hello, i m rajini vaidyanathan. welcome to verified live, three hours of breaking stories, and checking out the truth behind them. we start with the death of sir michael parkinson, one of the biggest names in british television. the legendary chat show host died, aged 88. in a long and hugely successful broadcast career, he interviewed some 2,000 stars of entertainment and sport from around the world. they included boxer muhammad ali — pictured here — sparring with sir michael in 197a. other guests included some of the world's greatest actors, such asjudi dench, tom hanks, and musicians such as sir paul mccartney. among many eye—catching moments, victoria beckham let slip that her nickname for her husband david was "goldenballs" in 2001. 0ur arts correspondent david sillito

looks back at his life. don't you get fed up of each other? oh, yes, yes. i call him golden balls, you know, now. - did you ever say, "you dirty rat?" never. jimmy cagney. orson welles. jimmy stewart. these were distant, mysterious screen gods until parkinson brought them into your living room. the fact is that you're a crowd puller and frazier�*s not, is he? why is that? well, number one, he's ugly. his interviews with muhammad ali were unmissable. he has no rhythm, no footwork, no class. he cannot talk. and who told him he could sing? but of all those 2,000 or so guests, one always haunted him. i interviewed everybody from henry kissinger to billy connolly to james cagney

to dame edith evans, all those people. and i'm only remembered for one thing, i was attacked by a sodding emu. he's not aggresive! rod hull and emu rather punctured the suave tv persona. i knew we should never have booked it. of course, there wasn't much hollywood glamour in the childhood of this son of a yorkshire miner. my generation was the first that actually challenged the assumption that if you're born into a mining family, you followed your dad's footsteps down to the pit. his escape was journalism, which took him to granada tv. ladies and gentlemen, miss shirley maclaine. and then, in 1971, the parkinson show. i hope i can get away with this, it's a beauty. it was a programme that could transform a career. it's a substitute for tattoos, i'm frightened to get a tattoo. billy connolly appeared 15 times. how about the oyster that

went to a discotheque and pulled a mussel! they became good friends. he says, "i need somewhere to park my bike." but others... let's talk about nudity. ..especially some women, were rather less comfortable in his company. do you find, in fact, that this what could be best described as your equipment, in fact, hinders you, perhaps, in that pursuit? you're wary of journalists. i mean, does it give you an insight into what they're after? now that i'm wary of them? yes, you are wary ofjournalists. you're wary of me, you're wary of the interview, you don't like being interviewed. you can see it in the way that you sit and the way you are. true. in other words, if you were me, what would you do now? well, just wrap it up. in the �*80s, he was briefly part of the ill—fated gang of five who launched itv�*s new breakfast programme, before returning to the bbc to present desert island discs and a programme on radio 2.

and then reviving the parkinson show. he's a practicing homeopath, as a matter of fact. there were moments, but it was nowjust one of many chat shows on an interview circuit... pretty sure that's what he said he wanted. ..where everyone seemed to have something to sell. right. play forward. well played. well done. 0ffscreen, he loved his cricket, always a proud yorkshireman. one day, there'll be some research into the benefit of this magnificent food, soul food for yorkshiremen. and at the end, it was his father's very yorkshire judgment that came to mind. just before he died, he said to me, he said, "you've done well and you've met some big stars." i said, i had. he said, "you made a bob or too without breaking sweat." i admitted that was also true. "good lad," he said, "but think on. "it's not like playing for yorkshire, is it?" it wasn't. but once or twice, it got pretty damn close. goodnight.

a little earlier we heard from our arts correspondent, david sillito, about what made sir michael parkinson such a special interviewer. let's go to the heart of the matter here. i mean, there are thousands and thousands of interviews that have taken place on tv over the last 60 years. but today, how many people have talked about or tweeted or mentioned an interview they remember from his time? and one of the reasons for that is it was an extraordinary moment towards the end of the �*60s and the beginning of the �*705. a lot of those great hollywood stars who had seemed far distant, almost sort of mythical figures, were sort of out of contract, they were free to go on tv. and suddenly, i mean, michael parkinson said this himself. he said there was a moment where he said, "ladies and gentlemen, fred astaire." and fred astaire was a person he'd

grown up watching in top hats in the 1930s. and there he was at the top of the steps. betty davis, orson welles, jimmy cagney, jimmy stewart. these were people who no—one really in the audience had heard them talking about their lives. they were absolutely rapt. when david niven, hollywood actor, british, started to tell his anecdotes about behind the scenes of hollywood, people were absolutely rapt. they'd just not heard this before. this was event television. orson welles. he said, "forget the questions. let'sjust talk." and to make this programme, which went from jacob bronowski talking about what it means to be human through to, you know, the risque jollity of interviewing bette midler. you needed somebody who could go from serious journalism, from talking highbrow topics to having a laugh, to rolling around on the set with emu. and you needed someone of the calibre of michael parkinson. he was a very, very talented

interviewer, but he was also very, very lucky. he had started early in television, he'd learnt the skills, and there was that magical moment in the 19705 when these people were here waiting to be spoken to. and it was late night, it was just originally a filler programme for the bbc during the dog days of summer. they said, let's try it for a few weeks. and it was sort of open ended, sometimes seemed to go on a little bit longer than it should have done in the schedule. but, you know, it was a free and easy time and, you know, tv magic, that's what happened. muhammad ali, orson welles, kenneth williams, the film actor and comedian, talking about his views about the unions. all of these things are things that stuck in people's minds. and, you know, if you wanted to have a pretty good summation of popular cultural history over the last 50 years, you could pretty much start with the parkinson programme in the 19705.

let's go back to some breaking news. saudi arabia's crown prince, mohammed bin salman, has been invited to visit the uk in the autumn. the visit is likely to prompt sharp criticism over the gulf leader's human rights record. it would be the first trip by the crown prince to the uk since the murder ofjournalist jamal khashoggi at the saudi consulate in istanbul in 2018. us intelligence agencies concluded that the prince must have authorised the killing. earlier, i spoke to our security correspondent, frank gardner. i asked him why the crown prince is regarded as such a controversialfigure. well, because, really, he's such a paradox. 0n the one hand, he is transforming saudi arabia for the better. he's freeing it up socially. he's scrapped the absurd ban on women driving that the religious clerics insisted on for decades. he's allowed public entertainment. he is diversifying the economy away from a dependence on oil.

he started these huge megaprojects, which may or may not work, but he's got a vision for the future which is incorporated in something called vision 2030. but on the other hand, he is presiding over a country that has a very poor human rights record, and most specifically, he is suspected by western countries of having ordered or at least been complicit in the very grisly murderfive years ago of a critical saudi journalist, jamal khashoggi. now, he denies that. the official saudi version is that this was a murder carried out by rogue agents. there's no such thing in the gulf. you know, i've lived there for years. that doesn't happen. these were government agents who flew on saudi official planes to istanbul and carried out the murder inside the saudi consulate. that's not something you do without permission, but anyhow, that is the official version. the fact is saudi arabia is an enormously rich, powerful and important country, and britain wants a slice of its trillion—dollar—plus investment. it wants to do partnership with saudi arabia in things

like high—tech, bio... i'm trying to think of the exact word, whatever it is, but bio—energy and a lot of cutting—edge technologies. and that's only going to happen with the say—so of this man, which is why he's being invited to britain. and of course the government, i'm sure, will bring up human rights and it'll be discussed, but i'm not sure it's necessarily going to change some of the practices saudi arabia's been doing. you've met mohammed bin salman in your time when you've covered the gulf, i think. 0ur viewers would be keen to know how he is as a person. i mean, he's clearly very charming in many levels. he knows how to schmooze. he's certainly got charisma, there's no question about that. he's a big man physically. he's got an enormous presence around him. when i met him, it was an audience with his father, who is still the king, king salman, but he's now in his 80s and is fairly frail. and he's basically handed over most of the governing of the country to his — let's be honest about it —

his favourite son, mohammed bin salman. so whereas other saudi sons of the king, of king salman, went on to study abroad, mohammed, crown prince mohammed, stayed at his father's side and learnt the business of government with his father. and when i met them, it was in their palace, or his father's palace injeddah, and he was quietly taking notes at the back and i asked him, "what do you do?" and this was ten years ago, and he very humbly said, "i'm just a lawyer." but he's a little more than that now. you know, he's done a lot of things. he isa... he became defence minister in 2015. he started saudi arabia's war against the houthis in yemen, which has ended up being disastrous for saudi arabia as well as for yemen. he locked up all those princes and rich businessmen, if you remember, in the ritz—carlton. he pushed out the then crown prince, mohammed bin nayef, and essentially cornered all the, gathered up all the levers of power into his own hands. there are no challenges to his rule.

he is the most powerful man in the middle east, so he's somebody to be reckoned with whether you like him or loathe him. sir william patey is a former british ambassador to saudi arabia. iasked him, should the visit go ahead? saudi arabia is an important strategic partner of the uk. the uk has huge trade interests. saudi arabia is a big investor in the uk through their public investment fund, and we, as angela rayner says there, we need to engage in a dialogue. and it's an important partner, you have nothing to gain by isolation. so i think it's important that the leader of an important strategic partner visits this country. we heard from the liberal democrats' christine jardine, and she said the visit should not take place. she said it would set a bad precedent. she said look at what happened when the world courted putin, and now youhave the war in ukraine.

do you by any of that of that argument that actually when you engage with people like mohammed bin salman, you are actually kind of beginning a very slippery slope? no, you're basically balancing your interests. when he comes, the prime minister will have an opportunity to talk to him about human rights in saudi arabia _ actually i think mohammed bin salman will feel he's got a decent case to make given the recent improvements in the conditions of women being able to drive, most of the restrictions that used to be imposed on saudi women have been lifted. so he will probably engage quite positively in a discussion. you can't go around isolating everybody. if you do, you're not really trading with anyone. we trade with the chinese. nobody thinks the situation of the uyghurs in china is at all acceptable. you know, so we do deal with people with whom we have serious differences over human rights and values, and that's part of the balancing of the geopolitics

that goes with interstate relations. what can the uk gain the most from this? i mean, there's already saudi investment in this country. let's take football clubs, for example, but what else can be gained? well, the biggest prize on offer at the moment is the uk is seeking a trade deal with the gulf cooperation countries. those six countries, of which saudi arabia's by far the largest and most important, represent a significant opportunity for the uk. we already have £60 billion in two—way trade, and we're hoping to sign a trade deal with them. and given our departure from the european union, it's important that we tie in these other trade deals. so there's a lot in it for the uk. you were the former ambassador to saudi arabia. what would you say is in it for the saudis? well, the saudis are an important regional partner. they recognise us as

an important partner, so we contribute to their security. we have close cooperation on terrorism. we are closely aligned on matters in the middle east. we both recognise the threat from iran. saudi arabia regards iran as a significant regional threat, as does the uk. so we're aligned on those issues. we want stability in the gulf. we want economic prosperity. we want mutual trade. we want their investments to thrive here. we want our investments in saudi arabia to thrive, so there's a lot that we have in common, although we disagree on political model and perhaps on human rights issues. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. west african military chiefs have warned they are prepared to use force in nigerfollowing last month's military coup if diplomacy fails. the generals from the ecowas group of nations have been meeting to co—ordinate

possible military intervention. a representative said the coup leaders in niger still had time to pull back from the brink. prosecutors in france have charged four people after six afghan migrants drowned in the english channel on saturday. the two iraqis and two sudanese nationals, who are accused of involuntary manslaughter, were detained shortly after the small boat sank. it had been carrying 65 people, most of whom were rescued by british and french authorities. ajudge in nicaragua has ordered the seizure of all assets belonging to a prestigious university run byjesuit priests in the latest clampdown on dissent by the president, daniel 0rtega. thejudge has described central american university as a centre for terrorism organised by criminal groups. you're live with bbc news.

to west africa where more than 60 migrants are presumed dead — after their boat was found drifting off cape verde. it's thought they were trying to reach the spanish canary islands. the boat was found about three hundred kilometres from cape verde. it's believed almost all those on board came from senegal. 38 people, including children, were rescued and brought ashore — on the island of sal. officials in senegal said they were making arrangements to bring survivors home. mayenijones reports. they are the lucky ones. these survivors were spotted in a wooden boat near cape verde by a spanish fishing vessel and they had spent a month at sea. three of mahmoud's siblings and his cousin were on the boat. his 24—year—old brother died. they both tried making the journey together earlier this year. translation: one of my brothers called to say - another brother was dead. i was shocked because we were close and he was a fighter. he was married and had two kids.

a booming population, crumbling economies and growing insecurity is pushing thousands of young people to leave west africa. as the legal means of accessing europe tighten, many of them are turning to dangerous, illegal routes in search of a better life. the atlantic migration route from the coast of west africa to the canary islands is often used by african migrants to reach spain, especially in the summer. but it is one of the world's deadliestjourneys. translation: it comes with a lot of pain, yes, i but we know that immigration issues are global issues which require international cooperation, a lot of discussion and a global strategy. until such a solution is found, young people like mahmoud says he will keep trying to reach europe despite the risks. myenijones, lagos.

canada is evacuating residents of an entire city in the north—west of the country, as huge fires approach. more than 20,000 people in yellowknife, the capital city of canada's northwest territories, have been told to leave by friday. authorities say without rain on the forecast, they fear the fires will reach the city's borders by this weekend. yellowknife is now blanketed in smoke, and fires are burning close to the one major road into and out of the city. in the us, president biden says he'll travel to hawaii next week, following the deadly wildfires on the island of maui. he's been criticised by his political opponents — they say he's been too slow to see the devastation for himself. mr biden will meet survivors and emergency workers. the white house says he'll visit areas affected by the damage — and discuss the recovery operation with officials. so far, it's been confirmed that 111 people have died in the fires, but that number is expected to rise. only 38% of the affected area has been searched,

and just a handful of victims have been identified. we're just a little bit more heartbroken because we do have to report that more of our loved ones have been confirmed lost and deceased. 110 individuals have been confirmed deceased. we'll get some details about this from our distinguished leaders in police and fire. 38% of the territory has been covered. people across the island have reported seeing fires being triggered when power lines were brought down by strong winds. from maui, john sudworth sent this report. maui's fight continues. this pilot, hovering above a swimming pool... now being used to douse the flames further down the hill. these homes, some distance from the destroyed coastal town of lahaina, are in the centre

of the island where, last week, just before the fires, the cameras at this bird sanctuary captured a bright flash. staff believe it is a tree falling on a power line. shortly afterwards, flames can be seen in the forest. ross hart saw something similar before his home burned down. we could hear some trees falling here and there in the distance. one big one fell here on the bridge and it knocked over the power lines. and then you saw the house... you could see it burn? i saw it begin to burn and they wouldn't let me stay to watch it. they were dragging me out, because the embers were starting to come over on my truck and stuff. questions are now being asked about whether lives might have been saved. should maui's power grid been turned off? could more have been done to sound the alarm? for many of those who escaped from lahaina, alongside the trauma there is now a deep sense of anger.

i hate it, i want these people to explain to me why we didn't get an alarm when they have the most sophisticated alarm system in the world? they practice it every month and what in the world are they waiting for, you know? the authorities have launched an investigation, although the priority for now is responding to the disaster. but the wildfire risk, despite the devastation in lahaina, is farfrom over. this helicopter taking multiple trips, carrying water off to fight the wildfires still smouldering right across this area. but some of those who have lost homes here, point to something they say should already have been focusing the minds of the authorities. like, as if it isn't obvious, notjust from what's happening here, but all over the world. what could be more obvious that we are having disaster

after disaster that's all as a result of climate change? with more bodies yet to be recovered, this is already america's most lethal wildfire in more than a century. few doubt that lessons need to be learned. john sudworth, bbc news, maui. the world's longest rail tunnel, the gotthard base in switzerland, has been shut to passenger services, after a derailment. the local authorities say the damage will take months to repair. officials said there was "no indication" when the tunnel would reopen. 16 carriages are stuck inside a week after the incident on the 10th of august. the gotthard rail link was opened in 2016, took 20 years to build and cost more than £8.2 billion. according to us media reports, pop star britney spears and her husband sam asghari have split after 1a months of marriage. the couple first met on the set of a music video in 2016

and were married injune 2022. asghari supported spears through her mental health treatment and the end of her conservatorship, but rumours of their marital struggles have been splashed across us tabloids. representatives for spears and asghari have not yet commented. on sunday, england faces spain for the women's world cup final in sydney. this means that, due to the time difference, the game will kick off at 11am here in the uk, when most pubs aren't necessarily opened or can't sell alcohol just yet. but to celebrate the country's first world cup final since 1966, industry bosses are hoping the government will loosen licensing rules for opening hours and alcohol sales. under the current regulations, it is widely prohibited to sell alcohol before 10am on sunday, some even being restricted until midday. the british beer and pub association are pushing the home office to temporarily relax the rules, so that fans and communities can come and cheer the lionesses to victory.

we will have full coverage of that match in the women's world cup, when the women play spain, that is 11 in the morning here in the uk. you can find us as well on twitter at bbc news, stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. the next 2a hours looks fairly unsettled with the risk of some really heavy, thundery rain in places and also strong winds. so quite a mixture of weather to come for friday. windy in places. it will feel quite warm and humid, and we'll have thundery showers spreading northwards. now, we've got two weather fronts associated with the low pressure system. this is the main weather front. ahead of it, we'll see a line of showers and storms spreading northwards. that's during friday. but through tonight, it should stay largely dry across much of the country, clear spells, more cloud through central and eastern areas. but we'll start to see those showers

pushing to northern ireland, wales and south—west england, and some of them may turn out to be heavy and thundery in places. quite a warm and muggy night to come, particularly towards the south. then for friday, that line of showers, thunderstorms spreads northwards across northern ireland, wales, central, southern england, but starts to fizzle out as it moves northwards. it'll become very windy around irish sea coasts, especially northern and western wales, with gusts in excess perhaps of 60 mph. not a bad day to come across scotland. best of the sunshine in the west, high teens here. further south, because there's a bit more cloud around and some showers, top temperature around 22—23 degrees, but it will feel humid. and then through friday night, the action really gets going. this band of heavy and thundery rain spreads northwards across pretty much all areas. you can see the livid colours indicating embedded thunderstorms there, so localised flooding could be an issue in one or two locations. and a warm and humid night to come for many, particularly across england and wales. so into the weekend, that area of thundery rain will continue to journey northwards with fairly strong, gusty winds on it.

moving northwards across scotland through saturday morning, becoming confined to the northern isles, and then the rest of the country has a fine day. sunny spells with scattered showers across northern and western areas, and it'll be more blustery here with temperatures in the low 20s. so feeling fresher, but still warm in the south—east, 25—26 degrees. similar story for part two of the weekend. most of the blustery showers will be in the north and the west of the country, where it'll feel a bit fresher. but again, across central, southern and eastern areas, closer to high pressure in the near continent, it'll stay sunnier, less windy. and we should see temperatures again around the mid—20s. now it could turn very warm or even locally hot across the south—east for a time monday and tuesday. plenty of sunshine here, but cooler and fresher with showers further north and west.

the headlines — this is bbc news. tributes are paid to the chat show legend sir michael parkinson, who has died aged 88. saudi arabia's crown prince, mohammed bin salman, is invited to the uk. there's sharp criticism over the gulf leader's human rights record. wales and northern ireland receive their a—level hundreds of thousands of students in england, wales and northern ireland receive their a—level results as the proportion

of top grades falls. and conservationists launch a new project to create a thriving population of endangered water voles in the lake district. sport, and for a full round—up from the bbc sport centre, here's tolsun tollett. thank you very much indeed. after guiding england to success at the euros last year and now the final of the women's world cup, it's no surprise that sarina wiegman is set to be a manager in demand. but whatever the result on sunday in the final against spain, wiegman will not be going anywhere, according to the football association's chief executive, mark bullingham. there is speculation wiegman could be in line to take charge of the usa, with vlatko andonovski stepping down from his post, but bullingham insists as long as all parties are happy, wiegman stays. sarina has done an incrediblejob

since she started. she has built an