mark lobel reports.l become clear? # cos i'm being taken over by the fear #. now in her new incarnation as an actress, following five weeks of rehearsals, she says she really is being taken over by the fear. i know people say, oh, you've been on a stage before, but it is a completely different experience, it's kind of like, much scarierfor me. on stage, lily's character examines the supernatural late into the night. as the witching hour approaches, she argues ghosts are like random memories. you mostly ignore them, but every so often one sticks out because it sets off some emotional response, so you share it again. the choice of london's noel coward theatre for lily allen's west end debut comes with a hint of irony, with her character convinced her home is haunted. apparently the theatre is haunted as well. the guy that built the theatre, charles windham, apparently he walks across the stage and goes into the dressing room by the stage, which is lily allen's dressing room. as long as he stays in there, t

mark lobel reports.l capitals under taliban attack — at least two reportedly breached, and security is forcing many afghan residents from their homes. we see a lot of schools are being destroyed, a lot of water plants, hospitals which are essential. we see that access to care and healthcare is extremely difficult. displaced in kandahar, these families were separated from loved ones in the chaos. kabul came under attack on tuesday night, first a car bomb targeting the defence minister, then deadly attackers roamed the streets. but these protesters say the taliban aren't welcome in the capital. 0ur message was more to our troops, to stand in solidarity with our soldiers who are fighting the war, not just for afghanistan but for the entire world, against terrorism. in step with the protesters, the afghan president branded the taliban "hypocrites" for attacking what he called "real muslims." he pledged to rapidly expand the number of afghan special forces fighting them. translation: there is no better opport

mark lobel reports.eral provincial capitals under taliban attack — at least two reportedly breached, and security is forcing many afghan residents from their homes. we see a lot of schools are being destroyed, a lot of water plants, hospitals which are essential. we see that access to care and healthcare is extremely difficult. displaced in kandahar, these families were separated from loved ones in the chaos. kabul came under attack on tuesday night, first a car bomb targeting the defence minister, then deadly attackers roamed the streets. but these protesters say the taliban aren't welcome in the capital. our message was more to our troops, to stand in solidarity with our soldiers who are fighting the war, not just for afghanistan but for the entire world, against terrorism. in step with the protesters, the afghan president branded the taliban "hypocrites" for attacking what he called "real muslims." he pledged to rapidly expand the number of afghan special forces fighting them. translation: there is no

mark lobel, bbc news.eak to we can now speak to michael o'hanlon who's a senior fellow and director of research at the brookings institution's foreign policy program. it is good to have you with others. in terms of what we are seeing, and this, even before the full us withdrawal, what hope is there of the afghan government retaining control of these key cities and provinces? greetings, and i wish we were speaking about more happier topic, because i respect the negative tone of your reporting. british friends as well as us marines know the difficulty of holding onto helmand province, even when we had the maximum effort there. ten or 12 years ago. again, so many britons and us marines gave their lives in trying to clear this area and keep the opium trade lines, trying to keep the other movement lines of the taliban — that they would exploit — out of enemy hands. there is no surprise that at this juncture, with the britons gone, with virtually all the marines gone, that indeed these cities are under serious s

mark lobel on the greek wildfires.te from the olympics in tokyo and its day 1a. which means there's only a few days of competition left before the big closing ceremony. china will look hold on to finish on top of the medal tally — they lead the way with 3a golds, ahead of the us with 29. and the hosts japan are in third. let's get an update on all the action — we can now cross live to tokyo with sarah mulkerrins who is there for us. and what should we be looking forward to today on day 1a? already under way, the third round for women's gold. they are battling that heat as well. also the 50 kilometres walk is also battling the heat and they are coming to the closing stages. so much action elsewhere this friday at the olympics. we look at the track, athletics dominating the second week and the likes of alison felix, the great american athlete. she will go later in that final and bidding to become the most successful and decorated track and field athlete later if she was to win athlete later if she was to win a medal. she

mark lobel there. will leave barcelona — after the club announced it was unable to offer him a new contract which satisfied both sides. barcelona has been stuggling financially, and has to reduce its budget in line with spanish league rules. it means messi, seen by many as the world's best player, canjoin another club for free — if they can satisfy his wage demands. the bbc�*s south american football correspondent, tim vickery says this may be a warning shot from barca. there may not be finality here. now, i could be wrong, i have been wrong before, but my interpretation here is, this is barcelona negotiating. they're not negotiating with lionel messi. they've made it clear that they have agreed terms with lionel messi. the problem, as you've said earlier on, is the rules governing la liga, the spanish competition, trying to prevent clubs from overspending. what it seems to me that barcelona are doing is issuing a warning to spanish football. remember, there is an offer on the table from a private equi

mark lobel, bbc news. anthena is a freelance journalist in ekali.just north of athens. her area is under threat from the wildfires. how far away are the fires from your home? iam i am roughly five miles from the front—line of these fires. i am on standby evacuation mode. i have my bag ready to go encase these fires get out of and start streaming our way. we have been off the entire night — in and out of the front line. everyone is concerned that this could easily — and unchecked fire could easily get out of control. as authorities have said, today is a very bad day, as they say, the worst is yet to come. we are expecting gale force winds to whip up these freak flames and this massive front, and it will be very, very hard for the authorities to tackle and beat these flames in these conditions, but, that said, water dropping plans have just resumed and joined this all—night fight that firefighters have been leading in the area. you say you are an evacuation mode — what have you been told to do? evacuation mode basically means we have to kind of keep o

our reporter mark lobel has been monitoring the situation. these fires have spread extensively.rts of serious injuries or loss of life but livelihoods are at stake with hundred and 50 fires at least throughout greece. 6000 hectares of land destroyed in three days. last year 10,000 hectares were destroyed. it really centres on three areas, one around athens, where temperatures at 30 degrees centigrade and the prime minister has said there is a menacing time ahead because fires that were dying out have had a new lease of life breathed into them by westerly winds and they are concerned about that. 100 kilometres east of athens, to the island of evia, the second biggest island next to crete, a monastery was surrounded by fire and because of low visibility it has been difficult to put out fires. an at ancient olympia, that has really considered firefighters. firefighters fighting for two nights to save that site where the olympic flame is lit every two years before the olympics and there is great concern. in and there is great concern. in terms of the effort to evacuate people, how i

mark lobel reports.ion. "houses can be rebuilt," he says, "trees can re—grow. "however, human life cannot be replaced". but abandoning your home is never easy in your seventies. translation: leave and go where? and let my house burn? if we had left, this place would have burned. we told the women and elderly and kids to go, and whoever was able stayed to help, however they could. westward winds have blown new life into these fires, north of athens. with temperatures well over a0 degrees centigrade, 100 degrees fahrenheit, the past week's been greece's worst heatwave since the late �*80s. with fires continuing to spread, local politicians have denounced a lack of resources. the army is doubling its efforts, but is our changing environment to blame? climate change is producing hotter temperatures and making droughts more frequent — conditions that can fuel wildfires. translation: we have a debt to shield the country _ against the reality of climate change. i'm not looking for excuses. we have made importan

mark lobel, bbc news.s a brit. he has been visiting the country for 30 years. he has a holiay home just to the east of athens. thank you forjoining me. you have only recently been able to make it back to your home. describe the last 24—hour is. i back to your home. describe the last 24-hour is-— 24-hour is. i went out on tuesday afternoon. _ 24-hour is. i went out on tuesday afternoon, having _ 24-hour is. i went out on tuesday afternoon, having seen _ 24-hour is. i went out on tuesday afternoon, having seen smoke - 24-hour is. i went out on tuesday i afternoon, having seen smoke rising from the hills just behind afternoon, having seen smoke rising from the hillsjust behind me here, went out on my boat to see what the extent of the smoke was, and further down the coast, huge flames were erupting from the hillside, spreading i suppose like wildfire. very quickly engulfing hotels, houses, and from the boat, it was just apocalyptic scenes. find houses, and from the boat, it was just apocalyptic scenes.— houses

mark lobel, bbc news.ng to tokyo, where the belgians have been celebrating another gold medal. seven men have beenjailed for the murder of aya hachem, a student who was shot dead in a feud between two rival businesses. the 19—year law student was killed in a botched drive—by shooting in blackburn in may last year. tyre firm boss, feroz suleman, had arranged the killing of a rival tyre company executive, but the gunman he hired, shot ms hachem instead. her brother been speaking of his relief that those responsible for his sister's death are behind bars. a lot of people are happy that these people will spend a lot of their lives inside prison. otherwise, they would've been outside doing more criminal stuff and hurting more people — like they've hurt us. i wish that my pain — i wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, or my family's pain. we are going to live the rest of our lives without our angel. she's always with us, but... it's just too hard. this is bbc news, the latest headlines. government forces in afghan

mark lobel, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor.t will feel cool for the stage of august. overnight that low centres across scotland and showers will continue to revolve around it. most frequent hit overnight parts of england and wales and northern ireland. not too chilly night start to saturday but on saturday we must do it all again. showers in different areas and one of two places will stay dry but most will see showers at some point. right today and northern parts of scotland but southern scotland and northern england and northern ireland see the heaviest once again. i'm lucy hockings in tokyo — where it's day fourteen of the olympics — the headlines: in the velodrome, laura kenny could become the first british woman to win gold at three olympic games and a third successive hockey medal for great brtain�*s women — as they beat india 14—3. argentina will play the netherlands in the final. and in today's other news...... energy bills for millions of households across the uk are to go up this winter. the energy watchdog says the in

with me is our news correspondent mark lobel. have on the election?— what effect might it have on the election? burning question auoin into the election? burning question going into this _ the election? burning question going into this tv _ the election? burning question going into this tv debate - the election? burning question going into this tv debate was i going into this tv debate was whether armin laschet, the conservative candidate from angela merkel�*s party, could stem the decline in his popularity that appeared during the campaign, withjust popularity that appeared during the campaign, with just four weeks to go until such a crucial election. it appears he could not really. what happened was as the debate got going, the green party candidate attacked the conservatives's record on climate change and it came one month after personal embarrassment for armin laschet when he was seen caught on camera laughing behind the president's back as he was consoling flood victims in the deadly floods in germany that killed around 180

mark lobel reports.stonbury�*s famous pyramid stage. thousands on glastonbury's famous pyramid stage. because i'm bein: famous pyramid stage. because i'm being taken _ famous pyramid stage. because i'm being taken over— famous pyramid stage. because i'm being taken over by - famous pyramid stage. because i'm being taken over by the - i'm being taken over by the fear. ., fear. now in her new incarnation - fear. now in her new incarnation as - fear. now in her new incarnation as an - fear. now in her new- incarnation as an actress, following five weeks of rehearsals, she says she really is being taken over by the fear. i is being taken over by the fear. ~ ., , .,, is being taken over by the fear. ~ ., , fear. i know people say you've been on a _ fear. i know people say you've been on a stage _ fear. i know people say you've been on a stage before, - fear. i know people say you've been on a stage before, but . fear. i know people say you've been on a stage before, but it| been on a stage before, but it is a

mark lobel, bbc news. woman to win gold at three consecutive olympic games — as she and katie archibald win the madison in the velodrome. energy bills for millions of households across the uk are to go up this winter. the energy watchdog says the increase is needed because of rising wholesale prices. most remaining coronavirus restrictions in wales will be scrapped from tomorrow — limits on the number of people that can meet indoors will end, social distancing rules will ease — and nightclubs can reopen. most of wales' remaining covid rules will be scrapped from tomorrow social distancing rules and limits on indoor meetings will no longer apply — but facemasks will still be required in shops and on public transport. the welsh government has warned that the lifting of restrictions shouldn't be seen as a "free—for—all." i spoke to first minister mark drakeford earlier about the lifting of restrictions throughout the pandemic we have taken a different approach in wales, a more measured approach. we lift our r

i'm joined now by mark lobel. he is following development for us from london.ey are of the fire is blazing. however efforts to evacuate people been going and how far and wide have the fire spread? how far and wide have the fire 5 - read? ., how far and wide have the fire sread? ., , , spread? hello. many people bein: spread? hello. many people being evacuated _ spread? hello. many people being evacuated as - spread? hello. many people being evacuated as you - spread? hello. many people being evacuated as you say. | being evacuated as you say. reports reaching us of serious injuries or death so far, and also greece of course is use to these fires and used to dealing with them on the ground and in the air. but the scale of this is probably almost unprecedented. 6000 hectares of land has been destroyed injust three days. bear in mind 10,000 or destroyed in the whole of last year and the scale of this is immense. if we start with athens, with the fire to the north of athens where residents they are feeling temperatures of around a0 celsius, 107 fahrenheit, the prim

mark lobel reports. and go where, and let my house burn? _ if we had left, this place would have burned. we told the women and elderly and kids to go, and whoever was able stay to help, however they could. crops are at risk, too. westward winds have blown new life into these fires north of athens. with temperatures well over a0 celsius, the past week has been greece's worst heatwave since the late �*80s. with fires continuing to spread, local politicians have denounced a lack of resources. the army is doubling its efforts, but is our changing environment to blame? climate change is producing hotter temperatures, and making droughts more frequent, conditions that can fuel wildfires. translation: we have a debt. to shield the country against the reality of climate change. i'm not looking for excuses. we have made important strides in organising the country, but these are not enough when you're faced with a phenomenon of such magnitude. fires now spreading across southern europe, where many including spania