hello, and welcome to sportsday. "they should be kissing his feet." gareth bale's agent sends a strong the prime minister vows to tackle a rise in knife crime after two more message to real madrid's fans. teenagers are fatally stabbed. hearts are held to a draw by partick thistle in the quarter the 17—year—olds died finals of the scottish cup. in separate attacks in london and greater manchester at the weekend — the home secretary and england's women's cricketers says the root causes of knife put their one—day woes behind them to outclass india in crime must be looked at. their opening t20 match. we all wish there was one thing, just one, that we could do to stop this violence. but there are no short cuts, there is no one single solution. the agony of those left behind — the mother of this 19—year—old speaks of her devastation after her son was killed in sheffield. came through, about five surgeons, and just sat down and said, "we're sorry, we tried everything, hello, and welcome to sportsday. but we couldn't save him." gareth bale's agent has defended the forward against crticism from real madrid fans. today, theresa may insisted he's labelled their there was no direct link between rising knife crime treatement a disgrace. and falling police numbers. bale was booed and jeered we'll be examining the figures. after being substituted during real‘s defeat to barcelona also tonight... on the weekend.

so why, after winning four champions league titles and a league deprived towns in england title in his six years spain, are promised a £1.6 billion are the fans turning agaisnt him? package by the government — labour calls it a brexit bribe. here's joe lynskey. thousands turn out in caracas in this corner of madrid, to welcome home the venezuelan opposition leader, juan guaido there is no feeling worse who returned despite government threats to arrest him. than their own team's form # i'm a firestarter, and tumbling while their twisted firestarter. ..# rivals saw ahead. and tributes to the prodigy frontman keith flint who's been right now, that is the reality for real madrid. found dead at his home — on saturday night barcelona he was 49 years old. comfortably won 1—0, and coming up on a match which saw gareth bale sportsday on bbc news. gareth bale‘s agent says his substituted and then booed treatment by real madrid fans off his own supporters. is nothing short of a disgrace. an act from real‘s fans that gareth bale's agent says they should be ashamed of. he says gareth bale deserves more respect. it is now nearly six years since he broke it is now nearly six years since he broke real‘s good evening. transfer record but reports in spain suggest even now he is not

adapted and some team—mates even say the prime minister has vowed he is still struggling to tackle the causes of knife crime after two more teenagers were killed in separate attacks in london and greater manchester at the weekend. to speak with them. theresa may said the government would look at the issues behind knife crime — luca modric, voted world's whether it's gang or drug related. best player last year, says there is a way back. but she insisted that there was no he told reporters i don't think direct correlation between the rise it is the end of him, in knife crime and a fall all he needs to do is work, in police numbers. on wednesday the home secretary, work and work. sajid javid, will meet police chiefs, including those from the areas most affected by knife crime. for now, the team and coach today a former metropolitan police are focusing on a champions commissioner, lord hogan howe, knockout tie with ajax. called on the government to "get a grip" on the rise in youth violence. june kelly's report contains they lead 2—1 from the first leg some flashing images. but with form that has seen them slip to third in la liga, they lived at either end there is speculation of the country butjodie chesney a vacancy might come up here. and yousef makki were the same age there is one former real madrid manager now waiting on the verge of adulthood. for an opportunity. and it was in the suburbs, the future, for now, is uncertain. defending champions celtic not the city, that both their young will face their old firm lives were suddenly taken. rival rangers or aberdeen in the scottish cup semifinals today at harold hill as the draw was made this evening. before that championship side partick thistle made a spirited in romford those who loved comeback to force a quarterfinal

replay against hearts. jodie came to the park with its captain christophe berra headed the premiership side hearts into an early lead, but partick, who are bottom playground where she died on friday night. of scotland's second tier, she was with her boyfriend salvaged the tie thanks and some other friends to a second—half christie when they were approached by two men. elliott equaliser. jodie was stabbed once in the back. as the hunt for evidence continues, the winner of the replay will face inverness calendonian her murderer, described as black thistle in the last four. and in his late teens, remains at large. locally on the night of the murder between the hours of 7pm and 11pm there are many people who had were disappointed. we should've won the dashcam and potentially cctv. the game, and i should have taken my if you have got those, please come chances also. that's to us with that information. meanwhile, the greater manchester force is investigating yousef makki's killing. today, in a statement his family said, "we are absolutely devastated and cannot believe that our son has gone." locals in altrincham described how they tried to save him. we had to lay him on the road, so he was flat. we got him into the recovery position. mike cradled his head. we just tried to do

the best for him we could. unfortunately, it wasn't enough. two other 17—year—olds have been arrested, as detectives work to find out who was responsible for both killings the pressure is building on politicians. the country needs a knife tsar, according to a former head of the met police. what i don't get a sense is that every day, somebody is leading this and somebody's managing it, pulling it all together. it's a very complex problem and it will require a big solution. but we need to get a grip on it. police of all ranks say there aren't enough of them. this is how officer numbers have dropped since 2010, down by 20,000. but the rise in knife crime isn't linked to a fall in offices, linked to a fall in officers, the prime minister insists. if you look at the figures, what you see is that there is no direct correlation between certain crimes and police numbers. what matters is how we ensure that the police are responding to these criminal acts

when they take place, that people are brought to justice, but what also matters is, as a government, that we look at the issues that underpin, that underlie this use of knives. at this boxing gym not farfrom wherejodie chesney was murdered, the man who runs it is calling on people across the community to respond to the knife crisis. let's not stick around and wait for funding, let's look within ourselves, let's see what we have got, whatever we have got within our disposal, open up our doors to these young people, have work experience opportunities for these young people. you know, open up your hearts to these young people. these young people need you. in jodie chesney‘s community, friends are now mourning her. more young lives traumatised by the consequences of the knife crime epidemic. june kelly, bbc news, romford. it's notjust in london that knife crime is on the rise. in fact, violent crime is increasing

faster outside the capital with nearly all police forces in england and wales recording a rise since 2010. jeremy cooke has been to sheffield where eight people were fatally stabbed last year. he's been talking to families who lost loved ones to knife crime. come on then, lily. this is wherejordan used to live. so, we just use this tree as a place to come, because we ain't got nowhere else. knife crime in sheffield means lily has lost her dad. adam is scarred for life. i got stabbed in my kidney, i lost four and a half pints of blood. i thought i were dead. and dawn is overwhelmed by constant grief for her son. that day whenjamie died, i lost everything, everything. # it must be love, love, love #. i got a phone call from my mum. she says, "you've got to get to hospital, straight away, he's been stabbed". ithought, "god, no, please, no, please don't be dead". i thought, he can't be dead.

i thought, he's not going to be dead, and then they came through, about five surgeons and just sat down and said, "we're sorry, we tried everything, we couldn't save him". i thought, "you've got to be kidding, you're kidding me, you've got to be kidding, he only went out for a drink". jamie was stabbed to death at the age of 19, leaving his killer starting a life sentence, his mother starting hers. and he just laid on this bed with all these tubes coming out of his mouth. ithought, "no, it's not jamie, he's asleep, he'll be home in a bit" and it took about a week before it hit me. no, he's not coming home and it is him. then i thought, it can't have happened to him, it can't, why? and then you're thinking, why? why would somebody do this to him? why? some idiot with a knife.

adam's lost too many friends to knife crime and he himself is lucky to be alive. i was at a wake for one of my friends who'd been stabbed. i left that and i was walking home. there was a big argument. somebody stabbed me in my back. sheffield has got a problem. it's just... people just need to stop carrying knives and that. as in london, knife attacks here are usually by young men, against young men. but the victims are any and every age. happy father's day. send it to him. aww. to daddy in the sky. lily was three when her dad, jordan, was stabbed to death in his flat. who's that? daddy. two years on, her mum, emily, fights to keep his memory alive. but there's no escaping the fact that lily will grow up without her dad.

lily, to this day, struggles really, really bad. she came in probably less than two weeks ago saying, "mum, are you going to die soon?" and i said, "no, not yet". and she said, "but you need to die, one day", and then she absolutely broke down in tears, saying, "i don't want to not have no mum". she is absolutely petrified that when somebody leaves, they're just never going to come back. as soon as you open a paper, somebody's been stabbed. until today, dawn has grieved forjamie in private. now, she's speaking out for the first time, against the rise of knife crime and the agony that it brings. even though it's seven and a half years now, i miss him more. i miss him more, because ijust want to see him and hold him, and give him a big hug. i'm never going to come to terms with it, i'm always going to think, i want you back, i want you back, please come back. ijust say that all the time. i look at his photo, "please come

back, you need to come back". jeremy cooke talking with dawn grey, and others, affected by knife crime. so what's behind this rise in knife crime and what can be done to stop it? our home editor mark easton is here. barely a week goes by, it seems, without yet another teenager being stabbed, often also by a teenager. is it getting worse? we are talking about a subset of a subset of a crime but there are some troubling signs. two thirds of police forces in england and wales recently responded to a freedom of information request which showed that, in those force areas, the number of teenagers recorded as having killed with a knife has risen from 26 in 2016 to 46 last year. if we look at victims, patient records from hospitals in england show that seven years ago 1111 teenagers were admitted after assaults with a sharp implement like a knife. last year it was 267 — with a clear rising trend. these are still, thankfully,

relatively rare crimes but they are also devastating for those affected. and today in the commons, the home secretary defended government policy arguing money and effort were being applied to the problem, and notjust from the home office. we must all acknowledge that this is an issue that transcends party lines. politics can be divisive, but if there was ever an issue to unite our efforts and inspire us to stand together, then surely this is it. mr speaker, this country is facing a crisis. it is time for leadership from our prime minister and our home secretary, for clear action and united vision from all arms of government, and for emergency funding for the police and prevention programmes to keep our children safe. warm words are no longer enough. something is going horribly wrong and particularly in certain communities. in london, where knife crime incidents are higher than any other part of the country, victims

like 14—year—old jaden moodie, and the perpetrators, are disproportionately young black men from poorer neighbourhoods. in other cities the profile may be different. it is a crime that feeds on itself. if one person gets stabbed, similar youngsters locally are more likely to carry a knife for their own protection, and so the infection spreads. and that idea of an infection is also prompting home office proposals to deal with knife crime in the same way you might deal with a public health emergency. still treating each case as a crime but also looking to stop it before it starts. in families, in schools. in youth centres. looking to divert youngsters from the gangs which leave them so vulnerable. increasingly it is argued that solutions to young people being stabbed, do not lie exclusively with the criminaljustice system. and it is also worth remembering that overall violent crime in this country is at an historic low — two thirds down on where it was in the mid—nineties. most people s risk of being a victim

of violence is mercifully low. towns in deprived areas of england are to get a £1.6 billion funding boost from the government. labour immediately dubbed the money a brexit bribe. they accused theresa may of trying to use the money to win support from opposition mps for her brexit deal in areas which strongly voted to leave the eu. but the government has denied that and insists the money will have a transformative impact on areas that feel left behind. 0ur political editor laura kuenssberg reports from south yorkshire. just look at this, look at it, there's nothing. we've got nothing in this town. we've got this feeling that we're unimportant any more. it's not a coal mine, it's just a dead town, now. keith allsop wants his home to feel like something to him again. hatfield main pit shut for good, four years ago. there's a plan for a heritage centre, to create new work where

it's gone, if there's the cash. i'm not sure whether it's a piecrust promise that could be broken at any time, once the vote‘s gone the way theresa may wants it to go, if you like. why do you say that? history. there will be 1.6 billion up for grabs in places like this in england, but spread over seven years. and there's no question things are tight already. what was the library is now a centre for volunteers. well, ithink, generally speaking, all they worry about is major cities. we're absolutely desperate for that kind of money. this is the only public building in stainforth now. there used to be seven or eight, but the government cutbacks have closed these places down. there are plenty of questions, too. i think there's also a complete lack of detail there about exactly what's this for. the prime minister's announced the cash in the hope of persuading labour mps to back her on brexit. but businesses, some thriving here,

don't want a sympathy vote. ultimately, if there's a pot of cash there, an economy like doncaster will want to access that, so we can do great things for our businesses and great things for our communities here. but the timing of that feels a little cynical, today. and i think we'd be a little bit frustrated if we were still being defined by the challenge and the deprivation. but maybe brexit is a chance to reset the scales. doncaster voted strongly for brexit, because it feels left behind. there's nojobs and people feeling that everything's being spent in london and in the south, government money. people feel as though nobody cares, which leads to a feeling of bravado, where people put on a very hard front, and it hides a lack of confidence and a feeling that they're not worth anything. so, for me, and our charity, it's very important to say, this place has got a lot of heritage, there's a lot of pride here.

the embers are still there and we want to stoke that. some labour mps have dismissed this promise of extra cash as an insult or even a bribe. don't expect there to be a sudden rush of support for theresa may's brexit dealfrom them. butjust as she is crying out for votes, so, too, some parts of the country are crying out for a fairer slice of the pie. but, brexit, like all politics, is about what can get done. not always the same as what seems right or fair. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, stainforth. the funeral of england's world cup winning goalkeeper gordon banks has been held in his home city of stoke. he died last month at the age of 81. a host of famous names from the football world attended — including sir bobby charlton and his brotherjack from the 1966 winning team — along with a number of former england number ones. gordon banks‘s coffin was carried by goalkeepers representing the clubs he'd played for during his 20—year career.

at least 23 people — including three children — have been killed as two tornadoes struck the us state of alabama. winds of up to 170mph caused catastrophic damage in lee county in the east of the state and officials say the death toll is expected to rise. he was threatened with arrest if he returned home — but today venezuela's opposition leader, juan guaido, ignored that warning and arrived back in the capital, caracas. mr guaido left the country a week ago after being accused by the government of trying — with the help of the us — to illegally oust the president, nicolas maduro. thousands of cheering supporters turned out to greet him today as our correspondent, will grant, reports from caracas. juan guaido could have been arrested the moment he stepped off the flight. instead, he breezed back onto venezuelan soil and into the arms of his supporters. for those who see him as their president, his return is an important step on the road to removing nicolas

maduro from power. and, if the goal was to maintain their momentum, this is what greeted mr guaido's return. at the height of carnival, his appearance in caracas has lifted the spirits of his faithful. translation: they threatened all of us, including me, with jail, death, but we are not going to give up fighting. we are stronger and more united than ever. translation: the arrival of guaido to this country represents the reawakening of hope among the venezuelan people. we have been waiting for this call. this is exactly the reaction that mr guaido's supporters wanted to see from him, notjust returning to venezuela but through the front door, and thumbing his nose at mr maduro and the travel ban on his way in. president maduro, meanwhile, spent the day insisting all was well,

admiring the country's tourism infrastructure over the extended holiday. he sastuan guaido has acted illegally and is trying to stage a coup. yet he knows arresting him would bring an instant reaction, both on the streets of venezuela and from abroad. the trump administration has made no bones about its support for mr guaido. the national security adviser, john bolton, warned president maduro of swift retribution should anything happen to him. so the lines of the venezuelan conflict are drawn. now the question most venezuelans are asking is if mr maduro will accept his opponent's return or arrest him in the coming days. will grant, bbc news, caracas. let's take a look at some of today's other news. a major inquiry into allegations of past child sexual abuse linked to westminster will consider whether political parties "turned a blind eye" to it or covered it up. the liberal party's response to allegations made against the late mp cyril smith will also be examined in the latest phase of the independent inquiry

into child sexual abuse. prince harry has officially dedicated a memorial in birmingham to the british victims of the 2015 tunisia terrorist attacks. the memorial will be a focus of remembrance for those killed in two separate attacks on the bardo museum in tunis and a hotel beach resort in sousse. a number of the british victims were from the midlands. an nhs regulator has abandoned plans to appoint a panel to oversee the inquiry into the shrewsbury and telford nhs trust. more than 200 families have come forward alleging poor maternity care at the trust had led to mothers and babies dying or suffering harm. some families had threatened to withdraw their consent from the inquiry if a panel was set up, saying it would undermine its independence. the founder and chief executive of the fashion chain ted baker has resigned following allegations of misconduct, including "forced hugging". ray kelvin had been on a voluntary leave of absence

since december last year following the misconduct allegations. mr kelvin denies any wrongdoing. a british man, who insists he went to syria to volunteer as an aid worker, has been stripped of his citizenship. the home office told tauqir sharif that he'd be a risk to national security if he returned to the uk. mr sharif who is in syria with his british wife and children claims he has been delivering aid supplies, but admits using weapons there. he's appealing against the government s decision. our special correspondent, lucy manning, has been talking to him. tauqir sharif left britain for syria nearly seven years ago, he says, to volunteer, set up a charity and help those injured in the fighting. his aid work has been featured by the bbc and other broadcasters. but the government doesn't want him to return.

in syria i've been in a war zone for six years. from syria, he told the bbc he has been stripped of his citizenship, seen as a threat to national security. i've got the home office's letter here. it says, "you're aligned with an al-qaeda aligned group." no, of course not. i mean, i came out here to help the innocent people that were being massacred by the bashar regime. there's many expats like myself, doctors, engineers, educated people, that have come here legitimately and sincerely to help the syrian people. because mr sharif‘s father is pakistani, the home office says he wouldn't be stateless. it's racist, the british government, if they believe that i'm pakistani by birthright to a country that i've never lived in. if i was a white aid worker that worked for oxfam i don't think you'd be asking me the same questions. but you don't deny that you've picked up a weapon and you have fought in syria. i've defended myself and i've defended the syrian people. i don't deny that, no.

and i don't think there's anything wrong with that. if you're going to take me to secret courts and the evidence is so secret that i can't defend myself, is this the british justice that we believe in? mr sharif admits he has used an ak—47, claiming it was to protect his aid convoys, and he still carries a handgun. he lives with his british wife and five children in idlib, but says the children don't have uk passports because when he applied for his eldest daughter he claims he was told wrongly there was an administrative error. although his family don't want to return to britain at the moment, he is appealing against losing his citizenship. he's been driving ambulances, delivering aid. he's done nothing to warrant the deprivation of his citizenship. the government obviously has information to suggest otherwise. well, tell us what it is, give us some indication of what it is so that we can defend it, because mr sharif doesn't accept that. the home office has said revoking citizenship is to protect the public and is based on all available evidence and not taken lightly. some also questioned mr sharif‘s claim to be only an aid worker.

a lot of people went to syria to fight, orjoin terrorist groups under the pretext of doing charity work. sojust because somebody says they're an aid worker doesn't mean that they are an aid worker, and certainly all the aid workers i know have never picked up guns in conflict. he is now one of around 150 britons who have had their citizenship removed. lucy manning, bbc news. the american actor, luke perry, who starred in the 1990s teen drama, beverley hills, 90210, has died at the age of 52, after suffering a stroke last week. luke perry became a household name playing dylan in the hit series. he was taken to hospital last wednesday after becoming ill in la where he d been filming new episodes of another series, riverdale. he d also recently worked with quentin tarantino on a film called once upon a time in hollywood, due to be released later this year.

tributes have been paid to the frontman of the prodigy, keith flint, who was found dead at his home this morning. he was 49. his bandmates expressed their shock at his sudden death and said he had taken his own life. the prodigy were one of the uk's biggest bands in the 1990s, bringing electronic music into the mainstream. there are flashing images coming up. # i'm the trouble starter, punkin‘ instigator # i'm the fear addicted, a danger illustrated # i'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter. ..# nothing is as blatant as "i'm going to start fires". it's a little delve within myself and sort of a bit about me and what goes on inside. # i'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter # twisted, yeah i'm twisted # you're the firestarter,

twisted firestarter. ..# when you're in front of 5,000 people and you can go out there and just with the aid of the music and a visual performance, you can stir all them people up into a frenzy, and that's almost like starting a massive fire or a riot. keith flint who's died aged 49. that's all from us. newsnight is coming up shortly on bbc two. here on bbc one it is time for the news where you are.