we all as a team have been through our own mental health sort of challenges and battles with our injuries and things that have followed, but we have proved at every step by being positive, by, you know, remaining active, that you can kind of keep on top of that. their route there will take them along the south—west coast, up to gloucestershire, where they will then use rivers and canals to head north to liverpool. back out to sea, up the north—west coast of england, then into scotland, including the caledonian canal, and loch nness, then on tojohn o�* groats. physically very tough, mentally extremely demanding. this is a challenge that will require everything from these men. notjust as individuals, but above all as a team. time for a look at the weather.

the sun is out across more southern and eastern parts of the uk and it is a much better day today. no sign of rain for the cricket in southampton. and with the sunshine in the midlands and late in the day we could see some cloud. further north it looks different, the cloud just spinning in from the atlantic bringing with it some pockets of mostly like rain or drizzle specially for western areas. that will push further into wales. across the eastern side of scotland and north—east england it is brighter and warmer but feeling much warmer with an icy wind in the sunshine through the midlands and east anglia in southern england. overnight we see cloud moving very slowly south again. some like rain or drizzle here and there. clearer skies towards east anglia and the south—east and here it will be

chilly first thing on thursday morning but much milder elsewhere. we have the pocket of warmer and more humid air coming in to some parts of the uk during thursday. that warmer air parts of the uk during thursday. that warmerair in parts of the uk during thursday. that warmer air in between is weather fronts. that warmer air in between is weatherfronts. this in the north bringing more wet weather into the north—west and this responsible for the like rain and drizzle that we start with across northern england and wales. that will push into the midlands tomorrow but petering out as the cloud moves into the south—east of england. more rain across scotland and northern ireland. but as things break up across wales and the north midlands it gets warmer and temperatures could reach 2a degrees in the north—east. benson rain during the evening and overnight, the weather fronts moving south and pressure is going to be lowering. just messing things up for the end of the week. a lot of cloud around on friday and some longer spells of rain. turning i°y some longer spells of rain. turning

joy in scotland but a northerly wind here and in northern ireland which is taking the temperatures back to around 16 degrees. the best temperature is 20, 201 degrees. heading into the weekend northern parts of the uk have high pressure building on from the atlantic so dry weather, more sunshine on sunday and temperatures rising as well. further south the threat of some showers particularly on saturday. hopefully we see some more sunshine and fewer showers during sunday. a reminder of our top story... a police constable has been found guilty of the manslaughter of the ex footballer dalian atkinson who died outside his father's house in 2016 , after being tasered and kicked in the head. the ministry of defence has insisted

that hms defender was on a routine exercise. that's all from the bbc news at one —— so it's goodbye from me —— and on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc�*s good afternoon, i'm austin halewood with your latest sports news. the euros campaign may be over for scotland after their 3—1 loss to croatia last night, but manager steve clarke says their first appearance at a major tournament in 23 years, is only the beginning. well, we can go live to hampden park now and speak to jane dougall who's there for us. a disappointing night for scotland. manager steve clarke staying upbeat, but where do the team go from here? well, they have all gone home. know, steve clark, categorically said that this was a young and exciting team. and that this would not be the last tournament that they qualified for for another 23 years. yes, of

course, it is disappointing and waking up this morning, the deflation is palpable in scotland. there was so much hope attached to this and especially the way they qualified for the euros. and the talent. the warm up beforehand as well. there were a lot of impressive displays from individuals. there was a huge amount of anticipation, which now, obviously, has not been delivered upon. scotland had to beat croatia last night. they did not do that. a loss or a draw would not have been good enough. and theyjust did not deliver. sold the euros journey for scotland is over. the squad and the coaching staff have left glasgow and have travelled to their respective homes. that is all of the squad apart from billy gilmore who is still self—isolating after testing positive for coronavirus. he did not have any involvement in the match last night. he did not travel up to hampden. he

is still at the training base and he will remain there for the foreseeable future until he is permitted to travel again. as i said, so much hope attached to the squad and despite the exit last night, the support from the tartan army has been unwavering and that will not change even though scotland lost their first match, drew the second and lost their third. all the fans stayed in that stadium and applauded the stadium as they walked around the pitch acknowledging the fans. there were not any blue wings, there wasn't anybody leaving early. —— no one booed. they saying we love you, scotland. that is the unwavering feeling here. we are used to exiting tournaments early and not qualifying, but the love for this

mac scotland squad will continue. thank you so much for being there for us. well, england will find out who they face in the last 16 tonight. it could be any one of germany, hungary, portugal or world champions france. they're all in action later, after england topped their group with a win over czech republic at wembley last night. after a disappointing performance against scotland last week, england came out desperate for a goal and theirfans weren't waiting too long — raheem sterling with his second goal of the tournament. the win means england will face the runners up from group f at wembley on tuesday. so a tricky challenge ahead for gareth southgate�*s men. to get to the top, you've got to beat someone of stature, some of that has been there before. in order to knock them up. listen, what i like about the england side at the moment, yes they have not set the world alight, we haven't seen the flayer players do the special things we want to see. we are simmering, we

are taking ourtime. we want to see. we are simmering, we are taking our time. garrett southgate is getting it right. who are we to question him? at this present time, we are where we need to be. away from the euros, the last day of cricket's world test championship final is under way at the ageas bowl in southampton. it's been extended into a sixth day, because of a number of rain delays, but the match is going to have to race along for either side to win. india resumed this morning on 611—2. but new zealand had a good start with the ball, kyle jamieson taking two quick wickets — one of them indian so just after lunch, india are 138-5. that is so just after lunch, india are 138—5. that is the elite of 106 runs. if the match is drawn at the close, india and new zealand will be crowned joint winners. that is all your support for now. i will have more in the next hour. thank you very much. some breaking news on the story

about a russian military ship that has fired warning shots at a royal navy destroyer, after claiming it had entered russian territory in the black sea. in a tweet, the ministry of defence has dismissed reports from russia that warning shots were fired at hms defender, insisting it was a routine gunnery exercise and the royal navy vessel was "conducting innocent passage through ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law". more now on the uncertain future for uk festivals, as mps warn the industry is under threat without government—backed insurance scheme. earlier my colleague annita mcveigh spoke to gill tee, the director of black deer country music festival — which would have been one of the first festivals to open their gates, as well as jamie njoku—goodwin. he is the chief executive of uk music. we are up to 17,000 capacity festival. we were already on site

building the site. we were... it was a good week into the build, so as you can imagine a lot of the structures started to be put up, there were plants arriving. amazing bunch of wonderful suppliers turning up with the joy of actually being able to work again. after such a terrible time that they have all had. so the joy was there. it was the atmosphere. it was amazing. and there we were building our festival. oh, i am so sorry. obviously, a lot of hopes and expectations and it has had to be cancelled really at the last minute. what sort of financial losses are you talking about for yourself as organiser and for all the people who had hoped to be working on the festival? the costs are enormous, notjust mental health, but emotionally. obviously financially, all of our suppliers from all over the uk coming to work on a festival, but for the festival, we are very fortunate, we are an independent festival

backed by our own financial investors. so therefore, we were confident we will open our gates no matter what given that boris would lift restriction and we would be able to continue. for us personally, a massive cost. you can imagine the cause of what we've done booking artists and equipment and teams. it has cost us dearly, really dearly. hundreds of thousands of pounds. i'm going to come back to that in a minute. i want to bring injamie. thank you forjoining us today. jill's story is not unique in the times we are in. you spoke to the public accounts committee when it was gathering evidence for this report that has now been published. do you think that report is fair? does it make some good suggestions as you try to figure a way through all of this? yes, hearing what jill is saying is really heartbreaking because this is an experience that a lot

of festivals and venues and events are having across the whole sector. this report seems. has found that what the government has done is welcomed and we welcome things that the government has done, the billions of pounds it's put into supporting the sector while it is close. but the real priority is what can we do to get off the economic support and how can we support ourselves and how can we have events as soon as possible again in a safe way? we are finding one of the issues is a lack of insurance. it is affecting jill and thousands of organisers. the committee said that festivals face a survival threat unless ministers set up a cancellation insurance scheme. but it noted that the government had not yet modelled how that sort of scheme would work. do you think that is a big failing on the part of the government? should it have looked ahead and

modelled something like that by now? we have been talking about this for months. and the issues that the sector's facing in terms of a lack of insurance. and they're told they're going to be able to open again from july, but there isn't the confidence to be able to put money into things without insurance. insurance is not available on the market. the challenge is lots of events don't want to start planning for fear of putting money into the thing, having a date move and then having the same experience thatjill has had. which is notjust heartbreaking but existential for many organisations. if they can't plan an activity, they are in a existential situation. insurance is absolutely critical and something that the government should do like they did for the film and tv. i think the government deserve credit_ i think the government deserve credit for— i think the government deserve credit for what they did with film and w — and tv. they introduced insurance for that sector to ensure that production can go on it in shorter jobs and investment.

we need to do that for the events industry to make sure that festivals can take place and events. without it, there is a real lack of confidence in the sector. jill, just to clarify what jamie was saying, you were unable to get any insurance as you made plans for this event, employed people to get on with building and so forth. no insurance for any of that. any of those losses that you have now incurred? no insurance at all. but as as i say we are independent festival and we decided to take that risk and chance. but all the indicators for us was that we would be able to open our gates and right up until a week before, it was still gates open. but the heartbreaking thing is we would have understood if there was a blanket and no one could do it. we took that risk. but when i look at the news this morning, 60,000 people potentially coming into wembley. all these different events happening around me and our event which was one of the safest places you could be actually in the uk at the time,

i promise you that, covid, the way we have planned our covid actions, were brilliant. i was just going to ask you about how you are feeling about wembley, the final of the euros and 60,000—strong crowd. you were hoping for 17,000, obviously outdoors. you are clearly frustrated. oh, my god, i cannot begin to tell you how frustrated. we built a site that would house 40,000 people. we wanted to have lots of space. we were all approved by the local authority to do that. to not be able to do it when we were under strict instructions for ourselves to be able to put up a festival, to be told that we can't and then watch the news. the news this morning made my blood boil. i was so angry. ifeel like being in front of the government to educate them. we are really lucky. one of our local mps has been fighting for us. she has been brilliant. but the government

need proper education. we, as an industry, i'm not just talking about mine, i've been in the industry a long, long time. i care about every supplier that is here, every artist, agents, everyone that is involved in this industry that i have been privileged to be part of, they need to be listened to. it is making my blood boil is an understatement. please put me in front of them. please let me ask them when they go and sit and watch an event or a festival or anything related to live music or live events, do they know what goes on behind it? if they did, they would not have done what they done. and they would have open their eyes that we are £1 billion industry. the headlines on bbc news... a police constable has been found guilty of the manslaughter of the former footballer dalian atkinson.

warning shots from russian forces after a royal navy ship allegedly enters the country's territorial waters — the mod says it was in an internationally recognised traffic separation corridor it's now or never to save the summer season — action and protests. nearly one in seven vehicles that passed their mot last year should have failed. that's according to an analysis of official figures by a motoring magazine. nina warhurst has more from a garage in bolton. now if you are anything like me, you are right for your mot, you drop off your vehicle with someone like harry and you run off for a coffee and keep your fingers crossed that it is not going to be expensive. that is not necessarily the right attitude to have. let's talk to eric because he has set up more mot stations, he reckons, then anyone else in the country. we will find out if that is true. if anyone gets in touch. good morning. what is your top tip for someone who brings the vehicle in to make sure they are doing a good job? stay, watch the test, make sure it is done correctly. so you can actually stay on site, keep an eye on things either from...

yes, from designated areas you can watch the test. either at the side of the ramp or at the reception on tv. so just to keep a close eye on things because the figures that are out today are quite worrying. so in 2018 until 2019 around 25 million mots took place. there is an upper limit on what they can charge of £55, but no lower limit. and what the driver and vehicle standards agency found when they looked through spot checks at the standards was that one in seven vehicles which passed their mots were not actually roadworthy. a really worrying figure, that translates to 2.9 million. steve, you unearthed this via an freedom of information. really worrying figures here. yes, indeed. it is higher than we expected. there are always going to be variations, obviously. we've got lots of different garages with lots of different resources, lots of different sizes of garages. but the fact that it is so high this year that is absolutely concerning. people want to make savings, but primarily, people need to stay safe.

what can we do to make sure we are using the right garage and the right mechanics? the first thing is, if the price seems too good to be true, there is a good chance that it is. but the other thing is these ratings are available. the thing is they are not freely available to the public immediately, but when you visit a garage, you are welcome to ask them to show it to you. they are not obliged to, but if they don't, well, then that should be a red flag. ok, what can we do, as car owners, as vehicle owners to keep things in check? because not everybody is particularly interested in having a look at the car every week. it is very easy to assume these days that modern cars are so sophisticated, they take care of themselves. and they do not, i'm afraid. there is a lot of stuff you cannot do as an individual, if you are not particularly mechanically minded. but there are things you can do. for example, checking your tyres regularly. that is good from a safety point of view. if the tyre pressures are wrong, then that is bad for fuel economy. so it is worth it. but also it is just listen to your car, being aware of it or if it suddenly starts driving differently or you start hearing a lot of noise, get it checked out.

even if you just had an mot done. because this shows that actually the mot standards aren't quite where we would like them to be across the board. get it checked out. so those incremental checks, keeping your senses aware of something changing. although you might view your mot as a bit of an expense, something that is a bit of a pain in the backside, actually it needs to be done properly in order to keep you and your family safe. see it as an opportunity to do that. good advice. sweeping new restrictions are being imposed across sydney as australia's largest city grapples with a fast—growing covid outbreak. authorities reported 16 new infections on wednesday, which brings the cluster there to 37 cases. our sydney correspondent shaimaa khalil has more. well, there remains seven big areas here in sydney and greater sydney that have now been identified as hotspots, notjust by the new south wales health authorities, but by different states as well, and anybody from those

seven hotspots, those seven areas, they are not allowed to leave sydney. they are not allowed to enter the state, so essentially hard borders within the states with sydney now, with greater sydney at least. yes, restrictions are being reintroduced, so now we have mandatory masks on, in all indoor areas, within those seven neighbourhoods that have have been identified, but we also have the mandatory within public transport. this is, of course, going to be concerning for many families. we have school holidays that are coming up, and many families have been hoping to at least travel between states, because of course australian borders are closed. they can't travel internationally, so there was hope that there would be more domestic travel, but with this cluster growing into nearly a0 people now, there is great concern that the numbers could rise. whenjoe biden moved into the white house he made the issue of voting rights one of his key platforms. but the democrats' attempt to push

forward a bill to make it easier for people to register and to cast their vote has failed to win the necessary support in the senate. the bbc�*s david willis reports now from los angeles. with its emphasis on protecting voting rights and ensuring the integrity of elections, the for the people act represented the largest overhaul of the us electoral system in a generation. democrats also saw it as a means of offsetting measures passed by republican—controlled state legislatures which impose new limits on voting. this is about the american people's right to vote. u nfettered. it is about their access to the right to vote in a meaningful way. nobody is debating, i don't believe, whether all americans have the right to vote. the issue here is their actual access to the voting process or is that being impeded? and the bottom line is that the president and i are very

clear we support s1, we support thejohn lewis voting rights act and the fight is not over. republicans see the for the people act as an infringement of states' rights and one that would tilt elections in the democrats' favour. the rotten inner workings of this power grab have been thoroughly exposed to the light. we know it would shatter a decades old understanding that campaign finance law should have a bipartisan referee, and turn the federal election commission into a partisan majority cudgel for the democrats to weild against their political opponents. following the vote, the senate majority leader chuck schumer said it was evident that voter suppression had become part of the official platform of the republican party. to their enduring disgrace. and he said the fight to protect voting rights was not over. david willis, bbc news. britney spears is due to appear in court in los angeles today as part of a legal battle over

who should control her personal and financial life. they've been in the hands of legal guardians — in an arrangement known as a conservatorship — since 2008, when she was suffering from mental ill—health. the conservatorship was originally controlled by her fatherjamie, but the singer has indicated that she no longer wants him to be involved. a warning — this report from rachel stanton has flashing images in it. the conservatorship has got to go. that's just one of the things being chanted here, by fans of britney spears on the streets of la. the court ordered agreement her father, jamie spears, control over her estates and other aspects of her life, but the singer later sought to dismiss her father from the role. the conservatorship is placed over an adult who is unable to care for themselves or make decisions for themselves. it is an extreme measure. here i would have thought that the conservatorship would have been brief, maybe one or two years, in orderfor her to be

protected, get help, and then restore herfreedom. i don't understand why it's gone on so long. there may be very good reasons for it, but we're not privy to those. according to the new york times, the 39—year—old expressed opposition to the conservatorship earlier and more often than had previously been known. a lawyer for her fatherjamie spears said: jamie serves as britney's conservator because he loves her. he wants the best for britney. when you're talking about celebrity court cases in los angeles, look at what your precedents are. they are the oj simpson trial, the robert blake trial, and the michaeljackson trials, and you've got lots of fans outside. and this one is particularly difficult, because britney's fans are so impassioned. although it is not known what the star will say in court on wednesday, it will be seen as a landmark moment in the ongoing legal matter. rachel stanton, bbc news.

now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. hello there, it is in much better day today across southern and eastern parts. the sun is out and the winds are lighter as well. towards the northwest, the weather has changed somewhat. we have seen all this cloud spilling in from the atlantic, moving very, very slowly southwards. the cloud is thick enough to bring some pockets of rain and drizzle. mainly around the western areas. to the east of high ground. the skies are brighter, it's a bit warmer. from the midlands this is where we have the sunnier skies and temperatures of 22 degrees. through this evening and overnight, the cloud moves very slowly towards the south bringing with it some further light rain and drizzle. some mist over the hills. it is quite clear across east anglia. here it will be chilly i think overnight.

elsewhere, a warm night underneath all of that cloud. we've got a pocket of warmer and also more humid air coming down across the uk during tomorrow. that warm air is in between these two weather fronts. this one to the north will bring some wetter weather. this weather front is producing the light rain and drizzle. it will be affecting northern england and well wailes the morning. it will move its way through the midlands. cooler air is coming into the northwest of scotland, but across northern parts of england, as it brightens up through the day, we will get some sunshine. temperatures could reach 23 or 24. that will be the warmest part of the country. the weather fronts will continue to run towards the south overnight into friday. it will lower the pressure and mess things up really towards the end of the week. lots of cloud around on friday. some showers, longer spells of rain. it should become drier in scotland.

may be dry it in places in wales as well. may be dry it in places in wales as well. there is a northerly breeze in scotland and it will keep the temperatures back. highs around 20 or 21 towards the midlands and eastern parts of england. into the weekend, we have got higher pressure across the northern half of the uk, it should be dry, increasing amounts of sunshine as the weekend goes on and temperatures will rise again a bit as well. in the south, it is not a wash—out, there is still a risk of showers particularly on saturday. hopefully a bit more sunshine on sunday.

this is bbc news. i'm jane hill. the headlines — a police constable is found guilty of the manslaughter of the former aston villa striker dalian atkinson. his family made this request. dalian�*s footballing talent led him to achieve great things in his life. our sincere hope is that now that the truth about his death is known, and justice has been done, we can start to remember him, not for the manner in which he died, but for the way in which he lived. the ministry of defence has denied that warning shots were fired by russian forces at a royal navy ship in the black sea. it's now or never to save the summer season, says the travel industry, on a day of mass action and protests. classroom absences related to covid

are at their highest in england since all schools fully reopened in march.