hello, i'm paul scott at the bbc sport centre. fulham striker aleksandar mitrovic is facing a lengthy ban after the football association said its standard punishment for his sending off at manchester united was "clearly insufficient". the striker has been charged with violent and improper conduct after a straight red card for pushing referee chris kavanagh during sunday's 3—1 fa cup quarterfinal defeat. fulham boss marco silva has also been charged with abusive behaviour towards match officials. he'll also face an improper conduct charge for allegedly throwing a water bottle in the direction of the assistant referee. the club has also landed an additional charge of failing to control its players.

england's euro 2024 qualifying campaign begins this week — but without in—form striker marcus rashford. he's one of three players to have withdrawn from the squad for the qualifiers against italy and ukraine. the 25—year—old is having the best goal—scoring season of his career for manchester united, with 30 goals in all competitions so far. but he's withdrawn from gareth southgate�*s squad after picking up a knock during the 3—1 fa cup quarterfinal win against fulham. mason mount and nick pope will also miss the start of england's qualiying campaign. fraser forster has been added as goalkeeping cover. meanwhilejonny evans has withdrawn from northern ireland's qualifiers against san marino and finland. the leicester centre—back has 100 caps for his country — but misses out due to a hamstring injury. the new wales captain aaron ramsey is urging his young team—mates to "make their own history". they begin their qualifying campaign against croatia on saturday. wales then take on latvia

in cardiff three days later. these games mark the start of a new era for the country, having lost several senior players — including record goal scorer and former captain, gareth bale to retirement. it's been a long time since i last had and a lot has changed in that period of time. i feel like i'm ready for it now. i've learned a lot over the years, i was 20 years old when i last had it. so of course, it is a very unusual experience at the time, one that i will be forever grateful for from gary, but now i feel like i am ready for this. it is a really proud moment for me and my family and hopefully i can be a very successful time for us. two sporting stars who've excelled in theirfield have been recognised

with an accolade bestowed on the most valued members of the community — by being awarded freedom of the borough. first up beth mead — has been awarded the freedom of the borough of scarborough — her home town. last year's european championship golden boot winner says it's a source of huge pride. meanwhile in oldham — rugby legend, kevin sinfield has also been given the freedom of the borough. it's in recognition of the millions of pounds he's raised for research into motor neurone disease. the current england rugby union defence coach has taken on a number of ultra challenges to support his former team—mate rob burrow. golfer matt baldwin admits his head is still spinning after he won his first dp world tour event — at the 200th time of asking. the 37—year—old, who nearly quit the sport altogether after a series of injuries, won the sdc championship in south africa by seven shots.

unbelievable, relly, it is still not sunk in. obviously it has been a goal of mine to actually achieve it so, yeah, it is a dream come true. just knowing it open the door to bigger and better events and knowing that i could prove to myself that i could do it, it was... ..a surreal moment, really. my brain is still spinning now. and finally this is how the course is being readied for one of the toughest one—day races in cycling. paris—roubaix is raced over cobbles and to keep the course clearfor the riders... ..organisors have found an unorthodox solution. in three weeks�* time there'll be 200 riders racing through at top speed — but for now, it's being grazed by a 40—strong herd of goats. they've tried sweeping the course and setting fire to the weeds, but it seems this is the most ecologically sound solution. and that's all the sport for now.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all of them main news stories for you at the top of the hour — straight after this programme. this week on the travel show... ..mont saint—michel marks its millennium. that view is pretty amazing. there's the shadow of mont saint—michel on the sand. the parps and toots that make this port one of a kind. horns blaring one, two, three, four, five. and saving these bundles of fluff from extinction. twittering and squawking yeah, he's thinking about it. all right. we'll give him some time. there he comes.

i'm beginning this week in northern france on a journey that two and a half million people take each year. you're kind of getting an idea of how popular this place must be because it's off season, it's super cold, but this bus is packed. you can see it. i've just got a glimpse of the abbey. it does look pretty special. this is mont saint—michel, one of france's most visited sites. it's an island off the coast of brittany in normandy, connected to the mainland by a half

a mile—long bridge that opened back in 2014. and this year, the island celebrates a very special anniversary. it is the 1,000 anniversary of the construction of the church. how on earth did they construct something like this 1,000 years ago? mm—hm. yeah. this is the best of medieval engineering. and it started off as a sanctuary dedicated to saint michel — saint michael — in the year 708. then it took off. you know, the pilgrims started to come. they had to come across the bay, so walk through the sands, and then it developed in the 11th century with the construction of the church. the abbey sits at the top of the cliff, surrounded by the village below. even nowadays, there are quicksands out there. there are a lot of strong currents. so it must have been a really important site for people to want to make that kind ofjourney to see this place.

yeah. it was the journey of a lifetime. it's just quite funny to come in here and the contrast with the medieval look and then you've got shops. people are often surprised, but, don't forget, there were pilgrims coming her. yeah. and they needed to be housed for one or two nights. so there's been inns and souvenir shops, even, for hundreds of years. yeah. of course, they were a religious kind of souvenirs — medals, you know, rosaries, these kinds of things. so what's it like taking tourists around here, then? well, it depends on the time of the of the year, really. it can be a very nice, peaceful time, you know? but i tend to like less and less working here in the middle of summer. because? why's that? because there's too many people. but it's beautiful, of course. a new governing body recently took over the running of mont saint—michel with plans to improve the tourist experience.

viking helmets, crossbows, the eiffel tower. you see? they're encouraging people to visit off season and steering them away from the souvenir stores towards more of the surrounding area. but accessibility is still a bit of a problem. it's so steep and so slippery that even this electric attachment is struggling to get up there. so my strategy is to get as much speed as possible up that hill, and as soon as i start slowing down a bit, i'll be like, "solwenn, save me!" 0n yva? she replies in french excusez—moi. attention. attention! coming through. solwenn! 0ui. we got it. come on! she pants

the islands governing body told us that making any changes to this protected historic site is difficult. but they they're hoping to find a solution within the next few years. 0nly around 30 people live here on mont saint—michel. bonjour! bonjour, ade. ca va? ines and jean are two of them. their home has been injean�*s family since before the 17th century and is full of trinkets and antiques. tell me about this. in french: this is your house? 0ui. and what is it like to live in this place day to day?

up in the abbey, the bell is rung for evening prayer. the abbey is home to a small number of monks and nuns. members of the monastic fraternities ofjerusalem. some of them spend their mornings down in the village tending to their guesthouse or working part—time jobs to help cover the order�*s expenses. yes. it's really a unique place. and, you know, also, we are here to say that this place has been made first for god and for worship. would you just like it

just to be purely holy? no, that's... you know, that's the way it is. you cannot change the reality. when we come here in mont saint—michel, we know that there is going to be a lot of noise during the services, that some groups are going to walk during the mass or whatever, but we are here for them also. back outside, i've taken to my crutches. these are the last steps, ade. are you sure? yes. they are the last steps. is the champagne up here for me? and now we have to go down?! and now we have to go down. ha! oh, my days. that view is pretty amazing. and look at this. wow. look at the... there's the shadow of mont saint—michel on the sand. oh, yeah. that's the best time of the day. when i come to this place,

in particular, the north tower, as we call it, for me, it sums it all up. i often compare the mont saint—michel as being the jewel and the bay, the box. so that's the jewel in the box. you've got it all. nice. and that image has been there for 1,000 years. yeah. and if you're thinking of coming to france this year, here's some things to look out for. the loire valley is among the best places to see classic france — vineyards, medieval towns and more than 300 chateau. the city of blois is the best jumping off point for the wider region and is itself home to two of the most popular castles, including the chateau de chambord, a 16th century masterpiece that many

think leonardo da vinci had a hand in designing. in the summer months, you can head for nantes in brittany, which every year, hosts a huge citywide art trail. it's 30 stages, taking the big attractions at thejules verne—inspired machines de l'ile theme park. you have to pay to ride the great elephant — or sea world carousel. but many other sites on the route are free. the beach town of boulogne is home to europe's biggest aquarium. and it's vast. there are about 1,600 species at nausicaa and the main tank's so big it takes about six weeks to fill. there are rotating exhibitions. right now, augmented reality allows you to experience what life is like for creatures in the open seas. still to come on today's show —

the canadian port that likes to blow its own horn. horns honking and the big bear hugs that could help save a famous marsupial from extinction. that's quite the noise! well, that noise is — you're close enough. so stick with us for that. i'm in mont saint—michel, in northern france, where an unlikely dish has become something of a tourist attraction. i'm getting into the beat here! the mere de poulard omelette has been served here since the 19th century, when the owners were in need of a quick and easy recipe to serve to the island's many visitors. since then, it's become a strange staple of the french election cycle. if a presidential candidate visits mont saint—michel

and doesn't eat the omelette, superstition says they're doomed to failure. and some people might say that you have to be pretty importantjust to afford it because prices start at 32 euro just for an omelette! you do get entertained, though. whisk taps beat the moment of truth. time to see if this lives up to all the hype. i like it. really light and fluffy. i'm feeling presidential already. to canada next, and a gem from our archives. 0n the country's east coast lies the seaport town of stjohn�*s, capital of the province of newfoundland and labrador. its little harbour may look like many others around the world,

but listen a bit harder and you'll soon spot what sets it apart. honking horns honk woo! it's a symphony in the harbour. that means we're not playing violins. we're not playing bases or banjos or guitars. # yo—yo—yo—yo—yo! # meep, meep, meep, meep! we're playing wind instruments and the ships' whistles. # meep! # meep, meep, meep! # meep, meep, meep! # beep, beep, beep! or something like this, you know? i go from ship to ship and ask the officers if we could use their horn for the day or for that particular time. and most of them are happy to participate because it's something different from the mundane tootling the horns. bells ring this is a time score. and the way this works — the coastguard will give the countdown over channel 11.

that's the ship—to—shore radio here. and there's two people. you have a time—taker who reads out the time, the seconds, loud, and the other person follows the score. i am very keen on experimental and weird music. and so, when asked to compose a piece of music for five to ten freighters, i easilyjumped at the chance. i had no idea what it was going to sound like. basically, we're given a graphic score where we can kind of basically like, fill in dots, so to speak, that indicate when somebody is supposed to honk their horn. 41, 42, 43... quite often, you can hear a harmony which is actually not intended butjust happens to come out like this sometimes. it's absolutely beautiful. one, two, three, four... horn blares ..five, six, seven. horns honking continues

sheila was doing the horn today. herfirst time. and she started out, "ok, i got to get this right, - "i got to do this right." and after a while, she got into it and got into the ad—lib, - improvised spirit of the thing. and you could almost see her... her body language was going to the music. - and i thought, "ok, this is fantastic." i 59, 60! yes! laughter good job. whoa! i didn't get quite the melodic structure i was hoping to get. but it was a beautiful... beautiful to hear anyway. well, it's interesting, i guess. it puts a little bit of a twist. in your lunch hour, for sure. so, other than that, - i think it's pretty interesting and comical, i guess.

i don't know what else more to make of it, really. - he laughs horns honk people think we're crazy. of course we're crazy! well, actually, no, that's what art is all about. if beethoven had been in stjohn�*s or if he'd been here today, he probably... certainly would've written our symphony. right, we're off to australia next, and to a sanctuary that might well end up saving a whole species from extinction, and not just any species. we're talking tasmanian devils, a creature made famous by popular culture but which faces a really bleak future if we're not careful. we sent jacqui wakefield to see some of their work a few hours north of sydney.

jacqui: this is a whole other world from the arid plains many people think of as rural australia. barrington tops national park, about five hours' drive north of sydney, is all about greenery, lush rainforests and wildlife everywhere. the bush here is full of animals like koalas, wallabies and kangaroos. but there's one animal that's been newly introduced, and it could help save the species from extinction. devil growls it's hoped these hills will provide a safe haven for the tasmanian devil, whose populations are being ravaged over on their home island, tasmania. 90% have been wiped out by a highly infectious disease that causes facial tumours and eventually death. but this sanctuary is at the centre of efforts to save it.

hey, guys, thanks for coming out. welcome to aussie ark. now, we have a couple of special little animals for you guys to have a look at today. we've got sandra dee here, and we also have pickles. so far, aussie ark has had seven breeding seasons with a total of around 300 baby devils, orjoeys. i think shejust likes moving around. she'sjust investigating. so, devils have a very, very good sense of smell. so you can see her nostrils going. she's sniffing around because we all smell all new. it's all new people, all new smells. look at all her whiskers! they admit here that inviting visitors in was something of an afterthought. but kel reckons it's now an important part of the conservation effort. to have a sweet devil joey that you can cuddle and interact with absolutely changes people's perception. because they're sweet and they have personalities and they're inquisitive, and that's really important. no—one is going to want to protect

and look after something that they're scared of or don't understand or see asjust really aggressive. and why save the tassie devil? so, australia actually has the highest rate of extinction of mammals compared to the rest of the world. one of the more recent animals to go extinct was the tasmanian tiger, leaving the tassie devil the biggest marsupial predator in australia. the joeys aren't set loose into the wild of the sanctuary until they've done some growing. each animal considered for release is selected for its genes. they're making sure the population's genetically diverse enough to be self—sustaining. and before this one, called wedge, goes, there's a thorough health check. people would expect this devil now to bejumping out and grabbing onto your throat. yeah. look at it. we just get a little grumble. devil growls she laughs that's quite the noise. well, that noise is

"you're close enough". she laughs that's enough, folks. come on, mate. 0k. he's in. watch your legs. please grab it and twist. can you give a reading, please? of course. 11.15. woo! is that a big boy? that's about as big as you would expect a male to get. yeah. wow, what a boy! 0ut he comes. 0k, and he's heavy for kel. all right. so come in... even while he's wiggling. just down low here. watch for him to swing, 0k? sure. tim gives him the once—over while i administer the anti—tick medication. that's it. just going to swing. ok, i'm already having a look over and around. so fingers and toes — all good this side. he's a big boy, so he's been dominating the yard where he is. yeah. and we've got a tiny little discharge in the eyes. 0nly got about a kilometre. nah! no, much shorter. she laughs oh, thank you very much. ok, so we're going to drive into the middle of a fenced

sanctuary, which essentially for these devils now is being released to the wild. people, particularly those that don't live in australia, can't understand the concept of our invasive species and predators. like, we've had introduced to australia fox, cat and buffalo and pig, and rats and mice. we didn't have any of these things. so what we have to do is create islands of habitat that are invasive pest free — invasive species free. this is us. we're taking two devils out with us. miss figg, a female, and wedge, the big strapping male at the health check. they'll have an area of about 4.5 square kilometres to call their home. effectively for them, that feels like living in the wild. we've got a great vista. they'll take off, probably follow the road. long—term... yeah.

..what�*s the hope? the long—term hope is that devils in tasmania survive in the wild, and that they function in their ecological role. and secondarily, that we have devils back in eastern australia, on mainland. so he'lljust kind of think about it for now? well, sometimes they're not even facing the right way. he is. yeah, he's thinking about it. all right, we'll give him some time. here he comes. come on, mate. 0h! see how quiet he is? yeah! look, really shy, really timid. hello. ah—ah! good boy! how goods that? he's kind of having a bit of a think. yeah, amazing! it's great, right? for now, let's just hope these two are warm tonight and that this one hasjoeys in three months and the male has represented his genetics. so, you know... ? and that's the nature of conservation. it's really complex. yeah. but we can at leastjust have some simple fun knowing that, after a decade, we've got to a point

that we can let some devils go into this island of habitat. amazing. ade: jacqui wakefield, miss figg, and wedge in barrington tops national park. right, that's it for this week. coming up next time... ..carmen�*s in the philippines, diving into life on the island of siargao and seeing for herself the recovery one year after super typhoon 0dette swept through the tropical paradise. so, were you here during odette? typhoon odette? i was here during 0dette. er, probably the worst experience of my life. wind blasts and don't forget, you can catch up with all our adventures on social media. but for now, i'm off to get warm. because it's freezing! bye— bye!

hello. it's already been a pretty wet start to the new working week and there's a lot more rain to come, i'm afraid, over the next few days. the rainfall totals really mount up. the wettest weather, the largest rain accumulations across the western side of the country. eastern areas having a bit of shelter, but even here, there'll be some rains come through. now, over the next few hours, some heavy bursts of rain work from west to east. there'll be a lot of low cloud around our western coast and hills, so hence the risk of some mist and fog patches, but it's going to be a mild start to tuesday morning with temperatures starting off at around nine or ten degrees. the rain across eastern england, north—east scotland will clear sunny intervals follow, but we'll see some heavy thundery

showers breaking out pretty widely. and then the next band of rain slips its way into northern ireland as we go through the afternoon. now, temperatures will be on the mild side with highs typically around 14 or 15 degrees celsius, well above average for march. as far as the rest of the week goes, well, it stays unsettled. more rain on the cards and it turns quite windy for a time midweek.

welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm monica miller, the headlines... china's president extends a hand — and a peace plan — to russia's vladimir putin in the pair's first meeting since the invasion of ukraine. the united nations releases a major new report on climate change — dubbed a �*survivial guide for humanity'. all eyes on the asian markets opening — as banks and governments around the world try to address turmoil in the financial sector and encourage confidence the barricades go up in new york in preparation for protests — amid specuation of incoming charges for former president donald trump. and the hunt for this shark's head — why scientists in the uk