the work here goes on. and whenever spring happens, it's a busy season for the birds and the scientists, because as our climate changes, these rare, decades—long studies that track exactly how the natural world responds become more important as time goes on. victoria gill, bbc news, wytham wood. time for a look at the weather. everything is coming into bloom. yes, this spring—like warmth for the next couple of days for some of us, the showers yesterday, they were sporadic but they brought much—needed rain for some. this is edgbaston, in bloom. as martine mentioned there. it is not the same right the way across the uk. a tale of two halves. this is the highlands of two halves. this is the highlands of scotland. we have a resident weather front. of scotland. we have a resident weatherfront. whether of scotland. we have a resident weather front. whether you see the

sunshine or not is whether you will see the high temperatures, but you can see where the rainfall is, it might brighten up in northern ireland. we have a few showers across england and wales, fair weather cloud building, not as angry as the showers we had yesterday but the odd one here and there. mostly dry, with good spells of sunshine and where we have that sunshine in the south, that is where we have high levels of tree pollen, grass pollen season as well but the rains will hang out in the north—west of scotland. cooler here. east of the grampians i7 scotland. cooler here. east of the grampians 17 or 18. but warmer more widely across england and wales with more sunshine, and the high teen, thatis more sunshine, and the high teen, that is the temperature we will see over the coming few days as our azores high continues to establish itself, pushing south—westerly winds, across our shore, it is whether you see the sunshine or not as to whether you see temperatures in the high teens or 20s. in the night a bit of mistiness round, but this dominates the weather front. it takes shape, becomes wet for parts

of scotland and northern ireland. some rain here and mild across the board. a bit mist and murk again to clear, very quickly, we will have more cloud i think for england and wales from the word go. we will have rain heavy rain coming into northern england, northern around western wales but clearing from northern ireland and scotland, so a brighter and warmer afternoon here, 17s and 18s where we hang on to some sunshine like today, 20, 21, but obviously a different day for some. we should clear that weather front away through tomorrow night and that high pressure establishes itself ready for the weekend, always the odd fly in ointment. we have weather systems close by, on the face of things saturday is looking largely dry and bright. there could be onshore breeze and cloud coming into the north sea coasts of scotland, north east england, so tempering the feel here. for most in sunshine, mostly dry, feeling pleasant, it is high levels of uv for england and

wales, sunday, similar picture but we are losing the cloud on the east coast and the onshore breeze, instead we are picking up patchy rain, but largely dry. a reminder of our top story. interest rates go up to 1%, their highest level since 2009, as the bank of england tries to curb inflation. 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. this appears to be very close to a recession — this appears to be very close to a recession i— this appears to be very close to a recession. i don't know how you define _ recession. i don't know how you define it — recession. i don't know how you define it. how can you justify to households hit by this cost of living — households hit by this cost of living crisis further exacerbating that in— living crisis further exacerbating that in the middle of what looks very much— that in the middle of what looks very much like a recession? good afternoon, it'sjust after 1.30pm and here's your latest sports news. it was supposed to be an all—english champions league final. up until the 90th minute, it looked like it was going to be an all—english champions league final. but then real madrid produced a spectacular comeback to stun manchester city and book a date in paris with liverpool.

city threw away a two—goal aggregate lead in added time to lose 6—5 overall. pep guardiola's side led 11—3 from a pulsating first leg, and looked to have made the final when riyad mahrez scored in the second half. but real then staged an astonishing fightback with two late goals from rodrygo to force extra—time. city were reeling. ruben dias brought down karim benzema and the frenchman stepped up to book real�*s place in the final against liverpool. guardiola and his side left to concentrate on their push for the premier league title. what tends to happen with managers is when everyone is down and on the floor, you saw the players, they were sort of crying as well. he has got to be here and saying we just have to focus on the job at hand. there is only, you know, whatever

games left and we can do it. it doesn't stop in europe, as the british sides in the europa league look to do better than city. both are up against it. a goal down. it'll be loud at ibrox as rangers look to overturn a 1—0 first leg semifinal deficit against german side rb leipzig. west ham will face an equally raucous crowd as they head to eintract frankfurt having lost 2—1 at the london stadium last week. if they can change things in germany, it'll be a first european final for the hammers since 1976. if you get to the semifinal of a european competition, it is huge for anybody. i think for me as well, i want to take the team to the final, i am preparing the team to go to the final, we believe that if we get it right we can do so. we have to manage that and the players are in the same place as i am. we know frankfurt are in front and we have a bit to do. and it's also the semifinals of the inaugural europa conference league.

leicester city are in the italian capital to face jose mourinho's roma. the tie is level at 1—1 after last weeks game at the king power stadium. we've also showed not just the experience, but that we can complete the task, so yeah, you have to embrace that, you want to go into a great stadium, it should be full, most of the supporters against you, but that is ok, we have won games before in those circumstances, and we will go out there with no fear, looking to win the game, and that is how our mindset will be. to tennis, where andy murray pulled out of his match against novak djokovic at the madrid 0pen because of illness this morning. the brit was scheduled to play the world number one in the third round of the event. he was in good form as well, having beaten 2020 us open champion dominic thiem in the first round of the tournament before earning a win over canada's denis shapovalov.

a couple of other british players are in action today, dan evans is currently up against andrey rublev who won the first set via a tie break. it's level in the second set. later cam norrie takes on carlos alcaraz. follow the progress of both over on the bbc sport website but for now that's all from me. isaac, thank you. more now on the decsison by the bank of england to raise interest rates 1%. the bank's governor andrew bailey has been taking questions from journalists, including from our own economics editor. this appears to be very close to a recession. i don't know how you define it. how can you justify to households hit by this cost of living crisis further exacerbating that in the middle of what looks very much like a recession? thanks, faisal. as you say, it is a very weak projection. it's a very sharp slowdown. there's technical

definition of a recession. it doesn't meet that. but put that to one side, it is a very obviously sharp slowdown in activity. so, turning to the question, it's a very good question, about why therefore we should increase the bank rate at this point in time, and i come back to this analogy that i used and have used recently of this narrow path, and the challenge of course is that on the other side of the path is where inflation currently is, but more particularly, the risks as we see them going forwards, and i would highlight as we say in the minutes of the statement that the risks are if anything the upside, we think, to inflation going forward, and that comes, i think, i would highlight two things. one, that we have a very tight labour market. so we have unemployment currently at 3.8%. we think it will actually go down somewhat. so of course it's interesting looking back i think over the last two years or so as to how much we now know, and i would emphasise now know, because there was huge uncertainty through the covid period on this question, and it's

a very important question, but of course the unemployment path has been very different. and the labour market is very tight. and the labour market is very tight. i spend a lot of time going around the country talking to businesses, i'm sure you do as well, and frankly, the first, second and third thing they want to talk about quite recently as the tightness of the labour market, the challenges they're having in recruitment and what that means for pay. the second thing i would highlight on the risks point is that one of the things we've highlighted before is that the covid period did lead to quite a substantial build—up in unexpected saving in the economy, so the question of course continues, and under this new, if you like, setting of the state of the economy is how exactly are those savings going to be used, and are they going to be used to buffer demand? but then we have to look at that from the point of view of risks to inflation. so the point being is, we are walking this very narrow path now, and to answer your question, the reason for raising the bank rate at this point is not only

the current profile of inflation and what is to come, and of course what that could mean for inflation expectations, but the risks as well. and i would particularly emphasise the risks. the uk government should feel deeply ashamed for not delivering on its promise to relocate 20,000 afghans, who worked with nato forces, to the uk ? according to an ex—army boss. general sirjohn mccoll, who served in afghanistan, described the situation as appalling. the ministry of defence said more than 9,000 afghans and their dependants have been relocated so far. 0ur correspondent sima kotecha gave us more detail.

he was in afghanistan from around 2001 to 2006. and today what he said is that the government, he's accusing them of failing on their promise to relocate those afghans who fought alongside nato forces during the war there. he says that a commitment was made and that that promise has been broken. he says that ministers should feel deeply ashamed and he has made a direct call to the prime minister. so to sort out what he says a failing resettlement programme that is there to house and relocate these afghans, as i said, who stood alongside nato forces. and i think we've got a clip of him here speaking to me earlier. i think they should reflect on the fact that we have families who have been in hiding in afghanistan since september last year, in cellars, every day, every day, every hour of every day, in peril, worried for the safety of themselves and their families. and we have a system which is incapable of helping them. and if that was the case, if i was a minister, i would feel deeply ashamed. so what has the government said?

well, the government is saying that more than 9,000 afghans have been relocated to the uk along with their dependents. it says that it's working as quickly as possible to process these applications. now we understand from charities that we've been speaking to around 500 afghans who worked alongside the british forces still remain in afghanistan, mainly, facing daily threats from the taliban. so general mccoll has said it's an urgent situation, it's a situation that needs addressing now and there should be no procrastination in this matter because it is a promise that was made very succinctly to these people that he says hasn't been kept to. bill gates has urged world leaders to do more to prevent future pandemics. the microsoft co—founder is calling for greater sharing of information and a faster response to stop such large—scale disease outbreak happening again. he's been speaking to the bbc�*s mishal husain. she started by asking him how ready

we should be for another pandemic. the risk is there every year, and definitely going up as people travel around the world more. as climate change causes species to seek new habitats and population growth, particularly in asia and africa, means we are invading more natural habitats. it's very unlikely that we will go 20 more years without another outbreak that has a chance of becoming a global pandemic. which is sobering, and a hard thing to think about, at a point psychologically when there is a joy to getting back to the things that we couldn't do for such a long period, but you essentially want us all to think about preparing for the next one, which is kind of a tough ask at a time like this. 0h, definitely, and this pandemic is not completely over. we could have a surprise variant. i don't think that is high probability, but yes, people are ready for this one to end, no doubt. hopefully they keep in mind how awful it has been,

so we take the reasonably modest measures that are required to reduce the chance of it happening again. which are spending on practice, on modelling, on proper active preparedness. yes, practice would be key, and having a dedicated team that helps manage that practice and makes sure that every little outbreak gets a quick investigation, including genetic sequencing, so we can understand, is this a respiratory virus that is threatening to become another covid? covid itself, the thing you just hinted at, i think you are saying it is possible that the worst is even yet to come if we get a new, more dangerous variant than what we have seen? not likely.

we have a lot of immunity. the variant escapes some of that immunity. particularly if we get the elderly to keep up to date on boosters, then the amount of severe disease and death is dramatically less. so we can't completely ignore this pandemic, but we do not yet have the tools where you take the vaccine once and you are protected for life and it stops you getting infected. that is the kind of tool that we need to really put this behind us and for future pandemics. do you think any of the preparedness you would like to see is really going on as you look around the world now? the idea of building a global group, that i call germ, for global economic response and mobilisation, at the who level, there

is not yet a consensus, but the debate is beginning, and my book, i think, will help kick off the debate. i would love to see in the next year that funded, because the cost is pretty small, yet that is the central group that will make sure that we practice and have dramatically less impact. what did you think about novak djokovic saying that he was not vaccinated because it is essentially about his freedom of choice on the choice of what he puts in his body? i wonder if you think when someone is in the public eye, is there a wider responsibility than just your own body? being vaccinated helps the community you are in. they're not perfect at blocking infection, but they do reduce infection. it's concerning someone's health concerns are so extreme that they feel they cannot participate in that community protection.

if they are an inspiration and trusted person, then they are spreading that, and itjust makes it tougher to get the vaccination levels that we really need. so i admire him in a lot of ways, but i wish his views on vaccines weren't that way. 0n you personally, you have had a big change in your life in the last year with the end of your marriage. how has that affected you? well, my life is very different. my kids are gone from the house, the last one left for college a year ago. the divorce is a big change. although there is one part of my relationship that i treasure a great deal, which is our work together at the foundation, and that continues, and i'm very happy with that.

the divorce was very hard. it was a tough year. this year is a lot more upbeat. she seemed to have seen something injeffrey epstein on the occasion that she met him that you didn't in your meetings with him. is that right? she said that she met him once and as soon as she walked in the door, she felt he was abhorrent and evil personified. i made a mistake ever meeting with jeffrey epstein. maybe her instincts on that were keener than mine, but any meeting i had with him could be viewed as almost condoning his evil behaviour. so, you know, that was a mistake. bill gates, thank you very much. the headlines on bbc news. ukrainian officials say russian forces have launched an all—out assault on the azovstal steelworks in mariupol — but moscow denies any move on the plant.

uk interest rates rise to 1%, the highest level since 2009. the bank of england also warns that inflation will peak at more than 10% this year. energy giant shell has reported its highest ever quarterly profits, making over £7 billion in the first three months of the year. now it's time for across the uk. an anti—drink—spiking campaign, which was launched in norwich in december last year, has now been extended across norfolk to help protect women on nights out. the kits have been developed by a scientist at the norfolk and norwich hospital. alex dunlop has more. what makes spiking such a hard crime to pin down is that someone who thinks they may have been spiked will seek help perhaps days

after the toxins have long since left their body. and that is what makes this kit so important, it really is a standout kit this, because it has been behind the bars in some clubs in norwich since december. if someone thinks they have been spiked, they can immediately get hold of this kit and test themselves. this sample is then sent to this laboratory. the brains behind it is michelle frost. briefly, michelle, how does it work when you get the sample? hi, so urine drink samples or skin swabs are sent into us and then we can then screen them on this analyser for an excess of 1600 samples. so it is an incredibly accurate machine? very, very. we do not get false positives orfalse negatives, so it means that if we find it, it is probably that it is there. you said you would expand the scheme back in december if it was a success. how do you judge that success, because you are rolling it out? so, feedback from the police, from councils, from people who have used the kits has all been phenomenal and from the venue owners and also we have recently secured funding from the police and crime commissioners in norfolk

which has allowed us to roll it out further and for six months. you have sent 250 of these kits out. i guess the key question is have you come back with any samples that say yes, this person has been spiked? we have had several kits back or a number of kits back and a handful of them have contained unconsented compounds, and there are a range of those, and some even more designer drugs which we would never have picked up if it was not for having this. you are rolling this out across norfolk, do you think it may go further afield across the east of england? i would love for it to do so. we are in liaison with some further afield police forces and it would be fantastic if we could make this national. 0k, michelle, thank you so much for your time. and as michelle was pointing out, the trial has been rolled out. we should get some firm evidence by the end of the summer. alex dunlop. the cornish seal sanctuary at gweek has been a lifeline for thousands of injured seals over the years. but it s their long—term residents who are in now in need of help. their home needs an upgrade

and that s going to cost £1.3 million. jemma woodman has more. logs is one of the sanctuary�*s long—term residents. he and 15 other seals here are too old or injured to be released back into the wild. but their home desperately needs a renovation. you can see the pools here look tired and jaded and the organisers say they can't wait any longer. the plan for their future is to double the size of the pools, increase filtration, and to make it a better experience for visitors. but it's going to cost £1.3 million and the sanctuary are reliant on the public for donations. we're incredibly grateful for public and our supporters who have donated to us over the covid pandemic. and we're asking again, because we don't want to wait any more, we can't wait with this project. we really want to do the best for our animals and for the guests, which means we would like to start it as soon as possible, which again requires vital funds to do that.

the cornish seal sanctuary looks after around 70 injured seals a year, and in the future, the plan is to upgrade their seal hospital. but right now it's all about residents like this. if you hit the fundraising target, what difference will it make to the lives of the long—term residents here? well, for example, we have atty down here. we're going to have better water quality for her. we're going to have more space. we're going to have more interesting exhibits for her to kind of explore and interact with. when we first found her, she wouldn't have survived. she's completely blind. she was having her eyes pecked by seagulls. so we didn't want to give up on her. and yeah, now she's living a very comfortable life here. but life here could be better. the last time the pools were upgraded was in 1975. the sanctuary says it has a legacy to uphold, but when work can begin on any refurbishments depends on funding. so there's no date yet for when or if attie and her neighbours will move into their new digs. gemma woodman, bbc spotlight. meta platforms is set

to open its first physical store. shoppers can try out and buy vr headsets — as the company plans to take its virtual reality space — the metaverse — mainstream. emily brown reports. living in a virtual space where people interact is now possible in a real meta store, the first of its kind opening in california. it is the latest push from meta platforms, the company that owns facebook, to promote mainstream interest in what it calls the metaverse. the company is investing heavily in the metaverse by developing hardware devices that provide access to the virtual world. here, consumers can buy headsets and interactive gadgets. last month the facebook owner said it would start testing tools for selling digital assets and experiences within its vr reality

platform. this store opening comes after the tech giant reported its lowest revenue growth in a decade and one of a potential revenue drop in the current quarter. it also noted it will be ditching podcasts, just a year after launching the service. it is a time of change for the company which can be seen in reality or virtual reality by the two billion people who use meta platforms every day. emily brown, bbc news. 0nly only a real shop will do sometimes, won't it? now it's time for a look at the weather with carol. bringing in some rain primarily to scotland, northern ireland. nonetheless some sunny intervals. still lots of dry weather across

england and wales. cloud bubbling up over the course of the afternoon, could produce an isolated shower in the midlands, south wales and south—west. first band of rain clears north and scotland, more rain coming in across the west, showers occasionally in northern ireland, temperatures 10—21 or 22. pollen levels high across much of england and wales today, low or moderate across the rest of the uk. through this evening and overnight clear skies develop, some patchy mist and fog. weatherfront skies develop, some patchy mist and fog. weather front bringing skies develop, some patchy mist and fog. weatherfront bringing in heavier, more persistent rain across scotland and northern ireland, with all this going on not a cold night. into tomorrow, this weather front in scotland and northern ireland continues to sink southwards, if anything the rain to the west of the pennines terms that bit heavier, similarly so into north wales. behind that weather front, return to bright spells, sunshine and showers, ahead of it after a sunny start to

cloud to build across southern england. temperatures 11—21. through the course of friday evening and overnight, weatherfront the course of friday evening and overnight, weather front continues south, taking rain into southern england, on saturday you can see high pressure building. the little front not too far away, producing the odd shower across parts of eastern scotland, north—east england. also feeling cooler along the north sea coastline on saturday. lots of dry weather, areas of cloud at times, sunny intervals. in the sunny intervals, temperatures could get up as high as 19—20 in the south. into sunday, high pressure so far in charge of our weather, still lots of dry conditions, again areas of cloud, weather fronts lots of dry conditions, again areas of cloud, weatherfronts moving around the high pressure and for scotland and northern ireland you will see rain at times. temperatures ten in lerwick, 20 pushing to birmingham, birmingham and more.

this is bbc news. iam ben i am ben thompson. he had lined up to 2pm... —— rugby headlines at... interest rates rise to 1% — their highest level since 2009, as the bank of england tries to curb soaring inflation. profits at energy giant shell almost triple to £7.3 billion in the first three months of this year — its highest ever quarterly figure. ukraine says russia is "trying to destroy" the last group of soldiers holding the azovstal steelworks in mariupol. but the kremlin denies it has stormed the complex. the coronavirus pandemic caused 15 million excess deaths around the world. that's according to new research by the world health organization, which reveals the true death toll from covid—19 and scientists monitoring birds in an oxford woodland say they think

spring now comes three weeks earlier than it used to in the 1940s.