you on the condition of the two remaining patients. there was intense media coverage after we had the statement from yulia skripal but she had been awake for a week, she thanked the people of salisbury for their help when her and her father we re their help when her and her father were found in capacity did on a city bench in the city of salisbury, she says she is gaining strength. dr christine blanchard said, " her strength is growing daily and she can look forward to the day where she is well enough to leave the hospital. any speculation on what that date will be is just that as mac speculation. in the meantime, yulia has asked for privacy whilst she continues to get better, something i would like to urge the media to respect". you get the sense of the intense scrutiny that this hospital has been under, given the

two patients that have sparked such international interest. jessica parker in salisbury, thank you. police have arrested a 30—year—old man on suspicion of the murder of 17—year—old tanesha melbourne—bla ke, who was shot dead in london on monday night. earlier, police held a community meeting about the recent series of violent crimes and killings in london. there were seven stabbings in the capital yesterday. our correspondent simonjones is at scotland yard. simon, first of all, this arrest, what do we know? well, tanesha was killed on monday evening in totte n ha m killed on monday evening in tottenham in a drive—by shooting. this afternoon, police have announced that they have arrested a 30—year—old man on suspicion of murder. he is from east london and has been brought to a police station for questioning. she was in a group of friends when she was fired upon from a car. the police are still trying to work out what car was used how many people were in the car, and how many people were in the car, and how many people were in the car, and how many people were in the group tanesha was in. they are appealing for witnesses or anyone who has

information about who might be behind this. they say they recognise people might have divided loyalties or be scared to come forward, but they say this is a shocking murder and they are asking people to step back, think about this. this was a teenage girl killed in the street. they are saying to people, please do the right thing. this issue of gun and knife crime is something they had a beating about earlier today. —— they had a meeting about. it was a meeting with community leaders. the police are trying to demonstrate they are getting a grip on this. the police chief, cressida dick, was on a walkabout in scope newington this afternoon, as a sign every assurance. “— afternoon, as a sign every assurance. —— in stoke newington. the community does need reassurance. yesterday afternoon i was in hackney asa yesterday afternoon i was in hackney as a protest was getting under way, with people by saying they have had enough of this violence and they wa nt enough of this violence and they wantan end enough of this violence and they want an end to the killings. a man came up to me with his mobile phone, showing me some pictures he had just filmed in the aftermath of expanding that had ta ken

filmed in the aftermath of expanding that had taken place just minutes earlierjust a that had taken place just minutes earlier just a couple that had taken place just minutes earlierjust a couple of miles away. you can see two young boys. it turns out they were 15 years old, and they had been seriously injured in this babin. the man said to me, where is this going to end? that is a question that many people are asking —— injured in this stabbing. to put this into context, we had seven stabbings in the capital yesterday, fortu nately stabbings in the capital yesterday, fortunately none of those were fatal. in the past year on average, there have been 12 stabbings per day. police are really concerned about the number that are turning out to be fatal, be it stabbings or shootings, that is why there is so much concern. the met says, this is not a problem we can sold on our own, we need the community and those who work with young people to come together and address the issue, particularly linked to gang culture. simonjones, particularly linked to gang culture. simon jones, thank you. the united states has imposed sanctions on russian businessmen, government officials and companies accused of profiting from president putin's efforts to undermine the west. the us treasury secretary said

it was in response to "malign activity around the globe". our us state department correspondent, barbara plett usher, has been following the developments, and joins me now from washington. who are these people who have had the sanctions slapped on them? for the sanctions slapped on them? for the first time, the americans are targeting members of vladimir putin's inner circle, hume, they say, have profited from their relationship with him and are helping him in what they call the kremlin's malign activities. the one that would be most familiar to people in britain is on edera pasco, he is an energy tycoon and billionaire. all of edera pasco. there was a meeting between him and peter mandelson and george osborne ten yea rs peter mandelson and george osborne ten years ago on his yacht, which turned into a scandal. that may make his name familiar. here there is interest in him because he has connections to paul manafort, the former campaign manager to donald trump who has been indicted by special counsel robert mueller for

money—laundering, and they are looking into possible collusion between the trump campaign and the russians. that is an interesting point. some other people being targeted is mr putin's son—in—law. a senior lawmaker and a close adviser to mr putin. and even the head of russia's national security council. this would appear to up the stakes somewhat, and it also appears to be quite personal. yes, i think it is up quite personal. yes, i think it is up the stakes. there has been quite a bit of time for this, because the administration published a list of potential names, eventually it was a list of who is a billionaire in russia, names that could be targeted. so, these individuals have had time to move assets and prepare themselves in case they are targeted. 0f themselves in case they are targeted. of course, they aren't happy about it. they are saying it is unfairand happy about it. they are saying it is unfair and actually in some cases the us is deliberately trying to undermine them economic way, the russians economic league, and so on. i think the fact that this is

happening after a series of steps taken against the russians as well is this whole climate following the nerve agent attack in salisbury, this is just nerve agent attack in salisbury, this isjust going nerve agent attack in salisbury, this is just going to add to the tensions between russia and the west, and russia on the united dates. mr trump often has a different approach to the russians than his administration does, he recently told about how tough he was being an russia, but said he also wa nted being an russia, but said he also wanted really good relations with vladimir putin, he said, i don't know if we can achieve it. he's sangchan suggest that seems less likely. thank you very much, barbara plett usher in washington. —— these sanctions suggest that seems less likely. conor mcgregor, one of the world's most famous martial arts fighters, has been arrested in new york and charged with three counts of assault. the irish former two—weight champion in the ultimate fighting championship, a sport which uses mixed martial arts, was one of a group of men alleged to have vandalised a bus containing rivalfighters. richard conway reports. even in a sport where hype comes as standard, conor mcgregor may have overplayed his hand. as the ufc held a media promotion day in new york, mcgregor and his entourage stormed

the backstage area, attacking a coach containing otherfighters. you all right, mike? the video appears to show mcgregor attempting to throw a barrier, while others rain objects towards the vehicle. a number of those on board are believed to have been injured by glass fragments. the irishman, who turned himself into police, is now in custody, and due to appear in court later today. a star of ufc, he was seemingly incensed of being stripped of his title, but his long—term future in the sport now appears to be in majorjeopardy. you want to grab 30 (bleep) friends and come down here and do what you did today? it's disgusting, and i don't think anybody is going to be, you know, huge conor mcgregor fans after this. ufc is a sport that uses a brutal mix of martial arts. but mcgregor turned to boxing last summer, fighting and losing to floyd mayweather in one of the most lucrative

bouts in history. having not returned to ufc since then, a decision was made to remove his championship belt. an agent provocateur, he revels in courting controversy and being outspoken. i will reign supreme. there'll be a new king. that's it, there will be a new king. all publicity is said to be good publicity, especially for a man who has forged a career as a flamboyant outsider. but any criminal conviction could yet see conor mcgregor lose his right to fight in america. richard conway, bbc news. i want to take you to the gaza border with israel, web ireland's has continued for the second friday —— where violence has continued. as you can see, considerable violence, which has led so far to the deaths of three people. we are hearing that

the palestinian health officials are saying that israeli troops have killed two men and a 16—year—old palestinian, who was shot dead by israeli forces in clashes on the border. that brings the death toll to three. the israeli army said it opened fire on people who approached its frontier defences. the troops have also been using tear gas against crowds gathered at five locations, and by polisky onions are demanding refugees and their descendants to be allowed to return to ancestral lands that are now in israel —— the palestinians are demanding. the use of burning tyres is to prevent israeli snipers from being affected on the border. an israeli spokesman in —— at using hamas of trying to storm the border and kill israelis. —— at using hamas. the situation is deteriorating on that border. the un secretary—general has called on all parties to avoid confrontation and

exercise maximum restraint after 60 people were killed and hundreds of others wounded during similar on rest one week ago. three dead is the latest death toll that we have reported according to palestinian health officials. you're watching afternoon live. these are our headlines: sergei skripal, the former russian double—agent who was poisoned in the nerve agent attack in salisbury, is recovering well and is no longer in a critical condition, according to doctors. a 30—year—old man is arrested in connection with the murder of 17—year—old tanesha melbourne—bla ke in north london on monday. a new sugar tax of up to 24p a litre comes into force in the uk in a bid to tackle childhood obesity and tooth decay. and in sports... it is a two of the masters, and overnight leaderjordan spieth hasjust masters, and overnight leaderjordan spieth has just started masters, and overnight leaderjordan spieth hasjust started his masters, and overnight leaderjordan spieth has just started his second round with double bogey. rory mcilroy is out on the course, he played a bogey on the first and this two shots off the lead. manchester

city boss pep guardiola says what his side have done this season would be impossible to repeat. city could win the premier league title with a win the premier league title with a win over manchester united tomorrow. and it's been a great day for the home teams that the commonwealth games. gold for england in the pool, wales in the weightlifting, and for scotland's katie archibald in the women's 3000 metre individual pursuit. i'll be back with more on those stories shortly. a new tax of up to 24p a litre is added from today on soft drinks with a high sugar content. it's part of an initiative by the government to try to tackle obesity and tooth decay. the treasury says food and drink manufacturers have already reduced the amount of sugar in more than half their products, which means the levy is unlikely to bring in as much revenue as had been forecast. our health correspondent, james gallagher, reports. they're some of our favourite drinks, but the sugar tax means they're now more expensive, or the recipe's been changed. the sugar content of ribena and lucozade has been more than halved. artificial sweeteners

are being used instead. but pepsi is sticking to its sweet recipe, and will now cost more. as is coca—cola, although it will come in smaller, and more expensive, 1.5 litre bottles. so how big is the tax? drinks that are more than around 5% sugar will be taxed at 18p per litre. those that are more than 8% sugar will be taxed at 24p per litre. the amount the treasury expects to raise has already fallen from £500 million a year to £240 million, as so many soft drinks have been redesigned. changes to irn—bru led to an online campaign, and even people stockpiling scotland's other national drink. this tax is not universally popular. rather than addressing the cause of the problem, it's just taxing people that can probably not afford to pay any more for it anyway. i want to discourage my children from being able to go out and buy a fizzy drink, so all the better as far as i'm concerned. i don't think it will make a difference, really. they're just making it

more expensive for us. as long as it's going to be more healthy to children, or even grown—ups, i think that makes a difference. the aim of taxing the white stuff in our drinks is to help combat the obesity epidemic. only a handful of other countries, including mexico, norway and france, have tried it. these are products that the industry have created demand for. so it's also their responsibility to change them, particularly now that we have such strong evidence that levels of sugar in children are so high, and they do have an impact on their health. so if we are concerned about children's health, and we are, then we need to look at how we could improve this. but some commentators question whether the tax will be effective. our consumption of soft drinks is prolific. we need hydration, but on the other hand, from a calorie point of view, there's such an easy availability of calories. wherever you look, there's more shops selling food than ever before. there are more products, and portion sizes are getting bigger all the time. so really, soft drinks are a drop in the ocean compared with the overall obesity problem. the soft drinks aisle in our supermarkets is changing. but it will take some time

to see how the sugar tax affects businesses, our shopping habits and our health. james gallacher, bbc news. i'm joined by the chief executive of the people against the sugar tax, brook whelan. your title suggests you are not in favour of this?! we are not, and we don't think it is the goverment‘s role to be dictating levels of sugar in soft drinks. the soft drinks industry has done quite a bit in recent yea rs industry has done quite a bit in recent years to provide a range of healthy options. and, you know, people have a choice. i think it is wrong for the government to overstep the mark. i mean, they are very good in terms of advertising and promoting healthy eating and healthy habits. but a tax is just a step too far. and yet we have spoken to a

dentist in the last hour who said that children of three are having a coca—cola before they go to bed or something, and he's seen children with decayed, rotten teeth and he's having to operate to remove teeth at that age, and this is a step that will help that. i think the two decay and tooth extraction figures are decay and tooth extraction figures a re partly decay and tooth extraction figures are partly because some people are not going to the dentist, they are leaving it too late and going to the nhs to get a tube taken out. but on that issue, it's a very small minority —— to get a tooth taken out. those people who are giving their two—year—old is fizzy drinks, they are the ones who should be the focus of all of this effort. but aren't they? aren't they the exact people who are not about who are going to think twice when they see that the drink they wanted is going to cost more? but the sugar tax, at the same time it is penalising eve ryo ne the same time it is penalising everyone else, even people who drink one fizzy drink a week, it is effectively saying to them, they are drinking more fizzy drinks. it's got to be tailored and targeted at the

people who really go to excess, rather than everyone else. your group, people against the sugar tax, what is your aim? to stop any involvement? we come from a libertarian perspective. how many of you are there? i know you are the chief executive... we have eight volunteers. we come from a libertarian perspective in terms of, this is a nanny state, this is the government staying, we know best —— government staying, we know best —— government saying. with lucozade orange last year where they dropped the sugar by 50%, we counted 3000 complaints in the first three months from april to june last complaints in the first three months from april tojune last year because people didn't like the taste of artificial sweeteners. they prefer the taste of natural sugar. but there is nothing natural about the sugarin there is nothing natural about the sugar in sugary drinks, though, is there? no, but they prefer that taste in contrast to the artificial sweeteners which have replaced it.

so, the soft drink that we are seeing that people had been drinking for 30 or 40 years are being decimated because of this nanny state approach. do you have children? no. i mean, you will know just how difficult it is to persuade a youngster who has once we went and one non—sweet and as to which is better for them one non—sweet and as to which is betterfor them —— one non—sweet and as to which is better for them —— one one non—sweet and as to which is betterfor them —— one sweet one non—sweet and as to which is better for them —— one sweet thing and one non—sweet thing. if it is not government, who is it who is saying, we are going to take action because there is a developing health crisis here? the government does have a role in terms of providing information and advice, but it is down to the parents at the end of the day. there are cases where some form of intervention may be needed ina number of form of intervention may be needed in a number of instances. but most pa rents in a number of instances. but most parents i think i'm now quite sensible with their children. you and the eight other people against the sugar tax, how do you finance yourselves, what do you get up to on a daily basis? we are not funded by the industry, we get donations for the industry, we get donations for the public. the industry probably would not want to fund us anyway.

how much have you raised in this battle ? how much have you raised in this battle? our campaign cost saira about £2000 a year. —— are about £2000. the majority of which comes from donations. we will leave it there. thank you very much. thank you very much. former south african president jacob zuma has appeared at a court in durban ahead of his trial for corruption. he's accused of accepting a bribe over a government arms deal in the 1990s. mr zuma denies all the charges. our africa correspondent, nomsa maseko, is following the story from durban. there was a very brief court appearance here at the high court in durban. the former president, jacob zuma, was accused, number one, and there was also a representative from the french arms company that was accused of having paid a bribe to jacob zuma. both of them have denied any wrongdoing. there was a very short court appearance. shortly after that, jacob zuma came out of the courtroom surrounded by the clergy who prayed for him before he entered the courtroom.

he then addressed hundreds of supporters here. he told them that he believes that these are trumped up charges and that they came as a result of a political conspiracy, and that he believes also that they will regret reinstating the charges against him. so, the court appearance of jacob zuma was then postponed to the 8th ofjune. nomsa maseko with that report. eric bristow, the five—time world darts champion, has died at the age of 60. his huge success in the 1980s helped the game to win a mass audience. eric bristow had a heart attack in liverpool last night. the crowd at a tournament there chanted his name when his death was announced. our sports ccorrespondent, olly foster, looks back at his life. # there's only one eric bristow!#. many of the thousands of darts fans who chanted his name last night had

met eric bristowjust a few hours earlier in liverpool at a hospitality event, before he was suddenly taken ill. the "crafty cockney" was king of the oche, a poster boy who helped drag the sport out of the pubs and gave it public recognition. i think eric took it to a different level. i mean, i knew eric when he was 17 years old, we used to go round different pubs and clubs playing for money, in tournaments. he was a good darts player. cocky, really cocky. but that was eric, that was the way he came over. but he was quite good—eyed. the first of bristow‘s five world titles came in 1980. as rivalries with bobby george, john lowe, jocky wilson, marked his dynasty — a boom time for darts. but he was the best. when i've finished playing darts, my name's in the record books. and i want to set up such a high

standard by the time i've finished. luckily i'm a young fella as well, and i've got plenty more years in front of me. when some other youngster comes along they say, he's going to be the new bristow, we'll see how bloody good he is, you know what i mean? he was bettered — by phil taylor, the man he mentored, who was to become the greatest of all time. bristow‘s influence on the sport was huge. he lost his job as a television pundit 18 months ago, following social media comments about the victims of barry bennell in the football abuse scandal, something he apologised for. but the darts family were always going to forgive one of their legends, though. still such a popular figure on the circuit. there were tears last night, and tributes. there will be many more. olly foster, bbc news. eric bristow, who has died at the age of 60. we've been keeping across twitter on afternoon live. you know, i have no idea what i'm

about to find here! because i haven't actually looked! i think what i'm going to show you is... donald trump. yes, let's talk about donald trump. yes, let's talk about donald trump. yes, let's talk about donald trump and the trade war. because he has been talking about that move to punish oligarchs in russia, and also with china. he says... "we are not in a trade war with china, that war was lost many yea rs with china, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish or incompetent people who represent the us. now we have a trade ever set of $500 billion per year with intellectual property theft another $300 billion. we cannot let this continue". donald trump has tweeted in the last few minutes. don't forget, you can let us know what you think. tweet us using the hashtag #afternoonlive. that is just a tweet that has come in the last few minutes. you are watching afternoon life. fraudster who posed as the widow of a grenfell

tower victim has beenjailed for 4.5 yea rs. tower victim has beenjailed for 4.5 years. most matsikenyeri claimed she escaped the west london fire last year and thought her husband was died, —— had died, when she was in fa ct died, —— had died, when she was in fact single and lived miles away. her story was called into question when she was unable to remember the number of her flat despite claiming to have lived there for five months. then rich has got the weather forecast and drinkers in the studio. —— then rich. —— and joined us in the studio. that's not a spaceship with next month you commented on this and said it looked like a spade —— spaceship, it is actually a lenticular cloud... it's a cover-up, that's a space ship! unless our weather watcher is in it of course, possible! there has been some cloud

around today, not the glorious sunshine of yesterday. what we have had today in the brighter spots is some real warmth. in the centre of london are bitterly on their was hazy sunshine. we got up to 70 degrees, making it the warmest day of the year so far. spring is here -- 17 of the year so far. spring is here —— 17 degrees. not much of a surprise that it is the warmest day of the year so far, but there will be plenty more warmest days over the next few weeks and months. friday, a bit more school holidays to go, people might be headed off to europe. as subban large parts of central europe are feeling springlike, temperatures up to 21 degrees. iberia is not looking too pretty at the moment though. cloud and frayne, a cool 12 degrees in madrid. that's not what you would want, i would madrid. that's not what you would want, iwould imagine madrid. that's not what you would want, i would imagine —— cloud and rain. what's it like in paris? looking up quite nice... it has

covered up the eiffel tower! laughter it tried to come back... here is some more cities. you can see them for yourself. we are going to have a look at what's happening in the next couple of days... we had better. over the next few days in the uk it is that mixed theme that continues. but it will remain mild. we have low— pressure but it will remain mild. we have low—pressure spinning around to the west. you can see the areas of cloud on the satellite picture. ahead of the area of low pressure we have been drawing in mild air. we saw how warm it is across central europe, thatis warm it is across central europe, that is the air that has been blowing its way across the british owl. as we close out today, late sunshine towards the south—east, rain across the north west. this evening and tonight, the rainbow continued to fall across west of scotland, more pushing into was the south—west of england —— the rain will continue to fall. in between, dry weather and clear spells, ambridge is not dipping too far, in mild mate to come —— temperatures not dipping too far. this weather

front, this is going to be a troublemaker. it is going to wiggle around across the british isles over the weekend. every so often we will see a pulse of what weather running across it. and tomorrow we are expecting rain through wales, the midlands, northern england, initially quite heavily by using off as the day goes on. scotland and northern ireland seeing something brighter. there will generally be a lot of cloud, but the sunshine should break through at times, even the odd hefty shower. but look at the odd hefty shower. but look at the temperatures, 14 degrees in aberdeen and belfast, with northern ireland seeing spells of sunshine and just a few showers. rain across northern england through the afternoon, some of that still trickling down to the midlands. something brighterfor wales trickling down to the midlands. something brighter for wales and the south—west will stop and towards the south—east one, like today, we could see 17 degrees. saturday night brings largely dry weather, most of the rain will clear away from northern inland. another area of rain to the south, the weather front

wriggling around and bringing further pulses of wet weather in the second half of the weekend. on sunday, it does look like we will see some more outbreaks of rain pushing into was the south, mist and for patches to start of the day as well. for many areas, especially central and northern areas, we will see some spells of sunshine, the odd hefty shower kicking off across northern ireland, and temperatures ranging from 8—15d. wherever you are, a mild feel to the weather. we can sum by weekend up like this... it will be mild, often pretty cloudy, but if you are lucky the cloudy, but if you are lucky the cloud will break and we will see spells of social, there will be outbreaks of rain at times as well. that's all your weather —— some spells of rain. plenty more weather through the afternoon. this is bbc news — our latest headlines.

sergei skripal — poisoned alongside his daughter in the salisbury attack — is improving rapidly — and is no longer in a critical condition. a 30 year old man has been arrested in connection with the murder of 17 year old tanesha melbourne, who was shot in tottenham on easter monday. the united states imposes new sanctions on russian oligarchs — accusing them of profiting from president putin's efforts to undermine the west. us officials say the actions were taken in "response to russia's continued attacks to subvert western democracies". thousands of palestinians are protesting along the israel gaza border, at least 20 people have been shot dead by israeli security forces in the past week. a soft drink sugar tax of up to 24 pence a litre — comes into force in the uk in a bid to reduce childhood obesity and tooth decay. many manufacturers have pre—empted

the law by cutting the sugar content in their drinks. sport now on afternoon live with azi farni. it's the second day of the masters — and the overnight leader jordan speith has hasn't started his second round very well at all? it has been a terrible start for the 2015 champion. double bogey at the first hole and that mainz kuchar has a share of the lead alongside rory mcilroy —— that means matt kuchar. rory mcilroy is now four under par. phil mickelson has pulled a shot back. justin rose is one over after a bogey on the first. and it's a huge weekend in the premier league, manchester city can win the title — they've just got to beat their local rivals? it isa it is a tall order, but winning the title against your biggest rivals is the way every supporter of

manchester city would want to do it. they welcome manchester united to the etihad where victory will see them lift the title with six games to spare. we are close to being champions. we have that chance. it is a coincidence because it is a derby match but that doesn't matter. we have been second for many months and that is our objective, and for that we need points. my objective for tomorrow is to try to have points that can help us to finish second. a crowd of more than 25,000 is expected in southampton tonight as

england play wales in qualifying for next yea r‘s england play wales in qualifying for next year's women's world cup. england are a point behind wales who are top of their group but they have are top of their group but they have a game in hand. it is a big world cup qualifying campaign, the games in america were great as a learning curve in terms of getting to know my players and their standards and knowing about the standards of the other teams in the world, but there are three points on offer now. wales are three points on offer now. wales are top of the group and we have got to make sure that by the end of play we are back at the top of the group where we believe we should be. we are back at the top of the group where we believe we should hem has been a great day at the commonwealth games. scottish siblings, katie and john archibald, who both won medals today. katie went first, the 24 year old won gold in the women's 3000 metre individual pursuit for scotland's second gold of the games. it means so much. you sometimes feel

embarrassed about over egging the pride of the scotland jersey and i feel uncomfortable with it but this event means so feel uncomfortable with it but this event means so much. less than an hour later her older brother john took silver in the men's 4000 metre individual pursuit, behind england's charlie tanfield who took gold. gareth evans won the first gold medalfor gareth evans won the first gold medal for wales gareth evans won the first gold medalfor wales at gareth evans won the first gold medal for wales at the commonwealth games. he had funding issues, but he was able to reach the tournament and he was able to win the gold medal in the 69 kilograms category. it's been 20 years in the making. i knew i could do it. the best day of your life? i could never take this away from my little girl. i can't wait to show her this and have this around her neck.

sarah vaizey with a gold medal. that was in the swimming pool. gold always looked certain on the commonwealth stage for allison tai. adam peaty will be in action tomorrow. daniel ricciardo has topped the timesheets in first practice ahead of this weekend's bahrain grand prix. the red bull driver was three tenths of a second quicker than the mercedes of valtteri bottas at the bahrain international circuit. britain's lewis hamilton was more than a second off the pace in fifth place, immediately behind sebastian vettel who won the opening race of the season in australia a fortnight ago. that's all the sport for now. now on afternoon live — let's go nationwide —

and see what's happening around the country — in our daily visit to the bbc newsrooms around the uk. sally magnusson is in glasgow and can tell us about scotland's new system of income tax rates and bands that has come into force today. beccy barr is in salford and can tell us about an official survey that's revealed a 9% slump in visitor numbers to the isle of man last year — the lowest number for a decade. sally taylor is in southampton, where the city's airport have started using a robotic bird to mimic the actions of a bird of prey in order to reduce the possibility of bird strikes on aircrafts. but first to sally in glasgow. what are the main changes that have come into effect today — it's now very different to the rest of the uk, isn't it? it is very different now, scotland had it is very different now, scotland ha d exa ctly it is very different now, scotland had exactly the same tax structure as the rest of the uk until today which is three bands are a basic rate at 20%, higher rate that 40%

and a top rate of 45%, but the new scottish system adds a 19% rate which is a starter rate and it adds a penny to the higher and top rates. the effect of these changes is that many scots will pay less in tax but some will pay more. it is projected to raise next £219 million for health and education without the need for cuts elsewhere. this is what the finance secretary had to say. with a real terms reduction to scotland's budget from the westminster government, we have taken the decision to change the tax bands in scotland. it means a more progressive tax system and a fairer tax system, 70% of people will pay the same or less, and it will be the fairest tax in all of the uk. more

progressive and fairer, do the opposition agree? they are getting attacked from both left and right, it isa attacked from both left and right, it is a symmetry they are not unhappy with, the conservatives say the move will punish businesses and growth and labour said the changes don't go far enough to make a real difference. take your pick. thanks for joining difference. take your pick. thanks forjoining us. we can head south. beccy. .. the isle of man have had their worst figures for tourism in the last ten yea rs figures for tourism in the last ten years question mark yes, tourism is very important to the isle of man, we have had these new figures from the isle of man passenger survey which suggests visitor numbers are down between eight and 9% last year which equates to 25,000 fewer visitors and puts it at the lowest

number of visitors in a decade. the number of visitors in a decade. the number of visitors in a decade. the number of business visitors has also fallen by 10,000 but there are two sides when it comes to every story, the government says tourism is still growing and they say that while the absolute number of tourists may have declined, people are staying longer and they are spending more money when they are there. they would argue the average stay has increased to five nights per visitor and the average spend has increased by 5.6% to over £112 million and ducks like those people —— but it does that bike the number of people coming to the isle of man is falling. —— it does look like. so why not? people would often go from the uk in the turn of the 19th century and even in the 50s and 60s, people would go to the 50s and 60s, people would go to the isle of man for their holidays but now they are semi—options and so

many cheap flight options for people to travel all over the world —— but now there are so many options. you can't always guarantee the weather on the isle of man so that is an issue. people in the survey said the cost of getting to the isle of man is one of the problem is that they have. many people go on the ferry and the cost of the ferry is one reason why people say they go elsewhere, but they are doing well with wildlife trips and golfing holidays. this is one of the jewels in the crown in the north west. there are other things in the isle of man? absolutely true. it is in our region, and we love it very much, but i must admit even though i grew up ten miles from the ferry terminal in lancaster, i didn't go to the isle of man until i became a bbc presenter and went there for a

story. it is absolutely stunning. it is beautiful. having been there for work, within six months i booked a week of leave and took four generations of my family to the isle of man. there is a rugged coastline and beautiful beaches and you can watch seals and basking sharks. fantastic victorian heritage. the holiday heritage from the turn of the 19th century has left a legacy of beautiful buildings and a rich history on the island as well as castles, the viking history, beautiful stargazing because they don't have the light pollution elsewhere. plenty going on. you have got to cut me off. you have sold it to me, and not too many people around, that might be one of the attractions, although that might stop now. laughter and to sally in southampton...

drones and airports don't often mix? that is like we have heard of near misses when drones have flown close to aeroplanes but this is about keeping aeroplanes safe. we are going to be a new weapon to deter birds. daphne, referred to as a robot bird, she looks and flies like a falcon. she is phone when there's a falcon. she is phone when there's a high risk in the area. she is so realistic that other falcons want to fight her —— she is flown when there's a high risk in the area. it has been many years in the making. other birds don't like to be near their natural enemies and we have created a robotic version of that so we can control when we fly and how we can control when we fly and how we fly in which birds we target and how we target them and how we chased

them and that is incredibly effective for areas where you don't wa nt effective for areas where you don't want to have birds. we haven't seen it yet. how is this going down? that is daphne, she is brilliant. as you can see, they can make a manoeuvre ina way can see, they can make a manoeuvre in a way that falcons fly, so other birds cannot tell that she is any different, and given that there could be more than 2 million drones in the uk, they have increased in the last year, and sussex police have had more calls than any other force in the country, around 350, about drones. two years ago it was just 83. they vary from, there's a drone over my property, too, i've got a drone, where can i fly it. the police are going to have more powers

to deal with drones, but in the meantime, daphne will be cleared for take—off at meantime, daphne will be cleared for ta ke—off at southampton meantime, daphne will be cleared for take—off at southampton airport to ruffle the feathers of other birds. i'm glad we got to see her. as am i. sadly, thanks for joining i'm glad we got to see her. as am i. sadly, thanks forjoining us. if you would like to see more on any of those stories you can access them through the bbc iplayer. we go nationwide every weekday afternoon at 430 here. breaking news from our diplomatic correspondent. we have heard the uk authorities have turned victorian yulia have told victoria skripal will not

be granted av is at two —— will not be granted av is at two —— will not be granted av is at two —— will not be granted a visa to visit her —— cousin. the uk authorities have told her that she would not be granted a visa to visit her cousin yulia skripal, and there are concerns about what would be a media circus of anyone who has a relationship to sergei skripal yulia skripal, visiting salisbury hospital, and the foreign office has that the priority is to get sergei skripal and yulia skripal back on the road to recovery and the news from the hospital so far as positive on that front. that is the breaking news and we will have more on that later.

the head of japan's sumo association has issued an apology after several women were ordered to leave the ring, despite administering emergency first aid. the incident happened at a local tournament near kyoto in western japan. caroline rigby has more. the moment two women rushed to help perform life—saving treatment, on the mayor of maizuru, who collapsed while giving a speech. yet, over the loudspeaker they are repeatedly ordered to leave. under the sports code, women are considered ritually unclean. so forbidden from enetering the ring. women have been considered impure because of multi—escalation. blood defiles the ring because the ring is an extension of a shinzo shrine injapan and there is essentially a god buried in the centre of the ring. so, to avoid defiling that god's space, the females are not allowed in the ring.

sport of sumo is centuries old and still contains many ancient rituals, but some have accused it of failing to modernise. this latest incident unlikely to put an end to such criticism. the japan sumo association has apologised, saying: this is an embarrassing episode for a sport that's already trying to rebuild its image in the wake of recent scandals, including match fixing, gambling and various high—profile cases of assault. the mayor of maizuru, meanwhile, is recovering in hospital, in part, thanks to the actions of female medics who dared to step into the ring. in a moment the business news with ben bland. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. sergei skripal, the former russian double agent who was poisoned in the nerve agent attack in salisbury, is recovering well and is no longer in a critical condition according to doctors. a 30—year—old man is

arrested in connection with the murder of 17—year—old tanesha melbourne—bla ke in north london on monday. a new sugar tax of up to 24 pence a litre comes into force in the uk — in a bid to tackle childhood obesity and tooth decay. here's your business headlines on afternoon live. britain's economy chalked up solid productivity growth in the last three months of 2017. labour productivity, or output per hour worked, rose by 0.7% in the fourth quarter of 2017. millions of people on auto—enrolment pensions will see their minimum contributions triple from today. the government's raising the amount which will need to be paid into the schemes. employees will have to pay at least 3% of their income, with employers adding another 2%. and conviviality brands bargain booze and wine rack are set to be sold to food wholesaler bestway for £7m. conviviality‘s retail arm,

which also includes the ws retail and select convenience chains, was looking for suitors after the company ran into financial difficulty. the sale is expected to save 2,000 jobs at the chains. there is absolutely no let up in this trade dispute between the us and china, is there? no, not at the moment. donald trump has told his officials to look at possibly bringing in a further $100bn of tariffs against china. that's on top of the $50bn worth of chinese goods he proposed to put tariffs on earlier in the week — which china responded to with a similar level of proposed tariffs. in response to mr trump's latest announcement, foreign minister wang yi said: "china and the us as two world powers should treat each other on a basis of equality and with respect". we are yet to have a response from the president. we are talking about a new tax year? yes, it begins

today. the biggest change is with pensions. the biggest change is with pensions. the minimum requirement is now 3% of your wages, but that will be met with 2% from your employer. there are some benefits and some drawbacks depending on your perspective. joining us now is russ mould, investment director, aj bell. we have got to talk about the china and us trade war. what effect are you seeing this have on the investments that you follow because this has been a up—and—down week for the markets? that is a perfect description, it is increasing volatility, analysts agree on very

few things but one thing they nearly agree on is that the introduction of tariffs in 1971 in the usa worsened an already difficult situation and everybody is frightened that we may see the same again. we had common sense providers and there a compromise but the temperature is rising and the chinese officials saying they will fight until the end at any cost, this is a debate that will not end very quickly and at the very least the posturing will continue. by notjust very least the posturing will continue. by not just looking at fruit and nuts but cars and aircraft and this is death and the raising the stakes and pushing back on the initiative of —— this is definitely raising the stakes and pushing back on the initiative of hazard. —— president trump. looking at spotter fai, some of the shine fading slightly? i have done some of the

ha rd slightly? i have done some of the hard work, they are a public company and their shares have risen —— they have done some of the hard work. they have a large valuation in the high billions of dollars which is pretty rich for a loss—making company and their prospectus says they don't know when they are going to make a profit. the hard work now is to prove they can generate cash and sustain the monster valuation. twitter and facebook have had monster starts but they have found it hard to maintain the momentum since. it has been a busy week for some of the bosses. so martin sorrell at wpp in particular. he has come under investigation for alleged financial impropriety is, misuse of company funds but he has rejected

those claims. it feels as if there is pressure being brought to bear on him, more because the shares have done badly in the last year after couple of revenue warnings, questions over where media agencies fit in. because people go straight to the likes of google and facebook. martin isa to the likes of google and facebook. martin is a dominant figure at the company and many people want to know who will be coming in if he is leaving or if he is 4—star. who will be coming in if he is leaving or if he is 4-star. we have got to leave it there. -- or if he is forced out. and now i look at the markets. the ftse100 has edged down slightly this afternoon. in common with many other world stock markets. on the ftse100 specifically — there's a strong downward pull from retail shares. they were among the worst performers as downgrades from citi sent marks & spencer and next shares were down.

royal mail, despite their fine, their share price has gone up. it never does what you expect it to do. and that is the end of the business week. now to our main story. the foreign office have issued a statement about the condition of sergei skripal and yulia skripal, they have said they are pleased they are both improving and they said this is a tribute to the talented and hard working nhs staff at salisbury. it says they are both likely to have ongoing medical needs. and it also says, this was attempted murder using an illegal chemical weapon that they know russia possesses. that's it from your afternoon live team for today, next the bbc news at five. time for a look at the weather.

after the glorious sunshine of yesterday, today is generally a cloudier affair. particularly in the west, where we've seen so much rain. the rain continues through the night in the north west of scotland. drier whether elsewhere, until a fresh clutch of heavy downpours pushes in towards the south west and wales by the end of the night. it will be mild, and the winds will tend to ease as the night goes on. so, there could be the odd mist and fog patch around tomorrow morning. then a fair amount of dry weather. but this area of rain likely to move across western areas of england, wales, the midlands, up into northern england by the afternoon. the rain tending to fizzle away. something a bit brighter across scotland and northern ireland, maybe some brighter spells down towards the south east, and temperatures in double digits wherever you are. sunday looks likely to bring another area of showery rain in across the south. elsewhere, the odd mist and fog patch first thing. then a largely dry day. some spells of sunshine, just the odd shower, and still feeling mild wherever you are. tonight at 5pm:

sergei skripal, the former russian spy, is no longer in a critical condition and is responding well to treatment. doctors say mr skripal is improving rapidly and his daughter, yulia, is looking forward to the day when she can be discharged. they've been in hospital for more than a month, following the nerve agent attack at his home in salisbury. and tonight the bbc has learned his niece has been refused a visa to come to the uk; we'll have the latest. the other main stories on bbc news at 5...

a man has been arrested in connection with the murder of 17—year—old tanesha melbourne in north london. campaigners have hailed the introduction of a tax on sugary soft drinks. the mixed martial arts fighter conor mcgregor has been charged with assault and criminal mischief in new york with assault and criminal mischief in new york.