this is bbc news. repeated attempts to free people trapped in a cable car above a remote valley. leaders of countries including china and south africa meet for talks had of a summit injohannesburg. after the summit in johannesburg. after the baby, summit injohannesburg. after the baby, lucy letby is jailed for life, because whatever regulations of health service management. welcome to bbc news. let's start with the dramatic developments unfolding in pakistan. military helicopters and commandos are making repeated attempts to free eight people, including six schoolchildren, who are stuck in a cable car. they're dangling precariously above a river bed in the mountainous khyber pakhtunkhwa province. reports say rescuers have been

trying to deploy a net. the children were on their way to school, when two cables of the aerial trolley snapped. here's our pakistan correspondent caroline davies with the latest. we know that there are six children on board, two adults inside this cable car. this happened around 7:00 local time this morning. now, we understand that this is a cable car that is running between villages here. now, if instead of taking the cable car, the children were to go to school by the roads, it would take 2 hours, where by comparison, using this cable car, which we understand has been built by a local mechanic, that's according to a police officer on the scene. this would take about four minute journey instead. now, according to locals there, this cable car had already done four journeys this morning when on the fifth one, the cables snapped. now we know that we've seen these images of the cable car hanging just what it seems to be by a single cable. we know that there have been repeated attempts by the army.

we understand four times the helicopters have come in and attempted to hang off the side to try to reach the cable car. that has not been successful. and instead they have now called in specialist operators. instead, we know that there have been commando forces that have been brought in to try to attempt another rescue. we're now also hearing from police officers and officials on the ground that there is going to be an attempt to try to lay some additional cables so that if the attempt to try to to rescue these children and these two adults from the cable car using a helicopter doesn't work that they might try and attempt to try to use these cables instead. now, it's not entirely clear why these cables snapped and how often this particular route was being checked. some locals on the ground have said that it was being checked regularly. we haven't been able to independently verify that that has happened. but of course, these sort of cable routes are used quite commonly in these rural areas because using the roads can take hours and hours.

using some of these cable car breaks instead, can just take minutes. it makes life a lot easier for people there. but the real danger is when something like this happens, the safety fails, that the cables break. and of course, these individuals are now stuck hanging from these cables. and at the moment, it's really not certain whether or not it will be possible for officials to be able to reach them and to rescue them. there was real concern about one of the young people who is inside that cable car. do we know how everyone is? no. we are trying to speak to some of the individuals who might be on board. we're trying to speak to officials who we believe have also spoken to people who were inside the cable car to ascertain whether they've been able to get food, whether they've been able to get water, and what the condition is of those individuals inside the cable car. at this point, we now know, of course, that it was from 7:00 in the morning that this incident happened. it is now around 5:00 here, so many, many hours that these individuals have been hanging by this one cable.

it seems to be inside this cable car. not clear entirely how long that will hold for and how long people have got until they're able to to rescue them. now, in terms of using the helicopters, we've heard that as well. you can see when the helicopters start coming in that that does send a wind as well. so i think that's a real concern in the process of trying to rescue these individuals is how close the helicopters can get without causing further peril to those inside the cable car. so this is the real balance that the rescue operation is trying to strike. of course, given that they are hanging many, many meters up in the air, what are the alternatives other than trying to to reach these individuals with a helicopter? how is it possible to try and get cables in place that could be replacement cables and how could you repair them? so that is the real issue here, is exactly what are the logistics involved in trying to rescue people from this cable car? the logistics are tricky. trucking

what is happening is our reporter, courtney. it is about to get dark, so what is happening on the ground? 35 minutes away from the area, so authorities are working quickly to get to the students and two adults. they are looking at laying cable and our hundreds of people involved in the operation. laying a cable on either side of the cable car. it is unclear to me how it would work, but authorities there have been following this closely and they've said that is the latest plan in case they can't reach them by helicopter. you can see the army had a copter in the area, of course nearing 12 hours since the incident. the army helicopter poses a problem, win speeds in the area are high and of course the wind generated by the

rotor blade of the helicopter could pose a further threat. keeping its distance, we saw an army commando being winched down to the cable car and supplies handed over, but no one was able to be handed over to him. these are pictures of the type of cable car we think was involved, but it has not been confirmed. to give you an idea of the region, it is very mountainous. a cable car can say people hours, so these children using a cable card to get to school, it is two hours on foot, four minutes on the cable car. frustrated by the local infrastructure, a local man built the cable car and it is understood he is on the scene. this is quite common to use a cable car to get to work and school and the market, saving people time. we've been hearing _ market, saving people time. we've been hearing from _ market, saving people time. we've been hearing from people -

market, saving people time. we've been hearing from people on - market, saving people time. we've been hearing from people on the l been hearing from people on the ground, huge have gathered to try and contribute. let's listen to one of them. translation: it and contribute. let's listen to one of them. translation: it is and contribute. let's listen to one of them. translation:— and contribute. let's listen to one of them. translation: it is a sad and unfortunate _ of them. translation: it is a sad and unfortunate incident, - of them. translation: it is a sad | and unfortunate incident, happening at seven in the morning when children were going to school. a string broke. so far, four helicopters made an attempt. a special unit is coming and a local rescue team are on standby. we are trying but don't want to take chances. ~ . ., ., ., chances. we learned that one of those in the _ chances. we learned that one of those in the cable _ chances. we learned that one of those in the cable car _ chances. we learned that one of those in the cable car is - chances. we learned that one of those in the cable car is a - those in the cable car is a 16—year—old boy with a heart condition. 16-year-old boy with a heart condition-— 16-year-old boy with a heart condition. �* , ., ., condition. any word on him? the erson condition. any word on him? the person who _ condition. any word on him? the person who raised _ condition. any word on him? the person who raised the _ condition. any word on him? the person who raised the alarm, - condition. any word on him? the| person who raised the alarm, one condition. any word on him? the i person who raised the alarm, one of the adults, we've been speaking to his brother. he was making phone calls out to stand tv and to his brother, and he was saying helpers,

we've got a 16—year—old with a heart condition and is unconscious. that was several hours before and his phone has gone dead, so no contact with him. a 16 with a confirmed heart condition, and reports he was unconscious. and the other children, many hours without food and water. are we ten hours now? nearly 11 hours, and by the time the sunsets, it is due to set in about one hour, about 7pm. it is a 12 hour window, much of the time has passed and sunset is due in 45 minutes. it will make it more difficult for authorities, you are laying cables. you need to see clearly to pull it off. , ., , you need to see clearly to pull it off- , ~ , , off. they are trying everything. eve one off. they are trying everything. everyone thinking _ off. they are trying everything. everyone thinking of— off. they are trying everything. everyone thinking of them - off. they are trying everything. everyone thinking of them as l off. they are trying everything. i everyone thinking of them as they

closely watch the rescue under way. courtney, thank you. authorities in greece say 18 people have been killed in a forest fire. their bodies were found near the turkish border. work is under way to identify the corpses which were found in two groups. an investigation team are heading to the scene. you can see whether forest is located, a popular migrant routes where people go to try and cross the mediterranean. it has been bad in greece, wildfires raging since saturday. 65 patients evacuated from hospital overnight, and the burned body of a man was found in an area near the town on monday. elsewhere, workers are tackling other fires, monday. elsewhere, workers are tackling otherfires, and warning high winds and temperatures are creating an extreme risk there.

leaders from the brics group of countries — that's brazil, russia, india, china and south africa — have gathered for a summit in south africa. china's leader xi jinping arrived in the country early in the morning and travelled to pretoria for talks with his south african counterpart, cyril ramaphosa. he's set to return to johannesburg for the summit, in what will be his fifth trip to south africa since he became president in 2013. the russian president, vladimir putin, will be attending by video link, due to a threat of arrest for alleged war crimes. mr putin has sent his foreign minister — sergei lavrov — who was welcomed by a troupe of traditional dancers at the airport. the terms bric was first used by a british economist in new york who grouped together brazil, russia, india and china. they were seen as four economies with a high potentialfor growth — all with large populations. the four nations had completely different political systems — but the term stuck and the bric countries held their first official meeting in 2009 — in russia.

a year later — south africa joined and the bloc became known as brics. it's thought it could emerge as a diplomatic rival to the g7 group of nations — which is dominated by western democracies. our correspondent is in johannesburg, and i asked what the leaders have been saying. there has been some agreement _ leaders have been saying. there has been some agreement signed - leaders have been saying. there has been some agreement signed by - leaders have been saying. there has. been some agreement signed by both south africa and china and this is in a bid to strengthen trade relations between the two nations. earlier today, the president said he was pleased china's president could come for the state visit and thanked the president for donating vaccines during the cobra 19 pandemic in south africa. and obviously they

spoke after his speech, saying he was pleased that china was making further inroads in developing and strengthening trade relations, not only with south africa, but the continent at large. did only with south africa, but the continent at large.— only with south africa, but the continent at large. did either of the men express _ continent at large. did either of the men express their - continent at large. did either of the men express their views - continent at large. did either of the men express their views on | continent at large. did either of - the men express their views on calls to expand, to allow more countries and? , ., , to expand, to allow more countries and? , . , ., to expand, to allow more countries and? , ., , ., ., and? yes, there have been talks to allow more — and? yes, there have been talks to allow more countries _ and? yes, there have been talks to allow more countries to _ and? yes, there have been talks to allow more countries to comment. | and? yes, there have been talks to i allow more countries to comment. as we speak, 22 countries, including argentina, saudi arabia, nigeria and each earth, have shown interest in wanting to join it. each earth, have shown interest in wanting tojoin it. the block each earth, have shown interest in wanting to join it. the block itself said the fact so many countries are trying to join this organisation shows they have confidence in this block, because it is showing determination to be able to stand up

against the west. it determination to be able to stand up against the west.— against the west. it was conceived as a due economic— against the west. it was conceived as a due economic platform, - against the west. it was conceived as a due economic platform, but l against the west. it was conceived as a due economic platform, but it is moving into a more geopolitical role. is south africa comfortable with it? it role. is south africa comfortable with it? , y role. is south africa comfortable with it? , , ., ,, ., with it? it is something they appear to be constable _ with it? it is something they appear to be constable with. _ with it? it is something they appear to be constable with. on _ with it? it is something they appear to be constable with. on sunday, i with it? it is something they appear. to be constable with. on sunday, the president addressed the nation in a surprise speech, saying south africa doesn't want to be torn into any of the world powers and whatever problems they have. south africa wants to be seen as a sovereign state that would be involved in any conflict, howeverthe state that would be involved in any conflict, however the world should not for south africa to choose sides. ~ ., , not for south africa to choose sides. ~ . , ., sides. what is the view of south african people _ sides. what is the view of south african people towards - sides. what is the view of south african people towards russia, | sides. what is the view of south - african people towards russia, given the conflict in ukraine?— the conflict in ukraine? depending on who you _ the conflict in ukraine? depending on who you speak— the conflict in ukraine? depending on who you speak to, _ the conflict in ukraine? depending on who you speak to, there - the conflict in ukraine? depending on who you speak to, there are . on who you speak to, there are pro—ukrainian south africans who say the fact south africa has a

relationship with russia mean south africa is not determined to spread world peace as a much as they claim to do. there was a picket here earlier today by a pro—ukrainian group, because of this summit, because they wanted to draw attention to what was happening in ukraine. there are some pro—russian groupings who saved vladimir putin should have come to suffolk, and that they would have forced to stand up that they would have forced to stand up and protect its friend —— come to south africa. we are delighted that china has agreed to reopen the export of beef to china. this is going to give a huge boost to our agricultural sector. our multilateral cooperation...

we have agreed on a number of issues. president xijinping and i have agreed to consult closely on issues of common concern including in the brics context, as well as the forum of china— africa cooperation, and the g7 plus china and also the g20. we will keep you across all the developments from south africa as the summit gets under way. here, the lead consultant on the neo—natal unit where the child killer lucy letby worked has told the bbc that health service managers should be regulated — in the same way as doctors and nurses. letby will spend the rest of her life in prison — after she was sentenced for murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six more at the countess of chester hospital. dr stephen brearey said his initial

concerns about the nurse were not immediately acted upon — and his experience is not unusual. this will have the regulatory bodies that we have to answer to. and quite often we will see senior managers who have no apparent accountability for what they do in our trusts, and they are moved to other trusts and you worry about their future actions and there doesn't seem to be any system to make them accountable and for them to justify their actions. the bbc put dr brearey�*s comments to nhs england and they pointed to their updated freedom to speak policy that every trust they say is expected to adopt. a spokesperson said... well, it appears the government

is open to the idea of nhs bosses facing tougher regulation, as our political correspondent, damian grammaticas, told me a little earlier. i was talking to the education secretary a little bit earlier this morning. so this obviously isn't her area, health, but it's the big issue around at the minute. so i put it to her and said, you know, these calls coming, as you heard there from the senior doctors at the hospital who warned about lucy, told, their managers said the managers, the managers didn't take action in that case. those senior doctors saying they think nhs managers should be regulated, professionally observed and scrutinised and held to standards just as doctors and nurses are. what the education secretary, gillian keegan, told me is that she said that the inquiry that's going on or that will be going on and looking into this whole case should consider all of these issues in the round, she said, including what lessons need to be learned, what changes need to be made to both the nhs, its management

and the legal profession as well. so certainly sort of suggesting that the inquiry should consider this issue, but it's worth saying a couple of things. one is it's notjust the doctors. the medical union that speaks for them has also called for managers to be regulated. but the government itself was already looking at this issue back in 2019. even before that, a couple of years before that, it was all being discussed, sort of put on hold because of the pandemic, but also put on hold because it's a complicated area. i think these managers have different responsibilities to doctors. and one of the issues concerning the government back then was managers coming from outside the health sort of professions, how would you bring them in and bring them under regulations? there's a lot of issues to contend with there. but saying that it should go into the into the process of this inquiry does mean that it would take months

and months more consideration. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some of the other stories make in the news. network rail is to face prosecution over an aberdeenshire train crash claimed three lives. train driver brett mccullough, conductor donald dinnie, and passenger christopher stuchbury died when the train derailed at carmon in august 2020. the train hit a landslide after heavy rain. the case will call at the high court in aberdeeen next month. a children's charity in england says the cuts to the number of hours young people spend doing sport should be a national concern. new data shows a further 4,000 hours of physical education have been lost from the curriculum in state—funded secondary schools last year. the youth sport trust says it's a further threat to pupils�* wellbeing. analysis by the think tank the high pay centre suggests that the bosses of britain's 100 biggest ftse—listed companies saw their pay increase by an average of 16% last year, as many workers' wages struggled to keep up with inflation. the figure is a median value —

based on earnings disclosed in the companies' annual reports. you are live with bbc news. well, there are fast moving developments too in thailand, a country still coming to terms with recent political upheaval and military control. the parliament in bangkok has voted for the candidate of the pheu thai party to be the next prime minister. mr srettha won a majority of votes in a joint session of the elected lower house and unelected senate. he heads a coalition which includes conservative, military—aligned parties which have previously opposed his party. the vote coincided with the return from a 15—year exile of former prime minister thaksin shinawatra. he's the founder and main funder of pheu thai — and coincidentally a former owner of manchester city football club here in the uk. hours after his return — he was taken to prison for corruption. mr thaksin has long argued that the charges levelled against him were politically motivated.

it's widely believed that a deal has been agreed that will allow mr thaksin to serve only a short portion of his eight year sentence. researchers say using mri scans to screen men for prostate cancer could reduce deaths "significa ntly". prostate cancer is the most common cancerfound in men, and is highly treatable if caught early. but in the uk, 12,000 men die every year — the uk's death rate is twice as high as the us, spain or italy. mri scans have been found to be more effective than the current blood tests which can be unreliable. it's hoped thousands of lives could be saved. our medical editor fergus walsh has been finding out more. paul rothwell�*s prostate cancer was caught early and successfully treated. it was diagnosed here at london's university college hospital when he took part in a trial using mri scans. the 62—year—old's cancer would have been missed if he'd only had

the standard psa blood test, which came back as normal. if ijust had the blood test, i would be carrying on life as normal, walking around unaware that there was some sort of ticking time bomb inside me of a cancer slowly growing. so by the time i then did find out, presumably it would have been much harder to treat, and much more dangerous to me. so you feel fortunate? yeah, very fortunate. i'm, you know, thrilled that i was diagnosed so early. we don't see any sign of cancer recurrence there... paul was among 300 men aged 50 to 75 who took part in the trial led by university college london. of the 25 men whose aggressive cancers were picked up via mri, over half — like paul — had negative blood tests. we think these are really significant results. what we see is that a short ten—minute mri scan used as a screening test can selectively pick up significant cancers in a much more effective way than the psa blood test alone.

that'll help us to diagnose the important cancers early, when they're curable. the prostate is a walnut—sized gland which sits below the bladder. it's the uk's most common male cancer, with 52,000 new diagnoses every year. this is what men over 50 can request from their doctor — a blood test for the protein psa. high levels can indicate cancer, so it's a useful test, but unreliable as it's not always accurate. thank you. black men have a one—in—four risk of getting prostate cancer — double that of white men — but are less likely to come forward for testing. after he developed prostate cancer, errol mckellar started offering men discounts on their mot if they got themselves checked out. and he now runs a charity to raise awareness of the disease.

when prostate cancer turns up at your front door, it doesn't care, right, whether you're black, whether you're white. it doesn't care about your wealth. it doesn't care about you. what it will do if you ignore it, it will kill you. 0k, paul. nice and still. larger trials will be needed to confirm the value of mri scans before a national screening programme for prostate cancer could be set up — which may take up to a decade. fergus walsh, bbc news. the president of spain has condemned the action after the world cup victory. here they are in a picture taken after the incident. he said the kiss on the lips was an unacceptable gesture, and the

apology was insufficient, but he has acknowledged it was wrong but he added he had acted without any bad intentions. many in spain are asking for his resignation. the prime minister has hosted a reception for the winners, the medals on display under world cup trophy itself. it was a great moment for them, and the president, he was in a tough battle to stay in office after a close election. let's show you the celebrations which followed the reception the prime minister had, which was overnight. 20,000 people were there in madrid welcoming them home after they return from australia. she scored the winner and was there, but she was told after the match her father had

was there, but she was told after the match herfather had died following an illness. do stay with us on bbc news. hello. the weather hasn't been too bad across most of the uk so far today with lengthy spells of sunshine, but some of us have had to use our umbrellas too. there are a few showers lurking around some western and north—western areas. here's the big picture across the north atlantic and europe. look at that pattern in the jet stream, moving northwards around greenland, then southwards and then right over us. with the warm air or hot air to the south, with this pattern it means that all the heat is being deflected to more central and eastern parts of europe, so an intense heatwave across some parts of europe through the middle part of the week, in excess of a0 degrees across spain, france and italy, but here in the uk, we're just feeling the effects of that warmth, particularly in the south and the south—east. here's the recent satellite picture. a few showers there. this is the jet stream i've got here. that's the wind at 30,000 feet

streaking the clouds along. temperatures today, pleasant — 20 degrees in belfast, around 21 in newcastle, similar for liverpool and then in norwich and london around the mid 20s. the forecast for this evening, a lot of fine weather around, a few scattered showers there across parts of southern scotland, maybe the lake district. then we have this little weak weather system sweeping in just to the south of ireland, moving into wales, so perhaps some rain here early in the morning. the temperatures a little on the fresh side in aberdeen, eight degrees, but for most of us around 12 to 1a. more cloud for a time in the morning for wales and parts of central england, but then it looks as though the clouds should break up, there will be some sunshine around and tomorrow overall a similar day. the temperatures will be similar, around 19 or 20 in the north, typically the mid 20s across the south. a low pressure, be it a weak one, is in charge of the weather on thursday. the winds aren't going to be particularly strong with this weak area of low pressure, but there is a fair amount of cloud

spinning around across western and north western scotland, so some showers here. there could be a few showers elsewhere, as well. that warmth is starting to contract to the extreme east and the south—east there, so 25, whereas in glasgow we're talking about 17. i think, in the days ahead, the temperatures will pretty much stabilise in the north of the country, so about 18 for edinburgh and belfast, but in london it will cool off from 25 into the low 20s. that's it for me. bye— bye.

game on — microsoft makes a fresh offer to buy activision blizzard — the maker of candy crush and call of duty — will it sweeten the uk regulator? and boosting the brics — the bloc made up of brazil, russia, india, china and south africa, meet injohannesburg to flex their economic might. welcome to world business report. we start here in the uk where microsoft has submitted a new deal to buy the gaming giant activision blizzard. the original bid of $69 billion was rejected by the competition and