live from london, this is bbc news: german police say they're still searching for the suspect in a stabbing attack which killed three people. they arrested a 15—year—old, but say he's not the main suspect. nasa says two astronauts stranded on the international space station will not return to earth until february — eight months later than initially planned. the decision to keep butch and suni aboard the international space station, and bring the boeing starliner home un—crewed is the result of a commitment to safety. prosecutors in italy open

a manslaughter investigation have been in contact with the perpetrator the police have arrested a 15—year—old who they believe may before the attack. from solingen, jessica parker reports. a huge party in the heart of this west german town that soon turned to horror. crowds were told not to panic, but there had been a knife attack,

and they must go home. but police have not been able to find a suspect, last night or today. or work out exactly why this happened. translation: so far we have not been able to establish a motive, _ but looking at the entirety of circumstances we cannot exclude the possibility of a terrorist motivation. but this morning a 15—year—old boy was arrested. police don't think he is the knifeman but he is suspected of knowing about the attack in advance, in which three people died and eight were injured. this is where last night's terrifying attack happened. and while things today here in the centre of solingen feel fairly calm, there is also a sense of unease in the wider community as the manhunt continues. timo was at the event last night. he says people in the town are in shock. it's absolutely terrible.

i have no words for it because normally you hear that from paris, berlin, cologne, but not here in solingen. authorities say it appears that the attacker was unknown to his victims. while on germany's streets, there is growing concern and grief about knife crime. translation: last night our hearts were torn apart. - we in solingen are horrified and full of sadness. as tributes continue to be left at the scene, this man writes, "together we are strong". despite fear and uncertainty, it is a community trying to hold together. jessica parker, bbc news, in solingen. germany's interior minister addressed the press earlier today and called for unity. translation: we as the national government are doing _ everything possible to support the local efforts.

as the minister has said, we won't be divided in times like this, but we stand together. and we will not allow such a tragic attack to divide our society. so i urgently appeal to all those who can only see hate now — don't be swayed by those sentiments. this society needs to stand together, especially in these critical hours. the us space agency nasa says two astronauts stranded on the international space station will not return to earth until february 2025 and will be brought back not by boeing but by spacex. the boeing starliner craft will be brought back earlier without the crew. sunita williams and butch wilmor travelled to the international space station in earlyjune for a scheduled eight—day trip, but the starliner craft suffered technical difficulties meaning they couldn't return as planned.

nasa administrator bill nelson stressed that the decision has been made in the interest of safety. nasa has decided that butch and suni will return with crew nine next february, and that starliner will return uncrewed. space flight is risky, even at its safest and even at its most routine, and a test flight by nature is neither and suni aboard the international space station and bring the boeing home uncrewed is the result of a commitment to safety. our core value is safety,

and it is our north star. nasa administrator bill nelson. our science editor rebecca morelle told me more about how nasa reached this decision. it has been a really difficult decision for nasser to come to. they have spent months mulling this over. —— nasa to come to. i mean, the issues, really the problems with the boeing starliner system sort of started almost as soon as it lifted off. there were problems with its thrusters, there were helium leaks. and for the last few months, nasa and boeing engineers have been trying to understand exactly what was at the root of these problems. but they have decided today, they've announced their decision that they don't think it's safe enough for their astronauts to fly home on boeing's starliner system, so instead, they're going to be coming back on a spacex spacecraft instead, which has been, you know, shuttling astronauts to and from the the international space station since 2020. so they're going to come home next year, after a while.

right, so there's a delay to that. that can'tjust happen overnight. no, i mean it's really complicated scheduling on the international space station. so the spacex rocket has to blast off to carry the capsule up there. that's going to happen in september. they're going to have two astronauts on board that instead of the usual four. that means there's then space for butch and suni, the two stranded astronauts, to come home on the spacex spacecraft when that's scheduled to come back in february next year, which is why there's such a long wait. i mean, it does... you know, an eight—day mission being extended to an eight—month mission... that's incredible. yeah, it's lengthy. so psychologically, for the two astronauts, that is a huge adjustment and one that all the experts think that they will make very well because they are such professionals and they have a vast amount of experience in space already. there are other astronauts up there with them. they're not alone. oh, yeah. no, i mean, they are veteran astronauts. i mean, for me, an eight—dayjourney extended to eight months,

i wouldn't be too happy about it. but, you know, these people love the international space station. they always knew this was a test flight, and they knew that they could be up there for longer. they might not be coming back on the starliner system. so there are always sort of you've got to be adaptable if you're if you're on a test flight. and that's exactly what they're having, having to be i mean, they look pretty happy up there from the images you see. just as well! yeah. the challenge also is for boeing because this has been really, really a brutal blow for them. they have worked so hard on this starliner project and it has been beset by so many delays, as you said. yeah, that's right. i mean, they had issues with the first two test flights, which didn't have anyone on board the capsule. now they've had issues with this one too so, i mean, it's not great news for the company. what's been interesting during the press conference, though, is bill nelson, the nasa administrator, and the other people on the panel have emphasised again and again that it's not the end for their work with boeing, because basically, nasa needs two commercial space flight systems to get their astronauts there and back. they want spacex, but they want boeing too. they've invested a lot of money into this and they want it to work.

so i think this plan of bringing boeing starliner back home without anyone on board — they'll test it, they'll assess it. maybe there'll be another test flight with no one on board going back up and down. going back up and down, astronauts are likely to fly again. but, you know, i'd say the programme is not over, but its future is looking a bit sort of shakier than it was, you know, a few months ago when it set out. you mentioned that nasa is now using these private companies to do its work. why is that so important now in the nasa of the future? well, it's very interesting because, you know, they used to have their space shuttles, which of course suffered major failures, which is why the fleet was retired. so for almost ten years between 2011 and 2020, they had no means of getting their astronauts to and from the space station, so they were using russia's soyuz rockets and capsules instead to ferry their astronauts. so they made a commitment to say, "we want an american way of getting to and from the space station". and they decided to go pay for sort of a commercial taxi service instead. it's a change in business model for them. so, you know, the companies do it, they pay for their

seats and that works. but they want two companies to do this, notjust one. so there's some redundancy. and there was no question of them going back to soyuz and saying, "look, hang on, can you do us a favour for this one?" absolutely no way, not at the moment. i mean, space is the one bit where sort of russia and the us are still collaborating. but i think, you know, i think it's really important for nasa to have their own means of getting their astronauts to and from. so i mean, it does look like boeing will still be part of that. but, you know, there's a bit of a delay to that happening. the french president, emmanuel macron, has described an explosion outside a synagogue near montpellier as an act of terror. the blast in la grande motte injured a police officer. the authorities said it was caused by two cars being set alight, one of which had a gas cannister inside. police are hunting for a suspect, and security outsidejewish schools and places of worship has been stepped up. the incident happened during shabbat, thejewish day of rest, when religious services are held. the french prime minister

gabriel attal has been to visit the synagogue this afternoon and condemned the attack. translation: we have - escaped an absolute tragedy because, as the commander of the gendarmerie told us, the first information, in particular from video surveillance, was that the assailant was extremely determined. and if the synagogue had been full of worshippers at that time, if people had come down from the building in the first minutes, they would probably have been victims. what happened here shocks and scandalises all republicans in our country. i know that because the reality is that once again, frenchjews have been targeted, attacked because of their beliefs. a woman who lives near the site of the attack described her experience. translation: i was very shocked. the noise i heard was louder than anything i've ever heard in my life.

since i've been in la grande motte, it's been over 25 years, so it was a big shock. to the middle east, where fires are still burning on a greek—flagged oil tanker attacked by houthis earlier this week, leaving the ship adrift in the red sea with 150,000 tonnes of crude oil on board. crew members were rescued on thursday. the iranian—backed houthis in yemen have been attacking shipping in the red sea for several months, in protest against the war in gaza. the houthis have targeted more than 80 ships since october, disrupting a vital trade route that would usually see around a trillion dollars�* worth of goods pass through every year. thousands of people have gathered in tel aviv to take part in anti—government protests. the protestors have been demanding a ceasefire from the war in gaza and the return of hostages held by hamas. israel's government estimates there are more than 100 hostages remaining in gaza. these rallies have become almost weekly events. protesters have also been been

calling for new elections. meanwhile, intense fighting has continued in gaza, clouds of smoke could be seen rising over the central city of dier al—balah, after an israeli air strike in the area. it's unclear if there were any casualties. more than 40,000 palestinians have been killed so far, according to gaza's health ministry since israel launched a military campaign in response to an attack by hamas gunmen on october 7th. it comes as talks have continued in cairo, with hamas sending a delegation to observe but not participate in the discussions. hamas official say there was no change in hamas's position. it wants a complete israeli troop withdrawal from two key areas in gaza. on friday, president biden spoke with his egyptian counterpart, abdel fattah el—sisi as both countries, along with qatar push israel and hamas to accept the terms of a deal—brokered last month. america's top diplomat secretary of state, antony blinken, met with regional leaders this week on his ninth trip to

the middle east since the conflict began over ten months ago. let's get some of the day's other news now. ukraine's president zelensky has used a speech on the country's independence day to say russia's invasion has failed. he said moscow had tried to destroy his country, but instead war had returned to the russian soil. it's also been announced that the two sides have each exchanged 115 prisoners of war, after the united arab emirates acted as an intermediary. the russian personnel were captured during the offensive in kursk. robert f kenneder has appeared on stage alongside donald trump, just hours after suspending his independent campaign for white house to back the republican candidate. after introducing him at a rally in arizona, mr trump promised to open an office to investigate the assassination of his uncle, the democrat presidentjohn f kennedy. a bold conservation effort has been announced to protect seabirds on a remote island off the coast

of south africa. helicopters are to be used to bomb marion island with pesticide—laced pellets to kill mice that have been preying on seabirds and their eggs. the island is home to a quarter of the world's wandering albatrosses and 27 other seabird species. an alleged burglar in rome was caught after stopping to read a book on greek mythology. italian police say the intruder gained access to a flat via its balcony. the homeowner is said to have woken up and confronted the man who was engrossed in the gods at six o'clock. the man then fled and was arrested shortly afterwards. now it's time for a look at today's sport with olly foster. thank you. england's cricketers have won the first test against sri lanka by five wickets. the tourists dug in on day four with a century from kamindu mendis and 79 from dinesh chandimal before they were bowled out for 326.

that left england needing 205 for victory. they lost five wickets, butjoe root saw them home with an unbeaten 62 including the winning boundary. they now have an extra day off before the second test starts at lords on thursday. in the last of the premier league fixtures on saturday, arsenal won 2—0 at aston villa. leandro trossard and thomas partey scored their goals in the second half at villa park. they were second best for much of the match. villa striker ollie watkins squandered a number of easy chances, gunners keeper david raya pulling off an amazing stop from his point blank header. the champions manchester city have also made it two wins out of two. an erling haaland hattrick saw them come rom behind to beat ipswich 4—1 in theirfirst home game of the season. the norwegian striker scored his third late on at the etihad, but it was a crazy start to the game.

with four goals in the opening 16 minutes. sammi szmodics had given ipswich a surprise lead but city responded with three goals in the space of four minutes — two from haaland either side of a kevin de bruyne strike. yeah, the numbers are ridiculous. ridiculous. we can compete in terms of goals with cristiano and messi. the numbers are incredible at his age and it is incredible for us and we are really, really happy to have him and hopefully he can be here for many, many years. so it will be good for us. brighton have also maintained their perfect start to the season, beating manchester united 2—1. joao pedro scored the winner in the fifth minute of injury time. the seagulls took the lead through danny welbeck�*s 100th premier league goal. amad diallo's second—half equaliser got united back into it, before pedro's late heroics on the south coast. i have seen some good spells. we

took control of the game, created also good chances and, yeah, it's a pity. that we are without any points, but that is a top football, you have to take it and know we have to show resilience, get up and go for the next big game that is coming up. west ham won 2—0 at crystal palace, soucek and bowen with the goals. fulham beat leicester 2—1. alex iwobi with their winner. morgan gibbs white scored the only goal as nottingham forest won at southampton. and tottenham thrashed everton 4—0. heung—min son scored twice. korea's shinji—yai leads the women's british open heading into the final round at st andrew's. the two—time winner went round in five under for the day, and leads by one stroke on seven underthe defending champion ——and leads by one stroke on seven under. the defending champion lilia vu is second and the world number one nelly korda who had held the halfway lead

had a really bad day, dropping three strokes to sit on five under. mclaren�*s lando norris has spoiled the party at zandvoort, taking pole for sunday's dutch grand prix ahead of home favourite and championship leader max verstappen. norris is the first driver other than verstappen to take pole since the race returned to the calendar in 2021 after a 36—year break. norris was a third of a second quicker than the red bull, and his team—mate oscar piastri will start third on the grid. an amazing day. nice to be back, and start with a pole. it was a nice lap, the qualifying was always pretty smooth and putting some good laps, especially the one at the end which is always the most important so, greatjob by the team and i am happy with today. and that's all the sport for now. thank you. the italian authorities have opened a manslaughter investigation, into the deaths of seven people on board the luxury yacht, which sank off the coast

of sicily on monday. the british tech entrepreneur mike lynch, his 18—year—old daughter, hannah, four of his friends and the yacht�*s cook all died, when the boat went down in a storm. bethany bell reports from sicily. for the first time, the grim details of the difficult and dangerous undersea recovery operation. rescuers limited to just 12 minutes per dive in the deep waters where the stricken yacht lay. one of the divers told me about the risks involved. translation: personally _ there are many dangers because any type of accident exposes us to unforeseen issues with equipment or physical conditions. the main problem when we are at sea is if we cannot resurface. so any problem that arises requires a safe system to get us out. the yacht went down just over there, outside the harbour. at first people thought it sank

because of a waterspout which is a kind of mini tornado. but now officials think it may have been hit by a localised powerful storm known as a downburst which descends from a thunderstorm and spreads out unpredictably. the authorities say the back of the boat sank first, then rolled onto its right side. six bodies were found in the cabins. including mike lynch and his 18—year—old daughter hannah. hannah was in a cabin by herself. translation: the boat sank on the stern side, l and then it turned on its right side down in the sea, and that is why those on board sought refuge in the cabins on the left side because that is where the air bubbles formed. they found the first five bodies in the first cabin on the left side and the other body in the third

cabin on the left. we found all of them in the high part of the boat. the investigation is at a very early stage. the prosecutors office is looking into potential crimes of negligent shipwreck and manslaughter. they stress they are not investigating anyone specific at the moment. we were told there are plans to recover the yacht from the sea bed but the operation is likely to be complex and costly and the owner is expected to pay. it could take months before there are clear answers. bethany bell, bbc news, porticello. as we've been reporting the prosecutor in the case said the yacht had been hit by a localised, powerful wind known as a downburst, rather than a water spout. our weather presenter ben rich explains. well, downbursts and waterspouts both form in association with thunderstorms, and they can cause quite similar sorts of damage, even on land we get reports

sometimes of tornadoes that actually turn out to be not tornadoes but other features of thunderstorms, including downbursts. now, what is a downburst? well, inside a thundercloud, we have very turbulent motion, we have winds racing upwards and downwards very, very rapidly. there is a lot going on inside those storms and sometimes winds will rush out of the bottom of a storm cloud, so you get essentially a gust of wind that is blowing downwards towards the ground. that then hits the ground and spread out in all different directions. it is like just if i, you know, put air down on this table, it would reach the table and then it would spread out. so it is exactly like that. they are small, localised powerful features that can cause huge amounts of damage. waterspouts and indeed these downdraughts are not that uncommon. now, in this case, we had low pressure in the mediterranean around that time so that gives the unstable atmosphere allowing these big stormclouds to go up.

the other thing we had was very high sea surface temperatures, so record sea surface temperatures in the mediterranean. all of thatjust gives more energy into the atmosphere to provide these powerful storms. the paralympic flame has been lit at the hospital in stoke mandeville in buckinghamshire here in the uk where the idea for the games was born. the torch will then begin itsjourney to paris — ahead of the opening ceremony on wednesday. more than 4,000 athletes will take part in the games. the stoke mandeville games were first held in 19118 for a small group of wheelchair athletes who had sustained spinal injuries during world war ii. those later grew into the first paralympic games, which took place in rome in 1960. it was then in 2012 ahead of the london paralympics where the heritage flame ceremony took place for the first time in stoke mandeville and now this year is the second such ceremony. millions of shi'ite muslims

are gathering in iraq's karbala grandson hussein, killed in the battle of karbala in 680. during the holy shi'ite ritual, which will peak on august 25th, pilgrims chant and beat their chests outside the al—abbas holy shrine, before embarking on a procession decorated with religious banners and posters. it's believed more than two million iranian pilgrims have visited iraq since august 6th. banners featuring the photo of iranian supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei could also be seen during the arbaeen festivities in karbala. and finally, vilnius has hosted the annual corgi race on saturday. the short—legged dogs favoured by the late queen

gathered from across europe to showcass their skills. some took it more seriously than others. the event first began in 2020 when two corgi owners wanted to see which of their corgis was faster. look at those little legs go! you're watching bbc news, will be back with you shortly. hello. saturday turned into a decidedly soggy affair for some of us at least. this was the scene during saturday morning on the seafront in hove with cloud, with a lot of rain. but that wasn't the whole story. brighter conditions further north and west. that was how it looked in powys, and we did see sunny skies feeding in behind this rain band, albeit with a scattering of hefty showers. now, most of those showers will continue to fade through the evening, although some will continue up towards the north up towards the north and the west of the uk. and the west of the uk. and then by the end of the night, and then by the end of the night, we will see cloud and some patchy we will see cloud and some patchy rain getting back into northern rain getting back into northern

ireland. but where the skies remain clear, ireland. but where the skies remain clear, it is going to be a rather cool it is going to be a rather cool night, dare i say a fairly chilly night, dare i say a fairly chilly night in some places? night in some places? temperatures down to temperatures down to around 8 or 9 degrees. around 8 or 9 degrees. so we start tomorrow so we start tomorrow morning with some dry morning with some dry weather in many locations. weather in many locations. but this frontal system already but this frontal system already bringing cloud and rain bringing cloud and rain into northern ireland, into northern ireland, and that wet weather and that wet weather will spread its way up will spread its way up across southern and central portions across southern and central portions of scotland into north west of scotland into north west england, parts of wales england, parts of wales as we go through the day. as we go through the day. to the south and east of that, to the south and east of that, not a bad looking day, not a bad looking day, spells of sunshine, northern spells of sunshine, northern scotland seeing sunny spells scotland seeing sunny spells and showers once again. and showers once again. it is going to be a windy day. it is going to be a windy day. we could see wind gusts we could see wind gusts in some places parts in some places parts of northern england, of northern england, for example, of around for example, of around 40mph or more. 40mph or more. temperatures, maybejust a little bit up on where they have been today. 15 to 20 degrees covers it for most of us. as we move out of sunday and into monday, which is, of course, the bank holiday for most of us, we do see this weak ridge of high pressure trying to build in, and it does mean, actually, monday should bring a decent amount of dry weather. we could have this band of cloud here, just bringing a little bit of showery rain across southern

scotland and northern england first thing, and i think we will generally see increasing amounts of cloud as we go through the day. perhaps some rain getting into northern ireland later on, but on balance this is not a bad looking day if you're looking for dry weather and some spells of sunshine. it's going to feel a little bit warmer as well. and as we head deeper into the new week, while we will see frontal systems pushing in from the northwest, these weather fronts are likely to stall. so while some of us will see outbreaks of rain, others, particularly down towards the south and the southeast, will see something warmer developing. in fact, we could see temperatures getting into the high 20s celsius. that's all from me. bye—bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines: german police say they're still hunting for the suspect of a stabbing attack which killed three people in the western city of solingen. they've arrested a 15—year—old but he's not the main suspect. nasa says two astronauts stranded in space after issues with their boeing starliner spacecraft will not return to earth until february 2025. prosecutors in italy open a manslaughter investigation into the sinking of a luxury yacht off the coast of sicily. seven people were killed when the vessel went down on monday, inluding the british tech entrepreneur mike lynch and his daughter hannah. ukraine marks 33 years

of independence, amidst the ongoing war with russia. president zelensky celebrated the day by describing russia's invasion as a failure and announcing a new prisoner exchange. now on bbc news — newscast, broadcast earlier on radio 4. newscast — newscast from the bbc. hello, it's paddy o'connell in the newscast studio.