we start this hour with ukraine — where the government says its forces now control a thousand square kilometres of territory inside russia. the land has been over—run in the last week — following a surprise attack over the border into russia's kursk region. while officials in kyiv were cautious at first — they're now talking up the advances. moscow has been ordering evacuations in kursk, and in neighbouring belgorod. president putin has told his officials to act. our russia editor steve rosenberg reports. a music video from the russian military, allegedly showing it targeting ukrainian troops who'd crossed the border. it's presented

like a blockbuster. in reality, this is a huge problem for russia. the governor of russia's kursk region put it in figures. he told vladimir putin that ukrainian soldiers had seized 28 settlements in his region. the kremlin leader cut him off. "leave the numbers to the military," he said. translation: the main task is with our ministry of defence, i and that is to force the enemy from our territory. our adversary will, of course, receive a fitting response. and, without doubt, all our objectives will be met. as ukrainian troops have moved in, residents have moved out. officials say that more than 120,000 people have been evacuated in kursk region, and thousands more in the neighbouring region of belgorod. there are fears of a ukrainian

incursion there too. what is happening is huge. for the first time in more than 80 years, foreign troops are fighting on russian soil. and yet the country's leadership describes this as a provocation, a terrorist attack. the kremlin still avoids using the word war, as if to tell the people there's no need to panic. 0n the streets of moscow, no shock — just resignation about ukraine's offensive. "i'm not surprised," 0lga says. "it's a border area and this war has been going on for some time." what we all want is peace, and, like, the quickest resolution of this conflict. in the meantime, these volunteers are trying to do something. in moscow, they've organised a collection of food and clothes for the evacuees.

there are people who lost their homes. they need shelter, they need food, they need supplies. it was their country that invaded ukraine. russians are now having to deal with unforeseen consequences. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. professor of political science and ukraine expert — paul d'anieri — explains if this is yet another miscalculation by russia. yeah, this is a pretty significant intelligence failure and military failure on the part of the russians. 0n the flip side of that, we have seen some others, but it's an example of ukraine's ability to mount a pretty significant operations without tipping their hand to the russians, or as far as we can tell to their allies as well. and what do you make of this decision by volodymyr zelensky to take the fight into russian territory? it's risky.

i think the military analysts will tell you that it is risky, but there is a potentially huge upside. already it's provided upside, which is a huge morale boost to ukrainians and a real political problem for vladimir putin and the russian military leadership. so that kind of victory is itself important. the real question i think for the longer term is what russian needs to do in order to dislodge this ukrainian force. i think the goal is to force russia to move troops from the front lines in eastern ukraine, which would really provide a much needed respite for ukrainian troops there, and if the ukrainians could force that, that would be a substantial tactical strategic victory as well. and where do ukraine's allies stand with this course of action? they haven't always have been supportive of ukraine striking into russian territory. my sense is that as the war has gone on, ukraine's allies have gotten more and more accepting of this idea. us military spokesperson today basically said that the us

military was fine with this, that this fit in the us understanding of what ukraine could and could not do with us supplied weapons. i think in particular because it was aimed at a part of russia from which russia had been launching cross—border activity towards ukraine as opposed to sending missiles to completely different parts of russia. just quickly what do you think russia will do in response? i think russia will put an extremely high priority on retaking this territory. so the initial effort seems to be used local forces to do this, and the big question is will that suffice? the ukrainian forces from what we can tell are already digging themselves in and so it may be very soon that ukraine, i'm sorry, that russia really does need to take forces away from the main front line in order to dislodge these ukrainians.

let's turn to the growing tensions in the middle east now — and the white house has warned that iran could launch what it describes as a �*significant attack�* on israel — as soon as this week. the comments were made by national security spokesmanjohn kirby — and they come as the us is rushing an aircraft carrier strike group and a guided missile submarine to the region in a show of support for israel. iran and its ally, the lebanese militia group his brother, have both vowed to avenge the killings, last month, of the hamas political leader, ismail haniyeh, who died during a visit to iran — and a his brother commander — they blame both deaths on israel. israel has neither confirmed nor denied any involvement. we share the same concerns and expectations that our israeli counterparts have with respect to potential timing here, could be this week.

we are continuing to watch it very, very closely and it is difficult to ascertain at this particular time if there is an attack by iran or its proxies, what that could look like. there appears to be a concerted international effort to ease tensions — with the uk prime minister sir keir starmer talking to iran's new president, masoud pezeshkian, by phone. the call lasted over half an hour — and while details haven't been made public, the uk hasjoined with the us, france, germany and italy in calling for iran to "stand down" its ongoing threats of a military attack against israel, which it said would have serious consequences for regional security. let's put all of that into context now — here's our correspondent injerusalem, wyre davies. there have been increasingly credible intelligence reports and perhaps an increasing expectation here that sooner rather than later iran will follow through with its bow to respond against israel either directly or indirectly through hezbollah for those attacks believed to be carried out by israel and iran

and in lebanon against senior figures in hezbollah. how and when those will take place we simply don't know but the israeli government says they are prepared for an attack. all of this comes against increasing international pressure for iran to pull back from the spring. americans have increased their naval presence in the region. it's been a cremated effort from the government of france, britain and germany persuading iran not to go through with an attack. in the last three hours, the british prime minister has spoken to the new iranian president again emphasising that the level of international concern and saying that any iranian attack mightjeopardise peace talks that are meant to take place later this week indirectly between hamas and israel.

but it's looking increasingly perhaps uncertain that those talks might not even take place. it's very difficult to second—guess what the new hamas leader in the israeli prime minister want to get from those talks and when either man is prepared to make the necessary sacrifices to achieve a cease—fire. and secure the release of those hostages still being held by hamas in gaza. two 12—year—old boys have become the youngest to admit taking part in the recent disorder in the uk. they can't be named because of their ages, with one of them caught on cctv, throwing an object at police during unrest in southport. he admitted violent disorder at liverpool youth court. the other, threw a missile at a police van in manchester. he admitted two charges of violent disorder. they were among dozens of people convicted today, following widespread disorder in numerous towns and cities, in the wake of the fatal stabbings of three young girls in southport. so far, 975 people have been arrested, with 546 charged.

staying in the uk, an 11—year—old girl has been seriously injured, and her mother was also wounded, in a knife attack in leicester square, in central london, one of the busiest tourist areas in the capital. a man has been arrested. members of the public helped hold the attacker down, until the police arrived. here's frankie mccamley. just after 11.30 this morning, police were called here following reports that an 11—year—old girl and a woman had been stabbed. when officers arrived, a security worker and members of the public had detained a man. i heard a scream. and ijust went outside and saw one guy was having a knife. and the moment i saw it, ijumped on that guy and grabbed his hand in which he was having a knife. and then ijust put him down the floor and kicked the knife away from him. and in the meanhile a couple of more guys came as well

and they got on top of him and just held him for four or five minutes, and in the meanwhile the police arrived as well. hearing screams, many tourists fled the scene. they hey didn't know what was happening now. so i told them just calm down, i'm going to go to a safe place. but they just wanted to go back to the hotel. leicester square is usually a fun and family friendly area. today, part of it has been cordoned off. it is now a crime scene, with bloodstains on the pavement behind me. forensics have been carrying out a fingertip search, taking photographs inside, trying to figure out exactly what happened here, in an area packed full of tourists who have come to see the sights. but some today saw a horrific attack instead. a 32—year—old man was arrested. police don't think the suspect and victims were known to each other, but officers have praised those who bravely put themselves at risk and showed the best of london in doing so. frankie mccamley, bbc london. the billionaire entrepreneur elon musk is due to interview the republican presidential

candidate donald trump on the x social media network in the next few hours. the event could provide former president trump the opportunity to seize the limelight at a time when his campaign appears to have lost some momentum. but politics aside — it's raised questions about the power of the x social media network — and how elon musk is using it. and that concern has been highlighted by an open letter to elon musk by the european commission — which it says is monitoring potential risks associated with content that may incite violence, hate and racism. it also points out that mr musk has a legal obligation to ensure x's compliance with eu law. political strategist — rina shah — says this might turn out to be quite a big event. particularly since he named his running mate, the senatorfrom 0hio, he's kind of person to be something of a sandbag on this campaign. he zapped the energy out of it and

proven to be quite charismatic. ——quite uncharismatic. this this lack of energy, it seems, or appeal he seems to have is something that is privately frustrating. trump and trump is looking for a win. and so this interview with somebody who is friendly to him, somebody who is probably even a friend to some extent, i think this would be something that could particularly put the wind behind his back after what we again have seen to be a tumultuous time for his campaign. you mentioned musk being friendly towards him. that hasn't always been the case. they haven't always liked each other. but musk has now fully endorsed trump. what do both men want to get out of this? what they ultimately want is to pay less taxes. to be blunt, i think when you look at most american businessmen in a certain, uh, income range or profit range, you would, you know, you look at them and you say, what is it they're really trying to get at? they're trying to save more money. to give less to the government. and that's not a secret. look, that's what the republican party has

been saying for decades, that it would do empower american businesses to power our economy. and so when you hear musk in his early days, actually, of sounding sympathetic to trump, i knew there was an aim here. and his aim is essentially to get rid of what he considers are the demon democrats. there's no other way to put it lightly. elon musk has really demonised the democrats in his messaging. he's made them sound like they are destructive to america, not just on the economic front, but also on the social front. now, musk himself isn't a journalist. he is many things. so how seriously should we take this interview? do you think he'll be pushing back on trump against any of the falsehoods that he is? ——he does tend to make, the latest one being that he's been claiming that harris's rally crowds are ai generated, something that has already been disproved. i think that's particularly concerning coming from somebody who's running a social media platform that is rife with misinformation and disinformation. it's hard to know what to believe in this

era, and that's always been a challenge, as i've been seeing how technologically connected we're to the ballot box over time. i've been watching, particularly with great interest in the past decade of how businessmen in particular are responsible. and i think musk has been pretty irresponsible in my estimation of how he promulgates this myth, essentially, of, uh, of what is at stake for americans here, whether, again, it be on an economic front or on a socialfront. we're looking at somebody who has no problems promulgating these misinformation and disinformation as a way to become more profitable. so i don't think he will check donald trump. i think this is just two friendly businessmen sitting down to air their grievances. but one thing is for sure, donald trump has to start to tell the american people more clearly, more plainly how he's going to make their life better if he's allowed to re—enter the white house in the next four years.

given the profile of the two men come it will be widely watched. how was the harris campaign doing it? i watched. how was the harris campaign doing it?— watched. how was the harris campaign doing it? i think they will take an _ campaign doing it? i think they will take an approach _ campaign doing it? i think they will take an approach that - will take an approach that makes them look calm, cool and confident. they know they will be taking the bait if they respond to any particular point. tonight's interview will certainly be one that i think we'll have viral moments, particularly on x, former twitter, i do also think it will be shared on sound bites in mainstream american media. americans are getting their news from numerous sources nowadays and it's hard to solve for the problem of that rampant misinformation and disinformation. i cannot overstate how much of a problem thatis overstate how much of a problem that is in this election in particular. the fakes —— deep fakes are abound. ai generated images that we don't know if they are real or fake. images that we don't know if they are real orfake. this is a moment in which the harris campaign can take the high road and just say that is not something we want to touch. but

we just don't know because we don't exactly know the topics that will be covered tonight. still to come in the programme — the latest on the greek wildfires — which have reached the outskirts of the capital, athens. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

thousands of people are being evacuated from their homes in greece, as wildfires spread through forests and villages. and tonight, the fires are reported to have reached the suburbs of athens — with firefighters saying they have found a burned body inside a shop. the emergency services say homes have also been destroyed in varnavas, north—east of the greek capital. the nation is now on high alert, with soaring temperatures and strong winds expected to persist in the coming days. with the latest from athens — here's jess parker. a picture of despair. "0ur houses are burning," says this woman, a cry into one of the many smoke—filled streets to the north—east of athens. translation: complete

destruction. _ the fire was coming from all sides for 48 hours. as soon as we called the fire department, the firemen came right away. i couldn't believe it. and as the blaze reached the outskirts of greece's capital, look at this. a thick cloud hung over the acropolis, the ancient citadel covered by a smoky mist. residents have been hauled from their homes. schools, hospitals and businesses abandoned, too. people who have had to flee tell of their terror. translation: the flames surrounded me. _ i couldn't see. i hit a pine tree and this happened. flare—ups and hotspots make these blazes hard to tackle. people use whatever they can. high winds and heat have allowed the flames to spread

but this is a longer term problem. greece and this region are no strangers to wildfires, and scientists warn things are getting worse because of climate change. the hottestjuly on record in greece came after a warm winter. we also have this very, very dry fuels, which contribute i to the rapid spread i of the fire, and also they increase the chance - of having spot fires generating and very quickly- expanding wildfires. overall, i would say that it's another very difficult day, l and the situation right now in terms of the fire spreadl and the fire behaviour is extremely difficult i from the point of view of controlling the fire. the searing heat is set to continue here over the coming days. help is being sent from other countries as greece defends its people and its capital. scientists say they have discovered proof that there

is a huge reservoir of liquid water on mars. the finding comes after a new analysis of data from a nasa probe, which touched down on the red planet in 2018. but — where the water is located means it may be all but impossible to access. 0ur science correspondent victoria gill reports. the red planet. for years, scientists have searched for the secrets of its watery past. its surface is marked by channels from ancient rivers, but it's now a desert. this latest study has finally found the planet's missing liquid water, buried deep in the martian rock. to locate it, nasa had to send a very sensitive piece of robotic equipment. lift—off of the united launch alliance atlas v rocket. and that's what they did back in 2018... touchdown confirmed. ..when i was at nasa'sjet propulsion laboratory as the team celebrated the successful landing of the mars insight probe. it will be sending its data back here, to mission control

at nasa in california. it carried a seismometer, a device that picked up vibrations from inside the planet — marsquakes. during its four years of quietly listening, insight, provided scientists with a record of seismic activity, and that has painted a picture of the internal structure of mars. the probe recorded more than 1,300 quakes, and the researchers have now studied that record in detail, analysing exactly how mars moves. the vibrations reveal what the planet is made of, and they showed that deep in the rocky martian crust, there are reservoirs of water. we've identified places on mars where there are large amounts of liquid water. you know, water is the most important molecule in shaping the evolution of a planet and its climate. and we've identified how much of it is present and where it's sitting. this martian groundwater is between 10 and 20km beneath the surface. it'll be difficult to reach, but it could guide scientists to another promising target in the ongoing search

for signs of life on mars. for now, though, this has uncovered a secret about the history of the red planet that has been buried for billions of years. victoria gill, bbc news. the last couple of nights have offered a chance to see one of the most spectacular annual sights in the sky — the perseid meteor shower. if you have clear skies — then you have a chance of getting a dazzling view — as space scientist simon foster explains. so, the meteor shower is kind of the leftover debris behind a comet called swift—tuttle. comets are like dirty snowballs. they are made of water, ice, bits of sand, carbon. and that all evaporates off and it leaves a long trail behind it. and we, the earth, punch through that tail. and when we do, that debris turns up in our atmosphere. and that is what we see as these beautiful shooting stars. the best place to look for them is the consolation cassiopeia. it's a big w in the night sky.

and fixate on the place. don't dart around the night sky trying to look here and there. keep your eyes on that w. and after a few seconds or a few minutes of observing, your eyes will get used to the dark and the starlight up there. you'll see flashes of light. and this is the debris from this comet, burning up in our atmosphere. the comet goes past, we go past its debris annually between aboutjuly and august. but to occur with an aurora is an incredibly rare and kind of fortunate event. so please, if you can, try and see it. for the last week, the street artist banksy has been unveiling new works across london — and on monday, he made it eight days in a row with this rhino, clambering onto an abandoned and rather broken down nissan micra. it's not clear if the traffic cone on the bonnet is part of the art — but the piece was soon attracting fans to charlton,

in the south east of the city. it's the latest in an animal—themed series, which banksy has said hasn't got any deep meaning — he just wanted to do something to cheer everyone up. hope that brought a smile to yourface. thank you hope that brought a smile to your face. thank you for your company here on bbc news. hello there. it's been a very dramatic start to the week, what with the thunder and lightning and the heat and humidity, and it was hottest across east anglia, the south east and lincolnshire. temperatures widely over 30 degrees. but it was in cambridge where we set the highest temperature of the year so far. those temperatures are ebbing away. we'll be turning cooler through the rest of the week, and whilst there'll be some sunshine at times, there'll also be some spells of rain. these are the temperatures early in the morning, still quite warm across southeastern areas, but elsewhere a more

comfortable 10 or 11 degrees. and there is cloud and rain coming into western areas by the morning, and this rain will push very slowly eastwards. moving away from northern ireland, we'll get some sunshine. we'll see the rain pushing eastwards across scotland, moving further into northern england, wales and the southwest. but across the midlands, lincolnshire, east anglia and the southeast, it's dry. a little bit hazy with the sunshine perhaps, especially in the afternoon, but very warm once again. temperatures 27 or 28 degrees. not as hot or as humid as it was on monday. but there is cooler air coming into the north west. it follows that weather front that's bringing the cloud and rain. that meanders down towards the southeast. it brings a very different look to the weather across the east midlands, lincolnshire, east anglia and the southeast of england on wednesday. much more cloud around, a bit of rain and drizzle at times, although it does become drier later. but it's across the rest of the uk that we've got the fine weather this time, and it should be a fair bit of sunshine too. not that warm, perhaps making 20 degrees at best in scotland and northern ireland. a little bit warmer across england and wales. but it is turning cooler

because we're seeing atlantic air coming our way, and that's going to bring with it some rain. the next weather system arriving overnight and moving down into the uk on thursday. some stronger winds with that rain in scotland and northern ireland. it's moving more slowly southwards now, so it's going to be later in the day that we get some sunshine in the northwest. may well stay dry through the midlands, east anglia and the southeast, and actually quite warm here, temperatures 26 degrees or so. but it is cooling down a touch for scotland and northern ireland. that rain does eventually move southwards overnight. it may take a little while to clear away from southeastern most parts of england on friday, but otherwise following that, we've got some sunshine, blustery wind in the northwest will blow in some more showers into parts of scotland, where temperatures are still only 17 or 18 degrees, further south, 23 or 24.

oil prices rise as tensions in the middle east fuel concerns that global supply could be disrupted. it's said to be taller than the eiffell tower — find out how kashmir�*s brand new railway bridge will help boost its economy. hello and welcome to business today. i'm steve lai. we start with global crude oil prices, which rallied overnight to top $80 a barrell. the pop in prices came after the us announced it

was increasing its deployment of military resources to the middle east, to safeguard israel. israel has been preparing for reltaliation by iran and the hezbollah for nearly two weeks, after the assassination of a hamas leader in tehran. for more on the outlook for oil markets, let's bring in energy expert mukesh sahdev. we do believe that the oil price will continue to be volatile in this 80 a barrel range. i know that there is a law on the geopolitical side and right now expectations are higher escalation is probably helping. i think if you talk about fundamentals i want to make two very important key points on how to see the crisis was up one, i believe the 0pec maths is some pat lee max somehow 0pec maths. the