tonight at ten — the metropolitan police in deep crisis, accused of systemic abuse against both staff and the public. the uk's biggest police force finds itself castigated in an official review for "institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia." this paints a very bleak picture and it is very obvious we have not made enough progress. i'm completely attuned to that and i don't push it to one side, and we are absolutely determined to tackle this. images of two sisters who were murdered in 2020 were shared by two officers — the girls�* mother says the report is terrifying. they're the people you call

when all else fails, and if we can't trust them to do theirjob properly, that's a very, very scary thought. the report was commissioned following the rape and murder of sarah everard by a serving officer in 2021. we'll be considering the future of the met in the light of the findings. also tonight... borisjohnson has accepted that he misled parliament in relation to social gatherings during lockdown, but he insists it wasn't intentional or reckless. on the second day of the chinese state visit to moscow — a warning to the west not to supply more weapons to ukraine. a report from the highlands on a giant project which could be the uk's biggest hydro—electric scheme in a0 years. and why the hollywood star gwyneth paltrow is in court after a collision on a ski slope. and coming up on the bbc

news channel, arsenal's women have it all to do if they're to reach the final four of the champions league, as bayern munich strike first. good evening. the biggest police force in the united kingdom, the metropolitan police service, with its 43,000 officers and staff, has been plunged into the worst crisis in its long history. a searing report by baroness casey has found that scotland yard is corrupted with "institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia." sir mark rowley, the commissioner of the metropolitan polic, has accepted the findings, and the systemic failings, but he refuses to accept that the problems are "institutional." the force has been

reeling from a series of scandals in recent years, including the abduction, rape and murder of sarah everard in 2021 by a serving officer, wayne couzens. among the changes recommended by the casey review are an immediate change to vetting standards, and a dedicated women's protection service to deal with rape and sexual offences. we start tonight with this report by our special let's remember how all this began. report by our special sarah everard walking home, kidnapped, raped and murdered by a met police officer. it shocked then, and this report is frightening, a force that is broken, failing. there is, without doubt, a discriminatory culture right across the metropolitan police, and i think that institutional racism, institutional sexism, institutional misogyny and homophobia are definitely present across the organisation.

we think the met is not able to assure all of us that its officers are of sufficient integrity and standards to be serving police officers, so, it needs to clean itself up. the met has lost the consent to police, the report believes. it can't protect its own staff and it can't provide adequate policing for the victims of crime. for too long, there has been a culture of denial about the scale of its problems. the details set out in this report of a broken force are frankly horrific. rape evidence that had to be discarded because the fridges in police stations didn't work, a sikh officer who had his beard cut by colleagues, a muslim officer who found bacon in his boots, and female officers routinely targeted and humiliated by their male counterparts. the voices in the report are bleak.

couzens and carrick, the met�*s murderer and rapist. baroness casey was clear that those who have the power to arrest need to have the trust of those they police, so this needs to be a landmark moment. the commissioner of the met was apologetic but not accepting every word of the report. it's disturbing, it's upsetting, it's heart—breaking and i apologise to those who have suffered as a consequence. do you accept baroness casey's findings that the force is institutionally racist, institutionally misogynistic and institutionally homophobic? i accept her diagnosis about the racism, misogyny and homophobia in the organisation, and also that we have

these systemic failings, management failings, and culturalfailings. i understand her use of the term institutional, it's not a term i use myself. it is nearly a quarter of a century since the met was labelled institutionally racist after the murder of stephen lawrence. in a statement, his mother, baroness lawrence, said... shabnam chaudhri was a detective superintendent in the met and lived through some of the racism the review highlights. there was a particular officer who whenever i was outside of the room referred to me as the p, with the p word. she believes the met must change from top to bottom. my message to sir mark rowley is to ensure that leadership is supported at every level, ensure that those who want to whistle—blow can speak out so that you can root out the dirty, rotten apples that sit

within your organisation, who have a huge and detrimental impact on trust and confidence. when met officers took photos of the dead bodies of murdered sisters nicole smallman and bibaa henry and shared them with colleagues, it has long been obvious to others that the met is dysfunctional. ifelt vindicated, and it doesn't bring me pleasure, because they are the people you call when all else fails, and if we can't trust them to do theirjob properly, that's a very, very scary thought. when a robbery victim is sent inappropriate messages by the detective investigating and he keeps hisjob, it has long been obvious the police can't police themselves. there have been reports in the past that nothing has changed so i think a lot of people that i know are thinking, what makes this any different? who is going to measure those steps to be taken? what is going to be the repercussions if this doesn't happen?

reports have come, commissioners have gone, and still the met hasn't changed. the warning is this is its last chance. for too long it has failed too many, the very people who need protecting, including those just walking home. lucy manning, bbc news. sir mark rowley — appointed six months ago as commissioner of the metropolitan police — says he is already working to improve standards, but even his supporters acknowledge that restoring the public�*s trust in the force is a hugely challenging task given decades of problems. our home editor mark easton has this assessment. "the met has become disconnected from londoners. "their consent can no longer be assumed." a damning conclusion from today's report that should ring alarm bells amongst politicians and senior police officers across the country. officers across the country.

in britain we have what is called policing by consent, the idea that officers serve as members of the public in uniform and exercise powers with the approval of the people that they serve. but that relies on trust, and in london that has fallen significantly. 89% of londoners trusted the met back in 2016, dropping to a low of 66% one year ago, the most recent figure is 71% and the expectation must be that today's report will see trust plummeting still further. why should i trust them? why? do you think they can change? no. because most of them, they're thieves, they're liars, they're rapists, they're abusers, they're everything you can think of. i like to hope that they're not all like that, and at the end of the day they are the people protecting us so it's not good to hear that. i've got friends that. want to join the police but because of the racism it's put them off _ in the short—term, today's report is actually going to make it harder

for the met to do what louise casey recommends, to recruit many more women, people from ethnic minorities and the lgbtq+ community. police morale will also be damaged by the review�*s ferocious criticism. and it's notjust in london. police forces across england and wales are vetting all their officers and every misconduct hearing, every court case, may further undermine public confidence. six forces have already been put in special measures by inspectors. so, will the politicians give the met commissioner sir mark rowley the time he says he needs to turn things around? the report recommends reviewing progress after two and five years, but in the immediate future, the problems are likely to worsen. i will be holding the metropolitan police and the mayor of london to account by measuring their progress. i ask londoners tojudge sir mark and the mayor of london not on their words but on their actions to stamp out racist, misogynistic and homophobic behaviour.

the home secretary has backed the met commissioner to get the job done. but with a general election probably next year and manifestos to be written before that, will party leaders demand radical reform of policing sooner? page after page, the report provides both a detailed diagnosis of what has gone wrong and a blueprint for radical reform. the strength of its findings require an immediate and urgent response. today marks a huge moment for policing in london and across the country. there will be more dark days before improvements are visible. for traditional british policing, the warning lights are flashing. mark easton, bbc news. our special correspondent lucy manning is here. previous commissioners of the metropolitan police have faced enormous challenges but is it fair to say that mark rowley, given the

really damning evidence of this review, faces a bigger task than anybody else? i review, faces a bigger task than anybody else?— review, faces a bigger task than anybody else? i think that is right. the warning _ anybody else? i think that is right. the warning to _ anybody else? i think that is right. the warning to the _ anybody else? i think that is right. the warning to the met _ anybody else? i think that is right. the warning to the met has - anybody else? i think that is right. i the warning to the met has changed or they face being dismantled, and what to say about this report that he now faces? for those that have read it it is difficult to know whether to be angry because of the deep—seated discrimination in it, or to be upset because the details are so distressing or exasperated because the met have known about this for so long and been in this culture of denial and i think baroness casey felt all of those. all i know is that having reported on the disappearance of sarah everard and the conviction of wayne couzens and spoken to people who have been abused by people in the matter is that for those reading this report, we can't remember another review into a british

institution that was so ferocious and so damning and that is what sir mark rowley faces. this is the institution that we turn to for help and baroness casey put it in a very strong way when she said, bluntly, it can't be ourjob is the public to protect ourselves from the police. there has been apology after apology and the time now is for change and the met and policing in general has nowhere to hide. lucy manning, many thanks. the former prime minister borisjohnson has accepted that he misled parliament in relation to social gatherings during lockdown, but he insists it wasn't intentional or reckless. the admission was made in written evidence that he presented to a parliamentary committee, which is investigating whether he lied to the house of commons about parties in downing street. tomorrow, the privileges committee will have the opportunity to question mrjohnson in person, as our political editor

chris mason reports. he might be the prime minister before last, but borisjohnson still commands attention and still has questions to answer. are you confident your evidence will clear you, mrjohnson? - do you think you will be vindicated? today, he had a first crack at answering them. what's being looked into now isn't about whether he broke the law, we know he did that, at this event on his birthday in the cabinet room. it isn't even about whether these gatherings, the subject of inquiries already, broke the rules or the guidance. it's about whether moments like this, in the house of commons, were misleading. i'm sure that whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times. before he turns up to face questions from a committee of mps tomorrow, we've seen today four main themes to his defence. he accepts that the house of commons "was misled" in some instances, but adds...

there's a dollop of blame for the advice he got, or didn't get. mrjohnson says... he adds that it was... "..self—evidently reasonable for me to rely on assurances that i received from my advisers." the committee alleges that it ought to have been obvious to him that the rules or guidance wasn't followed. he replies... "if it was obvious to me, then it would have been obvious to the dozens of others who also attended." mrjohnson also criticises the committee... "it is important to record my disappointment at the highly partisan tone and content." here we are again with borisjohnson making himself the centre of the story. i think after all of his lies,

scandals and failures, the british publicjust want to see an end to this soap opera. you're a friend of borisjohnson. does this get him off the hook? it shows categorically that there's not a single shred of evidence that boris knowingly misled parliament. what's more, when it's shown that inadvertently there had been some inaccuracies, he corrected the record. tomorrow, it won't be borisjohnson's friends doing the talking, it will be him, in front of mps, in front of the cameras — his character and political future on trial. here is a sense of how tomorrow here is a sense of how tomorrow will here is a sense of how tomorrow will play out. borisjohnson will spend the morning and the company of his lawyers, as he has done all day today, i'm told, preparing for that evidence session. at around nine o'clock, a further bundle of written evidence will be published. i'm told that tonight there has been something of a wrangle and a skirmish between the committee and mrjohnson's team over exactly what that will amount to. at around two

o'clock, the session itself will start. borisjohnson will take an oath on the king james bible and will be played clips, like the one you sawjust will be played clips, like the one you saw just there, will be played clips, like the one you sawjust there, of his appearances in the house of commons. they will be an opening statement from harriet harman, the labour mp who chairs the committee, and an opening statement from boris johnson. and then are they questioning begins. in the end, this committee has to decide whether or not borisjohnson, in misleading the commons, did so inadvertently, recklessly or intentionally, and then decide what any sanction might amount to. and it will be up to the whole of the commons to determine if that should be carried out. there is the prospect that mrjohnson could be suspended from the commons, or even face a by—election in his west london constituency. not for the first time, the stakes for boris johnson are very high. chris mason, westminster. there'll be special coverage across bbc news tomorrow, with analysis and reaction from our team at westminster,

and live updates on social media from our correspondents listening to boris johnson's evidence to the committee. and we'll have a special edition of newcast, with live updated pages on the bbc news app and online. plenty of places for you to access all of tomorrow's news on the events at westminster. in moscow, president putin has warned that if the uk goes ahead with a plan to supply ukraine with ammunition which contains depleted uranium, russia will be "forced to respond". the threat of unspecified retaliation was made on the second day of talks with president xi of china. the two leaders have been discussing what's been described as a peace plan for ukraine, put forward by beijing, as our russia editor steve rosenberg reports. take two world leaders... ..a dash of kremlin choreography... ..and you get this. the symbolism was clear.

0n the world stage, xi and putin, china and russia, are coming together to forge what they claim is a strong partnership. the talk at the table was about expanding cooperation, but equal partners they are not. russia, under pressure over its war in ukraine, is increasingly dependent on china. and vladimir putin is increasingly critical of the west. later, he slammed the uk for deciding to provide ammunition to ukraine that contains depleted uranium. translation: i would like to note that if this happens, _ then russia will be forced to take action accordingly. i'm talking about the fact that the west is already starting to use weapons with a nuclear component. tonight, this warning from moscow has sparked a reaction from london. the uk ministry of defence has pointed out that depleted uranium

has nothing to do with nuclear weapons or capabilities. it says it's a standard component the british army has been using for decades, and that russia is deliberately trying to disinform. a chinese peace initiative for ukraine made little headway. president putin blamed kyiv and the west. but this is a war he started, and he shows no sign he's ready to pull out his troops. might beijing be ready to supply russia with weapons? that key question was left unanswered. in any case, xi's visit is seen here as a diplomatic coup. at last, the kremlin has something to celebrate. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. in the west midlands, police say a man has suffered facial burns after his jacket was set alight

as he walked home from a mosque in birmingham. the attack happened in edgbaston yesterday evening. a video of an attack, shared on social media, is being examined as part of the police investigation. 0ur midlands correspondent phil mackie reports. walking home from prayers last night, the man was minutes from home when he was approached by another man, there was an altercation, then he was set alight. the man was attacked just down there. there are still scorch marks on the pavement. neighbours managed to put the flames out, then they brought him up here, and took him to his family home. i heard a lot of commotion, so i came out to look. all i could see was a fire engine, an ambulance, police. it's not nice. it's not a nice feeling at all. 0n the eve of ramadan, the attack has shocked the area. all through the night last night and this morning, they've all been checking their cctv, ring doorbells, and have been able to track the whole location this man went throughout the ward,

which has been phenomenal. and that information has helped the police a great deal. this afternoon there was an arrest just around the corner. a man taken into custody on suspicion of attempted murder, and questions about whether the attack in birmingham could be linked to one on an 82—year—old in ealing who was set alight on his way home from prayers a few weeks ago. we are aware of the incident that happened in london. we are actively working with the metropolitan police to see if those two incidents are connected, and that's a major part of our inquiry at the moment. tonight, a police presence at the mosque where the man who was attacked said prayers yesterday evening. police have promised extra patrols and have urged people not to speculate about why the attack happened. phil mackie, bbc news, birmingham. the energy giant sse has announced £100 million of funding for a giant project in the highlands, which would be the uk's biggest hydro—electric scheme in a0 years. vast amounts of the the world's electricity are generated by hydropower. if the new project goes ahead,

sse says it will help tackle climate change and improve the uk's energy security. 0ur scotland editorjames cook has been taking a look. does a solution to the climate crisis lie here in the highlands? this is where sse wants to build a giant dam and two reservoirs. on days when power from wind farms is plentiful, water would be pumped uphill and stored for release to generate energy by spinning turbines on still days when it's scarce. we've flown in here to this remote and stunning spot. this is coire glas, where the hydro scheme is going to be located. the dam will be built down there, and feast your eyes, because when it's all finished, where i'm standing now will be about 90 metres underwater. by tunnels and pipes, the water is sent down to the power stations... it's 80 years since the uk

government took charge of hydro in scotland. building dozens of giant dams, they brought power, jobs and tourism to the glens. now, say the private power companies, it's time for a new generation of hydro. i think across the highlands of scotland we've shown that hydro can become a critical part of the landscape, and i'm convinced that coire glas would be the same for generations to come. is it definitely going to happen? it's viable from an engineering perspective and from an economic perspective. but, obviously, a number of things have to fall into place. sse will need clarity around how the uk government is going to support projects like coire glas. a review of energy policy is under way. ministers say they're committed to supporting hydro. using water to generate power is an age—old idea, but in many ways it's never been more relevant. hydro can help the world tackle climate change by moving away

from oil and gas and it can help the uk reduce its reliance on importing energy from abroad. we need a lot more energy storage capability, so, you know, probably ten to 50 times greater than the capacity of coire glas to move energy between the seasons, of using that spare wind and solar power from the summer and make use of it in the winter. but with the united nations warning that humanity is on thin ice because of climate change, there may be some hope in the highlands. james cook, bbc news, coire glas in the great glen. artificial intelligence is changing the way prople search the web. unlike traditional search engines, generating thousands of suggested answers, searches powered by ai give much more specific responses. the big tech companies are confident that ai will revolutionise the way we work online.

microsoft already has one of these ai chatbots, and now google is launching its own version to a limited number of people at first. it's called bard, and our technology editor zoe kleinman is one of the first to try it. this time four months ago, you'd probably never heard of an ai chat bot. now millions of us are trying them out. unlike the regular search we have become used to, it can answer questions rather than send you links. it can write songs, speeches and even do homework. microsoft has invested billions of dollars in the creators of chat gpt, and google wants to catch up with bard. let's start by asking it to write a thank you note for a wedding gift. thank you note for a wedding gift. thank you for celebrating our wedding with

us, we will be using our gas to help with our honeymoon. not bad! how is far different to the microsoft version? there are a few key differences. bard is connected to the internet so it knows about current affairs. it has also got a pattern here so you can go back to google search to check your answer, and that is important because these things do sometimes make mistakes, and even make stuff up as well. google is rolling this out very slowly. you have to be over 18 and have a google account before you can even get on the waiting list. google describes bard as an experiment. so, will it replace us? the creators of this tech hope it will free us up to do more fun things in our lives. at some fear that al do more fun things in our lives. at some fear that ai will start taking over more and morejobs, sooner, rather than later, leaving us with far fewer ways to make money.

zoe kleinman, bbc news. the hollywood star gwyneth paltrow has appeared in court in utah, accused of crashing into a man in a skiing accident in 2016, causing a head injury and broken ribs. terry sanderson — who's now 76 — alleges he was hit from behind, but ms paltrow says it was mr sanderson's own fault. the case, which is drawing media attention worldwide, is expected to last eight days, as our correspondent sophie long reports. the oscar—winning actress was used to gracing the red carpet, and appearing on the silver screen, before founding her wellness company, goop. today, she appeared in court, accused of a human hit and run. this is the case of terry sanderson versus gwyneth paltrow. at the centre of this case is who hit whom, on the slopes of park city, an upmarket mountain resort and celebrity hang—out that hosts the sundance film festival. 76—year—old terry sanderson says she was skiing recklessly and struck him from behind, smashing his body to the ground, before continuing her descent down the mountain, leaving him stunned and seriously injured. ms paltrow has sentimental feelings about skiing.

her dad, who left this life too early, took her skiing as a kid at alta. but her lawyer said she's a conservative skier, and he was the culprit in the collision, and she who received the full body blow. the court will decide who should pay damages. mr sanderson is seeking $300,000, saying he sustained a permanent brain injury and four broken ribs. but miss paltrow�*s lawyers say he's overstating his injuries and filed a counterclaim for a symbolic $1. the central question is who had right of way, who was further down the slope when they slammed into each other? miss paltrow is expected to testify in the case, which continues. sophie long, bbc news, los angeles. time for a look at the weather. here's chris fawkes. it was scotland's warmest day of the year so far. temperatures reach 60 celsius early today in aberdeenshire. a bit brighter today,

but we have plenty of showers around and there is more of those to come. rainfall totals continue to tot up and there are quite a few places that have seen one and a half times the march average rainfall. with the unsettled weather pattern we have got, i reckon there will be some places that get double the march rainfall average before we finish the month. at the moment we have a band of cloud working in off the atlantic. this is bringing widespread, heavy outbreaks of rain. the rain sweeping its way and across northern ireland, getting into scotland, england and wales. it tends to clear from the west later in the night, only to be followed by some fairly blustery showers. a mild night, temperatures and england and wales are nine to 11, scotland and northern ireland, slightly fresher air moving and later in the night. tomorrow, another unsubtle kind of day. we have some strong wind working into western scotland, with isobars pinching together. that will accelerate the wind up two gusts of 75 mph, western scotland in the morning, strong enough to bring localised disruption. rain clears eastern england and that we are all

in the same boat. a day of sunshine and heavy showers with