and authorities in russia say they've killed four inmates after a rebellion that left four prison guards dead. hello, i'm helena humphrey. good to have you with us. police in germany have confirmed at least three people have been killed and at least four others injured in a suspected knife attack in the western city of solingen. local media is reporting a man randomly stabbed passers—by during a festival in the city centre on friday evening. the attacker is still at large, and police have launched a manhunt. police helicopters were seen above the city. celebrations were under way to mark the 650th anniversary of the city's foundation. the city authorities asked people to leave the area and police are imposing security cordons. media reports say emergency

crews at the scene are now treating the injured. the mayor of solingen has reacted to the incident. here's our reporter jack surfleet. some details from the mayor of solingen, who has posted on social media. he says everyone who turned out to celebrate the city's anniversary was in a state of shock, horror and great grief. his message says the attack in solingen breaks his heart. he has thanked the emergency services. he adds that there are tears in his eyes for those who have died. he said he prayed for those still fighting for their lives and expresses his greatest sympathies for those who have had to experience this. these images must have been horrific. those who were attending the event, some have spoken to local media, again not verified by the bbc at the moment, but some are kind of talking about their confusion

of finding out what was happening at the time. as you can imagine, thousands of people at the event in the market square of the city, lots of music playing, it must have been incredibly confusing, and then incredibly distressing for these people. we're talking about the statistics, but a human impact for those attending the event tonight. it's been a week dominated by the democratic national convention, where kamala harris accepted the party's nomination, but today it's an independent presidential candidate making headlines. robert f kenneder announced on friday he is suspending his campaign. mr kennedy — or rfkjr as he's commonly known — said he is throwing his support behind republican candidate donald trump. mr kennedy is the nephew of former president john f kennedy and the son of former presidential candidate robert f kennedy. he initially launched his campaign for the democratic nomination, before switching to run as an independent. mr kennedy had been running on a message of economic populism, as well as criticism of the two major parties. and since the covid—19 pandemic, he became known

for his anti—vaccine stance. in the past few hours, mr kennedy appeared on stage with former president donald trump. mr trump said kamala harris�*s swift rise to the democratic nomination is further evidence of the supposedly rigged system that robert f kenneder ran against. in our movement we know democracy doesn't mean rule by the democrat establishment, it means rule by the american people. tonight i'm very pleased to welcome a man who has been an incredible champion for so many of these values that we all share, and we have shared them for a long time. i don't think too many of you people have heard of him. he is very low key. he's a very low key person. he is highly respected. he is a great person. i've known him for so long. for the past 16 months. robert f kenneder.

# there goes my hero. # watch him as he goes. # there goes my hero. recent polls showed just 4% of voters backing mr kennedy. but in the close—fought race between donald trump and kamala harris, his endorsement could still make an impact. so, are the democrats worried? and how is the party feeling after the star—studded convention? i've been speaking to faiz shakir, chief political adviser to vermont senator bernie sanders. faiz, the mood at the dnc was buoyant. do you think that's resonating across the country and with 75 days to go, can the harris

campaign keep it up? if you look at the polls, she has consolidated the democratic base and already moved into strong contention in all the battleground states. in fact, all of those states indicate she's slightly ahead. so she comes out of the convention probably with a bit of a bump from what you described as the buoyant mood. having introduced herself to more people who didn't know who she was coming into that convention. my worry would be, as we head into the final stretch after labor day in the us, it will be a few weeks until the election, and 5—6% haven't made up their minds, they are undecided. they don't follow politics closely. how they decide in places like michigan, pennsylvania, wisconsin, in the final stages, will determine the outcome of the election. as you say, the final weeks will be crucial. if we look at what donald trump and his campaign are doing right now, they have been at the border, talking about those themes that he

frequently alludes to, immigration, the economy, crime and so on. how much of a challenge do you think that is for the harris campaign? especially when it comes down to how the voters view democrats on those issues? if i was the harris campaign, my advice would be stay true to the message you know is going to win, and it isn't those issues you mention. number one, kamala harris has to show she is a strong and tough commander in chief, and the speech last night goes a long way to showing that. the prosecutor framework, reassuring people that when the tough decisions come, i have the steel to make them. the second issue that needs to be fleshed out, not immigration and crime, it's the economy. it's the number one issue facing a lot of people now, the major concern. it's the economic issues. kamala harris in the final stretch needs to tell an economic story about who she is taking on and who

she is fighting for. i would argue she has been trying to do this with corporate greed and power narratives, housing in america, pharmaceutical drug pricing. those are all popular but she has to continue to emphasise that as a point of contrast to donald trump. i'm sure you would have seen rfkjr dropping out. he's just been on stage with donald trump, endorsing him. his percentage of votes very much up for play. how do you think voters will go on that? on the one hand, it's not surprising that he endorsed trump, if you look at his entire campaign, funded by republican donors, a bunch of money into it because they thought he could siphon votes away away from the democrats, and help donald trump. having realised kamala harris is in a very strong position, just goes ahead and endorses donald trump. the margins could matter a lot,

it certainly does matter, but i do think they recognise this is a play of weakness, because they see the movement is with harris. we have a debate coming up, and that's going to be one of the majorfinal stages of this campaign. a presidential debate, and a vice presidential debate. i think on those scores, it'll be harris is trying to explain to donald trump not only about the chaos, but economic plans he is offering, for billionaires, trying to raise social security and medicare... she has to make the contrast for people dialling into the race late. something i wanted to ask you about as chief adviser to bernie sanders, comments that caught my eye from walz. one person's socialism is another person's neighbourliness.

do you think this campaign between harris and walz can rebrand progressive politics or do you think perhaps now that is too testing at a time when they are going up against maga voters? the big money in the us decries things... harris and others talk about going after price gouging and corporate greed and abuse and exploitation, and economists say, no, no, it's terrible economics. in fact it's very popular and it's the right thing to do, tim walz has showed that, that's what he is a very good pick in my view. in minnesota, he talked about freeing up workers, paid leave for workers, universal school lunches for kids. those things are really popular. there is a sense that when big money interests weighed in on this and said, no, don't talk about that, sometimes there is a flinch, and i would urge and argue that

the track they are on with tim walz is the right one. the friction with the corporate classes is fine, it's good, this is what sells to undecided voters that we are on the right track. four guards were killed during a prisoner revolt at a maximum security prison in southwestern russia. russian special forces killed four rebelling inmates during a mission to rescue hostages. russia's federal penitentiary service says eight prison workers and four convicts were taken hostage and the siege began during a disciplinary commission meeting. the bbc was unable to verify images like this one, showing one of the prisoners walking around the penal colony, armed with knives. during the attack, the insurgents took to social media where they indentified themselves as militants for the so—called islamic state. our russia editor steve rosenberg sent this update from moscow. this happened in a prison called ik i9, a maximum—security penal colony in russia's volgograd region. i say maximum—security, but somehow four inmates managed to arm themselves with knives and go

on the attack. so, they attacked prison staff and, having done so, they released pretty gruesome mobile phone footage showing prison officials lying in pools of blood. we believe at least four prison staff were killed. the attackers identify themselves as islamic state militants. they said they've taken hostages, too. russian special forces were deployed to the scene and later stormed the prison and ended the siege. all four armed convicts were shot dead. i remember something similar happening just over two months ago, in another prison in rostov on don. islamic state militants took hostages in a pretrial detention centre. russian special forces stormed the facility, ending the siege. us presidentjoe biden announced a new military aid package for ukraine worth $125 million on friday. in a call, mr biden

reaffirmed to ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky the us�*s "unwavering support for the people of ukraine". the anouncement comes after indian prime minister narendra modi met president zelensky in kyiv, and urged him to hold talks with russia to end the war. mr modi said he would act as a friend in his efforts to establish a truce. it comes after he made a trip to neighbouring poland on thursday. our europe correspondent nick beake sent the latest on prime minister modi's visit from kyiv. both prime minister modi and his host president zelensky have hailed today as being a really historic one. certainly we've seen over the course of the past two and a half years lots of western leaders coming to kyiv to show their support, but what the ukrainians are saying today is that this visit represents support from the indian leader and the asian powerhouse that he controls.

a very different story from six weeks ago when a lot of people here in ukraine were really upset to see mr modi visit vladimir putin. in moscow, there was this warm embrace between the two men that came on a day when more than a0 people in ukraine were killed by a barrage of russian missiles. one of these missiles hit the main children's hospital here. i think no coincidence that first on the list of places for mr modi to visit today was this new art installation that doubles up as a memorial to the 570 children who were reported to have been killed since the start of russia's full—scale invasion back two and a half years ago. after that moment, mr modi said that his heart was filled with grief for the people he described as martyrs, those who had been killed. and shortly after that, he talked about this personal pledge he was making, playing some sort of role he hoped in bringing about peace between ukraine and russia, saying he was prepared to try and start a process in which there

would be negotiations. talks aimed at achieving a ceasefire in gaza are ongoing in egypt, and will reportedly continue into a third week. president biden spoke over the phone with egypt's president abdel fattah el—sisi on friday about the negotiations. us officials are deeply involved. cia director bill burns is currently cairo. his trip follows that of the us secretary of state antony blinken. israel is continuing to hit gaza with deadly raids. palestinian medics on friday said multiple people were killed as israeli forces shelled jabalia in northern gaza. people there said they were hit while fleeing the area due to idf evacuation orders. there was no immediate comment from israeli authorities people remain in desperate need of food and water. food is being rationed in refugee camps where growing numbers of people are sheltering. hamas has refused to directly take part in the current round of talks. the group accuses israel of negotiating in bad faith. our middle east correspondent wyre davies sent us this

update from jerusalem. very few definite solid details coming out of the continuing talks in cairo, but perhaps thatis talks in cairo, but perhaps that is no bad thing because perhaps it demonstrates those representatives in cargo are serious about trying to get a ceasefire. we know in the last 24 ceasefire. we know in the last 2a hours, us presidentjoe biden made a direct call to benjamin netanyahu. —— in cairo. the word is mr biden tried to put pressure on the israeli prime minister to agree to some sort of compromise, where israeli troops would partially withdraw from southern gaza if not fully withdraw, in the event of a ceasefire. that had been one of the big sticking point is getting on the way of an agreement. we have not heard directly from israel during these talks, but we understand from some israeli news sources that some progress has been made on those difficult issues. although it must be said that hamas officials have told the

bbc earlier that they didn't see any signs of progress in the talks. of course, hamas are not directly involved in the talks. american officials are there, israeli officials and egyptians are there, but hamas apparently being informed indirectly by the egyptian authorities. all of this as fighting continues, and israel has continued to bomb targets in gaza over the past day. the israeli air force said it attacked a former school that was allegedly being used by hamas as a command and control centre, but again civilians are said to have been killed, because hundreds of civilians use schools as shelters having been forced out of their homes. israel has also attacked sites and targets in southern lebanon. but again reports on the ground in southern lebanon say civilians were killed as well. all of this comes as there is a worsening humanitarian crisis in gaza

itself. the un has confirmed reports that a young child, a young baby has contracted polio in gaza and has been partially paralysed. this is a critical issue because polio is a serious and highly infectious disease. the un wants a pause in the fighting notjust disease. the un wants a pause in the fighting not just to stop the fighting itself but so they can get more polio vaccines into gaza and can administer those vaccines. israel says it has already allowed hundreds of thousands of vaccines in, but the un says there must be a pause in the fighting so the vaccines can be given to the children, especially who need them. jon alterman is the director of the middle east program at the center for strategic and international studies in washington, dc. earlier, iasked him how realistic it is that we could see a breakthrough. i was just talking to somebody in government today who has been following the negotiations. he says some people our customers democratic national convention optimistic

and some are pessimistic. i have to say i am pessimistic. —— he says some people are optimistic and some are pessimistic. netanyahu doesn't see urgency to make a deal right now, i see signs of digging in. there are reasons for it on each side. but i don't think the americans have figured out how to light a fuse under each side. from the netanyahu perspective, there is a big incentive tojust netanyahu perspective, there is a big incentive to just wait and see what happens in the election, because us policy could change profoundly. i want to talk more _ could change profoundly. i want to talk more about _ could change profoundly. i want to talk more about the - could change profoundly. i want to talk more about the kind - could change profoundly. i want to talk more about the kind of. to talk more about the kind of leverage washington might look at using. i also want to talk about some of the reported bones of contention in this. including what comes next for gaza. the israeli presence in gaza. the israeli presence in gaza. i wonder if you think, as long as israel intends to have that overarching authority in the gaza strip, do you think they will be able to reach a deal? , . ., ,

deal? the israeli military believes _ deal? the israeli military believes that _ deal? the israeli military believes that there - deal? the israeli military believes that there are l deal? the israeli military l believes that there are lots deal? the israeli military - believes that there are lots of capabilities the military has that means it doesn't have to be physically there all the time. they can reserve the right to move in. they can seize territory, as indeed they seized this philadelphi corridor along the egyptian border. they were told they shouldn't go there so they didn't. they were told to go there, they took it in a matter of hours. so the military feeling, from what has been reported, is a lot of this, you don't require troops there, you require the ability to insert troops, but netanyahu has insisted the troops will stay. some people in israel say that's because netanyahu that's because neta nyahu doesn't that's because netanyahu doesn't want to reach a deal. lots of reasons to think sinwar also doesn't want to reach a deal. they both think the longer it goes on, the stronger they are getting and the weaker their adversary is getting. the world health organisation

has declared mpox an international health emergency, as a new strain of the virus is rapidly spreading across parts of africa leading to a surge in infections. the head of the world health organization has said that plans to control the new mpox outbreak will require at least $135 million over the next six months. in an address to who member states, dr tedros said the outbreak could be controlled but it required a comprehensive and coordinated international response. earlier the organisation told its partners they could start buying mpox vaccines before it approves them, to speed up distribution. the democratic republic of congo, the centre of the mpox outbreak, is expected to receive its first doses next week, donated by the us and japan. anne rimoin is a professor of epidemiology at the ucla fielding school of public health. she explains the challenge around vaccination efforts. vaccines have already been available in high resource settings, like the united states, the uk, europe. we saw how great they were at

mitigating the outbreak we had in 2022-2023. the mitigating the outbreak we had in 2022—2023. the democratic republic of the congo and adjacent countries have not had access to these vaccines, they have not been available in the global south in general. some regulatory hurdles to get through, so it's notjust that these vaccines were withheld from africa. there were several steps to be able to get them approved to be used locally. but those hurdles has been cleared. now it's how do we get enough vaccine into these places as fast as we can, and get them into key risk groups? one of the big problems you haveis one of the big problems you have is it's notjust about buying vaccines and handing them to the drc government, there are a lot of logistics getting these vaccines into arms. it requires cold change, keeping the vaccines at a certain temperature until the point they are given to an individual. all of the

materials to get those vaccines into arms, training people to be able to give the vaccines. and sensitising the public so they will be willing to get these vaccines. in addition, you have remote rural areas which are hard to deal with in general when you look at vaccines. my team and i have been working on just regular vaccine preventable diseases like measles and getting them into rural areas is hard. but also you have vulnerable populations, people doing sex work, men who have sex with men, who are maybe not willing in particular in african context, they may be hard to reach and hard to be able to get the vaccines to as well. a lot of challenges here. seven bodies have now been recovered from the wreck of a luxury yacht that sank monday off the coast of sicily in bad weather. the family of the technology entrepreneur mike lynch, and his daughter hannah, who was 18, say they're "devastated" and "in shock" as they are believed to be

among those who died. 15 people were rescued. jessica parker has the latest, from porticello in sicily. mike lynch, a man who had carved out a highly successful career in tech, his arm around his 18—year—old daughter, hannah. in tributes today he was described as a caring man with a brilliant mind. she as ferociously intelligent, warm and kind. what is believed to be her body was the last to be brought ashore after divers spent days exploring the yacht�*s wreckage just outside porticello harbour. the recovery of the final missing person is a sad moment, a sad marker in this tragedy. it likely means this operation is now moving on to its next stage. the bayesian is lying on the sea bed, 50 metres deep. it went down during a violent storm in the early hours of monday morning. the question now is why? translation: in order-

to understand what went on, they will probably need to lift the vessel up and bring it to the surface. how long could this investigation take? translation: idon't. know how long for sure, but i imagine it will be at least six months before we have a clear idea about what happened. porticello is a quiet fishing town, people here have been left bewildered by what has happened. translation: because of this tragedy, everyone in this - community is really upset. although we are sicilian and those affected are english, we feel a deep link and sense of affection for these people, as if they were our neighbours. guests had been celebrating mike lynch's acquittal on fraud charges. out of 22 passengers and crew, seven lost their life. mike and hannah lynch, the morgan stanley boss, jonathan bloomer and his wife judy, lawyer chris morvillo

and his wife neda, and the chef recaldo thomas. but the youngest was hannah. as her school flew its flag at half mast, one classmate said, "when i think of hannah, i think of poetry, sunshine and her beautiful eyes. " a volcano has erupted in iceland for the sixth time since december. these are live pictures of the eruption in the southwest of the country. as you can see there, lava is spewing into the air. the icelandic meteorological office said the eruption began on thursday following a series of earthquakes. the nearby fishing village of grindavik was evacuated. it's not known how many people were in the area because most of its nearly 4,000 residents left in november. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. the weather's looking very mixed this weekend. yes, there will be some rain at times, temperatures a bit disappointing, but things are set to warm up as we push into next week, especially for england and wales. so, we will have some rain around at times this weekend,

mainly across northern and western areas, though for saturday, it's the south which will bear the brunt of some of the wettest of the weather. will be quite mild to begin saturday in the south, a bit cooler further north where we have more clear skies. but outbreaks of heavy and persistent rain affecting much of the channel islands into central and southern england, southeast wales, up into the midlands and across into eastern and southeast england. we have a met office yellow warning for the far southeast of england because we could see in excess of a couple of inches of rain here. that could lead to some localised flooding, some standing water on the roads. has been very dry across the southeast, though, for all of august. so this is very much needed rainfall — a good drink for the gardens, but it will be very wet through the morning. eventually, it clears out into the afternoon and we should see sunshine and some heavy, maybe thundery, showers moving in, too, but it does brighten up elsewhere across the country. it's a bright day from the word go with sunshine and showers, but disappointing temperatures — 16—18 celsius. that is below par for the time of year. saturday night's dry, quite cool, chilly for many, single digits across the board, but it will be turning a bit

milder, wetter and windier out west as the next weather system starts to make inroads for sunday, and you'll see more isobars on the chart so it will be a breezy, blustery day on sunday, with most of the rain in the north and the west. so, quite a wet day, i think, for northern ireland, increasingly so for scotland, northern and western england and wales, maybe a few showers getting into the midlands. but i think the southeast quadrant tending to stay drier, closer to high pressure to the south, so could be up to 20 degrees given some brightness, but rather cloudy skies and again disappointing further north — mid—teens. that system moves away during sunday night into monday. it's a bank holiday monday for many. a ridge of high pressure will start to build in a bit stronger across the south, so i think england and wales largely dry. we should see some sunshine around, but another area of low pressure will bring more of a breeze, cloud, outbreaks of rain to the far west of the uk, but temperatures responding up to 23 degrees in the south. and that's the sign of things to come. for this upcoming week, it looks like summer will make a return, especially for england and wales,

where it could be very warm indeed, with one or two spots in the southeast perhaps touching the 30 celsius mark.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme.

michael palin. comedian, actor, writer and presenter. in the mid 1960s, he was a founder member of the ground—breaking comedy troupe monty python, whose television series and subsequent films drew both acclaim and controversy for their anarchic humour. he's also taken on serious acting roles, often playing affable yet complex characters... we have to behave with dignity... ..and with honour. and above all, without corruption. ..and has become known for his globetrotting as a presenter of many travel series. i'm standing on the top of the world! in this episode of this cultural life, the radio 4 programme, michael palin reveals his formative influences and experiences, and how it was at university that he first saw a future for himself as a performer. this completely changed my life because there i was,

with a slight worry about performing in front