first let's get the moment, but first let's get the latest sport from the bbc sport centre with sarah. hi, sarah. thanks very much. let's start in miami, where red bull's max verstappen set the pace in grand prix first practice despite a tricky session. the world champion, who ran wide at least three times and complained of braking issues, ended upjust clear of mclaren�*s oscar piastri. ferrari's carlos sainz was third fastest. the build up has been dominated by the departure from red bull of designer adrian newey. lewis hamilton says it would be a "privilege" to work with him, should he decide to join ferrari — hamilton's new team — next season. ifi if i was to do ifiwas to doa if i was to do a list of people i would love to work with, he would absolutely be at the top of it. i think you would be an amazing addition. i think they've already got a great team, they are already making huge progress, strides forward, their cars quicker this year, but yeah, it would be a privilege to work with him.

moving on to football. luton town can give their hopes of avoiding relegation from the english premier league a big boost tonight as they take on everton. they'll move out of the drop zone with victory. everton have already secured premier league safety. the visitors did illegal up, dominic calvert—lewin scored from the penalty spot after a penalty, but i can't tell you that just in the last minute, luton have equalised throughout ican i can tell you luton have equalised through adebayo. elsewhere, liverpool manager jurgen klopp has hit out at the premier league and its broadcasters, describing fixture scheduling as "absolutely insane". since klopp took charge in 2015, liverpool have featured in more early kick—offs than any other premier league club. but klopp also suggested that lunch—time kick—off times don'tjust affect his team,

but are also partly to blame for english teams' struggles in europe this season. i watch a lot of football, all over the world, and the premier league is the world, and the premier league is the best leak in the world. so it's not overrated, the players are overworked. it is that. you can talk about that until anybody relates is finally, somebody obviously needs to help the people. you have to become a partner of football again and not just the squeezer. that's it. that's a little advice from an old man on the way out. meanwhile, chelsea boss mauricio pochettino says rumours about his future at the club need to stop. despite thursday's win aginst spurs, pochettino�*s future remains the subject of speculation after a difficult campaign, with the blues eighth in the table. the manager insists he's still in the dark as to whether he has the backing of the club's owners going forward. we don't know. at the moment. i suppose i have one more year contract, i will be here, but enough

about stupid rumours, you know, because you need to ask the club. if the club want me to keep going or run, not to write nonsense that have no sense. —— not to write things that have no sense. the evening session at the crucible is under way at the world snooker championship. we'll go there in just a second. 11 frames to nine, a thrilling game, been tied at eight frames. just resuming the evening session. you can watch that on the bbc website and elsewhere. 2015 world champion stuart bingham is locked at eight frames all against jakjones. bingham taking the 16th frame in a session that lasted nearly three hours to set up an exciting conclusion to this one. but that is all the sport from me for the moment. sarah, for now, thank you. we'll

talk to you a little later. now, let's return to one of our main stories. turkey has stopped all trade with israel until there's a permanent ceasefire in gaza and a sufficient flow israel's foreign minister responded by accusing turkey's president erdogan of behaving like a dictator. but what is that trade worth and how do turkey import and exports compared to other top trade partners? the biggest by far is the united states atjust over $26 billion will start next is china, it comes at $14.6 billion. germany and israel but they did more than eight and a half billion dollars of trade last year, while india and israel's trade is worth just over $7 billion. how significant is this move? our senior international correspondent orla guerin is in istanbul and explained the significance of turkey's move. well, president erdogan has been speaking to a group of businessmen, and he has elaborated a bit more on the reasons for this move. he said it was designed to force

israel — those are his words — to agree to a cease—fire and to allow more humanitarian aid into gaza. he said he wasn't chasing after conflict — in fact, he was trying to bring an end to conflict in the region. and he was sure that turkey had done the right thing. now, earlier, he said that as a muslim nation, it was unthinkable for turkey to simply sit back and watch palestinians being killed. he is a leader who presents himself as a defender of muslims worldwide, not alone in turkey but also palestinians in gaza. i think he wanted to land a diplomatic blow on israel and increase the pressure on israel and he wanted to land a commercial blow on israel, which is reliant on turkey for 30% of its cement. now, in the end, the economic damage may be greaterfor turkey than it is for israel, but we also have to look at the domestic political context here. we had elections at the end of march, local elections.

the president's ruling party was really hammered, and analysts here believe that was because, in part, some turkish voters felt he just was not being tough enough on israel. he was engaging in a war of words, but hadn't done more. well, now, he's waging a war on trade. 0 rla orla guerin they in istanbul. meanwhile, the uk has announced new sanctions against some israeli settlers for attacks in the occupied west bank. it's the second such round of sanctions imposed since february and it follows similar moves by the eu and us. the foreign secretary, lord cameron, called on israel to clamp down on those responsible for what he called egregious violence against palestinian civilians. lord cameron made those comments whilst in kyiv on a special visit. in a meeting with president zelensky, he said it is up to ukraine to decide how to use british weapons and insisted kyiv has the right to strike targets on russian territory. he also promised the uk would continue to provide up

to £3 billion a year, for as long as necessary. in terms of what the ukrainians do, in our view, it is their decision about how to use these weapons. they are defending their country, they were illegally invaded by putin and they must take those steps. we don't discuss any caveats that we put on those things. but let's be absolutely clear, russia has launched an attack into ukraine and ukraine absolutely has the right to strike back at russia. the kremlin has called the remarks and recent comments from emmanuel macron an "unacceptable escalation". the french president has refused to rule out potentially deploying french troops to ukraine at some point in the future. our correspondent james waterhouse is in kyiv. he explained what difference lord cameron's comments could make for ukraine. well, ukraine has always needed western help to carry out its fight. but what's really interesting about lord cameron's comments,

i mean, he's clearly in a hawkish mood during his visit to kyiv. he basically said ukraine has the right to hit targets inside russia with the weapons, with the missiles that the uk provides. that is not a view shared by other western allies. it's actually a condition applied to their support that ukraine doesn't hit inside russia. why? well, with ukraine hitting energy infrastructure inside russia, there are fears of energy prices rising. but also the west has always been fearful or wary of an escalation in some way. you just need to watch russian state tv to see how they point out or allude to the fact that they've got a sizable arsenal of nuclear weapons. so the west is keen to keep things this war within the boundaries of ukraine. but we are seeing ukraine hit russia with drones it makes domestically. nevertheless, this is a sizeable offering from the uk and a sizeable commitment — £3 billion a year for as long as it takes.

he described this war as being the biggest challenge of a generation. it will include long—range missiles like storm shadows, which ukraine has used effectively on occupied crimea. it will use air defence, it will involve air defence equipment that will be used by teams you see in ukrainian towns and cities as they try to take out drones launched by occupying russian troops. so this will be welcomed. there is also part of the money will go towards restoring ukraine's energy infrastructure. but look, trips like these are welcome and i think this is the uk trying to keep the pressure up on other western allies to say, "look," you know, "we should all be doing as much "as we can to keep ukraine in the fight." james waterhouse there in kyiv for us. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

you are watching the context on bbc news. we should just flag of course that this is the end of week three of donald trump's trial in that new york port. ijust want of donald trump's trial in that new york port. i just want to take you live there, he has made his way outside of the court, facing down next to me earlier today. the jury has been dismissed for the weekend, celeste is having listened to mr trump. celeste is having listened to mr trum -. , g celeste is having listened to mr trum. , g . . celeste is having listened to mr trum. . . . ., trump. doj, etc etc. in particular, this office — trump. doj, etc etc. in particular, this office of _ trump. doj, etc etc. in particular, this office of da, _ trump. doj, etc etc. in particular, this office of da, which _ trump. doj, etc etc. in particular, this office of da, which is - trump. doj, etc etc. in particular, this office of da, which is letting l this office of da, which is letting crime, violent crime run rampant all over our city. what they've done to the people in my company, they've been after us for years. you take a look at what's happening, years, the democrats, the radical left, they have been after us for years and they have destroyed peoples lives. they have gone out and hired lawyers, with lawyers, for years, been sucked dry, and it's a shame of it is a shame what they've done to this country. and it's a shame what

they've done to a lot of great people that have been absolutely ruined and destroyed, not only here, all over. these are vicious, vicious, radical left lunatics. the vicious, radical left lu natics. the da vicious, radical left lunatics. the da here, soros backed, they should not be wasting time on this. look at what they did to so many people. they are all lawyered up, that is all they do, lawyer of... fix, they are all lawyered up, that is all they do, lawyer of... a familiar imaue all they do, lawyer of... a familiar image and — all they do, lawyer of... a familiar image and a _ all they do, lawyer of... a familiar image and a familiar _ all they do, lawyer of... a familiar image and a familiar refrain - all they do, lawyer of... a familiar image and a familiar refrain from | image and a familiar refrain from mr trump outside of that courtroom. this is the store trial that —— a store trial that resolves around that hush money paid to the aduu around that hush money paid to the adult film actress stormy daniels. it is not paying that so—called hush money that is at question, it is about how it was reported within the accounting of the business, so falsifying business records to conceal the payment. he of course denies any encounter with stormy

daniels, so we will stay across that, but quite a familiar refrain from mrtrump, who that, but quite a familiar refrain from mr trump, who says the whole thing is politically motivated and a sham. a reminder today of the importance of press freedom — the ability ofjournalists around the world to report the truth, without fear or intimidation. today is world press freedom day, which also pays tribute to journalists who've lost their lives. gaza is becoming the most deadly conflict for journalists and media workers. in gaza, at least 103 journalists have been killed by israeli strikes since the war began according to the non—governmental organisation reporters without borders. one in tenjournalists in gaza have died. to mark their sacrifice and the work of all palestinian journalists covering the war in gaza, unesco has awarded them the press freedom prize. but it isn'tjust in gaza where press freedom is threatened. according to the latest research from reporters without borders, the environment forjournalism is defined as "bad" in 75% of the countries it ranks.

we'll speak to their campaign director in a moment, but first, in a special report, our analysis editor ros atkins looks at the state of media freedom around the world. journalism is under attack. it is an extremely challenging and difficult time to be a journalist. all the main indicators about press freedom around the world show it's in decline. we have to be able to operate as freely as possible. - it's often very difficult. according to campaign group reporters without borders, the environment forjournalism is bad in 75% of the countries it ranks. the reasons why reveal truths about our world and the realities of reporting on it. freedom of the press is central to democracy, but some democracies are changing.

we have to recognise that democracies don't look and feel and sound the same as they did many years back. democratic backsliding is a reality in many countries, especially india, and that has come with fairly sharp authoritarian overtones. india is often called the world's largest democracy. in this year's election, an estimated 960 million voters are taking part. and polls predict another win for narendra modi's hindu nationalist bjp and its allies. since mr modi came to power in 2014, india has fallen down the world press freedom index to 159 out of the 180 countries ranked. journalists critical of central and state governments face physical threats, online harassment and legal charges. for example, last year, the homes and offices of senior staff at the newsclick website were raided. the editor in chief remains in custody, accused of publishing

chinese propaganda. and some argue that what's happened to press freedom in india is part of a global trend. the job of a journalist is to present the facts, to present the news. but if you're presented the facts that you don't like, often, you go after the messenger. and that's exactly what we're seeing with the rise of populism, with the rise of nationalism, is a commensurate decline in the press freedom environment worldwide. if the health of democracies impacts press freedom, so too does the absence of democracy elsewhere. from dictatorships and theocracies to militaryjuntas and communist one—party states, according to the economist, over 39% of the world's population lives under authoritarian rule. this includes china, where independentjournalists are routinely imprisoned. for example, injanuary,

shangguan yunkai was sentenced to 15 years for crimes ranging from fraud to picking quarrels in hong kong. a national security law has been imposed by beijing. —— in hong kong, a national security law has been imposed by beijing. under it, pro—democracy media tycoon jimmy lai has pleaded not guilty to a string of charges. china jails more journalists than any other country. that's according to the 2023 prison census conducted by the committee to protectjournalists. next are myanmar, belarus, russia, vietnam and iran and israel. the report says that those held by israel on the census date were arrested in the palestinian territory of the occupied west bank after october 7. as for iran, it's restricted the press for decades. it targets journalists inside and outside the country. when bbc persian tv launched in 2009, the response was immediate. iranian officials saw it

as a security threat, so they first started jamming the signals of the tv, and then they moved to targeting the families of the journalists who were in iran and our colleagues who are based in the uk. in 2022, the situation got worse. after mass protests in iran — sparked by the death in police custody of mahsa amini — the threats against iranian journalists abroad intensified. the number of death and kidnap threats has also increased. and in some cases, the police has had to intervene and provide protection for colleagues. authoritarianism and democratic decline restrict press freedom. so does conflict. forjournalists, war brings danger and restricted access.

in ukraine, access to the front line is difficult to negotiate. in myanmar, military rule and civil war make for an exceptionally hostile environment. in sudan's civil war, journalists face internet blackouts and threats. for others, it's too dangerous to enter. there are many more conflicts, too. each dot here shows one that poses a threat to civilians, including journalists. in the case of the israel—gaza war, the threat to journalist safety is extreme. we have seen since the start of the war, at least 95journalists killed, 90 of them palestinian. and that means that this is the deadliest conflict for journalists that the committee to protectjournalists has ever documented. israel has said it doesn't targetjournalists. and while palestinian journalists in gaza face great danger, foreign reporters can't get in. in february, more than 50 uk and us

journalists signed an open letter calling on israel and egypt to provide foreign media access to gaza. one of the signatories was the bbc�*sjeremy bowen. israel has taken some journalists on escorted trips to gaza — doing so, it says, to allow them to report safely. you have to ask the question. if they're not letting people in, except under occasional, very tightly supervised trips with the military, if they're not letting people in, do they have something to hide? conflict, authoritarianism, democratic decline — as we've seen, all three affect press freedom in different ways. there's another factor, too. technology has changed howjournalism is targeted. news organisations can now find their websites blocked or their satellite signals are jammed. the bbc is one of the world's biggest news broadcasters, and it estimates that more

than 3 billion people live in countries where bbc world service content is censored. and the bbc and other news organisations are looking for ways around this. for iran, the bbc publicises tools that allow bbc persian�*s website to be accessed despite the blocks. these tools are helping. the bbc says its sites have been accessed from iran by1 million unique users per month in 2024. and if technology is used to target distribution, it's also used to target journalists themselves. there's a new instrument of fear and terror used by many states around the world, and that is the use of spyware to trackjournalists, to threaten them. and very often, that leads to real acts of violence as well. that analysis there from ros atkins. let's speak to rebecca vincent, director of campaigns for reporters without borders. rebecca, thank you for being with us. it feels particularly poignant,

marking world press freedom day today, given what is happening in gaza and how that is turning into the deadliest conflict for journalists?— the deadliest conflict for “ournalists? ~ , ., ., journalists? absolutely, and that was one of— journalists? absolutely, and that was one of in _ journalists? absolutely, and that was one of in our— journalists? absolutely, and that was one of in our index. - journalists? absolutely, and that was one of in our index. our - journalists? absolutely, and that i was one of in our index. our figures was one of in our index. 0urfigures are little bit different from c pj, in fact we have found more than 100 journalists have been killed since the 7th of october in gaza by israeli defence forces, and at least 22 of those were in connection directly with their work, making this the deadliest conflict for media that we have ever tracked. and across the middle east, that has impacted the press freedoms scoring in our index. but i want to note that the score for palestine has been impacted because mike index assesses violations in the territories where they occur, rather than the nationality of the perpetrators, but it's worth looking across the region as well, add lebanon's score and israel's own

score as well for issues related to this conflict. score as well for issues related to this conflict-— this conflict. and as we said in that introduction _ this conflict. and as we said in that introduction and - this conflict. and as we said in that introduction and heard i this conflict. and as we said in that introduction and heard in | this conflict. and as we said in - that introduction and heard in that report from ross atkins there, this looks at so many elevens of press freedom, of course the safety of journalists and their ability to go about their work, without fear or intimidation. but it's more important than ever, you could argue, this year as well, given more than more than half the world possum a —— world cosmic population will go to the polls in democratic elections and the need for clear, accurate information is greater than ever. it obsolete is, and our index now showing a situation where only 1% of the world population lives in places where press freedom is guaranteed. in an election context that is particular disturbing. another related figures the fact that in three quarters of the countries we surveyed, 138 countries in total, our respondents nonpolitical authorities were involved in mass

propaganda or disinformation campaigns, which impacts the environment of which voters are making decisions. across our indicators that we measure, we saw a severe incline in the political indicator around the world, even in the countries of the very top of the index, which this year was norway, denmark and sweden, we saw the political indicators affected even in these estates, so this shows the really, that lyrical authorities, whether in democracies or in authoritarian countries, are failing to uphold rest freedom —— political authorities. they are failing to uploaded and protected and many cases they are perpetuating the violations themselves. and cases they are perpetuating the violations themselves. and what is interestinu violations themselves. and what is interesting when _ violations themselves. and what is interesting when you _ violations themselves. and what is interesting when you look- violations themselves. and what is interesting when you look at - violations themselves. and what is interesting when you look at his i interesting when you look at his report, it is notjust what we deem to be traditional media, reporters for broadcasting organisations, for newspapers, for radio stations. it is also about that clamp down on information on things like social media, and governments that are stepping up their control over

social media, restricting access to the internet, blocking accounts and suppressing messages, all of that feels like a relatively new concept, although it's been going on for a number of years, but this year feeling even worse. absolutely, and i think any context _ feeling even worse. absolutely, and i think any context of _ feeling even worse. absolutely, and i think any context of conflicts i i think any context of conflicts that has to be looked at. we saw that has to be looked at. we saw that seriously rise at the point when russia invaded ukraine and we have seen since then this proliferation of news sites being blocked. that's something my organisation works to address the around the world. we create mirror sites, for example, we try to restore access to such issues, but i want to just note here that our index does not only measure the actions of states, it is about the climate in countries, so while often it is behaviours that can be directly attribute it to states, there's also other factors such as there's also other factors such as the economic context, sociocultural factors and some safety issues are not directly the responsibility of states either, so it's about the

whole climate, not only the actions of states. , . . . whole climate, not only the actions of states. , . ., ~ whole climate, not only the actions of states. , ., ~ i. whole climate, not only the actions of states. , ., ~ ., of states. rebecca, thank you for ex-aandin of states. rebecca, thank you for exoanding that. _ of states. rebecca, thank you for expanding that, rebecca - of states. rebecca, thank you for| expanding that, rebecca vincent, director of campaigns for reporters without borders. gratefulfor director of campaigns for reporters without borders. grateful for your time, particular poignant to mark world press freedom day, even as we said such a huge year for elections and the access to clear, accurate information is greater. back shortly with the headlines. i will see you very shortly. hello there, good afternoon. well, it was the warmest day of the year so far across all four nations yesterday. temperatures rose into the low 20s in celsius. here they are, and we are set to keep the warmth today across western scotland and northern ireland, although not quite so much sunshine here. but across england and wales, it's a lot cooler, a drop in temperature of around ten degrees celsius across parts of east anglia, where there's plenty of cloud

and some more outbreaks of rain. so really quite wet and cloudy for much of england and wales this afternoon. watch out for some thunderstorms, too, from yorkshire and lincolnshire, just pushing further northwards and westwards through the afternoon. some sunny spells developing across the south coast of england, but the best of the sunshine again will be for scotland, particularly the north and the west, where once again we could see 22, even maybe 23 degrees celsius. now, as we had through of this evening and overnight, that weather front continues to lift its way further northwards, taking the cloud and the rain with it. there'll be a lot of mist and murk into tomorrow morning, particularly for north sea—facing coasts. it's a lot chillier further south for southern england and south wales. clear skies, some radiation fog forming. temperatures back to mid—single figures, but much milder of course further north underneath all of that cloud that continues again to push its way northwards through the day tomorrow. so a bit of a north—south split going on on saturday. still some breaks in the cloud across north—western areas

of scotland, but the best of the sunshine tomorrow will tend to be across southern england and south wales, too, and that will really help to lift the temperatures, 16—17 degrees, back up to the seasonal average, but watch out for some afternoon showers. now on sunday, important not to take the graphics too literally at this stage, but at the moment we think this area of low pressure is going to wind its way in from the south and the west, so there will be some showers here. more showers developing further north as well, but in the sunny spells, and there will be some, then it will feel pleasantly warm as it does at this time of year. and it's another day of sunny spells and some showers again on bank holiday monday. the focus for the showers probably towards the south of england at least through the morning. more showers developing across northern england and scotland as we head through the afternoon, but again do keep checking the forecast because the detail is likely to change. here's the temperature outlook for our capital cities, then, as we head through the weekend and into the start of next week. temperatures around average, warm in the sunshine, but there will be some wet weather at times. bye— bye.

hello, i'm ben thompson. you're watching the context on bbc news. we had 14 years of failure and decline. we got chaos and division from the tories. people want to turn the page and go forward with labour and our positive plan for the country.

obviously it is disappointing to lose all those hardworking conservative councillors. i am grateful to them for all their service in local government. dire election results are becoming a dangerous habit for the conservatives. but tonight, it is not prompting more tory mps to want to get rid of rishi sunak. joining the panel tonight — susie boniface, a columnist at the daily mirror newspaper and joe walsh, former republican congressman and host of the �*white flag' podcast. first, the latest headlines. canadian police have arrested three indian nationals in connection with the killing of an indian sikh separatist leader in western canada. hardeep singh nijjar was shot dead outside a sikh temple in british columbia last year. police say they are investigating connections to the indian government. delhi has denied any hand in the murder.

a senior un official has warned that the situation in sudan