hello. welcome to bbc news. i'm david eades. our top stories: senior figures in sri lanka say the president he fled the island but is expected to resign on wednesday. his palace is now a protest site as crowds continue to pour inside. our correspondent is there. after months of frustration, this feels like the release. crowds are surging through the doors to get inside this presidential palace and get a peek at what life is like for sri lanka's political class. to enjoy or endure. a heatwave hits western europe. parts of spain reach 43 degrees. 11 and counting. here in the uk, candidates are lining up in their bid to take over from borisjohnson as leader of the conservative party and prime minister.

magnificent seven for novak djokovic as he overpowers nick kyrgios to maintain his domination of wimbledon. hello and thanks forjoining us. the speaker of sri lanka's parliament has said that president gotobaya rajapaksa is no longer in the country but should return by wednesday when he has promised to resign. the president fled when huge crowds stormed his palace and set fire to the residence of the prime minister, in protests against corruption and economic mismanagement. hundreds are still in the presidential house and grounds. they say they won't leave until mr rajapaska has gone. our south asia correspondent, rajini vaidyanathan, reports from colombo.

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?

translation: 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. there is people who have been dying and 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. with respect, 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. it's been very much a seaside weather here in europe. much of europe has been experiencing a sweltering heatwave. in spain, temperatures have hit 43 degrees celsius, that's more than 100 degrees fahrenheit. the heat in neighbouring portugal has led to dangerous wildfires, while there have also been temperatures nudging a0 degrees in france. we'll look at the relationship to climate change in a moment, but first the bbc�*s tim allman has this. in madrid, the sun shines down without mercy. the whole city bakes. just being outdoors can be a traumatic experience. "it's deadly," said this woman. "we are all melting and i'm carrying bobby because it's too

"hot, it's unbearable. " it's a similar story further south in seville. umbrellas, even though there is no drop of rain, so intense is the heat. "the truth is, it's been hell," said this man. "walking around, it's unbelievable. " high temperatures and a lack of rain can be a dangerous combination. in portugal, wildfires have burnt for several days. the situation so bad, authorities have asked for emergency help the european union. no reports of any deaths but dozens have been injured and property has been destroyed. translation: it was very sudden. a lot of smoke. all of a sudden the house was alight. we couldn't do anything. in paris, temperatures have reached the mid—30s, with no sign of any cooling down expected in the week ahead. even in the uk, the heatwave is apparent.

thousands going to the beach, the southend—on—sea. but a warning: look out for those most vulnerable. short bursts in the sunshine, making sure they're covered top to toe in suncream, regular reapplications of that. and having light clothing on top as well. forecast is high temperatures for the foreseeable future. europe will have to enjoy or endure the heat for now. tim allman, bbc news. dr daniel kammen is an expert on climate change, and a professor at the university of california, berkeley. he had this explanation as to what was happening across europe. what we are seeing are two effects going on together. one is that we have warmed the planet by about 1.1 degrees celsius, which might not sound like a lot but it means that forests are drier, we have less moisture in the lower atmosphere, less moisture

in ecosystems and unfortunately western europe in particular is a so—called warming hotspot. that's due to the geography of europe, ice over the arctic region and the so—called double jetstream which means the hot air is trapped and those double jetstream events become more common. that explains a large fraction of the conditional heat waves we are seeing so it's a double whammy and it's one the climate science really points very directly to. from the problem for people to understand, i look back to the 1990s when the french, i think they still have anxieties about the next heatwave where they lost thousands of people in the 1990s. there are times when it's just another bad couple of months. this is probably more than that. i don't want to sound alarmist because it's a trend that's

been accelerating since the early 2000s. but the hotter it gets, not only does it stress us as people, it stresses crops, the power system, it stresses our need for power and air—conditioning, so it is a climate feedback effect. it's really one that we unfortunately see very clearly in the analytic, the modelling work that's been done by labatories in germany, new york city and the netherlands. you mention also this double jetstream, having an impact on the arctic, and what is the effect then of those warming temperatures, particularly in the arctic? it's notjust about sunburn, is it? not at all. last year we sawq these record heatwaves getting to a0 plus degrees in the siberian arctic and that's predicted as well because one of these two double jetstream bands is right along the northern coast of russia, and another one passes through the middle of the continent.

what you are seeing is the warming is concentrated over the land largely because as it gets out over the water, it starts to melt the ice and warms the water. but it really gets pushed back down under continental europe and particularly western europe is the focal point of this. if it's managing to melt and soften the permafrost, that presumably is when we run into more emissions problems. what's coming out of the permafrost? that's the real worry and why we call this a feedback event. the warming itself is bad and the more we warm the arctic and siberian permafrost, the more release of methane. it's one of the most potent greenhouse gases that then contributes more, and every time you hear about another collapse of a permafrost belt, another discovery of a mammoth in the ice because permafrost is melting, these are effects of this

excessive heating over siberia where we have a huge amount of methane that could be released and is being released today. professor daniel kammen, earlier. let's get some of the day's other news. 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, which handed individual states the right to ban abortion. 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. japan's governing coalition of the liberal democrats and komeito appear to be on track to increase their majority in the upper house following sunday's election. the result would strengthen prime minister fumio kishida's aim to reform japan's pacifist

post—war constitution — the ambition of his predecessor, shinzo abe, who was assassinated on friday. 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. twitter has hired an american law firm to sue elon musk. it's over his backing out of the $41; billion deal to buy the social media giant, after he said twitter had not given him enough information about the number of real users versus fake accounts. reports say twitter is aiming to submit the lawsuit early in the coming week. 15 people have been killed after a russian rocket was reported to have hit an apartment building in the east of ukraine. at least 20 more are feared

to be buried under the rubble in the town of chasiv yar in ukraine's donetsk region. from there, our defence correspondentjonathan beale has this report. those are civilian dronings. this is the moment a ukrainian military unit says it witnessed a massive explosion in chasiv yar. the video posted on social media, one of the voices in english. shock as a fireball lit up the sky. the bbc has not been able to verify their location. but this is what's left of an apartment block in the town. the entire side of the 5—storey building crumpled. rescue teams still desperately looking for survivors, stopping only occasionally to listen for signs of life. bodies wearing military uniform were among those recovered. but this was not a military base, it was people's homes.

this woman lived here for 15 years, now she shows me her apartment�*s destroyed. translation: the flash was really bright. - i fell down, and then everyone scattered, running for cover. i rushed into the basement, and you can see for yourself, everything is gone. what can i say? translation: nowl am walking around _ in the open and i am scared. i'm traumatised, psychologically and mentally scarred. and they're in no doubt this was caused by russian strikes. this is yet another example of russian artillery destroying people's homes and killing civilians. once again, it raises questions as to what was the military target here and about the accuracy of russian weapons. but one thing's clear throughout this war — russia's shown no remorse about deliberately targeting civilian areas.

it is an all too familiar pattern. as russia continues its advance in the donbas, it's slowly flattening its towns and cities. jonathan beale, bbc news, chasiv yar. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: a massive data leak reveals how top politicians around the world changed the rules to help uber. 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 but tonight, it's completely blacked out. - it's a timely reminder to all americans of the problemsj that the energy crisisj has brought to them.

leaders meet in paris for a summit on pollution, inflation and third world debt. this morning, theyjoined 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 a huge shoal of their favourite food, pilchards. some had eaten so much, they could barely stand. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the speaker of the sri lankan parliament says president gotabaya rajapaksa has fled the island after protesters stormed his palace. a heatwave hits much of western europe. parts of spain reach 43 degrees.

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. horn blares. when uber first arrived in france, it started a taxi war. horn blares. 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 minister for economic and digital affairs, agreed to help them change the law.

mr macron, s�*il vous plait! 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 exec 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 guarantees success." a spokesperson for travis kalanick denied that he had 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 about its business? translation: cowboys. they put one foot in the door, 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 governments 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. the british foreign secretary liz truss has become the latest senior party member 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 coming back to us automatically, and 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 sort of hide that. i think you have to be honest with your boss and 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. 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 entrance 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 — and quickly. 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're 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 onto inflation. reporter: is there more pain to come, chancellor? -

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's been smeared and vowing to answer any questions. 0ur leadership has to change. the trade minister penny mordaunt�*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 10th candidate and promises tax cuts on day one. jonathan blake, bbc news. this one has one already. —— this one has won already. at wimbledon, novak djokovic has beaten nick kyrgios in the men's singles finals. it means he has won the last

four wimbledon championships and is edging ever closer to roger federer�*s record tally of eight wimbledon titles. 0ur sports correspondent chetan pathak was there. a seventh wimbledon title — that brings him level now with pete sampras — and it's 21 grand slams. that takes them ahead of roger federer, who is 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 that 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, his quarterfinal againstjannik sinner where he lost the first two — djokovic is so good at resetting and coming back and winning the second, third and fourth sets. he never really looked in trouble thereafter. for nick kyrgios, there were the moments that we're used to seeing from him — the chuntering at the umpire,

upset with some decisions, upset at his own box, his friends and family 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 of that, i'lljust stick to the tennis." and djokovic winning in four sets for a fourth consecutive wimbledon title, like i said. 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 of the parliament, 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 the prime minister.

we wait to see if he returns by wednesday. that is bbc news. goodbye for now. 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 north—western 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. an increase in 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 south east 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 and 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 south—east into the low 30s, with for london, for example, a heatwave 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 south east 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 are no great change, wales and england heat up again — look at that temperature potentially for london into next weekend. i 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 — and that's certainly something we are watching.

this is bbc news. the headlines: sri lankans continue to pour into the presidential palace demanding gotobaya rajapaksa resigns as he has promised. senior figures there say the president fled the island after the palace was overran but they expect him to return on wednesday. much of europe's experiencing a major heatwave. in spain, temperatures have hit 43 degrees celsius. the heat in neighbouring portugal has sparked wildfires while temperatures are expected to nudge 40 degrees in france. here in the uk, the foreign secretary, liz truss, has become the latest senior party member to join the contest to succeed borisjohnson as conservative leader and prime minister.

10 other mps from the party have so far announced