this is bbc news. the headlines at five... a group of charities and community organisations have called the rises in energy bills a national emergency as labour for the energy price cap to be frozen in october. the energy minister says their plan won't work. i think we have to be a little bit careful on some of these — labour's seemingly magical solution to just wish it all away, that will have consequences. the son of author sir salman rushdie says his injuries are life—changing but that his feisty and defiant sense of humour remains intact after he was stabbed at an event in new york state. egyptian health officials say at least 41 people have died and a0 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, leaving 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. 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 £1,200 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 £1,200 a year for electricity and gas. this 0ctober, it will be closer to £2,000. forecasts now suggest the figure could go up to £3,500 later this year and to more than 4,000 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 away. 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. let's talk to our political correspondent, nick eardley. a new promise from the labour party on energy, on help with people's energy bills. the on energy, on help with people's energy bills-— energy bills. the issue of rising ener: energy bills. the issue of rising energy prices — energy bills. the issue of rising energy prices will _ energy bills. the issue of rising energy prices will be _ energy bills. the issue of rising energy prices will be a - energy bills. the issue of risingl energy prices will be a dominant energy bills. the issue of rising - energy prices will be a dominant one in politics for the next few weeks and months, and the questions are all politicians are grappling with is what can the government actually

do to help people with the cost of living crisis? what labour is coming up living crisis? what labour is coming up with is a big offer, it will cost a lot of money, but the calculation that keir starmer is making is that it needs to happen, the risk of not freezing energy prices is so great and could be so severe on people who can't afford it that the government needs to intervene in a big way. this is a policy that i think is gaining traction. it was suggested by the liberal democrats on wednesday, the snp have said they are on site as well, so there is big pressure on the two candidates to be prime minister to look at this policy. neither of them is going this far at the moment, rishi sunak is saying, i will spend billions on targeted support, liz truss is saying tax cuts, but we have to wait to figure out when it comes to specific support on energy bills. but it does feel like this debate is

just attracting more and more ideas and increasingly people, particularly opposition parties, are saying the ideas that the two candidates have do not go far enough, and i have heard that privately from some tory mps as well, who think the leadership so far has not grasped the scale of the crisis. ., , , crisis. one of the interesting lines toda , we crisis. one of the interesting lines today. we had _ crisis. one of the interesting lines today, we had in _ crisis. one of the interesting lines today, we had in that _ crisis. one of the interesting lines today, we had in that report - crisis. one of the interesting lines today, we had in that report from| today, we had in that report from the treasury chief secretary, saying that the universal payment of £400 to help people with their energy bills, saying that is not really an authentically conservative solution to this problem and saying he finds it pretty odd that high earners are getting 400 quid of their bills. find getting 400 quid of their bills. and that raised getting 400 quid of their bills. fific that raised a getting 400 quid of their bills. fific that raised a lot getting 400 quid of their bills. e'"ic that raised a lot of getting 400 quid of their bills. el"ic that raised a lot of eyebrows because he is a very prominent supporter of liz truss. it raised that question, does she think the £400 universal payment is a bad idea? remember, there is money that

will come of people's bills over a six month period from october, there is also an extra payment which is means tested. that shows the direction of travel from liz truss, if she does come up with more interventions, they will be targeted, they would be universal, but my understanding as it is unlikely she will unpick what has already been announced, and that £400 that has already been confirmed by the treasury, it was actually announced by rishi sunak back in may, that will still happen, even under liz truss, but i would not expect to see universal payments from her again.— expect to see universal payments from her again. thank you very much indeed. 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 new york state on friday.

his son, zafar rushdie, has in the last hour described his injuries as life changing but says his usual feisty and defiant sense of humour remains intact. we have just had this picture released of the alleged attacker. earlier, the author's agent said his recovery 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 a statement given to us at the bbc, salman rushdie's agent, andrew wylie, said the following, which i will quote verbatim. "he's off the ventilator, so the road to recovery has begun. "it will be long. "the injuries are severe, but his condition is headed "in the right direction." and just a reminder of those injuries. salman rushdie is thought to likely lose an eye, the nerves in one of his arms are severed, and also his liver has been badly damaged.

now, in terms of the suspect, the man accused of attempting to murder and assault him, 24—year—old hadi matar, who is an american citizen, he's already appeared in court. he's pleaded not guilty to all the charges. and there's been lots of speculations and reports about his extremist views, but it's important to say that no definitive motive has yet been established. here's that statement from sir salman rushdie's son. "following the attack on friday, my father remains in critical condition in hospital receiving extensive ongoing medical treatment. we are extremely relieved that yesterday he was taken off the ventilator and additional oxygen and he was able to say a few words. though his life—changing injuries are severe, his usual feisty and defiant sense of humour remains intact." the government is going to delay

a railfare increase. the department for transport says it wants to reduce the impact of inflation on rail fares and will temporarily freeze fares. our business correspondent, vishala sri—pathma, says the fares usually go up injanuary. they're based on inflation figures forjuly. we will find out what the that they are expected to be around ii.9%, clearly pretty high. you think about your rail commute with prices going up that much, it is by a significant chunk. the department for transport says it is not going to go up by that much. it is not going to be ii.9%, lower than that. we are looking to help people with their cost of living really. what is the longer—term picture for rail passengers? apparently, there will be a price freeze, according to the department for transport. the price increase comes

into effect injanuary. they are kicking the can down the road and it will not happen until march. you will have certainty of prices in january and february. they are working on it. we will hear more from them about what they will do for prices. this applies to some specific routes, it is not all train prices the government sets a price for. it is usually for commuters going to london, for example. they are the ones who will be looking at the january price set. 11.5% is quite a significant chunk. even if it is down by i.9%, it's still double figures. still a hefty increase. 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. 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 late last night. 0ur reporter, jessica lane, has been giving us the latest from skegness. emergency services were called at about quarter past six last night to reports that a child, aged under 16, was in the water. the coastguard oversaw a major operation. both lifeboats from here in skegness were launched, as well as search teams from further up and down the coast. a helicopter was used, too. they searched for hours, and the boy's body was recovered at around half past 11. travelling home last night with a lorry, we could see the helicopters up and down

— the helicopter. hearing sirens. i looked on the cctv cameras and noticed the police closed the beach. i was watching the helicopters up and down till late last night. skegness is a very busy and very popular resort, especially in the summer holidays and in a heatwave. at one point yesterday, police said, in the space ofjust two hours, they had reports of ten children who had gone missing from the arcades that line the front here from the beach and from the water. they say nine of those were found safe and well — apart from the boy, who died. they say their thoughts are with the boy's family today. 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's going to potentially start a fire, try to avoid it if you possibly can. 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's 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. the headlines on bbc news... a group of charities and community organisations have called the rises in energy bills a national emergency

as labour is to call for the energy price cap to be frozen in october. the energy minister says their plan won't work. the author sir salman rushdie has been taken off a ventilator. 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 40 are injured in a fire at a coptic church in north—west cairo. sport, and for a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre, here's 0llie foster. good afternoon. newly promoted nottingham forest have their first points of the season. they beat west ham 1—0 on an emotional afternoon

at the city ground. jo currie reports. it has been 23 years since nottingham forest last played a premier league match at home. it is a long wait for these fans who soaked up the sunshine for the visit to west ham, and it was the home side who started stronger, keeping the hammers busy. until the visitors struck on the counter, tucking into the corner, but celebrations were short lived, a quick check of var showed mckell antonio in the build—up. and things were about to go from bad to worse for west ham as focused almost immediately went the other end and scored themselves. —— forest. not the club is not fine is goal, but try to tell these fans that. after the break the visitors was straight out of the blocks, henderson got himself back up the rebound. at the other end, jansen

thought he had doubled the lead until the macro said no for offside. scott mckenna gave away a penalty for handball in the box. but once again there was no way past dean henderson and eventually the hosts were able to see out the remaining minutes and claim a historic win, and that really gets their premier league return of the mark. so forest are up running, that's a second defeat for west ham, let's hearfrom the managers. i thought we deserved to win, the way we played in the first half, we were excellent, the better team, which we should do at home but still we had to do that gets a really good team, created good moments, would have liked to have created more chances but i thought if any team is going to go 1—0 up i thought it would be asked. against the run of play, you understand that can happen. but we kept going. we got a good goal. we happen. but we kept going. we got a aood coal. ~ ., ., happen. but we kept going. we got a aood coal. ~ . ., ., happen. but we kept going. we got a aood coal. ~ ., ., ., ., , good goal. we have got to realise that this is _

good goal. we have got to realise that this is what _ good goal. we have got to realise that this is what it _ good goal. we have got to realise that this is what it is. _ good goal. we have got to realise that this is what it is. you - good goal. we have got to realise that this is what it is. you have i good goal. we have got to realise that this is what it is. you have to do much — that this is what it is. you have to do much better. but it wasn't that, we had _ do much better. but it wasn't that, we had enough chances and we could have eradicated a defensive lapse by the goals— have eradicated a defensive lapse by the goals today, we hit the bar a couple _ the goals today, we hit the bar a couple of— the goals today, we hit the bar a couple of times, missed quite a few chances _ couple of times, missed quite a few chances and — couple of times, missed quite a few chances and missed a penalty as well, _ chances and missed a penalty as well, so — chances and missed a penalty as well, so that could be put aside and you might _ well, so that could be put aside and you might have forgotten about that but todey— you might have forgotten about that but today counted. the second premier league match of the day is a stamford bridge, chelsea facing tottenham — it's half—time. kalidou koulibaly with a volley inside the box inside the first 20 minutes. chelsea might have had more, spare is not at the races, but it's only 1-0 to is not at the races, but it's only 1—0 to chelsea at half—time. celtic are back on 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 have won three out of three so far this season. 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 finished ahead of france with the olympic champions, italy, claiming brozen. 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. 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

34 balls in headingley as the superchargers reached 127—4 from their innings. london spirit fell five runs short in their chase as they suffered a second successive defeat. that was a double header at headingley and london spirit men have won their match against the superchargers by seven wickets. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. and also the second half of that spurs match, which i will be doing. 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. a short time ago, liz truss's campaign spokesperson said... "these numbers show the need to ensure the rwanda policy begins and works to speed up enactment of measures in the nationality and borders act. to help take back control of our borders and stop the people smugglers." 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. 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. a delegation from the us congress arrived in taiwan today. they're visiting for two days and will meet president tsai ing—wen.

their visit comes 12 days after one by the house speaker nancy pelosi, which led to an angry reaction from the island's neighbour, china. egyptian health officials say at least 41 people have died and 40 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—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's 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's 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's 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, i you have got to give them the skills and the confidence to be with you. i 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. now it's time for a look at the weather with elizabeth. hello, good afternoon. all change weatherwise into the start of next week. it will be unsettled with thundery showers and also feeling cooler. but one more day of that extreme heat and the met office weather warning which extends all the way up to northern england and into eastern areas of wales. it is valid until midnight tonight, the heat uncomfortable for many, of course. some thunderstorms around today but wet weather out towards northern ireland and scotland, some flashes of lightning already, but, for most, the heat and sunshine continues, high cloud in the south, temperatures for some could get as high as 34—35. 0vernight tonight, still warm and uncomfortable for sleeping. some showery rain in western wales and the south—west of england, otherwise dry, temperatures dipping to the mid to high teens for many.

so a warm start again tomorrow morning. but more showers around on monday, the thunderstorms particularly across england and wales will be hit and miss, some places are staying dry. quite high rainfall totals could lead to some localised surface water flooding. hello, this is bbc news with ben brown. the headlines... a group of charities and community organisations have called the rises in energy bills a "national emergency" as labour is to call for the energy price cap to be frozen in october. the energy minister says their plan won't work. the son of author sir salman rushdie says his injuries are life—changing — but that his feisty and defiant sense of humour remains intact — after he was stabbed at an event