he ii would actually have worn when he went to the garter ceremony. at the end of the gallery you can see a remarkable portrait of her majesty the queen. she is standing on the spot where she was crowned. contemplating, perhaps in the artist's imagination, that day. there is a feeling here that the effort that has gone into this means the queen will be well pleased of an exhibition of a gallery that bears her name. time to have a look at the weather a bit ofa a bit of a disappointing start to central and eastern parts of the country. the further west you are gci’oss country. the further west you are across the uk, the best of the sunshine. it is unbroken in wales, scotland, northern ireland and south—west england. but a different story in the south east with cloudy skies and thunderstorms mixed in and there is a lot of standing water in

hampshire and into essex and the eastern side of london. those torrential downpours will continue with flashes of lightning this afternoon. watch out for that in the south—east. further north and west we will hold onto that sunshine, although eastern coastal areas will be cloudy and misty. only 14 or 15 here, but further inland the low to mid 20s celsius. those thundery downpours across southern parts of england will ease down while tonight, then another batch of showery rain into southern and eastern parts of the uk, perhaps in eastern parts of the uk, perhaps in eastern parts of scotland by the end of the night. a lot of cloud returning to england and wales and it will be as sultry night, especially in southern and eastern parts. this weather front is responsible for that next batch of

rain. it could be the work start. further south and east it will be quite cloudy, the further north and west more sunshine. temperatures up to the mid—20s celsius. it will feel humid especially in wales. on thursday some rain pushes northwards into scotland and northern ireland. in england and wales sunny spells but the risk of heavy, thundery downpours. again hit and miss, but if you catch them, it will be quite torrential. on friday there is uncertainty to the forecast. there will be some sunshine breaking through quite widely, but also the risk of a shower or thundery downpours. they could break out anywhere across the uk. the main message is it will stay pretty warm

and humid this week. there will be some sunshine, but still the risk of thundery downpours. a reminder of our main story, two police officers and a passer are shot dead by a gunman in belgium in what is being called a terrorist attack. that is all from us, and on bbc one, we nowjoin good afternoon. i'm damian johnson. it's 1.30pm and here's the latest sports news. let's start with cricket, because the former england captain michael vaughan has called for either sturat broad orjimmy anderson to be dropped for the second test against pakistan on friday. england lost the first test by nine wickets, and haven't won in their last eight tests. vaughan says dropping one of the fast bowlers could shock the team into an improved performance.

england haven't been winning for a long time. do you just keep going with the same old, every single week? you know, this isjust a kind of, a think tank that i hope people actually within the team and within the actual management, could itjust make a little difference? you know, you never know. you know, are they winning with them at the minute? no. are they as good as they were three or four years ago? no. i want to see more in terms of mentality of how to play test match cricket. and you just never know, it might trigger the team into thinking, none of us are safe. the saracens director of rugby mark mccall has signed a contract extension with the premiership champions. our rugby union reporter chrisjones says this is a significant signing for sarries, with a knock—on effect for england. it has ramifications for the club and the international game. if we start with saracens, they won their fourth premiership title under mark mccall at the weekend. he's been phenomenal since taking charge around about 2010.

this ties him into saracens until 2022. it is a coup for the club but it potentially has knock—on effect for england and maybe ireland, because mark mccall would have been in the frame to succeed eddiejones as england boss or evenjoe schmidt as ireland head coach. this seems to have put paid to that although of course the rfu and the irfu could pay out big compensation if need be. as well as mark mccall, a host of his backroom staff have signed extensions at saracens including defence and forwards coach alex sanderson which again may rule him out of replacing paul gustard as england defence coach. it certainly makes it highly unlikely. big news today for both saracens and england. raheem sterling has defended his decision to have a rifle tattooed on his leg. some anti—gun campaigners have criticised the manchester city forward, calling it "totally u na cce pta ble". but sterling says the tattoo has a "deeper meaning" and refers to his father who died when he was a child.

liverpool have made the first big—money signing of the summer. wasting no time after their champions league defeat at the weekend, they've signed midfielder fabinho from monaco. the fee is thought to be in the region of £40 million. staying with liverpool, mo salah is flying to spain for treatment on the shoulder he injured in saturday's final. the egyptian fa say he's sprained his shoulder ligaments and salah himself says he's "hopeful" of being fit to play in the world cup. the potential sale of wembley stadium is being discussed at an fa meeting today. their ruling council will consider a bid, thought to be around £600 million, made by the fulham owner shahid khan. the aim of the meeting is to gauge the level of support for a sale from within the game, but no final decision will be made today. tributes continue to be paid to the former aberdeen midfielder neale cooper, who died yesterday after collapsing at the weekend. cooper was a member

of sir alex ferguson's aberdeen side that won the european cup winners‘ cup in 1983. more recently he managed hartlepool, gillingham and peterhead. former team mate and current scotland coach alex mcleish said it was a privilege to play with him. and the british number one kyle edmund starts his french open campaign today. edmund is playing the unseeded australian alex di manur. they'll be on court this afternoon as long as the rain holds off. heather watson and cameron norrie are already through to the second round at roland garros. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. that's bbc.co.uk/sport. from all of us, goodbye for now. thank you. california has become the world's biggest legal market for recreational cannabis with anyone over 21 able to buy, consume or even grow and sell it. while many in the us remain opposed to legalisation, others are considering it

as an exciting business opportunity as radio 5live's anna foster reports from california's coachella valley. it's been called the green rush, the race to grow profits from california's newest legal industry. in the past, entrepreneurs rushed to the desert to make their fortune from gold but the vast coachella valley is now home to facilities like this, where growers develop their own strains of marijuana. the people behind this huge indoor farms want to really try and nurture the new breed of cannabis entrepreneurs. it's notjust about having high—tech growing facilities. it's about teaching them how to sell what they make. they want coachella to be to cannabis what napa is to wine, a brand that is known right around the world for its variety and quality. one of the hard parts about cannabis before was you would go and buy it from some random guy, and you know, maybe he sold you something and you had no idea where it was grown and how

it was grown, even really what it was. now with new testing and quality control and state compliance, we are going to make sure that the product we are putting out there is the top—of—the—line. nine states and washington, dc have legalised marijuana for recreational use, and the legal cannabis industry in the us is worth nearly £7 billion a year. so far, president trump appears happy for states to follow their own rules, putting him at odds with his attorney general, jeff sessions. now there are dispensaries like this opening up across california, copying the look and feel of a high—tech gadget store. so i often get asked this question, who is a typical cannabis buyer? and i like to ask back, you know, who is a typical chair buyer? who is a typical soda buyer? yes, the people who are coming into the stores reflect mainstream america. despite this mainstream look, you still can't smoke cannabis in public and there are those who question the health message that legalising it sends out. in downtown la, i met a man once jailed for dealing cocaine, making $3 million a day

in the 1990s. now ricky ross wants to get back in the drugs game, legally. yeah, i want to be totally involved. i want to dispense, i want to manufacture, i want my own brand. you can smell it now. somebody smoking on the streets! canada is set to join california in legalising cannabis later this year but for now, the uk remains a long way from joining the green rush. anna foster, bbc news. president trump has confirmed that a senior north korean official is travelling to the united states to finalise plans for a possible meeting between the president and the north's leader kim jong—un. the president tweeted:. the summit on i2thjune was thrown into uncertainty last week after mr trump called off the meeting citing

the north's "hostility". a privately—funded search for the missing malaysian airlines flight mh370 is due to end today. the plane disappeared in 2014, while flying from kuala lumpur to beijing. there were 239 people on—boa rd, 227 passengers and 12 crew members. the original search was one of the largest in aviation history, but was suspended in january 2017 when nothing was found. the american firm ocean infinity resumed the search injanuary of this year but that comes to an end today, with no plans for it to continue. our correspondentjonathan head sent this report. well, it's very disappointing, obviously, most of all for the relatives but also for this company, ocean infinity, who were very confident that with their more extensive equipment and with some refined views about where the wreckage might be, as people have analysed in particular drift patterns for the debris that has been found on the east african coast, that there was a higher chance, a much higher chance of finding it.

they managed to search 80,000 square kilometres injust three months, whereas the previous search area was a bit larger than that but over a period of two years, so they covered a great deal more ground. they say their equipment worked very well in extremely challenging conditions, both high seas and very mountainous terrain on the sea bed where they looked. but they are clearly looking in the wrong area and it simply opens up even more the mystery surrounding what happened, particularly the end of mh370. there are conflicting theories about whether the plane was under the control of the pilot and might have glided a long way or whether he flew it until he lost consciousness or ran out of fuel and it plunged into the sea. the difference in those theories makes a huge difference in the areas that people can look. so the possibility, and many people have theories, is that there are other areas close to the ones where they have been looking where it could still be located. while the malaysian government has said that for now it will not renew the contract it has

with ocean infinity and remember, this is a no find, no fee contract so the company does not get paid unless it finds the wreckage, they are not renewing that for the moment. but this is a new government in malaysia, and they pledged to look again at the way mh370 was handled, to publish for the first time an absolutely full report into their own handling of the accident and the disappearance and in that sense, the option is still being left open that new evidence and new thinking could restart a search at some stage in the future. twojournalists have been killed while reporting severe weather conditions in north carolina. mike mccormick and aaron smeltzer, from news outlet wyff, died when a falling tree crushed their car. subtropical storm alberto is the first named atlantic storm of 2018. it's expected to bring heavy rains and flash flooding to more of the south as it makes its way through alabama and georgia. caroline rigby reports.

not the memorial day weather they had been hoping for. barbecues on the beach abandoned due to blustery conditions and dangerous surf. hurricane season has not formally started here, but despite what the calendar says, the stormy weather has already begun. it is very unusual to have an early named storm in may. the hurricane season is about to start on the 1st ofjune. there's been about 1k named storms since 1951. it is very unusual. having gained strength in the gulf of mexico, alberto made landfall along the florida panhandle with winds of more than 100 kilometres per hour. as it moves inland, it will lose energy. the main threat now is rain and flooding, with up to 30 centimetres forecast as it travels north. residents spent much of the weekend preparing for the worst, swapping memorial day commemorations for sandbags.

it is a reminder that we live in an area that gets threatened by hurricanes, and rain is a big factor when it comes to tropical systems, so you need to be prepared. this storm comes just a day after another caused flash flooding in maryland. and in cuba, the clean—up is already under way after alberto dumped ten centimetres of rain in less than eight hours. so with hurricane season yet to officially begin, residents across the us and caribbean will be hoping this early visitor isn't a sign of things to come. caroline rigby, bbc news. windy conditions from storm alberto caused a small waterspout in a swimming pool in florida. the water was forced upwards in the strong winds in panama city beach. in a moment, a summary of the business news this hour but first, the headlines on bbc news: a gunman has been shot dead

after killing tthree people — including two police officers — in the belgian city of liege. medics who treated a former russian spy and his daughter for nerve agent poisoning say they didn't expect them to survive. there's a warning of an "ill—health timebomb", after a new study suggests that one in 25 primary school children in england aged between 10 and 11 are severely obese. i'm ben bland — in the business news: shares in dixons carphone have dived after it warned of a sharp fall in profits this year. the mobile phone and electrical goods retailer also said it would close 92 of its more than 700 carphone warehouse stand—alone stores this year. starbucks stores in the us will be closed today so that its 175,000 us employees can receive training on how to avoid racial bias. it follows the arrest last month of two black men in a branch while waiting for a business meeting.

pret a manger staff could get a £1,000 bonus if the uk sandwich and coffee chain is sold by its private equity owners. bridgepoint want to sell to luxumbourg—based jab holdings. it's thought the deal could be £1.5 billion, but the two firms haven't confirmed the figure. pret employs 12,000 people in the uk. so dixons carphone shares have sunk by nearly 20%. the company says it expects pre—tax profits for 2017—18 to be £382 million, but it predicts profits will fall to £300 million in 2018—19. the chief executive alex baldock has said that "nobody is happy with our performance" but assured that the problems were all "fixable". he blamed "challenges" in the market for mobile phones and mobile services, including a declining market for long—term mobile

contracts and people not renewing their handsets as frequently. weaker demand for computers has also been cited as a drag on profits. earlier we spoke to simon french, chief economist at panmure gordon. he said the chief executive is using his honeymoon period to make the difficult decisions on capacity and profit guidance. what he's done, he has had a strategic review of the business, looked at the amount of retail space that he has at his disposal, but is also looking at those structural changes in the type of contracts that people are taking out on their mobile phone business, and also declining pc sales, and realising he's got to invest notjust in the type of retail experience that we're all having, but crucially, looking at the wording of the release today, in data and analytics. he's got to understand his customer base a bit better, and how they go about consuming in order to provide a better offering.

european shares have slumped over continuing political upheaval in italy. the prospect of elections as early as september, with the prospect of eurosceptic parties strengthening their position, has been hitting the markets. joining us now is james athey, senior investment manager at aberdeen standard investments. james, the italian political scene to be like this is nothing new really so what are investors worried about this time? good afternoon. to say it's nothing new, i think that is not quite accurate. obviously, we have got more open eurosceptic rhetoric from mainstream parties and parties that have the majority in parliament which is not necessarily something we have seen previously. but certainly, the sentiment towards italy generally has been deteriorating for a good few days 110w deteriorating for a good few days now and that culminated in the price action this morning which was

violent, lots of selling and not a lot of willing buyers and i think that reflects the fact people are very unsure how to establish the risks, how to price the risks and really co m e risks, how to price the risks and really come up with a solid sense of what will happen going forward and therefore, their first reaction what will happen going forward and therefore, theirfirst reaction is to sell and ask questions later.|j suppose the reason the effects are being felt across europe is because we are talking about the third largest economy in the continent. absolutely and that is where the situation is different from greece and the situation that it faced in 2010, 11 and 12. realistically with greece, the eurozone could write a cheque and the problem would go away but italy is too large for that to happen and has two large debt burden on top of its economy which is the third—largest in the eurozone. on top of its economy which is the third—largest in the eurozonelj on top of its economy which is the third-largest in the eurozone. i was reading something i wanted to get your thoughts on, according to some polls, there's enough support in italy for the euro, still, that it is unlikely to leave but there was an idea that was floated about would the government when it comes in

perhaps introduce some kind of parallel currency to allow them to expand their spending? what effect would that have? i mean, that would be very disturbing to markets because to all intents and purposes, a parallel currency would be seen as a parallel currency would be seen as a first step to wards exiting the eurozone. with respect towards the popular opinion towards the euro, the problem we have here is that the euro in its current form is not working for everybody and electorates need to be given a choice of the eurozone which will work for everybody, against leaving the eurozone and it breaking up. to offer them a choice of the status quo, the euro as it stands today, ultimately kick the can down the road and we should expect to see these problems resurfacing if that we re these problems resurfacing if that were to happen. what would settle investors' worries? that is a very good question and i think a lot of the conversations i have been having this morning sent around exactly that. it is quite difficult to see a very positive outcome in the near

term and that is really what is worrying investors. the steps taken by the italian president really have created something akin to an institutional or constitutional crisis and so to step back from that is more difficult. given the support for the parties who won a majority in the march election, and given their increasing popularity in the polls, it is quite difficult to easily see how we can step back from the precipice. i suppose the one exception to that potentially our words and actions from the ecb. if we cast our minds back to 2011, it was words and actions from the ecb which allowed markets to become becalmed for the last six or seven yea rs. becalmed for the last six or seven years. james, really good to get your thoughts. act—macro british stocks are lower this lunchtime — joining a europe—wide sell—off triggered by worries over a political crisis in italy. you can see the effect it's having on the german dax there. the ftse100 has fallen to its lowest level in nearly three weeks. that profit warning

at dixons carphone wiped one fifth off the retailer's market value. shares in the chain at their lowest level since december 2017. other top fallers on the ftse were banks royal bank of scotland and barclays, as financials in europe were under pressure on worries the next italian election could turn into a referendum on the euro. that has also hit the value of the euro. it's down against the pound and the dollar. that's all the business news. more in an hour. back to you. wizkid is a nigerian superstar with a sound that is taking him around the world. collaborations with the likes of drake and tinie tempah have pushed afropop to a wider audience, which is why we sent our reporter daniel henry to catch up with him in london. he was made in lagos. but now the wizkid sound is global. thank you guys for coming. i love you guys.

his one—day pop—up shop was packed, which means you don't get much time with him. not that these fans seemed to mind. i try as much as possible to always pass positive vibes in my music, through who i am as a person. like, when i'm passing the message to the people, through my social media accounts or when you see me in person, i'm all about positive vibrations. life is hard for everyone, even me myself. so ijust like to pass positivity among people and everyone. wizkid was flying the nigeria flag in london, the headline act of yet another sell—out show. there's no limit to any goal. i feel like you can achieve any goal. like, if you set your goals, you can make it happen. like, i feel like the african music scene is like, is going to be one of the biggest, biggest, biggest in the world. this collaboration with drake in 2016 went on to be the most

streamed track on spotify that year. it introduced wizkid to an international audience. but surprisingly, he says worldwide recognition is not a priority. i don't really care about international appeal, you know? it's not like i don't care about my international fans but, like, whoever listens to my music, listens to my music. whoever comes to my shows, comes to my shows. ijust keep it easy and simple. i'm not trying, there's no goal to whom i'm trying to let listen to my music. i'm reallyjust enjoying life and just putting my music out there and spreading love and positivity. daniel henry, bbc news, london. coming up, afternoon live with simon mccoy, but first, the weather. good afternoon, today is looking

like another fine and sunny and warm day for most of the country away from the south—east of england. we've had a lot of cloud around this morning and it is are turning to burn and thinner breakaway, the best of the sunshine across western parts of the sunshine across western parts of the sunshine across western parts of the uk, particularly scotland, northern ireland, western wealth and the south—west of england but in the south—east, a cluster of heavy showers and thunderstorms moving across essex, kent, the london area and into parts of hampshire and these will rumble on through the afternoon, could be some flash flooding in places, already had some reports that so take care on the roads. the thundery activity will turn to ease down and move away westwards overnight. for many areas, a dry night with cloud rolling back into england and wales and this weather front, a band into england and wales and this weatherfront, a band of showery rain pushing into southern and eastern parts of the country and again it could be thundery by the end of the night and warm muggy again. onto wednesday, a weather front bringing showery rain to central and eastern parts, which

will slowly push northwards and westwards through the day so some pretty heavy downpours possible across parts of the midlands, into wales, eastern england and also eastern scotland. they will tend to ease down as they move north and west, with the odd thundery downfall. the best of the sunshine in scotland and northern ireland and sunny spots developing across the south—east where it will feel warm and humid. always cooler by the east coast but inland, low to mid 20s celsius once again. on thursday, that weather front moving further north so showers possible across western scotland and northern ireland. elsewhere, sunny spells developing after a cloudy morning which could spark off further thundery downpours across parts of wales, the midlands and southwards, another warm one, and wales, the midlands and southwards, anotherwarm one, and in any wales, the midlands and southwards, another warm one, and in any sunny spells, 2a or 25 and high humidity again. a lot of uncertainty on friday, looks like it. off quite grey and misty, sunshine breaking through the cloud as the temperatures rise and then showers oi’ temperatures rise and then showers or thunderstorms could develop pretty much everywhere across the uk and they could be heavy if you catch

one but in the sunshine, warm, 23 or 24 degrees but a bit cooler and misty on the east coast. for this week, it stays pretty warm and humid. there will be some sunshine around, increasing amounts of cloud and showers later in the week and some of those will continue to be thundery. hello, you're watching afternoon live. i'm simon mccoy. today at 2:00... two policewomen and a passer—by are shot dead by a gunman in belgium in what's being treated as a terrorist attack. he'd been released from prison yesterday. hospital staff who treated the poisoned russians sergei and yulia skripal say they didn't expect the pair to survive. all 8,000 starbucks us stores are shut this afternoon to train staff against unconscious discrimination. coming up on afternoon live... former england captain michael

vaughan is suggesting a drastic solution. he said it is time to drop jimmy anderson or stuart broad after their first test