eurovision tickets will go on sale next week, for six preview and three televised shows in liverpool. ticket prices start at £30 and will cost up to £380 for the grand final on 13th may. the event's being hosted in liverpool, after the uk was chosen for the competition on behalf of the 2022 winner, ukraine. fans will need to register for a ticketmaster account ahead of the sale going live from noon on tuesday. time for a look at the weather. here's ben rich. good afternoon. media rold gekker speaking winter is over, the numbers have been crunched and what do we know, we know it was a dry winter —— meteorological speaking. not good news after the droughts of last year. but across england and wales it was a particularly sunny winter, not as much sunshine though for northern ireland orfor scotland but

if you thought we'd left winter behind, technically we have, next week you may well be doubting that because it is set to turn colder, cold enough for some of us to see some snow. more on that in a moment. back to the here and now, we've got a lot of cloud around, its quite quiet, not moving quickly as far as the weather goes this afternoon. a lot of cloud, some showers through scotland, northern ireland and northern england, the best of the sunshine in south wales and southern england and temperatures where they have been during the week, 7—10, not particularly windy. tonight we will see more cloud rolling westwards across england into east wales, northern ireland and southern scotland. staying pretty cloudy. there could be the odd light shower. but when we see leo breaks in west wales, the south—west of england, the north—west of scotland, we could see a touch of frost but it's also when we have the chance for sunshine tomorrow, the best of that across northern and central parts of scotland. elsewhere a lot of cloud

for much of the time may be with the odd light shower. the northern isles will be showery and quite breezy. temperatures seven, eight or 9 degrees. as we head into the weekend, colderair degrees. as we head into the weekend, colder air begins to seep slowly southwards behind this cold front here. the front itself will be a very weak affair. it will bring a band of cloud, a bit of rain, this is saturday's weather chart, even further west the cloud amounts will tend to increase as we go through the day. temperatures may be showing signs of dropping away particularly in the far north and as we get into sunday the colder air continues to slowly work its way in. a few more of the show is on this chart will be wintry. the snow at this stage mostly over high ground, more persistent rain into northern scotland and temperatures falling awayjust scotland and temperatures falling away just a scotland and temperatures falling awayjust a little. the cold air, having sleep slowly southwards, looks set to rush southwards as we go through next week. it will often be windy as well which will only accentuate the chilly feel. there will be quite a significant wind

chill. it will certainly be cold enough for some snow at times but the detail of exactly where that snow will fall is still a little uncertain. we will keep you up—to—date. that's it, so goodbye from me. now on bbc one, time for the news where you are. have a very good afternoon. good afternoon, i'm laura mcghie. you're watching the bbc news channel — it's 1:33pm, and here's your latest sports news. former england captain michael vaughan is today appearing at the hearing into racist behaviour at yorkshire county cricket club. the independent cricket discipline commission, established by the england and wales cricket board, will hear charges brought against seven individuals and yorkshire county cricket club relating to azeem rafiq's allegations which were first made public in august 2020. matt graveling is there for us. matt, what has happened so far?

day two of this hearing, 2.5 years on from the scandal which has shocked english cricket. today we have had michael vaughan, who is one of seven men, along with yorkshire county cricket club, charged with ringing the game into disrepute. the former england captain is accused of using racist language against the former yorkshire spinner, azeem rafiq and three other asian players. he said, there are to many of you lot. reportedly. his lawyerwent he said, there are to many of you lot. reportedly. his lawyer went on to add, that this happened before a t20 match, and given the passage of time, he cannot remember exact what he said, but he was adamant he did not use those words. the hearing

continues behind me until 2pm today, at one of the players also cleanse you have had theirs comments at the time is the current england bowler, who is currently on tour in bangladesh with england, but he has dialled in via video link. he does not think michael vaughan was a racist, but it was bad humour. if you do have the time, we are effecting to —— we are inspecting to hear... they will not be appearing because they have withdrawn from the disciplinary proceedings. thank you very much for that update. history has been made on the slopes — great britain's charlotte bankes and huw nightingale have won world championship gold in the mixed team snowboard cross final out in georgia.

bankes became britain's first—ever snowboard world champion when she won individual, gold back in 2021, but she crashed out of this year's event yesterday. she was much improved today though and after nightingale put in an impressive first run, just 0.07 seconds off the lead, bankes brought it home in what turned out to be a clear victory. it's the nation's first—ever title in the mixed team discipline. it follows mia brookes' historic snowboard slopestyle victory conditions were looking tricky and the team believed in us. we gave it all we have. a lot of teams said, you have fresh legs, so we saved our energy from yesterday. we went for it today. head coach simon middleton has named a 42—player england training squad for the women's six nations and revealed that saracens' marlie packer will co—captain the team with sarah hunter. middleton, who will step down

at the end of this year's six nations, says that since hunter has indicated she will not be involved with the national side as a player come the 2025 world cup, that england need to "grow their leadership quality and depth", which is why packer will co—captain the side. the squad is made up of 23 forwards and i9 backs and will see gloucester—hartpury duo natasha hunt and sarah beckett return after missing out on world cup selection. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. that's bbc.co.uk/sport. i'll be back in an hour. the former health secretary, matt hancock, said the releasing of his whatsapp messages is a massive betrayal of trust. isabel 0akeshott said she acted in the national

interest. they show conversations about whether schools in england should be close. earlier, my colleague, martine croxall, spoke to the political editor of the spectator, katy balls, and asked her whether she agreed with matt hancock that the release of the whatsapp messages was a betrayal, or whether it was in the public interest. i think when it comes to learning the lessons of the pandemic, the government's mishandling, which has been covered in the media, you want to hit all of the cans. it is in the public interest to hear some of these things. we will get a fuller picture when there is an inquiry. there is some frustration about how long that is taking and whether politicians would rather it take place after the election. there are some interesting things in it. i understand white matt hankin feels as though his messages... the fact

he picked someone to write this who clearly didn't agree with him in anyway on the pandemic and has a reputation when it comes to their previous works in terms of what they focus on, does mean that i think there is some simply in the tory party and some saying, was this a good move? how damaging are these leaks format hancock? itrailien good move? how damaging are these leaks format hancock?— good move? how damaging are these leaks format hancock? when you think that gavin williamson _ leaks format hancock? when you think that gavin williamson was _ leaks format hancock? when you think that gavin williamson was opposed - leaks format hancock? when you think that gavin williamson was opposed to l that gavin williamson was opposed to closing schools, and then they did close, the thing that matt hancock seems to have been pushing for? i think the messages have the potential to be damaging for quite a lot of people. matt hancock appears most often because they are his messages. the problem is that what

has come out suggests a focus on his media profile, if you look at the first batch. the testing target was up first batch. the testing target was up and then on schools, you can see that putsch. but at the same time, a lot of these things such as the schools debate was reported at the time. gavin williamson's role in trying to keep schools open has a bit more light shed on it now, but it was always known that matt hancock was the chief of, pushing for more caution. what these messages are doing is bringing it back to the forefront, and adding some details for the most damaging part format hancock is not so much where he stood on these issues, but where he stood on these issues, but where it looks as though this is to do with his own image, which it does in some of these exchanges, rather than what he thinks is best in terms of the country or when it comes to

avoiding a political row. what of the country or when it comes to avoiding a political row. what does it tellers about _ avoiding a political row. what does it tellers about what _ avoiding a political row. what does it tellers about what was _ avoiding a political row. what does| it tellers about what was happening in government. these policy decisions appear to have been filtered through this mechanism, but also the tensions that existed between ministers at the time? i think it goes further than that, but we knew there were these tensions can but it confirms that a lot of the time they were spending more time working out he was up or down rather than working together. it was stressful, i do think anyone was prepared for the government in government and you can see that it is messages. but how quickly it descended into a fear and loathing type of situation is one of the most striking things about it. again, why were certain decisions being made? because you did not want to have an unhelpful political row or because you thought it was the right thing

for the country? the headlines on bbc news: newly released whatsapp messages suggest former health secretary matt hancock tried to bypass another minister to get schools closed during the coronavirus pandemic. the final report into the manchester arena bombing will be published this afternoon. it will focus on whether the attack could have been prevented. harry and meghan have been told to leave their british home, frogmore cottage in windsor. now on bbc news — it's time to take a look at some of the stories making the headlines from our newsrooms across the uk. councils across wales are warning that raising council tax is the only way to protect vital services. though the exact increase varies, every local authority in wales will raise council tax by a certain percentage.

at the top end of the scale, conwy council will vote this afternoon on a proposal to see an increase by around ten per cent, prompting fears by one charity in north wales that more people could struggle to pay. liam evans reports. longer days and budding flowers. as spring arrives, it's a fresh start. but for councils across wales, the new season brings old challenges. inflation, the war in ukraine and workers demanding a better orfairer pay. they're all reasons why council tax will be going up over the next few months. but councils will also have to make savings. for an example, here in conway, they're looking at making savings in every single department by around 10%, though in education and social services, it slightly less. so whether you live up here in north wales, down in the south or anywhere in between, these changes will affect you somehow. it's been an incredibly difficult process... conwy council say it's having to make big savings and this

afternoon will be voting on raising council tax by 9.9%. acutely aware that people are really struggling out there and we will do everything in our power to keep it as low as possible. unfortunately, in conwy, we traditionally have had a very low rate of council tax in comparison with our neighbours. as a result, our reserves have dropped and we are no longer in a position where we can use reserves to try and prop up our budget, so that is the figure that we've arrived at and it is a balance. we know people will struggle to pay council tax. at the lower end of the scale, torfaen, blaenau gwent and denbigh council range between 1.9 and 3% increase. it differs wherever you live. from the coast to the valleys of conwy, the rise proposed will affect many, and though support is available, it was a lukewarm reception in llanrwst to the plans. yeah, it's going to be had for everyone, isn't it? there's. .. yeah. everybody�*s got to tighten up. it's a bit too steep. i think they should look at it again

and, you know, let's... we've been through quite a lot. i think that there could be another way of make, - of making the money up on may be, i making it less percentage and making it a small amount to pay every month rather than a large - amount, you know? from keeping the place tidy to making our towns shine, it's things like these council tax funds. there is help available, with some eligible for concessions, but though spring is a time full of hope and new beginnings, it remains a constant challenge to balance the books across wales. a man who flew a drone near a world war two fighter plane while thousands of people were standing underneath has been given a six month suspended prison sentence. mark bagguley used his drone to film buxton carnival, despite knowing a flypast was due to take place. the 49—year—old has also been fined £3,000. police say the plane's pilot, and people watching below, would have been killed if the drone had hit the plane. caroline lowbridge reports.

any drone in the air will pose a danger to any manned aircraft. with it being an aircraft like the hurricane, it could potentially come down. we had 15,000 to 20,000 persons present at buxton at the time. that would have caused a catastrophe in its own right. matthew moore is an officer in the drones team at derbyshire police. he and his colleagues tracked down a man called mark bagguley, who flew a drone dangerously close to a hurricane, flying over thousands of people at buxton carnival. we weren't aware as police that there was a drone in the air over buxton carnival at the time. the pilot even spoke to us and said he wasn't aware either. he was quite gobsmacked, to be honest, once we showed him the pictures. the photos were taken by a local man who initially thought there was a bird next to the hurricane when he zoomed in. he contacted police who searched social media and found aerial photos that bagguley had taken of buxton carnival.

it wasn't until he was arrested and we downloaded the data from the drone that we were quite happy to say that it was him flying the drone at the time of the offence. sion and tim are former raf pilots who now train people to fly drones safely at this airfield in nottinghamshire. it's quite shocking. you know, in all fairness, my initial opinion in that is that this is not what the industry needs. i think the damage factorl caused by these platforms are quite significant. you've got a normal aeroplane such as a hurricane flying _ in between 200 and 400 knots. so if you put anything - in the sky and they impact, it's going to cause damage. bagguley, who is 49 and from chatsworth road in fairfield, admitted two charges at chesterfield magistrates' court. the m5 motorway was closed this morning after a tipper truck collided with an overhead gantry. police were called to the m5 near bristol at around

8:20am after the truck hit the overhead sign. as you can see from these images, the truck appears to be wedged on to the gantry. local police say there were no reported injuries, but emergency services have been in attendance. we haven't had any official confirmation, but this is the offending gantry behind me here, you can see some of the signs are sort of hanging off, which has caused the north bound side to be close. that is where the tepid truck hit the gantry. it was going down the southbound side and a large blue bed of that lorry has struck the gantry. there is a lorry further down, if you hundred yards further down. there is an assumption that was attached to the bed of the truck and they have gone down the motorway. who knows what has happened, maybe it came up, maybe hejoined the

motorway with it up in the air. for some reason, the front end of the bed of that tipper truck has it the gantry at around 820 am this morning, it has caused damage to the gantry and the signs on both sides, we know there are electrical cables up we know there are electrical cables up there that are severed. you can see them hanging down. as well as that, you have hydraulic fluid on the southbound side of the motorway there. the police were called at around 8:20am, but thankfully no injuries. it has taken them a couple of hours to remove the bed of that truck and are now working out how to make the gantry safe because, until they do that, i don't think anybody will be coming up and down the motorway either northbound or southbound. that is the situation at the moment. there are police here, engineers, and really that task now is to work out how to make the gantry safe, those signs looking quite precarious from our advantage

point here. we spoke to eyewitnesses who hurt an enormous boom. we are near the docks where there are occasional ranks and crashes as various metal objects and containers are moved around, but clearly a very loud bang at around 820 this morning. we heard from people driving down the motorway who couldn't work out what happened, but just left looking at the bed of this tipper lorry stuck on the m5. if you are travelling towards bristol, between junction 17 and 18, avoid the area and keep a look online to plan your journey. the area and keep a look online to plan yourjourney. i think these guys will be here for several hours yet. a man who didn't learn to read and write until he was 18 is set to become a professor at one of the uk's top universities. jason arday was diagnosed

with autism when he was a toddler, and was unable to speak until he was 11. but now the 37—year—old is about to take up a research position at the university of cambridge. celestina 0lulode went to meet him. i always felt it was a privilege to have a period of 11 years where maybe i couldn't speak and i couldn't converse while everyone else could, because it allowed me to see things in a different way. professorjason arday was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at the age of three. he couldn't speak until he was 11 and read or write until he was 18. throughout his early years, his parents continued to believe in him. at 18, my mum had got to a point where there was only so much she could do, and she was brilliant. even though she had this belief that "he will do 0k", but she decided, "i need someone else to believe in him as much as i believe in him". therapists predicted he would need full—time assistance throughout his life. how wrong they were. you 0k? it was this man, college

tutor sandro sandri, who helped teach jason to read and write at 18. i'm just so happy for him, you know? i'm speechless, to be honest. but i never doubted for a moment that he would achieve what he has. sandro would spend hours of his free time teaching jason. there was one thing you said to me which i neverforgot, and it was when i was 22 and i said to you i was thinking about doing a phd. and you said to me that it would be the greatest story in the world if the kid who didn't know how to read or write managed to get a phd. you said, like, "i think you can take on the world and you can win". and i neverforgot that. and now jason is days away from achieving another ambition. nice to see you. good to see you. here's his new boss at cambridge. we do have a lot of work to do, but i feel really optimistic.

part of his research will look at new ways to make higher education more accessible for everyone. what can we do to ensure that this isn't a one—off appointment in five years' time? how can this become the norm? we've listened to the voices of our black scholars and our black students, and some of it has not been easy to hear, to be honest, but we're able to face up to some of the structural issues that people face. there will be those who think this is a tokenistic appointment. what are your thoughts on this? the board of electors, on your interview day, were absolutely unanimous. we are so lucky to have you. you are the best in the world in terms of the research that you do. an extraordinaryjourney, but forjason, this is not an end, it's a beginning. the reaction has been amazing and i'm truly grateful to everyone for their kind sentiment and kind words. we've got a lot of work to do.

1,000 charities have written to the chancellor asking for cash in the upcoming budget to help with redistributing waste and surplus food from farms. the charities say three million tonnes of food is going to waste on farms alone, and have asked jeremy hunt to invest £25 million to make it easier to take produce that would otherwise be wasted and distribute it to those experiencing food poverty. high street retailer wh smith says it has been the target of a cyber security incident. it said the attack had led to illegal access to some of its data, including that concerning current and former employees. wh smith said it had launched an investigation and told the relevant authorities of the incident. the firm said its website, customer accounts and customer databases are not affected.

now it's time for a look at the weather with ben rich. hello there. moving into march means that technically, meteorologically speaking, we have left the winter behind us. but it may not feel that way as we head into next week, with some colder weather on the way. cold enough for snow in some places. but right now it is not particularly cold out there. it is fairly cloudy in many spots. this is the earlier satellite picture. we have seen some sunshine, though, across southern areas. we'll continue to see some of that across southern england, parts of wales and the midlands as we head through the rest of the day. further north, there will be more cloud. and for northern england, northern ireland and scotland, that cloud will produce some showers at times. a little bit brighter in the north west of scotland and temperatures of 6 to 10 degrees. that's about where they have been throughout this week. now through tonight, we will see more cloud rolling its way back in across england and wales. northern ireland quite cloudy as well. clearer skies likely to be in northwest scotland and perhaps for a time in west wales and the south west of england and where there are any clear skies overhead,

a touch of frost to take us into tomorrow morning. tomorrow there'll be more cloud in the south england, wales, northern ireland seeing a fair amount of cloud, maybe the odd spot of rain. across the northern half of scotland, that's where we'll see some of the best of the sunshine, although the northern isles will see the odd shower, and it will be quite breezy. temperatures between seven and nine degrees. now into the weekend, we start the change to something colder. this cold front works its way into the picture on saturday. quite a weak affair, a band of clouds, some patchy rain moving its way into eastern parts of the uk. but even further west we'll tend to see increasing amounts of clouds. temperatures again around seven, eight or nine degrees. but it is going to feel just a little bit colder as we head into sunday. and if you look at the charts, the showers that will be quite well scattered across the country will start to turn wintry in places, particularly over high ground at this stage. some slightly more persistent rain into northern scotland, and those temperatures just starting to drop back a little. but it says as we head into next

week that we see this surge of cold air from the north, and at times it will be quite windy. that will only accentuate the chilly feel and it will be cold enough for snow to fall. but the exact detail about where that snow might fall is still somewhat uncertain. we will keep you posted. thanks to ben for that and thanks to clive myrie before him. in a few moments we will go live to manchester where will hear from the chair of the manchester arena bombing inquiry sirjohn saunders. the reason being he is publishing his third and final report. let's speak to our correspondent danny savage in manchester.

hello. just a few minutes to go until we expect to hear from hello. just a few minutes to go until we expect to hearfrom him, just fill us insofar with what we can expect. we just fill us insofar with what we can “pect— just fill us insofar with what we can expect. we are expecting a statement — can expect. we are expecting a statement from _ can expect. we are expecting a statement from the _ can expect. we are expecting a statement from the chair - can expect. we are expecting a statement from the chair of. can expect. we are expecting a | statement from the chair of the manchester arena inquiry, sirjohn saunders, the first person we will hear from saunders, the first person we will hearfrom is saunders, the first person we will hear from is the saunders, the first person we will hearfrom is the barrister who is representing the forced side of the inquiry and a lead lawyer during this inquiry over in the 196 days exact. we have already heard of two stages of the manchester arena inquiry about the planning policing and preparation and the potential opportunities mess they are to stop salman ramadan abedi on the night. we've also heard a quite critical report about the response of the emergency services in the immediate aftermath of the bombing in may 2017

here in manchester so we have had two stages already and this is the third and final stage, effectively about what the security out the suicide bombing, could it have been prevented is the question that the families involved would like to know the answer to and they may or may not get the answer to that this afternoon when we hear from sirjohn saunders because the big issue here is that much of the evidence heard is part of the stage of the inquiry was heard in secret, restricted in some ways about what he car inquiry y restricted in some ways about what he car inquiry was heard in secret, effectively, only heard by the of the inquiry was heard in secret, effectively, only heard by the witnesses, sirjohn saunders, and witnesses, sirjohn saunders, and the legal representatives. no public the legal representatives. no public allowed in, nojournalists out allowed in, nojournalists out the legal representatives. no public allowed in, no journalists out to watch, no families allowed in to the legal representatives. no public allowed in, no journalists out to watch, no families allowed in to hear the evidence taking place, hear the evidence taking place, effectively to protect the official effectively to protect the official secrets of how the m15, british secrets of how the m15, british security services, how they operate security services, how they operate and who works for them, and that and who works for them, and that evidence, although heard by the evidence, although heard by the chairman of the inquiry, he will be chairman of the inquiry, he will be restricted in some ways about what restricted in some ways about what

he can now say he can now say beyond that. so he will give his report, knowing what has said in the past, chapters inquiry, you will be relatively forthright and... i’m inquiry, you will be relatively forthright and. . ._ inquiry, you will be relatively forthright and... i'm afraid i'm 'ust forthright and... i'm afraid i'm just going _ forthright and... i'm afraid i'm just going to — forthright and... i'm afraid i'm just going to interrupt - forthright and... i'm afraid i'm just going to interrupt you - forthright and... i'm afraid i'm| just going to interrupt you they are, thank you very much. we will just listen into these life pictures in manchester. —— we willjust listen in to these live pictures