is on -- ”sh-if. 7—7, and steve smith is on —— 377—7. he is about to get his a hundred, he is an 19 on 99. well, day two has seen lords awash with red for sir andrew strauss's charity in memory of his late wife. red for ruth was set up by the former england captain to support families as they deal with the impact of a terminal cancer diagnosis. strauss and his two sons walked out to ring the bell along with other families who've lost a loved one through cancer. the ruth strauss foundation is in memory of his late wife, who died in 2018 from a non—smoking lung cancer. sir andrew has worked alongside the cricket community to raise funds and awareness for the past four years and said today would be difficult but poignent. yes, of course it is emotional. it is a chance to remember roof and everything she stood for and what she wanted from the foundation. the boys and i will be proud to see what

the foundation has done. taking this idea of helping families who go through grief and do death well and turning it into a support system for families to prepare families for that awful eventuality when a parent finally departs. giving people a helping hand through it, as well as raising awareness and sharing knowledge on non—smoking lung cancer. and a chance to raise some funds along the way. staying with cricket, the super sixes stage of the cricket world cup qualifiers is under way — hosts zimbabwe are currently taking on oman in bulawayo. they have a perfect record in the qualifiers so far, winning all four games in the opening group stage. in football, one of the biggest transfer deals of the summer is closing in after arsenal agreed

a fee worth £105 million to sign west ham's england midfielder declan rice. it's arsenal's third bid for rice, and the initialfee of £100 million would equal the british record that manchester city paid for midfielderjack grealish. city had a £90 million offer rejected on tuesday, and have since withdrawn from the running. arsenal have completed a big money signing already. they've confirmed the germany forward kai havertz willjoin them from chelsea for £65 million. he's signed a five year deal after scoring nine goals for chelsea last season. and, across north london, tottenham are expected to receive another bid from bayern munich for their england captain harry kane. but they've confirmed that they've signed james maddison from leicester city for £40 million on a five—year contract. yet to move in the market are manchester united, who are still awaiting news

on a potential sale of the club. but talks are expected to take place this week to try and resolve the situation with chelsea over the proposed move of mason mount to old trafford. chelsea rejected the latest bid of £55 million — but the two clubs will re—enter negotiations in the coming days. the united states made it two wins from two in the concacaf gold cup group stage. the us went 3—0 up inside 16 minutes against st kitts and nevis in saint louis, and jesus ferreira's hat—trick eventually ensured a 6—0 win. also in group a, jamaica beat trinidad and tobago 4—1. demarai gray scoring twice for the reggae boyz. in tennis, it's quarterfinals day at the eastbourne international, with two of the women's top tenfacing off later as coco gauff ten facing off later as coco gauff takes on jessica pegula. in the men's draw, currently on centre court is argentinian fourth seed francisco cerundolo. he's taking on zhang zhizhen for a place in the last four

of the men's competition. there has been a slight delay to the start of play. britain's tom pidcock has spoken about the impact of the death of italian cyclist gino mader, who died following a high—speed crash during a descent at the tour de suisse earlier this month. pidcock�*s team were competing in the event, and the 23—year—old admits the incident has affected him. personally, i think one of the things that hit me was that happened descending, which is something i love. showed me the consequences can be when it goes wrong. i never taken cocaine to risks when i am descending, but i don't take unnecessary risk —— i never take unnecessary risk —— i never take unnecessary risks. domingo german achieved the rarest of baseball feats on wednesday, throwing a perfect game for the new york yankees. the dominican pitcher recorded all 27 outs in their 11—0 win over

the oakland athletics without giving up a single hit or walk. he becomes only the 24th player in major league baseball to do so, and the first in over a decade. and this man could be the next big star in ice hockey. steve smith has got his century and australia are 387—7. iamjust i am just going to bring an update on one of our stories which we been covering on bbc news, and that is the protests that have erupted in the protests that have erupted in the last two nights in the parisian suburbs, spreading to other cities, following the shooting of a 17—year—old boy accused of failing to stop after being requested to do so by police. it has been announced

that the interior minister has announced 40,000 policeman will be deployed across france later this evening, thursday evening, 40,000 policeman deployed across france. this is following those riots which spread across the country overnight, set off by the shooting of the teenager described as being of north african descent, on tuesday evening. in the parisian suburb. this date must be firm in a response, 40,000 policeman will be immobilised, including 5000 in the paris region, versus 9000 yesterday. the royal household has revealed it has felt the pinch of inflation. the

sovereign funds or grant published today showed buckingham palace has been forced to use its financial reserves. 0ur royal correspondent has more. it has been an exceptional yearin has more. it has been an exceptional year in the words of a senior palace official, from the celebrations of the jubilee last official, from the celebrations of thejubilee lastjune mark in the 70 years of the reign of elizabeth ii, to the sadness of her death in september, and the transition to the reign of charles iii. in financial terms the monarchy received £86.3 million in the year 2022—23. this is the sovereign grant, the amount received from public funds to cover the costs of the monarchy, excluding the costs of the monarchy, excluding the costs of the monarchy, excluding the cost of security. 0verall, expenditure rose by 5% in part due to inflation and rising staff costs,

and the palace was forced to draw on its reserves. nevertheless, the core grant will not be increase in the current year. in the face of higher energy costs, the king ordered heating at the palace and elsewhere to be turned down to a maximum of 19 celsius during the winter. diversity was highlighted last november at a palace reception when a senior member of the household repeatedly asked british—born interview where she was from. the report show the policy has failed to reach it own target of recruiting 10% of its staff from ethnic minorities. officials accept they need to work harder. the palace has confirmed the cottage has been vacated by the duke and duchess of sussex, who have repaid the money spent on its renovation. no decision has been made on who will live there, but it has been suggested as a home for the duke of york. the royal train has

been reprieved at least for the time being. it made forjourneys in the year, at a cost of more than £120,000. it is too early to consider scrapping it, the palace said. finally, the refurbishment of buckingham palace is on course. it is costing more than £350 million, and at the end of it, the policy says, it is expected the king and queen will move in and make at their london home. the us pop star madonna has postponed her world tour after a stay in intensive care with a serious bacterial infection. the 64—year—old remains in hospital, but her health is said to be improving and is as expected she will make a full recovery. madonna had been hoping to celebrate the forge of anniversary of her break—out single holiday by embarking on herfirst

ever greatest hits tour. a quick reminder of our top story on bbc news, that is concerning the uk government's reran the bill and the deportation, and that has been ruled lawful. it is time for the weather, and we've got carol. hello again. we had some much needed rain crossing the southeast of england this morning and it will continue to pull away onto the new continent, leaving us with a dry and a bright and sunny afternoon with just a few showers. also going to feel fresher today across england and wales and the fresh air is following in behind this cold front which will move away onto the continent. we've also got this weather front across the west, that's introducing thicker cloud and some showers. it's going to be crossing eastwards. not all of us will catch a shower in scotland, though. that could be heavy and also thundery. but a lot of dry weather, a fair bit of sunshine. and as the cloud bubbles up through the day, that in itself could produce the odd isolated shower here and there. breezy across the north

west of scotland. breezy across the south west of england, with highs up to about 22. now through this evening into overnight, there'll be clear skies for a time, but further showers crossing the north of scotland could also be heavy and thundery by the end of the night and other fronts coming into the west with its cloud, showery outbreaks of rain and it's going to turn more humid in the west. so here's the front in the west. it will be moving eastwards through the course of tomorrow, bumping into this ridge of high pressure. that means to start the day, many central and eastern areas will be dry with some sunshine. but our weather front moving in from the west towards the east will bring in some rain, the heaviest of which will be across northern ireland, central in southern scotland and also northern england. it will be lighter and more patchy farther south, but it's going to be quite a murky afternoon with temperatures 15 to about 20 degrees. now, friday night, that front crosses us and early on saturday we've got a second front which is moving away, taking its rain with it,

its overnight rain. and then behind that, a lot of dry weather, a fair bit of sunshine, but we'll have some heavy showers once again moving across the north of scotland, some of them merging. and here, too, it is going to be windy potentially. we could see some gales across the far north of scotland and it's all tied in with this area of low pressure, which will be with us on sunday as well. look at the squeeze on those icy bars. on those isobars. so not only are we going to see some prolonged spells of rain in the far north of scotland, we could well see some gales, some heavy rain coming into the west, push farther south, a drier day, but some showers coming in in the westerly we are expecting a news conference we are expecting a news conference from the undercover policing from the undercover policing wireless looking at why scotland wireless looking at why scotland yard set up the special yard set up the special demonstration squad back in 1968 to demonstration squad back in 1968 to

infiltrate the political protest infiltrate the political protest groups between 1968 and 1982. it's the first phase of the inquiry and you can see we are waiting for this news conference but in the meantime, our home affairs correspondent explains more about this investigation. london, 1968 and a huge demonstration outside the american embassy against the vietnam war. involved in gathering intelligence and newly formed undercover policing of the special demonstration squad. for the next 40 years, sds officers infiltrated left—wing and progressive groups and long term basis. passing back information to scotland yard and mr mis. information to scotland yard and mr m15. their targets included anti—apartheid campaigners, including peter, now lord hayne who went on to become a labour cabinet minister. he is one of those who news. gave evidence to the first phases of public inquiry into undercover

policing. another political activist, richard jess, discovered in the 1970s he was befriended by a police spy. i in the 19705 he was befriended by a olice s- . ., in the 19705 he was befriended by a olice 5- . ., in the 19705 he was befriended by a olice 5- . . ., police spy. i felt that he had betra ed police spy. i felt that he had betrayed us _ police spy. i felt that he had betrayed us politically - police spy. i felt that he had betrayed us politically but . police spy. i felt that he had betrayed us politically but i | police spy. i felt that he had - betrayed us politically but i didn't know until the inquiry and all that has emerged in the inquiryjust how much personal details he had conveyed to m15 about me and also my friends and family. the conveyed to m15 about me and also my friends and family.— friends and family. the inquiry o-ened friends and family. the inquiry opened in _ friends and family. the inquiry opened in 2020. _ friends and family. the inquiry opened in 2020. it _ friends and family. the inquiry opened in 2020. it currently . opened in 2020. it currently involves more than 250 core participants and so far it has cost over £64 million. it has emerged that down the decades, as well as taking part in protests, the undercover officers spied on bereaved families, use the names of dead children as part of their cover and in some cases had sexual relationships with the women they were targeting. gene kelly, bbc

demonstration squad back in 1968 to infiltrate the poli1 undercover police you it's about the undercover police unit which