welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines... the uk records its highest ever temperatures with the heatwave sparking dozens of fires around london. in europe, wildfires continue forcing people to flee sri lanka's parliament is set to vote on wednesday. netflix loses 1 million subscribers, but the figures are quite the horse show many fear. —— horror show. life from our studio in singapore... this is bbc news. it's newsday.

it's seven in the morning here in singapore and midnight in london, where the uk has recorded temperatures of more than a0 degrees celsius for the first time. the heatwave has caused widespread disruption on the railway network, and there have been a large number of fires in parks and grasslands. a major incident has been declared in london, where the mayor, sadiq khan, said fire crews were struggling to cope. the un's climate chief has warned that heatwaves such as the one currently gripping western europe are becoming more frequent. our first report is from our climate editor, justin rowlatt. with today's searing heat came fires, and lots of them. huge plumes of smoke rose above london as grassfires engulfed homes on the outskirts of the capital. the london fire brigade declared a major incident. a number of the calls that we've been dealing with today have been wildfires or grassfires, where the ground has been tinder box dry result

of the weather over the last week, but in particular, the last two days. temperature records were tumbling before midday today. the 39.1 degrees recorded at charlwood near gatwick airport was a warning of what was to come. within an hour, another record had been set at another airport — 40.2 degrees celsius at heathrow. by mid—afternoon, we got a new provisional heat record for the uk when coningsby in lincolnshire reached 40.3 celsius. and here was a new provisional record for scotland, too, incinerating the previous record. we've been beating records by 1.5, two degrees, and really quite an extensive region of over 35 degrees, and this is really unusual. these are high temperatures over a broad area in england, at another airport — 40.2 celsius at heathrow. so quite surprising. just look how today's temperatures compared to previous records. in 1976, it peaked just

shy of 36 degrees. it was 27 years before that record was broken. 16 years after that, it hit 38.7 celsius. just three years later, and we've got today's new record. who would have thought over 40 degrees in the uk? and it isn'tjust get being hotter. getting hotter. years ago, temperatures would only reach peaks like this in the far south. but look how these high temperatures are and west across the country. the heat is getting more intense and it is spreading, and, say climate scientists, we need to prepare for more in the coming years. the first thing organisations . can do is make sure their heat heatwave plans are suitable and fit for purpose and they're - heatwave plans are suitable, fit for purpose and _

going to work when the next heatwave kicks in. _ as individuals, we can - recognise that heat waves are not fun things to enjoy. they can be damaging - and really affect our health. it was certainly too hot for most tourists in cambridge today. those brave enough to take to the river brought their own shelter, and they needed it. the only sensible place to be was in the shade, and that says something important about our changing world. this really ought to be a critical warning for everyone in this country, but especially our policymakers, that climate change is not something to be ignored. it's a really critical issue that we have to address as a country and as a world. some people did find ways to cool down. but the message from scientists is clear — if we want to stop britain and the world getting even hotter, we need to start cutting emissions and quickly. justin rowlatt, bbc news, cambridge. so, that's the situation in the uk.

let's take you to the rest of europe now, and start with france, where fire crews in the south west of the country are battling to control wildfires spreading along the atlantic coast. tens of thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes near bordeaux. 0ur correspondent lucy williamson was at the scene and sent this report from one of the affected areas. in teste—de—buch, we drove towards the fire, following fire crews as they disappeared into the smoke. all around us, the forest still smouldered, waiting for a chance to reignite. you can really taste and smell the smoke in the air here. fire crews have been battling these fires for a week now, and while they're contained in parts, they're still not under control despite the drop in temperatures. you can see some of them still working over here. the key concern now is preventing any fresh fires from taking hold. they talk about an apocalypse here. last week, it was paradise.

these campsites carry evidence of both. holiday memories spat out by the flames. the guests evacuated last week. translation: it�*s heartbreaking for the locals, for the tourists who come here, it's upsetting. and of course, us firemen feel the same way, but itjust makes us more determined to finish thejob. a short drive away, rachel has been packed for days, her husband's old camper van stashed with water. and then, we've got a couple of baskets... anything irreplaceable, packed into a bag. you could actually taste the smoke in your mouth. it was really disconcerting, this acrid taste. and there was ash falling from the sky. this situation is really scary. it's something that is so out of our control and heatwaves are happening more and more. we are surrounded by forest and it's really something that's made us ask the question, are we going to go back to england, perhaps, because of it?

it's frightening. across the border in spain, angel was caught on camera yesterday heading out in his bulldozer to dig a firebreak. now you see him, now you don't. it's the closest escape imaginable. this is what the apocalypse looks like up close. and this is what it looks like to survive it. lucy williamson, bbc news, teste—de—buch. it's notjust europe feeling the heat — more than 40 million people in the united states are under heat alerts. there have been small wildfires in texas, and the use of power there and in other central states is expected to break all—time highs in coming days as people turn up air conditioners. president biden is expected to outline his next steps to tackle climate change on wednesday. and here in asia,

china has been facing an extreme heatwave, with more hot weather forecast for the coming weeks. temperatures could soon reach nearly 42 degrees in parts of southern china, according to the state weather forecaster. parts of the country have been struggling with scorching temperatures in recent weeks, with dozens of cities hit with red weather alerts. let's cross live now to ningbo, in the northeast zhejiang province of china, where i'm joined by professor faith chan, from the uk's university of nottingham. he currently conducts research on urban flood risk management in east asian mega—deltas and coastal cities. it's great to get you on the programme. ijust want it's great to get you on the programme. i just want to ask you what the situation is in china right now. it’s china right now. it's definitely _ china right now. it's definitely quite - china right now. it's definitely quite hot | china right now. it�*s definitely quite hot and also, it's hot in two weeks now and also quite many cities has been

over 44 degrees. so, the situation is quite almost the same as uk and europe. professor, eversummer, same as uk and europe. professor, ever summer, we sort of see these high temperatures in china, but in your experience, have they ever reached these temperatures? is it getting worse and becoming more frequent in terms of what you've seen in your work? yeah, actuall , you've seen in your work? yeah, actually. i _ you've seen in your work? yeah, actually, i think— you've seen in your work? yeah, actually, i think the _ you've seen in your work? yeah, actually, i think the heat - actually, i think the heat waves sometimes come... it's notjust waves sometimes come... it's not just this year. waves sometimes come... it's notjust this year. it's happening quite many years before and the situation may be get more frequent because of climate change. 0ne get more frequent because of climate change. one is from the

west persian gulf and the other is from the north pacific and it comes together and generates the heat wave in china. it's not the best situation, but i think my real point in the future, it may be getting more frequent because of the climate change and also because of urbanisation. a lot of landscape has been changed from green areas to concrete that the solar radiation was dissolved to trap the heat in the city. dissolved to trap the heat in theci. ., �* the city. professor, we're seeinu the city. professor, we're seeing the _ the city. professor, we're seeing the situation - the city. professor, we're seeing the situation in i the city. professor, we're - seeing the situation in europe and the uk, how people are struggling to cope with the wildfires that have been breaking out, real damage and disruption to infrastructure in those areas. but what is it like in china? are people use

to this? are they able to cope? definitely i think in such hot weather, i think everyone is the same because the humidity in the east coast and central china is quite hot. in this part of the world, it's not happening like the situation in southern europe. but it's very difficult for people who have been... elderly people, it's quite difficult. a lot of areas that people can live with. air conditioning and power generation and also lots of people rely on electricity at the moment, so i think there is very high pressure on the electricity supply. but it's

definitely where you have to... especially elderly people. professor, i'm glad you brought up professor, i'm glad you brought up the issue of electricity supply because that's such a major concern in china for the government there. what are the some of the solutions that have been thought of in terms of environmental policies to prevent this sort of thing happening in future? definitely, i think the chinese government is really concerned about climate change and committed to work on the carbon neutrality and also make sure china to embrace the carbon target. so i think the chinese government is promoting urban greening, sort of to promote cities to include city green area and also try to change the

transport system to enforce the electric buses. it's happening in a lot of major cities, so i think china is doing a lot to take action to cut the carbon emission in cities and rural areas, trying to promote more vegetation and more green area, and that is the way forward in china. ., , ,., and that is the way forward in china. ., ,,., i. china. right. professor, you saythat. — china. right. professor, you say that. but _ china. right. professor, you say that, but is _ china. right. professor, you say that, but is that - china. right. professor, you i say that, but is that happening fast enough? around the world, china is often seen as a country that has huge responsibility on climate change but isn't living up to those responsibilities. i think china has _ those responsibilities. i think china has done _ those responsibilities. i think china has done a _ those responsibilities. i think china has done a lot - those responsibilities. i think china has done a lot of - those responsibilities. i think china has done a lot of workl those responsibilities. i think. china has done a lot of work on this because i think it's a huge country with a huge population, and what i can say is china's government are trying to legislate those areas

with the action plan. what i can say is they are really taking their own and promoting criminalisty and also trying to implement that in the transport system. i can see a lot of changes. also, i can see the commitment to improve the green area in the city. so i think in the future, that's positive, and the commitment and carbon emission reduction as well, i think they are trying to reach the target as fast as possible, and that's what i can say. professor face chan, associate professor of environmental studies at the university of

nottingham —— faith chan. thank you very much forjoining us. president bruton make his second foreign trip —— 210. coming down the ladder now. it's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. a catastrophic engine fire has been 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, l but now, a decade, later it's been painstakingly rebuilt. and opens again today. there's been a 50% decrease in

sperm quantity and an increase in malfunctioning sperm unable to swim properly. thousands of households across the country are suspiciously quietly 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. 0ur headlines... the uk records as highest ever temperatures with the heat waves working dozens of fires around london. china has been facing extreme heat wave with more hot weather forecast. let's turn to iran, where russian president

vladimir putin has met turkish and iranian leaders in tehran. this is only his second foreign trip since he launched the invasion of ukraine in february. unblocking ukrainian grain exports via the black sea was high on the agenda, and mr putin said progress had been made. earlier, i spoke to sina azodi from the atlantic council fellow and asked what president putin and the iranian leaders hope to achieve from the trip. i think that president putin's trip to iran was quite essential in the context of what we've been hearing. recently, we heard that iran supplied drones to russia. iran issued a vgue statement, they did not confirm it. so i believe there's a possibility that the discussion over drones will come in. i think also that there is trade involved.

iran ministry issued a statement announcing that the largest investment in iran's oil industry has been signed with russia. so i think it is an important trade for both iran and russia, which both have been isolated due to the sanctions of the united states and the west. mr azodi, it's not like iran and russia have been fast friends, to use a colloquial phrase. fast friends, or bffs, to use a colloquial phrase. is this more of a marriage of convenience than a long—lasting relationship? absolutely. there have been times that russia has undermined iran's interest. when iran was selling oil to china at a discounted price, russia also began selling its oil to china at a discounted price.

the money that iran desperately needs to run the economy. previously, russia has used this defence contract with iran to basically push iran where it wants to. so, and syria too, iran and russia have mutual interest. that is why they cooperated in syria. but are they strategic allies? i believe they're not. mr azodi, i just want to turn to turkey because their role in all of this interesting. how do you think nato allies might view this? i don't believe that this is necessarily a concern for the west. turkey is reportedly going to conduct an operation

in northern syria. iran does see it as a mistake. when the president was in tehran, he said it was a mistake and that it could jeopardise regional security. and help western countries. but i do not believe that the president is concerned for the west and nato. steve bannon, the anti—establishment outsider who helped bring donald trump to the white house, is now on trial for refusing to testify about the january 6 assault on the us capitol. bannon has pleaded not guilty to the contempt charges. china's government has warned it would take "forceful measures" if nancy pelosi, the speaker of the us house of representatives, visited taiwan. this comes after the financial times reported about plans for ms pelosi to go to taiwan next month. taiwan's foreign ministry said it has "not received relevant

information" about any visit. presidentjoe biden and his wife have welcomed the first lady of ukraine, 0lena zelenska, to the white house. the wife of president zelensky is in the us for a series of bilateral meeting with american officials and will address lawmakers on capitol hill on wednesday. sri lanka is facing a major vote in parliament to decide the country's future political direction. mps there now have a list of three candidates to replace the ousted and widely hated gotabaya rajapaksa, but there's a problem — two of them are closely associated with the former president, or his party. whoever takes charge of the country will have to deal with a deep economic crisis. sri lanka is running out of foreign reserves, leading to shortages of fuel and medicine. the country's lucrative tea industry — one of the largest in the world — has been severely affected, too. 0ur correspondent secunder kermani reports from kandy. the tea leaves picked here end up in cups across the world. these lush fields are home to sri lanka's biggest export,

but they've been badly hit by this unprecedented economic crisis. first, the government suddenly banned chemical fertiliser last year, one of a number of disastrous policy decisions. "0ur leaders aren't bothered about providing us with the "basic necessities," he says. "they're the ones who have put us in debt by stealing "dollars and spending them however they want." right now, sri lanka is like a ship stranded at sea. across sri lanka, there are huge queues waiting for fuel, with much of the country grinding to a halt. anger on the streets has already led to the ousting of the president. in factories, there's frustration. tea exports bring in dollars vital in keeping the economy afloat, but production has been falling. tea has been grown and produced in sri lanka for the past 150 years. the industry employs more than two million people

and normally brings in more than $1 billion every year. right now, though, like the rest of the island, it's facing its biggest ever crisis. at this factory, like many others, they've cut back on operating times and are worried about what the future holds. without the fuel, we are finding it very, very difficult. if this goes on, we might have to shut down all factories. normally, about 20 lorries are running for us. now, we are running about eight lorries. and with the power cut, there are factories closed down. working three days, four days a week. it's the poorest who are suffering the most right now. tea—pluckers struggle hard all day for little more than the minimum wage. but food prices are soaring.

translation: in the past, - we could get by, but now prices have more than doubled. whatever we earn in a day, we're spending to eat. we eat once at around ten in the morning and then . again in the evening. life looks likely to get even harderfor sri lankans, whoever ends up leading their country. secunder kermani, bbc news, kandy. the streaming giant netflix has just reported its second quarter results. it lost 970,000 subscribers from april throuthune, fewer than than the 2 million customers the company had warned investors it would lose. our business reporter, samira hussain, gave an update earlier. it wasn't the bloodbath everyone was expecting, especially when you compare it to the last quarter and just how badly twitter... i'm sorry, we're putting on too many stories! how netflix did in the last three months. they really had a bit of a dismal pandemic time. this time, they didn't

lose as many subscribers as they thought. they were expecting somewhere in the 2 million range. and although you have two consecutive quarters in which they lost subscribers, they're actually expecting to gain some subscribers when you're looking at their future forecast. but what i think is really interesting when you look at their revenue, their revenue is up 9% year—over—year, but the reasoning is it really has to do with a lot of the currency exchanges. i think we're going to see this a lot, that multinational corporations — rather, multinational american corporations — that mainly do their business in us dollars, but have businesses elsewhere, are going to see such a boost to their revenue because the us dollar is so strong in comparison to other currencies. i mean, just take the euro for example — it reached parity for the first time. we'll have more on that story coming up in asia business

report in a few minutes. that's it from us for now. thanks for joining us. hello. 0ur historic and unprecedented heatwave is now coming to an end, but on tuesday, we recorded a new provisional uk record of 40.3 celsius. normally when we break records, it's by a fraction of a degree, but that's the old record. we've exceeded it by more than one and a half degrees. this is very significant. eastern parts of the uk start wednesday, stood in the grip of some relatively warm air, but out towards the west, something cooler and fresher flowing in from the atlantic. so, waking up to another warm start across eastern parts of england, but with some spells of sunshine. 0ut towards the west, wales, the southwest seeing some cloud and some showers, the odd heavy one. those showers drifting eastwards through the day. quite a lot of cloud for eastern scotland, more brightness further north and west. sunny spells and just the odd shower there

for northern ireland. temperatures lower than they have been. still 29 celsius in the east of england — normally we consider that hot, but obviously not as hot as it has been — more like 18—20 for a good part of scotland and northern ireland. now, through the late afternoon and evening, we will see some quite intense thunderstorms across parts of northeast england, the midlands, east anglia, maybe the southeast — quite hit and miss, but some places could get quite a lot of rain in a short time. a lot of cloud holding on across eastern areas, more clear spells out towards the west, but it will be cooler and fresher for all of us as we start thursday morning. now, the next thing i think many of us would really like is some rain, but with high pressure building in for thursday, we're not going to see very much of that. yes, there mayjust be the odd shower here and there, a lot of cloud across central and eastern parts of england. that could produce the odd spot of rain, but for most, it is looking like a dry day. some spells of sunshine, particularly out towards the west. temperatures, though, much lower than they have been at 17—25 celsius north to south. friday, we stick with that cooler feel.

a greater chance of seeing showers on friday, but they certainly won't crop up everywhere. they will be quite hit and miss. some will be heavy, some will be thundery. best chance of brightness, i think, across southern and southwestern parts, but temperatures much closer to where they should be, actually, for the time of year, 15—23 celsius. as we head into the weekend, the best chance of seeing some rain will be up towards the north and the west of the uk. further south and east, it should stay dry with some spells of sunshine and it will actually start to turn a bit warmer once again.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour as newsday continues straight after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. iran's rocky relations with the west have cost a host of individuals their freedom. the islamic republic has imprisoned citizens from the us, britain and a number of other countries for spying. now, the charges may be trumped up, but tehran�*s determination to use western prisoners for political purposes is very real. my guest is the australian academic, kylie moore—gilbert, who was released from

an iranianjail in 2020 after 804 days behind bars.