this is bbc news with the headlines.... former chancellor rishi sunak is set to officially enter the race to become the uk's next prime minister. he's received the backing of 100 mps — the threshold needed for the ballot. there's also growing speculation that borisjohnson will run. the leader of the commons, penny mourdant is the only person to formally announce that she's running and has fewer supporters. ukrainian officials say around 1,000,000 and a half households are without power after a new wave russian attacks. giorgia meloni has been sworn in as the head of italy's latest coalition government. she's the nation's first female prime mnister — and its first far—right leader

since the second world war. hello and welcome to bbc news. the possibility of rishi sunak and borisjohnson meeting each other today — is being talked about this evening — as the race to become the new conservative leader and prime minister gathers pace. the bbc understands they were due to meet face to face at 3:30 this afternoon but that was delayed — although my colleague laura kuenssberg says the meeting may still go ahead later. mr sunak is the first leadership contender to secure the public support of 100 tory mps — that's the number needed to enter the race. but he's yet to announce publicly whether he will bid for the top job — after losing to liz truss last month. meanwhile, borisjohnson has flown home from a caribbean holiday, as his supporters claim he now also has 100 mps backing him, although others have said this is "hogwash."

so far, penny mordaunt is the only contender to have officially launched a campaign. 0ur political correspondent damian grammaticas has more. are you running for the leadership? he was tight—lipped this morning but rishi sunak clearly has a well of support among conservative mps. more than 100 now publicly backing him. and that sets up the extraordinary possibility he could face off against the man he helped bring down. borisjohnson, flying back from a caribbean holiday for a possible political comeback. it is just over four months since mrjohnson faced a revolt by his own mps and a confidence vote. then vote in favour of no confidence in boris johnson as leader is 211 - votes and the vote against him was 148 votes. _ more than 40% of his mps had no confidence in him then. dozens then resigned from his government. some now say they want him to return. we have seen in the last few days is that some

of the mps who resigned, some of the mps who called for boris to go at the start of the summer, have now said they would like to see him put himself forward. they have admitted they were wrong and i know there are many others waiting to hear on if he makes the decision to run before they go public. thank you very much for coming! those who want him back rememberthis, boris johnson is a vote winner. many tory mps have not forgotten what followed, lockdown parties that broke the law. parliament will soon begin hearings into whether mr johnson lied about this. that is why the man he was a deputy prime minister is backing rishi sunak. i think the country needs a prime minister who is focused 100% of them and i just don't see as a practical matter that that can be boris if he is then dealing with all of those issues, and i say that as someone who would love to see boris return to front line politics. i think he can but i don't think he can until he has addressed those issues. the first candidate to declare she was running was penny mordaunt, last night, but she has far fewer

public declarations of support. i am backing penny because she is the candidate i think that cannot onlyjust bring the conservative party and parliament together but actually the whole country. she has got a proven track record working across eight departments in her 12 years in parliament. this was borisjohnson injuly, to the right, rishi sunak. later that day, rishi sunak resigned as chancellor, saying people needed competent, serious government. three days later, mrjohnson was out of office. so the choice facing tory mps may come down to two men with a bitter history or an untested alternative compromise candidate. damian grammaticas, bbc news. currently the bbc estimates that more than half of tory mps have gone public with their support. as you've heard, rishi sunak has passed the key threshold of 100 backers and is on 122, borisjohnson has 53 and penny mordaunt 23.

it's worth pointing out that these are the numbers the bbc can verify — others may have different information. that means 159 conservative mps are yet to say who they'll be voting for, with a total of 357 tory members of parliament up for grabs. earlier i spoke with conservative peer, lord marland and asked him who is his preferred candidate. i don't have one. i prefer boris not to stand because i don't think the time is right for him. and i have suggested to him accordingly. there is still the inquiry going on, but you knows what the result is going to be. i don't think there is enough distance between his past tenure and now. so i have suggested that perhaps it's a good time for him not to stand and to continue put pay in the loft as he so aptly described it.

what was his response when you dispensed that advice? well, we will wait to see. it could be two fingers the old—fashioned way, or i agree with you. let's see. it's very compelling for him, isn't it? he arrives off the holiday plane confronted by loads of people wanting to get his opinion. there's been phone ins all over the country demanding his return, wanting his return because he has a huge popular sway. and there is rumour to be 100 members of parliament wanting to support him. so it's very compelling for him and i understand that. but that is my view. earlier, we spoke to bim afolami, who is the conservative mp for hitchin and harpenden. he explained why he's supporting rishi sunak... first thing, unrelenting focus on making sure inflation comes down in interest rates come down. that is what he is focusing on.

secondly, sustainable economic growth, liz truss is not wrong to think about growing our economy, making sure that everybody owns a bit more, more opportunities for people to start businesses, get a betterjob, etc. but we have got to do that in a sustainable way. rishi sunak understands that. ina column in a column for the telegraph newspaper, lord morris says he should sit this leadership election out, he told bbc radio 4 pm. programme why. i out, he told bbc radio 4 p.m. programme why.— out, he told bbc radio 4 p.m. programme why. i think first of all, it is ridiculously _ programme why. i think first of all, it is ridiculously early _ programme why. i think first of all, it is ridiculously early to _ programme why. i think first of all, it is ridiculously early to try - programme why. i think first of all, it is ridiculously early to try to - it is ridiculously early to try to return. that creates a vast amount of division 1 return. that creates a vast amount of division1 people return. that creates a vast amount of division 1 people are looking for unity. second, ithink of division 1 people are looking for unity. second, i think boris's particular talents which are really do exist and are unique are not given to what the people are looking for now, which is a sense of market

confidence, sobriety, financial sobriety, i mean. and sort of good order in which the public finances can come under control. i don't think people perhaps fully understand how serious it is if people start to think that the government can pay its debts. we got pretty close to that. boris is a man who can transform a situation but in a sort of adventurous entrepreneurial risk—taking way, and thatis entrepreneurial risk—taking way, and that is not what is needed right now. what's needed right now is something calm, more deliberate, less tricksy. the ukrainian government says almost one and a half million households are without power , following another barrage by russian missiles on civilian energy facilities. the national electricity operator said the latest strikes could have caused more damage than the intense bombardment lasting several days earlier this month.

the new italian government has been sworn in at a ceremony in the presidential palace in rome. giorgia meloni is italy's first far—right leader since the world war two and the country's first ever female prime minister. her party — brothers of italy — won last month's elections with just over a quarter of the vote. she'll head a right—wing coalition. ms meloni has sought to reassure western allies that italy's foreign policy won't change. you are watching bbc news. we will find out how the conservative leadership race and many other strays are covered in tomorrow's's front pages this evening in the papers — our guestsjoining me tonight are author and journalist emma woolf, and martin bentham, home affairs editor at the london evening standard. meanwhile ava nti west coast is running a reduced timetable because of strike action by members of the rmt union. the dispute is about rosters. services from cities including liverpool, glasgow, and manchester are affected.

i woke up basically to find that from 7:35 when the last direct train from manchester picadilly departed, there was a six—hour gap until the next train. the experience ofjust one transpennine express customer last week. the operator's services between hull and manchester and cleethorpes have been hit by one cancellation after another. to give you a sense of the scale of the problem that people are facing here every day, we have come down to hull paragon station. the 12:06 is still running to manchester piccadilly but the next two services, just after one o'clock, and just after two o'clock, they have both been cancelled already, so if you want to catch the transpennine to manchester, you are going to have to wait until three o'clock before you can catch the next train, and people here are just getting fed up of it. i know my train has been cancelled on the way back today, which i am not happy about.

i suffer anxiety, so i can't switch from one train to the next to the next. it is appalling, really, it is the heartbeat of the nation, the m62 corridor, especially for this northern powerhouse. on tuesday, every single train to manchester from five o'clock until nine o'clock was cancelled so i don't know how people are expected to get home at this point. the company has apologised to customers. there is a range of reasons for the spike in cancellations, predominantly sustained levels of sickness, so high levels of sickness, alongside a big training programme that is ongoing for our drivers. transpennine has promised it will work towards providing a more consistent service, but customers are already losing their patience. jake zuckerman, bbc look north, hull.

hate crimes are the highest i've ever been according to new thinkers in england and wales. more than 30,000 homophobic and transgender hate crimes were recorded in the 12 months until march of this year — and many more are thought to go unreported. 0ur lgbt and identity correspondent, lauren moss, has been finding out more. my very turning up somewhere is something that's enough to create anger in people. shea is transgender. she says she and her family experience some form of abuse almost every single day. i've been shouted at on the street. i've been yelled at when my kids are with me. i've had things thrown at me, i have had one violent assault. in march, shea says she was physically attacked, leaving her with a knee injury and too scared to travel alone. i was pushed to the ground and kicked several times. a clearly transphobic incident, but by the time i realised

that it had happened, i was alone on the pavement bleeding. looking back now, i should have reported it, but ijust wanted to go home. a hate crime is defined as any criminal offence perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a personal characteristic the latest figures show there were more than 4000 recorded hate crimes against transgender people in england and wales in one year — a 56% rise. the home office suggests the discussion of what it's called "transgender issues" on social media may have led to an increase. there is absolutely no way you can say that what we've seen, particularly in the last 18 months, in the media hasn't contributed heavily to the way trans people are being treated, and it's not a nice thing to have to address, but it's the truth. was it a difficult decision to choose to speak me about this today? yes. i will anger some in my community.

we tend to think we live in a tolerant and accepting nation, but hate crimes are at the highest level ever recorded. the home office says this could be driven by improvements in police recording, but hateful attacks must be fully investigated. three of them were just stamping on my head, stamping on me, asking for my phone, beating me. nathan was heading for the train home early one morning in august after a night out at a gay bar in london when he and his friend were attacked by a group of teenagers on a bridge. he says they shouted homophobic abuse, beat him and stripped his clothes off. one of them was saying, you know, "we have to get rid of him". and he was obviously trying to grab hold of me and pull me towards the river thames. were you worried at that point that you were going to die? i was, 100%. still now, even now. recorded homophobic hate crimes have

also risen to more than 26,000 — a a1% increase in one year. in nathan's case, two teenagers were charged with robbery. they were sent to a youth offender panel for 12 months and given a three—month night—time curfew. nathan says hate crime still isn't treated seriously. you can ask almost every lgbt person — i'm sure 90% of them have had something happen to them. they've reported it and nothing's happened. it is hard to hear. pc hayleyjones specifically focuses on lgbt hate crime in the capital — a new role created by the metropolitan police this year. as part of the community myself, i recognise there are people who do not trust the police and i can understand where they're coming from. and by listening to their concerns, i'm hoping to develop those relationships and to build that trust again, but i also recognise how easily that trust can be destroyed. pcjones is a link between police and victims. despite the rise in reports, she says many still don't come forward. i think there is still underreporting and the severity

of the crimes seems a lot higher. anti—abuse charity galop say they too have seen an increase, and have recently launched a mobile phone app where people can report crimes and receive support. whenever our community is more visible, we are more likely to experience abuse and violence, and those words used against our community do translate into violence and abuse in real life. what we have seen in our service over the last six months is a nearly 20% increase in demand, and what we are seeing coming through our service is the highest levels of violence we've ever seen. for shea and nathan and those behind the latest statistics, the scars from what they have been three may take a long time to heal. lauren moss, bbc news.

england will face denmark and china in the group stages of the women's world cup next year. the european champions are in group d and will play senegal, haiti or chile. the lionesses will be based in australia with group gains in brisbane, sydney... england head coach is confident of getting to the knockout stages. if confident of getting to the knockout sta . es. , ., ., confident of getting to the knockout staues. , ., ., ., , stages. if we perform at our highest level next summer, _ stages. if we perform at our highest level next summer, then _ stages. if we perform at our highest level next summer, then we - stages. if we perform at our highest level next summer, then we should | level next summer, then we should absolutely get through this group stage. we will see, you know, as we said in the euros, it's going to be the case also in the world cup very good opponents every country is improving so much. it's going to be really tight. it should be a very great tournaments next summer. i hope we will be successful again. the republic of ireland have a tough group for their first appearance. they will play australia. back to our top story and

the conservative leadership race. what do voters make of the turbulent events in westminster? jessica lane has been talking to people in the conservative constituency of penistone and stocksbridge in south yorkshire to find out. as mps are back in their constituencies this weekend, many will find out if what's happening in westminster is the talk of their town. i think that we've lost faith in all the politicians, labour or conservative, and i think it's time that we need to get a bit more stance within the country again, a bit of stability back. i've been in spain last week on holiday and all the spanish people and german people keep saying, "what's wrong with your country? " well, we've been. talking nothing else. it is the backstabbing and that's the problem. this constituency has this rural market town of penistone and the industrial steelworks in stocksbridge nearby. historically labour, it turned conservative in 2019. the local mp, miriam cates, says she has huge admiration for borisjohnson, but she's backing rishi sunakfor leader.

but some business owners say they're more bothered about getting support soon. the main thing is energy bills at the moment, that's what's crippling us. 0ur quarterly has gone up from £270 to £990 for three months. for a little shop like this, it's difficult. is that electric and gas? just electric, we've got no gas, so it's crippling us big time. so stuff like that needs sorting out. whatever does happen over the next few days, it's certainly giving people a topic to chew over here. jessica lane, bbc news, in penistone. as mentioned earlier, more than half of tory mps have gone public with their support and there is now an update on our tally. rishi sunak has passed the key threshold of 100 backers, borisjonnson is 53 and penny mourdant has 23. worth pointing out that these numbers are the ones that bbc can verify. 0ther

the ones that bbc can verify. other news organisations might have come to different totals. but that means that 156 conservative mps have yet to say who they will be voting for with a total of 357 tory members of parliament up for grabs. earlier, our political correspondent told us more about the number of mps who have publicly come out to back the candidate. the have publicly come out to back the candidate. �* �* ., , candidate. the bbc have been running our own tally. — candidate. the bbc have been running our own tally, and _ candidate. the bbc have been running our own tally, and this _ candidate. the bbc have been running our own tally, and this is _ candidate. the bbc have been running our own tally, and this is a _ our own tally, and this is a publicly declared support, so people who have either very publicly on social media or confirmed to us. and those are numbers of people who are out there declaring. those numbers are interesting because they give rishi sunak well over 100 public backers. restaurants around 50 or so. and penny mourdant 20—something. now, the borisjonnson camp obviously came out earlier and we're putting out that they believed they had 100. that wasn't corroborated by the numbers that we had officially.

the rishi sunak campaign poured cold water on the borisjonnson claim and their view is show us the names that you have and let's see. it's worth saying that the rishi sunak camp have been sharing names and pointing to people who can be publicly seem to people who can be publicly seem to back rishi sunak. part of the feeling i think what then is there suspicion might be that boris jonnson will try to get the sense of momentum and that will be a typical borisjonnson type of move to put something up and get a bit of media talking about his campaign, but they are very sceptical about his numbers. some opponents of a boris johnson comeback have said they would resign from the party if he becomes prime minister. one such critic is veteran mp sir roger gale and hejoins us. thank you very much forjoining us here on bbc news channel. why wouldn't you work with boris jonnson again as prime minister? i wouldn't you work with boris jonnson again as prime minister?— again as prime minister? i have set for very long _ again as prime minister? i have set for very long time _ again as prime minister? i have set for very long time that _ again as prime minister? i have set for very long time that i _ again as prime minister? i have set for very long time that i don't - for very long time that i don't believe for usjonnson is a fitting

proper person to be prime minister. his casual relationship with the truth makes him unfit for high office, but actually any office. just for the record, what i said, and i mean this, where he to be chosen as the leader, i would resign the whip, i would not resign from the whip, i would not resign from the party. i've been a member of the party since before mrjonnson was born. i shall die a member of the conservative party, but i will not support mrjonnson.— conservative party, but i will not support mrjonnson. thank you for the clarification. _ support mrjonnson. thank you for the clarification. how— support mrjonnson. thank you for the clarification. how many - support mrjonnson. thank you for the clarification. how many others| the clarification. how many others of your colleagues feel the same as far as you are aware? i of your colleagues feel the same as far as you are aware?— far as you are aware? i don't know. i haven't discussed _ far as you are aware? i don't know. i haven't discussed it _ far as you are aware? i don't know. i haven't discussed it with - i haven't discussed it with colleagues. i'm surely not trying to bring pressure to the barrel and saying two people come and join me in what i'm saying. it does for individual members of parliament to make up their own mind. what i do think is that there is a game being played by mrjonnson's supporters who quite clearly are seeking to generate a mythical momentum, what is clearly happening as people are

now beginning to listen to their constituents, realise that a man who is under investigation by the privileges committee for misleading the house of commons which means lying time is not a fit and proper person to be prime minister, and where he to become prime minister with the privileges committee inquiry starting in very short order now, we would have prime minister the united kingdom on the front pages of every newspaper in the country for weeks for entirely the wrong reasons. that is the last thing that we need at the moment. we need unity, not division.— need unity, not division. william had come leader _ need unity, not division. william had come leader of _ need unity, not division. william had come leader of the - need unity, not division. william had come leader of the party - need unity, not division. williaml had come leader of the party says need unity, not division. william i had come leader of the party says if you are to be chosen for him he would send the party into that death spiral, that is quite a statement to make. what, do you agree with him? with that be the end of the party? william normally chooses his words

very carefully. he is a measured and highly intelligent man, a former leader of the party understands the party very well indeed. i share william's view entirely. it would send us into a tailspin from which i doubt we would be copper for a very long time, if ever. m0??? doubt we would be copper for a very long time, if ever.— long time, if ever. now you are suworting _ long time, if ever. now you are suworting penny _ long time, if ever. now you are supporting penny mourdant, i. supporting penny mourdant, i believe, the commons leader. what qualities does she have, do you believe, that the country needs right now?— believe, that the country needs right now? penny mourdant has experience. _ right now? penny mourdant has experience, as _ right now? penny mourdant has experience, as secretary - right now? penny mourdant has experience, as secretary of - right now? penny mourdant has. experience, as secretary of state for overseas development, a lady full of sympathy and empathy, she's been the secretary of defence, which is one of the higher offices of states, current the leader of the house of commons, she's also the president of the privy council and she handled the accession counsel for king charles iii following the death of her majesty. i think with

immense dignity and courage. and she has conducted herself absolutely properly throughout my entire knowledge of her in the house of commons. she is a unifier, she's a team leader, she's a team player. she is exactly the kind of person that we need to bring the party together. but where is she not to make the cut, i would say that i would support cheerfully any other candidate and give them my full support who does emerge as the leader, save mrjonnson, who have already indicated i'm afraid i will never, ever support. it already indicated i'm afraid i will never, ever support.— already indicated i'm afraid i will never, ever support. it appears that at the moment. — never, ever support. it appears that at the moment, certainly, _ never, ever support. it appears that at the moment, certainly, rishi - at the moment, certainly, rishi sunak has a great many more people backing him then penny mourdant. how welcome libby to see him back, well, at this time in the highest office having lost the contest to to it in

the summer?— having lost the contest to to it in the summer? he's a wealthy man buddies aren't _ the summer? he's a wealthy man buddies aren't as _ the summer? he's a wealthy man buddies aren't as many, - the summer? he's a wealthy man buddies aren't as many, he's - the summer? he's a wealthy man| buddies aren't as many, he's done the summer? he's a wealthy man - buddies aren't as many, he's done by hard work and talent. he is highly experienced in the office that is some of the most important offices at the moment, of course. he understands the finances of the nation very well, but again, i expressed my preference for penny mourdant, but i would hope, my dream tickets would be penny and rishi sunak in whichever order to gather hopefully with jeremy hunt as the chancellor of the exchequer who is doing a very good job at the moment. he put the stay together and he in whichever order, you got a good dream tickets. and i would like to see the rishi sunak or penny mordant and marriage and make sure they can work together so that we don't have to have a prolonged extended leadership contest. i'm afraid there's no place for mrjonnson in

that contest. there's no place for mrjonnson in that contest-— there's no place for mrjonnson in that contest. thank you very much for talkinu that contest. thank you very much for talking to _ that contest. thank you very much for talking to us _ that contest. thank you very much for talking to us tonight. _ that contest. thank you very much for talking to us tonight. thank - for talking to us tonight. thank ou. for talking to us tonight. thank yon how _ how do you respond when your best friend randomly decides to call time on your life—long friendship? well that's the plot of the film, the banshees of inisherin set in the 1920s, on a fictional remote island off the coast of ireland. 0ur entertainment correspondent lizo mzimba has been talking to its stars, colin farrell and brendan gleeson. have you been rowing? dark and quirky. what the hell's going on with you and me brother? he's dull, siobhan. but he's always been dull. humourous and compelling. you're behaving awful unusual. the film tells the story of a lifelong friendship that suddenly ends. people have responded to it in such a positive way and it's meant something to the people that i've spoken to that have seen it — there's been a kind of relatability or personalisation of this film in regard to their own lives and their own experience of whether it's friendship, loss or isolation had to be dealt with, so it means a lot, it's lovely.

yeah, breaking up and all that kind of stuff, like, we've all had a bit of it. it's hitting home with people in a way that's quite moving and stuff. you just kind of feel, "wow, this is one that has worked the way it should." do you know who we remember for how nice they was in the 17th century? who? absolutely no—one. yet we all remember the music of the time. everyone to a man knows mozart's name. i don't, so there goes that theory. one of the central themes is how much people should sacrifice in order to create meaningful art, with both actors drawing on their own experiences. through the years, i've missed things. i've missed funerals of people who meant a lot to me, i missed... you know, i have two children — i missed the birth of one, i was there for the birth of the other one, but only because i wasn't gainfully employed at that time, thank god! so at least i was there for one of my boys being born, but you miss really important, fundamentally important moments. at one stage, i was nearly seven months away over the year in three different jobs. it was too much for my kids, it was breaking my heart to be there, and i said, "i'm not _

there's a certain level, i'm missing too much". so it's a constant line you're trying to walk. how gratified are you to be talked about as 0scar contenders? if you got a nomination or something like that and i didn't, we'd have a laugh with it. we would. we would have a laugh with it, and then we would...it�*d be business as usual, do you know what i mean? and then it'd would be business as usual, you know, afterwards. no, but it'd be great! it'd be a laugh. yeah, yeah, yeah. "i want it," is what he's saying! "i want it! "when do we find out?" well, 0scar nominations are still three months away, but when they are announced, many expect to see the names gleeson and farrell on that list. lizo mzimba, bbc news. 110w now for a look at the weather. hello. it stays mild through the second half of the weekend and into next week. we've got further rain in the forecast, and this is much more likely to be thundery as this area of low pressure extends its way north and eastwards through tonight and into tomorrow.

the showers that we've had this afternoon across the south of the uk will push their way north and eastwards overnight. some clearer skies ahead of these and behind, but also some mist and fog before more heavy thundery rain arrives from the south—west later in the night. the far north of scotland likely to keep more clouds, some patchy rain here. temperatures generally in the range of ten to 1a celsius. and then for tomorrow — well, it's another day of sunshine and showers, but this time the showers are much more likely to be heavy and thundery, especially through the morning through parts of wales, central southern england. this band then pushes its way north and eastwards through the day. some sunshine following on behind. some sunshine too across the north of scotland, should stay mainly dry here for much of the day. but where you've got the sunshine, further showers developing — again heavy and thundery — and more starting to push in from the south—west later in the day. the uk's