this is bbc news, i'm ben brown, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the battle to become britain's next prime minister. trade minister penny mordauntjoins former health secretaries, sajid javid and jeremy hunt, on the growing list of contenders in the conservative leadership contest. at least 15 people have been killed after a residential apartment block was destroyed by russian shelling, in the donestk region in eastern ukraine. sri lanka's deepening economic crisis — the us appeals to politicians to act swiftly — as the president says he'll step down after huge demonstrations. the economic situation is not going to change overnight. it is going to be a difficult recovery period. the international

community will need to come in and help and that is why the un was warning there is an impending humanitarian emergency. at least 15 people have been shot dead in a bar in the south african township of soweto. and in the tennis — defending champion novak djokovic faces nick kyrgios in the men's final at wimbledon later today. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. nine candidates have now entered the race to become the next leader of the conservative party and prime minister. the trade minister, penny mordaunt, and the former health secretaries, sajid javid and jeremy hunt, are the latest to declare their candidacies.

tax is high on the agenda, with sajid javid and jeremy hunt both saying they will cancel the planned rise in corporation tax and reduce it further. mr hunt set out some of his plans on the sunday morning programme. no conservative should offer unfunded tax cuts and i think no conservative should raise taxes either. what you need are smart tax cuts that will grow the economy. corporation tax... i set up my business because nigel lawson, margaret thatcher created a pro—enterprise environment. i was actually the only one of my friends leaving university who went off and set up their own business. i want more people to do that but if we are going to increase corporation tax, which is one of the biggest taxes not just japan and america but more than france and germany then people won't want to set up businesses.

another former health secretary, sajid javid, has explained why he decided to resign from the government — and denied being naive by believing what he was told by borisjohnson when he defended his conduct i don't think it is naive at all. i think that, first of all, i certainly wasn't the only one and if anything, i was probably the first one to not believe and so i think that when you are in government it is a huge responsibility. we are all bound by collective responsibility. it's about trusting each other. it's about being a team and that for me, from day one, has been the priority and i think it is important when you hear things, think things that you think might not be the case to give the benefit of the doubt and i think actually walking out of yourjob is a really big thing to do. another contender the transport secretary, grant shapps, says if he wins he would hold an emergency budget straightaway. of course we've got to pay for all of the different things that we do.

but i have a plan to pay for it and that is to reduce the cost of the state. which frankly, grew hugely, i think, up to something like over half, 52% of the economy during coronavirus. understandable. we struggling to bring it down again. under my leadership, we will and that is how we will pay for these other things, including tax cuts. chair of the foreign affairs committee, tom tugendhat, says long term economic planning is key. he voted to remain in the eu, but now says he wouldn't vote to return to the bloc and britain needs to work to get the benefits from brexit the party voted for brexit because it has an ambition for this country and it's an ambition i share and it's an ambition i want to deliver. but we can only deliver it if we get beyond those arguments, those divisive... the divisive past and we get a clean start. because i think we really can. if we want the promise that brexit offers this country,

we need to deliver and we can only deliver with a ten year economic plan and that plan needs to be based on growth, and it need to deliver a stronger, more resilient and, of course, fairer economy. he was talking to me an hour ago. well labour is calling for borisjohnson to leave downing street immediately. shadow home secretary yvette cooper told sophie raeworth this morning that mrjohnson�*s time in office impacts on all those who are now hoping to take on hisjob. sadly, you've got a catalogue of contestants to replace him who have all been defending him, for all of this time and who have been part of... jeremy hunt hasn't, as he'sjust been telling me... but many of them have and they have all been voting for many of the policies that they are now arguing around and also, they have been part of 12 years of really damaging conservative government that has left us with incredibly low growth, with public services being run down and with

this soaring cost of living crisis that he has really failed to address, that has been hitting families across the country. that's why, i think, we need a labour government, we need a properfresh start, we need a change from the last 12 years, notjust the last 12 months. here with me now henry hill, the deputy editor of conservative home, a conservative political blog. thank you very much for being with us once again. let's just talk first of all about the electorate. we have the tory mps who whittle down the contenders to two and then we have the wider conservative party membership. they are two quite different electorates in a sense? absolutely. one of them is about 350 people who have been returned to parliament and they are going to whittle down however many candidates we end up with. currently there are an awful lot of candidates. i don't know if they will take steps to whittle them down. they will get down to the final two. those will go out on a ballot of the national conservative party manager. i think

they have about hundred thousand people. we haven't checked in a while. i'm not sure if it still publishing figures. those people are taking up voluntary conservative party member ships. it's an interesting dynamic in the context because the mps have a response ability to pick somebody who will appeal to the nation, but at the same time they have their eye on this final select conservative party supporters. this final select conservative party su orters. ~ ., this final select conservative party sweden-— this final select conservative party su--orters. ~ . , . ., supporters. what is your hunch as to the final result? _ supporters. what is your hunch as to the final result? we _ supporters. what is your hunch as to the final result? we have _ supporters. what is your hunch as to the final result? we have so - supporters. what is your hunch as to the final result? we have so many i the final result? we have so many contenders and there may be more to come? it’s contenders and there may be more to come? �* , ., ., , contenders and there may be more to come? �*, . , contenders and there may be more to come? , . come? it's a wide-open contest. when conservative — come? it's a wide-open contest. when conservative home _ come? it's a wide-open contest. when conservative home surveyed _ come? it's a wide-open contest. when conservative home surveyed a - come? it's a wide-open contest. when conservative home surveyed a panel . conservative home surveyed a panel of conservative activists about different head—to—head matchups. what we found was a huge number of don't knows. there is no boris johnson, no buddy shadowing over the contacts. there might be someone who comes out of nowhere, and overturned

the whole table. given the decision of a couple of days ago, i would have said that ben wallace, the defence secretary would one of the damage would have been one of the final to foster ps chose not to run. now i think are based on this very early stage, it's probably going to make you would say may be rishi sunak against somebody else,... speaking of him, all the different contenders do seem to be ganging up on him over taxes especially? absolutely. his big advantage, if he plays it right, is the fact that he was chancellor, he has a record, he was chancellor, he has a record, he was responsible is for some quite popular policies during a pandemic. the downside of this position is that he has been a chancellor, and he has had to make trade—offs between costs and spending and he has to take all the treasury advice about what we can afford to do. whereas his opponents, will go after him, they will make promises our taxes and spending which may be the treasury was rather... they want making. it's a interesting dilemma

really between rishi sunak, a fiscally conservative candidate, which doesn't necessarily mean low taxes but balancing the books, or people like liz truss who are pushing for quite radical tax cuts. since you mention her name, if you came to a final two of rishi sunak and liz truss, before this electorate, how do you think they would go? i electorate, how do you think they would no? , ,, . ., electorate, how do you think they wouldao? , ,,. ., ,, would go? i suspect that liz truss would go? i suspect that liz truss would probably — would go? i suspect that liz truss would probably win _ would go? i suspect that liz truss would probably win that _ would go? i suspect that liz truss - would probably win that head-to-head would probably win that head—to—head and i think that mps will not allow that head—to—head to happen. that is my hunch at this point. had that head-to-head to happen. that is my hunch at this point.— my hunch at this point. had a stop that happening? — my hunch at this point. had a stop that happening? it's _ my hunch at this point. had a stop that happening? it's a _ my hunch at this point. had a stop that happening? it's a really - that happening? it's a really interesting the way that the dynamics go. the 1922 could change the rules. this is based on the current way that the party operates, is that you to whittled it down to the final two mps vote, the candidate with the little fewest votes... what this means is that every time a candidate drops out, their supporters are up for grabs.

there is all this was trading going on behind the scenes between people who are trying to pick up votes from people who have just been knocked up from the contest. i suspect what'll happen is a list trust is quite a marmite figure, if she looks like she is getting on to get the final two. a lot of people might pile in a bind ever whoever is there to make sure that doesn't happen. all of this could take all summer for such a reminder knowing until september, so borisjohnson are still at number ten potentially until september? yes, quite. i personally think it would be betterfor the party and the government if you have stepped aside. that is currently his position. the early stages, can be gotten out of the way quite quickly, but you do need a minimum amount of time to organise a national balance, every conservative party member from northern ireland come to scotland... they will get a vote. you need to be able to organise that and make sure it happens public. yes, summer recess is the best time to have had this, coincidentally in hand. but it's best to do this, hopefully the

party will have a new leader when parliament returns in time for party conference in october.— conference in october. great analysis. _ conference in october. great analysis. as _ conference in october. great analysis, as ever, _ conference in october. great analysis, as ever, thank- conference in october. great analysis, as ever, thank you | conference in october. great - analysis, as ever, thank you very much indeed. at least 15 people are believed to have died after a residential apartment block was destroyed by russian shelling in the donestk region in eastern ukraine. a rescue operation is under way — the regional state emergency service told the bbc at least 20 people are thought to still be under the rubble in the town of chasiv yar, including one child. ukrainian officials say russian missile and rocket strikes have caused more widespread damage in towns and cities across the country's eastern and southern regions. our correspondentjoe inwood has the latest. now, at the moment, the russians say they are taking what's known as an operational pause, essentially slowing down their attempted advances, to regroup their forces

after punishing assaults of the last few weeks, but that doesn't mean there's been an end to missile strikes and shelling right across ukraine, places like kryvyi rih, zaporizhzhia and mykolaiv have seen strikes over the last 2a hours, and in the town of chasiv yar in the donetsk region there was a strike late yesterday evening, just after nine o'clock. according to the regional governor, a 5—storey building was brought down by a multiple launch rocket system. a number of people have been killed, some pulled out of the wreckage, and it thought around 30 people are still trapped under the rubble. emergency services are said to be on the scene trying to look for survivors, but it seems, whatever the operational pause the russians are taking on the ground, the difficulties and the trauma for the people of the donbas continues. the united states has appealed to sri lanka's politicians to act promptly to resolve their country's economic crisis.

rajapaksa would step down on wednesday, came after protesters seized his official residence and set the prime minister's home on fire. the country is dealing with rampant inflation and food, fuel and medicine imports are drying up. mark lobel reports. burning fury for all to see. the sri lankan prime minister's house set alight. flames fuelled by protesters' anger at economic mismanagement that has left suffering. it has become the norm now to see people staying and sleeping in vehicles, to get fuel in that ranges to three to four days sometimes. many actually walked for hours to get to the protest sites. the president's office was also stormed. there was an impromptu pool party at the palace. it is rumoured the president has taken to the high waters, as his country finds itself politically and economically all at sea.

it is time we got all our stolen money back to this country, and also the air—conditioning is running in the presidential palace while people don't have electricity in their homes. it is a far cry from the once—blossoming tourist hotspot. a country of 22 million people, recovering from a brutal civil war, which has been ruled by two brothers for years. there are three things that have brough sri lanka down. - the first is authoritarianism. the second is corruption- and the third is ethnic chauvinism. now foreign currency is running dry humping imports of food, fuel and medicine and forcing schools to close. at the beginning of april, angry protests prompted a state of emergency. 12 days later, the government could not pay its foreign debt for the first time in its history. the prime minister resigned in may. a month on, the un warned

of a humanitarian emergency. now, with the storming of the president's home, parliament speaker had this message from the president. he asked me to tell the country that he will resign on the 13th ofjuly, on wednesday, to ensure a peaceful handover of power. therefore, there is no need to destabilise the country any longer. these protests have achieved the resignations of both the prime minister and president, but whoever takes over will inherit a humanitarian and law and order crisis as they are urged to restore stability quickly by the united states and the imf so that talks on an economic bailout package can resume. our south asia editor, anbarasan ethirajan, is in colombo outside

the presidential office... but after some dramatic developments here in the sri lankan capital, colombo, hundreds of people, men, women and families are coming here to have a look at the president's office, which was stormed by hundreds of protesters. and these protests have been going on for months. it started as protests against the escalating cost of living. and then people blamed the government of president gotabaya rajapaksa and the ministers for mishandling the economy. now, president rajapaksa has entered through the speaker of parliament that he's willing to step down, but we haven't heard anything directly from him. the next step for sri lanka is to choose a new prime minister and then president, and that's why politicians are holding meetings throughout the day and tomorrow to see how this political turmoil can be solved, because the country is facing a crisis, huge crisis.

it is bankrupt. they have no money, no foreign currency reserves, which means they are struggling to import fuel, food and medicine. and whoever is going to come to power next, they are going to face the challenge because the loan from imf, the emergency bailout package, it will take months before the money can be transferred to sri lanka. so they have to work out a plan, how they are going to get foreign currency reserves so that they can address the immediate needs of the people here. at least 15 people are reported to have been shot dead in a bar in the south african township of soweto. a number of others were wounded, some of them critically. a police commissioner said it appeared that several people had entered the bar at random, and began shooting at drinkers inside. and in the country's east, four people were also killed during a shoot—out in a bar in pietermaritzburg on saturday night.

the bbc�*s africa correspondent andrew harding spoke to me from outside the tavern a short time ago. you've joined me outside the tavern where those 15 men were shot dead last night. a group of armed men walked injust after midnight, and we're told they calmly began to shoot randomly at everyone inside the tavern. you can see it perhaps now just behind me there, behind the police lines here. now, people who survived the attack and we know seven of them are in hospital, including two women. but survivors say they simply opened fire. the men. they gave him a warning. this didn't feel like a robbery gone wrong. and at the moment, the police are saying they have no idea why this happened. we've been seeing the forensic teams go in. they've taken those 15 dead people out. they're currently at a mortuary and forensic pathologists still combing the area, trying to... trying to get more evidence. but this really has baffled

south africa at the moment. what are the levels of violence, andrew, in south africa at the moment, generally we know there's been so much violence there in recent years, but currently is this kind of shooting completely out of the normal? it's not. i think it's the sheer number of dead combined with the fact that, as you mentioned, there were four dead in another part of south africa last night. and then a few weeks ago, we had 21 teenagers dying in mysterious circumstances in another tavern. so it's added to that real sense of malaysia, of a country that's losing its way. there's so many deep economic challenges at the moment, soaring inequality, 50, 60% unemployment in in poor neighbourhoods like this one. and really no feeling that the country is beginning to tackle that. yes, there is routine violence, particularly on friday and saturday night. it's often driven, notjust by gang violence, but by drunkenness. during covid, it was fascinating

here because alcohol was banned for long periods that reduced violence and reduced the casualties and the pressure on hospital dramatically. so an awful lot of societal ills here that it seems the authorities are really struggling to tackle. britain has sent fighterjets to finland and sweden — where they've been taking part injoint training exercises. the ministry of defence in london said the deployment was part of an increased presence in the region. dr patrick bury — is a defence and security expert at the university of bath, and a former nato analyst and british army officer. he explained the motivation behind sending the fighterjets to finland and sweden. i think it is two things, really. one is symbolic in that it is putting some weight behind those security agreements signed by the prime ministerjohnson

in the last six weeks with finland and sweden and this is sort of the first step of that so it is symbolic in that the uk are sending i think four typhoon fighters and another two of the f—35s which are much more capable to conduct high intensity war fighting with the swedes and the finns. the uk has a lot of experience of doing air policing in the baltic region, air patrol missions, and and i think this is sort of the next step up to go, ok, if the russians decided to have a go we need to make sure we can operate with the finns and swedes as easily as possible. the second part is that practical part, that interoperability. interoperability — how do you actually fly? what are your constraints? what are your logistics constraints? what are your bases like? etc, etc, and how would we fight together, you know, how would we do our targeting? how would we do a joint mission planning, etc, etc? it has a symbolic element

and a practical element. another message to the kremlin, if you were thinking about invading any other countries in the region nearby, don't think about it. there is definitely that going on. there is always messaging going on with military deployments but one of the interesting things here is that the swedes have the gripen fighter and the finns have the f—18 hornet and they are fourth generation fighters — and the typhoons even are a little bit more advanced than them, like, four and a half — but the technology is 20 years old in some cases, and your viewers can probably think about it like a car around in the 2000s. a decent car, very capable, but technology is moving onwards. whereas the f—35 is stealth, it is networked, it is linked into a lot of intelligence and surveillance assets and much more linked up in terms of the information environments. it is the next level. it's sort of a jump

in the generation of fighters. a bit like a tesla car today. the most top of the range, the most automated and high spec aircraft. so, also, sending the f—35 it shows this is what the capability of this aircraft is. the finns have already put an order in for some of them. the swedes may be thinking about it because what really you want in nato is everybody to be singing off the same song sheet and can all talk to each other, especially platforms that are this advanced and networked, taking on a lot of information and giving it out to others on the battlefield, so an element of that going on as well. exit polls in the last minute suggest that the governing party by the liberal democrats injapan will hold on to their majority. the

election has been overshadowed by the assassination of the former pro minister shinzo abe. two talented young ballet dancers from ukraine who have escaped the war have been given the chance to pursue their dreams of performing a solo after receiving a scholarship. the girls came to the uk under the homes for ukraine scheme as rachel royce reports. practising her ballet steps — today, a sissonne releve attitude — soffia is just ten years old and comes from lviv. rehearsing the same steps is 16—year—old margarita, from kyiv. both girls will make solo performances as part of the show at the macready theatre, in rugby, later this month. they are doing incredibly well. after all they've been through, they've integrated, they're learning, they appear happy to be here. they are an absolute pleasure to work with and they seem to be an absolute inspiration

to our students. kings ballet academy offered the girls scholarship places after watching them dance on video. they came here under the homes for ukraine scheme and are staying in hinkley. soffia, along with her mother, brother and grandma, margarita is alone with a foster family. i really like the uk. i am safe, i have ballet lessons every day. because of the war in ukraine, i had to come to england to continue doing ballet. but you are missing your family. i am very worried about my family. who you have you left behind, who's in ukraine? my mum and my brothers and dad. the school has high hopes both girls will go far. they've not only got the talent, they've also shown such grit, resilience and determination, which are key factors in becoming a professional dancer. two talented young girls with a future in ballet, now made possible.

you are watching the news. the men's singles final of the wimbledon tennis championships is being held later today, with the serbian player, novak djokovic, aiming to win a fourth consecutive title. it would be his twenty first grand slam. he's up against australia's nick kyrgios, who's won both times the players have met previously. now it's time for a look at the weather with sarah keith lucas. temperatures are beginning to build the next couple of days. heatwave criteria will be met across many areas. so today is going to feel very one, warmer than yesterday and some strong sunshine which is more widespread through the rest of today. we have those big area of high pressure keeping things dry and settled, for little little breeze

out there as well. we have got a little bit more clout still lingering across parts of northern and western scotland, and a little bit of clout through some of these irish sea coastline. extending to burn back a little bit through the day. a little bit of patchy fair weather clout developing in the south—east as well. it's going to feel warm with temperatures across scotland and northern ireland around 21, perhaps 2a or 25 in the south, up 21, perhaps 2a or 25 in the south, up to possibly 30 degrees in the south. high or very high levels of uv for many of us, moderate levels in the north—west with a little bit mcleod hanging on. of course, its immense's final at wimbledon. it's going to be hot on centre court attempt is getting up in the high 20s, possibly done a little breeze to. woman tries we in the day, with some late sunshine, most of us keep the clear skies overnight, they will be a little bit more missed in low cloud particular and coasts towards the north and west, temperatures falling to 11 or six in degrees today. anotherfine, sunny hot falling to 11 or six in degrees today. another fine, sunny hot day from many of us are money. like today we will see sea breezes

developing on the coast, a little bit cooler there, but in land that is where we will see the hottest of the weather. again up to 30, parsley 32 degrees stop up in the mid 20s for northern ireland and scotland. turning breezy as this frontal system approaches. a little bit of rain and the far north—west but as it pushes its way south, through tuesday, it's going to be petering out. not much useful rain i'm afraid. into tuesday we have quite a bit of clout sitting across england and wales but it's still going to feel hot, fresh for scotland and northern ireland, with sunny spells and the odd shower is here. high teens, low 20s in the north, but was the south—east, a another day of temperature is above 30 degrees on tuesday. through into the middle of the week, as that week whether front slit its weight slowly south we will see something a bit fresh for a time, through wednesday into thursday as well, but high—pressure not far away. a little dry, settled weather through much of the week ahead, it looks like temperatures will be on the up again towards next weekend. by.

hello, this is bbc news. the headlines... the battle to become britain's next prime minister. trade minister penny mordauntjoins former health secretaries, sajid javid and jeremy hunt, on the growing list of contenders in the conservative leadership contest. at least 15 people have been killed after a residential apartment block was destroyed by russian shelling, in the donestk region in eastern ukraine. sri lanka's deepening economic crisis — the us appeals to politicians to act swiftly — as the president says he'll step down after huge demonstrations. and in the tennis — defending champion novak djokovic faces nick kyrgios in the men's final at wimbledon later today. now on bbc news...the film review with jane hill and mark kermode.