this is bbc news. the headlines. at least eight people are killed during violence in pakistan, sparked by a corruption case against the former prime minister imran khan in the uk, the publisher of the mirror newspaper has apologised to prince harry for unlawful information gathering, at the start of a trial over alleged phone—hacking. palestinian militants fire hundreds of rockets and mortars into israel, following a wave of israeli airstrikes in gaza. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's will perry. after 51 goals this season, we've become quite used to manchester city's erling haaland

making the headlines but today — it's his dad who is stealing the limelight — and not necessarily for the right reasons. alfie haaland says he was escorted from his seat following manchester city's equaliser in their 1—1 draw at real madrid in the first leg of their champions league semi final tie on tuesday night. a video on social media appears to show haaland taunting the home fans before being removed from his box. there had been reports that he had also thrown food at the supporters — but he insists that �*isn�*t true.�* later, city and real may get an idea of who they could face in the final as rivals ac milan take on inter milan in theirfirst leg — a first meeting between the two sides in the champions league since 2005. they share the stadium but ac milan are the home team for this leg. they've been sweating on the fitness of rafael leao, their star forward trained away from the group on tuesday. just two points separate the teams in serie a, and milan defender fikayo tomari insists they're ready to handle the occasion. a derby in the semifinal —

doesn't get much bigger. we are really excited for it. the last round against napoli, a lot of people were counting us out for it and we managed to pull off two great performances, we played three times in ten days and we didn't lose. a lot of people know, for ourselves we know what we can do and i think now a lot of people are starting to see milan are a good team and we just have to try and put our best foot forward and try to win that game. meanwhile on thursday, it's a big night for west ham — with their fans dreaming of their first silverware since 1980. they take on dutch side az alkmaar in the first leg of their europa conference league semi—final at the london stadium — and their manager david moyes admits he'll put on his dancing shoes if his side go all the way and win it.

they said you promised they would dance if they were to win it, so are you practising your moves? it dance if they were to win it, so are you practising your moves?- you practising your moves? it will be that dad _ you practising your moves? it will be that dad dancing, _ you practising your moves? it will be that dad dancing, but - you practising your moves? it will be that dad dancing, but i - you practising your moves? it will be that dad dancing, but i don't i be that dad dancing, but i don't know— be that dad dancing, but i don't know if— be that dad dancing, but i don't know if i— be that dad dancing, but i don't know if i promised, but let's hope that there — know if i promised, but let's hope that there is an opportunity to try and do _ that there is an opportunity to try and do that. without the bag there could be some huge news for england's women — with the world cup just around the corner. star striker beth mead says she's ahead of schedule in her return from an acl injury — and is still hopeful of making the tournament. england manager sarina wiegman had said it would be a �*miracle' if mead returned to full fitness — but the arsenal forward says she's feeling okay and back to kicking a ball once again — although does admit the final decision on her inclusion will lie with wiegman. the tournament begins on thejune 20th. in the indian premier league, the chennai super kings are trying to close the gap on leaders the gujerat titans, but they've not started well

against the league's bottom side the delhi capitals. the super kings won the toss and chose to bat — but have lost early wickets at regular intervals — falling to 117—5. a win for the super kings would put them a point off the top — while victory for the capitals would see them move off the bottom. currently they are 135—6 in the 18th oven _ and the nfl have announced their european schedule for the new nfl season — with a number of teams on their travels. the jacksonville jaguars will come to england twice — playing at wembley and the tottenham hotspur stadium. it will be the first time an nfl team has played two regular season games outside the us in the same season. five regular season games will be held in europe for the first time in 2023, with two in germany also being a first. and that's all the sport for now. now to ukraine and the fighting for bakhmut — which has become one of the bloodiest battles since russia invaded. the first shots were fired there nine

months ago — and while russian forces have been slowly advancing, it's been at a heavy cost — with tens of thousands of casualties. reporting from the area is incredibly dangerous. 0ur defence correspondentjonathan beale and his cameraman lee durant went to the frontline of the battle and sent us this special report. a rare pause in this, the longest, bloodiest battle of the war so far. butjust a few hundred metres away, the russians are still waiting, still trying to encircle the city of bakhmut nearby. ukraine's president calls it a fortress of ukrainian morale. but like these trenches, it's under attack every hour of every day. gunfire. go, go, go. gunfire. let's go there. bakhmut�*s been under siege

for more than nine months. we'll have to wait a little bit. so we've being shelled by the mortar. as you can see, it's pretty damn close. but eugene demonstrates its continuing resistance. let's go, quickly. quickly. so we're going to shoot back right now. try to kill some of them. gunfire. let's get out of here! let's go, let's go. it could be said 1000 times, but this is our country and our land. like, what else can we do? well, you could give up bakhmut and just move back.

for us, if we would retreat, for example, yes, we could save a few lives, but then we will have to assault back and we could lose much more lives. we need to stand here till then. but even defence is taking many ukrainian lives, young and old. stefan�*s comrades call him dad. at 61, he's still half the age of the ancient maxim gun he's firing. but he, too, was seriously injured hours after we left his position. too dangerous to enter into the cauldron of the city itself, we tried to get a view from the distance. this is it. bakhmut is burning. a line of tower blocks pretty much all that's left standing.

in a bunker, they direct artillery fire to support their infantry — their last line of defence on the western edge of the city. this drone feed of bakhmut tells you a scene of utter devastation. not a building left here in the city that hasn't been either destroyed or damaged. and itjust tells you how fierce this fighting has been. wagner — are they mostly wagnerfighters? yeah. the us estimates more than 20,000 russians have been killed in the last five months, many of them here in bakhmut. myroslav tells me they don't care about their people. as we watch two russian soldiers, he says they just advance in vain hope. his comrade adds, "they walk

towards us with no fear." he says they must be on drugs. russia hasn't given up yet. their artillery is still firing, but not as frequently as in the past. ukraine hopes bakhmut will have exhausted their enemy as they now prepare for their own offensive. but it also shows taking ground can prove even more costly. jonathan beale, bbc news, bakhmut. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

imagine an entire lifetime locked down. that is what these rescue parrots have survived, caged and alone as pets. this century has recently be inundated with unwanted and neglected parrots. 1dietitian recently be inundated with unwanted and neglected parrots.— and neglected parrots. when we look at the lot of— and neglected parrots. when we look at the lot of the _ and neglected parrots. when we look at the lot of the legroom _ and neglected parrots. when we look at the lot of the legroom on - and neglected parrots. when we look at the lot of the legroom on the - at the lot of the legroom on the parrots, it tells us how old they are and although we are getting a wide range of age there is a lot coming from lockdown era, so i think it's the same problem with parrots has happened with dogs and cats, that people in lockdown realised it was a lot of hard work. intelligent, social animals, _ was a lot of hard work. intelligent, social animals, to _ was a lot of hard work. intelligent, social animals, to thrive _ was a lot of hard work. intelligent, social animals, to thrive they - was a lot of hard work. intelligent, social animals, to thrive they need j social animals, to thrive they need to live in a flock, but costs have rocketed to over month just to feed them, so it today open day, visitors can donate or sponsor a bird. it's also about educating the public. these parrots have found a forever home at last with space to their wings. you're live with bbc news.

now let's catch up with the business news. and we start in the us where a short while ago we had the inflation figures for the month of april which show that consumer prices rose at a slower—than—expected pace of 4.9%. that's a small fall of 0.1% compared to the previous month. it will provide some relief to the federal reserve that the central bank is succeeding in its fight against inflation. let's get the latest on this with our north america business correspondent michelle fleury in new york. that is the big question, all the action, the interest rate rise we saw from the us federal reserve, finally starting to pay dividends. yes, the huge takeaway is when you look at it we are talking about ten straight months of slowing inflation and that has to be good news. when you look at the inflation peak of

9.1%, that is good news that we definitely far away those crisis days and there is still more work to be done. when you consider where the fed want inflation to go at 2% on an annual basis and obviously it still remains high. the area that the economists are looking at in particular is this is subsector, because coming out of the pandemic where we saw prices rise initially was in goods, problems we were talking about the supply chains and now it is things like eating out in restaurants, airfares, the ongoing price of used cars, those are the things that that are proving to be tougher to bring down prices on. michelle, thank you for now. let's speak now to steve hanke, professor of applied economics at thejohns hopkins university in baltimore thanks for being with us and let's start with the inflation figure. good news. things heading in the

right direction but some way to go to get back to normal levels of inflation. . , to get back to normal levels of inflation. ., , , ., , inflation. that is true, but as michelle indicated, - inflation. that is true, but as michelle indicated, inflationl inflation. that is true, but as i michelle indicated, inflation has been dropping for nine months straight and the reason for that is the fact that the money supply has collapsed on us in the us. and on the year—on—year basis that's a little over 4% and that's unprecedented. we have not had that kind of contraction since the 1930s and we know that with a lag of 2a months after changes in money suppty, months after changes in money supply, we say changes in inflation and it doesn't surprise me and in february, john greenwood and i indicated that by the end of this year, inflation will be in the 2% or

5% range and we are in that zone already at 4.9%. none of this surprises me, if you are watching the money supply, you know what will happen to inflation. the bad news is what will happen to the economy and with that kind of contraction in the money supply we will have a good recession. �* . , money supply we will have a good recession. �* ., , , ., , recession. and that gets us neatly onto what could _ recession. and that gets us neatly onto what could happen _ recession. and that gets us neatly onto what could happen next - recession. and that gets us neatly onto what could happen next with | onto what could happen next with lots of moving parts, not least debates over raising the debt ceiling and still, at the 11th hour, no agreement, and it could potentially be hugely damaging for the us and global economy. that is true, the us and global economy. that is true. however _ the us and global economy. that is true, however if _ the us and global economy. that is true, however if history _ the us and global economy. that is true, however if history is - the us and global economy. that is true, however if history is a - the us and global economy. that is true, however if history is a guide, | true, however if history is a guide, there will be a lot of arm twisting and back and forth and ultimately they will cut a deal and raise the debt ceiling and that will be the end of that. i think what we are

seeing right now is the usual tempest in a teacup problem that the real problem facing the united states, and attention to growth in the money supply has been let to collapse and in addition to that, the biggest contributor is credit being emitted by banks accounted for 82% of the money supply and that is slowing way down the banking crisis we've had recently the washington regulators are trying to regulate the banks more and strangling them, so i see that is another slowdown in the money supply growth, so we have the money supply growth, so we have the fed is slowing it down, the merchant —— commercial bank slowing it down and unprecedented contraction of the money supply and

i think we are headed south as far as the economy goes.— as the economy goes. sorry to interru -t as the economy goes. sorry to interrupt what _ as the economy goes. sorry to interrupt what you've - as the economy goes. sorry to interrupt what you've done - as the economy goes. sorry to interrupt what you've done is i interrupt what you've done is underline how interlinked all of these different elements are and i suppose the obvious question is what is the answer? the suppose the obvious question is what is the answer?— is the answer? the answer is the fed should -a is the answer? the answer is the fed should pay simply _ is the answer? the answer is the fed should pay sopply -- _ is the answer? the answer is the fed should pay supply -- attention - is the answer? the answer is the fed should pay supply -- attention to - should pay supply —— attention to the money supply and to hit their inflation target the money supply and it's growing at about five or 6% per year. and it's growing at about five or 6% peryear. it's and it's growing at about five or 6% per year. it's contracting it over 4% per year right now. they have just put on the brakes way too hard and it's done in such a dramatic way that they don't pay attention to the money supply problem. that is the real problem. they are flying blind and not looking in the car at the speedometer because there is nothing on the speedometer that should be there, which is the money supply.

good to get your thoughts, steve, professor of applied economics in baltimore. here in the uk... the boss of the retailer john lewis has been responding to growing staff anger at her leadership. dame sharon white was facing a vote of confidence over her strategy, including speculation that she wanted to sell a stake in the retailer — meaning it would no longer be fully owned by its employees. john lewis is seeking to revive growth after posting a huge loss last year and suspending its staff bonus. but speaking a short while ago at an employee forum, dame sharon white asserted that the retailer will always be owned by its employees and de—mutualisation was out of the question. it's the most famous mutual in the uk owned hundred percent by its employees for decades and there's been a lot of interest in this meeting today and it's being held by the partnership being

held by the partnership council, which routinely meets twice a year to listen to the chairman and take a couple of votes, but the backdrop has been so challenging. thejohn lewis partnership which has waitrose supermarkets posted a huge loss and the partners lost their much cherished bonus for only the second time since 1953. and job losses also loom. the chairman, dame sharon white, her leadership has been under increased scrutiny after it emerged she was at the early stages of mulling over a potential sale of a stake in the business which prompted huge controversy atjohn lewis, now mayor of the west midlands, saying it was a tragedy but today she effectively ruled out a minority sale, off the agenda now, by saying no ifs or buts, it will absolutely remain a mutual business. for now.

but for the long term, but also said that if down the line they needed to raise external investment that would have to happen in accordance with the trust settlement and the approval of the partnership, so it would absolutely remain a mutual business and any sale of a minority stake to raise funds was off the agenda for now. we have had the outcome of the two votes, there was one on last years performance and that didn't get support, and i guess, no surprise, as they did not get the bonus and there was an awful loss, but crucially the key vote was in support of the chairman to progress the partnership in relation to its purpose, principles and rules, in other words the strategy, and that did get support. we don't know the breakdown of the results but the partners have approved the broad direction sharon white is taking the business.

the supreme court in london has ruled that it's too late for a group of nigerian claimants to sue the oil giant shell, in relation to an offshore spill more than a decade ago. lawyers representing nearly 30000 people in the niger delta have been trying to sue shell, saying the oil slick polluted their land and waterways, damaging farming, fishing, drinking water and religious shrines. the uk government has approved the use of longer lorries on british roads, saying it will make businesses more efficient and cut emissions. it comes despite one campaign group warning the move could put pedestrians and cyclists at risk. the move is set to result in over $1.5 billion of economic benefits. let's see how the markets are faring today. and on wall street. 0riginally opened higher, but you can see it dipping into the red slightly as a result of that falling rate of inflation and if i can show you what is happening in europe because all eyes they're looking ahead to the interest rate decision in the uk on thursday where it is

widely expected to rise from 4.25 up to 4.5%. that is your business. you are watching bbc news. let's look at some other stories the uk. a major incident has been declared in somerset following flash flooding, after heavy rain. houses have been evacuated in north cadbury, queen camel and surrounding villages — with some areas also hit by mudslides. the environment agency has warned that furtherflooding is possible. 0ur west of england correspondent danjohnson has been speaking to some of those affected. this is what hit villages across devon and somerset yesterday evening, rivers and streams bursting their banks after hours of intense storms. north cadbury in somerset has never seen anything like this before.

five o'clock last night. caroline's garden disappeared under it. so did the cars. i think it did get above these hedges. and then the worst. i don't think we ever thought it would actually come in the house. the fire brigade rescued us about eight o'clock. friends were on the phone all the time, phoning and checking on us. i said, "we can't even get out of the house", because it was flooded. it was coming around the side. the whole of this became the river, so we just had to stay until it had receded a bit. this is how it started, with hours of unseasonally heavy rain that submerged some villages and forced many people upstairs, some even sheltering in lofts until they were rescued by the emergency services. and here's how some devon schoolkids were ferried home. now, there's a lot of clearing up to do. i was talking to several residents who have been here 30 years and they haven't seen anything as bad as this. there's all this rubble to clear up as well as the mud,

and the concern is that there is probably sewage in that as well. and then, of course, there's the impact this has had on people's homes. we met emily, who sounded close to giving up hope. we're basically homeless at the moment. we're staying with friends. i've got no words, to be honest. you don't know what's going to happen next? no idea. just along the road, sisters alice and louise are determined to salvage their catering company. it's taken us five hours to get everything out of our storeroom before we can even begin to wash and clean, move water. 0ur van is probably written off. the water came so high that it's gone in the back of the van. this was localised flash flooding that ruined some properties and barely touched others. but there is a warning — more could now be on the way. danjohnson, bbc news, somerset. thousands of people are already in liverpool for the eurovision song contest

final on saturday, which the uk is hosting on behalf of last year's winners ukraine. the contest attracts fans from all over the world — including our very own russia editor steve rosenberg. you may know steve is an excellent pianist — with encyclopedic knowledge of eurovision tunes. you may not know how that came to be. so we asked steve to explain. plays scales. you know, i think i started out pretty normal, really. when i was a kid learning music, it was all about the classics. then one saturday night, i saw this... and my life was never the same again. # finally facing my waterloo... #. eurovision blew my mind.

the colour, the costumes and, yes, even the music. so many different styles, so many languages. and ifound myself trying to work out the notes to the songs on the piano. like save your kisses for me. plays tune. so while some kids at school were collecting coins or stamps, i was secretly collecting eurovision hits. i think i can play around 300 eurovision songs from memory.

weird? a little bit, maybe. but in a world that feels as if it's been turned upside down, for me, tinkling a little abba or katrina and the waves is a great way to de—stress. and i've been lucky enough to combine work and play. as a bbc correspondent, i've reported on the odd eurovision. and i do mean "odd" eurovision! just one line of breaking news. we've heard from the garden saying it no longer intend to replace all european laws by the end of 2023. this is the retained eu law bill that says it would have meant scrapping all of eu law and having to with the kemi badenoch centre 600

will be and allow them to focus on delivering quicker and this will delivering quicker and this will deliver thoughts of this on a faster timetable than replacing all of those laws and that move is likely to anger those who wanted to see britain move away more quickly from eu legislation, many of the brexit backers who wanted to bring the eu laws ending early at not like the announcement in the last few minutes. now it's time for a look at the weather with chris fawkes hello there. it has been a day of sunny spells and heavy showers and the skies look very dark and threatening in ashbourne in derbyshire with shower cloud working across the horizon. and we have seen showers across the uk today. but most of the thunderstorms have tended to concentrate across east scotland, central and eastern parts of england as well. it has been another wet month so far across parts of southern england. we have had more than the average for may.

that makes it the third consecutive month in a row it has been wetter than normal. parts of northern scotland has been drier than normal across the north of the uk. during this evening and overnight the area of low pressure responsible for the shower slips into northern ireland. there will be further showers here, one or two keeping going across western part of england and wales but most of the showers will fade away and we will have some clear spells overnight. temperatures for most is between six and 8 degrees. tomorrow is another showery day, and elsewhere a bit of modern sunshine before the show really get going across east scotland and east england. once they have developed during the early afternoon they will move inland, leaving some of the biggest downpours late in the afternoon across wales and the midlands as well. temperatures generally reaching about 15 to 18 degrees. where we have some sunshine it will not feel too bad. friday does see some changes as this high pressure moves

into the north—west. the low pressure pushes a weather front into eastern areas. north—easterly winds, a change in the wind direction bringing more cloud and perhaps early morning mist patches. thickest cloud for eastern and central england, thick enough to bring light outbreaks of rain as we go through the day. eastern areas, chilly, 13 or 14 degrees. work we do have sunshine in the west, temperatures high teens, might even squeeze a 20 in a few areas. the weekend, we have high pressure to start with but for the second half of the weekend, this cold front is going to gradually push a band of rain into the north—west. for most of us, saturday is a decent day. could be a few showers around but mostly dry with sunshine and temperatures could reach the low 20s. it is on sunday more of us will see outbreaks of rain developing and it will turn a bit cooler.

live from london, this is bbc news. in the next 60 minutes, all the main uk stories — together with the latest breaking developments internationally. in the uk, the publisher of the mirror newspaper has apologised to prince harry for unlawful information gathering, at the start of a trial over alleged phone—hacking. donald trump says he will appeal against a verdict that found him guilty of sexually harassing ej and carol. she calls a victory able dust ruling a victory for all women. idietitian ruling a victory for all women. when the tree said — ruling a victory for all women. when the tree said yes, _ ruling a victory for all women. when the tree said yes, we _ ruling a victory for all women. when the tree said yes, we looked - ruling a victory for all women. when the tree said yes, we looked at - ruling a victory for all women. “batman the tree said yes, we looked at each other. it was such an overwhelming moment. —— when the jury said yes. at least eight people are killed during violence in pakistan,