>> this is dw news live from berlin. a heat wave like never before. the dental in europe rises and wildfires extend their trail of destruction across the sth of the continent. in britain, houses burned as temperatures topped 40° celsius for the first time since records began. also on the program, but reported arrives in iran on his first trip outside the former soviet union since starting the

war in ukraine. he is seeking to strengthen ties to the region and bolster moscow's challenge to the west. in ukraine, russia targets cities including the city of odessa where the grain remains blockaded. plus, the human cost of sri lanka's political crisis as lawmakers prepare to choose a new president. the economic collapse means many are struggling to put food on the table. dinner reviews on pbs and the united states and around the world, walk. europe's record-breaking heat wave is fueling wildfires across

huge parts of portugal, spain, france, italy and greece. hundreds of people have died. most from the effects of the heat others have been killed in the flames. a heat wave has pushed further north into the united kingdom. authorities in london declared a major incident as flames destroyed homes and would to the east of the capital. the you care whether office recorded temperatures above 40° celsius for the first time since records began. in france, tens of thousands of people have fled their homes to escape the wildfires. >> fires tore through these dry forests in the southwestern region. strong winds fanned the flames, making them harder to contain. firefighters struggled and battled through the night.

they still struggle to keep them under control. >> we have me than 2000 firemen working to reduce the fires today including more than 500 here. we will also be targeting the fires from the air during the day. >> people living in the nearby city woke up to a gray haze and a smell of burning. one londoner living in southwestern france is fearful of the fire that is spreading very close to his home. >> the next 48 hours might be symbolic in our life. we hope they are working hard to protect our property like they have been doing for days and days now. maybe we just need a little bit of luck. >> the u.k. has recorded its hottest day on record with temperatures of over 42°

celsius. officials warned people to stay hydrated and avoid traveling if possible since british infrastructure is not built to cope with such conditions. usually busy hubs are eerily quiet as most people remain at home. or find quieter spots that provide respite from the overwhelming heat. >> our correspondent is in southwestern france and i asked her to tell us more abou conditions on the ground there. >>his town has really been struck by these horrific forest fires and we talked tthe mayor and the head of the civil protection today andhey said in our lifetime we have never seennything like it bause these fires are going on now for a week. those are the firetrucks you see behind me that her coming and going every minute

they have been working and trng to contain these fires that are stillaging. the police won't let us get closer becau they sait is too dangerous. theyre still raging in t forest behind us and they have been bating these fires for a week now. they are hopul they can contain them but they are not que sure. they don't even say they are under control. they are just trying to keep them in place and they are far from extinguishing them because this incredibly hotnd dry weather h reall made the forest go up like tend. there is a certain amount of hope that this is not going to get any worse but it is far from good. >> what is the forecast for the next couple of days? the firefighters have been fighting for a week now. >> there really tired -- they are really tired. they have been relieved by firefightersrom other regions

of fnce. they come fro all over the place because after threer four days of firefighting in this intense heat, people are completely exhausted and they just need to rest. the heat has let up a bit. it has moved north as you already reported and even reached the united kingdom. during the day, it is about 30 which is not that bad. it is not like the 40's like we still had yesterday. but it continues to be very dry. the wind makes the work of the firefighters really difficult. firefighters jump around, you can't really calculate where they go, where they might move or where they could possibly carry on during the night. it is still a dangerous situation and what the local people are saying, it is halfway under control. they are hopeful they could probably get a grip of this within the next days butt is a really horrific situation. 20,000 actors have burned here

right up to the atlantic ocean beaches and 40,000 people had to be evacuated. >> please stay safe. let's look at other stories making headlines around the world today. in britain, the race to replace boris johnson has narrowed with the field whittled down from four contenders to three. conservative mps will reduce the choices to two this week ahead of a party wide vote in september. the european union has opened membership talks with albania and north macedonia after bulgaria resolved a dispute with north macedonia over language national identity and its bulgarian minority population. jafar pinay has been ordered to serve a six year prisonentence . it was imposed a decade ago over

alleged antigovernment propaganda but never enforced. he won the top prize at the 2015 berlin film festival. the reuters news agency says russia plans to resume gas exports to europe through the nordstrom one pipeline. there were fears that russia would keep the tabs closed in retaliation for russian sanctions. nor stream one accounts for a third of the russian gas exports into the european union. vladimir putin has traveled to iran. he held talks with the leaders of both iran and turkey. he says there has been some progress on unblocking grain exports from ukraine although not all issues are resolved. some observers say putin wants to strengthen regional ties to bolster moscow's challenge to the west. iran works for middle eastern

affairs think tank and i asked him whether the agenda of the trilateral meaning might have been a little bit too ambitious. >> i guess not because obviously this war has unleashed an energy security crisis. a food security crisis. geopolitical readjustments. these powerhouses of regional politics wanted to meet again. it is a bit of a response to the biden visit to israel and the gulf states last weekend. >> exactly, let us talk about the timing of all of this. what did you make of it? >> i believe there is something to it. these countries want to show that there is a bond between them. even if it is just a transactional the term bond. some deepening cooperation via the energy sector or the food sector with the import of weight

that iran has been trying to work on. the same goes for energy cooperation. syria was on the table. the time of course also matters. -- timing of course also matters. >> tehran and moscow are interested in a long-term cooperation but they are actually fierce competitors when it comes to energy production which is their main source of income. what is in all of this for iran? >> ty have a set of convergent an divergent interests. globally, those interests can pop up so to speak. this idea about doing iranian and russian trade, introducing the ruble as a currency for

iranian russian trade is something that may not have happened, it may not have been on the table before sanctions were maximized on pressure the same way it was on iran so the geopolitical situation brings these countries together closer right now but as you already said, enough fields where they might be competitors and energy being one of them. >> thank you very much. >> this was not just a meeting between the leaders of iran and russia. turkey was at the table. and to talk more about that, i cannot speak to our correspondent in istanbul. erdogan went to tehran with an agenda of his own. how did that go for him? >> president eogan was looking for getting permission from both iran and russia for him to launch a major offensive into syria against the syrian kurdish

forces which he says are linked to an insured -- insurgency fighting in turkey and saying that he was determid to remove what he called a major terrorist threat to turkey. it does appear in spite of his intense lobbying of both the leaders, it does not appear he has that green light. the iranian president said any such attack would lead to further problems of terrorism within his country and equally it appears president clinton also said that it appears we have a plan to succeed to agree on everything. this will be a major setback but it has to be said ahead of this visit, all the signals come from both iran and russia. it wld further destabilize syria at a time when both countries are looking to stabilize syria given the impact it is having but for the iranian economy and russia's desire to

move its forces back to ukraine. >> turkey has been trying to broker a way to block ukrainian imports. we see anything on that today? >> wt we heard from president putin while meeting with his turkish counterpart, he praised president erdogan, saying they are very appreciative of turkey's diplomatic efforts. saying that it was all in everyone's interest. they sai that ogress had been made on reaching a deal to export the tens of millions of tons of ukrainian grange wrapped in ukraine which is urgently needed to reduce good soaring food prices. i think a lot of people are sayinghis was to sofn the

diplomatic blow he received from not achieving a green light to launch an attack into syria. people will be looking a whether there will be another meeting of this four-way meeng of turkey, ukrai, russia and the united natio. there is no news of that or when that next one will take place. >> thank you very much. in ukraine, russian missiles have struck a residential area in the eastern region, killing at least one person. the deadly strike was one of about five that hit the city. that is in clear target of the russian troops. those attacks came after a barrage of missilesit odea from the black sea overnight. the strikes hit residential areas and destroyed several homes. the port city is crucial to exporting desperately needing ukrainian grange of the rest of the world.

22,000,000 tons remain stuck there because of the fighting. >> we have had several attacks today as you just mentioned and in the odessa region. the odessa region has been one of the targets -- the main targets of long-range missiles or middle range missiles and the city has also been hit quite a few times but it points a little bit to the fact that russia has not given up on the plan to conquer the whole south. the same is true of this main target of the russian army because russia has stated very

clearly this is the next target they want to conquer. so this is what unites these three places that have been targeted today. >> the ukrainian parliament has backed president zelensky's decision to dismiss the chief prosecutor. how is this scandal being perceived by the public in ukraine? >> if there was a problem that was as big as zelensky has said, it is probably the right move to remove these heads. they are not under accusation themselves. we have heard speculation from people close to zelensky that benedict might be sent with diplomatic post somewhere. it is not that they are under suspicion but they have obviously not handled the situation in these.

the cases are pretty severe. i have not heard a lot of criticism of these decisions. we will see what happens next. there are some indicators that these organizations that security service, the secret service of ukraine might be underway. zelensky said he dismissed another 28 employees for another 28 employees. it was clear even before the war that the russians had a lot of passes in the ukrainian security sector and that is a big problem in the middle of the war. >> a big problem but not a huge surprise. it has been five months since russia first invaded ukraine. where does the word stand? >> we are seeing probably another turning point at this

moment. the first time was the russian invasion that was quickly stopped by the ukrainians, where the ukrainians were able to inflict a lot of damage on the russian army by these mobile commanders with shoulder pads. these british and american antitank weapons and then the second phase was the slow and grinding advance in the done bass that is still going on but we are seeing indicators that ukraine might be able to withstand these advances much better than it has in the past few years. and speculations are ripe about a counteroffensive that would gain back some of the territories. it is too early to tell whether or not this would be successful. it has been announced in the south that ukraine is trying to hold their lines but definitely

the russian advance has lost momentum in the past couple of days. >> thank you so much. when the war started, thousands of young ukraine is joined the army to defend their homeland. hundreds have since been killed. we report on the young people fighting for their future. >> every day at 9:00 a.m., the traditional song plays for o minute. after the evolution of 2014, it was played to commemorate protesters who died in the fight to put ukraine toward a self-determined european future. now the same song echoes the death of thousands of soldiers who have diefor the sa cause. ukraine's young people who have always lived in an independent country are bearing the brunt of the war to keep it that way.

>> i will turn 20 in a month and i know people who are 18 and they are on the frontline. i asked myself often why i am not there. >> i feel very sorry because i feel touched by this war and i understand what is going on. >> i hope my city and my reason can be free from russia. >> those young people have been relatively safe nce the wa began. others joined the armed forces did not make it back. ramon was killed in june in ukraine. his death was one which affected the entire nation. he had been a star of the protests when just a teenager. today's politicians recognized he could have had a future in shapg the country.

>> the death of this protester is felt as a lost for his entire generation. the entire nation remains defiant even though this war has cost ukrainians part of their future. >> this war has made the youth a patrioti one and has made our nation proud. proud that this generation was born. lives and will restore ukraine.

>> lawmakers in sri lanka are preparing to vote for a new president amid a political crisis that has led the island nation into economic collapse. the current prime minister and acting president will face two rivals in the parliamentary vote on wednesday. it will decide who will succeed the ousted leader who fled the country last week amid huge protests, corruption and political mismanagement led to widespread public anger which boiled over into violence. ordinary people have been left struggling simply to put food on the table. we take a look at how some of them are trying to cope. >> milton cannot afford enough food and it shows. at age 74, he keeps his hair neatly combed but other features bear witness to longaits for

the next small meal. >> it is very difficult to live. even a love of bread is expensive. we have six children in the family, we have to skip meals. if we take one meal, we skip another. it is ryifficult. >> sri lankans are cutting back. the world food program says five out of every six families are skipping meals, eating less or buying worse food. inde his kitchen, he shows with his family can still put on the table. >> we can only by about 250 g of fish. sometimes that is only one fish. we have to cut it into many small pieces so eryone in the family canat. because we don't have much money, sometimes we give the fish to the children. we are only eat the gravy.

>> at a nearby vegetable shop, there is no lack of supply but customers have to pay twice what they did just three months ago. for many, healthy produce is no longer affordable. >> the people are coming to buy food but they are not happy because they don't have money. the prices have gone up. the main reason is there is no way to transport those items because there is no fuel. that is why the prices have gone up. >> the main wholesale market still bustles with customers, traders and tempting fruits and vegetables. but vendors say business has gone down by half since march. because everything is more expensivnow.

>> at an antigovernment protest camp, one man is cultivating a different solution. not through buying and selling but growing his own food. and then sharing it with others free of charge. >> i am really happy. really happy. people are coming. i am very happy. >> theodore plans a country's former leaders for the current prices. he believes his work at the protest camp is a positive influence. >> i not going. i am not going, i am he. the sri lankan people need this.

that is why i am giving this. that is why i am coming here. my knowledge i want to give the people. >> knowledge that many people in sri lanka may need to feed themselves and their families in a crisis that has just been growing and growing. >> byron munich have confirmed the signing of central defender mattias delict from -- for an initial transfer fee of 67 million euros. the 22-year-old dutch defender's deal runs until 2027. they won multiple trophies while playing in italy and at just 19 years, he became the youngest captain to lead his side to the semifinals of the champion possibly in the 2018, 2019 season. and a quick reminder of the top

story we are following for you today. europe posse heat wave is setting new records and the death toll is rising. houses in britain have set a li as temperatures top 40° celsius for the first time since records began. and don't forget you can always get dw news on the go. just download our app from google play or from the app store. that will give you access to all the latest news from around the world as well as push notifications for any breaking news. stay with us i will be back after a short break to take you through the day. see you then.

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>> record high temperatures reported across france. the atlantic coast has been seeing the worst of it in the firefighters there are battling to contain all fires -- wildfires. firefighters in spain are battling multiple blazes resulting in patella these and also consumed --ultiple fatalities and consumed tens of thsands of hectic acres of land. >> when the places hit by