this is bbc news with the latest headlines. a group of charities and community organisations has called the rises in energy bills a "national emergency" as labour is to call for the energy price cap to be frozen in october. but the energy minister say their plan won't work. i think we have to be a little bit careful in some of these — labour's seemingly magical solution to just wish it all away, that will have consequences. the author sir salman rushdie has been taken off a ventilator and his agent says his road to recovery has begun and his condition is heading "in the right direction" after being stabbed at an event in new york state. egyptian health officials say at least 41 people have died and a0 are injured in

a fire at a coptic church in north—west cairo. a powerful explosion has rocked a shopping centre and caused a fire in armenia's capital, yerevan, leading one dead and 20 injuried. prosecutions for breaching covid restrictions have been dropped for six people who attended a vigil in london for sarah everard last year. warnings in the uk over the use of disposable barbecues after a weekend of wildfires in parts of england. 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 minster urging them to show "compassion

and leadership" in dealing with the cost of living crisis. tomorrow labour is expected to call on the government to freeze the energy price cap this autumn, to help people deal with the rising cost of living. 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. throughout history, it 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 to 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. a source 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 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 rise 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 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 treasury is collating 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. 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 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. earlier, conservative mp michelle donelan gave me her reaction to labour's plans.

the government has been helping throughout this process, including with the council tax rebate — £400 that is promised later this year and the household support fund. you are absolutely right to point out the cost—of—living crisis and the globalfight against inflation is extremely worrying to people and that is what i am hearing from my own constituents. we now have two candidates with very different views on how to tackle that. one of them will become prime minister in two weeks�* time. i am backing liz truss, who fundamentally believes in letting people keep more of their money from the off, be reducing taxation and will start her premiership with an emergency budget to see what more we can do. she gets the gravity of the issue and will act swiftly to help people. acting swiftly to help people specifically with energy bills? rishi sunak is promising 10 billion in extra support.

will she match that, or do better than that? what she's said very consistently throughout, she will get rid of the national insurance levy, so helping people have more of their own money from the very beginning. she would have a moratorium on the green levies on energy, which will reduce energy bills, and she will also drive more investment into north sea oil. she will also be trying to develop our own energy mix here in the uk... those measures are not going to immediately help people who are facing in the winter £3,300 energy price rise — maybe £4,200. this is hundreds of percentjumps in energy prices that people simply cannot afford now. what is she going to do about that? that simply is not true to say it won't help in the immediate term. she has said she would get rid of the national insurance levy from the very beginning, she's also said she would suspend the green levy on energy

from the very beginning, and she would introduce an emergency budget, something rishi is not promising, where she would look at the whole thing and see what more we can do to help peopel. why can't she tell us now what she can do? she does not have access to the books. she is not able to go through the details and work with the civil service on a comprehensive package. that is one reason i am backing her, she is honest, upfront, straightforward, and a no—nonsense person people can have baiting in terms of delivery. she will not promise things without being in a position to launch the emergency budget. she has said she is the individual to cut taxation. we cannot cut our way to growth. she wants people to keep more money from the very beginning. what about taxing the energy companies? a windfall tax for

example on bp? their profits have been extraordinary, their biggest for 14 years. they come from desperate people, from people honest barely affording to pay energy bills. liz has been very clear we need to get away from their tax—and—spend policy which is forcing our country to be head—on towards recession, something nobody wants. we need to change course. she is the only one promising to break through the barriers and challenge the current economic orthodoxy. specifically on the energy companies... they are making money from the soaring cost of energy globally, aren't they? bp, the biggest profits for 14 years. £7 billion between april and june. that is different from ordinary profits from ordinary companies. liz has been very clear that she does not think taxation is the panacea and cure—all. we need to have growth and investment and profit should not be seen as a dirty word. we need to help people throughout

the process and saying a windfall tax is the answer to everything, i think it is not responsible. 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. this afternoon, his agent has said that his road to recovery has begun and that his condition is heading in the right direction. nomia iqbal is at the hospital in erie, pennsylvania where the satanic verses author is being treated and gave us this update in the last few minutes. ina in a statement given to us, salman rushdie�*s agent said the following, he is off the ventilator, so the road to recovery has begun, it would

be long, the injuries are severe but his condition is headed in the right direction. just a reminder of those injuries. salman rushdie is likely to lose and i felt add the man of his arms are severed and his liver has been badly damaged. in terms of the suspect met the man accused of attempting to murder and assault him, american citizen, he has already appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to all the charges. there has been lots of speculations and reports about his extremist views. it is important to say no definitive motive has yet been established. egyptian health officials say at least 41 people have died and a0 are injured in a fire at a coptic church in north—west cairo. several children are believed to be among the dead. the blaze in the abi—seyfen church in the capital's working—class district of imbaba is reported to have been caused by an electrical fault in an air conditioner.

president abdel fattah al—sisi has said that all state services have been mobilised to help, and the fire is now reported to be under control. a powerful explosion has rocked a shopping centre and caused a fire in armenia's capital, yerevan. the armenian emergencies ministry says one person has died and 20 people have been injured in the blast. local media report that the explosion occurred at a fireworks warehouse. video of the incident showed large clouds of black smoke in the sky and people running away as a building collapsed. the area has been sealed off and teams of rescuers are at the scene. 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.

firefighters say a huge fire which tore through a popular nature reserve at studland heath in dorset and forced the evacuation of a beach was most likely caused by a disposable barbecue. the hot weather and drought conditions have led the met office to issue its highest alert forfire severity over the weekend, warning there is an "exceptional" risk of blazes spreading. will batchelor reports. the true cost of a disposable barbecue. firefighters say this huge blaze which tore across studland heath in dorset was almost certainly caused by picnickers trying to cook food on the tinder dry beauty spot. after battling the flames all night, they found a disposable barbecue among the ashes. we really are appealing to members of the public to consider what you're doing. if it is going to potentially start a fire, try to avoid it if you possibly can.

we have had a significant number of fires over the summer that have this field fire was one of 75 in essex. it covered 91 acres, and containing it required the help of local farmers. if you were downwind you wouldn't have kept up with it running. luckily, the wind direction was away from the houses, and so it wasjust a question of stopping it spreading back towards the houses again, but when the wind changed direction, suddenly it would move towards you and, yes, it is frightening. in north london, this grassfire billowed smoke across the busy m25 motorway. in surrey, a different problem. near guildford, residents queued up for bottled water after their taps ran dry. thames water said there were technical issues at one of its treatment works, and that fixing it was taking longer than they'd hoped. and it isn'tjust humans who need hydration. 0ne farmer in suffolk has been filling 70 water troughs each day

to make sure the wildlife have enough to drink. an amber heat alert is still in place today and the drought in parts of england could potentially last into next year. let's hear more about the situation in cranleigh then, where some woke up this morning with low or no water supplies for the second day. a statement from thames water says netley mill water treatment works is now back in service and supply is gradually being restored to the local network. this will continue over the remainder of the day. it's continuing to supply bottled water to those who need it. we had water at 11 o'clock last night, after we were in bed, and so we thought it was all back on. this morning, we got up and it was just a trickle, but then that trickle has gone to nothing again. so... how are you coping with that? it's difficult, actually, you don't realise what it affects,

cleaning your teeth, flushing the toilet, washing your hands. that's the worst thing, you go to the toilet and you think, "i've got no water to wash my hands in." so, personally, i have a daughter who is autistic so it is quite stressful for her. and you know, we try and manage it a lot by keeping her busy. but you know, i wouldn't say it's... the problem is not the lack of water, the problem is the lack of transparency of what's happening with the problems that they have, and the timelines that they give you, it's the lack of information. i think we would like to be kept up to speed with what's happening, because nobody knew about this. i mean, i only knew that it was going on because the water pressure was down, and i came to go to the shops and saw all this water here. but there was... eventually, we had, i had a phone call yesterday to say, because the lady is in her 90s, that they were going to deliver water.

they delivered some finally last night. a teenage boy has died after going into the sea in skegness. emergency services were alerted to reports of a child in the water at around 6pm yesterday. after police and coastguard searches, the boy's body was found at ii.30pm. more than 20,000 people have been detected crossing the english channel in small boats so far this year, uk government figures show. that compares to a figure of around 28,000 throughout the whole of 2021. despite the growing numbers, the uk arrivals in small boats are a fraction of the number of people going to europe. prosecutions for breaching covid restrictions have been dropped against six people who attended a vigil in london for sarah everard in march 2021. they had been due to stand trial in november this year and if convicted faced being fined hundreds of pounds. 0ur correspondent angus crawford has been

following this story. 3rd of march last year, sarah everard was kidnapped and murdered by a serving met police firearms officer. ten days after she disappeared, a group called reclaim these streets said they wanted to hold a vigil in her honour in clapham common. but the police at that time said, "you can't, we'll give you a £10,000 fine if you do." so, they called it off, but lots of people spontaneously simply went down there. you will probably remember the images, very emotive, lots of people there, some protesting about how the police were treating them, police then went in and arrested a number, trampled flowers, it was highly controversial. what happened was, six people who were arrested were going to be charged with covid breaches. then, we were still in, if you remember back then, tier 4 lockdown regulations, and they were charged with breaching those, and they were going to go to trial in november this year. but today, surprise announcement from the cps, that's not happening.

any reaction to that surprise announcement? well, the cps said that it simply couldn't take these cases to court because it didn't meet their legal test for prosecution. now, the met, who had been under an enormous amount of scrutiny over this, a lot of controversy about it, have said that they had a really difficult balance to strike between safeguarding the public and the rights of the individuals, but they said very clearly that the decision not to continue with the prosecution was in their words entirely a matter for the cps. sport now, and it's time for a full round—up. your boys are in action today. your lot tomorrow. dropping points again. good afternoon. there are two matches in the premier league today, they are into the second half at the city ground, newly—promoted nottingham forest playing at home in the top division for the first time in 23 years and they are

beating west ham 1—0, there's one other premier league match today, a london derby at stamford bridge. tottenham 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 semifinal without scoring a goal. chelsea is one of the best teams in england, in europe. two years ago they won the champions league. last season they won the world cup as a club. i was there, i season they won the world cup as a club. iwas there, i know. i know which club we are talking of, the

investment they go to do every season. identically that everything antonio conte _ identically that everything antonio conte says before and after games. i admire _ conte says before and after games. i admire him _ conte says before and after games. i admire him a lot and believe strongly— admire him a lot and believe strongly that everything he says, competes for everything, no matter what the _ competes for everything, no matter what the club. they took advantage of the _ what the club. they took advantage of the situation and had a very aggressive transfer period to strengthen their squad in quality and depth stop that is why it is one of the _ and depth stop that is why it is one of the toughest opponents. that is always— of the toughest opponents. that is always the — of the toughest opponents. that is always the case with his teams. celtic needed a four—goal win to return to the top of the scottish premiership, they beat kilmarnock 5—0 at rugby park. three goals in the first half, including this long—range effort byjota gave ange postecoglou's side a comfortable lead at the break. and celtic added two more in the second, giorgios giakoumakis' bicycle kick sending the defending champions ahead of rangers on goal

difference at the top. both are nine points. 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 time we race a double together was nine months ago. it was a rough year last year. we have both been doing lots of stuff individually this year to try to improve. i feel like that has been a proof about really, coming back fighting and showing 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 visual impairment. the british team finished almost 20 seconds clear of france. the northern superchargers have won their first game in the women's hundred this year with victory over london spirit. bess heath hit a superb 57 from just 3a balls in headingley as the superchargers reached 127 for four from their innings. london spirit fell five runs short in their chase as they suffered a second successive defeat. it's a double header at headingley, these are live pictures with the men's teams are now in action. the northern superchargers won the toss and are batting first. faf du plessis is doing very well. he has just got a half century. they

have got going with faf du plessis. you can keep on top of that on the bbc sport head site —— website. there's also a double header at the oval. the 0val invincibles taking on southern brave. forrester down to ten men, no, they are not. he stayed on. they have given away a penalty to west ham for a handball. declan rice is stepping up a handball. declan rice is stepping up to take it. if you want to stay with you you can weep and follow it on the bbc sport website. live commentary. declan wright is about to take a penalty against nottingham forest and it has been saved. nottingham forest maintained their 1-0 nottingham forest maintained their 1—0 lead, the first match in the premier league for 20 years. dean henderson has saved a penalty. you could be a commentator! no, i couldn't. i could be a very bad one.

you could be a bad commentator. any predictions for the chelsea — spurs game? yes. spurs don't do very well there. you have got to be confident. thank you very much indeed. a new timetable has come into force on the west coast mainline 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. president zelensky says any russian soldier who fires at the zaporyzhzhia nuclear plant or uses it as a base to shoot from will 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 l who either strikes or shoots from | the nuclear site or its territory

must realise that they will become a special target for our intelligence special services and for our army. almost six months ago, thousands of ukrainian civilians joined the military to fight invading russian forces.among those who signed up were members of one of ukraine's top rock bands, antytila. they became army medics in kharkiv, helping to treat wounded soldiers. the bbcjoined them as they headed to the front line. it is russian mortarfire. come on, come on, come on. yeah. here. we're here, it's ok. come on. listen. i'm 0k. i'm taras topolya, the frontman of antytila, a popular band in ukraine. now me, with my friends, serving in territorial defence forces. we are a paramedical team —

paramedical squad. singing we've been playing for more than 12 years. we released seven albums. so we had a lot of big ukrainian tours, and we had three american and canadian tours. here, it is a front line. this is our position. this yard was destroyed by russian mortar fire. it's far away. you know, blood smells disgusting for me. and also, when this smell compares with the smell of the shelling,

with smell of the explosion, it's the most disgusting smell of my life. after doing my duties, i call my wife and my kids. i have no tears any more. i'm tired to cry. ijust can't wake up, like a dream. i'm in a dream. and i want to wake up. wake up in my home. i don't want to lie that sometimes the sadness defeats me.

i want to create a new album, new antytila album after the war. we will need a new kind of songs. songs of happiness. with a smile on our face. if we will survive, we will do this, of course. and you can watch the documentary, frontline frontmen, on the bbc iplayer now. a—level grades in england, wales and northern ireland are expected to fall when results are announced this week but teenagers applying to university are being reassured most will get their first choice. the bbc has seen a letter being sent out to students from exams regulator, 0fqual, and the university

admissions service, ucas, saying the marks should not be compared with those from 2021, when exams were cancelled because of the pandemic and teacher assessment led to a boom in top grades. today is the last of four days of intense heat which has lead 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 stortages 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.