spain and switzerland. there are heatwaves across the northern hemisphere — in north america and asia — and they are set to intensify. health authorities have warned of the dangers of the extreme heat, urging people to drink water and stay indoors. the most severe fire in greece currently is in this region — about 30 kilometres north—west of the capital athens. the eu has announced it is sending firefighting planes to the country. in italy it hit 46 degrees in sicily today — and 45 degrees in spain. across the atlantic, an excessive heat warning is still in place for death valley, california — which is expected to reach a peak of more than 50 degrees celsius today. and china is experiencing a heatwave too, with temperatures above a0 degrees in the north, in xinjiang. we have correspondents across europe, to report on how the extreme heat is affecting life where they are. azadeh moshiri is in kouvaras —

south east of athens — where wildfires broke out monday night. guy de launey is in ljubljana. and imogen foulkes is in switzerland. i started by asking azadeh to bring us up to date on the situation in greece... i don't know if you can see it right now, but some of the winds are being felt here, and that is really complicating the situation for the firefighters within the country, because it makes it that much more difficult for them to get close to the fires and fight them. now, where i am today is the aftermath of those fires. as you can see around me, these hills have been completely decimated. if you were here with me right now, you would not only be able to see the fact that these trees have been burned, but you would be able to smell the ash and feel how hot it is around here. but in other parts of greece, on the other side of athens, fires have still been burning. this is very much a situation where firefighters are having to continue to respond to it. here where i am, this was suspected

of being started by a man who supposedly lit a fire. he is now been arrested. in other areas, it's because of the sheer temperatures that we are feeling around here. this is only the beginning. thursday to sunday is when we are expecting to see the peak. and when i spoke to firefighters, i asked them whether they still had an operation going around athens and what it looked like, and they very clearly said, "no, it is notjust athens, we are everywhere. we are fighting all the fires." and that is in response to the fact that many of the wildfires in the past have had locals criticise firefighters for not doing enough and the greek government for not deploying them around the country. and they are making clear that they are trying to respond as quickly as they can this time. azadeh, the eu has also promised some help. yes, that is absolutely right, and they have already sent four planes from italy and two from france, and there are also some firefighters already

stationed here to help. and in terms of the help from the eu that you are mentioning, they have also been providing funds that the greek government has been using to not only bolster their fire protection service here in greece, but also to combat what they say is a climate crisis here, because in greece, they have accepted that climate change is one of the biggest obstacles to the growth of their economy, because the warming of the planet is what scientists are saying is making extreme weather like this happen more often and certainly become more severe. guy, let's bring you into this. i was just watching you wipe your brow. sweltering conditions there in slovenia as well. it is a little bit more humid here, ithink, which is because we are expecting storms to come in. so we have had the bad weather warning for the heat and now we have the red weather warning

for the storms which are about to come as well. of course, people are bracing themselves for the damage that will cause. across the region as well as the damage that the heat has caused to crops, people are worried about what the storms will do, for example, the vineyards, to the olive groves, all of those sort of crops stand to be very severely damaged by the extreme weather that we have been having and will continue to have this summer. now, in croatia, it's been extremely hot, more than 40 degrees, red weather alerts in places in coastal areas. very interestingly and worryingly, the authorities are reporting that the sea temperature, so this is the adriatic sea, around one of the islands in the adriatic is about 30 celsius. so, again, that will have a massive impact on aquatic life. so it's not just the humans who are struggling in this extreme weather. let's bring imogen into the conversation. of course, we don't often think about switzerland and how hot it can actually be, but it's also being impacted by these extreme conditions.

it certainly is. we have this forest fire still raging down in the south of switzerland. at high altitude, it's up in the mountains, which means the only way that they have been able to try to put it out is using helicopters, which are scooping up waterfrom the dams

i talked to you earlier this afternoon and between then and now we have had a violent thunderstorm here with hail. lafit we have had a violent thunderstorm here with hail.— here with hail. last week we had a hail storm after _ here with hail. last week we had a hail storm after really, _ here with hail. last week we had a hail storm after really, the - here with hail. last week we had a hail storm after really, the hottest day so far this year, over 37 degrees. hailstones the size of golf balls, i am degrees. hailstones the size of golf balls, iam not degrees. hailstones the size of golf balls, i am not the only one with a car with a very damaged roof right now. and i think the thing that people are really starting to take notice of, it's notjust global warming, hottersummers, it is globalwarming warming, hottersummers, it is global warming and danger to people, to livelihoods, to people's homes in the alps where the forest fires are going, and with the melting glaciers, to the whole alpine ecosystem, the fresh water in europe's rivers. so really, a lot to

think about and this heat and extreme weather is really concentrating minds, certainly here in switzerland. find concentrating minds, certainly here in switzerland.— in switzerland. and the feeling that we are sort of _ in switzerland. and the feeling that we are sort of hearing _ in switzerland. and the feeling that we are sort of hearing about - in switzerland. and the feeling that we are sort of hearing about from l in switzerland. and the feeling that we are sort of hearing about from a lot of different quarters is that this is just the very beginning. well, switzerland's alpine environment is warming twice as fast as the global average, and so we have been told that we can expect more of this and halter of this and extreme than this, —— more of this and hotter of this. there was an interesting court case we reported on earlier this year, a group of older swiss women are taking their government back to the european court if you are right because they say it's not doing enough with its climate change policy and climate mitigation policy to protect human health, and these heat waves, this is proven in statistics, they affect the elderly and elderly women more. there are more deaths, more health

effects, so i think people are indeed beginning to think, this is, it's really, this is something we have to take may be much more seriously and it also seems to be happening much faster, certainly if you look at the melting glaciers, than even the climatologists had predicted. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. a mother who was jailed for illegally obtaining abortion tablets to end her pregnancy during lockdown will be released from prison after the court of appeal reduced her sentence. 45—year—old carla foster was given a 28—month sentence after admitting illegally procuring her own abortion when she was between 32 and 3a weeks pregnant. an appeal courtjudge said hers was a case that calls for compassion, not punishment prosecutors have abandoned their case against the former manchester united footballer, ryan giggs. he was due to face a retrial on domestic violence charges later this month, but the case was withdrawn at a hearing at manchester

crown court this morning. mr giggs has always denied assault and controlling or coercive behaviour towards kate greville and assaulting her sister emma. and four teenagers have been charged with the murder of a 16 year old boy in the west midlands, on saturday. joseph riches died after being stabbed. two 19—year—old men and two 16 —year—old boys had been detained overnight on sunday. you're live with bbc news. 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's 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. 0ne senior manager was openly racist and mocked disabled employees. managers warned her to stay away from certain older men, including one man in his 50s. i was just speaking to one of my friends and he just sort of grabbed me by my hips and pulled me onto his groin area. hejust, like, held me there. i felt disgusted, like, cos he was so much older as well. shelby says she complained to the store's management, but nothing was done. she quit in may. mcdonald's said it was investigating why any issues that she raised were not formally escalated at the time. mcdonald's 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 really upset and frustrated and angry. the man doing the harassing was a senior manager. warren says he asked him to perform sex acts. in a room full of minors, when you're almost ten years older than me, saying that, that is not right what happend, that should have never taken place. and did you complain to the management at all? no, ididn't. i honestly doubt i would have been believed, and also the managers were basically one big friend group, i felt that i couldn't because it would've been me, a 16—year—old, going against it. in february, mcdonald's signed a legal agreement with the equality watchdog, the ehrc, in which it committed to doing more to prevent sexual harassment from taking place. in a statement alister mcroe, the ceo of mcdonald's uk and ireland said they deeply apologise

for the instances where they have fallen short. 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. um, yeah. because if they did? because if they did, they would do something about it. shelby, and in that report. —— ending that report.

i spoke to maryjoyce carlson, a lawyer representing mcdonald's workers taking a class action lawsuit in the united states — and began by asking her to explain what was happening there. we have been struggling with it, really since 2018 when fast—food workers here went on strike, asking that the conditions in the workplace be improved around sexual harassment. but the experience of the workers is really similar. workers, women especially, are touched inappropriately. they are approached, sometimes by managers, and asked if they would trade sex for an increase in hours or other favourable working conditions. we even had, we had two cases recently, one from pittsburgh and one from texas, where women have been raped on thejob. and texas, where women have been raped on the job. and what we've found in one action we filed in michigan is that the harasser in that store, who

harassed young women, very young women, all across one franchisee, when the workers complain, he was simply transferred to another store where the same behaviour was permitted once again. and in the rape cases, actually, mcdonald's hired managers who were on repeated sex offender list in the local jurisdiction. so that is on the extreme side of things. 0n jurisdiction. so that is on the extreme side of things. on what i would call the more, if you can call it normal, normal side of things, there are simple, as you point out in your article, small workplaces and a lot of opportunity for a young woman to be... find and a lot of opportunity for a young woman to be. . .— and a lot of opportunity for a young woman to be... and that's the other oint woman to be... and that's the other point here. — woman to be... and that's the other point here. that _ woman to be... and that's the other point here, that we _ woman to be... and that's the other point here, that we are _ woman to be... and that's the other point here, that we are talking - point here, that we are talking about teenagers in some cases. i mean, the workforce is incredibly young, incredibly vulnerable. yes. in many cases. — young, incredibly vulnerable. yes. in many cases, this _ young, incredibly vulnerable. yes. in many cases, this is _ young, incredibly vulnerable. yes. in many cases, this is their - young, incredibly vulnerable. 133 in many cases, this is their first in many cases, this is theirfirst job, and often, we find that when

this happens, the woman are, the young women are so surprise, they really don't know how to react. and they even wonder, is this what i should expect. the equal employment opportunity commission in the united states, which is somewhat equivalent to the equalities commission in england, has actually filed a class action that spreads across the south west into california, alleging violations and harassment violations of the law against teenage workers specifically. so... i of the law against teenage workers specifically. so...— specifically. so... i 'ust want to ick specifically. so. .. i 'ust want to ick u- specifically. so... i 'ust want to pick up on h specifically. so... i 'ust want to pick up on the _ specifically. so... ijust want to pick up on the point _ specifically. so... ijust want to pick up on the point that - specifically. so... ijust want to pick up on the point that you i specifically. so... i just want to - pick up on the point that you made, that this is a problem that dates back to at least 2018, when the workers went on strike. did mcdonald's try and change anything within its culture? because i'm sitting in front of me statement here from the ceo of mcdonald's here in the uk and ireland, and they say

that they are deeply apologetic about what has happened, and that they will look into it, but you are saying that these, some of these things date back certainly in the us to sort of five years ago? in response, fairly recently, mcdonald's has announced some global brand standards which it hoped to introduce into the company to eradicate some of these problems but i don't know if you saw the global brand standards, certainly there has been a case vote with the 0ecd, none of the national contact points have ever seen the global standards, the european parliament held a hearing on this problem in september and the meps who conducted it have never seen it either though they have asked for the global brand standards repeatedly. unfortunately, mcdonald's has paid more attention

to packaging a response rather than digging deep and coming up with a solution that would really change things. solution that would really change thin . s. ., solution that would really change thins. ., ., i. solution that would really change thin.s_ ., ., “ solution that would really change thins. ., ., ,, ~' , solution that would really change thins. ., ., ~ , ., things. how do you think they can do this? they employ — things. how do you think they can do this? they employ roughly _ things. how do you think they can do this? they employ roughly 170,000' this? they employ roughly 170,000 people in the uk alone, 11150 restaurants. how better can they manage this? that is just in this country. of course they would have many more in the us. how can they better manage the situation? i have to believe that _ better manage the situation? i have to believe that a _ better manage the situation? i have to believe that a large _ better manage the situation? i have to believe that a large corporation, | to believe that a large corporation, the second largest on the planet, that manages to have consistent, and it prides itself on its consistency in the product it sells, if there is an outbreak of wisteria here in the letters, mcdonald's will clear that

“p letters, mcdonald's will clear that up in ten minutes, and they managed the siting of their restaurants and they manage the quality of the hamburger or whatever they are going to sell, and in france they sell something differently. and if all of that can be managed across restaurants, i have to believe that if a change in the culture of the environment, in the stores, that would be protected of young workers, and favourable to young workers, they should be able to change that as well. it they should be able to change that as well. . . they should be able to change that as well. ., , ., ., they should be able to change that as well. .,, ., ., , ., , as well. it has to do with priority prioritisation, _ as well. it has to do with priority prioritisation, may _ as well. it has to do with priority prioritisation, may be _ as well. it has to do with priority prioritisation, may be the - as well. it has to do with priority| prioritisation, may be the people who actually prepare the products are not as important as the products themselves, and i don't think the kind of attention that could be paid to this has been paid in terms of structuring efficient training. we

know for example that with the workers themselves, especially teenagers, there's a certain of learning style that teenagers have, thatis learning style that teenagers have, that is effective, but i don't believe when i look at this case where the manager, the offender, was transferred from store to store to store, that there is sufficient consequences. stores knowingly employing harasses and then keeping them in the system once they have been shown to be harasses. so there are things they can do. that been shown to be harasses. so there are things they can do.— are things they can do. that was mary joyce _ are things they can do. that was maryjoyce carson _ are things they can do. that was mary joyce carson speaking - are things they can do. that was mary joyce carson speaking to l are things they can do. that was i mary joyce carson speaking to me maryjoyce carson speaking to me earlier. well the bbc did share its findings with mcdonald's.

he also said in february mcdonald's uk committed with the equalities and human rights commission to a zero—tolerance approach to any kind of harassment, and there's been a roll out of new policies and strict reporting processes, all aimed at offering the highest possible level of workplace protection for all employees. if you have been sexually harrassed at work, you can find details of support and how to report incidents, and who to report them to, on the bbc website. log on to bbc.c0.uk/news and click through. jaguar land rover—owner tata is set to announce plans to build a flagship electric car battery factory in somerset. people familiar with the matter said the investment would be officially announced on wednesday. some in the car industry have described the plant as the most significant investment in uk automotive since nissan came to britain in the 1980s. live now to our international business correspondent theo leggett in our newsroom.

this is a massive announcement. it is extremely significant. in part, thatis is extremely significant. in part, that is because britain has been lagging behind in the race to get electric cars belt and the infrastructure to build electric cars. this will be a massive battery plant, and the that matters is because when it comes to building cars, the battery is the most valuable component of that. so if you don't have battery factories, you don't have battery factories, you are not going to be building a lot of electric cars. there is a great deal of competition between different countries at the moment to attract new investment, because the car industry itself is going through a revolution, as we move away from petrol and diesel towards electric. in this case, the group had two choices, it could build the plant in the uk, but it also had offers from spain to build it there. so we've had something of a tug—of—war between britain and spain over attracting the new investment. now,

as we understand it, the uk has won that contest. they will be building a new factory in somerset near bridgewater in the southwest of the country, and it will be employing some 9000 people once it's built. so that represents something of a victory, but there is a lot of public money going into this as well. as we understand, there will be several hundred million pounds worth of taxpayers money going into this, partly as grants, but also the subsidies for energy costs, because energy costs in the uk are pretty high. they spent a lot of reaction to this. the government will obviously be pretty pleased about this. we haven't had their formal reaction yet, but, we know they have been fighting for this investment, the labour party said it was welcome, but it would attract far more factories if it was in power. it has plans to attract eight of them. the liberal democrats for the other opposition parties that it was welcome after years of neglect of

the southwest of the country, so thatis the southwest of the country, so that is the political reaction. from the industry, there has been welcome as well, but a lot of the smaller companies involved in the sector are saying they are a little bit worried, because what the government has done here is attracted when big client and made, and is set to make one big investment. but they want this to be just the start. they don't want to see all the money going to one major international company that has deep pockets and then deprive all the smaller businesses around the country of any sort of subsidy. so they want is to be distracted and they went to see the government also fighting for the rest of the industry, the wider ecosystem of electric cars, giving them some money as well. figs ecosystem of electric cars, giving them some money as well. as you say, this will create _ them some money as well. as you say, this will create more _ them some money as well. as you say, this will create more jobs _ them some money as well. as you say, this will create more jobs and _ them some money as well. as you say, this will create more jobs and that - this will create more jobs and that in itself is welcome. this will create more “obs and that in itself is welcome._ in itself is welcome. absolutely. this is the _ in itself is welcome. absolutely. this is the start _ in itself is welcome. absolutely. this is the start of _ in itself is welcome. absolutely. this is the start of a _ in itself is welcome. absolutely. this is the start of a new - in itself is welcome. absolutely. | this is the start of a new industry in many ways. for years, the car industry has not changed very much. so you had factories building cars

and building components for cars, gearboxes, engines, and all that kind of thing. now we are in a big transition where cars themselves are more like rolling computers. electric motors, lots of software and big energy storage, batteries. so, as i said before, if you don't attract the investment for the batteries, you don't get to make the cars. there is another aspect to bearin cars. there is another aspect to bear in mind as well, most of the cars built in the uk are exported to the european union. that's the biggest export market, but they want to be able to go there if they do not contain a certain amount of value that has been provided in this country. you can't export bits of cars and assemble them and send them abroad. you have to have local, and abroad. you have to have local, and a battery is a major part of a new car. if you can make the battery locally, then creating local value is much simpler.— locally, then creating local value is much simler. . ~' . is much simpler. thank you so much, no doubt we —

is much simpler. thank you so much, no doubt we will _ is much simpler. thank you so much, no doubt we will be _ is much simpler. thank you so much, no doubt we will be following - is much simpler. thank you so much, no doubt we will be following this - no doubt we will be following this story closely, because as we said, there was in the know say that announcement is likely to be made on wednesday. we will be back with all the latest headlines in the next few minutes, including much more about that heatwave that has struck europe. we will have a guest talking about the tourism industry and the impact on that. but stay with us, lots more coming up on the next addition. hello. there's no end in sight, really, to our unsettled run of weather. there are already parts of scotland so far this july that have seen 60% more rainfall than a typicaljuly so it has been very wet. keswick was hiding underneath the rain clouds during the day today. and the reason it has been unsettled is because of this trough to our west. that creates areas of low pressure that then move across the uk and bring us rain, and there is no change to that pattern expected. meanwhile across southern europe, we've got this ridge and what that does is it pushes air down through the earth's atmosphere. that descending air can dry out and can trap some extreme heat near the earth's surface. 46 likely in parts of sardinia and sicily, but for both, actually, temperatures for most will be more into the upper 30s. it is still extreme heat, still quite dangerous, but the 46es will be relatively localised affairs. now, overnight tonight for us, outbreaks of rain will slowly be

easing across eastern areas as our area of low pressure works out into the north sea. it then turns quite chilly for scotland and northern ireland, with temperatures getting down into single figures here, with some clear spells. and overall, looking at the weather charts for wednesday, as that low pressure pulls out of the way, it's a brighter kind of day, a day really of sunshine and showers. the majority of the showers will be across northern and eastern scotland and across eastern areas of england as well, where there could be one or two sharp ones come the afternoon. still, we are expecting some spells of sunshine, so at least in that regard it should be a better kind of day. that said, temperatures for most will continue to be a little bit below average, typically between 17 and 20, although 2a in london is close to average, it won't feel too bad in thejuly sunshine. for thursday another showery kind of day but that said, there won't be that many showers around. most of them will be in northern scotland,

so if you do catch a shower elsewhere you can count yourself quite unlucky. sunny spells, temperatures still a little below average forjuly, and highs for most of us between around 17 and 23 celsius. what about the end of the week and the weekend? well, rememberthat trough in the jet stream? well, that's not going anywhere very far, very fast. and that will create further areas of low pressure, and that means we've got more rain to come. for friday, the wet weather will be across parts of scotland and northern ireland, drier and brighterfor most of england and wales, but for most through the weekend, we will see rain at times.

this is bbc news, the headlines... this is bbc news, the headlines... wildfires rage and temperature wildfires rage and temperature records are broken across europe records are broken across europe as a global heatwave takes hold. as a global heatwave takes hold. workers at mcdonald's told the bbc that the toxic culture at the company includes a sexual assault and racist abuse. —— includes sexual assault and racist abuse. the pentagon confirms a us soldier is being held in north korea after crossing the border without permission. we will have more on that story.