legendary singer and campaigner harry belafonte died at the age of 96. the un secretary general sent their condolences to his families and friends. welcome back to our programme. we ve been learning details of that british evacuation effort with the flights leaving cyprus and that centre being opened in the airfield to the north of the capital. we ve heard from the prime minister s also is office that many more flights evacuating british nationals from the conflict torn country into tomorrow. we don t know any numbers in terms of people out, but we ve seen pictures from the military personnel leaving cyprus. let s bring in our political correspondent, jonathan blake. the prime minister s office just giving us a few more details. that mission is clearly up and running. confirmation in the last few minutes that what appears to be a large scale operation by the british government to evacuate british citizens from act iii is now under way, and downing street confirming it has
judicial reform plans. hello and welcome to bbc news. we start with the news that the celebrated british tv presenter and comedian paul o grady has died at the age of 67. in a statement, his partner andre portasio said he passed away unexpectedly but peacefully on tuesday evening and thanked fans for all the love they have shown him over the years . paul o grady first came to fame as a drag artist before becoming a talk show presenter. our entertainment correspondent lizo mzimba looks back at his life and career. he first came to fame as the charismatic drag queen lily savage. the act, honed in a succession of pubs, had to be toned down for tv but it was as acerbic and acid tongued as ever. so i m stood having a drink and i looked over and here s ulrika walked in the door, wearing the same frock as me. i didn t even know she had a littlewoods catalogue, i was flaming. lily fast became an audience favourite, hosting some of tv s best known shows. it s thursday, it s 7pm, it
describe their suffering. i ve got complex ptsd from it all, i ve had mental health problems from it all, i tried ending my life because of it all, i couldn t have a bond with my son when he was first born because of it all. storm freddy, one of the strongest storms recorded in the southern hemisphere, has now hit malawi causing more than 100 deaths. and in tonight s football, manchester city recorded a convincing 7 0 win against rb leipzig. erling haaland scores five goals. and coming up on the bbc news channel. constitution hill remains unbeaten in the victory of the champion hurdle on day one of the festival! good evening. on the eve of the budget the first to be delivered by the chancellorjeremy hunt there s expected to be a significant expansion of free childcare provision in england. it s part of a strategy to get more people back to work given the shortage of staff in some key sectors. scotland, wales and northern ireland are expected to receive equivalent levels o
i think it s hard not to draw the conclusion i think it s hard not to draw the conclusion that all this will require conclusion that all this will require a significant monetary policy require a significant monetary policy response. ukraine accuses russia of sabotaging two major gas pipelines to europe in what it describes as a terrorist attack . the kremlin says it s concerning . hundreds of thousands of people are without power in cuba after a hurricane hit the island with wind speeds over 120 mph. it s now heading for florida. and it s liverpool vs glasgow, in the battle to find out which city will host eurovision 2023. the labour leader sir keir starmer has told his party s conference that the united kingdom needs a fresh start and a way out of what he called the endless cycle of crisis caused by the conservatives. in his speech to delegates in liverpool, he was scathing in his criticism of the government s handling of the economy especially of last week s min