largest ever evacuation. a bridge under construction has collapsed in western greece near the city of patras. a number of people are reported to be trapped. voters take to the polls in spain. prime minister pedro sanchez and his main rival alberto nunez have cast their votes in the capital madrid. as anger grows in manipur over a sexual assault case, there's been more accounts of further atrocities. and the uk government has written to banks warning them against closing accounts for political reasons, after concerns were raised after nigel farage had an account withdrawn by coutts. hello, i'm vishala sri—pathma. greek police say 19,000 people have been evacuated from homes

and hotels on the island of rhodes, as wildfires continue to burn out of control. it's said to be the biggest such operation greece has ever carried out. these are pictures from one village in rhodes where houses have been destroyed. three hotels have reportedly burnt down, and many others are in the danger zone. many people are staying in temporary accomodation like this. while others waited in public buildings. the fires have been burning for five days now. the country's deputy fire chief says the blazes in rhodes are the most difficult greece is facing. the budget airline, jet2, says it's cancelled all flights that were due to go to rhodes today. tuigroup says it's also cancelled flights to rhodes until tuesday night. thomas cook has cancelled all holidays to areas of rhodes until 31stjuly. azadeh moshiri reports. these are scenes

no—one wants repeated. tourists looking for a holiday escape flood their resorts in droves. as fires consumed buildings. please, please, this way! thousands were evacuated by land and sea as buildings were consumed by flames in southern rhodes. some hotels burned down altogether. we were really lucky, we got off the beach. but there were hundreds and literally thousands of people still on the beach and everybody was screaming, they were fighting. it was absolutely... it was like armageddon. they were in the sea, there was nowhere for them to go. we got to the car park where a lot of panicked people were waiting for buses. we were one of the lucky ones, we had a hire car so we could just go. we didn't have to wait for taxis or shuttle buses to get us out of the resort. a lot of people were there with wet t—shirts, through their mouth trying to breathe more effectively, because the air by then was unbearable. so, we are one of.

the very lucky ones. we managed to get on the authority boat and this is what _ we are leaving behind. that's the beach. temperatures are set to break records and people do flock to greece for its blue skies. but now, archaeological sites like the acropolis are shut during the hottest hours of the day. here in athens, people are being urged to stay at home and yet, tourists are still queueing up for hours to see the acropolis behind me in the mornings. given this could be greece's longest heatwave on record, the challenges that this country is facing are not over yet. officials are concerned by the extreme temperatures, as well as wind, that are set to continue. they say these aren't the last evacuations we will be seeing. so, this isn't the tourist season anyone was expecting. azadeh moshiri, bbc news. 0ur news correspondent — phil bodmer — gave us an update

on the mood at manchester airport. well, i think the thing is, people are feeling pretty disappointed. those flights that have been cancelled that are due to go to rhodes today, people are being advised that they can seek a refund or rebook their holidays. some airlines — including ryanair — are still flying to the island, there is a flight that's due to go off here at about 3:30pm this afternoon. but as you mentioned at the top of the programme, the situation is pretty fluid and airlines are changing those plans. we have heard aboutjet2, tui, british airways and easyjet all advising people to check before they travel with some airlines suspending those flights for a week at least. we are expecting the first flight back from rhodes, an easyjet flight into manchester terminal one, in about 45 minutes�* time. we hope to be able to speak to passengers on that flight. manchester, at the moment, is heavy with rain. it will be a complete contrast to what people have been used to,

suffering that heatwave and those awful experiences in rhodes so they may welcome the damp and wet of a lancashire afternoon here on the weekend. but this is a fast developing situation. the foreign office is advising passengers to check before they travel and this first flight coming in in about 45 minutes�* time, i suspect may not well be the last as airlines seek to get people home who wish to come home. flights are arriving from greece as well as some being cancelled out there because of these fires. let's talk more about this with our news reporter sanchia berg. it is important to render that so far these fires which you can see an orange, only affecting a portion of the holiday industry on rhodes. these are the areas we have highlighted and named where people

are being evacuated but if you look up are being evacuated but if you look up this side, there are in fact quite a lot of tourist beaches, hotels up there and then there's the main town of rhodes and the airport in the north. so far, those parts of the island haven't been affected. that explains why you have a mixed picture when you look at what the transport companies are doing, the airlines and holiday companies. so, if we look at the flight cancellations you can see thatjet2 is cancelling flights, that is technically true, it is sending out empty aircraft so people can go home if they want to but it is not going to add to the number of its holiday—makers on the island. the same is true of the holiday company tui. jet2 have cancelled until next week, tui only until tuesday. easyjet has also cancelled holidays but they are running all their flights as usual. though, of course,

people should check with their operator before they travel because this is a very fluid situation, as you can see. british airways, ryanair are you can see. british airways, ryanairare all you can see. british airways, ryanair are all flying as normal. there were two or ryanair flights this afternoon that are due to come into rhodes from stansted and east midlands airport. in fact, if you have a look at the flights that are coming into rhodes airport, they've got dozens of flights from all over europe bringing people, holiday—makers, into the island of rhodes which may seem a bit contradictory given that we see these terrifying pictures of an inferno and people telling us these frightening stories of being evacuated, fearing for their lives, their safety. and that is because, as we saw on the map, it is quite a substantial island and so far it isn't affecting the whole island. but i can't stress enough, it is really important that anyone who is looking travel to rhodes should keep in touch with their operator, keep

up in touch with their operator, keep up with the news. people may want to return earlier than they originally planned and the foreign office is helping people with that, as are some of the operators. british airways will be flying out a plane this week which will be bigger than its needs with the intention of bringing home more people than they bringing home more people than they bring in. the foreign office has been issuing advice to people, they say they have been working with the greek authorities and airlines, travel companies and they say a rapid deployment team is on its way. that is the latest that we have at the moment, but it is a very fluid situation. . ~ the moment, but it is a very fluid situation. ., ~ , ., ., ., situation. thank you for that u date. we are joined now by dr theodore giannaros who is the associate researcher at the national 0bservatory of athens in greece. thank you very much forjoining us. in terms of predicting this wildfire, given your experience, is that something that was quite hard

to do this time round?— to do this time round? well, it was not a surprising — to do this time round? well, it was not a surprising situation _ to do this time round? well, it was not a surprising situation for - to do this time round? well, it was not a surprising situation for us - not a surprising situation for us because of what we have seen yesterday. the fire in rhodes is what we call a blow—up fire. by that we mean that the weather conditions were highly conducive to extreme fire behaviour we witnessed. we even observed the formation of a small fire. in terms of our ability to predict the behaviour, the answer to your question is yes, we have such tools available will stop the national 0bservatory tools available will stop the national observatory of athens has modelling systems that are able to simulate this exact extreme fire behaviour which was observed when you have fires burning intensively and coupling with the atmosphere generating all this erratic behaviour that is very dangerous for people and firefighters operating in the field. ., ., ., ., ,.,

the field. doctor theodore, do you think it is going — the field. doctor theodore, do you think it is going to _ the field. doctor theodore, do you think it is going to be _ the field. doctor theodore, do you think it is going to be more - think it is going to be more challenging to contain this fire now? there are clearly a lot of resources deployed on the ground to try and make sure this doesn't go any further. try and make sure this doesn't go any further-— any further. what i can tell you is the conditions _ any further. what i can tell you is the conditions today _ any further. what i can tell you is the conditions today and - any further. what i can tell you is l the conditions today and tomorrow will remain very dangerous. we extreme do or expect extreme fire weather condition, hot and dry weather condition, hot and dry weather for a long weather condition, hot and dry weatherfor a long period of more than ten days and we also expect on the island of rhodes intense winds. in terms of what we heard from our correspondence, it is actually quite a large island. 0ur correspondence, it is actually quite a large island. our other parts of the island save?— a large island. our other parts of the island save? given the weather which is currently _ the island save? given the weather which is currently in _ the island save? given the weather which is currently in the _ the island save? given the weather which is currently in the region, - the island save? given the weather which is currently in the region, wei which is currently in the region, we have north—westerly and northerly winds, i would say that the northern

part of the island looks currently safe since the fire is more active further to the south.— safe since the fire is more active further to the south. what about the weather, further to the south. what about the weather. is — further to the south. what about the weather, is that _ further to the south. what about the weather, is that forecast _ further to the south. what about the weather, is that forecast to - further to the south. what about the weather, is that forecast to improve | weather, is that forecast to improve soon? is that going to impact the fires and the weather and the situation in rhodes at the moment? not according to our latest forecast, we expect to remain under the influence of this soaring hot temperatures until the coming wednesday or thursday. so, temperatures until the coming wednesday orthursday. so, it temperatures until the coming wednesday or thursday. so, it will remain above a0 celsius. until then, the situation will be very difficult and if we have any fires it will be easier them and be destructive. given the technology that you are dealing with and that you are researching and developing, do you think in future these sorts of wildfires will be able to be predicted in good course? so, perhaps it could be managed a bit better when an incident like this

happens? better when an incident like this ha ens? , ., better when an incident like this hauens? , ., , , , happens? yes, of course, but this reuuires happens? yes, of course, but this requires a — happens? yes, of course, but this requires a cooperation _ happens? yes, of course, but this requires a cooperation between i requires a cooperation between operational agencies and the research institutions like the one i work for. as i told you earlier, we have developed a forecasting system able to predict fire spreading behaviour. it has been used for two years in greece operationally in 2019 and 2020 and they are currently available, scientific tools, that we need to use that invest in fire development in order to be able to battle these large and extreme wildfires. . ~ battle these large and extreme wildfires. ., ,, , ., battle these large and extreme wildfires. . ~' , ., , . battle these large and extreme wildfires. ., ,, , ., , . ., wildfires. thank you very much for “oininr wildfires. thank you very much for joining us- — wildfires. thank you very much for joining us- that— wildfires. thank you very much for joining us. that update _ wildfires. thank you very much for joining us. that update on - wildfires. thank you very much for joining us. that update on how - joining us. that update on how wildfires can be presented in the future. we have some live pictures now from rhodes international airport of passengers there waiting in the, kind of, queue and check—in

area. some stranded trying to get out of the country back home after a holiday. clearly it is quite a densely packed area there. rhodes, as we were saying, people are arriving back in the uk. we heard earlierfrom our arriving back in the uk. we heard earlier from our correspondence arriving back in the uk. we heard earlierfrom our correspondence in manchester that the first flights are due since those wildfires started taking place, they are due a bit later on this afternoon. 0perators including british airways haveissued 0perators including british airways have issued notices on cancellations to flight out there but, as our correspondent said in rhodes, there are people still arriving. it hasn't put off everybody, we heard from our reporter in the newsroom that rhodes is quite a large island and lots of people can go to areas of safety there. but clearly, at the airport, lots of people are quite anxious to hear more about how they are able to return home after a holiday there.

also in greece — a bridge has collapsed, killing one person ands injuring eight others. it happened in patras, west of athens. emergency services are at the scene. the bridge had been undergoing construction work. polls have opened in spain's snap election, which could see the far right winning a place in government for the first time since democracy was restored after the death of general franco almost 50 years ago. voters face a choice between a centre—left government supported by the far—left and a conservative led government, backed by the far—right vox party. this was the prime minister, pedro sanchez, casting his vote as his party seeks to fend off the challenge from the far right. let's hearfrom news report sergi forcada freixas who gave us an update on the election from madrid. well, we do know that turnout is slightly higher than it was four years ago. now it is obviously lunchtime. you can't see many people behind me

here but throughout the morning you can see many people behind me here but throughout the morning there has been a lot of people in and out of the polling station and it's been the same picture all across the country. there were actually concerns about the weather, because this is the first time that a general election has been held in july and particularly in the midst of a heatwave. because of this, in places like this polling station in madrid, fans have been delivered in spain's capital madrid. 3,000 fans have been delivered to polling stations like this one. there's no aircon in here, so it's a way to make voting a bit more appealing to people. also water bottles have been delivered throughout polling stations. we will have to see, though, what happens later today with the turnout because what we do know is that many people decided to vote in advance. there was a record in voting via post. 2.5 million spaniards already cast their votes in the past few days by going to the post office.

that was sergi forcada freixas in madrid where counting is under way. graphic accounts are emerging of further atrocities in the indian state of manipur during an outbreak of ethnic violence in may. there's already been pain and anger over a video showing two women being paraded naked and assaulted by a mob. several other incidents in the state capital imfal have now come to light months after they happened. internet restrictions have slowed the release of information about the extent of the violence over the last few months. 0ur reporter divya arya has more from manipur. shops are shut in this part of manipur�*s capital city imphal because another violent incident was reported here. this road leads to the airport so you do see some vehicles going from here, but mostly residents in this area are staying indoors, stepping out only if they need some essentials. now, what really strikes you when you come to manipur is that the city and the state has seen no internet for more than 2.5 months now. while some areas might be

returning to normalcy, it is really hard to communicate and resume normal life. despite the fact that there is no internet, when we travelled around the state, we found that the video that shows two women being disrobed, paraded naked and then sexually assaulted were still being shared widely and people would just take out their phones and show that video to us. it has fuelled more anger, despair and discontent amongst both communities. thousands are still displaced and in relief camps, unable to go back to their homes after they were set on fire in the violence that happened in the month of may. while there have been arrests after the video came out and there has been condemnation from both communities, especially spearheaded by women, everybody has been pointing out that the state government and the central government hasn't done enough. that the prime minister has spoken, but spoken too little and too late. until there is a concerted effort to find a political resolution to the dispute, sporadic incidents of violence can continue. we've heard of reports of fighting

across the border overnight. curfew is every evening and it will be very difficult for people to go back from relief camps and even think of rebuilding their lives. that was our correspondent in manipur. now it's time for a look at today's sport with gavin. hello there. still nothing happening at the cricket, with the rain scuppering england in manchester. so let's head to the open first and weather is also playing its part at hoylake too. the leaders are out now for their final rounds. the man to catch, brian harman. but it's rory mcilroy who has made his move up the leaderboard today. let's catch up with ben croucher who is there for us. then, over to you. then, overto you. gavin, thank then, over to you. gavin, thank you very much. the leaders have been out on the course here at hoylake for around an hour. it has not stopped raining. it is a true ultimate test of links golf but it is still the

american, brian harman, who still leads the open championship. he has dropped one shot already today, though. a poor approach shot to the second and he has dropped back to 11 under par. battled to save par at the third. cameron young bogie the first so that five shot lead has been preserved. the big shock has come from rory michael roy, three straight birdies lifting him to six under par. a big draw a couple of minutes ago on the ninth, a way to the left, stuck his approach shot to ten feet, couldn't make the part but there are hundreds if not thousands of people following him around and willing him on to lift his second claretjug. we are expecting the rain to get a little bit heavier at around and willing him on to lift his second claretjug. we are expecting the rain to get a little bit heavier at a roundabout 6pm, three hours' time, and that will be just when the leaders are approaching the far corner of the course, the 16th, 17th and 18th. there is still plenty of golf to be played in this 0pen there is still plenty of golf to be played in this open championship, brian harman searching for his first

major championship has his destiny in his own hands.— in his own hands. thank you very much indeed. _ in his own hands. thank you very much indeed. ben _ in his own hands. thank you very much indeed. ben croucher - in his own hands. thank you very much indeed. ben croucher at i in his own hands. thank you very - much indeed. ben croucher at hoylake for us. so the weather making things tricky for players at the open and it's the rain taking the headlines at old trafford in the cricket too. england are desperate for play to get under way on the final day of the fourth test of the ashes against australia. but these have been the scenes all day so far. england must hope the rain relents so they can take five wickets and possibly chase a target in their second innings. that would level the series at 2—2 with the final test at the 0val next week, but the forecast for the rest of sunday isn't good, which means australia would retain the ashes. at the women's world cup, jamaica halted their losing streak in world cup matches — to come away with a goalless draw against france. the finalists from four years ago — the netherlands — are off to a win. but sweden, who many are tipping could go all the way — left it late to defeat one of the lowest ranked teams, in their opening game. patrick gearey reports.

very much wellington weather. in new zealand, sweden officially the world's third best team, came into this world cup through a storm and a scare. courtesy of south africa who so surprised the swedish keeper that she queued up the player who both scored and netted. sweden were in a bigger tangle. scored and netted. sweden were in a biggertangle. forthem, what scored and netted. sweden were in a bigger tangle. for them, what a relief when they squeezed in a equaliser. the first time in this tournament that both teams had scored. south africa were headed for a precious point until the 90th minute when they rose above the rest. with that, sweden were home, if not dry. further south from wellington to dunedin where portugal's first world cup appearance was low—key. beaten by a flying dutch woman. stefanie van der gragt header enough to secure victory for the netherlands. france have recently found peace. gone are the rows and rancour, a new spirit and new manager. not enough to beat

jamaica. they came as close as anyone but despite having their star khadija shaw sent off late on, jamaica picked up theirfirst khadija shaw sent off late on, jamaica picked up their first ever world cup point. for france it seems you can have too much calm. patrick gearey, bbc news. for updates on the hungarian grand prix when max messed up hungarian grand prix when max messed up and leads past the halfway point and the diamond league athletics you can head to the bbc sports website but that is all the sport from us for now. see you soon. the in canonic secretary to the treasury has asked to meet with banks following on from the story that has been evolving about nigel farage. he has been warning them against closing customers' accounts because of their political views. it comes after former ukip leader

account with coutts was closed for political reasons. cambodian prime minister hun sen has declared victory in a general election. with the main opposition party banned — it's been seen as a contest that has been dismissed as a one—sided sham. jonathan head reports. the man who was held on for power here for nearly four decades was amongst the first to vote. he made sure his party faced no rival in this election. it was dismissed by many as a sham. but he still needed it to go well. and here is why, his son will soon succeed him in a once in a generation dynastic power transfer that is fraught with risk. the disqualification of the main opposition party left people with no real choices. the 17 others are

permitted to contest the election were either too small or new to attract more than a handful of votes. translation: it was a boring campaign for the people. this leader was forced to sit out of the election, with no opposition it was like soup with no flavour. the ruling party still campaigned hard, though. it's colourful rallies where the only ones that most compound deviants or cambodians got to see. they were pushing for a strong turnout —— most cambodians. they have just finished counting the votes in this polling station, quite a surprise a number of spoiled ballot paper. it is quite high, the only way people can show their support from the opposition which is banned from contesting. once this is over, the bigger question facing cambodia is how the planned transition of power from the leader

who has been there so long to his son goes. that is expected to happen within a few weeks. the leader hopes this will be seen as his legacy. a once war—torn country transformed under his rule. but all of this glittering growth has come at a high price. with levels of corruption, injustice and inequality that would certainly have cost him many more votes in a free election. jonathan head, bbc news, cambodia. the israeli prime minister says that he is doing very well after having a pacemaker fitted in overnight surgery as a debate continues in parliament on key legislation in his government's planned judicial overhaul. from the medical centre where his operation took place, mr netanyahu said that efforts were continuing to pass the legislation. he said he hopes to make an appearance in parliament tomorrow. stay with us here on bbc news. for some of that it has

been a very wet weekend. not least for northern ireland which had a lot of rain overnight and once again during today. on the earlier satellite picture, we can see this curl of cloud, area of low pressure moving eastwards stop while many places today are a little bit drier and brighter than they were yesterday, we still have this stripe of cloud in place. a very slow—moving weather front across parts of southern scotland, northern ireland, northern england, thats rain getting down into north wales, north midlands but this front only slowly shifting southwards. to the south, some sunny spells but the odd heavy and thundery shower. a little warmer than yesterday, 22—23 degrees. to the north of our weatherfront, sunny spells and showers and a decidedly cool northerly flow setting in. as we head through tonight, our band of rain sinks only very slowly southwards, behind it we are getting into some rather chilly air. temperatures easily dropping down into single digits across much of

scotland into northern england too. as we head into tomorrow, here is our weather front, still moving slowly southwards and eastward but behind it we are bringing in a feed of really rather cool air from the north. it will be quite breezy as well. during monday, we've got this band of cloud, outbreaks of rain sinking out of wales down across southern and eastern parts of england. the rain tended to fizzle as it goes. behind that, sunny spells and scattered showers, more widespread showery rain into north—west scotland later in the day but with this northerly breeze, temperatures will be well below par for the time of year. you'll be lucky to get to 20 degrees in cardiff and plymouth, most places well down in the teens. the tuesday, still in the relatively cool air though it won't be as breezy. some showers across parts of scotland and down the eastern side of england. those temperatures again for most of us between 13 and 20 degrees. then, as we head towards the middle part of the week, here comes another area of low pressure steaming in off the atlantic and that will bring outbreaks of rain eastwards through wednesday.

wednesday night too and on into thursday. quite an unsettled week of weather ahead and it is going to stay rather cool for the time of year.

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wildfires spreading across the greek island of rhodes are leaving