live from london, this is bbc news. french president emmanuel macron meets with president xijinping in beijing. france faces another day of pension protests after talks between unions and the government break down. the husband of scotland's former first minister nicola sturgeon is released without charge while further investigations are done into the scottish national party's finances. and a pair of sneakers worn by michaeljordan is expected to break records at auction next week.

the former chief executive of scottish national party peter murrell has been released without charge by the police, pending further investigation into party finances. mr murrell, the husband of former first minister nicola sturgeon, was arrested on wednesday morning. a police search resumed on thursday morning at the couple's glasgow home. let us cross live to our scotland correspondent james shaw in glasgow. what is the picture they're just now? $5 what is the picture they're “ust now? �* , what is the picture they're “ust now? m what is the picture they're 'ust now? m , what is the picture they're 'ust now? as you can see, the scene behind me — now? as you can see, the scene behind me is — now? as you can see, the scene behind me is a _ now? as you can see, the scene behind me is a big _ now? as you can see, the scene behind me is a big police - now? as you can see, the scene l behind me is a big police evidence tent obscuring the front of peter murrell and nicola sturgeon's house. inside the tent is a police van and over the course of yesterday and it appears also this morning, police officers have been coming and going, bringing material out of the house and putting it into the van. so

clearly, this is a live investigation at the moment. it is continuing, even though peter murrell himself was released by the police without charge, this investigation is certainly continuing. figs investigation is certainly continuing.— investigation is certainly continuini. �* , ., continuing. as you mentioned, he has been released — continuing. as you mentioned, he has been released without _ continuing. as you mentioned, he has been released without charge - continuing. as you mentioned, he has been released without charge so - continuing. as you mentioned, he has been released without charge so it. been released without charge so it suggests there is not enough evidence to charge him at the moment, our policing to where this might go? —— are the police hinted where this might go? then;i might go? -- are the police hinted where this might go?— where this might go? they have to look at the — where this might go? they have to look at the evidence _ where this might go? they have to look at the evidence they - where this might go? they have to look at the evidence they have - look at the evidence they have gathered and we think there is a lot of it. they were also at the headquarters of the scottish national party, the party peter murrell was the chief executive of, the party nicola sturgeon, his wife, was the leader of, taking out crates of material yesterday as well. so they need to assess all of that evidence and then what happens under the system in scotland is that the police put together a report, that is then sent to the public prosecutor, the procurator fiscal, as they are known in scotland, and

it is the fiscal who decides whether there should be a prosecution or not. he will look at the report and decide whether there is enough evidence for a prosecution to go ahead or potentially decide that there is not enough, and maybe ask there is not enough, and maybe ask the police to do more work or potentially, that could be the end of the matter. but this is an extraordinarily difficult situation for the scottish national party. it was only a few days ago that nicola sturgeon was the first minister of scotland and peter murrell was the boss of the ruling party. they have resigned from theirjobs. this is a big headache for the snp. the new leader of the party and first minister of scotland, humza yousaf, who is facing really the first big test of his leadership, with this situation, which is still developing, the investigation which is continuing at the moment. find is continuing at the moment. and james, is continuing at the moment. and james. there _ is continuing at the moment. and james, there has _ is continuing at the moment. and james, there has been no suggestion that nicola sturgeon is directly involved, she was not arrested but she has that she will cooperate fully with any inquiries. that

she has that she will cooperate fully with any inquiries.- fully with any inquiries. that is ri . ht. fully with any inquiries. that is right- we _ fully with any inquiries. that is right. we have _ fully with any inquiries. that is right. we have been _ fully with any inquiries. that is right. we have been told - fully with any inquiries. that is right. we have been told that l fully with any inquiries. that is - right. we have been told that nicola sturgeon has not been asked any questions by the police at this point. she has said that of course, she will cooperate with their investigations. the other question thatis investigations. the other question that is being asked is whether the timing of her resignation was connected with the fact of this police investigation continuing. we can't answer that question at the moment. one thing we do know, though, is that nicola sturgeon was supposed to be taking part in a climate change event later today. she has now said that she won't do that because she does not want to distract attention on the issue of climate change by the questions that might well be asked by people, journalists, reporters, about the investigation into her husband. ok. investigation into her husband. 0k, james, investigation into her husband. 0k, james. thank _ investigation into her husband. ok, james, thank you very much. let's return to the situation in taiwan where authorities are monitoring a chinese aircraft carrier which has been spotted off its east coast. the move follows a meeting in california between the taiwanese

president and the speaker of the us house of representatives. china has condemned the meeting as provocative. our correspondent shaimaa khalil has been closely following events. she's in tokyo. good to see you. what are taiwanese officials saying?— officials saying? they are saying that taiwan's _ officials saying? they are saying that taiwan's warships - officials saying? they are saying that taiwan's warships are - officials saying? they are saying l that taiwan's warships are closely monitoring the chinese aircraft carrier, the shandon, which has passed through taiwanese south—eastern waters, we understand that radars and taiwanese warships are as close as five or six nautical miles. we also understand from the taiwanese defence ministry that the aircraft carrier past through the flashy straight between taiwan and the philippines and then went into south—eastern taiwanese waters. we also heard from the taiwanese defence minister, who said that while the aircraft carrier is in training, the timing of its presence

in that area is quite sensitive. and of course, the timing he is referring to is the meeting between the time and is president, tsai ing—wen, and the us house of representatives speaker, kevin mccarthy in california. that was her stopover on her way back to taiwan after her visit to central america. even though washington maintains the visit was not official, it really angered beijing. these are some of the remarks by beijing's foreign ministry about the meeting. it urged the united states to "stop upgrading substantive relations with taiwan, stop creating factors that could cause tensions in the taiwan strait, stop containing china by exploiting taiwan is great. it is a very different tone when you hear what was being said in california. kevin mccarthy said that friendship between the taiwanese people and the

american people is of very profound importance. he reiterated the importance. he reiterated the importance of supplying taiwan with defensive weaponry. the taiwanese president said that the democracy and peace that the self—governing island has been working very hard to build is under an precedented pressure and challenges. —— unprecedented pressure. they are interesting scenes, stark scenes because at the same time, you have seen the friendship between the us and taiwan, this tension and anger from vision, tension in taiwanese waters, all the while, president xi jinping receiving the european leaders, the french leader in beijing. it is a fine balance that they are all trying to maintain. china sees this as a matter of chinese internal politics, of course, chinese sovereignty. the united states makes the point that it is important to maintain these ties with taiwan, all the while, i

think, japan and the japanese leadership is watching this very closely because the last thing they want to see is again this heightened tension in the taiwan strait. thank ou for tension in the taiwan strait. thank you forjoining _ tension in the taiwan strait. thank you forjoining us. _ this weekend marks 25 years since the good friday agreement, which ended three decades of conflict in northern ireland. during that time, our ireland correspondent chris page was in his last year of school in county down. he's returned to sullivan upper to reunite with classmates and his teacher to reflect on what that time meant to them. no—one under 30 had known peace in northern ireland until the good friday agreements. the parties which signed it included sinn fein, which was linked to the ira. we often discussed the deal in class and debated it at the current affairs society. there were still this amazing optimism of everyone here that, yes, this can happen and we're not going to give up hope on it. in terms of teaching it, i sort of felt, "there is something happening here."

this is actually — it's notjust history, this is now. we're going to start this report from bbc newsline on the 22 of may, 1998, right from the start, just to set the scene. archive: for one teenager, . it was an important day in more ways than one. it is my birthday for a start, so i'm 18 on the very day of referendum which means that i can vote, it is my first vote and, as i say, ijust finished an a level today. you know, i'd always been interested in politics in my life, but really, it had always felt like a just of a distant thing that other people do. you know, what really comes to me is how alive politics felt at that period. my own kind of personal history was that my father was a prison governor in the maze prison, and he was shot and killed by the ira outside our home in 1984, when i was three and a half. i remember you, when sinn fein came, where you were sitting, _ right up the front, and people still tend to sit at the front. at those meetings, which is why

in a way you stood out, - but i also was aware - of your story, in that sense. i'll read something from this that kind of speaks to the moment of my father's murder, i suppose, but also tries to reckon with an aftermath, and it's sort of an aftermath which is endless, really. "my father rejoices. that's what it means, my name, i mean, but did he? what, if anything, was the source of hisjoy? was there joy between us before he left or after he walks through the hall, the squeaky door saddle, across the tiles, walking outside, into the morning, into those bullets sailing through the blue air, into perforation, into a heap, into gravel, an almost

human shape, into death, into silence or whatever comes after." what are your thoughts on the good friday agreements sort of then and now? one of my father's murderers is going to get out under good friday and did get out of prison under the good friday agreement, and i would have voted, if i had a vote, in favour of it. what sort of left me from those conversations was the courage of the political leadership here. how they put their political career on the line to do the right thing in the end. i am really hopeful that can happen again. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. the cameras of the future have arrived.

cameras click. and they've been catching motorists using mobile phones and driving without seatbelts across east yorkshire and northern lincolnshire all week. it captures images like these on a similar system in australia and artificial intelligence then sorts out the law breakers for an operator's human eye to make decisions on fines or prosecution. the artificial intelligence looks for if you've got a hand up to your ear holding a phone, or if you're holding a phone on your lap, send the images to the operator. they're then checked and then we'll go from there. great. about time they've done something. people should not text, phone, whatever, using mobiles and driving. every day, there are collisions where people i are killed or seriously injured. i and a lot of those are caused - by people on their mobile phones. and that's why safer roads humber wants its own van like this in the future. you're live with bbc news.

nhs bosses say next week's four—day strike byjunior doctors in england will risk patient safety. the body that represents nhs trusts, says health leaders are worried about the duration and timing of the strike, which comes after the long easter weekend. our health correspondent dominic hughes reports. so we're now going around to our ambulance off—load area where all of the patients that arrive by ambulance are seen. in the emergency department at royal stoke university hospital, preparations are under way for what will be the biggest disruption to nhs services since the series of strikes began in december. hi, how are you getting on? what have we got? so there's just three on the way in. we've got spaces in ambulance triage for all of them if needs be. next week's four—day walk—out byjunior doctors, who make up around half of the hospital's medical

workforce, many of them with years of experience, means it definitely won't be business as usual. next week, strikes after the bank holiday. the ghost rotas are done, they're going to come out. there's extra nursing shifts out as well. so from tuesday, we're all being asked to consider whether we really need to go to hospital. we're here if you need us. so that would be the first thing that i say. and this is the same as we said over covid. if you're unwell and you need help, the nhs will be able to look after you at this time. but you'd like people to think carefully? think carefully, use it carefully, be sensible. it's easter, be sensible with your diy, please, be sensible with your alcohol intake and yeah, just keep yourself safe. senior consultant doctors will be on hand to help out in departments like a&e, but the duration and timing of the strike in the easter holidays means it poses particular challenges. since we've received the dates of the strikes, we've been planning what we're going to do, how we're going to do it, putting rotas together to try to keep things safe.

and the issue of patient safety weighs heavily on the bosses trying to manage the pressures. myjob is to make sure that our patients are kept as safe as possible and to put that mitigation in place. i can say it will be incredibly difficult to do that. we will, of course, do everything that we can to mitigate, put things in place to make it safe. but it will be incredibly difficult. the impact of the strike is causing concern across the health service. the body representing hospital, community, mental health and ambulance trusts has heard from leaders throughout the nhs. yeah, it's busy. we've got three patients at the moment. and it's notjust urgent and emergency care that's a worry. there are fears too about the effect on the growing number of patients who now face delays to planned surgery. it's impossible to say that there won't be harm to individual patients, particularly those that have been cancelled more than once over the last few months. so...

i think, like everyone, we want people that can to do everything they possibly can to avert the strikes next week. there is still time for the strike to be called off. hi, site manager, can i help? but at present that seems unlikely. the nhs and patients are braced for what could be a tough week. dominic hughes, bbc news, stoke. britain's first residential gambling treatment centre for women has opened its doors to cameras for the very first time. the gordon moody facility opened in 2021, after the number of women receiving support for addiction more than doubled in five years. rachel stonehouse has been speaking to three women who've been through treatment at the centre. everything was revolving around the gamble. around the gambling. and i was just anxious all the time. i would get to a point where i wasjust gambling. it was boring but i

had to do it because that side of my brain was going, gamble, gamble. it has been the lowest point of my life. - the saddest point. because everything around me, i was destroying. - they hit rock bottom. but now they are back at the place which changed their lives. do you find the creative sessions therapeutic? i do, actually. it is the only time that i can be like in the present. very abstract. the women lived here away from their loved ones for five weeks. rebecca was 19 when she started gambling almost a decade ago. i had my first son and i got postnatal depression. and i rememberwinning, i went on a gambling site and i won really big. then i never stopped. what was it like leaving your children for five weeks to come here? it is so hard to be in here when you have a baby at home that is poorly.

they are saying to you, "i want a cuddle" — they are saying to you, "i want a cuddle" and _ they are saying to you, "i want a cuddle." and you are... sorry. gambling completely took over caroline's life. she once spent £30,000 online in three months. you go to different worlds when you are gambling. l you have no concept of time. you isolate yourself. i was sitting in my room. i would stay up until two in the morning. | then i would go to i work in the morning. it was a constant cycle. i felt the only way out was to not be here. . life would be easier for everybody. it would be cheaper for everybody. yeah, so much so i sat in my car in may and actually wrote - a letter to my parents. the centre feels like a home. since it opened 18 months ago, the number of women applying to come here has more than doubled. elissa was only nine when she first started playing on slot machines.

i'd kept my gambling a secret for years. obviously, it did eventually come out. i would go to work. in between everyjob, i would be a gambling. i would be coming home from work, gambling before my missus came home. i started taking my phone into the bathroom with me when i was having a bath and things like that. all across the country, people are pausing. i that is what people are being encouraged to do by the gambling companies. the body which represents the industry in the uk, the betting and gaming council, told bbc news it is encouraged by the latest figures which show rates of problem gambling among women are down on the previous year at 0.1%. they also say they will donate more than £100 million to tackle harmful gambling. and now all three women are looking to the future. i mean, i haven't gambled. i haven't relapsed. that is what is important for me. and every day is so new. like, we are, every day that i am

gamble free is a new day to me. how are you getting on? really well. how does it feel outside treatment now that you are back here? because of you guys, - i am moving forward, not back. my family have now got a life too. thank you for everything. you taught me how to love myself and that. stop it. — this makes me really emotional. sorry. it's massive, isn't it? that's me done. - rachel stonehouse at the gordon moody centre in dudley, in the west midlands of england. let's just take you live to marseille. demonstrations have been taking place in france today over controversial pension reforms. nationwide protests against the pension bill are now into a second week.

the french government has decided to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. it has been a pressing time for president emmanuel macron. the sound of a brass band can be pretty rousing — but one charity representing them says the number of community bands across the uk is falling. brass bands england has been working with young people to try to revive the tradition, and say it's paying off, with record numbers now taking part in competitions. steve knibbs reports. brass bands facing recruitment problems isn't really anything new, although the reasons are very different. here in 1962, the city of gloucester band told the bbc that it was the royal gloucestershire hussars, no less, that had poached its best players. why do you think your players have gone to the army band rather than stay with yours? well, it may be because they get

paid for the rehearsals, which are treated as parade. 61 years later, the flowers band in full rehearsal. currently the sixth best band in the world, according to the rankings, and ironically formed after the disbandment of the royal gloucestershire hussars. the band is thriving. but after the pandemic, others folded, while some bands lost huge numbers of musicians for very modern reasons. these days, children have all sorts of distractions, and they want instant gratification. they want to turn on a computer game and be an expert on a guitar or something like that or a game like that. so i think it's much harder work to take up a musical instrument and to stick with it and to persevere with it because the results take a long time to master. musicians say that brass bands are often misunderstood

and the reality, and what keeps people playing, is very different. playing some of the best venues in the country, you know, we play the albert hall every year, sage gateshead, symphony hall in birmingham, travelling abroad, france, switzerland and without being in a band i wouldn't have done those things, had those opportunities. brass bands england is on a mission to show young people that brass is cool again. here at nailsworth primary school, one of hundreds of workshops being held across the country. the idea is to nurture links between primary schools and local brass bands, and it appears to be paying off. we had the youth champs up in stockport and there were 38 bands there, over a thousand young musicians playing. so i think at that end of the scale, things are looking really healthy and hopefully the work that we are doing is helping that increase, because you can't have the top end without the bottom. and it seems thatjust having a go has piqued a bit of interest.

i was surprised because i thought we would just do like maybe classical orjazz or something, but we got to do a lot of different music genres. but you'll have another go? yeah! i thought it was going to be just sat down and he'd just teach us. but he made it really fun, and i thought that really made me want to come. thanks to workshops like this, youth bands are doing well and it's hoped that the young musicians will keep up their interest and move into the community and main competition bands to ensure they have a thriving and long term future. steve knibbs, bbc news nailsworth. yeah! what about that? give yourselves a big cheer. steve blowing his own trumpet, there. ask anyone who's the best basketball player of all time — and they'll probably say michael jordan. his career records are astounding,

and in 1999 he was named the greatest north american athlete of the 20th century. so it's no surprise that the clothes he's worn throughout his career can sell for a lot of money at auction, but as wendy urquhart reports, he's about to break another record there too. michaeljordan played 15 seasons in the nba and won six nba championships with the chicago bulls, and the shoes he wore in two of the 1998 finals are about to go under the hammer. michaeljordan, when he first started wearing airjordans, or they were getting the airjordan ready for him, he wore black and red ones which were actually banned by the league. and so they would receive a fine for breaking the uniformity clause. so "bred" sneakers, black and red sneakers, have always sort of had this mythical relationship with snea ker—heads. the breds are in mint condition and they've been signed in silver by the player himself. they are expected to fetch

between $2 million and $4 million, but one bid has already been received, and the auction has only just been announced. when we opened the auction, we received a bid for $1.8 million, which will actually break the world record for any pair of sneakers that has ever sold publicly. so if you have a spare few millions hanging around, make sure you submit your bid by april 11. and if you need a bit more time to save up, don't worry, a second auction is already in the works, which will have more sports memorabilia from michaeljordan as well as the football hero pele, and many others. wendy urquhart, bbc news. now here's the weather with carol kirkwood. hello again. if you are out and about over the next few days and you have an allergy to tree pollen, across the southern half of england and all of wales, the levels are going to be high or on saturday, very high. today, a ridge of high

pressure building in behind this weather front. the weather front has produced a fair bit of cloud and rain in the early part of the day. it is continuing to move into the north sea, clearing all but the north—east of scotland and shetland, and in shetland, it will also be windy. behind it, we have got sunshine, bright spells and showers. some of the showers will be heavy down the east coast, from lincolnshire down towards kent. of course, they are showers so we won't all see one but top temperatures today between 7—14. tonight, we hang onto some of the showers for a time and also the rain across shetland. look how the skies clear and in light winds, there will be one or two pockets of mist and fog forming. with low temperatures, we will see some frost as well. —1 for example in glasgow. first thing tomorrow means we start with a fair bit of sunshine. most of us will hang on to a lot of sunshine through the day. a weather front close to the east coast is going to bring in more cloud and also it will be thick enough here and there for the odd spot of drizzle

or indeed the odd shower. a bit milder tomorrow. nine to about 14 degrees being the top temperatures. as we head into the weekend, high pressure still clinging on. but this weather front coming in from the atlantic tries to make inroads into the west of northern ireland, bringing some patchy rain. but it fizzles. on sunday, this clutch of fronts makes more progress. on saturday, still with a weather front close to the east, there will be areas of cloud. it should break up more readily than friday, though, and we will have some sunshine but more cloud building in the west. here is our weather front, introducing some light, patchy rain into the west of northern ireland through the afternoon. top temperatures up to about 14 or 15 degrees. that weather front fizzles and on sunday again we will be chasing banks of cloud. there will be some sunshine around, but do you remember that clutch of weather fronts coming in from the atlantic? they are going to come in later in the day, bringing some rain probably by around lunchtime into northern ireland,

with highs of up to 16 degrees. overnight and into easter monday, this weather front clears the east and then on easter monday, it is going to be showery.

live from london. this is bbc news french president emmanuel macron meets with president xijinping in beijing france faces another day of pension protests after talks between unions and the government break down here in the uk: serving london metropolitan police officers are moved from tackling serious crime to investigating wrongdoing in the force. and the study of ancient norwegian ice suggests antarctica's glaciers could retreat faster than expected.

hello and welcome.