europe is underneath this so much. europe is underneath this ridge of high pressure, it pushes air through the atmosphere which can trap heat next to the earth's servers. with these extreme temperatures, 46 degrees possible in sardinia and similar temperatures in sicily, the highest temperatures are quite localised and often the other mountains, a sign of this descending and drying airthrough mountains, a sign of this descending and drying air through the atmosphere. temperatures are not sophia's near the coastline is but it is a lot more humid. it is another soggy afternoon, outbreaks of heavy rain for northern ireland pushing into southern scotland, wet in northern england with rain turning heavier through the afternoon. some areas will dodge the rain, temperatures closer to average across the south but otherwise 16 to 18 degrees, pretty rubbish forjuly. this evening and overnight the low pressure slowly pulls out into the north sea so the weather becomes a

bit drier with clear spells. the air is quite cool that scotland or northern ireland, temperatures getting down into single figures, eight start but less grim. sunny spells and showers. closest to the low pressure centre across eastern low pressure centre across eastern areas low pressure centre across eastern areas of scotland and england have the greatest risk of seeing a shower through the day, some could be quite heavy. there will be spells of sunshine and it isjuly so even though temperatures are not that spectacular it will not feel bad in the sunshine. there are some showers thursday, mostly across the north of scotland but otherwise fewer and further between and there was a fairly decent chance of getting a dry day this week with sunny spells around. temperatures in the high teens to low 20s, a bit below average. what about the end of the week and the all—important weekend? another couple of areas of low pressure due to the jet stream which i'm afraid means much more rain

around. outbreaks of rain moving in scotland and northern ireland on friday, perhaps drier and brighter for england and wales but we will all see rain for retirement temperatures below average for the time of year. i am still looking for a spell settled summer weather. thank you, chris. you can keep up with all the latest developments on the bbc website. the news continues here on bbc one, as now it's time to join our colleagues across the nations and regions for the news where you are. hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm tanya arnold. our top stories this lunchtime: the final match in the women's ashes is under way. england are batting, but it hasn't started well. the future of the commonwealth games is in doubt after the australian state of victoria pulls out of staging it in 2026.

with usa legend megan rapinoe retiring at the end of this year, her team look to send her off in style at the world cup. good afternoon. the final match in the multi—format women's ashes is under way. australia retained them with victory in the second one—day international, but england can still tie the series. australia won the toss and put england in to bat. joe lynksey is in taunton for us. joe, it wasn't a great start for england. no, england just trying to steady things here in taunton after losing a couple of early wickets. 35—2,

england, after losing sophia dunkley, she top edged to present a pretty simple catch. she's scored just two runs. tammy beaumont, who has been so prolific, she was called out, scoring just four on this occasion. england toiling a little here at taunton, a real feeling occasion. england toiling a little here at taunton, a realfeeling of what might have been, because england came so close to setting up this match as an ashes series decider. in the men's ashes, it's a must—win again for england as they prepare to face australia in the fourth test at old trafford. they trail 2—1 in the series, but come into the game after an excellent win at headingley. jimmy anderson is restored to the side on his home ground, but the weather doesn't look great for the five days. captain ben stokes says they may need to play even more positively. you never want to look too much into

the weather, but i think in the position that we find ourselves in we find we might have too. we know we find we might have too. we know we have to win this game to take it to the last game for us to have a chance of getting the urn back. going into the last game we knew we had to win that, so i think that helped us a little bit. maybe again with the weather that is predicted, it might bring a bit more out of us again knowing that we might have to push the game on even more. the future of the commonwealth games is in doubt after the australian state of victoria pulled out of hosting it in 2026. the premier said the spiralling costs for the 12—day event made it "well and truly too much for the state to bear." our news correspondent shyma khalil has more on the story. archive: they came from 35 countries, from all parts - the only time the games were

cancelled before was during the second world war. victoria has not cancelled because of finance reasons. the premier said it can no longerfund the games. reasons. the premier said it can no longer fund the games. it was budgeted for £i.5 longer fund the games. it was budgeted for £1.5 billion, and it is now three times that much. i have made a lot — now three times that much. i have made a lot of _ now three times that much. i have made a lot of difficult _ now three times that much. i have made a lot of difficult calls - now three times that much. i have made a lot of difficult calls on - made a lot of difficult calls on this made a lot of difficult calls on thisj'ob. — made a lot of difficult calls on thisjob, this is not one of them. frankly. — thisjob, this is not one of them. frankly. 6- _ thisjob, this is not one of them. frankly, 6- $7 billion for a 12 day sporting _ frankly, 6- $7 billion for a 12 day sporting event, we are not doing that _ sporting event, we are not doing that that— sporting event, we are not doing that. that does not represent value for money — that. that does not represent value for money. that is all cost and no benefit _ for money. that is all cost and no benefit. , . , ., , for money. that is all cost and no benefit. , , ., , benefit. this decision shocked many, includin: benefit. this decision shocked many, including the — benefit. this decision shocked many, including the federation. _ benefit. this decision shocked many, including the federation. they - benefit. this decision shocked many, including the federation. they said i including the federation. they said they were given about eight hours notice. commonwealth games australia said it was hugely embarrassing, humiliating for australia and is an opposition politician said that. the state government here in victoria may well have legitimate reasons for this, the budget is building up in

the face of a cost of living crisis. the premier said they are going to redirect the money into regional housing and sporting infrastructure, but there are still so many questions. what about contractual issues, people who have relocated here to work on the commonwealth games? what about the cost and budget for it to happen elsewhere in australia? there are still so many issues for them to handle. former manchester united footballer and ex—wales manager ryan giggs will not face a retrial on an allegation he assaulted his ex—girlfriend. it comes after charges against him were withdrawn by the crown prosecution service. matthew richards has been at manchester crown court for us. it was quite a dramatic set of developments today. ryan giggs was accused of his head—butting his then girlfriend kate gravel in november 2020, also assaulting her sister. he

was accused of using coercive and controlling behaviour over a three—year period. at his trial last year the jury failed to reach a verdict. we are expecting a retrial, but today the prosecution said it would be offering further evidence against him. that is because kate gravel said that due to the toll that had been taken on her since giving evidence she was no longer willing to give evidence this time. thejudge then ordered willing to give evidence this time. the judge then ordered that he be found not guilty on all three charges. we had a brief statement his defence barrister who said that ryan giggs was relieved that the prosecution against them had finally come to an end after three years of trying to clear his name and he was now looking forward to rebuilding his life and career as an innocent man. england captain millie bright says the lionesses will be pausing discussions over win bonuses and commercial structures until after the women's world cup, which starts in two days' time. bright released a statement saying the players were disappointed that there had been no resolution

since they presented the fa with their concerns last year, and they viewed a resolution as key for the growth of the women's game, and feel a strong sense of responsibility to do that. the usa is going into the tournament in australia and new zealand as the favourites to win it for the third time in a row. they're in auckland, building up to their opening match against vietnam on saturday. this tournament will be the last for one of the most successful players of her generation, megan rapinoe, who's retiring in october. she's been the driving force in the side and played a huge part in their 2019 victory. she won the golden boot as top scorer, with six goals and three assists, and the golden ball as best player. it's not hard to see, why she'll be missed. it's sad to think about this being her last, but she has done such incredible things for this team and for the world, so to be able to see

that up close and personal and be close to that has been really special. i hope that we all send her out on a high. the referees have also been building up for the tournament and there'll be big changes on the use of var. for the first time in a major competition referees will be expected to announce var—related decisions to the crowd. it follows sucessful trials in two tournaments earlier this year. the open, golf�*s final major of the year, gets under way at royal liverpool on thursday and rory mcilroy is hoping history repeats itself. the last time it was played at hoylake he lifted the famous claretjug and goes in this week in excellent form, having won the scottish open at the weekend. i haven't been here since 2014...

straight to westminster where the defence secretary is setting out plans to modernise the country? armed forces. he is detailing a new global response force. let's listening to what he is to say. we are listening to what he is to say. - are already world leaders in specific areas but to continue matching our adversaries we must stay up on the curve in digital and emerging scientific fields. in 2021 we said we would invest 6.6 billion in advance research and development. we are now investing significantly more. such as ai, quantum and robotics. we are enabling a culture of innovation across defence, pushing those breakthroughs to the front line. we are increasing sourcing does 100 point solutions that can stop 100 million threats in their track, winning both the kinetic and economic exchange of

modern warfare. our ability to do that depends on the quality of our relationship with the industry. i'm pushing the mod to form a closer alliance with our industrial partners, a genuine partnership to sustain our defence will mean doing things differently. ukraine reminds us that time waits for no one. it is no good holding out for the 100% solution that is obsolete by the time it is launched. 80% is often good enough, especially if it means swiftly putting kate into the hands of our service personnel, capabilities that can be rapidly upgraded for the relentless cycles of battlefield adoption to win the innovation battle. instead of sticking to acquisition programme is a drag on for decades we are setting maximum delivery periods, five years for hardware, three years for digital programmes. ourfirst digital programmes. our first priority digital programmes. ourfirst priority is productivity and campaigning. in orderto priority is productivity and campaigning. in order to face this increasingly volatile world, we need to make major changes to the

machinery of the department and its methods. we will increase the bang for buck in everything we do. this approach reaches into every part of the defence enterprise, from the front line to the back office and involves a major redesign of the department of state. we must shift our entire culture to one where we live and operate as we would fight, focusing more on outputs and inputs on achieving a better balance between risk and reward. that means empowering people to live and operate alongside partners and some time to be enabled by them when in lower threat environments. that means ensuring our equipment, has the m —— infrastructure supplies needed to sustain operations more of the time and deliver a real—world effect whenever it is needed. it means working with the regulatory authorities to accelerate the experimentation, testing and innovation of new technologies while

remaining within legal bounds. i want to emphasise one final aspect, namely the development of the global campaigning approach. we started with a review of our head office where we had broken out campaign delivery from policy formation and have established integrated campaign teams. they have adversary not geographic focus is ample driver and will drive our enduring campaigns in the same way that operational commanders lived our forces. the same way that operational commanders lived ourforces. the individual t... commanders lived ourforces. the individualt... defence commanders lived ourforces. the individual t... defence must be able to respond globally to safeguard our interests and those of our allies. sometimes it could be to evacuate citizens in moments of crisis, lichen sedan. as we have shown through our support for ukraine, the uk government has the political will, but it is going to be matched

by the military ability.