now, after an ugly press conference yesterday between boxers chris eubankjunior and liam smith ahead ing personal attacks yesterday with eubank the subject of homophpbic taunts and smith — the subject of taunts about social class. smith has denied making homophobic comments and eubankjunior wore a rainbow armband in support of the lgbtq+ community. i never said nothing homophobic. not one word homophobic came out of my mouth. people think i did but i humbly apologise but nothing out for the came out of my mouth yesterday. as a press conference and asked him a question basically, i never said in the homophobic words towards chris. like i said, the people that are offended by that, i apologise for the people were jumping are offended by that, i apologise for the people werejumping on are offended by that, i apologise for the people were jumping on the bandwagon to make it worse, i am not interested. to regret what he said, absolutely. he disrespected her and alienated a whole _ he disrespected her and alienated a whole group of people. and that is unacceptable. we do not want that in bo

this fight against liam smith is about two middleweight who genuinely don't like each other— and theire, it was clear there is no love lost between them. it clear there is no love lost between them. , . . . clear there is no love lost between them. . , clear there is no love lost between them. ., . them. it escalated quickly. was i surprised? _ them. it escalated quickly. was i surprised? no, _ them. it escalated quickly. was i surprised? no, everybody- them. it escalated quickly. was i surprised? no, everybody reacts| them. it escalated quickly. was i l surprised? no, everybody reacts in different— surprised? no, everybody reacts in different ways to getting ready to fi - ht different ways to getting ready to fight another man. you know, he's so hell on _ fight another man. you know, he's so hell on trying — fight another man. you know, he's so hell on trying to prove that he's not rattled and the him under his skin that — not rattled and the him under his skin that he just went off the rails, — skin that he just went off the rails, so _ skin that he just went off the rails, so i _ sk

chris eubankjunior and liam smith had to apologise for their part in an ugly press conference this week it was a week that boxing crossed a line... he disrespected and hurt and alienated a whole group of people. and that is unacceptable, we do not want that in boxing. this is a huge fight for me. there is a lot on the line, a lot at stake. and now it is a personalfare, it's notjust business. i think i will go in there and assert my dominance and take this guy out. hot and assert my dominance and take this guy out-— this guy out. not one homophobic word has come _ this guy out. not one homophobic word has come out _ this guy out. not one homophobic word has come out of— this guy out. not one homophobic word has come out of my - this guy out. not one homophobic word has come out of my mouth l this guy out. not one homophobic i word has come out of my mouth and people _ word has come out of my mouth and people who — word has come out of my mouth and people who think it is i can only apologise — people who think it is i can only apologise but nothing has come out of my— apologise but nothin

chris eubankjunior and liam smith had to apologise for their part in an ugly press conference this week insults and smith on the receiving end of taunts about social class. many, even before the fight begins. have said it was a week that boxing crossed a line. he disrespected and hurt and alienated a whole group of people. and that is unacceptable, we do not want that in boxing. this is a huge fight for me. there is a lot on the line, a lot at stake. and now it is a personal affair, it's notjust business. i think i will go in there and assert my dominance and take this guy out. not one homophobic word has come out of my mouth and people who think it is i can only apologise but homophobic nothing has come out of my mouth. i regret the way the situation is played out things that i said the things that do not have should have been but important for my career going forward that we fight and become a big moment for both of them - and when you settle these things you have to go out and prove it. it is not easy for. anyone i think the first round will bei very tight and how chris eubank junior

liam smith has denied he was making homophobic comments towards chris eubankjunior in yesterday's press middleweight fight in manchester. the pair weighed in today at the same weight of 11 stone five pounds ahead of tomorrow night. chris eubankjr was wearing a pro—lgbtq rainbow armband following yesterdays exchanges, in which he himself taunted smith about the city of his birth liverpool and his marriage. they have apologised for the remarks. i never said nothing homophobic. not one word homophobic came out of my mouth. apologise, but nothing out for the came out of my mouth yesterday. as a press conference i was asked a question basically, i never said a homophobic word towards chris. like i said, the people that are offended by that, i apologise for the people were jumping on the bandwagon to make it worse, i am not interested. do i regret what he said? absolutely. he disrespected, hurt and alienated a whole group of people. and that is unacceptable. we do not want that in boxing. we want to be all—inclusive in this sport. and when you get ready to fight a man, tensions are high, i ge

chris eubankjunior and liam smith away in ahead of their middleweight fight tomorrow. —— way in.ore in the north than the south. the centre for cities think tank says the impact of the cost of living crisis is significantly higher in blackburn and burnley for example than in cambridge and london. it says the disparity was down to the higher proportion of poorly—insulated housing in the north and the fact that workers in the north tend to earn lower wages and so spend more of their income on essentials like food and heating. 0ur political correspondent, alex forsyth, has spent the week in blackburn meeting people in the community trying to help those in need. radio: at 6:00, with the latest for lancashire, there is a yellowi warning for ice and snow... early morning in blackburn, and it's cold. but at the ivy street community centre, there is a sense of warmth. can you manage? christine has worked in this community for 37 years. we don't know how many children they've got. then we can start doing those meals and just freeze them. once a week, with her team of volunteers, she packs

liam smith, night, rather. but liam smith, what performance. i'm what a performance.ot i'm not seeing him perform like that quite a long time. like that in quite a long time. with stance triple with the stance against triple j at age triple j is out now. at the age triple j is out now. yeah, i think he probably because he's not been in startling form the last in startling form in the last in the few few matches i mean the last few few matches i mean if been happening four or if he'd been happening four or five don't think five years ago, i don't think there's contest. but now there's any contest. but now with a bit older with gennady quite a bit older now and pushing towards 40, i think i think it's more even contest been in contest than it might been in the three may belong the the past three may belong to the football and i believe that football now and i believe that we've former we've got the former arsenal striker striker and football pundh striker striker and football pundit kevin campbell on the line good morning to line with us. good morning to you, kevin. we

fight to be postponed in manchester they have up tomorrow have a dust up tomorrow against liam his liam smith article shot at triple jake. an article kid and he's a top fighter he's kind of past his peak i would've thought what fans seem to be either these yeah should either these two but yeah should be fight why he be decent fight simon why is he called there's only two g's called j if there's only two g's in his name? what is triple j? in his name? i what is triple j? i should know this met him. that's you would that's something you would know. yeah, know. i look. yeah, i know, i know. i look. i'll it up later on. but i'll look it up later on. but i think he's he's not. i might become aj oh well also be it. yeah, possibly. but i don't know for certain that oh we're just being cam norris just being told cam norris won just third was one of the third set. he was one of the first fantastic. well well in that he's probably that that means he's probably got chance of he got a reasonable chance of if he wins he's got wins the fourth he's got a reasonable chance of tying up that game within 2 hour

liam smith has denied he was making homophobic comments towards chris eubankjunior in yesterday's presssterdays ugly exchanges; for which they have apologised. i never said anything homophobic. nothing, people think i did but i apologise but i don't think anything homophobic came out of my mouth yesterday. i was asking the question basically, i neversaid yesterday. i was asking the question basically, i never said any homophobic words toward sin but like i said, the people are offended by that, i apologise. —— towards him. -- towards him. do i regret what he said, absolutely. _ -- towards him. do i regret what he said, absolutely. he _ -- towards him. do i regret what he said, absolutely. he disrespected i said, absolutely. he disrespected and heard — said, absolutely. he disrespected and heard and alienated a whole group _ and heard and alienated a whole group of— and heard and alienated a whole group of people. and that is an acceptable, we do not want that in boxing _ acceptable, we do not want that in boxing you — acceptable, we do not want that in boxing. you want to be all—inclusi

liam smith was shot and covered in acid before being left on kilburn drive on the 24th of november. murder and is due to appear at tameside magistrates court today . at magistrates court today. at least seven people have died in a mass shooting at two locations in the northern california city of half moon bay. in the northern california city of half moon bay . officials say of half moon bay. officials say the suspect was arrested yesterday after driving to a police parking lot after attempting to turn himself in. it's the second mass shooting in as many days in the us state after 11 people were killed in monterey park on . saturday the monterey park on. saturday the government is resisting calls a large scale pilot and menopause leave program. ministers have also rejected a recommendation from the women and equalities committee to make menopause a protected characteristic under the equalities act. committee chairwoman mp caroline nokes says she is disappointed by the lack of action by the government in response to the committee's report. but the government says the suggested approac

at the ring walk liam smith against eubank jr that's against chris eubank jr that's been a lot of chatob chat or back chat. chat whatever but the baftas, how about natalie. yes, they're coming up soon aren't they. but what. i want to talk about is kylie minogue because she is doing very well for at the moment. apparently she has made very well for at the moment. apparently she has mad e £7.7 apparently she has made £7.7 million for putting her name to bottle of prosecco and apparently every 1.5 seconds someone is actually sipping the seco.if someone is actually sipping the seco. if anyone tried it we know have more champagne man but she's she's not like sort of the brad pitt's of this world some of them have actually got sort of them have actually got sort of vineyard heads and a producer there. yeah she's done that. she's just attached to a name. well, that's lot easier way to well, that's a lot easier way to do isn't don't do do things, isn't it? don't do the no name on the hard work. no name on a bottle, you understand? celebrity way that i don't. celebrity in a way that i don't. ha

his last two liam smith won his last two fights. it cannot. gennady golovkin although size of although as i said, the size of it in a way that isn't in the middle and i think we know is gennady golovkin. so it's all right. so this this is i'm right. jeez so this this is i'm sports reports being educated . sports reports being educated. yeah yeah it should be a decent up though seriously. 37 knockout s. yeah 42 wins five outstanding. he's a generational talent in that division. there's no question it. but having said that, if eubank junior can win tonight, a just 34, he's got a reasonable chance going into that he will certainly make life interesting triple j because triple j interesting triple j because triplej is as he's now universally on this desk , not universally on this desk, not beenin universally on this desk, not been in great form in the last year or so. it might be an opening, but as i say, eubank junior has to overcome smith tonight. and that's not gonna be easy. no okay. eight and thank you very much indeed. time for a

chris eubankjunior and liam smith have apologised for their pre—fight press conference in which bothhanks to some great plays by derrickjones junior. the nba say they're highly likely to go back to paris next year. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. that's bbc.co.uk/sport there is also full coverage from melbourne, it might not go on until four o'clock melbourne time, but it is going on currently. i'll have more in the next hour. let's return to our top story, and president zelensky has called on both germany and the us to provide ukraine with tanks and other advanced weapons as a matter of urgency, at a meeting of more than 50 allies at a us airbase in germany. so far, only britain has agreed to send such machines, as our defence correspondent, jonathan beale, explains. the west's focus was on providing weapons to ukraine to help it defend itself. that has now changed. britain is giving 1a of these challenger 2 battle tanks, as well as 30 of these massive self—propelled guns. used together, the hope is that ukraine will pun

liam fox in provision for those with down's syndrome . or in duncan smith. syndrome.ombating chinese authoritarianism . these are authoritarianism. these are voluntary and, noble causes that can take up huge amounts of time. elsewhere, james davies works part time as a gp. david lammy hosts a radio show. chris bryant writes books. clearly these examples that enhance the role of an mp while indicating that being an mp isn't a traditional full time job in the sense that most people might think of what mp jobs are. weird mp is a weird and analysing their roles through the lens of normal jobs is always going to lead to bad conclusions. mp clearly have time to work beyond the core of simply pretending to be a local councillor inspecting potholes forwarding constituents concerns to relevant authorities and occasionally or asking a question in the chamber. so wooing back now in this context , jus t £8,700 per mp coming from , just £8,700 per mp coming from donations as outside earnings and free event tickets seems low , far from the implication of some sort of expenses scand

smith in just a moment. but can i finally ask you, liam, whether you agree with me that brexit has been undersold now i voted016 because i felt there would be short to medium term economic impacts . i stand by that. but impacts. i stand by that. but i've mentioned in my big opinion that brexit is a journey. it's a work in progress. can it ultimately be successful ? this ultimately be successful? this country . well, i would i would country. well, i would i would say as a professional economist. i would say that it can be an it is a journey rather than an event, since that's referendum in mid 2016, we had three years of rows of course then we had a transition period and then almost as soon as the transition penod almost as soon as the transition period was over when the uk left the single market and the customs union, the main constructs, the legal constructs of the eu. we then had the covid pandemic and since then we've had the biggest conflicts on european landmass since 45. so i don't think anyone really knows how brexit has impacted the uk so far. what i would say is that the growth figures haven't been t