welcome to bbc news. i'm gareth barlow. our top stories... sri lanka's president gotabaya rajapaksa will step down after protesters stormed the palace and set fire to the prime minister's house. we report from the scene in colombo. these protesters want a new beginning for sri lanka, a new political culture so that they will not face a similar economic crisis in this country. as japan grieves for the former prime minister shinzo abe, voting begins in elections for the upper house of parliament. the uk chancellor nadim zahawi has added his name to the conservative leadership contest — joining a field of eight, including sajid javid and jeremy hunt. and in the tennis, moscow—born elena rybakina

wins the women's singles title, representing kazakhastan. in the last hour, the united states has urged the sri lankan government to work quickly to address discontent in the country. discontent is putting it mildly — protesters have stormed government buildings, and the president and prime minister have pledged to step down. it's all due to to months of economic mismanagement. sri lanka is suffering rampant inflation and is struggling to import food, fuel and medicine. our correspondent anbarasan ethirajan reports from the capital, colombo. the barricades were meant to keep the protesters back, but they were no barrier

for the furious and desperate crowds, all suffering the effects of living in economic collapse. police used water cannon and fired shots in the air, but the crowds were more determined. and they kept surging forward until eventually they converged on the presidential palace and took over the home and office of the man they want to force from power. he had already escaped. in extraordinary scenes on a tumultuous day for sri lanka, the protesters then cooled off in the president's pool after all the privations in this country's crisis, clearly relishing this moment. you can just make out a four—poster bed as the crowds enjoy the inside of his home, too, and his bathroom. this was president gotabaya rajapaksa in 2020, campaigning during parliamentary elections. his family are accused by many of catastrophic economic mismanagement.

protests have been going on for weeks, but today marks a dramatic escalation. translation: we must chase them. _ they must go. it's time for us to think of the country. translation: we have children. we are on the streets, leaving ourjobs, because we believe in the cause. as the protests continue, sri lankans don't know where their president even is, though one report says he's being protected by the island country's navy. it has been announced by parliament's speaker he will step down by wednesday. and this is said to be the prime minister's private residence. it was set on fire, even though he had earlier offered to resign. after a day of chaos, fury and confusion, the anti—government protesters here, they are celebrating the announcement of the planned resignations of president gotabaya rajapaksa and prime minister ranil wickremesinghe.

and these protesters, they want a new beginning for sri lanka, a new political culture, so they will not face the similar economic crisis in this country. anbarasan ethirajan, bbc news, colombo. sri lanka has run out of foreign currency and has imposed a ban on petrol and diesel sales for private vehicles. so why is the country experiencing such turmoil? caroline hawley explains. sri lanka's best known perhaps to the world as a place of beautiful beaches. a country of 22 million people that was recovering from a vicious civil war. like everywhere else, it was hit hard by covid — but the roots of this latest crisis are far deeper than that. these are the rajapaksa brothers, who have dominated politics in sri lanka for years. gotabaya, on the right, president now for a few more days. mahinda, on the left, a former president —

until recently, prime minister in his brother's government. critics blame them directly for the country's woes. we got here because of sheer incompetence, mismanagement, and greed. and the rajapaksa family embodied that. they embodied three things that have brought sri lanka down — the first is authoritarianism, the second is corruption, and the third is ethnic chauvinism. and all of this came to a head when gotabaya rajapa ksa became president. as sri lanka's economic problems mounted and fuel prices rose, protests broke out earlier this year. ordinary people turning their fury on the government. on the 1st of april, a state of emergency was declared, but the protests went on. on 12 april, the government announced it was defaulting on its entire foreign debt after running out of money to import supplies. in may, mahinda rajapaksa resigned as prime minister and had to be rescued from his home after it was stormed by protesters.

byjune, the un was warning of a humanitarian emergency. popular anger grew as inflation hit a new record this month, leading to today's dramatic events. whatever happens next, sri lanka's new leaders will inherit the worst economic crisis since the country's independence, huge popular discontent, and all the political challenges that will bring. caroline hawley, bbc news. earlier, we spoke to human rights lawyer and activist bhavani fonseka, who was at today's protests in the capital, colombo. it's been quite the day today in sri lanka. we saw thousands of people peacefully coming out and protesting, and then, saw the shift in terms of breaching the official residence of the president and his office. but unfortunately, violence has been seen in the last few hours, as you saw, the private residence of the prime minister was torched.

and so, there remains a lot of questions and uncertainty as to what happens next. the last few months, people have been protesting for change purely because they've been really facing difficulties, in terms of getting essential items, the long queues to get fuel — i mean, it's become the norm now to see vehicles, people staying and sleeping in vehicles to get fuel, and that ranges from 3—4 days sometimes. today was quite remarkable in terms of the numbers that turned up, in a context where people don't have fuel to travel in vehicles. so, many actually walked for hours to get to the protest sites, and the numbers that turned up were quite amazing. and i mean, it was peaceful until the evening today, many were just on the streets

demanding for change. so very, very remarkable in this sense. and there was this excitement and hope that this change will transfer into something positive in sri lanka. now what happened in the evening, with the torching of the prime minister's private residence raises a lot of questions and needs to be looked into. but it raises this fundamental question whether the law and order situation is even under control. so there's multiple challenges, despite what we saw — a remarkable display of people coming out peacefully to protest. we've more on the crisis in sri lanka on our website, of course. articles include this piece on daily life in a country that's gone bankrupt. that's bbc.com/news — or bbc.co.uk/news — for all that.

voting has begun in elections forjapan�*s upper house of parliament, just two days after the assassination of the former prime minister shinzo abe. there are suggestions his murder could boost support for the governing liberal democratic party, of which mr abe was the leading statesman. campaigning was briefly halted after the attack, but resumed on saturday. a warning, this report from our correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes — contains some flashing images. the site where shinzo abe was gunned down on friday has now become a place of pilgrimage. many hundreds lined up this morning to lay flowers and pay their respects. it's an old cliche that japanese people don't show public emotion. not today. at lunchtime, the hearse carrying mr abe's body arrived at his home in tokyo. here, too, the emotion was palpable. as a stream of friends

and dignitaries came to pay their respects. outside, we met a close friend of mr abe's, a right—wing political ally. ifeel very, very... very, very sad. and a sense of loss is so great that i do not know how to overcome. it has been striking to see the continuing outpouring of grief and anger today, notjust here but from around the world. it's hard to think of another japanese politician whose death would have inspired days of national mourning in places as far away as india and brazil. there are now serious questions being asked about what happened yesterday in nara, not the least of which is the performance of mr abe's bodyguard team. this video shows how the gunmen was able to approach mr abe from behind. completely unchallenged. the team of bodyguards

are all looking the other way. the first shot missed mr abe. but the gunman has time to fire a second shot. a nervous—looking nara police chief this afternoon admitted something had gone badly wrong. "it is undeniable that there was a security problem that caused a serious result," he says. "our security measures must be immediately reviewed." that is an understatement. police today recovered a stash of home—made weapons from the suspect�*s home. but this is a country where there was just one gun fatality in the whole of last year. little wonder that on friday, the police were taken by surprise. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in tokyo. let's get some of the

day's other news... police in southern ukraine say they've opened criminal proceedings against russia's military, accusing it of deliberately destroying crops in the kherson region. they claim russian forces used incendiary shells to set crops alight, scorching patches of forest and hundreds of hectares of wheat, barley and other grains. ukraine accuses russia of weaponising food supplies, targeting or blockading supplies in areas kyiv controls, damaging agricultural infrastructure, and stealing grain in areas under occupation. moscow denies the allegations. hundreds of us abortion rights activists have gathered in washington to speak out against the supreme court decision to allow individual states to ban terminations. the demonstrators say they want to put further pressure on the us congress and presidentjoe biden to take executive action to protect abortion rights. hundreds of pro—gun demonstrators have been protesting in the brazilian

capital, brasilia, to demand further relaxations to firearms laws. president bolsonaro's son, eduardo, who's a federal deputy, told the crowd that if people were armed, criminals would think twice. staying in brazil, deforestation in its part of the amazon rainforest has hit a six—year high. an area five times the size of new york city was destroyed in the first half of the year, according to data from the national space agency. campaigners blame president jair bolsonaro for rolling back environmental protections and emboldening loggers, and others who clear the land for profit. earlier, i spoke to dr luciana gatti, a researcher at the national institute for space research in brazil, which authored the report on the scale of amazon deforestation. i asked her what drives the culling of the world's largest forest.

it's like 50 years ago, the idea for economic development was destroying the forest, sell the wood, create the cattle and sell the beef. and, more essentially, after 2003, the soybean arrived in the amazon. and today, this scenario is terrible, it's terrible. because these people have the vision that economically, this is the unique choice. but it's not! we know how the community that lives there can have economic activities without destroying the forest. but this is a very hard time in brazil where the science is not listed. we are like the enemy, you know, because we are saying that this is not the way, this is terrible for brazil and the whole world.

the consequences in destroying the forestry is major for everywhere. we are accelerating the climate change. and why is it getting so bad, though, what is the issue? why is it so much worse than it previously was? what we understood in our study was the correlation between deforestation and the carbon emissions from the amazon. when you — because the trees participate in the precipitation formation. during this process, the cool the atmosphere. then you form the precipitation, reduce the temperature,

and you remove the carbon. but if you deforest, you are reducing the trees, decrease precipitation and the temperatures, and putting more carbon in the atmosphere. it's the opposite. the amazon can work like a climate change protection — but with deforestation, she becomes a climate change accelerator. and this is a very important message that we need to strongly say everywhere. and i would like to say that economically, the whole world could help us to protect the amazon without consuming the wood that comes from the amazon, the soya bean, the beef — because the people that are deforestating are promoting this kind of economic activity there.

this is bbc news, the headlines... sri lanka's president gotabaya rajapaksa will step down after protesters stormed the palace and set fire to the prime minister's house. as japan grieves for the former prime minister shinzo abe, voting begins in elections for the upper house of parliament. here in the uk — the race to succeed borisjohnson as conservative party leader — and therefore prime minister — is getting rather crowded. eight candidates are now standing — including serving cabinet ministers nadhim zahawi and grant shapps. former cabinet ministers jeremy hunt and sajid javid are in too, and there could be even more to come — as our political correspondent jonathan blake reports. who's the best shot, so far? at the forefront of britain's response to the war in ukraine, ben wallace was seen as a strong contender for prime minister. the defence secretary's popular with conservative members, but he's taken what he said was a difficult

decision and wished the candidates good luck. the frontrunner, for now, is rishi sunak. the former chancellor says he'd "grip the moment" and be honest about the challenges ahead. he has supporters and detractors. he's got the experience, he's got the ability, he's got the vision. and i think, at this moment in time, we need to move to someone who's going to walk into number ten and take over the reins of the country, they need that level of experience and ability. unfortunately, because rishi's record is of saying he wants low taxes and then putting them up, he's now got to double down on that record during in this campaign. waiting to make an entrance, another grassroots tory favourite, the foreign secretary, liz truss, expected to enter the race soon. do you think you'll make a good prime minister? i good evening. in the mix too, the senior backbencher tom tugendhat, talking up his time in the military. i've spent 10—15 years serving our country in uniform. i've spent 6—7 years now serving our community in parliament, and i'd

like the chance to serve again because i think this country matters. among the candidates with cabinet experience, grant shapps, the transport secretary, stressing his loyalty to boris johnson, while others were plotting. nadhim zahawi, chancellor since tuesday, confirmed tonight as a contender for the topjob. and suella braverman, the attorney general, who was first to say she'd stand. less well—known, but tipped as a rising star, kemi badenoch who's taken an uncompromising stance on cultural issues. and tonight, sajid javid, whose resignation as health secretary triggered boris johnson's final demise, has confirmed he's standing, as hasjeremy hunt — beaten in the final two last time round, pitching now to win back trust. jonathan blake, bbc news. twitter and elon musk are in a standoff over his more—than—$40 billion deal to buy the social media company. the world's richest man wants to pull out of the deal, claiming he's not received

the data he asked for about the number of fake or spam accounts on the platform. but twitter�*s board says it will sue mr musk to enforce the deal. james clayton reports. in april, elon musk seemed excited — he'd had a $44 billion bid for twitter accepted. "yes," he exclaimed predictably on twitter. but a lot has happened since then. elon musk has had a very public spat with twitter�*s chief executive. twitter does have a problem with fake accounts — sometimes known as bots. what elon musk wanted to know was how many users — actual people — does twitter have? in a filing to the market regulator, he claimed the responses he'd received from twitter weren't adequate, that twitter was in breach of contract, and he was pulling out of the deal. but twitter�*s board hit back, saying mr musk couldn't pull out of the deal, and that they expected the sale to go through at the price agreed. i imagine there's some

very dramatic talks happening as we speak. but, unless something comes to fruition over the weekend, they come to some kind of terms or maybe a renegotiated price for this deal, i would imagine a lawsuit is either being drafted currently and being filed, or will be filed on monday. there has been some speculation that mr musk has an ulterior motive here. with the economy looking worse than it was, the deal was looking like an increasingly bad one for the world's richest man. whether mr musk now has to buy twitter will be decided in a us court with some very expensive lawyers — which, fortunately for him, elon musk can very much afford. james clayton, bbc news, san francisco. at wimbledon, elena rybakina has become the first player from kazakhstan to win a grand slam title. our sports presenter chetan pathak reports from wimbledon. in a year where wimbledon banned russian and belarusian players following the invasion of ukraine, it is still

a player born in moscow that's won the women's singles title. elena rybakina is not a name we were talking about as a contender at these championships before the start of this tournament — and yet, she walks off with the venus rosewater dish. she started nervously against 0ns jabeur, the world number two and third seed who, back in her homeland of tunisia, is called the minister of happiness. her rise through the game across the last 18 months has been extraordinary. she was the favourite going into this final, jabeur, she talked about how desperate she was to win this title for the people back home on the first day of eid. she gave herself the best possible start by winning the first set. but then, nerves and even fatigue started to set in, and rybakina found her powerful serve, herall—round power again, to get herself over the line. rybakina, at 23, makes history — the first kazakhstan player to win a grand slam singles title. and she gave a muted response

when she won at the end — something we've got used to seeing from her. she often talks about her poker face, but even she couldn't hide her smile when she lifted that venus rosewater dish. wimbledeon has often given us unexpected winners, especially in the women's draw. but with her all—round game, rybakina is someone we should expect to see here time and again. in the spanish capital, madrid, hundreds of thousands of people have been taking part in the annual pride march. the event had been cancelled for the previous two years because of the covid pandemic. marchers waved rainbow flags and danced to music in searing heat and several ministers from spain's left—wing coalition governmentjoined in the celebrations. homosexuality was decriminalised in spain in 1978, three years after the death of the military ruler, general franco. the country has since legalised marriage and adoption for same—sex couples.

and we've got some good news for anyone in paris who would like to relax and enjoy a beach holiday from the middle of the city. the "paris plages" project has opened up, and there's activities, plenty of food and drinks, and even some art. stephanie prentice reports. sun, sand, and seine is now on offerfor people in paris wanting a full holiday experience from the comfort of the capital's river banks. translation: there's the water, the boats, i the sun, the beach chairs, the umbrellas — everything's been calculated to give us an ambience of summer, of holidays. the annual beach installations on the river seine have opened along the first, fourth, sixth and seventh arrondissements, as well as the popular bassin de la villette's artificial lake. some good news about these resorts — the activities are all free. and even that holiday classic, the pedalo, is on offer.

and for those struggling with the cost—of—living crisis and record inflation levels, bringing a bit of riviera chic to the capital has come at the right time. it's really a privilege to be here, like, on a sunny day and at the beach. so i really think that people who are less privileged, they can enjoy it here as well as in the south of france. this year, even more watersports on offer than usual, with six pools cordoned off in the riverfor kayaking and paddle—boarding. or, for those less active, a chance to relax and enjoy a little "je ne sais quoi" in the heart of the city. stephanie prentiss, bbc news. a reminder of our top story: the speaker of sri lanka's parliament says that president gotabaya rajapaksa will step down next wednesday. it follows a day of mass protests during which mr rajapaksa's residence was seized by demonstrators, and the prime minister's

home was set on fire. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @garethbarlow. thanks for watching. hello. very little rain in this forecast — but there is heat to talk about. and in fact, as temperatures head up during sunday, parts of wales, the wider area of england, begin three consecutive days with temperatures in the mid—to—upper 20s, some spots low 30s, which will qualify it as a heat wave right underneath this area of high pressure. there will be cloud to begin with, though, misty low cloud into northern ireland, western scotland, parts of northwest england, north wales. a lot of that's going to disappear and mayjust linger around some irish sea coasts, far northwest scotland staying cloudy, in the northern isles, rain clearing away from shetland. for many, though, it'sjust a case of plenty of sunshine, mid—to—low 20s, the warmest parts of northern ireland through eastern scotland, mid—to—high 20s, much of wales and england, 30 in southeast england, somewhat cooling sea breezes around the coasts. it's going to be a hot

one on centre court — and notjust wimbledon players and spectators will need to protect against the strong sunshine with high, or indeed, very high uv levels. sunday evening, well, stays fine, very warm, bit of misty low cloud returning towards northwest scotland and maybe still around some irish sea coasts going into monday morning. overnight temperatures mid—to—low teens, but the nights are getting a bit warmer, as well. then during monday, there will be a bit more cloud filtering into scotland and northern ireland, though it will still feel very warm with some sunny spells. an increasing breeze and some rain, some rain heading into the western isles later in the day. for wales and england the sun will turn hazy, but it will still be there and it'll feel hotter. more places getting to that 30 or above celsius mark. and then, going into tuesday, there's a cold front that's moving its way southwards, but it will have barely any rain once it moves through scotland and northern ireland, and it willjust be a band of cloud, really. so behind it for scotland and northern ireland, feeling fresher on tuesday, some sunny spells the chance of a shower.

although there will be some cloud filtering through wales and england, it will still feel very warm or indeed hot in places, and in fact could well be a hotter day still on tuesday in southeast england into the low 30s before then. just turns a touch cooler going into wednesday. in fact, for the rest of the week, scotland and northern ireland temperatures in some spots below average for the time of year. it will stay very warm across southern areas, and there is the potential for another burst of heat, maybe extreme heat, into next weekend, which we are watching.

this is bbc news, the headlines: sri lanka's president gotabaya rajapaksa will step down after protesters stormed the palace and set fire to the prime minister's house. hundreds of thousands of demonstrators descended on the capital colombo after months of protests over economic mismanagement. sri lanka is suffering high inflation and is struggling to import food, fuel and medicine. as japan grieves for the former prime minister shinzo abe, voting begins in elections for the upper house of parliament, two days after his death. there are suggestions his murder could boost

support for the governing liberal democratic party,