they cut corners, they used and proven experimental technology on a sub that took passengers and to me that's inexcusable, and to me that's inexcusable, and they were uncertified. prime minister narendra modi tells the us houses of congress that the scope of cooperation between india and the united states is endless. and a shock for home owners — as the bank of england raises interest rates to 5% in a battle to control inflation. hello, i'm victoria valentine. we start in the united states — and tributes to the five men killed on board the titan sub, killed in what us officials say was a catastrophic implosion. the family of the british explorer, hamish harding, said he was a loving husband, a dedicated father and a legend,

and relatives of the surrey businessman shahzada dawood and his 19—year—old son, suleman, described their "unimaginable loss". the other two men on board were the former french navy diver and renowned explorer paul—henri nargeolet and the ceo of oceangate, stockton rush. the us navy has said it detected sounds "consistent with an implosion" shortly after the sub lost contact. search teams found debris from the sub thousands of metres below the surface of the atlantic ocean. it ends an international five—day search for the submersible, which had been on an expedition to the wreckage of the titanic. our north america correspondent nomia iqbal has been following the developments. after days of searching, officials have discovered the remains of the oceangate submersible near to the site of the titanic wreck, bringing this story to a tragic end. the titan submersible

lost contact on sunday, an hour and 45 minutes after it began its dive into the atlantic ocean to explore the remains of the titanic. an international rescue operation worked round the clock, searching a vast area of the ocean, trying to find this tiny vessel before the crew inside ran out of oxygen. some felt there was a glimmer of hope on wednesday when the canadian coastguard detected underwater noises in the search area. but on thursday, a remote underwater vehicle found debris from the submersible on the ocean floor near to the titanic wreck. officials confirmed this awful discovery, indicating there was a catastrophic implosion from the pressure of the ocean water above. experts believe that that may have killed the crew instantly. oceangate said in a statement, the men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans.

live now to our north america correspondent, jessica parker. the families have expressed their profound grief over this and paying tribute to those on board. it is a story that has taken control of the media over the last five days, and a very sombre and. it the last five days, and a very sombre and.— the last five days, and a very sombre and. . , ., �* sombre and. it has. i mean, i'm here in boston _ sombre and. it has. i mean, i'm here in boston as _ sombre and. it has. i mean, i'm here in boston as you _ sombre and. it has. i mean, i'm here in boston as you say, - sombre and. it has. i mean, i'm here in boston as you say, this. here in boston as you say, this is where the coastguard hq here in boston as you say, this is where the coastguard h0 is based and i've seen over the last five days more and more people from the media arriving as the story drew international attention and of course the nationalities of those on board were of an international background so this partly why, then of course the fact that was a journey down to try and see the wreckage of the

titanic, the most famous shipwreck in the world, that likely also drew some attention as well, but after five days of searching, obviously it has now come to a tragic end, the news that we heard from the us coastguard early today here in boston that they had found debris not far from the titanic shipwreck. also that interesting news as well that it emerged after the press conference with the coastguard so we couldn't ask them about this, but there had been some sounds consistent with the sounds consistent with the sound of an implosion detected by the us navy on sunday, shortly after the vessel lost contact with its mother ship, and that had been passed on as information to the coastguard, that's the first time we had heard about this, but it didn't seem to deter the operation here from notjust really trying to carry out a search and rescue but pulling in resources from all over the world. ~ ., ., ., ~ .,

world. what more do we know about this? — world. what more do we know about this? we _ world. what more do we know about this? we understand . world. what more do we know about this? we understand it | world. what more do we knowl about this? we understand it is about this? we understand it is a series of secret sensors under the ocean that detected this? , , , , under the ocean that detected this? , , , this? typically, these sensors can be in _ this? typically, these sensors can be in the _ this? typically, these sensors can be in the ocean _ this? typically, these sensors can be in the ocean to - this? typically, these sensors can be in the ocean to look. this? typically, these sensors| can be in the ocean to look out for activity in the sea around countries as a security measure. we don't know a great deal of detail, this has come out via an unnamed navy official. what we are told is that it wasn't certain what the sound was and is mentioned, the information on to the coastguard. of course, though, this search and rescue attempt and operation, there wasjust this search and rescue attempt and operation, there was just a lot of hope, there was hope from families, help from friends of the men on board and actually officials here talked about how they didn't want to give up in this attempt to find the vessel either, then you will remember in the last few days, there were these reports

separately of banging noises potentially and there was speculation that maybe the vessel was in fact intact, so were the man trying to alert the authorities as to their location? of course, sadly in the end it turned out the vessel was no longer intact, it seems fairly certain that implosion did at least occur before the sensors were put in the water by the search and rescue operation, because what the coastguard have said is over the last 72 hours or so they haven't heard anything consistent with the sound of an implosion so it does seem in did happen some time ago, possibly around the time the titan lost contact. but we don't know for sure exactly what has happened and why, and now one imagines there will be work to try and find that out. understandably there will be a lot of questions about how, why and when this happened. the timeline for this. and no doubt that will form part of some kind of review in the future, so what happens now? is not

entirely clear _ so what happens now? is not entirely clear what _ so what happens now? is not entirely clear what happens l entirely clear what happens next. what we heard earlier is that they are going to start immobilising a bit from the scene, i think there were nine vessels on the site, so there will not be so many of those now, lots of people were pulled in from the us and canadian navy, but they were going to continue operations to try and document the scene, as they put it, and experts are saying they were probably likely, though we haven't officially been given this detail, try and retrieve some of the pieces of the debris that they have found, maybe the tail cone which they spoke about earlier, and use that to try and understand what has happened. but there doesn't seem to really be a set protocol in what to do in this kind of situation. obviously it has happened 900 miles away from where i am in the north atlantic ocean, the very remote area and as i mentioned before,

the people on board from a number of different nationalities, so it's quite complex in that sense, but i would think as well, because the cuts could have been so prominent in leading the investigation, there will be a review of the operation, that might come from them, but at the moment is not entirely clear. ., , the moment is not entirely clear. . , . clear. thanks very much, jessica- _ the director of the 1997 film titanic, james cameron, who is also an expert on submersibles, has said there may need to be further regulation of the industry. he's been speaking to our science editor rebecca morelle. you've been down to the titanic wreck site many times. i mean, you've been even deeper. you did the first solo dive to the bottom of the mariana trench. you came out and saw my sub before i made that dive, and i took you through the whole... you even sat inside it. so you kind of know what it feels like to be inside. and that sub went to three times titanic depth, quite literally.

safely, i'd like to point out. you know, when people go down to a place like titanic as, let's call it a citizen explorer, right? i don't like "tourist". i think somebody that's willing to spend that kind of money and do that kind of preparation and devote weeks of their life, they're a citizen explorer. they shouldn't have to worry about the vehicle that they're in. worry about titanic because it's a dangerous site for entanglement and collapse, you could have a structural collapse on the sub and it's a very dangerous site. but understand the risks. agree to those risks. but don't be in a situation where you haven't been told about the risks of the actual platform that you're diving in. in the 21st century, there shouldn't be any risk. we've managed to make it through 60 years, from 1960 until today, 63 years without a fatality.

and most people don't know this. no fatalities, no major accidents in deep submergence. there were a couple of fatalities with very shallow operating subs in the late �*60s. but that's longer ago than the time from the wright brothers at kitty hawk to the first 747s flying. so you can imagine there's been a lot of development in between. so, you know, one of the saddest aspects of this is how preventable it really was, you know, and that to me is the greatest heartbreak of the whole thing. well, i wanted to ask about that because, i mean, you know a lot of about submersibles, having designed your own one, but safety concerns had been raised with... absolutely. and they should be raised. they should be raised, because they cut corners. they used unproven experimental technology on a sub that took passengers. and to me, that's inexcusable. and they were uncertified.

and they knew that the certification process would not approve the technologies that they adopted. i think it's fine to be an innovator. you know, the sub that you sat in, that we built and that i operated to the deepest place on the planet, was an experimental craft. i own it. it was not certified. it was an experimental craft, just like, you know, the mercury and gemini and apollo rockets were experimental craft. they weren't certified, but they weren't taking passengers either. you know, i think the second that you create a business model around asking people for $250,000 to take them to some place, you have to ensure their safety, you have to jump through every possible hoop and you have to listen to the consensus in the engineering community. i would submit that there's a terrible irony here. here we have, at the wreck of titanic, we now have another wreck that is based on,

unfortunately, the same principles of not heeding warnings. oceangate were warned — they had people working internally, apparently, that basically quit. they had... some of us, i wasn't involved directly, but there were some of us in the deep submergence community that got together and wrote a letter to them saying, "we believe that you are going on a path to catastrophe." that's a rough quote — something like that. and we all have a concern here because it will be a setback for the deep submergence community because of this, because of the, you know, let's call it poor choices. i don't want to say reckless, but let's say poor choices that were made. as several of the senior figures involved in the search have indicated, there will need to be a detailed inquiry, which will take in the design of the vessel and the precautions that were in place,

ahead of the mission — which the passengers had all formally accepted was not without significant risk. rebecca morelle has been assessing how the investigation will now proceed. now we know there is no hope for the titan submersible and those on board, so what went wrong? it has been confirmed this was a catastrophic failure. five pieces of debris from the submersible were found and it is not clear what else is left. and it is kind of depth and pressure it would have been an instantaneous implosion, but we don't know when this happened. most likely it was when the comms were lost one hour and 45 minutes into its descent. or what caused it? what we are learning today in terms of what they are seeing on the sea bed confirmed what a lot of us feared right from the beginning, and the only solace in any of it is that they did not suffer for four days.

safety worries had been raised by marine experts, so what were the concerns? the titan's design was unusual. the hull on most deep sea submersibles are spherical but this was tube shaped to fit five passengers in. the hull�*s material was also different. it was made of carbon fibre. questions have been raised about its reliability under extreme pressures. and the titan had not been through any external independent certification process. but a co—founder of oceangate who no longer works for the company defended how the submersible was built. everyone has got different opinions on how they should be designed and how the dives should be conducted and how the expedition should be conducted, but that being said, developing innovations in any new technology, including submersibles, means sometimes you have to got to go outside of the bounds

of regulatory schemes. so what happens now? an investigation will begin to establish exactly what went wrong but there are questions about who or which country will lead this, given the different nationalities of those involved. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. bringing you different - stories from across the uk. 2022 — the worst summer yet for wildfires. a fourfold increase on the year before. 11 months on, sam catchpole's crop of winter barley is three weeks away from harvest. despite the recent rain, he shows me just how dry the crop is. as you can see from earlier, that's extremely dry already, and it would take very little for that to ignite. norfolk fire service have secured more than half a million pounds for extra training and kit to deal with this growing threat. today, they showed off new lightweight clothing for crews to cope in the searing heat, easier access to farmers'

reservoirs and bowsers to fight remote fires, and new misting lances like this — which use less water, but can kill fires above and under the ground. a lot of that comes down to just rethinking how, as a community, we work together and actually how we all have a responsibility to reduce fire risk. for more stories from across the uk, head l to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. turning now to washington, where india's prime minister narendra modi has attended a state dinner on a visit to the united states. the dinner was attended by leaders in politics, fashion and sport — as the us look to strengthen relations between the two countries in an attempt to counterbalance china's rising might in the region. president biden said it was his belief ties between the us and india would be one of the most defining relationships

of the 21st century. the dinner followed a joint—session of us congress — where mr modi gave a speech to law—makers. i can relate to the battles of passion, persuasion and policy. i can understand the debate of ideas and ideology. but i'm delighted to see you come together today to celebrate the bond between the world's two great democracies, india and the united states. applause well, watching that address from prime minister modi was our correspondent samira hussain. the red carpet was rolled out for india's prime minister narendra modi for his first

official state visit to washington, complete with a lavish ceremony at the white house with a 21 gun salute. us presidentjoe biden talked about the enduring relation between india and the united states and made some announcements when it comes to investment in defence spending and artificial intelligence and more technology and even climate change. but the visit also came with some criticism, even from his own democratic party, with some members of congress not attending the speech by prime minister narendra modi because of the country's crackdown on free speech. in a rare moment, prime minister narendra modi was even asked by this, asked about this, rather, by an american journalist, and he quickly said that, no, india is a country that believes strongly and protects democratic freedoms.

now, remember, this trip is important for the biden administration because it wants to strengthen relationships with india to act as a counterbalance to the rising might of china in the region. there are growing international warnings over levels of violence in the occupied west bank, with at least ia palestinians and four israelis killed since the start of the week. israeli settlers attacked and burned dozens of palestinian homes in a town where most residents are palestinian—americans, following a deadly gun attack targeting israelis. meanwhile, israel's military action in the territory has escalated sharply, with some members of its hardline government calling for a full—scale operation. here's our middle east correspondent tom bateman. the west bank has been burning this week and the embers here never take long to reignite. in the town of turmus aya,

mobs of israeli settlers went on the rampage. they torched palestinian homes and attacked residents. they wanted to come in and hurt people. bullets shattered the windows of the shalabi family home. they tell me how they rushed the kids upstairs, only to find the house filling with smoke. translation: the boys - and the girls were all crying, asking, "grandma, are they going to shoot us?" isaid, "no, no, don't cry." i can't describe to you the fear me and the kids felt. they raised the flags in mourning. a palestinian man was killed as men from the town tried to push the settlers back and were confronted by israeli forces. many in this town are palestinian americans and say they feel betrayed by us support for israel. what i saw yesterday was terrorism against us. and like i said,

we have nothing to defend ourselves with. our bodies and the rocks that we have, that's our defence. they have m—16s, they have drones. they have everything in there. you know, anything they want, they can use against us. the sense you get here when you walk these streets is just the intensity of these attacks. cars are melted into the streets, just how long all of this went on. it was brazen. and for people here, it was unchecked and without accountability. it is a symptom of the current crisis of violence engulfing the west bank. the attacks were an apparent reprisal. in a nearby israeli settlement, the funeral had taken place of a 17—year—old, one of four israelis shot dead the day before by gunmen from the palestinian militant group hamas. after months of growing violence, it sparked calls from pro—settler ministers on the far right for a full scale military operation. israel's leader didn't commit,

but the rhetoric is ramping up. translation: anyone who harms us will either be in the grave - or in prison. i want to tell all those who seek to harm us that all options are on the table. we will continue to fight terrorism with full force and we will overcome it. earlier this week, israel used an apache attack helicopter to fire missiles at militants. they'd targeted troops with explosives. it was yet another raid into the city ofjenin, killing seven palestinians and injuring several israeli troops. by wednesday, israel's first confirmed use in the west bank of a killer drone — hitting three militants in their car. the damage is spreading and the anger surges too. many fear this crisis in the west bank can only escalate. tom bateman, bbc news, turmus aya in

the occupied west bank. moving on to interest rates — and the shock decision from the bank of england to hike rates to 5% — from 4.5% — as it tries to tackle persistently high inflation. today — the chancellor jerermy hunt will meet with banks and building societies to discuss the upheavel in the mortgage market. our cost of living correspondent colletta smith reports. interest rates are on the up again, and the ripple effect is already being felt. i have actuallyjust bought a house last month, so, yeah, it affected us quite a lot. i've had a house before at a lower rate, obviously, so it is... it's, like, doubled per month now. so, yeah, it's a lot of money. it's the unknown of what's going to happen — if it's going to go up or if it's going to go down. and if we've made the right decision to fix for five years, or should we have maybe fixed for three years in hope that it's going to go lower?

who knows? the higher rate should deliver a bit more cash into the accounts of savers, but will bring bigger bills for some homeowners and pressure to the rental market, and impact other loans, too. to get to work, we've got cars and stuff to pay for, as well. and on top of that, there's gas bills, electric bills, and...it�*s just too hard. interest rates have been increased to 5%, which has pushed average two—year fixed mortgage rates up to 6.15%. the bank of england say the increase is needed to help calm price rises on everything else, getting inflation down to their target rate of 2%. but it'll bring a huge shock for hundreds of thousands of households remortgaging in the next few months. if you're worried about being able to make your mortgage payments, then speak to your lender — they may be able to reduce your payments or give you a mortgage holiday. there are pros and cons of all of these things, so do talk to an expert — but you may be able to extend

the term of your mortgage, or even go on an interest—only mortgage for a little while. it might help you make the payments in the short term. with a fixed—rate deal coming to an end next year, angela's already working out how she's going to afford it. if i got to the point that i thought i can't afford it, i'd have to speak to the mortgage company and say, "what can i do?" but you know that, even if they give you grace for x amount of time, you've still got to pay it back. so...yeah, it's a worry for people. i can't downsize any smaller unless i lived in a shoe box. as the chancellor meets lenders later, it's hoped they might be able to do more to ease that squeeze. colletta smith, bbc news, in castleford. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. thursday turned into another very warm june day, and we've had no shortage

of those recently. temperatures in the sunniest spots in the south—east got up to 29 celsius. and over the next few days, with this feed of very warm and increasingly humid air working across the uk, those temperatures could get even higherfor some, up to 30 or 31 degrees by sunday. in the short term, this is friday morning, with cloud and outbreaks of rain across parts of northern ireland, western scotland, some of that rain splashing into northern england, parts of wales. further south and east, largely dry, a bit more cloud in the mix and just the odd shower there for east anglia. but there will be some sunshine and a little bit of brightness at times in the north—east of scotland, which should lift temperatures quite nicely here. but the highest values will be towards the south—east of england at 26 or 27 degrees with an increasingly humid feel. and we take that humidity with us into friday night, with a lot of cloud, some mist and murk for coasts and hills and some outbreaks of rain, especially moving across scotland. these are the overnight lows, 1a, 15, 16 degrees.

so a little uncomfortable for sleeping, i suspect. and then into saturday, we start on that humid, muggy note with some areas of low cloud and mist and fog. a little bit of rain around, particularly across scotland, we'll keep some showery rain in north—west scotland, maybe north—western parts of northern ireland. further south and east, where we see the best of the sunshine breaking through, temperatures really will climb, up to 28 or maybe 29 celsius. now, into the second half of the weekend, high pressure tends to retreat eastwards and we see this frontal system swinging in from the west. ahead of it, the breeze will strengthen — a southerly breeze, so it will still be bringing some very warm and humid air — but we see this band of rain pushing in from the west and some of this will be heavy and thundery. and behind that, a change in the wind direction to a westerly wind, and so it will start to feel a little bit fresher. but ahead of that rain band, in the south—east corner, highs of 30 or 31 degrees. so for the weekend, we can sum things up like this. it will be very warm, the nights will be particularly humid and we will see that risk

of thundery downpours, particularly on sunday. and then into next week, quite a change. it's going to be much more unsettled. some outbreaks of rain at times and not quite as warm as it has been.

live from london, this is bbc news. a "new era" in a relationship — washington looks to delhi as a counterweight to china.

as greece heads to elections this sunday, what lies ahead for its economy? we take a look. the gates are open — and hundreds of thousands of visitors are already there. just how is the festival industry coping after covid crashed the party? i'm victoria valentine. we begin in the us where president biden and india's prime minister, narendra modi, have hailed a new era in bilateral relations after talks at the white house. the indian leader is receiving a lavish welcome on his state visit to washington. he addressed a joint meeting of both houses of congress. and in his speech, he spoke about the close ties between india and the united states. there have been many advances in al —

artificial intelligence. at the same time, there have been even more momentous development in another area — development in another ai — america and india. joining me now is ashok malik, partner and chair of the india practice at the asia group. thank you very much forjoining me and our viewers across the world. . ~ me and our viewers across the world. ., ~' ,, me and our viewers across the world-_ since - me and our viewers across the world._ since the i world. thank you. since the last time — world. thank you. since the last time these _ world. thank you. since the last time these two - world. thank you. since the | last time these two countries met at this time deliver cocaine of level, a major thing has happened. the dominance of china —— at this sort of level, they no longer see china as a potential partner but real serious and real threat. how

much is the relationship between the us and india being determined by china, the third party in the room?— party in the room? look, us relationship _ party in the room? look, us relationship has _ party in the room? look, us relationship has grown - party in the room? look, us relationship has grown the l party in the room? look, us i relationship has grown the last few years but the recent actions and behaviour of china has certainly accelerated the base of the india us engagement. this year, this summer, president biden and prime minister modi have already met twice and will meet once more in september in new delhi and possibly in san francisco at conference, as well. the intensity has certainly grown. it has grown in two big areas. one is of course security and defence between the two countries, and the indo—pacific, and second in terms of supply chains, manufacturing, both in the us and india, it in which both

countries are investing. in terms of building resilient and reliable supply chains as an alternative to the sourcing concentration we have seen in china, which became problematic in the period around covid because supplies from china did get blocked, sometimes because of chinese government action, sometimesjust because of chinese government action, sometimes just because of lockdown situations. so sometimesjust because of lockdown situations. so there is some sense _ lockdown situations. so there is some sense that _ lockdown situations. so there is some sense that the - lockdown situations. so there is some sense that the warm | is some sense that the warm words between these two leaders are translating into real investment and deals done. but i wonder, though, investment and deals done. but iwonder, though, economically speaking, there is often a sense that a rising tide will lift all boats and i do wonder to what extent countries across the asian region and the indo—pacific region are looking to china and thinking, actually, this means our own prosperity will grow. so what really is it for india that will attract it to the us and continue to make these partnerships?—

continue to make these partnerships? continue to make these artnershi s? ., , partnerships? two things. if we look at asia _ partnerships? two things. if we look at asia or _ partnerships? two things. if we look at asia or southeast - partnerships? two things. if we look at asia or southeast asia l look at asia or southeast asia and south asia, really, they are countries which are very definitely going into the chinese supply chain system. india has chosen not to take that route and didn't sign up to the regional economic comprehensive partnership of bill, orthe comprehensive partnership of bill, or the outset programme, which is an agreement with, in a sense, china. india didn't sign up to that, it signed up to more loose american arrangement. it has made its choice fairly clear. in terms of what india and the us can do for each other, particularly in emerging technologies such as quantum computing, renewable energy, green hydrogen and the digital sphere, energy, green hydrogen and the digitalsphere, really, the energy, green hydrogen and the digital sphere, really, the way india and china compete, where india and china compete, where india has strong capabilities and of course america is a powerhouse. india and the us

see natural complementarity is. where china has a chokehold, and taiwan has both the strength and vulnerability, india and the us are both trying to build confirmatory capacities at home. and we saw that in the announcement by micron, the us company, investing in india. there are clearly opportunities in emerging opportunities in the digital sphere, emerging opportunities in the digitalsphere, in phones emerging opportunities in the digital sphere, in phones where apple is wrapping up as an alternative to china. the india growth story with apple is emerging faster and faster. but that entire _ emerging faster and faster. but that entire growth story is being fuelled largely by russian oil. since the war in ukraine we have seen dependence on russian oil in india go from 4% to 40%. is the us on russian oil in india go from 4% to a0%. is the us going to be willing to overlook that in

an era of bilateral trade between the two? look, quite frankl , between the two? look, quite frankly, russia _ between the two? look, quite frankly, russia traditionally i frankly, russia traditionally has been a very small supplier of energy for india. india has bought its energy, a huge importer, but it's bought its energy, a huge importer, but its oil and gas from the middle east, the gulf states. the gulf states are now supplying to europe because they will need that much energy to go around. they don't want to go around. they don't want to invent new energy or buy it from mars. the fact is that the russian opportunity did open up, india has gone into it with concurrence from major western countries even if they don't say it publicly, including the us. india is importing a lot of crude oilfrom russia, refining it and exporting it right back to the heart of europe and even to the heart of europe and even to the heart of europe and even to the country you are speaking

from. . , , ~ from. really interesting. we have to leave _ from. really interesting. we have to leave it _ from. really interesting. we have to leave it there - from. really interesting. we have to leave it there for - from. really interesting. wej have to leave it there for the moment but thank you very much for your time and insights. ashok malik. greece will go back to the polls on sunday after the new democracy party failed to secure an outright majority in may. if new democracy can secure a majority this time around, it'll be able to continue with its economic reforms. however, if the left—wing parties are able to unite, it could lead to a change of government. live now to vicky pryce — chief economic adviser at the centre for economics and business research, and author of greekonomics. the second round of voting is taking place against a backdrop of economic uncertainty. bring us up to speed with what businesses and individuals are facing. businesses and individuals are facina . , facing. the interesting thing about greece _ facing. the interesting thing about greece is _ facing. the interesting thing about greece is it _ facing. the interesting thing about greece is it has - facing. the interesting thing about greece is it has done | about greece is it has done rather well over the last few years. remember it had gone through a very substantial period of gdp falling year

after year during the euro zone crisis. that has changed quite dramatically, greece is now being rehabilitated financially. the european central bank has been buying its bonds, being upgraded by the credit rating agencies. so we had growth of over 5% in 2022 and the fastest growing country —— one of the fastest—growing countries in the eu. it is not at the same pace. a lot of money coming from the eu into greece which is very helpful for the ruling party. obviously there is quite a lot of concern about unemployment still. a lot of the young have left and gone to work in other parts of the eu. turnout in the elections was not that bad last time around, which was in late may. 60%, quite a lot of the young have been protesting and not really voting at all but that could change and could be to the benefit of the other parties rather than the new democracy

party. the economy has slowed down. we had a small drop in the first quarter but 0.1%, and other countries have had similar issues in europe. year on year it is still growing by over 2%, on year it is still growing by over2%, revenues on year it is still growing by over 2%, revenues coming in. there have been another of —— and above issues the covenant has said to face. they have been scandals, there was a phone hacking scandal against the opposition party, one of the opposition party, one of the opposition party, one of the opposition parties, a smaller one, left—wing, they are used to run their country, pasok, for a number of years before. also we have had very substantial shock of a train crashing back in late february and we also of course have the migrant crisis, which has been accentuated recently. certainly, understory recovered in a lot of detail here. in some ways, particularly when

you look at the money markets, they might be some room for optimism because if you look in recent days you have had greek bonds and stock markets rallying, suggesting perhaps that the pro—investment government will be able to hold out. if that is the case, does it suggest that greece is not going to slide back to the dark days of the debt crisis? yes. days of the debt crisis? yes, in fact, that _ days of the debt crisis? yes, in fact, that is _ days of the debt crisis? yes, in fact, that is coming - days of the debt crisis? yes, in fact, that is coming down | days of the debt crisis? yes, l in fact, that is coming down as a percentage of gdp because of the high growth rate in greece, which is good news, it is one of the countries that will see the biggest improvement in its debt—to—gdp ratio. it will be very high, it may come down to 150% from nearly 200% it reached during the eurozone crisis. so, yes. the other thing to remember is that the vote this time around will be different. the main left—wing party, syriza, which was there during the second half of the eurozone crisis, had loads of

changes to the economy and had quite a right wing policy leaving the current new democracy with an easierjob thanit democracy with an easierjob than it would have had otherwise so greece has been rehabilitated from that point of view, the markets being positive. during that period there was a change in the law which meant that when we had the election in may, in greece, extra seats that nell miller were given to the ruling party to ensure that you can only would be given to the ruling party to ensure they could reach a majority, they were not given because the role had changed. new democracy managed to change that to achieve the agreement that the first elections were going to be done on this new rule with no extra seats. this election on sunday will be with those extra seats there, which means the likelihood of new democracy being able to run a majority government without a coalition has increased.— has increased. vicky pryce, thank yon _ has increased. vicky pryce, thank you. thank _ has increased. vicky pryce, thank you. thank you. - the former boss of nissan, carlos ghosn, has spoken to the bbc about his reasons

for launching a $1 billion lawsuit against the car—maker. mr ghosn, who once ran the renault—nissan—mitsubishi alliance — one of the biggest car—making groups in the world — fled japan while awaiting trial and now lives in lebanon. the lawsuit accuses nissan, two other companies and 12 people of crimes including defamation and libel. nissan declined to comment. our reporter in beirut, carine torbey, asked him why he was making this move now. ihad to... why now? because i had to reconstitute all the facts. i had nothing. i had to go look at what the prosecutor gave me, check with people, re—establish the timing, the facts. because we wanted this lawsuit to be as solid as possible, as factual as possible, with a lot of evidence, because we have the intention to win it. so... but you are suing nissan in lebanon. basically, you don't have any other option. there are three red interpol notices issued byjapan and france for carlos ghosn. realistically, what can

you achieve in lebanon? yeah. well, first, the multiple red notice you're talking about is the same. it is the same. it's different colours. but they are making it appear as you have multiple crimes on many things, which is... which is interesting... none of the instruction is finished. yeah, but... no, no. but there are cases of corruption... japan... ..in france... no, no, no. there are... ..which are completely different from the charges of japan! there are allegations... there are allegations coming from the dossier transmitted by the japanese authority to the french authorities. that is the main accusation coming from there. and most of these accusations are based on so—called files found in my house — which have been stolen — and nobody can guarantee to me the integrity of these files. which mean you have nissan employees getting to your home in lebanon illegally, taking everything they have, going to the prosecutor, transmitting the files to the prosecutor,

without absolutely no guarantee that this has not been altered, modified, added to — nothing at all. that's why in any system — legal system — you give warrants. what is a warrant? that means you have people who are professionals, who go to a house to guarantee that not one party is going so—called raid your house, take whatever they want, modify it, and then give them to justice and say, "that's it." so all of this is legal terms, but i just don't want you to give the impression to the public that there are so many accusations — no, it is the same file. and the file originated particularly from raiding the house in beirut illegally and with no guarantee that it has not been altered. meta — the owner of facebook and instagram — has said it will begin to restrict news on its platforms to canadian consumers after parliament passed a controversial online news bill. joao da silva is following the story from our asia business hub in singapore.

why is this happening? well, ultimately — why is this happening? well, ultimately this _ why is this happening? well, ultimately this fight - why is this happening? well, ultimately this fight between | ultimately this fight between internet companies on the one hand and of course the news industry on the other, it comes down to one thing which is of course advertising. internet companies have come to dominate online advertising and of course the news industry has struggled in recent years because of course it has been deprived of a crucial source of revenue. this is why the canadian news industry has really pushed hard for this legislation. it is their view that, you know, if readers, viewers are coming to their content via social media platforms than those social media platforms where the quantity done content is being hosted, they should pay for the content. these news organisations say journalism content. these news organisations sayjournalism is an expensive activity, and important public service that should be fairly compensated. for internet companies this is about business. meta is saying

that instagram, facebook users are not coming to the platforms primarily for news content and they say if this legislation indeed becomes law then they will block any content from canadian news organisations. it looks like the legislation will become law, it has cleared the senate and has now only to clear a made formality. we have to look atjurisdictions where legislation has been introduced that are similar like australia, and according to the australian government, despite some initial resistance from internets companies it has produce the desired effect. internet companies have reached deals with news organisations which are getting very crucial boost in revenue.— boost in revenue. really interesting, _ boost in revenue. really interesting, thank - boost in revenue. really interesting, thank you . boost in revenue. really i interesting, thank you very much. plenty more on this story on the bbc website. let's get some of the

day's other news now. the us federal trade commission has faced off with tech giant microsoft in court over its $69 billion takeover of gaming company activision blizzard. the ftc wants to temporarily block the deal from closing until the agency decides if the move hurts competition in the gaming industry. microsoft says the move would only benefit gamers and gaming companies. turkey's central bank has jacked up the country's interest rate by 6.5%, changing course after years of monetary easing. this currently puts the cost of borrowing in the country at 15% — less than what analysts had expected. ankara is trying to tame runaway inflation, which soared to a 24—year high last year. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. bringing you different - stories from across the uk. 2022 — the worst summer yet for wildfires. a fourfold increase on the year before. 11 months on, sam catchpole's crop of winter barley is three weeks away from harvest. despite the recent rain, he shows mejust how dry the crop is.

as you can see from earlier, that's extremely dry already, and it would take very little for that to ignite. norfolk fire service have secured more than half a million pounds for extra training and kit to deal with this growing threat. today, they showed off new lightweight clothing for crews to cope in the searing heat, easier access to farmers' reservoirs and bowsers to fight remote fires, and new misting lances like this — which use less water, but can kill fires above and under the ground. a lot of that comes down to just rethinking how, as a community, we work together and actually how we all have a responsibility to reduce fire risk. for more stories from across the uk, head l to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. let's talk about what is going

on withjeremy hunt and the chancellor. it is really interesting. yesterday we had a sharp hike in interest rates. we thought they would go up maybe 0.25% but it was more than that. interest rates currently in the uk standing at 5%. there has been a huge amount of criticism from the government and towards also the governor of the bank of england, andrew bailey, as to whether or not they are doing enough, whether or not there is enough, whether or not there is enough support for homeowners across the uk. live now to michael hewson, chief market analyst, cmc markets. to some extent at the hands of the chancellor are tied because of the bank of england but are the banks actually tied in the same way when it comes to dealing with the fallout of what could be repossessions, defaults and recession? every time we get — defaults and recession? every time we get a _ defaults and recession? every time we get a spike _ defaults and recession? every time we get a spike in - defaults and recession? every| time we get a spike in interest rates like this there is always concern about the housing market. it seems to be an

age—old obsession with us here in the uk. i remember in the 19905 we had similar interest rate spike and that caused housing values to fall quite sharply. the fact of the matter is that the banks do have a number of tools at their disposal to create a bridge, if you like, for this rise in mortgage rates. my view on it, victoria, is that we probably won't be going much higher and i think that is the main concern that i think mortgage holders have, that interest rates will continue to rise. core prices are very strong, but wage growth is very strong, as well, and i think that could act as a fairly decent offset. but i think going to interest only mortgages temporarily, perhaps extending the term a little bit, repayment forgiveness and what have you. there are a number of mechanisms that the banks can use to try to create a bridge

for interest rates and gilt yields which are mortgage rates based on start to edge lower. what was more interesting yesterday was that when the bank of england hiked by 50 basis points, two year guilt yields barely moved which suggests it was already priced into the market. i suggests it was already priced into the market.— into the market. i think that is probably _ into the market. i think that is probably right. _ into the market. i think that is probably right. i - into the market. i think that is probably right. i wonder l is probably right. i wonder whether or not you think that banks have enough capital and enough liquidity to withstand the shocks such as a recession oran impending the shocks such as a recession or an impending mortgage crisis if that is where we are heading. i if that is where we are heading-— if that is where we are headina. ~' , ., heading. i think they do. i think banks _ heading. i think they do. i think banks are _ heading. i think they do. i think banks are an - heading. i think they do. i think banks are an awful. heading. i think they do. i i think banks are an awful lot stronger than they were in 2008. i think 2008 was a shot across the bow is. they are much more stable, particularly the uk banks. hsbc is one of the uk banks. hsbc is one of the world's biggest banks. lloyds and natwest are much more financially robust. i don't think we are going to see the type of crash we saw in the

19905 simply on the basis of the fact that i don't think interest rates are going to go much higher. if you look at other areas of the uk economy, inflation is coming down. the energy price cap next month in july should lower gas bills quite significantly, which should put some extra money in the pockets of consumers and if you look at the consumer confidence numbers that came out this morning, they are at their best levels since january 2022 so i think there is a light at the end of the tunnel. unfortunately i think that tunnel could be quite long. michael hewson, thank you very much. . ~ michael hewson, thank you very much. ., ~ the glastonbury festival gates have opened to allow around 200,000 festival—goers to descend on worthy farm this weekend. the music bill across the long weekend includes sir eltonjohn, lana del rey, lewis capaldi and lil nas x. but recent research found that one in six festivals came to an end as a result of covid. live now to steve heap — general secretary,

the association of festival organisers. i was looking at prices for this. tickets have gone from £280 plus a booking fee last year to £335 this year, plus the booking fee. has live music become too expensive for ordinary people?- become too expensive for ordina --eole? ., ordinary people? good morning, victoria. ordinary people? good morning, victoria- no. _ ordinary people? good morning, victoria. no, i— ordinary people? good morning, victoria. no, i don't— ordinary people? good morning, victoria. no, i don't think - ordinary people? good morning, victoria. no, i don't think it - victoria. no, i don't think it has. those figures of course i just for the glastonbury ticket. there are closer to 800 other music festivals around the country, most of which i doing very good business. there have been some casualties this year. it has been a tough year. covid did take out quite a few. but the enthusiasm and amazing organisational skills have just brought back lots of other festivals. ticket prices are as high as they can probably be at the present time, mostly have

to go up due to the cost of the infrastructure and the artist fees and so on moving up along with everything else in the current climate.— with everything else in the current climate. the closures that we are _ current climate. the closures that we are talking _ current climate. the closures that we are talking about, i current climate. the closuresl that we are talking about, one in six festivals coming to an end during covid, that must have an impact on the music, the whole music supply chain, as well as local economies. it does indeed. that research was conducted by my colleague at aif and it was mostlyjust their own aif member festivals that were being researched. the wider events industry, in particular music festivals, is pretty buoyant and doing good business. yes, it always does affect the overall life music industry. wejust affect the overall life music industry. we just need a tiny bit of government support. we have tried to demonstrate this before stop government drops vat on ticket sales to 5% during covid and that helped

save an enormous number of events and if they were to do that again for the 2024 season, it would bring in fact a great deal more vat back into the treasury because festivals and events would survive and people would attend and spend their spare cash. would attend and spend their spare cash-— would attend and spend their sare cash. ,, ., , ., spare cash. steve heap, general secretary of _ spare cash. steve heap, general secretary of the _ spare cash. steve heap, general secretary of the association - spare cash. steve heap, general secretary of the association of l secretary of the association of festival organisers, thank you very much for your time and your analysis there. really interesting. if you are going to glastonbury i hope you enjoy it this weekend. thank you very much for your time and your company. i will see you with your headlines if you are watching internationally in a moment. goodbye. hello. thursday turned into another very warm june day, and we've had no shortage of those recently. temperatures in the sunniest spots in the south—east got up to 29 celsius. and over the next few days, with this feed of very warm

and increasingly humid air working across the uk, those temperatures could get even higherfor some, up to 30 or 31 degrees by sunday. in the short term, this is friday morning, with cloud and outbreaks of rain across parts of northern ireland, western scotland, some of that rain splashing into northern england, parts of wales. further south and east, largely dry, a bit more cloud in the mix and just the odd shower there for east anglia. but there will be some sunshine and a little bit of brightness at times in the north—east of scotland, which should lift temperatures quite nicely here. but the highest values will be towards the south—east of england at 26 or 27 degrees with an increasingly humid feel. and we take that humidity with us into friday night, with a lot of cloud, some mist and murk for coasts and hills and some outbreaks of rain, especially moving across scotland. these are the overnight lows, 14, 15, 16 degrees. so a little uncomfortable for sleeping, i suspect. and then into saturday, we start on that humid, muggy note with some areas of low cloud and mist and fog.

a little bit of rain around, particularly across scotland, we'll keep some showery rain in north—west scotland, maybe north—western parts of northern ireland. further south and east, where we see the best of the sunshine breaking through, temperatures really will climb, up to 28 or maybe 29 celsius. now, into the second half of the weekend, high pressure tends to retreat eastwards and we see this frontal system swinging in from the west. ahead of it, the breeze will strengthen — a southerly breeze, so it will still be bringing some very warm and humid air — but we see this band of rain pushing in from the west and some of this will be heavy and thundery. and behind that, a change in the wind direction to a westerly wind, and so it will start to feel a little bit fresher. but ahead of that rain band, in the south—east corner, highs of 30 or 31 degrees. so for the weekend, we can sum things up like this. it will be very warm, the nights will be particularly humid and we will see that risk of thundery downpours, particularly on sunday. and then into next week, quite a change. it's going to be

much more unsettled. some outbreaks of rain at times and not quite as warm as it has been.

charlie stayt and naga munchetty. good morning.

welcome to breakfast with