this is bbc news. our top stories: a dire warning about the near—critical situation in ukraine's zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, under russian control as locals train for a crisis that some fear could be more serious than the chernobyl disaster. translation: it is impossible to ensure the safety _ of the powerplant while the russian occupying forces are there. this is the key concern that we all need to clearly understand. a powerful blast rocks a kabul mosque at evening prayers. reports suggest there are multiple casualties. we'll have the latest from the afghan capital. the latest trial of the singer r kelly opens at a federal court in chicago. he's facing accusations of sexually abusing underage

girls in the 1990s. rolling out the rocket that could pave the way for astronauts to return to the moon. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. officials in ukraine are warning that the situation at the russian—occupied zaporizhzhia nuclear power station is approaching critical. emergency workers have been staging drills and practising cleaning operations in the event of radioactive contamination. russia took control of the nuclear plant — the biggest in europe — in early march, and there's recently been heavy shelling at and around the site, with both sides blaming the other for the attacks.

our correspondent james waterhouse reports from zaporizhzhia city. ukraine's vast, rich landscape, full of produce, industry, but still under threat. we are being taken to see preparations for a worst—case scenario. if you want to get anywhere quickly these days, this is how you do it. we are travelling very low to stay out of range of russian missiles and aircraft. you get a real sense ofjust how vast this country is. in zaporizhzhia, they are training for a crisis which some fear could be more serious than the chernobyl nuclear disaster, the worst ever. the region's power plant further south has been under russian control since early march and officials say the situation is approaching critical.

it's changed dramatically, and of course we are concerned. that's why we are here, that's why we created this group, that's why we are involved in everyday communication with this. translation: it's impossible to ensure the safety _ of the nuclear power plant while the russian occupying forces are there. this is the key concern that we all need to clearly understand. there are growing concerns that russia has been using it as a military base. the city of enerhodar where the plant is has seen recent heavy shelling, both ukraine and russia blame each other. elena has just escaped from there with her children and just wanted to get out. translation: there has been many more explosions - and it became much more dangerous to stay there. i didn't want to leave home, but when it became unbearable i had no other choice. the nato alliance is the latest voice to call for international inspectors to be let into the plant. with ukraine unable to force

the russians out, it's instead preparing for the worst, if it happens. james waterhouse, bbc news, in zaporizhzhia. a huge explosion has ripped through a mosque in the centre of the afghan capital, kabul. the blast is thought to have occurred during evening prayers, killing at least three people, and injuring dozens more. it's not yet clear who was responsible for the attack, which comes just a week after the death of a prominent taliban cleric in a suicide bombing. our chief international correspondent lyse doucet is in kabul, and sent us this update. what we know is that there is a powerful bomb ripped through a fairly crowded mosque after night fell in at evening prayer at times when the mosque will be crowded. and this mosque was notjust

full of adults but many children attending evening prayers. a religious student said he was just outside the mosque when the explosion happened and saw many dead and injured bodies sprawled inside the mosque. and what we know from the main hospital here, emergency run by an italian ngo, which is often the hospital which treats the victims of violence, it has received dozens of casualties, including several children. i'm not going to be specific on that because we expect those figures, tragically, to get ever higher as the hours go by. it is just two days since the taliban celebrated. we saw and heard the celebrations here in the capital of kabul, celebrating what they call their independence day, crowing about their defeat of the us military as well as other powerful nato armies. saying they had finally brought peace and security to this land. but with every day for afghans,

while they do occasionally savour these moments of calm, moments where where they can drive on roads which previously were impossible because of taliban attacks, because of the us—led military campaign, they're now asking, and legitimately so, whether what happened on september 15, 2021 was simply the end of another chapter of war and it ushered in yet another. we do not know for sure whether it was islamic state, but it follows the pattern of their killing. their signature used to be devastating attacks against the shia community, but in the past few months, they appear to have targeted three prominent religious figures in one month alone. the us congresswoman liz cheney has condemned her own republican party for embracing what she called donald trump's cult

of personality. ms cheney, a leading critic of the former president, was speaking a day after her emphatic defeat in a primary election in the state of wyoming. she was beaten by a candidate hand—picked by mrtrump, and asked if she might run for the presidency in 2024, this is what she had to say. that is a decision i am going to make in the coming months, and i am not going to make any announcement this morning, but it is something that i am thinking about and then i will make a announcement in the coming months. there have been further developments in one of the investigations into attempts to overturn the result of the us 2020 presidental election. donald trump's former lawyer rudy giuliani has appeared before a special grandjury in georgia. state prosecutors have told him he's a target of their inquiry, meaning that he could be subject to charges. lawyers for the former new york city mayor had said he'd refuse to answer any questions that violated attorney—client privilege.

tara setmayer is a senior adviser at the lincoln project, and she told me rudy giuliani's legal difficulties appear to be mounting. well, it appears that rudy giuliani is inconsiderable legal jeopardy, not only in this case in georgia but he is also facing legaljeopardy in other cases in new york, so there are multiple factors going in to rudy giuliani's potential illegal exposure here, but in georgia specifically this idea that attorney—client privilege applies to his testimony is a weak argument. attorney—client privilege only applies to advice and discussion with your client about legal advice, but there is also exceptions to that — if it is involved in an ongoing crime, it does not apply. and rudy giuliani made plenty of statements publicly that were not attorney—client privilege, not covered under that. public statements

are not covered. so, he can try and use the attorney—client privilege argument. he may even try and litigate that before another judge, but it is not going to hold legal water. he spent six hours today giving testimony to the grand jury. so, he is clearly not pleading the fifth. he clearly has something to say about all of this. not necessarily. you can plead the fifth with each individual question. it is notjust the blanket i plead the fifth and then he leaves. the prosecutors have wide latitude in their ability to ask him every single question that they had prepared to ask him, and he would have to plead the fifth to each and every question. that can take several hours. so, it is actually not abnormal for that length of time, even though he may have been pleading the fifth. i would highly doubt that he was talking about anything outside of his name, the date, acknowledging that he was there, and then pleading the fifth

to everything else. it would be legal malpractice to do anything otherwise because he is the target of a criminal investigation. and all this, of course, potentially, raises the legal pressure on donald trump as well, doesn't it, on top of the usjustice department investigation and the new york state investigation? it certainly seems like the circles around donald trump in its orbit are closing in on him. he is obviously the big fish that everyone is looking to, almost at the mob boss in the case here. but it is difficult to get to him, as we have seen, but there are a lot of layers to get there but we also see that there are multiple cases. there are a lot of legal tentacles that are out there right now, where donald trump is at the centre of it. whether it is the grand jury conveyed in washington, dc in a separate cases concerning the fake collectors, concerning january 6, all this case here in georgia,

the pressure on donald trump is mounting and i suspect that we will be having more conversations about this as time goes on and the investigations continue. in spain, firefighters are continuing to battle wildfires that have led to the evacuation of thousands of residents. in one instance, a train service running between valencia and zaragoza, was almost engulfed by flames. gareth barlow reports. firefighters shouting. as flames reap through the land, firefighters shouting, "run, run" scrambling for their lives. the might of mother nature here in spain, combined with the impact of climate change, presenting a terrifying threat to communities facing the flames. as the fire spread north—west of valencia, ten passengers were hurt, three seriously, when they tried to escape a train caught up in a sweeping fire. this thermal image showing flames encroaching on the tracks.

translation: when they came out of the tunnel, _ they found the fire was coming in front of them, so the driver stopped the train. the injured were in bad condition. the passengers were scared. we gave them water and did everything we could for them. more than 2000 people have been evacuated from the region. firefighters fear as much as 6000 hectares of land has been ravaged by the fire. another blaze, also near valencia, started by lightning late on saturday has devastated an area twice as large. in neighbouring portugal, an aerial operation brought a close a fire that has burnt for over a week. more than 25,000 hectares left smouldering, a reminder of the power of the flames. while this fire may be out, the summer fire season still has several months to go. gareth barlow, bbc news. germany has also seen searing

temperatures in the last few weeks, which has drained the water levels of the rhine. it means fewer boats can now navigate germany's biggest river, and that's pushing freight costs through the roof. wendy urquhart reports. the rhine stretches from the swiss alps to the north sea and it is a major freight route, with hundreds of tonnes of goods being shipped down the river every day, but the lack of rain this summer means that water levels have plunged to depths not seen since the drought of 2018, making it extremely hazardous for captains to navigate the river, without damaging the boats, and many have already got stuck on the riverbed. shipping companies have reduced their loads by up to 70% to make sure they can reach their destination, but they've also had to contend with a hike in freight charges, from 20 euros a tonne to 110 euros a tonne,

sincejune. germany was planning to use coal this winter as a substitute for the lack of russian gas supplies. and it's being shipped down the rhine to the local coal plants. translation: before the war, one in ten barges were carrying coal. now, it's one and five, so there has been a big jump in coal transport. the problem is the longer the drought lasts, the more likely it is that there will be a severe shortage of coal in the winter months, because right now, the boats just cannot carry enough to meet demand. wendy urquhart, bbc news. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come: we will tell you about nasa's latest rocket that could paved

the way for astronauts to go to the way for astronauts to go to the moon. washington, the world's most political city, is today assessing the political health of the world's most powerful man. indeed i did have a relationship with ms lewinsky that was not appropriate. in fact, it was wrong. in south africa, 97 people have been killed today, in one of the worst days of violence between rival black groups. over the last 10 days, 500 have died. crowd chant: czechoslovakia must be free! _ man: czechoslovakia must be free! - crowd chant: czechoslovakia must be free! _ russia is observing a national day of mourning for the 118 submariners who died on board the kursk. we are all with them now, within our hearts. the pope has celebrated mass before a congregation of more than 2.5 million people in his hometown of krakow. "stay with us, stay with us," - chanted this ocean of humanity. "well, well," joked the pope. "so, you want mej to desert rome?"

this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: a dire warning about the near—critical situation in ukraine's zaporizhzhia nuclear plant — now under russian control — as nearby residents train for a crisis that some fear could be more serious than the chernobyl disaster. a powerful blast has rocked a kabul mosque during evening prayers — there are reports of multiple casualties. the latest trial of the singer r kelly has opened at a federal court in chicago. the 55—year—old is accused of sexually abusing five underage girls in the late 1990s as well as bribing and threatening witnesses during a 2008 case which saw him acquitted. r kelly — who's already serving

30 years in prison for a string of other offences — denies wrongdoing. earlier i spoke with jon seidel, who is federal courts reporterfor the chicago sun—times, about the similarities between this case and the 2008 child pornography case of which he was acquitted. it looks a lot like the 2008 trial all over again but of course the double jeopardy protection doesn't exactly apply if you cheat your way to an acquittal in your previous trial, which is exactly what federal prosecutors are saying r kelly did, that specifically there was a central victim in that case who did not take the stand, jurors at the time said that's why they acquitted him. now we are hearing that kelly intimidated her and herfamily, took them out of the country, hid her in hotels, kept away from everybody and made sure that she denied the sexual

abuse allegations that were swirling at the time. so that was all part of an obstruction ofjustice conspiracy that he has now charged with, and that victim who did not testify in 2008 is expected to take the stand this time. and in 2008, r kelly's lawyers argued amongst other things that the girl who was captured on video with him, didn't involve r kelly, and indeed that was their defence that time. what is their defence going to be this time around, do you think? we got a little bit of preview of that during opening statements today. r kelly's attorney spent a lot of time actually just attacking the credibility of all of these witnesses, when it comes to the central victim from the 2008 case, she said that there was actually a long—running relationship between mr kelly and her whole family. she openly questioned why now

is this person turning on to kelly in testifying against him. she said that person will have to explain that to the jurors herself and then she spent a lot of time accusing other witnesses of extorting r kelly, being criminals themselves, so this time around it seems largely the defence is all aboutjust giving up the government's witnesses. r kelly is appealing his 30 year sentence imposed on the new york case but one or two convictions in this trail could add, what, decades to the time he spends in prison? certainly, yeah it could. i believe there are certain counts that if he is convicted on all of them, a mandatory minimum about 55 years in prison. it could be possible that could be applied and he could serve that at the same

time as the 30—year sentence but that still adds like another 25 years to his sentence and he is already looking at time in prison until his late 70s. the us space agency, nasa, is preparing to launch a new rocket to the moon. our science editor, rebecca morelle, has the story. inch by inch, slowly and carefully, nasa's new rocket embarks on the first stage of what's going to be a long journey. it's heading towards the launch pad at cape canaveral, in florida, and getting into position, ready for its maiden flight to the moon, the start of the artemis mission. the rocket is carrying a capsule, which will go into lunar orbit, circling the moon, before it returns to earth. it's a test flight, so there won't be any people inside, but if this works, the next step is to get astronauts on board.

jessica meir has already been into space. now she's part of the artemis team and could be selected for a future trip, because nasa's ultimate aim is to see the first woman and first person of colour walk on the lunar surface. i think it's still difficult for me to believe that it might be reality, thinking that i could possibly be one of these people to be walking on the moon, to be in orbit around the moon, to be looking back at the earth from that incredible distance. boy, is this fun! charlie duke is one of only 12 astronauts who have experienced this for themselves, during the apollo missions. you were looking out the window a lot, " look at that rock over there." it is 50 years since he set foot on the moon and he didn't think it would take so long to go back. this test flight will pave the way for a landing scheduled in 2025. he's upbeat about its chances of success. i'm excited about artemis and as we build up the capability, they have picked the south

pole, near the south pole, for the landing, because that's probably — if there's any ice on the moon it will be down in that region. so, that's going to be difficult because, it's really rough down there, but we'll pull it off. nasa's rocket is aiming for lunar lift off in less than two weeks, but this is just the beginning. rebecca morelle, bbc news. the monty python star — and director — terry gilliam, has told the bbc that "theatres have got to be braver", in his first broadcast interview since london's old vic cancelled his production of �*into the woods' last year. it comes after some old vic theatre staff were said to be unhappy, about the director's remarks about trans rights and the metoo movement.

the musical has since been picked up by the theatre royal in bath. our culture editor, katie razzall has been speaking to terry gilliam and the show�*s co—director, leah hausman. the show goes on at bath's theatre royal. # into the woods to grandmother's house, # into the woods to grandmother's house...# a production axed by the old vic reportedly because some of the london theatre staff were upset by comments director terry gilliam had previously made about the metoo movement, race, and trans rights. i think theatres have got to be braver. i think the whole artistic community has to be brave. that's what art is about, it's pushing the limits. and when you start censoring, closing down, making a safe little world to go to the theatre is boring, folks. and it's death to a healthy civilisation. cinderella had planted a branch at the grave of her mother. into the woods feels like

a good fit for the intensely imaginative former python. # why, then, am i left behind? # mother, is there something more that i should do?# gilliam and his fellow director are promising surprises in their production of stephen sondheim's classic musical, which subverts some of our best—known fairy tales. # silver and gold throw down on me.# so on one level, you get the stories of cinderella, jack and the beanstalk, you get rapunzel and her tower, you get the princes, you get all sorts of wonderful, delightful things, but then you get the flip side of the story, which is the genius of sondheim. you get what happens after the happy ending. what do you think he would have made of your production? i think he would like it. he's very ironic, sardonic, he's asking for trouble half the time. takes one to know one. this octogenarian stands by the comments he made that apparently offended some old vic staff, though he points out

he is often making jokes. the last straw was when he encouraged his facebook followers to watch a show by dave chappell. i followers to watch a show by dave chappell.— dave chappell. i am worried that peeple _ dave chappell. i am worried that people are _ dave chappell. i am worried that people are frightened l dave chappell. i am worried| that people are frightened to think freely and express their thoughts. trans people say they don't have a voice. i'm wishing them good luck, good luck, be whatever you want, but remember to learn to take a joke. i'm not attacking anybody. the controversy around this production is yet another example of the debate raging about where the lines are drawn when it comes to free speech. for terry gilliam, art is about pushing boundaries, but too far for the old vic, which says it wishes the show well for its future. katie razzall, bbc news, bath. you can get more of that story and all the latest news and features on our web site. i am

david willis and this is bbc thank you forjoining us. hello there. over the past couple of days we have seen some torrential downpours across parts of england and wales. localised flooding in places. but those heavy thundery showers have now eased away, and it looks like, over the next few days, we will see a little bit of rain at times, mainly in the north and west, with increasing amounts of sunshine, particularly in the south and the east. low pressure pushing in off the atlantic will bring more of a breeze during thursday, and this weather front will bring a band of cloud and rain, which will slowly spread from west to east across the country. so, initially we start off with quite a bit of cloud around. one or two heavy showers in the south—east there, but increasing amounts of sunshine for central, southern and eastern areas into the afternoon. this weather front will bring patchy rain across scotland, northern ireland and then into western parts of england and wales.

behind it, some heavy showers for scotland, and northern ireland, into the afternoon. further south and east, it'll tend to stay drier, with temperatures reaching 25 degrees, the high teens further north and west, and it will be quite breezy, too. that weather front continues to cross england and wales during thursday night. a bit of a hang back for east anglia and the south—east. elsewhere, clearer skies, the odd shower. temperatures a little bit cooler in the north and the west, but quite warm and quite mild in the south and the east. that weather front eventually clears away from the south—east on friday. we've got low pressure to the north of the uk, fairly brisk westerly winds, and it's going to be one of sunshine and blustery showers. so we lose that cloud and rain in the south—east on friday morning. plenty of sunshine in central, southern and eastern england, but scotland, northern ireland, perhaps north—west england, west wales, will see a mixture of sunny spells, scattered blustery showers, the odd heavy one at times. temperatures will range from around the high teens, up to 20 degrees in the north, 20—25 celsius further south and east. temperatures around the seasonal norm. on saturday, low pressure sits to the north of the uk, so it's northern and western areas which will see most of the showers. some of them could be quite heavy.

some sunshine in between. a greater chance of staying dry across southern and eastern england. again, highs 25 degrees, mid—to—high teens further north. as you move out of saturday, into sunday, that area of low pressure clears away, but we look to the west to another one, pushing in across the uk. it'll arrive later in the day, so, actually, much of the country will have a dry sunday before it turns more wetter and windier. initially across western areas, then gradually spreading into eastern areas during sunday night and into monday.

this is bbc news. the headlines: officials in ukraine are warning that the situation at the russian—occupied zaporizhzhia nuclear power station is approaching critical. emergency workers have been practising cleaning operations in the event of radioactive contamination. russia took control of the nuclear plant — the biggest in europe — in early march, and there's recently been heavy shelling there. a huge explosion has ripped through a mosque in the centre of the afghan capital, kabul, killing at least three people. it's thought to have happened during evening prayers. us republican liz cheney is bouncing back from her

primary defeat, saying she's thinking about running for president.