this is bbc news. i'm david eades. our top stories: the heat and the havoc, as the uk records its highest ever temperatures the heatwave sparks dozens of fires around london. in europe, they're still fleeing the fires in their thousands. wildfires continue to affect countries right across the continent. in the us, 17 members of congress from the democratic party are arrested at an abortion rights protest outside the supreme court in washington. president putin makes just his second foreign trip since the invasion of ukraine, to meet leaders of iran and turkey in tehran, where the export of ukrainian grain was high on the agenda. is it a netflix horror show? what's the true impact for the streaming service as it

loses a million subscribers? welcome to our viewers on pbs in america, and around the globe. we begin here in the uk where temperatures of more than a0 degrees celsius have been recorded for the very first time. the heatwave has caused widespread disruption and 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 heatwaves like the one gripping western europe are becoming more frequent. our first report is from our climate editorjustin 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 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, 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 a0 degrees in the uk? and it isn'tjust getting hotter. years ago, temperatures would only reach peaks like this in the far south. but look how these high temperatures are moving north 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 heatwave plans are suitable, fit for purpose,

and they're 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 really 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. a little more on those fires that have been breaking out here in the uk. this was the scene east of london where a small fire in a back garden quickly turned into an inferno that ripped through several houses. there have been fires in other areas too, with bone dry conditions providing ideal conditions for blazes to spread. temperatures are now beginning to cool. of course, it's in france where the most devastating fires have taken hold along the country's atlantic coast. tens of thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes. 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. now to washington, where 17 democratic members of congress have been arrested at an abortion rights protest outside the supreme court. the group includes alexandria 0casio—cortez, a prominent member of the progressive wing of the democratic party. the congresswoman and her colleagues have been led away by police after blocking a nearby street as part of a civil disobedience rally. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes told us what the significance of the protest is. this was quite a small protest, in all about 35 people were arrested. about 50% of those were members of congress, 17 in all.

i think what the purpose of this was was to simply keep this issue in the headlines and it succeeded in doing that. there have been many other protests since the supreme court's ruling a few weeks ago that were much bigger than this one. there is a concern among some democratics, and especially those in the progressive wing of the party that the administration could perhaps have done more, and could have responded a bit more strongly to what the supreme court did. although, mr biden has said on several occasions that to some extent his hands are tied and there is very little he could do now. perhaps looking ahead to the november elections and from his perspective hoping that more democrats are elected and then meaningful legislation could be passed, it could be got through both houses that could guarantee abortion rights across the country. you make a really interesting point there that the november midterms, really important. this is a massive issue which i think the biden administration would look at and think, �*we need to capitalise on this�*.

but when you have the progressive arm of the party pushing them and criticising them for not doing enough it is a double—edged sword. it is tricky, isn't it, for the democrats. how to position this debate over the next few months. you are absolutely right, there is one wing of the party that are pushing, pushing, pushing, another wing saying, well, there is actually very little we can do at this time, other than to highlight it as an issue at the ballot box. it will be quite unusual if the issue like abortion or indeed something like gun rights were to dominate a mid—term election. and especially this year when americans are hurting through the economic crisis and the cost of living crisis, that is perhaps more likely to feature in people's minds when it comes to voting in november. as far as abortion is concerned, it is perhaps the only or main hope in the immediate foreseeable future of something changing.

let's get some of the day's other new now. steve bannon the antiestablishment person who helped bring donald trump to the white house is on trial. he has pleaded not guilty to charges of contempt of congress. the state of delaware has ruled that the dispute between elon musk and twitter will go to trial. elon musk claims that twitter misled him and the regulator. china has warned it will take forceful measures if nessie pillows the speaker of the us house of representatives should speak in taiwan. it comes after the financial times reported plans for her to go to taiwan later this month. taiwan's foreign

ministry says they have not received relevant information. just three candidates remain in the race to be britain's next prime minister. the panel to let round of voting by mps, on wednesday the last three will face one another on a vote before the two leading candidates face a vote by conservative party members. russian president vladimir putin flew to tehran to meet turkish and iranian leaders on tuesday. this was only his second trip abroad since he launched the invasion of ukraine. the talks were set to focus on the war in syria, as well as unblocking grain shipments in ukraine's black sea ports. but it also comes as russia is increasingly isolated by the west. here's our news reporter azadeh moshiri. ever since the invasion of ukraine president putin's list

of france has become increasingly smaller and sages are made things increasingly difficult for russia. while others have about the summit is about other things it shows strength for vladimir putin. you want show he does not stand alone and has friends beside him. while yes, iran and turkey are allies to russia, their relationship as allies is very complicated. 0n the one hand you have iran, and yes they both summer from western sanctions and stand against the west in that sense. they have competing economic interest when it comes to oil. iran is keenly aware that many countries are looking for non—russian sources of oil and run is keen to help its struggling economy. while russia and iran have their own economic dealings they are slightly at odds there. on the other hand you have turkey and turkey is acting as a mediator between the west and russia. they are also on opposing sides when it comes to the war in syria. as a show of unity it wasn't the strongest one. they are a big span _ wasn't the strongest one. they are a big span of— wasn't the strongest one. they are a big span of brothers - wasn't the strongest one. they are a big span of brothers are

theyin are a big span of brothers are they in a sense. what do you think iran and indeed turkey will get out of this?- will get out of this? funnily enou:h will get out of this? funnily enough iran _ will get out of this? funnily enough iran is _ will get out of this? funnily enough iran is playing - will get out of this? funnily enough iran is playing a - enough iran is playing a similar game and that poses a dilemma for the west especially the united states. that is because the iran nuclear deal is out of the complete stalemate. iran wants to show it is not negotiating from a place of weakness. we want to show it has other brands it can turn to and play that card that the us should be wary of pushing iran into president vladimir putin's aren't especially during a war in ukraine. what the us is hoping is that russia will be extinguished enough that iran will not want to rely on a weaker ally based on the summit that hasn't quite happen. a turkey the war in syria is increasingly important, they have been threatening and invasion four weeks. the president is telling russia and iran he doesn't want words of support he wants actual support and action. yes this was a meeting of allies but allies with their own interests at heart and played their own

diplomatic games. [30 heart and played their own diplomatic games.- heart and played their own diplomatic games. do stay with us on bbc _ diplomatic games. do stay with us on bbc news. _ it's notjust temperatures at a record high in the uk — the hunt is on for the winner of the biggest ever lottery jackpot — do you have the hottest ticket in town? the us space agency nasa has ordered an investigation after confirmation today that astronauts were cleared to while drunk.— while drunk. the last foot atrol, while drunk. the last foot patrol, once _ while drunk. the last foot patrol, once a _ while drunk. the last foot patrol, once a everyday . while drunk. the last foot i patrol, once a everyday part while drunk. the last foot - patrol, once a everyday part of the soldiers lot. now no more after— the soldiers lot. now no more after almost four decades. in a

rivate after almost four decades. in a private house _ after almost four decades. in a private house not _ after almost four decades. in a private house not doing any harm — private house not doing any harm to _ private house not doing any harm to anybody. _ private house not doing any harm to anybody. all - private house not doing any harm to anybody. all these | harm to anybody. all these peorfle _ harm to anybody. all these people should _ harm to anybody. all these people should wander - harm to anybody. all these people should wander in i harm to anybody. all these i people should wander in and harm to anybody. all these - people should wander in and say you are — people should wander in and say you are doing _ people should wander in and say you are doing something - people should wander in and say you are doing something wrong. | you are doing something wrong. six rare — you are doing something wrong. six rare white _ you are doing something wrong. six rare white lion _ you are doing something wrong. six rare white lion cubs- you are doing something wrong. six rare white lion cubs on- you are doing something wrong. six rare white lion cubs on the l six rare white lion cubs on the prowl and already making a roar of approvalfrom prowl and already making a roar of approval from visitors. the? of approval from visitors. they are lovely. _ of approval from visitors. they are lovely, really _ of approval from visitors. they are lovely, really sweet. - this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: the uk records its highest ever temperatures with the heatwave sparking dozens of fires around london. in the us, 17 members of congress from the democratic party are arrested at an abortion rights protest outside the supreme court in washington.

there's no doubt the story of the week is the heatwave across europe , with soaring temperatures and raging fires. we've seen them in portugal, there are more than 30 still alight in spain, while the southwest of france has been ravaged by blazes along the coast. and here's the knock—on: european union scientists say the fires in spain and morocco injune and july have produced more carbon emissions than the same period in any year since records began in 2003. we've seen all this in other parts of the world too, of course, from siberia to california and australia. i asked james maccarthy, a research analyst with global forest watch at the world resources institute, if forest fires are becoming more frequent. some new data out of the university of maryland confirms what we long suspected, and that is forest fires have gotten worse over the last two decades.

right now you are seeing fire activity in spain and france three or four times higher than average in spain for this time of year and definitely an increase the cloth globe. the point is about forest fires is it is doing something we desperately don't need and that is further co2 emissions. how much c02 is being pumped into the atmosphere as a result of these forest fires? sure, i want to be clear that fossil fuel emissions are by far the biggest contributor to climate change across the globe. if you do consider global fire omissions across all land cover types, if you combine them all and consider them as their own country as a standalone, they would rank as one of the top countries for producing carbon dioxide emissions. globally, they do add up to a large value but in the us for example, really, on an annual basis, only 6% of the total fossil fuel emissions for the country but then again the us is a larger emitter of fossil fuels and that is why it has

such a small number. you say only 6%, but that is 6% we were hoping we would not have to deal with at all, and it's still quite a huge amount and i suppose there is this painful reality thatitis a vicious circle, isn't it? we are having fires, they are putting more c02 in the atmosphere, leading to more heating, which will lead presumably to more forest fires? exactly. this fire climate feedback loop is one of the biggest concerns we have and really the best thing we can do right now is to decrease the amount of fossil fuels we burn. climate change as you mentioned is the thing driving heatwaves we are seeing. they are now five times more frequent than they were 150 years ago, thanks to some of the changes in the climate. yeah, the single most important thing we can do to help both reduce climate change

and also reduce the number of fires we are seeing is to reduce our reliance on fossilfuels. the streaming giant netflix has just reported its second quarter results. it lost nearly a million subscribers from april throuthune, fewer than than the 2 million customers the company had warned investors it would lose. well, earlier i spoike to taylor lorenz, who's a columnist at the washington post covering technology and online culture. i asked why she felt some people were feeling quite positive over the latest results. it's not as bad as you would think. in fact, some estimates — that they may lose up to 2 million subscribers — so i think losing 1 million isn't great but they also added millions and millions through the pandemic in 2020, so it is two steps forward, one step back here. the markets tend to focus on these figures, and subscription numbers are down. it points to a bad sign.

there is a suggestion they aren't actually losing on actual viewers? yes, it is still seeing success, it has huge cultural power. when you think about it, netflix doesn't even know necessarily how many viewers they have total because there is so much password sharing going on right now on the site. up to five households could be using your netflix account so it still has a lot of impact and by far the biggest service. you are bringing up a guilty secret there, that i think many others do. is there much netflix can do about that and is there any point in them trying? certainly there is point in trying, even if they could convert some of those subscribers to boost

their account, pay for extra, you know, households, they are certainly going to try that and i think they will roll it out in five countries, crackdowns on password sharing, whether that is just asking you to pay a bit more incrementally to add a couple of households on, you know, they hope that may convert users. they are also starting a lower—priced tier that you can use that will have adverts on it. i think that may be appealing for people who currently don't pay for netflix or have gotten kicked off their parents�* account, may not have a fulltime subscription. we often focus on the pioneers and we are certainly seen as the pioneer, but are any other streaming services doing significantly better, really eating into netflix or is it more about people generally thinking, tighten the belts or maybe we don't need all this content after all. look, apple, comcast, hulu, there are so many streaming services right now.

amazon. there is certainly competition. whether or not they have been successful, that is up for debate. peacock was a failure, we saw cnn+ was a flop. it'll be interesting to see what happens with hulu. will it be folded into disney+? there is a lot of upheaval in the market. competitors are definitely eager to see if they can take some of that business. if you're in the uk and you took part in tuesday's euromillions lottery, you might want to check your numbers right about now. 0ne ticket—holder has scooped a jackpot of nearly £200 million, that's more than $230 million — in what's being described as the biggest uk lottery win of all time. the bbc�*s tim allman reports. it was only two months ago that joe and jess thwaite celebrated their immense good fortune. their numbers had come up,

and they had won £181; million in the euromillions lottery. but now they seem almost like paupers as an even biggerjackpot is about to be claimed. in the latest draw, a uk ticket holder has won £195 million. that is worth around $231; million. in a statement, camelot said:. ...millions of dollars, get those tickets out! of course, the best thing about it is a lot of money but it pales in comparison with some other lottery jackpot winners. in america, these sort of big pay—outs are not that unusual. a mother of two, mavis, received a cheque for more than $758 million five years ago. and spain's el gordo, or the fat one, is an annual christmas tradition that has a prize fund of nearly 3—billion euros, although the winnings are spread around in much smaller numbers.

as for the latest lucky winner, they willjoin a long line people celebrating with a champagne and a big cheque. it could be you. it almost certainly won't be... ..but you never know! tim allman, bbc news. a reminder of our top story, the extreme heatwave which is engulfing many parts of the world right now. we've obviously had record—breaking temperatures here in the uk — more than a0 degrees celsius recorded for the very first time. we see this in many parts of the world so how to cope with it and that with that, well, we are showing you on our website. we have all the information there on how various countries deal with extreme heat and what you can do to soften the blow

in this particular heatwave. thank you for watching. bye for now. 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 1.5 degrees. this is very significant. eastern parts of the uk start wednesday, still 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 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.

of approval from visitors. they are lovely, really sweet. -

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