especially in the south, with patchy, light rain around. some sunshine over scotland and northern ireland, but here there are some servers. this weather front over the south of the countries producing thicker cloud and longer spells of rain. it will slowly sip its way southwards and eastwards through the rest of the afternoon and evening. you can see with the thickest of the cloud has been on the radar satellite picture. some patchy, mainly light rain. some sunshine for eastern england and parts of southern scotland and northern ireland. there will be showers for northern and eastern scotland. some turning wintry over the higher grounds. furthersouth, turning wintry over the higher grounds. further south, we could stay dry over the rest of the afternoon. temperatures struggling for the time of year, ten or ii for the time of year, ten or 11 degrees for most. you could see 12 or 13 and some of the brightest spots. this evening and overnight, we are still to see clouds or rain moving away from the south. we will have a large chance of seeing clearer skies. have a large chance of seeing clearerskies. some have a large chance of seeing clearer skies. some showers will affect scotland. for thursday, we start off cold with some frost around, but bright in the sunshine. quite brisk for northern and eastern coasts. some longer spells of rain. a keen north west wind will make it feel chilly again for the time of year. single figures in northern and eastern parts. that area of high pressure clears away into the near continent on friday. isobars widen so the winds will be light, still coming down from the north, so this will be arctic air and it's turning chillier again for the end of april. blue colours right across the uk. for friday and the start of the bank holiday weekend, a cold start, sunny spells, few shoppers around. and then there just spells, few shoppers around. and then therejust a spells, few shoppers around. and then there just a chance bank holiday monday could turn wetter and windier. stay tuned. a reminder of our top story: the electoral commission has launched a formal investigation into the refurbishment of boris johson�*s downing street flat. the prime minister good afternoon. it will be more than a month before we know whether any spectators will be allowed at the tokyo olympics this summer. no overseas fans are allowed but it's hoped some home fans will be able to attend. the ioc have released details today of protocols athletes will have to abide by at the games, including daily testing, but have delayed a decision about allowing people in to watch events. there are more specific details and rules and guidelines to ensure there is health and safety. they can give confidence and they show how diligentlyjapan is confidence and they show how diligently japan is protecting confidence and they show how diligentlyjapan is protecting its population and is protecting also the participants of the games. george north will miss the british and irish lions tour of south africa in the summer with a serious knee injury. the wales winger, who won his 100th cap during this year's victory in the six nations, had been expected to feature in warren gatland's squad. it would have been a third lions tour for north, after he was part of the squad in australia in 2013 and new zealand four years later. this morning north tweeted... cricket will join football's social media boycott this weekend to tackle abuse and discrimination. in a statement, they say, "cricket stands with football." the england and wales cricket board, first class counties, the women's regional teams and the professional cricketers�* association will all take part in staying off platforms from 3pm on friday for four days. after chelsea and real madrid kicked things off in spain with a 1—1 draw in the first leg of their champions league semifinal, manchester city are at thomas tuchel�*s old club paris saint germain for the second semi later today. the french club are now run by former tottenham manager mauricio pochettino, who took over at the end of last year and knows city very well. i think manchester city is one of the greatest teams in the world. i think, for me, with the best coach. and, of course, it's going to be tough. sarah voss says she wants to be a "role model for young gymnasts who don't feel very safe in every situation", this after she competed in a full—body suit at the european championships last week. the german's outfit defied convention as previously women and girls had only covered their legs in international competition for religious reasons. voss hopes others will follow her lead. every time you do not feel safe, it is distracting you from what you want to perform. i think with everything going around, the focus of this beautiful sport is fading away. there are a lot of points that make this sport so beautiful and everyone should feel safe, everyone should feel like they are just for their performance and not their body. kyren wilson has clinched the first place in the semi—finals of the world snooker championship. wilson was the runner—up last year and knocked out former champion neil robertson. they were 8—all overnight, but wilson won the first five frames of the day to end the australian's hopes of another title. and in the last few minutes, mark selby has clinched his place in the semi—finals. he started the day 6—2 ahead of a fellow former world champion mark williams, and lostjust one more frame, winning 13—3. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. i will see you again in the next hour. thank you very much. more and more uk towns and villages are being left without a bank branch or free to use cash machine because of closures. now some are starting back, starting up their own community banking hubs. our personal finance correspondent kevin peachy has been to one of them. it's market day in rochford, but since the last bank left town more than three years ago, locals and traders have had to travel miles to withdraw and deposit cash. until now. this former carpet shop is five banks in one, with a regular counter and mainstream bank staff visiting once a week for trickier transactions. we've had one lady that came in and said, "thank you, you've changed my life. " and that's not an understatement when they said we've got vulnerable members of the community that have struggled with travelling far. so to have this on their doorstep has been a lifeline for them, really. rochford has gone so quiet and this is a really good thing for the community, for the older people. even, i mean, i do internet banking, but it's handy to have someone that you can go to. so i work at a local salon just around the corner i and i get loads of tips, - so normally i wait to the end of the month and ijust go into. town, southend and pay it all in, but obviously i can justj do it as and when now. it's a godsend. we'lljust nip round there on a wednesday and bank what we need to bank. it's great. something else is being tried out here in rochford. you might buy a card or something similar from one of the local shops, but choose not to get your change in coins, but on a card or an app — money which you can then save up to spend locally. if it brings in trade, then everyone's happy. we're here to provide for the customers. if they want to give us cash, card — we're happy either way. as long as as they give you something. yeah, as long as we're getting our money, we're happy! in rochford, they're laughing all the way to the new community bank. kevin peachy, bbc news. the uk's digital divide narrowed during the pandemic — that's according to the media regulator ofcom. its annual report says online shopping, banking and video calling saw the amount of homes without internet access fall from 11% to 6% in the past year. however more than a million households are still offline. here's our media editor, amol rajan. good news from an awful pandemic. more people in the uk who wanted to be online but weren't now are. that said, 11% of lower income households and 18% of over 65s are still not online. most of those not using the internet at home have asked someone else to do something for them online. home—schooling has been a big feature over the past year, and the report shows that of all school—age children, just under 1% had no internet access in the home, but 17% have not had consistent access to a suitable internet device for home—schooling, often having to share a device. that figure is much higher, at 27%, in households classed as the most financially vulnerable. that lack of access to a device has meant that 3% of schoolchildren have been prevented from doing any schoolwork at all over the past year. traditionally, we thought about digital exclusion as being a question of who has access to broadband and who has not, but the research paints a more nuanced picture for us, which i think is a bit of a wake—up call. for example, almost all school—age children have internet access at home, but for 2% of them, that's only through a smartphone, which i expect isn't a great experience when you are trying to do your schoolwork. the pandemic has accelerated take—up of internet access here in the uk — but there remains a stubborn core who are offline. some of those people don't want to be online, but most of them do and either can't afford it or find the internet too complicated — and there is a real danger that an ongoing digital divide has the potential to marginalise those people in our society. another striking finding in this research is that the time children spent watching nonbroadcast content, like youtube, on their tv set each week leapfrogged traditional broadcast viewing for the first time. the european parliament has this morning overwhelmingly voted to ratify the eu—uk post—brexit trade deal. but the president of the parliament has said the eu would not accept any backsliding from britain. the bloc is already taking legal action against london over its unilateral decision to delay implementing customs checks in northern ireland, which has remained part of the single european market. my colleague ros atkins has been looking at whether promises made to northern ireland during the brexit referendum have been met. borisjohnson made this promise on brexit and northern ireland. we will respect the peace process and the good friday agreement. but northern ireland's violent past remains clear in the memory and this month we have seen reminders of that violence, the most serious for years, but where, if at all, does brexit fit in? to answer that, we need to understand what was promised and what has happened. from the start, there was one thing on which the eu and the uk agreed. we will, under no circumstances, have checks at or near the border in northern ireland. but that commitment did not solve this problem. you need a border somewhere. if we leave the customs union and the single market, there must be a border. it could be on the island of ireland or it could be in the sea, but you can't not have a border. you cannot magic away the need for a border. so having ruled out a land border, could brexit involve checks in the irish sea? in 2018, borisjohnson ruled this out as well. while attacking then prime minister theresa may. we would be damaging the fabric of the union with regulatory checks and even customs controls between great britain and northern ireland. no british conservative government could or should sign up to any such arrangement. but checks are what brexit has delivered. then, in 2020, there was this meeting between borisjohnson and the irish prime minister. mrjohnson was clear again, there would be no border down the irish sea, he said. "0ver my dead body." but if that is what was said, this is what has happened. the brexit trade deal comes with the northern ireland protocol, stipulating that northern ireland, in effect, stays in the eu single market for good and so selling goods moving to northern ireland from the rest of the uk are subject to checks. the checks, we were told, would not happen, and that has brought pressure on northern ireland's peace settlement. the good friday agreement was signed in the �*90s and ended violence between nationalists, who want northern ireland to join the republic of ireland, and loyalists, who wanted to stay in the uk. and as part of this, the irish border is all open with no checks. and the eu and the uk agreed that any land border checks risked anger. but there was no equivalent calculation for loyalists and checks in the irish sea. and anger has followed. we have been betrayed and we feel like foreigners in our own country. tea and sympathy will not cut the mustard. we have also seen violence in loyalist areas. this was belfast in april, connected to upset over the handling of a large republican funeral last year and that is connected to a broader perception that loyalists are not being treated fairly. anger at the form brexit has taken plays into that. for his part, borisjohnson expressed concern at the violence and has called the checks in the irish sea unnecessary, describing what has happened this way. we are getting the barnacles off the thing and sandpapering it into shape. the prime minister arguing to sandpaper into shape the checks that he agreed to. the uk has now delayed some of these checks is accused by the eu of breaking international law. and this highlights that how to be outside the eu and avoid border checks remains a problem that is hard to sandpaper away, and so, not for the first time, belfast port is centre stage. after all, this is the city that built the titanic, something its creators thought was unthinkable. back in 2018, as borisjohnson warned of getting the wrong type of brexit, he turned to that story. the titanic springs to mind. and now is the time to point out the iceberg ahead. now, however, borisjohnson believes that, with his form of brexit done, the uk can sail on. it's protected and there's greater prosperity to come. for some, the titanic warning still stands. brexit for northern ireland is not as promised and the risk is greater than realised by the creators. what is certain is how brexit works for northern ireland is still being contested. the headlines on bbc news: the electoral commission launches an investigation into the refurbishment of boris johnson's downing street flat. the prime minister tells mps he paid "personally" for the works on his flat. desperate scenes in india as more than 200,000 deaths with coronavirus are recorded. the transport secretary says coronavirus statistics in the uk look good to enable the limited resumption of foreign holidays next month. grant shapps says talks are under way with other countries about a system that could be used. he's also confirmed the existing nhs app will be adapted so that it shows if a person has recived a vaccine, or a negative test. in england, the earliest date for the resumption of overseas travel is may 17th. and it will be a crucial day for the international cruise industry, with trips from england expected to restart. it's hoped the scottish government will follow suit. 0ur transport correspondent caroline davies has been given exclusive access to one liner as it prepares for a covid—safe return. re—carpeted, re—stitched, repainted, restarted, but a way off recovery. uk cruising is returning. for over a year, the uk cruise industry has stopped completely, but despite the fact the ships are tied up here in harbour unable to get out to sea with no passengers, costs have kept rolling in. my guests and the colleagues, they have become like part of my family as well. after 12 years working on fred olsen cruise ships, maria carmen spent last year at home in the philippines. many international staff were not eligible for furlough, and with ships stuck in port, they went home. unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to some really fantastic colleagues as the ships were not moving. and then, of course, starting to plan the re—entry into service, nobody has done anything like this before. it still takes an army of people to keep the ship going. once they have been on board and tested for two weeks, crew form their own bubble with no masks or hi—vis. some have been on the ship for months. we will now go to the control room to meet the chief engineer. but it is not as simple as turning the ship off. if you compare it to your car, if you switch it off for two years, you do not know if it is going to start again, all right? so we have to keep it running, we have to maintain it so we cannot just switch it off. just like every cruise ship, there are stringent covid protocols. the cruise industry has to rebuild trust. the start of the pandemic was littered with stories about outbreaks onboard ships. some operators, like virgin, require all their guests and their crew to be fully vaccinated. i do not know where else you can travel, where else you can go to a restaurant that has this level are protocols in place to make your people are vaccinated, tested, cleanliness protocols and ensuring everybody follows those guidelines. i will give you a . little tour around! nice, nice desk. and some passengers can't wait to be back. cathy stopped counting the number of cruises she had been on once it passed 30. i really would feel much, much, much safer on a ship than evenl in my local supermarket, to be absolutely honest. | and what is the first thing you will do when you get on board? probably cry. i think i will be quite emotional and then i will have a glass- of champagne maybe. the first ships could sail from as early as the 17th of may from england. the crews are filtering back. now all they need is to welcome the guests. caroline davies, bbc news. 30 years ago, one of the biggest and most ground—breaking scientific studies of health and childhood was launched in the uk. researchers in bristol recruited 111,000 pregnant mums, and began charting their lives and the development of their babies. over the years, the study has looked at the impact of obesity, pollution and alcohol. and now, as fiona lamdin reports, it's helping our understanding of long—covid, too. lyndsay, come on, eat some more. we'll get you dressed or you'll be late for school. we first met and filmed with michele and her young family three decades ago. you don't remember that kitchen, do you? i do — yeah, i do, yeah. she was the very first mum to sign her daughter lyndsay up to the study back in 1991. i didn't really hesitate. i'd always been interested in health and i had an older daughter so i was keen to make sure that the girls were brought up eating well and being in the right kind of environment. i suppose i do worry about what she eats, probably more than anything. and since then, almost everything lyndsay has done has been watched and recorded — feeding into the biggest study ever done into children's health. fantastic, really. and to be the first one... ijust feel really privileged, to be honest, to be a part of it and to be able to help generations to come. may i officially... the professor behind the entire project still carries out research. she's 81. in my wildest dreams, i thought we might follow the children - until they were age seven. the amount of information we've got is world—beating. _ nobody's got anything like it. and as a result, all sorts - of different scientists can answer questions that can't be answered in any other wax _ we now know eating oily fish is beneficial during pregnancy. there's a link between peanut allergies and skin lotion. and putting babies to sleep on their backs reduces cot death. over the years, everything's been meticulously studied and stored. what we have here is about 12,500 placentas in about 6,500 buckets. we've used... 30 years ago, thousands of placentas were kept in buckets. now they're in freezers. and this is where they store most of the 1.5 million samples. these freezers are kept at —80 degrees. they've got hair, they've got milk teeth, and even nail clippings. it started with 111,000 pregnant women. 30 years on, their children's children are still being followed. like the cornish family. three generations — linda, laura, alice and evelyn. we first met linda and her daughter laura in the clinic a decade ago. my placenta from when i was born, and now the placentas from when the girls were born are all being stored somewhere. and all the sort of blood and genetic information they've got over the years. it is amazing to think that all that genetic information, all that history of our family is on record somewhere. and it'll be there forever. yeah, absolutely. we've just left a mark on scientific research forever, really, haven't we? it's amazing. we'll do samples of things like our blood and our spit, but we'll also give away our teeth, as well. they also monitored our fat levels, which wasn't something we always wanted to know, but it was very good and it meant you went away knowing that you had strong bones and maybe you needed to lose a little bit of weight. so it was interesting. it makes us feel like we're part of something so special. - 0h, nearly! 0h, miles away! and now this study is helping understand the current global pandemic. covid is absolutely a case in point. the information we have on thesej families is such that we can know, by carrying on, collecting information, assessjustl what difference being involved in the pandemic has made. . and the research keeps going. now i'm at uni studying osteopathic medicine, i'm looking at these journals that have been influenced by children of the 90s studies, and that is... yeah, that's pretty cool, yeah. it's gone full circle. lyndsay — the study�*s very first baby — is now benefiting from the bank of life she spent her childhood contributing to. fiona lamdin, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with stav danaos. hello there. farmers and gardeners getting some welcome rainfall on the dry ground, but not for all areas through today. it looks like most rain will be across parts of england and wales, but certainly sunshine across scotland, and northern ireland. the rainfall has been down to this area of low pressure which has sliding southwards. for the rest of the day, it is wales, the midlands, south—west england that will see most of the rain. even further north, they will be some showers here especially over higher ground as colder air comes across northern areas. in particular around the coast. 12 or 13 is the high. into this evening and overnight, the cloud and rain slowly clears away. elsewhere, clear spells, showers, over the higher ground and the north, there will be a large chance of seeing some frost again for much of seeing some frost again for much of the country because there is clearer skies. of the country because there is clearerskies. lows of the country because there is clearer skies. lows of four or 5 degrees. the car eventually clears away and then most places for thursday will be brighter. —— the cloud eventually clears away. some rain developing into the afternoon, with hail and thunder mixed in, and some winter winds over the high ground. it will feel chilly and there is enough north—easterly wind across the country, but particularly chilly across northern and eastern coasts. temperatures down for the time of year, ten or 11 degrees, perhaps 12 or 13 with those sunny spells. we are left with a run of cold arctic north north—easterly winds, but light winds. however, we will see a few showers developing through friday and the weekend. the same for friday, saturday, sunday. frost again, sunshine and showers into the afternoon, but then just a sign of things turning better and windier as we head on into bank holiday monday. this is bbc news. i'm martine croxall. the headlines at 2pm... the electoral commission launches a formal investigation into the funding of the refurbishment of boris johnson's downing street flat. are you worried about the investigation, _ are you worried about the investigation, prime - are you worried about the - investigation, prime minister? the watchdog says there are reasonable grounds to suspect an offence or offences may have occurred. labour went on the attack: don't the british people deserve a prime minister they can trust and a government that is not mired in sleaze, cronyism and scandal? he should know that i paid for the downing street refurbishment personally, mr speaker, and i contrast it any further declaration that i will have to make, ifany, i will be advised upon. a country in chaos — india's official covid death toll