meanwhilejoe biden and benjamin netanyahu have spoken. the white house says they discussed aid deliveries and the rafah offensive. this week could be a pivotal one in scottish politics, as confidence votes are planned in both the first minister humza yousaf and his government. he has written to opposition leaders in an attempt to find common ground. ukraine's commander—in—chief says the situation on the front line �*has worsened' after rounds of russian attacks. ukrainian forces withdraw from some positions in eastern donetsk region, but he says they have stopped russian�*s advance near kupyansk. officials in kenya are warning about further heavy rainfall in the country, as downpours batter parts of east africa. at least 76 people have been killed and more than 130,000 were displaced by the flooding. now on bbc news, it's

sportsday with hugh ferris. hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm hugh ferris. the headlines this evening... arsenal and manchester city succeed where liverpool failed as both win at the top of the premier league. celtic and rangers match each other goal for goal. both win 2—1, but celtic keep their lead in the scottish premiership. and a late header proves a sting in the tailfor arsenal, who drop more points in the wsl title race. also coming up on sportsday... ronnie 0'sullivan makes a solid start to his second round match at the world snooker championship as he continues his quest for a record eighth world title. and ukraine pip great britain to the final gold of the men's european gymnstics chamnpionships in italy.

hello again. after liverpool dropped points yesterday, both arsenal and manchester city spent today trying to make sure they didn't do the same on what promised to be another pivotal day in the premier league title race. still a point separates the two after city won at notts. while arsenal held on to win a north london derby at spurs that ended up being a lot closer than it looked at half time. katie gornall reports. arsenal's players knew all too well the stakes were high on the margins were tight. with a first title in 20 years on the line, there was no room for error. instead, spurs slipped up. an own goalfrom hojbjerg. arsenal were up and running and saka was at the heart of everything. theirsecond, his 15th

league goal of the season. spurs had top four ambitions of their own but that look to distance dream when havertz was amongst marks to put arsenal 3—0 up. but then raya did this and romero change the mood. arsenal were rattled and for a moment restless, meaning a penalty causing chaos in the stands. it was an anxious finale but arsenal survived, their title remaining on track. man city, it is over to you. it's been three wins in a row for arsenal since they went out of the champions league, and after their challenge fell away in the final ten games of last season, this time around, it would appear they're not letting up. and mikel arteta is impressed with how they held on amid a difficult finish to the game.

you know how much it means to north london, this match, and we were fishing the first time, really good in the second half, the control we heard. we made a big mistake with the penalty but then a lot of pressure my players. it's even more difficult and it's great at the end when you manage to win it. it was tense at the end, yes. it's a difference of where we are at the moment. it's about the details, making sure we are always focused in every area of the game, whether it's transition moments and still not there, and we pay the heavy price for it. arsenal taking advantage of our lack of focus on details and to give yourself a mountain to climb. arsenal's win put manchester city under pressure, but they responded with a 2—0

victory at nottingham forest. the champions took the lead just after the half hour mark when kevin de bruyne�*s corner was met byjosko gvardiol to head beyond matz sels at the near post. and de bruyne was involved again in the second, sliding in erling haaland through on goal for the substitute to find the far corner of the net in his first match back from injury. we defended the box and the last half an hour, good control, the team surviving with the ball. it's a lot of games that we need and that would be difficult today for many reasons and if we can move forward.

we have been good, penalised by situations— we have been good, penalised by situations in which we have to improve — situations in which we have to improve but definitely, the attitude with the _ improve but definitely, the attitude with the players work, we had to stick_ with the players work, we had to stick with— with the players work, we had to stick with that and go, trying to analyse — stick with that and go, trying to analyse this one and put it behind and move — analyse this one and put it behind and move forward to the next challenge. so the gap between the top two remains the same, but still city's advantage lies in their game in hand. liveprool have played the same amount of games as arsenal but are now five points behind. this could be the weekend that the premier league became a two—horse race while below the top three. crucially if spurs win their two games in hand on aston villa they now won't overhaul them and with it a guaranteed champions league spot. arsenal's next game is against bournemouth, who now sit tenth in the table,

and with a record amount of points for a premier league season. they beat brighton 3—0 at the vitality stadium. going ahead early through marco senesi, and then goals from enes unaland justin kluivert gave bournemouth a convincing victory that takes them to 48 points and leaves brighton looking for a first win since mid march. we're really happy, i think the players deserved the points, they have performed perfectly well even at the beginning when we weren't getting the results we were pushing for and we were playing well. and now we want more points and we want to continue, we know we had a difficult three last games but we will try to do our best, yes. we would like to give more and more but may be in this moment it's tough for us playing better, it's tough for us to keep motivation in the right way but we have to work seriously hard to play for us, for our club, for our...fans.

celtic and rangers both recorded 2—1wins in the scottish premiership today, but after a costly month without a victory for rangers, there's still a three point gap between them and their rivals, as nick parrott reports. rangers are still in the title race, much to their relief as this was a far from easy finish. the pressure to avoid their worst run in the league may play their part in an early start, almost costing them dear. but the boosted their confidence, testing zach hemming more than once before he cracked and centre back james boulton couldn't save him. rangers' joy was short—lived after coming back on level terms after claiming their first run in six meetings with rangers. and it would have been worse before half—time had it not been forjack butland. celtic was left needing to beat dundee. most would have assumed it

would be a formality given the last time they met the champions, 7—1. dundee carved an hour to make a breakthrough at dems park. forrest scored his 100th of the season, waiting another half hour before doubling his tally. there should have been enough for celtic to see at the scene comfortably but they were the only ones lacking composure. they failed to make the most of several corners until the shot was helped home. despite that slip—up, celtic held up to maintain their three—point lead at the top of the table. arsenal are all but out of the wsl title race and by the end of the day it could be certain they won't win

the league this season. they dropped more points with a 1—1 draw at everton, whose equaliser came from a 16—year—old. here's adam cottier. five years since the last wsl title triumph, arsenal knew a win at everton would keep their hopes of lifting the trophy this year alive. an everton team had only one one home game all season but was to show a plucky resilience, benefiting from the wastefulness in front of goal. and they almost took the lead themselves when heading the bar. missed opportunities continued into the second half as arsenal look to get there when they wanted to remain on the coat—tails of chelsea and man city. but when caught, alessia russo plans a kick when her tenth goal of the season. it looked unlikely everton would come back but that they did with the help of some of that resilience and a 16—year—old.

the most glorious moment for an everton fan. step forward, izzy hobson, heading the corner into added time at the end, everton avoiding defeat against arsenal for the first time in five years. arsenal's title race now appears to be run with two games to play. arsenal could be out of it mathematically if leaders manchester city win at bristol city. it is goalless and half—time there. while ella toone's long—range effort gave manchester united the win over leicester city, the two other games today finished in 1—1 draws. hearts beat spartans to set up a women's scottish cup final against rangers next month. it was a hampden debut for both sides but it was a comfortable afternoon for hearts as they beat their edinburgh rivals 3—0. greater manchester police have

charged a man with causing harassment, alarm or distress over alleged tragedy chanting during yesterday's game between manchester united and burnley. 44—year—old nathan rawlinson was arrested in the away section yesterday towards the end of the game and has since been granted bail after being charged. greater manchester police say they are taking a robust and strong zero—tolerance approach to tragedy chanting. ronnie 0'sullivan is taking on ryan day in the second round at the world snooker championship as he continues his quest for a record eighth world title. 0'sullivan held a 5—3 lead after the opening session this morning. he hasjust come back he has just come back to the table for the evening session living off where he began, 13 is the target for a place in the quarterfinals. let's see live pictures. let's see live pictures.

rather splendidly beating his fellow snooker player to make his day to you in the crucible. their first frame has gone on since the beginning at 7pm. it is currently 6-2. this beginning at 7pm. it is currently 6—2. this has been going on for quite some time. the black is having quite some time. the black is having quite perilously over the pocket. you can follow it on the bbc sport website, iplayerand you can follow it on the bbc sport website, iplayer and on bbc two. great britain won silver in the men's team final at the european gymnastics championships, just losing out on the gold to ukraine despite entering the final stage with a lead. betty glover is part of the bbc�*s team in rimini. welcome to the competition floor where it is all now over. the men's european championships are done and they rounded off with a silver in the men's team final, just getting pipped by ukraine to gold who beat them by 0.3.

very close, very fine margins. gb say they are proud of their performance and a little bit disappointed not to win gold because they genuinely believe they could do it but it's worth bearing in mind they are without max whitlock who didn't come, didn't compete with a slight risk that wrist injury. and joe fraser is in a comeback from injury himself so he wasn't quite at 100%. but they will take the three months out from the olympics, a massive marker to put down what they're capable of but also very important when it comes to selection. earlier in the competition, jake won gold on individual vault, backing up his watch and we should goal at the end of last year and luke whitehouse, just 21 years old, won a gold on the floor so some brilliant markers set. gold for ireland into the olympics full of confidence and the women's competition get started at the end of next week. they are withoutjessica gadirova,

the former european and world champion with an injury. you can watch on the bbc as well next week. exeter chiefs remain in contention for a play off place after beating gloucester 38—17 in the premiership. jacques vermeulen scored twice and this try from england wing immanuel feyi—waboso secured the crucial bonus point. exeter stay seventh but closed the gap to fourth—placed bristol to four points with two games left to play. teenager riley lumb scored two tries on his debut as leeds rhinos edged to a super league victory at hull fc. the 19—year—old opened his account with this sublime solo effort as they ran out winners by 18 points to 12. leeds remain in 8th, but for hull it's their eighth defeat in nine and leaves them second bottom. all—rounder willjacks showed why

he's likely to be included in england's provisional squad for the t20 wolrd cup, scoring a 41—ball century in the ipl. batting alongside virat kohli, he raced past the indian legend's score partly by hitting 28 runs off the final five balls of the match with his 10th six, the game's winning runs and taking jacks to exactly 100 as his royal challengers bengaluru beat gujarat titans by nine wickets. england name their 15 players for the tournament in the us and caribbean on tuesday. you're watching sportsday. let's have a quick look at some of the other stories making the headlines today. pakistan have appointed former australia bowlerjason gillespie as coach of their test side. gillespie has had domestic success with yorkshire and signed a two—year contract. former south africa batter gary kirsten will take charge of pakistan's white—ball teams. there were four gold medals for great britain on the last day of the european rowing championships — in the para mixed double sculls, the para mixed coxed four, the men's four and the men's pair here through 0liver

wynne—griffith and tom george. the women's world number four elena rybakina eased to a straight sets victory over mayar sherif to reach the last 16 of the madrid 0pen. she will face teenager sara bejlek in the next round. defending motogp champion francesco bagnaia won the spanish grand prix after championship leader jorge martin crashed out while leading. bagnaia had started seventh on the grid and held on to take the chequered flag ahead of six—time champion marc marquez to move 17 points behind martin in the riders' standings. carlos rodrigues of the british—based ineos grenadiers team won the tour of romandie — he started the day with a seven—second advantage and finished safely in the main bunch behind stage winner dorian godon to take the team's first overall win in a stage race this season. the nfl draft is complete

with all 257 picks made in detroit, and among them is a british prospect who's never played a game of american football before. the buffalo bills select travis clayton, international player pathway, england. travis clayton was selected in the seventh and final round by the bills. he's a former rugby player from basingstoke who, like louis rees zammit, took part in the league's international player pathway programme. but he's being touted as an offensive lineman, mainly because he's six foot seven and weighs more than 21 stone. and clayton now battle for a spot on the bills regular season roster. i don't think it's really sunk in yet. but at the moment, it's a world of emotions. it's just crazy. and i think it shows

that there is talent out there all over the world, not just in the uk and the nfl, it shows that if you have done previous sports, you can put those skills together and turn into something positive. now you might have noticed that this has been an edition of sportday where in the premier league at least there's been little mention of var, something of a rarity in recent weeks, certainly when you consider last weekend, which included the furious reaction from nottingham forest after they experienced more controversy at everton. well, on one of this week's editions of the football news show, it was all about var and i spoke to former premier league referee keith hackett about whether the protocol is working. we all want quality to aid the communication.

we all want technology to aid the decisions. that's why brought him communication kits and technology. we took great care about the criteria of operations. i think with var, we are seeing inconsistency during a weekend and week to week. for me, it's not working anywhere near the quality of what it's required. it is undermining match officials. the argument always used to be before the introduction of technology then we have to celebrate the fact that some decisions are wrong because of simple human error. that human error still remains a part, doesn't it? you have subjective decisions still after the var process. should we still be celebrating that human error is involved in that part of football? well, part of football is human error and there is no question, but we are using technology to reduce that error and i think that var's introduction and it's been an over five years now,

it ought to be working much better and improving the quality of decisions, not creating the controversy we see week in, week out. so what do referees think when they are criticised? i imagine it's an embattled referee room after many a premier league game prior to the technology coming in. now when you hear players and managers criticising var, how do the officials feel at the end of that criticism? it's notjust water off a duck�*s back. it does actually get to the match official. the aim of the match officials to perform well and have a reduced number of controversial incidents. down to zero, if possible. the reality is the game has changed, that is why remove from amateur referees in a professional game myself to professional referees where we can give the support mechanisms, bringing in sport psychologists,

talking about coping mechanisms under pressure, and i think that the game now is examined in a much more forensic way than in my day, for sure. one of the unique things about notts forest, the club we#ll talk a lot about today, is that they have employed a refereeing analyst, a former premier league referee. he is, it would seem, in agreement with quite a lot of the criticism that nottingham forest are putting out about var. how would he feel about someone in that capacity being so critical of his former colleagues and current var and referee? when i saw the announcement of mike's appointment to nottingham forest, i applauded that appointment

on the basis that the referee of his experience could actually be used to educate players in the academy and inform coaches but he'd been thrust into the sharp end of an appointment that has created a lot of stir and sadly has been dragged in to an environment that i think is critical of the integrity of a match official. i never question the integrity, we talk about their incompetence at times because of their opinion and you've just mentioned the subjectivity of the law. the handball law is a mess and doesn't help referees and i think when we start looking at the offside decisions, whatever system we use and we will have the semiautomated system next season, hopefully, it will still create controversy because the law itself needs to be revised to reflect entertainment

and the modern game. is that var's chief problem? and it shone a light on a series of laws that before didn't necessarily have that light upon them. we are now seeing the very deep and dirty mire in which some of the laws are in because var has to make these decisions upon them. it's an improvement you would like to see happen to help var? i think the old system and this is down to the league and fifa, needs to be more transparent. i think first of all, there should be an independent panel of var operators. what we see at weekends is officiated as acting on the role of referee and the following day var. i think mentally you are fatigued

in a game when you've been an active man in the middle and going into a game, with very clear objectives of performing really well, i think the var role is one that requires 100% concentration in order to get a greater degree of accuracy. great to get your insight. i appreciate your time. thanks forjoining us. pleasure. thank you. much more of that debate on their football news show and jean head to iplayer to pick up both editions. but the day ends with these two separated by one point in the premier league. man city and arsenal respond with three of their own heading into yet another week of a tight title race. goodbye.

hello there. once again, we've had some really contrasting weather conditions across the country with a west—east divide. the best of the sunshine certainly in western areas, despite a few shower clouds brewing up through the afternoon. pleasant enough in morecambe, lancashire. different story to the east of the pennines, though. in leeds, an afternoon of heavy, persistent rain, blustery, cool winds as well. now, we're going to flip that while the story on its head into tomorrow, with the best of the sunshine out to the east. it will be a bright and breezy affair first thing in the morning. but this weather front will introduce more cloud and outbreaks of rain across northern ireland, gradually pushing its way into scotland, north—west england, wales and south—west england as we go through the morning. so, after that bright and breezy start, into the afternoon, the best of the sunshine is likely to be anywhere from dorset over towards east yorkshire. south and east of that, we could see highs of 18 degrees. still mild, but outbreaks of showery rain continuing out to the west.

an improving picture into northern ireland. here, we'll see sunny spells and scattered showers. top temperatures under the cloud and rain in scotland, perhaps around 11 to 13 degrees. low pressure will stay with us as we move into tuesday and it will stay out to the west. so that's where we're likely to continue to see showery outbreaks of rain. but a southerly breeze means that we're going to continue to tap into that mild air, so it will be a mild start to our tuesday morning. into tuesday, then, that southerly wind feeding in the mild air, a lot of sunshine expected for most. we'll see showery outbreaks of rain into the south—west, wales, parts of northern ireland. but with that sunshine, well, it will feel quite pleasant to close out the month of april. temperatures likely to peak into the high teens and that'll feel quite pleasant. now, as we move through the middle part of the week, low pressure will continue to dominate for a while.

but as we head into the weekend, some potential for that low pressure to drift away and an area of high pressure to build in from the westjust in time for the bank holiday weekend. we still continue to tap into that milder air off the near continent, so those temperatures will still stay just slightly above where they should be for the early half of may. so, with some showers around through the middle part of the week into the bank holiday weekend, it looks a little bit quieter and a little bit drier.

live from london, this is bbc news. joe biden and benjamin netanyahu speak about the ongoing war in gaza. the white house says

they discussed aid deliveries and the rafah offensive. meanwhile, the us secretary of state heads to saudi arabia, where he will discuss the war with key international figures. police investigating the death of a man near in greater manchester find more body parts, at two separate sites. officials in kenya warn of further heavy rainfall, as deadly flooding and downpours batter parts of east africa. ukraine's commander—in—chief says the situation on the front line has worsened after rounds of russian attacks. hello, this is bbc news. i'm samantha simmonds. in the past hour, the white house said president biden has spoken to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyuahu about the situation in gaza. the white house issued a statement —