this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. britain'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 prime minister borisjohnson dismissed claims by his allies that he has also reached 100 backers. in other news... ukrainian officials say around 1.5 million households are now without power after the latest wave of russian attacks. and at the china congress, former president hu jintao is mysteriously led out

of the hall by officials. and of the hall by officials. giorgia meloni is sworn in as and giorgia meloni is sworn in as the country's first female prime minister. i as the country's first female prime minister.— prime minister. i 'ust don't like you t prime minister. i 'ust don't like you know _ prime minister. ijust don't like you know more. - and we speak to colin farrell and brendan gleeson about their new film about the end of a friendship. to officially enter the conservative leadership race after securing the backing of more than 100 mps. penny mordaunt was the first to

formally declare on friday. mr sunak has the public support of more than 100 conservative mps, thatis more than 100 conservative mps, that is the threshold required for the leadership contest. former colleagues have warned borisjohnson against returning to downing street. damian grammaticus has been following the events of today. 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 having confidence in borisjohnson as leader was 211 votes and the vote against was 148 votes.

more than 40% of his mps had no confidence in him then. dozens then resigned from his government. but some now say they want him to return. 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 as 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 who was a deputy prime minister is backing rishi sunak. i think the country needs a prime minister that is focused 100% on 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's 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, 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.

this is what damian grammaticus had to say about this reported meeting. the bbc has been told that rishi sunak and borisjohnson have been meeting tonight. we don't know anything about what it might be about but you could reasonably ask yourself, why would they want to meet at this point? possibly you could assume maybe to sound each other out, perhaps to try to come to some sort of an accommodation. we know that rishi sunak has what is crucial in a race like this, momentum, he is well past that threshold that he needs, it seems very unlikely that he would be in any mood to stand aside, perhaps he could be trying to seek some sort of accommodation from mrjohnson, but borisjohnson�*s best hope might be to try to take it to a vote of the party membership where he might feel he would get some support. but when it was suggested that he might have the 100 votes today, they were asked to show the names, they have not been able to, we only have them on 50, the momentum at the minute

seems to be with rishi sunak. martin bentham from the evening standard newspaperjoins me standard newspaper joins me now. standard newspaperjoins me now. we are hearing that the meeting started at eight o'clock and it has onlyjust broken up in the last half an hour or so, what possibly could rishi sunak have offered the former prime minister boris johnson, do you think? it is uuite johnson, do you think? it is quite hard _ johnson, do you think? it is quite hard to _ johnson, do you think? it is quite hard to know, - johnson, do you think? it is quite hard to know, isn't i johnson, do you think? it 3 quite hard to know, isn't it, because you would not imagine boris being a very good deputy, really. so, isuppose boris being a very good deputy, really. so, i suppose he might have tried to offer him something. foreign secretary has been mooted by some people, a role he has had before, and had a lot of interest in the ukraine conflict, and so on, but it is quite hard to know exactly what it possibly could be which would really be the

thing that would work in a viable way, with a sulek— johnson agreement of two people working alongside each other at the top of government, it is hard to see.— the top of government, it is hard to see. boris johnson is committee. _ hard to see. boris johnson is committee, though, - committee, though, understanding is that basically if a majority of the party comes round, you could stop that committee inquiry, i mean, and my too cynical to think of that might be something? well, it is hard to _ that might be something? well, it is hard to see _ that might be something? well, it is hard to see how _ that might be something? well, it is hard to see how that - that might be something? well, it is hard to see how that can i it is hard to see how that can happen, really, and actually if it did, stops the week by week drip of terrible headlines for potentially damaging headlines that would follow from a standards and inquiry as to whether boris johnson standards and inquiry as to whether borisjohnson misled parliament or not, but the very act of trying to stop that, as we saw when they tried to, when

borisjohnson was prime minister and tried to save his cabinet colleague there, and he had problems then, and he had to backtrack.— to backtrack. with owen paterson? _ to backtrack. with owen paterson? yes, - to backtrack. with owen paterson? yes, i - to backtrack. with owen paterson? yes, i was i to backtrack. with owen - paterson? yes, i was forgetting his name for— paterson? yes, i was forgetting his name for a _ paterson? yes, i was forgetting his name for a millisecond, - paterson? yes, i was forgetting his name for a millisecond, so i his name for a millisecond, so many chopping and changing, but that sort of thing just does not look good, it would not be a good start, even if he was able to pull that off so that is obviously a negative backdrop for boris johnson is obviously a negative backdrop for borisjohnson if he were to become prime minister again, he were to become prime ministeragain, and he were to become prime minister again, and secondly, there are people in the party, we have heard from roger gale this evening who has always been a long—standing critic of borisjohnson, but been a long—standing critic of boris johnson, but there been a long—standing critic of borisjohnson, but there are others we understand who would resign the whip and others who feel very aggrieved by what has happened in the latter days of boris johnson's happened in the latter days of borisjohnson�*s premiership. and we have viewers from all around the world watching us now, probably watching with incredulity what is happening incredulity what is happening in british politics at the moment, so for them, just explain what sort of support

borisjohnson would seem to have from party members, not the mps, and how that would make a difference? i the mps, and how that would make a difference?— make a difference? i mean, historically, _ make a difference? i mean, historically, boris _ make a difference? i mean, historically, boris johnson l make a difference? i mean, i historically, boris johnson has historically, borisjohnson has always been popular with party members, and that is partly because they see him as a winner and of course he did win the 2019 election with a very big majority in a very dramatic way. and so he has always had this appeal among the rank and file as a person who can transform their electoral fortunes. and that would be the hope again. whether the rank and file feel that at quite the same way at the moment given what has happened over the last year or two during the end of his ship is a moot point, but that would be what he is pinning his hopes on, that he could get through to this final ballot and wins on the party members because they would see him as the way to revive their electoral prospects. and of

course the negative thing for rishi sunak is, and it may be entirely sensible that what he is suggesting and what he has argued for, that we can't do lots of, we have to be very strict on public spending, we can't do an awful lot to help people in the immediate future, it is going to be quite hard, and that was his message, when he was up against liz truss, and she managed to win because she was offering what turned out to be completely impossible but it appeared superficially appealing to some people, and rishi sunak is offering hard graft for the next two years or more, which is what is needed, but politically borisjohnson again, all this upbeat talk that he comes outwith, it may seduce some people. it may not be very sensible and it probably won't go down as well with the markets, it definitely won't come as a rishi sunak premiership, i think that is clear. but that is the thing that he would be hoping, and is

possible, might appeal that he would be hoping, and is possible, mightappealto that he would be hoping, and is possible, might appeal to some of the people who are going to be voting in this if it goes to the party, if there is a serious, meaningful contest with the members. president 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 that 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. it's still not clear what was behind the move but chinese state media have blamed ill health for the incident during what is a usually highly choreographed event. our correspondent steve mcdonell has more from beijing. xxxxxx. the first thing you notice from these incredible events in the great hall of the people is that china's former leader when asked to leave doesn't want to go, and you have to ask yourself, why, what is going on? because he represents a type of government so different to the way things are done now. a period of opening up to the outside world,

collective leadership, speculation has first turned to the possibility that this was a piece of political theatre, that he was being symbolically removed to show who is really in charge. but then when you look at the footage more closely, he doesn't seem to be well, at times he doesn't seem to know what's going on. if there were legitimate health reasons, though, for him to be removed, why did hu jintao have to go so suddenly, and why do it in front of the cameras? unfortunately, china's system is so opaque that we are getting nothing else from the government by way of explanation. earlier i wasjoined by earlier i was joined by a specialist from the university of california, san diego. specialist from go. what do you think? no, i think this was very puzzling and also dramatic we have not seen anything

like that during these typically highly choreographed proceedings party congress. i am sceptical of the pure ill—health explanation. he clearly is not well, but he has been sitting up there throughout most of the proceedings of the party congress. the good opportunity for him to leave if he didn't feel well was after he had voted. so, his only formal role is a delegate to the party congress, he voted for the new central committee, which he did minutes before these events took place. and he could have left the venue right after the voting because he didn't have any other official wrong to serve. yet he stayed there, he sat there rather stably, but suddenly was removed. another sign that suggests something political was that when another one of his neighbours tried to help

him as he tried to get up, the one who was a close advisor of xijinping, who was sitting next to him, pulled at his jacket to prevent him from rising to help hu jintao so, this suggests that it would have been seen as a political mistake if he had help him out. which suggests... so, why would xijinping want to do something like this, if it were orchestrated by him? i'm not sure if it was orchestrated. another possibility was that hu jintao began to mutter something unpleasant or some kind of critical remarks, because he was sitting right next to xi jinping, which displeased him. so it could have been something more spontaneous. i'm sure it wasn't really in xi jinping's interests for the entire global media to witness this, either. remember, this was right after the media pool was allowed

to get into the great wall of the people. it's interesting to remember hujintao, he is 79, elderly and frail, but he was more of a liberal leader, who handed over power to xijinping, and that would appear to have changed quite a lot in terms of centralised power now under xi jinping? yes, well, i would not call him exactly liberal, you know... you know, he was one of the people who carried out to the crackdown on tibet back in 1989, but of course, under his rule, chinese society especially in the major cities had more room to be critical, had more room to discuss different kinds of political systems, for example, and he did carry out some limited reform within the party. but clearly even symbolically, his removal truly spells the end of that period.

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 will head a right—wing coalition. ms meloni has sought to reassure western allies that italy's foreign policy won't change. joiing us now from rome was gianni riotta. he is a columnist at the italian newspaper la repubblica and a visiting professor at princeton. i asked him iasked him how i asked him how long the new prime minister could last in office. well, she hopes to survive for the five years of the legislation, the problem is that in the past,

we had a lot of cabinets, but stability with the same party always rotating, now the situation is really changing, and as far as foreign policy goes, she will stay put, ms meloni, she wants to stay on the european and naples on the european and nato side, but salvini and berlusconi, much more pro—russian. will she be able to convince european partners that she is on side, with somebody like silvio berlusconi, who recently was bragging about his birthday present from president putin, 20 bottles of vodka and a handwritten card? it depends on keep sending arms and weapons to ukraine, foreign minister, a berlusconi man, had a conversation today with the foreign affairs secretary in kyiv,

reassuring him, but it depends on the facts, if rome keeps with the allies in ukraine, and if she doesn't raise too many issues with europe on the economic plans, then things will be ok. it will be for sure a rough fall and winter here in italy. what about immigration? matteo salvini did not get thejob he wanted, i think he's now infrastructure minister, what is the view of the coalition on that? it's conservative, with really right—wing tones, ms meloni had a very rough speech with the radical right organisation in spain, where she was really rough on immigration. still there are rumours that mr salvini won't get any kind of assignment of immigration and that they will go

to the sicilian politician that now leads the new minister on sea, i do not know what it is about, i am sicilian myself, but now we have a minister on sea. what about her choice forfinance minister? did she get the person she wanted? yes, because, mr georgietti is very pragmatist guy and he is one of the guys who works with italian companies, and he was minister in the draghi cabinet. he did not want the draghi experience to finish, and so she made a shrewd move there, because on the economic chair, having a lega guy, she now has a very strong hand against sylvinho the populists within the group. in germany, tens of thousands

have taken to the streets of berlin in support of the iran protests. police in the german capital say an estimated 80 thousand have taken part in the rally. iranians from across europe have called on western governments to sanction the revolutionary guard and to throw out iranian diplomats. the organisers say the number of protesters in berlin was closer to 100,000. officials in sudan say the number of people killed in ethnic fighting in the south of the country has risen to 200. a chief in blue nile state has called on humanitarian groups to help bury the dead. the two days of clashes between the hausa and berta communities were sparked by a land dispute. a 30—day state of emergency has been declared across blue nile. translation: i declare a state of emergency i in all parts of the blue nile region for 30 days. the chief of the regiment, the police chief and the head of the rapid support forces, must intervene with all means to stop tribal fighting. they have all constitutional

and legal powers to take proper procedures according to the nature of the situation. 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 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 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.

plenty more on the website, thanks for watching. we are dominated by low pressure, which means we will get more cloud and rain whilst it is mild. the low pressure pushing cloud our way and bringing with it some rain up from the south—west. on sunday the rain will move northwards and it will be heavy and containing some thunder. this is where we've got the wet start early in the morning. the rain could give along rain in a short space of time it last long. clearing away from northern ireland in the afternoon. some sunshine comes

afterwards but also some possibly thundery showers particularly in the south of england later in the afternoon. temperatures still mild but maybe not quite as high as they were on saturday. the rain continues northwards in the evening before more rain comes in overnight. we will be left with more of a west to south—westerly breeze at this time on monday. sunshine and showers, most of the showers coming in across the western side of the uk for should be some sunshine in between the showers. temperatures again reaching highs of around 16—17. we have got a pressure overnight as we see the showers fading away. before another weather system arrives from the south later in the day. there may be some mist and

fog around in northern areas on tuesday before we will see the breeze picking up. but for many parts of the country, tuesday looks like it will be a dry day with some sunshine and temperatures reaching 17—18. the really cold weather is kept way to the north of the uk, out in the atlantic. instead we are getting more southerly breezes bringing the warmer weather up from the azores. temperatures will be around 4 degrees above normal for this will be around 4 degrees above normalfor this time of will be around 4 degrees above normal for this time of the year.

sick you'r sick e watching bbc news. you'r e watching bbc news. the headlines: the uk's former chancellor rishi sunak looks set have helped face—to—face talks about the conservative leadership race although neither has declared their intention formally to run. former cabinet minister penny mordaunt was the first to formally declare. president zelensky said that russians were trying to break his country. almost 1.5 million households are without power, following another barrage by russian missiles on energy services. chinese state media

has blamed ill—health for the