welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines... inside sri lanka's presidential palace, where protesters aren't satisfied with president rajapaska's pledge to quit. this is a really surreal moment for sri lanka. how does it feel to swim in the president's personal pool? translation:— president's personal pool? translation: �* �* translation: i'm happy, i'm so ha-- . japan's ruling coalition increases its majority in elections in a move that could help cement the legacy of assassinated former prime minister shinzo abe. in the uk, a crowded field of candidates want to take overfrom borisjohnson as prime minister — with 11 mps and counting eyeing up the top job and in tennis — victory is sweet for novak djokovic,

who wins his seventh wimbledon men's singles title. live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news. it's newsday. it's 7am in singapore, and 4.30am in colombo, sri lanka — where protestors have been celebrating what they believe to be the toppling of the country's leadership. president rajapaksa — whose family has dominated sri lankan politics for the best part of two decades — has announced he will step down on wednesday. our south asia correspondent rajini vaidyanathan reports from inside the presidential palace, which is still overrun by protesters. these scenes would have been unthinkable days ago. sri lanka's seat of presidential power —

now a sightseeing destination. security nowhere to be seen, as thousands push their way into a palace taken over by protesters. this is a really surreal moment for sri lanka. a building that is normally heavily fortified, now a free—for—all. at president rajapaksa's private pool, we meet carpenter ruan chiminda, who's taking a dip, a moment of relief after he walked hours to join the protests. translation: my kids are hungry- _ we don't have fuel. we don't have cooking gas. we don't even have fuel to do ourjobs properly. how does it feel to swim in the president's personal pool? i'm happy. i'm so happy. moments ofjoy and curiosity.

but where does this leave the future of the island? the man who once lived here, president gotabaya rajapaksa, has now fled and is expected to step down this week. a lot of the people here need to also witness the fact that — how rich and wealthy and luxurious their lives are. even this place, how grand, how big the house is. various people have been dying and have been suffering to fight for their basic necessities. as they look around the lavish rooms, sri lankans continue to contend with a deepening economic crisis. is this the right thing to do? is this the right way to go about it, storming the presidential palace? well, the people have been demanding for the president to step down. we've asked him to step down multiple times.

so the people are realising that, well, unless we physically go and take him out of the chair, he's not going to leave. and when will your protests stop? when will you be satisfied? when will i personally be satisfied? if we go to a new election and hopefully people will vote for principles, morals, and ideals that the person running for the election holds and not the person itself — because when it comes to politics in sri lanka, it's personality—centric. after months of frustration, this feels like a release — crowds surging through the doors to get inside this presidential palace and get a peek of what life is like for sri lanka's political class. a palace overrun, a country in crisis. protesters say they won't leave until the president officially quits. but even once he does, who can save this nation in need? for sri lanka, the challenges

keep on coming. rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news, colombo. sri lanka's caretaker president mahinda yapa abeywardena spoke to bbc radio in the last few hours. he insisted that president rajapaksa would return by wednesday, when he's promised to resign. at the moment, he's, er, he's somewhere out in a nearby country. he will come back on tuesday — wednesday, he will be here. he told me he would be here. there's going to be a vote in the house. the international monetary fund said it was closely monitoring the situation and was prepared to help the cash—strapped island weather its deepest economic crisis. earlier, i spoke to shanta devarajan, a professor at georgetown university. he's former acting chief economist at the world bank, now an adviser liaising

between international financial institutions and the sri lankan government. he gave me his take on the situation. it's extremely serious, in economic terms. and that is why the people are so angry — because the reason why sri lanka has no foreign exchange at the moment is because of the misguided policies of the rajapaksa administration. for two years, they've actually been bleeding this country dry. now, that's why they're angry with rajapaksa and stormed the president's palace, and so on. but the point is, even when rajapaksa leaves, the debt problem and macroeconomic crisis will remain. so we have to be solving that problem — and that's what we've been working on for the last six months, working with the imf and various stakeholders in sri lanka to devise an economic reform programme that will try to reverse some of these policies that got us into trouble in the first

place, and try to put sri lanka... indeed, but looking at the events of this weekend, as you point out, people are very angry — but what prospects are there of any bailout from international financial institutions, given that not too long ago, the world bank said it won't provide any financial assistance to sri lanka until — and this is a quote from them — "adequate macroeconomic policy frameworks are in place." how is that even possible right now? that's precisely what we are trying to achieve. and i think it is possible to have an adequate macroeconomic framework in place possibly in the next 2—3 months. and once that has been achieved — and that would involve both a macro—economic and fiscal adjustment, many of which have actually already been put in place by the government in the last 2—3 months, but also an agreement on restructuring the country's debt — once those two

are achieved together, and that could be in about 2—3 months, then that would bring in additional foreign exchange from the imf itself, about $800 million, about $1 billion from the world bank and another $1 billion from the asian development bank. so that is what we're trying to achieve over the next 2—3 months. now the big problem, and you're right to point out that this is a crisis, is what to do in the next 2—3 months — because right now, as i said, sri lanka is out of foreign exchange. just briefly, what are you hoping, or what do you expect to see happen? what needs to happen in order to get this assistance? over the next 2—3 months, what we're hoping to get, and there have been some very positive signals, is what's called bridge financing — a foreign exchange from countries like india, japan, possibly china and others, that will enable sri lanka to buy the necessary imports like fuel, food, pharmaceuticals, the fertiliser

it needed until we have reached that macroeconomic programme. turning to japan for you now. japan's ruling party and its partners look to have won a super majority in upper house elections, just days after the assassination of former prime minister shinzo abe. it means the ldp could be in a position to amend the country's pacifist constitution — a long—time abe goal. i spoke about this to william pesek, columnist and author based in tokyo, who writes on economics and politics for forbes and nikkei asia. well, you know, part of it is a sympathy vote, certainly. former prime minister shinzo abe was a bit of a polarising figure, but certainly there was a bit of a sympathy vote. but i think also, it was for many japanese voters a way

of reminding the world that democracy matters to us, and we'll vote no matter what happens in terms of violence in this country. indeed, william, and in terms of the issues, as i understand, it was things like the cost of living, security crisis, as well, of course, with russia and ukraine — but it seems that this result, or the eventual result appears to pave the way for prime minister kishida's government to be able to revise the constitution. how likely do you think that is? well, i think the bigger issue is economic reforms. as you mention, inflation is rising injapan — japan in some cases getting the highest inflation readings in about a0 years — the yen is down by about 30% over the last few years. there's a lot of concern about importing inflation. so for prime minister kishida, this mandate is really a chance for him to, in many ways, accelerate his

economic reform programme. but the issue of constitutional reform, as you mentioned, also moves to the fore. prime minister abe's passion was redefining japan's military role in the world and revising the constitution. prime minister kishida is a somewhat less polarising figure, and arguably this mandate will give him a chance to take a deep breath and redouble those efforts. it's likely to happen in the next year or two, yes. is there appetite amongst the japanese public, william, for the constitution to be reformed and revised in this way? well, i think there is appetite and, given china's aggression in the region, certainly, there's appetite whenjapan looks at ukraine and wants its government to play a bigger role in world affairs. but i think some of the appetite is about the prime minister doing it the right way. and because prime minister kishida is a less polarising figure than prime minister abe was, i think you might have a bigger chance of appealing to the public and encouraging this change

in the constitution. i think a lot ofjapanese want a referendum — if you do it the right way, you get a referendum, then a public mandate to change the constitution, and it's probably a better way to go about it. abe never had the patience for it. prime minister kishida now could go ahead with a referendum, and that would give him an obvious green light. and just to say, if indeed a referendum of that sort does take place injapan, what do you think the likely reaction from japan's neighbours might be to that? well, it would not be a great reaction. but i think in many ways, if japan deliberately does this the right way, does it with a public mandate and frames at the right way, there's no reason why this step should not be accepted globally. in many ways, japan has been somewhat of a model citizen for decades now in the asia region, and certainly china's increased defence spending and aggression in the region in many ways gives japan a very valid reason

to alter its constitution. but again, it'sjust a matter of doing it deliberately and transparently, and doing it the right way with public backing. and prime minister kishida might now have that mandate to do it. he's got about three years now arguably, without having to face a national election. so he does have the time to make his case, and i think he will. the british foreign secretary, liz truss, has become the latest big name to join the contest to succeed borisjohnson as conservative leader and prime minister. with the cost of living soaring, tax is becoming a key issue. several candidates are promising cuts — as political correspondent, jonathan blake reports. the pace is picking up in the race to be the next prime minister and, this morning, on bbc one, two key contenders put forward their plans. one has kept his distance from borisjohnson. there are a lot of very angry

voters after what's happened in the last few months and they're not going to come back to us automatically. choosing me would be a very strong signal. the other�*s resignation triggered his departure. once you lose confidence in your boss, your prime minister, i don't think you can hide that. i think you have tojust be honest with your boss and with yourself. tax cuts is the big battleground of this contest, and both would let companies keep more of their profits. sajid javid also cutting income tax sooner than planned, and he'd scrap the rise in national insurance agreed while he was in government. if we don't have the tax cuts, we won't get the growth and, if we don't get the growth, we won't be able to sustain the public services. that's a much greater risk. in all my time in government, i've never come across a decision — especially the big decisions — that don't involve risk one way or the other. a decision — especially the big decisions — that don't involve mr hunt warned against personal tax cuts too soon and said reducing business rates was the way

to encourage growth. the number one priority with me with my business experience is to get the economy growing, and that's why... ..not necessarily the most retail tax cuts, but the things that will boost business, make us an attractive business environment, use our brexit freedoms to turn ourselves into the world's next silicon valley... another new entrant to the race promising, yes, tax cuts straight away. i think it's very important, as we have this cost—of—living squeeze, that people get money back in their pockets, these promises are what conservative mps want to hear. but cutting taxes usually means spending less or borrowing more, and there are warnings about the consequences. if you are going to cut taxes and increase borrowing, probably the time you don't really want to do it is when prices are already rising at 10% or more, because that means putting more money into the economy and therefore more pressure on to inflation. the one exception so far is

rishi sunak, who as chancellor put up certain taxes and now suggests any cuts would have to wait. today, his successor, nadhim zahawi, hit back at reports authorities were looking into his personal tax affairs, saying he has been smeared and vowing to answer any questions. our leadership has to change... the trade minister, penny morduant�*s campaign hit an early hitch — her promotional video re—edited to remove well—known figures. and confirming her bid to be prime minister tonight, liz truss becomes the tenth candidate and promised tax cuts from day one. jonathan blake, bbc news. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme... novak djokovic has won his fourth consecutive wimbledon title —

beating nick kyrgios in four sets. after months of talks and missed deadlines, a deal has been struck to keep greece within the eurozone. the immediate prospect of greece going bust in the worst crisis to hit the eurozone has been averted. emergency services across central europe are stepping up their efforts to contain the worst floods this century. nearly 100 people have been killed. broadway is traditionally called the "great white way" by americans. called the "great white but tonight, it's completely blacked out. it's a timely reminder to all americans of the problems that the energy crisis have brought to them. leaders meet in paris- fora summit on pollution, inflation, and third—world debt _ this morning, theyjoinedl the revolution celebrations for a show of military might on the champs—elysees. . wildlife officials in australia have been coping with a penguin problem. fairy penguins have been staggering ashore and collapsing after gorging themselves on huge shows of their favourite food, pilchars. some had eaten so much

they could barely stand. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. our headlines... the speaker of the sri lankan parliament says president gotabaya rajapaksa fled the island following the storming of his official residence. japan's ruling coalition is set to increase its majority in the upper house. leaked documents show french president emmanuel macron and a former eu competition commissioner held a series of private meetings with uber. at the time, the ride—sharing app had been banned in france and sparked protests across europe from taxi drivers who felt their livelihoods were being threatened. as part of an investigation by the international consortium of investigativejournalists, the bbc has discovered how uber used political contacts to get what it wanted. richard bilton reports.

when uberfirst arrived in france, it started a taxi war. but while many cab—drivers were on the streets, the leak shows uber had a friend in government. the documents show that despite uber offering an illegal service, emmanuel macron, then ministerfor economic and digital affairs, agreed to help them change the law. the leak shows uber offered to draft new legislation and thanked mr macron for his cooperation. president macron�*s spokesperson said it was his job to work with tech companies and to remove barriers. the leak shows how uber went about changing laws and rules around the world.

in 2016, the documents show their lobbying and pr budget was $90 million. 90 million is an enormous amount of money. the bottom line is that companies spend that amount of money because they want to influence decision—making. it gives them access. the documents seem to show the company's former chief executives saying violence could be good for uber. when told that uber drivers in france could be attacked, he messaged, "if we have 50,000 riders, they won't and can't do anything." "i think it's worth it, violence guarantee success." a spokesperson for travis denied that he'd ever suggested uber should take advantage of violence. across europe, including france, uber muscled into the big cities. but the mp appointed

by france's president to deal with uber was not impressed. how would you, in one word, describe the way uber goes its business? translation: cowboys. they put one foot in the door, and then break the door wide open. and once they're in, you're forced to deal with them — for better or for worse. the company says no one at uber has ever been happy about violence, and safety is a top priority. uber denies its lobbying was secret and adds that engagements with government are now both in line with the law and also transparent. but more revelations are set to be released, showing how uber took over the world. richard bilton, bbc news. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines...

police in south africa are trying to trace the gunmen responsible for a shooting at a bar in which 15 people died. nine others were wounded in the attack, which happened in the township of soweto. president cyril ramaphosa, has said he cannot allow violent criminals to terrorise people. rescuers in ukraine are continuing to search for some 20 people who are believed to be under the rubble of an apartment block in eastern ukraine that was largely destroyed in a russian rocket attack. at least 15 people were killed in saturday's attack, in the town of chasiv yar. last—minute negotiations are continuing at the united nations to try to extend by another year authorisation for cross—border aid to reach north—western syria. it's expiring at the end of sunday. the authorisation — which bypasses permission from the syrian government — has allowed aid into the country since 2014. president biden says he's asked officials to check whether he has the authority

to declare an abortion—related public health emergency. he's under pressure from fellow democrats to do more to protect abortion rights following last month's supreme court ruling. at wimbledon, novak djokovic has beaten nick kyrgios in the men's singles finals. they battled it out for three hours on centre court. our sports correspondent chetan pathak was there. a seventh wimbledon title brings him level now with pete sampras, and it's 21 grand slams — that takes him ahead of roger federer, who was on 20, and just one within rafael nadal�*s men's singles record of 22. djokovic's numbers here are staggering — it's 39 consecutive wins now on centre court. not been beaten here since 2017, fourth consecutive wimbledon title. he's seen off nick kyrgios in four sets — the australian took the first set and it made some think this could be a possible upset. but time and again

with novak djokovic, even at these championships — think about his semifinal against britain's cameron norrie, where he lost the first set, and his quarterfinal againstjannik sinner, he lost the first two — djokovic is so good at resetting and coming back. and within the second, third and fourth sets, he never really looked in trouble thereafter. for nick kyrgios, there were the moments we're used to seeing from him — the chuntering at the umpire, upset with some decisions, upset with his own box, his friends and family who he felt weren't always giving him the support he wanted. he was particularly annoyed with somebody in the crowd — when the umpire said, "who is it specifically?" he said, "it's the woman who looks like she's had 700 drinks." he was finding those usual frustrating moments — and i think for djokovic on the other side of the net, he thought, "you do all that, i'll stick to the tennis." and djokovic winning in four sets for a fourth consecutive wimbledon title, like i said. i want to tell you about

australia. in australia, the landmark sydney opera house has lit up in the colours of the japanese flag to honour the japan's former prime minister, shinzo abe. japanese expats in australia said it was the only place to pay their respects to him. the 67—year—old was assassinated in the southern city of nara whilst campaigning. a reminder of our top story: the sri lankan speaker of parliament has said the president is no longer in sri lanka, but will return by wednesday. the speaker, mahinda yapa abeywardena, who will become caretaker president, told the bbc that an all—party coalition government would be formed as opposition parties have demanded. the president fled when huge crowds of protesters stormed the presidential palace and set fire to the residence of his brother, the prime minister. he said he would step down on 13july, according to an announcement made by the parliament's speaker on saturday. that's all for now — stay with bbc world news.

hello. sunday, scotland and northern ireland saw their highest temperatures of the year so far. monday could well be the turn of wales and england. so, feeling just as hot out there, if not hotter. and a lot of sunshine, yes, though increasing high cloud will turn things hazier out there. and if you're looking for rain, this is the next five days — while some will push in towards northwestern areas, not very much, mind you, but where temperatures are at their highest for the next couple of days at least, well, it will stay mainly dry, just exacerbating the very dry conditions out there with high pressure close by. although some changes from low pressure slowly, as we go through the next few days. a lot of sunshine as monday begins, temperatures rocketing. misty, low cloud just pulling away from some irish sea coasts. and increasing high cloud from the north, again, turning things hazier out there, and temperatures widely into the upper 20s, from eastern scotland through wales, a large swathe of england, 30 or above,

maybe 33 in southeast england. strong sunshine, high, very high uv levels, cooler sea breezes around the coast. going into monday night, look at the change for northern ireland and scotland from that low pressure system i showed you. we see some outbreaks of rain moving in. ahead of all of that, though, it will be a much warmer night going into tuesday, and that does make it tougherfor sleeping — the house really doesn't want to cool down after it's been so hot during the day. well, slowly, we take some outbreaks of rain away from scotland, northern ireland on tuesday, where it'll be cooler, fresher, brightening up the chance of a shower, breezier, too. thicker cloud with maybe the odd splash of rain working into parts of wales and england, bringing temperatures down a little — though, still for east anglia and the southeast into the low 30s with for london, for example, a heat wave continuing to be throughout the week and into next weekend, whereas elsewhere, it will cool off a touch. wednesday brings temperatures much closer to average, particularly across northern areas of the uk. some patches of cloud, the chance of a few showers around — for many, though, it'll be staying dry. still into the upper 20s in southeast england —

for most locations, though, well shy of that at this stage, and thankfully, if you're not a fan of the heat. looking further ahead whilst scotland and northern ireland, no great change, wales and england heat up again — look at that temperature, potentially for london into next weekend. just want to show you the uk high—temperature record — there is a concern that this will come under threat next weekend, not a guarantee, but there's a potential for some extreme heat to build in across southern areas next weekend. that's certainly something we're watching.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all the menu strays for you at the top of the hour as newsday continues straight after hardtack. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. the fractures in american society are widening over guns, abortion, education, and more. but the deepest, most traumatic fracture is surely over race — and it impacts all of the others.