victoria gill, bbc news.ry no more. the eurovision song contest is back — and its underway now. this the 65th edition is hosted in the netherlands — after being cancelled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. for more on this we can go to our correspondent steve holden in rotterdam. thejuries which the juries which make up 50% of the results tonight think france, italy, malta and iceland, the current top five which were countries all highly rated before the contest started. the united kingdom, no points. i didn't quite catch that question, but it has been an amazing show. san marino brought on international wrapper flo ryder. because eurovision is back after two years, everybody brought the a game to the table. 0nce everybody brought the a game to the table. once the everybody brought the a game to the table. 0nce thejury everybody brought the a game to the table. once the jury gave their votes, we go to the public vote. quite often the public and the jury votes are different. the juries listen to the so

victoria gill, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather. hello there. clouds have already been bursting through the skies above nuneaton in warwickshire. clouds can actually get to six miles tall today. clouds that big are capable of hefty downpours. we have already seeen a few of those. we have an organised feature pushing showers against wales and southwest england, showers will be widespread. then we have another curl of cloud pushing in against southwest england so here more general cloud and heavy outbreaks of rain pushing in through the afternoon. heavy downpours then for south—east england, big thunderstorms too across midlands towards lincolnshire, a greater chance of showers for northern ireland and today's showers in scotland will be quite slow—moving but some areas will dodge the downpours. favoured spots, north wales, north—west england will see fewer showers, so you might get away with a dry afternoon with sunshine here. 0vernight, cloud and rain pushing eastwards across southern counties in england and also thicker cloud in northern scotla

victoria gill, bbc news.orry no more. the eurovision song contest is back, and is under way now. for more on this, we can go to our correspondent, steve holden, in rotterdam. what has been your highlight so far? the show has just finished, 26 countries took part. the highlight, san marino, one of the smallest countries in the world and they had invested flo ryder. iceland wasn't allowed to perform live in the arena because one of the bandmembers tested positive for covid—19 early in the week so the safety protocols kicked in and they were not allowed to perform here. they are in a hotel watching the old rehearsal footage being beamed to the well. we are now waiting for the long results to come through. we are waiting for them in the next five minutes. you through. we are waiting for them in the next five minutes.— the next five minutes. you are waitin: the next five minutes. you are waiting for— the next five minutes. you are waiting for the _ the next five minutes. you are waiting for the results - the next

victoria gill, bbc news. now, have a look at these self—protraits of an artist.ations is ai—da and they're going on show from tomorrow at london's design museum. david sillito reports on this ground—breaking exhibition. meet ai—da, the robot artist. it's a slow and steady process, but effective. these are a few of her recent self—portraits. and what's more, she's happy to have a chat. how are you today? i'm well, thank you. how would you rate yourself as an artist? i love to be creative. i enjoy being someone who makes people think. she answers questions. each painting is different, and a surprise. you could almost say she has a personality. fundamentally, that's a funny question. i think the prospect of getting to know her is hilarious, but at the same time, i mean, peering over at her now, i think her makers probably considered that they have some form of relationship. whether that's reciprocated or not. ai—da, could you look across there to the camera. we are all used to, these days, talking to machines and our phones. but creativity, that's a rather different

victoria gill, bbc news.the protesters were heard shouting "let our neighbours go". police scotland said a number of its officers had been called to the south side of the city to support the uk border agency. first minister nicola sturgeon described the situation as deeply concerning. tonight the two men have been released. the amount of fraud and error in the benefits system has hit record levels. £8.4 billion was lost in the past year, according to the latest figures. that's up 83% on the year before. there was a big increase in the number of overpayments on the main benefit — universal credit — driven almost entirely by fraud, as it was targeted by criminal gangs. our social affairs correspondent, michael buchanan, has the details. i have been fortunate enough that i've never claimed benefits so i was really surprised the dwp were asking me to repay anything really. jae me to repay anything really. joe darby was _ me to repay anything really. joe darby was the victim of identity theft last year. fraudsters

victoria gill, bbc news.tion centres in the uk to stop deliveries to the fast—food chain's 1,300 uk outlets. animal rebellion said about 50 activists were using trucks and bamboo structures to stop lorries leaving depots in hemel hempstead, basingstoke, coventry and in greater manchester 0ur correspondent sima kotecha is here. tell us a little bit more about why this group, animal rebellion, says they are taking this action? the? they are taking this action? they are calling _ they are taking this action? they are calling for — they are taking this action? tue: are calling for mcdonald's they are taking this action? tte: are calling for mcdonald's and they are taking this action? tt3:1 are calling for mcdonald's and other fast—food chains to go vegan, if you like. to convert their menus into a beacon menu. they said that by having meat on their menu, they are damaging the environment. these protests started early this morning. they are not violent. they are outside depots, mcdonald depots across the country.

here's our science correspondent, victoria gill.arly in the pandemic, scientist confirmed that wastewater could be tested for the covid virus. that sewage sampling which scientists say can pick up the virus earlier than testing in a population has now been ramped up. researchers say that 500 locations are being monitored for coronavirus, many of them sampled at least four days a week. it is a sewage based coronavirus tracking programme which was developed from scratch. the health secretary said that the approach was being used to monitor the indian variantand being used to monitor the indian variant and track its spread. wastewater testing has been described as an additional detecting system for covid—i9, helping health officials to spot early signals of localised outbreaks and variants of concern as the country tentatively emerges from restrictions. wastewater could be used to track diseases like flu. scientists who have helped set up this sewage testing programme say it could be one public—health silver lining of the pandemic. now

victoria gill has this report.ment's new package of nature restoration pledges for england. as well as a promise to ban the sale of peat in garden centres, the environment secretary today announced a plan to restore 35,000 hectares of degraded dried out peatland, an area about the size of the isle of wight. conservation groups say it's a good start to tackling the interlinked nature and climate crises. they store lots of water, so they prevent flooding and they provide about 70% of our drinking water, and of course they are fantastic places for wildlife, but unfortunately, around 80% of peatlands in the uk are currently in a bad state. as we can see from a small bog restoration project in delamere forest that we had special permission to step on just briefly, bringing peat bogs back to life takes time. you can actually feel under your feet by the way it moves that this is just a blanket bog of moss that is floating on the water, but it's taken 20 years to get back to this state that's full of vegetation, that's loc

victoria gill, bbc news. this is outside source live from the bbc newsroom.sa's biggest launch this year. this is the james webb space telescope. it cost $10 billion dollars and has taken decades to get to this point. what we're seeing here is its final testing. that mirror that's being unfolded will collect light being emitted from distant galaxies. those panels look golden because they are coated, in gold. and protecting that mirror — on the bottom of the animation here — is a sun shield the size of a tennis court. its so big it has to be folded to fit in the rocket that will take it up to space. the telescope should be able to see so far, it will observe objects that are nearly as old as the universe itself. that's one mission objective. this is another the giant mirrorand the giant mirror and infrared coverage will let scientists probe atmospheres of actual plan is to look for water, carbon dioxide, method and other compounds that could indicate habitability. in other words, exploring the atmospheres of worlds that could host life. this is the hubble obse

victoria gill, bbc news. now, the weather with nick miller. hello.st of the week, indeed into the weekend. let�*s see how today is going to pan out. already some showers for wales and south—west england, they are going to feed their way further east across the midlands, towards the east and south—east of england. some prolonged heavy and thundery downpours here. they will be rather more scattered across north—east england, eastern and northern scotland and northern ireland. there will be parts of south—west scotland and north—west england that have a largely dry and sunny afternoon. temperatures where they have been for several days now, in the range mainly of 12 to 16 celsius. now, there will be some patchy rain in the far north of scotland, we�*ll continue with that overnight, and we�*ll hold on to some cloud and some showers across parts of wales and southern england through the night, whereas elsewhere where skies are clear and winds are light, temperatures will be lower than this in rural spots. i can�*t rule out a touch of frost in the coldest

victoria gill, bbc news.ng using the hashtag bbc your questions or by emailing yourquestions@bbc.co. uk. new research suggests more than half of single—use plastic items thrown away around the world are made from materials produced by just 20 companies. the authors of the study say firms should take more responsibility for the impact of the waste. our science editor david shukman reports. it all begins with oil pumped from underground, the start of a plastic journey. in refineries and processing plants, the oil is turned into the raw materials for plastic. and the new research finds that of those destined to make single use items, half are produced byjust 20 companies. those ingredients are sold to manufacturers who make everything from plastic cups to plastic bottles. most of them used just once and then thrown away, often polluting the environment. the study says the original producers need to take responsibility for that. the future of the plastic waste crisis really sits in the hands ofjust 20 companies w

victoria gill, bbc news.sed with parkinson's disease. in a brief statement, the former newsnight presenter, who is 71, said he was receiving "excellent" treatment and that his symptoms are "currently mild". he says he plans to continue working. the world's biggest televised singing competition — the eurovision song contest — is taking place tonight with a live audience. it's one of the first major gatherings to go ahead since covid—19 brought the global events industry to a standstill. 0ur correspondent anna holligan reports from rotterdam. the final sequins are in place. last—minute alterations made. humming and vocal warm-ups. now warming up for the biggest stage of their lives. they've travelled from across the continent, from north to south. so much love. i really appreciate all the days here and i think from today till the end of the competition, it is going to be the best days of our lives. from rock... to pop. there's all kinds of everything here. lithuania, they are my favourite group, i love them. th

victoria gill, bbc news.s bought through the thames, it had to be coordinated with the tide and the clearance under southwark bridge was just 40 centimetres at times. there are 32 pods, there is not a number 13, unlucky for some. we have been lucky with the weather, blue skies and it is beautiful, on a clear day you can see the 40 kilometres in any direction. today will not be clear all day, showers in the forecast. like the last couple of days, the showers will be heavy and thundery, slow—moving with some hail as well. many of us starting on a dry note with some showers but they are getting going, coming in from the south—west across parts of england, wales, northern ireland, and in scotland we have a weather front sinking south taking cloud and rain with it. fewer showers across southern scotland and northern england but he will see some, temperatures 1916, may be 17 in any prolonged spells of sunshine. showers will fade that those in the south will move across southern counties heading towards the south—ea