up-to-date. i'm joined by dr thomas leahy, senior lecturer in british & irish politics at cardiff university thank you very much for being with me today and would you agree with that assessment from edwin poots that assessment from edwin poots that northern ireland is in a difficult place? i that northern ireland is in a difficult place?— difficult place? i think the difficult place? i think the difficult position - difficult place? i think the difficult position is - difficult place? i think the difficult position is i - difficult place? i think the difficult position is i think| difficult place? i think the - difficult position is i think they are at a crossroads. the difficulty they got, if you look at the parties, you've got a kind of pro protocol majority going back into the assembly so i can't see how they are going to change the situation. the key thing we talked about this week is the european union and british government, crucially, and also the irish government in this situation. it is going to be a bit

of a difficult situation if they want to change the protocol. that was a point _ want to change the protocol. that was a point that _ want to change the protocol. that was a point that we _ want to change the protocol. that was a point that we reflected on yesterday. it is interesting because there will be a majority of politicians elected who either support the protocol or, in the case of the party, they say they can work with those issues within the executive. if we talk about the middle too distant future, what about the immediate future and the prospect for getting a functioning executive it up and running again? maybe this is overoptimistic so i will caution what i'm saying with that, but i generally think it's a case of when it comes back, not if. if you look at the unionists at the crossroads, first of all they have various factors making it difficult to get any changes to the protocol and the biggest obstacles are at the british government and part of the irish government by the union as

well. there is also a demographic question. we seen in the last couple of elections the climbing british unionist protestant vote, certainly compared to when you look back 100 years. it is difficult for them to maybe stand on ground saying, we can't shift on these things, because they don't have the majority vote any more to see that through, such as the protocol. and they're looking a little further ahead, the leader of sinn fein told me yesterday when i asked her about a timeframe for a border poll on irish unity, she said within a decade and personally she thought within five years. what does this election say about the constitutional question of the united kingdom or a united ireland? this is a really good question and i think that first of all, the

headline is this is a demand for a unity referendum. historically, this is the first time ever in northern ireland's history that an irish republic and nationalist topped the poll with one party and that is significant because of the partition with the rest of ireland to give the unionist a majority. these bills are the closest since brexit over whether people in northern ireland want overall the island of ireland. the key point for sinn fein is now they have a position in northern ireland to be able to pressurise the british government to bring about the situation in the longer term. also as some of your guests were talking about, sinn fein is doing really well in the republic of ireland elections and they could get in power next time there. a border poll will be headed north —— held

north and south separately. it puts pressure on the british government to hold this vote. irish nationalism generally seen as going up and else do you is a man british criticism going down. it is something we could see in the next five or ten years. —— ulster unionism, british unionism. the chair of the conservative party said on this question of a future referendum, a border poll, yesterday. he said the government has a constitutional obligation to hold a border poll if there is, and this is the phrase he used, a sustained majority in favour of unification. we will be talking about all these subjects throughout the day. let me just tell you about a couple of seats that we are keeping a close eye on. still waiting to hear if the ulster unionist party leader doug beattie has retained his seat. he has been

standing on a liberal unionist platform. we are also waiting to find out if the sdlp leader at stormont will be returning. i'm hearing that some of the unionist transfers are going to the alliance rather than her, so she could be in a bit of difficulty which would be very disappointing for the sdlp. we will be back here soon, keeping you right up to date. for now, back to the studio. let's get some more detailed analysis of the results so far in northern ireland. we can cross to lewis goodall at the touch—screen. lewis. as everyone has been saying, this is the first time in terms of seats that a nationalist party is topping the polls in the northern irish elections. this was designed in 1920, designed not to do so. have a look here. sinn fein in terms of

first preference share of the vote at 29%. topping the poll not because they are doing spectacularly well. i've added a percentage point. it's because of the dgp, who last time these seats were fought in 2017, they were on top, just about. just about beat sinn fein. their support has declined and is starting to fragment across the other unionist parties. going to, for example, the tuv. very hard line, not advocating the northern ireland article. campaigned against it. potentially fragment into the real big winner of this election, which is the alliance party, nonsectarian party led by naomi long. let's have a look at a few of the seats that we've got in. we know what the first preference share is because of the transferable vote system in northern ireland, it has to be allocated and it is a rather long process. that is why we

don't have lots of the seats in. we have about 50 so far. all of these places have fully declared and we know what is going on. let's have a look at them. south belfast, long time do you be stronghold. it has come first since 2007. a bastian of unionism. the ups still out on top. the alliance, you can see, climbing and gaining a seat. look at the change of the vote. the dop down by 7%. this is the sort of picture you are seeing in unionist seats across northern ireland and, as i say, the nonaligned alliance party gaining 7% of the vote. let's have a look at belfast south, just about coming in the last ten minutes. the most diverse seat. you had five different parties actually returned in the last election. that is unusual because northern ireland is quite a

segmented place and tends to be very nationalist or unionist. have a look at this. alliance have come first. this was the ub before in terms of first preference. you are seeing the nonaligned mac alliance party coming first. this all matters in terms of sinn fein coming first because this means they will be able to nominate a first minister if stormont is to sit. the dop are making it clear as far as they are concerned, this isn't going to happen. this is the consequent of brexit. northern ireland didn't vote for brexit but the consequences of continuing to unfold across britain and the uk and northern ireland and the island of ireland itself. the vexed issue of the protocol representing that deeply unstable element now in northern ireland politics, ricochet into these politics. we don't know what this historic result will mean for the future of the peace process

in northern ireland. the conservatives lost control of 11 councils across england and wales — a set of results which the prime minister borisjohnson described as "mixed". labour's celebrations were overshadowed by durham constabulary announcing that it's investigating sir keir starmer over an alleged break of lockdown rules last year. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blake reports. elections can change the political landscape, and the verdict from this set of votes has shown up some significant shifts. across england, scotland and wales the conservatives took a beating, losing control of 11 councils and close to 500 seats overall. these are local elections about local councillors, people who actually deal with potholes and bins and planning decisions — difficult decisions locally — and we shouldn't try and extrapolate too many national trends. i know it's always tempting.

they are very, very low turnouts in many of these elections. in parts of southern england the liberal democrats swept to power. in somerset and elsewhere, voters turned away from the tories. i think people have just had enough of all the duplicity, and it's about time, really. i'm delighted. possibly because the last party wasn't very trustworthy, - couldn't really trust what they said! - she laughs yeah, i know that i haven't got much trust in them any more. _ i think it does send a message to central government that local people want feel empowered and supported and, you know, they can do that through local elections through having their voice heard. for labour, results were good but not great. the parties gains here in cumbria and beyond tainted breaking covid regulations. well, as they've explained a number of times we were working in the office, we stop for something to eat. no party, no breach of the rules.

the police obviously, have got theirjob to do and we should let them get on with it, but i'm confident no rules were broken. labour needed a stronger showing to prove government could be within their reach. i'm not saying we would win the general election tomorrow but we are saying is we are on our way. it gives us great hope and we are really encouraged and i will be honest with you in the shadow cabinet we were having presentations about how well we might do and what we could expect this is most definitely the top end. some races are just too close to call. heads or tails deciding one ward in monmouthshire in wales where labour gain from conservative losses. the scottish national party consolidated their position as the dominant force in scotland. yet more trouble for the tories here — labour now in second place. as ever with local elections, it's a patchwork of results not a neatly drawn picture, but there's plenty for all sides to digest. jonathan blake, bbc news.

the snp has underlined its commanding position in scottish politics, increasing both its share of the vote and its number of councillors. the scottish labour party regained some of the ground it had lost in recent years, retaking second place from the conservatives. lynsey bews reports from glasgow. the snp finishing once again as the biggest party in scotland, increasing their number of councillors and their share of the vote. it is their 11th consecutive election victory for the party. there were also gains for scottish labour after a period of decline here in scotland for the party. they replaced the scottish conservatives in second place and the party leader hopes this is the start of a revival for labour north of the border. it was a disappointing night for the scottish conservatives here. they suffered some significant losses,

losing more than 60 councillors. their leader douglas ross attributed that to the partygate events at westminster. 0thers that to the partygate events at westminster. others were flip—flopping over the future of the prime minister. also gains for the lib dems and the greens as well. we will have to wait to see who is going to control scotland's 32 local authorities. both labour and plaid cymru have been celebrating gains in the welsh local elections — at the expense of conservative and independent candidates. 0ur correspondent tomos morgan is in cardiff, with the latest on the results across wales. i think the conservatives actually did worse in wales than they did in england and as mentioned, we were expecting that. all eyes were on monmouthshire, the only council where they held the majority and as the day progressed yesterday, more and more worried tory sources were saying they were going to lose it.

what they weren't expecting was that labour is now the biggest party and the first time ever they are the biggest party there. other than labour doing well in wales, there have been other stories. plaid cymru were in a majority injust have been other stories. plaid cymru were in a majority in just one council, now they have four. 0verall they have lost seats, strangely. the other winners were the green party. the highest number of councillors in local election results in wales ever yesterday, and the lib dems doing well in mid wales. this has in many ways been a mirroring of the senedd election, where labour did really well. possibly the way that mark drakeford handled the covid pandemic compare to his compatriot over the border. that is one of the reasons they are saying they did so well here in wales. the ukrainian army says it's

recaptured five villages northeast of kharkiv, in a counter—offensive against russian forces who've been shelling the city for weeks. it comes as the united nations and the international red cross continue efforts to rescue more civilians from the besieged city of mariupol. on friday, 50 more people, including children, were evacuated from a huge steel factory complex. these are the latest pictures of some of those who've got out. the azovstal plant is under siege by russian forces. dozens are still trapped inside. the city, in the country's south, has been under constant shelling by the russian military. 0ur correspondentjoe inwood is in lviv for us. yesterday we saw a second round of evacuations. really quite remarkable. this is a steelworks that has been under continuous siege, bombardment four days. the pictures coming out show an extraordinary level of destruction

coming from land, sea and air. i think people were quite sceptical about the idea of the united nations being able to repeat the success from the weekend before when 100 civilians were extracted but yesterday it seems that is exactly what happened. we understand a bus with about 50 people left the steelworks. there are reports that there was a breach of the ceasefire in that period, and a vehicle carrying a number of ukrainian soldiers was hit by an anti—tank weapon. six soldiers injured and one killed in that. other than that it seems they got people out relatively safely. now we must say the united nations are playing their cards close to their chest on this, as they have done before. maybe that is why they didn't manage to do this. they have not been giving us a running commentary. they will see if they can get more people out today. the numbers are quite hard to come by. even the fighters inside the plant itself say they don't know how many civilians out there. some are

trapped and are blocked internals that been collapsed by bunker busting bombs. they say there are probably more than 100 still there and we can see if they can get more out today. an explosion at a luxury hotel in the cuban capital havana has killed at least 22 people. the blast tore through several floors of the hotel saratoga. the cuban president, miguel diaz canel, said the explosion had resulted from what he called a gas accident, though investigations were underway. more than 60 people have been injured. 0ur correspondent will grant reports. the saratoga hotel, a landmark in havana, reduced to rubble. its facade ripped clean off, the rooms of the 5—star hotel were exposed and its ornate lobby left a twisted pile of metal, marble and concrete. a gas tanker outside the building was quickly

identified as the cause of the blast. for local residents, it was a horrific, surreal moment. they can scarcely believe the saratoga, once a favourite among visiting celebrities, has been left in ruins. translation: you could see people shouting, dust rising, the disaster. it was like a horror film, really. translation: i felt the clear explosion, a single boom, and i saw crystals cracking and falling and a white cloud of dust that would not go away. but i managed to close the door and i managed to get away in the opposite direction from danger, over here. siren wails. the authorities were quickly on the scene, ferrying the injured to local hospitals and searching the rubble for survivors, havana's overstretched emergency services being tested to their limits. the president, miguel diaz—canel, also appeared to offer support and condolences. for some, the explosion brought back memories of the early 1990s, when radical anti—castro groups from florida bombed a number of cuban hotels.

however, the president was quick to dismiss rumours that the blast was anything other than an accident. translation: in no case was this a bomb or an attack. it's just a very unfortunate accident, and it seems to be around the gas tank. the truth is the explosion could've been worse. the hotel was closed for refurbishments and was due to reopen next week. furthermore, a nearby school was unscathed, the children safely evacuated. nevertheless, this explosion comes at a difficult time for cuba. its tourism sector has been all but shut down amid the covid—19 pandemic and only this year was beginning to pick up again. for an island whose economy now largely revolves around tourism, the past two years have been brutal — especially when combined with tough us sanctions and the state's economic mismanagement. this explosion could set back that

recovery even further. however, for now, most minds in cuba are simply focused on the families of those caught up in this tragic blast and those still fighting for their lives in hospital. will grant, bbc news. emmanuel macron has been formally inaugurated as president of france for his second term. the event at the elysee palace comes two weeks after he defeated his rival marine le pen. the ceremony has been scaled back and there won't be a military parade down the champs elysees. chelsea have agreed terms on the £4.25 billion sale of the club. it'll be sold to a consortium led by todd boehly, co—owner of the la dodgers baseball team. the club was put up for sale before previous owner roman abramovich was sanctioned for his alleged links to russian president vladimir putin. earlier we spoke to kieran maguire from the price of football podcast

about what this will mean for chelsea's future. we are going to see a change of culture as far as chelsea football club is concerned. under roman abramovich, the club spent more money on wages and transfers and lost more money than any other club in the premier league. it is unlikely that an american owner, with an experience of sports franchises in the us, especially one backed by private equities is likely to repeat such a policy. the deal itself is £2.5 billion as far as the cost of buying the club is concerned and the other 1.75 is a broad commitment to spending money, both on infrastructure and on player recruitment over the course of the next decade. is this good for football? it is not clear. roman abramovich treated

chelsea as a trophy asset and therefore his focus was very much in terms of achievements on the pitch. that is not normally the system, or strategy, of a private equity company. they are looking for a financial rather than a sporting or emotional return as far as the investment is concerned. i think we will see changes. chelsea were more likely be run on similar lines to liverpool, who also have american owners. what liverpool's owners have done is focus on the data, analytical and numbers based system in terms of buying players and that is why they have managed to be so successful, despite spending half £1 billion less than chelsea, manchester united and manchester city since 2013. when you say the change of culture will mean the bottom line being looked at more closely than it was under roman abramovich and presumably what their purse strings tighten on what is paid for players and what is paid on the wage bill.

would that mean would you expect to see a wholesale change... there will not be a wholesale change in the players but a big change in what is seen on the pitch in that regard? in terms of recruitment, what we will see is a greater investment on perhaps younger players, with a view to moving them on after a furious and selling them at a profit. them on after a few years and selling them at a profit. last summer they recruited romelu lukaku. £98 million. he has been very successful striker in both england and italy and so on. he was roundabout 28, 29. in terms of the present part of his career. i anticipate a shift in terms of the way chelsea would be

value in a similar way to what we have seen in clubs such as liverpool and leicester. do you have a view on the fact it is a foreign investor. it is a foreign investor? there was a british bid which came in too late from jim radcliffe, the british billionaire. does it matter that these bids come from overseas or should they be from brits? as a football fan you want the money spent in the best way possible as far as the football club is concerned. if you talk to fans of chelsea, they have an overall positive viewpoint of roman abramovich. the same if you talk to fans of clubs like manchester city and leicester, who have foreign owners. i do not think the birthplace of the owner is either a hindrance or a benefit to the club itself. we have other owners of football clubs who had come from the uk themselves, who have not covered themselves in glory.

we look at clubs like bury and derby where the owners are british. one club has gone out of existence and the other one is presently in administration. i do not think it should be an issue. the important thing is the long—term sustainability of the club is ensured. thank you very much. thank you. the president of sri lanka, gotabaya rajapaksa, has declared a new state of emergency, as demands grow for his government to resign. this is the second state of emergency he's imposed in five weeks — with much of the country on strike as frustration persists, over food and fuel shortages. the bbc�*s, rajini vaidynathan, is in the capital, colombo for us. well, a state of emergency is now in place here in sri lanka, although things seem relatively normal so far, but a state of emergency does give the government sweeping powers. they can arrest people for long periods of time without a warrant, they can also break up protests, and it could mean that we see more military on the streets in sri lankan cities.

i'm here at galle face green in colombo and you can see, protesters are gathering here. many have set up camp here. they say they are not going to leave here until president gotabaya rajapa ksa leaves office. he's showing no signs of quitting, but people here blame him for this economic crisis. today, people are asking why he has brought in this state of emergency. they say, as you can see, that protests are peaceful and they believe that the government has brought this state of emergency in as a way of stifling free speech. as i say, the government says they've done this to restore public order. yesterday evening, at parliament, i was down at protests that were peaceful. after i left, police fired tear gas into the crowds and things got more tense. while the protests continue, millions of sri lankans continue also to suffer as this

economic crisis bites. people spending hours every day in queues to get food and fuel and they are contending with daily power cuts and blackouts. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren. hello, there. it is pleasantly warm in the sunshine this weekend. we will continue to see some spells of sunshine. a few showers around, mainly today, and the bulk of those towards the south—east as we are breaking through that cloud. best of the sunshine in wales, south—west england, northern scotland doing quite well. some sunny spells elsewhere, but there could be one or two showers still lingering in the afternoon. many places though will be dry and in the sunshine, temperatures will reach highs of 19 degrees. now, it will become dry early in the night, those showers die away. we will have some clearer spells and we are going to find a bit of mist and fog forming again

like we had this morning. it will be a cooler start to sunday though for the eastern side of the uk, always that bit milder out towards the west. more of a breeze in the north—west corner of scotland where we could see a few spots of rain, otherwise once the mist and fog lifts early in the morning, plenty of sunshine in the morning. a bit more cloud around in the afternoon. could just squeeze out a light shower for northern england and scotland, but generally a dry day and pleasantly warm as well, temperature widely 18 or 19.