being affected and you can e—mail. you can get in touch via whatsapp. for the 12th time in a row. rates go up by 0.25% to 4.5% in an attempt to slow price rises. the bank's governor gave this assessment. energy prices have fallen from their peaks and that will now start to come through as lower inflation. food price inflation should ease too, though we can be less sure about this on timing. we'll be looking at what the rate rise means for homeowners, savers and businesses. also this lunchtime: after months of customer complaints and cancelled trains, transpennine express is to be nationalised. stephen tompkinson is found not guilty after a man claimed he was punched outside the actor's home.

donald trump dismisses the woman who won a sexual assault case against him as a "whackjob" as he again claims he's the victim of a political vendetta. and from defending human rights on television to rocking out at night at eurovision, the lawyer—turned—pop star representing australia. and coming up on bbc news, west ham look to reach their first european final in 47 years as they take on az alkmaar in the first leg of their european conference league semifinal. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. interest rates are at their highest in 15 years, after the bank of england raised them to 4.5%,

making it more expensive to borrow but better for savers. the increase is an attempt by the bank of england to curb people's spending and bring down inflation — that's the rate at which prices are rising — which was just over 10% in march. but the bank also upgraded the prospects for the uk economy — now no longer forecasting the economy will shrink but grow modestly over the next two years, as our economics correspondent, andy verity, reports. if you have ever taken the tube in london, chances are you have walked past tiles made at this factory in stoke—on—trent. to make fine bone china from wedgwood to moyle stafford, kilns like this have been firing clay for 250 years, no one can remember energy cost like this. the boss says the standing charge on the electricity bill was £700 a month but now closer to 6000. itrailien month but now closer to 6000. when there is a spike _ month but now closer to 6000. when there is a spike in _

month but now closer to 6000. when there is a spike in the _ month but now closer to 6000. when there is a spike in the oil— month but now closer to 6000. firemen there is a spike in the oil price, petrol price shoots up. when it comes down, comes down like a feather. we have seen a reduction in the price of petrol at the pumps but it is very slow. the price of petrol at the pumps but it is very slow— it is very slow. global energy rices it is very slow. global energy prices like — it is very slow. global energy prices like wholesale - it is very slow. global energy i prices like wholesale electricity, no less than a third of the peak last summer, one reason the bank of england thinks price rises will slow down later this year. today nevertheless it raised official interest rates for the 12th time in a row to 4.5%, highest since 2008, aiming to make it more expensive to borrow and spend so there is less demand on goods and services. inflation remains too high, it is ourjob to get it down to the 2% target and have it stay there. this is why we have increased the bank rate by 0.25%, up to 4.5%. for is why we have increased the bank rate by 0.25%, up to 4.596. rate by 0.25%, up to 4.5%. for now most rate by 0.2596, up to 4.596. for now most companies — rate by 0.2596, up to 4.596. for now most companies and _ rate by 0.2596, up to 4.596. for now most companies and households i rate by 0.2596, up to 4.596. for now| most companies and households are yet to benefit from falling energy prices. this fan is honest fixed

prices. this fan is honest fixed price contract until october —— look at this firm is stuck on. it price contract until october -- look at this firm is stuck on.— at this firm is stuck on. it has made a difference _ at this firm is stuck on. it has made a difference but - at this firm is stuck on. it has made a difference but in - at this firm is stuck on. it has i made a difference but in general difficult for everybody.— difficult for everybody. since december — difficult for everybody. since december 2021, _ difficult for everybody. since december 2021, interest - difficult for everybody. since i december 2021, interest rates difficult for everybody. since december 2021, interest rates have risen to levels unknown for most of the last 20 years. they should eventually start coming down. if inflation subsides as predicted, higher interest rates may allow savings to grow an average on real terms for the first time in a decade and a half. how sure can we be? it is likely as inflation comes down perhaps— is likely as inflation comes down perhaps towards 5% over the late summer. — perhaps towards 5% over the late summer, we will begin to see the savings _ summer, we will begin to see the savings rates from banks and building _ savings rates from banks and building society is beginning to metch— building society is beginning to match or— building society is beginning to match or certainly in the same area as the _ match or certainly in the same area as the rate — match or certainly in the same area as the rate of inflation. for match or certainly in the same area as the rate of inflation.— as the rate of inflation. for those with little or _ as the rate of inflation. for those with little or no _ as the rate of inflation. for those with little or no savings, - as the rate of inflation. for those with little or no savings, many i with little or no savings, many young people who recently stretch to buy a home with a large mortgage or

renters, soaring food costs are barely manageable. for them, renters, soaring food costs are barely manageable. forthem, it renters, soaring food costs are barely manageable. for them, it can be little doubt the financial squeeze caused by rising interest rates is for now relentless. andy verity, bbc news. 0ur economics editor faisal islam is outside the bank of england this lunchtime. the rate rise, despite that, more optimism about the next few months from the bank's governor. yes. from the bank's governor. yes, 'ust a few months — from the bank's governor. yes, 'ust a few months back, i from the bank's governor. yes, 'ust a few months back, they * from the bank's governor. yes, just a few months back, they predicted l a few months back, they predicted there would be quite a long lasting recession, they said they would not be a recession a few weeks ago, and now they are saying they will not even be a shrinkage of the economy at all in the coming months. that is at all in the coming months. that is a more optimistic forecast for the economy but it leaves us net— net with slow, modest growth over the next few months and years. the flip

of that is although inflation is projected to come down because energy prices are going to come down, the rate of decline in inflation is more slow than they had previously expected. inflation still at 5% by the end of the air, 3—4% this time next year, it had been predicted to be just 1% this time next year, it had been predicted to bejust1% by this time next year, it had been predicted to be just 1% by this time next year. it means the bank of england is still facing a sluggish economy, inflation still above target, and interest rates likely still to go up further from here, having risen 12 times, perhaps an unlucky 13 times.— unlucky 13 times. faisal islam there, thank— unlucky 13 times. faisal islam there, thank you. _ after months of cancelled trains and repeated customer complaints of poor service, transpennine express has lost its contract. its rail network, which covers the north of england and parts of scotland, will now be run by the government. it is the fourth rail operator to be nationalised since 2018. 0ur transport correspondent katy

austin joins us from manchester. yes, that is right. this comes after months and months of complaints from passengers about daily cancellations and the impact of that on their lies. transpennine has come under criticism from the number of trains it has removed from timetables on the night before from staff shortages and it accounts for one in six of its services for the full extent the end of march, highest in the country, but slight improvement from the previous month. the company had put problems down to a variety of factors including high staff sickness and a lack of a gnomish time agreement with the drivers union aslef and insisted a recovery plan was starting to work —— the lack of an overtime agreement. by removing the contract and bringing the operator under government control, a chance to reset relationships with staff, trade

unions and passengers. but he cautioned it would not be a silver bullet. because of the level of control the government already has over the rail network, in practical terms, in a way, not much will change. but mayors in the north say they hope it will provide the opportunity for a fresh start. thank ou, ka opportunity for a fresh start. thank you. katy austin- _ the actor, stephen tompkinson, has been cleared of causing grievous bodily harm to a man he found drinking outside his house in the early hours two years ago. mr tompkinson — who's appeared in films such as brassed off and in the itv drama dci banks — was accused of punching karl poole in the head. 0ur correspondent nick garnett is at newcastle crown court. nick. dropped the dead donkey, bra stuff, stephen tompkinson has been in the mall, but he found himself involved in something he would rather not have been involved in —— brassed

off. he was soaking up by two men off. he was soaking up by two men aside, very drunk, one in his underpants, one of the men fell over, hit his head, broke his skull. the prosecution case was mr tompkinson punched the man to the ground, mrtompkinson's tompkinson punched the man to the ground, mr tompkinson's case was he acted in self—defence, put his hand up, the man walked into it, fell over. no one disputed the fact the injury had taken place. the actor told the court that during his time as an actor, he said any member of the public is potentially a member of your audience and you have to treat them with respect. after he got many fears for ballykissangel, my father said, you must always treat people with respect, you have been invited into their hands. it would be career suicide to do something as outrageous as assaulting someone. as the jury gave his verdict, he nodded to them in

thanks, and he said afterwards he wants to go home and hopes to rebuild his career and start acting again. rebuild his career and start acting aaain. a , rebuild his career and start acting aiain. , ., president zelensky says ukraine needs more time before it can launch a counter—offensive against russian forces. speaking at his headquarters in the capital kyiv, he said the military is still waiting for some of the aid it's been promised, including armoured vehicles. 0ur correspondent hugo bachega reports. hello. the war in ukraine is about to enter a new phase, potentially decisive, and when that will happen is going to be determined by this man — president zelensky — who is finishing plans for a push against russian forces. are you ready for this counteroffensive? translation: mentally, we're ready. in terms of how motivated our military are, we're ready. in terms of enough personnel in our brigades, we're ready. in terms of equipment, not everything has arrived yet. that's my answer. so you're still waiting for weapons and for the kind of military

equipment that you've been promised to arrive? translation: yes, we're | still expecting some things. they will reinforce our counteroffensive and most importantly they will protect our people. we're expecting armoured vehicles. they arrive in batches. we can advance with what we've got, and i think we can be successful, but we'll lose a lot of people. i think that is unacceptable. we need to wait, we need a bit more time. the expected offensive is going to be crucial and not only on the battlefield. this will be a test for ukraine. kyiv now wants to prove the weapons it's been given by the west can

translate into major gains. how russia is going to respond remains unclear. last week moscow accused ukraine of being behind this apparent attack on the kremlin. it claimed it was an attempt to assassinate president putin. but president zelensky said his country had nothing to do with it. translation: no, clearly we were not behind it. - they're always looking to do something that would look likejustification — you do this and we do this in response. american support has been vitalfor ukraine, but this help is not guaranteed. joe biden is vying for re—election next year, but donald trump is a republican favourite. last night he refused to say whether he wanted ukraine to win. here, president zelensky said a lot could happen before the election — even the end of the war. next year is an election year in america, which is your main ally and... translation: i can't vote. i'm a citizen of ukraine. i can't say who i'd vote for.

hugo bachega, bbc news, kyiv. in the last half hour, the defence secretary ben wallace has confirmed britain is to send long—range missiles to ukraine to help in its war effort to defend its territory against russia. 0ur diplomatic correspondent james landale is here. tell us more about what he has been saying. tell us more about what he has been sa inc. ,., , ., , saying. the government promised in february wanted _ saying. the government promised in february wanted to _ saying. the government promised in february wanted to be _ saying. the government promised in february wanted to be the _ saying. the government promised in february wanted to be the first - february wanted to be the first western country to give ukraine longer range missiles, now announced it is doing that. it is delivering storm shadow missiles, with a range of 150 miles. the reason it matters and the reason president zelensky has been asking for this is it would be a key weapon to use if any counteroffensive takes place because what it means is it would give ukrainians the chance to target basher�*s and munitions dumps, command centres, supply chains in

russian held ukraine —— the chance to target russia's ammunition dumps. you have aircraft, tanks, but you also need to target the russians behind the lines to hold the ground. we do not know how many missiles the british are giving, the defence secretary would not say. the hope, the expectation is this is the uk leading the way potentially for the americans to dojames, thank you. == americans to dojames, thank you. —— americans to dojames, thank you. —— americans to do likewise. donald trump has ridiculed the woman who won her civil suit against him for sexual abuse and defamation. in a live interview, the former us president dismissed ejean carroll as a "whackjob", despite a jury finding against him. 0ur north america correspondent nomia iqbal is in washington for us now. nomia. this live interview was a terrible event. ian then, it is a very traditional way in which politicians are interviewed, but it is a network donald trump has not been on for years, he calls it fake news —— cnn. we saw a very self—assured donald

trump rewriting history on every issue possible, the audience was very funny, sparking criticism is this how cnn managed to get him on? he attacked ejean carroll who a day earlier had been awarded $5 million in damages over donald trump's sexual abuse and defamation of her, he used a term to call her unhinged. this is a fake story and you don't want _ this is a fake story and you don't want to— this is a fake story and you don't want to give it credibility. applause i have never done that and i swear i have _ i have never done that and i swear i have no— i have never done that and i swear i have no idea... she is a whackjob. he was— have no idea... she is a whackjob. he was pictured with e jean carroll he was pictured with ejean carroll years ago. asked about the january six capital riots, many of the rioters have been convicted, would he pardon them? i am inclined to pardon many of them. i can't say for every single one because a couple of them, probably they got out of control.

most likely, if i get in, most likely, i would say it will be a large portion of them, you know. the host did her best to challenge him but how do you fact check donald trump in realtime? him but how do you fact check donald trump in real time? the criticism cnn is facing. generally seen donald trump has confirmed he will be the republican nomination for the presidency and cnn says this is the reason why they did the interview in the first place, but a lot of great fodder for the democratic party, joe biden tweeted after, simple, folks, do you want four more years of that? thank you. our top story this lunchtime... interest rates are raised by the bank of england to 4.5% — their highest in 15 years — to try help curb price rises. and in what's thought to be a world—first, a driverless bus service is taking to the road in scotland from monday.

coming up on bbc news, madrid 0pen organisers have apologised to players and fans for not allowing women's doubles finalists to make presentation speeches in what they say was an unacceptable decision. the national grid has confirmed that wind turbines were the biggest source of electricity in the uk for the first time between january and march of this year. the uk currently has a target for producing 100% of its electricity without carbon emissions by 2035. but tens of billions of pounds�* worth of green energy projects are currently on hold because of a lack of capacity in the national grid. bbc research shows that some solar and wind sites are waiting up to 15 years to be connected to the electricity system, with warnings that the delay is slowing efforts to tackle climate change. here's our climate editor, justin rowlatt.

diggers are already clearing the ground on this field outside torquay in devon. the solar panels the council is installing here will help power public buildings, including the local hospital, but the council has been told it will be at least five years before any of the surplus electricity goes into the national grid. in our climate emergency we declared that we wanted to be carbon neutral by 2030, so not being able to unlock this site before then is a real problem for us. the issue is the huge number of new solar and wind projects planned in the uk. the grid just can't keep up. so what this is is a giant plug. there is 400,000 volts of electricity passing through the system up here and what this does is allow power plants to plug in to the national grid, the electricity system that covers the country.

the queue of projects waiting to plug in at substations like this is valued at around £200 billion. according to the national grid's own figures, 40% of those projects face a connection delay of at least a year. those investments are worth tens of billions of pounds. tackling that delay will require fundamental reform, says the grid. more infrastructure is needed. we will need more places like this and so we're working very hard to do that, to design that and build it at a faster pace than we ever have done before. she says integrating renewables into the country's electricity system represents the biggest challenge since the national grid was first set up almost 70 years ago. 0fgem, the body that regulates the uk's electricity network, acknowledges the huge changes required. we have to reshape it. it means that there's a huge grid expansion that's needed, - faster and bigger than we've ever

seen in our lifetime, _ and it means that needs to happen, you know, very rapidly, _ to achieve the net zero targets that we have. i 0fgem says it has agreed £20 billion of new investment to try and reduce connection times for renewable projects. £1 billion of that is going on a new network of tunnels to carry high voltage cables under london, but this national rewiring project will take years to complete, which means we'll have to wait before many new uk renewable projects can deliver the clean power they generate to our homes. justin rowlatt, bbc news. the leader of plaid cymru, adam price, has stepped down — days after a report found a culture of bullying, sexual harassment and misogyny in the party. in his resignation letter,

he said he no longer had the "united support" of his colleagues. let's speak to our wales correspondent hywel griffith. the pressure on adam price eventually became too much. yes, absolutely. — eventually became too much. yes, absolutely, reeta. _ eventually became too much. yes, absolutely, reeta. the _ eventually became too much. is: absolutely, reeta. the seemingly inevitable news came very late last night, a week after that report laid out the full problems of plaid cymru in terms of its culture and failure to deal with allegations of sexual harassment and sexism. in his resignation letter mr price said his instinct was to step down straightaway, others had persuaded him to hold on until seemingly things became untenable yesterday. so, who will replace him? things have moved pretty quickly today. there is already an interim leader but he won't stand in the leadership contest in the run—up to the summer. plaid is a pretty small party so it won't be a crowded field. possibly the most prominent candidate would have been the deputy leader, who has

already signalled he wants to stand in the next westminster election. some may want to persuade him to change his mind. 0thers some may want to persuade him to change his mind. others may think leading plaid cymru at the moment is a bit of a poisoned chalice. there are huge challenges ahead detoxifying the party in the words of that report and persuading the electorate outside of plaid's heartland they are a party worth voting for, something you arguably adam price failed to do in his forehead a half years was like 0k, thank you, hywel griffith reporting there. hospitals in england have failed to hit a key target of eliminating 18—month waits for planned procedures like knee and hip replacements. new figures show that by the end of march, more than 10,000 people were still waiting that long, although nhs england says around 4,000 were complex cases or patients who had chosen to wait. 0ur health correspondent jim reed reports. summer, recovering from surgery in april, but she had to go private after being told the wait to remove painful gallstones could be up to a year. i felt fortunate that

i was in a circumstance where i could go and get it done, but i know so many people that can't and it'sjust...it's a real frustration and upset for notjust myself, for everyone who relies on that service to work. across england, 7.3 million people are now on the waiting list for nhs treatment. there has been progress tackling the longest cases. the number waiting more than 18 months has fallen from 124,000 in september 2021, tojust under 11,000. that though still means the government has missed one of the key targets set out in its covid recovery plan, to eliminate those long 18 month waits by the start of april. in parliament this week the health secretary compared the situation to labour—controlled wales. we have reduced the wait for 18 months by over 90% and yet in wales they still have vastly more,

over 80,000 waiting, that's on a much smaller population. this is our main operating theatre block. we've got, along this side, we've got mainly planned operations... at this surgery unit in south london, all ten operating theatres are full of patients. here they've cut the longest waits partly by opening new theatres and working more weekends. there's no magic bullet to deal with patients who are waiting for their surgery, so we need staff, we need operating theatre space, we need beds and we need staff on those wards to care for patients after their procedures as well. however, we can do the most to maximise the resource that we do have. those waiting lists are notjust a problem in england, with wales, scotland and northern ireland facing similar delays. progress is being made but many are still facing a long wait for the treatment they need. jim reed, bbc news. israeli forces and palestinian militants in gaza have exchanged fire for a third day in their biggest confrontation for almost a year.

0vernight, israel killed a fourth senior member of the palestinian militant group, islamichhad, who headed its rocket launching team. more rockets have been launched from gaza this morning. the first full—scale driverless bus service is taking to the road in scotland from monday, in what is believed to be a world—first. the autonomous vehicles, with two members of staff on board, travel on pre—selected routes using sensors. 0ur scotland correspondent lorna gordon has been on board the service travelling over the forth road bridge near edinburgh. high-pitched beep. the sound alerting passengers that this vehicle is switching into self—drive mode. the safety driver is monitoring the sensors, keeping an eye on other traffic. his hands, though close, are not touching the steering wheel of this full—size bus travelling on a major route into edinburgh. so it drives itself. it can manage about 90% of the route. from when the trial starts on monday

morning at half past seven, the only bits that are manually driven will be the two bus stops. as a passenger here it feels a bit strange, but it's completely safe? yes, that feeling will wear off very quickly actually because if you're not thinking about the safety driver it just feels completely like a normal bus. well, we are going at about 40 miles an hour. this bus in fully autonomous mode. there is a safety driver there, but his hands are off the controls and a computer is doing all the driving. so far it feels very smooth. there are sensors including radars and cameras on the outside of the bus keeping it positioned safely on the road. that's looking for anything round about the vehicle, pedestrians, cyclists, other vehicles. then as we move forward, this unit here is a camera and an infrared camera which is helping the vehicle stay within the lane. all that raw data goes into computers where we decide what should the vehicle do next, should it brake, should it steer,

is it ok to carry on? the technology, which has taken a decade to develop, has been extensively tested. specially selected groups of passengers giving feedback on theirjourneys. it was positive, - completely positive. no nerves? a little bit of nerves but once they got on and they've - seen the bus in action, they got off excited, i smiling faces all the way around. every week up to 10,000 passengers could use this service, which has the potential to transform the way we travel in years to come. lorna gordon, bbc news, on the forth road bridge near edinburgh. the grand eurovision final in liverpool is now only days away and the remaining acts will take to the stage tonight in the second semifinal. 16 countries will be competing for the last ten places. and in true eurovision fashion, there are some rather weird and wonderful stories behind the acts, as david sillito has been finding out. this is monika from lithuania,

a eurovision veteran. and the reason she's here is because of her backing singer. hello, i'm nicola and i'm backing singing for monika. yes, nicola's not from lithuania. she's from essex. and this all started with a chat in a bar in london when monika revealed that she had in 2015 performed at eurovision. i was beside myself because i'm obsessed with eurovision. so i said to her, "do you know anyone that can get me a ticket potentially for liverpool?" you met in a bar and you just said, "can you get me a ticket for eurovision?" and you hadn't even written a song? nope. i made a promise to give her a ticket and then i came back to lithuania and i wrote the song in one evening. # well, it ain't easy to love someone like me. a couple of weeks later, she invited nicola to sing with her in lithuania and they won the national final.

when we finally won and i just saw all this confetti come down, ijust looked at her and was, like, "did we notjustjoke about this four weeks ago?" now i'm doing eurovision, a dream that was never, ever possible. so there we go. and now another eurovision semifinals story. well, let's talk about this with daniel estrin, an immigration lawyer who is in australia. yes, this is bbc news discussing the novak djokovic australian covid drama with hard—nosed immigration lawyer daniel estrin, who is also... ..remarks by the minister's lawyers... # oh, oh, promise me it's gonna be all right. ..a synth metal, eurovision—loving rock god. what's brought you here? you've told them, haven't you? i've told them, this will be your dream. and now that dream has become true. and now we are united by music.

under threat of civil suit, it is now my dream. i'm an administrative lawyer — get it right! to see a bunch of friends, a bunch of musicians having fun and doing what we love doing. and, yeah, it is so, so epic. so there we are. turquoise carpet semifinal hopefuls voyager... monika... and not forgetting nicola. and don't worry, we did invite her on to the carpet. it is, after all, her moment as well. david sillito, bbc news, liverpool. what a transformation that was! chris, tell us about the weather. we have some