through his opening match in straight sets. with those confident, convincing wins there are five british players through to round two, the joint most since 1981. they'll be flying the flag while the reigning champion flies home. laura scott, bbc news, new york continues for. nasa is hoping to launch its giant new moon rocket this saturday, after aborting lift off earlier this week.. one of four engines on the vehicle wouldn't cool down on monday, but the problem seems to be under control. the uncrewed flight is the first step in the artemis programme, which aims to return humans, to the moon. time for a look at the weather. here's stav daneos. good afternoon. some weathered to talk about particularly for the end of the week. through today and tomorrow we are expecting scenes like this but big changes for later

in the week. with the start of meteorological autumn the weather is going to reflect that with even a warning of dale's coming out in the short cost more south—western parts of the country. meanwhile we have high pressure bringing fine and settled weather for the afternoon and into tomorrow. most places will be dry and also quite breezy across parts of england and wales. despite that the mid 20 is likely to the south and the south—east and up to the high teens in the north. largely fine tonight, quite chilly across scotland and northern ireland and tomorrow we start off in the north on a chillier note. some showers around but most places dry. 21 degrees through the central belt. then thursday and friday we start to see the changes with these areas of low pressure merging together. and

we see things turning more unsettled. for friday was central and western areas could see some showers and thunderstorms around. turning windy across scotland and north—east england. temperatures are a degree or so down across the north but still warm in the south—east and feeling quite muggy. heading into the weekend looking unsettled, this first band of rain and thunderstorms are slowly pushing north followed by another heavy band of rain in parts of northern ireland, wales and the south—west of england. these are the average wind speeds but the costs will be higher. again there particular cold despite the wind and the rain. then into the start of next week this area of low pressure just sitting to the west of the uk spinning around. bringing some gales

to ireland and around the irish sea affecting wales and parts of england. so a stormy end to the weekend in some places. staying unsettled into next week as well. a reminder of our top story... mikhail gorbachev, the soviet leader who ended the cold war, has died in moscow at the age of 91. that's it, so goodbye from me. now on bbc one, time for the news where you are. little good afternoon, it's 1.33pm, i'm laura mcghie and here's your latest sports news. british number one emma raducanu

says she is looking forward to starting with a "clean slate" after an early end to her us open title defence. after her fairytale win in new york last year it's a very different story 12 months on, as she was beaten in the first round at flushing meadows 6—3, 6—3 by france's alize cornet. despite the disappointing defeat, raducanu hopes she can come back stronger. 0bviously really disappointing, really sad to leave here, it's probably my favourite tournament. but also happy because it is a clean slate, i will drop down the rankings, climb my way back

up and i think in a way the target will be off my back slightly and i have another chance to crawl my way back up there. to football and there are five more games in the premier league tonight — one of which sees liverpool host newcastle. jurgen klopp�*s side go into the match on the back of beating bournemouth 9—0 at the weekend — but liverpool's manager insists he's not expecting a similar result tonight. the scoreline a freaky one, it doesn't happen a lot are often and it won't happen a lot because of the quality of opponents so it won't happen a lot because of the quality of opponents— quality of opponents so everything worked out that _ quality of opponents so everything worked out that afternoon - quality of opponents so everything worked out that afternoon but - quality of opponents so everything worked out that afternoon but the | worked out that afternoon but the boys are not dumb, we don't expect a huge storyline again. —— score. elsewhere, defending champions manchester city can extend their unbeaten start to five matches tonight if they can beat newly promoted nottingham forest. city have had to come from behind in their last two games — before going on to win and city manager pep guardiola insists his defenders must improve — if they're to stay at the top.

we are scoring a lot of goals as well but at the same time we are conceding a lot and if we don't stop that it will be difficult. not all the time you can score four or five goals to wind the game by one or two margin and we have to be better in that kind of situation especially and it is so important and difficult in the set pieces and if we don't control that we are going to suffer. a record global audience of more than 365 million people watched this summer's euro 2022, while 50 million tuned in for england's victory over germany in the wembley final. tournament organiser uefa says the audience was more than double that for the previous women's euros in 2017. the audience for the final, where hosts england beat germany 2—1 in extra time to win their first european title, was more than three times the 15 million

who watched the 2017 final. england's cricketers have named an unchanged side for their crucial series—deciding test match against south africa, which means captain ben stokes will be hoping to lead from the front once again — after hitting 103 and picking up four wickets during the second test victory. james anderson will also head to the oval with lots of confidence after taking six wickets during the match at old trafford. the final test gets under way a week tomorrow. britain's simon yates has withdrawn from the vuelta a espana after testing positive for covid—19. yates was fifth in the overall standings after tuesday's time trial and had been targeting a podium finish. yates is the first overall contender to be forced out of the race due to covid—19 but is the 13th rider to test positive in this year's race.

chelsea have confirmed the signing of wesley fofa na from leicester for £75 million. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. that's bbc.co.uk/sport. more now on our main story, the death of the former leader of the soviet union, mikhail gorbachev. tributes have been paid around the world by many who saw gorbachev as a man of peace — and instrumental in bringing about the end of the cold war. borisjohnson was one of them. mikhail gorbachev was one of those people who changed the world and unquestionably changed it for the better.

when you look at what he did to make europe free, to give freedom to the countries of the former soviet union, it was quite an extraordinary thing. of course, mikhail gorbachev is one of those people who triggered a series of changes that perhaps he didn't anticipate. maybe he paid his own political price for it, but when history is written, he will be one of the authors of fantastic change for the better. here's what the german chancellor 0laf scholz had to say. translation: he was a courageous reformer and a statesman _ who dared to do many things. we will not forget that perestroika made it possible to attempt to establish democracy in russia and that democracy and freedom became possible in europe, that germany could be united and the iron curtain disappeared. the democracy movement in central and eastern europe also benefited from the fact he was in charge of russia at that time. we know that he's died at a time when not only has democracy in russia failed — there is no other way to describe the current situation there — but also russia and the russian president putin are digging new trenches in europe and have started a terrible war

against the neighbouring country, ukraine. and that is precisely why we remember mikhail gorbachev and know what significance he had for the development of europe and also of our country in recent years. but for many in russia, he remains a controversialfigure. let's have a listen now to some reaction from the streets of moscow to the death of michail gorbachev. translation: it seems that he did not realise i the gravity of his decisions. he did not fix his mistakes. he passed away without fixing them. and us, we are hostages of his stupidity. what can i say? god rest his soul, may god not judge him too severely. translation: it seemed to us back then that he was a person j who could change the soviet union for the better. but then, when his time was coming to the end,

it turned out that he's a person who broke up the soviet union, broke up a vast country, which led to a large number of wars and civil unrest in the former soviet republics, between the people of the soviet union. that's why i don't have a high opinion of him now, of his life journey and his achievements. translation: i have a negative view of mikhail gorbachev�*s time in power. he did a lot of damaging things to our country. we are the ones facing the consequences. i'm joined now by someone who met and interviewed gorbachev a number of times and was a young journalist starting up in the bbc moscow bureau when he resigned, bbc presenterjames coomarasamy. we heard of those views on the streets of moscow today. i want to go back a little further to when you first went to russia.— go back a little further to when you first went to russia. �*1’383. you went first went to russia. 1983. you went as a schoolboy _ first went to russia. 1983. you went as a schoolboy and _ first went to russia. 1335 you went as a schoolboy and then when you went back you saw the adjustment

mikhail gorachev was trying to institute. the opening up. there were quite heady times. i institute. the opening up. there were quite heady times.- institute. the opening up. there were quite heady times. i went on a school trip in _ were quite heady times. i went on a school trip in 1983 _ were quite heady times. i went on a school trip in 1983 to _ were quite heady times. i went on a school trip in 1983 to the _ were quite heady times. i went on a school trip in 1983 to the soviet - school trip in 1983 to the soviet union and it was fascinating but pretty for boarding. it was a place where huge red banners with communist slogans were on pretty much every street on downtown moscow and kyiv and leningrad as it was. i went back as a student in 1989 in the middle of the mikhail gorachev era. it was still fascinating but more open. when you went as a student in those days you could meet and mix with russians and are used to go to jazz club in moscow when you could just mix and mingle and we talked about how things were opening up talked about how things were opening up with young russians and i stayed friends with many of them for life and it was a very different world to the previous world. not long after

that ordinary russians started to realise that this opening up, democracy, freedom did not mean they would have goods on the shelves are not necessarily mean everything is going to be as comfortable are as predictable as it had been and from that moment on i think he was in trouble in terms of the public image. if he had put himself up for a popular vote around then, which under the communist system would not happen, he would probably have done very well. he was popular in the early years in russia crossed the soviet union but when he finally came to put himself up for a popular vote after he had been kicked out of office he got 0.5% when he won in 1996, very different times. speaking to john 1996, very different times. speaking to john simpson _ 1996, very different times. speaking to john simpson earlier, _ 1996, very different times. speaking to john simpson earlier, he - 1996, very different times. speaking to john simpson earlier, he did - 1996, very different times. speaking to john simpson earlier, he did not i tojohn simpson earlier, he did not feel he was a man of vision, he wasn't fully cognizant of the true effects of his actions stop the bottom line is that it is an

assessment probably close to the mark because he did not think the soviet union was going to collapse with perestroika.— with perestroika. perestroika was restructuring. _ with perestroika. perestroika was restructuring, not _ with perestroika. perestroika was restructuring, not revolution - with perestroika. perestroika was restructuring, not revolution and | restructuring, not revolution and boris yeltsin, the russian leader who really push things through and ended up breaking up the soviet union, the thing that mikhail gorachev set in motion and unwittingly bring in the end of the soviet union. when i met him and 1992igot soviet union. when i met him and 19921 got the impression still had 1992i got the impression still had not really come to terms of what had happened and did not quite understand what had happened and was still in his new foundation he set “p still in his new foundation he set up enough to the soviet union ended and was talking about the need to check on how perestroika was going. what he had set up no longer assisted by then and he had no longer come —— and it was a new world did not come to terms with it.

i remember being on the 25th of december 1997 withjohn simpson on the night the soviet union formally ended. nobody expected him to make the announcement that day and the red flag was seen in images coming down off the kremlin and suddenly the announcement came on the wires which were paper wires in those days and i thought this is big, and that was a moment to look through when —— lived through when mikhail gorachev said the savaging and was over. fin said the savaging and was over. on the streets of moscow people saying he did not note what he was doing, the lost faith in the system and what gorachev opened up as a can of worms that has not left them any better. they seem to want to blame him for the end of communism and not

vladimir putin for not realising the dream of democracy. is that typical? i think those comments are fairly typical and we have boris yeltsin in the middle and a lot of people would still blame him for allowing the welsh capitalism of the 19905 that got out of hand and put a lot of money in the hands of not many people and ordinary russians mi55ed people and ordinary russians missed out and it is almost a corrective that vladimir putin felt he had to make when the russians felt they had lost an empire not gained anything materially people on the streets of moscow saying he could have kept the soviet union together. two western areas it seems very strange but is actually a commonplace view. i was in moscow a few years ago in the subway where they had small figurines of gorachev and boris

yeltsin and i thought for the sake of massage i would buy a couple in the very ordinary saleswoman said while you're buying those? perhaps you should get stalin. there was a sense perhaps they needed a strong person in charge. gorachev was an incredibly charismatic figure and a very warm person when you met him. one small anecdote, you're probably made these living videos that happened and —— leaving stop. gorachev would appear in them and kevin bishop had a video and gorachev was asked to make a video because he was leaving russia and he did. i because he was leaving russia and he did. ., , because he was leaving russia and he did. . , ., ., because he was leaving russia and he did. ., ., ., .,, because he was leaving russia and he did. ., ., , ., ., did. i was in a video last year and he popped _ did. i was in a video last year and he popped up _ did. i was in a video last year and he popped up in _ did. i was in a video last year and he popped up in the _ did. i was in a video last year and he popped up in the video. -

did. i was in a video last year and he popped up in the video. thank did. i was in a video last year and - he popped up in the video. thank you forjoining us, jamie. to the flooding in pakistan now — and the united nations has launched an emergency appeal, to help victims. our correspondent pumza fihlani is in the southern sindh province. and we are on one of the busy roads here in sukkur in sindh province. it's one of the places where families who have been displaced have come and pitched tents for temporary shelter. it's a busy road and there are a lot of children running around. the parents are now speaking to them, say they are worried about how long they'll have to be in these conditions. they are out in the open in really hot weather. but also there isn't enough space for everything that they've come with. on the one side, just across, some people have brought their livestock that they were able to salvage when the flood waters came.

but because it's a busy road, they worry that either that will get run over or the children as they move in between the streets. they've told us that for days they can go without food because aid efforts here are still very erratic. and it's unclear when food is going to come. when it does come, people fight for it, they fight amongst themselves, children fight amongst themselves and adults also, too. and it's just creating an intense sense of desperation here on the ground. the country itself relies hugely on the road infrastructure to move goods when there aren't any floods. and because that has been destroyed, now they're having to think on their feet about how they will get aid to people. in the meantime, what that's meant is that whatever little supplies were already in communities, those are not enough to go around. and that's where that desperation and those fights then come from, because people know this, they see how little the food is when it comes. they see the spaces and the time it takes in between the next food delivery. so they do get a sense that whatever is available is not enough for everyone, which is why people aren't willing, or they aren't willing to go

without, and they're willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that they get fed. there are calls for action to be taken for sewage to be dealt with in scarborough. what have you noticed about the water? 3. what have you noticed about the water? �* ., , , what have you noticed about the water? �* . , , , . what have you noticed about the water? ~ . , , , . ., water? a massive difference over the last few months _ water? a massive difference over the last few months and _ water? a massive difference over the last few months and the _ water? a massive difference over the last few months and the water - last few months and the water through the pandemic has been a safe place for everybody and it is not good at the what is not good with

the sewage fed into the sea so it is not nice to be something less. haste not nice to be something less. have ou not nice to be something less. have you change — not nice to be something less. have you change the _ not nice to be something less. have you change the way _ not nice to be something less. have you change the way you _ not nice to be something less. have you change the way you swim? we can go down the beach to filey quit it is more clear and watch the app to see the spillages into the sea so to the smells and unpleasantness were swimming at when you're out in the water. yorkshire water say what a quality in 60 of yorkshire beaches is good or excellent but that is not something you say that you see here, karen? ., . , something you say that you see here, karen? ., ., , ., ., .,, something you say that you see here, karen? ., ., , ., ., karen? know and they are not as good as the promises _ karen? know and they are not as good as the promises and _ karen? know and they are not as good as the promises and they _ karen? know and they are not as good as the promises and they really - karen? know and they are not as good as the promises and they really need l as the promises and they really need to take things up and it is good for our mental health and for the mental health a lot of people and it is free and it should be here for everybody to use safely. the government _ everybody to use safely. the government have _ everybody to use safely. the government have announced new restrictions on when water companies can charge sewage, will that make a difference? the mac may be a little

but not really. the need to stop discharging sewage into the sea. tap discharging sewage into the sea. trip, yorkshire cup might water say they will work to the new government guidelines and even try to surpass them as well but for people here the concern is whether the water quality will remain good enough for them to swim regularly. business owners in wales say they could be forced to close if a tourism tax is introduced. the welsh government says tourism levies are common across the world, and would improve local services. the wales tourism alliance believe a possible tourism levy could lead to fewer visitors. evan gwyn davies reports. searching for gold in the shadows of dan yr ogof. but you won't manage to find a welsh government minister here. mark drakeford and his cabinet have been banned from the show caves by the owner. he has described their

policies as anti—tourist. the welsh government has turned off their ears as far as learning from the experts in tourism. if they bring out a tourism tax and we are the only devolved nation that don't do it, we are in real trouble. because we have carried surveys on behalf of the welsh association of visitor attractors and almost 70% of the 2,000 that were interviewed have said that it would have an effect on whether they chose wales or another region. so don't underestimate the people walking with their boots. they don't have to come to wales. according to the welsh government... the money would then be used to fund a sustainable approach to tourism, a consultation period will begin the autumn. for hywel thomas, a tax could be a good thing

for the industry in the long term, but now is not the time to introduce it. life has been hard enough after two years of living with the pandemic. on top of that, there's another shadow hanging over his caravan park near llanelli now — the rising cost of living. the cost of everything has gone up, the cost of electricity to the site has trebled, the cost of diesel and petrol for people to get here is going up and that is going to cost them, and just the general cost of everything is really, really worrying so i'm... notjust me, but i think the whole industry is worried about what people are going to do, are they going to take their holidays here or stay home? are they going to take day—to—day, we're going to have to look at all of our costs. we have a look at how much we charge people. i don't really want to do that. so the pressure is increasing on places like this and those within the industry have warned the welsh government that unless they change their tourism plans, businesses across wales will have to close their doors. the businesses themselves have been telling us that they're either _ going to close because they can't i cope in the uncertainty of this, i or that they are certain - that they are going to go out of business because they can't

afford to stay in business. - and that should be a real concern to the welsh government - which will say that is listening. whether it's taking note and actually believing. what they are being told is a different question . because this is not a matter of people just complaining. | the welsh government says visitor levies are common across the world and with the revenue being used to fund projects within communities, could, in the long term, help to attract more visitors. but with a long, expensive winter on the way, the message from business is clear — now is not the time. evan gwyn davies reporting there for wales today. what's believed to be the uk's first new plastic—free homes have been built in north worcestershire. they're near redditch station, and were designed as a way of showing how properties can be built with materials that have a low environmental impact. amy cole reports. these the first 12 virtually plastic—free apartments to be built in the whole of the uk, and indeed, europe. they were only signed off last

tuesday, and people arejust starting to move in. let's talk to carl taylor who is from the housing association who has built them. fantastic project, but i imagine it has been quite hard to do to make them virtually plastic—free. yes, it has. plastic is virtually on everything in their construction industry and working out what we can use as an alternative has been difficult at times. for example, the electric wiring we have replaced with mineral—insulated copper cable. the flooring we have used sisal carpet and we have used marmoleum flooring. the paint we have used graphene and limestone paint rather than acrylic. certainly a lot to think about. has it made the overall build more expensive? yes, it has made the overall build more expensive, but it has also made it much better quality than we would usually build. what we have found is when we have taken plastic out of the building, we have replaced it with much more robust materials. so the kitchen is solid wood,

the bathroom is ceramic and we think let's just talk to sinead. you only got the keys last week so you are just starting to move in. was it a big draw for you to move into somewhere that is quite sustainable? yeah, i was quite shocked that it was eco—friendly. i had never heard of eco—friendly buildings before, so i'm glad that it is possible that it has happened. i am hoping that the bills are lower and i'm excited to move into my first proper flat. well, really good luck. thanks both for talking to me. that housing association says that these apartments are about starting a conversation and that it would like the construction industry to explore virtually plastic—free builds in the future. amy cole reporting there for midlands today. a reminder tojoin us tomorrow morning at 9am

for a special edition of your questions answered — broadcast here on the news channel and on bbc radio 5—live nicky campbell will be putting your questions to the labour leader sir keir starmer. now it's time for a look at the weather with stav danaos. hello there. it is the first day of meteorological autumn tomorrow and some areas could see significant rainfall and winds. in the short term high pressure dominates and we will see variable amounts of cloud and the odd low ceiling which will fade away. is there is quite breezy across england and wales with clear skies and later winds further north so it could be quite scilly in the scottish plains but further south —— quite surely in the glens of scotland. but ten to 12 celsius for the south. an area of

low pressure will move up in the south but topped temperatures around 24 south but topped temperatures around 2a degrees and a little bit fresher for the north. —— further north.

this is bbc news. iamjane i amjane hill. the headlines: tributes are paid to mikhail gorbachev, the soviet leader who ended the cold war, who has died at the age of 91. in a break with tradition, the queen won't appoint the new prime minister in london next week. it'll take place at balmoral. royal mail apologises to customers, as a one day strike by postal workers halts deliveries. a bbc investigation has found that shamima begum — who left london at the age of 15 to join the islamic state group — was smuggled into syria by an intelligence agent working for canada. powering more than1 million homes — the world's largest offshore wind farm goes into operation near the yorkshire coast.