we start with the dangerous heatwaves setting in across the globe, with potentially dangerous consequences. here in the us, the national weather service has warned: "do not underestimate the impact of heat." nearly a third of americans — or 113 million people — are currently under extreme advisories. authorities have warned that scorching temperatures — especially in western states like texas — could be deadly to anyone without effective cooling and hydration. california is among many states sweltering. fire fighters in the south of the state are battling multiple wildfires, with an evacuation order in place for the �*rabbit fire'. scorching temperatures are expected to linger for the next few days. phoenix, arizona, is likely to hit 43 degrees celsius, or 110 degrees fahrenheit, on saturday for the 16th straight day — nearing a record. and las vegas, nevada, may match its all—time high of 47 degrees celsius or 117 fahrenheit in the next few days. meanwhile in europe, red alerts have been issued for 16 cities across italy for the coming days. and it's expected to get even hotter around

the mediterranean next week. our simonjones has more on how nations across europe are coping. how big is that? you can see it over the fence! battling to save homes in the sweltering heat. in this town near alicante in spain, wildfires have been breaking out. one man from bristol, on holiday at his grandparents�*, was forced to tackle the flames himself. i was inside trying to get away from the heat and my brother came to me, rather nonchalantly going, "hey, do you want to see a fire?" he didn't really realise how bad the situation was, so we both go outside. the fire just started spreading. as a collective family we were attempting to try and hose it down. on the spanish island of la palma, at least 500 people have had to leave their homes, and the warning is there's more extreme hot weather on the way. in greece, the temperature could reach as high as 47 degrees in the coming days.

it's forcing the country's most popular tourist attraction, the acropolis in athens, to close during the hottest hours, to protect visitors. but for some, it's proving too much. the red cross has been offering first aid, plus refreshment and a little bit of shade, for those who need it. we're here again to give people water and also to give leaflets concerning the high—temperature period here in greece. this climate scientist told me he's concerned. so what we're seeing at the moment in much of europe, is that the new norm for the summer? whilst of course having a heatwave in the summer isn't unheard of, what's really becoming unusual is the collection of these events, so the frequency and also the simultaneous occurrence around the globe. so unfortunately this is not surprising, what we're seeing. it's exactly what we expect from shifting the baseline temperature towards a higher level and therefore shifting

the odds towards more extreme heat events. in rome, one of 16 cities under a red alert from the italian health ministry, people are advised to avoid direct sunlight. in venice, umbrellas and hats are a must, but it's still proving challenging for businesses. translation: the heat is really harmful for us, | because the heat in the gondola gets as high as 50 degrees. temperature records could be broken in the coming days. scientists say the heatwave covering much of europe is another reminder of the need to act on global warming. simon jones, bbc news. our correspondent in madrid told us what the spanish government are doing to keep people cool. well, here we are hearing the usual advice you get from the government when there is a heatwave, which is that people in high risk groups, for example, elderly people, small children, people with underlying health conditions should stay out of the heat during the hottest hours of

the day, where possible. and also, the government has introduced recently a new law, which means that workers, manual workers who work outside, if there is a heat alert in their area, then they have to stay out of the heat. they can't work during the hottest times of the day. so that's something which has just been introduced over the last few weeks and similar measures are being taken across europe as well. for example, in greece, where there's been very high temperatures, this is also affecting tourism. for example, the acropolis was closed temporarily yesterday during the hottest time of the day. people were being given water there as well, tourists there. so we're seeing similar measures like that across much of southern europe due to this heatwave. and of course, we've got

the other heat wave to come in the next few days. california is witnessing dangerously hot temperatures as well. lauren sanchez, senior climate adviser at the office of california's governor told us how the state is preparing. death valley is forecasted to be 132 fahrenheit. quite literally the hottest recorded temperature on earth, if that in fact happens this weekend. the state is mobilising an "all of government, all of society" approach to protecting californians and families. the number one priority for all of us and the governor himself is making sure we get help, people keep themselves safe and their families 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 in the historic drought and flooding the have been facing. in recent years and now heatwaves are coming for our communities. a 19—year—old firefighter has died in canada after becoming trapped under a tree while tackling a wildfire.

this is the first on the ground death since the start of canada's wildfire season. there are more than 900 currently burning across the country, 570 of which are out of control. air quality alerts have been reissued in parts of the midwestern united states where smoke from the canadian fires is expected to return in the coming days. more than 22 million acres have already gone up in smoke. that's 11 times more than the average over the past decade. the prime minister, justin trudeau, said people should "never forget the risks" taken by firefighters. hollywood stars jason sudeikis, susan sarandon as well as thousands of other actors have joined screenwriters for hollywood's biggest strike in more than six decades. they are concerned about pay, working conditions and the industry's use of artificial intelligence. the studios say the sector is changing and they have to move with the times. actors will not take part in any filming or even promote movies during the strike action. majorfilms in production, including the avatar and gladiator sequels, may be affected

by the shutdown. peter bowes reports from los angeles. newsreader: thousands of actors on strike — the major stars speaking out tonight. the strike that's gripped america. actors, some rich and famous, others struggling to make ends meet, all cast together on the picket line. horns blare this was day one of what could be a very long stand—off between the actors�* union and the studios — a union with 160,000 members determined to show they mean business about a better pay deal and reassurances that artificial intelligence won�*t be used to do actors out of a job. it�*s pretty clear to me, just on a very primitive level, that if you can take my face and my body and my voice and make me say or do something that i have no choice about, it�*s not a good thing! horns blare from la to new york, as the sets went dark, actors took to the streets

to explain why they walked out and that their worries are just the same as everyone else. working actors like me and my friends, you know, we're just trying to pay our rents or mortgages and put food on the table, so this will help all of us be able do that. the use of ai and corporate greed, to be quite honest, i has put us all in a situation where it's just not viable . for anyone to have a living — a living at all, especially- in a city like los angeles. the strike was called when union negotiators and the employers failed to reach a deal. the studios said they�*d made an "historic offer" but the union insisted it didn�*t come close to what they wanted. fran drescher, best known for her role in the �*90s sitcom the nanny, is now the union�*s leader. 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. for tv viewers and moviegoers, it is going to mean thin

pickings over the coming months and possibly years. majorfilms in production, including the avatar and gladiator sequels, may be put on hold indefinitely. this is the most serious hollywood strike in decades. and with no new talks scheduled, la is raising for a long hot summer of disruption. peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles. rescue workers in south korea are trying to reach people trapped by flooding inside their cars in an underground tunnel. floods and landslides have killed more than 20 people over the past three days. in the latest rescue operation — one person is reported to have died and at least nine have been rescued so far. it�*s not clear how many people are inside the vehicles. south korea�*s annual rainy season has become more intense in recent years as a result of rising temperatures. our reporter, jay seung lee gave us this update. so a few hours ago, officials gave a press conference updating the progress of this rescue operation.

in south korea right now, it is well into the night, but rescue officials said they will continue this operation throughout the night, and thatjust tells how dire the situation is. now, it is important to say, it is not entirely clear how many vehicles are trapped under there, in this underground tunnel which has been completely submerged underwater, as well as exactly how many people are in these vehicles, but officials said after analysing footage from surveillance cameras, there appears to be about 15 vehicles, and out of those 15, they said they believe one is a bus and two are trucks and the rest, 13 of them, are cars. so far, one person is reported to have died from this and at least nine people have been rescued, and 11 more reported to be missing, but that figure is expected to rise as it continues throughout the night. there is growing criticism as to why officials did not restrict access to the tunnel

sooner, because a heavy rain alert was issued in this area four hours before the tunnel was completely submerged underwater. and i�*ve seen footage when this accident occurred. it was just a matter of seconds, it was just a few seconds until the whole underground tunnel, the roadway, was completely submerged underwater, so there is going to be a lot of criticism over the next few days as this unfolds. meanwhile, south korea�*s president, yoon sung nyeol has said he will expand his country�*s military and humanitarian aid support to ukraine. he was speaking during a surprise visit in kyiv. he confirmed seoul would continue to supply much needed military equipment, including bullet—proof vests and helmets. south korea has one of the largest stockpiles of ammunition in the world — and a thriving defence industry. but government policy prohibits arms deliveries to countries at war.

ukraine and its allies have been urging seoul to make an exception. for more on the significance of this visit, the bbc�*s abdujalil abdurasulov reports from kyiv. one of the main questions many people here in ukraine were asking prior to the meeting of these two presidents today was whether south korea would provide lethal aid to ukraine. this asian country has one of the biggest stockpiles of ammunition in the world, and ukraine is facing severe shortages of them, especially artillery shells. and south korea has been facing growing pressure from its main allies in the us and in the uk to start providing lethal aid to ukraine. but interestingly, neither president zelensky nor his south korean counterpart mentioned about lethal aid today at all. they spoke about economic assistance, about humanitarian aid, but nothing about weapons or ammunition. president of south korea spoke about the military aid, but only in the context of providing helmets and body armour. he also mentioned about de—mining equipment that

south korea provided in the past, and he said that he hopes his country would provide even more of such aid in the future. but state policy of south korea prohibits providing any military aid to a state that is at war. so south korea is unwilling to break this rule because it could antagonize russia as well, which has a serious influence on its neighbour in north korea. our diplomatic correspondent james landale has been telling us about the significance of a visit to kyiv from an asian leader. we don�*t often see them there. the president of indonesia went last year. the japanese prime minister was earlier this year. china has sent an envoy early this year, but that�*s few and far between. kyiv is a sort of conveyor belt of european and american politicians visiting almost on a daily basis. so it is unusual and therefore, i think diplomats will take some comfort for this

because one of the great failures of the west, europe and the united states in this war, has been to try and convince the rest of the world that it matters to them as well. the large parts of the world sees this war as a european issue, and they�*re frustrated that the war continues because it�*s disrupting their own economies. and europe and ukraine and the united states has gone out to the world saying, actually, no, we think this matters to you as well, because it matters about sovereignty, territorial integrity. those are universal concerns. and i think having a country like south korea visit ukraine, i think it�*s the first time ever that a south korean leader has ever been to ukraine, is significant because essentially the message is, look, south korea of all countries, is concerned about the threats to its territorial integrity to a neighbour. they have something in common with ukraine and the russian situation. so i think diplomatically it is symbolically significant. in other news... ben wallace — britain�*s defence secretary — says he will resign at the next cabinet reshuffle. he�*s been one of the most

consistent advocates of western military aid to ukraine. mr wallace says he�*s standing down due to the toll the job had taken on his family. he was widely tipped to be the next head of nato, but more recently ruled himself out. nigerian president bola tinubu declared a state of emergency on friday as the country battles with a severe food crisis. the president announced a series of measures he said would tackle rising food costs, enhance agriculture, and create more jobs. the initiatives include using money saved by removing a fuel subsidy to provide grain and fertilisers for farmers. turning to israel now where prime minister benjamin netanyahu says he is feeling �*very well�* after experiencing dizziness and being rushed to hospital. as he was taken to sheba medical centre near tel aviv, his office said he was in "good condition and undergoing medical evaluation". the preliminary assessment is that he was dehydrated.

but he�*s being kept in overnight and an israeli cabinet meeting is being postponed from sunday to monday. well this is what mr netanyahu had to say in a video released by his office just a few hours ago: translation: yesterday i spent time at the sea of galilee - with my wife in the sun, without a hat, without water. not a good idea. i�*d like to thank all of you for the concern and to thank the excellent team here in sheba who examined me. but i have one request of you — we are undergoing a heatwave in the country so i ask of you to spend less time in the sun and drink more water. staying in israel and protesters were back on the streets of tel aviv, demonstrating against the government�*s plans to overhaul the judiciary. the latest demonstration — in tel aviv — comes despite the bill, which would limit the powers of the supreme court, securing initial approval in parliament last week. the us called on israel to respect the right of peaceful assembly, after israeli police arrested more than 70 protesters opposed to the judicial changes on tuesday.

us special presidential envoy for climate — john kerry is set to travel to beijing tomorrow — where he will meet with his counterpart to discuss a major push by the world�*s two largest economies to combat climate change. kerry set modest expecations ahead of his visit — but told the house foreign affairs committee this week that he does not intend to "concede anything" during his visit with chinese officials. the visit will mark the formal restart of climate talks between the us and china, which stalled last year following a visit by then house speaker nancy pelosi to tawian. the trip will mark the third visit to china by a top biden administration official in the span of a month. more than a decade after 11 bodies were found on long island a new york architect was charged in connection to the gilgo beach serial killings. 59—year—old rex heuermann was arrested thursday evening at his manhattan office and arraigned friday in the deaths of three women. and, according to officals, he is also suspected in the disappearance and death of a fourth woman,

officials said. heuermann became a suspect in 2022 when the the local prosecutors office and federal investigators collaborated their efforts in the case. this is my 12th year as county executive. i�*ve lived with this investigation for my entire tenure as county executive. i can tell you that during that time, the focus for me, and members of our team, has been on bringing justice for these victims and closure to these families who have suffered. our north america correspondent david willis told us more about the case. it became known as the gilgo beach murders, and it galvanised the attention

of people on long island, to the east of new york city, back around 2010 and 2011. four of the victims — all women, all in their 20s and all sex workers — were found buried in a similar location, in a similar way, in that area, and based on data received from cell phones and also evidence, dna evidence, that was captured from, would you believe it, a pizza crust following a surveillance operation, detectives have, now more than ten years later, arrested this local man, 59—year—old rex heuermann, an architect who lived in the gilgo beach area. and he is said to have conducted hundreds of internet searches into the investigation into those murders, searching such things, detectives say, as "why hasn�*t the long island serial killer been caught?" the second quarter fundraising

totals are in for a number of us republican presidential hopefuls. frontrunner former president donald trump and hisjoint fundraising committee has raised 35 million dollars between april and june. while — florida governor ron desantis raised about 20 million dollars this quarter. however — trump�*s former vice president mike pence�*s campaign has only raised 1.2 million dollars — lagging far behind several of his rivals. it�*s unclear if pence has met the donor threshold to qualify for the first republican presidential debate next month. russia�*s lower house of parliment has passed a new law — marking a further rollback in civil rights for lg btq russians. the law approved by the state duma — bans gender reassignment surgeries, and restricts registry officers from changing an individual�*s gender in official documents. last minute additions to the bill also prohibits

transgender individuals from adopting children and annuls the marriages where one party has undergone gender reassignment. lgbtq rights groups said the legislation would have a serious impact on those denied care. the law must still be approved by the russia�*s upper house of parliament and president vladimir putin. tennis: and marketa vondrousova has won wimbledon, becoming the first unseeded player to win the women�*s singles title in the professional era. in a surprise win, the 24—year—old left—hander from the czech republic beat tunisia�*s ons jabeur 6—4 6—4. vondrousova, who underwent wrist surgery last year, said her historic win is �*just amazing�*. french—tunisian sports journalist, sara menai, has been watching the final at wimbledon and had this to say about mark ta vondrou ov �*s surprise win. complete contrast between marketa vondrousova and jabeur. as you say, vondrousova looks way more relaxed, way more confident than ons

jabeur. we know that her biggest, biggest mistake, i would say, during this tournament is the stress that she has and the fact that she is really struggling mentally. and i think that�*s one of the big things she has to she has to work on that in the future because vondrousova the difference was really, really you could tell that she was so much more relaxed thanjabeur with all the pressure, we have to say the pressure is also because it�*s her second consecutive wimbledon final from jabeur. so obviously everybody was a bit expecting her to win this one. so the pressure was really on her rather than marketa vondrousova who made it to the final, but it�*s quite a surprise for young vondrousova. so, yes, she she�*s a wonderful and very talented tennis player, the czech republic player and she made it. she�*s absolutely unbelievable. she made history today. imagine waking up and having a completely different accent. well that�*s what happened to zoe coles.

she first noticed she was struggling with her speech and mobility early last year, and was diagnosed with a neurological disorder. however, six weeks ago things took a very unusual turn. our reporter simon spark has been to meet her. i have something called a functional neurological disorder. basically, that is that my brain isn�*t receiving and sending signals. they�*re all muddled. this was zoe speaking normally when we interviewed her last year. so i�*ve been diagnosed with functional neurological disorder. but this is her now speaking in a welsh accent, which started six weeks ago. i�*ve just developed this welsh accent. it�*s been all day. i�*ve never in my life been able to speak welsh. i�*m on day six of speaking welsh. six days ago, i woke up with this accent. excuse the state of me. i got a stinking cold, but i�*m still welsh. it�*s been about three weeks now and i�*m beginning to think this is going to stay. zoe has been documenting her rare neurological disorder since the beginning of last year. i�*ve had slurred speech. definitely... have.. lost my speech. i went mute for four days, couldn�*t speak at all. my leg gives way on me.

sometimes i�*ve had tics, all sorts. but having a different accent, completely taking over and even changing her personality is another first for her. a lot of people ask me, where are you from? are you from cardiff? bristol? i�*ve had northern ireland. i�*ve had all sorts of questions of where i�*m from. and then i have to feel ifeel like i have to explain what happened. and i get like an anxiety over it because some people it�*s not known about, it�*s really rare. so people don�*t believe that it�*s a thing and they say, oh, she�*s faking it or she�*s making it up. there�*s no way. no, not a chance on earth i�*d be able to keep this going for six weeks. ridiculous. her voice did come back, once. i�*m speaking normal, i took a turn for the worse night. but when she felt better,

her welsh accent was back. her doctor has made a referral to an fnd specialist, but it was refused because she wasn�*t in the right catchment area. you are watching bbc news. stay with us if you can. hello. our spell of rather cool, unsettled and blustery mid—july weather is set to continue through the remainder of the weekend. this was the picture saturday evening just before the sun set in north berwick, east lothian. we�*ve had some big vivid rainbows around, and we could see more of those on sunday with that mix, again, of some sunshine and further heavy and blustery showers. they won�*t be as frequent as they were on saturday, though. so we�*ve still got low pressure close by, just edging its way towards the north—east. but still plenty of isobars on the map showing another fairly blustery sort of day. quite a bit of cloud first thing for parts of northern england,

scotland as well and we�*ll continue to see patchy rain on and off for much of the day across northern and western scotland. a bit more sunshine, but also scattered showers further east and really for northern ireland, england and wales, sunny spells and blustery showers. the gusts of wind 30 to a0 miles per hour, even a bit more than that around exposed coasts and hills. so temperatures between about 1a to 22, north to south, but feeling a touch cooler if you are exposed to those north—westerly or westerly winds that we�*ve got with us. winds do ease away, i think sunday evening and overnight, some late sunshine before the sun sets in the south. we�*ve got a bit more cloud again as we head through into monday across parts of scotland with a few splashes of light rain, 11 degrees or so here, the overnight lows, but we could see single figures in one or two more rural spots, though, so a fresh start to your monday morning. now monday sees higher pressure trying to nudge in from the south. not as many isobars on the map. so not such a windy day, i think, on monday. and fewer showers compared to the weekend.

there will be a fewjust bubbling up through the day across england, wales, northern ireland and scotland too, less in the way of cloud lingering. so a bit more sunshine and a few scattered showers. temperatures similar to recent days around about 1a to 22 degrees, but feeling a touch warmer because we will have lost the breeze. moving ahead now into tuesday in the next area of low pressure moves its way in from the atlantic. so initially, probably a dry start to tuesday for many of us, mainly sunshine. then the rain creeps in across parts of northern ireland, perhaps western parts of england and wales, southern scotland to northern half of scotland, probably seeing sunshine and showers once again on tuesday. and east anglia and the south—east, you�*re likely to stay dry for a good part of the day and perhaps a touch warmer up to about 23 degrees or so. but as you can see from our outlook, the next five days or so through much of the week ahead, still unsettled. sunny spells and heavy showers. bye— bye.

hello, everybody. a very warm welcome to talking business weekly. let�*s have a look at what is on the show. the risk and rewards of artificial intelligence. in business, it is already being talked about as a generational game changer across—the—board, from farming to finance and from construction to customer service.