luis i say at the moment, perhaps luis suarez, neymarand i say at the moment, perhaps luis suarez, neymar and messi at barcelona that gave one everything but they are in history now and we will see how far they can go. his numbers are _ will see how far they can go. his numbers are staggering. in 778 games for barcelona he scored 672 goals, scored —— secured ten league titles and they could have been more. messi never wanted to leave barcelona and in a tearful press conference on sunday he said he was convinced he would stay in the city he called home. , , . , would stay in the city he called home. ,, f. would stay in the city he called home. ,, '. ., home. this is really difficult for me after so _ home. this is really difficult for me after so many _ home. this is really difficult for me after so many years. - home. this is really difficult for me after so many years. but i me after so many years. but the club, me after so many years. but the club. due _ me after so many years. but the club. due to _ me after so many years. but the club, due to la _ me after so many years. but the club, due to la liga _ me after so many years. but the club, due to la liga salary - me after so many years. but the club, due to la liga salary cap . club, due to la liga salary cap rules, could no longer afford to keep them so after 21 years, his association with barcelona is over and now a new story will begin. time for a look at the weather. the weather is still looking quite messy through the rest of the week but things are better today because the storm clouds have been pulling

their way east out into the sea, but if we look in the atlantic we have a band of cloud that will bring rain in from the west tomorrow, but today the sun is out across many parts of the sun is out across many parts of the country and we have much drier weather around as well and the winds are quite light and it feels warm as well. not without one or two showers across england and wales, mainly focus to the north—east of england and the bulk of the heavy and developing thundery showers will developing thundery showers will develop in the north—east of scotland and we have more cloud coming in, butahead of scotland and we have more cloud coming in, but ahead of the cloud in the sunshine, temperature is higher today, 20 and the central belt of scotland and 23 is the high across eastern parts of england. still a few sharp showers during the evening and they will push away and then we look at all of the cloud coming in from the atlantic, and here it is overnight, thickening up in the west bringing rain into northern ireland by the end of the night and temperatures, similar to last night, around 11 or 13 degrees. tomorrow could start quite bright with some sunshine across eastern parts of the uk, and the cloud will work in from the west and it should bring with it

a spell of rain and it is moving a bit more quickly now so we will see the rain pushing more readily eastwards into scotland in the afternoon and even into eastern parts of scotland allowing some late sunshine to arrive in the afternoon across western parts of the country, but a cooler day in scotland. for northern ireland, after some rain in the morning we get sunshine in the afternoon and that rain pushes into western parts of finland and wales, hitting the pennines, through the midlands, towards the south—east of england where it is still dry with increasing cloud but temperatures could reach 25 degrees for the first time this month. as we move into thursday, this low pressure will bring wet and windy weather in the north—west and it pushes the weather front into england and wales, initially bringing some rain, most of that will have petered out by the time we get to thursday. so not much rain or wet weather for that area of cloud, not moving very far, and north of that there will be sunshine on the wind will pick up, blowing showers into northern ireland and into western parts of scotland, so it's a bit cooler here, but ahead of the cloud and weather front in the

south—east and east anglia, the temperatures could be nudging 2a or 25 degrees and hailed —— again. then the weather front moves through with the weather front moves through with the front sitting towards the northern parts of the uk where we have some brisk winds as well and most of the showers as we head into friday will be across scotland, some for northern ireland for a while and even some showers getting pushed into parts of england and wales. we have temperatures back down to near normal by friday, around 19 up to 22 celsius. a reminder of our top story: oh, my god! top grades for a—levels in england, northern ireland and wales have reached record high. 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, it's 1:30pm and here's your latest sports news.

there's only one place to start this afternoon because lionel messi is heading to paris saint germain. the former barcelona player is flying to french capital right now and is set to undergo a medical this afternoon — ahead of one of the biggest transfers in football history. if it goes through, and all the various clauses are met, he could be earning 5—hundred and 50 thousand pounds a week. 0ur spanish football expert guillem ballague is keeping across all the developments for us. it is all happening of course. it is a two plus one deal which means that the third year, they will have to agree but the two years he wanted. he wanted barcelona as well, that was his first choice but his dad and representative are in the airport on their way to paris. then there will be a medical and representation. everything was getting ready this morning, all the entrances

to the stadium was being cleaned and you can see if you can there are fans gathering. in the early hours of the morning, it was mostlyjust police but now it's fans and media. first about five cameras, now there are 15. it will grow because paris st germain has got lionel messi. we saw him in tears at the weekend when he said farewell to barcelona, his boyhood club. they could not afford to pay him any more. was paris the only option? i think it was the only option right now. there were calls from others, a couple from england, but there was no real choice because finance certainly plays a role. paris st germain had a plan in case lionel messi did not stay at barcelona. five dasy ago, when he was going to go out and play in ibiza, neymar gave him a call and said

we will all go together. paris were saying, come with us, it will be great. he told them it is agreed. they had a deal with barcelona but it could not be agreed by la liga. the financial situation of barcelona is terrible. as you said, they don't have money for it and after that it was a matter of looking around. the fact that neymar is there and other friends, it's a competitive team that can win things.— that can win things. paris st germain _ that can win things. paris st germain are _ that can win things. paris st germain are going - that can win things. paris st germain are going to - that can win things. paris st germain are going to have l that can win things. paris st i germain are going to have the that can win things. paris st - germain are going to have the same team next season. all—rounder moeen ali has been added to the england squad, for the second test against india, which starts on thursday at lord's. he last played in a test match in february, during england's tour

of india, but he's been in great form as captain of birmingham phoenix in the hundred, helping them to the top of the table. he'lljoin up with the england squad for training this afternoon. it was a decision we took yesterday. we had a long chat about it and it gives us another option in terms of balancing the team out. he is obviously full of confidence and playing some unbelievable cricket in the hundred and in the short format and we know how talented he is and what he is capable of and he's a serious contender for this game. and we're still celebrating the achievements of team gb in tokyo. today, we've been talking to keely hodgkinson. she broke the british record to win silver in the 800—metres, which she said was a real suprise, but she told us... that she'd been feeling confident in the build—up to the games and that she always believed that she could make the podium, even though it was her first 0lympics. i think i was definitely one of the underdogs going into that

race but i wanted to put myself in a good position and put it all out there because that was a big opportunity for me, not many people get that opportunity at 19, so i wanted to take it and perform well. i wasn't the only 19—year—old in the race, there was the american as well, which will be good battles for the next couple of years. breaking the record was something that i was shocked about. it has stood for so long, since 95. ijust didn't know how things were going to go in the day on races were going to be like, so i was shocked by that. i'm still processing it but it's been a good couple of days. that's all the sport for now. the united states has confirmed that its sending its envoy to qatar to hold talks over three—days to try to bring an end to the current taliban offensive in afghhanistan. as the fierce fighting continues across the country, thousands of people are fleeing to turkey. for a country already playing host to four million refugees, the situation is causing alarm — with humanitarian agencies bracing themselves for an increase

in the number of displaced people. from eastern turkey, mahmut hamsici has this report. escape from the taliban. as we arrived in this border area, we met hundreds of afghans fleeing war. many have travelled hundreds of miles across iran. for some, thejourney is all too much. their entire existence packed into bags. they are exhausted, under the bright sun. child crying. perida came here with her four children. she sold her house to raise enough cash for the journey. but after being robbed, she now finds herself penniless. translation: i want a nice life for my children, i want a quiet life. i want them to be educated, to succeed in their life. afghanistan is in a bad situation.

there is a war. the father of my children is uneducated — he can't do anything. i want my children to succeed and save themselves. perida's husband says they want to start a new life in turkey. translation: we've been on the road for 18 days. - we were brought and left here. we walked four or five days and the children are all ill. police chase us and we escape. there are many problems like this. what should we do and where should we go? the security services are patrolling this entire border area, aiming to stop migrants from reaching big cities like istanbul in the west. turkey is already struggling with a massive refugee population. as night falls, many of the migrants make it to the nearest city. dozens of men find shelter under a nearby bridge. it's there where we find mohamed.

as he tells us he lost his wife and daughter on the journey, he holds his son tight. translation: with my son, - daughter and wife, we went to iran to cross the border. but we came into a police ambush. the border guards fired at us. i lost track of my wife and my daughter. i continued the journey with my only son. i came to turkey to go to greece but i don't know where my wife and daughter are. as these migrants continue theirjourney, the un and other agencies are warning of a worsening humanitarian crisis in afghanistan, which will mean more people joining this route. mahmut hamsici, bbc news, eastern turkey. canada's ambassador to beijing has criticised a chinese court's

decision to uphold a death sentence for a canadian drugs smuggler. robert schellenberg was charged in 2015 and received a fifteen— year prison sentence in 2018. a diplomatic row then broke out between canada and china over the detention of the huawei executive meng wanzhou. within weeks mr schallenberg had been retried and sentenced to death. 0ur correspondent robin brant has been taking a closer look at the diplomatic battle over mr schellenberg. well, the canadian authorities believe that he is a victim of what they have described as hostage diplomacy, and as you have just referred to, the key event here in terms of robert schellenberg's journey through the chinese court system is what happens between when he was originally arrested and charged and sentenced, then when he was recharged and the sentence was increased to the death penalty. he was convicted of trying to smuggle 500 kilos

of methamphetamine from china to australia, given 15 years in prison. there was then a retrial and his sentence was increased to the most severe, the harshest — execution. between those two events, meng wanzhou, the chinese telecoms executive, who works for huawei, the massive telecoms company was detained in canada. she remains in canada, where she is fighting fraud and extradition charges. the canadians believe, and the ambassador has said this morning outside the court, that it is no coincidence that chinese courts have sentenced mr schellenberg to death just as the case continues to go through the meng wanzhou courts in canada. the headlines on bbc news. top grades as a—level results are published for england, wales and northern ireland. it's another record year — with 44.8% of students achieving an a* or a grade. the pass rate for scottish

school qualifications fell slightly this year but a record number of a grades were awarded. a lawsuit is filed against prince andrew by a us woman —— and lionel messi has agreed a two—year contract with paris st germain. this year's school qualification results in scotland have been published. 0verall pass rates are down but a record number of a grades have been awarded. this is the second year when traditional exams didn't take place because of the pandemic. 0ur scotland education correspondent lucy whyte reports. it's results day, but no surprises for these aberdeenshire pupils, they already knew what they were getting. a calm end to a torturous year where school assessments replace formal exams. they are pretty good, considering the circumstances, i think, they are what i wanted.

i think it has been very challenging for young people because we had these exams but they were called assessments, so they were quite difficult at the start. the assessments of silicon exams, i but they were still needing to do. —— they did feel like exams, what they needed to do, - i still got the grade i needed! last year, pupils were eventually given teach estimated grades after an algorithm which took into account the school's past performance, usually downgrading tens of thousands of results. pass rates this year are down on 2020, but up in the years before that. when it comes to a grades it is notjust an increase on last year, but a record number. this is a percent of pupils that achieves a a grades this year, compared to 2020 and 2019.

when we last had normal exams, that is. i asked the scottish qualifications authority if the value was less this year. we have had a couple of extra years, no doubt about that. very challenging and the approach to certification both in 2020 and 2021 has been taken forward to reflect those exceptional circumstances. as i said, this is a credible set of results that young people should feel proud of achieving. the difference between how well those from the least and most affluent backgrounds have done, the so—called attainment gap, has widened this year. that is in comparison to 2020, but it is not as wide as in 2019. there has been a slight increase in the attainment gap for last year, when you look at the historical trend, it is still a very good picture. when you compare it to 2019 and the years before that, we have seen a big improvement in the attainment gap but we are determined to go further. we still do not know if it will be a return to normal exams next year, but we are expecting an announcement

on that soon. it's also been a record year for a—level results in northern ireland. over half of all entries were awarded the top a* or a grades. robbie meredith has more... it is a huge day in any young person's life and the end of a nervous wait. i was freaking out all last night and couldn't sleep and then i woke up this morning and thought i'll have something to eat, couldn't eat, couldn't drink. i've just been stressed out but when i got here i seen everybody else was in the same boat as me. but after all that, jonathan did get the a grades he needed to go to university. and other pupils at boys�* model school in belfast were also celebrating. i studied geography, biology and travel and tourism and i got an a�* in travel and tourism, an a in geography and a b in biology. teachers used evidence like classwork, homework and in—class tests to calculate grades for pupils and results have risen sharply. a level results in 2019 when there were end—of—year exams, around 32% of entries here were awarded the top a* and a grades. in 2020, that rose to almost 45%

after exams were cancelled. in 2021, almost 51% of entries in northern ireland were a* or a. there were similar rises elsewhere in the uk, which has prompted questions from some about grade inflation. well, i can understand why that might be the perception but certainly the process was robust. the students received their grades based on evidence. that was very clear. teachers worked hard to ensure that evidence was accurate and robust and for us as a school our results this morning are very much in keeping with our pre—covid performance. and it has been two years of unprecendented disruption for teachers and pupils. just having to persevere during it. having been in and out, it wasn't ideal by no means and you would have rather been in school for two years, but it's just having to trust your teachers because they know what's best for you, even on remote learning, just having to trust them. but yeah, it's been pretty grim to say the least but we done it. daniel's now going to train to teach

himself, but there will be a scramble for university places for some, while others will use today's results for further education, work or an apprenticeship. robbie meredith, bbc newsline. and nearly hald of this year's a—level grades in wales were top grades. just over 48% decided by teachers, were a* and a. here's our education correspondent, bethan lewis. in and out of school, exams cancelled and for some, dozens of classroom assessments instead. at this college today, they tried to give students as normal an ending as possible to a difficult 18 months. but this was unusual results day too, with covid measures still in place and, for many students, envelopes confirming grades that they had two months ago. in terms of having these provisional results, i think it eased my stress a lot, because i had a ballpark — we knew they could change but i knew vaguely what i was going to get, which meant i could enjoy my summer a lot. but btec students and those

getting other vocational qualifications hadn't seen their results before today. very pleased, yes. yeah, it was a different year. the first term was normal but the second term was entirely online because we were in proper lockdown then, that was different, because it is a very practical course, so we were doing acting on zoom and that, and it was applying to drama school, i had to record my monologues and do online auditions. top grades were already higher last year after results being settled by teachers and this year, there's has been another hike, almost half of all grades are a* and a, compared to a quarter in 2019. those in charge of the system say this years' pupils have achieved in very challenging circumstances. the percentage of top grades is up significantly, are you worried that some people might not consider them to be as robust? there has been an increase

in the number of top grades but that is a broadly consistent picture with other parts of the uk, the picture in wales is comparable to the level of increase year on year. but the question is, do we have a system in which we can all have confidence, which has reflected the attainment of individual learners and is consistent, and the answer to that is yes. last year, the whole results process unravelled. qualification bodies are confident there won't be nasty surprises this time round, but it won'tjust be the learners who'll be relieved to see the envelopes safely dispatched. teachers had to come up and design new assessments, had to go through and mark those. they have gone through various sets of internal verification to make sure they fit the system across the board. the last 12 months has been incredible. now the next steps. into university for some, training, work or a year out for others,

all hoping for a path clearer from the challenges of covid. 12—year—old 0liver king from liverpool was a talented sportsman. but ten years ago he died suddenly after going into cardiac arrest during a school swimming lesson. a defribrillator — which gives a high energy electric shock to the heart — could have saved his life. since his death his dad has been campaigning for a change in the law to make them mandatory in all schools — backed by former liverpool footballerjamie carragher. abbiejones reports. he was beautiful inside and out. you would fall in love with him. his reach was unbelievable. no doubt in my mind he'd still be alive today if someone had used a defib on him.

since his son's death, mark has placed many life—saving devices across the country, saving 56 lives. they are in every school in knowsley, liverpooland they are in every school in knowsley, liverpool and webber. they are in every school in knowsley, liverpooland webber. mark wants the government to make them mandatory in schools and sports clubs everywhere. you mandatory in schools and sports clubs everywhere.— mandatory in schools and sports clubs everywhere. you have got a bit unfair encase — clubs everywhere. you have got a bit unfair encase it _ clubs everywhere. you have got a bit unfair encase it is _ clubs everywhere. you have got a bit unfair encase it is a _ clubs everywhere. you have got a bit unfair encase it is a under— clubs everywhere. you have got a bit unfair encase it is a under eight. - unfair encase it is a under eight. you cut and you hear the chest. there are your pads. look at your pictures. there are your pads. look at your ictures. �* , , ., pictures. so, it's telling you the ictures. pictures. so, it's telling you the pictures- it's — pictures. so, it's telling you the pictures. it's not _ pictures. so, it's telling you the pictures. it's not like _ pictures. so, it's telling you the pictures. it's not like you - pictures. so, it's telling you the pictures. it's not like you even i pictures. it's not like you even have to know what you're doing. you ress it. i have to know what you're doing. you press it- i will _ have to know what you're doing. 7m, press it. i will not stop until we get legislation for this. these defibrillators need to be seen as common as fire extinguishers. idietitian common as fire extinguishers. when the footballer _ common as fire extinguishers. when the footballer christian _ common as fire extinguishers. when the footballer christian eriksen had

a cardiac arrest on the pitch in euro 2020, the world watched in horror and his life is almost certainly saved because of a defibrillator. former liverpool defender jamie carragher says that's focused public attention and is calling on the government to meet with mark and change the law. at this moment it is in the forefront of people's mine. if you can get to a defribrillator in four minutes the chance of survival is much greater. what mark has been through with young 0llie it is heartbreaking. he doesn't want to see other families go through the same. is families go through the same. is happening and i don't need it to happen— happening and i don't need it to happen we need to do this and do it now _ happen we need to do this and do it now for— happen we need to do this and do it now. for kids like 0llie. the health secretary sajid javid has been visiting a hospital in milton keynes in the past few hours, as the nhs experiences a huge backlog of routine operations in england. mrjavid visited

the hosptial — alongside amanda pitchard, nhs england's new chief executive. analysis from the ifs suggest up to 1a million people could be on nhs waiting lists in england by next autumn. mrjavid has previously committed to reduce the backlog. sadly, during the pandemic, the waiting lists have grown. i think everyone understands why that has happened. people have kept away from coming to the nhs during the height of the pandemic and we all understand that. i have to say that from what i have seen, as more people now start coming forward, we estimate perhaps that there are around 7 million but didn't come forward that usually would have during the pandemic. i want them to come forward, i want them to come to their gps, their hospitals and get seem to but as they do start doing that, the waiting lists will grow

and no one knows what the final number will be. i have said it could go as high as 30 million. an independent study this week suggested that that was a reasonable proposition. what i want to do is just to make sure that if it does grow, it grows at the lowest possible rate. and we are seeing as many people as possible, as quickly as possible and that will require notjust new investment but also new ways of doing things. jane hill is coming up at 2pm. i'll be back at 5pm. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren. hello there. most parts of the country have been enjoying better weather today. let me show you what is happening on the satellite picture because a lot of the rain clouds that we had yesterday have moved away eastwards as low pressure moves away. looking out into the atlantic, we have got this area of cloud here which will bring some rain into the west tomorrow. we have got some sunshine out there and a lot of places are remaining dry and it feels

warmer because the wins all remaining light as well. could be 23 or 2a degrees. it is warmer across southern scotland, where it is a lot drier than it was yesterday. one or two showers further south across northern england. those will all move away this evening. 0vernight, we are looking at that cloud coming in to the atlantic. it will be thickening and keeping temperatures up to around 12 or 13 degrees, similar to what we had last night. tomorrow, we will look at the clouds moving in through the west. the clouds moved in, we will get a spell of rain across northern ireland pushing its way through scotland's and parts of england and wales as well. we do actually get some sunshine eventually later on in the day across western parts of scotland but that rain moves across much of the country into the afternoon. sunny afternoon across northern ireland that we have got more rain coming onto the pennines come into the welsh hills and into cornwall as well.

we have got some warmer air in east anglia and the south—east — 2a or 25 degrees. we have not had that during the whole of august so far. that's where the front takes very little rain into england and wales. it might bring some wet and windy weather into the north—west later on sunday. some sunshine further north but we will see the wind... 25 possibly even 26 if we get a bit more sunshine across east anglia, for example. moving things onto friday, yes, it is a little bit cooler across many areas. scotland, the winds will be stronger through most of the day. temperatures are normal for this time of the year — around 19 to 22 celsius.

this is bbc news. i'm jane hill. the headlines: oh, my god! a record high number of top a—level grades in england, wales and northern ireland. the education secretary says students deserve to be rewarded after more than a year of disruption. this cohort of students have had to deal with a level of disruption that no—one has ever seen before, not even during a world war, as a result of this pandemic. the pass rate for scottish school qualifications fell slightly this year — but a record number of a grades were awarded. a lawsuit is filed against prince andrew by a us woman who alleges she was "trafficked

to him" by the convicted paedophile, jeffrey epstein, and then "sexually abused".