live from london, this is bbc news. free at last, three americans and a kremlin critic imprisoned in russia arrive on us soil, part of the biggest prisoner swap deal since the cold war. myjob is to make sure that number one, they don't get them, and if they do, we get them back. i don't buy this idea that you're going to let these people rot injail. the deal frees 2a prisoners and two minors held in seven countries, including convicted russian fsb hit man vadim krasikov. seven men are charged with violent disorder after a riot breaks out in hartlepool, linked to monday's mass stabbing in southport. the body of the hamas political leader, ismail haniyeh, is now in qatar where he'll be buried. these are live pictures coming in from doha's largest mosque where a special service will be held.

the edinburgh festival begins with hundreds of events in the city over the next month. we'll be live in the scottish capital. hello, i'm kylie pentalow. within the past couple of hours presidentjoe biden and vice president, kamala harris, have greeted american detainees at an airbase outside washington, following their release from russia as part of a prisoner swap — the largest since the cold war. the plane carrying the two us journalists, evan gershkovich and alsu kurmasheva, ex—marine paul whelan and leading kremlin critic, vladimir kara—murza landed late at night. family members of those who'd been detained, some for several years, were there, as emotional scenes played out on the tarmac. president biden said he was grateful for the diplomatic co—operation

from many other countries involved in the negotiations. in total, ten russians including two children have been exchanged for 16 westerners and russians imprisoned in russia. our north america correspondent will grant sent this report from the andrews air force base. cheering. greeted by a presidential embrace. after more days behind bars than they'd care to remember, finally a night they'll neverforget. the arrival of the three americans at andrews air base marks the end of their ordeal in russia, and the defining image of the biggest prisoner swap since the cold war. this is a historic moment, however you look at it — politically, diplomatically or, for the families involved, just emotionally. some of the most high—profile us prisoners of modern times back on us soil.

on the tarmac to meet them, president biden and vice president harris. one soon to leave office, the other hoping to take over. myjob is to make sure, number one, they don't get them. and if they do, we get them back. i don't buy this idea that you're going to let these people rot injail. reached against the backdrop of a full—scale war in ukraine, this prisoner swap was uniquely complex. it involved 26 people in seven different nations. as well as wall streetjournal reporter evan gershkovich and ex—marine paul whelan, moscow freed a russian—american journalist, alsu kurmasheva. among several prominent kremlin critics released was vladimir kara—murza, while in return moscow got back this man, convicted assassin and fsb colonel vadim krasikov. the family of evan gershkovich echoed the position of all the relatives, expressing heartfelt thanks that their son was free, saying,

"we have waited 491 days for evan's release and it's hard to describe what today feels like. "we can't wait to give him the biggest hug and see his sweet and brave smile up close." so even amid the glare of the world's media, this is also a uniquely private moment for the former prisoners and their families. a homecoming which at times they must have feared might never come. will grant, bbc news, washington. our eastern europe correspondent, sarah rainsford, who's in berlin, has more. i think this is seen as a deal in which both parties get what they want. it's been an extremely complex deal to negotiate, led by the united states but engaging very directly with the regime of vladimir putin although not with him personally. it is clear that mr putin made it clear that there was one person he wanted back in return for any american prisoners being returned to the united states

and that was the convicted assassin who had killed here on the streets of berlin in 2019, an fsb hit man named vadim krasikov. in the end putin has got his man in that sense, but in return he has had to give up some very big names in terms of us citizens in custody in russia, some of them serving extremely long prison sentences, like paul whelan and evan gershkovich. he has also handed over a large number of political dissidents dissidents from russia, so people who he had sent to prison for extremely long sentences again, up to 25 years, for criticising vladimir putin and condemning his full—scale invasion of ukraine. so it is a big deal in every sense and i think there are winners and arguments on both sides. germany played a key role here, what concessions if any will germany get out of this deal?

germany has said quite publicly and openly that this has been difficult dealfor them in a way to stomach. we heard from the chancellor yesterday, olaf scholz, saying it had been very hard, and it had been a complicated moral and legal decision to make because vadim krasikov was in prison serving a life sentence. he had been convicted on what the judge at the time it said was an act of state terrorism on behalf of russia so it was a big deal. but in return they have secured the freedom for people who have stood up for democracy in russia and secured the release of five german citizens including a man who had been on death row in belarus until he was pardoned as part of this whole deal. he also said this was about an act of solidarity with the united states, it was about allies acting together.

so a big political decision for germany but in the end it is germany's role that has secured this huge unprecedented prisoner swap involving so many people and 70 countries. people and so many countries. let's bring you an update on a couple of stories we've been covering here at the bbc. we've been speaking to the culture secretary lisa nandy who's in france today following the british olympic team. yesterday she held talks the bbc�*s director general tim davie over the bbc�*s handling of the huw edwards scandal. on wednesday edwards admitted having 41 indecent images of children sent to him by a convicted paedophile. there are questions for the bbc over how licence fee payers�* money was spent on the former bbc news presenter�*s pay. here's lisa nandy, speaking a short while ago. well, we had a very robust and frank discussion about the circumstances around the case, and some of the decisions that have been made during

that case, and also since. obviously i am particularly concerned to make sure that people have confidence in the bbc, and i think the director—general made a good start yesterday going out to be as open and transparent as possible with the public. both about what the bbc knew and why they made the decisions that they did, and the use of taxpayers money which is important to a lot of people. i think we all recognise that there is a job of work to do to get more information into the public domain, to reassure people notjust about the decisions that have been made, but also about the action that the bbc will take going forwards. my concern is to make sure that warning signs are caught, complaints are acted on, that public money is used well, and to make sure that as far as is humanly possible, that we don't have a repeat of this situation in the future. the culture secretary lisa nandy there. another story we've been covering is the growing controversy over

the algerian boxer imane khelif. she is through to the quarter—finals of the women's 66 kilo category after her opponent, italy's angela carini, abandoned the bout in 46 seconds. she tookjust one punch to the face and then walked to her corner where she was heard saying "it's not right". the italian boxer was in tears after the match. she told reporters it was the hardest punch she had ever taken and that she had stopped the fight to preserve her life. khelif is one of two athletes who was cleared to compete in paris, despite being disqualified from last year's world boxing championships forfailing to pass a gender eligibility test. again, here's lisa nandy responding to the story. i want to get your thoughts on the boxing match yesterday between italy and algeria, it has been billed as very controversial, over in 46 seconds, angela carini said she had to preserve her life so she had to

stop the match and the italian pm giorgia meloni said it was not an even contest, what you think about that? it even contest, what you think about that? ., , ., even contest, what you think about that? . , ., . , , that? it was an incredibly uncomfortable _ that? it was an incredibly uncomfortable watch - that? it was an incredibly uncomfortable watch for| that? it was an incredibly i uncomfortable watch for the that? it was an incredibly - uncomfortable watch for the 46 secondsit uncomfortable watch for the 46 seconds it lasted and i know there is a lot of concern about women competitors, and though whether we are getting the balance right in not just boxing with other sports as well. the decision that successive governments have made is that these are complex decisions that should be made by sporting bodies, in this case i understand that the biologicalfacts case i understand that the biological facts are far more corrugated than is being presented on social media —— were complicated and is presented on social media and some speculation. as a sporting bodies try to get that balance between including fairness and safety, there is a role for government to make sure that they have got the guidance, framework and support to make sure they have got those decisions correct and i will be talking to sporting bodies about this over the coming weeks and months. police forces across the uk are to co—operate more on tackling violent disorder, the prime minister has announced,

after two nights of violence in parts of england following the killings in southport. sir keir starmer condemned far—right demonstrators saying the unrest was not a protest that got out of hand but caused by a group of individuals bent on violence. police have released the images of eight people they want to identify after objects were hurled outside a hotel housing migrants during a protest in aldershot. with more on this here's our political correspondent damian grammaticus. tuesday in southport, and the violence that followed the fatal stabbings. the riots were fuelled by misinformation on social media and outsiders intent on causing trouble. yesterday, it was quiet. for a second day, police were given temporary powers to stop and search anyone suspected of carrying a weapon or planning any criminal act. after southport, the disorder had spread. this was hartlepool on wednesday. the prime minister said it was the work of the far right showing who they are. ii arrests were made here,

and there was unrest, too, in london, manchester and aldershot. so, summoned to downing street yesterday, police chiefs, here for an emergency meeting with the new government. sir keir starmer promised a new national capability to tackle the violence. these thugs are mobile, they move from community to community, and we must have a policing response that can do the same. shared intelligence, wider deployment of facial recognition technology and preventative action — criminal behaviour orders to restrict their movements. in london, more than 100 arrests were made. the police say they are now ready if more violence happens. what i committed to the prime minister to do today was to write to all those commanders to be very explicit about new guidance and rapid learning from these events, about how we separate what might be legitimate protest from what is, frankly, downright violent crime. and so that we can intervene more

quickly, we can arrest offenders, we can act to deter, and we can work with the criminal justice system to bring those people to very swiftjustice if people break the law. sir keir starmer also had a message for social media networks. he said whipping up disorder online was a crime and it was happening on their watch. damian grammaticas, bbc news, westminster. our news correspondent alison freeman has the latest from southport. well, here this morning, we have been watching as there is still a steady trickle of people coming to pay their respects to those three young girls who died. there are flowers, balloons and soft toys. and now on the road there are chalk drawings with the names of those three girls who lost their lives. there are plans in place tonight for buildings to be lit up across the north west to remember the girls, and also show solidarity with all of those people who have been affected by these really terrible events.

we know there are more protests planned for the region across the weekend. police in southport are still working under that special order they have been given, special and enhanced powers to carry out stop and search to try to prevent any more violent disorder. there is also a very visible police presence in the area and the police say that is all about reassuring the public and letting the people who live here know that they will be kept safe. alison, what has been the feeling after the statement that we heard from the prime minister yesterday, particularly in coordinating police forces to share information about those who might cause unrest? yeah, that crisis meeting was called yesterday by the prime minister. he met with the police chiefs just to talk about the introduction of a new national violence disorder programme, that is to clamp down

on violent groups and allow police forces to share any information that would be able to help them tackle those and that has been welcomed by many of the police chiefs involved in that meeting. keir starmer said it was a necessary course of action to keep our streets safe, and he has called the disorder that has taken place a crime, and they should not be called protests. the prime minister also said that nobody involved in the rioting should pretend to be speaking for grieving families. and people here have basically had to suffer twice in the wake of the stabbings because of the actions of those groups. alison, can you tell us more about the people who, the children, the children who were killed in that attack, and have we heard any more from their families, and also those children who have been released from

hospital more recently? we've had a lot happened in the last 2a hours. let's remind you of the three victims, they were bebe king who was six years old, elsie dot stancombe who was seven—years—old, and nine—year—old alice dasilva aguiar who had all been attending the taylor swift themed dance class. ten more people were injured, two of those children were released from hospital yesterday. we know that the two adults involved remain in a critical condition as well. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

the leader of the lebanon—based

group hezbollah has warned israelis the group is considering retaliation for israel's killing of a top hezbollah commander in beirut and the political head of hamas. it comes as israel says it's received intelligence that confirms the head of the military wing of hamas was killed in gaza last month. the israelis targeted mohammed deif in a strike on a compound in the khan younis area onjuly 13th. another hamas senior figure, the group's political leader, ismail haniyeh, will be buried later in qatar two days after he was killed in a strike in tehran. we can take you to some live pictures of zohar, we have seen inside the mosque. == pictures of zohar, we have seen inside the mosque.— pictures of zohar, we have seen inside the mosque. -- in doha. this is the largest _ inside the mosque. -- in doha. this is the largest in _ inside the mosque. -- in doha. this is the largest in the _ inside the mosque. -- in doha. this is the largest in the country. - inside the mosque. -- in doha. this is the largest in the country. we - is the largest in the country. we know that haniyeh was living injoe hart with other members of the hamas

political office, —— was living in doha, which is why the service is taking place there. we understand that he is going to be buried in a cemeteryjust north of doha after those funeral prayers. we saw yesterday that there was a very large turnout for the funeral procession that was held in iran yesterday. thousands, we think, turned out for that. so that is taking place at the moment and we are seeing aerial pictures there of that mosque. our middle east correspondent yolande knell is injerusalem with more on this. israel remains in a very high state of alert security —wise, that killing of ismail haniyeh came on

the back of an assassination of a hezbollah commander, saying that was in response to the killing of 12 children in the occupied golan heights last weekend. the expectation is that both strikes were really involving figures who were really involving figures who were two senior that they cannot be ignored. and there were security breaches as far as hezbollah was concerned with this command are being killed in a stronghold in the south of beirut, and also ismail haniyeh, although israel says it is not possible, it is widely blamed for his assassination, and he was —— it is not responsible, it is widely blamed for his assassination and he was killed inside an accommodation block which is widely used by the iranian national guard. we had a speech by the has bowler leader last night that was close he listened to

here, —— the hezbollah leader, saying that the killing of its commander meant a new phase with its conflict with israel and there would be very well studied retaliation. he also referred to iran, which is a key back—up of hezbollah and also supports hamas, and said that iran could not remain silent with the killing of that hamas leader on its soil. what we have seen going into both the main israeli and lebanese airports, a number of flights have been cancelled or delayed, we know that we had the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu speaking last night to the us presidentjoe biden, the white house said that they discussed us military deployment to support israel against missiles and drone strikes. we also had joe biden talking to reporters afterwards and when he was asked about the killing of ismail haniyeh

and what it meant for a ceasefire and what it meant for a ceasefire and hostage release deal, he said it was not helpful.— was not helpful. yolande knell in jerusalem was not helpful. yolande knell in jerusalem for _ was not helpful. yolande knell in jerusalem for us. _ the world health organization says more than 175,000 people die annually from extreme heat in europe. it says heat—related deaths in the region have seen a 30% increase over the past two decades. the who warned that more people would die from heat—related symptoms in the coming years a result of global warming. it noted that temperatures in europe were rising at around twice the global average rate. more olympics news, and the french capital is ready for day 7 of the olympics. there are 25 medal events through the day, from archery to athletics, with several gold medals on offer. the australian team of mollie o'callaghan, lani pallister, brianna throssell and ariarne titmus finished in an olympic record time of seven

minutes 38.08 seconds at the la defense arena, yesterday. steve titmus, journalist and father of australian swimmer, ariarne titmus told us about his pride in daughter. the work that's been put in over the past few years to get here to paris, to compete at the absolute ultimate in the sport. we're just enormously proud of, you know, her wonderful performances in the a00m and the 200 and then the incredible relay last night as well. we're enormously proud of how she's handled herself both in the pool and out of the pool. so far it's been a wonderful paris olympics for the australian swimmers. now, your daughter's name is in the headlines at the moment, along with some of her colleagues, because it's been billed as a three way race in order to become australia's greatest ever olympian. i mean, what an achievement. if either of girls, including ariane, achieves that,

just talk to us about the statistics. it's all about the gold medals, isn't it? ah, look, it certainly is. and you know, you can have people who have won the most number of medals, and then you can have those people who have won individual medals. but of course, the individual medals are the ones that that separate a lot of, a big bunch of athletes compared to a small group of athletes. and there are people like dawn fraser, recognised as one of the greatest australian olympians of all time who's in that group of people, including ariane, who are there with the most number of gold medals swum and won for australia. but you know, beside the pool the other night before the a00m robin, my wife and ariane's mum and sister mia. we sat there and we thought about those early mornings many, many years ago when we would take ariane to the pool in launceston in tasmania. and we remembered back to those days and then how far we have come

in really, you know, a short period of time to the biggest show on earth, the olympic games. and they've been put on very spectacularly. so to come from a small state like tasmania to now be swimming on the biggest stage of all, that makes us enormously proud. and arni has certainly done the country proud. and now she is on the verge ofjust one more gold medal away as an individual, gold medal away from being the greatest ever swimmer australia has produced. the father of ariarne titmus speaking to us earlier. before we go let's take you to doha, this is the mosque where the burial of the hamas political chief ismail haniyeh is taking place. he was killed after attending the inauguration of iran's new president in kemran. we will bring even —— in tirana. we take you to the latest with that soon. stay

with us here on bbc news. this morning's mist and fog across parts of southern and south—eastern england to continuing to lift, if you have an allergy to pollen the levels are higher across more of england then we have seen in recent days. but generally speaking low to moderate and weed to nettle in particular. we have got a chance of a few showers in eastern england through the day but for most it will be dry, sunny and warm, we do have a cold front bringing in some rain, cloud and strengthening winds to the west. ahead of it to the cloud will build with one or two showers. temperatures 16 to 27 but we could cease 29 in the south—east and it will still be muggy. this evening and overnight the weather front continues to sink south and east, starts to break up and turn more

showery. ahead of it clear skies and feeling muggy. behind it clear skies with scattered showers but you will find it feeling pressure behind the cold front. temperatures in scotland and northern ireland nine to 12 degrees, 15 to 17 as we push further south so still muggy in the south. as we head through saturday, here is the weather front pushing towards the weather front pushing towards the south—east. it looks like it could rejuvenate on its south—western end so although we will start with cloud and showers we could see some heavier showers across the west country, channel islands and india through hampshire and dorset, north of that dryer and scattered showers across scotland and northern ireland. pressure for more of us tomorrow but muggy across the south—east even —— it will be fresher tomorrow. we say goodbye to the weather front and original high pressure builds across us but then we have got to the next area of low pressure coming in later in the day. on sunday a lot of cloud around,

some sunnier breaks in eastern areas, we could catch one or two showers in the thickest cloud but through the day the wind will strengthen, the cloud will build and the rain will start to arrive in the west. temperatures 1a to 2a but feeling fresher across the board. and then beyond that into the new week, it still remains fairly unsettled, showers with some rain at times, still sunshine and temperatures around about where we would expect them to be at this stage in august.

this is bbc news, the headlines. free at last, three americans and a kremlin_ free at last, three americans and a kremlin critic imprisoned in russia arrive _ kremlin critic imprisoned in russia arrive on_ kremlin critic imprisoned in russia arrive on us — kremlin critic imprisoned in russia arrive on us soil after one of the biggest — arrive on us soil after one of the biggest prisoner swap deal since the cold war _ biggest prisoner swap deal since the cold war. my biggest prisoner swap deal since the cold war. y .,, biggest prisoner swap deal since the cold war. g .,, , ., biggest prisoner swap deal since the cold war. g , ., .,~ biggest prisoner swap deal since the coldwar. g , ., , cold war. my “0b is to make sure, number — cold war. my job is to make sure, number one, they _ cold war. my job is to make sure, number one, they don't _ cold war. my job is to make sure, number one, they don't get - cold war. my job is to make sure, | number one, they don't get them, cold war. my job is to make sure, - number one, they don't get them, and if they do, we get them back. i don't buy this idea that you are going to let these people rot in jail. going to let these people rot in “ail. ., going to let these people rot in “ail. . , , ,., , jail. the deal frees 24 prisoners and two miners _ jail. the deal frees 24 prisoners and two miners held _ jail. the deal frees 24 prisoners and two miners held in - jail. the deal frees 24 prisoners and two miners held in severall and two miners held in several countries, including a convicted russian hit man. seven men are charged with violent disorder after a riot breaks out in hartlepool are to demand a's mass stabbing in southport. the body of the hamas political leader ismail haniyeh is now in qatar, where he will be

buried. these are