welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: borisjohnson fights to survive as the uk's prime minister, as two senior ministers resign from his cabinet in quick succession. rishi sunak is no longer chancellor — saying borisjohnson isn't competent or serious — while sajid javid —— saying the public expected the government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously. sajid javid resigns from the department of health — questioning the prime minister's integrity. we'll bring you news of their replacements, as the prime minister shows no sign of considering his own position.

also in the programme: marched at gunpoint towards an execution — we have the inside story of a russian atrocity in ukraine from the survivor who played dead. another 50,000 people told to evacuate their homes in sydney — the australian city has had eight months of rain in just four days. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. it's 7am in the morning in singapore and midnight in london, where borisjohnson�*s premiership looks at its most perilous yet, with the resignation of two of his most senior ministers. the chancellor of the exchequer, rishi sunak, and the health secretary, sajid javid, quit within a few minutes of each other, saying they could no longer serve under the prime minister and that the public expected the government to be "conducted properly, competently and seriously". it follows the unravelling of the official account

of what the prime minister knew about the case of chris pincher, the former minister accused of sexual misconduct. mrjohnson�*s given no hint he's considering his own position, with downing street announcing he's appointed nadim zahawi as the new chancellor and steve barclay as health secretary. we start our coverage of the day's tumultuous events with this report from our political editor chris mason. are we good? not according to the man on the right. sitting next to the prime minister this morning, the then—chancellor rishi sunak. a penny for his thoughts. we didn't need to wait long. in a letter to borisjohnson this evening, mr sunak said... you heard that right — the man who was chancellor until teatime saying

the government is none of these things. and he went further — policy, too. moments earlier, the health secretary, sajid javid, had also walked. good evening. i'm just going to go and spend some time with my family. thank you for coming. he left his resignation letter to do the talking, writing... no word from the prime minister tonight, but there is still fulsome praise to be found from some. i am fully supportive of the prime minister.

i think that he is the right man for thejob, he has a very significant mandate from the british people, a majority of 80 onlyjust over two and a half years ago. and these sort of things happen in politics, but the best politicians carry on calmly. so how did we get here? let's rewind to this morning and that cabinet meeting. just look at theirfaces. they've just heard what you're about to hear — the former top civil servant at the foreign office saying downing street hadn't been telling the truth. they need to come clean. i think that the language is ambiguous, the sort of telling the truth and crossing your fingers at the same time and hoping that people are not too forensic in their subsequent questioning, and i think that is not working. here's why he was so angry — the handling of the appointment and resignation of this man, chris pincher, who until last week was deputy chief whip, until he stood down after allegations he denies that he groped two men.

since then, there's been a constantly changing story about what the prime minister knew and when. on friday, borisjohnson�*s official spokesman told us the prime minister was not aware of specific allegations about mr pincher before his appointment as the deputy chief whip in february. the spokesman added... by yesterday, downing street had changed theirtune, saying... by this morning, lord mcdonald was categoric... —— lord mcdonald was categoric...

before the cabinet resignations, borisjohnson invited me in for a hastily arranged interview. do you accept it was a grave error to appoint chris pincher to your government? yes, i think it was a mistake, and i apologise for it. i think, in hindsight, it was the wrong thing to do. i apologise to everybody who's been badly affected by it. your spokesman said you were not aware of a specific allegation. on sunday, a cabinet minister sent out to interview — "i've been informed this morning he" — you — "didn't know about a specific allegation," but you did. you're saying that now. yesterday, another minister, he had been given a categoric assurance you weren't aware of a specific allegation. day after day after day, people speaking on your behalf were talking rubbish. well, i don't know... i was, i'm afraid, focusing on other things at the time, but what i'm telling you now is my recollection of events. and my recollection is that there was one complaint that was raised

with me specifically. there was other rumour and innuendo, but there was one particular thing that was raised and that was... which you'd forgotten about? well, it was a long time ago. mr pincher has denied the allegations against him. the man who one day wants to move into number 10 himself sees his opponent in peril. this government is collapsing. and the tory cabinet members have been backing boris johnson through this. the tory party is corrupted, and we need notjust a change at the top of the tory party, we need a change of government. what do you say to the person listening to our conversation who simply says, "look, i can't trust "the prime minister any more, he's just telling "the prime minister any more, he's just not telling "the truth"? i'm giving you the absolute truth as far as i can remember

about what happened. can people trust you? of course they can. and i'm telling you... after all this? i'm telling you exactly what happened and i'm coming out to explain it because i'm fed up with people, if i may say so, chris, saying things on my behalf... these are people you employ. ..or trying to say things about what i knew or didn't know, and i'm trying to explain to you exactly what happened as i remember it. truth, integrity, and this man's future as our prime minister, a very uncertain future. chris mason, bbc news, westminster. a very uncertain future indeed. those resignations — though sudden — are the culmination of months of chaos in borisjohnson�*s government and continuing questions about standards of trust and integrity in 10 downing street. 0ur deputy political editor vicki young reports on the crisis so far and what's likely to happen next. hi, sorry. how are you? he was the toast of the conservative party, winning a clear election

victory that should have made governing easy. but tonight, borisjohnson�*s team is falling apart and many colleagues say he only has himself to blame. of course, he hasn't been helped by unexpected events. a pandemic meant very difficult decisions that no leader would expect to make. but a successful vaccine programme did give mrjohnson plenty to boast about. but soon, the lawbreaking parties in downing street, including a fine for the prime minister, appalled many voters, and accusations that he lied about what he knew has been the last straw for dozens of tory mps. there will be very difficult decisions to be taken about tax and so on, and if you can't trust the motivation behind those decisions, because you feel that they're being taken in order to shore up this mp's support or that mp's support, ijust don't think that is a sustainable way of running a government. any other leader would have resigned by now.

but despite the growing opposition on his own side, mrjohnson hasn't resigned. the vote in favour of having confidence in borisjohnson as leader was 211 votes and the vote against was 148 votes. in fact, he called that a new mandate from his mps. there are signs, though, that previous conservative voters don't quite see it like that. this is what the people of tiverton and honiton have said. huge by—election defeats at the hands of the liberal democrats have made tory mps nervous. thank you very much. mrjohnson even lost his adviser on ethics and standards. a few months ago, mrjohnson promised that a new team in number 10 would sort things out, but then came a chaotic response to allegations about chris pincher — ministers sent out to deliver lines that kept changing. those who know mrjohnson say his leadership style has caused many of the problems.

his own peculiar, distinctive unusual way of doing business, which is to proceed by impulse and intuition. and if you're in there and you're an adviser or a minister, you're with a guy who says he's given you a decision but then may well change his mind. have you been honest, prime minister? - some colleagues don't think mrjohnson will ever resign, but no—one�*s ruling out another scandal if he stays. vicki young, bbc news, westminster. i'm joined now from london byjames cusick, a former politicial correspondent for the independent and independent on sunday and an editor at opendemocracy. it is great to get you on the programme, james, and such a shocking turn of events and just the last few hours. do you think borisjohnson can hold on? i think boris johnson can hold on? ~ ~ . , think boris johnson can hold on? ~ 4' ., on? ithink, like any leader, boris johnson _ on? ithink, like any leader, boris johnson probably - on? ithink, like any leader, l boris johnson probably things he borisjohnson probably things

he can tough it out. johnson, he can tough it out. johnson, he probably made a calculation that the holidays are a mere two days away and if you can just keep behind the barricades in downing street long enough, it isjob done. i think if he thinks that is all there is, his reputation for getting the big decisions right is delusional, may be more delusional, may be more delusional than i thought. james, it is notjust rishi sunak, though, is it? and sajid javid? we have been out of some —— bim afolami, the tory vice chair, who resigned on television, andrew murrison... what signal does this send for the leadership? figs what signal does this send for the leadership?— the leadership? as soon the resignation of _ the leadership? as soon the resignation of javid and - the leadership? as soon the i resignation of javid and sunak resignation ofjavid and sunak happened to my phone was inundated with people saying,

"keep an eye open, there is going to be a synonymy of resignations, including big names." that is at the moment, a trickle. the vice chair of the party, sure, solicitor general has gone, and i suspect this will get longer and longer, it may be one or two more big names, but it needs to be bigger than that. i think it needs to be something that gets the message through to boris johnson that, although he says he's going on and although he has a core group of ministers around him who will echo that message, it needs to be something that... it needs to be as much an operation big dog is anything that we have seen so far to keep him there, so if the party away from johnson are not united, then this chance will go, and i'm not sure what that happens — does he survive

the summer, does he survive till whenever?— the summer, does he survive till whenever? right. james, i 'ust till whenever? right. james, i just want to — till whenever? right. james, i just want to ask _ till whenever? right. james, i just want to ask you _ till whenever? right. james, i just want to ask you about - till whenever? right. james, i just want to ask you about the new appointments, because sadly we're running out of time. it took four hours to appoint a new chancellor. you think that is? ~ ., ., is? like anybody in a negotiation - is? like anybody in a negotiation who - is? like anybody in a negotiation who was| is? like anybody in a. negotiation who was a is? like anybody in a - negotiation who was a weak hand, you have to go with that... if the prime minister wanted nadhim zahawi, he needed to get him on his terms, so i think that was the case. it was the prime minister listening to who wanted the prizes and handing them out. that would again be repeated, repeated, repeated. he is in no position to dictate anything at the moment. to dictate anything at the moment-— to dictate anything at the moment. , ., , , ., ~ moment. james cusick, thank you for “oininu moment. james cusick, thank you forjoining us— moment. james cusick, thank you forjoining us on _ moment. james cusick, thank you forjoining us on the _ forjoining us on the programme. as you'd imagine, that story is the top story on the bbc news website, where you'll find a live page with all the latest

developments as they happen and reaction as it comes in — do keep across that on bbc news online or the bbc news app. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: another 50,000 people told to evacuate their homes in sydney — the australian city has had eight months of rain injust four days. central london has been rocked by a series of terrorist attacks. police say there have been many casualties and there is growing speculation that al-qaeda was responsible. germany will be the host of the 2006 football world cup. they pipped the favourite, south africa, by a single vote. in south africa, the possibility of losing hadn't even been contemplated, and celebration parties were cancelled. a man entered the palace through a downstairs window and made his way to

the queen's private bedroom. then he asked her for a cigarette and — on the pretext of arranging for some to be brought — summoned a footman on duty, who took the man away. one child, one teacher, one book and one pen i can change the world. education is the only solution. applause this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. 0ur headlines: borisjohnson fights to survive as the uk's prime minister, as two senior ministers resign from his cabinet in quick succession. rishi sunak is no longer chancellor, while sajid javid resigns from the department of health —

questioning the prime minister's integrity. to ukraine now, where it's been nearly five months since russian forces carried out one of the worst atrocities of their so—called special military operation. eight unarmed men were shot in a mass execution in the suburb of bucha outside kyiv in early march. but one man played dead. our special correspondent fergal keane has met him. a warning — you may find this report distressing. in ukrainian, it means the place of the apple trees — yablu nska. to the world, it's become synonymous with cruelty. it happened here at 144 yablunska street, a nondescript office building, but a crime that defined a new age of atrocity in europe. this is the story of families shattered by a massacre. and of a man, meant to be dead, but who lived to bear witness. distant explosion

it begins in the opening days of the war, when men on yablunska street joined the territorial defence. they were fathers, sons, brothers, neighbours. anatolyjoined up to protect his home and family. translation: | just started. getting warm clothes for him. at that time, i felt there was nothing i could say to stop him. but by march 4th, the russians were combing bucha, searching for men of the territorial defence. anatoly and eight others were by now hiding here, at 31 yablunska street. by the following morning, the russians had encircled the hiding place. translation: on the 4th,

at 10am, he sent me - a message saying, "we're still sitting tight." that was his last message. this is what happened next. cctv recorded the moments just after the men were captured. this image, obtained by the bbc, shows them being led towards the russian base at 144 yablunska street. a neighbourfilmed the next moments through his window. the men can be seen being lined up in front of a wall. lucy moskalenko was a witness and was disturbed by the words of a russian officer. he told us, "don't look at those people "lying on the ground.

"they are not humans. "they are absolute dirt. "dirt. "they are not human. "they are beasts." it is through the extraordinary testimony of one man that we know what happened next. ivan skyba, a father of four, was never meant to survive his ordeal. translation: the conversation went like this - _ "what should we do with him?" the second russian says, "finish him off, butjust "take them away so that they won't be lying here." the men were led around the corner to a quiet courtyard. translation: we realised that we were being led - to execution and we simply said goodbye to each other, and that was it. then the shooting started.

ivan was hit. but the bullet passed through his side, causing only a small wound. he pretended to be dead. translation: iwas lying there, not breathing. - it was cold outside. breath was steaming up from my mouth, so i didn't breathe. i didn't move. and at the same time, i was expecting a shot. that was the most terrifying thing. they were telling jokes to each other. that is, they were in a jolly good mood. ivan lay among the dead until the soldiers eventually left. he dragged himself over a fence and escaped. but the dead are close in memory, for this haunted survivor, and for theirfamilies.

every day, 0lya prykhidko takes flowers and two cups of coffee — one for her, one for him — to her husband's grave. translation: my younger daughter keeps saying, - " pa pa is near. "papa can see everything. "papa can hear everything." the older one, she gets distracted. like a child, plays. but then she remembers and starts crying. do you talk to him still, yourself? translation: yes, of course. all the time. when no—one can hear me, i call him by his name. in this grief, the crimes of war will echo for generations. fergal keane, bbc news,

yablunska street. let's turn to australia now, where around 50,000 people have been told to leave their homes in the country's largest city, sydney, as river levels continue to rise following days of torrential rain. parts of the city have received about eight months of rain in just four days. roads have been cut off, many buildings are submerged, and thousands have been left without power. 0ur correspondent shaimaa khalil has this report. in some parts of windsor, roads have turned into small rivers. a once—in—a—century weather event has now happened twice just this year. melissa and herfamily have been without power for nearly 24 hours. now they've been told to evacuate. this time, because the water is over the road now, yeah, i'm a little bit worried, but, yeah.

and soon as the power cut off yesterday as well, that was, yeah, had to go because we had no power. some residents in this neighborhood have been rescued by the emergency services and others have evacuated. some are waiting in their homes, praying that they don't get stuck and that the water doesn't rise even further. the thing you keep hearing time and time again is how exhausting it's all been for them. 0ne local told me that facing one catastrophic flood is hard enough, but having to deal with three or four in less than two years is just devastating. linda has been helping people here for years. she herself has had to evacuate the night before, and tells me she's never seen floods this bad. the community's still recovering from the last flood and the one before. actually, some people are still recovering from the fires. you know, we're just all in shock and everybody is traumatised. the wet weather has been relentless, and with many roads cut off, authorities have

urged people to heed evacuation warnings. experts say the flooding emergency has been worsened by climate change and el nino weather phenomenon. it'll take months, if not years, for communities here to rebuild. and in the back of everyone's mind is the fear of when they'll have to go through this again. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, sydney. you have been watching newsday on the bbc. a reminder of our main story for you, and boris johnson's premiership looks at his most perilous yet with the vaccination of two of his most senior ministers, the chancellor of the exchequer rishi sunak and the health secretary sajid javid could within a few minutes of each other, saying they could no longer serve under the prime minister and that the public expected the governments to be conducted competently. there is

more to come on bbc news and more to come on bbc news and more on the website, so stay tuned to that. thanks for watching. hello. we have some warmer weather to come for the uk in the days ahead, notably warmer for england and wales. it was a pretty chilly start to tuesday. it's going to be a much milder start to wednesday. we start as we mean to go on. we've sourced our air around an area of high pressure all the way from close to the azores. so through the night, we're actually going to be pulling in mild air all the while on a northwesterly breeze behind a warm weather front. and that weather front will bring some quite heavy rain for a time for scotland and then some quite persistent but lighter rain sets in across western scotland for the day on wednesday, perhapsjust fringing into northernmost england as well. northern ireland hopefully brightening up as the day goes on.

best of the sunshine will be across england and wales, but 20 degrees in aberdeen is up on the highs that we saw earlier in the week, and i think we'll see 24, maybe 25 in the southeast of england. very high levels of pollen still across some parts of england and wales, with the cloud and rain at much lower levels for northern and western scotland. it looks like we'll continue with uninterrupted play for wednesday at wimbledon. here, again, temperatures up a little on those earlier in the week. thursday looks like it will offer up another fine day as well. lighter winds on thursday. it's going to be pretty windy wednesday across scotland. we'll have a little bit of a northerly breeze down the east coast. that takes the temperature down for norwich on thursday, but notice there, 25 in cardiff, 26 in london, that warmth building in the sunshine across england and wales. scotland and northern ireland always losing out to those higher temperatures thanks to thicker cloud. could be quite grey and gloomy around some of the coasts and across the hills. some rain for western scotland on friday. but still we're seeing some of that warmth just pushing up towards belfast, edinburgh and aberdeen,

but the really high temperatures, the significantly above average temperatures, always likely to be further south across england and wales, even on into the weekend. we will see fronts continuing to push towards scotland and northern ireland, so the cloudier skies here, the slightly breezier weather story, some patchy rain, possibly, across western scotland, but temperatures still not too far off the market, actually, for this time of year. the average is the low 20s. butjust take a look how they soar in response to the sunshine, the light winds across england and wales. i think on sunday, we could see somewhere in eastern england nudging close to 30 degrees.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour as newsday continues straight after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. rugby at the grassroots or elite level should be a joyful celebration of athletic prowess. but there is no joy in learning that rugby may be doing irreparable damage to some of the players on the pitch. that may be the case too in other high impact sports

like american football.