meeting so such a fun environment, meeting so many— such a fun environment, meeting so many pe0ple — such a fun environment, meeting so many pe0ple from _ such a fun environment, meeting so many people from europe, - such a fun environment, meeting so many people from europe, and - such a fun environment, meeting so. many people from europe, and taking loads of— many people from europe, and taking loads of photographs. _ loads of photographs. well, _ loads of photographs. well, it— loads of photographs. well, it is— loads of photographs. well, it is all- loads of photographs. well, it is all building| loads of photographs. . well, it is all building up loads of photographs. - well, it is all building up to the grand _ well, it is all building up to the grand final tomorrow. 160 million will be _ grand final tomorrow. 160 million will be tuning in and around the world — will be tuning in and around the world all— will be tuning in and around the world. all eyes on one city, the glorious — world. all eyes on one city, the glorious liverpool. and _ glorious liverpool. and it _ glorious liverpool. and it really is looking glorious today, and let us not forget, of course, the uk is hosting eurovision on behalf of ukraine, and the city of liverpool has done a really good job of continually reminding us of that. the colours of the ukrainian flag really are here across the city. we will have much more on the 6pm news, and of course, you can watch the song contest final tomorrow night on bbc one at 8pm. back now to ben in the studio. jane, many thanks indeed. lovely weather there in liverpool. let's take a look at the forecast for the whole country. here's tomasz schafernaker. how does it look for eurovision? it is looking really good. i'm pleased to say, for once it is not going to

rain. sunny skies on saturday. saturday will be the best day of the weekend, so mother nature has it right. come sunday, the rain will reach liverpool. so we just about get away with it. but it will be a nice day. back to the here and now. right now, we have high pressure building across scotland and ireland. to the east of the country, though, we have a breeze off the north sea. there is thick cloud. we have had some rain in the south and south—east from a weak weather front crossing us. this is where the cooler conditions are, ten, 12, 1a degrees further east. at the moment, temperatures are in the high teens and will probably hit 20 degrees for western scotland, northern ireland, wales and in the south—west as well. tonight, we will have thick cloud across eastern and southern and central parts of england. in the north and west, as well as northern ireland, clearer skies, and where we have clear skies overnight, sunshine will greet us first thing on saturday morning. so a beautiful start, ithink, eventually for belfast, at least,

for glasgow, cardiff doing fine, and of course, liverpool looking great on saturday. further east, it may take time for that son to work its magic in the clouds. after that, i think it is a beautiful day. look at the temperatures, widely into the high teens, widely around 20 celsius, but on the north sea coast, whether cloud struggles, it could be a little on the chilly side still. also worth mentioning, the high uv levels. remember, in may, the sun is very strong. it is not down here is the forecast for saturday night. that is late saturday night and into sunday.— night. that is late saturday night and into sunday. early on sunday, ou can and into sunday. early on sunday, you can see _ and into sunday. early on sunday, you can see it _ and into sunday. early on sunday, you can see it is _ and into sunday. early on sunday, you can see it is raining _ and into sunday. early on sunday, you can see it is raining across - you can see it is raining across northern ireland and western scotland. we start to get the showers across merseyside and the lake district by sunday afternoon. but the warm and sunny weather on sunday will be contracted to the south east of the country. it could be the warmest day of the year

potentially, so far, at least. not for the rest of the year. further into sunday, why will he have been teased with a little bit of warmth, guess what will happen, the story of the season, we see cooler air once again arising from the north, and those temperatures will take a bit of a dive. after that brief warm up, we will see those temperatures back into the mid or high teens on the weekend. but generally, looking dry. back to you. thank you very much indeed. a reminder of our top story this lunchtime. further disruption for rail passengers today and over the weekend because of more strike action. in a continuing dispute over pay and conditions. that is all from the bbc news at one o'clock. it is goodbye for me, and we will nowjoin the bbc�*s news teams where you are. have goodbye for me, and we will nowjoin the bbc�*s news teams where you are. have a goodbye for me, and we will nowjoin the bbc�*s news teams where you are. have a good goodbye for me, and we will nowjoin the bbc�*s news teams where you are. have a good afternoon.

hello, i'm live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on the programme, west ham taken narrow lead into the semifinal, but there are concerns about the stadium due to host at the europa league conference final. 15 goals and counting, a superb season so farfor goals and counting, a superb season so far for manchester city and holland. the footballer of the year awards. and a former ryder cup captain resigns from the well store, after it imposed further sanctions on players who competed without permission for the live golf events. you're very welcome. thank you for joining us. uefa has ruled out this morning moving the final of the europa conference lead to a different menu. that is despite security concerns being raised over the 20,000 capacity fortuna arena in prague. they will receive just 5000

tickets for the game, with demand expected to be much greater. the first legs were last night, with west ham looking to win their first major trophy in a generation. our correspondence was there. west ham built a statue to remember the cup they won in 1965, a european trophy is what matters. these days, people may ask who cares about the europa conference league? answer is any team which can win it. west ham were building up the occasion. the semi—final opponents in blue, dutch sides, az alkmar. watch now as az try something hopeful, from there, well... west ham argued about i fell in the build—up. the replay was examined and the goal stood.

remember mac ryan hand and glove? now is was a jab to ryan owen's face. accidents but it had to be a penalty. and ben rahman put it away perfectly. they had the perfect opportunity to match the occasion and keep the ball alive. mikal antonio right there. one second leg of the semifinal to come, the best of the semifinal to come, the best of the semifinal to come, the best of the season can still lie ahead of them. joe wilson, bbc news. i usually believe you will get a big resilience here. i think we have it through the club and through the team. we will need it. we have needed it with the games we have in the premier league, but we urgejust a big win against manchester united, and we won in the semifinal of the big leg. so you have to say, that is ok. when it is cup competition, it doesn't really matter how you do it, the job is to get it done. we

doesn't really matter how you do it, thejob is to get it done. we have not got it done yet, far from it, we have a big job to do next week. there was least drama in the night's other semifinal, with the swiss side basel scoring deep into injury time, to give them to one lead going into their second against fiorentino. elsewhere, jurgen klopp insists that liverpool can still attract the top talent to the club, even if his side don't qualify for the champions league. the reds currently sit in fifth place, with free mac games to 90, fifth place, with free mac games to go, one point behind manchester united, who have one game in hyde. it will be really attractive for a lot of players, and we should not forget that. that is that why i'm not concerned about it. of course, everything is more difficult without john sica, that is how it is. especially in the long term. we should not do these things more often. but apart from that, the

situation is absolutely ok. manchester city's haaland has perhaps unsurprisingly been named as the player of the year. the striker has won 51 goals so far for manchester city. many have been in the premier league, breaking the record for most goals in a season. the 22—year—old scored 82% of the boat, with arsenal's mchale sachar and odi guard completing the top three. —— arsenal's saaka. it the awards makes her the first player to win the women's footballer of the year award in successive year. british number one cameron ari, got across to her great start this morning, with a victory against miller. he won in straight sets at

the poorer italic oh in rome. he will now play australia's alex de minaur and will now play australia's alex de minaurand hungry�*s martin will now play australia's alex de minaur and hungry�*s martin fits a pitch in the third round on sunday. former ryder cup captain henrik stenson has resigned his membership of the dp world tour up to date imposed further sanctions on players who competed in live golf events without permission. suspensions of “p without permission. suspensions of up to eight event and finds raising from up to one and a half thousand pounds were handed out to a total of 26 players. our correspondence has more. you'll make when you consider it is less than the year that he was holding the position of your�*s ryder cup captain, that kind of encapsulates the turmoil that has gone on since the arrival of live golf. now, these punishments are being administered, the green light for that was given by the arbitration hearing, and the fact of the players lost their appeal to the

initial fines and suspensions that were put in place, for playing in live and asian tour events without the consent of the gp world tour. stenson has gone, and we saw other big names from european golf, ian poulter and sergio garcia resigned their memberships. the veteran richard bland has gone as well, and i would expect other big names to follow suit, in the light of these punishments being announced. those punishments, yesterday when they announced it would be 26 of its players that we be punished. do we estimate that there may be 26 players resigning, will we see this players resigning, will we see this play out over the coming weeks? i think it remains to be seen, but the fines range from 12 and a half thousand pounds £200,000 per tournament. there are bands as well. we believe martin clymer is facing in eight tournament ban as it stands as the moment. these players now

have to weigh up whether it is worth paying the spines, knowing that if they continue playing on the live tour, and several of them are contracted to do that, they would face further fines and further suspensions from the dp world tour. so, i think the expectation is that these players will follow the likes of stenson and cole, and resign their membership from the dp world tour. i’ll their membership from the dp world tour. �* , . , their membership from the dp world tour. , . ,~ ., tour. i'll be any clearer then finally on — tour. i'll be any clearer then finally on the _ tour. i'll be any clearer then finally on the rider- tour. i'll be any clearer then finally on the rider world i tour. i'll be any clearer then i finally on the rider world cup? tour. i'll be any clearer then - finally on the rider world cup? this has been a big thing in between both the pga will tour in america, and the pga will tour in america, and the one in europe,, about the live players, and we know it will be in september. are we any clearer in terms of how that will play out? indie terms of how that will play out? we are clear terms of how that will play out? - are clear in terms of how europe is concerned, because to be a member of the european team, you have to be a member of the european tour, and the players that resigns like sergio garcia, poulterand players that resigns like sergio garcia, poulter and now stenson, they now can't have any involvement

in the cup, it is likely they will have made the team, but as stenson proved, he was made as captaincy material. the other players would surely have been part of the firmament as well. it is slightly more opaque as far as the americans are concerned, because we thought that, with the pga tour bands that have been imposed there, those that would take the likes of dustin johnson and brooks casca out of the running for an american place. but there seems to be a feeling that they paid their dues to the pga of america and they could actually be eligible, so they go appear on the qualifying table at the moment, and that will certainly be one of the questions raised at next be's pga championship, which is hosted by the pga of america, who run the american side of things, as far as the ryder cup is concerned.— cup is concerned. oogle correspondence, - cup is concerned. oogle correspondence, dean l cup is concerned. oogle - correspondence, dean carter cup is concerned. oogle _ correspondence, dean carter there. now the free time jockey, silber said sousa has been suspended for

free mac months got, after pleading guilty for abetting charge. he has raised in hong kong since september. he will now be banned until march next year. warrington wolves could extend their lead at the top of rugby league's super league this evening as they take on the rovers. it is one of three matches, including second place to begin taking on leeds, but the bottom side remain in deep trouble after they were beaten by hull last night. they are still without a win in this year's competition. there is a third victory on the bounce for whole know, who are up to nine. that is all the sports for me for the moment. rememberyou all the sports for me for the moment. remember you can say right up moment. remember you can say right up to date using the bbc sport website and bbc sport app, but from me and the rest of the team, will see you soon. goodbye.

this is bbc news. the uk economy grew byjust 0.1 of a percent in the first three months of this year — affected by strikes, cost of living pressures, and even the wet weather. the growth is even smaller than levels seen before the covid pandemic, with the country lagging behind other major economies. the new gdp figures come on the back of the bank of england raising interest rates yesterday, further burdening households. here's steve nolan, a senior lecturer in economics at liverpooljohn moores university. any time that growth is oscillating up and down near zero for a year is generally not good. there's probably lots of factors. brexit is probably one, but there are also long—term factors. we have had no real sustainable, big growth in nigh on 15 years since the global financial crisis. we're always talking in economics about the productivity puzzle within

the uk, our level of productivity. gdp per capita is much lower than in competitor nations. and that is still fundamentally what we call a structural problem. we don't seem to be closer to fixing it. we have to start thinking about long—term plans. you mentioned what has generally been a dirty word within the uk, for 40—50 years, industrial policy and investment. where do we want to invest within the country? where do we want to encourage investment both by government but also by business? how will they train people for what is going forward? these are the kinds of things we need to think about in a joined up kind of way, rather than flashy policy announcements that can hopefully give a kind of sugar rush to the economy, we want sustained long—term growth rather thanjust a big jump. inflation does seem to be sticking around longer than most people projected. there is a concern now about the level of food prices, whether that is going to become a bit more persistent.