today at 5pm... flames sweep across coastal towns near athens leaving 7a dead, in greece's worst fire disaster in a decade. hundreds of emergency crews are battling the wildfires in the attica region, fanned by strong winds. thank god my family was completely safe because we have run down to the sea. in the meanwhile, a couple of people, two ladies have lost their lives in my hands. 26 people perished, found huddled together in the seaside village of mati, where the heat and flames devoured everything in their path. we'll have the latest from greece where the wildfires still rage and some may have been deliberately started. the other main stories on bbc news at 5... a million public sector workers will receive their biggest pay rise in nearly a decade. teachers will get up to 3.5%. theresa may takes personal control

of the brexit talks with the eu, but the new brexit secretary, dominic raab, insists he hasn't been sidelined. the home of the red arrows, raf scampton in lincolnshire, is to close as part of defence cuts. the thai schoolboys rescued from a flooded cave are ordained as novice buddhist monks in a ceremony to thank their rescuers. it's five o'clock, good afternoon. our top story is in greece where more than 70 people have died in the wildfires, ravaging coastal areas near athens. more than 150 people have been injured

including several children. many of those who died were trapped by flames in their homes and cars, others ran into the sea to escape the heat. in one resort, 26 victims were discovered huddled together near the top of a cliff. greece has declared three days of mourning, with the worst affected area being the attica region. greece has asked other european countries for helicopters and additional firefighters. richard lister has the latest. an avalanche of flames driven by high winds swept through these houses at terrifying speed. nothing was left behind. for many of the victims, there was simply no escape. a local mayor said he saw at least 100 homes and 200 vehicles on fire. some left it until the very last minute to leave, hoping against hope that their homes would be spared. but for the overstretched fire crews, this was

an almost impossible battle. many people simply fled to the sea. the coast guard rescued almost 700 from nearby beaches. others were rescued from small boats offshore. translation: thankfully, the sea was there and we went into the sea because the flames were chasing us all the way to the water. it burnt our backs and we jumped into the water. translation: it was lightning fast. we didn't realise what had happened. you couldn't. it was the first time i've ever seen something like this. for others, trying to flee in a car proved a fatal mistake. flames fanned across roads leaving them trapped and helpless. the prime minister cut short a foreign visit to deal with the crisis, arriving ashen—faced for a briefing. translation: there are no words to describe our feelings at times like this. to describe our feelings the country is going through an unspeakable tragedy. dozens of human lives have been lost

and it is unbearable for everyone, especially their families. a passenger on this flight into athens captured just what they are up against. those clouds are actually smoke and every patch of orange is another fire. 0n the ground, in daylight, the firestorm seems almost unstoppable. flames lapping at the side of the coastal highway into the capital. these resort areas are taking the brunt of it. many athenians have holiday homes here and it's the busiest time of the year. many people, including families with children, who are now on school holidays, were at their summer homes at the time and this partly explains the number of dead and the number of injured. residents are taking stock today of all they have lost, with homes and vehicles in ruins. others are mourning friends and family too. in mati, this man discovered both his cars burnt out and his apartment damaged,

but he is counting his blessings. thanks, god, my family was completely safe. because we have run down to the sea. in the meanwhile, a couple of people, two ladies, have lost their lives in my hands. sirens emergency crews trying to beat back the flames are also making grim new discoveries, including 26 people huddled together, all overcome by smoke, children among them. translation: it seems some of them knew each other. we found them in small groups. they could have been friends or family who tried to protect themselves by hugging each other. as the wildfires rage on in greece, they promise to bring yet more of these apocalyptic scenes with them. this summer holiday season has become a national tragedy. richard lister, bbc news. yiannis baboulias is

a freelance journalist in athens, hejoins me now. first of all, are the fires still raging as we speak? yes, fortunately not as close to residential areas, not as close to residential areas, not threatening lives. but there are still fires raging in several places, not just in still fires raging in several places, notjust in attica but also around greece. what have been the effect where you are in athens in all of this? the effects in athens at the moment are where ever you are, it smells of smoke. you can feel the atmosphere is pretty heavy. the city itself feels very clogged up. there is a certain tension as

people are still looking for loved ones, relatives. there are 50 people missing unfortunately. there is a lot of solidarity, people are trying to do the best they can to help those in need. gathering food, supplies, offering money. some people even offered their own homes to people who have lost theirs in the fire last night. it has been a very moving movement of solidarity. so this crisis has brought people together? in a way, yes. that is the bright side in an otherwise very dark time. this is now the biggest tragedy of this nature that has ever hit greece. the previous one in 2007 left 63 people dead and we are now already looking at 7a with that

number very likely to rise as the authorities are going through the abandoned houses which number more than 1000. they don't know what they will discover there. can the authorities cope with the scale of this, do you think? very rarely because of years of austerity and that has stretched these services very thin. with greece having a combination of a natural phenomenon which is wildfire, it is a natural thing that happens. unfortunately, there are those who take advantage of this time to start fires with the intention of taking over the land of the forest used to occupy. u nfortu nately, the forest used to occupy. unfortunately, the legal framework to stop this from happening has not been pushed through over many decades. so this phenomenal, coupled with natural occurring phenomenon, causes things like this to happen

very often u nfortu nately. causes things like this to happen very often unfortunately. not always on this scale but now we don't have the money as a country and we don't have the ability to plan and to deal with it as it happens. so, to be clear, there is the suggestion that some of these fires will have been started deliberately? yes, there is definitely suspicion that certain of these blazes actually started from arson. good luck to you and everyone else where you are. thank you the joining us. it's notjust europe that's in the grip of unusually high temperatures — japan is also experiencing a record—breaking heatwave. at least 65 people have died in the last week and more than 30,000 were admitted to hospital suffering from heat stroke.

in central tokyo, recorded temperatures reached about a0 degrees celsius for the first time. just after half past, we'll be speaking to a climatologist, and asking whether the extreme weather events around the world are linked. about a million public sector workers are to receive their biggest pay rise in nearly ten years. the government has confirmed that most classroom teachers in england will get a pay rise of 3.5% and members of the armed services and prison officers 2%. but its expected that the treasury won't fund the pay rises directly — meaning savings will have to be made elsewhere, as our political correspondent jonathan blake explains. whether they are fighting fires or on the front line, those in the armed forces are among one million public sector workers told today they can expect a pay rise. teachers too will get a significant increase. at the end of term, it's perhaps good news, but for some, long overdue. we have had four years of a pay rise which has been funded by schools' budgets,

and it needs to be centrally funded otherwise schools will become insolvent. clearly teachers deserve a pay rise, pay has been frozen for far too long and we are in the middle of a teacher recruitment crisis which i think is partly as a result of that. teachers in england will get a pay rise of up to 3.5%, the military a 2% increase plus a one—off payment, police in england and wales can expect 2%, prison staff in england and wales as well will get 2% with an added single sum. what we have been able to do across the board is make sure everyone gets a significant pay rise, we have scrapped the cap, which everyone was calling for last year. i promised it last year and we have now delivered on it and people will get a decent pay rise which is thoroughly deserved. the big picture is there is no new money, no hand—outs from the chancellor to pay for this, so ministers will have to find the cash from existing budgets. there is no increase in funding to the public sector for this, so by increasing pay levels, albeit by less than the rate

of inflation, that can only be paid for by cuts within public services. year after year, public sector workers have argued pay rises below inflation has meant their real income has fallen. today's increases may be welcome news for some, but for many, it is still not enough. since 2011, teachers have lost 15%, in real terms, of their pay. this does not catch it up, so we are looking for the government to build on the pay award, as the departments go into the comprehensive spending review, we want the education department to argue for sustained pay rises for teachers. can the government afford the pay rises? the prime minister may be pleased to deliver the news on the day parliament begins its summer break, but when it comes to paying for it, difficult decisions ahead. jonathan blake, bbc news, westminster. tom richmond is a former teacher and senior research fellow

at reform, a centre—right think tank focusing on public services. it is good to see you. a lot of teachers will be saying that it is about time. they have been waiting for at least five years and this is a difficult period to pay their bills when there pay has been capped at 1% and inflation is running ahead of that. 3.5% above inflation, they know when they go back to theirjobs in september that there is a bit of a boost waiting for them. but 3.596 is great, 5% would have taken them back to the level that they would have been at before the age of austerity began in 2010. the department for education deserves some credit for finally recognising that we have a big problem here. it is not enough, is it? i wouldn't say it is the end of the situation by any means. the statistics for teacher recruitment last year were pretty worrying. there was a 33%

drop in the number of people who wa nt to drop in the number of people who want to be teachers. pay is not the only part of that but it is certainly a good start. new teachers will see about £1000 extra but the government needs to do more. this money, i understand, government needs to do more. this money, iunderstand, it government needs to do more. this money, i understand, it is not coming out of the schools' budget it is coming out of the department for education's budget. will that mean cuts? it is surprising, some people woke up this morning and were delighted to hear about the pay rise and they are surprised to hear that the department for education has not told us where the money will come from. when it come from the schools 01’ from. when it come from the schools or universities budget? that has taken a bit of the shine off today's announcement in that it is great for teachers that they will come back to a pay rise but there is still some pa rt a pay rise but there is still some part of this puzzle missing. until we find out where the money will come from, there will be some concern in the sector. concerned because if money is coming from the education budget and that will mean more cuts and that is what labour is arguing, more cuts to a service

which is already stretched. the schools budget has been stretched for a long time so it is good that the department education has found this money and recognised that there isa this money and recognised that there is a problem to be solved, the message now from teachers and head teachers is, can we get more money for schools? i think that is where the pressure is now going to come on the pressure is now going to come on the government. it is the first step perhaps but it certainly can't be the last one. do you think the breaking point has already been reached with the retention rate being so low, so difficult to keep teachers in the profession because of low morale, the workload and another page? do you believe this 3.5% is going to be enough to turn that we'll around and make the teaching profession a positive one for people to want to join? we are talking about a pay increase of maybe 1200 or £1300 in just talking about a pay increase of maybe 1200 or £1300 injust a couple of years. that will make a big difference teachers and the fact that we have gone above inflation is

important. we need to stay up there with inflation because only then will we see teachers feeling a bit more comfortable. there are workload issues and other pressures as it is but if we can put some of these pieces together, we should end up in a better place if the government can keep the momentum going from today's announcement. thank you forjoining us. the headlines on bbc news... flames sweep across coastal towns near athens leaving 76 dead, in greece's worst fire disaster in a decade. a million public sector workers will receive their biggest pay rise in nearly a decade. teachers will get up to 3.5 per cent. theresa may takes personal control of the brexit talks with the eu, but the new brexit secretary dominic raab insists he hasn't been sidelined. tea m team sky's gareth thomas has retained the yellow jersey after finishing second. england captain

harry kane has been nominated for the four‘s best player award. he won the four‘s best player award. he won the golden boot in his country's run to the semifinals of the world cup. also nominated is gareth southgate. he is one of 11 shortlisted for the fever best men's coach award after leading england to their most successful tournament finish since 1990. i'll be back with more and all of those stories at 5:30pm. the man who donated millions of pounds to the brexit campaign has been criticised for paying thousands of pounds to leading politicians in the small african kingdom of lesotho. aaron banks has mining interests there and neighbouring south africa. in a bbc interview, mr banks admitted paying money into the personal account of a lesothan government minister, but denied that the payment amounted to a bribe. manveen rana reports. lesotho may be one of the poorest countries in the world, but the lure of diamonds has drawn

many to the kingdom in the sky. including the businessman and brexit donor arron banks. but when we found his diamond operation, the machines were silent. and the site was deserted. everything here will be done and labelled by the end of august. the operation is winding up, after three years in which they only found six small diamonds. getting a licence to mine in lesotho isn't easy. the more friends you've got within the government, the more likely it is that you will succeed in a permit application. what do they expect? you have to grease some palms. arron banks has certainly invested in making friends in government. not only was he a political donor to the basotho national party, he also transferred £65,000 to a personal bank account for the party leader. 16,000 of that was paid just weeks

before banks received a permit to hunt for diamonds. well, mr arron banks and myself as the leader of the party, this is the system that we have. you see, lesotho is overwhelmed with corruption. do you think that there is a danger that if it goes into a separate, private account, that can look corrupt in its own way? no, no. no. in 2014, during a military coup, aaron banks not only paid this rent, but the commonest of the so to told me that he had also been funded by arron banks in south africa. did he help you personally? we were good friends. while you were in excel did he help? he did. what sort of help did he give? we needed to buy food.

seriously, we needed to buy stuff to wash. we showed our interviews to a leading corrupt and investigator in south africa who has the authority to fire a criminal case with the national prosecutor. we will be carrying out further investigations of our own. then i will be opening a criminal docket. a docket is evidence sent to the national prosecuting authority in south africa setting out the case for corruption charges. arron banks has been informed of the investigation and when i spoke to him yesterday, he denied that he had funded the prime minister but he did not deny his relationship with another government banister. did he ever asked you for money? yes. did you ever pay money? yes. do you think that was appropriate? yes. you are putting money into a personal account. he was a government minister. he was a government

minister. he was a government minister. i don't see how you link the two. this isn't going into a charity account, it is not going into his party's account. you're putting money into a personal account for him. did that not seem suspicious? no. following our investigation, arron banks, one of the biggest medical donors in british history, is now under scrutiny for his funding of politicians in a tiny mountain kingdom half a world away. the former archbishop of canterbury, george carey, says those who were abused by a disgraced church of england bishop, were let down. peter ball, the former bishop of gloucester, was jailed in 2015 after admitting the sexual exploitation of young men. mr carey has been giving evidence to the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, from where caroline daviesjoins me. take us through what happened today. this inquiry is looking into

historic child abuse from lots of different organisations and this week the focus is on the church of england and on that one man in particular, peter ball. yesterday, the inquiry heard that many of peter ball's colleagues thought it was impossible for him to do many of these acts. they saw him as a wholly visionary. when he was accused of abuse in the early 90s, the church prayed for him and not for his victims. lord carey who was giving evidence today echoed those sentiments and talked about how he thought it was almost impossible that peter ball could have done these acts when he first heard about them. i couldn't believe that a bishop in the church of god could do such evil things. so i actually believed him for quite a time because who else were complaining about him? i didn't know these people. so you can understand most of us took a little time to catch on to what this man was doing to younger people. we have heard from the archbishop

today who said that the church have made mistakes and spoke directly to the victims of abuse. they fell into the trap of a pretty wicked person, a deluded person that used his considerable influence to shape them wrongly. i regret that we didn't see that earlier and i want to say that we failed the abused in a number of different ways. the inquiry is asking how did peter ball managed to fade justice for 20 yea rs ? ball managed to fade justice for 20 years? when the archbishop was pushed on certain things that took place, for example by letters that we re place, for example by letters that were sent to the archbishop from victims and parents of victims, raising concerns. why were there not passed on to police? why did the church give peter ball £12,500 after

he had been given a caution for the abuse in the early 19905? why had he been allowed to practice again from 1995? that was position the back permission given directly from archbishop lord carey at the time. firstly, he said that he took a pa5toral role towards peter ball, a man who he decided not to discipline further after the caution he was given in the early 19905. because peter ball was sick. he said that he had been manipulative by peter ball, a man he called a consummate actor. he made reference to the fact that in the early 19905, it was a different time with a different type of thinking. the inquiry into peter ball is not over and there will be more evidence heard about a case which is being called one of the mo5t which is being called one of the most significant cases of abuse in the church of england's history. at least 20 people have been killed, and hundreds are missing, after a dam collapsed in south—east laos near the borders with cambodia and vietnam. the hydroelectric dam had been

under construction as it gave way late on monday, sending fla5h floods through six villages. more than 6,500 people have been left homeless. the dam that collapsed is part of a project, which involves laotian, thai and south korean firm5. mp5 have voted to suspend the democratic unionist mp, ian paisley, from the house of commons for thirty days. mr paisley failed to declare two family holidays paid for by the sri lankan government. the north antrim mp could face a by—election if 10% of his constituents sign a recall petition. raf scampton, the home of the red arrows di5play team, is being sold by the ministry of defence as part of budget cuts. the base was also home to 617 squadron as they prepared for the dambusters mission in world war ii. 0ur correspondent katy austin is at the base. this sounds like sad news. ye5,

this sounds like sad news. yes, this news has not gone down very well in the local area but the ministry of defence i5 the local area but the ministry of defence is trying to save money and thati5 defence is trying to save money and that is why the decision to close the base is being made. it is trying to cut down on one third of its estates to save £3 billion by 2040. the decision has been made to get rid of what is currently the red arrows. it is a very hi5toric airbase with its a55ociations arrows. it is a very hi5toric airbase with its associations with the dambu5ters. these days, as well as the red arrows, it is home to an air control centre playing an important role in keeping our airspace secure. what is worrying people around here is that there is no word yet of where the red arrows will move to. defence experts we have spoken to have said that raf scampton i5 have spoken to have said that raf scampton is an ideal location for them because it has got a very long ru nway them because it has got a very long runway and it is very well located. the ministry of defence says this is a financial decision, this base would actually need a lot of investment to keep it going into the future and that investment would be better going elsewhere. it has also

5aid better going elsewhere. it has also said that it will still be investing in some other airbases in lincolnshire. however, experts have doubted whether the red arrows could go to one of those local ba5e5 because they need to be in an area where the airspace i5 because they need to be in an area where the airspace is quite free. the other raf ba5e5 around here are quite busy indeed. 600 personnel here don't know what is going to happen and neither do, the art red arrows are looking for a new home. they are looking for one which is suitable and fit for purpose in the future. time for a look at the weather. here's nick miller with the forecast. not quite that the giddy heights of 33 celsius but still 30 or thereabout5 in eastern parts of england. maybe after a small dip, tho5e temperatures will go back up again. there are higher temperatures to come in the days ahead. even a bit of rain out there for some

today. it has been quite light in northern england and wales. we are left with lengthy clear spell5 overnight, a fuel shallot into north—west scotland. it is just towards the midlands, eastern and south east england where it is warm and humid. elsewhere it will be good for sleeping and some spots in scotla nd for sleeping and some spots in scotland made it down into single figures. tomorrow we start with plenty of sunshine and there may be isolated showers. we could catch one in the west of northern ireland, there will be one or two in western scotland. it is quite breezy with any scotland. it is quite breezy with a ny 5 ha llot scotland. it is quite breezy with any shallot in north—west scotland. it is very still elsewhere. in the sunshine it will feel warmer compared to today. the temperatures, it isn't showing 31 for london, the south—east could see 33 or 34 degrees on thursday. this is bbc news. the headlines. flames sweep across coastal towns

near athens leaving 74 dead, in greece's worst fire disaster in more than a decade. a million public sector workers will receive their biggest pay rise in nearly a decade. teachers will get up to 3.5 per cent. theresa may takes personal control of the brexit talks with the eu, but the new brexit secretary dominic raab insists he hasn't been sidelined. and a look at the sports news now with holly hamilton. good afternoon. we've had a day of drama in the tour de france with stage 16 held up for 11 minutes, because of protests at the roadside. farmers had blocked the road with hay bales, leading police to spray them with gas — which unfortunately got into the eyes of some of the riders. racing conditions were tricky as well — britain's adam yates had led over the final climb but this crash ended his chances of winning the stage, 0verall leader geraint thomas

and his sky teammate chris froome crossed the finish line safely in the main bunch, thomas still leads the race by 99 seconds. england captain harry kane has been shortlisted for the best fifa men's player award after winning the golden boot during englannd's run to the world cup semi finals. he's included along with last year's winner cristiano ronaldo and lionel messi. premier league players kevin de bruyne, eden hazard and mo salah are also nominated. gareth southgate is one of 11 coaches nominated for the fifa best men's coach award. he led england to their best tournament finish since 1990. manchester city manager pep guardiola is also nominated as is liverpool'sjurgen klopp. chelsea's emma hayes is one of the managers to make the women's short list. she guided the team to a league and cup double last season and she was pregnant for most of the campaign as well. she gave birth to a boy

two days after her side clinched the wsl title. the former leeds united player paul madeley has died at the age of 73. a one—club man, he played in every outfield position for the club during his 17—years playing career, winning every domestic trophy. don revie called him rolls royce — because he was a class act. frankie dettori will miss the king george at ascot after losing an appeal againsta riding ban. he was penalised for careless riding on angel's hideaway in the duchess of cambridge stakes at newmarket. stewards found him to have caused interference to main edition and la pelosa over a furlong out. a panel has reduced the ban from 10 days to six — but that means he'll miss out on ascot, and two key rides at the glorious goodwood festival. richard kruse has won britain's first fencing world championship medal since 1965. kruse is currently

ranked 4th in the world and guaranteed himself a medal in beating team—mate james andrew—davis earlier in the day. but he lost to spain's carlos llavador in the final. fencing was one of five sports to have uk sport funding removed in 2016. 102 british athletes will take part in next month's european athletics championships in berlin, and for the first time at a major championships, more women than men have been named in the team gb squad. laura muir will only race in the 1500 metres, she's ditched the 800 because of an achilles problem. zharnel hughes is favourite for gold in the 100 metres and fellow sprinter dina asha—smith is hoping to become a three—time european gold medallist. so many girls have set a personal best and will be challenging for the

medal. 0bviously best and will be challenging for the medal. obviously i would love it but it depends on me going there and running the races i love to run. that is why i love track and field because you have your favourite. and that makes people want to watch athletics. you might think you know who is going to win but it is anyone's game. remember the athletics in berlin isjust part of the multi—sport european championships, with gymnastics, rowing, cycling triathlon, golf and aquatics taking place in glasgow across 11 days . you can follow it all across the bbc, tv, radio and online. 0lly foster will have more for you in sportsday at half past six. parts of the uk are experiencing another day of heatwave conditions, with temperatures heading towards 32 celsius and set to rise further later this week.

with water supplies dwindling and large parts of the uk parched a "heat health watch" alert remains in place for much of east and south—east england until friday. but it's notjust in britain where it's warmer than usual. tinder—box conditions in greece have sparked huge wildfires which have killed at least 74 people in coastal towns and resorts near athens, and almost 200 more injured. around the world weather records are being broken. while in sweden more than 20 wildfires have broken out as the country experiences an unprecedented drought and the highest temperatures in a century. temperatures there are expected to reach 35 degrees celcius in the next few days — a stark difference to the usual 23 degrees. injapan, the mercury hit 41 celsius on monday — the highest temperature the country has ever recorded. in the past week, there've been at least 65 heat—related deaths. more than 30,000 people have been admitted to hospital with heat stroke.

so what, if anything, can this extremes of temperatures be down to? joining me now from southampton is drjames dyke, associate professor of sustainability science at the university of southampton. thank you for being with us. what do you put these high temperatures down to? it is important to stress that there will never be one single cause because there are many different reasons for it. what is becoming increasingly clear is that humans through their emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere are increasingly loading the dice towards these more extreme weather conditions that we have witnessed in the past and if we continue as we are doing we should expect further incidences in the future. man-made climate change is right that is part

of it, we have warmed the climate by about 1 degrees since of it, we have warmed the climate by about1 degrees since the industrial revolution so pretty much all whether we see in the world today is much warmer. there's also robust evidence showing that we should expect increased frequency of what we consider to be these extreme weather events, so once in 100 year storms coming along every five years full stop we have another five or six months of the year to go but 2016 was hotter than this year? yes, and one thing we are concerned about right now is that in the past extreme weather events and record—breaking years have been often associated with the weather phenomenon called el nino, this cyclical global atmospheric and oceanic process which every four or five years produces much higher temperatures. so the record—breaking temperatures. so the record—breaking temperatures in 1998 were driven

strongly by the monster el nino we had the year. this year were largely el nino neutral so yes we are seeing important dynamics with regards to the jet stream moving around which could explain some of the northern hemisphere temperature anomalies but underneath that we might be seeing just the brute force effects of human produced climate change. and what about these wildfires that we see in several places, particularly in greece, is it possible to put some of the rates of those blazes down to the hot temperatures that we're seeing? to get a wildfire you need fuel, you need dry vegetation and trees and you need a prolonged period of hot weather and also wind to fan the flames and what we're seeing in greece and other places around the world are those

conditions colliding and when that happens then you're going to get significant wildfires. each has its own particular issues, whether or not it has been managed burning, whether civilisation or urban areas have encroached into previously woodland areas. but it is undeniable that the temperature anomalies that we are seeing are largely due to global warming. so we are seeing are largely due to globalwarming. so literally spontaneous combustion contributing to some of the wildfires? we do not think it was spontaneous combustion in greece, possibly it was deliberately started or accidentally, so human produced. for the wildfires in sweden they could have been the consequence of electrical storms but however they start, if you have those conditions and that tinderbox condition, inevitably you will have an outbreak of fire and then the wind is there, strong wind to fan the flames then

you will have the serious natural disasters. then in el nino year with man—made climate change that would be the perfect storm? that interacting set of factors, yes. climate change is a global phenomenon of the earth and one celsius does not sound like much but as we are progressing to 1.5 or 2 degrees we will see the increasing frequency of what we consider to be these extreme events. making real in concrete terms just what climate change means to humanity. thank you very much. theresa may is taking personal control of brexit talks with the eu, with dominic raab deputising for her. mr raab was drafted in as brexit secretary to replace david davis, who quit in protest

at the prime minister's proposals for post—brexit trade. 0ur political correspondent iain watson is at westminster for us. you wonder what the brexiteers think of this because dominic raab replaced a man who voted to leave, david davis, he himself is a brexiteer but theresa may is remain. she is and to some extent this formalises what was going on before it remember accusations from the formerjunior minister to it remember accusations from the former junior minister to david davies in the wake of the chequers agreement recalibrating the brexit negotiations, when they left they said in effect the prime minister is in charge and this has become a bit ofa in charge and this has become a bit of a facade. now the prime ministry today emphasised that she is in charge of negotiations and the new brexit secretary dominic raab will deputise for her but the group getting together to discuss the

future of the eu negotiations is interesting, your unit in the cabinet office with an overall responsibility for the preparation and conduct of the negotiations, thatis and conduct of the negotiations, that is under the leadership of a civil servant 0llie robbins. brexiteers think that he is remain in chief and was behind this shift in the government edition at territory. so brexit committee, cross— party territory. so brexit committee, cross—party committee this afternoon, with the new brexit secretary joined by none afternoon, with the new brexit secretaryjoined by none other than 0llie robbins and john whittingdale, he wondered who the real brexit secretary was. the europe unit will have overall responsibility for the preparation and conduct of the negotiations. drawing upon support from dexeu and other departments. does that not rather suggest that the two of you should swap places? because in actual fact you are the secretary of state and you are being supported by your official sitting next to you. if i may, what we have done is to try and make clear, given some of the tensions that you understandably refer to,

and given the mixed functions that both the cabinet office, europe team and dexeu were performing, that both as a matter of the official level of advice we get, there's one team. in terms of the ministerial chain of command, there is one team. so that is the official line, there is now one team even if the civil serva nts is now one team even if the civil servants in charge of drawing up negotiating plans, dexeu more in charge of domestic operations according to the prime minister for the but brexiteers also said that 0llie robbins of the civil servant, was really in charge of drawing up an alternative white paper and so again the question to 0llie robbins about that. one brexit suggested even that some coup d'etat had been going on but 0llie robbins had to

defend his world in the change of policy. are you seriously telling me that you were not separately drafting a text which was presented at chequers? so what i and my team did, in concert with a lot of officials across whitehall, is prepare papers for the cabinet to consider at chequers. and those papers covered a range of issues, they set out options, they set out recommendations in the usual way. so 0llie robbins telling the brexiteer peter bone that he was not drawing up an alternative white paper but simply drawing up papers. it turns out around 120 pages so people will draw their own conclusions. the one thing dominic raab wanted to emphasise as well is that although a brexiteer he would be working every hour of every day to try to get a good deal with eu. the headlines on bbc news...

flames sweep across coastal towns near athens leaving 74 dead, in greece's worst fire disaster in more than a decade. a million public sector workers will receive their biggest pay rise in nearly a decade. teachers will get up to 3.5%. theresa may takes personal control of the brexit talks with the eu, but the new brexit secretary dominic raab insists he hasn't been sidelined. political corruption is a pressing issue in nigeria — with over $400 billion estimated to have been lost to corruption since nigeria's independence from britain in 1960. ngozi 0konjo—iweala was nigeria's finance minister from 2003 to 2006 and again from 2011 to 2015, and has written fighting corruption is dangerous: the story behind the headlines, about her experiences in office. ngozi is with me in the studio. good to see you. fighting corruption

is dangerous is the title, what does it mean? well i mean to say that when you try to stop people from making away with public sector, with revenue, public sector resources, they do not just revenue, public sector resources, they do notjust sit quietly, they fight you back. and therefore it is dangerous to go back on this journey but also it is dangerous not to. let's talk about the first example of it being dangerous, how have you been affected by your attempts to deal with corruption in nigeria? what i detailed in the book is just one incident these are stories about some of the things that happened and one of them had to do with trying to audit the oil subsidies paid to oil marketers in the country, to detect

fraud. and we audited about $8.5 billion worth of subsidies that the government had paid and they kept, we detected about $2 million worth of fraud and then we decided that they could not pay the fraudulent oil manufacturers. the result was my mother was kidnapped and held for five days and i got a demand for my resignation and had to leave the country. so her life basically was at stake. you're not talking about trivial things. this is the danger i'm talking about that when you stick up for what is right, you also put yourself in the line of fire. and the second example of it being dangerous as you say is to not do anything and i've interviewed president muhammadu buhari a couple of times and corruption always comes up of times and corruption always comes up and he says it is the kind of thing that is killing the country.

why is it not possible to get rid of it? i think we can get it grip on it andi it? i think we can get it grip on it and i think we have to do. that is why i wrote the book and ijust want to say something because each time my countries mentioned you hear the word corruption and that is why i wrote the book but the fact is the majority of nigerians are honest, hard—working citizens who just want government to deliver basic services and get on with their lives. but we do have a small corrupt elite that has captured, i do not know whether to call it captured, but the country is in the grip of this. but i'm trying to say is the majority cannot allow the minority to tarnish the name of the country, therefore there is hope, and i share examples where you actually do something about it so young people can rise up and have hoped. but part of the problem, and

i know from personal experience having been placed by nigerian police myself, that corruption goes from the top to the bottom, it is endemic. so notjust the members of the oil ministry who are fleecing of aliens come it goes to the street cop who pulled us over and expecting a payment. and as a result of that, eve ryo ne grows a payment. and as a result of that, everyone grows up a payment. and as a result of that, everyone grows up in an atmosphere of corruption. let me just say, i wa nt to of corruption. let me just say, i want to make the point again if you look at those who are employed, let's say even if you say those employed by the government at some of them, because you have some honest people also working in government put up if you look at the totality as a percentage of the 190 million people in the country, i just want you to understand that this is not the majority of people in the country. but fine, we have to cut through it and i believe it sta rts cut through it and i believe it starts with you, personal responsibility, that is what i argued in the book. 0utsiders cannot

fight corruption for us, we have to ta ke fight corruption for us, we have to take the responsibility and fight it. and you cannot wait for government. so each and every one of us government. so each and every one of us has to say it starts with me, i'm not going to ask for a bribe, not going to give it to anyone who is asking. and i'm going to speak up if i know where it is happening. then it also starts with leadership and soiam it also starts with leadership and so i amjust it also starts with leadership and so i am just arguing that in this country it can be done and we must, we do not have a choice, it has to be done because we need the resources for development to happen. what would you say to those people who would say well, you were minister of finance when a lot of this money disappeared from the oil ministry, from the oil department that deals with the petroleum for the country, you were finance minister. did you have no idea that something like ten, 12, 15, $20

billion were disappearing around about between the years 2000 and 2015? again it is a chapter in the book and i actually talk about that, when that was happening a lot of disappearance was through oil theft, that happened through pipelines and through other means. people would break the pipelines and— the oil out in the niger delta. i spoke about it openly at the time, that we were losing about $1 billion a year due to oil theft and other malfeasance in the oil sector. and so this has been something that was being tracked and we were trying to fight against it but the point i'm trying to make is it is not good enough to know it is happening, the issue is did you try to do something and absolutely. what did you do, specifically? part of what i did was

pressed to sound the alarm that this was happening and then with the president set up a committee to try to find out why and where the pipelines were being broken and what we could do to stop it. how do you arrest those doing this and what are the fundamental reasons behind why this is happening for i try to tackle those, what is the discontent in the niger delta. so there was a committee set up to look into this at the time consisting of the military, the ministry of finance, etc. but we did not have as much impact asi etc. but we did not have as much impact as i would have liked. and thatis impact as i would have liked. and that is the problem, the initiatives seem to have failed. what would you say to those british taxpayers... all the initiatives have not failed, we blocked the payment of $2.5 billion through this audit process. the loss was way more than that. yes

but you have to start somewhere. you have to identify the problem first and speak up about it and then take action. very briefly, what would you say to the british taxpayers who every year give something like £250 million in aid to nigeria, they might be thinking that is just going to go in someone's back pocket.|j would say to them that the money given to nigeria is very well spent and well ta ken care given to nigeria is very well spent and well taken care of but that is not the issue, the issue is that nigeria should work hard to safeguard its own resources. because the bulk of development in the country is paid for by nigerian resources so i think that the focus should be on nigeria safeguarding and using its resources better but i wa nt to and using its resources better but i want to save the resources given by the british at least during the time i was there where well spent and well accounted for. thank you so much. a week after being released

from hospital, following their two week ordeal trapped in a flooded cave in thailand, 11 young boys and their football coach have been taking part in a buddhist ceremony. it's their way of saying thank you to their rescuers. the boys have been ordained as novice monks, and will live in a monastery for 9 days — a tradition for males in thailand who experience adversity. 0livia crellin reports. a temple retreat. further time for reflection for the thai football team and their coach, whose perilous ordeal made headlines around the world. the short visit will see 11 of the players taken through the process of becoming novice buddhist monks. shaving their heads is a part of that, as well as a symbol of bereavement. a former navy diver died during the complex operation. the boys will then meditate, pray and clean the temple for nine days, a thai lucky number.

lucky now, perhaps. these coming days will be very different to the nine the children and their coach spent in darkness, trapped in the flooded cave until two british divers found them. it would take a further nine days to complete the risky international rescue operation that captivated the rest of the world. this visit is the latest in a series of spiritual rites and activities that the boys have taken part in. last week the wild boars team visited a temple to be blessed. a ceremony was also conducted at the mouth of the cave to spiritually cleanse it. the good news of the group's rescue reverberated around the world but the impact will, of course, be felt strongest back home as the boys bring closure to their trauma and embark on a new beginning.

0livia crellin, bbc news. the british divers involved in rescuing the young thai footballers and their coach, have attended a reception at downing street. did they did well? they did fa ntastically well. the team of rescuers played a key role in the operation, which took place inside a flooded cave in northern thailand — where the boys were trapped for over a fortnight. time for a look at the weather here's nick miller with the forecast. 34, 35 degrees is where we're heading on thursday, maybe continue into friday but there is a change ahead going into the weekend. this

image today from one of our weather watchers, some very dry parts of the uk at the moment. but we've had some patchy around today but not amounting to very much. we are just identifying very small amounts. a range of temperatures overnight, warmth and humidity in the south—east of england but further north and west temperatures dipping way this evening and overnight. and feeling quite fresh going into the morning. plenty of sunshine tomorrow, some cloud building here and there. and we could see some showers that could be heavy in some places. most places remaining dry. add a little bit warmer

across—the—board tomorrow. add a little bit warmer across—the—boa rd tomorrow. highest temperatures around 23 degrees towards the south—east, but most places into the 205. but low— pressure places into the 205. but low—pressure gathering to the west, this is the picture for thursday, deeper into the day in northern ireland we start to see some showers and rain moving in and also into north—west scotland for the elsewhere it will be another dry day, sunshine again and heat again and more widely on thursday so mid—205, scotland and northern ireland, close to 35 degrees entirely possible in the south—east and east of england. sol entirely possible in the south—east and east of england. so i really hot day on thursday for some. those weather fronts to the west to move on through going into friday, so some outbreaks of rain developing in western parts of the uk on friday

and the risk of some torrential thunderstorms in eastern parts. then as that all queers through friday night and into saturday, it feels fresh everywhere. but the heat could build once more into next week. the lease for people were killed by wildfires which destroyed forests and seaside homes in greece. tourists and residents tried to escape the flames fanned by strong winds in searing heat. towns east of athens were worst hit. hundreds ran into the sea to escape the inferno. thank god my family was completely safe. we ran down to the sea. in the meanwhile, a couple of ladies have lost their lives. we are alive from greece tonight as three days of national mourning are declared. also on the programme: pay rises for

public sector workers of up to 3.5% after yea rs of public sector workers of up to 3.5% after years of a pay cut. under scrutiny for