this is bbc news, i'm lewis vaughanjones. the headlines: president biden confirms the head of al-qaeda, ayman al—zawahiri, has been killed by a us drone strike in kabul. he by a us drone strike in kabul. made videos, includ weeks he made videos, including in recent weeks asking his followers to attack the us and our allies. nojustice had been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more. liz truss scrapped a plan to link public sector pay to any living costs after backlash. energy giant bp reports £6.9 billion in quarterly profits —

its highest in m years. the parents of archie battersbee have lodged another appeal with the supreme court against the decision to end the 12—year—old's life support treatment. a bit ofa a bit of a waiting game now, but we are hopeful that they will hopefully hear the case and we will get to put our points across. british airways halts sales of tickets on short—haul flights from heathrow for a week as disruption for travellers continues. mps are calling for non—surgical cosmetic procedures like botox and fillers to be better regulated. hello, welcome to the programme. the leader of al-qaeda has been killed by an american drone strike, in the afghan capital kabul. ayman al—zawahiri was

one of the masterminds of the attacks of september 11th. us president biden, in a live televised address, said his death would help give closure to the families of the thousands of people killed on 9/11. our correspondent, secunder kermani, reports from kabul. this is the family home where it's thought ayman al—zawahiri was living, and where, whilst standing on a balcony, american officials say he was killed by a missile fired by a drone. we can still hear debris being cleared up. but then we are told to stop filming. we are in the centre of the city. the house that was targeted in the drone strike is just a few minutes away, but the taliban aren't allowing anyone to film nearby, insisting there's nothing to see, one even pointing his gun threateningly towards us a little earlier on. senior taliban figures must have agreed to al-qaeda's leader living here, but they have insisted

in public the group no longer exists in afghanistan, so his death poses difficult questions. zawahiri was a veteran militant figure, involved in planning the 9/11 attacks alongside osama bin laden. president biden was present in the command centre when he was killed more than a decade ago, but he has also been heavily criticised for overseeing last year's chaotic troop withdrawal from afghanistan. this is now a major victory. the united states continues to demonstrate our resolve and our capacity to defend the american people against those who seek to do us harm. now, we, er, we make it clear again tonight that no matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the united states will find you and take you out.

unlike al-qaeda, the taliban have a national, not global, agenda. but they have been close allies of al-qaeda for years. recently, though, they have played down their links after promising not to allow foreign attacks to be planned on afghan soil. the taliban by hosting ayman al—zawahiri in kabul have not i'v e i've proven a lot of such assumption is wrong and meet any kind of engagement for the united states government, in particular, but the international community very, very difficult. al-qaeda is no longer the global threat it once was, but the killing of zawahiri will further deepen the distrust between the taliban and the west, as afghanistan continues to struggle amidst a deep economic crisis. secunder kermani, bbc news, kabul.

our north america correspondent barbara plett usher has been assessing what the drone strike could mean for relations between washington and kabul. well, it's a significant blow to whatever small amount of good faith might have existed in the relationship. the united states is saying that the taliban broke an agreement signed in 2020 about the conditions for us withdrawal in which the taliban committed that it would not shelter extremists. shelter extremists, and now ayman al—zawahiri is killed on their on their soil. the taliban is saying the opposite. it's saying that that agreement said that the us should not strike afghanistan after it left, and now it has. but what i can say is this doesn't mean that the united states will break up all contact with the taliban because it needs that contact for practical reasons. it's negotiating the release of a us hostage, it's trying to negotiate safe passage for afghans who worked with the united states and other things. but the president has made very clear that if it feels

that it needs to carry out another air strike, it will. and for the taliban, the timing is bad because they were going to use the anniversary of the us withdrawal to try to reach out more to the world. they certainly need better relations with the us in order to deal with their humanitarian and economic crisis. but now, of course, the united states is strongly questioning just exactly what their intentions are. thank you to barbara for that. let's speak now to dr kamran bokhari, director of analytical development at the new lines institute for strategy and policy in washington dc. thank you for coming on the programme. thank you for having me, lewis. ~ ., , ., ~' programme. thank you for having me, lewis. ~ ., , ., ~ , lewis. where do you think this strike no leaves _ lewis. where do you think this strike no leaves us. _ lewis. where do you think this strike no leaves us. i - lewis. where do you think this strike no leaves us. i think- lewis. where do you think this l strike no leaves us. i think there are two things — strike no leaves us. i think there are two things that _ strike no leaves us. i think there are two things that i _ strike no leaves us. i think there are two things that i am - strike no leaves us. i think there are two things that i am at - strike no leaves us. i think there are two things that i am at least| are two things that i am at least watching that are significant. one is that with the elimination of al—zawahiri, the gravity, the centre of gravity of transnationaljihad is in the afghanistan, pakistan theatre shifts were heavily towards isis—k.

ayman al—zawahiri was one of the major figures of al-qaeda and many of their associates have been killed in multiple drone strikes over the years in at the pakistani tribal badlands, then we are looking at a much more weakened organisation. new calida compared to isis has not shown any capability in this area for a long time —— new al-anda. since isis and taliban are enemies, we can expect some level of cooperation with the taliban or from the taliban, but this striking kabul on a facility belonging to senior members of the taliban movement suggest there will be infighting within the taliban wanting to know who will be cooperating with the ——

was cooperating with us intelligence leading to the killing of al—zawahiri. just to go back to one of the points you made earlier on, how significant is this in terms of weakening the organisation. he pointed to the fact it has been significantly weakened since it was getting day in and date coverage. i5 getting day in and date coverage. is this a significant blow losing the leader, orsimply this a significant blow losing the leader, or simply a case of being replaced and carrying on?- leader, or simply a case of being replaced and carrying on? look, if ou're replaced and carrying on? look, if you're asking _ replaced and carrying on? look, if you're asking if— replaced and carrying on? look, if you're asking if there _ replaced and carrying on? look, if you're asking if there will - replaced and carrying on? look, if you're asking if there will be - replaced and carrying on? look, if you're asking if there will be a - you're asking if there will be a formal replacement, yes, of course. we can expect that. but the question is, what with that succession look like? i do not think there is anybody in the al-qaeda ranks that has any stature of zawahiri and he was no bin laden either. isis grew out of al-anda, if i do zawahiri, and any much bigger organisation.

under zawahiri's leadership after bin laden was killed —— defied a zawahiri. this is not the organisation when you're 20 years ago, so i do not think a new leader will be able to steal it —— we knew 20 years ago. i do not think a new leader will be able to steer life into it. we need to keep foreign fighters in the region gravitating towards isis. idr fighters in the region gravitating towards isis.— fighters in the region gravitating towards isis. , ., ., ., towards isis. dr kamran bokhari, we must leave — towards isis. dr kamran bokhari, we must leave it — towards isis. dr kamran bokhari, we must leave it there, _ towards isis. dr kamran bokhari, we must leave it there, thank— towards isis. dr kamran bokhari, we must leave it there, thank you. - liz truss has backtracked on her proposal to link public sector pay to local living costs after a fierce backlash from some conservative mps and labour. last night she told conservative members it could save £9 billion a year but it led to fierce criticism from members of her party. supporters of her arrival said the

u—turn showed lack of serious judgment. our political correspondent ione wells has the latest. it was all smiles from liz truss as she toured the south—west of england yesterday. but this morning her plans caused beef with some tory mps in the area. she said she wanted civil servants in regions where pay is lower to be paid less. she argued, if this worked, it could save billions by being rolled out to other public sector workers. that would mean nurses, police or teachers in areas like the north of england could be paid less than places like surrey. her backers denied this would entrench regional inequality, claiming private companies struggle to hire in areas where public sector pay drives them out. if the government is the highest payer, it then crowds out private sector investment, and we have to ensure that private sector investment comes alongside what the government is doing. but rishi sunak�*s supporters slammed the plans, arguing they would damage public services.

the first thing liz needs to do with this policy is perform a very swift u—turn. it is absolutely catastrophic to the chances of the conservative party at the next general election. even if you listen to jacob rees mogg and the idea that new teachers, nurses and police officers will be paid less in the north compared to the south—east, that will make it even more difficult to recruit. and u—turn they did, less than 20 minutes after these words left ben helton's mouth. liz truss's campaign said she would not go along with the plans if she were elected leader. this policy is just one of many rushed out by candidates fighting for the keys to number 10. but behind headlines like slashing whitehall waste, designed to appeal to tory members, this u—turn reveals how big questions remain about how some of these ideas would work in practice. david cornock is in westminster.

quite a the 24—hour kanaya policy idea absolutely criticised by people inside and outside her party. == inside and outside her party. -- what a 24 _ inside and outside her party. » what a 24 hours. the policy lasted about 12 hours, think before it was unceremoniously dumped. liz truss claims it was wilfully misrepresented by our opponents, but when you look at the small print, the only way she could save something like £11 billion per year would be for it to be extended to all public sector workers in the future, even though, as launched, it would only apply to new recruits. as you can imagine, it is a bit of a gift to the rishi sunak campaign. he has already put out a statement via a spokesperson saying it has a dramatic u—turn on policy and reveals more than a change of heart, a lack of serious judgment. setting out plans that are the snack campaign see it that it would dramatically cut wages for —— snack

says it would cut wages for teachers, police, in cannes to and taunton. and seeing it show the wedding halo trust of grip of detail in what is already a woo lee economic plan —— shows a worrying lack of grip of detail. economic plan -- shows a worrying lack of grip of detail.— lack of grip of detail. campaigning for ositive lack of grip of detail. campaigning for positive campaign _ lack of grip of detail. campaigning for positive campaign and - lack of grip of detail. campaigning for positive campaign and not - lack of grip of detail. campaigning for positive campaign and not to l for positive campaign and not to trash the record of the past government, all that is pretty tricky when you buying for the top job. i'm interested, you picked out that phrase that was released by liz truss's spokesperson, normally we would not dwell too much on sentences released by press offices for individual politicians, and any the truthfulness of them are not, but because that was such a crucial element in so many mps losing faith in the last prime minister, it is a really crucial issue in politics right now. really crucial issue in politics right nova— really crucial issue in politics

riahtnow. , , ,, right now. yes, it is a big issue in this campaign _ right now. yes, it is a big issue in this campaign and _ right now. yes, it is a big issue in this campaign and certainly - right now. yes, it is a big issue in this campaign and certainly rishi| this campaign and certainly rishi sunak who resigned from the government as chancellor has put it really at the heart of his campaign, restoring trust. and there truss herself says she can be trusted to deliver because she has been in government for so long, but what her camper saying is that it was wilfully misrepresented, but it is there in black and white and the only way she could have got to the £11 billion a year figure only way she could have got to the £11 billion a yearfigure in only way she could have got to the £11 billion a year figure in terms of savings would be if it were extended to all public sector workers, notjust people in bowler hats in whitehall or working outside london. and at the logic of it is that people doing the same job in say sunderland or stoke would be paid in less than their equivalents working in surrey are parts of the south—east of england. we working in surrey are parts of the south-east of england.— working in surrey are parts of the south-east of england. we will wait to see if there _ south-east of england. we will wait to see if there is _ south-east of england. we will wait to see if there is further _ to see if there is further explanation from liz truss. for the moment, thank you, david.

the headlines on bbc news... president biden confirms the head of al-qaeda, ayman al—zawahiri has been killed by a us drone strike in kabul. the parents of archie battersbee have lodged another appeal with the supreme court against the decision to end the 12—year—old's life support treatment. liz truss says she will not cut public sector pay outside london following a backlash from conservatives in so—called red wall areas. a bit of breaking news that were getting in from the g7, the group of seven are rich industrialised nations, they released a joint statement on energy security. this is of particular relevance at the moment given a rash of�*s invasion of ukraine, of course. a couple of sentences to bring you from it. they

say that we condemn russian attempts to weapon eyes its energy exports and use energy as a tool of geopolitical coercion —— weapon eyes its energy exports. russia is not a reliable energy supplier, therefore, we will react in solidarity and close coordination to mitigate the supply disruption globally and on our countries. a particular relevance of course because of the russia and ukraine conflict having a huge impact on energy prices in the uk and across europe. and further on that

the energy company bp has reported its second highest quarterly profit in its history. between april and june it made £6.9 billion pounds in profit — three times the figure for the same period last year. the company said its oil trading performance was exceptional, and that it expects to pay more than a billion pounds in uk tax this year. the profits come as domestic energy bills are predicted to hit more than £3,500 a year this winter. our business correspondent, caroline davies, reports. from fuel to cooking, lighting to showers — rising energy prices bite into household budgets. but the same high oil and gas prices that mean consumers are paying more means that energy companies are also making more money. today, bp announced it has made its second—ever highest underlying profit in a three—month period — £6.9 billion, more than triple the amount it made at the same time last year. the company says it will invest in the uk, including in energy transition, and pay more tax. when prices are higher, rightly so, we pay higher taxes and now we have an energy profits levy which means we will pay even more taxes on top of what we had already planned, and that is what we will do. bp estimates it will pay £1 billion of tax compared to £100 million last year,

but the high profits sit uneasily as many, like mother—of—two ruth face the prospect of energy bills rising again this year. i mean, it isjust frightening, really. it's such a huge amount of money and you can't get round it. we have to put the heating on, we have put the lights on, maybe we won't have the heating on as much. maybe we will have to put extra jumpers on, but there are some things you can't change and you can't stop. i still have to wash the clothes. so it is going to be a challenging winter, i think, for everybody. in april last year, the energy price cap increased from just over £1000 to £1138. within a year, the price cap had risen to its current level of £1971. but energy analysts cornwall insight think it will go even higher —

to more than £3358 this october, a rise of more than 70%. and these prices are expected to continue, potentially reaching as much as £3729 by this time next year. there are fears that as the prices rise, the situation could become more desperate for some families. the amount going up significantly through the heating season, we will see people turn to really desperate measures to stay warm, whether that is going to public spaces like libraries or on the bus just to get that warmth or doing much more dangerous things like lighting open fires in homes, which could lead to really catastrophic consequences. and it's not clear when prices might ease. analysts have predicted they are likely to stay high into 2024. caroline davies, bbc news. the parents of archie battersbee have lodged another appeal against the decision to end the 12—year—old's life support treatment. they want the supreme court to assess whether more time should be

given for the un committee to look at the case. actually plasma care was due to end at midday today. —— archie's care was due to end at midday today. we can speak now to our reporter matt cole, who is at the royal london hospital. archie has been here at the royal hospital since 8th of april, doctors described he suffered a catastrophic and survivable brain injury. yesterday, in response to the latest in a series of legal challenges, the court of appeal said that every day of treatment in archie's case is not in his interests and they set a deadline of noon today for life supporting treatment to be withdrawn. but moments before that deadline, archie's family submitted a further request to the supreme

court asking for a stay so that a united nations committee could examine his case. a short time after that, we heard from the supreme court, which said a panel of three judges will now consider the family's request for permission to appeal. and the supreme court made it clear that it does understand the urgency of this situation. if you moments after that, i had a word, if your words with ella carter, who speaks on behalf the family. —— a few words. it's a bit of a waiting game now, but we're hopeful that they will hopefully hear the case and we'll get to put our points across. how are holly and paul holding up? i think they're just really exhausted today, aren't they? i think it's come to a bit of a head, really. i think where yesterday we were all so tense that it was going to happen at two and then it was meant to happen

today at 12, they're so exhausted and just want to spend time with their little boy, really. so that's why i'm here on their behalf. and how's he doing? archie's doing well. yeah, he's stable still like he has been for the last four months really. and just, yeah. and if the supreme court doesn't accept this, this latest application, what next? because the noon deadline has passed for the withdrawal of life support. that's been extended. what were the family's wishes be next? i think if it doesn't get accepted, we'll have to go and speak with our legal team about what the next steps are. i think we can't really plan too far ahead because things are just constantly changing. we have tojust kind of take every day as it comes, really. and if it comes to a point of end of life care, you maybe don't want that to take place here. just explain to us what the family might be thinking. yeah, i think where the relationship between the family and the hospital's broken down so much that the family wouldn't get to have the goodbye that they would want,

so we are really adamant on the fact that it does take place in a hospice. they're so much better equipped to deal with these scenarios and it's so much more peaceful. you can have all the family around and there's no security and things like that. it would just be a much more peaceful and dignified way to say goodbye, really. that was ella carter, who is engaged to one of archie battersbee's brothers. archie's mum is here at the hospital at her son's bedside and she gave a short statement after the latest development in which she said, she doesn't understand any rush to make decisions, she says," i know archie is still with us, he is progressing in so many ways. " she says that they pray for an encouraging response from the supreme court. we have been led to understand it is potentially today, maybe tomorrow before the supreme court will return with its decision.

until then, for the family, for archie, it isjust until then, for the family, for archie, it is just a waiting until then, for the family, for archie, it isjust a waiting game. thank you for that, matt call there. joining me now is dr emma nottingham, who is a senior lecturer in child law and medical ethics at the university of winchester. good afternoon. difficult listening to that report from that going into the details of what the family want and what the doctors say. you deal, grapple with these kind of awful ethical conundrum is. just give us an idea of what kind of evidence that the courts will be looking at and weighing up. there is another appeal going on now —— gone in now. what will thejudges of appeal going on now —— gone in now. what will the judges of the people making a decision be looking at? first of all, it is important to mention the tragedy of these types of cases and there are no winners involved. it is extremely disgusting for everyone. —— extremely

distressing. the legal process is thorough, focusing on the best interests of the child, putting the child at the centre of any decision making, that is what we have seen in any previous judgments so far. so thejudges have weighed up any previous judgments so far. so the judges have weighed up the benefits and the burdens of continuing treatment so they have looked at that balance and they have looked at that balance and they have looked at that balance and they have looked at the medical evidence, but they have also looked beyond that and looked at what we call looking at the best interests in the widest sense, so looking at the child's psychological, social and emotional welfare. as well as the parents' views and weighing all that in the balance to come to a decision. that is really difficult _ balance to come to a decision. that is really difficult when that decision conflicts with the wishes of the family, because clearly the family are so important here and we can all watch and listen to what their spokesperson ella was saying and completely understand that those emotions and that they want to carry on with their quest, but the

decision maker so far have said that the interest of the patient first is that there —— is different. can you see with these legal matters any change? is there any hope from the family's point of view? i change? is there any hope from the family's point of view?— family's point of view? i think we are auoin family's point of view? i think we are going to _ family's point of view? i think we are going to have _ family's point of view? i think we are going to have to _ family's point of view? i think we are going to have to wait - family's point of view? i think we are going to have to wait to - family's point of view? i think we are going to have to wait to see i are going to have to wait to see what thejudges are going to have to wait to see what the judges say and we should get something on that fairly soon because they do understand the urgency of the situation. i think any agreements between the parties is unlikely because of the relationship appears to have broken down, which is why it has got to this stage of needing so much court intervention. another tricky one, which may not have the details on, i want to at least raise this. this idea of what — want to at least raise this. this idea of what is _ want to at least raise this. this idea of what is the _ want to at least raise this. this idea of what is the rush? we heard they are from ella saying the family did not understand what the rush was here. is it that something that would have been considered by the courts? i

would have been considered by the courts? ~ ., ., , courts? i think what that is referring — courts? i think what that is referring to _ courts? i think what that is referring to is _ courts? i think what that is referring to is the - courts? i think what that is referring to is the fact - courts? i think what that is referring to is the fact that| courts? i think what that is - referring to is the fact that there has been a legaljudgment, which has said that continuing treatment is not in his best interests. so all of the time that the treatment is being continued, we are not acting in archie's best interest. that is still up for debate and we will hear more on what the supreme court have to say about that. ok, doctor, we must leave it there. than to say about that. 0k, doctor, we must leave it there.— to say about that. 0k, doctor, we must leave it there. an awful issue to t must leave it there. an awful issue tot to must leave it there. an awful issue to try to pick _ must leave it there. an awful issue to try to pick through _ must leave it there. an awful issue to try to pick through and - must leave it there. an awful issue to try to pick through and explain. | to try to pick through and explain. thank you for doing that for us. china has flown warplanes close to the island of taiwan, which it claims as its own territory, in advance of an expected controversial visit to taipei by nancy pelosi, the speaker of the us house of representatives. taiwan's defence ministry says it has full grasp of military activities near the island and is determined to defend itself against any chinese threats. our asia pacific editor

celia hatton has the story. nancy pelosi, the third ranking us official, all smiles in malaysia, but behind—the—scenes, the apparent next stop on her asian tour to taiwan is so risky that it is shrouded in secrecy. ms pelosi's team hasn't confirmed she is even visiting the self—ruled island, but that hasn't stopped china from issuing stark warnings. translation: we have repeatedly and unmistakably expressed - to the us our strong opposition to speaker pelosi's potential visit to taiwan, and we hope us officials will be very clear about the importance and sensitivity of this issue and how dangerous it could be. tensions over taiwan date back to 1949, when the communist revolution forced the then—ruling party, the kmt, to flee to the nearby island of taiwan.

over the decades, taiwan has built itself into a self—rule democracy, but beijing still considers taiwan to be its own. xijinping has put the reunification of taiwan and mainland china at the top of his agenda, pledging that it is part of china's great rejuvenation. in taiwan, many are welcoming a potential visit from nancy pelosi, they say it makes them feel less isolated. but on the island, they are still left to consider how they would defend themselves if china really invaded. preparation drills are becoming a way of life. translation: because of the war in ukraine, we have _ to be more prepared. to put it bluntly, we are quite scared, because there is no way of knowing if the war will also come here. it is thought taiwan is an island caught between two rival superpowers.

even without a visit from nancy pelosi, the need for such shelters isn't going away. celia hatton, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with helen willetts. good afternoon, we started the day with more cloud around, the rain easing away now, the intensity of the showers thinking southwards easing. we will continue to see showers in the north and west, but some sunshine coming out, east of the grampians, parts of northern ireland. temperatures into the mid 20s, so warmer than yesterday, but he windy day. despite that, 29, 30 and he said, quite a muggy feel. the brisk winds continue through the night to blow further cloud and drizzle into southern and western areas and showers in the north. with every cloud around and eilidh bays, a warm night again. particularly uncomfortable for sleeping with the high humidity still hanging on in southern areas. still there through

wednesday, a few showers before that finally starts to break up and at the skies at brighton. more showers to come again in the north and west. a slightly fresher day across northern ireland and scotland, slightly less windy further south. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: president biden confirms the head of al qaeda, ayman al zawahiri has been killed by a us drone strike in kabul. he made videos, including in recent weeks, asking his followers to attack the us and our allies. now, justice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more. liz truss scraps a plan to link public sector pay to local living costs following a backlash from a number of senior conservatives. as energy bills soar, bp reports £6.9 billion in quarterly profits — its highest in 14 years.

the parents of archie battersbee have lodged another appeal with the supreme court against the decision to end the 12—year—old's life support treatment. a bit of a waiting game now, but we are hopeful that they will hopefully hear the case and we will get to put our points across. british airways halts sales of tickets on short—haul flights from heathrow for a week as disruption for travellers continues. mps are calling for non—surgical cosmetic procedures sport now and for a full round up, from birmingham, here's jane dougall. good afternoon. good afternoon from birmingham, where it is day 5 of the commonwealth games.

37 gold medals up for grabs, and in the last hour an incredible day for england's jake jarman who's won his fourth gold medal of the games in the men's gymnastics. he completed a sensational pair of vaults — the 20 year old making it look effortless. look at that! and it was an english one—two as giarnni regini—morgan took silver. it's his birthday today and the arena birmingham crowd sang happy birthday to him as he finished his vaults. these are live pictures from the gymnastics. two finals are taking place at the moment. johnny regini—moran is chasing another medal and he is up againstjoe fraser of birmingham who will be getting the hometown cheering. alice kinsella is defending her commonwealth title in the beam final and georgia—mae fenton is also

hoping for a podium. wales have won their second gold of the games. it came in the lawn bowls, in a very tight match against england. jarrad breen and daniel salmon beating jamie walker and sam tolchard19—18to win men's pairs gold at victoria park. scotland beat northen ireland to win the bronze. amazing. i would never even have dreamt of that happening. obviously, i was always wanted to get to the commonwealth games but to win two gold medals now, it is beyond my wildest dreams, to be honest. it's the first day of the athletes on the track at the alexander stadium. and the highlight so far has been katarina johnson thompson's defence of her hepthathlon title. our reporter kate gray has been watching for us.

what is the latest? katarina johnson-thompson - what is the latest? katarina johnson-thompson is - what is the latest? katarina johnson-thompson is out i what is the latest? katarina| johnson-thompson is out on what is the latest? katarina - johnson-thompson is out on the johnson—thompson is out on the track, she started with the hurdles, did not look too comfortable in the first event, finishing in fifth place, but she made up for it in the highjump, herstrongest place, but she made up for it in the highjump, her strongest event. place, but she made up for it in the highjump, herstrongest event. she has taken the lead but she has had a tough season and has not had much luck with injuries and she did not do as well as she wanted at the world championships but she seems to be coming here, growing with the support of the crowd, and she made up support of the crowd, and she made up for it in the highjump to get a 17 point lead ahead of the rest of the field going into this afternoon's 200 metres and shot put, so hopefully she will keep progressing and feel confident going into the afternoon session. elsewhere it has been all about the hundred metres, we have seen the man, we saw the fastest man from africa, ferdinand, he has qualified fastest in the time of 10.06 but also success from the home nations. the british captain from the world

championships, nethaneel mitchell—blake, championships, nethaneel mitchell—bla ke, who championships, nethaneel mitchell—blake, who has qualified. he won bronze at the world championships and he is now representing england. he has qualified for the semifinals alongsidejeremiah azu of wales. the women quickly follow afterwards and we saw asha philip taking to the track in the first heat and she did actually finish in third place, in a very tough first aid, but she has qualified for england along with her team—mate who won her heat. lots of hibernation interest to look out for in the semifinals as they come up over the next few days —— lots of home nation interest will keely hodgkinson has been out competing for england and she was in the 800 metres, very much in control, trying to find the form she had out in oregon at the world championships.

she controlled the heat all the way to the finish and has qualified for the final. the final takes place on saturday. along with her english team—mate alexandra bell and laura muir of scotland. the action is really under way. there is a lot of para—athletics including the t34100 metres, so it really is kicking off on the first day of action here at the track and field —— t34, 100 metres. the track and field -- t34, 100 metres. . ~ the track and field -- t34, 100 metres. ., ~ , ., the track and field -- t34, 100 metres. . ~' , ., , the track and field -- t34, 100 metres. ., ~ , ., , . in the women's 20/20 cricket, england have beaten south africa at edgbaston by 26 runs. south africa won the toss

and put england into bat. alice capsey hit a superb 50 from 37 balls to help england finish on 167—5. south africa slipped well behind the required run rate early into their chase and always seemed second—best, finishing on 141—4. england will reach the semi—finals if new zealand beat sri lanka on tuesday. that's all the sport for now. we will have more updates throughout the day and because you can get the latest updates on the bbc news website. —— and of course you can get. let's get more on bp's second highest profits in its history. between april and june, it made £6.9 billion — three times as much as in the same period last year. it comes on the back of soaring energy prices which have left consumers facing big increases to their household bills. i'm nowjoined by will webster who is the energy policy manager at offshore energies uk, the leading representative body for the uk offshore energy industries. good afternoon. good afternoon. the awful contrast — good afternoon. good afternoon. the awful contrast is _ good afternoon. good afternoon. the awful contrast is millions _ good afternoon. good afternoon. the awful contrast is millions of—

good afternoon. good afternoon. the awful contrast is millions of people i awful contrast is millions of people across the country struggling to pay their energy bills, and we are not evenin their energy bills, and we are not even in the autumn, the winter, those huge increases contributing to that in oil price, but they will be sitting at home watching and listening to these huge profits, how do we explain that? aha, listening to these huge profits, how do we explain that?— do we explain that? a couple of thins on do we explain that? a couple of things on the — do we explain that? a couple of things on the announcement. do we explain that? a couple of - things on the announcement today, thatis things on the announcement today, that is bp's entire global investment, so it is notjust what they are doing in the uk but their activities all over the world. so not all of that is necessarily relevant to uk consumers. the other thing to say is that these investments in the energy sector have to last over 15, 20, 25 years, so looking at one quarter or one year profits is not necessarily representative and if you look back over the last 2—3 years with the pandemic and other economic factors, like the financial crisis, there have been periods with very low

returns for upstream oil and gas businesses and energy businesses as well. that doesn't take away from the fact that, yes, certainly, consumers and the economy are suffering to some degree from high energy prices but these are prices which are determined in global markets and these are not something we can easily control as individual companies. we can easily control as individual companies-— companies. there are things governments _ companies. there are things governments can _ companies. there are things governments can do - companies. there are things governments can do to - companies. there are things l governments can do to control companies. there are things - governments can do to control the bumper profits, windfall tax? yes. bumper profits, windfall tax? yes, the oil and — bumper profits, windfall tax? yes, the oil and gas _ bumper profits, windfall tax? yes, the oil and gas sector— bumper profits, windfall tax? is: the oil and gas sector going back decades has had a special taxation regime so almost £400 billion has been paid by the sector since north sea oil and gas was first discovered and just in this year, this calendar year alone, and just in this year, this calendar yearalone, it and just in this year, this calendar year alone, it is predicted to be £12 billion going into the exchequer, and that was before the windfall tax was announced. there are mechanisms which are there and

the sector is now being taxed at 65% so we are, to some degree, bit worried about that, in the sense that it worried about that, in the sense thatitis worried about that, in the sense that it is a disincentive to invest and it is storing up trouble for the next few years. we need to invest in production. next few years. we need to invest in production-— production. talking about incentives to invest, production. talking about incentives to invest. is — production. talking about incentives to invest. is it _ production. talking about incentives to invest, is it a _ production. talking about incentives to invest, is it a disincentive - production. talking about incentives to invest, is it a disincentive to - to invest, is it a disincentive to invest in green technologies if such profits are being made when oil and gas are going up? the profits are being made when oil and gas are going no?— profits are being made when oil and gas are going up? the companies know the direction — gas are going up? the companies know the direction of _ gas are going up? the companies know the direction of travel _ gas are going up? the companies know the direction of travel in _ gas are going up? the companies know the direction of travel in the _ gas are going up? the companies know the direction of travel in the uk - gas are going up? the companies know the direction of travel in the uk in - the direction of travel in the uk in particular, and we are expecting the oil and gas to be progressively smaller as part of the system and we are seeing a lot of companies are diversifying, especially in the offshore sector in terms of fixed offshore sector in terms of fixed offshore wind and floating wind which is going to be a big part of the future. that is a slightly different government regime for that and it is a bit complex to mix the two together. there is a pivot going

on from the oil and gas investment into renewable investment but that is a progressive change which will happen over the next ten, 15 years, and what we really need over the next three, four years, is to correctly supply crunch which is caused by the stopping of russian exports, especially of gas, and russia is now not a reliable provider of energy, and so we need to maintain our domestic supplies and continue to incentivise investment in production, so there's a balance to be struck with all of this. , ., ., ., ~' a balance to be struck with all of this. , ., ., ., ~ ., ., this. great to talk to you. thanks forjoining _ this. great to talk to you. thanks forjoining us- — we will come back to energy prices but we have some political reaction. earlier we told you about liz truss performing a u—turn on public sector wages being lower outside london, her policy idea. she has now

scrapped that and i think we can hearfrom her scrapped that and i think we can hear from her now.— scrapped that and i think we can hear from her now. dorset council confirmed — hear from her now. dorset council confirmed to _ hear from her now. dorset council confirmed to be _ hear from her now. dorset council confirmed to be on _ hear from her now. dorset council confirmed to be on friday - hear from her now. dorset council confirmed to be on friday they - hear from her now. dorset council l confirmed to be on friday they were considering — confirmed to be on friday they were considering opening _ confirmed to be on friday they were considering opening libraries- confirmed to be on friday they were considering opening libraries to - considering opening libraries to allow_ considering opening libraries to allow residents— considering opening libraries to allow residents to _ considering opening libraries to allow residents to warm - considering opening libraries to allow residents to warm up - considering opening libraries to - allow residents to warm up because they were _ allow residents to warm up because they were not — allow residents to warm up because they were not able _ allow residents to warm up because they were not able to _ allow residents to warm up because they were not able to afford - allow residents to warm up because they were not able to afford their i they were not able to afford their heating _ they were not able to afford their heating this — they were not able to afford their heating this week— they were not able to afford their heating this week is _ they were not able to afford their heating this week is that - they were not able to afford their heating this week is that a - they were not able to afford theirl heating this week is that a terrible indictment — heating this week is that a terrible indictment of _ heating this week is that a terrible indictment of the _ heating this week is that a terrible indictment of the last _ heating this week is that a terrible indictment of the last 12 _ heating this week is that a terrible indictment of the last 12 years - heating this week is that a terrible indictment of the last 12 years of. indictment of the last 12 years of conservative _ indictment of the last 12 years of conservative government - indictment of the last 12 years of conservative government that i indictment of the last 12 years of. conservative government that you have been— conservative government that you have been part _ conservative government that you have been part of— conservative government that you have been part of over— conservative government that you have been part of over eight- conservative government that you i have been part of over eight years? what _ have been part of over eight years? what can— have been part of over eight years? what can you — have been part of over eight years? what can you do _ have been part of over eight years? what can you do to _ have been part of over eight years? what can you do to help _ have been part of over eight years? what can you do to help them? - have been part of over eight years? what can you do to help them? iglie| have been part of over eight years? what can you do to help them? we are facin: a what can you do to help them? we are facing a very — what can you do to help them? we are facing a very serious _ what can you do to help them? we are facing a very serious global _ what can you do to help them? we are facing a very serious global energy - facing a very serious global energy crisis following the appalling war perpetrated by vladimir putin in ukraine are what i would do is have an immediate temporary moratorium on the green levy to reduce people's fuel bills and also reverse the national insurance rise to put more money in the pockets of families. and also work very hard with the private sector to get more gas out of the north sea to help deal with our energy issue. this is a global crisis but i understand families are struggling with the cost of fuel and i would do everything to help them.

people need help right now, to pay energy— people need help right now, to pay energy bills, — people need help right now, to pay energy bills, rent, _ people need help right now, to pay energy bills, rent, outgoings, - people need help right now, to pay energy bills, rent, outgoings, andl energy bills, rent, outgoings, and another— energy bills, rent, outgoings, and another rise — energy bills, rent, outgoings, and another rise expected _ energy bills, rent, outgoings, and another rise expected in - energy bills, rent, outgoings, and another rise expected in october. | energy bills, rent, outgoings, andi another rise expected in october. i can another rise expected in october. can assure you as a prime another rise expected in october.“ can assure you as a prime minister, i would take immediate action on reducing those fuel bills, having a temporary moratorium on the green energy levy and also reversing the national insurance rise. this will put more money in the pockets of families who are struggling at the moment. share families who are struggling at the moment. �* , ., ., ., ., moment. are you doing a u-turn on lans to moment. are you doing a u-turn on plans to pay — moment. are you doing a u-turn on plans to pay public _ moment. are you doing a u-turn on plans to pay public sector _ moment. are you doing a u-turn on plans to pay public sector workers i plans to pay public sector workers in dorset — plans to pay public sector workers in dorset less— plans to pay public sector workers in dorset less than _ plans to pay public sector workers in dorset less than in— plans to pay public sector workers in dorset less than in dorking? i plans to pay public sector workersl in dorset less than in dorking? i’m“ in dorset less than in dorking? i'm afraid m in dorset less than in dorking? afraid my policy on this has been misrepresented. i never had any intention of changing the terms and conditions of teachers and nurses. but what i want to be clear about is i will not be going ahead with the regional pay boards, that is no longer my policy. it regional pay boards, that is no longer my policy-— regional pay boards, that is no longer my policy. it has been said this is a catastrophic _ longer my policy. it has been said this is a catastrophic error - longer my policy. it has been said this is a catastrophic error of - this is a catastrophic error of judgment _

this is a catastrophic error of judgment-— this is a catastrophic error of 'udument. �* , ., , ,., , judgment. i'm being absolutely honest i'm _ judgment. i'm being absolutely honest i'm concerned - judgment. i'm being absolutely honest i'm concerned that - judgment. i'm being absolutely. honest i'm concerned that people were worried, unnecessarily, about my policies, and i'm being clear that the regional pay boards will not go ahead. that the regional pay boards will not go ahead-— that the regional pay boards will not go ahead. that was liz truss, answering — not go ahead. that was liz truss, answering a _ not go ahead. that was liz truss, answering a question _ not go ahead. that was liz truss, answering a question about - not go ahead. that was liz truss, answering a question about the l not go ahead. that was liz truss, i answering a question about the cost of life —— living and then confirming she will scrap her plan regarding public sector pay being linked to other costs. we now have the headlines. president biden confirms the head of al qaeda, ayman ul zawahiri has been killed by a us drone strike in kabul. the parents of archie battersbee have lodged another appeal with the supreme court against the decision to end the 12—year—old's life support treatment. liz truss says she will not cut public sector pay outside london

following a backlash from conservatives. british airways says it will stop selling tickets on short—haulflights from heathrow airport until monday. the move is due to the cap on daily passenger numbers that the airport imposed over the summer, in an attempt to reduce travel delays. the sales suspension will affect ba's flights to domestic and european destinations. let's speak to lisa minot — who's the travel editor at the sun. it looks nice and sunny where you are. this is such a mess for so many travellers, what is going on? it are. this is such a mess for so many travellers, what is going on?- travellers, what is going on? it has not travellers, what is going on? it has got worse. — travellers, what is going on? it has got worse. in _ travellers, what is going on? it has got worse. in the _ travellers, what is going on? it has got worse, in the last _ travellers, what is going on? it has got worse, in the last hour - travellers, what is going on? it has got worse, in the last hour we - travellers, what is going on? it has| got worse, in the last hour we have heard that this is a stopping of saleable tickets out of heathrow airport with british airways and will continue until the 15th of august at the earliest —— stopping

of sale of tickets will top you cannot buy any tickets for british airways because of the heathrow cap and the fact they and british airways do not have enough staff to run their schedule. i5 airways do not have enough staff to run their schedule.— run their schedule. is this still a lea of run their schedule. is this still a legacy of the — run their schedule. is this still a legacy of the pandemic? - run their schedule. is this still a legacy of the pandemic? it - run their schedule. is this still a legacy of the pandemic? it is, l run their schedule. is this still a i legacy of the pandemic? it is, yes. the pandemic— legacy of the pandemic? it is, yes. the pandemic devastated - legacy of the pandemic? it is, yes. the pandemic devastated the - legacy of the pandemic? it is, yes. i the pandemic devastated the aviation industry and when the restrictions were dropped, it took the industry by surprise, we had just come out of omicron and they have not really started to replace staff that had been let go during the pandemic, and other people in the industry after a couple of years of chaos and very few people fly, they chose to go elsewhere, they moved into other industries, and tempting them back has not been easy. it all comes down to the shortage and the fact that heathrow has a cap of no more than 100,000 flights every day out of, sorry, 100,000 people out of heathrow every day from now until

the 11th of september, british airways have said they will cancel their flights now until the 15th of august but there are other people who say it could possibly be that this cancellation and the stopping of sale will continue until the 11th of sale will continue until the 11th of september. that effectively means british airways will be flying planes out of heathrow with empty seats at a time of year when normally they would be trying to make as much money as possible because this is the time and everybody wants to travel. i5 because this is the time and everybody wants to travel. is it clear where — everybody wants to travel. is it clear where the _ everybody wants to travel. is it clear where the responsibility ultimately lies for all of this? is it the airlines, the airports, a bit of both? . , it the airlines, the airports, a bit of both? , ., , ., of both? there has been a huge blame came auoin of both? there has been a huge blame game going on — of both? there has been a huge blame game going on between _ of both? there has been a huge blame game going on between the _ game going on between the government, the aviation industry, the airport, the airlines, and what it comes down to is the fact there has been a huge surge in demand with people wanting to get away and airports that have been struggling for the last two years, losing billions, they have not got enough staff in place to get the schedule in place, so it is not going to end

anytime soon. we are going to see the most number of people wanting to travel over the summer but i think british airways and heathrow itself have said that they are not thinking they will be at full staffing capacity until the end of the year at the earliest. it capacity until the end of the year at the earliest.— at the earliest. it is a big mess but ou at the earliest. it is a big mess but you have — at the earliest. it is a big mess but you have been _ at the earliest. it is a big mess but you have been crystal - at the earliest. it is a big messl but you have been crystal clear. thanks forjoining us. a coroner has concluded that the music entrepreneur jamal edwards died due to taking cocaine. the youtube star died in february this year, at the age of 31. the coroner says the cause of death was cardio arrhythmia which was sparked by cocaine use. thomas mcgill has more. jamal edwards was described as an entrepreneur today at the inquest into his death last february in west london. the assistant coroner concluded jamal had

taken cocaine, and that combined with alcohol had caused a cardiac arrhythmia, leading to his death. this inquest heard jamal had been out djing in islington before returning to his mother's home and it was there where he became increasingly erratic and paranoid before collapsing. attempts were made by his friend, uncle, and london ambulance service to resuscitate him, but all of those attempts were unsuccessful. today there was a statement read out by his mother and tv personality brenda edwards. she described her son as genuinely beautiful and a sensitive son who she was proud of. she went on to say in a statement that his legacy will be the trust that has been set up since his death. thomas mcgill, bbc london, at west london coroner's court. almost 700 migrants crossed the english channel in 14 small boats on monday, a record for the year so far.

more than 17,000 people have arrived in the uk after navigating busy shipping lanes from france in small boats so far in 2022, according to government figures. non—surgical cosmetic procedures, like botox and fillers, should be better regulated to prevent people who are struggling with their appearance from being exploited. that's one of the recommendations from a health committee report into body image — which has looked into the link between how people feel about the way they look, and their mental health. as zoe conway reports, the mps say the impact of body image on mental and physical health needs to be taken more seriously. it doesn't get more body—conscious than love island. hi, guys, come on. millions might have tuned in to last night's final, but it's hardly the first reality tv show. the only way is essex first blinged its way

onto our tvs 12 years ago. one of its earlier stars, charlie king. go on, charlie! he's grateful for the opportunities towie gave him, but he worries about the effect reality tv could have on young people. when you are being bombarded with it and you don't see diversity, or different sorts of bodies being represented if we are looking at certain reality tv shows, that's dangerous. he struggles with how he looks. he has body dysmorphia, had cosmetic surgery on his nose. it went wrong. i've had to wait two years to have my nose fixed, and i've had to live with that and that choice, and that has been one of the hardest lessons that i've ever learned, all because i thought i needed to change. a new report by the health select committee is concerned about the impact body images are having on mental health. they want to see labelling of digitally altered commercial

pictures and regulation for nonsurgical cosmetic procedures within a year. so, i've had filler in my lips, i've had filler in my nose. every time kim booker had filler put in her face, she felt euphoric, but the feeling never lasted. she once had so much filler in her nose, it came close to collapse. it'sjust really, really sad that i have, ijust disliked the way i looked that much at those times. and, erm... it's just everywhere you look, and i still have those moments. it's still something that i... because everywhere you look, there's this image of perfection. in a statement, a government spokesperson said...

naomi is a model with influence. she has worked with brands like dove, adidas and boots, but her success has not come easy. growing up, she struggled with how she looked and developed an eating disorder. i equated my tallness with being, like, my bigness, and i was like, maybe if i'm smaller, i could be like, i could appear shorter, and it's all psychological. she despairs that so many people have a negative view of their body. after being so uncomfortable with myself for many years, just for me to be like present and ok with who i am, that's all i want. yeah, beautiful. and i can get all your new tattoos as well. zoe conway, bbc news. after more than 100 years in businss, a somerset family firm has delivered its last bottles of milk. steve davis had been due to stop work years ago

in the village of milborne port — but put his retirement on hold to help his customers during the pandemic. ali vowles joined him as he finished his very last round. applause what a surprise. a warm welcome for a village legend. steve knew his last delivery was to the house where three generations of his family once lived. but he didn't know there was going to be such a turnout. young man. young man, look at this. i feel better already! the business was started 102 years ago by his grandparents, who were farmers. and when his father, ernie, took over in 1963, they were still delivering twice a day. steve, 18 months, then started helping as a young lad and took over the round from his dad in 1989 in all weathers. and he's been a constant presence in the village ever since.

emotional, to be honest. so yeah, a bit of a shock. i think they like you. have you all paid up? i'm going to ask you, how many times have people said to you... sings: # ernie... the fastest milkman in the west. his wife, janet, organised the surprise. like steve, she loves to joke, but really is so proud. looking forward to having him a bit more to yourself? i'll tell you that later on! probably. you must be so proud of him. yeah, yeah. i'm so proud of him. all he's achieved. and he slept in the village. he's more thanjust a milkman. he's been a great asset to the village. how much you're going to miss him? oh, terribly. what does he mean to you?

i mean, it's been good service all these years. three generations of milkman delivering in this village. now it's time for a look at the weather with helen. it has been an exceptionally dry july as we know for many southern and eastern parts, the driest on record, but the chart shows it has been dry, the brown indicates where we have had less than average rainfall, dry over most parts of the uk, but actually, into tuesday we have had much needed rain, especially in the north, 50—100 millimetres falling over the mountains of wales, north—west england, because we have low pressure. quite a brisk wind for the rest of the day. but the showers are now starting to fizzle out and very little rain is reaching the south and east with some drizzle and misty low cloud further south and west, showers in the north, but temperatures are higher for parts of scotland and northern ireland compared to yesterday and a very muqqy compared to yesterday and a very muggy 29, 30, in southern compared to yesterday and a very muggy 29,30, in southern and

eastern areas, and muggy night will follow for many areas, we have cloud, misty low cloud, and further showers, and longer spells of rain in the north and where is, so once again welcome rain, and may be a dampening foot some of the gardens in southern and western areas but no more, really. just a few showers on the weather front. a warm start to the weather front. a warm start to the day once again and it will feel very warm again through the day but further north, quite a breeze, not as breezy as today but it will be noticeably fresher and it will feel fresh across scotland and northern ireland but for much of england and wales once again we still have the murkiness, so that will be around for the commonwealth games during the course of today and tomorrow, but it should then freshen up as we head into thursday, behind the weather front hit which moves away through thursday morning, and then we have a north—west breeze bringing some showers, quite a few showers, to scotland in particular on

thursday, may be a few brushing into the north of northern ireland, but temperatures in the north back down to average if not below, and closer to average if not below, and closer to average if not below, and closer to average further south as well. a fresh at night for sleeping, thursday night into friday, and fewer showers on friday, further north a lot of dry and warm feeling weather with the sunshine but quite a bit of fair weather cloud filling in the sky is so bright rather than sunny at times but the dry and more settled weather continues into the weekend. still feeling fresher by then.

this is bbc news, i'm lewis vaughanjones. the headlines: us presidentjoe biden confirms the head of al-qaeda, ayman al—zawahiri, has been killed by a drone strike in kabul. he made videos, including in recent weeks, calling for his followers to attack the united states and our allies. nowjustice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more. liz truss scraps a plan to link public sector pay to local living costs following a backlash from a number of senior conservatives. what i want to be clear about his i will not be going ahead with the regional pay boards. that is no longer my policy. as energy bills soar, bp reports £6.9 billion in quarterly profits —

its highest in 14 years. the parents of archie battersbee have lodged another appeal with the supreme court against the decision to end the 12—year—old's life support treatment. a bit of a waiting game now, but we are hopeful that they will hopefully hear the case and we will get to put our points across. mps are calling for non—surgical cosmetic procedures like botox and fillers to be better regulated. hello, welcome to the programme. we will start in afghanistan. the leader of al-qaeda has been killed by an american drone strike, in the afghan capital kabul. ayman al—zawahiri was one of the masterminds

of the attacks of september 11th. us president biden, in a live televised address, said his death would help give closure to the families of the thousands of people killed on 9/11. our correspondent, secunder kermani, reports from kabul. this is the family home where it's thought ayman al—zawahiri was living, and where, whilst standing on a balcony, american officials say he was killed by a missile fired by a drone. we can still hear debris being cleared up. but then we are told to stop filming. we are in the centre of the city. the house that was targeted in the drone strike is just a few minutes away, but the taliban aren't allowing anyone to film nearby, insisting there's nothing to see, one even pointing his gun threateningly towards us a little earlier on. senior taliban figures must have agreed to al-qaeda's leader living

here, but they have insisted in public the group no longer exists in afghanistan, so his death poses difficult questions. zawahiri was a veteran militant figure, involved in planning the 9/11 attacks alongside osama bin laden. president biden was present in the command centre when he was killed more than a decade ago, but he has also been heavily criticised for overseeing last year's chaotic troop withdrawal from afghanistan. this is now a major victory. the united states continues to demonstrate our resolve and our capacity to defend the american people against those who seek to do us harm. now, we, er, we make it clear again tonight that no matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the united states will find you and take you out.

unlike al-qaeda, the taliban have a national, not global, agenda. but they have been close allies of al-qaeda for years. recently, though, they have played down their links after promising not to allow foreign attacks to be planned on afghan soil. the taliban by hosting ayman al—zawahiri in downtown kabul have proven a lot of such assumptions wrong and made any kind of engagement for the united states government, in particular, but the international community very, very difficult. al-qaeda is no longer the global threat it once was, but the killing of zawahiri

will further deepen the distrust between the taliban and the west, as afghanistan continues to struggle amidst a deep economic crisis. secunder kermani, bbc news, kabul. our north america correspondent barbara plett usher has been assessing what the drone strike could mean for relations between washington and kabul. well, it's a significant blow to whatever small amount of good faith might have existed in the relationship. the united states is saying that the taliban broke an agreement signed in 2020 about the conditions for us withdrawal in which the taliban committed that it would not shelter extremists, and now ayman al—zawahiri is killed on their on their soil. the taliban is saying the opposite. it's saying that that agreement said that the us should not strike afghanistan after it left, and now it has. but what i can say is this doesn't mean that the united states will break up all contact with the taliban because it needs that contact for practical reasons. it's negotiating the release of a us hostage, it's trying to negotiate safe passage for afghans who worked with the united states and other things. but the president has made very clear that if it feels that it needs to carry out another air strike, it will.

and for the taliban, the timing is bad because they were going to use the anniversary of the us withdrawal to try to reach out more to the world. they certainly need better relations with the us in order to deal with their humanitarian and economic crisis. but now, of course, the united states is strongly questioning just exactly what their intentions are. thanks to barbara for that. let's get more on what reaction there has been to the news of the killing. with me is mina al—lami, the bbc�*s jihadist media specialist what is at the reaction been online to the killing? 50 what is at the reaction been online to the killing?— what is at the reaction been online to the killing? so far, al-qaeda has et to to the killing? so far, al-qaeda has yet to comment _ to the killing? so far, al-qaeda has yet to comment officially _ to the killing? so far, al-qaeda has yet to comment officially on - to the killing? so far, al-qaeda has yet to comment officially on the - yet to comment officially on the announcement of the killing of al beharry. heavyweight high—profile al-qaeda supporters, including clerics, ideologues —— of ayman al—zawahiri. they have come out to pay their respect to also a hardy, calling his killing martyrdom, saying that with such confidence

suggests they have some kind of information from al-qaeda that he has been killed. others are urging caution, saying that they need official comment from al-qaeda themselves. that is any pro—al qaeda camp, we have another, pro—islamic state, staunch rivals. it is celebration mode with iis supporters who are also casting doubt about the taliban, so everyone is saying they were calibrating —— collaborating with al-qaeda, sheltering the al-qaeda leader, winners isaiah mac supporters say this is evidently taliban have colluded with the us —— either using this as a pr exercise to focus back on their agenda. fin to focus back on their agenda. on al-qaeda and their set up an organisation, any chatter what happens next? the organisation, any chatter what happens next?—

organisation, any chatter what happens next? organisation, any chatter what ha ens next? ., , , ., happens next? the main use is who will succeed — happens next? the main use is who will succeed al-zawahiri. _ happens next? the main use is who will succeed al-zawahiri. as - happens next? the main use is who will succeed al-zawahiri. as far - happens next? the main use is who will succeed al-zawahiri. as far as l will succeed al—zawahiri. as far as we know, the only publicly known deputy for al—zawahiri is a fellow egyptian, but he is reported to be living in iran, possibly under house arrest or with some kind of restrictions, so it would be very difficult for al-qaeda to appoint him as the leader if he is indeed still based in iran because that will undermine his credentials. you said riaht will undermine his credentials. you said right at _ will undermine his credentials. you said right at the top, no official reaction yet. any idea when we expected and how that would come? jihadist groups in general do not always a rush to confirm, especially when they consider the information coming from what they call enemy sources. announcement by the us, are eager for kind of information, possibly assurance he is not dead, so i think al-qaeda were not wait that long before they commit and comment on the matter. fight! before they commit and comment on the matter. �* , , .,

the matter. and 'ust before i let ou no, the matter. and 'ust before i let you go. this — the matter. and 'ust before i let you go. this is _ the matter. andjust before i let you go, this is obviously - the matter. andjust before i let you go, this is obviously an - the matter. andjust before i let you go, this is obviously an in i the matter. and just before i let i you go, this is obviously an in and out of social media that is so different to when we look back to the september 11 attacks, even, the methods of communication, the potential links between groups across the globe. at that geographical spread is different. the overall threat of al-qaeda, when we look at it, it is clearly nothing like the memory of what some of us have of 9/11. how would you assess its capabilities around the globe at the moment? i its capabilities around the globe at the moment?— the moment? i think i will say in africa, for— the moment? i think i will say in africa, for its — the moment? i think i will say in africa, for 115 and _ the moment? i think i will say in africa, for 115 and africa, -- - africa, for iis and africa, —— al-qaeda, the have diminished in the middle east. to the extent that some of these branches or serve as propaganda outlets to put out messages on developments, but it is really their africa branches that are still in lethal force, so it is al-qaeda in somalia and in mali, so these are the two menacing branches

and at the group relies on them relate to uphold its reputation as a —— toppled its reputation as a globaljihadi group. -- toppled its reputation as a globaljihadi group.— -- toppled its reputation as a globaljihadi group. global 'ihadi group. thank you. -- to globaljihadi group. thank you. -- to u-hold globaljihadi group. thank you. -- to uphold its _ globaljihadi group. thank you. -- to uphold its reputation. - a man has been charged with treason after an incident at windsor castle on christmas day. jaswant singh chail, who's 20, from southampton, has been charged with — an offence under section 2 of the treason act, 1842, threats to kill, and possession of an offensive weapon. he is in custody and is due to appear at westminster magistrates' court on wednesday, 17th august. he was arrested at windsor castle on christmas day but had not entered any buildings. just to repeat that news, iman has been charged with treason after an incident at windsor castle —— a man

has been charged. the conservative leadership candidate, liz truss, has dropped her plan to introduce regional pay for civil servants after criticism that it would mean lower pay for millions of workers outside london. last night, she told an audience of conservative members it could save nearly £9 billion a year, but the announcement led to fierce opposition from some members of her party. supporters of her rival, rishi sunak, said the u—turn revealed "a lack of serious judgment". our political correspondent ione wells has the latest. it was all smiles from liz truss as she toured the south—west of england yesterday. but, this morning, her plans caused beef with some tory mps in the area. she said she wanted civil servants in regions where pay is lower to be paid less. she argued, if this worked, it could save billions by being rolled out to other public sector workers. that would mean nurses, police or teachers in areas like the north of england could be paid less than places like surrey.

her backers denied this would entrench regional inequality, claiming private companies struggle to hire in areas where public sector pay drowns them out. if the government is the highest payer, it then crowds out private sector investment, and we have to ensure that private sector investment comes alongside what the government is doing. but rishi sunak�*s supporters slammed the plans, arguing they would damage public services. the first thing liz needs to do with this policy is perform a very swift u—turn. it is absolutely catastrophic to the chances of the conservative party at the next general election. and even if you listen to jacob rees mogg and the idea that new teachers, nurses and police officers will be paid less in the north compared to the south—east, that will make it even more difficult to recruit. and u—turn they did, less than 20 minutes after these words left ben houchen's mouth. liz truss's campaign said she would not go

along with the plans if she were elected leader. this policy is just one of many rushed out by candidates fighting for the keys to number 10. but behind headlines like slashing whitehall waste, designed to appeal to tory members — this u—turn reveals how big questions remain about how some of these ideas would work in practice. ione wells, bbc news. let's try to work out what is going on there. we can cross live to westminster and our political correspondent david cornock. this was a policy that did not last very long. this was a policy that did not last ve loni. �* ' ., , ., very long. about 12 hours in our calculations. _ very long. about 12 hours in our calculations. the _ very long. about 12 hours in our calculations. the idea _ very long. about 12 hours in our calculations. the idea behind i very long. about 12 hours in our calculations. the idea behind it| very long. about 12 hours in our- calculations. the idea behind it was that regional pay rates should more accurately reflect the cost of living in different regions in the uk. liz truss stressed that the time that it would only apply to new recruits, but when you look at the small print behind the announcement, the only weight could save something like £9 billion a year was for it to be across the public sector to all

public sector workers outside london in the long term. as you can imagine, that provoked something of a backlash, notjust from her political opponents, but also from her internal opponents, supporters of rishi sunak, the rival candidate. so it liz truss earlier this afternoon had some explaining to do. well, look, i'm afraid that my policy on this has been misrepresented. i never had any intention of changing the terms and conditions of teachers and nurses. but what i want to be clear about is i will not be going ahead with the regional pay boards. that is no longer my policy. liz truss think she has been misrepresented in the sense that her opponents were saying it would be a pay cut for those already doing those jobs will stop the problem she has is that, of course, she has admitted it is no longer her policy. it was her policy to extend it in

any long—term to all public sector workers in regions outside london. so you can see it has had an enormous backlash. her political opponents have seized on it and she has swiftly drawn a line under it. interesting. david, can you quickly remind us where we are in this process, this leadership race? bind process, this leadership race? and when it wraps _ process, this leadership race? jifuc when it wraps up? process, this leadership race? fific when it wraps up? it comes at a very interesting time because ballot papers are starting to drop on the doorsteps of conservative party members. they have until september two to return them and we should know the result under the new prime minister on monday, september five. david, thank you very much for that. our correspondent daniel sandford is here. we are going to get an update on that news that i brought you about a man had been charged with treason after an incident at windsor castle. that

news broke a couple of minutes ago. this was a man arrested on _ of minutes ago. this was a man arrested on christmas - of minutes ago. this was a man arrested on christmas day - of minutes ago. this was a man arrested on christmas day at i of minutes ago. this was a man - arrested on christmas day at windsor castle. at the time, police said a man had got inside the grounds of windsor castle, but had not entered any of the buildings. we have not heard much about the case since then. today, both the metropolitan police and the crown prosecution service have confirmed that jaswant singh chail, a 20—year—old from southampton, has been charged with three offences, and one of those is a section two of the treason act, which is a section which has not been used since the 1980s, but which refers to making a threat using a weapon against the queen. the allegation is that jaswant singh chail had a crossbow with him when he entered the grounds of windsor castle and he will be appearing in court at westminster�*s magistrates' court on august 17. you court at westminster's magistrates' court on august 17.— court on august 17. you touched on that there. —

court on august 17. you touched on that there. it _ court on august 17. you touched on that there, it was _ court on august 17. you touched on that there, it was over _ court on august 17. you touched on that there, it was over christmas i that there, it was over christmas time when many people would have been away from their tvs, radios, mobile phones — might possibly not mobile phones — might possibly not mobile phones. they may not kind of filly have comprehended that the incident at the time. just filly have comprehended that the incident at the time.— filly have comprehended that the incident at the time. just remind us what happened- — incident at the time. just remind us what happened. it _ incident at the time. just remind us what happened. it was _ incident at the time. just remind us what happened. it was not - incident at the time. just remind us. what happened. it was not massively reported at the time because the police had made it so clear that the man who had been arrested had only just got inside the grounds. while it did make some of the news websites and newspapers particularly because of this allegation that he was carrying a crossbow, it was not a huge enormous story at christmas and it has been largelyjust sitting on the back burner, but obviously the police investigation has got to the police investigation has got to the stage where they have sent a file to the crown prosecution service and have authorised this very, very unusual charge of section two of the treason act, which is essentially making a threat against any monarch using a weapon. in this case, the allegation being that if it was being made with that

crossbow. it was being made with that crossbow-— it was being made with that crossbow. ., ,, , ., , . crossbow. 0k, thank you very much for bringing — crossbow. 0k, thank you very much for bringing us _ crossbow. 0k, thank you very much for bringing us up — crossbow. 0k, thank you very much for bringing us up to _ crossbow. 0k, thank you very much for bringing us up to speed - crossbow. 0k, thank you very much for bringing us up to speed with - for bringing us up to speed with that. thank you. the energy company bp has reported its second highest quarterly profit in its history. between april and june it made £6.9 billion pounds in profit — three times the figure for the same period last year. the company said its oil trading performance was exceptional, and that it expects to pay more than a billion pounds in uk tax this year. the profits come as domestic energy bills are predicted to hit more than £3,500 a year this winter. our business correspondent, caroline davies, reports. from fuel to cooking, lighting to showers — rising energy prices bite into household budgets. but the same high oil and gas prices that mean consumers are paying more means that energy companies are also making more money. today, bp announced it has made its second—ever highest underlying profit in a three—month period — £6.9 billion,

more than triple the amount it made at the same time last year. the company says it will invest in the uk, including in energy transition, and pay more tax. when prices are higher, rightly so, we pay higher taxes and now we have an energy profits levy which means we will pay even more taxes on top of what we had already planned, and that is what we will do. bp estimates it will pay £1 billion of tax compared to £100 million last year, but the high profits sit uneasily as many, like mother—of—two ruth face the prospect of energy bills rising again this year. i mean, it isjust frightening, really, because it's such a huge amount of money and you can't get round it. we have to put the heating on, we have put the lights on, maybe we won't have the heating on as much, maybe we will have to put extra jumpers on, but there are some things you can't change and you can't stop.

i still have to wash the clothes. so it is going to be a challenging winter, i think, for everybody. in april last year, the energy price cap increased from just over £1000 to £1138. within a year, the price cap had risen to its current level of £1971. but energy analysts cornwall insight think it will go even higher — to more than £3358 this october, a rise of more than 70%. and these prices are expected to continue, potentially reaching as much as £3729 by this time next year. there are fears that as the prices rise, the situation could become more desperate for some families. the amount going up quite significantly through the heating season, we will see people turn to really desperate measures to stay warm, whether that is going to public spaces like libraries or on the bus just to get that warmth or doing much more dangerous things

like lighting open fires in homes, which could lead to really catastrophic consequences. and it's not clear when prices might ease. analysts have predicted they are likely to stay high into 2024. caroline davies, bbc news. let me take you live to taiwan. it is evening they are, 10:20pm. these are trained in the airport. we are expecting the visit of us has become nancy pelosi, a very senior democrat in the united states. we are expecting her to visit taiwan. this is controversial, because the us has formal diplomatic ties with china. not with taiwan. china claims taiwan as its own and has warned nancy pelosi not to visit. there has been some military escalation or

military activity at least today on both sides, taiwan in the past has said it is ready to defend itself against chinese aggression and china, the other hand has told the it must respect china's one china policy. so this visit has been on the cards for a few days now. this is part of a wider asia tour from nancy pelosi. she is touring a number of countries and interesting when she released the schedule for this it of asia, taiwan was not on that itinerary. but there were still speculation, despite the secrecy, that she would be making the visit, and it does appear now that will happen. it is pretty late, 10:20pm, so if and when she does arrive, pretty shortly, i imagine it will be straight to the hotel and any visits and formal meetings and meetings and greetings would be tomorrow. but

potentially hugely significant geopolitical visit on both sides. some even in the us critical of any visit, urging president biden to ask her not to go. of course, she is a democratic member of the house of representatives, but not part of the executive, so not under president biden's control in any way, so president biden cannot order her to visit or not. but there was believed to have been a request for her not to make this visit to potentially inflame tensions with china. we will keep your eyes peeled on that airport and bring you, as soon as there is any movement there, we will bring you back there to taipei. the parents of archie battersbee have asked the supreme court to consider an appeal against his doctors' decision to end the 12—year—old's life support. they want the supreme court to assess whether more time should be given for a un committee to look at the case. archie's care was due

to end at midday today. our reporter matt cole has been at the royal london hospital — and gave us this update. archie, who's been here at the royal london hospital since the 8th of april. that's the day after he suffered what doctors have described as an catastrophic or unsurvivable brain injury. yesterday, in response to the latest in a series of legal challenges, the court of appeal said that every day of treatment in archie's case is not in his interests, and they set a deadline of noon today for life supporting treatment to be withdrawn. but moments before that deadline, archie's family submitted a further request to the supreme court, asking for a stay so that a united nations

committee could examine his case. a short time after that, we heard from the supreme court, which said a panel of three judges will now consider the family's request for permission to appeal. and the supreme court made it clear that it does understand the urgency of this situation. a few moments after that, i had a word, had a few words with ella carter, who speaks on behalf of the family. it's a bit of a waiting game now, but we're hopeful that they will hopefully hear the case and we'll get to put our points across. how are holly and paul holding up? i think they're just really exhausted today, aren't they? i think it's come to a bit of a head, really. i think where yesterday we were all so tense that it was going to happen at two and then it was meant to happen today at 12, they're so exhausted and just want to spend time with their little boy, really. so that's why i'm here on their behalf. and how's he doing? archie's doing well.

yeah, he's stable still like he has been for the last four months, really. and just, yeah. and if the supreme court doesn't accept this, this latest application, what next? because the noon deadline has passed for the withdrawal of life support. that's been extended. what will the family's wishes be next? i think if it doesn't get accepted, we'll have to go and speak with our legal team about what the next steps are. i think we can't really plan too far ahead because things are just constantly changing. we have tojust kind of take every day as it comes, really. and if it comes to a point of end of life care, you maybe don't want that to take place here. just explain to us what the family might be thinking. yeah, i think where the relationship between the family and the hospital has broken down so much that the family wouldn't get to have the goodbye that they would want, so we are really adamant on the fact that it does take place in a hospice. they're so much better equipped to deal with these scenarios and it's so much more peaceful, you can have all the family around.

there's no security and things like that. it would just be a much more peaceful and dignified way to say goodbye, really. and that was ella carter, who is engaged to one of archie battersbee's brothers. now, archie's mum, holly, is here at the hospital at her son's bedside. she gave a short statement after the latest developments in which she said she doesn't understand the rush to make decisions. she says, "i know archie is still with us. he's progressing in so many ways". she also says that, "we pray for an encouraging response from the supreme court". we have been led to understand that it's potentially today, maybe tomorrow before the supreme court will return with its decision. until then, for the family, for archie, it's very much a waiting game. thanks to matt for that update. clearly this is a complicated legal issue. we will try to pick through it.

joining me now is sir mark hedley, who is a former high courtjudge for the family division who has had to make decisions like this in the past. good afternoon. a desperate case from whatever angle you're looking at here. what is your reaction to the latest appeal the family? well, clearl this the latest appeal the family? well, clearly this is _ the latest appeal the family? well, clearly this is a _ the latest appeal the family? well, clearly this is a family _ the latest appeal the family? well, clearly this is a family who - the latest appeal the family? well, clearly this is a family who want - the latest appeal the family? -ii clearly this is a family who want to exhaust every legal possibility, as they're entitled to do. i think, my experience, this kind of is unusual, but i can well see how it happens. and what do you think the outcome is. i know you're not sitting and sifting through the latest evidence directly, but given the decisions we have had already, is their fresh evidence that is looked at in the circumstances?— evidence that is looked at in the circumstances? what is different? i think it will depend _ circumstances? what is different? i think it will depend entirely - circumstances? what is different? i think it will depend entirely on - think it will depend entirely on what case is put before the supreme court. the reality is appeal court are usually very reluctant to

intervene where discretionary decisions as to best interests have been made. that is usually regarded as at the task of the trialjudge. i see, so that means if there is a reluctance, generally, then the outcome here could be one that the family would not want, clearly. i couldn't possibly... i honestly can't comment about that, but that is the general approach of the courts. chit is the general approach of the courts. . ., , . is the general approach of the courts. , . , ., courts. of course. when it comes to weiiihin courts. of course. when it comes to weighing up — courts. of course. when it comes to weighing up the _ courts. of course. when it comes to weighing up the family's _ courts. of course. when it comes to weighing up the family's wishes - weighing up the family's wishes here, just wonder what role that has to play in judges' here, just wonder what role that has to play injudges' decisions, because clearly it is a difficult balance. , , ., ., balance. yes, the 'udges, the law on this subject _ balance. yes, the 'udges, the law on this subject is — balance. yes, thejudges, the law on this subject is actually _ balance. yes, thejudges, the law on this subject is actually quite - this subject is actually quite straightforward, which is about the court has to act in the best interests of the child and it has to look at the best interests of the child through the eyes of the child because clearly the medical authorities and the parents have their own advocates to put their

views before the court. the parental views before the court. the parental views count, i think, more than anything else in this kind of case because they know their child in a way that nobody else does. but the fact that they count the most does not mean necessarily that the court is going to go with their views. the court has got to form its own view about what is in the best interests of the child. i about what is in the best interests of the child-— of the child. i see. and the best interests of _ of the child. i see. and the best interests of the _ of the child. i see. and the best interests of the child, _ of the child. i see. and the best interests of the child, is - of the child. i see. and the best interests of the child, is that . interests of the child, is that defined in terms of things like living with pain, quality of life? what is the definition there? there is no definition _ what is the definition there? there is no definition of— what is the definition there? there is no definition of best _ what is the definition there? iiss is no definition of best interest. it is not to be so fact sensitive that neither parliament or the appeal courts are willing to define it. so you do have to sort it out in the context of each individual case and do what you do as you rightly say, is it you look at the advantages and disadvantages of continuing with treatment. and you have to do it against the backdrop

we are, you know, you have a philosophy of life that has a proper place for definite. and we live in a culture where we find it very difficult to identify in best interest terms a course of action that will inevitably lead to death. it does not sit very easily with a secular philosophy.— it does not sit very easily with a secular philosophy. mark, ithink that was a _ secular philosophy. mark, ithink that was a really _ secular philosophy. mark, ithink that was a really valuable - secular philosophy. mark, i think| that was a really valuable insight. thank you very much for coming on and talking to us.— and talking to us. thank you very much. now it's time for a look at the weather with helen. good afternoon. we started the day with more cloud around and some welcome rain. the rain is tending to ease away now. the intensity of the showers on this weather front sinking southwards are easing. we will continue to see some showers in the north and west, but some sunshine coming out now east of the grampians, eastern parts of northern ireland. temperatures here into the mid—20s so warmer than yesterday, but a windy day.

but despite that 29—30 in the south, really quite a muggy feel. and those brisk winds continue through the night to blow further low cloud and drizzle into southern and western areas, further showers in the north, so with all that cloud around and that breeze, it will be a warm night again and particularly uncomfortable for sleeping with the high humidity still hanging on in southern areas. still there, actually, through wednesday with a few showers before that finally starts to break up and the skies brighten. more showers to come again in the north and the west and a slightly fresher day across scotland and northern ireland, slightly less windy further south. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: us presidentjoe biden confirms the head of al qaeda, ayman al zawahiri, has been killed by a drone strike in kabul. he made videos, including in recent weeks, calling for his followers to attack the united states and our allies.

now, justice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more. police have charged a 20—year—old man with treason after he was arrested in the grounds of windsor castle on christmas day. liz truss scraps a plan to link public sector pay to local living costs following a backlash from a number of senior conservatives. what i want to be clear about is i will not be going ahead with the regional pay boards. that is no longer my policy. as energy bills soar, bp reports £6.9 billion in quarterly profits — its highest in 14 years the parents of archie battersbee have lodged another appeal with the supreme court against the decision to end the 12—year—old's life support treatment. a bit of a waiting game now, but we are hopeful that they will hopefully hear the case and we will get to put our points across. mps are calling for non—surgical cosmetic procedures

like botox and fillers to be better regulated. sport and for a full round up from birmingham, here's jane dougall. round up from birmingham, good afternoon from birmingham, where it is day 5 of the commonwealth games. 37 gold medals up for grabs, and it's been another incredible day for england in the gymastics. jake jarman who's won his fourth gold medal of the games. he completed a sensational pair of vaults — the 20—year—old making it look effortless. and it was an english one—two as giarnni regini—moran took silver. it's his birthday today and the arena birmingham crowd sang happy birthday to him as he finishes his vaults. and shortly after, joe fraser

won his third gold medal. fraser — who's home city is birmingham — delighted the crowd with an impressive routine on the parallel bars, with a level of difficulty which was tough to beat. his compatriot regini—moran won his second silver of the day. england have won 14 medals in the gymnastics so far. not such a great result for the women as england's alice kinsella and georgia—mae fenton both missed out on medals. it was a one—two for australia, with kate mcdonald taking gold and georgia godwin silver. kinsella was denied the bronze medal at the very end, finishing fourth ahead of fenton. wales have won their second gold of the games.

it came in the lawn bowls, in a very tight match against england. jarrad breen and daniel salmon beating jamie walker and sam tolchard19—18to win men's pairs gold at victoria park. scotland beat northen ireland to win the bronze. amazing. i would never even have dreamt of that happening. obviously, i always wanted to get to the commonwealth games but to win two gold medals now, it is beyond my wildest dreams, to be honest. in the women's 20/20 cricket, england have beaten south africa at edgbaston by 26 runs. south africa won the toss and put england into bat. alice capsey hit a superb 50 from 37 balls to help england finish on 167—5. south africa slipped well behind the required run rate early into their chase and always seemed second—best, finishing on 141—4. england will reach the semi—finals

if new zealand beat sri lanka on tuesday. and just to update you on the hockey before we go... england women have beaten india 3—1, and they had a royal audience with the duke and duchess watching with their daughter charlotte. a new ofcom report has been analysing social media and it found around 60% of premier league footballers were subjected to abuse on twitter in the first half of last season. they analysed 2.3 million tweets sent to

top—flight players during the first five months of 2021, 2022 campaign and found almost 60,000 were abusive, so 68% of players were subjected to twitter abuse last season. china has flown warplanes close to the island of taiwan, which it claims as its own territory — in advance of an expected controversial visit to taipei by nancy pelosi, the speaker of the us house of representatives. taiwan's defence ministry says it has full grasp of military activities near the island and is determined to defend itself against any chinese threats. our asia pacific editor celia hatton has the story. nancy pelosi, the third—ranking us official, all smiles in malaysia, but behind the scenes, the apparent next stop on her asian tour, to taiwan, is so risky

that it is shrouded in secrecy. ms pelosi's team hasn't even confirmed she is visiting the self—ruled island, but that hasn't stopped china from issuing stark warnings. translation: we have repeatedly and unmistakably expressed - to the us our strong opposition to speaker pelosi's potential visit to taiwan, and we hope us officials will be very clear about the importance and sensitivity of this issue and how dangerous it could be. tensions over taiwan date back to 1949, when the communist revolution forced the then ruling party, the kmt, to flee to the nearby island of taiwan. over the decades, taiwan has built itself into a self—ruled democracy, but beijing still considers taiwan to be its own. china's leader, xijin ping,

has put the reunification of taiwan and mainland china at the top of his agenda, pledging that it is part of china's "great rejuvenation." in taiwan, many are welcoming a potential visit from nancy pelosi, and they say it makes them feel less isolated. but on the island, they are still left to consider how they would defend themselves if china really invaded. preparation drills are becoming a way of life. translation: because of the war in ukraine, we have _ to be more prepared. to put it bluntly, we are quite scared, because there is no way of knowing if the war will also come here. it is thought taiwan is an island caught between two rival superpowers. even without a visit from nancy pelosi, the need for such shelters isn't going away. celia hatton, bbc news. let's speak to margaret macmillan, emeritus professor of international history at the university of oxford and

engelsberg chair at lse ideas. good afternoon. what do you make of the escalation of tensions on this visit which has not even happened yet, but is about to happen in the next few minutes? it yet, but is about to happen in the next few minutes?— yet, but is about to happen in the next few minutes? it could not be worse timing _ next few minutes? it could not be worse timing i _ next few minutes? it could not be worse timing i don't _ next few minutes? it could not be worse timing i don't know- next few minutes? it could not be worse timing i don't know why - next few minutes? it could not be| worse timing i don't know why she feels to go there right now and her own president and the administration don't want her to go, they wish she would not go, and things are tense with china between the us, and the us is also dealing with the ukraine situation, and it is unfortunate timing. she has a right to go where she wants, but given the sensitivities the chinese feel about taiwan it seems to be a bad moment for her to do it. the taiwan it seems to be a bad moment for her to do it.— for her to do it. the flip side of that, you _ for her to do it. the flip side of that. you can't _ for her to do it. the flip side of that, you can't be _ for her to do it. the flip side of that, you can't be seen - for her to do it. the flip side of that, you can't be seen from i for her to do it. the flip side of. that, you can't be seen from her perspective to be giving in to bullying behaviourfrom china? that bullying behaviour from china? that is the problem _ bullying behaviour from china? trisgt is the problem and china has been bullying and its stance has been one which is not really served it well, it has been aggressive and bullying,

but this ambiguity over taiwan has existed ever since 1972 when nixon met chairman mao and has served both countries were, china has not pushed its reunification although it talks about it, and the us has never made it clear whether or not it would defend taiwan and i think in a way at the moment it would be a particularly good for that ambiguity to continue for a while. that deliberate _ to continue for a while. that deliberate foreign _ to continue for a while. that deliberate foreign policy of ambiguity has worked as you said, but the calculation of ukraine and russia's behaviour in ukraine, has that changed the equation? it has. it has altered _ that changed the equation? it has. it has altered it _ that changed the equation? it has. it has altered it in _ that changed the equation? it has. it has altered it in a _ that changed the equation? it has. it has altered it in a number - that changed the equation? it has. it has altered it in a number of - it has altered it in a number of ways, it has made countries in the west including like japan, ways, it has made countries in the west including likejapan, —— including countries like japan, they feel they can't give way to aggression because it would lead to more aggression and vladimir putin has shown no signs of wanting to stop in ukraine and it has sent a

ripple of fear amongst western countries and determination on the part of many of them to be firm in standing up to aggression, and what has also happen is to trouble russia has also happen is to trouble russia has run into in ukraine, a great power taking on has run into in ukraine, a great powertaking ona has run into in ukraine, a great power taking on a much smaller power, but is doing very badly indeed and taking great losses, and this is also worrying for the chinese. they must be wondering whether they will make that sort of resistance should it come to it in taiwan and what it would mean for china, so it is a combination of apprehension about what china might do, may be encouraged by what russia is doing but also apprehension in china about whether it might turn out to be not all that successful. let's take a step back. i don't want to get into hypothetical is too much but for people joining this freshly, what is the worry here for china, what is the worry here for china, what is the worst case scenario, or rather, what could china do that has

people particularly worried? is’lhiha people particularly worried? china could 'ust people particularly worried? china could just try _ people particularly worried? china could just try to — people particularly worried? china could just try to invade _ people particularly worried? c�*i “ia. could just try to invade taiwan and it has built up its naval strength is hugely in the last three years and spending a lot on its defence budget and carrying out exercises with its navy and aircraft and submarines in the waters around taiwan and has made it clear that it regards taiwan as part of china. you get a sense that china does not want to continue the ambiguous position, that it wants to firmly reunite china and taiwan together, and the danger is the us might respond. we always have the danger with two big powers when they have nuclear weapons, that any tension between them, any war could escalate and so we are looking at a serious situation. we are looking at a serious situation-— we are looking at a serious situation. , , , ., situation. interesting. this is a live feed now _ situation. interesting. this is a live feed now on _ situation. interesting. this is a live feed now on the _ situation. interesting. this is a live feed now on the screen . situation. interesting. this is a live feed now on the screen at| situation. interesting. this is a i live feed now on the screen at the same time as you are, of a plane that hasjust landed in same time as you are, of a plane that has just landed in taipei, same time as you are, of a plane that hasjust landed in taipei, the capital of taiwan. we don't know it

is the —— that it is definitely the plane carrying nancy pelosi, it might be a different plane, but we are expecting her arrival at around now. there is a chance that very plane is the actual one. let's go back to the more current events. the secrecy with which this visit, if this is it, it was interesting, she released the schedule for her tour of asia which listed a long list of countries but not taiwan. what you read into that? i’m countries but not taiwan. what you read into that?— read into that? i'm wondering how word tot read into that? i'm wondering how word got out _ read into that? i'm wondering how word got out that _ read into that? i'm wondering how word got out that she _ read into that? i'm wondering how word got out that she was - word got out that she was considering going to taiwan and that seems to have come out from maybe the taiwanese themselves or people around nancy pelosi, and what i find interesting is the reaction of presidentjoe biden who has not said don't go but who said i would prefer you do not go at this time. this does not bode well for unity amongst the democrats when it comes to

taiwan and so it is difficult to know at the moment who is letting this come out and if she is indeed landing, we are going to have to take a deep breath and wait and see. we have covered the chinese threat in your eyes, but what about the abilities of taiwan to defend itself on its own and secondly, if it did draw in an international response, what would that look like? attacking across water — what would that look like? attacking across water is _ what would that look like? attacking across water is difficult _ what would that look like? attacking across water is difficult and - what would that look like? attacking across water is difficult and when i across water is difficult and when you think of d—day, injuly 1944, you think of d—day, injuly1944, when you think of the huge amount of allied forces poured into crossing what was a relatively small body of water, and at its narrowest point i believe taiwan is something like 90 miles from the chinese mainland, so the chinese would be taking on a really formidable challenge in tackling something that far across and although they have been building up and although they have been building up their navy i don't think they have been building up as much as they need, in terms of landing

craft, so the question would be, can chinese project that power and of course they have a great deal of power and what do the taiwanese have to it with? taiwan is mountainous in areas and they have been building defences and digging in and getting up—to—date material from the defences and digging in and getting up—to—date materialfrom the us. taiwan would not have a chance against a bigger and better armed china but the question is, what does the us do? does it let taiwan be invaded and let taiwan become part of china as the chinese government wishes without doing anything and what does that do for the american position in the pacific and amongst its allies? , ~ ., its allies? interesting. we are watchint its allies? interesting. we are watching a — its allies? interesting. we are watching a plane _ its allies? interesting. we are watching a plane taxiing - its allies? interesting. we are watching a plane taxiing in i its allies? interesting. we are | watching a plane taxiing in the airport and we are pretty confident thatis airport and we are pretty confident that is the plane carrying nancy pelosi, touching down in taipei. it is pretty late at night there, at the time is actually in taiwan

10:47pm. the plane is moving at the moment. we will see if we get a shot close enough to see people getting off the plane. we are pretty sure that nancy pelosi is on board. i want to go back to a phrase you used, we hold our breath. you are clearly concerned about this so what do you think people in taiwan feel about this visit? the do you think people in taiwan feel about this visit?— about this visit? the newspaper re torts, about this visit? the newspaper reports. what — about this visit? the newspaper reports, what they _ about this visit? the newspaper reports, what they are - about this visit? the newspaper reports, what they are saying, i about this visit? the newspaper i reports, what they are saying, and i have looked at them today, they have said people in taiwan are worried, they are concerned that they are going to find themselves in a war and they have paid attention to what is going on in ukraine, as many people have, but they have paid attention with particular relevance to themselves, and there will be those in taiwan who would rather not see taiwan resist china and who would like to see taiwan as part of china. it is a tricky issue for the

people of taiwan because they do feel themselves, many of them, to be part of the greater chinese civilisation, so they are divided over their reactions to the government in china but increasingly, the evidence in recent elections and opinion polls, the taiwanese see themselves as chinese in civilisation but different from china in terms of politics and wanting to remain that way. it is a very vibrant democracy. what very vibrant democracy. what tarallels very vibrant democracy. what parallels can _ very vibrant democracy. what parallels can we _ very vibrant democracy. what parallels can we draw - very vibrant democracy. what parallels can we draw with i very vibrant democracy. what parallels can we draw with hong kong? hong kong has been in the headlines especially in the uk given the historical context and the connections, and we have watched the change in political structure in hong kong and many activists i have spoken to even in the last few weeks, they have said that the hong kong as we knew it is now gone, so are there any parallels to be drawn between chinese behaviour with hong kong and chinese potential behaviour with taiwan? iii kong and chinese potential behaviour with taiwan? ., , kong and chinese potential behaviour with taiwan?— with taiwan? if i was taiwanese i would be worried _

with taiwan? if i was taiwanese i would be worried because - with taiwan? if i was taiwanese i would be worried because what i with taiwan? if i was taiwanese i i would be worried because what the chinese have done in hong kong is crushed basically independent voices and crushed civil society and made it impossible for hong kong to maintain its human rights and its democratic privileges. in spite of what the chinese said when the agreement was signed with the british, they indicated, they promised, in fact, british, they indicated, they promised, infact, hong kong british, they indicated, they promised, in fact, hong kong would have elections and freedom of speech and other democratic rights, and the taiwanese have been watching what has happened to hong kong with intense interest because it does not bode well for them. the chinese have made a strategic mistake with hong kong because if they had treated it differently and allowed it an amount of freedom and allowed it to continue to be what it was, very vibrant place, not fully democratic but moving in that direction, a lot of people in taiwan would have been reassured but the chinese treatment of hong kong has made a lot of people in taiwan think, that is what is waiting for us. i people in taiwan think, that is what is waiting for us.—

is waiting for us. i want to update ou with is waiting for us. i want to update you with what _ is waiting for us. i want to update you with what is _ is waiting for us. i want to update you with what is happening. - is waiting for us. i want to update you with what is happening. we l is waiting for us. i want to update l you with what is happening. we are taking you off the screen for a moment, margaret, because the plane door is open and this is the aircraft that has been carrying nancy pelosi, the senior us democrat. it has touched down and people are now getting off the plane. it is pretty dark. it is around ten to 11 at night. quite a few people getting off. we are waiting to see if nancy pelosi herself gets off, it might be a bit tricky to identify at her in the dark. this is the moment, it looks like, this visit is taking off, because until now there was speculation about whether it would happen and whether it would not happen and whether it would not happen and whether it would not happen and it did not appear on any official flight schedule. the schedule is quite busy, started in singapore, this tour of asia, and it

has flown from the malaysian capital kuala lumpur, crossing borneo, and is now at the airport in taiwan and we can see a delegation of officials approaching the side of the plane. interesting to see what reception will be given because clearly it is quite late and you would assume it would be straight back to the hotel and bed but there may be official engagements already. there may be an official reception but i don't know who's there from the taiwanese side. we wait to see if and when it will be light enough to actually see. this could be nancy pelosi walking down the steps right now. nancy pelosi getting to the bottom

of the steps, it seems, and being met. you can see the flashbulbs of cameras which could be helpful to us to try and see something but this is a huge moment. nancy pelosi, a democrat, and her own president, joe biden, he would rather this visit was not going ahead at this moment. they have been others within the administration and within the us who actually say this visit should go ahead and there have been similar visits in the past at this level. nancy pelosi is a member of the legislature to and is not part of president biden's team so this is not an official, if you like, diplomatic trip in that sense. the reason it is sensitive as we know it is because the us has diplomatic ties with china, not with taiwan, it has other ties with taiwan but not

official diplomatic relations with taiwan and that is the way that china wants it and that is the way china wants it and that is the way china insists it must stay under its one china policy and that is why china has been given these —— giving these furious warnings, that nancy pelosi should not visit, but it seems that she has and she has touched down. we can now go back to margaret. professor? let’s touched down. we can now go back to margaret. professor?— margaret. professor? let's hope it is not one of— margaret. professor? let's hope it is not one of those _ margaret. professor? let's hope it is not one of those historic - margaret. professor? let's hope it i is not one of those historic moments we look back on and say, that really was the beginning of something, and i wish i was thinking, of course she has a right to go to taiwan and i wish she had done it and then heard about it, because the chinese might have reacted better. what is the chinese government going to do now and will it change their stance on ukraine? the chinese have not condemned the russian invasion of ukraine but they have not sold them weapons and they have not really egged them on in ukraine. they have

not shown wholehearted support and i wonder if that will now change will top that is interesting because i was going to ask top that is interesting because i was going to asl— top that is interesting because i was going to ask you,, so what are the options — was going to ask you,, so what are the options facing _ was going to ask you,, so what are the options facing china? - was going to ask you,, so what are the options facing china? they i was going to ask you,, so what are i the options facing china? they could go for full—scale invasion, the options facing china? they could go forfull—scale invasion, but the options facing china? they could go for full—scale invasion, but what are the other options? one of them could be a change of stance to decide actually to help russia and not support ukraine? that decide actually to help russia and not support ukraine?— not support ukraine? that is absolutely — not support ukraine? that is absolutely possible. - not support ukraine? that is absolutely possible. they i not support ukraine? that is| absolutely possible. they will protest to the us and the us will try to modify china but it will be difficult because taiwan has been such an issue —— mollify. the other thing, there's a party congress coming up where he is expected to be anointed as the president for life, and can he afford not to look tough about this question mark on nancy

pelosi, what is her motivation for doing this? i have asked myself that and she has always been a hawk on china and she has always been very critical of china and its record on human rights. the critical of china and its record on human rights-— critical of china and its record on human rights. the democrats have alwa s human rights. the democrats have always supported _ human rights. the democrats have always supported human _ human rights. the democrats have always supported human rights i human rights. the democrats have| always supported human rights and human rights. the democrats have i always supported human rights and so she probably feels that she has every right to go and show support for a democracy in asia and the other possibility and i'm only speculating, is that she is probably reaching the stage when people are beginning to wonder when she will retire. i can't remember her age but she is fairly old. and to continue in his very high—profile position as the speaker of the house, so maybe she wants to show that she is a statesman of world order by going on such at all, but really, the timing of this, it is very unfortunate, i think. ., ., , . ., think. now to the significance of taiwan because _ think. now to the significance of taiwan because it _ think. now to the significance of taiwan because it is _ think. now to the significance of taiwan because it is a _ think. now to the significance of taiwan because it is a relatively| taiwan because it is a relatively small island off the coast of china but the us interest there is not

just military and strategic and historical, but also economic? taiwan is one of the great producers of microchips and china is as well, one of the things that has slowed down western economic growth recently it has been the difficulty in getting microchips and anyone trying to buy a new car will be aware of that. and so taiwan is very important in the supply chain for a high tech and it is also important as a symbol of american determination to remain a pacific power and if the americans back down over taiwan, what does that say to the japanese and the vietnamese and the japanese and the vietnamese and the south koreans? taiwan represents more than just a small island, smallish island.— more than just a small island, smallish island. what are we likely to hear now _ smallish island. what are we likely to hear now from _ smallish island. what are we likely to hear now from the _ smallish island. what are we likely to hear now from the us _ smallish island. what are we likely to hear now from the us because i smallish island. what are we likely l to hear now from the us because we have heard those warnings from china and we wait to see the response from china and whether they reply in

words or actions, but inevitably they will ask the white house and authorities in the us, so what will be their response? the authorities in the us, so what will be their response?— be their response? the american administration _ be their response? the american administration is _ be their response? the american administration is in _ be their response? the american administration is in a _ be their response? the american administration is in a difficult i administration is in a difficult position, can they afford to disown the speaker of the house representatives? somebody who has beenin representatives? somebody who has been in politics a long time and is widely seen as a leading democrat, and for them to not condemn her for doing this is very difficult indeed. what they are going to have to try and do is show support for one of their own without alienating or infuriating the chinese any more and that might be a difficult path to tread. ., ,,., ., ., ., tread. professor, thanks for 'oining us. thank tread. professor, thanks for 'oining thank you i tread. professor, thanks for 'oining us. thank you for i tread. professor, thanks forjoining us. thank you for witnessing - tread. professor, thanks forjoining us. thank you for witnessing and i us. thank you for witnessing and talking us through a potentially historic moment. as you said, you hope it is not, but equally as you said, we hold our breath. thank you.

now it's time for a look at the weather with helen. good afternoon. we started the day with more cloud around and some welcome rain. the rain is tending to ease away now. the intensity of the showers on this weather front sinking southwards are easing. we will continue to see some showers in the north and west, but some sunshine coming out now east of the grampians, eastern parts of northern ireland. temperatures here into the mid—20s so warmer than yesterday, but a windy day. but despite that 29—30 in the south, really quite a muggy feel. and those brisk winds continue through the night to blow further low cloud and drizzle into southern and western areas, further showers in the north, so with all that cloud around and that breeze, it will be a warm night again and particularly uncomfortable for sleeping with the high humidity still hanging on in southern areas. still there, actually, through wednesday with a few showers before that finally starts to break up and the skies brighten. more showers to come again in the north and the west and a slightly fresher day across scotland and northern

ireland, slightly less windy further south. this is bbc news, i'm lewis vaughanjones. the headlines: us house speaker nancy pelosi touches down in taiwan despite chinese threat that america will 'pay the price' for her visit. us presidentjoe biden confirms the head of al-qaeda, ayman al—zawahiri, has been killed by a drone strike in kabul. he made videos, including in recent weeks, calling for his followers to attack the united states and our allies. nowjustice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more. liz truss scraps a plan to link public sector pay to local living costs following a backlash from a number of senior conservatives. what i want to be clear about is i will not be going ahead with the regional pay boards. that is no longer my policy.

as energy bills soar, bp reports £6.9 billion in quarterly profits — its highest in 14 years. police have charged a 20—year—old man with treason after he was arrested in the grounds of windsor castle on christmas day. hello, welcome to the programme. the speaker of the us house of representatives, nancy pelosi, has just flown into taiwan, which is claimed by china as its own territory. her visit — which is not backed by the white house — is the first by such a senior us official in decades. tensions with china are high — beijing has repeatedly warned against the visit and this morning it said the us would "pay the price".

already china has held live firing drills and sent warplanes up to the informal dividing line in the taiwan strait between the chinese mainland and taiwan, which is self—ruled but seen by beijing as a breakaway province. taiwan's defence ministry says it is determined to defend itself. let me take you live to taiwan. a plane carrying the us house speaker nancy pelosi has just touched down in the capital taipei. china flew warplanes close to the island of taiwan — which it claims as its own territory — in advance of the controversial visit. i'm joined now by by our china editor howard zhang.

what is your reaction to these extraordinary moments. everybody is thinkin t , extraordinary moments. everybody is thinking. what _ extraordinary moments. everybody is thinking, what will _ extraordinary moments. everybody is thinking, what will happen _ extraordinary moments. everybody is thinking, what will happen next. i extraordinary moments. everybody is thinking, what will happen next. on i thinking, what will happen next. on the plane touched down and china has said all the harsh words and allowed warnings, now we see more planes being sent circling, but what next. from beijing's perspective, they claim this is a continued us salami slicing, of the one china policy, hollowing it out. but from washington's perspective, although there is no white house direct approval of this light, no authorisation, for most us politicians, especially since the ukraine more, they need to stand strong and support a democratic ally. so we have two competing narratives and perspectives, what will happen next, which side will do what next is, i guess, the biggest question. next is, i guess, the biggest question-— next is, i guess, the biggest tuestion. �* ,, ., ., question. and given you know china

so well, question. and given you know china so well. what _ question. and given you know china so well, what do _ question. and given you know china so well, what do you _ question. and given you know china so well, what do you make - question. and given you know china so well, what do you make of - question. and given you know china so well, what do you make of the i so well, what do you make of the fact the rhetoric that was so strong ahead of this visit? because the calculation must have been, well, either they think it is going to happen or they think it is not going to happen. they will have had their assumptions, say for example will be assumed that nancy pelosi's visit is going to happen and they still came out with those words that this is playing with fire. have a china now either backed themselves into a corner where if they back down, they appear weak and have to act? or done exactly, given themselves the justification that they wanted to take some sort of action? if tare justification that they wanted to take some sort of action? if we look back at history. _ take some sort of action? if we look back at history, taiwan _ take some sort of action? if we look back at history, taiwan has - take some sort of action? if we look back at history, taiwan has always i back at history, taiwan has always been the core issue between beijing and washington, especially since 1979 when the two had some type of rapprochement and relations, but they'll with her two different interpretations. during good times when the two sides are trading normally and the taiwan issue was put aside, but now, especially when

many only beijing's icon if you talk to the scholars, people start to see their perspective, they see a potential conflict, confrontation with the us may not be inevitable. that is why they are seeing more and more aggressive and coming up with metrics and whether this time, this is the time they will push through with some of the rhetoric, we don't know. that is still a wait and see. stay with us, still want to explain the pictures we are seeing dashing adjustment fixing the pictures. we watch the plane land about 20 minutes ago or so then we sawjust they are, in any pink there, nancy pelosi who got off the plane, walked down the stairs and was greeted by a large number of officials there, as we can see. those pictures being as up—to—date. this was ten minutes or

so ago. she then walked into the airport building. we have actually got a tweet from nancy pelosi, so let's just take a look at this. our delegation's visit to taiwan honours america's unwavering commitment to supporting taiwan's vibrant supporting taiwan's vibra nt democracy. supporting taiwan's vibrant democracy. our discussions with taiwan leadership reaffirm our support for our partner and promote our shared interests, including advancing a free and open indo—pacific region. ” advancing a free and open indo-pacific region. " harrr, your thouthts indo-pacific region. " harrr, your thoughts on _ indo-pacific region. " harrr, your thoughts on that? _ indo-pacific region. " harrr, your thoughts on that? that - indo-pacific region. " harrr, your thoughts on that? that is - indo-pacific region. " harrr, your thoughts on that? that is exact i indo-pacific region. " harrr, your. thoughts on that? that is exact to what i was describing comedy beijing's site —— howard. they say, we are not disputing with your one china policy anywhere, but supporting a private —— vibrant

democracy, washington. what happens next is the million dollar question. and we have a second tweet, howard. i want to get your reaction to this as well. america's solidarity with the 23 million people of taiwan is more important today than ever as the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy. a reference to ukraine, perhaps?— to ukraine, perhaps? exactly. it is worth reminding _ to ukraine, perhaps? exactly. it is worth reminding some _ to ukraine, perhaps? exactly. it is worth reminding some of- to ukraine, perhaps? exactly. it is worth reminding some of the - to ukraine, perhaps? exactly. it is- worth reminding some of the audience thatjust two weeks worth reminding some of the audience that just two weeks before the ukraine war, resident xi jinping and president putin signed a bilateral agreement for collaboration and cooperation with no limits. two weeks after that, they will do so war. most people worry whether that will be including taiwan. what

war. most people worry whether that will be including taiwan.— will be including taiwan. what will bei'int do will be including taiwan. what will beijing do next? _ will be including taiwan. what will beijing do next? interesting. - will be including taiwan. what will beijing do next? interesting. we i will be including taiwan. what will. beijing do next? interesting. we may have some more here from nancy pelosi again. this is clearly a twitter thread on social media. let's just take a look." are visit is one of several congressional delegations to taiwan and it in no way contradicts long—standing united states policy guided by the taiwan relations act of 1979. china joint communiques and at the six assurances. united states continues to oppose a unilateral efforts to change the status quo. that is the interesting phrase we have heard in the last couple of weeks as well. could you just talk us through what that means? that could you just talk us through what that means?— could you just talk us through what that means? ., , ., ., ., that means? that is one of the main contentions — that means? that is one of the main contentions as _ that means? that is one of the main contentions as well _ that means? that is one of the main contentions as well because - that means? that is one of the main contentions as well because on i contentions as well because on beijing's side, they contended that the agreement back in 79 that was in the agreement back in 79 that was in the us will maintain substantial but unofficial links and ties with taiwan. they consider the house speaker is an official link and this is a major contention here.

is a ma'or contention here. howard, thank is a major contention here. howard, thank ou is a major contention here. howard, thank you so — is a major contention here. howard, thank you so much _ is a major contention here. howard, thank you so much for— is a major contention here. howard, thank you so much for talking - is a major contention here. howard, thank you so much for talking us i thank you so much for talking us through that and getting us so much crucial context there. do stand by because we can go live now to steve mcdonald, my colleague in beijing. nancy pelosi has just a touch down. we are expecting now some reaction. we are expecting now some reaction. we are expecting now some reaction. we are already getting reaction from beijing _ we are already getting reaction from beijing it _ we are already getting reaction from beijing. it is interesting the extent— beijing. it is interesting the extent to which the threats here have _ extent to which the threats here have been— extent to which the threats here have been all about the military, so the chinese — have been all about the military, so the chinese government has said the people's— the chinese government has said the people's liberation army would not 'ust people's liberation army would not just stand — people's liberation army would not just stand idly by while nancy pelosi — just stand idly by while nancy pelosi visited taiwan. what constitutes an appropriate military response — constitutes an appropriate military response from beijing which wouldn't be seen _ response from beijing which wouldn't be seen as— response from beijing which wouldn't be seen as kind of weak and empty in terms— be seen as kind of weak and empty in terms of— be seen as kind of weak and empty in terms ofa— be seen as kind of weak and empty in terms of a response given you have said that _ terms of a response given you have said that the pla is going to act? around _ said that the pla is going to act? around about the same time, that nancy— around about the same time, that nancy pelosi landed in taiwan, local media _ nancy pelosi landed in taiwan, local media here — nancy pelosi landed in taiwan, local media here was a flashing use of

that chinese fighterjets were crossing _ that chinese fighterjets were crossing the taiwan strait. this is not totally — crossing the taiwan strait. this is not totally unusual. beijing does this often, but in recent times they have been— this often, but in recent times they have been getting closer and closer, so perhaps _ have been getting closer and closer, so perhaps they will cross this important line in the middle of the taiwan— important line in the middle of the taiwan strait, maybe they will fly closer— taiwan strait, maybe they will fly closer than they otherwise would have _ closer than they otherwise would have but — closer than they otherwise would have. but there has to be some sort of military— have. but there has to be some sort of military response over the next 24 hours — of military response over the next 24 hours and maybe we will see more of this— 24 hours and maybe we will see more of this type _ 24 hours and maybe we will see more of this type of thing. it is interesting in terms of the responses from the chinese government, you're talking about the tweets _ government, you're talking about the tweets this— government, you're talking about the tweets this from china's foreign ministry— tweets this from china's foreign ministry spokeswoman who also tweeted — ministry spokeswoman who also tweeted out a whole bunch of things at the _ tweeted out a whole bunch of things at the same time that nancy pelosi was. _ at the same time that nancy pelosi was. so" _ at the same time that nancy pelosi was, so" the us and taiwan have made publications _ was, so" the us and taiwan have made publications together first win as china _ publications together first win as china has— publications together first win as china has been compelled to act in

self—defence. any countermeasures —— versa. _ self—defence. any countermeasures —— versa, whereas china has been compelled to act. the us's unscrupulous behaviour and emotions." more threats of military response _ emotions." more threats of military response coming from the chinese government. we willjust have to see what this— government. we willjust have to see what this amounts to in the next day or so— what this amounts to in the next day or so though. what this amounts to in the next day or so though-— or so though. stephen, i want to be very careful — or so though. stephen, i want to be very careful here. _ or so though. stephen, i want to be very careful here. we _ or so though. stephen, i want to be very careful here. we do _ or so though. stephen, i want to be very careful here. we do not - or so though. stephen, i want to be very careful here. we do not want l or so though. stephen, i want to be | very careful here. we do not want to get ahead of ourselves, get into the world of hypotheticals or be too alarmist. but given your knowledge and background they are, what are the kind of options that you think china will be looking at now and it views retaliation? what options are open to it and what is your sense of what they could do?— what they could do? realistically, ou would what they could do? realistically, you would have _ what they could do? realistically, you would have to _ what they could do? realistically, you would have to think _ what they could do? realistically, you would have to think that - what they could do? realistically, you would have to think that they | what they could do? realistically, i you would have to think that they do not want _ you would have to think that they do not want to— you would have to think that they do not want to provoke an actual shoot-out _ not want to provoke an actual

shoot—out with the us or taiwan or something — shoot—out with the us or taiwan or something like that, especially in the run-up— something like that, especially in the run—up to the party congress when _ the run—up to the party congress when xi — the run—up to the party congress when xijinping is the run—up to the party congress when xi jinping is going to be moving — when xi jinping is going to be moving into his historic third term injust— moving into his historic third term injust a _ moving into his historic third term injust a couple of months. options, though. _ injust a couple of months. options, though, would include flying jets closer— though, would include flying jets closer to — though, would include flying jets closer to taiwan, maybe increased a war game _ closer to taiwan, maybe increased a war game activity. they have already flagged _ war game activity. they have already flagged there are two different sets of war— flagged there are two different sets of war games going on in a dc at the moment _ of war games going on in a dc at the moment. perhaps doing a few things that have _ moment. perhaps doing a few things that have been unexpected —— war games— that have been unexpected —— war games going on in the sea. footage of various— games going on in the sea. footage of various strip mobilisations in the south — of various strip mobilisations in the south of china. i think much of this is— the south of china. i think much of this isjust — the south of china. i think much of this isjust for show —— various troop— this isjust for show —— various troop mobilisations. allowing them to flex— troop mobilisations. allowing them to flex their muscles a little bit. so we _ to flex their muscles a little bit. so we don't want to be suggesting to people _ so we don't want to be suggesting to people this is a really going to be an attempt to retake taiwan by force. — an attempt to retake taiwan by force, tomorrow or anything like that. _ force, tomorrow or anything like that. but— force, tomorrow or anything like that, but any danger, of course, in all of— that, but any danger, of course, in all of these —

that, but any danger, of course, in all of these actions is that at some point. _ all of these actions is that at some point. with— all of these actions is that at some point, with all of significant military— point, with all of significant military hardware moving around in that part _ military hardware moving around in that part of — military hardware moving around in that part of the world, from the us and mainland china and taiwan, that at some _ and mainland china and taiwan, that at some point, there might be miscalculation. you imagine a miscommunication or someone fires to close to _ miscommunication or someone fires to close to someone else and next thing you know. _ close to someone else and next thing you know, there is retaliation. and then you're — you know, there is retaliation. and then you're getting into some pretty dangerous— then you're getting into some pretty dangerous territory then. gk, dangerous territory then. 0k, stealint , dangerous territory then. 0k, stealing. we _ dangerous territory then. 0k, stealing, we believe - dangerous territory then. 0k, stealing, we believe it - dangerous territory then. oi, stealing, we believe it there. thank you so much for bringing us that update from beijing —— ok stephen, we will leave it there. the leader of al-qaeda has been killed by an american drone strike, in the afghan capital kabul. ayman al—zawahiri was one of the masterminds of the attacks of september 11th. us president biden, in a live televised address, said his death would help give closure to the families of the thousands of people killed on 9/11. our correspondent, secunder kermani, reports from kabul. this is the family home

where it's thought ayman al—zawahiri was living, and where, whilst standing on a balcony, american officials say he was killed by a missile fired by a drone. we can still hear debris being cleared up. but then we are told to stop filming. we are in the centre of the city. the house that was targeted in the drone strike is just a few minutes away, but the taliban aren't allowing anyone to film nearby, insisting there's nothing to see, one even pointing his gun threateningly towards us a little earlier on. senior taliban figures must have agreed to al-qaeda's leader living here, but they have insisted in public the group no longer exists in afghanistan, so his death poses difficult questions. zawahiri was a veteran militant figure, involved in planning

the 9/11 attacks alongside osama bin laden. president biden was present in the command centre when he was killed more than a decade ago, but he has also been heavily criticised for overseeing last year's chaotic troop withdrawal from afghanistan. this is now a major victory. the united states continues to demonstrate our resolve and our capacity to defend the american people against those who seek to do us harm. now, we, er, we make it clear again tonight that no matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the united states will find you and take you out. unlike al-qaeda, the taliban have a national, not global, agenda. but they have been close allies of al-qaeda for years. recently, though, they have played down their links after promising not

to allow foreign attacks to be planned on afghan soil. the taliban by hosting ayman al—zawahiri in downtown kabul have proven a lot of such assumptions wrong and made any kind of engagement for the united states government, in particular, but the international community at large very, very difficult. al-qaeda is no longer the global threat it once was, but the killing of zawahiri will further deepen the distrust between the taliban and the west, as afghanistan continues to struggle amidst a deep economic crisis. secunder kermani, bbc news, kabul. just wanting to in chapter coverage from afghanistan to go back to taiwan and the breaking news we have

been covering from there for the last hour or so that nancy pelosi, senior us democrat, has arrived. this was the plane landing a little earlier. we saw her get off the plane and head to the airport. we have a little bit of an update on her itinerary, which has been pretty secret up until this point. but we now know that she is expected to meet taiwan's president on wednesday and then fly out of taiwan in the afternoon. so if relatively brief visit, but that was always going to be the case because that is part of a wider tour of asia, she is visiting four orfive a wider tour of asia, she is visiting four or five countries, started in singapore and this was her arriving, just coming down the steps, you canjust see her there any pink any darkness. this was about half ten, quarter to 11 local time, so pretty late. pretty much straight to the hotel, imagine, and tomorrow wednesday, she will meet taiwan's president. that be

potentially a hugely significant moment. —— will be a potentially hugely significant moment. back to our coverage of the death of the al-qaeda leader now. our north america correspondent barbara plett usher has been assessing what the drone strike could mean for relations between washington and kabul. well, it's a significant blow to whatever small amount of good faith might have existed in the relationship. the united states is saying that the taliban broke an agreement signed in 2020 about the conditions for us withdrawal in which the taliban committed that it would not shelter extremists, and now ayman al—zawahiri is killed on their on their soil. the taliban is saying the opposite. it's saying that that agreement said that the us should not strike afghanistan after it left, and now it has. but what i can say is this doesn't mean that the united states will break up all contact with the taliban because it needs that contact for practical reasons. it's negotiating the release of a us hostage, it's trying to negotiate safe passage for afghans who worked with the united states and other things.

but the president has made very clear that if it feels that it needs to carry out another air strike, it will. and for the taliban, the timing is bad because they were going to use the anniversary of the us withdrawal to try to reach out more to the world. they certainly need better relations with the us in order to deal with their humanitarian and economic crisis. but now, of course, the united states is strongly questioning just exactly what their intentions are. thanks to barbara for that. let's speak to the author and journalist ahmed rashid. thank you very much for coming on the programme. what do you make of the programme. what do you make of the significance of today, clearly a symbolic moment for president biden, for many in the us, but where do you rank its significance?— rank its significance? well, there is no doubt _ rank its significance? well, there is no doubt that _ rank its significance? well, there is no doubt that the _ rank its significance? well, there is no doubt that the americans i rank its significance? well, there i is no doubt that the americans have instigated a major success. al—zawahiri, who had been on the list for more than a decade, and the

fact that the americans did it without having an embassy in kabul, without having an embassy in kabul, without having an intelligent space or military base, they still managed to track down al—zawahiri and eliminate him. as far as i'm concerned, i think what does this mean for afghanistan? the secretary of state antony blinken has said that the humanitarian aid going to afghanistan will continue. and that may be encouraging, but not really simply because given what has happened today in kabul, is it possible now that the aid agencies over the un and people distributing wheat and food are going to be able to move around in kabul slavery? i think there will be terrible fear about that factor —— around in kabul file. we'll humanitarian aid continue? can it continue? will many

be given to the banks of afghanistan to allow afghan people to withdraw money from their accounts? the will may be there by the american side, but the fact is that what we have seenin but the fact is that what we have seen in the last three or four months is that bankers, aid agencies, people are very reluctant to go into afghanistan and help out. yes, we have seen that, the amount of aid certainly not what many humanitarian organisations would be hoping is putting into the country at the moment. ijust hoping is putting into the country at the moment. i just want to go back to al-qaeda and what you think this means for them now. touteii back to al-qaeda and what you think this means for them now.— this means for them now. well, you know, al-qaeda _ this means for them now. well, you know, al-qaeda was _ this means for them now. well, you know, al-qaeda was not _ this means for them now. well, you| know, al-qaeda was not particularly active, they were trying to form a new groups in india and pakistan and, of course in the middle east, but i think they have really been superseded by islamic state and by other local militant groups which are much more extreme than al-qaeda.

and at the fact is that al—zawahiri was not able to launch any kind of terrorist attack during his time when he was being looked after by the taliban. but the danger is the taliban are notjust giving sanctuary to al-qaeda, they are giving sanctuary to ten other terrorist groups in the region, central asians, chinese, terrorist groups in the region, centralasians, chinese, pakistanis, central asians, chinese, pakistanis, indians, centralasians, chinese, pakistanis, indians, kashmiris, etc. and that is quite a line—up and the government of some of these groups are going to seize a moment to strike. what we are seeing now is that a lot of these groups are going to be at the loose end. will they break away from the taliban and carry out their own attacks? against western targets, both in afghanistan or pakistan or any of the neighbouring countries, or europe itself? i

any of the neighbouring countries, or europe itself?— or europe itself? i see. i'm afraid i will or europe itself? i see. i'm afraid i will have — or europe itself? i see. i'm afraid i will have to _ or europe itself? i see. i'm afraid i will have to jump _ or europe itself? i see. i'm afraid i will have to jump in _ or europe itself? i see. i'm afraid i will have to jump in there - or europe itself? i see. i'm afraid i i will have to jump in there because we do have to leave it there. but thatis we do have to leave it there. but that is absolutely interesting, a potential consequence of what has happened, one of those unforeseen, potentially, consequences. thank you very much, ahmed rashid, for coming on the programme. two big international stories out of taiwan and afghanistan. we will come back to the uk now. a big story for the future of the country. the conservative leadership candidate, liz truss, has dropped her plan to introduce regional pay for civil servants after criticism that it would mean lower pay for millions of workers outside london. last night, she told an audience of conservative members it could save nearly £9 billion a year, but the announcement led to fierce opposition from some members of her party. supporters of her rival, rishi sunak, said the u—turn revealed "a lack of serious judgment". our political correspondent ione wells has the latest. it was all smiles from liz truss as she toured the south—west of england yesterday. but, this morning, her plans caused beef with some tory mps in the area.

she said she wanted civil servants in regions where pay is lower to be paid less. she argued, if this worked, it could save billions by being rolled out to other public sector workers. that would mean nurses, police or teachers in areas like the north of england could be paid less than places like surrey. her backers denied this would entrench regional inequality, claiming private companies struggle to hire in areas where public sector pay drowns them out. if the government is the highest payer, it then crowds out private sector investment, and we have to ensure that private sector investment comes alongside what the government is doing. but rishi sunak�*s supporters slammed the plans, arguing they would damage public services. the first thing liz needs to do with this policy is perform a very swift u—turn. it is absolutely catastrophic to the chances of the conservative party at the next general election. and even if you listen

to jacob rees mogg and the idea that new civil servants, new teachers, nurses and police officers will be paid less in the north compared to the south—east, that will make it even more difficult to recruit. and u—turn they did. less than 20 minutes after these words left ben houchen's mouth, liz truss's campaign said she would not go along with the plans if she were elected leader. this policy is just one of many rushed out by candidates fighting for the keys to number 10. but behind headlines like slashing whitehall waste — designed to appeal to tory members — this u—turn reveals how big questions remain about how some of these ideas would work in practice. ione wells, bbc news. the parents of archie battersbee have asked the supreme court to consider an appeal against his doctors' decision to end the 12—year—old's life support. they want the supreme court to assess whether more time should be given for a un committee to look at the case. archie's care was due to end at midday today.

almost 700 migrants crossed the english channel in 14 small boats on monday, a record for the year so far. more than 17,000 people have arrived in the uk after navigating busy shipping lanes from france in small boats so far in 2022, according to government figures. a man has been charged with treason after an incident at windsor castle on christmas day. he's also been charged with threats to kill and possession of an offensive weapon. a little earlier, our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford told me the charge of treason is extremely unusual. at the time, police said that a man had just got inside the grounds of windsor castle but had not entered any of the buildings, and we haven't heard much about the case since then. but today, both the metropolitan police and the crown prosecution service have confirmed that jaswant singh chail, who's a 20—year—old from southampton, has been charged with three offences, and one of those is section

two of the treason act, which is a section which hasn't been used since the 1980s but refers to making a threat using a weapon against the queen. the allegation is that mr chail had a crossbow with him when he entered the grounds of windsor castle, and he will be appearing in court at westminster magistrates' court on 17th august. and just remind us, i know you touched on it there, but of course it was over christmastime where many people would have been away from their tvs, radios and mobile phones — well, possibly not mobile phones — but may not have kind of fully comprehended the incident at the time, so just remind us what happened. yeah, it wasn't massively reported, to be honest with you, at the time, because the police had made it so clear that the man that had been arrested had onlyjust got inside the ground, so while it did make some of the news websites and some

of the newspapers, particularly because of this allegation that he was carrying a crossbow, it wasn't a huge, enormous story at christmas and it's been largelyjust sitting on the back burner. but obviously, the police investigation has now got to the stage where they've sent a file to the crown prosecution service and they have authorised this very, very unusual charge of section two of the treason act, which, as i said, is essentially making a threat against the monarch using a weapon — in this case, the allegation being that a threat was being made with that crossbow. thanks to daniel for that. almost 10 years ago, james howells threw away a computer hard drive during a clear out — forgetting about his bitcoin on it. now, with his cryto—currency worth an estimated $180 million,

the it engineer is planning to spend millions of dollars digging up a landfill site in newport in a bid to find it. if recovered mr howells said he would give 10% of the proceeds to turn the city into a crypto—currency hub. but the council said excavating the site would pose an ecological risk. now it's time for a look at the weather with helen. we have had a lot more cloud in the sky today and some welcome rain. we had over 100 millimetres of rain in some of the cumbrian fells and across snowdonia, not far shy of that. you can see bit of rain on that weather front, some drizzle to the south, an odd shower to the north, but a little sunshine coming through in eastern areas. quite warm out there, warm and muggy. even with the cloud and the breeze. it will be another uncomfortable night for sleeping. we keep quite a bit of cloud and humid weather in southern areas. the cloud, breeze and increasing amounts of rain again in the north holding temperatures up here. another warm night, another close night, and it

close they particularly in the south tomorrow. a smattering of rain, the outlook shower to clear away then the sky is bright in. it will be notably fresher, they will come across scotland and northern ireland compared with today, 24, 25. 19-21 c, but compared with today, 24, 25. 19—21 c, but again we could be pushing the high 20s in the south. it does freshen up by the time we get to thursday, but should be dry for the commonwealth games tomorrow. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: us house speaker nancy pelosi touches down in taiwan despite a chinese threat that america will 'pay the price' for her visit. us presidentjoe biden confirms the head of al qaeda, ayman al zawahiri, has been killed by a drone strike in kabul. he made videos, including in recent weeks, calling for his followers to attack the united states and our allies.

now, justice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more. liz truss scraps a plan to link public sector pay to local living costs following a backlash from a number of senior conservatives. what i want to be clear about is i will not be going ahead with the regional pay boards. that is no longer my policy. as energy bills soar, bp reports £6.9 billion in quarterly profits — its highest in 14 years. police have charged a 20—year—old man with treason after he was arrested in the grounds of windsor castle on christmas day. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's jane. good afternoon. good afternoon from birmingham, where it is day 5 of the commonwealth games. 37 gold medals up for grabs, and it's been another incredible day for england in the gymastics.

jake jarman who's won his fourth gold medal of the games. he completed a sensational pair of vaults — the 20—year—old making it look effortless. and it was an english one—two as giarnni regini—moran took silver. it's his birthday today and the arena birmingham crowd sang happy birthday to him as he finished his vaults. i as he finished his vaults. can't quite comprehend v just i can't quite comprehend what has just happened. i came here wanting to do my best and enjoy every moment and the result i have come outwith, i could not... i'm over the moon, ecstatic i could not have asked for a better day. and shortly after, joe fraser won his third gold medal. fraser — whose home city is birmingham — delighted the crowd with an impressive routine

on the parallel bars, with a level of difficulty which was tough to beat. his compatriot regini—moran won his second silver of the day. england have won 14 medals in the gymnastics so far. the women's floor has finished and there has been another england 1—2, alice kinsella taking the gold. she felt in this event earlier in the games, she was so emotional. it was lovely to see. her team—mate on dean achampong took the silver medal which rounds off a fantastic day for england's gymnast —— ondine achampong. in hockey, it's three wins out of three for england's women — as they beat india 3—1. it was an impressive performance as giselle ansley, tess howard and hannah martin put the hosts in the driving seat

at the top of pool a. and they did it in front of a royal audience, as the duke and duchess of cambridge and princess charlotte cheered them on. wales have won their second gold of the games. it came in the lawn bowls, in a very tight match against england. jarrad breen and daniel salmon beating jamie walker and sam tolchard19—18to win men's pairs gold at victoria park. scotland beat northen ireland to win the bronze. amazing. i would never even have dreamt of that happening. obviously, i always wanted to get to the commonwealth games but to win two gold medals now, it is beyond my wildest dreams, to be honest. and finally, away from

the commonwealth games, in cricket sussex pace bowler ollie robinson has been named in england's squad for the first two tests against south africa. robinson has recovered from a back injury, which prevented him from playing any cricket since england's tour of the caribbean back in march. he made his return to championship cricket last week. the first of the three tests starts at lord's on 17 august. more details on that and other events at the commonwealth games on the bbc sport website. that's all the sport for now. we have an update on the story regarding archie battersbee, hugely significant moment, the decision was pending from the supreme court and we now have a bit of news. the

parents of 12—year—old archie battersbee have lost a supreme court bid to block the withdrawal of his life sustaining treatment, pending a review of his case by a un committee. you may remember that 12 noon today was the original time that that life sustaining treatment was to be withdrawn and the family submitted another appeal now it seems the parents of the 12—year—old archie battersbee have lost a supreme court bid to block the withdrawal of his life sustaining treatment. i can bring you a couple of sentences from that decision. as the panel stated in its note of determination last week of the justices have great sympathy with the plight of archie's devoted parents who face a circumstance that is every parents nightmare. the loss of a much loved child. it is

nevertheless the task of the court to apply the law which requires judges to give paramount consideration to arch—— archie's welfare. we will have an update on that and what exactly that could potentially mean a little later. this is taiwan, a story viewed potentially of international significance, nancy pelosi, the us house speaker, she has touched down in taiwan. something that china warned against. china considers taiwan to be part of its control and would view a visit like this as a compromise, a challenge to that, and so we saw nancy pelosi's controversial visit, where she touched down on the aeroplane —— in the aeroplane in

taipei and we had live pictures of the hotel that she has arrived at. huge interest in this. the international feed huge interest in this. the internationalfeed has huge interest in this. the international feed has gone down but when we can re—establish that we will bring it to you. as we've been hearing, bp has reported its biggest quarterly profit for the last 14 years — £6.9 billion. that's three times the amount the energy giant made in the same period last year. this comes as analysts have warned that a typical domestic energy bill in england, wales and scotland could hit more than £3,600 a year this winter. our business correspondent caroline davies reports.

from fuel to cooking, lighting to showers, rising energy prices bite into household budgets. but the same high oil and gas prices that mean consumers are paying more means that energy companies are also making more money. today, bp announced it has made its second ever highest underlying profit in a three month period. £6.9 billion, more than triple the amount it made the same time last year. the company says it will invest in the uk, including an energy transition, and pay more tax. when prices are higher, rightly so, we pay higher taxes and now we have an energy profits levy which means we will pay even more taxes on top of what we had already planned, and that's what we will do. bp estimates it will pay £1 billion of tax compared to £100 million last year, but the high profits sit uneasily as many, like mother of two ruth, face the prospect of energy bills rising again this year. i mean it isjust frightening, really. it's such a huge amount of money and you can't get round it.

so we have to put the heating on, we have put the lights on, maybe we won't have the heating on as much. maybe we will have to put extra jumpers on, but there are some things you cannot change and you can't stop. i still have to wash the clothes. so, it is going to be a challenging winter, i think, for everybody. in april last year, the energy price cap increased from just in april last year, the energy price over £1,000 to £1,138. within a year, the price cap had risen to its current level of £1971. but energy analysts cornwall insight think it will go even higher, to more than £3358 this october, a rise of more than 70%. and these prices are expected to continue, potentially reaching as much as £3,729 by this time next year. there are fears that if the prices rise, the situation could become more desperate for some families. the amount going up significantly

through the heating season, we will see people turn to really desperate measures just to stay warm, whether that is going to public spaces like libraries or on the bus just to get that warmth, or doing much more dangerous things like lighting open fires in homes which can lead to catastrophic consequences. and it's not clear when prices might ease. analysts have predicted they are likely to stay high into 2024. pat mcfadden is shadow chief secretary to the treasury. what is your reaction? these profit levels of the _ what is your reaction? these profit levels of the oil _ what is your reaction? these profit levels of the oil and _ what is your reaction? these profit levels of the oil and gas _ what is your reaction? these profitl levels of the oil and gas companies,

it shows the yawning gulf between them and the average consumer, and typically, people are already reporting that whereas they might have been paying about £150 per month for their energy, that has now doubled, they are paying about £300 per month and they all know there's more to come the autumn. i think this is the biggest issue facing the country right now and the biggest problem facing people as we approach the autumn and winter. itiithat problem facing people as we approach the autumn and winter.— the autumn and winter. what would ou the autumn and winter. what would you specifically _ the autumn and winter. what would you specifically given _ the autumn and winter. what would you specifically given those - the autumn and winter. what would you specifically given those profits i you specifically given those profits of those companies? the you specifically given those profits of those companies?— of those companies? the chief executive _ of those companies? the chief executive of _ of those companies? the chief executive of bp _ of those companies? the chief executive of bp said _ of those companies? the chief executive of bp said last - of those companies? the chief executive of bp said last year. of those companies? the chief i executive of bp said last year that the current market was a cash machine for his company and you can see that cash machine effect today and he also said that they would be paying £1 billion in tax this year but if you compare that to the profits being made, £7 billion, justin one quarter, you can see that they could and should be paying more —— just in one quarter. we called

for a windfall tax on the profits of the oil and tax the few gas companies and the government resisted that for five months but that could be backdated to the start of the year —— the profits of the oil and gas companies. companies are allowed to write off any extra tax against investments are many of which they have been making anyway, so there are ways to fashion the windfall tax that could raise more money than the government proposes and that would give more help to people this coming winter. things are not straightforward, _ people this coming winter. things are not straightforward, though, i people this coming winter. things i are not straightforward, though, and for example, a lot of people in the uk have pensions and to get a decent pension you need those companies like the big energy companies to be making a profit and paying out a dividend, older people depend on those doing well, and also if you take money off them in the good times, there is a reduced incentive for them to invest in green energy

in the future, and climate change suffers, so there's always a nuance? i have heard those arguments, let's talk about the investment, it was put to the oil companies, what difference would a windfall tax make to the investments you would make and they said, none at all. in terms of what is done with the profits, the second point you made, most of it is not being used for extra investment, it is being used for things like share buy—backs, to increase the value of the company, and this is something that can be afforded and these are huge unforeseen profits and it is not because the company has done anything extra clever here. they have done a business as usual but it is a classic windfall situation and there is no doubt that the government will have to come forward with more help for people this coming winter. barely a day goes by without new estimates of what the

annual bills could be and they are rising all the time. at first we thought it would be about 2700 per year and now people are talking about 3000 or 3500, and people in my constituency and many other in similar areas they simply can't afford a rise from £150 per month last year, to 400, £500 per month this winter, so the government has got to come up with extra help for people. pat got to come up with extra help for neale, ., a ., got to come up with extra help for hheole. ., n ., ., got to come up with extra help for ”eole. ., a ., ., ., people. pat mcfadden, thanks for 'oinint us. people. pat mcfadden, thanks for the headlines on bbc news... the parents of archie battersbee lose their supreme court bid to delay the removal of his life support. nancy pelosi has touched down in taiwan despite china saying the us will pay a price for her visit. joe biden confirms that the

al-qaeda leader ayman al—zawahiri has been killed by a drone strike. england's historic win in the final of the european championships has been heralded as a defining moment for women's football. it's hoped it will precede greater participation, more investment, and fairer pay for players. but the lionesses' victory is already having an impact. brighton and hove albion have sold a record number of season tickets to fans wanting to watch their women's super league team — selling 249% more season—tickets compared to this time last year. let's talk more about this to the club's general manager of women's and girl's football — polly bancroft. good afternoon. this is a proper boom time for women's football, do you think it can be capitalised upon? you think it can be capitalised u ton? . you think it can be capitalised uon? , ., , , you think it can be capitalised u-on? , , a you think it can be capitalised uon? , , upon? yes, absolutely. as you mention. _ upon? yes, absolutely. as you mention, those _ upon? yes, absolutely. as you mention, those percentages, i j upon? yes, absolutely. as you i mention, those percentages, i get a notification every morning of the number of season tickets we have sold, and just to see it this

morning, i have never seen it right so quickly. overnight last night and even the night before, just rises on levels we have not seen before, so we are really delighted with them. great to see that, but what in your opinion do you need to back that up, what support do you think needs to come forward now to cement that progress? come forward now to cement that ttroress? �* ., ,, come forward now to cement that ttroress? . ., ,, ,., ., come forward now to cement that ttroress? ., ,, ., ., progress? awareness is one of our bit test progress? awareness is one of our biggest barriers. — progress? awareness is one of our biggest barriers, so _ progress? awareness is one of our biggest barriers, so trying - progress? awareness is one of our biggest barriers, so trying to - biggest barriers, so trying to explain to people where we play and which league we are in and who the opponents are and how to buy tickets, so awareness and obviously the club communicates that amongst its avenues butjust the general public. those in sussex and the wider region, encouraging them to get more involved and to support the girls and show their faces, whether that is the main stadium in brighton

or rallye. the women's first team split their matches between those stadiums and awareness needs to be improved but we are hoping that will happen after everyone has been following the lionesses. the big advantate following the lionesses. the big advantage of— following the lionesses. the big advantage of course _ following the lionesses. the big advantage of course is _ following the lionesses. the big advantage of course is social i following the lionesses. the big i advantage of course is social media because tiktok, for example, it flooded with the individual accounts of players, having a good time, i should have said. celebrating pretty well as they should, but that is another huge example. that did not exist five years ago. another way of getting out to a younger generation of potential france up that is right. of potential france up that is ri t ht. of potential france up that is rit ht, , ., , , of potential france up that is ritht. , ,., of potential france up that is ritht. , , ., ., ., right. the players are great role models and _ right. the players are great role models and they _ right. the players are great role models and they show- right. the players are great role models and they show great i right. the players are great role i models and they show great creative content on their social media channel so we have maximised that. —— generation of potential fans. channel so we have maximised that. —— generation of potentialfans. itide -- generation of potential fans. we do use —— generation of potential fans. - do use that already but it is breaking into the mainstream through

tv and radio and advertisements in city centres, that can also help benefit us and take it to the next level. ., ., �* �* ., level. having it on the bbc and havint it level. having it on the bbc and having it so — level. having it on the bbc and having it so accessible - level. having it on the bbc and having it so accessible and i level. having it on the bbc and i having it so accessible and having it on in the background for some people who are not particularly paying attention but no it is there and have an awareness, but other people a great place to go, and get thoroughly absorbed in it, but now the big championship is gone, it is going to be harder to get eyeballs on the actual matches. itide going to be harder to get eyeballs on the actual matches.— going to be harder to get eyeballs on the actual matches. we have 'ust finished the — on the actual matches. we have 'ust finished the first i on the actual matches. we have 'ust finished the first year i on the actual matches. we have 'ust finished the first year of i on the actual matches. we have 'ust finished the first year of the i finished the first year of the three—year tv deal including the bbc and sky sports and to have women's football on free to air tv is a godsend, to be honest. it does so much more awareness and visibility and that will continue for the next two years, as well, and it is not just the 90 minutes, it is the additional clippings that you would see, the highlights, the magazine

shows, the coverage on the websites and social channels, so it is all that extra coverage in addition to the 90 minutes that really helps. good luck with it all. thanks for joining us. cocaine sparked the death of entrepreneur and youtube starjamal edwards, a coroner has concluded. the music entrepreneur died in february this year, at the age of 31. the coroner has concluded the cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia which was sparked by cocaine use. thomas mcgill has more. jamal edwards was described as an entrepreneur today at the inquest into his death last february in west london. the assistant coroner concluded jamal had taken cocaine, and that combined with alcohol had caused a cardiac arrhythmia, leading to his death. this inquest heard jamal had been out djing in islington before

returning to his mother's home and it was there where he became increasingly erratic and paranoid before collapsing. attempts were made by his friend, uncle, and london ambulance service to resuscitate him, but all of those attempts were unsuccessful. today there was a statement read out by his mother and tv personality brenda edwards. she described her son as genuinely beautiful and a sensitive son who she was proud of. she went on to say in a statement that his legacy will be the trust that has been set up since his death. thomas mcgill, bbc london, at west london coroner's court. regarding archie battersbee, we have our home and legal affairs

correspondent, dominic, what are we hearing? the correspondent, dominic, what are we hearina ? ,, , ., ., , hearing? the supreme court has ruled it will not intervene _ hearing? the supreme court has ruled it will not intervene in _ hearing? the supreme court has ruled it will not intervene in this _ hearing? the supreme court has ruled it will not intervene in this case, - it will not intervene in this case, and that means that the court of appeal�*s decision yesterday that doctors could withdraw life support from 12—year—old archie battersbee, that process can now begin, and unless there is some kind of legal avenue that no one has foreseen, this definitely looks like it is the end of the road for the family and their campaign to try and delay the withdrawal of treatment from their son in hospital. this withdrawal of treatment from their son in hospital.— son in hospital. this has been a lona and son in hospital. this has been a long and legally _ son in hospital. this has been a long and legally complex - son in hospital. this has been a long and legally complex and i son in hospital. this has been a i long and legally complex and quite intense process on behalf of the family, trying to get the decision they want. ll family, trying to get the decision the want. . , family, trying to get the decision the want. ., , , ., family, trying to get the decision the want. , ., , they want. it has, but what is interesting — they want. it has, but what is interesting about _ they want. it has, but what is interesting about the - they want. it has, but what is interesting about the ruling, l they want. it has, but what is i interesting about the ruling, the very sad reading, from the supreme court, they underlined their sympathy in their own personal opinion about the sadness they feel in having to do with this, is what

the law says about the situation is and why the justices feel they cannot intervene because of what the law requires them to do. in essence, what happens in these cases, judges who are experts in family law and medical matters, when it comes to the care of a child in hospital, a child in such an awful situation as archie battersbee where he is effectively being kept alive by 17 medical interventions, notjust a ventilator but his entire body is slowly dying, effectively, and the court has to decide what is in the best interests of the child. the best interests of the child. the best interests of the child do not necessarily coincide in legal terms with the best interests of the parents as they see it, so it is a different calculation. over the course of the weeks, a numberjudges at the high court and the court of appeal said that when you look at the medical evidence and the facts, that both sides agree there is no chance of recovery and that it is

simply a question of when he will die rather than if he would die, then the best interests lie in withdrawing the life support, effectively sooner rather than later, because in the words of one of the judges quoted today, by the supreme court, to continue the treatment, it would simply lead to a protracted death in a situation where his life can't be prolonged. critically, the issue, they took to court this morning, they try to argue an inquiry from a un committee on disability rights, which the uk is a signatory to come at the family wanted that committee to be given more time at the united nations level to look at archie battersbee's case but the supreme court has agreed with the court of appeal yesterday that the un committee has no role in uk law, it is a political committee and it looks at things like disability rights and advises governments and even if it was to do so, that process could take us into 2023 and the simple fact is that archie battersbee is likely to die

far sooner than that is why —— and thatis far sooner than that is why —— and that is why the judges have said it is better to withdraw treatment sooner rather than later. it is is better to withdraw treatment sooner rather than later.- sooner rather than later. it is a dreadful case. _ sooner rather than later. it is a dreadful case. thanks - sooner rather than later. it is a dreadful case. thanks for - sooner rather than later. it is a i dreadful case. thanks forjoining dreadful case. thanks for joining us. british airways says it will stop selling tickets on short—haulflights from heathrow airport until monday. the move is due to the cap on daily passenger numbers that the airport imposed over the summer, in an attempt to reduce travel delays. the sales suspension will affect ba's flights to domestic and european destinations. earlier i spoke to lisa minot — who's the travel editor at the sun newspaper. she told me that things don't look good for ba.

we have heard that this is a stopping of sale of tickets out of heathrow airport with british airways and will continue until the 15th of august at the earliest. you cannot buy any tickets for british airways because of the heathrow cap and the fact they and british airways do not have enough staff to run their schedule. now it's time for a look at the weather with helen willetts. we have had some rain, although not for everyone. it has all been brought by the area of low pressure with its tightly packed isobars, also a windy day, but little rain further south and east but at least we have had some, and it is still falling across central parts of england and wales, some showers to the north, and this is a light drizzle and misty low cloud we have around the irish sea coast, quite humid air, so what does this mean for the evening and overnight, another uncomfortable one

for sleeping because the cloud remains and the breeze is with us and the humidity is high stoke that emigrate so still bringing dank and humid air and emigrate so still bringing dank and humid airand the emigrate so still bringing dank and humid air and the temperatures hold up humid air and the temperatures hold up although the humidity is not quite so high here in the north and another warm and muggy day. very little rain left on the front, slipping south, may be the odd shower, but still some showers following across scotland and northern ireland but the difference tomorrow is the wind direction, north—westerly, so it will freshen up north—westerly, so it will freshen up and feel cooler across scotland and northern even with sunshine. further south you still have the oppressive 28, 29, it will feel quite muggy for birmingham for the commonwealth games, but it should be dry. by thursday, we are losing the humidity because there is the remnants of the weather front slipping away into france overnight, and then more showers followed to the north, so the temperatures are

high again, wednesday into thursday but we are gradually losing the high humidity so it feels a bit more comfortable and we say goodbye to it in the south on thursday. still these weak weather front bringing showers in across scotland in particular, on thursday, so smaller lengths of sunny spells but there should be sunshine elsewhere, even if there is fair weather cloud developing, it will still be dry for most, it will feel warm in the strong sunshine, but it will feel fresher on thursday and friday, across england and wales. as well as scotland and northern ireland. at the weekend but we have weak weather fronts close to the north but the high pressure keeps it dry for most.

this is bbc news, i'mjane hill. the headlines at 5pm... bp reports its highest quarterly profits in ia years, of £6.9 billion — as household energy bills soar. us presidentjoe biden confirms the head of al qaeda, it is frightening because there are things you can't get around and you can't change. us presidentjoe biden confirms the head of al qaeda, ayman al zawaa—hiri, has been killed by a drone strike in kabul. us house speaker nancy pelosi touches down in taiwan the parents of archie battersbee lose their supreme court bid to delay the removal of his life support. us house speaker nancy pelosi touches down in taiwan

despite a chinese threat that america will "pay the