sri lanka's president flees the country, along with other members of his family, following mass protests. demonstraters blame him for the economic crisis that's crippled the country, leaving it short of funds to buy medicines or fuel. also in this edition of newsday. the committee investigating the storming of the us capitol lays out how president trump incited extremists, in a last—ditch bid to remain in office. the first extraordinary images from nasa's new telescope — distant galaxies and light from 13 billion years ago.

welcome to newsday. it's 8am in singapore, and 5am in the maldives, where sri lanka's president has arrived after fleeing sri lanka on a militaryjet. gotabaya rajapaksa's departure from sri lanka ends a family dynasty that has ruled the country for decades. he had been in hiding, after crowds stormed his residence on saturday. his brother, former finance minister basil rajapaksa, has also left the country, sources have told the bbc. president rajapaksa had promised to resign, but by remaining in position, he kept his immunity from prosecution. many sri lankans blame him for the economic crisis which has crippled their country, leaving it short of funds to buy medicines or fuel. our correspondent rajini vaidyanathan was with protestors outside the presidential palace in colombo when the news of president rajapaksa's departure was made public. there is a real party

atmosphere here at colombo seafront, which has been a protest site for many weeks, one of the main demands protesters have was for gotabaya rajapaksa to go. their slogan, their chant was "go home, gota". we now know that president gotabaya rajapaksa has left the country. he fled on a militaryjet with members of his family. we don't know where exactly he's headed to. he'd been in hiding for the last few days, ever since his home, his official residence, was overrun by protesters. it wasn'tjust his official residence, in fact over there his presidential secretariat, his offices, that was also overrun by protesters. you can see the aftermath now. days on, the protesters here are sleeping on the grounds and on the steps. we also know that the president's brother

the formerfinance minister basil rajapaksa has also left the country. he is believed to be heading to america. now, where does this leave the president? he still hasn't as of now stepped down from his post. he's due to hand in his resignation, that being expected on wednesday. if he does, then that will create a vacancy for a president to run this country, and there will be a process in parliament to decide who his replacement is. all of this is part of a wider concern, we are still in the middle of an economic crisis in sri lanka where people are struggling for food and medicines and fuel. this queue, you can see it going all the way down here, people here are queuing up forfree bread and curry because they are struggling to get a hold of the basics. but news of president rajapaksa's departure

from the country, that is still filtering in here. i spoke to one person who said he was relieved and pleased. but another woman said she felt that she'd been abandoned by the man she blamed for this crisis, who has gone without offering a solution. earlier, i spoke to david brewster, a specialist in sri lankan politics at the australia national university, about the impact mr rajapaksa's departure will have on the country's political situation. it's been extraordinary scenes over the last few days, with the storming of the presidential palace and the attempts by the president to leave the country, being blocked by other countries and then his own officials. so we're not yet sure where he's going to or indeed what the procedure will be, the constitutional procedure will be, in the coming days

to appoint, first of all, an acting president and then a permanent president. but what is clear is that this instability is not short—lived, it's going to continue for months or even years. yes. as you say, the instability we're seeing on the streets of sri lanka with protests taking place, will this departure of the president be enough to stop those protests? do you think people will be satisfied with these imminent resignations? well, his departure obviously meets their immediate demands. but underlying the demand is the incredible economic crisis that we've seen in sri lanka over the last several months. that is not going to be resolved any time soon. it will take months and even years to do so. and i have very serious

doubts that the next president and government, whoever they may be, that is appointed in the coming days, will actually be able to resolve these problems. so where do we go from here? what you've just described is a country that has no functioning government, protest that may well continue, and an economy that is collapsing. where does that leave sri lanka? first of all, constitutionally, we're not even sure whether rajapaksa is still president. if he has resigned or will resign, as he said he would, when the current prime minister will resign and what the actual constitutional process will be to appoint a new president. that will all play out in the coming weeks.

but one thing, i am very sceptical that the new government that is appointed in the coming weeks will be able to resolve these problems. we can be pretty sure that the imf will impose really quite serious conditions on restructuring the sri lankan economy, and that will require a stable and committed government to do so. there's certainly no sign at the moment that a government is ready to stand up and undertake these very serious reforms. we spoke to david before the confirmation that president rajapaksa had landed in the maldives.

well, let's move from the political crisis in sri lanka, and tell you about washington, where the committee investigating the storming of the us capitol has laid out how donald trump incited far—right extremists in a last—ditch bid to remain in office. jason van tatenhove, a former spokesman for the oath keepers, described the group as violent, dismissive of the rule of law, and capable of swaying people through lies and deceit. rather than try to use words, i think the best illustration for what the oath keepers are happened january 6th, when we saw that stacked military formation going up the stairs of our capitol. our correspondent nomia iqbal has been following the hearing and talked us through what's happened so far. there were two parts to today's hearing, the first part revolved around something that was referred to as an unhinged meeting which happened in mid—december, in which donald trump's advisers were telling him to concede the election, but he was listening to a group of unofficial advisers who were telling him to continue with his baseless claims the election was stolen.

the next day, which is where we get into the second part, he put out a tweet in which he said to his supporters to come and protest onjanuary 6th — "be there, will be wild" is what he wrote. and then the committee focused on people that did turn up. one of them was a man called stephen ayres, who has now pleaded guilty to obstruction charges that day. he talked about how he deeply regretted listening to donald trump. we also heard from a former member of the oath keepers, an extremist group which the committee says turned up that day, along with another group called the proud boys, who fomented the chaos that happened. donald trump has criticised this committee, he's criticised the hearings, he described them as a witch hunt and called the panel, which is made up of seven democrats and two republicans, a bunch of thugs and hacks. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. the un security council has voted to allow cross border aid deliveries to millions

in rebel held syria from turkey for six months after intense diplomatic wrangling. the us, the uk and france had wanted to extend the aid for another year — a proposal which russia vetoed. london's heathrow airport has told airlines to reduce the number of tickets they sell for the remainder of the summer months, in order to cope with the rebound in air travel. the airport is limiting the number of daily passengers who can depart to 100,000 — 4,000 less than scheduled. several wildfires swept across portugal's central region, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people as firefighters struggled to battle the flames. some houses have burned down, and three main highways in the area have been closed. the country is suffering a heatwave, with temperatures of over a0 degrees in many parts. twitter�*s filed a lawsuit against billionaire elon musk to try and force him to go ahead with a deal to buy

the social media platform. the documents filed to a court in the us state delaware calls the billionaire�*s exit strategy "a model of hypocrisy" and has asked for a four—day hearing in september. mr musk pulled out of the deal citing concerns about fake accounts. if you're a regular watcher of newsday, you might remember we told you about the james webb space telescope, and some of its latest achievements on tuesday. well, here are some of the first images released by nasa, european and canadian space agencies from the world's most advanced telescope which was launched into space last year. extraordinary images — the deepest, most detailed view of the universe we've ever seen. our science editor rebecca morelle reports. the beauty of our universe as never seen before, captured by the james webb space telescope. these are the cosmic cliffs

of the carina nebula. amidst the dust, stars are being born. this is a new view of stephan�*s quintet, 300 million light years away where vast galaxies are caught in a celestial dance. and the deepest ever view of space. it's teeming with galaxies. some from just a few hundred million years after the dawn of the universe. to have worked on a mission for this long, to be able to finally see it come to fruition, to do what it's supposed to do, is just absolutely incredible. the images are amazing, themselves, just as images, but the hint of the detailed science we're going to be able to do, and what we can learn from these images, is what makes me so excited. the telescope blasted off last year on christmas day, and over the last six months it's been getting ready for its mission. the james webb space telescope is an engineering marvel. at its core is a six and a half

metre wide mirror made up of 18 hexagonal segments, each perfectly aligned to act as a single surface. it also has a sun shield the size of a tennis court to protect it from the heat and light of the sun. and light of the sun. the telescope will look back further in time than ever before, showing us the light from the very first stars to shine. we'll also be able to see how they came together to form the earliest galaxies. and it will study other planetary systems, revealing whether life could exist beyond our world. it's almost like a time machine. you're looking back into the far distant past and so we can begin to answer those questions about how did the first galaxies and stars form. the hope with this telescope is that we see almost in real time, as it were, a history of the universe playing out. the telescope also captured this. 2,000 light years away, it is a star going through its death throes.

in some strange way it is a pretty view of something decaying and dying, but we're able again to look at the material as it flows away from the star and understand something about the evolution of the star, so going from star birth in the star—forming regions, all the way through to star death. but this is just the start for the telescope. over the coming days and months, more and more images will be captured. our knowledge of the universe and our place in it is about to be transformed. rebecca morelle, bbc news. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme. four—time olympic champion mo farah reveals he was trafficked into the uk as a child and forced to work as a domestic servant. after months of talks and missed deadlines, a deal has been struck to keep greece within the euro zone.

the immediate prospect of greece going bust in the worst crisis to hit the euro zone has been averted. emergency services across central europe are stepping up their efforts to contain the worst floods the century. nearly 100 people have been killed. broadway is traditionally called the great white way by americans. but tonight it is completely blacked out. it is a timely reminder to all americans of the problems the energy crisis have brought to them. leaders meet in paris for a summit- on pollution, inflation, and third world debt. i 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 shoals of their favourite foods, pilchards. some had eaten so much they could barely stand. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani

in singapore. our headlines. sri lanka's president has arrived in the maldives after fleeing the country following weeks of protests. the committee investigating the storming of the us capitol lays out how president trump incited extremists, in a last—ditch attempt to remain in office. to the uk now, as eight contenders have made it to the first round of the leadership race to become britain's next prime minister. three candidates dropped out on tuesday, as the contenders each vied for the support of20 of their colleagues. the first round vote happens on wednesday. while waiting from the early front—runner rishi sunak, look who's nipped in at the last minute. the deputy prime minister and the transport secretary, himself a candidate until now, is here too.

please welcome rishi sunak. the early skirmishes in this contest have felt like all the other candidates against mr sunak. he pointedly repeated his critique today of what he sees as their wild promises to cut taxes now. we need a return to traditional conservative economic values. and that means honesty and responsibility, not fairy tales. once we've gripped inflation i will get the tax burden down. it's a question of when not if. so many of your colleagues have sought to demolish your record as chancellor. do you have the stomach for what's to come? chuckles i'm standing here today surrounded by friends and colleagues. chris, that's what gives me the optimism, the confidence, to do this. thank you all very much. here's one of the reasons mr sunak sounds chipper —

tempting a fellow candidate to give up and back him instead. grant shapps, i didn't have you down as a quitter. you've packed in before it starts. i was delighted with the support i got, but i also recognise that what we need more than anything else is somebody who can step straight into the role of prime minister in serious times. while two senior ministers dashed out of the meeting to here, to endorse rishi sunak, another two cabinet ministers left downing street and straight away endorsed liz truss. i've sat with liz in cabinet for some long time. very aware that she's probably a stronger brexiteer than both of us. she's consistently argued for low tax policies. liz was always opposed to rishi's higher taxes. that again is proper conservatism. from barbs in downing street from backers of the foreign secretary to cheers down the road from those supporting the former minister kemi badenoch. i tell the truth, i fight for change, i stand up

for people and i stand up for the causes and the country i love. some might say this is no time for novices. i think this is no time for steady as it goes sinking into decline. it's time for change. kemi is bright, brilliant and brave. it's only very rarely in politics you come across talents like that. kemi is undoubtedly, ithink, a phenomenon. she's got the right stuff. what do you say to our viewer who looks in on all of this at westminster and thinks, what a carry on? we knew that the political climate was such that boris had to stand down. this is the most diverse group of talent that i think any political party in the world would be putting forward. to another lectern, more applause and another cabinet endorsement, this time for tom tugendhat. it's time for tom. we've retreated into the pettiness of politics that is more about personality than principle. when our nation needed our party to function

we retreated into faction. when the moment demanded service, we delivered scandal. also on the ballot paper tomorrow, the new chancellor, nadhim za hawi. suella braverman, the attorney general for england and wales. and former cabinet minister penny mordaunt, whose launch event is in the morning. there is plenty of coverage and analysis on the website, which is where you will find the results of those ballots when they take place. four—time olympic champion runner sir mo farah has revealed he was trafficked into the uk as a child and forced to work as a domestic servant. he told the bbc he was born hussein abdi kahin but was given the name

mohamed farah by those who flew him from east africa with fake documents. he's been speaking to amol rajan. welcome, welcome. sir mo farah is not the man millions think they know. is not the man millions think they know— they know. talking about it, let alone — they know. talking about it, let alone coming _ they know. talking about it, let alone coming out - they know. talking about it, let alone coming out in - they know. talking about it, | let alone coming out in public to tell people... talking to my own family... ifelt to tell people... talking to my own family... i felt vulnerable at times, lonely. how can i share with the whole world? he shot to national and internationalfame by winning international fame by winning two internationalfame by winning two olympic gold medals in london 2012. he is one of britain's most decorated olympian is. he was knighted in 2017 for services to athletics and has become a regular on tv

screens and newspaper front pages. this is the reader to come to the but in a tv documentary, he reveals his real name is hussein abdi kahin and he was illegally trafficked to the uk as a child for the purposes of domestic servitude. from day one, the lady, what she did was not right. i wasn't treated as part of the family. i was always that kid who did everything. i don't know... someone who works for you, that your space, that's our space, this is what you do. if i wanted food in my mouth, myjob was to look after those kids, to shower them, cook for them, clean for them. and she said, if you ever want to see your family again, don't say anything. if you say anything, they will take it away. he eventually _ they will take it away. he eventually confided in a teacher who helped him alert social services,

teacher who helped him alert socialservices, move teacher who helped him alert social services, move to a new family and become a british citizen as mo farah. it was then that he discovered running. what was it like for you living this double life and becoming globally famous? there is a lot i could _ becoming globally famous? there is a lot i could say. _ becoming globally famous? there is a lot i could say. in _ becoming globally famous? there is a lot i could say. in my- is a lot i could say. in my mind, asa is a lot i could say. in my mind, as a kid, often i tried to think about that moment where i made a decision for myself. i used to lock myself in that bathroom, and cry every day. please, someone, get me out of here. no one came to you, so you learned to lock it up. i told you, so you learned to lock it up. itold myself, i'm not going to get emotional, i'm going to get emotional, i'm going to get emotional, i'm going to lock it inside and just carry on. it was hard for me to admit what has happened. the bbc has spoken to the home office today, and they said, they told us, no action whatsoever will be taken against sir mo and to suggest otherwise is wrong. how does that make you feel? it

otherwise is wrong. how does that make you feel?— otherwise is wrong. how does that make you feel? it makes me relieved. this _ that make you feel? it makes me relieved. this is _ that make you feel? it makes me relieved. this is my _ that make you feel? it makes me relieved. this is my country. - to the golf, and tiger woods has criticised some of his fellow professionals who've abandoned the pga tour and joined the saudi—backed liv golf series. speaking ahead of this week's open championship at st andrews the 15—time major winner made his opinion about the event crystal clear. i disagree with it. i think what they've done is they've turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position. some players will never get a chance to play a major championship, never get a chance to experience this right here. ijust don't understand it, what these players are doing for guaranteed money... what is no incentive to practice?— what is no incentive to ractice? ., ., ., .,

practice? to go out there and earn in the — practice? to go out there and earn in the dirt? _ some bad luck for kids in mainland china who love spending all their time playing online video games. tech giant, tencent, says it's not relaxing strict rules on the number of hours they're allowed to spend playing. you have been watching newsday. just time for a reminder of our top story: sri lanka's president has arrived in the maldives after fleeing the country following weeks of protests. it in the rajapaksa political dynasty that has ruled for decades and who sri lankans blame for mismanaging the economy, leaving millions struggling to buy food, fuel and medicine. that's it for us, thanks forjoining us. hello there. for most of the country,

tuesday was a slightly cooler day. we had much more cloud around. it was thick enough even to give a bit of rain here and there. but despite the cloud, here in london, it was hot. temperatures over 30 celsius again. much further north, preparing for the open at st andrews, it's cooler. temperatures were in the low 20s despite the sunshine. that cooler, cleaner, fresher air is moving down from the north, following this band of cloud that's still bringing one or two spots of rain. so, for much of the country, it will be a more comfortable night. these are the temperatures by the morning. still, that uncomfortable warmth, though, in the southeast of england. and across southern parts of england, could start quite cloudy in the morning, even one or two spots of rain left over. that's slowly moving away. we will see one or two showers for northern ireland and mainly in scotland, sunny spells too. much more sunshine, though, arriving across england and wales than we had on tuesday. those temperatures continuing to slide away ever so slightly, but still another hot day in the southeast and east anglia, and in london 30 degrees not out of the question.

heading into thursday, we've got this west—northwesterly breeze bringing more cloud and more showers to northern ireland, scotland, perhaps a few into northern england, but further south across england into wales, it is still sunny, it is still dry. but those temperatures continuing to just drop away a little. highs of the more manageable 27 celsius in the southeast of england. this area of high pressure is tending to build in across the uk, where we've got this weak weather front arriving from the atlantic, and that will be responsible for more cloud and maybe a bit of rain for northern ireland pushing across scotland, perhaps northern england, that should move away, skies will brighten. once again across more southern parts of the uk, it is going to be fine and dry with light winds. still pretty warm out there, those temperatures typically into the mid—20s. still only around 19—20 through the central belt of scotland. it's into the weekend that really things start to warm up, not so much for scotland and northern ireland, and the far north of england, temperatures typically into the mid—20s, but for many other parts of england and into wales,

we are going to find some extremely high temperatures developing over the weekend into the start of next week. we've got that extreme heat warning from the met office. so in the strong sunshine, those temperatures will really be shooting up. 36 celsius there in london. temperatures could even get higher than that.

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