hello. ukraine says its troops have moved further into russian territory, despite denials from moscow. president zelensky says ukrainian troops have captured more than 100 russian soldiers in the area since the start of wednesday. (tx since the start of wednesday. this video from ukrainian tv shows troops pulling down the russian flag in sudzha and president zelensky says they have pushed one to two kilometres further into russia just since this morning. by contrast, russia said today that its forces had repelled attempts by ukrainian mobile units to push deeper into its territory. the governor of the russian border region of belgorod has declared a state of emergency, saying ukrainian shelling had made the situation there extremely difficult. this map shows just how rapid

the advance has been in the past seven days, with ukraine claiming to have taken more territory in a week than russia has all year. our correspondent will vernon reports. the russian military has been busy making slick videos, apparently showing it's striking back against ukrainian forces in kursk. russia's defence ministry claims the ukrainian advance has been stopped, but ukraine's president says his forces march on. translation: we're expanding our area of active operations _ in the kursk region. the commander—in—chief reported that our forces control 7a towns and villages. i thank every soldier and commander that has achieved this. in kursk, people queue for handouts of humanitarian aid.

over 100,000 residents are said to have been evacuated. it's a sobering picture of how ordinary russians are starting to feel the impact of this war. and in russia's neighbouring belgorod region, the governor said a state of emergency has been declared due to shelling. "the situation is very complicated," said vyacheslav gladkov, "though no signs yet of an incursion." the aims of ukraine's offensive aren't yet clear, but the lightning advance of kyiv�*s troops has shaken the kremlin and surprised the west. him it's creating a real dilemma for putin and we've been in direct contact, constant contact with the ukrainians. that's all i'm going to say about it while it's active. the ukrainian foreign ministry says kyiv isn't interested in seizing russian territory,

but russia is struggling to repel the incursion, now in its eighth day, and ukrainian forces show no sign of pulling back. will vernon, bbc news. and willjoins me now to discuss this further. there is a question, because this is not been a week since we have seen the incursion over russian territory, the russian army at much larger than ukraine, why haven't we not seen a push back yet? amazingly, there's been — not seen a push back yet? amazingly, there's been no _ not seen a push back yet? amazingly, there's been no pushback _ not seen a push back yet? amazingly, there's been no pushback but - not seen a push back yet? amazingly, there's been no pushback but russia | there's been no pushback but russia seems incapable of stopping the ukraine army in its tracks, some analysts seen because russia doesn't have the reserves. we save —— we hear from have the reserves. we save —— we hearfrom russianjournalist have the reserves. we save —— we hear from russian journalist that mothers of conscripts, they are sons are talked about being sent to the cursed region, young kids with no budget file experience, which does not suggest there is an elite russian force leading to be elite

unleashed against the ukrainians in the cursed region. also, russia lost —— launched its own offensive earlier this summer, waves and waves of troops against the ukrainian front lines, and the casualties we understand were enormous, the uk ministry of defence to the russians lost thousands of troops per day, so it is possible that russia has used up it is possible that russia has used up pallets of its reserves, does not have many men now tooth dispatched to the cursed region. ukraine also has better intelligence, better chain troops, higher morale, western satellite information and better technology, and they found it weak spotin technology, and they found it weak spot in the russian defences, exploited it, and these are the expert operations they exit out. highly agile, russia is good at sending men into battle, ukraine is

good at the swift and mobile and agile operations. i good at the swift and mobile and agile operations.— agile operations. i suppose the other question _ agile operations. i suppose the other question is _ agile operations. i suppose the other question is what - agile operations. i suppose the other question is what is - agile operations. i suppose the i other question is what is ukraine's ultimate aim here?— ultimate aim here? they have not said publicly _ ultimate aim here? they have not said publicly because _ ultimate aim here? they have not said publicly because you - ultimate aim here? they have not said publicly because you don't i said publicly because you don't usually tell broadcast of the world and your enemy exactly what you're trying to do. i mean, there is a range of opinions among analysts, it's possibly it's not a strategic move but a political one because if the ukrainians can show that russia is not as strong as everyone thinks, okayed they made small incremental gains, a few kilometres in that recent offensive as i said using the huge number of troops, but if ukraine can show that it can actually take a less of russian territory, sure the russians to be rather weak, then that is quite a good result in terms of boosting morale in ukraine, showing to

western partners that ukraine is still capable of successes and launching of offensives. imilli launching of offensives. will vernon, thank _ launching of offensives. will vernon, thank you. - gaza ceasefire negotiations are set to take place in qatar on thursday involving officials from israel, the us and egypt. hamas says it will not take part but official briefed on the talks but officials briefed on the talks said mediators expected to consult with the palestinian group afterwards. israel says it will send a delegation. several of president biden�*s key advisers are in the middle east, as the us steps up pressure on israel and hamas to reach a ceasefire president biden says a ceasefire deal could deter iran from launching attacks on israel after the assassination of hamas leader ismail haniyeh in tehran. 0ur correspondent, hugo bachega reports from beirut in neighbouring lebanon. those diplomatic efforts continue, so today here in beirut, president biden�*s special envoy amos hochstein is having

conversations in beirut with the country's top officials. he had a meeting with the parliament speaker who is a strong hezbollah ally and he said he didn't believe a wider conflict between israel and hezbollah is inevitable but he said there was no time to waste, so obviously this country is waiting for the response from hezbollah following the assassination by israel of a senior hezbollah commander here in beirut. this visit happens on the eve of the talks that have been organised by international mediators, including the us, for a ceasefire deal in gaza, but i think there is very little expectation that any significant progress can be made. huge differences remain between israel and hamas, there are questions about how or even if hamas will be represented in those talks and there are many questions about the intentions of the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, many believe he is not interested in a deal, that he wants to prolong the war

to guarantee his political survival. so diplomatic efforts continue, but the us secretary of state antony blinken who was expected to come to the region has delayed his visit which i think is another sign of how difficult the situation is. gaza's hamas run health ministry says at least 39,965 people have been killed and more than 92, 294 injured in the conflict. the health system is under extreme strain — with only 16 of the 36 hospitals partially operational according to the un office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs. earlier, i spoke with two surgeons who are currently working in the nasser hospital in gaza — victoria rose and graeme groom. here's graeme describing the kinds of heartbreaking medical emergencies — he sees daily there are huge numbers of people in need of what we call autoplastic treatment. they have horrible wounds

from bombs and fragment, injuries, from blast and from burns, and they need treatment by plastic and orthopaedic surgeons working together. there are huge numbers. i think the figures you stated are probably accurate. whenever we've tried to verify ministry of health figures, we found them more or less to be correct. um, if i could give you an example, the first person on my list this morning was a 19—year—old girl who was 32 weeks pregnant, who had such a severe injury to her leg that she really needs an amputation. the problem is that an amputation will only be effective if the prosthetics are good. if the artificial limbs work, and the rehabilitation hospital, which provides the, uh, prosthetic limbs, has been bombed and is out of action.

she needs that operation. it's not culturally acceptable. and, um, we're stuck with one poor, young, frightened, heavily pregnant woman. and i think she exemplifies what i've been doing today. two doctors there who were working in gotchas and nasser hospital at the moment. inflation has fallen to its lowest level in the united states for more than three years. the consumer prices index dropped slightly to two—point—nine percent injuly compared with a year earlier. meanwhile, here in the uk, inflation has risen slightly for the first time since december. prices rose by 2.2 % — which is slightly less than expected — and mainly driven by the cost of gas and electricity. our business correspondent marc ashdown reports. the pace of price rises has cooled off over the past couple of years, which is good news for this family—run restaurant in hove on the south coast. since it opened back in 1969, marrocco's has weathered many an economic storm,

but recent years have been a struggle. it has been tricky, especially since brexit and the cost of living, the price of products have gone up quite considerably. i mean, for the ice cream, we reckon about 30% they've gone up in the past three years. we've tried to keep our prices so that it's still obtainable to a lot of people, so we've put our prices up about 15%. so we've had to absorb some of the cost. the prices of gas and electricity are largely behind this uptick in inflation, but it was widely forecast and remains close to the bank of england's long—term target of 2%. so inflation has come down a long way since that huge spike we saw at the end of 2022. injuly, prices rose at 2.2% and the bank of england expects them to stay around this rate until the end of the year. but, of course, inflation is made up of more than just that one headline figure. let's look at the services sector. things like hotel prices,

restaurant prices — that's been falling steadily but remains at 5.2%. too hot for the bank's liking. that's come down more than people expected today, but it's still a lot higher than the rest of the inflation basket. this is what the bank of england is really focused on at the moment, and i think that means they're going to take interest rate cuts quite gradually. it means they probably won't cut rates again in september. hopefully, though, later in the year. consumer confidence is another factor. the prices of most goods and food have come down from their peaks, but the cost of living can still feel expensive. my outgoings are quite a lot each month out of what i have incoming, so, you know, it's difficult, but i am aware of it and i'm on top of it. even things with, like, budget ranges in supermarkets, like, you might walk in one day and it's gone up fairly significantly. there's been a lot less— of the things that we would normally be doing that we've been able to do. so things like i used - to have some nice beers delivered and things i like that, that's gone.

one of the blue cones. the bank's interest—rate setters will be hoping they aren't served up any surprises as they digest all the economic data and plot their next move. marc ashdown, bbc news. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

to us politics now, and republican candidate and former us president — donald trump will be taking his campaign to the crucial battle ground state of north carolina today where he will hold a rally in the city of asheville. mr trump is expected to deliver a speech at the event which his campaign have called a "significant" ecomoic address a "significant" econooic address the bbc�*s catriona perry is in asheville for us. tell us what you are picking up from

the crowd and the mood there, because there is a sense of kamala harris have been list of momentum in recent days. harris have been list of momentum in recent deve— recent days. yes, welcome here to ve hot recent days. yes, welcome here to very hot and _ recent days. yes, welcome here to very hot and sunny _ recent days. yes, welcome here to very hot and sunny asheville - recent days. yes, welcome here to very hot and sunny asheville in - very hot and sunny asheville in north carolina, where about 2000 people or so have been queuing in the hot sun all morning for their chance to see donald trump at this rally. there is a high energy as you can imagine amongst the people gathered here, travelling from right across the state with their chance to see the person that they have all told me they intend to vote for, and what is interesting is the choice of location here in asheville. it is a very densely democratic area, a blue stronghold if you like, within us date that has large portions of republican support. north carolina one of the battleground states but donald trump one here at the past two cycles by a burial —— very narrow margin, this .1.3% in 2020, and is less in 2016, and he is

pulling around that at the moment as well, looking to have a 2% lead over kamala harris in the most recent post. it is interesting that that has slipped like so many of the polling in battleground states since there was that switch out at the top of the ticket, he had a 6% lead over joe biden, so despite the heat, if you more hours before donald trump takes it a stage in the venue behind me here. �* ., ., takes it a stage in the venue behind me here. ~ . ., , . me here. and what are we expecting him to focus — me here. and what are we expecting him to focus on _ me here. and what are we expecting him to focus on their _ me here. and what are we expecting him to focus on their today, - him to focus on their today, katrina? , , , , . , katrina? he built this speech is focusin: katrina? he built this speech is focusing on _ katrina? he built this speech is focusing on the _ katrina? he built this speech is focusing on the economy, - katrina? he built this speech is focusing on the economy, and l focusing on the economy, and speaking to those waiting to hear from him, that is the issue number one on their minds, people mention the cost of housing and groceries, lots of young people in the crowd here say that donald trump is offering them hope for their future and they think they will be able to buy a house and raise children if he is voted in a month they don't think that if the democrats our president

again, but donald trump has been criticised in the last few weeks by not speaking to policies but more speaking to the old style trump, launching personal attacks on kamala harris, and she has also been criticised for being thin on policies as well. of course, those inflation figures out which show in rates of depression has dipped to under 3% for the first time since 2020, so we expect donald trump to rector that news today. find 2020, so we expect donald trump to rector that news today.— rector that news today. and have we heard from the _ rector that news today. and have we heard from the harris _ rector that news today. and have we heard from the harris campaign - rector that news today. and have we | heard from the harris campaign team at had of this trump event? i don't know whether they have preempted today. know whether they have preempted toda . , , ., ., , today. they put out a lengthy statement — today. they put out a lengthy statement this _ today. they put out a lengthy statement this morning, - today. they put out a lengthy - statement this morning, preemptively attacking what they expect donald trump might say here, and they have outlined are the policies that they have put in place and the good economic indicators that they see as being there under the term of

president trump, and many indicators on there, underemployment is known and president biden does not get the credit for that and that is what team harris are trying to highlight in the statement they have put out, so we will wait to see just what donald trump says later today. find donald trump says later today. and 'ust donald trump says later today. and just briefly. — donald trump says later today. and just briefly, do we know exactly who are the very key swing voters now for everyone —— that everyone is fighting for? for everyone -- that everyone is fighting for?— fighting for? the battle in these battleground — fighting for? the battle in these battleground states _ fighting for? the battle in these battleground states like - fighting for? the battle in these battleground states like north l battleground states like north carolina and others is down to the margins, you talking about undecided —— undecided voters, and if i talk back to 2020, just a few thousand voters... this young people in the crowd here today, middle of the road voters who decide on economic issues as their motivating factor, those who are undecided, and that is a

group that both donald trump and kamala harris will be going after in this election. kamala harris will be going after in this election-— this election. thank you, will back with ou this election. thank you, will back with you in _ this election. thank you, will back with you in the — this election. thank you, will back with you in the following - this election. thank you, will back with you in the following hours to | with you in the following hours to follow that big donald trump event. thailand has been plunged into deeper political and economic uncertainty, with the country's constitutional court dismissing the prime minister, srettha thavisin. the court in bangkok ruled that he'd violated the constitution by appointing a minister who'd served time injail for contempt of court. he's been in office less than a year. the ruling threatens to destablise thailand's governing coalition. the country has faced decades of political uncertainty and governments toppled by the courts. mr srettha is the fourth thai premier in the past 16 years to be removed by the court. and just last week, the court dissolved the main opposition and banned its former leader from politics for ten years. the move could also have major implications for south east asia's second—largest economy and impact investor confidence. 0ur south east asia correspondent jonathan head gave us this update on the court's decision

this is a court that many people argue is more powerful than any elected government in the country. for all that, the whole business about this petition against mr srettha was not taken that seriously. i mean, thailand's politics are not famous for their ethics, all sorts of colourful and pretty disreputable people have served in government and in parliament in the past. and this was essentially a political decision and nobody thought that there would be real pressure to get rid of a prime minister who is still struggling to get the economy going and as you say, has only been in office forjust under a year. we still don't know exactly what lies behind this verdict, apart from reminding us aboutjust how powerful interventions of thailand's court are. it really does throw the country into some disarray. there is a process for choosing a new prime minister and a new cabinet. that will probably happen pretty quickly, we will expect a meeting in parliament on friday where the current coalition of 11 parties can discuss. it has to be somebody who is already

registered as a prime ministerial candidate in the last election, which of them will become prime minister. but it is clear, it seems the dominant pheu thai party in the coalition did not expect this verdict and that there is some confusion about just exactly what kind of government is going to emerge. a new analysis shows that the six—tonne iconic altar stone at the heart of stonehenge originated from north—eastern scotland rather than south—west wales. the discovery shows that its construction was a far greater collaborative effort than scientists believed. here's our science correspondent, pallab ghosh. it's one of the most famous monuments in the world, and also one of the most mysterious. why was stonehenge built in southwest england 5,000 years ago, and what was it used for? what we do know is that the giant outer stones are probably sourced locally from england. the inner blue stones are from wales, and we now know that the central altar stone is from north—eastern scotland and not from wales, as once thought.

the irony is that the discovery was made by a young welshman. he still remembers being brought to the site as a one—year—old in 1992. i remember coming with my dad and being on his shoulders and looking over at the stones, so it's nice to come full circle and make this discovery at somewhere so special to me. you're a proud welshman, and you've taken the welsh status away from the stone, so how do you think it will go down in wales? i'm not sure they'll ever talk to me again! it's a loss for wales, no doubt, but wales has contributed so many rocks to this monument, i'm sure scotland can have one. anthony analysed the rock and discovered it had a unique date and composition. in the journal nature, he says it could only have come from the far north of scotland, here in the 0rcadian basin, which includes caithness, 0rkney and moray firth. so this is the altar stone, the heart of stonehenge, now partially buried.

it's one of the largest stones here at around six tonnes. the big question is how on earth it was transported from north—east scotland, and why the people back then thought it was so important to bring it all this way. they must have been very technically advanced to be able to do that, to bring it down by boat and bring it dpwm on sledges or whatever. it dowm on sledges or whatever. to bring it down by boat and bring it down on sledges or whatever. and presumably, it wasn'tjust a matter of engineering, there must have been some sort of social cohesion for the scots and the welsh and english all to work together? absolutely, to bring this to here, a sort of focus in a way at that time, there must have been linking between all of these areas. so what does this say about neolithic society in britain? well, it certainly implies great social connections and sophistication. i think we've got to remember that these people were just like us, in a way. they were just as clever, but they had different technologies. but to bring a stone of this size all the distance from what we now call scotland

is really quite something. the new discovery has changed the story of stonehenge and those that built it. the tale is now of a people across great britain who were more interconnected and advanced than previously thought, who came together to build this incredible monument. palla b pallab ghosh, bbc news, stonehenge. three people have been taken to hospital after a food bank in new zealand unintentionally distributed sweets laced with a potentially lethal amount of methamphetamine. police are trying to trace the sweets — which as many as 400 people may have received as part of food parcels. it's believed criminals may have packaged the drugs as sweets to avoid detection. more coming up on bbc news, more on all of our websites, or on the apple

of course, thank you for being with us, we are back soon. hello there. temperatures have come down somewhat, particularly across the south, to what we had at the start of the week. but it's by no means going to be cold for the next few days, but it will be a bit more unsettled as this area of low pressure starts to work its way in as we head through tonight across scotland, northern ireland and then eventually the clouds thicken for northern and western england and also wales, with an increasing breeze. further south, it will be mostly dry with clear skies, variable cloud, and where we have any cloud cover then around 15 degrees the overnight low, but it will be milder further north than what we had the previous night, so a mild night across the board. thursday, then, we have this weather front crossing the country very slowly. some of the rain will be quite heavy

to start thursday across scotland, northern ireland into northwest england, north west wales. very slowly, it will work its way southwards and eastwards. behind it brightens up with blustery showers and some sunshine. ahead of it, it will be rather breezy, fairly cloudy, a little bit of brightness and still quite warm and muggy, 24—26 degrees here, but fresher the further north and west that you are. as we head through thursday night, that weather front does weaken, but it will slip its way southwards and eastwards. the odd heavier burst on it as it pushes off into the near continent. still a hang back of some warm and muggy air for the south east to start friday. 0therwise, further north it is much cooler and fresher. friday, then, doesn't look too bad. a lot of sunshine around. fresher air will have arrived across the southeast, too. will stay quite blustery across scotland, northern ireland — variable cloud, one or two showers, but some sunny spells as well. high teens in the north, 211—25 degrees across the southeast. so not a bad day on friday, and indeed the weekend is looking pretty good as well. we're in between weather systems, so a lot of dry and sunny weather

thanks to a ridge of high pressure which will push in from the southwest. so light winds for many, just the chance of stronger breeze and the odd shower across the north and west of scotland. that's both on saturday and sunday, but a decent day on saturday. more sunshine the further south that you are, with lighter winds, bit of cloud in the northwest, the odd shower, more of a breeze. top temperatures 20—25 celsius, so pretty much where we should be for the time of year. we do it all again on sunday. another fine looking day to come with more sunshine further south with lighter winds. chance of a few more showers for the north and west of scotland, but most places even the north, will stay dry. those temperatures again, 20—21 in the north to 211—25 degrees in the south.

this is bbc news, the headlines. ukraine says 100 russian prisoners of war have been captured in kursk, as its offensive in the region enters its second week. a woman from cheshire who said on facebook that a mosque "should be blown up with the adults inside" has been jailed for 15 months. inflation in the us drops to its lowest level for more than three years — as the uk sees its first rise in 202a. a major incident has been declared after a toxic chemical spill in a canal in walsall, near birmingham. hello, i'm geeta guru—murthy.

now, with all the latest sport, here's 0lly foster. hello from the bbc sport centre. the football supporters association has challenged the premier league's claim that 4 out of 5 fans want to keep var. the league says the figure comes from an independent survey, but the fsa say they �*appear to be in denial�* with their own finding's showing the majority of fans are against var. steps are being taken to try and improve video assistant refereeing with a new system powered by artificial intelligence set to be introduced later this, as will semi—automated off—side technolofy. introduced later this season, as will semi—automated off—side technology. the head of referees say they are looking to make the matchday experience better. the in—stadium audience are the ones that are the most important. we are looking at ways to do that, using the video boards where they exist, enhancing messages,

ensuring replays of video,