jonah fisher, bbc news. 0ur correspondent guy hedgecoe is in the spanish capital, madrid. like there right now, guy?— give us a sense of what it is like there right now, guy? well, where i am riaht there right now, guy? well, where i am right now _ there right now, guy? well, where i am right nowjust — there right now, guy? well, where i am right nowjust outside _ am right nowjust outside the capital it is in the low 30s celsius at the moment, the temperature is going to keep increasing here up to around a0 degrees. it is getting rather uncomfortable now but it is going to get much more uncomfortable. down in the south of the country in some areas of andalusia which are on red alert, they are going to see temperatures up they are going to see temperatures up to aa degrees later on today. tomorrow we are expecting the heatwave to push north and eastwards and the city of saragossa could see temperatures of a5. but the authorities are bracing themselves, have been bracing themselves, for this, have been issuing advice to people about the heatwave and of course it comes right o

we'rejoined now by guy hedgecoe in madrid. s notjust the spanish mainland that's affected, but there's also a serious situation on the canary islands? that's right. we heard about that fire on the island of la palma in the canary islands, which has been burning throughout the weekend. so far we are told it has burned around 4500 hectares, a majorfire. we also heard about people who had to leave their homes, 4000 people had to evacuate their homes. we are told the authorities are starting to bring that fire under control. some of those people are starting to return to their homes as well. but clearly, in these very hot and dry conditions, the risk of fires is increased. here in central spain we are expected to see temperatures of up are expected to see temperatures of up to 40 degrees today. further south, down in andalusia, which is on red alert, we are going to see temperatures of up to 44 degrees. and we are going to see a similar picture across much of southern europe today. picture across much of southern eumpe today-— pict

but as guy hedgecoe reports, mr sanchez is still the underdog.ites to win sunday's election ahead of the socialists of prime minister pedro sanchez. however, is not necessarily the winner of this election will go on to form a new government. the really key issue here is whether the parties on the left overall will be able to form a majority in congress or whether the parties on the right overall will be able to do that and that will decide who forms the next government. this has been an extremely acrimonious campaign. issues that you would normally expect to see talked about, like the economy, really haven't figured very much. instead we've seen, for example, the opposition constantly attacking prime minister pedro sanchez over his parliamentary alliances, which have included basque and catalan nationalists. now the opposition say those alliances undermine spain's territorial unity. mr sanchez and his left—wing allies have hit back ijy left—wing allies have hit back by attacking the people's party and saying that the people's party is planning to

samantha: let's go live now to our correspondent guy hedgecoe. where does this result the country? the country apparently in limbo, because it looks as though the conservative candidate, alberto nÚÑez feijÓo, will not be able to form a majority with the far right vox party, which the polls had suggested he would be able to do. but that is not look possible now. if you cannot, it foster the prime minister, socialist pedro sÁnchez, to try and form a government. it looks like he may have slightly more chance of doing that, if he can persuade all sorts of different nationalist parties in catalonia and t basque country to support him. but it looks very difficulty of the most probable outcome is we may have several months of limbo, followed by a repeat election. that is not new for spain. we have that back in 2015, when there was an inconclusive collect -- election, and again in 2019. samantha: the current prime minister, the one who called this election, socialist prime minister pedro sanchez declared that the reactionary bloc has failed. what is your reading of where the votes have fal

— as his party seeks to fend off the challenge from the far right. 0ur correspondent in madrid guy hedgecoethe mood in spain going ahead to the vote today. people are aware this is an unusual election, an election that has been called in the middle of summer which has never happened before in spain and there could be some consequences of that, for example it could affect turnout, because of the heat we are seeing, that will be up in the mid—30s today. hotter than that in some other areas of the country and many people have gone on holiday so those issues create all sorts of uncertainties surrounding the election but what we do know is what you mention is that it's been an acrimonious campaign and spanish politics is extremely polarised between the left and right and that's reflected in a campaign with a political left warning against a victory for the conservative people's party because they say that it falls short of a majority and it looks likely they will rely on the far right vox, which would bring the far right into a coalition government potentially. that has been the tone of the camp

with the latest, here's our correspondent in madrid, guy hedgecoe.am, is one of several countries of southern europe that has seen unusually high temperatures over recent days. although that heatwave is starting to taper off here in spain, other countries are still seeing very high temperatures. for example, in italy and greece, where the acropolis monument has been closed down temporarily at the hottest times of the day, because of concerns about the health of people visiting it. there have also been wildfires in greece, caused by the hot and dry conditions. wildfires as well on the dalmatian coast in croatia. this particular heatwave is expected to end during this weekend, or by the end of the weekend. however, there is another heatwave due to hit parts of europe at the beginning of next week, and the european space agency has warned that spain, france, germany, poland and italy are among the countries that could see extremely high temperatures. and areas of italy, for example, we are told they could see temperatures as high as 48 degrees celsius o

guy hedgecoe has more from pamplona. the pamplona san fermin festival has now got under way.the world to take part in it. the centerpiece of it really is the running of the bulls, which takes place every morning throughout the festival, whereby several bulls are released on to the streets of the historic center of the city, and they run through the streets from one end to the other, chasing participants who take part in this. those bulls are then taken away and in the evening, each evening throughout the festival, they are killed in bull fights, those same bulls. this is an extremely popular festival across spain and around the world, but it has faced some controversy. protesters say that it's cruel to hold these bull fights, but they also often oppose the running of the bulls as well. they say that that's very stressful for the animals involved. and there have also been controversies linked to sexual assaults during this festival over the years. this is something that the local authorities have been very keen to clamp down on. more recently this year, they have implemented a

our correspondent guy hedgecoe is in madrid.emperatures today. where i am just outside madrid, temperature is expected to reach around a0 celsius. down in the south in andalusia where the highest temperatures are expected. in that part of the country, several parts of the country, several parts of the country on red alert with the potential to reach aa celsius in some areas. those hot conditions increase the risk of wildfires and a wildfire has been burning on the canary island of la palma since the weekend. it has burned around a500 hectares of land and destroyed some homes. around a000 people were evacuated from their homes they are on the island but many of them have started to return back to their homes. however, the authorities are taking measures to counter the heatwave advising people to stay out of the heat and indoors where possible and the hottest time of the day that is. manual workers, people working outside by law have to remain out of the heat in those areas that are on high alert. on to south korea now — and its p

our correspondent guy hedgecoe joins us now from madrid. guy, how significant is this election?p election was called a few weeks ago, bringing the election forward from december. this is the first time a general election has been held in spain in mid— summer. that has been quite controversial, but as you say, it is a very stark choice for voters that they are given today, and the right. the left, the prime minister, socialist, he says he going to continue his agenda, social reforms, areas like gender equality, transgender rights and so on if he can get re—elected. right, meanwhile, led by feijoo, conservative, saying wants to roll back the social agenda of the coalition government on mr sanchez if he gets into power. so it has been a very acrimonious campaign. later on today hopefully we will have a result.— later on today hopefully we will have a result. ., ,, ., have a result. thank you. life from madrid. british band the 1975 has cancelled concerts in taiwan and indonesia a day after being banned from malaysia for criticising the country's anti—lg bt laws. the band were headl

let's get more detail on how this heatwave is affecting mainland europe. 0ur reporter guy hedgecoe iss we heard there, temperatures in parts of southern italy could surpass the mid a0s, and possibly hit new records. italy could surpass the mid aos, and possibly hit new records.— italy could surpass the mid 40s, and possibly hit new records.— possibly hit new records. thank you very much- — emergency workers in south korea are struggling to reach around 15 cars trapped in a flooded tunnel. so far, nine bodies have been recovered from the tunnel in cheong—ju, around 70 miles south of seoul. flooding across south korea, caused by days of heavy rain, has so far killed least 33 people. police have launched a murder investigation after a 17—year—old boy was stabbed to death in north—west london following a birthday party. officers were called to reports of a fight in kilburn on friday. another teenage boy and a women in her 20s received hospital treatment, but were discharged. the defence secretary, ben wallace, has said he will leave government at the next reshuffle and won't stand as an m

our reporter guy hedgecoe is in madrid for us this morning.r countries, are expected to see that second heat wave hit straight after this one. so possibly as soon as tuesday. we could see temperatures, we are told, as high as 48 degrees in sardinia and sicily in italy. so here in southern europe people are very much bracing themselves for that, there are concerns obviously about people's help, we had a recent report that said in europe 60,000 people died because of heat last year, so governments are taking measures here in spain, they are warning people to stay indoors where possible, when there are these increases in heat for the high risk groups in particular, to stay out of the sun, and those warnings are being repeated in all those countries which are affected. thank ou gu . a 19—year—old fire fire —— a 19—year—old firefighter in canada has died after being trapped after being trapped under a tree while fighting a wildfire. prime ministerjustin trudeau says people should never forget the risks taken by firefighters. the first concert of th