tonight at ten, the worst wildfires in greece for more than a decade, have so far killed at least 76 people. the flames swept through woodland, destroying seaside towns east of athens. many people couldn't outrun the fires, caught out by their speed, the heat fanned by strong winds and high temperatures. i took my baby and i ran towards the sea. my wife, i didn't know what happened. i think she burnt herself here. greece's prime minister alexis tsipras says his country is going through an unspeakable tragedy. we'll be live in the worst affected area. also tonight... after a pay cap and wage freezes public sector workers get their biggest pay rise in nearly a decade. arron banks, who donated millions of pounds to the pro—brexit campaign, is under scrutiny for paying thousands into the bank account, of an african politician. a site in lancashire has been given the go ahead by the government, for the controversial process

of fracking for shale gas. we hear the voices of those affected by what's being called the biggest scandal in nhs history, the contamination of blood products that infected thousands of people. i don't want my husband to have died in vain. i don't want my strong, healthy man to have been poisoned and died for nothing. and, giving thanks for being alive. the rescued thai boys take temporary vows, to thank those who freed them. and coming up on sportsday on bbc news, drama from the tour de france but protesters, hay bales and tear gas couldn't stop geraint thomas from keeping the yellowjersey. good evening.

it's greece's worst fire disaster in a decade. at least 7a people have died, as flames fanned by strong winds and high temperatures swept through an area east of the capital athens. the wildfires forced residents and tourists to rush to beaches and into the sea to avoid the heat. hundreds were rescued by local fishermen. but others were trapped as the flames devoured forests and destroyed seaside towns. the worst hit area was the tourist resort of mati, where 26 people, some children, who tried to outrun the flames, were found dead, all huddled together. our correspondent mark lowen is in mati for us tonight. mati was a popular, peaceful seaside resort until it was engulfed by the inferno. at least 76 people have

been killed. close to 200 people have been injured and many dozens more are still missing. i can still smell, still taste the fumes. it is like the stench of what is feared could become grease‘s first ever wildfires still hanging in the air. like a vision of hell, mile upon mile smothered, suffocated by flames. as one was put out, another roared, 47 simultaneous fires ripped through the greek hills. they fled for their lives, hundreds ran into the sea, rescued by the coastguard. but for dozens more, it was too late, killed by the worst wildfires greece has seen in over a decade. as morning fell, the mountains still burned, 60 miles an hour winds fanning the flames. and even as some were extinguished, the acrid smoke billowed, choking those caught in its grip.

it was as if a wall of fire surrounded anyone who tried to confront it, feeding on the vegetation, spewing out thick plumes. for hours, it was futile to battle it. with the trail of destruction an almost apocalyptic scene, streets in the seaside town of mati near athens looked like a bomb had hit. many died in their cars, asphyxiated, burnt alive. we found this man badly burnt and searching for clues at the spot where he last saw his wife, poppy. i took my baby and ran towards the sea. but my wife, i don't know what happened.

i think she burned herself here. from the skies, man fought nature, cyprus and spain helped with equipment and firefighters. this peaceful holiday resort has been virtually destroyed, many were here at the height of the tourism season, like this man, as the flames consumed his car. he and his family ran to the sea. we went directly on the sea, up to here, to save ourselves. and the fire was still coming, because... it was coming more and more and we sank into the deep. as the flames came crashing down the hill, devouring everything in their wake, one of the most tragic incidents happened just over here — some 25 people ran towards the sea to try to take refuge, but they were too late, and they were trapped,

and when their bodies were discovered, the remains of the parents were found hugging the children. the greek prime minister visibly shaken announced a state of emergency in the athens region and three days of national mourning. translation: there are no words to describe the feelings of all of us at this hour. the country is living an untold tragedy. dozens of human lives have been lost. for the rescuers, the fear of discovering more bodies as dozens are reported missing. the flames may have faded, but beneath the ash, what nightmares are hidden? the picturesque has turned to horror. greece is blessed by its climate, its coast, its lush forests. tonight, it feels cursed. mark, are we any closer to knowing how these fire started? greece is no

stranger to wildfires, but it is not yet known what sparked this latest combustion, this latest inferno. one theory is it could have been arsonists trying to loot empty buildings of those who fled from the flames. that is being investigated now by greek police. but what is known is that the weather conditions fanned the flames and with gale force winds when the flames galloped down the hill they caught people by surprise. they did not realise the fla mes surprise. they did not realise the fla m es we re surprise. they did not realise the flames were coming quite so fast. with low rainfall and soaring temperatures greece could still see a repeat of these scenes in years to come. this country was just coming back onto its feet from its dire financial crisis, but once again it has been plunged into yet another dark moment. many thanks, mark. mark lowen in mati in greece. mark lowen in mati in greece. a heatwave that's caused the deaths of a least 65 people injapan, has been declared a natural disaster by the country's weather agency. more than 22,000 people have been

admitted to hospital with heatstroke, nearly half of them elderly. japan recorded its highest ever temperature yesterday of 41 degrees. people are being advised to drink plenty of water, and use their air conditioning, something a lot of older people are reluctant to do. after a pay cap and a succession of wage freezes, more than a million public sector workers, are to receive their biggest pay rise in nearly ten years. teachers will see their salaries increase by up to 3.5%. for military personnel, it's up to 2.9%. for police officers, 2%. and junior doctors will see their pay rise by up to 3%. but labour says the increases will come at the cost of other services, because they're being funded by other government departments, when it should be the treasury picking up the bill. our education editor branwenjeffreys has more. the calls to lift the pay cap have been getting louder. the public sector tired of adecade of austerity.

of a decade of austerity. growing problems recruiting and keeping staff. nowhere more so than in schools. we are going to design posters about how to keep safe in the sun. not enough teachers starting training, too many leaving after a few years, so head teachers have been pressing hard for today's pay rise. there is something very serious happening now. our ability to be able to recruit and the right quality of people to work in our schools is going to be hampered unless we continue with a competitive package for teachers. but it is only younger teachers that will get the full pay rise. classroom teachers are getting the biggest slice of these government—backed increases. but these are pay rises for some but not all public sector workers. even so it could be just enough to help stave off the threat of industrial action that is looming for this autumn. it was announced as mps

leave for their holidays. what we are announcing today, mr speaker, amounts to the biggest pay rise in almost ten years for around i million public sector workers across britain, including teachers, armed forces personnel, prison officers, police, doctors and dentists. it follows an earlier pay deal for many nhs staff. all this to be paid for out of further government savings. but not everyone is happy. the union for rank—and—file police said it was insulting. £2.50 more a week for those starting on the beat and fears across the public sector that local budgets will pick up some of the bill. it is about the morale of our officers, about their own well—being across the country. therefore i am very disappointed for them. they work exceptionally hard.

there is no extra money for pay, whether in wales or england. this will come out of existing government spending. branwen jeffreys, bbc news. our economics editor kamal ahmed is here. how is all this going to be paid for because the treasury is not coughing 7 because the treasury is not coughing up? absolutely. after ten years were lots of public sector workers were in the pay squeeze, the government has a real change of tone. how much will it cost? that figure has been put together today by the institute for fiscal studies and they suggest a £20 million to pay for these pay increases. that sounds like a lot, but if you look at the size of the overall pay bill for all public sector workers in britain, that comes in at a pretty remarkable £181

billion. so that 180 million is less than half a percent of the overall pay bill. if you compare it with other spending pledges the government has made, let's look at the nhs. that comes in at 20 5p. if you compare it to those two last figures, 800 million is not that big a number, so the treasury says it can be found by departments. departments underspend in most years and there is a bit of money left over. but after nearly ten years of austerity, public department cuts, can this extra money be found? that will be the test for the government over the next few years. many thanks. many thanks. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. the former archbishop of canterbury, george carey, has acknowledged that he was "too easily duped" by the disgraced bishop of gloucester.

lord carey told the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse that he'd struggled to believe a bishop could be a predatory abuser. peter ball was jailed in 2015 for sexually abusing boys and young men. for the first time teenage boys in england are to receive the hpv vaccine, which protects against some forms of cancer. it's been offered to girls since 2008, but last week an expert panel recommended extending the programme. scotland and wales are already due to offer the vaccine to boys. the home of the red arrows, raf scampton in lincolnshire, is to be sold. 600 people currently work at the site, which was also where 617 squadron prepared for the dambusters mission in world war two. the ministry of defence in order to cut costs, is also closing raf linton—on—ouse in north yorkshire, 300 people will be affected there. the man who donated millions of pounds to the pro—brexit campaign is under scrutiny for paying thousands of pounds to a leading politician in the small

african kingdom of lesotho. arron banks has mining interests there and in neighbouring south africa. in a bbc interview, mr banks admitted paying money into the personal account of a lesothan government minister, but denied 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've got 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 agreed 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, arron banks not only paid mr maseribani's rent whilst he was in exile for two years, but the prime minister of lesotho, tom thabene, 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 exile, did he help? he did. what sort of help did he give? we needed to buy food. seriously, we needed to buy soap to wash. we showed our interviews to a leading corruption investigator in south africa who has the authority to file a criminal case with the national prosecutor. we will be carrying out further investigations of our own, what we call forensic investigations, and 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 the government minister, thesele maseribane. did he ever ask you for money? yes.

did you pay money? yes. do you think that was appropriate? yes. it is not corruption at all. you are putting money into a personal account for mr maseribane. yes. he was a government minister. he was the minister for women's equality. 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. often in his south african account, too. did that not seem suspicious? no. following our investigation, arron banks, one of the biggest political donors in british history, is now under scrutiny for his funding of politicians in a tiny mountain kingdom half a world away. manveen rana, bbc news. the government has decided that fracking at a site in lancashire can go ahead. the shale company cuadrilla, has been given permission for the controversial process at preston new road. supporters say there will be

widespread economic benefits, but critics fear fracking will cause environmental damage. judith moritz is at the site in little plumpton for us tonight. what you can see over my shoulder is the drilling equipment used to bore down to create two wells here. come backin down to create two wells here. come back ina down to create two wells here. come back in a few weeks and that should be replaced by the full fracking rig. today's decision is viewed as a milestone by many in the energy industry. but it has taken them seven industry. but it has taken them seve n years industry. but it has taken them seven years to get to this point. the frackers have faced opposition at every step of the way. no matter what they do they can't stop us. under arrest and risking jail, some campaigners broke a court injunction today banning them from protesting like this. they had locked themselves to heavy pipes blocking the site and were forcibly removed.

others chose placards to make their point, and tonight there is anger that fracking here now has the green light. i have been processing a tremendous amount of grief and rage this afternoon. this is something that i personally feel very strongly about. at the end of the day we are still here and we will always be here. today, the government rubber—stamped the application to frack here. it is the first time permission has been given for horizontal shale gas fracking in mainland britain. the operating company expects to begin extracting gas by september. with this hydraulic fracturing consent, we have been through a complicated and tough regulatory process to assess this and ensure that we doing this to world—class standards. it is probably the most watched, analysed and monitored oil and gas site in the world actually and it certainly can be done safely. fracking involves drilling down and then horizontally before injecting water, sand and chemicals at high pressure into shale rocks, to release the gas that has been trapped inside.

to supporters, the gas is a valuable resource, but campaigners say it is climate wrecking. in the seven years that it has taken to make this decision, renewable energy has gone from a tenth of the electricity supply in this country to a third, so renewable energy is the future that we need. gas industry bosses called today's decision a momentous achievement. other sites may follow. here and elsewhere the activists say they will not give up. judith moritz, bbc news, lancashire. the democratic unionist mp ian paisley has been suspended from the house of commons for 30 days. the move follows a parliamentary investigation that found him guilty of serious misconduct for not declaring two luxury family holidays to sri lanka, paid for by the country's government. it's the longest suspension for an mp since at least the 1940s. this report from our northern ireland correspondent chris page

contains some flash photography. ian paisleer has been part of a formidable political dynasty. he inherited his seat from his late father and namesake, but now he's being suspended for longer than any mp for at least 70 years. in 2013, mr paisley had two family holidays in sri lanka, staying in luxury resorts like this. the mp did not declare the hospitality to the commons authorities. there was a civil war in sri lanka for more than two decades. tens of thousands of civilians were killed. mr paisley wrote to david cameron arguing britain shouldn't support a un resolution about alleged human rights abuses. the parliamentary standards

authority found that broke the rules on lobbying. mr paisley was not in parliament as his punishment was decided today, but last week he said he had made an honest mistake. it is to my constituents, mr speaker, who have sent me here since 2010, that i make the profoundest of all apologies. here in the constituency of north antrim, the paisley political brand has been dominant for almost half a century. but the parliamentary authorities view the current mp‘s wrongdoing so seriously, that he could be forced out of his seat. if 10% of the local electorate sign an official petition, there will be a by—election. mr paisley has said he would put himself forward to voters again. ian paisley has made a mistake, he has admitted it, you know. i respect ian paisley for that. he should take the consequencesjust like everybody else. the government relies on ten dup mps for its majority in parliament. the suspension of one could affect tight brexit votes. but whatever the wider implications of his exile, ian paisley now has an unenviable place in westminster history. chris page, bbc news. the white house has announced

a $12 billion emergency aid package for american farmers affected by an escalating global trade war. president trump had introduced tariffs on steel, aluminium and a range of chinese goods, but retaliation from around the world has seen prices for us produce slump. our north america editorjon sopel is at the white house. the president is on record as saying trade wars are easy to win. what do you think the mood is at the white house tonight? well, it is turning out to be a little more complicated. the president is having to resort to depression—era policies to come to the aid of farmers across the midwest, the very people who voted for donald trump, who now see their industries being hit really hard by ta riffs industries being hit really hard by tariffs imposed by mexico, china and by the european union. partly it will be direct aid to some of these farmers. also, the government buying

their produce to keep prices up. for free—market republicans this is absolutely horrifying. some of the quotes today, one said this is giving out golden crutches. another said the us was becoming more like a soviet type economy. donald trump said this morning that tariffs are the greatest but they are coming with a mighty price tag. thank you, jon sopel live at the white house. at least 20 people have died and more than 100 are missing in laos, in south east asia, after a dam collapsed spilling large volumes of water downstream. heavy rain in recent days is thought to have contributed to the disaster. six villages in the attapeu province in the south of the country were swamped by a flash flood. our south east asia correspondent, nick beake, reports. the torrent of water that crashed through this countryside offered little chance of survival. in time, the full, grim picture will be revealed. now, the world of the survivors turned upside down.

they cling to safety on the roof of their homes. children and elderly carried towards dry land, the few possessions people had time to salvage, hauled through the muddy floodwater. families who have lived in this corner of flowers families who have lived in this corner of laos for generations are now homeless. forced out by the destruction unleashed, by a newly built dam on their doorstep. its developers say torrential rain in recent days, caused a fracture which they try to fix. they sent out an evacuation warning, but it was too late for many. international aid agencies are racing towards the six villages most affected. but their path is damaged, obstructed, and in some places, submerged. local teams have been able to give out some supplies, but they desperately need more food, water, clothes and medicine. with more than 6500

people without shelter, it is a daunting challenge. the laos government had embarked on a ambitious dam—building scheme in recent years, to become the battery of asia, but it has failed badly here, and it has cost so many lives. it's been called the biggest scandal in nhs history. in the 1970s and ‘80s, thousands of people across the uk were given blood products that were infected with viruses, such as hepatitis c and hiv. so far almost 3,000 people have died. many had an inherited bleeding disorder called haemophilia, and reguarly needed donated blood clotting products, which in some cases were infected. but it's feared tens of thousands of non—haemophilliacs may have been infected through blood transfusions too. well now, a long—awaited public inquiry has begun, and this week we're hearing from some of the victims and families who were

directly affected. tonight, jean hill in torquay in devon tells us about losing her husband ron, who died after being infected with hepatitis c. i still talk about ron like he is still here and some people don't even know that he is gone because i can't help it. he is part of my everyday life. my name isjean hill and i was married to my husband ronald hill for nearly 23 years. ron was a wonderful man. he was funny, he was bright, he was caring, he was generous and he loved his life. ron was a mild haemophiliac. it is a problem in the liver where they do not make a clotting agent so they are given factor 8 to help the blood to clot. he was tired all the time.

his skin was going yellow. his eyes were going yellow. he was always in pain in his side. he used to lie on the sofa most of the time. we were aware that the hep c had come from blood products but not as much as we are now because without the internet, we did not know the story of it. we did not know where it had come from, how the virus was in the pooled plasma. we did not realise they were infecting him every time they gave it to him, notjust once, but every time. after ron died, ijust shattered.

i totally collapsed, gave in, give up. i did not want to do anything. ijust lost it, to be honest. i did not know how to deal with life without him. the ripples just go on. now my grandchildren have missed out on the most wonderful grandad. he never got to walk his daughters down the aisle. we have missed out on everything he had to give us and we are so much poorerfor it. i'm glad we have got a public enquiry and it is something that we really need because we need to know the truth. i don't want my husband to have died in vain. i don't want my strong healthy man to have been poisoned and died for nothing.

i want to know why they used the blood products if they knew, even if it was just an idea that they might be contaminated. how dare they use them on my husband? we go up to the tree, his memorial tree and we have picnics there. the grandchildren can go there and play around it. he is still part of our life. he will always be part of our life. they took my husband but they can't take my love. jean hill's story. and you can read more about the contaminated blood scandal, and the accounts of others who were affected, at bbc.co.uk/stories.