and the first white—tailed eagle chick to be born in england for more than 240 years, the uk's biggest bird of prey. coming up in sportsday later in the hour on bbc news... we will hear from the england captain, ben stokes, on the eve of their must win fourth ashes test at old trafford. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. more than 100 current and recent mcdonald's workers have told the bbc about a toxic culture of sexual assault, harassment, racism and bullying at the company's uk outlets. during months of investigations, workers, some as young as 17, have told us that they are being groped and harassed almost routinely. mcdonald 5 has admitted that it has

"fallen short" and says it "deeply apologises". an email hotline has been set up by the equality and human rights commission for those affected. this report is from our employment correspondent zoe conway, and a warning you may find some of the content distressing. shelby was 16 when she started working at mcdonald's last year in berkshire. she says the workplace felt toxic. one senior manager was openly racist and mock disabled employees. managers warned her to stay away from certain older men, including one man in his 50s.i stay away from certain older men, including one man in his 50s. 1 was including one man in his 505. i was s-ueakin including one man in his 505. i was speaking to — including one man in his 50s. i was speaking to one — including one man in his 50s. i was speaking to one of _ including one man in his 50s. i was speaking to one of my _ including one man in his 505. nw; speaking to one of my friends including one man in his 50s. um; speaking to one of my friends and including one man in his 50s. lines speaking to one of my friends and he grabbed me by my hips and pulled me onto his groin area. he held me there. ifelt disgusted, because he was so much older as well. there. i felt disgusted, because he was so much older as well. shelbee sa s she was so much older as well. shelbee says she complained _ was so much older as well. shelbee says she complained to _ was so much older as well. shelbee says she complained to the - was so much older as well. shelbee says she complained to the store'sl says she complained to the store's management but nothing was done. she quit in may. mcdonnell said it was investigating why any issues that

she raised were not formally escalated at the time. mcdonnell uses a franchise system that means individual operators are licensed to run the stores and directly employ the staff. warren was employed by a franchise in hampshire. he says he was repeatedly sexually harassed earlier this year. i was repeatedly sexually harassed earlier this year.— earlier this year. i was really u set earlier this year. i was really unset and — earlier this year. i was really upset and frustrated - earlier this year. i was really upset and frustrated and - earlier this year. i was really i upset and frustrated and angry. earlier this year. i was really - upset and frustrated and angry. the man doing the harassing was a senior manager. warren says he asked him to perform sets acts. he manager. warren says he asked him to perform sets acte— manager. warren says he asked him to perform sets acts-— perform sets acts. he was almost ten ears older perform sets acts. he was almost ten years older than _ perform sets acts. he was almost ten years older than me, _ perform sets acts. he was almost ten years older than me, and _ perform sets acts. he was almost ten years older than me, and i _ perform sets acts. he was almost ten years older than me, and i was - years older than me, and i was saying that is not right, that should never have taken place. did ou should never have taken place. did you complain to a manager? no, i| you complain to a manager? no, i didn't. i you complain to a manager? no, i didn't. i doubt — you complain to a manager? no, i didn't. | doubt | _ you complain to a manager? no, i didn't. i doubt i would _ you complain to a manager? no, i didn't. i doubt i would have - you complain to a manager? iirr, i didn't. i doubt i would have been believed and also the managers were basically one big friend group and i couldn't see me going against it. in february mcdonnell signed a legal agreement with the equality watchdog in which it committed to doing more

to prevent sexual harassment from taking place. in a statement alister mcrae, the ceo of mcdonald's uk and ireland said they deeply apologised for the instances where they have fallen short. there is simply no place for harassment, abuse and discrimination of any kind at mcdonald's and we will investigate all allegations brought to us. he said that proven breaches of the code of conduct could end in dismissal. but some employees have told us that they have lost faith in the ability of the company to turn around its workplace culture. i think that they don't really think about their staff at all. they have little to no regard for our feelings and how we might feel in the workplace and how we are being treated. , workplace and how we are being treated. yes. because if they did? they would _ treated. yes. because if they did? they would do _ treated. yes. because if they did? they would do something about it. and zoe is here.

it isa it is a formal investigation and you have had a huge response. the bbc has had one — have had a huge response. the bbc has had one of— have had a huge response. the bbc has had one of the _ have had a huge response. the bbc has had one of the biggest - have had a huge response. the bbc. has had one of the biggest responses today. 100 people got in touch with us saying they are either current employees, past employees, ora family member of somebody who works there and they all wanted to talk to us about their experience of mcdonald's. we can't verify their stories at the state, but they all had something to tell us. we have also had a political reaction. the prime minister's spokesperson has called the allegations offer. and caroline noakes has called the allegations disgusting and terrific. thank you. if you have been affected by any of the issues in this story, information and support is available via the bbc action line. you'll find that online or via the bbc news app. a barge that's expected to house 500 asylum seekers has arrived in portland port in dorset. it will stay there for 18 months and be home to 500 men who are claiming asylum.

it's part of government plans to reduce the cost of housing migrants, using the barge rather than paying for hotel rooms. it comes as the government's controvserial illegal migration bill is set to become law after a series of votes in the house of lords last night. dan johnson reports. it sailed through delays and opposition, but the bibby stockholm arrives here as a floating declaration of the government's determination to reduce hotel bills and stop migrant boats. it's been refitted with bunk beds to house 500 asylum—seekers. but that's around the same number crossing the channel every week. so this isn't a solution, but it's about the government sending messages to the taxpayers that it's not funding asylum—seekers to live in luxury, and to migrants, that if they come to this country, they can expect to live in conditions that are what it describes as "basic and functional". there's opposition here and beyond, and listen to the split opening up in this community. there are refugees here. to answer your question,

i do not feel safe. i'm not frightened of a single man in portland, there are 7,000 men in portland now. they shout. one group's concerned about the pressure on services... the other�*s focused on conditions for the men. it has to be dealt with some other way, but the only way it can be dealt with is to speed up those claims so that the men and women can get out there and start working and contributing to our society. we've not got enough nhs dentists, doctors, we just haven't got it. so we are all struggling. if those services were improved, would it be all right? no, no. no. so it's about something else? it's about the men. the people of this own town are dividing because of this, and we all want the same thing, and that is no to the barge! stopping small boats is a government priority, the plan to deport illegal migrants to rwanda's stuck in the courts, but the migration bill did clear

parliament last night, so this is a significant arrival. we are creating places for them to stay safe, relatively comfortable places for them to stay whilst we process them. the illegal migration bill will mean that we can process people more quickly. but the first 50 asylum—seekers won't step aboard for another few days. and other places have resisted similar plans, so this is a pioneering test of a contentious new policy. danjohnson, bbc news, portland. sweltering temperatures have continued across southern europe today, with firefighters tackling wildfires in greece, spain and switzerland. there are heatwaves across the northern hemisphere in north america and asia and they are set to intensify. in italy it hit 46 degrees in sicily today and 45 degrees in spain. across the atlantic at midnight last night the temperature in death valley was still 49c.

china is experiencing a heat wave as well. china is experiencing a heat wave as well. and there's also a heatwave in asia with temperatures above a0 degrees in the north, in xinjiang. our climate editor, justin rowlatt, joins us from murcia in spain, one of the hottest places in europe. yes, it really has been another exceedingly hot day here and, as you say, this is the second blistering heat wave to hit the region in as many weeks, injust heat wave to hit the region in as many weeks, in just two weeks. as well as taking its toll on people, it is also taking its toll on the environment, drying out vegetation and making the whole region vulnerable to fire. wildfires continued to rage in greece today. firefighters struggled to contain them, as high winds fanned the flames. and italy has been continuing to feel the heat too, with temperatures into the 40s and 20 cities now on heatwave alert. it turns out rain isn't the only weather that can take that sheen

off your special day. irani and her colleague pedro look after homeless people in the southern spanish city of murcia. it could be really serious because it's not only feeling sick, but also it can bring you to death. they work out on the street, checking people are coping with the heat. so just think what these temperatures do to the human body. our body temperature is 37 degrees, any higher or lower than that and our systems begin to shut down. so our bodies are fighting to stay at 37 degrees, and that takes a huge amount of energy, a huge toll on our bodies. irani and pedro give out water, hats and advice. the higher the temperature, the greater the risk to human health. and, of course, climate change is dialling up the heat. look how annual average global

temperatures have increased since preindustrial levels. the world is now about 1.1 celsius warmer than it was in the late 19th century. now, that might not sound a lot, but even a small increase in average temperatures makes a big difference. that's because it shifts the entire distribution of daily temperatures to warmer levels, as this graph shows, it makes hot days both more likely and likely to be hotter. and it isn'tjust europe that's seeing that impact. parts of the us were even hotter than spain and italy. las vegas issued an official warning that there is unlikely to be any respite from the heat for at least a week. they know all about enduring high temperatures in arizona. it has now had 18 consecutive days above 43 celsius. and the hot weather in asia is continuing too.

there are heat stroke warnings across japan, as its recorded temperature isjust shy of a0 celsius today. back in spain, helicoptersjoined the battle to contain a wildfire in la palma, one of the canary islands — more evidence of the brutal impact of this summer's extreme weather. justin rowlatt, bbc news, southern spain. a mother who was jailed for illegally obtaining abortion tablets to end her pregnancy during lockdown is to be released from prison. 45—year—old carla foster admitted illegally procuring her own abortion when she was between 32 and 3a weeks pregnant. a judge told her last month she would serve half her 28 month—term in custody and the remainder on licence. but the court of appeal reduced her sentence to 1a months suspended. a multi billion pound electric car battery plant is set to be built in somerset after the site saw off

competition from spain. the factory, forjaguar land rover, is expected to create thousands of new jobs. our business correspondent theo leggettjoins me now. this would be the first of its kind in the uk? it will be a new giger factory, a giant factory that produces thousands and thousands of batteries. it is extremely significant. we do have one under construction up in sunderland, next door, but the uk has very few of these, other countries have more. why is it significant? if we don't have batteries, batteries are the biggest, most expensive part of an electric car, so as the automotive industry is transforming away from petrol and diesel —— diesel, it was electric cars, if you want to produce electric cars, you need battery factories. this one in bridgwater in somerset is expected to create 9000 jobs, but it also sends out a powerful signal. the government has worked very hard to

attract a jaguar land rover�*s group to build it here when it faced opposition from spain. it is expected to be several hundred million pounds worth of taxpayers permit money going into this and direct grants and subsidies for energy costs. one fly in the ointment, i have been talking to smaller businesses who work in the sector and they are worried a lot of money is going to go to this big international company with big pockets and there may not be enough left for them. they will have to see whether there is enough for them and this is the beginning of something or big headlines behind it. our top story this evening: there've been claims of sexual assault, bullying and harrassment at mcdonald's branches across the uk. the company has apologised. coming up... how the isle of wight�*s rare sea eagles have produced the first chick to be born in the wild in england since 1780. and in england since 1780. from 6:30pm, why plans to out and from 6:30pm, why plans to roll out free school meals in london's

primary schools is causing some concern. it has been a bumper year for gigs and cultures in london with millions attending and billions being spent. the future of the commonwealth games has been thrown into doubt after the australian state of victoria announced it was pulling out of hosting the games in 2026. they say costs have tripled and they can't afford to stage the event. the commonwealth games federation said they were hugely disappointed by the decision. as our sports editor, dan roan reports, finding countries willing to stage the games is becoming increasingly problematic. the commonwealth games champions! just 12 months ago, birmingham hosted one of the most successful and memorable commonwealth games in history, one that many hoped would reinvigorate the event and sustain its relevance. the closing ceremony ended with the official handover to the australian state of victoria. but today came a shock withdrawal, the next hosts saying it was simply too expensive.

look, i've made a lot of difficult calls, a lot of very difficult decisions in thisjob — this is not one of them. frankly, $6—7 billion for a 12 day sporting event, we are not doing that. that does not represent value for money. that is all cost and no benefit. it's a clean start, it's a good jump. he's in the lead! with victoria only confirmed last year after officials struggled to find a host for 2026, its surprise pull out throws the multisport event into turmoil. the games�* governing body said it had been blindsided and that costs had spiralled because its advice had been ignored by the victorian government. absolutely shocked that the cabinet has made this decision and it hasn't come back to the board to actually have a proper conversation. does this represent the beginning of the end for the commonwealth games, do you fear? no, i absolutely don't. look, you know, this is a major...major setback but we will be working as quick as possible to replace victoria as 2026.

but that may not prove easy. birmingham had to step in when the original hosts, durban, in south africa, was stripped of the event over its own financial issues. the event cost almost £800 million, but one of team england's gold medal winning stars is adamant it was worth it. from an athlete's point of view, itjust... itjust means everything and it's an event i will never forget and i really do think the commonwealth games could have this impact on so many athletes. it's really important it goes on, wherever it gets held. the 193a empire games, before the event's name was changed. the link to colonialism has meant a challenging history for what some see as an outdated institution, and with republican sentiments being expressed in some commonwealth countries, can the games survive this setback? i do think it's the end of the games as we've known it. it needs a fresh identity. maybe needs to lose the commonwealth aspect of it. there's too much resonance of empire there. the legacy of manchester's

successful staging of the games 21 years ago remains clear to see. the main athletics venue now the home of premier league champions manchester city. but amid a packed sporting calendar and mounting concern over the cost of staging such events, the sense is that the games�* fight for relevance is intensifying. and with just three years to go, there's little time to waste in the search for a new host to come to the games�* rescue. dan roan, bbc news. it costs almost £1,000 pounds to pay for childcare through the school summer holidays — that's according to research carried out by a children's charity. it says during the school break parents are paying more than twice as much as they do for an after—school club in term—time. here's our cost of living correspondent, colletta smith. it's been amazing! the long school holidays stretching ahead mean big bills looming for parents. it's hard tojuggle work and children. you know, ijust can't afford to take five weeks off work.

probably wouldn't have a job left! summer childcare prices are up right across britain, but bills for parents in wales have jumped the most — to more than £1,000 per child this holiday. have movie days, have festival type parties. justine's holiday club in cardiff is one of those private providers who say they've had to increase prices to cover costs. so for under five—year—old, it's £50, but for an over five—year—old, it's £45. and again, we're not the cheapest, but we're offering that longer day. and it's working parents having to suck up those prices. we want our children to be in a safe, loving, brilliant environment like it is here, but it's really causing a squeeze and parents are having to make choices that we shouldn't be having to make. the governments in wales, scotland and england say they're making huge investments in child care. but the children's charity coram wants funding to apply all year — notjust in term time.

one primary school in cheshire has decided to use funding from the local council to run a free holiday club for all their pupils. for our working parents, it's really helpful because they know that they can access four hours of childcare for free for four weeks of the summer holidays and they find it a really, really useful tool. definitely one less worry, and if there's a day where there's not a lot of money there or finance there to go out on a day out, i know that he's sorted with, going to a club at school. if you're struggling to afford childcare through this summer holidays, don't forget you now have the legal right to request flexible working. your employer doesn't have to give it to you, but it's always worth a go and do the sums because it may be that if you've more than one child, you could actually save money by requesting to take unpaid leave for some of the summer. so while the holiday excitement builds for children, the pressure is mounting on parents. colletta smith, bbc news.

domestic abuse charges against the former manchester united footballer and wales manager ryan giggs have been dropped. he was facing a retrial after the original proceedings ended with the jury not reaching a verdict was accused of attacking his ex—girlfriend kate greville and her younger sister. britain's top cyber security official has told the bbc that artificial intelligence companies need to improve security now or risk paying the price in years to come. all this week the bbc is looking at the implications of artificial intelligence — the ability of computers to learn for themselves. here's our security correspondent, gordon corera. ai is moving fast but there are concerns that security may not be keeping up. in particular, there's a risk that al systems can be hacked or deliberately fooled — this is a field called adversarial machine learning. so to take one example in the world

of visual al, to the human eye, this is a pig and the a! has been trained to recognise it. but if you add data to the image which is invisible to the human eye, to us it still looks like a pig, but the ai will now recognise it as an airliner. so how might this be a danger in the real world? let's take another example. what if a! is being used to guide cars around a city? it only took researchers placing these stickers on a stop sign to fool an al to believe the sign was actually a 45 mph speed limit sign. you can imagine the risks, as one former intelligence chief explains. as we become dependent on a! for really good things, like the delivery of food or autonomous vehicles or utilities, all sorts of things that ai will help to control in the future, we will become very dependent. and that means that attacks on those systems could be really devastating. this could even have serious consequences for national security.

for example, if a! was being relied on to detect tanks in satellite imagery, like in russia's build up to invading ukraine, but could be fooled to miss them. ai is already being used in ukraine to help direct drone strikes, so imagine if someone fooled a system to direct fire to the wrong location. one of the challenges of ai is that the data it learns from can be tampered with or poisoned, and the systems are not always transparent enough to understand how it came to a particular decision. the official in charge of britain's cyber security told me all of this means it's vital that those companies racing to roll out ai products think about how to secure them. from our perspective, the key thing is building good cyber security into ai now. so what we don't want to be in a position of is, in 30 years' time, still trying to fix fundamental flaws that were built into early ai models. the scale and complexity of these models is such that if we don't

apply the right basic principles as they're being developed in the early stages, it will be much more difficult to retrofit security, even than it is with existing technology. securing ai systems is certainly not impossible but there are two lessons from the last few decades. firstly, that bad actors will try and use this technology, and secondly, it's better to build in security from the start, rather than wait until it's too late. gordon corera there. voters will go to the polls in three by—elections for westminster seats this thursday, all of them constituencies currently held by the conservatives. new mps are being elected in the north yorkshire seat of selby and ainsty, in the somerset seat of somerton and frome, the country where the new gigga factory is expected to be built.

and in london in borisjohnson 5 old seat of uxbridge and south ruislip. our political editor, chris mason, has been visiting each seat. his latest report comes from west london. beeping. this contest in north west london, like much of the politics of the last few years, can be summarised in just two words... ..boris and johnson. he used to be the mp round here. of course, he was prime minister too, and he is now neither. and so people here in uxbridge and south ruislip are picking a new mp and the conservative party, some with enthusiasm, others with less so, are trying to move on from borisjohnson — as are the folk round here. lies, lies, lies. you had to do it, you had to do it, you had to do it. we all have to do it in this town. and what did he do? have a party. i don't know. he didn't seem to take hisjob very seriously. i met him years ago. a nice person. i think he's made some mistakes.

yeah, and i personally believe they are unforgivable. - this has long been a conservative seat, but labour have been eyeing the prospect of winning here for a bit. keir starmer and the labour party have been miles ahead in loads of national opinion polls for ages. but the challenge for sir keir is to turn that into real votes and real election victories and, crucially, taking seats directly from the tories. now there are many issues here that will resonate with people all around the uk — the cost of living and the nhs. but there is one other issue that is really big and it's the extension of what is known as london's ultra low emission zone, which will charge drivers of the most polluting transport, and plenty of its critics blame it on the labour mayor of london, sadiq khan. it's just another tax on people's lives. it's costing people more every day. and what about the cost of living?

that's just a massive thing for so many people at the moment. i go to the supermarket now and i think, i'll get a few little pieces — 38 quid, and there's hardly anything there. when you go into the hospitals round here, so the queue just for the reception was really long and then sitting in the waiting area was even longer. and then at one point i was thinking, is there any point waiting here? i might as welljust go home. things that are important to the people around - here are schools, the hospital, the police station. _ for me, it's not. words — it's action. that's very important for me. you can tell me whatever you want — i need to see proof— of what you're going to deliver. so, a super thursday of by—elections beckon, notjust one but a trio of contests in three different corners of england. and, yes, each will send a new mp to westminster, but together they will make and mould the political weather, shape the confidence or otherwise of our political leaders. and all of this as a general election edges ever closer. our political editor

chris mason reporting there. you can watch the by—election results from midnight on thursday night on bbc one, and bbc news. this is a white—tailed eagle, the biggest bird of prey in the uk. they were hunted to extinction in the early 1900s but four years ago, a project began on the isle of wight to bring this lost species back to england. these photos have been taken by local photographer ainsley bennett and show some of the 25 eagles released on the island since 2019 — chicks taken from nests in western scotland where they're now thriving again. some were being released on the island just a few years ago. and look at this, the first white—tailed eagle chick to be born in england for more than 240 years. since 1780.

it's on the south coast, on the mainland. it's exact location is not being revealed to protect the birds. but the people behind the project can't believe it. this is brilliant and really quite unexpected because white tailed eagles breed at the first time for five years of age so fed 23—year—olds and rear are checked fledging is quite unexpected and unprecedented. i think it bodes well for their future establishment of the population and restoring this iconic bird to southern england. the population and restoring this iconic bird the eagles, also known as sea the eagles, also known as sea eagles, have a wing span eagles, have a wing span of more than eight feet. of more than eight feet. pretty much the size you can see pretty much the size you can see here. here. and there are now three established and there are now three established pairs on england's south coast, pairs on england's south coast, including two birds including two birds on the isle of wight. on the isle of wight. and so next year, they're hoping and so next year, they're hoping for even more chicks. for even more chicks. beautiful birds, i've seen beautiful birds, i've seen them a couple of times them a couple of times on the isle of wight. on the isle of wight. huge things, like a 747s huge things, like a 747s flying overhead. flying overhead. time for a look at the weather. time for a look at the weather. here's ben rich. here's ben rich. i haven't got anything quite as i haven't got anything quite as

dramatic as that. in fact something dramatic as that. in fact something very different from one of our very different from one of our weather watchers and weather watchers and make today. cloudy skies, a lot of make today. cloudy skies, a lot of rain. it has felt really cool where rain. it has felt really cool where you have been stuck with the cloud you have been stuck with the cloud and rain. 14 in places today. it and rain. 14 in places today. it feels a world away from the heat feels a world away from the heat thatis feels a world away from the heat that is once again gripped southern thatis feels a world away from the heat that is once again gripped southern europe. the reason for the europe. the reason for the difference is the position of the difference is the position of the jet stream. the winds dividing us jet stream. the winds dividing us from that heat and bringing us areas from that heat and bringing us areas of low pressure. just like this one of low pressure. just that we had seen during today. it has brought a lot of cloud and outbreaks of rain, some very heavy and persistent rain has moved across parts of northern england and southern scotland particularly. the bulk of that is now clearing eastwards. still some bits and pieces of rain and cloud to clear away but this guy is generally well clear in most places overnight. that will allow it to get quite chilly. last night we got to three or four in north—east scotland and we could see the same again tonight. eight in glasgow, nine in belfast, a little milderfurther glasgow, nine in belfast, a little milder further south. glasgow, nine in belfast, a little milderfurthersouth. some glasgow, nine in belfast, a little milderfurther south. some residue of cloud and patchy rain in the east

tomorrow morning. it will this