this is bbc world news, i'm tim willcox. our top stories... the uk's former chancellor, rishi sunak, looks set to officially enter the conservative leadership race after securing the backing of more than 100 mps. rivals of former uk prime minister borisjohnson dismiss claims by his allies that he's also reached 100 backers, with speculation rife he could enter the contest. the leader of the commons, penny mordaunt, is the only person to formally announce that she's running, but has fewer supporters. ukrainian officials say around a million and a half households are without power after the latest wave of russian attacks. and giorgia meloni has been sworn in as the head of italy's

president's predecessor is mysteriously let out of the rule by officials. hello and welcome to bbc world news. rishi sunak has become the first leadership contender to secure the public support of 100 tory mps — that's the number needed to enter the race to be the next conservative leader and prime minister. 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 too has 100 mps backing him, although others have said this is "hogwash." at the same time, two sources have told the bbc that a meeting between rishi sunak and borisjohnson has been taking place tonight. 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's just over four months since mrjohnson faced a revolt by his own mps and a confidence vote. the 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've seen in the last

few days is that some what we've 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've 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 all very much for coming! those who want him back remember this — borisjohnson is a vote winner. but many tory mps haven't forgotten what followed — lockdown parties that broke the law. parliament will soon begin hearings into whether mr johnson lied about this. it's why the man he was a deputy prime minister is backing rishi sunak. that is focused 100% i think the country needs a prime minister that is focused 100% of them, and ijust 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'm backing penny because she's the candidate i think that can not onlyjust bring the conservative party and parliament together, but actually, the whole country. she's 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, later that day, mr 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. as we mentioned earlier, the bbc estimates that more than half of tory mps have gone public with their support, and there's now an update on our tally. rishi sunak has passed the key threshold of 100 backers and is on 127, borisjohnson has 53

and penny mordaunt 23. it's worth — again — pointing out that these are the numbers the bbc can verify. others may have different information. that means 154 conservative mps are yet to say who they'll be voting for, with a total of 357 tory members of parliament up for grabs. more on that in the programme. president volodymyr zelensky has denounced renewed russian attacks on ukraine's energy infrastructure as an attempt to break his country. he said the world had to stop the terror. kyiv 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. here's the latest from our correspondent, hugo bachega. the ukrainian presidential office

said around 1.5 million households across the country are without power following this morning's attacks, and the ukrainian airforce said russian forces had fired 33 cruise missiles, but that 18 of those missiles had been intercepted by the air defence systems. today's attacks targeted energy infrastructure in regions away from the front line, like lutsk in the north—west, cherkasy in central ukraine, and also 0desa in the south, where at least three people were injured as a result of those attacks. officials say the damage caused by the latest air strikes might exceed the consequences caused by last week's attacks that were carried out by russia, targeting sites across the country. officials say more than a third of the country's power stations have been damaged as a result of these attacks. reacting to the latest air strikes, the president's chief of staff, andriy yermak, said russia was fighting against civilian

infrastructure and people and that ukrainians are getting angrier by the day. he said these attacks would lead to a much stronger ukrainian response. footage of china's former leader, hujintao, being asked to leave the stage at the great hall of the people in beijing during the communist party congress is drawing global attention. mr hu, who is 79, was sitting beside president xijinping when he was approached by officials who took him by the arm and led him away. our correspondent steve mcdonell has more from beijing. incredible scenes there at the great hall of the people this morning, and it's left a lot of people scratching their heads wondering what's going on. i think to unpack this, it's probably best to take it chronologically. so, the morning session initially was behind closed doors. then the second part of the last day at the congress, some journalists were allowed into the great hall of the people. hu jintao was sitting in the front row on stage and then

in front of the cameras. several officials came along and said to him, you could see the ushering, "you should go." he looks like he doesn't want to leave. but then he says something to xijinping, who nods. he tapped his protege, li keqiang, on the shoulder and is helped off the stage. now there are only two possibilities, really. now, there are only two possibilities, really. one is that this is sort of chinese power politics on display with xi jinping out with the old in with him. you know, there's something like that. and that was people's initial feeling, the initial thought of what was going on. really, though, i think what's much more likely is that it's something to do with his health, because when you look at the footage a little bit earlier, when he's still sitting down

to his left on stage, other seniorfigures in the party, you can see they're turning to him. and then when he stands up, and the fact that he says something to xijinping, who nods, i think what's most likely is that he has some sort of a serious health problem. and that's why china's former leader wasn't able to sit through the final session there at the communist party congress. with me now is duncan bartlett. i don't know if you heard what steve was saying, but does it look like an expulsion or something else? it was a dramatic moment, _ expulsion or something else? it was a dramatic moment, and _ expulsion or something else? it was a dramatic moment, and it's - a dramatic moment, and it's certainly having a lot of international attention, but it's not being reported in china or on chinese state media, and it's being censored at the moment. one possible scenario is what we're looking at as a power struggle. one of the processes which is taking place of the 20th party congress is the

appointment of the most senior people in chinese policy risk. —— politics. xijinping is picking is owns or orders. hu jintao's politics. xijinping is picking is owns or orders. hujintao's people are nowhere to be seen. could it be that hu jintao was angry and co—invented xijinping —— confronted him? is co-invented xijinping -- confronted him? , ., ., ., him? is it fair to say that hu jintao him? is it fair to say that hu jintao was — him? is it fair to say that hu jintao was more _ him? is it fair to say that hu jintao was more of- him? is it fair to say that hu jintao was more of a - him? is it fair to say that hu i jintao was more of a reformer? him? is it fair to say that hu - jintao was more of a reformer? he jintao was more of a reformer? he peacefully handed over power to xi jinping after ten years in power himself. perhaps that reformist tennessee is out of kilter with what xi jinping wants tennessee is out of kilter with what xijinping wants —— tendency. idietitian tennessee is out of kilter with what xi jinping wants -- tendency. when i seak to xi jinping wants -- tendency. when i speak to international— xi jinping wants -- tendency. when i speak to international diplomats, - speak to international diplomats, they're quite nostalgic about the period of hu jintao they're quite nostalgic about the period of hujintao because they're quite nostalgic about the period of hu jintao because they didn't see china in confrontation with the west. they expected that reform process to continue under hu

—— xijinping. it hasn't. there's been a much more centralised system with xijinping at been a much more centralised system with xi jinping at the top. that's why he's choosing his own people to be on that powerful standing committee. on sunday, we'll see xi jinping getting an extension of his term in power and certainly for another five years, term in power and certainly for anotherfive years, probably term in power and certainly for another five years, probably for the rest of his life. if another five years, probably for the rest of his life.— rest of his life. if this is a purge. — rest of his life. if this is a purge. hu _ rest of his life. if this is a purge, hu jintao's - rest of his life. if this is a purge, hu jintao's son i rest of his life. if this is a . purge, hu jintao's son would rest of his life. if this is a - purge, hu jintao's son would be purge, hu jintao's son would be interesting to see —— hold the position as well. interesting to see -- hold the position as well.— interesting to see -- hold the position as well. we'll find out who's position as well. we'll find out wh0's going — position as well. we'll find out wh0's going to _ position as well. we'll find out who's going to be _ position as well. we'll find out who's going to be on - position as well. we'll find out who's going to be on the - position as well. we'll find out. who's going to be on the standing committee. these things are decided behind closed door. i can't speculate on the members of these positions. what i do think it means is that there will be very few people who are prepared to challenge xijinping on apologies, and there are some other issues that china

needs to face— a dramatic slowdown and its economy, the heavy cost of zero covid, and also what xi jinping himself called a grim and complex international situation. that's what he described as, and what he's referring to is the animosity and fear of china, which is why it's spread particularly in the united states, the blighted administration now putting a lot of controls on american companies that want to do business with chinese tech firms —— bided administration. there are many issues that china needs to face and xijinping shall be issues that china needs to face and xi jinping shall be surrounded by his acolytes. xi jinping shall be surrounded by his acolytes-_ xi jinping shall be surrounded by his acolytes— xi jinping shall be surrounded by hisacol es. , ., ~ his acolytes. duncan bartlett, thank ou ve his acolytes. duncan bartlett, thank you very much- _ 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.

our 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. and we'll find out how the conservative leadership race and many other stories are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:30 and 11:30 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. stay with us for that. two labour mayors are calling on the government to immediately increase funding for the train operators, transpennine express and northern in the north of england, because of what they've described as "rail chaos."

the greater manchester mayor, andy burnham, and the liverpool city region mayor, steve rotheram, were late for their own news conference because their train was cancelled. once they arrived, mr burnham said poor services were causing misery for people in the region. transpennine express has apologised following a large number of rail cancellations passengers say they've been left frustrated by the problems. jake zuckerman reports. 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've 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, just after one o'clock and just after two o'clock, they've both been cancelled already. so, if you want to catch the transpennine to manchester, you're going to have to wait until three o'clock before you can catch the next train, and people here arejust getting fed up of it. i know my train has been cancelled on the way back today, which i'm not happy about cos i sufferfrom anxiety, so i can't switch from one train to the next to the next. it's appalling, really, it's the heartbeat of the nation, the m62 corridor, especially for this northern powerhouse. on tuesday, every single trainl to manchester from five o'clock until nine o'clock was cancelled, so i don't know how people are i expected to get home at this point. the company has apologised to customers. there's 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's 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. meanwhile, avanti west coast has been 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. hate crimes recorded against lgbt people georgia maloney is italy's first far—right leaders of the second world war. her party won last month was a elections —— giorgia. hate crimes recorded against lgbt people

are the highest they've ever been, according to new figures for 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. our 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, a hate crime is defined as... 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 41% 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. l 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. a 12—year—old boy has died

after a wall collapsed at a house in essex. emergency services were called to the property in clacton last night after a garage attached to the house collapsed. a man in his 30s was pulled from the rubble with an arm injury. 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. our 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 noim _ 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 oscar 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, oscar 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. looks fascinating. plenty more on

the website. from me and the team, hope to see you in a minute for the papers. it stays mild through the second half of the weekend and into next week as well. and still further showers or longer spells of rain all tied in with this area of low pressure, which will bring some thundery rain north and eastwards across the uk tonight and through tomorrow as well. we've also got south or south easterly winds, and we've got this extremely mild air across england, wales, scotland and northern ireland. so, it stays mild both by day and by night. back to tonight, and we'll have further showers pushing their way north and eastwards, heavy and thundery, ahead and behind heavy and thundery. ahead and behind them for a while, some clear spells, but also mist and fog before another spell of heavy, thundery rain starts to arrive from the southwest later in the night. the far north of scotland likely to keep more cloud with just some patchy rain here. temperatures not much lower than 12 or 13 celsius in places,

so a very mild night for the time of year. for tomorrow, it's another day of sunshine and showers. of sunshine and showers, but this time, the showers, the longer spells of rain, are much more likely to be heavy and thundery, particularly through the morning across parts of wales, central, southern and southwest england. are much more likely to be heavy and thundery, particularly through the morning across parts of wales, central, southern and southwest england. this band then pushes its way north and eastwards as the day wears on, becoming confined to scotland through the afternoon, where the north of scotland should be dry with some sunshine, some sunshine behind it as well. but watch out for further sharp and thundery showers developing through the afternoon. temperatures on a par with saturday, really, 14—18 celsius, the top temperature, just 11 celsius for the northern isles, and the winds not as strong as they have been recently, but still quite gusty for the northern isles and also for channel coasts as well. we could likely see gales through the channel, and as we head through sunday night and into monday, another spell of heavy, thundery rain starts to arrive from the southwest. so, this is then how monday shapes up. we still got this area of low pressure close by, and we'll still keep some thundery showers going through the early hours of monday, and at first on monday as well,

particularly for some eastern areas, they will start to pull away. particularly for some eastern areas. they will start to pull away, and behind that, we'll see some sunshine developing for many eastern areas. but out to the west, more showers starting to pile in, and still some gusty winds through the irish sea and also along channel coasts as well. still some spells of sunshine and the temperatures again in the mid, if not high teens, it should still feel quite warm in that sunshine. and, actually, the temperatures will rise a little bit in the week ahead. we could see 20—21 celsius across parts of east anglia and southeast england later in the week, but also further showers or longer spells of rain.

this is bbc news, the headlines... britain's former chancellor rishi sunak looks set to be officially entering the conservative leadership race after securing the backing of more than 100 mps. rivals earth borisjohnson dismissed claims by his allies that he has also reached a hundred backers with speculation rife that he could enter the contest. penny mordaunt is the only person to formally announce that she is running. she has fewer supporters. ukrainian officials say over 1.5 million people are without power after a new wave of russian attack. giorgia meloni has been sworn in as

italy's first prime minister, the first far right leader and