this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm maryam moshiri. our top stories... presenters refuse to appear on more bbc sport shows in solidarity with gary lineker after he criticised the uk government over its asylum bill. lineker himself, who was ordered to "step back" from his duties by the bbc this week, remains tight—lipped about his future. have you spoken to tim davie yet? mr lineker? i'm going to walk my dog and i'm going to do my shopping, so. would you mind letting me do it on my own? we'll hear what fans think of the row. also ahead... leaders from the uk, us and australia will meet for talks on defence, including the plan for australia to get us nuclear submarines.

the british and us governments scramble to reassure their tech start—up sectors after the collapse of one of the main sources of funding, the silicon valley bank. and hollywood is getting ready for its big night — we'll take a look at what's in store at the oscars. the impact of bbc sports presenter gary lineker�*s removalfrom match of the day is continuing to affect the bbc�*s sports output. the controversy over the broadcaster and his tweets criticising the uk government's policy on asylum seekers shows no sign of abating. he'd been told by the bbc to "step back" from presenting its flagship football show, match of the day. on saturday, it led to widespread disruption of the corporation's football coverage

as fellow presenters and commentators pulled out. in the coverage of the women's super league on sunday, there was no bbc in—house commentary and there were no pundits to talk about the game either. let's take a look at the background to this now with our correspondent, steffan powell. but here now is the best action - from today's premier league matches. a match of the day like no other, not even a theme tune. just football and fan noise. i am going to walk my dog and i'm going to do my shopping, so would you mind letting me do it on my own? but this disagreement between gary lineker and bbc bosses is now much more than one programme. he went on to say that he could not comment on discussions about his future just yet. and one former director—general is calling for calm. we have lost a couple of sports programmes so far, which is obviously disappointing for match of the day fans who got a much truncated version of match of the day, but, walking into the bbc this

morning, for a place which is meant to be in complete crisis, is its usual rather boring, solid self. for others, though, this has now become a question of the corporation's leadership. if we're going to draw a line and restore particularly the perception of the independence of the bbc, i think we need to take some real strong measures and i think the chairman of the bbc, richard sharp, should resign. the bbc�*s chairman, richard sharp, is subject to an external review into his appointment and his role in the facilitation of an £800,000 loan to former prime minister borisjohnson. he denies any involvement in the arrangement. there's also an internal review. he has yet to respond to calls for his resignation. tim davie, the bbc�*s current director—general, has said he won't resign and has refuted claims that the organisation has buckled to pressure from conservative mps to suspend gary lineker. some think the former striker overstepped the mark by criticising

government immigration policy and the language around it. the chancellor, jeremy hunt, didn't want to get drawn into it. what needs to happen as a result of notjust the discussions about gary lineker, but also about the chairman of the bbc following the independent investigation that is now happening, is that we need to make sure we maintain that trust in the independence and the impartiality of the bbc. now attention is turning to other sports programmes, the women's super league coverage on bbc two went ahead, but without its usual pre—match presentation. match of the day 2 will air tonight but with a reduced format. the director—general is expected in meetings tomorrow to try and sort the situation before the story ends up dominating the headlines next weekend like it has done this one. steffan powell, bbc news. some interesting information on viewing figures for match of the day on saturday night here in the uk. for those of you who are not familiar with the show, it's the highlights and analysis programme, which covers the day's

premier league matches. it's usually presented by gary lineker, with several former players providing commentary. gary was of course suspended — and his colleagues refused to take part in the broadcast — and that meant instead of a programme which lasts up to half an hour, just 20 minutes of highlights were shown, with no commentary. well, that show was watched by 2.58 million viewers in the uk — that's up nearly half a million on last saturday. the biggest audience of this season so far was in august at 2.75 million — although this is of course not a direct, like—for—like comparison. one of gary lineker�*s sons, george, has been tweeting. he said, "proud of the old man after a busy few days. "shouldn't need to apologise for being a good person "and standing by his word. "the reaction of the public has been overwhelming. "thanks for the support. " as the disruption of the bbc�*s sports coverage continues, let's take a listen to radio 5 live�*s commentator, alistair bruce—ball.

before the football gets under way today, i just want to reiterate what we said ahead of our football coverage yesterday. i know you'll all appreciate this is a difficult time for bbc sport and for all those that work in the department, and we hope it all gets resolved as soon as possible. it's been a very difficult decision to make. personally, i can assure you it has not been taken lightly. but i'm a bbc staff member. i'm a radio commentator for this station. and just like yesterday, we are here to provide our football service to you, our audience. with me now is paul armstrong, former editor of match of the day so you obviously use to edit the programme, what do you make of all that has happened? it’s programme, what do you make of all that has happened?— that has happened? it's awful, it is really sad- — that has happened? it's awful, it is really sad- i _ that has happened? it's awful, it is really sad. i always _ that has happened? it's awful, it is really sad. i always regard - that has happened? it's awful, it is really sad. i always regard myself. really sad. i always regard myself as the custodian of the programme because it's as old as i am, which is quite old, and it has been a staple in all of our lives. the

programme last night i watched for a few minutes and could not watch any more. i appreciate the viewing figures it was like washing a car crash. batch macro watching. but it's unsustainable, i believe it will be the same tonight, but it's just incredibly sad, and i think largely unnecessary. —— watching. d0 largely unnecessary. -- watching. do ou largely unnecessary. —— watching. do you agree with what the bbc has done? ., , , ., ., . ~' you agree with what the bbc has done? ., , , ., ., . ~ ., done? know, but there is a lack of consistency _ done? know, but there is a lack of consistency and _ done? know, but there is a lack of consistency and clear— done? know, but there is a lack of consistency and clear guidelines, i j consistency and clear guidelines, i always understood that if you did not work in news, one example cited is sport or nature, the inconsistency i'm hearing is that lord sugar has tweeted, has been lambasting nick lynch in recent weeks, he doesn't like rail strikes,

that seems an opinion he is entitled to have, gary has attacked the language by swell of brave man, and they are both legitimate viewpoints or neither art and at a time when the chairman is being scrutinised for being donor to the ruling party, and a lot of people investigating other links to other people on the board, it was an incredibly poor decision to look as though you are being partisan because lord sugar has not been sanctioned. and i'm not saying that is the whole story, but the optics are awful. i have been at football twice this week, at swansea yesterday and fulham today, and in all the conversations i have had, it has been about all of that, and it's unsustainable. you has been about all of that, and it's unsustainable.— has been about all of that, and it's unsustainable. ., ~ ., , ~ unsustainable. you know gary lineker ve well.

unsustainable. you know gary lineker very well- what _ unsustainable. you know gary lineker very well. what is _ unsustainable. you know gary lineker very well. what is he _ unsustainable. you know gary lineker very well. what is he thinking - unsustainable. you know gary lineker very well. what is he thinking right. very well. what is he thinking right now? i very well. what is he thinking right now? ., �* ~ ., ., ., very well. what is he thinking right now? ~ ., ., ., ., now? i don't know, i have had a coule now? i don't know, i have had a couele of _ now? i don't know, i have had a couele of quick— now? i don't know, i have had a couple of quick text _ now? i don't know, i have had a couple of quick text exchanges l now? i don't know, i have had a i couple of quick text exchanges this week. i think he was very moved by everybody, the solidarity, i don't understand why bbc management did not realise these guys were a team, they travelled together and watch football together, and if you attack the captain the others will withdraw their support, the captain the others will withdraw theirsupport, ian the captain the others will withdraw their support, ian wright and alan shearer i guarantee would not work on a programme in that situation but it doesn't mean they entirely agree with everything gary says, itjust means an attack on one of them is an attack on all of us, and the commentators in the mess we are hearing, staff members on the radio who have to work having to apologise for working, and it'sjust awful. let's say you are in charge of the programme still, what would be the best day out of this match? something has to give this week.

next week other quarterfinals, i don't know whether gary will be back, he was... he is quite a strong willed man. i don't think he will retract what he says, and i don't think he should, but given that, something will have to give on the other side because he can't go through life with this awful public programmes we are watching at the moment. ,., ., ., ., ,, programmes we are watching at the moment. ., ., ,, ., ., ,, moment. good to talk to you, thank ou ve moment. good to talk to you, thank you very much- _ uk prime minister rishi sunak is heading to the us to meet president biden and the australian prime minister anthony albanese. it's expected the meetings in san diego will agree the details around providing australia with nuclear powered submarines. the uk, us and australia set up a new defence pact 18 months ago known as aukus. one of the main concepts is for the three countries to work together to counter what they perceive as any threats from china. 0ur north america correspondent,

will grant, joins us from san diego where the summit is taking place. it has the potential to be the most consequential trilateral defence technology agreement in modern history, quite honestly. i mean, the idea that the united states and britain would be sharing nuclear propulsion information about how that can be achieved by australia is really significant. the us has only ever shared that once with britain, it's never shared that with any other ally in the world, so it's a significant step. and, of course, let's look at the technology involved. this would include potentially up to five attack submarines being purchased by australia from the united states as well as building several more — we don't know the exact number yet — an update on the astute attack submarines from britain, so it's an extremely important shot in the arm for the shipbuilding industries both in the uk

and here in the united states. but, of course, that needs to be balanced with the fact that there will be real concerns about the sort of escalation of a modern cold war. is it expected that it could be announced where the submarines will be built, or are they open to different options? well, the expectation is that barrow—in—furness in the uk will do very well out of this and certainly i think the uk government is extremely pleased to have sort of landed this. we're going to wait obviously to find out the exact details of what's being built where. but i think in terms of the sort of global geopolitics of it all, we've heard just how concerned china is and that it sees this as, as i say, this sort of extension of a new arms race and that's been its argument. australia has been at pains to point out that these submarines will not carry nuclear weapons, but it is a significant changing in sort of the defence options

really between the us, the uk and australia and the fact that they're binding themselves together in this way more than at any other time since the second world war. and what kind of reaction do we anticipate from china, will? well, ithink it'll be pretty predictably angry. you know, they have already suggested the entire thing is in violation of the nuclear non—proliferation treaty, to which australia is a signatory. australia has made it clear, as i say, that these submarines won't be carrying nuclear weapons, but i think that's unlikely to be enough for china. there is the position eventually where australia will be able to build its own nuclear powered submarines. that's the sort of ultimate goal, i think, of this agreement, but it does sort of heighten tensions in the south china seas. that's where all of this is essentially coming from — the idea that, you know,

with with the operations, with what's going on in terms of china's sort of expansionism in the south china seas, there's a desire, particularly here in the united states, that there is cohesive coordination with australia in terms of being able to monitor and defend itself for any kind of expansion expansionism by china. while travelling to san diego, prime minister sunak also commented on another story today — the collapse of the silicon valley bank — which has provided funding for tech start—up companies in american and the uk. it's the biggest failure of a us bank since the 2008 financial crisis. mr sunak said he recognised the "anxiety" over the collapse of silicon valley bank but his government was working to find a solution that will secure customers' liquidity and cashflow needs.

the governor of the bank of england has said there is not a systemic risk to the financial system, so people should be reassured by that. there is a serious risk to some of our most promising companies in technology and life sciences, the prime minister, the governor of the bank of england were up late last night, working through the weekend, to come up with a solution. the us treasury secretary, janet yellen, said a major bailout was not being considered but she was working closely with banking regulators to respond to the collapse of the bank and protect depositors.

was not being considered. whenever a bank, especially one like silicon valley bank with billions of dollars in deposits, fails, it's clearly a concern from the standpoint of depositors, many of which may be small businesses. they rely on access to their funds to be able to pay the bills that they have, and they employ tens of thousands of people across the country. we've been hearing from those depositors and other concerned people this weekend. so let me say that i've been working all weekend with our banking regulators to design appropriate policies to address this situation. i can't really provide further details at this time, but what i do want to do is emphasise that the american banking system is really safe and well capitalised. it's resilient. sport and for a full round—up from the bbc sport centre, here's gavin. we start with the english premier league where leaders arsenal have made an emphatic statement

to restore their five point lead at the top. they beat fulham 3—0 at craven cottage with all of arsenal's goals coming in the first half. gabriel, gabriel martinelli and martin 0degaard the scorers for the away side, who continue to edge towards their first league title in 19 years. elsewhere in the premier league, manchester united missed the chance to strengthen their grip on the top four — as they drew 0—0 with bottom of the table southampton. although, united did play over an hour with ten men after casemiro was sent off. west ham moved out of the bottom three with a draw against aston villa whilst newcastle are taking on wolves right now — 1—0 alexander isak. in spain, la liga leaders barcelona restore their nine point advantage later — if they beat athletic bilbao. mallorca drew 1—1 with real sociedad and sevilla got the better of almeria to lift themselves out of the drop zone. in germany — freiburg are into the top four — ahead of union berlin, after beating hoffenheim 2—1. werder bremen —

leverkusen are in action. currently level at 1—1. and union could jump back up to third later — if they can beat wolfsburg. and it's a busy day in italy's serie a too. there have already been wins for torino and fiorentina — while hellas verona drew 1—1 with monzo. fourth placed roma have not long got under way against sassuolo and the visitors are ahead, i—0, whilejuventus take on sampdoria later. to tennis where top seed — carlos alcaraz — breezed into round three of indian wells after easing past tha nasi kokkinakis. the reigning us champion won in straight sets — in his first hard court match of the year. alcaraz will play the dutch 31st seed tallon griekspoor next. in the women's draw — iga swiatek has begun the defence of her title in style — with a simple win against ther american claire liu. the world number one won the first 11 games won the first 11 games of the match, winning 6—0, 6—1.

swiatek will face 2019 us open champion bianca andreescu next. australia's hopes of levelling their series with india are all but over after virat kohli's stunning hundred his first test century than three years. india piled on a massive 571, comfortably eclipsing australia's 480, as the fourth test in ahmedabad continues its path towards a likely draw. the tourists closed on three without loss at the close of play on day four. new zealand will go into the final day of the first test against sri lanka needing 257 runs for victory with nine wickets in hand — following a great performance from angelo matthews. he scored 115 as sri lanka were bowled out for 302 in their second innings. and bangladesh have sealed a series win against england with a game to spare. that's after they won the second t20 international by four wickets. england madejust 117 from their 20 overs and najmal shanto hit an unbeaten 46 as his side chased down the total with seven balls to spare.

in rugby union's six nations, ireland remain on course for the grand slam as they end scotland's title hopes. it was an evenly matched first half with ireland ahead byjust a point, but they were unstoppable in the second, scotland failing to add to their score. the match finished 22—7 to the irish. they welcome england next saturday looking to complete first grand slam in dublin. and masters champion scottie scheffler will take a two—shot lead over australia's min woo lee into the final round of the pga tour's the players championship at tpc sawgrass later. it's a big opportunity for scheffler, with the tournament missing some big names for the final two rounds. played really good today. i gave myself a lot of time, good finish, overall a very good day, only one bogey which is really good. tomorrow the conditions will be pretty tough from what i saw, gusty winds in the afternoon so it should be a good challenge. and that's all

the sport for now. just a few hours to go now to the oscars — and finishing touches have been applied to the dolby theatre in hollywood, which is once again hosting the event. one of the differences keen showbiz fans may notice this year — the red carpet has been dropped in favour of one which is described as "champagne coloured". there will also be a crisis team working for the oscars — the organisers say it's there to mitigate any potential surprises after will smith slapped chris rock at last year's event. ashanti 0mkar, film and tv critic, tells us more on the oscars. everything everywhere all at 0nce. that's the one that's a unanimous favourite. it has won of hundreds of awards across the season. and here we are at the pinnacle of the season with the oscars. it is the one that everyone is rooting for. but i'm kind of sitting here thinking the oscars sometimes give us big surprises. and in this case, i think the surprise could be top gun maverick, just because tom cruise, i mean, he's been shooting for mission impossible while these

campaigns have been going on. so he's not really done much campaigning. but he has landed in la. and there's a lot of buzz around this film because it's the one that really drew people back into the cinemas. so there's a big possibility that top gun maverick could actually win best picture. what is it about? everything, everywhere, all at once that has got the academy so excited because it's not the normal kind of film that would garner all the awards, is it? it's so true. i mean, to have this kind of sci fi jumping into the multiverse type film totally isn't. .. it's very marvel, isn't it? exactly. it's very marvel. and when you look at the nominations list and what's really got lots of nominations, you don't see films like the batman was a brilliant film. you don't see that there. you don't see many nominations for marvel�*s wakanda forever,

but you've seen everything everywhere, all at 0nce, getting this big show. i guess part of it is the diaspora experience. part of it is the fact that there's a big lgbtq+ storyline in this film that has captured a lot of people because people from the diaspora have been grappling with this and having this mother daughter story has really worked for them, seeing michelle yeoh, really, i mean, literally on there, doing herfighting, showcasing the range she has and ki huiyuan making this big comeback. it's all really working for this film. and so we can all relate to this is what i feel that, you know, we are all in a bit of crisis at the moment. the last few years have been very tumultuous, and this film kind of lets us process those emotions. 0k, let me ask you something else, because obviously we talk about diversity, i think, almost every year when it comes to the oscars. in some ways, this is, you know, a subject that people want to talk about because it's so important. what is the talk this year about diversity? is there a feeling that we are seeing similar things to what we saw last year?

well, we've seen an uplift in terms of diverse global majority actors and representation generally in categories like best song and in so many other, best composer. all of these categories have a lot of diversity. is that the song from that indian film? i think we have a clip of that we can play while you're talking, which is lovely. it's beautiful, beautiful song and a beautiful film. let's have a quick look. i mean, it'sjust uplifting. so uplifting. that's what you're saying, ashanti, is that uplifting nature of some of the elements. but talk me through diversity. when it comes to diversity, i feel like there was a big snub towards women directors this year, especially, you know, when you have a film like the woman king that came out and to hear that so many voters didn't even watch it, to have viola davis giving us a career best performance where she literally transformed herself to do this role in such an important role, too, that was very disappointing. and the fact that we didn't see women directors

like gina prince—bythewood from the woman king actually up there in the nominations list, that kind of... it kind of hurt me. i have to say, i felt very emotional about this because i thought that there were films to say of films like til and danielle deadwyler, people who could have been in these nominations who totally were snubbed. and that felt really sad for me. getting angela bassett actually into that into that list feels good. whether she will win or not, i don't know. but i'm really rooting for her because there are lots of people who should should have won over the years. michelle yeoh, for example, as well. a little earlier, we interviewed paul armstrong, former editor of match of the day, and he suggested that the chairman of the bbc facilitated a for borisjohnson, just to say mr sharp has denied any involvement in the arrangements of a

loan for mrjohnson, the bbc has conducted an internal review mr sharp may have in his current role as bbc chairman.— sharp may have in his current role as bbc chairman. more, as always, the bbc website, _ as bbc chairman. more, as always, the bbc website, goodbye. - it's a match marred a day thanks to winds, yesterdayjust three degrees and bow moral and the most of us a cold day, to day temperatures into double figures but that has set in place a rapid thaw. indeed a lot of places had snow yesterday but the snow has completely melted away, but still hanging across northern scotland, colder air will hang in here for much of the week ahead with snow in the forecast as well. 0vernight, outbreaks of rain will push northwards, a windy night and very mild, temperatures double figures for most but the colder air.

tomorrow the area of low pressure still with us bringing a windy spell of weather. the winds coming in from a south—westerly direction. the rain easing to blustery showers, but with gale force gusts of wind quite widely across england and wales, the gusts could be strong enough to bring down one or two tree branches. now, temperatures with those south—westers still on the mild side, 10 to 13 degrees england and wales, about eight for northern ireland. but notice colder air sinking southwards again in scotland, and indeed we are going to see some further hill snow here, with some significant accumulations above 200 metres elevation. some of the higher hills could see five to ten centimeters. and then, as we go through monday night, the cold air moves southwards, we see a risk of a few centimetres of snow over the hills of northern ireland, northern england and wales as well, leaving a legacy of icy conditions into tuesday as this colder air dives southwards across the uk. so tuesday will be a really cold day compared to the last couple. plenty of sunshine around, a few wintry showers across north—western areas, some accumulating snow again

in the hills of northern scotland, but the temperatures is what you'll notice — we're not looking at double figure temperatures, instead, two to seven celsius, but feeling colder than that in those brisk winds. wednesday, a cold, frosty start again. there should be some sunshine, a few snow showers for northern scotland, but then a band of rain moves in off the atlantic and you might see a spell of hill snow here working across northern ireland and, potentially, through wednesday night and into thursday, hill snow for a time across northern england and scotland, although impacts may be limited because it will eventually turn milder and any hill snow will eventually turn back to rain as milder air works in.

this is bbc news, the headlines... here in the uk, presenters have refused to appear on more bbc sport shows in solidarity with gary lineker. there's been reduced coverage of the women's super league and the same will apply to match of the day 2. talks continue to try to resolve the dispute between the bbc and lineker. the row is over impartiality after the sports presenter criticised the uk government over its asylum bill. the british prime minister rishi sunak has said he recognises the "anxiety" over the collapse of silicon valley bank. he insisted his government is working to find a solution to secure customers' liquidity and cashflow needs. leaders from the uk, us and australia will meet for talks in california

on a new defence agreement. the aukus pact aims to counter china's perceived threat