welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: chaos reigns in sri lanka. the ousted president goes back on his promise to resign, fleeing abroad, and installing an interim president while he's away. the security forces, the police, the staff are nowhere to be seen. another public building here in sri lanka has now been occupied by the people. and then there were six. two candidates are eliminated after the first vote to choose britain's new prime minister. president biden insists america's commitment to israel's security is unshakeable, as he arrives

there on his first middle east tour. and as china's heatwave makes roads buckle and roofs melt, we'll hearfrom our correspondent in beijing. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. it's eight in the morning in singapore and 5:30 in the morning in sri lanka, where president gotabaya has not honoured his promise to resign. he flew out of the country, to the maldives, about 2a hours ago. but in a public letter, he said he was appointing the prime minister to be the acting head of state in his absence. that's led to anger among protesters, who wanted both men to quit. meanwhile, a curfew is in force and the prime minister, and now acting president ranil wickremesinghe,

has told the military to do whatever is necessary to restore order. from colombo, our south asia correspondent rajini vaidya nathan reports. their target heavily guarded. their mood determined. as news spread that prime minister ranil wickremesinghe had just been made acting president, crowds gathered in front of his office, one of the few government buildings not yet occupied by protesters. there occupied by protesters. is an intense here in colombo. there is an intense here in colombo. the protesters are here along this avenue, and on the other side you can see the security forces who are guarding this office, and protesters are charging that ranil wickremesinghe, the prime

minister, as a thief. they don'tjust want president don't just want president gotabaya don'tjust want president gotabaya rajapaksa to step down, they want the whole political class political class to leave, and they want a change. and this is how they are pushing for that change. a mass movement born out of economic hardship, sending a message to those in power. we don't want violence and we don't want that prime minister trying to be a president right now, we only want, please, resign. but it didn't take long for security forces to use tear gas and water cannons. shrieking explosions well, theyjust fired tear gas and protesters tried to make their way to the prime minister's office, but as you can see, they didn't manage, there is a large security presence there, some protesters still trying to climb in.

just over the gate, you can see inside there nowjust how many members of the security forces are in there, and we can feel the tear gas on our skin now. a lot of people here have been tear gassed, but they are not giving up, they still want to get inside. then a breakthrough. the protesters a re the protesters are getting closer now. there is a stand—off. they are moving forward. they are not giving up. you can see the police. then a breakthrough. outnumbering and overpowering the police... ..yet another protected

building overrun by protesters. cheering well, this is quite an extraordinary moment. after hours of trying to make their way in, they've finally done it. protesters have pushed their way through the gates of the prime minister's office and they are everywhere. cheering, whistling the security forces, the police, all the armed guards, they are nowhere to be seen. another public building here in sri lanka which is now being occupied by the people. and it is quite a moment. but where does that moment go next? why did you come here today? to help my country. i love my country, so i want to help my country. protesters chant but who can save it? as they celebrate, sri lankans are still suffering. after taking government

buildings, who do they trust to take power? rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news, colombo. for more, we can now speak to bhavani fonseka, an activist and human rights lawyer. shejoins us now from colombo. it is great to get you on the programme, and what astonishing scenes we are seeing outside sri lanka. in that report that we are hearing that the president pledged to resign by wednesday. that hasn't happened yet. there is now that interim president, and acting president in power, how other people taking it? well, the president did promise to resign on wednesday 13, it is thursday the 14th entry lankenau and we have not seen a resignation, so we basically have a president that has fled

sri lanka and basically in exile. i mean, we don't know exactly where he is. it is reported he is heading your way. we do have an acting president indistinct speech in sri lanka. as you point out, those reports that president gotabaya roger pascoe is on his way here, but there is a state of emergency in the country and a pledge to elect a new president byjuly 20, is that going to happen in this process? there's a curfew in sri lanka at the moment that will be lifted shortly or may have been lifted shortly or may have been lifted by now. fix, lifted shortly or may have been lifted by nova— lifted by now. a lot of questions _ lifted by now. a lot of questions in - lifted by now. a lot of questions in terms i lifted by now. a lot of questions in terms of| lifted by now. a lot of. questions in terms of the stability. there is a process now that the parliament has commenced in terms of electing the next president, so there are some steps being taken but until the resignation of the

president comes, we have a sitting president and in an unprecedented time. we have never had a time that this is happened. next week is going to be critical, but even more what is going to be urgent and essential is that the president indistinct speech. bad could this get, in your view? we have already seen the military has been told to do whatever is necessary to restore a semblance of normality in sri lanka. could the violence get much worse? the potential is there, for sure, and the worries about what kind of barns will then be used against protesters, against people, and at the repression. so there are genuine fears that things could spiral out of control but, so far, it has been a while... have been some incidents, but so far there have been some

form of, let's say, calm. they have been reachout out through the official officers, residents, but also protesters have been able to contain the violence and respond in a way that hasn't got out of hand, but these are very uncertain times in sri lanka, so what is essential is to ensure the law and order situation is under control, and we have political stability. these are big questions as we enter thursday and await this resignation. indeed, and just briefly, what will satisfy protesters at this point? what do the people want? their people want the president and prime minister to leave. that is the demand. they want the system changed, so whoever comes as an interim president and forms an interim government will have a mammoth task in terms of ensuring they have the

confidence of the people, that they can also a process of economic recovery and stability. it is a massive task ahead but ensuring that the people trust the government is going to be this key task, for whoever it is.— going to be this key task, for whoever it is. bhavani fonseka there, activist _ whoever it is. bhavani fonseka there, activist in _ whoever it is. bhavani fonseka there, activist in human - whoever it is. bhavani fonseka there, activist in human rights| there, activist in human rights and lawyer. thank you so much forjoining us in colombo. president biden has arrived in israel at the start of a landmark regional tour, which will include a visit to saudi arabia. on his first first trip to the middle east since taking office, he was met by new israeli prime minister, yair lapid. mr biden will also meet the palestinian president during his trip, before heading to meet leaders of the gulf states, for discussions about the global supply of oil. here was his message on arriving in tel aviv. every time to return to this great country, with the roots

of the jewish people great country, with the roots of thejewish people back great country, with the roots of the jewish people back to the biblical times is a blessing because the connection between the israeli people and the american people is only deep, it is bone deep. generation after generation, that connection grows. we invest in each other. we dream together. mr biden will become the first us president to fly directly to saudi arabia from israel. this is seen as a small, but significant sign of riyadh's growing acceptance of israel and comes after decades of boycott in solidarity with the palestinians. yolande knell gave us the latest from jersualem. joe biden has come to this region many times before but this is the first time as us head of state, greeted as an old friend by israeli leaders as he arrived at the airport. he was then shown a cutting—edge israeli air force technology and taken to the holocaust memorial and museum. in initial remarks we got an idea of what this trip is

really all about. the security threat that israel and arab countries in the region see from iran and its proxies hopes that the us can hope even new alliances between israel and arab states that were brokered by the last administration, including military partnerships. there were hopes on the israeli side to put on steps towards what will eventually be perhaps normalisation with saudi arabia, and from president biden there was talk of the enduring us hopes of creating an independent palestinian state to end the long—standing conflict with israel. these things are going to come up again and again as president biden meets with israeli leaders through the day here on thursday and then goes on to the occupied palestinian territories for a few hours on friday to try and rebuild ties broken during the trump years. ultimately, he will head to saudi arabia on friday, that is

for one of the most important and delicate parts of the trip where he will be looking to saudi arabia, an important oil producing country of course, for help to bring down world energy prices. that was yolande knell reporting on that story. if you want to get in touch with me i'm on twitter, @bbckarishma. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: china is experiencing a heatwave so fierce it's making roads buckle and roofs melt. we'll hearfrom our correspondent in beijing. after months of talks and missed deadlines, i see you coming down the ladder now. that is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

a catastrophic engine fire is being blamed tonight for the first crash in the 30—110 year history of concord, the world's only supersonic airliner. one of the most vivid symbols of the — one of the most vivid symbols of the violence and hatred that tore _ of the violence and hatred that tore apart the state of yugoslavia, but now one decade later_ yugoslavia, but now one decade later it _ yugoslavia, but now one decade later it has — yugoslavia, but now one decade later it has been painstakingly rebuilt — later it has been painstakingly rebuilt and opens again today. there — rebuilt and opens again today. there has— rebuilt and opens again today. there has been a 50% decrease in sperm — there has been a 50% decrease in sperm quantity— there has been a 50% decrease in sperm quantity and - there has been a 50% decrease in sperm quantity and an- in sperm quantity and an increase _ in sperm quantity and an increase irr— in sperm quantity and an. increase in malfunctioning sperm _ increase in malfunctioning sperm unable _ increase in malfunctioning sperm unable to - increase in malfunctioning sperm unable to swim - increase in malfunctioning - sperm unable to swim properly. thousands — sperm unable to swim properly. thousands of— sperm unable to swim properly. thousands of households - sperm unable to swim properly. j thousands of households across the country are suspiciously quiet this lunchtime as children bury their noses in the final instalment of harry potter. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. our main headlines: the president of sri lanka, gotabaya rajapaksa, who fled

abroad in the face of massive anti—government protests, has broken his earlier undertaking to resign. as we've been hearing, this week's demonstration in sri lanka follows months of economic turmoil which has brought misery to millions across the country. our diplomatic correspondent, james landale, explains more on what's led to the chaos of recent days. sri lanka is in real difficulties at the moment. the first of all, there is almost complete economic collapse. inflation is more than 50%, food prices soaring up 80% and transport costs more than doubling. having a real impact. there are about 22 million people in sri lanka and the un food programme says that more than 6 million of them don't know where their next meal is coming from. why is the economy in such dire straits? tourism. a major source of foreign

revenues, has been devastated, first by the terrorist bombings in 2019 and then by the covid pandemic. the war in ukraine has also added to rising food and fuel prices. the global downturn has meant sri lankans living overseas have sent less money home. but the protesters also blame this man, the outgoing president gotabaya rajapaksa, part of a family dynasty dominated politics for two decades. he banned fertiliser imports, supposedly to make sri lanka more organic, but it devastated the rice crop and letter food shortages. but it devastated the rice crop and letterfood shortages. he also cut taxes and left the government are struggling to pay bills. and he borrowed heavily, leaving foreign debt worth $50 billion, much of it owed to china, and servicing that has drained currency reserves living little left to buy food imports. so the president has now fled leaving a political vacuum as mps

struggled to agree possibly some kind of unity government. all that matters because without a stable government, sri lanka may struggle with international support. it's already discussing a possible bailout from international monetary fund and talking to china about its depth. so there is an uncertain future for a strategically important island nation where economic crisis has now been followed by political upheaval. that was james landale reporting on that story for us. let's leave sri lanka and go to the uk. the first round of voting to decide who will be the next prime minister of the uk has reduced the field to six candidates, without throwing up a clear favourite. with the latest, here's our political editor, chris mason. the first moment of decision in determining who might be our next prime minister... ..and who definitely won't be. two candidates will be eliminated, jeremy hunt and nadhim zahawi.

the chancellor and the runner—up in the last conservative leadership race out. beaten by boris johnson. you won't be our _ beaten by boris johnson. you won't be our next _ beaten by borisjohnson. ym. won't be our next prime minister. who should be? i support rishi sunak, someone who has a formidable ability and has been thinking about the right thing to do for our economy. right thing to do for our economy-— right thing to do for our econom . . .. economy. earlier the campaign launched the _ economy. earlier the campaign launched the campaign - economy. earlier the campaign launched the campaign up - economy. earlier the campaign launched the campaign up any| launched the campaign up any mordaunt to finish second day and associate fairweather spot of merchandise to an end. the phase that may not be familiar but soon my be. she the former defence secretary and campaigning for brexit and speech to be prime minister feels, for now, like it has momentum. i feels, for now, like it has momentum.— feels, for now, like it has momentum. ,, ., , ., , momentum. i think our party has lost its sense _ momentum. i think our party has lost its sense of _ momentum. i think our party has lost its sense of self. _ momentum. i think our party has lost its sense of self. if _ momentum. i think our party has lost its sense of self. if i - lost its sense of self. if i can compare it to being in the glastonbury audience when paul mccartney was playing his set, we indulged all those nutrients but we really wanted was the

good old stuff. we all knew the words to them. low tax. small state. personal responsibility. what you say to the vast majority of people listening to this this morning who have not across you before and perhaps wonder, whether you have it in you to be prime minister? i think that i am one of the best prepared candidates in this contest. i have served in a huge number of ministerial positions, i have also served in the private sector, i worked in the private sector, i worked in the private sector, i worked in the public sector.— in the public sector. down the road at the — in the public sector. down the road at the same _ in the public sector. down the road at the same time, - in the public sector. down the i road at the same time, another contender, former soldier tom tugendhat says he prioritised much more money for the military. much more money for the military-— military. we talk about defence. _ military. we talk about defence, we _ military. we talk about defence, we have - military. we talk about defence, we have to i military. we talk about| defence, we have to be military. we talk about - defence, we have to be clear, we will never put the safety of our country in doubt. because of bean counters or spreadsheets.- of bean counters or s - readsheets. ., spreadsheets. the foreign secretary _ spreadsheets. the foreign secretary liz _ spreadsheets. the foreign secretary liz truss -

spreadsheets. the foreign| secretary liz truss finished third in the birthday to replace borisjohnson, and replace boris johnson, and tomorrow replace borisjohnson, and tomorrow as mps vote again, it's her turn to set out why she should win. our political editor chris mason reporting there. almost 50 days after the uvalde tragedy, new cctv video has been released, which shows how the school shooting in texas unfolded, with police waiting more than an hour before entering a classroom. 19 children and two teachers were shot dead when a gunman opened fire at robb elementary school in may. paul adams has this report. this was the moment 18—year—old salvador ramos arrived at robb elementary, crashing his pick—up truck before approaching the school armed with a semi automatic rifle. his movements caught on surveillance cameras. he enters the building. the corridors deserted. staff have already sounded the alert. a child emerges from the bathroom, spotting ramos moments before he starts his attack. we are not broadcasting the sound of the gunfire that follows.

within 2.5 minutes, police officers are seen entering the building. they are armed. they can hear shooting. they seem poised to intervene. but apparently fearing for their own safety, they retreat. in the agonising minutes that follow, more heavily armed officers arrive from multiple agencies. finally, a full hour and a quarter after ramos entered the classroom, officers go in. 19 students and two teachers are already dead. the investigation into what happened, and the apparent failures, goes on. the video has been known about for weeks. but uvalde's mayor is furious it has come out now. there is no reason for the families to have to see that. they do not need to see the gunman coming in and hear gunshots. they need to relive that. —— don't need to relive that. they have been through enough. for the people of this still traumatised community, the video is a new source

of anguish, and questions. these officers have their shields and weapons until their protective gear and they are standing there. standing there. 911 calls coming in from this child saying i can hear them talking to command. thatjust is not right. the head of public safety in texas has called the police response in uvalde an abject failure, saying the officer in charge put the lives of his men before those of the children. paul adams, bbc news. in france an official inquiry has found that liverpool fans were unfairly blamed for the chaotic scenes at the champions' league final in paris to �*divert attention' from the organisers' failures. riot police sprayed tear gas at liverpool supporters, including women and children. our correspondent in paris, lucy williamson, has more details. it's a pretty strong indication

for liverpool fans, the conclusion is senators after weeks of voluntary hearings with government ministers, police, match organisers and in a report they zoom in on the comments by the interior minister in the days following the match where he blamed liverpool fans for the chaos. that, they said, was unfair and unacceptable and yes, an attempt to divert attention away from the failures of the state. they said the authorities, the approach of the authorities here, was outdated, they still had the image in their minds, they said, of some vision of hooliganism from the 1980s. liverpool fans association has asked for a full apology from the government and the senators themselves in the report say themselves in the report say the real reasons, the core reasons behind this chaos, still need to be addressed in preparation, the communication, the management of the situation on the night. they say that there are real changes needed in the way france handles it

sporting events before it hosts the rugby world cup next year and before it hosted the olympic games in 202a. the cows at the stade de france, they said, was a wake—up call. let's turn to china now, where record—breaking, sweltering temperatures across central and southern parts of the country have triggered the highest level of china's warning system. our china correspondent, stephen mcdonell, reports from beijing. in recent days across much of china it's been pretty unbearable to be outdoors. in province after province, record—high temperatures have triggered red alerts. in cities with temperatures between a0 and 42 c, outdoor work like on building sites has been suspended. people are sharing footage on social media of a museum with the roof collapsed because tiles melted, and a road where it buckled because of the heat. hospital admissions have increased and people have reportedly been

dying from heat stroke. now, allalong, residents are having to queue up outdoors every few days to do pcr tests as part of the country ongoing zero—covid policy. spare a thought for those carrying out the testing, they are dressed head to toe in hazmat suits in sweltering conditions. meanwhile across the north of china, heavy driving rain has triggered flooding. the frequency of the flooding in china is according to chinese scientists because of global warming. this is a massive ongoing problem. but people here have to get through the coming days and weeks and that might not be so easy because forecasters are saying that the heatwaves could be hanging around in china for quite a bit yet. that's all for now. thanks for watching. stay with

bbc news for the latest global headlines and analysis. hello. for quite a few of us, it isjust a little cooler and fresher than it was 2a hours ago. and we do have some slightly lower temperatures in prospect over the next couple of days, but that is not the end of the heat, farfrom it. look at this on wednesday afternoon in southern spain. we saw temperatures up to 45 degrees, and some of that heat is on the move thanks to this area of low pressure to the west of iberia. as this drifts northwards, it will act as a pump. the winds around that low will pump that hot air in our direction. the heat likely to peak around monday or tuesday with temperatures in the mid to possibly high 30s celsius. hence this amber extreme heat warning from the met office covering large parts of england and wales. the risk to health, the risk of disruption to transport

and infrastructure. but in the shorter—term, yes, we do have some slightly cooler conditions out there, 10—16 degrees for thursday morning. through the day, we will see some spells of sunshine, the best of that down towards the south, where it should stay dry. parts of north wales, the north midlands, maybe east anglia could catch the odd shower, and certainly there will be some showers for northern england, for northern ireland and for scotland. the odd one of those could be on the heavy side. temperatures, well, 17 degrees for aberdeen and glasgow, 19 in belfast. still some heat in the south east corner, 27—28 degrees, but probably not exceeding 30. now, as we go through thursday night into friday, again, relatively cool and fresh. we will see more cloud, though, rolling into northern ireland, parts of scotland with some splashes of rain. and friday morning, temperatures generally between 10—14 degrees. through friday, then, we have this frontal system pushing its way south—eastwards, quite a weak affair. it's running into an area of high pressure, but it will still bring some cloud and some

outbreaks of rain. these cloudier skies pushing south—eastwards as the day wears on. the odd splash of rain here and there, but north—westerly winds keeping the most intense heat away to the south for the time being. still 27 degrees there for london, but a little cooler and fresher further north and west. however, watch those temperatures climb through the weekend and into the start of next week. scotland and northern ireland around the middle 20s, northern england into the middle 30s. and further south, well, this is the forecast for heathrow. it'sjust an example, highs of 37, but we could get a little higher than that. we could get quite close to the all—time uk record.