you are watching bbc news. more wildfires, more

heat, more evacuations. greece says it's fighting the flames non stop on dozens of fronts. a firefighting plane crashes into a hillside. two crew members are reported to have been on board. as speculation mounts over killian mbappe�*s future, will he accept a record breaking saudi bid that could see him earn around £50 million a month? and after a big clean up swimming is set to return to the river seine ahead of next year's paris olympics. let me bring you a brief update we are getting from greece, the authorities just confirming in the last few minute, we had seen the pictures of that plane crashing into the hillside, on top island of evia, as they were bat within the flames, and confirmation from the greek authorities the two pilots onboard

have been killed in that incident, thatis have been killed in that incident, that is the plane before the crash, but we have been showing the pictures over the last couple of hour, of the crash itself on the hillside, and the greek authorities telling us that the ages of the two pilots were 3a and 27. so, that is latest information just confirmation coming to us from the greek authorities on the island of evia. time for a look at the business news now with ben. what do you have for us ben? to greece now, where, as you've been hearing, wildfires have swept across the island of rhodes. airlines and holiday companies are scrambling to bring back those affected, while some flights to the island have been cancelled.

up to 10,000 british tourists are there, with many more booked to travel in the coming weeks. but the uk government has so far not issued guidance against all travel to the region. travel expert paul charles explained that it could help if they did. iam i am surprised that the government didn't move quickly over the weekend, to put in place no travel advice to rhodes, because as i say, what it is doing is encouraging airlines to keep flying and tour operators to keep putting passengers in, and therefore putting pressure on the system, when the government issues a no travel advice warning, it sends a signal to the whole industry that enables travel insurance potentially to pay out, depending on policy but of course, gives the airlines and tour operators reason not to travel to a particular area, operators reason not to travel to a particulararea, now operators reason not to travel to a particular area, now of course airlines do have some reasons to want to continue to fly into that part of the world, because they of course take in emergency supply,

mattress, emergency service, emergency personnel who need to get in, and off course they need to bring out people from the island on certain flights, but in the main, if the government sent a signal earlier, it would have helped to reduce the pressure on the island from to streaming now, as the music and podcast giant spotify is raising prices for its 200 million subscribers for the first time in over a decade. in the us, the cost will increase from $9.99 to $10.99 for those with an individual plan. similar price hikes also apply to the uk, canada, australia and 49 other countries. the move follows other streaming services which have also increased subscription costs. our new york business correspondent michelle fleuryjoins me. why are they doing this, because where does the money go for spotify? well, they have to pay royalties for all of that content on their site

and so, a huge chunk goes to that as well as obviously staffing costs, and everything else, you know, it has been met with mixed reactions. some people are outraged, i think those user who are a bit older and who remember the days of buying cassette, cd, lps, probably find it a cheaper form of cassette, cd, lps, probably find it a cheaperform of kind of gain —— gaining access to music. you are talking about a $2 increase to some plans and it is notjust here in the us but many country round the world. part of the problem is spotify is still a loss making business and the revenue that they reported and they guided for the next quarter came in lighter than many inverstappen fors were hoping for and as a result of that you see the share price coming under pressure since the results. good to talk to you michelle.

the uk economy will be the second worst performer in the g7 this year, that's according to the international monetary fund. in its monthly world economic outlook, the imf did however, upgrade its expectations for uk growth citing stronger than expected consumption and a reduction in brexit uncertainty. across all advanced economies, growth is expected to drop in 2023, while global growth will reach 3%. joining me now is the pierre 0livier gourinchas, chief economist from the imf. thank you for be with us. talk to overall, the outlook, looks more optimistic than last time we spoke. it is slightly more optimistic, we have a bit of good news, more growth than we expected in 2023, 3% instead of 2.8 in our april forecast and a bit less headline inflation in 2023 compared to what we were projecting earlier, 6.8%, largely that second number because of the decline in

prices or slow down in inflation in china, two pieces of good news but as we say in the report we are not out of the woods yet. find as we say in the report we are not out of the woods yet.— out of the woods yet. and clearly there are many _ out of the woods yet. and clearly there are many head _ out of the woods yet. and clearly there are many head winds - out of the woods yet. and clearly there are many head winds that i out of the woods yet. and clearly - there are many head winds that could change the numbers somewhat, and italy be hartenening for many to hear you cite a resilient sector and a strong labour market, all of that coming as inflation soars in many economy, interest rates are having to rise and cost of living crisis for many continues to get work. that is riuht. for many continues to get work. that is right- we — for many continues to get work. that is right. we have _ for many continues to get work. twat is right. we have had resilience in the service sector and manufacturing activity has been weak, because in part we had a big rotation of global demand from goods, when the economy re—opened, it was a surge in the demand for goods but people were not trafficking round, not going out as much, in the last six month, especially since the beginning of 2023 in the first quarter, we have

seen strong resilience in the demand for service, seen strong resilience in the demand forservice, going seen strong resilience in the demand for service, going out, travelling, tourism and we see that in the growth numbers, those country that are tourist destination have done very well, maybe those with manufacturing hubs have done less strongly. manufacturing hubs have done less stronal . , manufacturing hubs have done less stronul. , . ., . manufacturing hubs have done less stronul. ., . ., manufacturing hubs have done less stronl. , ., ., . ., ii strongly. pretty anaemic growth 0. 496 here, still _ strongly. pretty anaemic growth 0. 496 here, still the _ strongly. pretty anaemic growth 0. 496 here, still the second _ strongly. pretty anaemic growth 0. 496 here, still the second worst - 4% here, still the second worst performer in the g7. the uk government will take heart from that they are not as bad as germany but explain the difference, why is germany faring so much more badly? in part, in the uk we have quite sizeable upgrade of 0.7% point to 0.4% growth. some of that is coming from strongest growth, investment, thatis from strongest growth, investment, that is part of the resilience i was talking about. for germany we have a slight downgrade, and we are projecting negative growth of

negative 0.3% for the year, and some of what we are seeing in germany is reflecting in a weakness in the manufacturing sec tore and this is a big important part of germany's economy and that is weighing down on the prospects for them, we are seeing also the effect of, we see that in the uk, the ongoing effect on russian invasion of ukraine, energy prices that have been coming down but have been high and they have taken a chunk out of purchasing pow and that is weighing down on consumption and growth prospects. we know that central banks are focussed on keeping a lid on inflation, because that is the most destructive thing now to economic growth. i wonder what needs to change, to get back to some sort of resilient growth, because the numbers we are talking about here look pretty weak, they are anaemic, what needs to change for economies to get back in to strong solid persistent growth mode? ~ . , ., . .,

to strong solid persistent growth mode? ~ ., , ., . ., , mode? well, what needs to change is inflation has — mode? well, what needs to change is inflation has to _ mode? well, what needs to change is inflation has to come _ mode? well, what needs to change is inflation has to come down, _ mode? well, what needs to change isj inflation has to come down, monetary policy central banks have to bring inflation back down, on that front, the news in the uk is, is certainly not a welcome development. what we are seeing is a significant upgrade in inflation number, both for this year but also for next year, we see a lot of persistence, momentum in inflation notjust headline inflation, also the underlying inflation, also the underlying inflation and that is the worry for the uk economy going forward, the dynamics are worse than in some other european economies, and that may require central banks to do more, the bank of england may have to step on the brakes a bit more aggressively, in order to bring inflation back down to more you know, historical number, closerto the central bang target, in germany we are seeing less of that pressure, inflation is persistent but the numbers are not as strong as what we

are seeing in the uk.— are seeing in the uk. some very different factors _ are seeing in the uk. some very different factors at _ are seeing in the uk. some very different factors at play - are seeing in the uk. some very different factors at play if - are seeing in the uk. some very different factors at play if we - different factors at play if we consider economies like india and china, there is real estate that is a concern, maybe explain that for us? , ,., a concern, maybe explain that for us? , , ., ., ., a concern, maybe explain that for us? , ., ., , us? yes, so what we are seeing in china is the _ us? yes, so what we are seeing in china is the end _ us? yes, so what we are seeing in china is the end of _ us? yes, so what we are seeing in china is the end of last _ us? yes, so what we are seeing in china is the end of last year, - us? yes, so what we are seeing in| china is the end of last year, there was a strong rebound in economic activity as we have seen in most country, as they reopened, and so that delivered a solid first quarter of the year but we are seeing signs that the momentum is fading, and going into the second quarter, and after that there may be less momentum in chinese economy. why is that? well, one side of this is the e eternal sectors the global economy is not growing strongly, we have a 3% growth projection for this year, thatis 3% growth projection for this year, that is low, and of course china is producing a lot of goods for the world economyf producing a lot of goods for the world economy f the world economy is not growing strongly there is less demand for chinese goods, that is weighing down. the second as expect is to do with domestic factors, it

is to do with domestic factors, it is the weakness in the property sector, so we are seeing weaker conception and investment and that is a concern. in that context we have revised down inflation projection for china, it is one of the few countrieses for which inflation is below targets and has been revised lower so we are projecting i.i% inflation in china in 2023. we projecting 1.196 inflation in china in 2023. ~ ., ., ., projecting 1.196 inflation in china in 2023. ~ . ., ., in 2023. we are grateful for your time. in 2023. we are grateful for your time- thank— in 2023. we are grateful for your time. thank you _ in 2023. we are grateful for your time. thank you for _ in 2023. we are grateful for your time. thank you for being - in 2023. we are grateful for your time. thank you for being with i in 2023. we are grateful for your. time. thank you for being with us, thatis time. thank you for being with us, that is the comic relief economist at the imf speaking live from washington. those are the business headlines, round the world and across the uk, liam or noel, what is your preference.— liam or noel, what is your preference.- to - liam or noel, what is your preference.- to pick| liam or noel, what is your- preference.- to pick sides in preference. knoll. to pick sides in the hottest _ preference. knoll. to pick sides in the hottest debate _ preference. knoll. to pick sides in

the hottest debate barbie - preference. knoll. to pick sides in the hottest debate barbie or- the hottest debate barbie or oppenheimer. _ the hottest debate barbie or oppenheimer. and - the hottest debate barbie or oppenheimer. and there - the hottest debate barbie or| oppenheimer. and there are the hottest debate barbie or- oppenheimer. and there are age-old cuestion, oppenheimer. and there are age-old question, questions _ oppenheimer. and there are age-old question, questions that _ oppenheimer. and there are age-old question, questions that people - oppenheimer. and there are age-old question, questions that people in i question, questions that people in the north have pondered since the dawn of time, like barm or muffin. you get an option of picking a side, and to drop your litter in and see which wins. and to drop your litter in and see which wins-— and to drop your litter in and see which wins. .., . ., ., ~ which wins. the council are working in partnership _ which wins. the council are working in partnership with _ which wins. the council are working in partnership with an _ which wins. the council are working | in partnership with an environmental charity. hub uh they have installed similar ones for cigarette buts which has reduced litter in cities round the world. which subjects might be debated next at the ballot win? city or united? tea or dinner? my win? city or united? tea or dinner? my favourite, steam or diesel, or best regional you're live with bbc news. with a year to go until the olympics, paris is cleaning up the river seine to make it fit for swimmers and divers.

the river has been far too dirty for swimming for almost a century. but now there's a new plan to make city swimming one of the major legacies of the games. legacy is the word, what will be left behind by the games once they are gone, what will the benefit be for the people of the city, well, the clear benefit, i think, for the people of paris will be after next year we will be able to swim in seine, the games providing a last filip if you like, through a process of cleaning up the river which has been going on for a while now a year from the paris olympics and here's a bit of a foretaste — a diving competition. you could say they're testing the water. it's more than 80 years since there have been competitive events in the river seine. now, thanks to the improved water quality, they're back. it wasn't just that swimming in the old seine was illegal — no one in their right mind

would have taken the risk. and now... we try to not drink it too much, but a few sips, it's kind of 0k. it's beautiful water — soft and hot. for us, it's the best. the story of paris is also the story of the seine. but, over a century, thanks to industry and human waste, it became little more than a picturesque channel. the turnaround began 20 or 30 years ago and, now, regular tests carried out by the city show bacteria levels well within safety norms. it's taken time, commitment and a lot of money. and here, just by austerlitz station, is the result in concrete. if you want an idea of the scale of the effort that the french are putting in to cleaning up the river seine, take a look at this. the depth of 20 olympic swimming pools, this massive underground reservoir is for storing storm water — the runoff in heavy rain that can

otherwise carry human sewage into the river. 0perational next year, it will make the seine safe for swimming notjust in the olympics, but afterwards for the paris public. they see the guys, the athletes, coming in the river and swimming without any health problem — they will be confident to go themselves in the river seine. that's our massive legacy of the games. life in all its forms is returning. catfish — one of the 35 or so types of fish that can now be found in paris. in the �*70s, anglers reported just three species surviving. not only the fish, also aquatic insects, jellyfish, shrimps, crabs, sponges. a lot of life.

for nearly 100 years, scenes like this have been banned. now, with the olympics around the corner, humans, too, are coming back to the seine. hugh schofield, bbc news, paris. that is a transformation, now we are what, a year out from the olympics, give me a sense of the mood there? well, i would say that people are expectant, and excited, i think people o would be wrong outside of paris to think the city is transforming itself in any may orway, there is a limited amount of new work that is going on related to the olympics, there is a new aquatic centre, a new village north of the city but in term of the city as a whole, is not changing much. there are more cycle lane, new metro lines and so on but they were happening any way, without the game, part of the watch word of the games has been

it would be one with a limited environmental impact. so with a year to go, the organiser, they say they are ready, focussed on three big challenge, transplant, security and the big issue of the russian presence, boycott, a big issue that, none of these issues, transport, security, the russian question are, have a resolution, but they are in everyone's minds and i think the year anniversary which is falling today or tomorrow is going to focus minds even more. a project has been launched offering people cryptocurrency in exchange for a scan of their eyeballs. ai entrepreneur, sam altman, who runs the company behind chatgpt is offering people 40 pounds worth of a new digital currency to visit physical scanners in cities. more than two million people have volunteered so far for the project which aims to help confirm if someone is a human or a robot online. ita it a problem that is only going to grow because of companies like

chatgpt that we don't know whether or not we are talking to a real human on the internet any more, we could be face in the nearfuture human on the internet any more, we could be face in the near future a period of time where we are talking to people that are bots or ai generated and this is about solving that problem, it is proof of heroin holyrood. the only way they think it is possible, is to get people to come in, and stare into a silver 0rb, these are all over the world and they are getting people to prove they are human, and then they get put in a giant database, he thinks the only way do that is to encourage people with free coins. fine the only way do that is to encourage people with free coins. one assumes there are basic— people with free coins. one assumes there are basic privacy _ people with free coins. one assumes there are basic privacy issues, - people with free coins. one assumes there are basic privacy issues, what i there are basic privacy issues, what about take up as well? yes. there are basic privacy issues, what about take up as well?— about take up as well? yes, the riva about take up as well? yes, the privacy concerned _ about take up as well? yes, the privacy concerned are _ about take up as well? yes, the privacy concerned are valid - about take up as well? yes, the - privacy concerned are valid because your iris is a sensitive unique part of your data, the company insists that as soon as the 0rb has scanned your eye and given you a unique hash code it is deleted but there are worries about trust, the other

issues this is strange and distotalian idea, that is what the founder of one system say, he says it has dystopian vibe, he says there are some elements that could solve this problem about proving whether someone is human butjack dorsey the founder of twitter said, he joked about it on twitter, saying if you don't visit an 0rb, an 0rb will have it you, there is concern about whether this is the answer to the question we are facing and whether it is possible, you have to get the orbs to billions of people and so far only about two million have signed back to greece and rhodes. that is the scene throughout the last few hour, the wild fires are taking hold, the wind really meaning they are changing direction so difficult for the firefighters to actually bring under control. you are watching while we are on the picture, we will be live on rhodes for the latest

there, we had that confirmation from there, we had that confirmation from the greek authorities a few minutes ago, that that plane crash, we saw those water planes that are fighting the flames on a variety of islands, this the picture from rhodes, but, the crash happened on the island of evia and that plane coming down on a hillside, and the air force, the greek air force confirming two pilots were onboard and both have been killed. these are the pictures from earlier and of course, very very difficult to watch, as this operation continues, and it is always coming with a risk, and that plane going down and a 34—year—old pilot and 27—year—old onboard, so we will be live on rhodes here on the programme in the next little while. turning to the latest from china. state media in china say qin gang has been removed from his post as foreign minister. he has not been seen

in public for a month. officials had blamed health problems for his disappearance. but speculation on social media has suggested that he has been having an affair with a television presenter. an official statement named china's top diplomat, wang yi, as his replacement. 0ur china correspondent stephen mcdonell sent this update from beijing. well, this is absolutely enormous news in china. qin gang, one of the most visible figures in this government, the foreign minister, has been removed from office, and replaced by wang yi, the communist party's senior foreign affairs official, someone who has done the job, by the way, before, of foreign minister, but i say it is enormous news, however, it was delivered with very little fanfare, just a couple of lines from the wire service which were read out on the 7pm evening news bulletin, just a couple of sentences, no explanation, but you know, previously, about sort of a month ago, when he disappeared from his normal duties,

the official reason given was health concerns, some sort of unspecified health slowly people started to wonder as the weeks when on and he wasn't reappearing could it be more of a political thing? there has been enormous speculation on social media and the like it is because of an alleged affair, he is said to have had with a tv had with a tv anchor. now that wouldn't be against the law here, but it could be construed to be against party discipline rules. now, if you were to combine that with say, another grouping within the party, that wanted to get him, and they were going to use that as an excuse, well, it could be used to sort of move him to one side, especially given that he was seen as very close to xi jinping this as very close to xi jinping and this is the most surprising thing. he was a rising star, coming through the party, just half a year ago xi jinping made him foreign minister and to have him so swiftly,

suddenly removed, given he was seen as an acolyte of xi jinping's it is remarkable. a 48 hour strike by nhs radiographers in england has begun this morning. staff at 37 nhs trusts are expected to walk out after rejecting the government's pay offer of a 5% increase plus a one off payment. 0ur health correspondent sophie hutchinson reports. picket lines outside hospitals in england again today, but this time it is radiographers showing their discontent. patients are coming through the door are not getting the care we deserve because we don't have the staff to provide it. it is estimated the vast majority of nhs patients undergo tests or therapy with the radiographer, including mris, ct and ultrasound scans and radiotherapy. i qualified in 2017 and since then, 20% of my class has left radiography, after doing a degree for three years and that is a great shame, really.

30—year—old john kelly worked as a radiographer in liverpool but still lives with his parents because he says he can't afford to move out. he insists the pressure of the job i'm poor pay have made it intolerable. not being able to give the care that you want to patients, the uk lags behind a number of countries in the number of ct scanners but we don't have the number of staff to man them either and that's why we need to invest in why people are going on strike. the two—day strike comes after radiographers rejected a 5% salary increase for this year, plus a one—off payment. but ministers say the rise is a final offer and are calling for an end to the disruption, so the nhs can focus on cutting the backlog of record delays for patients. delays in appointments, particularly for patients with cancer who know how vital it is to be treated quickly, can cause huge anxiety, as centres like this know only too well.

maggie centres provide support and advice to cancer patients across britain. we have two or three meetings, group meetings, men's group. i it helps you to feel better? yes, it makes a huge difference. but there are times... it can be hard? it can be very hard. it's a bit frightening, really. what does it feel like if you are a cancer patient waiting for an appointment and there is a delay? very worrying. i have had several appointments cancelled and if you are waiting for results or waiting for a scan, it just leaves you in limbo for longer. cheering with a million people estimated to be waiting for radiography services, the strike will inevitably cause further delays. radiographers have apologised but insisted there could be more walk—outs if their concerns are not addressed. sophie hutchinson, bbc news.

hello. it's a day of scattered clouds with a few showers and relatively cool compared to what the mediterranean experienced yesterday. in some spots we had extreme temperatures, the highest of which was recorded in sardinia — 48.2 degrees celsius. not a record, but close to it. i want to show you what's going to be happening over the next 24 hours. the jet stream will take a bit of a dive across europe and into the mediterranean. that essentially means that the heat will be pushed away towards more eastern parts of the med, so a huge drop for this central mediterranean region. in palermo it was 47 degrees on monday. by wednesday we're talking about 29. so a huge, huge drop in those values. let's have a look at the forecast for the rest of today. sunny spells, scattered showers. temperatures will be typically in the high teens for most of us. 17 there in glasgow, about that in birmingham and maybe nudging up to about 20 or 21

degrees further south. through this evening and overnight, we'll have more persistent showers moving through north—western parts of the country here, eventually reaching the lake district, lancashire, across the pennines and maybe into lincolnshire. most of us, i think, are in for a dry night and relatively bright, if not sunny, start to the day on wednesday, ahead of this area of low pressure. the weather front will be crossing ireland early in the day, then reaching western parts of the uk here. let's have a look at that. here's 9.00 in the morning. a lot of dry and bright weather, bar the odd shower, but the bulk of that cloud and rain is out towards the west at this stage. this is 4.00 in the afternoon. it's raining in northern ireland. the rain isjust nudging into wales, the south—west, but look at many of these other parts of the country further east — it's actually going to be bright. through wednesday night into thursday, the weather front sweeps through. it will be quite heavy for a time.

i think on thursday it's a day of thick cloud with occasional sunny spells and also showers. quite a muggy air, so those temperatures will be typically in the low 20s, maybe pushing 23 or 24 degrees for the south and south—east. here's the outlook. into the weekend, it's once again a changeable picture and that's how it's going to remain really into early august. bye— bye. live from london. this is bbc news. two pilots helping to fight wildfires in greece are killed in a crash on the island of evia.

across the whole of greece there are more fires, more heat, and more evaluations, the government says they are fighting on all fronts. the children on the front line of humans forgotten war after eight years of conflict. we have a special report. translation or i feel scared, there's a lot of explosions. republican presidential hopeful ron desantis is involved in a car accident, we'll be live in the us for the latest. hello, i'm matthew amroliwala, welcome to verified live, three hours of breaking stories, and checking out the truth behind them. and checking out we start in greece where in the last hour it's been confirmed that two airforce pilots helping to fight wildfires on the island of evia — have been killed in the crash, according to afp.