welcome to bbc news — i'm david eades. our top stories: political upheaval in israel — the coalition government falls apart, the prime minister stands down and yet another election is looming. the united nations is accused of covering up, abuse and corruption within its ranks — former un members tell the bbc they were bullied for speaking out. he attacks me in the elevator, he comes at me all of a sudden. i pleaded with him to let me go but he was being very insistent and he was pulling my arm. colombia's largest active guerilla group says it's prepared to take part in peace talks with the new president — and former rebel —

gustavo petro. also, crazy about cannabis as thailand legalises marijuana we report on a boom in weed—related businesses. and the russian journalist dmitry muratov auctions his nobel peace prize medal for more than $100 million, with all the proceeds going to help children displaced by the war in ukraine. five general elections inside four years — that is where israel is heading as the current prime minister, naftali bennett is to step down from his post, dissolve parliament — and trigger yet another election.

in the meantime, the current foreign minister, yair lapid, who was due to share the prime ministerial post with mr bennet, will take temporary charge. mr bennett has been in thejob forjust over a year and has struggled to stabilise his increasingly fragile governing coalition. translation: i held a series of talks with officials and i realised that in 10 days, with the expiration of the west bank regulations, israel will experience serious security damages and legal chaos. we spared no efforts to galvanise whoever was needed to pass the regulations, but our efforts bore no fruit. therefore my friend foreign minister yair lapid and i decided to act together to dissolve parliament and set an agreed—upon date for elections.

we can now speak to dan arbell who's scholar—in—residence at the center for israeli studies at the american university. he is also a 25 year veteran of the israeli foreign service and previously served as deputy chief of mission at the embassy of israel in washington d.c. thank you very much indeed for joining us. i guess anyone or anything but netanyahu only lasts for so long then. absolutely. it was a year in which this government did a lot of good things but it faced internal challenges and at this point it couldn't go on any longer, they were managing an impossible situation and i think that yair lapid and bennett did the right thing in seizing the bull by the horns and rather dictating what is going to happen next rather than being dictated and you are right, the anti— netanyahu camp cannot gojust on right, the anti— netanyahu camp cannot go just on being anti— netanyahu but this election, 15 3.5 years, will also, you won't be surprised to hear, also

focus on the anti— netanyahu versus pro— netanyahu camps. how much of a difference might make that yair lapid takes the reins for a few months. they say week is a long time in politics, he has three or four months. ~ , , months. absolutely, it will allow him _ months. absolutely, it will allow him to _ months. absolutely, it will allow him to establish - allow him to establish credibility, legitimacy, people will see him as a legitimate candidate for prime minister and i think it will only be a good thing for him, and an advantage as he goes into the selection. it will present him as the opposite candidate to mr netanyahu, heading the look at and right religious lock salt will be an interesting competition see where this is heading. i competition see where this is headina. , , �*, competition see where this is headina. , �*, ., competition see where this is headin. �*, ., ., heading. i suppose it's fair to say legitimacy _ heading. i suppose it's fair to say legitimacy for _ heading. i suppose it's fair to say legitimacy for any - say legitimacy for any government depends to a degree on how many people come out and vote. as you pointed out, this is going to be the fifth election in the space of some

3.5 years. i imagine it's getting harder to expect israelis to turn out again and again for a general election. people are frustrated, israelis are frustrated with the cost of living, with housing, prices which are skyrocketing, with inflation, withjust which are skyrocketing, with inflation, with just security issues, but voter turnout in israel has been relatively high compared to other western democracies. and i believe that people will go out and vote and actually going back to your previous question, the fact that yair lapid will head this new centre—left lot, this anti— netanyahu block, i believe it will draw more voters out to vote and also i think that more arab voters will be coming out to vote because they saw that they can make an impact, something that they haven't been doing for many years until this last round of elections. but you still think there is an opportunity for something more stable, more long lasting off

the back of yet another election. that is the problem, isn't it? it's finding a way to create enough ballast to sustain a government. you are riuht. sustain a government. you are right- the — sustain a government. you are right. the bigger _ sustain a government. you are right. the bigger picture - sustain a government. you are right. the bigger picture is, . right. the bigger picture is, as you were saying, israel is going through a constitutional or political crisis with no end in sight. the fact is that the block has recently at and it shows that no—one has a clear majority. will these elections be able to break this cycle and bring to a coalition with a more solid majority? it's an open question. we may see this fifth election inconclusively, sixth election, seventh election. so it's really an open question, at this point it's too early to answer that. we have a few months to complemented nonetheless. sexual abuse, fraud and high level corruption

in the united nations — those are the allegations being made by several former staff members, who also claim they faced cover—ups, harrassment and bullying when they complained about alleged wrongdoing in the organisation. some of the allegations, made to the bbc, relate to a former assistant secretary general. they have led to the un's former executive on sexual harrassment to call for an external panel to investigate. sima kotecha has the story. the un says it aims to promote peace, dignity and equality on a healthy planet but now several allegations have been made about the organisation, including that a former senior member of staff sexually harassed two women. martina worked as a senior adviser to un aides. in 2015, she was in thailand, attending a work event. dr luis loures, former un assistant secretary—general, was also there. as part of leaving

the work meeting and going down the same elevator, he attacks me in the elevator. he comes at me all of a sudden. i pleaded with him to stop, let me go and so, but he was being very insistent and he was pulling my arm and i was...i had to block myself with the elevator door to be able to stay in the elevator, because i was afraid. in 2018, mr loures retired from the un. he says he has never harassed or assaulted anyone. the un says: the un has protected legal status. senior members of staff have diplomatic immunity from national laws everywhere. and no—one working for the un can be questioned or arrested without the un removing

their immunity. alleged corruption, fraud, and management turning a blind eye when confronted with problems are what some of the whistleblowers have told the bbc about. now the woman who used to be in charge of tackling sexual harassment at the un says there needs to be an investigation. a group of people external to united nations, who don't have an investment and a job on it and so on can sit and pull together a lot of the things that have been said, a lot of the things that have been criticised about how the un works and so on, pull that together as sort of an investigation of what's wrong and put together a really time—limited, focused set of actions that will make change. in response to this allegation, the un said:

all of this has raised questions about whether the un should be allowed to handle complaints internally, something which it currently does. sima kotecha, bbc news. colombia's last recognisable guerilla group, the eln, has said it's willing to resume peace talks with the government once the new president, gustavo petro, takes office in august. mr petro — himself a former rebel — has become the country's first left—wing leader after winning sunday's presidential election. 0ur south america correspondent katy watson reports from bogota. this is the new face of colombia. a former rebel turned president. and beside him, a woman born into poverty who will now be the country's

first ever black vice—president. the victory of gustavo petro and francia marquez marks a new chapter in the politics of this deeply conservative country. the celebration, testament to the fact that colombians were keen to move on from its past and vote for a new future. for former leftist guerrilla alexa, the shots she takes now come from a camera, not from a gun. she left the mountains of colombia five years ago when the farc signed a peace deal with the government. photography is now her weapon for change. translation: it's assumed that farc laying down his arms meantj peace for the country, but that's not the case. it was the first step towards peace, socialjustice and no hunger. of course i, would prefer to vote for someone who would

allow me to eat and give me more guarantees to study and those guarantees will allow me not to back to armed struggle. but there are lots of people disagree. there is a fear of the past and fear of the future with a president like gustavo petro and that's why nearly half of colombia's voters chose this man, rodolfo hernandez, a colombian trump and a tiktok king, going viral with videos like this. i asked supporter julieta what she made of that video. "he was unique," she says, "a breath of fresh air. "we aren't like venezuela but that is our fear, "that we become like that," says julieta. she is scared the economy is going to take a dive under the new president. these elections reveal the deep dissatisfaction amongst colombians across the board with traditional politics.

both candidates offered something new but, in the end, the candidate who won offered a more appealing solution to the gaping inequalities in this country. what's happened here is expected to strike a chord with voters across south america. next up are brazil's elections in october — could leftist former president lula unseat far—rightjair bolsonaro in a similar way? katy watson, bbc news in bogota. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: no exaggerated fish tales here — we'll tell you about the largest freshwater fish ever to be caught that's just been found in cambodia.

members of the neo—nazi resistance movement stormed the world trade centre, armed with pistols and shotguns. we believe that, according to international law, that we have a right to claim certain parts of this country as ourland. i take pride in the words "ich bin ein berliner". cheering as the uk woke up to the news that it is to exit the european union, leave campaigners began celebrating. in total, 17.4 million people voted for the uk to leave the eu. the medical research council has now advised the government that the great increase in lung cancer is due mainly to smoking tobacco. it was closing time for checkpoint charlie which, for 29 years, has stood on the border as a mark of allied determination to defend the city.

this is bbc news. with me, david eades. the latest headlines: political upheaval in israel — the coalition government falls apart, the prime minister stands down and yet another election is looming. the united nations is accused of covering up abuse and corruption within its ranks — former un members tell the bbc they were bullied for speaking out. first cycling then swimming, is it now the turn of track and field to ban transgender women from elite female competition? the president of world athletics, sebastian coe, has hinted that the sport could take that route following the announcement by fina, which is swimming's world governing body fina, that it will bar trans athletes if they have gone through any part of the process of male puberty. lord coe said his priority was inclusion and fairness. if it is a judgement between inclusion and fairness, we will always fall down on the side of fairness. that for me, is absolutely —

it is non—negotiable, and the integrity of the women's sport and the integrity of women's sport is really, really important here and we can't have a generation of young girls thinking there is not a future for them in the sport, so, we have a responsibility. a decision to be taken by world athletics and we are waiting to hear from athletics and we are waiting to hearfrom fifa athletics and we are waiting to hear from fifa as well. dr anna baeth, director of research at athlete ally, an lgbtq athletic advocacy organisation based in the us, said she was incredibly disappointed that the ruling was affecting other sports. on sunday fina voted to severely restrict trans women, and notably women with intersex variations, from participating in elite swimming competitions and that decision was based primarily on the testosterone levels in the blood. i think i can speakfor many folks in the movement, that we are shocked

that this policy, with such little scientific rigour and transparency could be passed at this level and to hear that it is clearly affecting other sports is incredibly disappointing and disheartening... but they do say, and indeed we've heard from sebastian coe there, and we've also have cycling, they have decision they've got to have to take somewhere here, and they have to take into account the upset caused among many women athletes who feel that they are being undermined. mm, absolutely, but when we look at the issues that are facing women in sport, transgender women are really at the bottom of the list. i am a gender scholar and will i say that primarily the bigger issues that we see facing women in sport are a lack of policies that protect them broadly, a lack of media attention, a lack of funding

and really, a lack of sponsorship. so, there are many arguably biggerfish to fry when it comes to gender equity and stuff... i understand that but all those issues are other issues, aren't they, and some will say, they are being addressed, whether adequately or not, they are being addressed in different fora and situations. on this particular point, do you accept that governing bodies have got to make a ruling somewhere, if they are to keep this vast pool of female athletes in their sports happy that this is a fair and level playing field? absolutely. i think decisions need to be made, but when we make decisions, we need to make them in ways that are logical, transparent and actually follow the science. would you be afraid now that it is going to be very difficult to turn this around to a position you might want when you see

this rash of sports taking a similar move? not necessarily. the ioc in 2021 already passed guidelines on transgender athletes that actually removed blanket statements about testosterone. i believe that once the science emerges that really talks about testosterone, talks about the effects it has on athleticism — and let's note that testosterone does not mean athletic advantage — we will have better policies. dr anna baeth. swimming's world governing body fina voted on sunday to stop this year, thailand has seen a striking turnaround in its laws on illegal drugs. until recently the kingdom's harsh penalties would see hundreds of foreigners locked up on long sentences. but now the government has completely legalised the use of marijuana, released thousands of prisoners, and, as our south east asia correspondent jonathan head reports, sparked off a boom in weed—related businesses.

a cannabis craze is sweeping thailand. see how beautiful it is? this is the country's health minister. the architect of what is now the most liberal marijuana regimes anywhere in the world. being cheered by enthusiastic locals who hope that this green gold will bring them new wealth. it is an astonishing turnaround for a country that still has some of the toughest punishmentsfor drug use. we want to destigmatize these products from being a narcotic. people, when they have access to this cannabis industry, they will not go to the dark side. they will only focus on how to make a better living. already, cannabis is being offered in a mind—blowing variety of forms. the official view is that this should all be for medical or therapeutic purposes. that's what the government

is promoting to tourists. they want people coming to thailand to get well, not high. in practice, though, the new law makes pretty much anything from the marijuana plant — however potent — legal. translation: | am| happy, really happy. now villagers like us can grow it legally. we no longer have to hide. even what is perhaps thailand's most famous product — its cooking — has been caught up in the craze. it's actually an old tradition here of putting marijuana into quite a few recipes, including the dishes in front of me here, which the government would like to tap into, as it pursues its goal of turning thailand into a marijuana hub. but can it do that without an explosion in recreational use? something the government doesn't want to happen. many doubt that it can. so what happens in here, nan?

we are mostly focusing on cbd flower strains, so... nan chidchob is a marijuana enthusiast. super exciting. today is such a big win, i think, for all stoners in thailand. she's also the daughter of a powerful local politician who's backing cannabis cultivation in this poor, rural region of thailand. nan plans to help local farmers with her know—how. she's not convinced that the government's focus on medical use is realistic. we all know from studying, like, other markets, recreational is where the money is at. so i think this is a good step towards that if we are really thinking of this as an actual economic crop. even though the government says it strictly for medical purposes, it's not for recreational. it's not for recreational? i hope that they see the potential, like the economics of it, and hopefully that will aid

with the legalisation of, like, recreational use. this really feels like a new age for thailand. just a month ago, possessing this much marijuana might have got you 15 years in jail. today, anyone can cash in on the weed bonanza. and with just a few restrictions, enjoy consuming it too. jonathan head, bbc news, thailand. the russian journalist and nobel peace laureate, dmitry muratov, has auctioned his nobel medal forjust over $103 million. he has said all the money will go to help refugees from the war in ukraine. mr muratov was the editor of novaya gazeta, a russian independendent newspaper that suspended its work this year when the russian government declared it a crime to contradict the kremlin�*s official position on ukraine. mr muratov spoke to bidders before the auction began.

translation: we hope that this will serve as an example - for other people, like a flash mob, for other people to auction their valuable possessions, their heirlooms, to help ukrainian refugees around the world. and before we go, here's the amazing story of villagers living in cambodia who have caught what's thought to be the heaviest freshwater fish ever seen. emily brown reports. the biggest freshwater fish ever documented, caught in the mekong river in cambodia. this is a 300 kilogram stingray. that's heavier than a male grizzly bear. its discovery is welcome news to biologists. so this is very exciting, it's very exciting news, because it was the world's largest fish. it's also very exciting news, because it means that this stretch of the mekong is still healthy.

we hear a lot of stories about all the problems with the mekong river, but this is actually a sign of hope, that these huge fish still live in the mekong. the mekong river is rich in biodiversity, but overfishing and pollution have threatened its fragile ecosystem. the giant freshwater fish was found by a local fisherman, who called researchers to say he had caught a very big stingray. that stingray had turned out to be just under four metres long, and more than two metres wide. after being fitted with an acoustic tag, to track its movement, the endangered species was released back into the river. giant freshwater stingray, they haven't been well studied, we know almost nothing about them, so this is a real opportunity to learn more. biologists say this discovery provides hope for the natural world, and suggests many of the largest aquatic creatures are yet to be studied.

emily brown, bbc news. absolutely massive. we have more on that on our website. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @ bbc david eades thank you for watching. hello. tuesday promises a long day ahead, quite literally, the longest day of the year. it is the summer solstice, and for shetland, we're looking at close to a whopping 19 hours of daylight. i can't promise you 19 hours of sunshine here, however, because there is a weather front that's closing in on northern scotland, and that will mean more cloud around, maybe even some rain through tuesday, although it should brighten across scotland later in the day. quite grey initially, though, with some drizzly rain. by the afternoon, i anticipate skies should brightening, especially in the east, but we could see some isolated showers breaking out. for the clearest of the skies and the best of the sunshine, england and wales will be the place to be, and here, the top temperatures returning to the mid 20s. cooler for aberdeen,

as we see that weather front slide south. pollen levels come down somewhat across scotland, in response to the weather front being in place, but still remain very high across england, wales and northern ireland. tuesday evening, some more fine weather around, and more sunshine until quite late into the evening, of course, and then, as darkness falls, clear skies continue across england and wales, a little bit more in the way of patchy cloud in scotland and northern ireland. overnight lows typically in double figures, somewhere between the 10—12 degree mark. for wednesday into thursday, we've still got high pressure trying to push across the uk — this little ridge from the west, so actually quite a lot of fine weather to come for both wednesday and thursday, and no really dramatic changes in our weather story — perhaps more sunshine though across central and eastern scotland, if anything, and northern ireland on wednesday and here, we should see temperatures responding to that and pushing back up into the low 20s. still cooler, though, for the northwest of scotland with more cloud here. but look at england and wales —

28 degrees, actually seeing some significant heat returning, through wednesday, and i think thursday's picture will be very similar indeed for england and wales. the chance of a few showers closing into the south coast, spilling up from the continent, but they should be few and far between. for scotland and northern ireland, perhaps a little more cloud around, but temperatures up to 20 in belfast and aberdeen. it's the end of the week, though, when it looks like things will start to turn more unsettled, and on into the weekend, showers becoming more widespread, the wind picking up and the temperatures sliding down.

this is bbc news, the headlines: israel is to hold its fifth election in three years after the prime minister, naftali bennett, said he would step down from his post and dissolve parliament next week. the current foreign minister, yair lapid, will take over until the vote, which is expected to take place in october. the united nations has been accused of covering up abuse and corruption within its ranks. senior staff at the un have diplomatic immunity from national laws, and all complaints are handled internally. but the organisation's management has been accused of ignoring alleged wrongdoing. colombia's last recognisable guerrilla group, the eln, has said it's willing to resume peace talks with the government once the new president,

gustavo petro, takes office in august. mr petro — himself a former rebel — has become