this is bbc news — i'm geeta guru—murthy — with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world... from the heart of the european project — an offer to kyiv. eu officials formally recommend ukraine be made a candidate member. on a suprise visit to kyiv — britain's borisjohnson announces a military training programme that he says could change the war. russia strikes a defiant note — president putin accuses western powers of provoking humanitarian catastrophes around the world. queues, caps and cancelled flights — we'll look at some of the problems facing passengers during the peak summer period. and — who will be the next host of eurovision? the uk's in talks over the singing spectacular — but ukraine plans to appeal.

in what is the fastest decision in eu history for ukraine this has been a long time ambition, and president zelensky was quick to react — hailing it see how it would benefit kyiv. for ukraine this has been a long time ambition, and president zelensky was quick to react — hailing it as an �*historic�* moment — which will bring �*victory�* in the war against russia �*closer�*. meanwhile president putin said he was not against the idea — because the eu wasn't a military bloc — but couldn't see how it would benefit kyiv. here is commission president ursula von der leyen speaking in brussels. we all know that ukrainians

are ready to die for the european perspective. we want them to live with us the european dream. let's look at where ukraine is in its eu application. the application has broadly three phases. phase one is the application to become a candidate for eu membership. ukraine submitted their application in march. first they need the european commission to recommend them — which they did today. then the application needs to be approved by european council and parliament. phase two is where it gets more complicated. ukraine must meet three conditions to join the eu. they must have stable and democratic institutions. they must be a functioning market economy. and they must implement eu law. this is a lengthy process, as eu law applies to a huge variety of areas, from taxation to transport policy. that's why this phase of the application can take several years. once ukraine is seen to meet all these conditions, they submit a final application — known as a treaty of accession — which will need to pass a vote in the council,

the european parliament, and be approved by all 27 member states. thomas de waal is a senior fellow at the carnegie europe think tank. he explains what hurdles ukraine will face before realistically being able to join the eu. let's not forget that there are actually four balkan countries ahead of ukraine in the queue and they've been there for more than ten years. i think the last enlargement country was croatia back in 2004, if i got that right. it took almost ten years. even a more sophisticated country like croatia, there's a political tide. there's an economic site about the market economy, and there's a massive administrative and technical side, converging with all standards. ukraine was far behind on the second and third and is falling further because if the economy is taking a devastating...

by the war, which is why president macron and the leader of the european council have been talking in the last month about some kind of transitional status being offered perhaps to these out tear countries. the british prime minister, borisjohnson, has arrived in kyiv on his second visit in a show of support for ukraine in the war against russia. he met president zelensky to discuss the uk's support and announce a major training programme for ukrainian forces. boris johnson earlier tweeted to say it was "good to be back" in the ukrainian capital. our correspondent nick beake was there when borisjohnson arived. well, the prime minister was in this very spot just a few moments ago. here in kyiv, he was given an extremely warm welcome. he was

standing alongside president zelensky who said that the support he had shown that britain had shown, boris johnson had shown was unparalleled. borisjohnson, unparalleled. boris johnson, the leader who unparalleled. borisjohnson, the leader who took his country out of the european union and the vladimir my zelensky wants his country, ukraine, tojoin, and ukraine has actually got a big boost now at the european commission saying it approves the idea of ukraine starting on the idea of ukraine starting on the very long path, probably to follow eu membership. of course, borisjohnson visit comes 2a hours after the leaders of france, germany, italy and romania every year on a similar sort of visits, and the ukrainians say that they are barely grateful for that sort of show of strength, this support, the political strength that shows in the face of letterman putin's aggression. but if you talk to them privately, what they really want in this hour of need, as they describe it, our heavy weapons coming from the west. they want them to come here much quicker because

they remain in this really brutal battle with russia. heavy fighting is continuing in the east of ukraine, and the war is taking a terrible toll. hundreds of ukrainian troops and civilians are being killed or injured every day, mainly as a result of russian shelling. ukraine's medical services are under enormous pressure, and one british surgeon, david nott, who has decades of experience treating war injuries, has been on the front line helping to train ukrainian doctors. our correspondent wyre davies has sent this report. the other thing to do is to look at the light, look up here. at a hospital in eastern ukraine, well within range of russian rockets, british surgeon david nott calmly carries out a complicated skin graft, saving the leg of a woman who suffered catastrophic injuries in a russian shelling. now we need to bandage... but such difficult surgery is beyond many less experienced doctors. patients were put in the posterolateral position and the chest opened.

so this was the wrong treatment. nott has been in ukraine not just operating, but passing on his depth of knowledge and experience. and you would cut it in a longitudinal axis... his foundation runs courses in war zones from syria to yemen to south sudan, and now the war in ukraine. i know what it's like to be under fire, i know what it's like to be in an operating theatre which is being shelled. you are trying to do your best to try and save the life of the patient in front of you but here, what we can do here is we can train, i think we've trained 70 surgeons in six days and they have seen exactly what to do. some of those here are front line doctors. where was this? momentarily back from the fighting where ukraine is losing too many soldiers. others are civilian medics learning new skills because their hospitals are full of people with new kinds of injuries. it's a horrible situation when you see the young guys

with mangled extremities, with shrapnel wounds, with amputation. it'sjust disaster. the big draw might be david nott, but the star of the show is heston, a lifelike medical dummy with 50 separate surgical procedures replicating complicated war wounds. costing tens of thousands of pounds, it is unique, part of a system that allows nott and his team to teach life—saving skills. travelling across ukraine, it is tiring work for these veteran war surgeons. their last destination — the front line city of kharkiv, battered by russian shelling, with thousands of casualties being treated by overstretched local doctors. i wanted to bring the teaching to them, i wanted them to really understand why you should do these sorts of operations, how you can do them and if you do them properly, you will get a good result. most rewarding for dr nott —

medics here putting complex techniques learned on his course into practice. now you do it. in this case, david handing control of a limb—saving operation to the ukrainian surgeon. it might be more front of class than front line these days for david nott, but it's the quickest way of passing on his breadth of skills to surgeons here who need them most. wyre davies, bbc news, kharkiv. russia's president, vladimir putin, has accused the us and the eu of provoking humanitarian catastrophes around the world. he defended his decision to invade ukraine and dismissed suggestions that it had anything to do with causing globalfood shortages. he's been speaking at an economic forum in st petersburg. translation: i reiterate, these are fundamental, i truly revolutionary and inexorable changes. it would be a mistake to think that during these tumultuous changes you can simply sit it

out, biding your time, that everything is going to get back to the circus, that everything is going to be as it was. it won't, and yet it seems as if the ruling elites of certain western countries are labouring under precisely these very illusions, choosing to ignore the obvious, persistently clinging to the ghosts of the past. in particular they think that the domination of the west in global politics and economics is a constant, but nothing is pre—emptory. nothing is eternal. vitaly shevchenko from bbc monitoring says vladmir putin was trying to send a message when he said russia was entering a new era as a "powerful sovereign nation." it was a message of defiance and denial. clearly, president putin's objective is to present russia, or turn russia, into a major force in the international arena, because when he came to power more than 20 years ago, russia was weakened after the collapse of the soviet union.

and looking back at president putin's career, it seems as though his key objective, his ambition, was to make it respected, feared internationally, and what he said just now i think is meant to highlight the fact that he's confident in achieving that objective. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. china's navy has launched its third aircraft carrier and the first entirely designed and built in the country. the 80,000—tonne fujian is almost as big as the largest us carrier. new technology will help it to quickly launch planes from its deck. although it's likely to be some years before the vessel enters service, the launch is symbolic of china's rapid military advance. the sri lankan government has asked staff in nonessential

services to work from home and schools to switch to online lessons for two weeks. the country has been struggling to import fuel as it has run out of foreign currency reserves. hundreds of petrol stations have run dry and public transport has been severely disrupted. thailand is doing away with pre—registration and prior proof of covid vaccination for foreign visitors from the start ofjuly. the wearing of facemasks in public will also become voluntary. thailand's important tourism sector has complained that restrictions for foreign visitors have impeded its recovery from the pandemic. police in brazil have confirmed that one of the two bodies found in the remote amazon rainforest is that of the missing british journalist dom phillips. a second body, believed to be that of indigenous expert bruno pereira, is still under analysis. two suspects have been arrested for the murder, but police believe more people were involved.

according to the police, they identified the remains of don phillips, as he mentioned there, they still haven't identified the remains of perera. —— dom. they are still waiting to find the location of the boat that was sunk by the suspect, despite having co—ordinates for it, they have still failed to locate it. the police also said they don't believe there was any higher organisation, criminal organisation, criminal organisation involved in this the man acted alone in terms of criminal organisations, but they are still not ruling out they are still not ruling out the involvement of other people the involvement of other people the indigenous communities, they have refuted that saying that perhaps there was no criminal organisation behind it and they are calling for more investigation. he was very known to the area. it was bruno that got the death threats and shortly before they

disappeared, dom was with bruneau, a hand and there was, he received another death threat. he was loved by many people in the community, but of course wanting to protect the indigenous communities, wanting to make sure that they have their lands protected. that did make him enemies. these both, dom and bernardoni the terrain very well. they were not novices. they were experienced journalists and experts. the two men knew what they were doing, they knew the area, and most about. the police said in a press conference a couple of days ago that the motive is under investigation and cannot be made public. but that is still ongoing. that is something that they are still going to be investigating, especially looking at the forensic analysis of the remains that were found. this is a process that could go on. i think they are still out searching for the boat, for example, there is still

concrete pieces of evidence they are trying to locate. of course, suspects and then the trial for those two men as well as potentially more people that they might arrest going forward. stay with us on bbc news. still to come, the eurovision song contest could be coming to the united kingdom, but ukraine also wants to host the competition. 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 a0 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 father to their apartment in kensington palace. germany's parliament, i the bundestag, has voted

by a narrow majority to move the seat of government - from bonn to berlin. berliners celebrated into i 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? oh, 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 news. the latest headlines — the european commission recommends that ukraine be given official candidate status in its application to join the european union. president putin says he's not against the idea, but doubts kyiv would benefit from moving closer to brussels. gatwick, britain's second busiest airport, says it will limit the number of flights across the peak summer period because of staff shortages. usually 900 flights run a day, but only 825 services will run injuly and 850 in august.

it follow similar moves by amsterdam's schiphol, which is limiting the number of travellers this summer because of huge queues there. and in the us, major airlines announced they were cutting their summer schedule. our international business correspondent theo leggett is at gatwick airport. you have to remember what the airline industry has been going through over the past couple of years since the start of the covid pandemic. for long periods, there were virtually no flights operating, certainly in europe as countries went into lockdown. now, that put operators under an enormous amount of cost pressure. here in the uk, for example, there was a period when planes were... only a limited service was able to operate, but at the same time the government's safety measures, paying furlough payments to different companies so that they could keep their staff on had come to the end, so a number of companies

decided that they were going to lay off staff. and now they're recruiting them back because the industry is recovering, but they can't recruit people back quickly enough, and it is notjust a question in this country — or in other countries — ofjust going out and getting people and them a job and starting to pay them. if you work in the aviation industry, you need things like security clearances, and those tend to take time, so the industry is trying to ramp up services. there's huge amounts of demand. people want to travel, people want to go on holiday, but the problem is within the airport the ground handling services — so, for example, baggage handling, check—in staff, people to refuel the planes, they're not there, or at least not in sufficient numbers, and that means that we're starting to see extensive delays in airports, people having to queue for long periods of time and flights having to be cancelled. so what we're seeing here at gatwick today,

and at schiphol, is an attempt to pre—empt that happening over the summer. july and august in europe are the peak months, and that's why we're cutting services now because the gamble that companies like gatwick airport are making is that you can take a bit of pain now and it saves potential chaos occurring later in the year. so that's what they're trying to do — minimise disruption by taking a hit now, but preventing lots and lots of short—term cancellations when people are trying to get away on holiday. the british home secretary, priti patel, has signed an order to extradite the wikileaks founderjulian assange to the united states. the australian is being held in a london prison in london on espionage charges. wikileaks called the decision a "dark day" for press freedom, and mr assange's wife vowed to fight it to the end. we're not at the end of the road here. we're going to fight this. we're going to use every appeal avenue, and we're going to fight. i'm going to spend every waking hourfighting forjulian until he's free, untiljustice... ..is served.

parts of europe are on heatwave alert this weekend with temperatures on the rise. it's so hot in some areas that conditions are dangerous to health. spain, which has already seen its hottest may since the beginning of this century, is sweltering under temperatures reaching as high as 43 degrees celsius. wildfires were also reported firefighters in several regions, including woodlands in catalonia. france is seeing its earliest ever hot spell according to forecasters, exacerbating a drought and raising the risk of wildfires. and here in the uk, level three heat warnings have been issued for parts of southern england on what is officially the hottest day of the year. it's not just europe. in the united states, around 120 million people are under some sort of advisory as a heat wave scorches the upper midwest and the southeast. ministers at the first world trade organization conference in five years have reached limited agreements on areas including the patents behind covid—i9 vaccines, subsidies forfishing, tariffs on e—commerce and exemptions on some food export controls for humanitarian purposes.

it was a rare triumph for the body which sets the rules for global trade and came after talks continued for 36 hours past the original deadline. our global trade correspondent dharshini david asked the director general of the world trade organization, dr ngozi okonjo—iweala, for her reaction to the outcome. i always thought maybe we could get one or two deliverables out of the five or six had on for the conference. and we got six out of seven. that's not bad. we did something that matters for people. matters for business. we did something that matters for the world's sustainability. i mean, how much more could you ask that? you always have to make compromises, don't you, when you're making these kinds of agreements between over 160 countries. so, what would you say to those who say the impact of what has been agreed may not be that meaningful, particular for the poorest and the most vulnerable on the planet?

the nature of such an organisation is that you have to compromise. the issue is does the compromise deliver for the people? even if it's not perfection, even if it's not the initial 100% what you wanted? and the answer is yes. we have manufacturers in developing countries are coming up who would like to have access to patents. would have been wonderful if we got it completely waived, but we've got access for a certain number of years. and i think that's a good beginning. so, i beg to disagree actually. it's been repeatedly set in geneva that it's india that's the main stumbling block. to what degree is that true, and how did you get around it? laughter. you know, india is a member, so i'm not going to be naming any names. i will say it was not easy, and there were some roadblocks along the way. i explained that in my opening speech. i said they would even be landmines along the way. and there were. there were some

roadblocks along the way. i'm sorry for the analogies, but sometimes it felt like that. you know, there were differences, but at the end of the day, you know, india has a charming, vigorous minister of trade. and the minister, we get along very well. so, we were able to sit down with him and with the other ministers. really could we afford to be having meeting after meeting? that doesn't result in deliverables. so, those conversations were had with groups of ministers, and, yes, it was rough. but we were able to navigate around some of the obstacles. the eurovision song contest could be held in the uk next year — after organisers confirmed that they are in talks with the bbc about hosting the 2023 song contest.

ukraine won this year's competition, and would normally host the following year — but they've been ruled out as hosts because of the ongoing war with russia and have condemned the decision. because the uk's sam ryder came second this year, the european broadcasting union are now hoping the uk can stage it instead. it would be the ninth time eurovision has organised in britain. earlier i spoke to dr pauljordan, a eurovision expert and media commentator on the eurovision song contest. he told what plans could be put in place next year year ovation is a man the planning for your ovation starts the next day, literally the next day after the country wins. he used to work on your vision as part of the team, and that early that sunday is on planning begins. when you don't know that the city is going to be safe, so it's really unfortunate, it's really sad for ukraine as well, they should host it, they coasted well and 2005 and 2017, but the

reality is theyjust can't next year. the uk have been offered the chance, let's hope they take it and uk have stepped in before, be busy have before, we have hosted it eight times. let's hope it's the ninth time, and may be scotland will host again. before we go, here's a view that could take your breath away. it's a new suspension bridge in georgia that has opened nearly 800 feet above a canyon and river below. but it's the diamond—type structure in the middle of the bridge that official hope will draw the tourists. it doubles as a viewing platform. and if that is still not enough of a thrill, there's a bicycle zipline that runs parallel to the bridge. just don't look down! although, if you are not looking down, why are you on it? ., ~ , it? that dining -like bridge structure in _ it? that dining -like bridge structure in the _ it? that dining -like bridge structure in the middle - structure in the middle apparently they are hoping will have a cafe serving coffee or something stronger for those who might be in need suspended

in mid air it like that. that's it for me tonight. more coming in the coming hours. thanks for watching. hello there. friday brought the peak of the heat that's been building over the last few days. the highest temperatures we saw across the uk were very close to 33 degrees, but look at these temperatures on friday across the south of spain, the south of france, 43—41; degrees. 35 was the top temperature in paris. that heat being scooped northwards into parts of england, wales and indeed the channel islands. in fact, jersey had its hottest june day on record. 33 degrees or very close to it across parts of east anglia, through the london area as well. whereas further north and west, with these westerly winds, we had some cooler conditions. temperatures in western scotland, for example, no higher than 16 degrees. and more and more of us are going to get into those cooler conditions as we head through saturday. we've got this frontal

system pushing southwards, a cold front, introducing that cooler air. so, these are the temperatures as we start saturday morning. 9—10 degrees for scotland, northern ireland, the far north of england. whereas further south, we're still in the grip of those warm, even hot conditions. 18 to start the morning in london. and across this south east corner, where we see spells of sunshine, it will be another hot day. across parts of the west country, wales, the midlands, east anglia, we'll see cloud bringing outbreaks of heavy, potentially thundery rain at times. to the north of that, some spells of sunshine. showers into north west scotland, maybe the odd one for northern ireland. temperatures for most of us 15—16, maybe up to 18 degrees. whereas down towards the south, highs of 27—29 once again. and with that heat, well, we could see the odd thunderstorm popping up across the south east of england as we go on into the evening, and then through the early hours of sunday, we see this heavy rain still swarming across the channel islands

and the south west of england. and again, that could produce some thunder and lightning into sunday morning. so, there certainly will be some thunderstorms rumbling around, mostlyjust to the south of us on sunday. some could just clip into southern england, but for most of us, sunday is a mainly fine day, some spells of sunshine, some areas of patchy cloud, just the odd shower in the north. but with these northerly winds, we're cutting off the supply of heat from the continent, so temperatures by this stage 14—19 degrees. it will feel significantly cooler. now, for some, those temperatures will climb again as we head through next week. a bit of rain at times, decent amount of sunshine, but it certainly won't be as hot as it has been.

this is bbc news. the headlines — the european commission has recommended that ukraine be given official candidate status in its application to join the european union. the commission's head said ukrainians were ready to die for the european perspective, but she said it was on the understanding the country still needed to make further important reforms. the british prime minister, borisjohnson, has paid a surprise second visit to kyiv to offer president zelensky a major training programme for ukrainian forces. mrjohnson pledged a uk—led operation to train up to 10,000 soldiers every four months and to supply extra equipment. in a speech to an economic forum in st petersburg, president putin described the sanctions imposed on russia as stupid and insane. he said the measures had failed to work and were impacting the west instead. he denied that russia was to blame for the current crisis.