welcome to bbc news, i'm kasia madera. our top stories: chaos reigns in sri lanka, after fleeing aborad the ousted president goes back on his promise to resign. the security forces, the police, all the armed guards — they are nowhere to be seen. another public building here in sri lanka which has now been occupied by the people. president biden insists america's commitment to israel's security is unshakeable, as he arrives there on his first middle east tour. and then there were six. two candidates are eliminated after the first vote to choose britain's new prime minister. and the man who owned

new york's legendary studio 5a nightclub dies by assisted—suicide in switzerland. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. we start in sri lanka, where president gotabaya has not honoured his promise to resign. he flew to the maldives about 2k hours ago. but in a public letter, he said he was appointing the prime minister to be the acting head of state, while he was absent. that's led to anger among protesters, who wanted both men to quit. meanwhile a curfew is in force. 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 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 chanting that ranil wickremesinghe, the prime minister, is a thief. they don't just want president gotabaya rajapaksa to step down, they want the whole political class to leave, and they want a change. and this is how they're pushing for that change — a mass movement borne out of economic hardship,

sending a message to those in power. we don't want violence and we don't want to hit or something to that, that prime minister who try to be a president right now. we only want — please, resign. explosions 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 have tried to make their way to the prime minister's office but, as you can see, they didn't manage and 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! explosion the protesters are getting closer now. there is a stand—off at the gates now. the protesters are moving forward. they are not giving up. you can see the police. commotion 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 and 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. really, 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 come here and 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.

lots more information on the situation in sri lanka on the website. 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 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 chance to return to this great country, where the ancient roots of thejewish people date back to the biblical times, this is a blessing because the connection between the israeli people and the american people is bone—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 his first time as us he was 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 israel's 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 too of steps towards what will hopefully 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 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 with the palestinians that were 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. she will have more courage

about coming up. let's get some of the day's other news. the collapse of the italian government now seems likely after the 5—star movement, a coalition partner in the cabinet of mario draghi, announced it will not take part in the vote of confidence on thursday. other coalition parties have warned they will quit the government if 5—star boycotts the vote in the senate. the turkish mediators who have been overseeing talks between russia and ukraine over exports of grain through the black sea say progress has been made, and agreed to resume talks next week. the meeting was called after russia's invasion led to a blockade of ukrainian cargo ships, triggering a spike in globalfood prices. thousands of people have gathered outside the hungarian parliament in budapest to protest against new legislation that will sharply raise taxes for small firms. the new tax law was introduced by the government under the prime minister

victor orban on monday and passed on tuesday without debate. mr orban's fidesz party has a large majority in parliament. protest organisers vowed continuous protests until the new tax law is withdrawn. europe is also in the grip of a heatwave, which is set to last for at least another week. the highest temperatures have been recorded in southern spain and portugal — 45 degrees celsius — that's 113 degrees fahrenheit. a number of wildfires have broken out. 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. the next vote takes place on thursday, and the process will take until september to come up with a winner. 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, beaten by borisjohnson, both out. we now that you you won't be our next prime minister. who should be? i support rishi sunak, someone of formidable ability who has been thinking about the right thing to do for our economy. earlier the campaign launch of the trade minister penny mordaunt, who finished second in today's vote, another cramped and sweaty affair, with a spot of merchandise thrown in. cheering the face that may not be familiar but soon might be. she's the former defence secretary who campaigned for brexit and whose pitch to be prime minister feels, for now at least, like it has some momentum. i think our party has 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 new tunes, but what we really wanted was the good old stuff that we all knew the words to. low tax. small state. personal responsibility. what do you say to the vast majority of people listening to this this morning who have not come 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 have worked in the public sector. down the road at the same time, another contender, former soldier tom tugendhat, says he'd prioritise much more money for the military. when we talk about defence spending, we've got to be absolutely clear that we will never put the safety of our country in doubt because of bean counters or spreadsheets.

the foreign secretary liz truss finished third in the vote today to replace borisjohnson, and tomorrow as mps vote again, it's her turn to set out why she should win. chris mason there. more later. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: a thaw in relations. american airlines confirms it will soon resume flights to cuba. radio: i see you coming down the ladder now. that's small step for man... ..one giant leap for mankind. a catastrophic engine fire is being blamed tonight for the first crash

in the 30—year history of concorde, the world's only supersonic airliner. it was one of the most vivid symbols of the violence - and hatred that - tore apart the state of yugoslavia, but now, a decade later, - it has been- painstakingly rebuilt and opens again today. there has been a 50% decrease in sperm quantity, and an increase in malfunctioning sperm unable to swim properly. seven, six, five... thousands of households across the country are suspiciously quiet this lunchtime, as children bury their noses in the final instalment of harry potter. hello. welcome back. this is bbc world news. the latest 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. president biden insists america's commitment to israel's security is �*unshakeable�* as he arrives there on his first middle east tour. let's go back to our main story. 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. 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. that's 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 that's dominated politics for two decades. he banned fertiliser imports, supposedly to make sri lanka more organic, but it devastated the rice crop and led to food shortages. he also cut taxes and this left the government struggling to pay its bills. and he borrowed heavily, leaving foreign debt worth $50 billion, much of it owed to china, and servicing that has drained currency reserves, leaving little left

to buy food imports. so the president has now fled, leaving a political vacuum as mps struggle to agree, possibly, on 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 debt. so there is an uncertain future for a strategically important island nation where economic crisis has now been followed by political upheaval. james landale the. as i was saying, we have much more in the background of how this was building up on our website as well. in an increasing sign of thawing relations between the united states and cuba, it's been confirmed that american airlines will soon resume flights to several cuban airports.

until last month, passenger flights were only allowed into havana. but president biden has reversed some of the tough restrictions introduced by the trump administration, saying it was in the interests of cubans. let's discuss this change of policy with richard feinberg. he's a professor at the school of global policy and strategy at the university of california in san diego. very good have you to talk to us about this. is this, how do we read this decision? this a complete change in relations or what's the thinking behind this? ., ., ., this? thanks for having me. so when bidon _ this? thanks for having me. so when bidon was _ this? thanks for having me. so when bidon was elected, - this? thanks for having me. so when bidon was elected, the i when bidon was elected, the assumption was that he would reverse the tough sanctions that trumpet imposed against cuba and revert back to the more lenient policies of president obama. however, biden has chosen to maintain almost all of the trump era sanctions were in the run—up to the

summit of americas, key latin american countries that we won't show up in los angeles to your summit unless you improve relations with cuba. it was the mexicans but also the argentinians, so in the run—up to the summit, biden said ok, we have to lighten up a little bit and then what he did was he said, ok, cuban—americans want to send remittances to their family and friends in i let them do that but he hasn't put in place mechanisms, such as western union, which would allow that to happen, easily. he also said travel in groups would be allowed. americans can'tjust would be allowed. americans can't just go there would be allowed. americans can'tjust go there as tourists. the recent announcement about air flights says there will be flights allowed by american airlines to havana but also to some of the provincial cities where cuban—americans have families, and to whom they would like to

be reunited with. it’s and to whom they would like to be reunited with.— be reunited with. it's a humanitarian - be reunited with. it's a humanitarian gesture. | be reunited with. it's a i humanitarian gesture. is be reunited with. it's a - humanitarian gesture. is it a token gesture or is this the beginning of increased decisions, increased reversals of those strict trump policies? so far it seems that the biden team has been driven by the hopes that somehow the tough policy cuba will improve the democratic chances of winning elections in florida but increasingly, political analysts say the numbers just don't show such results. but there is also an important senator, who also advocates a tough line and that makes it hard for the biden administration to move forward. i wouldn't think until the midterm elections of november, it's unlikely to be additional important steps to improve relations between the us and cuba. , ~ relations between the us and cuba. , . ., ., cuba. interesting. we wait to see what _ cuba. interesting. we wait to see what happens _ cuba. interesting. we wait to see what happens after- cuba. interesting. we wait to see what happens after the i see what happens after the midterms. richard feinberg,

professor of the school policy and strategy at the university of california, thank you for your insight. my of california, thank you for your insight.— at 82 years old, mark fleischman, who owned the legendary new york nightclub studio 5a, has died by assisted suicide in switzerland. he'd talked about suffering from a debilitating illness in his later years. in his book, inside studio 5a, he wrote that the club was "an exclusive world where anything could happen." let's discuss this further. our news reporter, azadeh moshiri, is here. mark fleischman had a neurological illness before he took his own life. what do you know about his condition? he complained about the first time in 2016 but doctors couldn't diagnose what it was. it was serious enough that he couldn't walk anymore and last month he gave an interview to the new york post where he had explained that he

was unable to do basic tasks himself, couldn't dress himself, couldn't dress himself, tie his shoelaces, his wife had to help him with a lot of the everyday tasks, even things like getting out of bed in the morning. eventually he made the decision where hedlicka assisted suicide in switzerland and his long—time business partner, daniel fitzgerald, talks to bbc that he must have been in more pain than they knew and that they held a week, a living wage, july the fourth, independence day in the united states, more of a celebration on something sorrowful, former partners, former copper motors he worked with all attended, and it was after that that he flew to switzerland and any interview with the new york post he said i am taking the gentle way out, it's the easiest way out for me. , . , it's the easiest way out for me. , ., , ., , ., it's the easiest way out for me. , ., �* me. they really hope that he'd chance me. they really hope that he'd change his _ me. they really hope that he'd change his mind. _ me. they really hope that he'd change his mind. they - me. they really hope that he'd change his mind. they talked i change his mind. they talked about that as well. he flew us to zurich, in terms of legal pictures, how does that work with this?—

with this? globally is different _ with this? globally is different but - with this? globally is different but in - with this? globally is l different but in united with this? globally is - different but in united states where mark fleischman lived, it varies a estates, some states like colorado, california, new jersey, allow assisted suicide but only if you have a certified of terminal illness and no more than six months left to live which wasn't the situation for mark fleischman. in terms of why he chose switzerland, some of countries spain allow it but having said that, but it allowed for foreigners. he moved to switzerland and took the decision, and they provide that the foreign people for decades. studio 5a is an incredible place with so many today. for now, thank you for talking to us. azadeh moshiri looking into the death of mark fleischman. in france, an official inquiry has found that liverpool football 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 at women and children. at the time, liverpool fans were blamed for the trouble and were accused of trying to use fake tickets. but a new report says ticketing cannot be considered as the sole or main reason and it concluded that mistakes were made at every level. our correspondent in paris, lucy williamson, has more details. it's a pretty strong vindication for liverpool fans, the conclusion of senators after weeks of voluntary hearings with government ministers, police, match organisers. and in the report they zoom in on the comments by the interior minister, gerald darmanin, 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. the liverpool fans association has asked for a full apology from the government, and the senators 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 its sporting events before it hosts the rugby world cup next year and before it hosts the olympic games in 202a. the chaos at the stade de france, they say, was a wake—up call. lucy williamson there on those findings, reporting from paris. lots more on all of our stories, as always, on our website, including the background of the protests we have seen in the past few days in sri lanka. lots of visuals and rajini vaidyanathan in the thick of it in terms of her

coverage. lots more on our website. i'll be back shortly so for the time being, thanks, as always, for watching bbc news. 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.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the president of sri lanka has not honoured his promise to resign. gotabaya rajapaksa flew to the maldives around 2a hours ago. but in a public letter, he said he was appointing the prime minister to be the acting head of state, while he was absent. president biden�*s arrived in israel at the start of a landmark regional tour which will include a visit to saudi arabia. on his first trip to the middle east since taking office, he was met by israel's new prime minister. mr biden will also meet the palestinian president. the first round of voting to decide who will be the uk's next prime minister has reduced the field to six candidates, without throwing up a clear favourite. the next vote takes place on thursday, and the process

will take until september to come up with a winner.