can you ever envisage trying to recreate something like that for wham 7 yes. can you? yeah. i think it would be fantastic to have wham at its pomp, playing live. so would i, but obviously george michael is no longer here. are there ethical questions? of course there are ethical questions. and that decision would be a mutual decision between myself and the estate, should it ever come to it. and i can't speak for them, i don't know how they would feel about it, but i think it could be done, and i think it could be done exceptionally well. i'd pay to go and see it. how much do you miss him? well, a lot. not all the time. but you know what it's like when you lose someone,

the intensity of that loss reduces over time and the frequency. but there are obviously moments where our relationship is thrust front and foremost. the documentary is one. so, you know, i've been closer to yog over this last two or three years than i had for a little while. and obviously you love him still, dearly. yeah, i think anyone who knew him loved him and had a great affection for him. you know, he was an exceptionally kind and generous friend and he was bloody funny, as well. andrew ridgeley, thank you very much for talking to us. you're very welcome. thank you, victoria. the documentary is called wham. we have some of the front pages of the newspapers tomorrow. many of them

have the same story. the times newspaper, life reveals huw edwards is a bbc star in eye of storm. and then a story about european temperatures edging towards 50 degrees. the front page of the mirror, bbc star huw is in hospital after scandal. wife names news anchor as cops say no crime committed. the guardian says huw edwards named as bbc presenter at the centre of allegations. and then britain and the us asking kyiv for a bit of gratitude. and the star, it is huw. and huw edwards in hospital for mental health care says his wife. and finally metro, choc statement and bbc crisis, it is huw edwards. that's all from us tonight. kirsty�*s here tomorrow. goodnight.

breaking news from around the world 24 breaking news from around the world 2a hours a day. this is bbc news. thank you so much forjoining us on newsday, as he said, a very stressful five days for many people involved. thank you so much for joining us today. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. bbc news bringing you different stories from across the uk is like constant mental torture, gambling and alcohol was just a momentary respite and just the same continuous negative force. losing his grandfather hit him hard.

his gambling started soon after, but it reached a point when he felt death was his only way out. one day he left notes for his family and went out intending to take his own life. but he was saved. it was hard enough being thejoker and making everyone laugh, and everyone used to love being around me. that was draining because it was like, you have no idea how i actually feel on the inside. freddie wanted to live, so he got medical help and crucially, debt advice too. and he started a podcast. the life of fred and thousands of people are listening. itjust blew up, and loads of people started listening, and loads of people started messaging me saying that i feel the same way, or i've not heard a man talk like that about, you know, about feelings and emotions. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. leaders from the g7 group of wealthy nations have announced a new security pact with ukraine.

the agreement was reached on the sidelines of the nato summit in lithuania, and pledges more military support for the country. the british prime minister, rishi sunak, heralded it as a "new high point" in international support for ukraine. president zelensky stressed — it wasn't a substitute for nato membership, but he said he was leaving the summit with a: "significant security victory for ukraine". our europe editor, katya adler reports from vilnius. our dear friend volodymyr zelensky, president of ukraine, welcome to you, volodymyr, it's good to have you here. applause. ukraine may not yet be a member of nato, not by a long way. but today, it was embraced, almost, as one of their own, taking part in a new council where kyiv can raise concerns on an equal footing. translation: we've discussed in detail the confrontation - with russia and what can be done to keep ukrainians safer. we're grateful to our partners for promising new packages of security and defence.

this may look like a conveyor belt of schmoozing with world leaders, but you'll notice ukraine's president always wears combat fatigues. all this gladhanding has a concrete purpose. back home, president zelensky�*s country is burning 500 days into russia's full scale invasion, ukrainians care a lot about nato. translation: nato is our only protection from russia, - otherwise they will never leave us alone. even if they will not help us, i don't know, i think the situation in our country will be much worse than now. in the corridors of power here, there's been lots of debate about why now isn't the time to make ukraine a full nato member. but... the big picture here is that ukraine and its defence against russia's

aggression is the focus of all the leaders at this summit. they're pledging long—term humanitarian and military aid and this despite all of those countries facing a cost of living crisis at home. it's a big deal. such a big deal, the british defence secretary remarked today off camera he advised kyiv not to treat allies like an amazon for weapons supplies. the prime minister said he was confident ukraine's president understood. i know he and his people are incredibly grateful for the support the uk has shown, the welcome that we've provided to many ukrainian families, but also the leadership that we've shown throughout this conflict. a conflict nato leaders know could go on for a long time. don't we need to be honest with people at home here, with voters, this could take years, couldn't it? wars are by nature unpredictable, so i think no—one can say with certainty how long this war will last. what we do say, or state very clearly, is that we will stand

by ukraine for as long as it takes. nato is being careful not to pile pressure on kyiv over its counteroffensive against russia. it's tough and slow. the grim reality of war. the palestinian president mah—moud abbas visited the west bank city ofjenin on wednesday. his visit comes just days after three of his senior officials were forced to flee a funeral by crowds who were furious at their response to the two—day long israeli assault last week. our correspondent tom bateman reports from jenin. the palestinian president came just inside the camp. you can see the entrance there. and this was all about the symbolism of coming to a place he's not been for two decades. and the reason for that is

that the official palestinian leadership had long lost the faith of many, many palestinians, a process that's been increasing, and particularly here atjenin refugee camp, where there hasn't just been a loss of belief in the official palestinian leadership, but they've been outright rejected, and notjust them, but their official security forces. now, he came in and we had utterly chaotic scenes as his entourage brought him through, and his presidential guard and security forces were clearing the way, a huge crowd that had assembled was being pushed aside. and he then stood and spoke. and if there was ever a symbol of the voicelessness or the emasculation of the current palestinian leadership, is the fact that his microphone didn't work to start with and indeed stopped working. it was cutting in and out throughout a lot of the speech. it was quite hard to make out much of what was being said. but he paid tribute to the dead from the israeli military assault of last week.

he also said the camp would be rebuilt. but what this was about was trying to stamp his authority, his footsteps just inside this camp, a symbol of control, but control that really is an illusion that doesn't exist, because as he leaves now, the reality is this camp returns to the devastation, the impoverishment, all the problems it had before, and a camp that is in the grip of a new generation of palestinian militants. and that is why this may do something to galvanise some support here among his fatah party and people who had already believed in his leadership. but in terms of the wider picture, this crisis and this crisis of security on the occupied west bank goes on. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. japanese tv personality ryuchell has been found dead by their manager at their agency's office in tokyo. the cause of death hasn't been confirmed, but police said they're investigating suicide. 27—year—old ryuchell became an influential lgbt figure injapan,

and was well—known for their genderless style of dressing, but they were frequently subject of social media harrassment. hundreds of pro—democracy protesters gathered in bangkok on wednesday after the election commission of thailand sat to decide if prime ministerial hopeful pita limcha—ron—rat was eligible to run in the upcoming election. pita was dealt a major setback when two separate complaints against him gained momentum, threatening to derail his leadership bid on the eve of a crucial vote. there's uproar in italy after a judge acquitted a 66—year—old school caretaker accused of groping a 17—year—old student, saying it did not constitute a crime, because it lasted less than ten seconds. since the ruling, "#tenseconds" has been trending on social media platforms, with users — including celebrities —

posting ten—second videos, to show how much damage can be done in that short space of time. thursday the 13th ofjuly marks the first anniversary of when former sri lankan president, gotabaya rajapaksa , fled the country, after months of mass protests against his government's handling of the worst economic crisis to hit the nation. ?since then, the country has received a bailout from the international monetary fund, and a new government has pledged to implement reforms. the crippling shortages in food, fuel and medicines have eased but the activists who led the protests say not much has changed. the bbc�*s archana shukla reports. a year ago, i was here at the seaside expanse in colombo. and behind me, this area was full of protesters rejoicing the ousting of the then president, gotabaya rajapaksa, who was forced to flee the country. thousands had been camping

here for months, protesting the economic mismanagement of the government that led the country into the economic crisis and demanding a regime change. the feeling then was very optimistic. but one year on, many activists say the country didn't get the change it demanded. melanie gunathilaka was one of the protesters camping here last year. what the youth wanted, i think, was accountability and transparency in decision making, and that hasn't happened. so even the decisions that have been taken with the imf or the conditions, they were not done with transparency. melanie says she has been arrested twice for participating in demonstrations. the government has also proposed a new counter—terrorism law, which critics say restricts the right to freedom of assembly and speech. the government says this is needed to maintain stability.

i don't think sri lanka is a democratic country any more. the reason that there are no protests is because of the heavy government repression of the protests. and every time when people get out, when they have to face repression time and time again, people naturally get scared. a few weeks after fleeing, former president rajapaksa returned to the country. he now lives in a government bungalow and many members of his cabinet are back at the parliament. but for many sri lankans, the economic distress continues, burdened by soaring prices and new tax hikes. there are questions raised over whether president wickramasinghe has enough public support to carry on with the difficult decisions needed to turn around the economy. critics say his decision not to hold early elections and not enough communication and transparency over hard hitting reforms is fuelling mistrust. one year on, the government is still striving to gain this public trust.

this year's emmy nominations have been announced and there's one drama that's scooped the pool. television series succession is up for 27 awards — the highest number of nominations this year. it's followed by — post—apocalyptic drama, the last of us. but trade publication, variety, is reporting that the television academy is debating whether to push back the ceremony — as the industry waits to see if the actors�* union goes on strike this week. that's all for now — stay with bbc news. hello. if you thought summer had already taken a bit of a back—seat, just wait till friday and into the weekend. this is the area of low pressure that's developing. it will be responsible for some big changes. before that arrives, and as one area of low pressure pulls away into scandinavia, into a slightly quieter spell on thursday. still a few showers around to start the day in the north and the west. temperatures like they were on wednesday morning. but low pressure still close enough by for the shower clouds to bubble up once more.

thing is, with thursday, there'll be fewer showers around. the heaviest of the showers, some will be across scotland, slow moving here. large rainfall totals for some, but equally, some will stay dry. northern ireland, england and wales, fewer showers by and large. many will spend the day, well, at least the bulk of it, dry. though, we'll start to see cloud gather towards the southwest. feel a touch warmer with winds that little bit lighter. now, into the evening, rain at times, northern ireland, north wales, spreading its way into central southern scotland. elsewhere, some clear skies into friday morning. temperatures 9—13 celsius again. but already the change is towards the southwest. this is the area of low pressure. it's going to make it feel like autumn at times through friday and into the weekend. strongest of the winds, though, for friday, mainly towards the southwest of the uk. we could see gales around hills and coasts and some pretty rough seas developing too. it's here where we start with the rain on friday, some of it should become heavy and thundery. dry start elsewhere, a bit of patchy rain in scotland working its way north, but far north of scotland

stays dry throughout. outbreaks of rain, though, spread to much of england, wales, northern ireland, maybe not too much east anglia southeast until late in the day. and whilst temperatures high teens low 20s, the strengthening wind will start to make it feel a little bit cooler. and that cooler story continues into the weekend. an unseasonably windy spell through the weekend too. not what you want to see this stage injuly. low pressure by saturday, will be to the north of ireland, wrapped around it, rain, but it's wrapped around it where we've got some of the strongest of the winds, far north of scotland and towards the south west approaches, widespread gales, strong winds more widely on saturday than they will have been on friday. lightest winds through parts of scotland, but that rain will be persistent in the far north. heavy thundery downpours quite widely across much of the uk. they could give some large rainfall totals. strong winds, making it feel rather cool as well, despite seeing temperatures again, high teens and low 20s. winds strengthen for scotland on sunday. elsewhere, sunshine and blustery showers yet again.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines we will have the headlines and all the main news stories and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour as newsday continues straight after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk.

i'm stephen sackur.