hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. six days since president zelensky�*s forces launched a surprise incursion and dozens of ukrainian armoured vehicles are said to be heading into the russian region of kursk. this is their deepest incursion since the kremlin�*s full—scale invasion began in february 2022. the military activity is taking place at ukraine's northeastern border with russia. moscow has acknowledged ukraine has advanced some 30 kilometres into its territory. president zelensky confirmed his troops are fighting inside russia in his nightly address he said his actions followed russia's launch of around 2000 cross—border strikes from kursk in recent weeks. russia says its army will deliver a "tough response."

on sunday at least two people were killed in a russian air raid near kyiv, part of a series of attacks targeting six regions of ukraine. meanwhile further south in the occupied region of zaporizhzhia a fire, at a nuclear plant has now been extinguished. the region's kremlin—installed governor said there was no spike in radiation before the fire was reportedly put out. russia blamed a ukrainian drone attack — while kyiv accused russian officials who control the plant of starting the fire. ukraine's nuclear power company said a cooling tower and other equipment were damaged. the un's nuclear agency said there was no reported impact on nuclear safety following the blaze. gordon corera reports. the russian flag is torn down and thrown on the ground, while that of ukraine rises in its place. for the first time since the second world war, russia has found its own territory invaded and occupied. in a move which caught moscow by surprise, ukraine has in the past week sent tanks and thousands

of troops across the border, leaving destruction in theirwake, an operation its president acknowledged for the first time last night. translation: i received several reports from commander - in chief syrskyii regarding the front lines and our actions to push the war onto the aggressor�*s territory. i am grateful to every unit of the defence forces, ensuring that ukraine is proving that it can indeed restore justice and ensure the necessary pressure on the aggressor. tens of thousands of russians are now being hurriedly evacuated from the areas close to where ukraine is operating. some expressed shock and anger at their government for allowing this to happen. a stern faced vladimir putin met his top officials last week, and he has described the attack as a major provocation. this operation is a bold and maybe even risky gamble by ukraine. they've sent some of their best forces into russia here,

you can see it in yellow. some are reported to be operating 20 miles over the border. the idea seems to be to force russia to respond by shifting its forces away from the front lines inside ukraine, here in red, where moscow has recently been making advances. but it's not clear if ukraine simply wants to strike a psychological blow or really plans to try and hold the territory. russia's ministry of defence says it is repelling the attack. it's issued these pictures of ukrainian tanks being hit, although we've not been able to independently verify them. and overnight, ukraine said missiles fired by russia hitjust east of its capital, kyiv, killing two. but an intercepted ukrainian missile also fell on a russian apartment building in the city of kursk, injuring 15. that's another sign that a war launched by vladimir putin on ukraine is dramatically reaching into russia.

gordon corera, bbc news. i spoke with senior fellow at the council on foreign relations, charles kupchan. i started by asking for his reaction on developments in kursk. the ukrainians have really caught the russians on guard here they did not see this coming and the ukrainians have advanced to somewhere ten and 20 miles into russian territory. a real setback for putin. the question is what the ukrainians are up to and i think there are several different explanations. 0ne, they are trying to bring the water the russian population to say to russians no, you cannot continue with business as usual, we will come and go into russian territory. two to shift the momentum. the battlefield has been tilting towards the russians over the last few months. zelensky needed a win and this is a win

and the third goal here could be to change the negotiating leverage so that when the parties do sit down at the negotiating table the ukrainians have something to trade or at least they can say to the russians we can hurt you at will. they may be trying to set the stage for a diplomatic endgame. and this comes following months of pleas from president zelensky to his western allies to increase military aid to kyiv. how much is that increased aid which is now starting to get through, changing the equation for ukrainian forces? the seven month delay in getting us aid to the troops in ukraine really did set them back. it helped russia gain territory in the east and now we see that aid, much of it has been delivered in the ukrainians are doing much better here. but honestly, there is no silver bullet. the f—16s are arriving and are the ukrainians suddenly going to win? no. they face shortages in manpower, they

face shortages in artillery over the long run so i think that what we are witnessing here is a significant change in the momentum on the battlefield but not a game changer. this is not an inflection point in the war. ukrainians are using different kinds of equipment given to them by the united states and that is consistent with the change in strategy approved byjoe biden where the ukrainians can use us assets to hit targets along the border. do i think the united states and the allies are comfortable with this? i'm not sure. some yes, some no. that is one of the reasons the us and their allies have been rather quiet about this offensive. when you talk about this surprise incursion, remind our viewers what is so significant about the kursk region where the activity has been. it is a region that borders ukraine. the russians have used it to prosecute attacks on ukrainian territory which is one of the reasons that the ukrainians wanted

to go in, just like they did on the other side of the kharkiv 0blas recently. the other the idea is to send a message to the russians that they are not safe. that ukrainians have the combat capability to take territory from russia. they going to be able to hold this? probably not. but that is in part because there are some 10,000 ukrainian troops in russia and they may ultimately need them back in eastern ukraine to defend the frontline but at least for now this is a shock to the russians and it is going to affect putin's calculations. we have heard from russia saying that its army will deliver a tough response. what do you think that will look like? we have seen the russians retaliate before for attacks in crimea, for attacks on russian territory, for attacks on the bridge that connects crimea to russia. it usually means more attacks on russian, on ukrainian population centres and i think that is the most likely response here. the russians are trying to fight back but so far they have not been able to break

through ukrainian defences that they have built up in kursk. so i think you will see a fight for the territory that ukrainians now hold, increased attacks on ukrainian population centres as a way of retaliating against this but there is no question here that this is a setback for the russians in this long war. thank you very much for taking us through those developments in ukraine and russia. us defense secretary lloyd austin says america will accelerate the deployment of extra forces to the middle east, sending a guided missile submarine, as the region braces for possible attacks by iran and its allies. it comes as hamas has ruled out fresh negotiations over the terms of a proposed ceasefire deal — saying it wants to stick to an earlier deal first outlined by presidentjoe biden. the latest push for a truce follows the killing of hamas�*s political leader ismail haniyeh. israel said it will send a team of negotiators to take part

in this week's meeting. sources told the bbc the introduction of new israeli conditions, including screening displaced palestinians as they return to the north of gaza, and determining who controls parts of gaza's border with egypt, had been sticking points with hamas. the israeli army continues to bomb residential areas of gaza. video taken in a suburb of gaza city on sunday showed the moment a missile struck the bottom floor of a house. palestinian medics said the strike killed one person and injured several others. the israeli army also expanded its evacuation order for the southern city of khan younis on sunday, where it says hamas has regrouped. people fleeing the area said they believe there is nowhere safe to go. francesca albanese is the united nations�* special rapporteur on the occupied palestinian territories. i asked her about the impact those evacuations are having on civilians.

i think that after ten months of this forced displacement the war and the continued bombardment it is understandable that what is being requested in gaza understandable that what is being imposed on palestinians and requested in gaza is not only unlawful because international law offers a panoply of tools to minimise the impact of war on civilians. i often wonder how people in gaza can cope with that much relentless aggression and disregard for the basic needs of life. they do not have shelters, water, food — they are just surviving. they are being reduced

to bare life. we have heard international condemnation from a number of countries following saturday's attack on that school building. israel maintains that it was a location that hamas was operating in but we heard from the us saying that they have repeatedly and consistently said that israel must take measures to minimise civilian harm. what needs to be done for that to happen. we are seeing more international pressure but nothing seems to be changing on the ground in terms that israel wants to continue to target what they say are hamas hiding places and civilian casualties continue to mount. for the audience's benefit, it is not sufficient for israel, or anyone else in the conflicting parties

to claim there are terrorists in order to define an attack. and make it legitimate. because there is evidence and even if there were hamas combatants in the school, what precautions were taken to spare civilian life? the thing is that israel has created a habit of using the argument of human shields as a mass characterisation of palestinians as targetable because hamas is allegedly hiding among them. there is no shred of evidence offered. this is interesting. concerning the increasing international condemnation, i agree, these last bombings seem to have shaken and awakened consciousness but it is empty rhetoric and i do not see using pressure other than in words.

but it is past time to take concrete measures as afforded by international law meaning starting with an arms embargo immediately and imposing sanctions on israel as it has done with other countries that violate international law and unlawful wars against others. it is ten months of attack, of an assault on gaza. 40,000 people have already been killed and many more will die because of the destruction imposed on gaza and it is unacceptable that the international community continues to limit itself to pretty empty words of condemnation. we hear that there could be a new round of ceasefire talks. we hear that hamas has asked those mediators to present a plan based upon previous talks instead of engaging in new negotiations. more broadly speaking, where do you see a glimmer of hope that there may be a breakthrough?

we have spoken for months that there may be some sort of ceasefire on the table and then it all seems to fall apart. i think that the ceasefire should be pressured from outside. not something that negotiated at this point. there should be a halt to the military cooperation and this is just in order to abide by the conditional measures ordered by the international court ofjustice. we have forgotten that there is an international system which is based upon the respect of basic rules and these rules cannot be interpreted as an a la carte menu, as a pick and choose system for when we needed. just on that you have any hope that there may be a breakthrough? it is difficult to talk of hope. there is necessity and urgency to get to that point and this is why i am engaged

so relentlessly to remind the international community of their obligation because we need to get a breakthrough. hong kong's top court has dismissed an appeal by the former media tycoon jimmy lai and six other pro—democracy campaigners to have their convictions overturned. the group had been found guilty of unauthorised assembly during protests in 2019. mr lai is the founder of the pro—democracy apple daily newspaper. he's been held in solitary confinement since december 2020. the world health organization said this week it is convening experts to determine if the spread of mpox — previously known as monkeypox — across africa should be declared a global emergency. at least 15 countries across africa have reported outbreaks since january. people with the virus often get a rash with lesions, along with a fever, sore throat and headache. the virus is often transmitted through skin—to—skin contact.

the democratic republic of congo has seen more than 90% of reported cases across africa this year. since january last year, more than 1,200 people have died. the africa centres for disease control and prevention is poised to declare a �*continental emergency�* as a new variant of mpox moves across dr congo's borders. i spoke with anne rimoin, a professor at the department of epidemiology at ucla. she recently returned from the democratic republic of congo. first of all tell us what you saw on your visit. thank you for having me here. i have been working in the democratic republic of the congo since 2002 and working on monkeypox for that length of time. i think that we have seen over time cases continue to rise and in the last few years we have seen a very sharp acceleration

of cases which has been quite concerning. these cases are not only in children as we have normally seen this but now we start to see this in adult in high risk populations where we have been previously only seeing these cases last year in men who have sex with men now we see heterosexual spread as well. as we were saying in introduction they are, the virus can spread between animals and people as well and it is often transmitted through skin to skin contact so what measures have been put in place in the drc to try and mitigate spread? being able to mitigate spread of mpox really does require a lot of social mobilisation and giving people the understanding of how the virus is spread. for decades we have been working on reducing spread of mpox in rural hunting villages, giving people the understanding

that it can be from a variety of animals and how they may do better when they hunt or are in contact with these animals and also to isolate key people in different rooms, really stay away and avoid contact if possible. but now we talk about sexual contact and sexual contact requires a very different set of public health measures because now we are talking about and often working in vulnerable populations here, sex workers, men who have sex with men, these are groups that are often hard to reach and hard to transmit information to one how to protect themselves. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the family of nine—year—old alice da silva aguiar have used her funeral to called

for an end to the violent disorder sparked by the attack in southport. she was one of three girls killed in a stabbing at a dance class in the town last month. bebe king, aged six, and elsie dot stancombe, seven, also died in the attack. two people have died trying to cross the channel from france on sunday morning in a small boat carrying more than 50 people. the government has described the deaths as a "tragic incident". the french authorities rescued 53 others onboard the small boat after it got into difficulty between calais and dunkirk. a plume of heat looks set to make monday the hottest day of the year so far, while thunderstorm warnings have also been issued for northern parts of the uk. the met office has issued two yellow thunderstorm warnings, which affect northern ireland, northern england and scotland tonight and into monday morning. this sudden change in our weather is partly due to tropical storm debby, which brought flooding to the eastern united states.

you're live with bbc news. us presidentjoe biden says he ended his re—election bid because he feared democratic party infighting over his candidacy would be a "distraction" and that his highest priority is to defeat donald trump in november. the comments came during president biden�*s first television interview since ending his run for the white house three weeks ago. speaking to cbs news correspondent robert costa, the president said he let go of personal ambition for what he says is a fight for democracy. although it is a great honour being president i think i have an obligation to the country to do the most important thing you can do and that is that we must, we must defeat trump. mark my words if he wins this election, watch what happens. he is a genuine danger to american security. we are an inflection point in world history, we really are,

and the decisions we make in the next three or four years will determine what the next six decades are like. democracy is the key. thousands of people in towns and villages outside the greek capital athens have been ordered to move to safer areas as wildfires are raging in the area. dozens of fires have broken out since saturday, fanned by gale—force winds and hot weather. more than 30 of the blazes have been put under control, but hundreds of firefighters, as well as waterbombing planes and helicopters are still battling a number of fires. the 2024 paris olympic games have officially ended with a spectacular closing ceremony at the stade de france. the event ended a fortnight of sporting excellence and action from across the globe and it was the united states which topped the medal table just pipping china in the medal haul. the olympic flag was handed over to the mayor of the us city of los angeles where the games will be held in 2028. let's head to los angeles now and hearfrom our

senior digital editor christal hayes about how the city is preparing for the next olympic games. they have been preparing for years. 0riginally plans were big plans announced to try to help transportation here in los angeles. we are known nationally for having some of the worst traffic in the country and at first plans were announced to try and expand on rail systems, to try and get additional stops at venues but now it looks like many of those plans have been nixed and instead the city is planning to include a lot more bussing in theirfleets. the city is hoping to be a car free event for the 2028 games which seems like a dreadful thought to a lot of people who live here. like i said, traffic is bad here and along with the excitement that comes with having such a huge event, today a lot of friends and families here who are so excited watching the closing ceremonies but there was an ounce of dread that comes with knowing we're going to have millions people on our streets that do not know

where they are going, that have to deal with those additional traffic. i know los angeles reasonably well and i know how much people rely on cars to get around. so the infrastructure is a big change. of course los angeles has posted 0lympic games before. 1984 in 1932 but things have changed dramatically since those two. but what things are still there from, say, 1984 in terms of stadium and that sort of infrastructure that they can build on? the los angeles games will be some of the first to have do not build any new stadium arenas. many of those arenas built for those games are still standing and still host events now. the city has expanded the arenas over the years and we have a new arena that is going to be open hosting one of our basketball teams that will be used for the games. we're not going to see a ton of new arenas and different sporting venues for the games.

along with the olympic village, they plan to use college campuses dormitories to host athletes for the event and that is one of the big things that attracts the olympics. they will not have to do make that footprint here for the environment and also the city itself. it will remain as it is. i was interested to see some of the new sports which will be entering when los angeles hosts. notably one of my favourites, cricket which, of course, america is not necessarily as accustomed to although the t—20 was hosted here not too long ago. tell us about some of the new sports that are going to be entering and how those adjustments have to be taken into account as well. like you mentioned, cricket is not been played in the game since 1890. -- 1990. like you said, many americans are not, they do not know as much about cricket as those

across the pond but there will be a number of new sports and sports we have not seen in a number of years. flag football which, maybe like cricket, is not as known in the uk and various places in europe, it is a flag, the americanised football. there are a number of other events that the city is going to host and is looking to host. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. a stormy night for some of us, and on top of that, it feels very warm and humid out there — almost tropical — with temperatures hovering around 20 degrees there on the south coast of england through the early hours of monday morning, and even in northern ireland, around 17 degrees. now, this is what the heatwave looks like across western europe. at the moment, temperatures well above the average for the time of the year. the temperatures will peak in england on monday. let's get to the forecast,

then, and that stormy picture developing to the west of the british isles. you can see the storm clouds there, and the radar, indicating the rainfall, flashes of lightning as well. more to come through the course of early monday. so the weather front crossing northern ireland with the downpours through early monday morning, then reaching the west coast of scotland, spreading across scotland as it moves towards the northeast. a few showers in northern england, but south of that, the picture looks generally dry and sunny in the morning. now, this is the yellow warning from the met office — a chance of frequent lightning, hail and strong winds within this area. now, because it's a yellow warning, it's a relatively low risk for any one location, but when you get it, you'll know about it. so the forecast, then, for the rest of monday, then. well, the story is going to be the heat across england. in fact, from the southeast, through east anglia, into lincolnshire, temperatures well over 30 celsius. cambridgeshire could well reach around 35 celsius. far more comfortable, i'm sure you'll agree, across western parts of the uk, with the low 20s, and it

will freshen up as we go through the course of the week, gradually. weather fronts are approaching us on tuesday. that does mean cloud and some rain, and here's the forecast for early on tuesday morning, with that cloud and rain spreading into western parts, but still a very warm southerly across eastern areas of the uk. so, from london, across east anglia, into lincolnshire, temperatures could still reach the high 20s, but more typically, it's going to be the low 20s, or even the high teens, further towards the west and north, and then on wednesday, a ridge of high pressure builds in between weather systems, so that means that the weather's looking fairly promising. many of us would call it a perfect summer's day, with fine weather midweek. towards the end of the week, there could be some rain, and then beyond that, the forecast is somewhat uncertain, with a little bit of rain, but also plenty of sunshine. bye— bye.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. migration is a hot and contentious issue right across the world. amid the cacophony of voices demanding tighter immigration controls, more secure borders

and the mass deportation of unauthorised incomers, it's worth considering how current migration trends fit into the broader sweep of human history. south african—born economist ian goldin has done just that in an effort to reframe this migration debate in terms of the past and the future. is migration a drag or a driver of progress? ian goldin, welcome to hardtalk. it's a pleasure to be with you, stephen. it's great to have you here. now, in your book, the shortest

history of migration, you have a pretty simple core message,