the labour leader sir keir starmer is expected to reshuffle his shadow cabinet tomorrow as mp5 return to westminster from their summer break. there is much speculation over what role sir keir may give his deputy leader angela rayner. now on bbc news, africa eye — sickle cell: the enemy within. my name is lea. i may look like a normal twentysomething... ..but my life is often consumed by illness.

approximately 1,000 people are born every day in africa with sickle cell. i have sickle cell disease. up to 90% of us die before the age of five. 0ur government do little to help us. and i'm advocating to those in power to change that. even in our own communities, people with sickle cell are often treated like outcasts because of misconception and stigma surrounding the disease.

i'm putting my life on the line to fight this deadly disease and to dispel the myths that surround it. sickle cell is not witchcraft. it's not — it's not ancestral curses. it's something that we can solve. gentle guitar music plays. she speaks swahili. 0h, damn! the abnormal sickle—shaped red blood cells in my body affect my oxygen levels.

one of the biggest problems with sickle cell is oxygen. like, if you don't have sufficient oxygen, so you can only push your body far for a good number of days before you need to really rest. now, he's telling people, "this guy has sickle cell," and they don't even know i have sickle cell. i've been raising awareness about the devastating impact of sickle cell on patients and families for years. ..some of us have not accepted sickle cell... ..subscribe and... we'll have this conversation again. thank you! i try to help my fellow survivors. fresh, green leafy vegetables for people living with sickle cell, like myself. and advocate to the authorities to act. it's also a way for the government, the ministry, to see that these people are a forgotten demographic in this country and they need to set up health and support infrastructure to be able

to manage their disease. when i was younger, i never knew what sickle cell was. ijust knew, like, sometimes, my sisters would just wake up in pain at night. throughout my battle with sickle cell, my brother paul has always been my rock. now, he's at my side again and i take on my biggest challenge yet. with my brother's help, i plan to fight through my illness and run the nairobi half marathon.

when it comes to sickle cell, they're encouraged against getting tired. i also knew that when she bites into something, she doesn't let go. the marathon idea came — came into my mind when i was like, "i need to do something. "i need to do something to — to physically show that i can... "..i can do it, like, someone with sickle cell can do it." my doctor has cautioned

against running the marathon — it could trigger a crisis and bring on severe complications — but i'm determined to do it. notjust for me. 80 million of us suffer with this disease across africa. we have to believe. the other day, i was telling one of my sickle cell advocates in nigeria that i am doing the marathon and she was like, she was like — she was very, very upset. she was like, "no! no! "sickle cell patients have this thing of saying they can do this. "you cannot do a marathon. "lea, please! you cannot." so, of course i can. of course i can. and i will, so... yeah, i want to do that. not to show her because yes, i have a chip on my shoulder, not to show her because, yes, i have a chip on my shoulder, but i want to live a normal life. i want to do these things that i want to do.

i want to see where my body can — can stretch to, yeah? without snapping, of course. for my training, i'm going back to my home town, taveta. it's also the place where i think i can make the biggest difference for thousands of people living with the disease. in taveta, almost a quarter of the population have the sickle cell gene. but those living with the disease

receive very little support. ijoin a local group as they prepare to march on a nearby hospital and demand better services for sickle cell patients. we go to the local hospital to protest.

albert is the leader of this group. like so many other parents of children with sickle cell, he has suffered from the stigma and poverty that surrounds the disease, but he is determined to find a solution. singing. albert was one of the first people i met and he was one of the few who spoke to me. like, the passion — like, this was one of the parents

that i saw who did not feel the shame or the stigma of sickle cell. all sing.

i know how destructive the myths surrounding sickle cell can be, especially in rural areas. a lot of communities, we attribute sickle cell to ancestral curses, witchcraft. this is — ok, this is a situation for any unknown thing in the community. people form their own stories around them. so, i had to go and tell people that sickle cell is — is not witchcraft. it's not — it's not ancestral curses. it's something that we can solve.

but slowly, things are beginning to change. i organised a meeting, hoping the community might come out. i needn't have worried.

with the community behind us, albert and i decide to join forces and up our game.

albert and i scour the community, finding more and more people that have sickle cell in their families, many of them in dire need of medicine. i soon realised the true scale of the problem and how desperately the people in taveta need access to quality, affordable care. majority of people who earn less than $1 a day or $2 a day will not sacrifice the meal of their home to buy this expensive medicine. it's either the meal or the medicine. i'm getting my community to help it needs. but it is tiring work

and the marathon is only four weeks away. so this is the tavern. today, i was able to run, but i ran for approximately 20 seconds and had to stop, take a breath, relax, walk, then run again for 20 seconds and, yeah, it was... it showed how unfit i am — like, i am extremely unfit, but i am working on that. my family has always been there to help me through my most through my most difficult times, but they, too, have their challenges. all my sisters have sickle cell. my oldest sister magdalein succumbed to sickle cell.

the sister who i lost, i never met her. she died before i was born. death's on the way — sickle cell and just the way we live in our house,

how it affected my parents, my sisters, i could say that that created, like, a kind of environment. sickle cell has made me and my family stronger. but as i prepare for the marathon, the warnings from my doctor keep playing on my mind. the doctors disagree with me about my doing the marathon. essentially, i will be reducing the oxygen circulating to my body, the functionality of my organs and risking things like strokes or neuroretinopathy or, like, something just obstructs somewhere and it'lljust collapse, and, yeah... as the day approaches, i'm excited and determined. emcee: ladies and gentlemen, wed like to welcome _

emcee: ladies and gentlemen, - wed like to welcome you to the 2018 nairobi standard chartered international marathon! i'm feeling good at the starting line. the adrenaline kicks in and i'm all set. cheering and applause. starter's gun fires. cheering and applause continues. after 2km, my body starts to give out. the sun is so hot, my breathing becomes laboured. ifeel like i'm chained to a boiler. man, i have to keep going! my brother and friend both rush to support me.

but i can't give up now. i have to reach the end. i tapped into my energy deep down... ..and somehow managed to push through. but as i crossed the finish line, my body simply gave out. i felt faint. ijust could not catch my breath. this was everything my doctor and friends had warned me about.

the end of the marathon was scary and could've cost me my life. but it showed me that once i set my mind on something, there's nothing on earth that can stop me. i head back to taveta with an renewed energy! with a renewed energy! i'm determined to get sickle cell patients and families the support they deserve. and i decide to confront our member of county assembly... of county assembly.

the governor promises his support and i speak to as many officials as i can, hoping to drum up support for a specialist centre. thank you so much, mama. finally, after years of advocating, a special clinic for sickle cell patients in taveta is unveiled.

cheering all the battles, all the obstacles — finally, we are here. cheering having a sickle cell clinic in taita—taveta is not easily done. having you of all come together for the entire country is not a force to joke with and... applause. having passed through this trouble with us, now fearless, these people here show me that we are not alone, i am not alone, we are not walking alone, we are creating this path. however long it will take, however hard the struggle, the lives lost — maybe some of us will not be here to see the future — but we must walk. 0k? thank you so much. applause.

for me, this new clinic isjust the beginning of my mission to improve the lives of all sickle cell patients and families notjust in kenya, but all over africa. we're just getting started. this is not a marathon. it is — it is not the one who — who is the — who is the winner, who runs the farthest or who runs the fastest will win. this is a relay race. and me, i know that — i realise that this problem, i will not solve its entirety in my lifetime and the person coming after me will be —

you know, will have it easier and be able to take it even further. it's a beautiful morning in taveta, kenya, and we are doing 10km to holili with my mum — she's right ahead, she's a runner — and, yes, so we'll be doing ten, ten, so 20km today, so i'm so excited, guys! look at that sunrise! so, it has been a rainy experience. she chuckles. we are all wet! wet! 0ur brother here, it's like he was dipped in water! in a swimming pool!

0h! neverfelt so much rain in my life, and that was an amazing experience! and, yeah, so tired. we've just finally finished 10km. now, we are doing ten more.

hello there. we've got a september heatwave building over the next few days with lots of dry weather, lots of sunshine and rising temperatures. we're looking at probably the hottest days wednesday, thursday, when we could see temperatures reach the low 30s. now, most of us had sunshine today. we've seen temperatures go past 26 degrees in a few areas. the one place that missed out on the sunshine and warm weather, the far north of scotland, where we had a bit of cloud and rain. and after a locally misty start to the day, we saw that sunshine really coming through across the board. this was penzance in cornwall, doing quite a good impression of the tropics, given the plants we've got across this part of cornwall. now, overnight tonight, we'll keep the clear weather, a few mist and fog patches are quite likely to develop. it's across shetland, and we might see a few occasional patches of rain, but otherwise, it's a dry night — temperatures 12—16 degrees. the next few days weather—wise dominated by this big area of high pressure that's overalljust

to the east of the uk, and it's this that will be bringing dry, sunny and very warm weather our way. now, from monday morning, you might start off seeing just a few early morning mist and fog patches. then they'll clear away within the first couple of hours of the morning, then sunshine across the board for most. the exception, again, the very far north of scotland might see a little bit of rain for shetland, but i think brighter weatherfor 0rkney, the hebrides and highland scotland as well. temperatures the highest across england and wales, reaching 27. but the warmest spots of scotland and northern ireland will also see temperatures into the mid—20s. so, for many, monday's going to be a warm day, and that warm theme continues for tuesday as well. as i say, for most of the uk, it's looking like another dry day with plenty of sunshine around, perhaps a little bit more cloud again across the northern isles of scotland, but otherwise, sunshine across the board. and for wednesday, probably a few more mist and fog patches around. some of those might linger around some of our coastal areas, particularly through the irish sea. but across the inland areas, we'll

have lots of sunshine once the early morning mist and fog patches have cleared out of the way, and it continues to get hotter. temperatures could reach 30 degrees celsius, and that's not far away from the highest temperature we've recorded all year, which currently stands at 32.2. stays dry and sunny for most thursday, friday, saturday. it's only really until we get to sunday when we start to see a change to cooler, more unsettled weather conditions.

live from london. this is bbc news. our top story this hour... ukraine's military claims it's managed to break through key russian defences near the southeastern city of zaporizhzhia. president zelensky has announced that he's replacing his defence minister 0leksii reznikov, saying a new approach is needed, 18 months after russia invaded. hello, i'm lukwesa burak. ukraine's generals are reporting significant progress in the counteroffensive against russia's invasion.

they say their troops have breached the first line of russian defences in the south, near zaporizhzhia. general 0leksandr tarnavskyi told the observer newspaper that extensive minefields had blocked troops for several weeks, leaving them vulnerable to russian shelling and drone attacks. but the general claimed that painstaking mine clearance has now allowed his forces to advance, and they expect to face far weaker russian defences ahead. ukraine says its forces are making gains in the south of the country, and has in recent weeks expanded its units towards the strategic town of tokmak, a logistical centre for russian forces. last week, ukraine's military said it had captured the village of robotyne in the zaporizhzhia region amid a counteroffensive that is yielding incremental gains. an adviser to president zelensky,