hello. this is bbc news. i'm ben bland. our top stories: farewell to the mooch: afterjust 10 days in thejob, president trump fires his director of communications, anthony scaramucci. paris looks certain to host the 2024 summer olympic games, the third time the city's had the honour. venezuela's president is accused of undermining democracy as the us imposes direct sanctions on nicholas maduro. hello. iam sally imposes direct sanctions on nicholas maduro. hello. i am sally bundock with the business stories. can bp profit in a world awash with cheap oil? the fossil fuel giant releases its latest results in the coming hours. we will tell you all the details. and downgraded: toshiba is set to be removed from tokyo's main stock board because of its financial problems. hello, and welcome to bbc news.

hired and fired injust 10 days — anthony scaramucci has been sacked as white house communications director by donald trump. he was dismissed shortly after president trump swore in a new chief of staff, retired generaljohn kelly, who is expected to bring more discipline to running the white house. mr scaramucci had been criticised for a crude verbal tirade aimed at his colleagues. here's our washington reporter suzanne kianpour. tonight, breaking news: forced out after just 11 days at tonight, breaking news: forced out afterjust11 days at the white house. game of thrones, house of cards, pick your drama. washington thrown into a frenzy after the new communications director is sacked. anthony scaramucci took to the podium ten days ago for the first and last time. he came in, guns blazing, promising to flip the script and shake up the white house.

and he did. although his eye was on getting rid of reince priebus, it was sean spicer who was the first to 90, was sean spicer who was the first to go, resigning in protest at the man called moto2. but then some foreshadowing. one thing i cannot stand about this town is the backstabbing. were i grew up, in the neighbourhood i grow up, we are front studies. the self proclaimed outsider took too far, launching into a thai red of obscenities to a journalist, accidentally on the record, forgetting the of reporting. scaramucci seem record, forgetting the of reporting. sca ramucci seem to record, forgetting the of reporting. scaramucci seem to have one when reince priebus resigned. but a new sheriff came into town, generaljohn kelly, the secretary of —— secretary of homeland security. his request was that scaramucci had to go. after turning the swearing—in ceremony,

the mooch was escorted off the premises. donald trump has been in office for nearly six months, but his presidency has been plagued by chaos and controversy. from multiple investigations into his campaign's connections with russia, to check ups in the white house. but with a a—star general at the helm, now, the administration is hoping that it will be smoother sailing going forward. suzanne kianpour, for bbc news. let's look at some of the other stories making news, now. more than 480 suspects face trial in turkey later, accused of taking part in last year's military coup attempt. they are accused of running the coup bid injuly 2000 and i6. —— 2016. pakistan's parliament meets to elect a new interim prime minister after the supreme court disqualified nawaz sharif following an investigation

into corruption allegations against his family. the ex—oil minister shahid khaqan abbasi has been nominated as interim prime minister. a man has been left with facial injuries after two people on a moped threw an unknown liquid at him in central london. police said the 47—year—old man was attacked in knightsbridge. the man has been taken to hospital, but his condition is not yet known. we now know the hosts for the next three summer 0lympics after paris and los angeles struck a deal with the international olympic committee. now the order you will go to tokyo, paris, and then los angeles. both cities wanted to host in 2024, but the ioc said it would make contributions worth $1.8 billion to los angeles to compensate for extra costs involved. greg dawson reports. it is from proclaimed as the greatest show on earth. to host the 0lympic greatest show on earth. to host the olympic games is considered a

privilege. but it is an expensive one. paris campaigned hard for the 2020 for games, but this success has been held by the number of cities that dropped out. one by one, rome, budapest, and hamburg withdrew, fea rful of budapest, and hamburg withdrew, fearful of costs and the lack of public support. —— 202a. that left just one major rival. pitching to host the limbic for a third time, los angeles wanted to bring the summer games back to the us for the first time since 1996. with most of its infrastructure already built, it was addicted to host the games tomorrow, but now they have confirmed they were willing to wait. in 2028, we are bringing the verdict is back to los angeles. it is a city

that has or is been a games changer, and will be again in 2028. in exchange risk patients, los angeles will get a sweetener from the international olympic committee: extra funding for an extended planning period. if we can build that legacy right now, as that of waiting until the olympics are over. simply put, what we are able to negotiate, this deal was too good to pass up. this may be an unusual way for host cities to be confirmed. the ioc is expected to rubber stamp the announcement said a few weeks. paris won't care how it is done. after several failed beds, won't care how it is done. after severalfailed beds, this decision guarantees the games will return to the city exactly a century since they were last held there. see you in paris, 202a. they were last held there. see you in paris, 2024. greg dawson, bbc news. now it is time to tourek oil. sally

is here. —— talk oil. in the next few hours, bp, one of the world's biggest oil producers, will release its latest set of results. the numbers will be a strong indicator of how the industry is doing in a world where a $50 oil price has become the new normal. now, analysts are expecting the company will report a profit in excess of $600 million. that's in the second quarter of the year. that doesn't sound that impressive, but when you compare it to the year before, that is a big leap from the $1.4 billion in losses that bp lost in the same period. however, it's still a long way behind rival, shell, which made $3.6 billion over the period. one of the reasons for not doing as well as shell is an expected $750 million write—down —

that's a loss to you and me — and that's for a gas project in angola that bp has deemed to no longer be commercially viable. why? well, the price of oil is at around half the $100—plus level that it was experiencing way back in 2014. this illustrates it really well. that's squeezed balance sheets and forced the likes of bp to spend money only where it can deliver big returns. so we will be getting an expert view on bp. also, we will also talk you through the ongoing trouble for japan's electronics giant, toshiba. its shares were demoted to the second tier of the tokyo stock exchange this morning. toshiba, originally known for its consumer electronics products, has faced a series of difficulties. its problems came to a head again in january this year, when it became clear its us nuclear unit, westinghouse, was in financial trouble. so we will be going to our asia

business hub for news on toshiba. and there has been a split in the bitcoin community. it is set to create a new incompatible version of the crypto currency today. a group of insiders is unhappy with existing plans to speed up transaction times. they plan to offer existing investors a matching amount —— of a new virtual asset, called bitcoin cash — like we need another one — which could put pressure on the value of original bitcoins. looking at the markets, today, we still have oil heading up. that is above $52 a barrel. that is helping above $52 a barrel. that is helping a lot of the oil stocks. we will talk about oil and bp in about 20 minutes. see you then. sally, look forward to it. venezuela is looking increasingly isolated under widespread international condemnation for this weekend's vote, which could give president maduro sweeping new powers. hundreds have died in months of anti—government protests.

0pposition parties boycotted the ballot, claiming it was rigged. the us government has now imposed direct sanctions on president maduro, accusing him of being a dictator. mr maduro claimed that showed mr trump's "desperation and hate." from caracas, the bbc‘s katy watson. viva la patria! for president maduro, this was a big win. state tv ran his victory speech at length but for the millions of people who boycotted the vote, it was a hollow victory - if that. this morning, caracas felt like a normal city, people getting back to work after a difficult weekend, but still venezuelans are divided. luis voted because he says he's had enough of the protests, but adelaida didn't. agustin has been managing this taxi rank for 17 years. he says people here are fed up with food shortages and spiralling inflation. he didn't want to be identified but he said he voted out of fear. "i had to vote," he tells me,

worried about rumours the government would remove his subsidised food if he didn't. the late hugo chavez is still an icon here, his face a constant reminder that he was the leader who started venezuela's socialist revolution, but high oil prices helped support him. with an economy now in crisis, president maduro is losing friends both at home and abroad, not least in the us. donald trump called him a dictator and imposed sanctions upon him. but maduro is defiant. the government of the emperor, donald trump, has taken decisions against the president. this shows his weakness, desperation, and hate. it shows the qualities of a madman, one who is president of the united states. hector rodriguez is a rising figure in the government and the man who led the campaign for the new assembly. he, like maduro, blames the opposition for the violence in the past few months, but says foreign powers have meddled in venezuela too. translation: we've said before

that the problems of venezuela are venezuela's alone. it's for our people to choose what happens in their country. but that's the problem — millions of people boycotted this vote. president maduro said turnout was 8 million but many doubt this figure and accuse the government of voterfraud. they want to show they are powerful but the only thing they have is fear, is repression and is violence, and when a government has only fear, repression and violence, it's very weak. but as the political wrangling continues, people try and live their lives as best they can. the government has hailed this as a triumph for peace, as the only way to move the country forward but with so much anger and uncertainty about where venezuela is headed, for many the vote has only made things worse. this country has seen four months of violent confrontations. 17—year—old neomar lander was killed injune during a protest. every day he used to head to the streets. now his mother tells me

she's doing the same. "for me, the bestjustice for him and for everyone who's died is to achieve what we're asking for," she says, "for the government to go." the family says fear isn't something they think about. it's about ensuring his memory lives on. you're watching bbc news. stay with us you're watching bbc news. stay with us still to come: dispensing medical advice from thousands of miles away. the afghan doctor who lives in britain, but is still helping patients back at home. cheering the us space agency nasa has ordered an investigation

after confirmation today that astronauts were cleared to fly while drunk. the last foot patrol in south armargh, once an everyday part in the soldiers' lot, drudgery and danger, now no longer after almost four decades. if one is on one's own in a private house, not doing any harm to anyone, i don't really see why all these people should wander in and say you're doing something wrong. six rare white lion cubs are on the prowl at worcestershire zoo. already they've been met with a roar of approval from visitors. they're lovely, really sweet. yeah, really cute. this is bbc news. the latest headlines — president trump has fired his director of communications, anthony scaramucci, afterjust

10 days in thejob. paris is all but certain to host the 2024 summer olympics after los angeles agreed to organise the games four years later. when waheed arian was a young boy growing up in afghanistan, he witnessed the suffering of war. many years later he's now an emergency medic living in the north—west of england and using virtual reality to help today's victims of violence in his homeland. his telemedicine system allows doctors in war zones to get help from specialists in the west. world affairs editor john simpson reports. we hear plenty of depressing stories about afghanistan but this is not one of them. quite the opposite, in fa ct. one of them. quite the opposite, in fact. afghanistan has one of the lowest sta nda rds fact. afghanistan has one of the lowest standards of medical care in

the world. doctors often aren't very highly trained and their equipment is pretty basic. but they can contact doctor waheed arian. an afg ha n contact doctor waheed arian. an afghan who qualified as a doctor in britain, and he can give them detailed medical advice using social media. from his home in chester, he ta kes media. from his home in chester, he takes messages day and night. he calls it telemedicine. they don't have the latest technologies, they don't have the cutting edge expertise, they don't have advanced evidence —based medicine so they need any expertise or advice and thatis need any expertise or advice and that is more world—class here, that's very useful for them. so i will take the arrow and replace it. now waheed arian and his team are developing new ways of showing doctors there what to do. it went very well. we discussed the medical

case, we solved the problem. it was a case in one of the hospitals in kabul, afghanistan, and using augmented reality we discussed it and we managed the problem. as a boy in the 1980s, waheed arian had to escape from the russians who had invaded his country. he and his family were lucky to survive. when civil war that up —— flared up in afghanistan, his parents sent him on his own to britain. he was 15, and didn't speak much english, yet within four years, he was studying medicine at cambridge. and he became passionate about helping people in the country of his birth. i'd seen so the country of his birth. i'd seen so much suffering in my childhood and that suffering was still very vivid in my memory and i wanted to see if i could help in any way alleviate that suffering from many people who are in a similar position to mine as a child. waheed arian

doesn't get much time with his family in chester. he's taken leave of absence to develop his telemedicine ideas but in order to pay the bills, he has to work every weekend as in a and e doctor. yes, he is away a lot and it can be hard it can be lonely at times when you are on your own and you it can be lonely at times when you are on your own and you are it can be lonely at times when you are on your own and you are seeing the other families out but on the other side, i know that he is doing amazing things for humanity, is going to be saving thousands of lives so i look at the positive. we have come a long way injust lives so i look at the positive. we have come a long way in just two years and we are helping in places that have no other support and this is so important. lives are at stake and we can help save lives. waheed arian has survived a lot. helping others in afghanistan to survive is, he says, his therapy. john simpson, bbc news. more needs to be done to stop women feeling under pressure to wear high heels, according to the most thorough review of scientific studies into the shoes.

the review by researchers at the university of aberdeen examined research into the physical damage wearing high heels can cause as well as the social and cultural aspects surrounding their wear. world athletics bosses have unanimously approved a recommendation to continue russia's suspension from the sport for its state—sponsored doping. the world championships start in london on friday and the iaaf say the russians haven't made sufficient progress in their anti—doping fight to merit reinstatement. its athletics team was barred from last year's 0lympics and paralympics and they'll also miss the world championships although 19 russians will compete in london as independent athletes. we've seen progress and on some occasions some of that progress has been quicker than on other occasions

and it tended to speed up a little bit when there's been a focus normally around the major championships. so it's not that there isn't any progress, but the progress we want has to culminate in a meeting of those criteria and it's clear it's unambiguous. already one of its biggest stars has pulled out of the championships just days before it gets underway. the 800 metre 0lympic and world champion david rudisha has injured a thigh muscle. the 28 year old kenyan also holds the world record set in the same stadioum in 2012, although his form this year hasn't been as good cricket, and moeen ali took the first test hat—trick at the oval to win the 100th men's test at the ground. ali spun the hosts to victory and took the final three wickets to complete a 239 run win for england over south africa. england now have a 2—1 series lead, with the fourth and final test starting on friday at old trafford.

i think the way we played was brilliant. i looked down the side and we've got a number of different match winners throughout. i think we can set a game up and get into a position with strength early then we generally find ways of getting across the line so i think it's really important we continue to do that but the most important thing for me was we responded positively after last week, it was obviously a tough week but it shows the character of the guys in the dressing room. that first or second day, that evening session, was the hardest against seamers. it was extremely tough conditions and a lot of credit has to go to england with the way they bowled. if you compare us on day one and a two there weren't many freebies from them in that time so they bowled really well and that's why they put us under so much pressure. duck diving and smacking the lip,

not familiar terms for me but these people are the best at it at the surf in mexico. it has been taking place in puerto escondido were surfers have been seen riding waves up surfers have been seen riding waves up to 25 feet. it is challenging but also extremely hazardous. the usa took the flag with australia and britain close behind. the playwright and actor sam shepard has died — at the age of seventy—three. according to his family he passed away at his home in kentucky from complications caused by motor neurone disease. in a long career, he won the pulitzer prize for drama and was nominated for a best supporting actor 0scar. so when do we go? well, how about tomorrow morning? i'll be there. if you wanted rugged good looks, combined with a certain enigmatic charm, sam shepard was your man.

here his is playing test pilot chuck yeager in the right stuff, in 1983, a performance that earned him an academy award nomination. you'll never catch me. i believe i will. he appeared in dozens of films, starring opposite dolly parton in steel magnolias. i feel sorry for ‘em, you know? i mean, especially jackson, losing shelby like that. and here, in blackthorn, a fictional account of the final adventure of wild west outlaw butch cassidy. but he was also a director, writer, and dramatist. well, i'm a very gentle person, myself... this a production of his play, fool for love, staged at the national theatre in london. he wrote 44 plays, winning the pulitzer prize in 1979. sam shepard was born in fort sheridan, illinois, in 1943.

his father was an alcoholic, and he had a nomadic childhood, before moving to new york when he was 19. it was there he started writing plays, essays, novels, short stories, and memoirs. he has been described as one of america's most significant voices, who wrote of what he saw with fearless, timeless honesty. sam shepard — playwright and actor — who's died at the age of 73. thanks for watching. hello there. the start of august is upon us. does that mean a big change in the weather? well, not really.

we stick with that mixture of sunshine and showers we have become so used to at the end ofjuly. the shower clouds circulating around an area of low pressure. in fact, there could be some quite heavy showers in places as we go on to tuesday. not all places will start off with showers. in fact, across central and eastern parts of england, and northern scotland, as well, should start off mostly fine and dry. but there will be some showers around 8:00am in northern ireland, with some sunny breaks in between. quite a few showers at this stage for southern scotland and north—west england. in fact, the showers perhaps hanging up into a long period of rain, which could make for a soggy time in parts of liverpool, and west wales, as well. a few showers across the south—west of england, some spells of sunshine, as well, and for much of the midlands, east anglia and the south—east we will start off dry, with some spells of sunshine. 17 degrees there in brighton at 8:00am in the morning. watch the map as we go on through the day. the showers, initially mostly concentrated in the west, will become more widespread. just about anywhere could get a shower.

some places will get shower after shower after shower, with some hail and some thunder. other places will stay dry all day long, most likely across south—east england. that is also where we will have the highest temperatures. 23 degrees in london, cooler and fresher towards the north—west. now, temporarily, high pressure builds in across tuesday night. that kills off most of the showers. a largely dry start to wednesday for many, but you can already see another change taking place out west, a band of rain beginning to spike its way across the south—west of england. winds picking up here, as well. and that is because our next area of low pressure is sliding its way in from the west by this stage, with a frontal system threatening to bring some pretty heavy bursts of rain, and tightly squeezed isobars. some strong winds, could see gales for a time on wednesday morning across the south—west. the rain staggering its way eastwards. it will never make it to scotland or north—east england. that rain across southern counties of england should turn quite heavy later on wednesday afternoon. low pressure then sticks with us into thursday. you can see the way the wind arrows are circling around the low again.

we are back to that mixture of sunshine and showers. fewer showers towards the south—east. that is also where we will have the highest temperatures. more of the same of friday, a mixture of sunshine and showers, with most of the showers up to the north—west. hello. this is bbc news. i am ben bland with the latest headlines. president trump's fired the communications chief he appointed less than a fortnight ago. the white house said anthony scaramucci had made inappropriate comments in an interview in which he attacked mr trump's then—chief of staff. paris looks certain to host the 2024 summer 0lympics. that's after los angeles agreed a deal to host the games four years later. it will be the third time both cities have held the summer or winter games. president nicolas maduro of venezuela has said that personal sanctions imposed on him by the united states are a sign of desperation and hate. the sanctions were imposed after sunday's vote for a new constituent assembly.