yevgeny prigozhin has left belarus and is back in russia, according to the belarusian president. four people are killed in a russian rocket attack on an apartment building in ukraine. nine people including seven children are injured after a car crashes into a primary school building in south london. for detectives who ran the original investigation into the killing of stephen lawrence, the uk's most notorious racist murder, will not face criminal prosecution. an meta launches threats as a rival to twitter. hello. welcome to bbc news now, three hours of fast—moving news, interviews and reaction. we start with the news that the wagner group leader, yevgeny prigozhin, has left belarus

and is probably in the russian city of st petersburg. that's according to the belarusian leader, alexander lukashenko. mr prigozhin led wagner's short—lived mutiny in russia last month. mr lukashenko said he had — in his words — offered to let mr prigozhin "bed down" in belarus. nine days ago, he confirmed the mercenary group leader had arrived in the country as part of a deal to end the rebellion. in a news conference, mr lukashenko also said that he planned to discuss mr prigozhin�*s activities with the russian president, vladimir putin, and he said he had been assured that mr putin will not "wipe out" the wagner group leader. mr prigozhin was last seen in public when he left rostov—on—don in southern russia. there has been speculation about whether he was sticking to the terms of the deal. he has not been seen in public since the mutiny was called off. a plane linked to mr prigozhin has flown between belarus and russia several times in the past two weeks.

meanwhile, in ukraine, a russian rocket has hit an apartment building in the western city of lviv, killing at least four people. the mayor of lviv says the attack has left more than 30 people injured — one seriously. he says more than 50 flats have been damaged. these aerial images show the scale of the attack. the top floors of the apartment building have been devastated by the force of the explosion. emergency workers are still at the scene amid fears more people could be trapped under the rubble. the attack is being described as the largest on lviv's civilian infrastructure since the start of the full—scale invasion. the city is hundreds of kilometres from the frontlines. translation: we were at home at night. - i woke up from the first explosion, but we didn't have time to leave the apartment. there was a second explosion, the ceiling started to fall. my mother was immediately hit.

i jumped out. i was covered in rubble only about knee—deep. i tried to reach my mother but i couldn't. i found out that my mother had died. my neighbours had died. at this point it seems i was the only one who survived from the fourth floor. it's a miracle. translation: if it wasn't i for the rescuers, we wouldn't have left the apartment. the rescuers broke down the door and led us out. i am left without an apartment, without anything. i heard screams from the neighbours. i think they were being pulled out of the rubble. opposite me, there were terrifying screams. they must have been pulling people out of the rubble. now i don't see my neighbours on the street any more.

only thing we can say with any certainty is we don't know where yevgeny prigozhin is right now. what we know is there are all sorts of political games going on between belarus and russia and yevgeny prigozhin, the man who led that mutinyjust prigozhin, the man who led that mutiny just over prigozhin, the man who led that mutinyjust over a week ago, which threatened vladimir putin's authority, apparently he is still a free man, but what people are saying, alexander lukashenko has been speaking to journalists today. he has said that mr prigozhin is not in the country. now, that is not what he said ten days ago, he said that mr prigozhin was there, he had offered to let him bed down for a while, but that same evening we tracked a private jet linked to mr prigozhin flying back to russia, the has been over the past week or so.

it has been turning its radar of every so often, but it appears to be there. it does not clear whether he is on board. there was one report in saint petersburg claiming he had been seen there, but again we can't stand that up. what we do know is that images from searches of mr prigozhin�*s house, a very luxurious if tasteless residents outside st petersburg, those images have been emerging, and they do appear to make fun of mr prigozhin to undercut him because these images show his multiple identities, multiple forged passports and a set of elaborate disguises and wigs which apparently mr prigozhin has used in the past. it is fascinating when we start to get this sort of detail. and what is interesting here, we know that mr lukashenko has been trying to paint himself as an intermediary in these

negotiations, trying to broker that deal between the two men, and yet at the same time saying that mr prigozhin is absolutely free and that president putin would not wipe him out. this is a man who led an armed mutiny, an armed rebellion, and threatened moscow at some point. it is extraordinary and remains extraordinary and remains extremely mysterious, even murky, and yet we still don't know what will happen either, notjust to yevgeny prigozhin. if he is still a free man that that's the case because of course people who have led peaceful opposition to vladimir putin have been locked up for many years and have faced very different scenarios, but apparently he is still free. the other thing to say about his army, where are they? alexander lukashenko today said they were not in belarus either, no fighters from the wagner group had arrived there although he confirmed he was willing to house them there as part of that deal he struck to end the mutiny, but he

suggested they were still at their bases which could mean in eastern ukraine or it could mean in southern russia which is where they have a training base, and infacta russia which is where they have a training base, and in fact a few days ago i was calling around wagner recruitment centres, they were still recruiting and sending wagner members to that base in southern russia, so still so many questions, even since that dramatic mutiny. there is a lot of political posturing going on here, but i wonder, because all the while the war continues, where does this leave that ukrainian counter offensive we know is under way? figs that ukrainian counter offensive we know is under way?— know is under way? as we know? wanner know is under way? as we know? wagner fighters _ know is under way? as we know? wagner fighters are _ know is under way? as we know? wagner fighters are away - know is under way? as we know? wagner fighters are away from i know is under way? as we know? | wagner fighters are away from the front lines. they were one of the most _ front lines. they were one of the most capable fighting forces that russia _ most capable fighting forces that russia had in ukraine, and now it is gone, _ russia had in ukraine, and now it is gone, which — russia had in ukraine, and now it is gone, which is of course going to be

welcomed _ gone, which is of course going to be welcomed by the ukrainians, but also, _ welcomed by the ukrainians, but also, any— welcomed by the ukrainians, but also, any signs of instability, any signs— also, any signs of instability, any signs of— also, any signs of instability, any signs of infighting in russia, again. — signs of infighting in russia, again, they are welcomed by ukraine, they are _ again, they are welcomed by ukraine, they are a _ again, they are welcomed by ukraine, they are a distraction for both the kremlin— they are a distraction for both the kremlin and the military and within the past _ kremlin and the military and within the past hour spokesman for the kremlin— the past hour spokesman for the kremlin was asked about yevgeny prigozhin's whereabouts, and he said the kremlin— prigozhin's whereabouts, and he said the kremlin had neither capability nor desire — the kremlin had neither capability nor desire to track down his movements, which is a striking statement coming from the kremlin ahout— statement coming from the kremlin about a _ statement coming from the kremlin about a man who appeared to challenge the kremlin's military machine. — challenge the kremlin's military machine, so all this infighting, all these _ machine, so all this infighting, all these squabbles, of course i hope in ukraine _ these squabbles, of course i hope in ukraine is— these squabbles, of course i hope in ukraine is that they will weaken both the — ukraine is that they will weaken both the political power in moscow and also _ both the political power in moscow and also its military in ukraine.

so, what is actually going on right now? with his assessment of today's developments, here's our russia editor, steve rosenberg. well, less than two weeks ago, we were told that alexander lukashenko, the leader of belarus, had brokered a deal under which the wagner mutiny would end and yevgeny prigozhin would move from russia to belarus, and any wagnerfighters who want to do could join him in belarus. today, mr lukashenko told us that actually yevgeny prigozhin is not in belarus, that he was in st petersburg, he may be in moscow today, and the wagnerfighters are not in belarus. he indicated that they went back to their camps in russian occupied eastern ukraine. mr lukashenko also said that he's going to be discussing

the situation with wagner with vladimir putin in the nearest future, although the kremlin hasn't given any date for that discussion. so what is happening? what is actually going on? who knows? now, we also talked about nuclear weapons because the kremlin has said that it is moving tactical nuclear weapons from russia to belarus. alexander lukashenko said that some had arrived and that more would arrive by the end of the year. now, a short while ago, he said that, god forbid, he should actually have to take the decision to use those weapons. well, i said to him, these are not your weapons to take the decision to use. they are russian weapons. well, he said, well, if ukraine can fight with other people's weapons, meaning sort of nato's weapons, then why can't i? the uk's parliamentary standards watchdog — who have been looking into groping allegations against the former conservative deputy chief whip,

chris pincher — say he should be suspended for eight weeks. mr pincher has apologised for his actions once again. labour has called on him to resign as an mp. here's our political correspondent ione wells. a year ago this week, borisjohnson's handling of groping allegations against his deputy chief whip, chris pincher, led to his downfall as prime minister. now we know more about what those allegations were. they took place here — the private members' club the carlton club. a report by parliament's standards watchdog says... the report says mr pincher

was intoxicated at the time. it adds that his behaviour was witnessed by at least one other person at the club and likely others too. the watchdog says his behaviour was shocking, deeply inappropriate and adversely impacted two unsuspecting individuals. and the conduct led to a misplaced public perception that mps do not have to abide by normal standards of behaviour. it concludes that his behaviour damaged the reputation of all mps and the house of commons, something mr pincher denies. but the report says he admitted it damaged his own reputation and that of the government and apologised to the individuals involved. the report recommends an eight—week suspension from the house of commons. the honourable member concerned has ten days to appeal. and we must let due process run its course. but she knows that we take these matters incredibly seriously.

if mps approve this suspension after the appeal period, this could trigger a by—election in his midlands seat of tamworth. some of his constituents say he should resign now. if he can't do the job, he needs to resign, doesn't he? i have voted for him i many times in the past but he won't get my vote again. it's a view echoed by opposition parties. he shouldn't still be an mp in the conservative party and they are a disgrace for letting it continue. that was part of the reason why borisjohnson had to go. yeah, but they tried to defend it. they need to clean up their act. his reputation damaged, the end of his parliamentary career potentially accelerated. the conservative party now wait to see if another by—election challenges on the horizon. in the uk, seven children are among nine people injured after a car came off the road and hit a school in south—west london. our reporter, nickjohnson,

has been at the scene in wimbledon. there's been a significant presence by the emergency services here since this all happened, just before ten o'clock this morning. close to two dozen vehicles from police, from fire and from the ambulance. and it is down this narrow road here, towards the entrance of the study school here, just by wimbledon common, that we believe the car impacted one of the school buildings. the school is a fee—paying school here, it's for girls aged between four and ii. the local mp stephen hammond says he has told us he thinks the building where that car impacted is one where the younger children, the four to eight—year—olds, have their classrooms. we've actually seen, in the last hour or so, a girl and an adult leaving on foot on the scene here. both without shoes, looking distressed. but importantly, the police say that no arrests have been made and they're not treating this

as a terrorist incident. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's take a look at some other news making headlines across the uk. bosses of the four biggest banks are meeting the financial watchdog today to discuss concerns that interest rates on savings accounts are too low and aren't increasing as quickly as those on mortgages. the bosses of lloyds, hsbc, natwest and barclays have denied accusations from mps that they've been profiteering. the governor of the bank of england has told the bbc that there is evidence some retailers are overcharging customers. andrew baily says regulators must take measures to prevent retailers taking advantage of high inflation and pushing through unfair price hikes, which all adds to the cost of living crisis. the government has suffered another series of defeats in the house of lords over its plans to deport asylum seekers who arrive in the uk on small boats. peers backed five new amendments to the illegal migration bill. in total, the government was defeated 20 times

during three days of debate. the bill will now go back to the commons. you're live with bbc news. a court in sweden has sentenced a kurdish man to four—and—a—half years in jail for attempting to finance the kurdish militant group the pkk. the court also ruled that the man must be deported from sweden. the case has been keenly watched in turkey which has fought the pkk — on and off — since the 1980s. ankara has opposed sweden's application to join nato, accusing sweden of not doing enough to fight groups it regards as terrorists. sweden introduced tougher anti—terrorism laws last month. more on the political background to this case now. this more on the political background to this case nova—

this case now. this is part of the turkish agreement _ this case now. this is part of the turkish agreement of— this case now. this is part of the turkish agreement of inviting i turkish agreement of inviting sweden to nato. and having stronger legislation on terrorism, also being able to address the pkk in sweden harder, has been part of that work, so this comes very timely, also as there is a meeting today at nato where sweden, finland and turkey also assess progress that has been made in this regard, a key issue for turkey, allowing sweden into the alliance. ,, , alliance. sweden tightening its anti-terrorism _ alliance. sweden tightening its anti-terrorism legislation. - alliance. sweden tightening its anti-terrorism legislation. but| anti—terrorism legislation. but turkey has accused sweden of being a haven for terrorists, especially members of the pkk, so it's been asking for this extradition. does turkey really believe that sweden is a haven for terrorists? i

turkey really believe that sweden is a haven for terrorists?— a haven for terrorists? i don't believe that _ a haven for terrorists? i don't believe that turkey _ a haven for terrorists? i don't believe that turkey sees - a haven for terrorists? i don't believe that turkey sees it. a haven for terrorists? i don't i believe that turkey sees it that way. and sweden is not a haven for terrorism. but i think we can agree that this process with turkey has put the pkk higher on the agenda for the security police, and i foresee that this kind of cooperation will continue in the future between sweden and turkey and also finland which has been part of this work. we know that accession to nato requires a unanimous vote by members. is turkey using this simply as a bargaining chip, to get what it wants from the alliance? certainly, there is talk— wants from the alliance? certainly, there is talk about _ wants from the alliance? certainly, there is talk about that, _ wants from the alliance? certainly, there is talk about that, and - wants from the alliance? certainly, there is talk about that, and we - wants from the alliance? certainly, there is talk about that, and we all| there is talk about that, and we all know that turkey is very interested in purchasing f—i6s from the united states, and that has been discussed, the biden administration has

basically given the green light for that, but there is opposition in congress, and we know from reporting that there has been a lot of work on this issue. so possibly that could be away of getting sweden into nato next week. d0 be away of getting sweden into nato next week. , ., ~ ., next week. do you think that sweden's — next week. do you think that sweden's politicians - next week. do you think that sweden's politicians could i next week. do you think that i sweden's politicians could have handled this a little better? it’s a handled this a little better? it's a difficult question. _ handled this a little better? it's a difficult question. i _ handled this a little better? it's a difficult question. i think- handled this a little better? it�*s a. difficult question. i think that sweden has been very keen with working with turkey within this trilateral movement, and turkey has also been putting in new things into the memorandum work which has made it difficult to assess what turkey wants, and if it is also involving f-i6s wants, and if it is also involving f—i6s or other things that turkey wants, sweden cannot handle this

alone, it has to be a question for the whole of the alliance. the authorities in south africa say at least 17 people, including three children, have died from inhaling toxic gas near the town of boksburg, east ofjohannesburg. the emergency services say they believe the gas, which leaked from a cylinder stored in a yard in a squatter camp, is linked to illegal gold mining in the area. the gas is used to extract ore from soil stolen from abandoned mine shafts. the boksburg provincial chairman of the economic freedom fighters party spoke to reporters at the scene. it definitely came from a gas leak, potentially from what you would refer to as illegal miners, the drilling, and that leakage actually was inhaled by members of the community. what is absolutely said

is that we have members of the community who have been saying that they have been calling it since six o'clock, priorto they have been calling it since six o'clock, prior to even the tragedy, to state there is a foul smell going on in the place, and they would like assistance, they did not receive it up assistance, they did not receive it up until casualties were now found lying on the streets and on the roads. police have seized cannabis plants worth £130 million — or $165 million — and arrested nearly 1,000 people in the uk's largest ever crackdown on organised crime. more than 180,000 plants were discovered in raids across england and wales last month — the operation was described as the most significant of its kind. frances read reports. forcing the doors of a thousand locations. police! through the eyes of the police

officers, this is what they find. cannabis farms in homes, industrial units, anywhere the plants can be grown. this is the biggest, fastest raid across england and wales of its kind. the profits from these class b drugs are precisely how organised gangs prosper. what isn't currently thought of is the harm that actually this large—scale cultivation does. many of these gangs are involved in a lot of violence and harm in our communities. a lot of exploitation who they force into working in such industry, and also the amount of money, particularly cash, that they then use to fuel their organised criminal activities. 200,000 plants have been seized worth £130 million, along with weapons, hundreds of thousands of pounds in cold, hard cash, and £1 million worth of cocaine on the side.

but this is also about the future. gathering intelligence and keeping communities safe from organised criminals. frances read, bbc news. an update to bring you on events in wimbledon. police telling us they confirm a child has died following that incident where the car collided with a school building in wimbledon. police saying it is tragic news, our thoughts are with a girl's family and friends and everyone affected today. they say they will continue their investigation into exactly what happened. they have also confirmed that the driver of the vehicle is a woman in her 40s. she

has now been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving, so two lines of breaking news to bring you there, a child has sadly died, one of those who were injured in that incident at the school, you can see these pictures here, giving you a sense of exactly what went on. so confirmation that a child has died after the incident but also that a woman in her 40s who was the driver of that vehicle has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. if we get any further details, we will bring them to you here. police just telling us they were called to the site this morning just before 10am local time after reports that that car had collided with the building at the study prep, a school in south london. they say officers were there with paramedics, london's

ambulance service and london's air ambulance service and london's air ambulance service, the driver of the vehicle was stopped at the scene. important to point out at this stage, police say they are not treating this incident in any way is related to terrorism, and the driver of that vehicle, the woman in her 40s, arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. but you can see the main line of this update, telling us a child has died following the incident after that car collided with a building in south london, a school building, just before 10am local time, it is an all girls school, busy at that time of the morning. we will have the latest headlines for you very shortly and also the business news. stay with us here on bbc news.

hello there. the first week ofjuly, temperatures have been a little bit below average for most of us. however, that's about to change. it is set to get a lot hotter. before we get there, though, today is a day of sunny spells for many of us. a fair amount of cloud at times. satellite picture shows the thickest cloud to the northwest of the uk and these weather fronts will be bringing some heavy outbreaks of rain. the low pressure associated with that rain starts to spin westwards as we go through into friday, and that allows southerly winds to drag up some much hotter airfrom france. and so temperatures in the hottest areas by tomorrow will surge upwards, reaching highs of 29 degrees in the hottest parts. now, this afternoon, it's fairly quiet weather—wise. temperatures near average, some sunny spells for most of england, wales, eastern scotland, showers few and far between. but we've got heavy rain in northern ireland and for western counties of northern ireland. could see some localised surface

water flooding building in with some heavier bursts here and that heavier rain will edge into western scotland late afternoon or early evening time. now, that heavy burst of rain will then push its way northwards across scotland. the rain then becomes a little bit lighter and patchier for scotland and northern ireland later in the night. maybe with some mist patches developing around coastal hills should be dry for most of england and wales for tomorrow. well, we start off with that chance of rain for northern ireland and scotland, although probably turning drier and brighter as the day goes by. it's across england and wales that we'll have the best of the day's sunshine and these southerly winds will be dragging in some much hotter air. temperatures could hit 29 degrees celsius. so getting into the mid eighties in fahrenheit towards southeast england, probably about 26 for eastern wales and into the low 20s for the central belt of scotland. for saturday, it stays on the warm side, but this area of low pressure will bring the threat of showers and thunderstorms. initially, we'll see a band of rain working into the west, but then a plume of moisture that gets pulled in from europe and that will probably take over as been

the driving force of seeing heavy thundery showers. the showers are always going to be a bit hit and miss in nature, but some of them could be quite torrential. we're looking at highs into the upper 20s, the hottest weather across eastern areas. now, for sunday. it's still quite warm, but it's another day of sunny spells and heavy showers. potentially some of those showers could merge together to give some really long spells of rain. could be really torrential as well. but there's some uncertainty about exactly where those heavier downpours are likely to be on sunday afternoon.

the us treasury secretary, janet yellen, touches down in beijing, aiming to thraw relations between the world's two biggest economic superpowers.