�*welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines. the taliban capture afghan three cities — including the strategically important kunduz — in just one day. as tokyo ends one of the most controversial olympics ever in a spectacular ceremony, we report on what the legacy of these coronavirus—hit games will be forjapan. on a greek island, a scene from hell, as wildfires burn out of control. residents and holidaymakers, try to escape. just a few miles from here there are bright blue skies, but here the air is full of smoke and ash. and is making it harder for people to breathe.

lionel messi says goodbye to barcelona — we look at what his next move might be it's six in the morning in singapore, and 2:30 in the morning in afghanistan where the taliban are gaining ground at shocking speed. three northern afghan cities appear to have largely fallen to the islamist militants within hours of each other. the biggest is kunduz, a city of more than a quarter of a million. the provincial capitals sar—e—pul and talo—qan are also largely in militant hands; in the latter they've been freeing prisoners. this adds to zaranj and sheberghan captured on friday and saturday. government forces in kunduz appear only to hold their own base and the airport, though the interior ministry spokesman insists they're

already retaking strategic sites and will drive the insurgents out. fire and confusion in the centre of kunduz. taliban pictures appear to show yet another city falling under their control. this is their biggest prize so far — a large city, economically and strategically important, and it seems to have fallen easily. afraid of the fighting as much as the taliban, civilians are fleeing, some of them heading south for kabul. a government spokesman says the taliban will soon be ousted, but similar claims have been made elsewhere, apparently without result. to the west, taliban fighters inspect newly captured government buildings in sar—e—pul, another provincial capital.

one of three reportedly captured in just one day. the taliban have now captured five provincial centres. as well as sar—e—pul and kunduz, they now appear to control zaranj, sheberghan and taloqan. if the taliban can make it to kunduz maybe they can make it to kabul, and that in itself is a big fear. the only good option would be if there is some kind of a political settlement, but that doesn't seem any more possible today than it did two or three years ago. and tens of thousands of afghans are being displaced. this is notjust a political and military disaster. decades of conflict in afghanistan have created whole generations of refugees. the west's military withdrawal is almost complete. afg ha ns fear they�* re being abandoned. the government can request american air strikes, but for how long and to what effect? paul adams, bbc news. i'm joined now by lieutenant colonel davis — former soldier who served in afghanisatan, now a, senior fellow and military expert at defence priorities in washington.

good to have you on the programme with us. five regional cities have fallen now including kunduz. is next, and what is endgame for the taliban here?— taliban here? yeah, this is... i doubt that— taliban here? yeah, this is... i doubt that cobble _ taliban here? yeah, this is... i doubt that cobble is _ taliban here? yeah, this is... i doubt that cobble is going - taliban here? yeah, this is... i doubt that cobble is going to l taliban here? yeah, this is... i | doubt that cobble is going to be next because that is literally the capital and they are both figuratively and literally for the afghan government will do everything they can to protect that and they will marshal their resources if they need to. but the anguishing thing to me is that this is entirely predictable. i've been warned about this for many years as of several other people. this was entirely avoidable list of the degree we have seen here. and i'm concerned about what will happen next but this cannot surprise anyone that's been paying attention to the reports coming out. especially this past week equally as frustrated as i am

right now about how and you would could have been surprised by this because of the really bad weight we have been doing business over the last ten or 15 years. he have been doing business over the last ten or 15 years.— last ten or 15 years. he said that this of been _ last ten or 15 years. he said that this of been avoided _ last ten or 15 years. he said that this of been avoided but - last ten or 15 years. he said that i this of been avoided but how could have been avoided?— this of been avoided but how could have been avoided? really if we had 'ust taken have been avoided? really if we had just taken the _ have been avoided? really if we had just taken the advice _ have been avoided? really if we had just taken the advice of— have been avoided? really if we had just taken the advice of the - have been avoided? really if we had just taken the advice of the social i just taken the advice of the social inspector general and corrected the way we were training and got rid of the corruption by holding people accountable, but what we did a year after year was just kept giving all of these pronouncements that everything is going fine and not holding anyone accountable, but we have graphic evidence of gross misappropriation of funds and stealing all of that never held to account, of course there's going to continue on doing it and the people that pay the biggest price of the afghan soldiers who are often victimised by a lot of this, the afghan people while all of these people were making lots of money to the top and we just turn a blind eye

to it. we cannot claim that we did not know this was going to happen, that it was happening and we bear the burden of the responsibility for what's taking place right now. fire what's taking place right now. are there any prospects for a cease—fire? i there any prospects for a cease-fire?— there any prospects for a cease-fire? ~' , ,., cease-fire? i think there is some prospects. _ cease-fire? i think there is some prospects. i'm — cease-fire? i think there is some prospects, i'm not— cease-fire? i think there is some prospects, i'm not hopeless - cease-fire? i think there is some prospects, i'm not hopeless yet. | prospects, i'm not hopeless yet. isis, when they took a wrote large portions of iraq did not expect to have the more success, did not realise that the security forces would collapse the way they did and the problem is that they can go and take terrain but they are not staffed or even capable of administering a large city like kunduz for example. they are not quite a bill to hold onto these instantly not going to be able to administer like they're going to take over territory so i think you will find some of these are transient. it's going to give the people a chance, but for the afghan

soldiers fighting they have got to have some leadership that's going to stand up that they can trust. and so far we have not seen a lot of that. thank you so much forjoining us. let's take a look at some of the stories in the headlines in the uk. the institute for fiscal studies has warned that the number of patients on nhs waiting lists in england could easily exceed the government's estimate of 13—million by autumn next year. the department of health says, it's giving the nhs a billion pounds to start clearing waiting lists. the health secretary sajid javid has asked the competition watchdog to investigate the market for pcr travel tests. mrjavid said he wanted to ensure consumers did not face "unnecessarily high costs", acknowledging that the cost of the tests can act as a barrier to travel, particularly for families. scotland's health secretary has warned that coronavirus cases will rise as a result of monday's

easing of restrictions. humza yousaf said people should remember the pandemic "is not over". from 9 august, social distancing will be dropped in most settings and children under 12 will no longer have to wear masks. nightclubs will also be allowed to reopen. still to come a bit later in the programme: we'll have the latest on the fires ravaging across greece. but first. to tokyo — where after two weeks of gruelling competition the olympics has come to an end. the us finished on top of the medal tally ahead of china and japan, the host nation having their best ever performance at an olympic games. and the closing ceremony was an upbeat celebration of all aspects of japanese culture culminating in all the athletes thanking the people of japan for hosting the games in the midst of a pandemic. although there were no fans inside the olympic stadium, those outside were treated to a grand fireworks display. now to reflect on the legacy

of the games, here's our tokyo correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes. if you tried to get to the olympic stadium tonight, this is what you were met with. hundreds of police blocking alleyways ordering people to move along. even the closing fireworks lasted just 15 seconds. but if the authorities were trying to prevent the large gathering spot took place during the opening ceremony, then they failed. out of the park, the sport loving family have spent much of the last two weeks glued to the television but even for them watching games on television has not been unmitigated joy. translation: iwanted to go and watch. - it is totally different to watch on television then actually been there.

translation: it is almost - like the olympics was taking place in the mother country. you can only watch it on television. the last couple of weeks have been a tale of 200 cities. there is the one behind the fence where there has been this amazing sport and tremendous success forjapan and then moves to tokyo outside where most of the time would not even have noticed that the olympics has been happening and the same contrast is true for the pandemic. inside the fence, daily testing meant things were kept under control but outside, the pandemic is now out of control. critics say the olympics has set up to other resources leaving the city without enough covid testing kits or vaccinations. it has left a scar on the japanese society, meaning people - are divided and above all, _ the games left the economy attacked if you look at numbers in tokyo,

it isjust increasing. _ there is no doubt that the record—breaking haul of medals forjapan has bought realjoy to the host nation, as the roadshow leaves town, the olympic host city has been left facing a medical crisis. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, tokyo. if you want to look back at any of the best moments from the closing ceremony and the last two weeks then remember you can head to the bbc news website, bbc.com/news and follow the links through to our full coverage of the olympics and of course of the upcoming paralympics which starts on tuesday august 2a hundreds more people have been forced to leave their homes in parts of greece, as wildfires continue to blaze out of control. the country's most intense heatwave in 30 years has made woodland tinder dry, creating perfect conditions, for the fires to burn. the region north of athens, and evia, greece's second—largest island,

are among the worst affected areas. ferries are helping evacuate residents and holidaymakers. our europe correspondent, bethany bell, has sent us this report from evia. exodus from evia. there are long queues at the port. people are waiting to get on ferries to the mainland. holiday—makers and some locals are leaving, after villages and parts of the north of the island were evacuated. chris, who works on evia as a singer, says the wildfires are spreading and the authorities aren't doing enough. the most people see that we don't have any help until yesterday and they could save everybody and it wasn't true. the people don't know where to go. the big problem is that we feel that they let us burn.

this is what they're fleeing from. wildfires have been blazing out of control for almost a week now. siren wails houses and forests have been destroyed. this village is being evacuated. as thick orange smoke fills the air, people wait nervously for the ferry to depart. it's like the scene of an apocalyptic movie definitely because there's no sky, the sun is red. it's quite scary. it's time to leave. the fires are getting closer and closer to this village. just a few miles from here there are bright blue skies but here, the air is full of smoke and ash and it's making it harder for people to breathe. no—one knows if this village will be spared. it's now up to the gods

of the winds and the weather. bethany bell, bbc news, evia. if you want to get in touch with me i'm on twitter — @bbckarishma you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme... capturing the pain and beauty of the olympics one frame at a time — we hearfrom three photographers who were there. the question was whether we wanted to save our people and japanese as well and win the war, or whether we wanted to take a chance on being able to win the war by killing all our young men. the invasion began at two o'clock this morning. mr bush, like most other people, was clearly caught by surprise.

we call for the immediate i and unconditional withdrawal of all iraqi forces. 100 years old and still full of vigour, vitality100 years old and still full of vigour, vitality and enjoyment of life. no other king or queen in british history has lived so long, and the queen mother is said to be quietly very pleased indeed that she's achieved this landmark anniversary. this is a pivotal moment for the church as an international movement. the question now is whether the american vote will lead to a split in the anglican community. this is newsday on the bbc. in singapore. our headlines the afghan taliban say they have seized three more provincial capitals in the course of one day

including the strategically important city of kunduz. wildfires are continuing to burn on the greek island of evia. dozens of villages have been evacuated and ferries are on standby to bring more people to safety. the latest changes to the uk's covid travel restrictions have come into force. mexico is now on the "red" list, with arrivals to britain having to stay in a government—approved hotel for 10 days isolation at their own expense. seven countries including germany have been added to the "green" list, and there are now no restrictions for travellers who've been double jabbed, arriving from france. here's our business correspondent, katy austin. just off the eurostar from paris to london and for passengers who've had both jabs, there's now no need to isolate. we were expecting to quarantine, so with having the kids it's a very nice surprise that we don't have to. the first time they've seen their grandparents in france for the last 18 months.

we were able to come back today and not have to quarantine, that's pretty great, yeah. yeah, it makes a huge difference. it definitely enables us - to travel a bit more, yeah. desperate for any boost after the crippling effect of more than a year of restrictions, travel and tourism businesses are hoping for a flurry of last—minute holiday bookings. this campsite in the west of france used to fill up with british visitors. it's still very quiet but the owners say wednesday's announcement has helped. we're starting to pick up a lot more bookings. there just seems to be a general feeling of a bit more confidence. and relief that they can actually come out. brittany ferries has seen a surge in reservations but still only hopes to carry 500,000 passengers this year — less than a quarter of pre—pandemic levels. season �*21 will be worse than the season of �*20 for brittany ferries. so i guess it's more than welcome,

this announcement, it's good news but it comes in a year where at the end of the day for us, everything is about �*22 and making �*22 a real normal year. the changes which have come in today are subject to a review in three weeks. the transport secretary has argued this provides some certainty for passengers. there are concerns, though, in the travel industry that covid testing requirements are still putting people off and some businesses think it's too late to save their summer. katy austin, bbc news. the argentine footballer lionel messi has made a tearful farewell to barcelona, the spanish club hejoined at the age of 13. messi has been at barcelona for more than 20 years, helping them win 3a trophies — including ten spanish and four uefa champions league titles. barcelona said it was letting him go because it could not afford to pay his wages. the 34—year—old did not say what he planned to do next,

but acknowledged that a move to paris saint—germain was a possibility. he also expressed his deep affection for the club where he'd spent so much of his life. translation: many beautiful things happened to me here, bad too, - but all this helped me to grow, improve and made me the person i am today. we've had very good moments, bad ones too, but the affection of the people has been constant — i always felt it, the recognition, the love. i felt it towards them, too, and the club, and will do all my life, i hope. i'm joined now by kieran canning, football correspondent for afp. great to have you on the programme this morning. it really looks like

messi is going. hugely emotional scenes there, the club have they done all they can to keep him? it’s done all they can to keep him? it's been done all they can to keep him? it�*s been known for sometime that are very significant in actual peril and that news has gotten worse and worse since the president admitting yesterday that they had lost nearly half of billion euros in the last season alone. we saw from the reaction this morning that this is a guy that really did not want to leave barcelona but the state of the club meant that keeping him on anything close to a salary that he has been on for several years was just financially impossible. what a heartbreaking departure of growth for the player and fans outside today and it's really a seminal moment that one of the best players

of all time would spend his entire career at one club and now having to move on. . , ., ., ~ move on. certainly looks like the moment of— move on. certainly looks like the moment of emotion _ move on. certainly looks like the| moment of emotion overwhelmed move on. certainly looks like the - moment of emotion overwhelmed him as we can see on our screens there. where is he going to go next, and whoever it is that picks them up will they be able to afford him? it is going to go to paris st. germain. the answers the question of whether they can afford him, they obviously are backed by a very wealthy qatari owners. the issue with that might be trying to comply with financial fairplay rules but they certainly have the finances to allow him to join up with neymar, a former team—mate from barcelona and one of the most exciting reunions. almost recreating what he had a barcelona a few years ago with neymar and

suarez. that seems to be where he is going and already discussions have taken place between the messi camp and paris st. germain edges seems a question of time of what will be announced that he is heading to paris. ., ~' , ., announced that he is heading to paris. . ~ i. announced that he is heading to paris. . ~ . ., announced that he is heading to paris. . . ., ., paris. thank you so much for “oining us on this momentous * paris. thank you so much for “oining us on this momentous point _ paris. thank you so much forjoining us on this momentous point in - us on this momentous point in football history. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines... virtually the entire population of wuhan, the chinese city where the pandemic first started, is said to have been tested after the delta variant of coronavirus was detected there. the authorities say more than 11 million people have undergone testing since tuesday, after seven cases of the delta variant were found in the community. a huge wildfire in the north of california is now the second largest in the state's history. five people are missing after the dixie fire swept through two towns and forced the evacuation of thousands. and over in peru, firefighters are struggling to put out fires burning in the south

of the country. before we go — let's go back to tokyo. we're used to seeing spectacular pictures of world class athletes at the olympics — but what we don't see is how much work it takes to capture the photos of them. bbc news has spoken to three sports photographers about their favourite shots so far. what makes a great sports photograph? it's gotta be impactful, it could be in—your—face action shots, celebrations, emotion, dejection. subtleties, details. artistic compositions. the beauty about sports photography is it can take on so many different forms. my name's lawrence griffiths. i'm chief photographer in the uk of sport with getty images and this is my third summer games. i look at life as a photographer. you know, as soon as i'm walking into a place, i'm analysing what i've got, you know, i'm looking at the way the light is, i'm looking — you know, i walk into a venue and i'm assessing backgrounds,

i'm assessing angles. obviously lady luck does play a part, but if you want to get those perfect moments, you have to get the perfect spot and, laughs, you have to get there early. three hours, four hours before, to sit in that spot. you know, if you leave it, someone willjump in it. i think a lot of people think you just turn up, i had a brilliant position at opening ceremony — bang opposite the cauldron. i was able to take in all the fireworks and all the razzmatazz. but i was particularly pleased with this — as the cauldron opened and naomi osaka turned round, she's just got this, like, little cheeky look on her face and she's looking up at the torch and it was just a really, sort of, nice moment. i mean, simone biles is right up there with the greatest athletes of all time. you know, i've photographed her a lot through previous olympics and world championships and when she is in full flow, she is a sporting perfection, absolutely incredible to photograph as well.

perhaps these games have, you know, we're seeing a different side to her. she's holding the chalk, you know, the chalk for the rest of the team and she's pulling her mask off and looking a bit sad and vulnerable, and i think that picture really tells that story of that day for me. historically down the years when people look back on the tokyo games, that was in the middle of that pandemic and there were no spectators there. as sport photographers, we want to turn around and say look, you know, the picture that sits in history is something you've ta ken. so with the olympics in tokyo all wrapped up it's time to look ahead to the next games, the 2024 olympics in paris. well the next host city has been celebrating — with a spectacularjet plane fly over, while athletes and sports fans

gathered near the eifell tower as they get excited for their turn to host the games in just 3 years time. good evening. once again, there's been some pretty intense showers and thunderstorms around today. but there is some slightly better news in the forecast for the week ahead. fewer showers around, a little bit more sunshine and for some of you, after a rather cool spell, it will start to turn a bit warmer too. to get there, we need to get rid of this area of low pressure and it's still with us into the night and into tomorrow. still some showers around, a little weather system pushing across southern counties of england and south wales. so, some wetter weather here to take us through the night and the showers keep going across parts of scotland, england and northern ireland and also into orkney and shetland. in between those areas with clear skies, temperatures could drop into the single figures for one or two spots, particularly across the highlands. but most double figures, if not early teen temperatures to start monday morning. a bit of a damp start to east anglia and the southeast and those outbreaks of rain will clear away but showers get going

across the south. and once again, cluster of low pressure further north. showers and thunderstorms will blossom and become more numerous through the day and the worst of those most likely to be across the eastern half of scotland, temperatures though in the sunshine should actually start to feel a bit more pleasant. a few more places above 20 degrees. monday evening sees the showers and thunderstorms continue for a time and they do start to fade and that's because low pressures is on the move, pushing towards scandinavia and allowing this little ridge of high pressure to build in. don't get too excited, it doesn't mean it will be blue skies across the board and there will still be one or two showers around on tuesday. but, more places will be dry and your greatest chance of some heavy showers, thunderstorms likely across parts of central and northern scotland. notice with more dry weather around, light winds and temperatures start to climb close to where you want for this time of year. as you go into the midweek, the high pressure starts to build in across the southeast and a low pressure pushing in from the west and as this weather front pushes in, it brings some rain across northern ireland

and western scotland, it does help to induce a subtle airflow bringing in slightly more warmth across the eastern half of the country in particular. where we have got the best of the sunshine on wednesday, east anglia with central and eastern areas, sunshine turning hazy from the west, outbreaks of rain for northern ireland and spreading into western scotland, we really do need the rain in the highlands and islands, so it is on the way here. that could be welcome news for you. but in the sunshine, the south and east, we could hit 2a or 25 degrees. some of that warmth will continue across the south and east through the rest of the week into the weekend, also rain at times in the north and west but overall drier than now.

hello. this is bbc news with lukwesa burak. we'll be taking a look at tomorrow mornings papers in a moment. first, the headlines. after more than two weeks of thrilling sporting action — the tokyo olympic games end

with a spectacular closing ceremony. team gb end the games with 22 gold medals as jason kenny's cycling gold makes him the country's most decorated olympian. another provincial capital in afghanistan falls to the taliban as they continue to make ferocious assaults against key northern cities. thousands flee their homes in greece as forest fires burn out of control. the country faces its most intense heatwave in more than 30 years. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are parliamentary journalist tony grew, and journalist and broadcaster caroline frost.

lovely to see you both back. a