for a trip to the uk, ahead of a meeting with the prime minister, rishi sunak. to send controversial cluster bombs to ukraine. the issue has dominated the build—up to the visit. in cricket, england's men have kept the ashes series alive by beating the victory at headingley, in leeds, means australia lead england 2—1 in the series, with two test matches left to play, in one of the oldest sporting contests in the world. naples. the one which, in the sun, smells of the salt of its sea, naples. the polychrome naples. the melancholic and syncopated naples of liberato. naples. the popular. the naples of diego. the city owned by its people. which usually loses, but occasionally manages to win. on may 4th, napoli secured the european championship with a draw at udinese, a first serie a title for azzurri in 33 years — the first since diego maradona. the achievement through their eyes. in naples, football is everything. it'sjoy, love, fun, sadness. it's important to us to win against teams from the north. so we just feel this . power, this emotion. this year, all of the opponents fall down — inter, milan, juventus, with their problems. we have to think about the future. i say every time, we are first of. all neapolitans, and then italians. the 2022—�*23 season wasn't expected to pan out this way. napoli, under head coach luciano spalletti, had let go of star players kalidou koulibaly, dries mertens, and lorenzo insigne. their replacements were unproven. by the end of may, they were highly sought—after. napoli stormed to the serie a title, winning it with five matches but the drama didn't end there. for a break from football. the title was won, but how? this team is passionate because it's a great team. they found an alchemy between these guys, it is incredible. they collaborate, they play together. when you see the team plays, you feel there is a good connection on the field, but also outside. i think this is one of the ingredient that bring napolis to victory. when spalletti came, people were not so happy, because they had this impression that he was a locker—room breaker. he had problems with totti in rome. he had problems with mauro icardi at inter. so when he came here, napoli fans didn't... were not so happy. he's a great manager and he also make the difference. he went around the world, so he brought here important experience from everywhere. he's a winner. he arrived here as a winner. i like him because he's a very passionate man. he's not from the south, but he looks from the south, because he's full of passion. spalletti did a greatjob, but a coach can only put his 20% in the final result, and this is hisjob. we love these guys, we love all the men, all these guys, | because they put all on the pitch. and for us, it is very- important, this, to sweat the shirt, and they... and they do the best for the club. i think that it is ten years that we had a good team, good players, good team. but every time, we miss something. we had good players, a good manager when it started, with ancelotti. now, everything is going in the right places, you know? we actually, we won the italian cup, the copa italia, twice. good result. but the championship, in italy, is something different. this team is really, really special because, for example, you can have a guy from nigeria, another guy from south korea, another one from georgia. and very strange to have this net import of people, and they play very well, altogether, and they maybe don't speak the same language, but they understand very well the ball and the game. southern people in italy, they live with love, - with so much emotion, - in a different way to the north. and actually, we are not a team that is used to win. _ so now, in this moment, we're i getting everything that we need. it's also almost 30 - years that we're waiting for this championship. we feel this energy and we are very happy because it would be like a dream come true. and i think that's the special thing of a neapolitan team. the people, the supporters, are crazy for naples. maybe sometimes, they tell me, "for me, naples is more than my girlfriend, more than my wife." numberone. for the neapolitans, the club is very special. and in this stadium, the atmosphere is amazing. we start to celebrate, first of all. and we be very proud of this. it's like 30 years ago, when there was maradona here. is revenge versus milan, or turin, or versus the big city from northern italy. it's also a way to escape from the daily problems, it's a way to have fun with the people, a party. and then, this period is happiness. formed in 1926, the supporters of napoli have had to learn to be patient. trophies haven't arrived at the same pace as their main rivals from the north — milan, inter, juventus. as a second—division club, they won the italian cup in 1962, but there was just one trophy in the 1970s. patience was rewarded with the arrival of diego maradona, then 23 years old, in 1984, to awaken a golden period of championships and cup wins. after diego, the roller—coaster took a dip, with bankruptcy — down to the third division by 200a. then a slow revival, back amongst the elite. and in 2023, the crowning glory of the serie a title, 33 years of patience. naples was a great capital until a century and a half ago, and then the italian union, and naples become the third city. and naples remains a cultural capital, but everything's moved in the north, that is the richer part of the country. so as people from the south, especially from naples, we are really proud of our history. it's something really important and, of course, it's something that is connected also with sport. there is such, like, fight, between the south of italy and the north. and football is a thing with we can demonstrate that we have the same values of others. in football, there are no differences. historically, there's this rivalry with the north. . as i said, for economical reasons, social reasons, even now, - people, most young . people go in the north to find a job, so it's something you really felt from the city. i if you walk on the streets, you can see the flags, you can see the people on the balcony. maybe they can sing for you a neapolitan song, and this is really, really amazing for one tourist. and when you come to naples, you can see this. i always feel at home when i'm here. i also feel at home at the stadium, because it's like you're connected with all the strangers all around you. and you feel like you know them since ever, and it's a magic thing that only naples can give you. every sunday, or every time that the naples club play, . in the city, there is no rumours. it's a very quiet city- during the football game. but then, you know, - you hear the scream of the sao paulo maradona stadium, so you can understand how i the relationship within the city and the football club, it's... . neapolitan people loves football, and love the city and love the club, because we are the first big city in italy with just one club. milan have two clubs, turin, two clubs, rome, two clubs. naples, just one. and this is very important because all the neapolitan people, when they was born, they support naples, since the first day of the life. first time i saw a football match, i was speaking with my father. iasked him, "0k, dad, we are supporting?" "who are we?" he said "the blue guys". i said, "why?" he gave me two answers. first one, "because this is the team of our city." and the second, more important, "because in this team plays diego armando maradona." diego maradona came to the club injune198a, for a world—record fee. the squad was rebuilt around him. eighth in his first season, third in his second year. by 1987, maradona had worked his magic, under the guidance of manager ottavio bianchi. as the first team from the south to win serie a since cagliari in 1970, cultural barriers had been broken. and a year after fulfilling his childhood dream of lifting the world cup for argentina, his status was lifted to an even higher plane. when maradona arrives in naples, it was seen like a sort of a messiah, something that would bring justice to the people. maradona, for napoli, maybe is a god, maybe is a saint, maybe is a president, and maybe is everything. he represented a lot, - because he gave people hope. and hope is an important thing. it's a powerful one. maradona, here, was a demigod. maradona could not walk in the city in the daytime. there were, i don't know, a mother with her child, walking in the street, and see maradona, the first thought of the mother was, "here, take my son and give him a kiss". you know? it's like the pope. maradona was something incredibly special because right now, we have an incredible team. at that time, we had a good team, but maradona was something like a god, and he carried on his shoulders the team and bring naples the victory. as a man, he's a conqueror. in the south, we have i to win against the north. for maradona to do this, it is all. he also was from a poor country. he was from argentina. he had nothing, like most of the neapolitans of that time. however, in each of the objectives, he came here and he had nothing, but he take everything. and i think that's the point, yeah. neapolitans, in maradona, i think they see themselves. maradona really gave us a lot of energy, a lot of power, a lot of meanings. so we develop a really strong relationship between south america citizenship and italia, especially naples, we have a strong relationship with argentinians. and for them, soccer and football is very important, too, so i don't know, i think it is like a cultural or social thing, it's particular and unique. nowadays, maradona is still present in this city, you know? _ you just have to walk in the street and you can find a paint of- diego maradona literally everywhere. you can find one . of his hairs in a bar. the owner of this bar had the grace, had the luck of having _ a miraculous hair of diego maradona, and put it into his wall, writing under, "this - is the miraculous hair— of diego maradona," so now everyone is going there just to see to touch, maybe to touch his hair— and to have a coffee there. now that he is dead, i he has notjust a chapel with his hair. if you go and walk in- quartieri spagnoli, you can find like a sanctuary. now that demigod has a church. maradona is love. maradona is part of the people. he's like a common man, but he was the best of us. he got many problems in his life but, in naples, we only remember him for the joy. for him, this city was incredible. he lived a very good moment of his career in naples, and naples loved him since the first day. maradona led napoli to uefa cup success in 1989 and a second serie a title a year later, but he left the club following a 15—month ban, after a positive drugs test. no—one could replace him. star players came and went, but long—term decline set in and the club were relegated in 1998. after maradona, there was some big problems. it was a hard time for young neapolitans. we were still thinking, "ok, now we are not so good, but we are still the team of maradona." and suddenly, we were not a team any more, because napoli went into bankruptcy. we don't have money, so we need to sell all the players. look at the players we had — ferrara, cannavaro, we had zola, we had many good players. we had to sell everybody to keep the balance, but it was no good. it was really a difficult moment for the city and, for example, i remember about my grandmother that was really involved in napoli football club because she was really a fan of the club, so the people really suffered this, because they think that we have lost everything. the club was bought by a film producer, aurelio de laurentiis. and in his words, he only had "a piece of paper," not even footballs to practise with. something changed with the arrival of aurelio de laurentiis. the president had a really complicated relationship with the city, with the supporter, because the supporter doesn't like the power and he represented the power. our president has never been so popular because he always followed his idea of the team as a brand, an industry. we like to have a president that be a fan and not a manager — he was a manager, not a fan. i think that aurelio de laurentiis came because it was really cheap to buy naples in that time. so he took an economic advantage because, in that time, he was able to buy napoli with an amount of money that was maybe not worth the passion of the people. he was very clever, let's say, because he said, "ok, now we have no team, but we still have the people, we still have the fans." they were in the third division of italian football, but loyal fans still came — over 50,000 for their first serie c match against cittadella. there was promotion back to serie a in 2007. six years later, they were runners—up tojuventus, the rise masterminded by coaches like walter mazzarri, rafael benitez and mauricio sarri. he started like a slow, but constant, growth. he was in serie b. napoli then went into serie a, then europa league. and he was really able to understand that for a team like this, football training was fundamental. we like to have a president who likes to spend money. and he doesn't like to spend money. he laughs he preferred to get good players and not spending so much money. he had not the money of a multinational society, so he had to do this — buy young players and try to sell them at the triple of what he paid. he did this with edinson cavani. he did this with ezequiel lavezzi. actually, wayne. wayne was already famous, but he paid 45 millions of euros for wayne and he sold him for 90 million, so double. with this way of do his business, he could build a strong society. then he just had to wait. because when you build a strong house or a strong team, you just have to wait. not always was a good idea, but then this moment, everyone need to clap hands to him to build a very good team. luciano spalletti arrived in may 2021. the club's decisions to remove some of the most popular players prompted heavy protests. president de laurentiis was urged to sell the club, but the policy came to an outstanding conclusion where the long—awaited championship — a first without maradona — was secured. it left fans in a state of delirium. now we have great top players, but it is more for the team. i think this is the difference between now and then. i think it was lucky to find... a good coach like spalletti. he has a great personality, and i think when you are on this level, you have to be like this, in the positive and negative way. because if you don't reach, how you can reach that kind of level if you don't go past different problems, you know? and different kind of things. when the club sold koulibaly, mertens and lorenzo insigne, the other people are a little bit not happy for this. but now... now, we love these players, yeah? they are in my heart. and forever, we will remember what they do to be here now. but the new team, the new guys, are very strong players. and we are happy, we are happy to have them in our team. kvaratskhelia, it will be a great thing in football, i think. he will be a great player. he is doing a greatjob for naples. we love all the players, that's the truth. we love all of them because they are trying to do their best, their all, and we enjoy that. kvaratskhelia is a big surprise. he looks like a good guy but, like, he transforms. he's a wonderful player. everybody wants to compare him to other old players. some people say he reminds of george best. somebody say maradona. from kvaratskhelia to osimhen. osimhen is another secret of this team. he's notjust a finisher. he can create something just with his aggressive, just with his attitude. i think osimhen will do a great job in the premier league, too. osimhen is like... spalletti said that he's like a dragon with two| heads, because in boxing, he's dangerous. _ the fans waited for this for over 30 years and everybody wished for it. and naples is a city really connected with faith, with the local saint, st janeiro. many people ask to stjaneiro, it's like our superman, the local patron of the city to win this championship, and finally, it arrives. so it was worth the wait, and now we are enjoying it. spalletti announced that he was leaving napoli three weeks after the title was won, saying he needed to take some time away from football. de laurentiis said, "he's a free man. he's given us something and i thank him. it's right that he does what he wants." former roma boss garcia takes over a squad with ambitions to repeat their title win and achieve success in europe, if star assets can be kept. supporting napoli was never meant to be easy. it is something that goes beyond winning titles and trophies. the perfect fit for a city that, after every game, salutes its team by chanting, "i love you, even if you win." hello. showers and thunderstorms this evening — not as extensive or as widespread as we saw through saturday evening. but through the week ahead, we're never going to properly escape the rain. a fairly changeable week in store — showers, longer spells of rain. it means rainfall amounts are going to vary quite widely from one place to the next. it will feel cooler and, at times, a little bit windier as well. not particularly cold for the next few days. this evening, low pressure still to the south—west, so the general wind flow is from a southerly direction. the band of cloud and rain that was affecting 0rkney pushes across shetland during the first part of the night, before clearing. the showers we've got elsewhere fade away. by and large, most will end up dry through the end of the night. and as we start monday morning, temperatures in rural parts could be down to single figures, most places double figures, but it does represent a bit of a drop to what we've seen on recent mornings. a fine commute, though, for most of you — dry, sunny spells quite widely, but quickly, the cloud thickening up in the south—west and wales. the breeze picking up too. outbreaks of rain becoming extensive during the second half of the morning into lunchtime. thunderstorms breaking out in northern ireland and scotland, particularly to the north—east of scotland and then the north and west midlands through the afternoon, and northern england turning increasingly wet. some of that rain will be heavy, persistent and thundery. to the south and east, though, some will stay dry. bit breezier than we saw on sunday, but that breeze still coming in from a southerly direction. 23 to 2a degrees here. temperatures in the high teens, low 20s to the north. now, as we go through monday evening, showers and thunderstorms become a bit more fragmented across the north of the country. but parts of wales, central and southern england, a band of heavier, more persistent rain will sweep its way from west to east, which on tuesday may take a while to clear east anglia and the south—east. away from that, it's sunshine and showers once again. showers heaviest, most frequent and thundery in parts of northern england, scotland and northern ireland. bit breezier through england and wales, too, on tuesday, and temperatures dropping a little bit more once again, but still high teens, low 20s — around where we should be for this stage injuly. it's as we go through wednesday and beyond, we start to see temperatures drop a bit more. low pressure becomes centred, then, to the west of norway and we bring the winds in from an increasingly north—westerly direction for a while. still going to see plenty of showers around. those most frequent close to that low pressure system in the north, where temperatures will only be around 13 to 16 degrees at times. further south, temperatures still in low 20s, fewer showers, greater chance of staying drier for longer. live from london. the bbc suspends an un—named male presenter following claims he paid a teenagerfor sexually explicit images. the metropolitan police confirms the corporation has been in contact with them regarding the allegations.