this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm victoria fritz. israel's main opposition parties negotiate a coalition deal that could spell the end of benjamin netanyahu's 12 years in power. 50 days before the start of the olympics around 10,000 volunteers pull out over covid concerns. organisers insist the games can be held safely. salvage experts try to tow a burnt—out cargo ship, away from the sri lankan coast — before tonnes of leaking oil causes an environmental disaster. and back to venus — for the first time in decades, nasa announces two new missions to earth's neighbouring planet.

hello and welcome. 0pposition parties in israel have joined forces and agreed to form a new coalition government — a move that could end the 12—year reign of benjamin netanhayu as prime minister. his time in office is the longest in israel's history, and is still subject to a vote of confidence in parliament — probably next week. if that fails, then there is a risk the country would have to hold another election, the fifth, in two—and—a—half years. mark lobel reports. an image of profound change. a right—wing jewish nationalist, centrist, and unprecedentedly an arab islamist. charting israel's way forward. two weeks

after the country was on a war footing, politicalfoes after the country was on a war footing, political foes warmly pledging to work together on a range of issues. translation: ., translation: education, welfare, employment, - translation: education, - welfare, employment, economic development, planning and construction, housing shortage and, of course, the eradication of crime and violence. there are many things in this agreement that benefit arab society as well as israeli society as well as israeli society as well as israeli society as a whole. unveiling the eight _ society as a whole. unveiling the eight party _ society as a whole. unveiling the eight party agreement, l the eight party agreement, formerfinance minister yair lapid is to take over as prime minister in two years from the right—wing nationalist naftali bennett. no fan of the two state solution, and keen on expanding israeli settlements in occupied palestinian lands. not that anyone is mentioning the peace process in all this. the labour party leader wrote... these israelis are

ecstatic at the prospect of the country's longest serving prime minister netanyahu being replaced. mt; minister netanyahu being replaced-— minister netanyahu being relaced. y ., , , replaced. my fellow protesters and i were _ replaced. my fellow protesters and i were in _ replaced. my fellow protesters and i were in the _ replaced. my fellow protesters and i were in the streets - replaced. my fellow protesters and i were in the streets for i and i were in the streets for more than a year, so it is a great celebration, we are hopeful for this change. to the bbc caught _ hopeful for this change. to the bbc caught up _ hopeful for this change. to the bbc caught up with _ hopeful for this change. to the bbc caught up with him. - hopeful for this change. to the bbc caught up with him. mr i bbc caught up with him. mr netanyahu, is this your last week as a minister, will this be your last week as prime minister? i5 be your last week as prime minister?— be your last week as prime minister? is that i wish your question? — minister? is that i wish your question? you _ minister? is that i wish your question? you can - minister? is that i wish your question? you can still - minister? is that i wish your question? you can still stopj question? you can still stop the spam — question? you can still stop the spam from _ question? you can still stop the spam from becoming i question? you can still stop the spam from becoming a | the spam from becoming a reality by peeling off politicians before a crucial parliamentary vote within days stop it is not inconceivable that this government will fall short of the 61 seat majority and you can be assured that netanyahu will do everything neta nyahu will do everything possible netanyahu will do everything possible to sabotage it by trying to work to get defectors. but there is no denying a major shift in israeli politics is now looking likely. joining me now is tal schneider — she's the diplomatic

and political correspondent for the times of israel. thank you very much forjoining us. i know you have been up for many hours at this meeting of the three leaders. there is already partying in the streets of news package showed. do you think this coalition is likely to survive the vote and hold? we are looking at a 59—61 majority at best. this is a very, very fragile situation here. israel has been through a very difficult time and here. israel has been through a very difficult tim- very difficult time and the riots and _ very difficult time and the riots and the _ very difficult time and the riots and the conflict, i very difficult time and the riots and the conflict, so l riots and the conflict, so everything is very fragile and we are hoping that things will work because we don't want to see any more violence, and obviously the fact that an arab muslim partiesjoining a government, some of it right—wing parties, is very controversial and we do have

netanyahu's supporters who are very upset about this. obviously it within the next week to ten days, until the government is sworn in, we need to look carefully that there are no riots or harsh demonstrations. ~ . ., demonstrations. much of the early talk _ demonstrations. much of the early talk between _ demonstrations. much of the early talk between these i early talk between these leaders has been of everyday issues of things like health care and education. nothing really on how to manage or even heal the huge drifts and ruptures in israeli society over race and religion. is that a shrewd move from these three or is it simply kicking the can down the road?— down the road? while, it will be very complicated. - down the road? while, it will be very complicated. as i down the road? while, it will| be very complicated. as soon down the road? while, it will. be very complicated. as soon as they start to go. the prime minister will be from the right wing, religious party, so people who joined the government no and people whojoined the government no and signed on a government no and signed on a government that will be chaired by a person who has come from the far right. however, they

have agreed not to annex the two state solution. this conflict will not get solved, it has not been sold for many years so it will not happen in the next year or two years. having said that, the fact that you have such different groups coming together, to sit together in a government, it is very fresh change. it means an allegation of budget for minorities who have been deprived of many of the country's advantages for many years. so you can see this as a first step to some sort of healing of the internal community and since iran, the is likely this —— islamic movement party, they are for a palestinian solution. the mere fact that they are sitting together in government may in the future bring some change towards others, other issues.

briefly, if we may, besides fighting for his political survival, benjamin netanyahu is also on trial in a three corruption cases here. what kind of push are we expecting to see from him? == kind of push are we expecting to see from him? -- pushback. we are seeing _ to see from him? -- pushback. we are seeing big _ we are seeing big demonstrations from his part. it will get even stronger. he has been pushing back strongly verbally in his speeches in the last ten days and he will continue to do so. he will probably serve as opposition leader, i don't expect him to retire to his private residence, and he is very strong politician, as we know. he has a powerful voice in israel, always have. and he will continue to have probably in the next months and we will have to see how long this government will survive. if

this government will collapse, he will be right back on his feet with even more power. we will leave _ feet with even more power. we will leave it _ feet with even more power. we will leave it there for the moment, thank you very much, tal schneider from moment, thank you very much, tal schneiderfrom tel moment, thank you very much, tal schneider from tel aviv for us today. let's get some of the day's other news. thousands of people have taken to the streets of colombia's main cities to insist on their demands for less inequality and better public services. the daily protests began over a month ago, triggered by government proposals to increase taxes, which have since been scrapped. the trainer of kentucky derby winner medina spirit has been banned from the prestigious horse race for two years. bob baffert has been at the centre of a doping scandal after the horse tested positive for a banned steroid after powering to victory in last month's race. a novel about senegalese troops fighting for france in the first world war has won this year's international booker prize for literature. the book at night all blood

is black, is written by the french writer david diop. the judges said the book did not win because it addressed the current conversation about race and politics but because as a story "it spoke with the most power". there are 50 days left until the delayed summer olympic games are due to kick—off in tokyo. but there's a lot of debate over whether they should go ahead at all. the international olympic committee insists that the event can be held safely. not many people in japan are convinced. let's get more from our correspondent, mariko oi. there has been a lot of opposition to this but some people do actually want this to go ahead, don't they? absolutely. even though some athletes starting to arrive in the country, it feels like the

games will go ahead even though an overwhelming majority of the japanese public are opposing it they are concerned it could become a super spreader event and wejust heard become a super spreader event and we just heard from the country's a top health adviser, saying that it is not normal for an event like the olympics to go ahead under current circumstances. some people have been calling for the games to been calling for the games to be either cancelled or at least postponed again, both options have been ruled out by the ioc and because of the contract tokyo signed with the ioc it is really up to the ioc, seems determined to go ahead even though politically speaking it feels like a really unpopular move for the country's prime minister, who to hold an election by this autumn, and not surprisingly a lot of anger towards the ioc, which has been accused of not caring about people's lives, as tens of thousands of volunteers have been dropping out. that is not

to say there are not a supporters for the games, there was a petition against the games games which collected some 400,000 signatures, but also a petition in support of the olympics, and that has managed to gather some 90,000 signatures. of course one of the most obvious reasons for this support is the athletes, how they have been training over the past year, knowing whether the games will be on. so to give them a chance to show off all of their efforts and it has really become an unfortunate situation where some athletes have been pressured to boycott the games. you might remember one who really inspired many by qualifying for the games only attic being diagnosed with leukaemia, two years after. she was asked to withdraw from games on social media and tweeted saying that while she understands why people feel so strongly about it, is too much of a burden for her as an individual athlete. another athlete, rugby player i have been speaking to, say she

cannot say publicly that she wants games to go ahead because she knows that is an athletes egos. it is a stark contrast to all the excitement which people felt when it was announced that tokyo would host the games back in 2013. ., , . in 2013. thanks very much, mariko 0i _ in 2013. thanks very much, mariko oi in _ in 2013. thanks very much, mariko oi in singapore i in 2013. thanks very much, mariko oi in singapore for. in 2013. thanks very much, i mariko oi in singapore for us today. to sri lanka now where a chemical—laden cargo ship is sinking off the country's west coast. it's sparked fears of an environmental disaster and has been labelled a " death blow�* to the country's fishing industry. tanya dendrinos reports. a pristine coastline and a looming environmental disaster. the x—press pearl has been ablaze for two weeks, and despite the efforts of the sri lankan and indian navies, it is sinking, with 350 tonnes of oil on board. translation: there are two possibilities. | either all the fuel has caught fire, or the oil could still be there. if the oil is still there, we have already taken precautionary steps to handle that situation in case there is a leak. on wednesday, attempts

were made to tow the vessel to deeper waters to minimise marine pollution. but attempts were later abandoned. beaches along the west coast have been littered with debris, and the government has banned fishing along an 80—kilometre stretch of coastline. boats lie covered on the shore, and livelihoods are on the line. translation: the ship has dealt a death blow to our lives. - we can't go to sea, which means we can't make a living. the singapore—flagged container vessel was carrying close to 1,500 containers — including 25 tonnes of nitric acid and several other dangerous chemicals. sri lankan officials believe the fire was caused by a nitric acid leak, which the crew had been aware of since may 11. translation: similar incidents have taken i place in other countries, and those governments have ta ken steps to get compensation. we hope to get compensation

in accordance with local and international law. we will never give up on that effort. we will calculate the cost from the beginning of this incident. questions have now been raised about why the ship was allowed into sri lankan waters after being rejected by two other nations. a police complaint has been launched against the captain, lodged against the captain, with a court order issued to prevent — them along with the chief engineer and an additional engineer — from leaving the country. tanya dendrinos, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come... it's our most overlooked neghbour — now two nasa missions are set to explore venus. the queen and her husband began their royal progress to westminster. the moment of crowning, in accordance with the order of service, via a signal given with the great guns of the tower.

tributes have been paid around the world to muhammad ali who has died at the age of 74. outspoken but rarely out—fought, ali transcended the sport of boxing of which he was three times world champion. he was a good fighter, he fought all the way to the end — even through his illness. yes, he did. uefa imposes an indefinite ban on english clubs playing in europe. today is the 20th anniversary of the release of the beatles lp sgt pepper's lonely hearts club band, a record described as the album of the century. this is bbc news,

the latest headlines... israel's main opposition parties negotiate a coalition deal that could spell the end of benjamin netanyahu's 12 years in power. 50 days before the start of the olympics around 10,000 volunteers pull out, over covid concerns. organisers insist the games can be held safely. health ministers from the rich and powerful g7 countries are meeting in oxford this week, with a key focus on preventing new diseases emerging and causing pandemics. but there are urgent calls from un agencies, charities and scientists around the world for these countries to also deal with the current pandemic by sharing their supplies of covid vaccines now. the bbc�*s global health correspondent tulip mazumdar�*s report starts with a warning from the who. covid—19 has ravaged every corner of the globe, but as rich countries vaccinate millions of people every day to protect them against the deadly virus,

some poorer nations are yet to vaccinate a single person. ever since india stopped exporting covid vaccines because of the crisis there, countries in africa have been counting down their last doses. here in ghana, there's been a very successful roll—out of the first dose of vaccines for the most at—risk groups. their second doses are now due, but officials are unclear on when they will arrive. it is deeply unfair. of the almost two billion doses that have been administered globally, sub—saharan africa has still received about 1% of all these vaccines. we have ten countries that have already completely run out of doses. we have countries like morocco, countries like rwanda, lesotho, eswatini, that have used up all their doses, but we also have a number of countries that will use up all their vaccine in the next couple of years. those are countries like uganda — we have countries like kenya, seychelles, egypt.

meanwhile, richer countries have bought up most of the global supplies of doses, and are pushing full steam ahead with their vaccination programmes. g7 countries the uk, us and canada have vaccinated more than half of their populations. germany, italy and france well over a third. japan's uptake has been much slower, but not because they're short on supplies. the health ministers of those countries are meeting in oxford, at the university which created the world's most widely used covid vaccine. now the co—creator of the oxford astrazeneca jab is calling on world leaders to share that vaccine more fairly. it's not a vaccine that should only be used in high—income countries. it can be produced at low cost and very large amounts and distributed easily and it really now needs to be distributed around the world — along with other vaccines, as well — to get as many people immunized as quickly as possible. the un agency unicef wants g7 countries, together with the eu, to donate 20% of their doses injune, july and august to help plug the massive gap in vaccines for poorer nations.

for the uk, that would mean sharing just overfour million doses this month, and five million injuly. for the us, it's almost 27 million doses injune, and 16 million injuly. the agency says, crucially, that countries can do all this without disrupting their own domestic roll—out plans. in the immediate term, africa needs about 20 million doses for people who are due for their second dose. if we do not get these doses, we get back to the virus circulating and possibly mutating yet again, coming up with new variants that affect the world and take us all back to square zero. but with manufacturers unable to keep up with demand, and a few rich countries hoarding so many of the current supplies, it's the world's poorest who remain last in line. tulip mazumdar, bbc news. time now for the sport. hello, i'm austin halewood

with your latest sports news. "i want to bring back the glory days to real madrid." that was the message from carlo ancelotti as he spoke to the media for the first time after taking over for a second spell at the bernabeu. he won the champions league with the club in his first spell in charge in the spanish capital, and he said he wants to bring spectacular football back for the fans. translation: | never| imagined a real madrid without carlo ancelotti, and it happened. we have to accept everything. as i said, this return has been very quick — we've done it in the last few days. we really started on saturday, so i've not had time to talk about the future of the squad. i know all the players very well. some of them i've worked with before. carlo ancelotti is not the same as he was six years ago. i'm different. i have six years' more experience. you could say that's a positive or a negative. i felt very good at everton, for example — a very familiar club. but negative experiences

are also good experiences. on the field, world champions france began their preparations for the european championship with a comfortable win over wales in nice. after karim benzema had missed a penalty early on, it was kylian mbappe who scored the opening goal of the game ten minutes before half—time. second—half goals from barcelona team—mates antoine griezmann and ousmane dembele sealed a 3—0 win for the french, who face bulgaria next tuesday in paris. and elsewhere, bukayo saka scored his first goal for england as they beat austria in middlesbrough. germany were held to a 1—1 draw in austria by denmark, where yussuf poulsen scored a late equaliserfor the danes. and the netherlands twice had to come from behind to draw 2—2 with scotland in a match played in portugal — memphis depay�*s second equalizer came in the 89th minute. on to tennis and top seed novak djokovic and ashleigh barty are among those who will be in action

on day five of the french open, bidding to reach the third round of this year's tournament. among those already through to the last 32 is serena williams — she was taken to three sets by romania's mihaela buzarnescu as she makes her latest bid for a record—equalling 24th grand slam singles title. she took the first set 6—3, but lost the second 7—5 to the woman ranked 148th in the world. the deciding set was one—way traffic, though, with williams taking it for the loss ofjust one game to seal her place in the third round and stay on course for a fourth french open title. it was good competition, you know, she was playing well and i was playing well and i feel like she was just hitting winners and this point was just so long and it was kind of fun. so, you know, it's always good when you enjoy yourjob. you smile at it, which is rare for me. i love myjob bit i don't smile

too much on the court. i love myjob but i don't smile too much on the court. but i was very excited to just be out here. and new zealand's cricketers will hope to build up a huge first innings total when day two of the first test against england gets under way at lord's in a few hours' time. they'll resume on 246—3 with devon conway 136 not out on his test debut. his unbeaten stand with henry nicholls is worth 132 so far, with both of them still at the crease. you can get all the latest sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport — but from me, austin halewood and the rest of the sport team, bye for now. now, to space, whereas? —— where else? nasa has announced that it is sending two new missions to venus in order to examine the planet's atmosphere

and geological features. the missions are scheduled to launch at the end of the decade. nasa's last venus orbiter was magellan, which reached the planet all the way back in 1990. since then, there have only been fly—bys. so why this announcement now? kailash kalidos is nasa's solar system ambassador, and explained the missions�* aims. so there is a huge possibility that there is some kind of life — it is possible right now — on venus. that is one of the reasons we are actually taking a step back and looking at venus again. we have not been to venus in the past 30 years — at least nasa has not tried missions in the last 30 years. even before that, the majority of them were failures. part of the reason is because of the hostile conditions and the acidic environment. although there is a belief that venus is like an evil twin to the earth. so once upon a time conditions on venus were very conducive to life. we wanted to go ahead and check that aspect of it and how much

has changed since and why it has changed since. nasa has come up with two brand—new missions. the knowledge we gain from venus can be translated into other research and we at nasa are doing a lot of exoplanet research and we will know what kind of life forms can be expected. if we study our a neighbour, it's a better chance to study if we study our neighbour, it's a better chance to study further objects like exoplanets in the future. that is one of the driving motivations, i would say. correct, so one of the reasons venus was exciting for the russian space administration was because earth and venus had a lot of similarities in size. although the atmosphere was conducive, as i already told you, once before. so there were persistent on seeing whether we could so they were persistent on seeing whether we could change something on venus.

the business news is coming up in five minutes. i will see you then. hello there. in the past few days, the heat has been building. in the next few days, the heat is going to be ebbing away. it was certainly warm, though, in the sunshine in particular on wednesday. the sunniest weather was actually in suffolk. but it wasn't here that we saw the highest temperatures. that was further south in northolt. 28 celsius, the hottest day of the year so far. it was the warmest it's been all year in wales and scotland, 26—27 celsius. now, all that heat was ahead of a band of showers, which for a while were heavy, even with one or two rumbles of thunder. that's been moving up from the southwest, and behind it, we have seen slightly cooler air and much more cloud across southwestern parts of the uk. a very different day here in devon compared with tuesday. that cloud is still around at the moment, hence the high temperatures that we are starting with on thursday morning. many places will start dry, we've still got some showers left over across northern ireland,

northern england. those should quickly move northward into scotland, and as they do so, a lot of those showers will fade away. northern scotland probably dry with some sunshine. and we should get more sunshine in the afternoon across other parts of the uk as the cloud thins and breaks. but it will be a bit cooler than it was on wednesday. the heat getting confined to east anglia, southeast england. lincolnshire could reach 26, maybe 27 celsius, a warm day still here. as we head into the evening, most places will end the day dry with some sunshine. but look what's coming our way from the near continent. there's the threat overnight, and into friday, for some showers or longer spells of heavy rain, perhaps thundery, affecting some eastern parts of england, mainly east anglia and the southeast, a lot of uncertainty about that. elsewhere, it looks generally dry, and there will be more in the way of sunshine, it cloud over a bit more, i think, in northern ireland. a cooler day certainly for eastern parts of england with more cloud and the threat of some rain. top temperatures, 21 celsius. now, let's head into the weekend, and we see the back of that threatening rain in the southeast

of england. a weather front is coming in from the atlantic. this one, mind you, is going to be very weak. it will bring with it a bit more cloud across northern ireland into western parts of scotland. the chance of a little light rain or drizzle, but it's not moving very quickly into the uk, and for many, it will be a fine day with some spells of sunshine. it will be warmer in the southeast, 23 celsius. those temperatures won't change a great deal on sunday, but for one or two showers, it should be dry with some sunshine at times.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. get out the popcorn! meme—stock mania returns, as investors pile into struggling cinema chain amc. this is really something that, you know, ithink for many of these will not have a good ending. i think a lot of investors could be holding the bag, but for now, the mania continues. ever closer union — in cyberspace. the eu launches digital id wallets for all of its 450 million citizens. but will europeans buy in? diversifying the portfolio. whyjust1% of black—owned start—ups win venture capital funding

and — rags to riches!