pakistani migrants are risking their lives to reach europe 7 bbc gains a rare access to police investigations of last june s deadly greek boat disaster. and the uk could soon send its first rocket into space — the french foreign minister has been talking and we can give you a few quotes from the last couple of minutes. they are organising flights to allow those who have contacted the crisis centre of the french embassy to actually leave from the airport and they estimate a few hundred french people want to leave the country and have expressed that intention. they say a few hundred europeans, since we show solidarity with other european countries, and if their nationals decide to join those evacuations, we will work together to get those people out,

the people want to leave, they said. confirmation from the french foreign minister that the evacuation in niger is now under way. we will return to that story in the next few minutes. now we have the business news. rising interest rates and costly inflation is hitting house prices in the uk. according to the nationwide building society, prices dropped by 3.8% injuly — the fastest annual pace in m years, and the biggest decline sincejuly 2009. nationwide also said mortgage costs hit the highest level for 15 years last month, as lenders grappled with inflation and uncertainty over rates set by the bank of england. a typical two—year fixed rate mortgage is now 6.85%. the average price

of a home in the uk is £260,828, down from a peak in august last year, as affordability proves a challenge for some buyers. the falls may be welcomed by first—time buyers who previously struggled to get into the market, but rising rates do make even lower prices less affordable. earlier i spoke to andy russell, who's the ceo of wealthify, a uk—based consumer investment platform. he told me many aspiring housebuyers are still feeling the squeeze right now. there is a bit of respite for people looking to get onto the property ladder but they have still got very high costs of borrowing and it will still cost a lot to afford the mortgages once you have got on the ladder and it still costs a lot of money for renting whilst you are trying to get on the ladder. but it is good news for people who are looking to get off the ladder and looking to use their housing as part of that so there is a bit of balance.

but i suppose house prices matter most when you are trying to change your position. for the vast majority it is a number that changes without us actually trying to change our housing position but i think the people trying to get on the housing ladder to make the first step are really feeling the squeeze right now. ride—hailing app uber has reached an important milestone today, posting its first ever profit. the company had racked up an impressive $31.5 billion worth of operating losses since it first started reporting its financialfigures nine years ago. but after years of heavy spending, it seems uber now has a handle on its costs. 0ur north america business correspondent michelle fleury is in new york. it is even first time —— it is a really important point, the first point it has tipped into profit. yes, after 14 years since it was first founded and it marks a change

from a cash generating machine to one where it is a more mature firm in which the focus going forward will be on the bottom line and its ability to generate profit. and that is why you are seeing so much of a focus on this on wall street. in part there was the focus, discipline on cost, not spending too much money, they laid off some staff are a couple of years ago and that seems to be paying off but crucially they have seen more riders taking over and or drivers and that is the big thing we were talking about a couple of years ago —— more drivers. there will longer waits in higher prices because they were not enough drivers but now the problem seems to have been solved and they say ridership has increased to levels even greater than before the pandemic. so a success story and you'll be interested to see how the rival does when it reports its next set of

results next week, which of course is lift. ., , ., results next week, which of course is lift. .,, ., , ., , ., ., is lift. there was a promise of a rofit at is lift. there was a promise of a profit at some — is lift. there was a promise of a profit at some point _ is lift. there was a promise of a profit at some point in - is lift. there was a promise of a profit at some point in the - is lift. there was a promise of a | profit at some point in the future for uberfor a number of years but it would be fair to say that a lot of investors do not have the same patients with tech firms that they do now? —— as they did then? patients with tech firms that they do now? -- as they did then? before the pandemic— do now? -- as they did then? before the pandemic everyone _ do now? -- as they did then? before the pandemic everyone was - do now? -- as they did then? before the pandemic everyone was followed | the pandemic everyone was followed on growth and it was about how good the companies borrow money at a low rate to invest in the future growth but now because of the pandemic and high interest rates, much more focus on return on investment and the bottom line, so companies are having to shift to reflect these new demands from wall street. this is a quote from the ceo of uber and he said for most of our history profitable was not the first thing that came up when somebody asked about the company but we knew they

were wrong as did many of our investors who backed us over the years, he said. during the conference call with investors he was asked a lot about how the company planned to expand because we have been talking recently about another san francisco company, twitter, now known as x and the ambitions of elon musk for an everything app but i think niger are delivering on that idea because they began as a ridesharing app and then they moved into restaurants —— i think uber are delivering on that idea. i think on the app you can now even order a boat ride. just idea. i think on the app you can now even order a boat ride.— even order a boat ride. just what ou even order a boat ride. just what you need. _ even order a boat ride. just what you need. isn't— even order a boat ride. just what you need, isn't it? _ even order a boat ride. just what you need, isn't it? it _ even order a boat ride. just what you need, isn't it? it really - even order a boat ride. just what you need, isn't it? it really feels| you need, isn't it? it really feels like they can offer everything in one place right now. it's been a big day for earnings on both sides of the atlantic today. in the uk, oil giant bp has reported second quarter profits of

$2.6 billion. despite the big number, its lower than analysts expected and down 70% compared to the year before. still, bp shareholders are happy — they'll get a bigger dividend — it's up 10% — and bp is also upping its share buy—back programme by $1.5 billion. nitesh shah is the head of commodities & macroeconomic research at wisdomtree in europe. he says the recent increase in oil prices is likely to improve the outlook for bp. it is decent in the grand scheme of things. you have to understand the context — oil prices last year in the second quarter were $100 per barrel. second quarter this year, down to $65 per barrel, a 35% drop explains why the adjust in income has changed so much. we have also seen oil prices

increase a little bit since the end of the second quarter of this year, by about 15% injuly, and we believe that could be sustained and therefore the future may look a bit better for bp going forward. meanwhile, banking giant hsbc has announced a 235% increase in pre—tax profit — some $21.7 billion — for the first—half of this year. europe's biggest bank benefited from rising interest rates around the world. hsbc�*s results were slightly better than many analysts were expecting and its shares have already risen around 20% so far this year. 0ne banking analyst told us she's not suprised the bank cashed in on higher interest rates, with central banks around the world still fighting inflation. a rise in interest rates all around the world, actually, notjust in the uk. hsbc is a global bank, so we've had interest rate rises everywhere, and so, they have cashed in on that, really. net interest margin has gone up by a0 basis points, and their revenues have increased as a result. they're looking at good performances

in wealth and in commercial banking, and in transaction banking, things like that. it is all looking like a pretty solid across—the—board performance. in other news.... the german logistics and delivery company dhl has reported a fall in its revenue and earnings blamed on falling consumer demand, soaring inflation and high inventories driving down the volume of goods to be shipped. the company's shares fell 4% in early trading as the company reported a fall in revenue of 16%. a record—breaking 1,667 orders were placed for global aircraft in the first half of 2023. that's according to a report from the ads group — the trade body for the aeropsace industry. it's nearly a 130% jump on the same period last year. there's now a production backlog amounting to 111,500 aircraft — that's ten years worth of work. a big pulsating �*x' sign has been removed

from the roof of the headquarters of the elon musk—owned company formerly known as twitter. the company, and the app, changed its name to �*x' last week. san francisco city hall received 2a complaints about the illuminated structure, from neighbours unhappy about the intrusive lights. x said it removed the sign voluntarily. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. # when i take my sugar to tea, i all the boys are jealous of me...# the blaze family are absolutely potty about teapots. i have

its collection in the uk. —— they have spent a quarter of £1 billion on the biggest collection in the uk. they have bought teapots about everything from politicians to pop culture and wild and wacky creations. my favourite is a harley davidson teapot. i saw the man make it and i saw how hard it was for him to make it. your favourite is? diana, she is my favourite person. people say, why collect teapots? i say why not? _ so many weird and wonderful things. we have got some this kind of size and a 12 foot teapot in the garden. j you never believe the i things people can make. you're live with bbc news. now, thousands of pakistanis are taking a perilous route to reach europe illegally — many travelling via libya and egypt. almost 300 pakistanis are thought to have drowned — taking this route injune when their boat sank off the greek coast. 0ur pakistan correspondent, caroline davies, has rare access to a smuggler who police allege was involved in the greek wreck — and a family who lost

their two teenage sons. the sharp end of the crackdown on illegal migration. all of these are men that you've arrested in association with human smuggling? all of them. the majority here are alleged to have been involved in filling the migrant boat that left libya and sank off the coast of greece, including husnan shah. he denies that he was involved, but willingly admits that he's been a smuggler for more than ten years. translation: we started this - because there was no other business and because of greed and the difficult situation, everyone is ready to take this journey. the government is not doing anything for the young generation here. i do not have a main role. it's the people who are sitting in libya who are very big and rich. do you feel guilty for the sort of things that have happened to people on these routes? i felt very sorry and we are really ashamed over this. but what can we do?

if i don't do this, someone else will do it. hundreds of pakistanis are thought to have drowned when the packed boat sank injune, including teenage brothers fahad and tahid — theirfamily may never have a body to bury. praying instead, they only have photos and voice messages. translation: they messaged their father early _ morning from somebody�*s mobile saying we are leaving. "tell mother this is our last message." her sons took a newly popular route, flying from pakistan to egypt, then to libya. officials told us that nearly 13,000 pakistanis travelled to the two countries in the first six months of this year, almost double

the number of all of last year. around 10,000 are unaccounted for. do you have any idea where these thousands of people are? yeah, but we don't have it because they have gone to libya and we don't know whether they are still in libya or they have gone to any of the european countries. their flights out of the country are legal. these people have legal documents. they have legal visa, they have legal passports. so, we wouldn't stop them. some who hope to cross are still stuck in libya. this group didn't want us to show theirfaces, afraid that their young men held there might face retaliation for their family speaking. translation: my son is living in a lot of difficulty. _ sometimes the only give food after 2 to 3 days. my son cries a lot and says, "what kind of trouble

have we landed in?" "we gave them money and we are dying here." pakistan's economy is in turmoil. youth unemployment is high. and despite the dangers and the crackdown, some still want to play the odds. many are afraid to appear on camera in case they are arrested. but we've spoken to multiple pakistanis who've told us that they would still take an illegaljourney. we've also spoken to a smuggler who says that they are still taking people out of the country. and we've spoken to police authorities who confirmed that they know that people are still leaving illegally. farid and najma spent months weighing up whether to let their teenage sons go. farid agreed. they went with the same smuggler that had taken him to germany illegally eight years before. translation: i thought, we are poor people. - even if they get educated, they won't find a job. we don't have much land. so i thought they will go there,

get educated and work. it doesn't matter how much anyone convinces you, you shouldn't go. this village may remember those that died in greece's waters, but many we spoke to hold little faith in what pakistan can offer and the pull to go can outweigh the fear. caroline davies, bbc news, punjab, pakistan. in india — a muslim cleric has been killed and two others wounded after a group of far—right hindus descended on a mosque on the outskirts of new delhi, setting it on fire. clashes broke out after a procession by hindu nationalists in the largely muslim state of haryana on monday night. two members of the indian home—guard were also killed in the violence. the bbc�*s zubair ahmed reports. it's all quiet here right now. but on monday night, a huge crowd descended upon this mosque, which is still under construction, and set it ablaze. there were three people inside, one of them who led the prayer.

he was killed and two others were seriously wounded. police say this act of violence was in retaliation against the attack on a hindu religious procession in a township not far from here. two home guards, who assist the police in containing violence, were killed, and several others were injured when clashes broke out between two groups. these men witnessed the attack on the mosque and now they have been given shelter at the local police station. there were many men. they were pelting stones, setting the mosque on fire and beating people up and opening fire. police rescued us. as you can see, police have cordoned off the entire mosque complex. they have launched an inquiry. no arrest has been made as yet, but police are on the lookout

for people who are part of the mob that attacked this mosque. zubairahmed, bbc news, gurugram. police in australia say a former childcare worker has been charged with more than 1,600 child abuse offences, including 136 counts of rape. the man's alleged victims, more than 90, were all young girls. police say they were alerted when they found material on the dark web, that they could trace back to a childcare centre. the a5—year old man — who has not been named — was arrested nearly a year ago. 0fficers said his alleged crimes were "unfathomable". 0ur correspondent — phil mercer — gave us this update from sydney — a little earlier. well, these are deeply disturbing, disturbing allegations. it goes without saying, given that this is an individual who's charged with more than 1,600 child abuse offences against alleged victims numbering more than 90. investigators here in australia say that this man, 45 years of age, was responsible for abusing young

girls at childcare centres, mostly here in australia, but some overseas, between 2007 and 2022. they allege that he was preying on girls for a 15 year period and investigators say that this is one of the worst cases of child abuse they've ever seen. now we do understand that certain images were detected by australian police on the dark web almost a decade ago and it's taken them a very long time to identify the alleged individual involved and also his alleged victims. so this is a case that spans many, many years. dozens of alleged victims and the police here in australia have been giving more details. an investigation that has led to a former child care worker being charged with 1,623 child abuse offences against 91 children,

including 136 counts of rape and 110 counts of sexual intercourse with a child under ten in brisbane, sydney and overseas between 2007 and 2022. you're watching bbc news. let me return to the story about niger because we heard from the french foreign ministry that they are beginning their evacuation but we know the evacuation of french troops in the area is not on the agenda. so civilians are being brought out, and a few hundred were anticipated in the first wave. the evacuation of french troops in niger

is not on the agenda, though. the uk could soon be able to launch its first rocket into space — from an island north of the scottish mainland. the land on unst, one of the shetland islands, was bought by a husband and wife team around 15 years ago — now the site could now be just weeks away from securing a spaceport licence. 0ur correspondent laura goodwin has the story. as you might imagine, getting to the most northern point in the uk is a bit of a mission in itself. first up, a flight from mainland uk. then onto one ferry and then onto another ferry, before you reach your final destination. but its remoteness is just one of the reasons unst in shetland could soon become something of a super highway... ..that way. 0nce part of an raf radar base, the land was bought by frank strang

and his wife around 15 years ago. never in my wildest dreams did i think we'd be building a spaceport. it's all about geography and location, location, location. and it's really that we're the most northern tip of the united kingdom. so when we launch, we're launching over sea. we've got a clear trajectory into the orbits that we're trying to get to and the airspace itself is very uncongested. so there's very little civilian air traffic flying overhead. so from this location here, we can get the satellites into the orbits they need to be. also, because of our location, we're two and a half kilometres away from human houses, human habitats, so it's a very safe location. this is the first of three launch pads, with the site hoping to get their orbital licence in the next few weeks. eventually, up to 30 rockets could be launched each year, carrying a number of small satellites, and that's attracted interest from companies across the globe.

there are so many applications from space. the biggest two dimensions are connectivity and earth observation, right? we are talking lots about climate change and understanding our planet, but we are not even halfway there of understanding it properly. so we really need a live—data climate model of our planet and that's only possible with supervision and monitoring from space. that is what we need these satellites for. less than 700 people live on unst and it's hoped the spaceport might bring morejobs and more people to the island. speaking as an islander, i'm just really, really keen for this project to happen. i'm giving it everything i can to ensure that this build happens and the spaceport is operational. because, for the islanders, it's sort of a lifeline. the population has gone down, and down, and down. it's halved since 1999, and we need economic and social activity on the island to ensure its viability. unst is already a place of immense natural beauty and ancient heritage.

this burial site was recently discovered not far from the launch pad. few places in the world can boast bronze age and space age sitting side by side. laura goodwin, bbc news. more on that story in the next hour and we also of course have more from niger, and we have reaction after the england victory at the world cup. they have made it into the last 16. and we will hear from the estonian athlete who did that slack line walk in qatar. incredible pictures. it was astonishing to hear from him. now it's time for a look at the weather. hello, there. we're into a new month, but very little change to the weather pattern. it's going to remain unsettled throughout the rest of this week with low pressure systems dominating the scene. and it will feel rather cool as well for the time of year. now, july was a wet month up

and down the country. many places saw more than double their normal amounts of rainfall. a few areas even saw three times the amount of rainfall, all because of low pressure. now, that's yesterday's area of low pressure. this is tomorrow's low pressure. we're in between weather systems for the rest of today. so not a bad afternoon, i suppose. we'll see some sunshine around. quite a bit of cloud, though, across scotland, northern england, northern ireland, some spots of rain in there as well and the odd shower elsewhere. otherwise, it's mostly dry and with lighter winds for many, we should be up to around 22 degrees, but it goes downhill quite quickly across the southwest. this next area of low pressure hurtles in this evening and overnight, bringing strengthening winds across the south and the west and outbreaks of rain which will continue to push northwards and eastwards to most areas, that is away from the north of scotland. and for many it will be quite a mild and muggy night as well. so here's wednesday's picture, it looks pretty autumnal. and in fact, with this deep low

spreading across the country, we'll see widespread gales across the channel and southern england there, 50, 60 mile an hour gusts, but lighterwinds in the centre of the system. so as we move through the afternoon with light winds here, sunshine appears, may set off some heavy showers or thunderstorms and they may be slow moving because the winds will be light in the centre of the low. could be up to 20 to 22 degrees in the warmest spots. otherwise, for most, it's the high teens. that area of low pressure pulls away into the near continent. so for thursday, we're in a run of north north westerly winds, could start off with quite a lot of cloud across the northern half of the country. a few showers from the word go in the south, but it is a day of sunshine and showers. it will feel quite cool as well in the brisk north westerly winds, certainly around northern and western coasts. in the sunshine, not too bad, but we'll see most of the showers across western areas and some of them could turn out to be heavy and thundery. disappointing temperatures for early august.

generally it's the mid to high teens. so another day of sunshine and showers today on friday. the heavy showers will be towards the east of england. and then another area of low pressure arrives in time for the weekend.

live from london. this is bbc news. france says its operations to evacuate citizens out of niger is under way after the military coupe. russia blames ukraine after a second drone strike on a moscow scribe paper days. torrential range better northern china even 20 people dead, as another typhoon approach is a countries east coast. if you're scared of heights, look away, we speak to this estonian athlete who

walks 120 metres between two iconic towers in qatar. hello, i'm matthew amroliwala, welcome to verified live, three hours of breaking stories, and checking out the truth behind them. we begin with the major security crisis unfolding in west africa. within the last hour — france has said that its operation to airlift its citizens out of niger — is now under way. the decision to carry out an evacuation — was prompted by the worsening security situation — following last week's military coup. france says it will also help other european nationals to leave. italy and spain are also preparing rescue flights. the uk has urged british nationals in niger to register location and their stay indoors. it comes after supporters of the coup, burned french flags and attacked the french embassy on sunday. the coup leaders in niger have accused france of preparing to attack.

militaryjuntas in neighbouring burkina faso and mali —