pressure as well. the main problem is that the company has nearly £14 billion of debt, so it has a substantial interest bill to pay every year. that interest bill is currently going up because interest rates are going up. some interest rate payments are related to inflation, which is very high. at the same time, it s having to spend over £1 billion a year in infrastructure, water mains, stopping leakage and there s a regulatory review coming up in a few years which may mean it will have to invest even more. thames water needs to raise money from somewhere but if it can t get it, the government is looking at options. we need to make sure thames water as an entity survives. there s a lot of work the government is doing on resolving sewage. up until now, the regulator has been focused on keeping consumer bills down but there is a lot of infrastructure work that needs to take place and we need that entity to survive. in a statement, thames water says it s working constructively
like this, they ve asked for a bus and trams to stop early, 40,000 officers are being deployed across the country. and this was a little earlier, this was a march lead by nahel s mother, this is in nanterre, the suburb of paris where they are from. just to remind you of the actual incident again from earlier this week a police officer pointing his gun at the driver of a car before the trigger was pulled at point blank range. earlier, president emmanuel macron convened a crisis meeting with senior ministers. he described the violence as unjustifiable . translation: the last few hours have been marred - by violence against schools, town halls, and therefore against all institutions under the republic. and this is absolutely unjustifiable. and i want to thank all those who work to protect these institutions and restore calm. so for me, the next few hours must be a time for recollection and respect. so that was the message from emmanuel macron. you may have noticed there is a
here in the uk the veteran tv presenter phillip schofield will no longer present itv s this morning after agreeing to step down with immediate effect his last programme was on thursday. the presenter has worked on the show for more than 20 years. recent reports claimed relations between him and co host holly willoughby were strained. yesterday, his brother timothy schofield was sentenced to 12 years for sex offences against a child. today, philip schofield said the last few days had been very difficult and that itv felt the current situation couldn t continue. our media correspondent david sillito reports. welcome back, i am holding the fort. holly has had to leave early today, because she is meeting his majesty the king. because she is meeting his ma esty the kinu. , ., ., :: the king. philip schofield, for 20 ears the the king. philip schofield, for 20 years the host the king. philip schofield, for 20 years the host of the king. philip schofield, for 20 years th
particularly spring outlook, quite a lot of rain on the way, often windy but generally it will stay mild with double digit temperatures for just about all of us. jane. thanks, ben. you can keep up with all the latest developments on the bbc website. from the six team, it s goodbye. the news continues here on bbc one, as now it s time to join our colleagues across the nations and regions for the news where you are, goodnight. hello and welcome to sportsday i m hugh ferris. our headlines this evening. an irish winner on st patrick s day. cheltenham s gold cup goes to galopin des champs and willie mullins. again. could that be just the first reason for ireland to celebrate this weekend? with a grand slam on home soil the prize for a win over england and who won the draw? the champions league lays out its fascinating final eight with manchester city and chelsea picked out in plum ties hello again. he was the favourite and perhaps not just with the bookies. on st patrick s day,
to get her british citizenship back. we begin in moscow, where china s top diplomat, wang yi, has met president putin, and reaffirmed their close relationship. the trip to russia by wang yi comes just days before the first anniversary of moscow s invasion of ukraine. here s the meeting between the two. during their talks, mr putin said relations between his country and china were reaching new milestones . he also called on the chinese president xi jinping to visit. earlier, wang yi also met his russian counterpart sergei lavrov, where he said the relationship between the two countries could not be influenced by other nations. let s hear some of what wang yi had to say: translation: i look forward to reaching new agreements. our consultations on strategic security are highly effective between our two countries. they play an important role in strengthening trust and cooperation in a shifting international situation. much is being made of the seating arrangements for president