with how everything has gone. ijust think that it is always hard when you say goodbye to your sport, so i just... yeah, lots of things the process... but you know, ithink just... yeah, lots of things the process... but you know, i think it is the right time. this year felt like such a bonus, and i got to compete in front of my family, my kids, and i got to be the flag bearer... so... yeah live sets the bucket list has been kicked off on every occasion. well daley contributed to a total of 65 medals for team gb at this years games — one more than they achieved in tokyo — and back—to—back weightlifting medallist emily campbell believes paris provided a games that gb can be proud of. on the last day, i have seen everybody else to say well and bring back medals, doing things that they have trimmed about doing, it is really special day. and seeing a

team gb's medal haul, surpassing what we did in tokyo and matching 2012, it can't do better than that. you are proud of every medal, but this one was a real battle to get backin this one was a real battle to get back in shape and get back to the field this time, it was so much higher quality than it wasn't ok, so i knew that i had to pull out the big guns and luckily my body performed on the day. matthijs de ligt and noussair mazraoui are on the brink of signing for manchester united — with both players travelling to manchester on monday for a medical. bbc sport understands that the fee is in excess of £60 million — with the centre back alone costing united around £40 million. de ligt was the captain of erik ten hag's ajax side that reached the champions league semi—finals in 2019, with mazraoui also a key player in that squad. the two additions will make it four signings so far this summer for united. it's notjust incomings at old trafford though as bbc sport

also understands that aaron wan—bissaka is due to have a medical at west ham united ahead of a move to the london stadium. wan—bissaka played 190 times in five years at the club but has struggled as the clubs first choice right back. tottenham hotspur�*s yves bissouma has apologised for a "severe lack ofjudgment" after footage emerged appearing to show the midfielder inhaling laughing gas. the 27—year—old posted a video of himself on social media on saturday which showed him inhaling from a balloon. possession of nitrous oxide for recreational use has been a criminal offence in the united kingdom since 2023. tottenham have confirmed they will look in to it as an internal matter. and finally to some remarkable pictures from nascar, as austin dillon was victorious in richmond. however, it came in highly controversial circumstances on the final lap, with dillon sending joey logano into a spin before doing the same to denny hamlin moments later to take his first win for over two and a half years. dillon was not penalised

for the incidents and said afterwards that he �*hated doing it, but he had to do it'. and that's all the sport for now. back to the studio. to russia, where president putin has been speaking on ukrainian incursions. he said that ukraine is trying to slow russian advance at other parts of the front, and that russia will respond. have a listen. translation: the defence ministry's main task is to push and _ kick the enemy out of our territory. the enemy is probably trying to improve its future negotiating positions. what negotiations can we conduct with people who are targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure? or those trying to threaten nuclear energy safety? but the main target is a military one, to slow the russian advance in other parts of the front. so what? the speed of the russian advance has increased 1.5 times. sarah rainsford was the bbc�*s moscow correspondent until her expulsion from russia. she is now the bbc�*s

eastern europe correspondent. here she is talking about the significace of the ukrainian offensive inside russia — and whether it has the potential to change russian public opinion. i think it really depends how long it lasts, how deep the ukrainians go, and how it ends, how vladimir putin eventually deals with it. but, i don't think we can underestimate the importance of what has happened, the significance of such a huge incursion by ukraine, the occupation of russian territory for the first time since the second world war. so, this is really important. the second border region of russia is now being evacuated. so, i think it has the power to make some russians think. i think that is clear. and looking at some of the reporting, even given the controlled atmosphere in environment that there is for the and environment that there is for the russian press, some of the reporting coming out, it is clear that some

people are asking questions. there was an interesting report in a newspaper over new weekend talking to people. the weekend talking to people. to flee their homes, and those people were angry. they were angry that they were not given notice. they talked about state tv lying to them about what was happening. and there was anger at the military, too, talking about corruption, talking about the military�*s failure to contain what had happened. so, there are questions. but, i think it was also really interesting for me just to look at when the questioning went a bit deeper, and those same people were still talking about supporting the occupation of ukrainian land. they were still using insulting language to talk about ukrainians, and they were still very negative about the west, talking about satanists in the west. so, so many russians now see themselves in a huge war with the west. russia against the west, russia is showing it's powerful, fighting back and presenting itself as a massive force on the world stage.

i think the power of propaganda in pushingthat propaganda in pushing that message has been so strong that even as facts change on the ground, it may take some time before that really filters through to people, but i think it is interesting. a key moment to watch as that war is very much brought home to russians. it is on their territory. they cannot ignore it, at least down in the kursk region of southern russia. studio: you have released a book called goodbye to russia. here it is. a personal reckoning from the ruins of war. i am well into it, now. it is excellent. and you detail being expelled from russia. it was such an emotional moment. let us remind ourselves of what happened three years ago. this was the moment i discovered i was being expelled from russia. according to a specific law, i have been designated a threat to the national security, and as such, i'm not allowed into the country. pulled aside at passport control, i was told the fsb security service had banned me for life.

i recorded the conversation. speaking in russian studio: sarah, i remember that moment and how worried we were about who and what was going to happen next. what about life in russia at the moment? if you are a journalist, what is that like? yes. looking at that now it seems almost ridiculous that it was so shocking at the time. the trajectory since then has only been downwards. freedom of speech in russia was already massively under threat by the time i was expelled, and i think my expulsion was part of that general slide. and, of course, last year we saw evan gershkovich, the wall streetjournalist reporter, being arrested for espionage and accused of espionage, a blatantly false accusation and allegation, and he was eventually released just recently. but certainly for the russian independent media operating

inside the country, it has become impossible. ever since the full—scale invasion of ukraine, the wars have the laws have been tightened so much that essentially the truth has been criminalised. it's an offence. it's actually a criminal offence to talk about war. it's a criminal offence to contradict the official line on what's happening in ukraine. so it is an extremely difficult and dangerous environment to operate in. but, you know, this, this crushing of free speech has been a very long path in russia. and it goes right back to the very origins of vladimir putin's presidency. today is the 24th anniversary of the sinking of the kursk submarine. and at that point, vladimir putin was already in power. he lied. he hid what had happened. he stayed on holiday in sochi for five days and the press went to town. he was slammed in the press for that. and it was after vladimir putin was so heavily criticised for failing to save those submariners, or even to accept foreign help,

that he began crushing free speech in russia. and we moved towards the state propaganda machine that now exists there, which is so powerful and which has been such an important tool in vladimir putin's prosecution of the full—scale war in ukraine. so does that also mean there's no opposition inside russia? you talk in the book of the murder of boris nemtsov. what about now? yeah, i think that the for me, i think that was perhaps the darkest moment at the time in russia because it was such a symbolic murder. boris nemtsov, a very important figure from the 1990s. his roots in politics went right back to the birth of democracy in russia as the soviet union fell apart and he emerged as a charismatic figure who boris yeltsin, the president, the first president of independent russia at one point thought could be his successor. but in the end he went on to anoint vladimir putin. so i think, you know, the murder of nemtsov right

next to the kremlin. it was just so symbolic, seeing his body lying there on the tarmac in the rain, the lights down towards saint basil's cathedral. itjust felt like the death of hope, i think, for many, many russians. albert bbc correspondent and author. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. this current heat has culminated in some really intense showers and thunderstorms. that heat remains with us across central and eastern areas. we are still to confirm the highest temperature, without a doubt the hottest day of the essay for deer farm. the thermometer may read that somewhere. we will confirm that this evening. with it, one or two isolated storms across southern and eastern areas, more prevalent north and east.

hanging on shetland. very few showers. a fresh appeal. strong sunshine across northern ireland, scotland, and western parts of england, and wales. further east, look at the temperatures. 30—35. high humidity. behind our band of showers, the humidity will step down a notch. more comfortable for sleeping in many areas of england and wales. the winds are strengthening, bringing cloud and more rain. that is across northern ireland and western scotland. by morning, warm and muggy. misty low cloud around the coast. going into tuesday, the next band of rain tied in with low pressure. the wind a bit stronger. mostly feature through the morning the northern ireland and scotland. it crosses the irish sea into wales, south—west england, northern england in the afternoon. southern and eastern areas are staying largely dry. still very warm. 27—28 . windy in the north—west. that will feel a little

cooler than the temperatures will suggest. the weather front is rivers in southern areas on wednesday. no more than a band of cloud. the ridge of high pressure building behind. drierfor of high pressure building behind. drier for scotland of high pressure building behind. drierfor scotland and of high pressure building behind. drier for scotland and northern england and northern ireland. you few showery bursts of rain a further sheu few showery bursts of rain a further shell de nagasau. the temperatures coming down. 20—25. not far off the average for the time of year, a little higher in the south. more rain coming in on thursday. moving further south, albeit very slowly. drier weather and showers to the north of the weather system. it may be hanging around in the south as we move into friday. you can see that as the heat comes to an end, we will begin to see more rainfall, particularly in the north—west. you will see rain in the south—east. you can stay up—to—date on the website.

live from london. this is bbc news. russia is evacuating parts of its belgorod region — close to kursk — as ukrainian forces continue their surprise cross—border offensive. vladimir putin says russia will respond. translation: a defence ministry's . main task is to push and to kick. the enemy out of our territory. the enemy is probably trying to improve its future negotiating position. thousands of people near the greek capital athens are ordered to move to safer ground as wildfires rage in the area.

warnings were missed about the mental health of valdo calocane, who went on to kill three people in nottingham last year. the paris olympics are officially over — and team gb are back home after winning a total of 65 medals. hello, i'm annita mcveigh and welcome to verified live, three hours of checking out the day's main stories and the facts behnd them. russia's president vladimir putin has told a meeting of his senior officials that ukrainian forces must be kicked out of the country. he was speaking as ukraine continues its week long offensive with troops advancing up to 30 kilometres — that's 18 miles — inside russian territory. local authorities are now evacuating residents from a second region — belgorod — which is

situated next to kursk — that's where the ukrainian offensive