a man appears in court charged with attempted murder after a stabbing in london's leicester square. scientists identify liquid water on mars, thanks to new data from a nasa probe. hello, i'm lucy hockings, welcome to bbc news now, three hours of fast—moving news, interviews and reaction. it was a conversation delayed by technical problems but the world's richest man eventually had a two—hour public chat with former us president donald trump. it was broadcast on mr musk�*s social media platform, x. the discussion, which was not on camera, touched on immigration, global politics and much more. mr trump also said his attempted assassination now made him more of a believer in god, and was sharply critical of his presidential rival, kamala harris. tell you is this, we

cannot have a democrat. we cannot have her. she's incompetent. she's as bad as biden in a different. yeah. she hasn't done an interview since this whole, uh, scam started. and say what you want. this was a coup. this was a coup of a president of the united states. he didn't want to leave. and they said, we can do it the nice way, or we can do it the hard way. what was happening sort of overnight is they're they're rewriting history and and making kamala sound like a moderate, when in fact she is far left, like far, far left. worse than bernie sanders. she is considered more liberal by far than bernie sanders. she's a radical left lunatic. i also heard people shout bullets, bullets and, you know, get down, get down. because i, you know, i moved down pretty nicely pretty quickly. and we had bullets flying right over my head after i went down. so i'm glad i went down. the the bigger miracle was that i was looking in the exact direction of the shooter, and so it hit...

it hit me at an angle that was, uh, far less destructive than any other angle. so that was the miracle. that was for those people that don't believe in god. i think we got to all start thinking about that. you have to, uh, you know, i'm i'm a believer now. i'm more of a believer, i think. and a lot of people have said that to me. a lot of great people have said that to me, actually. mr trump also discussed his relationships with controversial world leaders. he said he warned russia's vladimir putin not to invade ukraine. well, i know putin. i know president xi. i know kimjong un of north korea. i know every one of them. and let me tell you, people will say, oh, this is terrible. he said, i'm not saying anything good or bad, they're at the top of their game. they are tough, they're smart, they're vicious, and they're going to protect their country. whether they love their country, they probably do. it's just a different form of love, but they're going to protect their country. but these are tough people at the top of their game. i got along well with them.

i hope to get along well with them again. you know, getting along well with them is a good thing, not a bad thing. i got along well with kimjong un. i know putin very well. i got along with him very well. he respected me. and it's just one of those things. and he would we would talk a lot about ukraine. it was the apple of his eye. but i said, don't ever do it. don't ever do it. following the conversation, there was much discussion on social media about donald trump's voice. including from kamala harris's campaign, which made reference to apparent slurring, as he discussed climate change. when asked about it, trump campaign spokesperson steven cheung said: "must be your hearing." let's speak to vivian schiller, vice president and executive director of aspen digital at the aspen institute. she is a former twitter senior executive. she's in new york. before we get into the contents of before we get into the contents of the chat that the two men had, many people are not going to interview because there were softballs in the direction of donald trump from elon

musk, can i ask you your thoughts on the technical instructions and the fact that elon musk�*s team are saying it was a cyber attack. how potentially embarrassing is this for elon musk? it is extremely embarrassing. elon musk likes to present himself as a technical genius. certainly he deserves a lot of credit for what he has done with space x. he sort of waived this off as a denial of service attack, we don't really know, but we have seen them have theseissues know, but we have seen them have these issues before with the ronda santas campaign. i think isjust a platform not fit for prime time when it comes to a massive event. as everyone at the bbc knows, media is hard, and live media is even harder stop i think that is what elon musk is learning. a lot of people said when they tried to access the interview they just got music, background noise as well, and couldn't gain access to the interview. nonetheless, we are talking about it, it is making

headlines over the world. how influential do think this interview, and what was in the interview, how influential could that be? i think it is very influential to the people who are already in the champ — mask camp, and i would put them now squarely in the same camp. —— donald trump, elon musk camp. this is going to persuade anybody? that is undecided. i don't know. but, having listened to the interview, it isjust but, having listened to the interview, it is just the usual set of donald trump's grievances, ad hominem attacks, lies and weird tangents. it is not going to persuade the persuadable is, it seems unlikely. nonetheless, we can only assume that elon musk is going to contribute more to donald trump's campaign. he has already. he is going to give him all his real estate on his platform in the next few weeks and months could that in some way shape the

campaign and the influence that it has? ., , ., , , has? the money, absolutely. let me be perfectly — has? the money, absolutely. let me be perfectly clear. _ has? the money, absolutely. let me be perfectly clear. many _ has? the money, absolutely. let me be perfectly clear. many ships - be perfectly clear. many ships campaigns, it influences campaigns, it inferences outcomes. without a doubt. when it comes to the actual impact of x as a platform, i am not so sure. tramp, excuse me, elon musk, continues to use the phrases global town square, free speech. x is anywhere that a free—speech platform. we should be careful not to inherit the word they are using to inherit the word they are using to describe their platform, because it is not. it is now clearly a propaganda platform to support donald trump for president. elon musk is a private individual with a private platform, he can do whatever he wants with it, but let as not buy into that notion that this is a free speech. he blocks accounts. elon

musk attacks anyone that crosses him. he sets his acolytes after them to attack foakes. this is not, again, i do not believe this is going to influence the persuadable is, many of whom now seem to be finally looking for alternative platforms. finally looking for alternative platform-— finally looking for alternative latforms. , ., ., ., ~ ., platforms. great to talk to you. thank you _ platforms. great to talk to you. thank you for— platforms. great to talk to you. thank you forjoining _ platforms. great to talk to you. thank you forjoining us. - greece says a huge wildfire that's been threatening the capital athens has been reduced to scattered hotspots, a0 hours after it began. the authorities say there is no longer an active front and the climate crisis and civil protection minister praised the superhuman effort of hundreds of firefighters in "the most "challenging and dangerous scenario". two people died in the fires. very high winds, heat and prolonged drought are hampering firefighting efforts across the mediterranean. we can cross live now to athens and speak to achilles frangos, a resident of north athens. good to see you, and a relief to

know that they are managing to get this fire under control. can you still now smell the fire in the air? what is happening around you? as you can see behind me, this skies have cleared, but in fact we can't smell the smoke still. a lot of the ashes that came from the fire, and the debris, which is the fire, and the debris, which is the result of this devastating fire which has wrought havoc across the suburbs of athens. has it been a frightening couple of days? definitely. i would say i have been lucky insofar as i come at the fire was not in my neighbourhood, however, the fire has destroyed many of the houses of my friends and relatives. people had to flee. we are talking about the suburbs of athens. this is not a remote area. this is very central. within areas where people feel safe. where people

feel like they have a lot of security. in addition to that, there were a lot of power outages, and there were a lot of technical issues, which came along with it, which meant that people in the streets in central avenues ran the risk of getting into a traffic accident, being exposed to the pollution itself. so it has been quite a frightening experience. the effort to get this under control has been called superhuman. how concerned are people in athens about what is to come? that this is going to be something that becomes much more regular? unfortunately this is not the first time that something like this has happened. famously, the first major moment where we had this kind of fire, was back in 2018, where a

devastating fire to the west of athens basically killed over 100 people. but unfortunately this has been the case every year since. last year around 20 people died. this year, a single person has died, but we don't yet know the full figures. it seems as if this is the new reality for many of those who live in athens. thank you forjoining us with that update. let's turn to the growing tensions in the middle east now — and the uk prime minister, sir keir starmer, has urged iran to refrain from attacking israel. his comments — in a phone call with the new iranian president, masoud pezeshkian — and are part of a wider diplomatic push to prevent any escalation of the violence in the region. the white house has warned that iran could launch what it describes as a "significant attack" on israel as soon as this week. it's rushing an aircraft carrier strike group and a guided missile submarine to the region in a show of support for israel. iran and the group it backs in lebanon — hezbollah — have both vowed to avenge last month's killings of the hamas political leader, ismail haniyeh,

and a top hezbollah commander. as the military and diplomatic pressure increases, the top us diplomat antony blinken is scheduled to travel to the middle east on tuesday. and in the last half hour the palestinian health ministry says that at least 39,929 palestinians have been killed since october 7. let's cross live now to beirut and speak to our correspondent hugo bachega. how realistic that you might see some kind of deal this week? this is the main hope to de—escalate tensions across the region. ceasefire and hostage release deal in gaza. talks are expected to happen on thursday. this has been called by the us, also in qatar, country is acting as

mediators in these negotiations. that is very little hope that significant progress can happen in these talks. we see the tensions continue to rise, especially between israel and iran. continue to rise, especially between israeland iran. iran has continue to rise, especially between israel and iran. iran has promised to retaliate following the assassination in tehran two weeks ago of the political leader of hamas, ismail haniyeh, iran has blamed israel for this attack and said it was a violation of the country's sovereignty. there is also concern here in lebanon, concerns over what hezbollah, the heavily backed iranian—backed militia here in lebanon, what they are planning to do to retaliate for the assassination that happened two weeks ago here in beirut of a senior commander. we have seen these warnings from western leaders, and these huge diplomatic efforts,

especially from western countries, to try to de—escalate tensions, and try to contain these tensions between iran and israel. we saw yesterday that rare phone call between the british prime minister and the iranian president, the first phone call between the leaders of the two countries since 2021. it shows the seriousness of the situation. antony blinken returning to the region, and president biden�*s special envoy also coming to lebanon, again to try to talk to those people involved in this crisis, to try to de—escalate the situation here, amid concerns of a wider regional conflict. the us bringing an aircraft carrier strike group, submarines to the region also, how much do we know about how much military hardware is in the region at the moment? the us is beefing up its military presence here, and american officials have again repeated that

they will do everything to protect israel, to defend israel, from any kind of attack from iran. i think the expectation is that we are likely to see something similar to the coalition is was created by the americans back in april to defend israel from that massive drone and missile attack from iran. american officials believe that the plans be prepared by the radio authorities could involve an attack even larger than the one carried out in april. —— iranian authorities. the army and israel is on high alert. fears of an escalation of these hostilities between israel, iran, and also hezbollah in lebanon, with prime minister benjamin netanyahu wrote saying israel will respond to any act of aggression against the country stop since speaking, the

ceasefire proposal on biden is going to be the best hope of ending tensions, a news agency reporting that a permanent ceasefire could delay their retaliation against israel. still to come, indian doctors strike.

if here in the uk a 32—year—old man has appeared in court charged with attempted murder and possession of a knife, after an 11—year—old girl was stabbed in london's leicester square yesterday. we're joined now by our correspondent nickjohnson who joins us from outside the westminister�*s magistrate court. what has happened today?

london's leicester square, at the heart of the west end, usually the site of hollywood film premiers, but yesterday a crime scene. at around half past 11, police were called to reports of a stabbing in leicester square. prosecutors said in court this morning that they allege that a 32—year—old man, ioan pintaru, a romanian national, allegedly approached two people, two to toolis, an 11—year—old girl, and her mother, before placing that 11—year—old girl in a headlock and then stabbing her eight times. the court then heard that members of the public detained the suspect, thereby stopping him continuing his attack, before police arrived. the court then say that it was on the arrival of the police that they allegedly found this knife that loan pintaru has been allegedly carrying. that 11—year—old girl remains in

hospital. we understand that she sustained serious but nonlife threatening injuries. the court said it is very likely she is going to have to undergo plastic surgery as a result of those injuries. ioan pintaru appeared dressed in a grey tracksuit. he spoke through an interpreter, only to confirm his name, date of birth, and the fact that he is no fixed abode. he spent most of the hearing while those details were being read out looking away from the courtroom. he has been remanded in custody and is due to appear at the central criminal court, the old bailey, in central london, next month. doctors at government hospitals in several indian states have gone on an "indefinite" strike in protest at the sexual assault and murder of a trainee doctor on friday. the woman's body was found with multiple injuries in a state—run hospital in west bengal�*s kolkata, where she was a resident doctor. the demonstrations, demanding

justice and better workplace security, have now spread to other parts of the country. local media reports say a man, who worked at the hospital, has been arrested in connection with the case. archana schukla reports. demands of better security for health care workers at their workplace is at the core of the protests. the gruesome rape and killing of a junior doctor in a government hospital, doctors say has shaken their trust, that even hospitals are not a safe place. thousands are out on hospital premises staging protests, saying that if there is no safety, there will be no duty. the junior doctors association has demanded that the country's top crime agency investigate the killing, that there is speedy justice for the victim and that a central law to curb attacks and violence against doctors be enacted. junior doctors are the main workforce handling patient loads in india's overcrowded hospitals. and as they stopped work, hospitals in west bengal state have taken a hit, paralysing outpatient services, elective and non—emergency

services, as well. the protest has rippled nationwide now. more than 8,000 government doctors have stopped nonemergency work. even doctors in the capital new delhi sat in protest, and doctors in many other states have sat in protests. long queues are seen in hospitals around the country. senior doctors substituting their junior colleagues, handling the influx of patients for, especially, outpatient services. reports say the number of daily surgeries at india's top government hospital in new delhi, is down 80% and admissions down 35% since doctors started this indefinite strike. an incredibly detailed and well—preserved roman mosaic has been uncovered by archaeologists in shropshire.

it was found during a dig at the site of wroxeter roman city, which was once as large as pompeii. it shows dolphins and fish in a pattern of red, blue and yellow tiles — and archaeologists said the mosaic would have been commissioned by someone "wealthy and important". today, a number of ruined buildings are the only remains of the city above ground. it's been quite a discovery on mars, as scientists say they've identified liquid water on the planet, deep in its rocky outer crust. the findings come from a new analysis of data from a nasa probe, that touched down back in 2018. victoria gill has that story. 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, researchers had to listen for vibrations beneath the surface.

touchdown confirmed. cheering. and that was the aim back in 2018, 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 10km 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. south korea enjoyed a successful 0lympics — winning 32 medals — including 13 golds — in paris. but the authorities in seoul are going to great lengths to ensure the athletes don't bring back a certain unwanted souvenir from france. this is ceco — a beagle who can detect bed—bugs. the two—year—old dog can sniff out pheromones — a substance released by the insects. officials want to stop any of them entering the country following a bed—bug panic last year.

the berlin zoo has announced that one of its giant pandas is pregnant again, months after her previous cubs were sent to china. there were celebrations when meng meng gave birth to germany's first ever pandas in 2019. but the twins were taken away in december under an agreement with beijing. china loans the animals to other countries as part of a policy known as panda diplomacy. meng meng's new arrivals are expected at the end of this month. momentum on the ceasefire talks around gaza, uk foreign secretary david lammy has just spoken to the lebanese prime minister. top talking about de—escalating tensions in the region. the uk government saying it was very much focus on a diplomatic

solution based around the un security resolution 1701. and you will know from our conversation earlier in the programme, this follows in a circular star of�*s speaking to the president of iran on the phone as well. more of that coming up. stay with us on bbc news. hello again. yesterday was the warmest day of this year so far. the temperature reached 34.8 celsius in cambridge, but as we go through the rest of the week, it is going to turn that bit cooler. there will be rain at times. it will be unseasonably windy at times as well, but there will still be a fair bit of sunshine around. now today, we've got this weather front bringing in some rain, and if we follow where it wraps around across the northwest, here we'll see a return to sunshine and showers later, but unseasonably windy across the northwest with gales across the outer hebrides and the isle of skye today.

0ur weather front continuing to drift eastwards through the day. ahead of it across central and eastern parts of england, staying dry with some sunshine. and, in fact, temperatures in norfolk and suffolk could get up to 30 degrees. but fresher conditions in the north and the west. through this evening and overnight, our weather front continues to drift eastwards as a weakening feature. not getting into the far southeast, where it could well be preceded by some showers, but some clear skies and the winds easing. in sheltered parts of the northwest, temperatures could fall away to 5 or 6 degrees, but still quite warm in the south at 15 or 16. tomorrow, then, we start off with the cloud. some spots of rain initially, that will tend to fizzle, but as we move west through south west england, wales, the midlands, northern england, scotland and northern ireland, lots of dry weather, a fair bit of sunshine but the winds strengthening later on in the day out towards the west with more cloud building. temperatures, 15 to about 24. then as we move from wednesday into thursday, well, we've got this next clutch of fronts connected to this area of low pressure coming oui’ way. and if you look at the isobars, it is going to be quite unseasonably

windy across england and wales ahead of this weather front. so after a dry start, the cloud will build as the rain continues to push southwards across scotland and northern ireland into northern england and also wales. brighter skies follow on behind and temperatures 15 to about 26 degrees. then, as we head on into friday, we've got the remnants of that weather front to clear away from the southeast and the english channel, channel islands. what you'll find is behind it will become drier and brighter, but also some showers being driven in on a blustery wind across the north west. here we've got highs of 1a degrees, but in the southeast we're looking at about 24.

this is bbc news, the headlines. in a public conversation plagued by technical problems, donald trump and elon musk discuss everything from global warming to the assassination attempt. ukraine's military says its troops now control a thousand square kilometres of russian territory. a bbc investigation finds that a priest in blackburn who was assessed as a potential risk to children was given a six—figure pay—off by the church of england. banksy unveils his ninth animal artwork in as many days, this time at london zoo.

ukraine and russia have been attacking each other overnight, a week into ukrainian troops' incursion into the russian border region of kursk. the defence ministry in moscow says its air defence units destroyed twelve drones over kursk and one each over the belgorod and voronezh regions. ukraine's military says it shot down thirty russian drones and two missiles. russian war bloggers report continuing battles in kursk. they say kyiv�*s forces are trying to expand their control but are being met by reinforcements sent by the kremlin. thousands of people have been evacuated from russian towns and cities as the ukrainian troops advance. ukrainian troops, highlighted in yellow, are reportedly as deep as 32 kilometers inside russia. ukraine's plan seems to be to draw russian forces away from the frontline in ukraine, shown here in red, where moscow has been making slow but steady gains.