good afternoon. 70 charities and community organisations have written to the two conservative party candidates vying to be its next leader and the next prime minister, urging them to show "compassion and leadership" in dealing with the cost of living crisis. the government has already pledged up to £1,200 to help the most vulnerable families — but with the energy price cap due to rise this autumn, and then again injanuary, it's claimed the support is no longer sufficient. here's our political correspondent david wallace—lockhart.

with energy bills expected to continue rising, 70 charities have written to the two candidates to be the next prime minister, calling for £1200 of government support to help low income families make ends meet this winter. ., ., , ., , this winter. throughout history, it has been government's _ this winter. throughout history, it has been government's role - this winter. throughout history, it has been government's role to . has been government's role to provide support to households who need it in a time of crisis. we saw it during the pandemic using the furlough scheme and the £20 uplift a universal credit per week and we need to see that again now. we need to see that the government at least doubles that support to low—income households right now or we are going to be facing a winter of truly terrifying circumstances. fix, to be facing a winter of truly terrifying circumstances. a source of many of _ terrifying circumstances. a source of many of these _ terrifying circumstances. a source of many of these concerns - terrifying circumstances. a source of many of these concerns are - of many of these concerns are predicted rises in the energy price cap, the maximum that can be charged for a unit of energy. last 0ctober, for a unit of energy. last october, a typicalfamily could for a unit of energy. last october, a typical family could expect to pay about £1200 per year for electricity and gas. this 0ctober, it will be closer to £2000. forecasts now suggest the figure could go up to

£3500 later this year, and to more than 4000 injanuary. the labour leader sir keir starmer is expected tomorrow to call for 0ctober�*s energy price cap price to be scrapped, a position already suggested by the snp and lib dems. the current energy minister insists this is not a realistic proposal. we would this is not a realistic proposal. - would have to find a way to compensate people by effectively trying to abolish that price rise and that would inevitably lead to higher taxes so i think we have to be a little bit careful with some of these, like labour's seemingly magical solution to just wish it all the way. that will have consequences.- the way. that will have consequences. the way. that will have conseuuences. , , consequences. the treasury is correlating _ consequences. the treasury is correlating cost _ consequences. the treasury is correlating cost of _ consequences. the treasury is correlating cost of living - consequences. the treasury is correlating cost of living policy options for the next prime minister to consider. rishi sunak has said he will provide more direct support to vulnerable households. liz truss has not ruled out more support but prefers the idea of tax cuts. 0ne not ruled out more support but prefers the idea of tax cuts. one of her key supporters, the chief

secretary to the treasury, simon clark, has questioned the universal nature of some of the support offered so far, suggesting a preference for more targeted added if the —— intervention. the new prime minister will take office on the 5th of september, just a month shy of another rise in bills, an immediate challenge for a new leader. david wallace—lockhart, bbc news. sir salman rushdie has been taken off a ventilator and has spoken for the first time since he was stabbed several times on stage at a literary event in the united states on friday. nomia iqbal is at the hospital where the satanic verses author is being treated. nomia. there has been no comment yet from the hospital treating sir salman rushdie but his agent confirmed to us media that he is breathing unaided and speaking. in terms of the suspect, 24—year—old hadi matar has appeared in court and pleaded not guilty so all of the charges that he is facing. more reports are coming out about him, including claims he had a fake drivers license

in the name of a member of his brother, the group that the us and uk regard as a terrorist organisation. they drove the group hasissued organisation. they drove the group has issued a statement saying they had nothing to do the stabbing. there are also reports that suggest he was sympathetic to iran's revolutionary guards, a major political and military force in iran, whose spiritual leader back in 1989 issued the fatwa, a ruling to have mr rushdie killed over his book, the satanic verses. it is important to stress know definitively because been established with the suspect. —— no definitive link has been established. at least 40 people are feared dead and dozens of others injured after a fire inside a church in egypt. the blaze broke out during a sunday mass in a coptic christian church in the capital cairo. it's reported to have been an electrical fire, which started on the fourth floor and has destroyed most of the building. at least eight people have been injured after a gunman opened fire on a bus near the western wall

injerusalem's old city, in israel. the suspect began shooting as pilgrims were returning from prayers at the holy site. two people, including a pregnant woman, are in a critical condition, and four of the injured were members of the same family visiting israel from new york. a new timetable has come into force on the west coast main line today. the operator, avanti, has been forced to reduce services because of what it called "severe staff shortages". trains between glasgow, edinburgh, liverpool, manchester, birmingham and london euston are affected. legal action against six protesters for attending a vigil for sarah everard has been halted after the crown prosecution service said the "legal test" for prosecution had not been met. they had been accused of breaking covid lockdown rules by attending the vigil in march last year following the abduction, rape and murder of sarah everard by police officer wayne couzens. there were clashes between police and the protesters after several hundred people attended the unofficial event. today is the last of four

days of intense heat, which has led to an amber weather warning for much of southern england and wales. while there are concerns about drought and the impact the heat has on the elderly and vulnerable, many people have simply been taking the opportunity to enjoy it. coastal resorts have been packed, but as emma simpson has been finding out, labour shortages and rising energy costs in hospitality mean not all businesses are willing, or able, to cope with the extra trade. it's boom time if you're selling food and drink at the beach — if you've got the staff to do it. i need somebody to go in the kitchen. i need waitresses, bar staff. louise runs this pub and it is missing out on lost sales. we could certainly be taking more than we are if we were doing food seven days a week and i had got more staff so we could put the facilities out there. we are not putting the tables out on monday and tuesday at the moment, purely because i haven't got the staff to do so.

it is even worse for this award—winning restaurant. trading is on pause. they have struggled to get staff since brexit and covid. the owners are now abroad, trying to hire chefs and waiting for a special government licence to bring them over. many sleepless nights. this business is a family business so it is me and my partner, so this is our only income. this is all really we live for, and to be closed is really heartbreaking, to be honest. there is no shortage of customers in this town — just staff. across the uk, there's something like 176,000 vacancies in hospitality. that is double the number before the pandemic. so this is a mock—up restaurant. you won't find a customer in here. the boss of this suffolk hotel chain shows me the training centre he started in march to help recruit and retain staff. you have to do something about it yourself because no one is going to give you these people,

and if you want them to stay, you have got to give them the skills and the confidence to be with you. labour shortages now, but could that tide be about to turn? at the alex cafe, they are open all week — three days only, though, upstairs. but the owner is in no rush, with rising energy costs for him and his customers. i've done the job for over 40 years and it has never been like this. you know, you have always been able to see a path, however steep that path is, or how difficult. at the moment, it is almost like an abyss. we could be looking at £100,000 per year extra — extra — on energy. you know, that's £2,000 per week. he is trying to keep it simple in a sector that is bracing itself for bumpier times ahead. emma simpson, bbc news, felixstowe. great britain remain top of the medals table after a good morning at the european championships in munich, with the british rowers winning a gold and a silver. let'sjoin our sports correspondent nesta mcgregor, who is at the olympic park for us.

yes, des four but the gb team must be on cloud nine. we remember yesterday, super saturday, four gold medals and sunday has not started badly either. more success on the water, this time in the pr three mixed coxed four and what a story to go with it, erin kennedy's last race with the team, basically, back in may, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and herjob is to control the stroke rate and make sure the boat is straight. as i mentioned, back in may, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and what is more remarkable is that she has already had two doses of chemotherapy and she will now take some time away to complete her treatment. as you can imagine, emotional scenes after the race, she was close to tears. but she has vowed to return to the sport and who would bet against her? back here, it is the triathlon to look forward to, and medals given away in gymnastics

and medals given away in gymnastics and track cycling. behind me is where they swim, tempted to have a cool down but i don't want to redo my make up! cool down but i don't want to redo my make up!— cool down but i don't want to redo my make up! thank you for “oining us. thast�*s it for now. the next news on bbc one is at 6.35. until then, enjoy your afternoon. it's a big day for nottingham forest, they face west ham in the next 45 minutes at the city ground — theirfirst home game in the premier league for 23 years,

a chris bart—williams goal gave them a 1—0 win against leicester in may 1999 but they had already been relegated by then. both forest and the hammers lost on the opening day om opening day defeats. steve cooper's side lost at newcastle. i think we are obviously disappointed when we lose a match, thatis disappointed when we lose a match, that is the mentality we have and that is the mentality we have and that we want here but i have liked the feel of the training ground this week, i think there was disappointment with the game but the real motivation for sunday, really, and getting back and the game cannot come quick enough because that is definitely different feel to the premier league game, one of excitement more than anything else because it is such a big event, the game, and to think now we can play another game quickly on sunday at home is one we are really motivated forward to.

there's one other premier league match today, a london derby at stamford bridge. totenham have a dreadful record at chelsea, having won there just once in the league in 32 years. last season they lost home and away in the league against chelsea and also both legs of the league cup semifinals without scoring a goal. chelsea is one of the best teams in england and europe. two years ago they won the champions league and last season they won the world cup as a club. i was there, i know the investment that they go to do every season. i don't believe everything that antonio — i don't believe everything that antonio conte says before and after

games _ their targets were clear, they took advantage of this situation and had a very aggressive transfer period. a straightforward and excellent transfer period to strengthen their squad in quality and depth. that's why it's one of the toughest opponents because that's what is always with antonio conte's teams. of the scottish premiership. they are cruising towrds victory at kilmarnock, kyogo furuhashi, jota and jenz with the first—half goals. at 3pm, it's hearts against dundee united. there have been more gold medals for great britain at the multi—sport european championships in germany.four rowing golds yesterday and emily craig and imogen grant were first past the line in the women's double sculls. they fnished ahead of france with the olympic champions italy claiming brozen. that was amazing. i feel so

emotional right now, actually. the last race we did together was tokyo nine months ago and we have both been doing lots of stuff individually this year to try and improve and i feel like that is just the proof of it, really, we come back fighting and show that we are a force to be reckoned with. there was also gold for the mixed coxed four, in the pr3 classification, for athletes with muscle or visiual impairment. the british team finished almost 20 seconds clear of france. that's all the sport for now. four matches in the hundred today — it's currently northern superchargers against london spirit in the women's match at headingley. and the oval invincibles take

on the southern brave in men's and women's matches at the oval later. the labour leader, sir keir starmer, will use a speech tomorrow to call for the energy price cap in england, scotland and wales to be frozen. analysts believe the cap is on course to rise to about £3,500 in october. sir keir says it should stay at the current level, ofjust under £2,000 for the average household. earlier i spoke with the energy minister greg hands. he gave me his reaction to labour's plan. i think the government has to look at all the options that are available. that is what we are doing at the moment. rishi sunak has been clear that if he becomes prime minister after the 5th of september, he will be wanting to take direct, immediate action to help people this

coming winter pay those bills. particularly the most vulnerable, particularly pensioners and so on. in terms of their specifics, a little too early to say. i think labour's idea of simply abolishing price rises in energy. energy price rises are set globally, driven by the invasion by vladimir putin of ukraine. we would have to find a way to compensate people by effectively trying to abolish that price rise and that would inevitably lead to higher taxes. so i think we have to be a little bit careful with some of these seemingly magical solutions by labour to just wish it all away. that will have consequences. on that, keith anderson does have a plan for the costs to be met over a much longer period, so it is not this sudden cliff that people are facing, which would mean suppliers covering

the gap between keeping the limit at £1,971 and where it goes beyond that could potentially beyond £4,000. a deficit bank supported by commercial banks, with many being repaid over ten to 15 years and over that period, that is when consumers would breakdown their bills. it is a big move but is a big move required now when we look at the scale of the increases? we are talking about inflation, obviously, heading for 13%. when we are talking about energy bills, it is what — 200%, 300%. that is the biggest chunk of a lot of people's outgoings. keith anderson from scottishpower is very capable. someone i know well and have worked with well over the last year. the government needs to look all the available options. we can't simply wish away the rising energy prices. it has to be paid somewhere along the line by either bill payers,

by taxpayers and so on. the government needs to look at all the available options and that is what we are committed to do. what i am also saying is rishi sunak, if he were prime minister, is committed to making sure we get money in people's pockets this winter, not through tax cuts but making sure particularly is committed to making sure we get money into people's pockets this winter, not through tax cuts but making sure particularly the most vulnerable have the ability to pay those bills. that is what he is committed to. how would you, how does rishi sunak define the most vulnerable? this is causing catastrophic levels of outgoings for people that goes this is causing catastrophic levels of outgoings for people of as the most vulnerable — teachers, middle—class people who had been able to previously perhaps afford the luxuries that now have gone out of the window, signing up to the don't, can't pay, won't pay campaign. i think the can't pay, won't pay campaign is deeply

irresponsible because ultimately the shortfall would have to be paid by somebody else. it is likely to lead to court action, that kind of thing, which i don't think we would want to wish on anybody. in terms of helping the vulnerable, the package of support and aren't so far, the £37 billion of government support so far this year on cost of living, that is a huge amount of money and includes £1,200 to the 8 million most vulnerable households. that would give you an idea of the sort of numbers that the government has committed so far, when rishi sunak was chancellor, committed to as well. that is the sort of policy i would expect to be the basis of where rishi sunak would like to take things forward were he to become prime minister. we will have to see. the government rightly is looking at all the available options. there is a recognition more will have to be done. we will have to see what does get done. the price cap rise does not

happen until october. the announced support does not kick in until september/october. some of the support that has already been announced has not actually yet ta ken effect. president zelensky says that any russian soldier who fires at the zaporyzhzhia nuclear plant or uses it as a base to shoot from will himself become a target for ukrainian soldiers. he said russians involved in what he called "nuclear blackmail" should be tried by an international court. translation: every russian soldier who either strikes - the znpp or shoots from its territory must realise that he will become a special target for our intelligence, special services and our army. the bbc�*s hugo bachega is in the ukrainian capital kyiv and told us more about the significance of the nuclear plant.

tensions remain high around the zaporizhzhia nuclear power complex. for days russia and ukraine have traded accusations of who's to blame for shelling the complex. now, russia has been occupying this complex since the beginning of march, although ukrainian ukraine accuse russian forces of essentially turning this nuclear facility into a military base using it as a shield to launch attacks against ukrainian targets, knowing that ukrainian forces are unlikely to retaliate. now, the russians reject these accusations. they say the russian troops are there to protect this facility, and calls are growing for international monitors to be allowed into the site. the un secretary general,

antonio guterres, called for the introduction of a demilitarised zone around this facility but so far it is very unlikely that any kind of deal is going to be reached, at least for now. elsewhere in the south, in the occupied region of kherson, there were attempts to attack a bridge by ukraine. and that would mean that all four bridges used to supply russian troops on the western bank of the river are damaged or destroyed. the ukrainians, for weeks now, have been targeting supply lines and infrastructure used by the russians there. kherson has been under russian occupation since the beginning of march to reinfoprce their positions, and the ukrainians have said they are going to launch an offensive to recapture this region of southern ukraine,

kherson, even though it seems that, so far, the ukrainians do not have the capacity or the weapons needed to go ahead with this major operation. several european countries have seen a wave of deadly wildfires, triggered by record temperatures and drought across the continent. here you can see there are major fires in much of western europe. 0fficials fear that windy conditions could make the situation worse. authorities in france say the �*monster�* fire south of bordeaux is being contained although firefighters remain vigilant. 0ur correspondent bethany bell is in the gironde region. the big fire near here we understand has been contained. everybody here is still on high alert, and this place tells you why. we were here yesterday and saw a fire crew hosing this area down, putting out small fires. there has been rain today, but as you can see, it is still smoking here. this area has a lot of peat—rich soil, and the embers burn sometimes underground, orjust on the surface of the ground, and it is still very easy for new fires to set off. 10,000 people have been evacuated

from their homes around here, some of them are hoping that they can go home very soon. in fact, some people may already be back in their houses. we spoke earlier to andrew harvey, a helicopter pilot trained to make airdrops over wildfires. from a point of view of even getting to the fire, and then actually trying to sort it out, invariably we almost get calls too late when things have got too far out of hand, unfortunately. it's very depressing when you get there, and find that actually, most of this wass people being stupid with barbecues, so it is very challenging, quite dangerous and especially if it gets into the trees, that becomes a real problem for us. just the sheer quantity of water we have to drop on trees to try to put them out. can you explain a bit more about what the dangers are, what it feels like, and what goes through your mind whilst you are doing that work? the first thing is actually trying

to pick up the water. you're never quite sure how deep the water source is, whether there will be any snags, in most cases we use a bucket system which is in some cases 50 or 100 feet below the helicopter. we have put it down below the trees to a water source. quite recently we had to put it into the sea, which is very entertaining in a big swell. then lift it out, the helicopter is at full power to lift it out. then you've actually got to try and place it exactly where the fire guys want it, subject to the wind, the heat, where the fire is, and you've got to try and run in and hit the fire with 1,000 litres of water or more, depending on the size of the helicopter. we just saw the pictures of the water going down at the ground, it is not a small

amount, but in terms of what is required every time? when we were doing the saddleworth moor fires three or four years ago, we were putting 900 litres of water on a fire every two and a half to three minutes. multiply that by ten or 11 hours of flying per day, it is absolutely exhausting. the mental concentration, because as i say, that helicopter because as i say, the helicopter is doing the maximum it can possibly do, and you're trying to avoid dropping water on some of the firefighters who are really, really close to the fire, because you're trying to support them as well. there are very few pilots in the country trained to do the work you do, you are one of ten or so, what made you want to do it? i have never been asked

that question before! principally, it was because we had a massive fire on dartmoor which got within 400 metres of my house, and i was a helicopter pilot then, thinking, it was probably 15 years ago now, and there was almost no resource in the united kingdom to deal with helicopter fires. friends of mine have been doing it in the states for years, so that's what kicked it off. we need to think about this more in the united kingdom, because it is a very ad hoc system of calling out a helicopter. it can be really effective if the rest of the fire brigades and everything else are communicating with us for the resources and water and anything else. that's how i got into it, because my house nearly went up. nearly 50,000 people are diagnosed with lung cancer in the uk every year, and survival rates are low, with around 16% of patients living for five years after diagnosis. early detetction can make a difference and now there's new hope from a clinical trial

at the royal papworth hospital in cambridge, where they're using a simple test to find new cases sooner. kate bradbrook reports. what is in this solution could be life—changing, even life—saving. a liquid substance which is hoped can help detect lung cancer at an early stage. here at royal papworth hospital, it is being trialled for the first time in the world. and one of the first patients on the trial, 70—year—old wendy tait. patients on the trial, my mother died of lung cancer, my father died of lung cancer, my grandmother died of lung cancer and, actually i was quite a heavy smoker for quite a long time. it's what people did, and ijust had a feeling that, what with my family history, that i could develop lung cancer, which i have.

wendy's cancer is early stage, it was only discovered by chance when she had a ct scan ahead of back surgery. now she wants to help others. first, the liquid is given via a drip and then it is a 15—minute wait followed by a series of breath tests. we're taking a simple substance which we call a probe and this probe has a special type of alcohol in it. we know from our previous research that if you have a lung cancer, the probe goes around the body and the lung cancer processes the probe and releases the alcohol onto the breath. if you have lung cancer we should be able to detect the probe and if you have not got lung cancer we should not see any alcohol on the breath. at the moment, these tests involve coming into hospital and being put on a drip. it is a fairly lengthy process. the hope is that in the future if these trials

are successful the test could be simplified and done at a gp practice or even at home. these early detection approaches, whether it is a breath test like we're trying to develop or a blood test, yes, if they work and we can roll them out into everyday immunity —— clinical practice, it will save lives, absolutely. we want to push up lung cancer survival. it is welcome news for wendy who is having surgery tomorrow to remove her tumours. she hopes this research may give others in the future that same chance. kate bradbrook reporting. now it's time for a look at the weather with sarah. hello. it's another hot sunny day for many of us today, but we have got some thunderstorms developing in the north and the west. still an amber extreme heat warning in force across much of england and wales. there could be problems with heat—related illnesses and travel disruption as well. so, still a little bit of low cloud lingering for eastern scotland that should clear away.

heavy showers and thunderstorms for northern ireland and for the west