we start tonight here in the us — where tens of thousands of hollywood actors have gone on strike, with picket lines formed in new york and los angeles. as a result, film and tv productions in the us — and around the world — have come to a halt. it's the industry's biggest shutdown in more than 60 years, and it affects the vast majority of american film and television productions, including highly anticipated motion pictures like the avatar and gladiator sequels. while the strike is going on, actors can't appear in films or even promote the movies they've already made. so what is it that actors are calling for? the screen actors guild wants streaming giants — like netflix and disney — to agree to what they say is a fairer split of profits and better working conditions. but other demands — like protecting actors from being replaced by digital replicas — reflect wider challenges. (ani)the union wants reflect wider challenges. the union wants guarantees that artificial intelligence — and computer

generated faces — will not be used to replace actors. not since 1960 has a there been a strike on this scale. that dispute was led by the future us president ronald reagan — seen here with his wife nancy — and fellow actorjames cagney. today, saf—aftra president fran drescher was out on the picket line in la. 99.9% of the people that i'm fighting for right now are working class people. they are the ones that are being squeezed out. everybody that's famous and rich, that stands on these picket lines or goes and does press to talk about this, it's not as much for them, although they are very concerned about al and its invasion of their likeness, because no matter how successful you are, you are selling your likeness, your voice and your talent. and — emmy—award winning actor brian cox spoke to the bbc�*s newscast aboutjust how long he thought the strike might last. i, you know, iam a bit of a pessimist. i can see it going on until the end of the year. and that's a long time unless they... i mean, they are trying to freeze us out.

they are going to try and beat us into the ground because, you know, there's a lot of money to be made in streaming and they know that. that desire is not to particularly wanting to share it with the writers are the performers. now to our correspondent peter bowes in la. we heard that from fran drescher, from brian cox, what are other actors in los angeles today saying why they have decided to join the picket line? decided to “oin the picket line? ~ , ., decided to “oin the picket line? ~ ~ ., , line? well, you know, this strike is — line? well, you know, this strike is under _ line? well, you know, this strike is under way - line? well, you know, this strike is under way and - line? well, you know, this strike is under way and we i line? well, you know, this - strike is under way and we have been talking about this, expecting it for several weeks, but now that it is actually happening, we are getting a real sense of what does every day actors believe, their sense of anger and their concern about the issues that you have just been spelling out. perhaps it's the first time that we are hearing from those people, they may not go every dance set.

they may not even have a speaking role. they may be background actors, as they are known. but they have really real concerns about the pay structure that they have been working in and looking to the future how the streaming services have really changed everything. it's changed the way that you and i watch television and it changed the way in which those people who create television, the actors and the writers, it's changed the way in which they work and which they are rewarded for their services, which they are rewarded for theirservices, much which they are rewarded for their services, much more downtime. times when they are not working. they went to a new framework to accommodate that. it just framework to accommodate that. itjust hurt framework to accommodate that. it just hurt also framework to accommodate that. itjust hurt also artificial intelligence is a real concern that the digital technology exists now to essentially copy the likeness of an actor and then potentially use data likeness over and over again in television and movies and possibly not to pay that actor for those repeated services. 50 for those repeated services. so much of the big studios saying about these concerns?-

much of the big studios saying about these concerns? well, the studios in their _ about these concerns? well, the studios in their statement - about these concerns? well, the studios in their statement when | studios in their statement when it was first announced that the strike was going to go ahead and actually framed it like this. they said this was a historic offer and they laid out quite a lot of detail in terms of what they were offering the actors. but it seems from the unions response that it simply doesn't go far enough. especially, again, this issue of artificial intelligence, especially those background actors that seems it would be perhapsjust one performance and then not getting paid for future performances in a getting paid forfuture performances in a digitalform. that seems to be one of the barely big sticking points. peter, it is hard to tell at this point, do we have any idea how long this could last and how long this could last and how long this could last and how long we might be without some of those favourite shows of hours? it some of those favourite shows of hours?— of hours? it could last for several — of hours? it could last for several months. - of hours? it could last for several months. we - of hours? it could last for several months. we have j of hours? it could last for - several months. we have already heard a few people in the industry earlier today suggesting that. that's the worst case scenario. but if you

look at the history of hollywood disputes and negotiations between this union and the studios, they generally tend not to move quickly. there does seem to be the standoff situation right now. i suspect it could go on for several weeks where one side is waiting for the other to acknowledge some sort of compromise that might at least allow talks to begin. might at least allow talks to be . in. might at least allow talks to beuin. ., , might at least allow talks to beuin. .,, ~ , begin. peter in los angeles, ureat to begin. peter in los angeles, great to speak _ begin. peter in los angeles, great to speak with - begin. peter in los angeles, great to speak with you. - us secretary of state antony blinken has been meeting with foreign ministers of the association of southeast asian nations, orasean, in indonesia to discuss security and economic cooperation. one of the biggest items on blinken�*s agenda is china's influence in the region. blinken said the us is concered about china's "assertiveness in the south and east china seas and in the taiwan strait" — and added that the us wants to maintain peace and stability in the taiwan strait. earlier, i spoke with matt miller, the us state department spokesperson about blinken�*s message in the region. thank you very much forjoining

us on our programme today. i want to start with the secretary of state, blinken, meeting with allies at the asean conference there. and he has been speaking to them among other things about china's influence and warning them against coercion. i want to ask you about something that we saw singapore's foreign minister say, "we are not choosing sides, we do not want to be proxies, we do not want to be vassal states, we do not want to be divided." what do you make of that? i would say that at least on the united states behalf, we have never asked any country to choose sides between us and china. we fully expect other countries in the world to have diplomatic relations with china, to have economic relations with china. the united states has diplomatic relations and economic relations with china, the secretary of state just returned from a trip several weeks ago to beijing where he met with senior chinese officials because we believe that it is important that we have the ability to have direct conversations with china, both about concerns that we have and about areas where we can cooperate and work together.

we will continue to be very clear with china and to be clear with our allies and partners about places where we have concerns about china's behaviour and places we know other countries have concerns about china's behaviour. at that doesn't mean there aren't areas are began to work together on shared interests like climate change and other big global issues. as you said, the allies and the reasons that they would not turn their back on china being an important partner for them as well. do they show the us�*s concerns about china's influence in the region? we have seen a number of countries in the region who have objected to certain things that china has done, if you look at the practices that china has had in the south china sea, you have seen concerns about that. but as i said, that doesn't mean that we can't work with china on areas where we have shared concerns with them or where we cooperate with them on a bilateral basis between the united states and china or on a multilateral basis, as you saw with this meeting of asean leaders over the last few days.

the us secretary, sshe was among a group of senior us officials who e—mails were hacked to earlier this year by a chinese script that also affected state department personnel, as you know. the commerce secretary had been planning a trip to china. should she still make that trip? so i don't believe we have announced the commerce secretary's trip to china, but we have made it very clear that we think it is important that both us officials travelled to china, of course, i mentioned already that secretary blinken was there last month. secretary yellen returned and we expect other senior us officials travel to to china just as we expect senior chinese officials to travel to the united states when we are in china, secretary blinken issued an invitation to his counterpart from the foreign minister, he accepted. we look forward to welcoming him to the united states later this year. we think it is our responsibility as a major power and we think it is china's responsibility as a major power to responsibly manage the competition between our two countries. we recognise there is

competition in a significant number of areas, but one of the things we hear from other countries from around the world is they want us to manage that competition appropriately without it interfering into conflict. that's why we think it's important that even though we don't stop talking about areas where we disagree, we want stop taking action in which china disagrees, we think it's important that we have the ability to have dialogue with them. thank you for your perspective. thank you for having me. in other news... iowa republican governor kim reynolds signed a bill into law friday that bans most abortions in the state as early as six weeks into pregnancy. the law is effective immediately and it comes after reynolds ordered a rare special legislative session that lasted only one—day with the sole purpose of restricting the procedure in the state. the ban is expected to be challenged by abortion providers within the state. the united kingdom's health security agency has warned that tens of thousands of measles cases could impact london due to low levels of vaccination.

calculations suggest an outbreak could affect between 40,000 and 160 thousand people. the agency said that was "urgent" to vaccinate children, teens, and young adults. us presidentjoe biden, the democratic national committee and theirjoint fundraising committee announced they have raised a combined $72 million in the second quarter of this year. this latest fundraiser figure is the first peak into biden s war chest since he kicked off his re—election campaign in april. india has launched its third mission to the moon — aiming to land a craft on the lunar surface, and to establish itself as a leading player in space exploration. the lander is due to reach the moon around 23rd august. 0ur india correspondent arunoday mukharji watched blast off, from the island of sri harikota in the bay of bengal. india, aiming for the moon a third time. chandrayaan—3, an unmanned mission, is to land on the lunar surface and create history. this mission is also india's

attempt to launch itself into an elite orbit of nations. if indian scientists do manage to achieve that soft landing on the lunar surface, india will become only the fourth nation in the world to have achieved that feat, up there with the likes of the us, china and russia. success or failure, we won't know till late august, when the landing is scheduled. but for now, scientists are optimistic. congratulations, india. we have already put chandrayaan—3 craft into the precise orbit around earth... four years ago, a setback in the moon mission had dented india's space ambitions. prime minister narendra modi consoled indian scientists after a vehicle crash—landed on the lunar surface. and those risks remain even today.

anything can happen for the failures, from software to communication to the temperatures there. because the landing itself is being tried where the sun is not there, where all the batteries, where all the equipment have to operate in very, very adverse conditions. but the challenges up in space haven't dampened spirits on ground. translation: we were not deterred by our past failure. | we moved on and have proved to the world that we don't need to depend on any other country. the mission to the moon is notjust carrying india's space ambitions, but also the hopes of millions of its people. arunoday mukherjee, bbc news, the sriharikota launching facility, around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. bringing you different stories from across the uk. the first group to qualify as doctors by completing

the six year medicine with foundation year course at the university of leicester. it was designed for students from less traditional backgrounds, such as areas with low participation in higher education. reece is the first in his family to go to university. without this course, i don't think i'll be able to do this career and pursue what is ultimately the, you know, what i want to do in life. so it takes an extra year of study to make up for the lower grades. but the course leader says it's worth it. sometimes people look at attainment as the sole reason to choose the right person to do medicine. it's very competitive. and so some people will say, well, if you've got a student with three a stars, why would you take a student with three bs? but my argument to that would be that actually there's more to being a good doctor thanjust intellectual attainment. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news.

now to the extreme hot weather that's impacting people around the globe. here in the us, regions are seeing record highs with heat alerts affecting more than 100 million people in 15 states from the western us to south florida. in greece, temperatures are so high that the country's most popular tourist destination, the acropolis, was closed during the hottest hours of the day to protect visitors. temperatures reached nearly 120 degrees fahrenheit. and in italy red alerts — meaning a threat to life — have been issued for rome and nine other cities. 0ur reporter sofia bettiza is there. the health authorities have issued a red alert warning for ten cities today, but that is going to go up to 1a cities tomorrow. now, people here are being advised to stay indoors in the afternoon, to drink plenty of water, to avoid coffee and alcohol, and to check on the elderly neighbours if they live alone. but the issue is that it's the middle ofjuly. there are lots of tourists here in italy and many of them

have told us that they're not really following this advice. they've come here on holiday from japan, australia, the us, and they don't want to spend hours inside their hotel rooms or not eating or drinking italian food or italian wine. and so what we are seeing is several tourists who have collapsed in the last few days because of heatstroke. now, because of climate change, heatwaves like this one are becoming more frequent and more severe and they can be dangerous. last year, about more than 60,000 people died in europe because of the heat. for more on the latest climate developments, i'm joined by lauren sanchez, senior climate adviser at the office of california governor. thank you so much forjoining us. i want to ask you first all about california, because california is witnessing dangerously hot temperatures as

well. death gully could see the highest average temperatures on earth. how is california preparing?— earth. how is california preparing? earth. how is california --rearina? . . preparing? thank you so much for having _ preparing? thank you so much for having me. _ preparing? thank you so much for having me. you _ preparing? thank you so much for having me. you are - preparing? thank you so much for having me. you are right. i for having me. you are right. that gully is forecasted to be 132 fahrenheit, quite literally the highest recorded temperature on earth, if that impact happens is we can. so the state is mobilising and all of government all of society approach to protecting californians and our families. number one priority for all of us and the company himself is making sure that we can help people keep themselves safe and their family safe. people keep themselves safe and theirfamily safe. it people keep themselves safe and their family safe. it is helpful to put this in context. i think a lot of your viewers think about california and have thought about our destructive wildfires and the historic drought and flooding we have been facing. and now heat waves are coming for our communities. it is no secret that climate change is making these heat waves longer and more frequent,

more severe, because our planet is running a fever. this is really what climate scientists have been telling us. you mention _ have been telling us. you mention the _ have been telling us. you mention the word - have been telling us. you mention the word community. what is the impact on people living in these areas?- what is the impact on people living in these areas? yeah, i mean, living in these areas? yeah, i mean. so. — living in these areas? yeah, i mean. so. one _ living in these areas? yeah, i mean, so, one of— living in these areas? yeah, i mean, so, one of the, - living in these areas? yeah, i mean, so, one of the, we - living in these areas? yeah, i | mean, so, one of the, we are trying to make sure that our health agencies are labour agencies and our agencies are helping co—ordinate and all government approach to protecting californians. we have three really critical messages for our communities going into this weekend and into heat waves for the rest of the year. it come and stay hydrated and stay connected. we are making sure that we can share resources and information about how to stay cool. the governor just launched about how to stay cool. the governorjust launched a $20 governor just launched a $20 million governorjust launched a $20 million public information campaign, a multicultural multilingual campaign because we know that extreme heat often affects our communities of colour and our low income communities disproportionately here in california. the state is also opening cooling centres in each of our large counties

and putting out information about how communities can go access those close spaces and stay safe if they are feeling hot. we also have a whole contingency making sure that we are enforcing worker protections for those outdoor workers and indoor workers who are facing hot temperatures this weekend.— this weekend. that is one massive _ this weekend. that is one massive concern. - this weekend. that is one j massive concern. another this weekend. that is one - massive concern. another one is the impact on california and the impact on california and the economy. he mentioned workers who are outside. something i didn't realise, more than a third of the country's vegetables and three quarters of fruits and nuts are grown in california. what is the impact on the food supply if we see these extreme heat events? . ~ , ., if we see these extreme heat events? w , ., , events? luckily we have been workin: events? luckily we have been working closely _ events? luckily we have been working closely with - events? luckily we have been working closely with our - events? luckily we have been | working closely with our entire food and agriculture industry over the recent years. not only are they prepared for extreme high temperatures but they are also prepared for those drought conditions and they have recently been facing the flooding conditions across the central gully as well. so a lot of close quotation with our farming community and ourfarm

worker community who are really on the front lines of a lot of these climate impacts. i should also mention last year we updated what is called our extreme heat action plan, the all of government approach to how to build and that resilience that our farmers, or public health officials come our school teachers need to make sure that we are protecting all of californians against these extreme temperatures going forward. i want to ask about that plan because we are talking of course about the current heat wave, but what are you advising the governor to do to prepare for the reality that we might see this type of heat weight every year?— see this type of heat weight every year? almost certainly. there are _ every year? almost certainly. there are a — every year? almost certainly. there are a few— every year? almost certainly. there are a few -- _ every year? almost certainly. there are a few -- there - every year? almost certainly. there are a few -- there are. there are a few —— there are californians are proud of that legislation that included $52 billion of investment for our climate agenda, including almost half $1 billion specifically for our extreme heat agenda and to implement that plan that ijust referenced, it's on us $200

million to open additional cooling and resilient sensors across the state. we just pushed out funding earlier this week to make sure that we are greening our school yards across the state, that is ripping out asphalt, making sure that we have shaded places for our kids to play during recess. we have a really robust urban greening programme can be country that we are planting and installing shade in all of our city centres and in those communities where there isn't shade to keep the cool during the day. shade to keep the cool during the da . ~ . shade to keep the cool during theda .~ ., ., , the day. what worries you the most about — the day. what worries you the most about what _ the day. what worries you the most about what we - the day. what worries you the most about what we are - most about what we are witnessing?— most about what we are witnessing? you know, i actually _ witnessing? you know, i actually got _ witnessing? you know, i actually got my - witnessing? you know, i actually got my career. witnessing? you know, i - actually got my career started in this field on the science side, and i have to say, early in my climate science days, we were modelling projections for 2050 and 2060, in fact, a lot of those models are coming true now in 2023, it keeps me up at knight, really realising that

instead of having 20 or 30 years to protect from this, it's really impacting californian communities and communities all over the world today. you know, as it advising the governor, there's a lot we have to do to protect californians from extreme heat waves and the wildfire season we are gearing up for, but we also know that our northstar here is transitioning the entire economy away from the polluting fossil fuels that have generated the climate crisis, in the meantime, california has a really robust climate action agenda making sure we are tackling the root of the cause of all of these impacts that are facing the state today.— impacts that are facing the state toda . ., ,,., . state today. lauren sanchez, thank you — state today. lauren sanchez, thank you so _ state today. lauren sanchez, thank you so much _ state today. lauren sanchez, thank you so much for- state today. lauren sanchez, | thank you so much forjoining us. thank you so much for “oining us. ,, . thank you so much for “oining us.— thank h thank you so much forjoining us._ thank you. - the state rooms of buckingham palace have opened again to the public today, with the coronation robes worn by the king and queen forming part of this year's display. 0ur royal correspondant sarah campbell has more. the first coronation for 70 years. most of us either watched it

on television or from a distance, and much of the detail was difficult to pick out among the pomp and ceremony. two months on, a chance for visitors to see in close—up what was worn and the history behind the outfits. take the queen's coronation dress. painstakingly embroidered, look closely and you'll see the names of her children and grandchildren and pictures of her two jack russell terriers, bluebell and beth. queens throughout the 20th and now in the 21st century have had a degree of choice about the embroidery which goes on all of their clothing for a coronation. and it's wonderful to see her majesty's interest in the natural world and that acknowledgement of her family upon her dress and her robe. historical threads run through much of what was worn. the coronation glove and girdle were last used by the king's grandfather, george vi, in 1937. and take a look at the

paintings of monarchs past in their coronation outfits. this is queen mary, crowned in 1911. her necklace may well look familiar. we see the coronation necklace, which was worn by queen camilla. it was actually made for queen victoria in 1858 and has been worn by queen consorts since then at all coronations. and we can see in the painting as well, alongside the crown that was made for queen mary for her coronation in 1911, this is the same crown that queen camilla used, but four of the detachable arches were removed to give it a little bit of a lighter feel. teams of experts were employed to craft the outfits and upholstery in time for may 6th, spending hundreds of hours either restoring or creating brand new items, including the screen used to shield the king from view during the most sacred part of the ceremony, the anointing. it was designed by nick gutfreund, a furniture maker and project managed by him, but it involved a huge number of other skills. gilding, bronze foundry,

embroidery, both hand embroidery and digital embroidery. and also it was the key moment in the coronation where we were able to acknowledge the commonwealth. so it's in the design of a tree and every leaf on the tree has hand embroidered upon it the name of a commonwealth country. and then there's the carriage which protected the king and queen from the inclement weather on their way to the abbey. now on display in the palace quadrangle. not surprisingly, visitors won't be able to actually sit in the diamond jubilee state coach. but i can tell you, the windows are electric, it has air conditioning, and i'm reliably informed it is a very comfortable carriage. a gilded mix of history and modernity for a 21st century coronation. thank you for watching bbc

news. we will be back at the top of the next hour with a special look at nato's critical summit in lithuania this week. the impact on the where in ukraine, but also need a's impact in other regions of the world, including the global south. that is coming up with my colleague and about half an hour. do stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. i think it's fair to say that the weather doesn't look and feel much like summer at the moment. these were some pictures taken on friday. it was particularly windy in the south west of england and we actually had more rain in cornwall on friday than fell during the whole of last month, and we had rain far and wide across the uk as well. that rain has been working its way northwards on that weather front there, which is wrapped around an area of low pressure, and that will dominate the weather through

the rest of the weekend. now, the rain, by saturday morning, is in the far north of scotland. temperatures 12—14 degrees. some showers already arriving and we'll see more of those as the winds pick up, particularly across england and wales, with the strongest of the winds in the south. a0 mph gusts, quite widely, maybe a bit stronger, especially around some coastal areas. and it could bring some damage and some disruption. especially as those downpours arrive. and we'll see these showers breaking out more widely through the day. some wetter weather, particularly for wales and western parts of england. thunderstorms almost anywhere. some heavy showers arriving in scotland and northern ireland where it's not going to be quite so windy here. but temperatures are still a bit disappointing, really, for the time of year. we're likely to find 18—19 widely, a touch warmer in the southeast where there shouldn't be as many showers in the afternoon. the low pressure itself is continuing to push northwards. it may take away the worst of the weather for sunday. although having said that, it could be a bit windier

than saturday for scotland and northern ireland. and we've got some showers here, some of them heavy, maybe some longer spells of rain. but not quite so windy on sunday for england and wales. there may be a bit more sunshine around, but there's still the chance of some showers, too. even though there aren't as many showers around, we've still got those temperatures peaking at only 20—21 celsius in the afternoon. now, looking ahead to next week and some changes on the way. it's not going to be quite as windy next week. there may be a bit more sunshine around and fewer showers, but we're not going to get any of the heat that's affecting southern parts of europe. you may be pleased about that. 22—23 degrees the top temperature, probably, over next week. it's going to be much hotter across southern parts of europe. temperatures not quite so high around coastal areas, but it will be especially hot as you head inland.

this is bbc news, we'll mountain views. have the headline and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hours straight after this programme. this week on the show... this is no ordinary cellar door. no. ..i'm in switzerland, going bonkers for bunkers. oh, wow — look at this! it's right in the middle of this massive complex, isn't it? and you'd never know if you're just driving through. sightseeing non—stop...

absolutely spectacular up here, it's peaceful.