hello, welcome to bbc news, i'm rich preston. our top stories: the us announces a further $1 billion in military aid for kyiv and urges allies to provide more weapons to help ukraine battle russian forces. police searching the amazon for two missing men say they've found human remains and made an arrest. more than a million children in afghanistan are facing malnutrition, as the country struggles with an economic crisis. we hear from families desperately trying to survive. translation: i feel ashamed in front of my family that i am | so poor, i cannot afford to provide good food. my sons are really thin because

they are not eating well. the us central bank announces the biggest rise in us interest rates in nearly 30 years to combat surging inflation. and spain, southern france, and parts of italy swelter through an extreme heatwave. authorities are warning of water shortages. hello and welcome to the programmable to have you with us. new us aid for ukraine worth a billion dollars has been announced by president biden. it includes additional artillery and coastal defence weapons, as well as ammunition for artillery and advanced rocket systems. new pledges came from nato members who met in brussels, the us defence secretary said he will move heaven and earth to ensure ukraine gets the weapons it needs to combat russia's invasion. here's a little of what lloyd austin had to say. we can't afford to let up, and we can't lose steam.

the stakes are too high. ukraine is facing a pivotal moment on the battlefield. and we're seeing what president zelensky warned us about. after failing to take kyiv and reassessing its combat aims, russia has shifted its focus to the donbas. and we can't underestimate the challenge that ukraine faces. our defence correspondent jonathan beale has been given rare access to the us military base in germany, where they're co—ordinating supplies of military aid. western weapons have been arriving in ukraine and are being used to deadly effect. more recently, they've been sending more heavy equipment... ..artillery guns like this, but ukraine says it's still not enough.

and they're vastly outgunned by russia. but from this us military base in stuttgart, germany, western nations are working hard to keep the weapons flowing. and the us commander of this highly sensitive operation insists ukraine is getting what it needs. we are giving the ukrainians what they need. we're co—ordinating with them daily. we have a liaison officer here, it's a three—star general, that sets their priorities, shares it with us and our allies in our daily co—ordination sessions. and we're able to adjust very rapidly in the donations that are provided across the allies. so, you don't think ukraine's going to run out of weapons and ammunition? we're going to make sure they don't run out of weapons and ammunition. from this austere building, they're working round—the—clock to prevent russia from winning this war.

the attic of this barracks behind me has now become the nerve centre, the hub for co—ordinating western weapons supplies to ukraine. we've been told we can't film inside for security reasons, but inside, there are military personnel from 26 countries trying to ensure ukraine gets the ammunition and the weapons it needs. this has become a lifeline for ukraine. these are the first photos from inside cleared by the us military. so far, dozens of soldiers from dozens of countries have already helped deliver 66,000 tonnes of military equipment to ukraine worth nearly $8 billion. and they believe it's just the start. here, they're preparing for a very long war. it's not going to be months. well, how long is it going to be? i think we'll be here for a number of years. they're already preparing to send in american and british multiple rocket launchers.

they say once they arrive at secret locations in eastern europe, weapons can get to the front line within 48 hours. ukraine still says it's not enough, but the message from stuttgart is that it's keeping them in the fight. jonathan beale, bbc news, patch barracks, stuttgart. retired majorjohn spencer is one of the world's leading urban warfare experts and chair of urban warfare studies with the madison policy forum. he's in colorado springs. major spencer, thank you for being with us. you are recently back from ukraine. what were military leaders there saying to you? military leaders there saying to ou? , ., to you? the number one thing they said _ to you? the number one thing they said to — to you? the number one thing they said to me _ to you? the number one thing they said to me although - to you? the number one thing they said to me although not i they said to me although not affiliated was we need artillery, we need it now. talk to us in a _ artillery, we need it now. talk to us in a bit _ artillery, we need it now. talk to us in a bit more _ artillery, we need it now. talk to us in a bit more detail- to us in a bit more detail about this $1 billion of aid. what that would do to the ukrainian defences on the front

line? 50 ukrainian defences on the front line? �* , ukrainian defences on the front line? f ., ukrainian defences on the front line? �*, ., ., "f line? so it's a great day. $1 billion is _ line? so it's a great day. $1 billion is not _ line? so it's a great day. $1 billion is not a _ line? so it's a great day. $1 billion is not a small - line? so it's a great day. $1| billion is not a small amount and it includes drawdown for things in the us military that can be headed to the ukrainian through their channel of networks, and new purchases of things like radios and nightvision goggles. clearly there is a need on the front line for this. unfortunately the ukrainians are extremely outnumbered and outgunned in this fight in eastern donbas. frankly, i think that there will be lessons in our speed of delivery of this arsenal of democracy. even the ukrainian say they are losing 100 soldiers a day, killed, and you could fully estimate 300 witted per day. it's not a good situation. this is a good day and this is a huge announcement and this is a huge announcement and 50 nations came together today to make promises. but this stuff needs to be bad two

months ago, to be honest. you say ukrainian — months ago, to be honest. you say ukrainian troops _ months ago, to be honest. you say ukrainian troops are outnumbered and outgunned, is $1 billion enough? tile. outnumbered and outgunned, is $1 billion enough?— $1 billion enough? no, it's not enou:h. $1 billion enough? no, it's not enough- i— $1 billion enough? no, it's not enough. ithink— $1 billion enough? no, it's not enough. i think it's _ $1 billion enough? no, it's not enough. i think it's enough - enough. i think it's enough when ukraine says, 0k enough. i think it's enough when ukraine says, ok i have so much that i can't field it. i don't have enough people to field it. although, people say they will get what they need, clearly, they are pleading, the president every day, they are not getting it fast enough, and they don't have enough of it. there are have enough rockets, they don't have enough artillery. is this enough? no, absolutely not. this is a major deal, is a huge increase to their capability? absolutely. but i'm not going to be happy until they can't use, they have so much stuff they can't use it. ., �* ., , it. you're an expert in urban warfare- _ it. you're an expert in urban warfare. much _ it. you're an expert in urban warfare. much of— it. you're an expert in urban warfare. much of the - it. you're an expert in urban warfare. much of the focus i it. you're an expert in urbanl warfare. much of the focus of fighting in the east is in towns like severodonetsk. what are the challenges for ukrainian forces fighting in these kinds of environments? the challenges still are being

outgunned. even in the urban terrain, although it does help protect forces that are manoeuvring, even in severodonetsk the shelling is almost as applicable as mariupol. although in severodonetsk there is an underground. this is a very close fight of forces while being barrages with artillery on a daily, hourly, minute by minute basis. we on a daily, hourly, minute by minute basis.— on a daily, hourly, minute by minute basis. we will leave it there. retired _ minute basis. we will leave it there. retired major - minute basis. we will leave it there. retired majorjohn - there. retired majorjohn spencer, thank you for being with us. let's get some of the day's other news. the uk government says its disappointed the european union is launching legal action in response to its plans to change the post—brexit trading arrangements for northern ireland. the european commission said the measures announced on monday were "illegal" and there was no justification for them. a second ethics adviser to the british prime minister has tendered his resignation, in a move that has taken downing street by surprise. christopher geidt said he felt it was the right thing to do.

he has previously said he thought there were legitimate questions over whether borisjohnson had broken the ministerial code. the man accused of shooting dead ten people last month in the us city of buffalo has been charged with multiple hate crimes. payton gendron, a suspected white supremacist, is the first person in new york state to face charges of domestic terrorism motivated by hate. the government of el salvador has dismissed ongoing worries about its public finances after economists raised further concern about its adoption of bitcoin. a crash in cryptocurrencies has affected investors worldwide, with tokens such as bitcoin losing billions of dollars' worth in value. a civil law suit brought by brigitte macron, the wife of the french president, has begun, in which she accuses two people of spreading rumours that she is a transgender woman. the fake news story was spread on social media last year. mrs macron says that as a victim of cyber—harassment,

she wanted to speak out and set an example. police in brazil searching for the bodies of two men, a britishjournalist dom phillips and a brazilian expert on indigenous people, bruno pereira, have found some human remains. police said a suspect has confessed to killing the two men and he apparently led detectives to the place where the bodies were found. 0ur south america correspondent katy watson reports from manaus. it was a hastily organised press conference after another day of rumours and the authorities confirmed that human remains were found. they said the first suspect arrested confessed to killing the man and agreed to take the search teams to the location where they were buried. it was three kilometres from the riverbanks in thickjungle. they used

helicopters, sniffer dogs and divers to access the area. the authorities say now the identification process begins. identifying the human remains and that will take a few days. they say they can't confirm 100% without that forensic identification. it's worth saying it was a lineup for of aunt authors patting themselves on the back for a joint upsurge operation. this is of course after a lot of criticising that they didn't mobilise fast enough. 0ne they didn't mobilise fast enough. one of the glaring omissions was there was no—one there representing the indigenous community but it was the indigenous community who started the search well before authorities and even pointed out and lead some of the authorities to the area where they found some of the two men's belongings. they greater themselves when it was pointed out by the bbc that in fact the addition of communities did help the search operation. the

wife of dom phillips has said that although they are still awaiting divinity of confirmation, the tragic outcome put an end to be anguish of not knowing the men's whereabouts was up now we can bring them home and say goodbye with love. today we also begin our quest for justice. i think that is the issue that so many people are asking, how this happened in a very remote area where there is such an absence of that state. certainly, there will be a lot of investigations as well for the motive as to why the two men were killed. 0ur south america correspondence in manaus for us there. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: record temperatures as spain, southern france, and parts of italy swelter through an extreme heatwave. there was a bomb in the city centre. a code word known to be one used by the ira was given. army bomb experts were examining a suspect van when there was a huge explosion.

the south african parliament has destroyed the foundation of apartheid by abolishing the population registration act which, for 40 years, forcibly classified each citizen according to race. just a day old and the royal baby is tonight sleeping in his cot at home. | early this evening, the new prince was taken by his mother and fatherl to their apartments . in kensington palace. germany's parliament, the bundestag, has voted by a narrow majority to move the seat of government from bonn to berlin. berliners celebrated into the night, but the decision was greeted with shock in bonn. the real focus of attention today was valentina tereshkova, the world's first woman cosmonaut. what do you think of - the russian woman in space? i think it's a wonderful achievement and i think we might be able to persuade the wife it would be a good idea, if i could, to get her to go up there for a little while. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines:

the us announces a further $1 billion in military aid for kyiv and urges allies to provide more weapons to help ukraine battle russian forces. more than a million children face severe malnutrition as afghanistan struggles with an economic crisis. humanitarian aid is being delivered, but there are warnings that much more help is needed. as the taliban focus on curbing the rights of women, many families have resorted to desperate measures, as our afghanistan correspondent secunder kermani reports from kabul. we're in one of afghanistan's busiest markets. there's plenty for sale, but for most families, money is tighter than ever. this stall tells you how much some are struggling. these sacks are full of stale, leftover bread, normally fed to cattle. now more people than ever are eating it themselves. translation: the better quality i bread is on the top of the bag. i when poor people come to buy,

they pick these better ones. look, this one cannot be eaten. before, five people used to buy this bread in a day. now it's more than 20 people. what does it feel like, doing this job and seeing so many people having to buy this bread? translation: i pray to god to get rid of this misery - and poverty from my country. the life of afghan people right now is like a bird which has been locked in a cage with no food or water. bread is the staple food here in afghanistan. but there's a deep economic crisis. international development funding the country relied on has largely been cut off and central bank reserves frozen by the west over concerns about the taliban's hard—line treatment of women. but its poor families like hashmadullah's who are now struggling with rising food prices. before, did you ever used to have to buy bread from here?

translation: in the past, - i used to make over $6 per day, but now i barely earn $1. i've been working since this morning, and all i can afford to buy is this bread. leftover bread is handed over by bakeries, restaurants and homes to scrap collectors like 14—year—old mohammed. but with around half the country going hungry, there's less bread, less of everything. "there's not enough work, and myjob is very hard," mohammed says. hashmadullah is making his way home after another disappointing day at the market. he's doing his best to keep his three young sons in school rather than sending them out to work. but it means surviving mainly on stale bread, softened with tomatoes and onions. you work hard for your family. how does it feeljust being able to bring this

home for them? translation: i feel ashamed in front of my family that i'm i so poor, i cannot afford to provide good food. there is nothing i can do. even if i try to borrow money, no—one will lend it to me. my sons are really thin because they're not eating well. i cannot afford meat, even once a month. 0utside kabul�*s bakeries, women wait for loaves of fresh bread to be donated. even when billions were pouring into this country, corruption, the war, meant that life here was a struggle. now the war might be over, but for many, the struggle is getting even harder. secunder kermani, bbc news, kabul. the us central bank has announced a rise in interest rates of three quarters of a percentage point. the federal reserve is trying to curb inflation which reached an annual rate of more than 8.5% last month. i spoke to nina trentmann

from the wall streetjournal and asked her why this interest rate rise was happening now. basically, because of recent inflation figures that came out of friday. 8.6 for may, which is an increase from 8.3 in april, and a similar rate to what we saw in march. i think we just saw in recent days there was this momentum building up in the markets and among market participants and also then federal reserve officials are saying, well, ok, maybe we should wait untiljuly to increase rates by that much, but we should do it now, given that the fed also faces criticism of having waited too long before it started raising rates and wound down is quantitative easing programmes that were launched in the pandemic to help the economy. and now, of course, we're seeing inflation being persistently high, influenced by various factors and the fed just trying to take action and trying to tab down inflation. practically, what does the interest rates mean for day—to—day living

for most people? i think one thing to watch will certainly be mortgage rates. mortgage rates have gone up quite significantly in recent months and so the expectation is that will continue with the rates increasing. we will also see increases in financing costs for companies, as well as increases in, sort of, interest charged for consumer loans as banks start to pass on these high interest rates to their customers, which includes consumers, corporate clients, so this is going to be of course gradual, because rates are still comparatively low after a very long time when they were near zero. so it's going to take time until they are at a low level where one would say this is now a significantly higher rate, still remember we are going to be at 1.5—1.75 for the federal funds rate, which is still, historically speaking, relatively low. but still it will show —

and consumers as well as businesses will see it. well, on that business run, it's often smaller businesses, they don't have the cushioning that larger businesses have, they tend to be affected by these things more quickly, what will happen to businesses, what will they have to do to mitigate against this? i think, as you pointed out quite rightly, i think it depends very much by who we mean by business. because the large us corporate s&p 500 and the snp 500, they have seen this coming and, of course, since the summer of last year basically started refinancing existing maturities and have pushed out any upcoming debt maturities to 2024—2025, so there is not necessarily that many companies in the investment rate space that will be impacted by this or largely impacted by this, but that's of course different if we're talking about smaller businesses and talking about companies that don't have very strong credit ratings that are below investment grade space.

here, the yorkshire cricket club and a number of individuals have been charged by the england and wales cricket board with a breach of its code of conduct. the charges surfaced after claims were made last year by the former yorkshire player azeem rafiq. 0ur sports editor dan roan reports. english cricket was on a high — yesterday's stunning victory over new zealand in the second test one of the greatest wins in the team's history. butjust 2a hours later came the latest development in the saga that's cast a shadow over the sport. yorkshire and a number of unnamed individuals charged by the ecb over allegations of racism at the county following a six—month investigation into its handling of claims made by former player azeem rafiq. in a statement, the governing body said: last year, rafiq gave harrowing testimony to mps about the racist abuse he said

he'd suffered by some of his former colleagues at yorkshire. there just seems to be an acceptance in the institution from the leaders, and no—one ever stamped it out. the whistle—blower claimed former team—mate gary ballance was among those to have used racist language toward him. ballance said he deeply regretted doing so. former yorkshire and england captain michael vaughan revealed he'd been accused of making racist comments to rafiq and other players, but has repeatedly denied the claims. today, in a statement, rafiq said he welcomed the charges, but that: last year, yorkshire, who today lost in the county championship, sparked outrage by not disciplining anyone despite rafiq being found to have suffered racial harassment. a damning parliamentary report then concluded discrimination was endemic in the sport. the absolute key thing is what actually happens to the game more generally. can we be certain there aren't

other yorkshires out there? and we need to be sure that the ecb has a game under its control which is inclusive, which means that everyone from every background can feel safe and can feel welcomed in it. having regained the lucrative international hosting rights that it lost in the wake of the scandal after governance reforms and an overhaul in leadership, yorkshire are now preparing to host a buoyant england next week here in the third test. but for both this county and the game at large, moving on from this crisis is proving no easy task. dan roan, bbc news, headingley. spain's second heatwave in less than a month is dragging on, with temperatures expected to reach a0 degrees celsius in parts of the country. the hot air is also pushing into france. as mark lobel reports. five days on, spain's searing heat wave is all the talk at the school gates. translation: there's fainting, heatstroke. _ children who are unable to pay attention in class.

translation: i have thought of taking the kids swimming l and not to school, at least this week while it's 40 degrees. but even by the pool in madrid people are being urged to take care. translation: when we have these high temperatures it's crucial- to hydrate, use sun protection, and wet your cap every half an hour. waiting tables is also becoming a challenge. translation: we try to rotate colleagues between inside - and out so that we can get a bit of time with air—conditioning, which is very nice. these temperatures are of particular concern to spain's feathery friends. translation: this early and intense heat wave, l which will be more frequent in the future due climate change, especially affects birds that are breeding and baby birds. many will die scorched or will have to jump out of the nest before they're ready to and fall to the ground. with temperatures in spain expected to ease over

the weekend, france is expecting its dose of extreme weather, where temperatures could peak above a0 celsius in the southwest between thursday and saturday. with the entire country experience a hotter than usual spell. translation: , ., spell. translation: ., ., translation: is a farming out of hot air. _ translation: is a farming out of hot air, this _ translation: is a farming out of hot air, this hot _ translation: is a farming out of hot air, this hot zone - translation: is a farming out of hot air, this hot zone in - of hot air, this hot zone in france will, on sunday, moved to central europe, italy, the alpine countries, and the south of germany will also be a fact did. ._ , ., did. in italy, officials have warned that _ did. in italy, officials have warned that a _ did. in italy, officials have warned that a lack- did. in italy, officials have warned that a lack of - did. in italy, officials have warned that a lack of rain | did. in italy, officials have i warned that a lack of rain in the north means grout light conditions will worsen. water levels in italy's longest river have fallen in some districts have fallen in some districts have been asked to suspend water distribution overnight. some fruit growers fear for their crops. as many europeans are now forced to cope with this heatwave that has been described as an invisible and underestimated social burden. mark lobel, bbc news.

that is it from us finau. thanks for watching and we will see you next time. bye—bye. —— for now. well, we're certainly turning up the heat over the next couple of days. for southern parts of the uk, this is going to be a short—lived heat wave. and this is the peak — by friday, london and the southeast up to around 33—34 celsius. look at the average — so we're significantly higher compared to what we would normally see this time of the year. not unprecedented — the record is actually a little above 35 celsius. so we're not beating any records, but it's not that far away, if you think about it. now, this is what's happening on the satellite picture. here's the heat coming in from the south. we've got cooler air in the north atlantic — that cooler air

will eventually win, i think by the time we get to saturday into sunday, things will start cooling off and storms will come our way as well, but not in the short term. this is what it looks like thursday morning — clear skies across england and wales, a bit more cloud in the northwest here with these atlantic weather systems just brushing the northwest of the british isles, and bits and pieces of rain. some of the showers could turn a little heavy in the western isles, perhaps the north of northern ireland through the day. there's another weather front heading our way, but that's to come thursday night. but look at the temperatures — 28 in london, widely mid—20s into yorkshire, for example. we could actually hit 30 celsius on thursday. now, here's a reminder of the pollen levels — if you've been struggling with your nose and itchy eyes, the pollen levels are very high. and also, its worth mentioning the uv levels — we are approaching the longest day of the year, the sun's high in the sky. you know, make sure you're very careful if you're out for any lengthy period of time in that sunshine. so, here's a look at the weather for friday. this will actually be the peak of the heat — so these south—southwesterly winds draw up that hot air from the south, 33—34 celsius, all the hot air coming in from france. the northwest of the country, much fresher here —

this is that cooler atlantic air already starting to spread in. 17 celsius in glasgow. and this is what happens during the course of saturday — so that cooler atlantic air wrapping around this low pressure spreads across the country, here's the cold front. the heat is pushed to the south, back into france, and we get into this area of storminess. so come the weekend, whether you like it or not, after a hot and sunny friday, it's all going to go "bang".

this is bbc news, the headlines: the united states has announced a new package of military aid to ukraine worth $1 billion, and urged allies to provide more weapons to help kyiv. the aid includes artillery, ammunition and advanced rocket systems. new pledges have also come from nato members meeting in brussels. police in brazil, searching for the bodies of two men, a britishjournalist dom phillips and a brazilian expert on indigenous people, bruno pereira, have found human remains. detectives in the city of manaus, in the amazon, said a suspect has confessed to killing the two men. the us central bank has announced its biggest rise in interest rates since 1994. the three—quarters of a percentage point increase is an attempt by the federal

reserve to combat surging inflation.