away from the green benches, tomorrow is polling day. we're in great yarmouth, asking what the voters care about there now. the number one issue in this town, if you ask them, what is the number one issue? it's immigration, immigration, immigration, imigration. then why are they not voting for you? also tonight: there was an idea... ..to bring together a group of remarkable people. avengers: infinity war has broken box office records. why have we fallen back in love with marvel comics as movies? we speak tojim starlin, the man behind some of today's heroes. good evening. downing street has called for the latest bullying allegations against the speaker, john bercow, to be properly investigated, as he faces further calls to quit.

last night, his former private secretary, angus sinclair, broke a non—disclosure agreement to tell this programme how bullying by the speaker had forced him into early retirement with an £86,000 payoff — on condition he did not reveal it. speaking exclusively to newsnight, he described how mr bercow had undermined him, mimicked him, sworn and shouted at him — once even smashing a mobile phone in front of him. the speaker's office has issued a firm denial of the allegations, which come amidst an independent judge—led inquiry into claims of bullying of staff in the palace of westminster. chris cook and lucinda day sparked that inquiry with their original report and bring us the latest tonight. angus sinclair was appointed as speaker's secretary in 2005, working for then speaker, michael martin. in 2009, whenjohn bercow took over, mr sinclair started to work for him. a relationship that he characterised as bullying. mr sinclair was moved

on from mr bercow‘s office, but as part of his departure deal, he was paid £86,000 if he would sign a nondisclosure agreement. i had signed a cover—up. and in a cynical way, i'd been paid to do it. and that's not a good feeling. newsnight has previously reported that mr bercow is alleged to have bullied mr sinclair's successor, kate emms. after she left his office her managers were told that she was diagnosed with post—traumatic stress disorder. mr bercow‘s spokesman said, "mr speaker strenuously denies that there is any substance to any of these allegations". "he has a superb team of dedicated, effective and long serving staff, five of whom have worked for him very happily for a combined total of over a0 yea rs". in parliament today, on his own case, mr bercow was unforthcoming. i have made a public statement to which i have nothing to add. mps more or less kept their heads down today on this topic. i think it is challenging for members of parliament to speak

out against a speaker. he's in a powerful position in the house of commons and he has the power to make or break parliamentarians careers but also for parliament, it is a challenge, that the democratic process means all members of parliament are elected by their electoral is, and it is impossible to have an independent panel or individual who can decide who should not sit in parliament, they are decisions for parliament which is sovereign. but the government is on manoeuvres. newsnight‘s earlier reports triggered an inquiry into commons bullying and harassment led by dame laura cox, a formerjudge. it's not supposed to take up individual cases. but andrea leadsom, leader of the house, said today... the speaker is weakened.

an investigation could be his end. chris is here now. you have had a statement from the clerk of the house tonight, take us through what it says? this is one of the more alice in wonderland statements that i've had to deal with as a journalist, the house of commons is not really disputing a particular element of our report there but disputing the english language. we reported angus sinclair had to sign a nondisclosure agreement, if we look at the clauses of it, he had to agree to refrain from instituting any complaint against the employer and make no public statement relating to the employer's service, the house of commons. in return he got £86,000, more than one year's salary. that is a nondisclosure agreement in common parlance, the definition used by the house of commons before this week was that it was a catchall term

for confidentiality clauses. that is the enquiry into these nondisclosure agreements. the clerk of the house has put out a statement with a new definition of what a nda is, not used by anyone else who use speaks english, in order to disqualify what mr sinclair signed as a nda. to be clear, he was not allowed to complain to a tribunal or speak publicly about what happened to him. anybody else will say that is a nda. but they say it isn't? they created a new magical definition of a nda that nobody else would recognise. chris, thank you. we did invitejohn bercow tojoin us tonight but he wasn't available. it's worth mentioning again that he denies the allegations against him. with me now is hannah white — she's a former senior clerk at the house of commons,

and is about to sit on the board overseeing the clerks. i'm alsojoined by the liberal democrat peer, baroness brinton who is the founder and co—chair of the all party parliamentary group on bullying. it is nice to see you both, thank you for coming in. you heard that downing street has asked for a full investigation today intojohn bercow. what form do you think that should take? i do not think the form matters, if dame laura cox is happy to deal with it, that is fine. if not, a further separate investigation enquiry needs to happen. the most important thing is that now there have been two whistle—blowers in as many months, there's clearly an issue that needs investigating. it is as important for the speaker as it is the victims to be able to set out exactly what happened, and someone independent to come to a conclusion. that independence is vital. this says that downing street is taking it pretty seriously?

i guess the reason angus sinclair came forward was because he left eight years ago, and he saw, from chris's earlier report, that nothing had changed. there's the sense of an institution that has locked himself away and not bothered to deal with it? and here in lies the problem of bullying in the workplace, many organisations have the right policies, antiharassment and anti—bullying, grievance and all the right things, it is the culture and how it responds in allegations. i'm afraid, for all of the reasons jenny willet cited in your film earlier, it isn't working right in the house of commons at the moment. hannah, you are going in on the board to oversee this. it sounds like you have a problem on your hands, doesn't it? i think when you have an organisation and the staff feel that actually they need to speak in public about what is going on, it tells you that the internal systems are not working. so yes, there is clearly a problem, i think, for staff of the house

with confidence in the current system, and we need to look at that. and it is the current system of being able to vet itself, presumably? do you believe this investigation can get to the bottom of things? i think the allegations against the speaker demonstrate that as baroness brinton has said, there needs to be an independent investigation into any such allegations but going forward, any ongoing system in future also needs to be independent and that is for the benefit of members and members of staff. how willing do you think people are to come forward on this? we have noticed something fairly remarkable, even mps who are very sympathetic to the that they have heard do not really want to speak out. there is still the sense that john bercow, and of course he has denied these allegations, he wields the power and nobody wants to cross that line? again i think this is true of all organisations, when people are at the top of it it is difficult for others

to challenge and deal with it. that is why you've got to have that person who is independent, that someone who was concerned about the way they were treated can go to. it is also true of mps and their staff, we know it isn't just an issue where there have been allegations made aboutjohn bercow, there are others too. it is parallel with sexual harassment allegations, it's all about the power of one person over another. that is the fundamental problem here and in the liberal democrats we now have a pastoral care officer in headquarters and all mps and their staff know that the staff can go to the pastoral care officer who is not part of the employment relationship between the mp and the staff because we feel it is important that that independent space is there. john bercow has said that he has got staff who has worked for him for years, who are very happy and he's had no problem with. but others, of course,

will say that this is about settling scores, it's personal, a little bit vindictive? i think if you look at the testimony that newsnight has collected, and the films that you have made, it seems clear that the individuals who are speaking speaking on the basis of personal experience. and these are dedicated professional members of staff who have worked for the house for some time. i think they deserve to be taken seriously in what they say, and when you have allegations of this nature, it is appropriate for them to be taken seriously and investigated in a fairway, and byjudgment to be made after that has taken place. and presumably for his sake, this is why it needs to be an outside body and somebody who does not have any relationship to the house? and the problem with anything in that house is that point—scoring is not necessarily between a former employee and their employer, but also between politicians targeting other politicians, which makes it really toxic. did chris's explanation of a nda that was not a nda make any

sense to you? did that strike you as fear—based, or illegal in any way? no, in the last few months we have seen that whatever you want to call this, it's about closing down discussion and stop people from coming forward saying that they are concerned about not only what has happened but the culture going on. i hope the house reconsiders that. thank you to both of you for coming in. crunch time — on brexit — has ended in a soggy mess. a decision on britain's customs relationship has been put off after senior minister failed to reach any agreement. theresa may has asked officials to refine the proposals after her brexit war cabinet was unable to unite behind one of the two options on the table. it's worth noting that both options have already been dismissed as unworkable by eu officials. 0ur political editor nick watt is here. nick what happened tonight ultimately?

it was all a question rule of the maths in the end? it was a difficult day for the prime minister, she couldn't get the support of her brexit cabinet subcommittee for her preferred option, the customs partnership. the big change was the arrival on that committee of sajid javid, the home secretary. the new home secretary, even though he was a remains a border in 2016, he spoke at length against that plan and was also supported by gavin williamson, defence secretary who was also a remain supporter in 2016. had there been a vote, it would effectively have been 6—5 against the prime minister. that stark figure is disputed by number 10 but it seems clear. the brexiteers are delirious. i spoke to some unfamiliar with the meeting today and they said that proposal on the prime minister is a dead parrot but i've heard from remain as saying that there have been threats of resignations on ap leave‘s side. they say that if the prime minister comes up with something that is unacceptable to the remainers and is acceptable

to the subcommittee, they would say that maybe they need to have parliament have a say because they think that parliament would be up for the softer option and the only way those ap remain ministers can allow that to happen is for them to resign and they follow their conscience on these votes. today i've taken a look at the cards that theresa may is playing with... bluff. counter—bluff. and, ultimately, a showdown. the finest poker player would no doubt be proud of the game playing out within the conservative party over brexit. in a significant intervention, the main brexit group issued a stark warning to theresa may

to tread with care. and an apparently nervous prime minister retreated once again as she delayed a decision on the nature of the uk's future relationship with the eu after a cabinet backlash against her preferred option. since limping back into downing street after her general election setback last year, theresa may has appeared to have few cards to play. assailed by hardline brexiteers and with brussels ready to pounce on any tory division, the prime minister has seemed to be at the mercy of events. are you happy with the customs partnership? and today, the prime minister ordered her officials back to the drawing board after two of her new cabinet recruit — the one—time remain supporters sajid javid and gavin williamson — expressed strong reservations about the so—called customs partnership. we do regard the customs partnership

as we understand that it is proposed to be deficient because the idea that companies would have to pay the tariff and then claim it back again would obviously be hugely administratively complex. it would make it very difficult to sign trade deals with other countries. the prime minister has been very clear to date in everything she has said, in all her speeches, i have absolutely supported. and if she remains, if the prime minister sticks to the position she has articulated, i think the vast majority of my colleagues will be very happy. remain supporters believe the prime minister does still have cards to play on brexit. because there may be votes in parliament for an approach closer to the number 10 plans. and some brexiteers should have a think about their tactics. they need to stop making veiled threats because what we're up 5:32:55; x” l; 55.3555 725:

thicergs oftival slayerss , of that number, 130,000 in total

are no longer alive. the government believes that up to 270 might have died of a breast cancer that could have been spotted by the screening. the news will be particularly hard to digest for those who fear family members are in that number, orfor those wondering if they will have missed a screening themselves. but tonight, we look at what the numbers could be telling us about screening for older women — whether it's vital or whether the picture is, in fact, more complicated.

although the figures sound scary, the overall picture is very positive — deaths due to breast cancer have fallen dramatically over the last decades. we're joined now by baroness delyth morgan, the chief executive of the charity breast cancer now, and by klim mcpherson, visiting professor of public health epidemiology at the university of oxford. very nice to see you. if i just start with you, baroness morgan, do you think we are right to be concerned about this in the way we heard today? what we heard today was unprecedented, the secretary and foremost, our thoughts must be with the families and those women who are affected or might be affected, so it is a really huge matter of concern. so, what it does for me is it brings into question the viability

of the important research that was being done to look at whether or not screening for women in the older age group, beyond 70, was actually going to be, on balance, the right thing to do. that's really interesting because clearly, on an individual, personal level, it's very distressing but when you look at the numbers involved, 270, the maximum, they believe, might have lost their lives from this, out of 450,000, is minuscule, 0.06%, are we right to concentrate so much on screening? if we look at screening in terms of the picture for tackling breast cancer in this country, early diagnosis is an essential part of the cancer strategy and breast screening was very recently

reviewed, all of the evidence looked at and the balanced view of the independent review was that the screening service we operate in the uk was preventing deaths. right. through — of breast cancer. professor, you would not presumably disagree with any of that? early diagnosis has to be the most useful thing you can possibly do? the best thing to do is to treat it effectively, which we are doing better now than before. and early diagnosis is part of that process, yes. that is part of what screening gives us. you would say that this has caused damage? it has caused some damage but i think it is probably minimal. in what sense? well, not many people would have suffered directly from this mistake that has been made. when you hear the figure of 270, the upper limit, does that

sound about right? that's still 270 deaths, loved ones, mothers, sisters? all the rest of it. if only we could do the exact science, we would know the exact number but i think that're an overestimate. probably. why? because that number of people would be missed and might have died of breast cancer but they could have died even after having a screening and having detected cancer. there is a controversy around screening and that's largely to do with the question of overdiagnosis and there are some types of breast cancer, dcis, a kind of precancer, which it is not possible to say whether that type of cancer will become life—threatening. do you think we interfere too quickly and too often? no, i don't, actually, i think we should be having a policy that's evidence based, and that's why we need more

research to look at things like dcis. and the screening service we have at present has been widely reviewed and we are seeing more research looking at screening in younger age groups and older age groups, exactly to answer these questions. that evidence coming throughm ~ , , i think the downsides are understates because overdiagnosis is a real problem and ten or 12% of women have the treatment and it would not benefit them, the radiation gives rise to a few extra cancers, so i do not think the balance... at that age group, particularly, i don't think the benefits outweigh the harm.

how do you explain that dramatic drop we have talked about? because treatment is more effective than before, we have done many clinical trials across the world and we have discovered which treatment works for home and that has had a big benefit on mortality. the difficult thing, the complicated thing is if you imagine that after the age of 71, that screening would stop anyway, we're already talking about a margin of risk at which we're about to stop the process of screening. we know that older women underestimate their risk of breast cancer, we know that the department of health have seen this as so important that they run campaigns to encourage older women to self refer if they find something wrong with their breasts. so, i don't think now is a good time to start unpicking the really careful consideration that went into the review. what we should be doing now is making sure that the screening service is properly resourced so that the catchup screening appointments that women are going to be invited to can be managed properly. do you think this will put people off going to screening

or do you think they will take it upon themselves now to start asking for screening? a number of things might happen, but what is important is that women have really well balanced information so they can make a choice about attending screening. it's possible that this will discredit the screening service, which in this country has been a realjewel in the crown of the cancer services we've got in this county. i think that would be a tragedy. and i hope very much that the research we need into dcis and overdiagnosis will continue at pace so we can get these difficult questions answered. thank you both very much. thanks. tomorrow is local election day across parts of urban england. in london, all council seats will be elected. in other regions, it's just a third of seats. last week, newsnight reported from london, where labour are hoping to do well. but with the parties neck—and—neck in the polls across the country, the conservatives aspiring to make gains elsewhere. this time four years ago,

in great yarmouth, ukip won ten district council seats out of the 13 on offer — five from the tories, five from labour. katie razzall was there when the party was doing well — she's gone back to find out what ukip‘s apparent decline will mean for tomorrow's election. great yarmouth is gearing up for the summer season. this town on the coast of norfolk has been a seaside resort since the 18th century. framed recently as one of the top ten brexit supporting areas in britain, now some here have the chance to vote again. a third of the council is up for election on thursday. cast your mind back to 2014. the last time these council seats were up for grabs, and the political

landscape was very different. ukip was rising high in the polls, especially around here, down the eastern coast of england. how's the fishing trade? the fishing ain't too bad but the beast from the east really curtailed the shell fish. the water temperature is two months behind where it should be. you get a broken net. you have to start pulling the whole back together again. in 2015, he was staunchly ukip. but by last year's general election, he ditched the party and was campaigning for the tories. if you voted for ukip, that was a wasted vote, because they were never going to get into power. so that was all to stop jeremy corbyn getting in power. but he now feels betrayed by the conservatives' brexit

transition deal, that ties britain into the common fisheries policy for longer. it's gone down about as badly as if paul had discovered his catch had escaped through a broken net. ‘cause we are now not leaving, we'd all love to know what's so great that we got traded off for. all these coastal communities that could start rebuilding from next year, won't now start rebuilding their fishing businesses and their local communities and local economies until, when? whenever? if we ever leave now, people say. even so... well, katie, iwill vote conservative really, because, they aren't doing a bad job of what limited resources they've got. and it's better the devil you know than the devil you don't know. sometimes it can feel like there are two englands. with the main parties scouring for more votes, while labour's apparently doing well in london, outside of the capital, some voters are looking elsewhere...

0ne crucial thing that happened in the general election last year, and indeed in the local elections a few weeks before that, is that places that voted remain moved strongly towards the labour party. but conversely, places that voted leave were the places where the conservatives did best. now, outside of london, and in many parts of london where leave did well, labour may actually struggle and we may be looking at net conservative gains. but great yarmouth‘s labour party has a secret weapon. a wooden spatula for easy leaflet delivering. they may need more in a battle for a town where 71% voted leave, and where ukip took five council seats from the party four years ago. do you think that labour will win some of those ukip seats? we obviously hope... or is it mainly that their vote goes to the conservatives? we obviously hope, but we have been putting in a lot of work

and a lot of positive energy going into our campaigning, etc. because we've been talking to people, and because we've been listening to people throughout the whole year, we feel that labour certainly has gained a lot of respect locally. but labour's in a lonely place round here. four years ago, alex mayer was elected labour's only mep in this eastern region. there are three conservative and three ukip meps. at this point in parliament, shouldn't labour be doing better? well, i mean, i think that labour are doing quite well across the east of england. it's always a tough region for us, and places like great yarmouth switch between labour and the conservatives. i think we could well make some gains here in great yarmouth and across the east of england. i don't think it will be earth shattering overnight, but i think we will make steady progress. there was a time when another party saw this area as its heartland, tapping into anti—immigrant and anti—eu sentiment. but ukip‘s short lived heyday

in various seats across eastern england ended last year. whereas in the 2015 general election, ukip was eating into a large section of the vote — at the general election two years later, almost every one of those seats, they were down to single figures. voters have already switched allegiance, and here in great yarmouth, so too have some elected officials. last year, seven ukip councillors defected to the conservatives. their decision put this council back into tory hands. one of those involved told me that people on the doorstep kept saying that ukip‘s job was done. for that person, taking the tory whip felt like coming home. it looks like ukip‘s vote has flown. the party is projected to lose all 125 council seats it is defending in england on thursday. catherine blaiklock stood for ukip here in last year's general election.

the number one issue in this town, if you ask them what is the number one issue, its immigration, immigration, immigration, immigration, immigration. and why are they not voting for you? because there have been times when we've made a mess of things and nigel, who was the linchpin, left, you know? but there is such political volatility going on... you're more likely to lose all of your councillors. no, we won't. a lot of people feel politically homeless. i don't care whether we get wiped out in this election because the fight has hardly started. if you get wiped out, that's a sign nobody wants you? no, it doesn't mean that. the conservatives hope to capitalise on ukip‘s implosion. their devoted foot soldiers out in all weathers, umbrellas and raincoats in evidence, although no handy wooden spatulas... the great yarmouth mp is also tory party chairman...

around here, this time four years ago, ukip swept the board. they took ten out of the 13 seats that were up, some from you, some from labour. do you think that those voters just go back to the conservatives and labour now? not necessarily. but what i can say is what we saw in the general election last year, where in certain parts of the constituency, the ukip vote that had been may have been conservative, and certainly supports what we as a party stand for but wanted to leave the eu, came back and voted for us. but ukip still picked up a fair few thousand votes here. along with that, people who may have previously thought about, or voted, labour. not going back to labour. until recently, brandon lewis was immigration minister. we met in the wake of the windrush scandal, although before amber rudd resigned. he is clear what signal the government should be sending out. do you think the government's target, the 100,000 net migration target, do you think it should be dropped? i think people do want to see that we are getting control of migration.

so keep the target? so i think we do need to make sure that we are clear with people that we are focused on that, and make it to stable levels, down to tens of thousands. i think that's an important part of that. i think here what people really wanted to see was a situation where the government, the uk parliament, the uk government has control. it looks like you haven't got control... and make some decisions. at the moment, we are still in the eu. boat building has a proud history in great yarmouth. down it goes in here. alan goodchild started his company a0 years ago, and now has a0 staff. he attributes ukip‘s previous strength around here to people feeling ignored. all right? yeah! i think that's why it has the support in rural areas, where you have farming, boat building and hands off skills like fishing, they are all very important industries. and why do you think it has melted away? why do you think it isn't happening any more? i think the majority of people think

that the job has been done. like nearly three quarters of great yarmouth‘s voters, he chose to leave the eu. but that doesn't stop him worrying about his polish workers, and how immigration policy affects individuals. the government needs to actually reinforce the message that they are welcome. nothing is really going to change, at least i hope it isn't, but the controls can be implemented in a way that stops the surge of people coming into the uk who just want to capitalise on being in the uk, for no contribution to the system. local elections aren't particularly illuminating, other than as a marker of the state of the parties right now. despite their national story, immigration isn't the focus. people are more likely to vote on bins than bigger issues. if views in this once bustling fishing port are anything to go by, though, it looks as though ukip has had its time in the sun. katie razzall there.

and you can see a full list of candidates for tomorrow's local elections on the bbc website. 0k — big huge spoilers ahead, as they say online, for the tent pole movie event of the year, marvel‘s avengers: infinity war, which opened at the weekend to the biggest initial box office take in cinema history. the film is the culmination of 11 previous movies, the most ambitious example of the kind of world building franchise cinema that has come to dominate box office receipts in the last two decades. but like all marvel movies, it started as a comic book, the infinity gauntlet, created by writerjim starlin. the star of the film is a malthusian but oddly likeable alien maniac called thanos, played byjosh brolin, whose ambition is to wipe out half the population of the entire universe, all in the name of environmental sustainability. new to most of us, the character of thanos is almost 50 years old. just after he returned

from the vietnam war, artistjim starlin introduced him to marvel comics with the standard pantomime baddie dialogue that was house style back then. then as writer, he gradually added his trademark twist of psychedelia and pop philosophy to end up with a sympathetic antihero, a monster with a romantic but doomed love for death. starlin himself spent decades temporarily quitting marvel comics or getting into trouble for his subversive approach. in the ‘70s, he portrayed a thinly disguised version of his boss, stan lee, as a controlling client. on another occasion, just after the iraq war, he slipped a stars and stripes background into a splash page of a genocidal space god called galactus. but thanos always brought him back to the fold. perhaps it was only a mark of respect for his work or the value of having the original author inside the tent that when he complained that he wasn't

getting paid enough for his contribution to the movie, disney simply gave him more. still, it didn't hurt that he had already drawn thanos before he signed his first contract back in 1972. he had a legal claim — and he could prove it. so jim starlin finally saw the movie of his life's work at the weekend, and he joins us now by skype from his home in new york. what was that like, your reaction to seeing the movie in its entirety for the very first time? completely surreal. i walked out fully pleased, i could not have been happier! what do you think has kept your faith in that movie? do you understand how a0 years on the page turned into an epic blockbuster? i had an advantage, i have spoken to the writers and directors, and knew a bit of what was coming. i felt very confident

going into the show that i would not be walking out like a 1960s batman tv series, saying i love to something that i didn't. i found myself at the other end of the spectrum, i'm blown away by this movie. i've seen it twice, i'm doing it a third time by the end of the week! it seems extraordinary that superhero films are now one of the few places where you can start to be truly radical. if you look at black panther, a totally different format of casting, what makes a blockbuster now has broken all of the rules, hasn't it? it's a new form of myth—making, we are creating legends, basically. mostly now movies. we were doing the same thing in the 1970s and 1980s, and it's the young rebellious, an experimental way of looking at the world. i can see it has got this popularity. what is your sense of why people

keep looking for heroes, is it aboutjustice or vigilantism? is it aboutjustice outside of the realms of authority? authority is quite shaky right now in a number of places around the world. i believe that there is a one to have a hero, somebody who may have some answers. they may have all of the wrong answers in the books, but he is adamant and firm in his belief. i think that is something that people can identify with. do you feel that you are speaking to a very different audience now? what may have once have been geek has gone mainstream? logic would say diminishing returns, vp can they dip but this seems to be on an upward trajectory?

i've been through these ups and downs before. i have had a very successful career and then found myself out of work. i'm used to the ups and downs of it. i'm enjoying the upper right now, and we will see where it goes! was there a real fear before you went to see it for the first time? not really. i saw what they were doing, and one of the other movies. i had to do that whole, 0 god, don't let it be bad! 0n the whole i had nothing to worry about and wasted that effort! jim starlin, we wish you well. thank you for speaking to us. have a good one! thank you. that's all for tonight. kirsty is here tomorrow. before we go, abba star benny andersson has been elaborating today on the new songs they'll be releasing later this year — saying it will complement

abba's legacy. fans last got their hit in 2008 from director phyllida lloyd's mamma mia movie. let's hope the new material is more complementary to the band's legacy than pierce brosnan‘s rendition of sos. who could forget that one? # so when you're near me, darling can't you hear me # sos # the love you gave me, nothing else can save me # sos # when you're gone # how can i even try to go on? # when you're gone # though i try how can i carry on? hello. astonishingly in june hello. astonishingly injune for the bank holiday weekend will be the

weather, as temperatures are set to go weather, as temperatures are set to 9° up weather, as temperatures are set to go up and they will be increasing amounts of sunshine as well. not quite there yet, though. we still have some weather systems around. 0ne have some weather systems around. one has gone through today with rain followed by showers. another one just behind me here will be clouding things over and turning things wetter as we go on to thursday. still a few showers overnight, hitting western parts of scotland, maybe the odd one for northern ireland, but most places now drive for the rest of the night and under largely clear sky as our temperatures are dipping away and there will be a few very close to freezing going into thursday morning. so a touch of frost at lease on the ground, maybe in a frosted sunspot in north—east scotland. so bear that in mind as you head out. still actually good in the sunshine from any but already

from the word go for northern ireland and western scotland, thicker cloud and some outbreaks of rain. patches of rain in north—west england and wales and all of that pushing further east during the day. so where you start with some sunshine, southern and eastern areas may not see much rain but cloud will increase. a few sunny spells into the lead. the buntine in south—east england, a brisk thomas south—westerly wind across the northern half of the uk eases a little bit as big yawn through thursday evening and night. a marvellous start on friday. a lot of cloud and dry weather around. a bit of patchy rain in north—west scotland, the odd shower in northern ireland, but most places with a dry day on friday if not a particularly sunny day. but in any sunny spells, temperatures are edging up a little bit. it will feel a bit warmer. in charge of the weekend will be high pressure. further north—west you are, you are close to weather the. cool as a result of the breeze, and some cloud and outbreaks of rain in the north—west scotland. for much of the north—west scotland. for much of the uk, fine drive the weekend including the bank holiday, and getting a bit warmer still. taking a look at saturday and sunday, saturday maybe some low cloud and

mist to begin the day, close to north—west scotland, weather fronts close by and some of seeing some outbreaks of rain. a bit warmer with a bit more sunshine around for most of on saturday, a similar picture into sunday. a weak weather front close to scotland and northern ireland. don't be surprised if you see a bit of rain. england and wales seeing the best of the sunshine, and that sunshine and warmth will become a bit more widespread with the bank holiday. more spots getting above 20 celsius as a result. it is looking promising for the weekend. there is a forecast for where you are and where you are going online and dates throughout the night on bbc news. —— updates. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: america's new top diplomat mike pompeo is sworn in, with a pledge on north korea. speak —— to the unprecedented opportunity to change the course of history on

the korean peninsula. us and china trade chiefs set to meet in beijing. can they sort out the dispute over tariffs? i'm ben bland in london. also coming up in the programme: cambridge analytica — the company at the centre of the facebook data scandal — goes bankrupt. as myanmar prosecutes two reuters journalists, we look at pressures facing the media on world press freedom day. live from our studios in singapore and london,