weather. if you are searching for the sunshine, we have it in abundance over the next few days, but for some of us, a bit of a slow start. some low cloud and mist and fog around, which is slowly starting to lift. as you can see from the satellite image, it has been nibbled away at through the morning, so as we head into this afternoon, for most of us, a glorious afternoon, lengthy spells of sunshine, still quite a brisk easterly wind which will be noticeable down north sea and channel coast, and temperatures will be pegged back a little but you don't need to come very far inland to feel that once and some spots down to southern england could see highs today of around 22 celsius. it is going to be a fine end to the day with some evening sunshine around and some clear skies initially overnight. we may start to see the return of the low cloud, mist and fog across eastern coast of england and into scotland too, but most places should remain frost—free, particularly down to the south and west, where we see double digit

temperatures first thing tomorrow morning. we are up and running into the long bank holiday weekend and still drawing up that warmth from central europe and it is a settled story, with high pressure in charge, sitting over scandinavia. once any early morning mist and fog has lifted, good friday is a good—looking day, lots of sunshine around, most places hanging onto wall—to—wall blue sky for much of the day, and the winds will be noticeably lighter, particularly noticeable down north sea coast, there we may start to see sea breezes develop. 22 celsius in some spots tomorrow, as we head into the weekend across parts of southern england and wales, highs of around 25 celsius. let's look at how that co m pa res 25 celsius. let's look at how that compares with some of our favourite resorts across the european continent and enter the eastern mediterranean, much cooler here and more unsettled too. back home on saturday, lots of sunshine around once again, light winds, there we have a weather front pushing its way into northern ireland and to western scotland, introducing a bit more

cloud here but mostly a dry story. elsewhere, those temperatures reaching highs of around 25 celsius, down toward southern england and wales. a very similar setup as we head into easter sunday too, lots of sunshine around, our weather front may introduce a little more cloud for northern england initially, then it retreats back up to the far north and west of scotland, and once again temperatures doing well, once again we could see highs of around 25 celsius in summer southern spots. so for easter monday, we have got rain trying to edge its way in from the west, but at the moment it doesn't look as though it will make much progress. so another fine look as though it will make much progress. so anotherfine —looking day with spells of sunshine and those temperatures remain above average. a reminder of the main story. crossrail, the new underground railway line running in london, may not be finished until the spring of 2021, making it two years behind schedule. that's all from the bbc news at one, so it's goodbye from me,

and on bbc one, we nowjoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are. good afternoon, it's 1.30pm and here's your latest sports news... hello, i'm hugh ferris. scotland manager alex mcleish has been sacked, ending his second spell in charge afterjust over a year, but a poor run of results has seen him go. here's our scotland football correspondent chris mclaughlin. it's a decision that does not come as much of a surprise to be honest, there was speculation a few weeks ago that the axe was beginning to fall on alex mcleish, the scottish fa board met here at the national stadium this morning, discussed it for a few hours and then just ratified a decision that i think had already been made. the sfa said it was a reluctant decision but based on

was a reluctant decision but based o n fa cts was a reluctant decision but based on facts and based on results, they felt they had to act. the noticeable result, the one that really led to the sacking, was that 3— 0 euros 2020 qualifying defeat away to kazakhstan. it is alex mcleish‘s second time in charge of scotland, the first time successful, this time not as much. now speculation turns to who will succeed him. early contenders are the kilmarnock manager steve clarke and even gordon strachan who was sacked here as scotla nd strachan who was sacked here as scotland boss to make way for alex mcleish but the facts are that after 14 mcleish but the facts are that after 1a months, scotland is once again looking for a new national manager. spurs will face ajax in the semi finals of the champions lwague after beating manchester city in an exhilirating match at the etihad. city needed to win by two clear goals and were 11—2 up when fernando llorente scored what proved to be the crucial away goal.

var confirmed it and then helped to disallow what the home side thought was a dramatic winner. sergio aguero ruled offside before his pass to raheem sterling. the city celebrations cut short and replaced by those of spurs who reach the last four for the first time, with a helping hand from technology. i think they got the decisions correct. it's just that little bit of delay we've got to get used to. when we want to see the celebrations continue. the players can express themselves, the players get thatjoy and that is what we all watch it for, for the high and low, and something out of the ordinary. 95th minute, sterling. it was amazing. for that to be wiped away. you talk about reactions, emotions and football, that is what football and supporters go through but the players on the pitch are mentally drained, they have gone so high and so low, so quickly. it was a much more straight—forward night for liverpool in portugal. they were already 2—0 up from the first leg against porto, and they put

in a dominant performance. sadio mane opened the scoring, then mo salah doubled their lead with the pick of the night's goals. roberto firmino and virgil van dijk were also on the scoresheet as it finished 4—1 on the night, 6—1 on aggregate. liverpool play barcelona next. let's have a look at some of the other main stories around today. the fleetwood managerjoey barton says he emphatically denies allegations that he assaulted the barnsley boss daniel stendel. police are investigating an alleged altercation which took place at oakwell when the two sides met last weekend. the five contenders for the bbc women's footballer of the year have been announced. it's the fifth year of the award which celebrates the very best of the women's game. you can vote for your winner right now on the bbc sport website. the ireland captain, rory best, has confirmed that he will retire from rugby after this year's world cup in japan. the 36—year—old is also captain of ulster, and has won 116 caps so far after making his debut in 2005.

that is all your support for now. thank you, hugh. the first people to be charged in connection with this week's climate change protests have appeared in court. three people have pleaded not guilty for obstructing trains at canary wharf station. the protests, which have disrupted parts of central london and other cities during the week, have continued, with major intersections in the capital blocked. activists want the government to drastically speed up their targets for reducing carbon emissions. there have been rows between the protesters and those they've incovenienced on the streets of london. you obviously think people should be able to disrupt and block a bridge. this is not legitimate protest. do you think this is an adjustment process 7 you think this is an adjustment process? you are blocking, it is obstruction. i just process? you are blocking, it is obstruction. ijust want process? you are blocking, it is obstruction. i just want a conversation... it is obstruction. do you realise what the rest of the country thinks of you? stop shouting at all these people. it is

obstruction. it certainly got your attention. you'll like it has not, it has inconvenienced me. we want you to think about the climate. vote for the green party, do what anyone else does. that has not woken me up. it is inconveniencing me. maybe in your world you think it was for that might persuade people by inconveniencing them but that is not how you do it. raised the tempo is there in central london. —— rate tempers. —— raised tempers. earlier we spoke to rachel huxley who's director of knowledge and learning at c40 — an organisation connecting major world cities tackling climate change. she said extinction rebellion had a very ambitious target of cutting carbon emissions. the world's foremost scientist have advised that we need to cut the emissions really radically. this is a science —based target and in the research we have done at see 40, we are aiming for carbon neutrality and

we wa nt are aiming for carbon neutrality and we want to do that by 2050 but this would suggest we need a negative carbon to keep to safe levels. extinction rebellion are looking for the most strategic way that science has out there. technologically, it will be very difficult to achieve andi will be very difficult to achieve and i think one of the big questions around climate is not necessarily even about the technology. we know, the science tells us we have to act in the next 12 years, the clip from attenborough really reinforces that. we have to take action. we are not ona we have to take action. we are not on a trajectory that is safe, we are on a trajectory that is safe, we are ona on a trajectory that is safe, we are on a trajectory that is safe, we are on a trajectory for 2.9 to 3.4 degrees of warming, best case scenario with all the action that has been committed to globally and thatis has been committed to globally and that is simply not safe. we know we need to act soon and i think the requirements for all the requests to the demonstrators for more ambitious action, i agree with that i'm not sure about the timescales.

the coroner at the inquest into the death of former love island star sophie gradon has warned about the dangers of mixing alcohol and drugs — saying it makes people more likely to harm themselves. a hearing into the death of the 32—year—old has taken place this morning in north shields. it concluded she took her own life after consuming alcohol and cocaine. she was found by her boyfriend aaron armstrong at her home in northumberland lastjune. a teenager has been arrested on suspicion of supplying class a drugs, by police investigating the death of a 13—year—old boy found unconscious in a park in south wales. carson price was found on friday evening in a park in ystrad mynach and police believe "illegal substances" contributed to his death. gwent police said a 14—year—old boy was arrested on thursday morning when officers raided an address in blackwood. north korea says it no longer wants us secretary of state mike pompeo to play any

part in nuclear talks between the two countries. government officials said he should be replaced by someone ‘more mature‘. it comes after north korea claimed to have test—fired a new "tactical guided weapon" with a "powerful warhead". it's the first test of this kind since talks between north korean leader kim jong—un and donald trump ended without agreement in february. last week, mr kim said president trump needed to have the "right attitude" for talks to continue. laura bicker is in seoul. we know very little about the type of weapon that north korea has tested. the state media report only said that it was a tactical weapon which suggests it's not the kind of a missile we've seen in the past that angers the united states. these long—range intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and capable of reaching the united states. so it has not been one of those. speaking to analysts they say it can be anything from the kind of weapon you launch from a tank or up to a cruise missile. however, north korea says

it is of weighty significance to its north korean army. so what does it really mean now that they have tested a new weapon? well, kim jong—un has not broken his promise. he pledged not to test long—range weapons or test nuclear weapons so he has kept his promise. but it might give washington pause for thought. certainly, the oval office might be reading this report and thinking, well hang on a second, north korea is under strict sanctions and yet they are still managing to test new weapons. campaigners opposed to the hs2 rail project say homes that have to be sold to build it are being undervalued. more than 900 properties have been bought by the company, at a cost of nearly £600 million. but some homeowners claim they've been badly treated. hs2 said it had to achieve a fair price for both homeowners and taxpayers, as david rhodes reports.

it is a £56 billion train line, dividing opinion and physically dividing communities. on this estate in south yorkshire, part of the proposed route will run through the middle of this brand—new housing estate. it was my new house, i had never had a new house before. then i was told that it was either coming down or there was going to be a train running straight across there. homeowners like tracy are eligible to sell their homes to hs2 at an un—blighted, full market price. but many say that hasn't happened. i don't know if there is one person on this estate that has been happy with the process. at every step that was an obstacle. they were being really awkward, offering ridiculous prices. just being unreasonable and a very, very unfair. i have known marriages to break up, people splitting up over it, people going on antidepressants. more effects than what people think. it is people's lives, when all is said and done.

figures published by hs2 show that since 2011 over 900 residential properties and pieces of land have been bought along the proposed route, at a cost to taxpayers of £600 million. chris grayling promised nobody would be worse off. for those who represent smaller homeowners, they claim hs2 and undervaluing properties in a bid to keep the project's costs under control. we had a lot of evidence to suggest the government, hs2, they are fighting residents for pennies to try to reduce the compensation that they are paying out. hs2 said they are committed to supporting homeowners on this estate, and that they will often be different opinions about evaluations and the company has a responsibility to establish a price that is fair for both homeowners and taxpayers. phase one of hs2 is expected to reach birmingham by the year 2026. with phase two, the routes to manchester and leeds are expected

to be completed by 2034. but there are growing questions about whether the line will never reach places like leeds. in recent weeks construction contracts for hs2 have been postponed and won the minister has even said the government will be reviewing how much they spent on the project. but business leaders here in the north are adamant hs2 must go ahead. hs2 isn't just about going to london faster. it does do that, it increases capacity to london, but most importantly it connects the northern powerhouse to the midlands. the country has been debating the merits of hs2 for over a decade. for homeowners who have sold their homes to make way for the line, they now have three years to move out. but the story of hs2 is far from over. in a moment, we'll have all the business news, but first the headlines on bbc news... crossrail, the new london line being built across the capital,

could be over two years behind schedule, the bbc learns. climate change protestors continue a fourth day of action in the capital. nearly 400 people have been arrested and three charged. facebook bans a dozen british far—right individuals and organisations — including the english defence league, britain first and the former president of the british national party nick griffin. i'm rebecca, in the business news... shoppers are apparently unfazed by brexit. latest figures from the country's official office for national statistics showed retail sales takings rose in march — that wasn't what was expected. sales were 6.7% higher than a year ago — the biggest rise in two and a half years. the competition watchdog says the uk's "big four" accounting firms must ringfence auditing from their consultancy work. it reviewed the industry after accountants failed to spot

business failures at the likes of carillion and bhs. regulators found pwc‘s lead auditor of bhs spent two hours on its 2014 audit and 31 hours on better paid non—audit work. lobby group the city uk, said the plan made a good headline, but wouldn't improve things much. and pinterest, the online picture scrap—book, is valued at over 12 billion dollars, and it's another one of those that has never made a profit. shares in the tech company will launch in new york later today. we'll be keeping an eye on that. britain's lenders are starting to put the most costly consumer scandal to hit the industry behind it, with payouts for mis—sold payment protection insurance known as ppi, falling in the second half of 2018. that's according to a survey from the financial conduct authority who regulate banks, building socities and other financial coporations. despite the fall,

ppi remained the most complained about product, accounting for 40 percent of all complaints. the fca says it is encouraged by the overall fall in complaints and the way firms are handling complaints more quickly. let's talk to iona bain the financial journalist. so, fiona, the number of complaints are falling but we have still saw a value of £2 billion injust are falling but we have still saw a value of £2 billion in just the last six months of last year. it is still a flood of claims, isn't it? you might guess, the ppi scandal still rumbles on. although there is now a time limit set on ppi claims. if you have not already made a complaint about ppi, you have until the 29th of august this year to do so. after that, you've missed the boat. that will bring the ppi scandal to an end. there is a slight fall in a number of complaints being made and

the fca have recognised that a lot of the complaints being brought are now without merit and being driven by claims management companies, so the fca decided last year that it would allow banks to strike from the wreck at any cases where established that actually people did not have a ppi policy in the first place. and that was a significant move. —— strike it from the record. a number of complaints are still really high. when the line is finally gone under this waiter, surely we will still be hearing people who think they have missed out despite the fact they have many years to get their claims on. that is true. we've had that happen ever since i was a high court rule ever since we were making complaints to the banks and have those complaints looked at and compensation paid out for appropriate for that there have been appropriate for that there have been a number of significant events in recent times which means the scandal was not quite over yet. there is a

high court case where a ppi claim and successfully argued that in fact their cases could be revisited, having previously been rejected, and that banks would have to look again based on the commission that was actually owned on selling these policies, so we could see lots of these cases being brought back to banks and reconsidered. it has cost the banks a staggering amount of money, hasn't it? jelena c. figures va ry money, hasn't it? jelena c. figures vary but the most up—to—date figure for the total cost of the ppi bill for the total cost of the ppi bill for the total cost of the ppi bill for the banking sector is £44 billion. thank you very much, i own a bain. sorry, i got your name slightly wrong earlier. thank you for joining slightly wrong earlier. thank you forjoining us. slightly wrong earlier. thank you for joining us. —— slightly wrong earlier. thank you forjoining us. —— thank you, iona b ain. and some other stories out today... more on facebook who say they "unintentionally" uploaded the email contacts of more than 1.5 million users without asking permission to do so.

the data harvesting happened via a system used to verify the identity of new members. facebook said it had now changed the way it handled new users to stop contacts being uploaded. more than 900 properties worth nearly £600m have been bought by the company responsible for delivering high speed rail 2. they include whatcroft hall, sold by comedianjohn bishop for £6.8m, the highest price paid for any property. campaigners opposed to the rail project said some homeowners had been treated badly, claiming homes were routinely undervalued by hs2. troubled indian airline jet airways has temporarily suspended all its domestic and international flights after failing to find fresh funding. it has £900m debt and has been in talks with lenders for weeks. jet airways said it had no choice but to suspend the flights, but hopes to start flying again. the euro taking a hit after weaker than expected data from germany and france. the eurozone‘s manufacturing sector remains stuck in a rut as its two largest economies missed expectations and continued to contract in april.

shares in unilever are up after positive results this morning. particularly strong sales in emerging markets. we're spending more on home care it says, including a segment called "fabric solutions". ftse 100 ftse100 is up and the dax and the cac are up modestly. it is the thursday before good friday. that might well explain it. thank you. now to a surprising new scheme hoping to help children's reading. dogs are being enrolled — across schools in south wales — to help the children to relax and build their confidence by reading aloud. john maguire reports. if you need any help, you just askjonesy. 0k. one, two, three, four... d is for dog. for some children in this primary school in llanelli, jonesy is making a real difference. because he helps me. he helps me and he is really good, and that's all. do you enjoy coming to these reading sessions with him? yes, i do. the dog helps the children to relax, and they can then

focus their attention on reading aloud with no fear of being judged. we have a few children within the school who are fearful of pets, so establishing that value of respect and care for animals and love towards animals, i think it really does work on that front. in terms of the academic progress, we've got one little boy who is only two weeks into the scheme but his mum has already said, "i can't believe the difference we're seeing now." he's going home each night and wanting to read in readiness for the session he has with jonesy on friday. it couldn't be working better. the dogs and volunteer handlers are trained as part of the burns by your side charity scheme. this creates a lovely, gentle, nurturing environment where the dog never judges, never tells the child that he's made a mistake. so it kind of opens up this communication which might be difficult for a child in a normal

classroom environment. swansea university has been carrying out an academic study to assess the effectiveness of the dogs. it's a very small—scale study. we looked at a small number of schools and a small number of children, but we certainly saw some improvements in the children's attitudes to learning. so they were excited to come into school, they were excited to pick up a book, they were motivated to want to read. that helped them feel more confident in themselves as learners. that was very positive. and it seems as if reading aloud in this way helps not just the children to relax. now it is easter so he was a story about rabbits... —— now it is easter so here is a story about rabbits... rabbits have been hopping around britain for much longer

than previously thought — that's according to scientists who have discovered a bone dating from the roman period. it was found at fishbourne roman palace in west sussex, and shows the rabbit was alive the 1st century ad. it was previously thought rabbits were introduced to the isles in medieval times. ina in a moment, we will have the weather but just before in a moment, we will have the weather butjust before that, i want to ta ke weather butjust before that, i want to take you to washington where, in around 30 minutes, the us attorney general william barr will be giving a press c0 nfe re nce general william barr will be giving a press conference about the contents a press conference about the co nte nts of a press conference about the contents of robert muller's report, that report of course about the allegations of collusion, russian collusion, collusion with russia in the 2016 presidential election. that will come to you at around 2:30pm, thatis will come to you at around 2:30pm, that is 9:30am washington time and it has been noted by correspondence that the attorney general is giving a press c0 nfe re nce that the attorney general is giving a press conference to journalists before the journalists have actually had sight of the report, the import will come to them an hour later so it is going to be a couple of colleagues, what they have called it is bewildering and potentially farcical. now it's time for a look

at the weather with mel coles. hello, if you've been searching for the sunshine, we've got it in abundance over the next few days. we haveit abundance over the next few days. we have it to boot. he was the satellite picture from earlier. some sunspots thanks to the low cloud, mist and fog but that is nibbling away quite nicely and for the rest of the day, warm, sunny, lengthy spots of sunshine and quite a brisk, easterly wind which will pay back those temperatures down on the north sea coast. you do not have to come too far inland to feel the heat. some parts of england could hit 23 celsius today. as we head into the evening, refining to the day. evening sunshine around an overnight, many bases will have clear skies. we made a start to see the return of that low cloud and fog to eastern areas but most places should remain frost free. then we are up and running. into the bank holiday weekend and we are still drawing up that warmth from central europe, helping to boost our temperatures and high pressure is in

charge, it is settled over the next few days. once any early morning mist and fog is listed for good friday, it's a fine —looking day, lengthy spells of sunshine, many places seeing wall to wall blue sky and the winds will be lighter, too, which will be noticeable down naughty coast and down towards the channel coast, too, feeling a touch warmer here although we may start to see sea breezes develop. it looks as though our temperatures will peak on saturday, somewhere in the south—east of england could hit 25 celsius and look how that compares with some of popular resorts in spain and eastern mediterranean, too. here, held up to more unsettled thanit too. here, held up to more unsettled than it was a bit fresher. for saturday itself, a lot of fine, dry weather around. through northern ireland and western fringes of scotland, we've got a bit more cloud and outbreaks of patchy rain may well edge its way in but away from these areas, lots of sunshine once again. the temperatures are somewhere in the south—east reaching 25 celsius. easter sunday, the weather front may introduce a bit more cloud for northern england but

it's not to retreat along the north west of scotland. here, some outbreaks of patchy rain but elsewhere lots of sunshine once again. temperate is a little bit down on saturday but still above average for the time of year. it is average for the time of year. it is a very similar story as we head into easter monday, too. sunny spells and some warm to boot. —— sunny spells and some warmth to boot.

hello, you're watching afternoon live. i'm simon mccoy. today at 2.00 — the long—awaited mueller report into alleged russian interference in the 2016 us election is published in the next two hours, but with redactions. facebook bans 12 far—right individuals and organisations in britain, saying they have no place on its platform. as climate change protests continue in the capital, three people appear in court charged with obstructing public transport. coming up on afternoon live — all the sport. alex mcleish has been sacked as scotla nd alex mcleish has been sacked as scotland head coach, his second speu scotland head coach, his second spell at last in just 14 months. we will have the latest. and tomasz has the weather. it is warming up, it will be the warmest spell since february.