live from london, this is bbc news. the man—hunt widens for the former soldier who escaped from a london prison. daniel khalife had been accused of trying to gather information for iran. the us has announced it is to arm ukraine with depleted uranium tank shells. five former met police officers have admitted sending racist messages on whatsapp following a bbc investigation. mexico's following a bbc investigation. supreme court decri abortion mexico's supreme court decriminalise abortion nationwide, ruling that criminal penalties for terminating pregnancies was unconstitutional. and at the uk rejoined the eu's assigns research a scheme horizon. we hear from the assigns research a scheme horizon. we hearfrom the head of assigns research a scheme horizon. we hear from the head of the assigns research a scheme horizon. we hearfrom the head of the uk space agency. —— eu's science

research scheme. hello, i'm matthew amroliwala. welcome to verified live, three hours of breaking stories, and checking out the truth behind them. let's start with that manhunt in the uk after a dramatic prison break yesterday. the government has ordered an independent review after a terror suspect daniel khalife escaped from wandsworth prison by clinging to the underside of a food delivery van leaving the jail. the 21—year—old was awaiting trial, accused of leaving fake bombs at a military base while serving in the army. ports and airports, are now on high alert. graham satchell reports. it looked like business as usual at wandsworth today — prison vans coming and going, but the jail is now at the centre of a growing storm, with serious questions about how a terror suspect managed to escape.

daniel khalife was working in the kitchen. he broke out by strapping himself to the underside of a food delivery van. in the house of commons, the justice secretary announced a series of reviews to answer some basic questions. who was on duty that morning? in what roles? ranging from the kitchen to the prison gate, what protocols were in place? were they followed? there are more questions. why was a terror suspect being held at a category b prison? what kind of checks were there on the vehicles coming in and out? you'd expect a mirror to be run under the van on its way out in the same way as there is a dome above where you can look down to see if anyone�*s on top of the van. now, why did that fail? daniel khalife is a former soldier. he joined the army in 2019. three years later, he became the subject of a counter—terrorism investigation. he's accused of planting fake bombs at the barracks in stafford where he was based and was arrested injanuary. he's been charged with preparing

an act of terrorism and collecting information useful to a hostile state, now understood to be iran. yesterday's escape has drawn attention to wider problems in the prison system — overcrowding, understaffing. the prison officers' association has blamed the government for what it calls the "decimation of the service". i was made aware that there were significant staff shortages, so i looked about investigating this and actually discovered that in december last year, only seven members of staff turned up for a night shift to look after 1500 inmates. daniel khalife has been on the run for more than 2a hours. police are urging anyone who sees him to call 999. graham satchell, bbc news. mark lobel is following all developments and he is at wandsworth prison. well, it was around this time yesterday, matthew, that we got the news

that he had escaped, the appeal to the public was released by the police, and since then, we have had nothing from the police. now, it's interesting because at the moment they're still saying the suspect probably remains in the london area. but of course, you look around you, matthew, and we see what's happening in the airports and the ports. we see what's happening on the m20, a major motorway leading to the port of dover, and we can see that there are huge queues there because of enhanced security checks. we can only imagine that the police are talking to the family and friends of the suspect and also combing through cctv, notjust here at wandsworth prison from where daniel escaped from, but also around the area and working out if he was acting alone or not. but at the moment, we haven't had any update from the police about any sightings, for example, of the suspect. what are the prison authorities saying about the investigation, about every aspect of this — staffing levels, for example, why he was actually in that category prison in the first place?

well, the prison officers themselves, in quite a defensive position at the moment, are saying that they're going to await the results of an internal investigation, because, of course, we're talking about a gate like the one you can see over my shoulder where the food delivery van would have moved into the centre of that area. they would have been gated either side and, of course, as we heard in that report, there should have been checks underneath. and then the food delivery van was released here. so the big questions about who was on duty and what happened there. but ultimately, they say cuts have consequences. we've heard from a string of former police officers and former prisoners saying this was an accident waiting to happen and it's opened a pandora's box on the state of uk prisons. we heard about all those investigations that have been opened up now by thejustice secretary, under huge political pressure, just 2a hours after the public learned about this, there are investigations into the categorisation

and placement of wandsworth prisoners and all of those in custody charged with terrorism offences are being reviewed at the moment. rob preece from the howard league for penal reform told us wansworth prison is one of the most overcrowded prisons in the country. we don't know the precise details as to what's happened, but what we have been able to glean so far is extremely concerning. what we do know is that wandsworth is a prison under immense pressure. we at the howard league keep a record of the prison population and how it goes up and down. wandsworth, a big old prison in london, is the second most overcrowded prison in england and wales, and at the end ofjuly — it's designed to hold no more than 950 men, but it was holding more than 1600 at that time. and as your correspondent has rightly identified, staffing shortages as well a big problem. so everyone in wandsworth has been working under extreme pressure. and, unfortunately, i'm not surprised that something like this has happened, albeit prison escapes being quite rare.

in terms of staffing shortages, what are the sort of numbers were actually talking about here? we are seeing more people leaving the service thanjoining in some prisons. and in wandsworth we are hearing of very small numbers. i can't go into precise details. it varies at different times of the week. we've seen reports on weekends where staffing is much smaller and in the evenings as well. but what we do know is that staffing shortages are such that most people are spending hours on end locked inside their cells with nothing to do and, in fact, it's not unusual in prisons such as wandsworth to hear of people spending as little as an hour outside their cells in the day. what that means is they're not getting access to exercise, education, training, work, all the things you'd expect to see going on in a prison. and we've also seen alongside that a rise in incidents of self—harm in many prisons, we've seen high levels of violence, and so this is the system that we have at the moment.

more than half of prisons across england and wales are overcrowded, even greater proportion among men's prisons. and it's simply the case that it's a system that's been asked to do too much for too long with too little. and, as i say, i'm not surprised that we've seen an incident such as this. we've seen, obviously, high—scale disturbances in the past. we've seen very worrying statistics elsewhere. this is the first escape we've seen in a while, but i fear it won't be the last if we continue to see the system run into the ground as it is at the moment. and in terms of recent inspections, have there been obvious red flags there? obvious red flags? there have. the official prisons watchdog, his majesty's inspector of prisons, visited the jail last year and raised a number of concerns. they revisited the prison injune of this year to check against the progress of recommendations, and what they found was a mixed picture, but they again pointed to the the chronic overcrowding that we've seen in wandsworth and higher rates of violence.

it's simply unconscionable that you could have a prison that's designed to hold 950 men holding more than 1600. how can you possibly get anything positive happening inside that jail? so that provides some context to this to this incident, but the precise details we're still waiting to find out and this investigation is really important. rob preece from the howard league of penal reform. returning to that breaking story... five former metropolitan police officers have pleaded guilty to sending grossly offensive racist messages on whatsapp. some of the messages, which came to light after an investigation carried out by the bbc�*s newsnight programme were about the duchess of sussex and the prime minister rishi sunak. peter booth, anthony elsom, alan hall, trevor lewton and robert lewis admitted sharing the messages between 2020 and 2022. all of the men had already retired from the police by then.

with more on this we can join sima kotecha from bbc newsnight. remind your viewers what he found. last 0ctober, remind your viewers what he found. last october, a series of whatsapp messages were leaked to me and they revealed some of the most vile messages i have ever seen in my life. they were exchanged on whatsapp, they were racist, and they poked fun at the duchess of sussex, people of south asian heritage, at black children. they were horrific messages and today, five of the men that were charged have pleaded guilty to sending grossly offensive messages at westminster magistrates�* court this afternoon. it is another indication, you might argue, that the met is trying to clamp down on racist behaviour. we have heard over the last year or so about the problems that the for sad, that very

revealing report by dame louise casey, that called the force institutionally racist, along with some offices i have speak spot —— spoken to saying that there are some deep—rooted issues they are so perhaps a validation that there was issues do exist and have existed and that any met is trying to get those people the appropriate legal action taken against them. tell me more about what happened in court. what is the potential sanction we are talking about? the number of counts facing each individual vary. you have some people facing eight cans, of sending grossly offensive messages, otherfacing the of sending grossly offensive messages, other facing the farm accounts, so the severity of what they face varies —— others facing two cans. they may get a custodial sentence for those with more cans, community service for others. we are not great at the moment —— counts. we know they will be sentenced at a

later date. we are waiting eagerly to find out what happens next. you touched on — to find out what happens next. you touched on it. _ to find out what happens next. you touched on it, but it underlines the problem of racism within the police force, certainly the metropolitan police force, the met commissioner knows he has got a problem, the depth of the problem, they need to stamp it out. depth of the problem, they need to stamp it out-— stamp it out. absolutely. we have heard it from _ stamp it out. absolutely. we have heard it from day _ stamp it out. absolutely. we have heard it from day one, _ stamp it out. absolutely. we have heard it from day one, haven't - stamp it out. absolutely. we have| heard it from day one, haven't we, heard it from day one, haven�*t we, from him? he has put forward he is going to clamp down on this behaviour that he will not stand for it, that he will take action against those police officers who convey this sort of attitude. it is important to say that these men were not serving at the time, they were former metropolitan police officers. they once served any diplomatic protection group. that is the unit in charge of protecting embassies, the palace of westminster, and government ministers, but they had retired from the force. some had retired from the force. some had retired way back in 2001, others had

retired way back in 2001, others had retired as close as 2015. a one man worked for the home office prior to being suspended, then dismissed last year after we exposed those messages on newsnight in october. 0bviously he no longer works for the home office, mr robert lewis, who pleaded guilty to all eight cans of sending grossly offensive messages this afternoon. . ~ grossly offensive messages this afternoon. ., ~ , ., , . afternoon. thank you very much -- eiuht afternoon. thank you very much -- eight counts- _ officials in ukraine say, a number of russian drones have attacked the danube river port of izmail for the fourth time in five days. the regional governor said the assault lasted for three hours and saw civil and port infrastructure facilities, an elevator and an administrative building damaged. one person sustained minor injuries. meanwhile, russia says it downed several ukrainian drones during attempted attacks on the capital moscow and the rostov and bryansk regions in the early hours of thursday.

the latest overnight attacks come as the us secretary of state, antony blinken, continues a two—day visit to kyiv, during which he announced a further package of aid for ukraine worth more than a billion dollars. 0ur diplomatic correspondent paul adams is in kyiv and has been following his visit. yeah, this is very much a pattern, as you just indicated, matthew. it�*s been going on for more than a month now and it seems to be intensifying so that we�*ve had for the last several nights attacks on those port facilities along the danube river. now the river forms the border between ukraine and romania, and since russia pulled out of the un brokered black sea grain initiative, which was brokered a year ago, since they pulled out of that injuly, ukraine has been trying to compensate by getting grain out along the danube and then boats that hug the romanian coast down

to the port of constanza, and then the the ships can move from there. russia has been trying to stop this, and that is why we have seen these repeated drone attacks, wave upon wave of drone attacks at night. they�*re, ithink, aware that the ukrainian air defences in that region are not nearly as sophisticated as they are here in the capital in kyiv. the ukrainians do manage to shoot quite a few of those drones down, but every night we hear about damage, damage to storage facilities, damage to port infrastructure, and it is definitely having an impact and it is something that is worrying the ukrainians a great deal because exporting their grain is absolutely vital. paul, i mentioned antony blinken. talk me through the latest about that trip because he�*s been talking today about landmines. that�*s an immediate problem for ukraine and very much a long—term one as well. absolutely, definitely both.

it is part of the aid package that mr blinken brought with him. it had a military component and many, many civilian components too. and this is notjust about the minefields that we�*ve been hearing a great deal about down on the battlefield in the south, minefields that the ukrainian forces have had to work their way through. it is also about the fact that vast swathes of this country have been mined, including territory where the ukrainians have taken it back and they�*re having to painstakingly go through that territory to make sure that there is no unexploded ordnance or mines littered around in the fields and near communities. and so mr blinken paid a visit to a border guard facilityjust outside the city today and had these words to say about the problem of mines in ukraine. it's so easy to sometimes get lost in abstractions, numbers — how many people lost their lives or were wounded?

what the larger effects are. but it all comes down to the human dimension, to the lives, the stories of men, of women and children, like the men, women and children who were imprisoned in the basement of this building next to us, which normally was a school, and were held there for a month. 127 people in a room not even fit for one person for human habitation. children as young as a month old not allowed to come out. and this isjust one building in one village, in one community in ukraine. and this is a story that we've seen again and again and again. antony blinken during his two—day visit to kyiv. just word from the met office about the heat in the uk.

thursday is provisionally the hottest day of the year so far. a temperature of 32.6 celsius recorded in surrey. that information just coming to us from the met office. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let�*s look at some other stories making news. police say they�*re launching an investigation into maternity failures at nottingham university hospitals nhs trust. the care provided by the trust is already the subject of the biggest maternity inquiry in the history of the health service — with at least 1700 families involved after dozens of babies died or were left with serious injuries. a review of veterinary services in the uk has been launched over concerns that pet owners are facing "eye—watering" bills. the competition and markets authority said vet fees were rising faster than other goods and services during the cost of living crisis and people may not be getting value for money.

royal mail has unveiled a collection of stamps to mark 70 years since the start of dame shirley bassey�*s career. they include a picture of the welsh singer�*s performance at the opening ceremony of the 1999 rugby world cup in cardiff. she is the first solo female music artist to be honoured with a dedicated stamp issue. you�*re live with bbc news. the supreme court in mexico has decriminalised abortion nationwide. the decision comes two years after the court ruled that abortion was legal in one northern state. they said criminal charges was a violation of women�*s rights. access has been limited in parts of the us. live now to isabel fulda. she is the deputy director of mexico�*s information group on reproductive choice —

the campaigning group that brought the case to the supreme court. thank you so much for being here on bbc news. your reaction to this supreme court ruling?- bbc news. your reaction to this supreme court ruling? thank you so much. we supreme court ruling? thank you so much- we are _ supreme court ruling? thank you so much. we are very _ supreme court ruling? thank you so much. we are very excited, - supreme court ruling? thank you so much. we are very excited, we - supreme court ruling? thank you so much. we are very excited, we are i much. we are very excited, we are very grateful for what has happened. it is a very historic decision, the one we had yesterday that follows the one that the supreme court resolved in 2001, and this is the second year anniversary —— 2021. it is a trend in latin america and mexico, we have had a legislative decriminalisation in particular states, judicial ones, and now this very important ruling by the court. tell me the difference it will actually make any real terms for women. �* ,., ., actually make any real terms for women. ~ ., ., ., ~ women. abortion regulation in mexico is cuite women. abortion regulation in mexico is quite complex _ women. abortion regulation in mexico is quite complex because _ women. abortion regulation in mexico is quite complex because we - women. abortion regulation in mexico is quite complex because we have - is quite complex because we have local regulation and a local penal codes. a 20 still criminalise

abortion, so this represents a barrier�*s at the local level, but at the federal level, we had this judicial decriminalisation with a decision we had yesterday and it means it opens the door for women to access services in a federal health institutions, meaning clinics, hospitals and a federal health institutions, meaning clinics, hospitals and federal health institutions give health services to most of the population, so basically it opens the door for access to safe and legal abortion and enables health personnel to do this without the fear of criminalisation, so this does not mean the end of our work, it means that we still have to decriminalise in a local penal codes, but this is solely for access at the local level. at the federal level, we have these great advancement since yesterday. 50 it advancement since yesterday. so it certainl is advancement since yesterday. so it certainly is of _ advancement since yesterday. so it certainly is of help _ advancement since yesterday. so it certainly is of help to _ advancement since yesterday. so it certainly is of help to any of those women involved who need the sort of services and clearly help to the medical staff to know legally where they stand. are you anticipating any

sort of backlash from conservative groups now, say the catholic church? we are expecting a great challenge to implement eight in. judicially, the decision —— implementation. we are not expecting any threats to this is what happened in the united states, but we will be expecting some resistance at the level of implementation. both from conservative groups, but also mainly from individual doctors, hospitals, and they will be very important work to ensure access to services and services do not discriminate certain populations, but the decision as such will stand firm. aha, populations, but the decision as such will stand firm.— populations, but the decision as such will stand firm. a brief final thou . ht, such will stand firm. a brief final thought, because _ such will stand firm. a brief final thought, because you _ such will stand firm. a brief final thought, because you touched . such will stand firm. a brief final| thought, because you touched on such will stand firm. a brief final. thought, because you touched on it in your first answer. it is interesting what is going on in latin america, you have mexico, colombia, uruguay, argentina all relaxing restrictions whilst we have

seen what is happening in the us, why do you think there is that sort of trend and difference? —— uruguay, cuba, mexico, colombia, argentina. this is a feminist mobilisation that is diverse, has very young women, has activists from a very long time and i think the movement has been pushing these changes at the judicial and legislative legible on all these countries you mention, so i think it is a trend spearheaded by social mobilisation and also with important allies in the legislative and judiciary. important allies in the legislative andjudiciary. it important allies in the legislative and judiciary. it is very general conception on human rights and socialjustice in latin america that is sadly not shed at the moment and the united states. as coahuilafulda live there in mexico —— isabel

fulda. thank you. a deal has been struck for the uk to rejoin the european union�*s flagship scientific research programme horizon. post brexit trading rows meant british—based scientists were missing out on grants for their work, from a 95 billion euro fund — that�*s around £81 billion. here�*s pallab ghosh. i�*m absolutely delighted, delighted that we have rejoined horizon, and that we have rejoined the copernicus programme, that�*s the programme for earth observation from space. and i am delighted because it means that for uk scientists, for uk industry, for companies up and down the country, and for all of us who have a vested interest in understanding better what is really happening with the climate emergency and when there are disasters around the world, being able to act quickly. being part of this gold standard programme of copernicus, and it is the best programme in the world, means we come

at the forefront again of the work that brings of the work that brings the benefits of space back down here to life on earth. tell me more about the benefits of being involved in this wider umbrella body, then? so most globally—leading science is done internationally. taking copernicus as an example, but it is not the only one that the uk is involved with, we are talking about seven sets of satellites flying overhead every day. they are taking images we see on our screens of floods, the canopy of forests, really understanding what is happening in our climate. so if we had not rejoined, we would not have been in a position to bid for the contracts that are coming up for the next generation of these missions. so take one example, at the moment, it is very hard to establish just how much carbon dioxide is coming from humans versus other sources. we have climate change models

which give us a decent view, but we really need that experimental data. one of the copernicus programme missions is doing exactly that. the uk is very well—placed to participate strongly in that mission. dr paul bate. to stay with us. coming up in the programme, we know rishi sunak will have that al summit in the autumn. he is setting up a task force. 0ne in the autumn. he is setting up a task force. one of the newly appointed members, a turing laureate has been announced on the task force and he will be with us any moment. hello. 0ur september heatwave is not loosening its grip just yet. in fact, this is turning into quite an exceptional run of hot days for the time of year. the last few days have brought temperatures above 30 celsius. today and the next couple of days also bringing temperatures above 30. in fact, it�*s going to be the longest run of september

days above 30 degrees on record. but there are some exceptions. this was the scene in fife earlier on with some mist and murk and low cloud. a lot of that is clearing, but some will continue to linger close to the eastern coast of scotland. a few showers moving across parts of southern and western scotland and northern ireland — the odd hefty one, but in the hottest places today, well, 28 in the north—west highlands, 31 or 32 across parts of south—east england. and then through this evening and tonight, we will continue to see a few showers marching across parts of scotland, more of that mist and murk and low cloud for some eastern coasts. another very, very mild — indeed warm night for some of us. so tomorrow morning, if you�*re starting your day across eastern and central parts of scotland, expect some areas of fog, some mist, some low cloud. the same goes for eastern england. some of that rolling quite a long way inland for the first part of the morning, but then tending to retreat towards the coast, i think,

as we go through the day. small chance of one or two showers out towards the west, but for the majority, it is another fine day with quite a lot of hot sunshine and those temperatures easily getting to 30 or 31 degrees, but parts of highlands scotland getting to 29, so this very warm weather quite widespread. late in the day, though, we could well see some sharp showers and thunderstorms just starting to break out across the south—west of england. and through the weekend, it�*s a story of very slow changes. the further north and west you are on saturday, the greater the chance of seeing some showers and thunderstorms breaking out, whereas further south and east there will be some sunshine. and actually this could be the hottest day of all with highs of 32 or maybe 33 degrees. but as we move out of saturday into sunday, the area of high pressure that has been with us tends to retreat eastwards, and not with any great organisation, we see some clumps of unsettled weather trying to make a move. i think it will still be hot towards the south—east corner on sunday, but into the start

of next week it turns more unsettled and markedly cooler.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the man hunt continues — for a former soldier who escaped from prison in london. he was waiting charges for terrosim offences. the uk agrees a deal to rejoin the eu�*s science research schemes the boss of one of japan�*s biggest pop talent agencies has resigned

after apologising for decades of sexual abuse carried out by its late founder.