thin and so it will but a it is only thin and so it will be prone to thinning and breaking a lot of cloud for northern england. otherwise, some sunshine for western scotland, wales and south—west england are not looking too bad. becoming drier in gnarled through the day. day. on into the weekend, we have weak weather fronts that will make inroads in as high pressure finally loosens its grip. on saturday a lot of dry weather, the best of any sunshine across the west, sunday, thicker cloud, with quite widespread patches of light rain, so a damp day i think. beyond that, into next week we see a massive change in the weather patterns as o cold northerly winds come down from win the arctic circle. they will be dropping temperatures, so we are looking at a frost across the uk, really for much of next week but as well as that, we have some of this white stuff, yes, the first place it is likely to see some disruption from snow is across northern scotland, where the snow

combined with strong winds will bring blizzards so there is a high risk of disruption to transport and power supplies perhaps as well. later in the week as the cold air works southwards so the risk of snow will progress further southwards but there is still a bit of uncertainty about the exact detail, we are, who on that but it is going to be a cold week. thank you. and that's bbc news at ten on thursday the 2nd of march. there's more analysis of the day's main stories on newsnight, which isjust getting under way on bbc two. the news continues here on bbc one, as now it's time to join our colleague across the nations and regions for the news where you are. but from the ten team, it's good night. good evening. here's your latest sports news. the lawyer representing former england captain michael vaughan has said allegations of racism made against the cricketer are word against word.

the comments came on the second day of the public hearing into the allegations made by former yorkshire player azeem rafiq. michael vaughan and five other yorkshire players are accused of using racially discriminatory language. matt graveling has the details. and a warning that some viewers may find some of the language in his report upsetting. day two of proceedings here have now concluded and the former england captain michael vaughan was present, we have yet to hear from them. we do share from his lawyer christopher who said that vaughan categorically denies making comments that he cannot believe that the claim have been made against them. it was injune of 2009 before a yorkshire t 20 match that vaughan was claimed to have said they're too many of you lots, we need to avoid about that, directed at azeem rafiq and his asian team—mates. one whojoined during the hearing from bangladesh

were he is currently playing with the english side. he said he did hear the alleged phrase and while he did not offend him and he did not think that vaughan was racist, the comment was bad humour. azeem rafiq was cross—examined by vaughan�*s lawyer and talk about what it said and azeem rafiq said he apologise for any discrepancy but he had been put through a lot and is certain that a racist comment was said in the term you modded been said by so many of the yorkshire squad that had been normalised. rafiq said he carries mental scars having gone through this process, one of seven men charged along with the cloud for bringing the sport into disrepute. they have chosen to withdraw from the disciplinary process. the ownership situation at newcastle united has come under further scrutiny with human rights group amnesty international saying the premier league needs to re—examine the assurances it was given about potential saudi state control of the club. newcastle's takeover by saudi arabia's public investment fund was approved after legally binding assurances the saudi government

would not have any control over the club. however, in a us court case newcastle chairman yasir al—rumayyan has been described as a sitting minister of the government with sovereign immunity. the statements have been made by lawyers representing liv golf, owned by the pif. meanwhile, one of the people who brokered the newcastle deal has been speaking at an event in london. amanda staveley says the investors considered a number of options in the premier league before settling on newcastle. everybody knows i was a massive liverpool fan. we try to buy it and we walked into newcastle game and said why you spend x billion when you can actually spend 300 and some million. and put in, ithink you can actually spend 300 and some million. and put in, i think we've put into hundred plus to date. of new money since we bought the club.

so we have a particular business plan based on a five, ten, 15 year timeline. and critical to that plan was making sure we had the right partners. in the last year it's extraordinary with potentially there might be the chance of champions league. and i love the evaluations that are reflecting in sheltie because it makes our valuation look very compelling. revenue, when you're looking at five to seven times revenue, that is a lot of money. it's advantage barcelona after the first leg of their copa del rey semifinal against real madrid. the only goal of the game at the bernabeu was an own goal against the run of play in the first half. eder militao debited with the goal. real madrid were the dominant side thoughout, but failed to muster a single shot on target. tennis, and world number one novak djokovic continued his perfect start to 2023 by beating hubert hurkacz to reach the dubai tennis

championships semi—finals. the 35—year—old serb took his record to 15—0 so far this year with a swift 71 minute 6—3 7—5 take—down over poland's hurkacz. djokovic will be looking to win his third title of the year and will take on daniil medvedev for a place in saturday's final. and there was a stunning second half comeback in the super league, as warrington wolves came roaring back to beat salford 36—20 and maintain their unbeaten start to the campaign. despite being 20—6 down at the break, warrington scored 30 unanswered points withjosh thewlis running in the pick of five second—half tries for the home side. they sit top of the table with three wins out of three so far this season. the european indoor athletics championships are under way in turkey with plenty of hopes and indeed expectations of british medals in istanbul. keely hodgkinson is the favourite to retain the 800 metres title she won two years ago.

she's been in outstanding form in the past 12 months. she's through to the semi—finals along with team mate and former junior european champion isabelle boffey. tomorrow keely turns 21. i was recovering, which is fine. i can defend my title so we are unhappy. some time keeping up the paceis unhappy. some time keeping up the pace is actually harder than running the way i'm used to do, so yeah i'm actually quite tired. but i'm so happy. hopefully i'll come back sunday and get the job done. hopefully i'll come back sunday and get thejob done. uk indoor 800 metres champion guy learmonth is through to the semi—finals despite finishing third in his heat. the 30—year—old considered retiring many times during a battle with long—covid. butjoining a training group in australia gave him motivation to keep going.

this is my fifth championship. that's all the sport for now. guide dogs. for thousands of people they are the difference between independence and isolation. she is m means independence and isolation. she is my means of _ independence and isolation. she is my means of independence. - independence and isolation. she is my means of independence. i - independence and isolation. sue: 3 my means of independence. i couldn't imagine my life without rio. since 1931, imagine my life without rio. since 1931. around _ imagine my life without rio. since 1931, around 36,000 _ imagine my life without rio. since 1931, around 36,000 guide - imagine my life without rio. since 1931, around 36,000 guide dogs have been matched with visually impaired people. but during the pandemic, the

breeding programme shut down overnight. the charity lost one third of its poppy raising volunteers, and the guide dog service was paused.— volunteers, and the guide dog service was paused. people are needed so _ service was paused. people are needed so much _ service was paused. people are needed so much to _ service was paused. people are needed so much to help - service was paused. people are needed so much to help people service was paused. people are - needed so much to help people like you. needed so much to help people like ou. . ., ., ':: z: z: , .,, you. leaving more than 1000 people waitin: to you. leaving more than 1000 people waiting to be — you. leaving more than 1000 people waiting to be matched. _ you. leaving more than 1000 people waiting to be matched. it _ you. leaving more than 1000 people waiting to be matched. it is - you. leaving more than 1000 people waiting to be matched. it is really, i waiting to be matched. it is really, really difficult, _ waiting to be matched. it is really, really difficult, not _ waiting to be matched. it is really, really difficult, not having - waiting to be matched. it is really, really difficult, not having the - waiting to be matched. it is really, really difficult, not having the dog | really difficult, not having the dog practically every step you're thinking this is impossible. i don't know how i'm dealing with this. but with around 1100 puppies now in early training, his recovery around the corner? we early training, his recovery around the corner?— early training, his recovery around the corner? we are hopeful for the future but we _ the corner? we are hopeful for the future but we do _ the corner? we are hopeful for the future but we do need _ the corner? we are hopeful for the future but we do need a _ the corner? we are hopeful for the future but we do need a little - the corner? we are hopeful for the future but we do need a little bit . future but we do need a little bit of patience for a little bit longer as these dogs make their way through the system. we as these dogs make their way through the s stem. ~ , as these dogs make their way through thesstem. , ,,, , as these dogs make their way through thesstem. , ,,, the system. we visit puppies at the national breeding _ the system. we visit puppies at the national breeding centre _ the system. we visit puppies at the national breeding centre and - the system. we visit puppies at the national breeding centre and ask. national breeding centre and ask what needs to be done to fix britain's guide dog shortage.

meet new arrival archie. and his p°ppy meet new arrival archie. and his poppy razor lisa. hers is one of more than 2000 households giving their time for free to help raise guide dog puppies for around a year. it's opened up a whole new world. i've met lots of new friends and part of — i feel part of a community that i wasn't before. not only that, you'd obviously you're doing something very good at the end of the day. it sounds exciting, but it's a big commitment. puppies like archie live at home and often need attention around the clock. as much as it's your instant reaction. puppy: puppy: puppy- you know, let's go for it. a cute little puppy. you've got to remember that that — it's a lot of work. it's — being a puppy raiser is hard work, especially at the beginning. volunteers take their puppies with them to everyday places, from restaurants to supermarkets and on buses and trains

to help get them ready for their future working lives. at the end of the day, ijust remember i'm doing this to enable somebody who's not as fortunate as me that can't see, to actually get some independence. archie! touch. volunteers like lisa are supported by the charity guide dogs, which works across the uk. lovely to keep doing exactly what you're doing and rewarding on the left there. so he always knows where to come. that's absolutely fantastic. good boy. today, puppy development adviser beth has come to see how lisa and archie are getting on. so, the reason that we use hand touch is so when archie is placed with a visually impaired person, obviously they can't see when he's running back, when he's come in. so they can pop out this hand as a target. these routine visits are as much about supporting lisa as they are for training archie. but these are the building blocks he'll need if he's to earn a working harness. good boy. perfect boy.

learning through play is encouraged, but there are some things archie will need to quit before he finishes his training. going to have to learn what this is for. he's just got such a wonderful nature, a heart of gold. and he just loves people. really loves people. happy times, but every puppy raising volunteer knows that if all goes to plan, the day will come when they have to give them back to guide dogs. later, we'll follow lisa and herfirst pup, fergal, as she hands him in for the next phase of his training. what are the emotions that are going through your head today? if i'm honest, i'd say proud. i think that's my biggest one. so proud of what i've done. really proud of him. lisa hopes that both of her dogs will go on to give someone their independence. just proud. forward !

i can't imagine my life without rio. she's so important. she's my best friend, my constant companion, my means of independence, of getting about wherever i want to go, whenever i want to go, and living the life i want to lead. ella caulfield is a first time guide dog user. she was matched with rio in 2018. good girl. she's very open aboutjust how much she benefits from having a guide dog in her life. she gives me that independence that i do need, and i crave that i need to live the life i want. i want to lead. she's good for a cuddle at the end of an evening. if i've had a bad day. and she's an excellent guide. she's very rarely led me astray. it's not a one way street, though. ella looks after rio's needs and wants. today, she's grooming and cleaning her coats. it's one of the responsibilities ella has as a guide dog user to make sure that rio is loved,

happy and well cared for. if they didn't have each other, ella says, she'd never have been able to study maths at oxford university. ella started to lose her sight at four years old. when she was 15, she received some devastating news. when she was 15, she received some devastating news. i think because it happened gradually, it wasn't like an immediate shock of you're not going to see again. i was told i had a retina detachment and i definitely broke down. then i was with my dad. i can remember him hugging me, and the nurse is kind of bringing me a cup of water, just kind of comforting me. and then i got booked in for surgery the next day. doctors operated to see if they could save any site they could, but those attempts failed. nothing came of it. so i've been left with just minimal light reception in my right eye. but it's not useful. i can only see light if i look directly into the sun

or into a light bulb. for ella, a new reality. she learnt new life skills and how to read braille. she applied for a guide dog in may 2017, and then around a year later an exciting call came. it was actually my mum picked up the call so i hadn't got home from school yet. my mum picked up the call. it was some guide dog handler saying, "we've got a match for ella." i think ijust got very giggly and very kind of yeah, very excited. like, yes, this is happening. ella and rio spent around five weeks training with guide dog mobility specialists. can you tell me what it felt like the first time you were guided by rio? i felt lighter. i felt like i was definitely kind of more smiley, more confident. i could move freely and independently without relying on somebody else being there. like many guide dog users, ella would never want to be without a four—legged friend again. ijust — feeling so much more confident and independent and happy that, like, i had this friend with me who was going to be there

permanently with me. rio provides such a kind of a welfare support to me. ella and rio are one of 3,695 partnerships currently working in the uk. that's down from around 5000 before the pandemic. more than one in five people who had a guide dog before then now do not. and i honestly think they are doing their absolute best. like me, kelly nasir is waiting to be matched with a new guide dog. we are among more than 1100 people on the ready to train list. kelly's last dog river, retired eight months ago. her mobility has been seriously impacted. walking with a cane is like walking with one hand tied behind your back. it makes everything harder. not having the dog, that's what makes you feel disabled. because when you have the dog, you just... you get on with things. kelly keeps a busy social and work diary.

she's a barrister, but also a mum. not having a dog doesn't only affect her, but her very young daughter. i'm the one who can't take her out when i want to, i have to say, "well, let's wait for daddy," or let's wait til we go see nanna and granddad, and i can do everything else she needs and i'm her mummy and i love her and i'm the one that's there when she her nightmares and i play with her, and it doesn't impact on our relationship, but i think it impacts on how ifeel about thejob i'm doing as, as a mum. watch the tree. so why do guide dog users like me and kelly find ourselves between dogs? the answer lies here at the charity's national breeding centre in warwickshire. bill has been explaining to me that the waiting lists are currently a bit longer than guide dogs would like them to be for life changing guide dogs — purely for research purposes. you understand, i like to stroke puppies like bill and many,

many other puppies. is this the bestjob in the world or what? this is where a guide dog puppy'sjourney begins_ before the pandemic, as many as 1500 dogs were bred here in a year. in 2020, the breeding programme shut down overnight when social distancing was introduced. it was the first time in the charity's 92 year history that the guide dog service was suspended. guide dogs show their paces along one of the centre's obstacle courses. although training techniques have changed over the years, the aim to match visually impaired people with guide dogs has not changed. and thousands of blind people who have benefited from it will agree with that. nowadays, the charity trains more assistance dogs than anyone else around the globe. little ones like paige spend the first weeks of their life here. for them, they're just having fun.

she's currently nibbling the camera. but staff are watching closely to see how suited they are to guide work. she's got the brains for sure. paige! hi, pup. are you a good puppy? yes, you are. look how cute you are. look at those big - eyes and floppy ears. you're such a good pup. sniff it. 0k. becky and anna are paying close attention to see how paige reacts to human interaction. right. they're looking to see how she deals with problem solving. yes. that's a good sign because a guide dogs ability to find their way around a problem is, welljust part of the job. that's also interesting for us that she's kindl of — she's been to that one. she smelled that one. she's like, it's not there. and she's actually worked out

to go to the other one. - so in itself, that's interesting. during the pandemic, all training and breeding here stopped. guide dogs say they needed to protect their staff and volunteers. so that is our puppy reception. it is really unfortunate. our breeding programme is fantastic. i it's world class and it's always i been able to produce the number of puppies that we've required i to meet our service users needs. and unfortunately, that pause - in our breeding programme has really affected us and there's been other combinations as well. _ so bearing in mind that obviously our puppies, | when they were out with our amazing puppy raising volunteers, _ | they weren't able to experiencel the environment that they would experience with a guidej dog owner, as yourself. so unfortunately, it's been- a combination of things that have meant that we haven't reduced - the number of guide dog partnerships that we really want to. breeding numbers are getting back to normal. in the past year, around 1000 puppies have passed through here. we are in recovery mode - and we are hopeful for the future, but we do need a little bit of patience for a little biti longer as these dogs _ make their way through the system. as you said, these little puppies

here that we saw today, - it will take about two years . for them to make partnership. around 1100 puppies are currently in early training. guide dog says what it needs now is volunteer fosters who can look after dogs in advanced training, dropping them off and picking them up from the charity's offices on weekdays. our volunteers are our lifeblood. guide dogs could not do what we do without our volunteers across the board, across all of our services. and unfortunately, after the pandemic, we did lose a lot of volunteers as people wanted to have a break. being the situation, we also kind of reduced the numbers that were reapplying. so we are at the moment looking very heavily to recruit lots of volunteers, and we've been very lucky that a lot of people have been so generous with their time. hit! good boy. after more than eight years of working with sean. - guide dog sammy is set to retire and shawn may have to wait two| years for his next dog. that was six months ago.

when sammy leaves me, it will leave a huge hole in my heart. a few hours later, sammy left me to retire with family. much of my confidence and mobility left me too that day. sammy is more important to me. and you always will be. you'll always be my boy. but a month later, and it's clear i was still in trauma. you are actually quite moved today, aren't you? sharing my story is by far the hardest thing i've ever done in my career. the impact, though, has been huge. i would like to say to bbc breakfast viewers, thank you so much to everyone who's already applied to volunteer at guide dogs —— since coverage, we've seen a peak in applications. so injanuary alone, we received almost 3000 volunteer applications. 2500 of those were to raise puppies compared with 2000 for the whole of 2019,

the last pre—pandemic year. for lisa's first pup, fergal, it's the end of one journey, but the start of another. all this unpacking the three ties up from home is —— there's biscuits that i always give him half a biscuit at bedtimes. they've been together forjust over a year. i have had this made and had his name put on it and his id number. she's packing up things that she hopes will remind him of their time together. and his christmas present. i can't tell you what it is. the day has come for fergal to start his advanced training. that means lisa must say a painful goodbye. i want him as upset as little as possible. so there are his toys — he's got his biscuits that he has half one at night. i mean, she's generous.

she might like to give him one at first because he deserves it. any time he's not with shelley working and learning, learning what he's got to do, he'll be in there having a good rest. and then we've got some fab free run and some bits out the back as well. so we'll show you them where he can have his downtime and have some good sniffs. yeah, nice doggy hotel and playground, fergal. this may be a sad time for lisa, but for fergal, a new adventure awaits. go get a big boy lead now. many guide dog users stay in touch with their puppy raisers. but many do not. thanks a lot. i'll ring you tomorrow. lisa knows this could be the last time she sees fergal. i'm fine. the one question that i get asked all the time or people say to me, all my friends, family, people i meet in the street, i'd love to do what you're doing,

but i couldn't do it because i couldn't give the dog back. if i can do it, anybody can do it. as a guide dog user of more than 23 years, i know the theory of what volunteers like lisa go through, but being there for the moment of handover was as beautiful as it was poignant. it's hard, but you've got to remember, why are you doing it? you know, people have to help people. there's not enough of it in this world. we are needed — people like us are needed so much to help people like you. the tears are worth it.

hello again. the main difference in the weather we had on thursday from place to place was around how much cloud we saw. the best of the day sunshine was across wales, the midlands, east anglia and southern counties of england. really was a glorious day. but further north we had extensive cloud coming in off the north sea, the thickest cloud for eastern scotland and north east england. and that brought us notjust grey skies, but actually outbreaks of light rain on and off. for much of the day, it turned out to be quite damp. now, over recent hours, we've been detecting some of this light rain still affecting parts of southern scotland, northeast england, but i think there's a tendency for the weather to become a bit drier here over the next few hours as that damp weather works its way westwards across northern ireland. elsewhere, a lot of cloud, and where we keep the cloudy skies overnight, temperatures frost free. the frost limited to the clearest spots, west wales, south west england and into the north west of scotland. now, as we start friday, there will be a lot of cloud around, a damp start for northern ireland, for example. the cloud coming through across southeast england, very thin, it's only 300 metres thick,

so it might thin and break to give some sunny spells. there's a lot of cloud set to come through across northern england. so, if you see some sunshine here, it's going to be quite late in the afternoon. should see some breaks for western wales, parts of south west england and northwest scotland with some sunny spells from time to time. now, through the weekend we'll start to get some thicker cloud coming in across the country, and with that we're looking at some patches of light rain developing. here's the weather picture for saturday, it's an east—west split. eastern areas having the thickest cloud, you might get a few spots of rain falling from that, particularly close to the north sea coast, but in western areas it's dry with the best of the cloud breaks and some sunny spells. temperatures not changing too much and we'll still have that fairly cool breeze with us. the second half of the weekend, on sunday, the cloud certainly thickens up significantly, and we'll start to see patchy outbreaks of rain developing quite widely across the country, but nothing particularly heavy. now into next week, we've got a big change in the weather patterns on the way. northerly winds are set to dive southwards from the north pole,

dragging with it much colder air, a return to widespread frost, and for some of us, the snow on the way as well. now, the first place to see potentially disruptive snow monday will be across northern scotland, where the snow, combined with strong winds, will bring drifting and pretty poor conditions over higher routes. through the rest of the week the risk of snow extends southwards.

welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm marika oi. the headlines.. a meeting of g—20 foreign ministers in delhi ends in acrimony because of bitter divisions over russia's war against ukraine. every g20 member, and virtually every country period, continues to bear the cost of russia's war of aggression. a war that president putin could end tomorrow if he chose to do so. the inquiry into the manchester arena bombing, finds mi5 missed a significant opportunity, to take action that might have stopped the attack. constance marten and mark gordon are charged with gross negligence manslaughter after a baby was found dead in woodland in sussex yesterday