hello this is bbc news. the headlines. a bad night for president macron. he looks set to lose his overall majority in the french parliament — the far—left and the far—right have made gains. rail bosses have confirmed that talks to try to avoid this week's strike action will continue with union leaders tomorrow. after the uk's promise of more heavy weapons to ukraine — the new head of the british army says troops should be prepared to fight russia in europe. communities in finsbury park gather to mark five years since the terror attack — in which a van was driven into worshippers outside a mosque. and swimming's world governing body votes to effectively ban transgender competitors like american lia thomas from taking part in women's races. now on bbc news... joe tidy reports on president nayib bukele�*s bitcoin plans in el salvador, with investment of more than $300 million of public money and plans to build a "bitcoin city". el salvador is the only country in the world where you can buy almost anything with bitcoin. buenos dias. si, caballero. last september, the country's cryptocurrency—loving president took the unprecedented decision to make bitcoin legal tender. this will generate jobs and help provide financial inclusion to thousands outside the formal economy. around the world, the move is being criticised by the financial establishment — and celebrated by crypto fans. so we are following developments closely. and now el salvador is leading the way, you know? we're proud. but are the people here embracing bitcoin? is el salvador�*s big bitcoin gamble paying off? el salvador�*s bitcoin journey started here in el zonte, with a weird and mysterious origin story. in 2019, an anonymous donor gave this small fishing village a large donation of bitcoin. one of the first beneficiaries of the donations was katerina contreras. the anonymous donor continues to pour his or her digital wealth into el zonte. bitcoin is a purely digitalform of money which started in 2008. it was invented by an unknown person or group called satoshi nakamoto. the idea was to create a peer—to—peer digital cash system without any need for banks or financial authorities. anyone can send anyone bitcoin — you just need to digital wallet and an internet connection. just over half of businesses we spoke to here now except bitcoin. el zonte — now named bitcoin beach — is proving that bitcoin can be used by physical communities, as well as online ones. the bitcoin beach project sparked the imaginations of cryptocurrency fans around the world — none moreso than the president of el salvador, nayib bukele. in a shock move last year, the young, popular president who was elected in 2019 created the bitcoin law. make bitcoin a legal tender in el salvador. for the bitcoin beach founders, it was an incredible moment. roman martinez was one of the four founders of the bitcoin beach project. so this is hope house, or bitcoin beach, how people know our project. this is like the first so—called economy that we create like three years ago. and the president have been seeing like many time in public that bitcoin beach was the project that inspire them to make bitcoin a legal tender. mhmm. what was it like for you, the day that bukele announced he's going to do that in the whole country? it's a dream that come true, but notjust for us — there are many people around the world that were waiting for this. everyone was dreaming that this is will happen one day. so when bitcoin arrive here, we see people saving money for the first time, we see people transacting digitally for the first time. i born in this community, where the opportunities that we used to have were few — being a fisherman, be a farmer, or leave to the usa and working there. people were not dreaming. and what i see now, that salvadoran people are dreaming agains. and there are many people around the world dreaming with us. and this is beautiful. you don't mind that this — the original donation that started this all off, we don't know who it is? you don't mind that? no. 0k. but it is a good message, you know? because when you hope, when you create something that will change the world, it's doesn't matter who is, because everyone is playing like a really important role in this. since the legal tender change, businesses here say they've seen a big uptick in in visitors — about 30% more, according to some locals. and it's notjust so—called bitcoin tourists. the legal tender move is bringing in big foreign investors, too. this clifftop land, currently a dinosaur—themed restaurant, is for sale. yeah — in bitcoin. the asking price is us$950,000, but the seller accept bitcoin. today, if you want to buy it, it's 26 bitcoin. so 40% of your property sellers are now happy to accept bitcoin. correct. and some of them, they're even like, "you know what, i'm willing to keep 50% in bitcoin, 50% in usd." so i think people are like getting like more educated and learning more about — about bitcoin. how many properties have you sold so far in bitcoin? four properties. and what was the most valuable property you sold in bitcoin? we just closed it like two months ago — it was $700,000. how did that feel? amazing. so far, it's been really good for the economy, i believe, and also for the real estate. aaron runs his estate agents from el tunco. it's a small town, just five minutes along the coast from bitcoin beach. but here, there are noticeably fewer businesses accepting bitcoin. hola. buenos dias. podemos pagar con bitcoin? no? solo dolares. 0k, gracias. the capital, san salvador, is about one hour drive north. here, the bitcoin usage is smaller still. i should be able to send my bitcoin from any app to any wallet, but they only accept chivo. people here think the chivo app is bitcoin. no, send again. the chivo app is a heavily promoted and heavily subsidised digital wallet. the government gives every adult who signs up $30 in bitcoin forfree. it's also installed hundreds of these kiosks, allowing people to turn dollars into bitcoin and vice—versa with almost zero fees. the government says the app has been a big success, with more than 4 million downloads. some, like gilberto sandoval, who runs a small food delivery service from his home, are big fans of the app. he's really impressed with how much money his family is saving when receiving us dollars, el salvador�*s other and main official currency, from his sister in guatemala. in gilberto's business, he uses chivo, but mainly for transactions in dollars, not in bitcoin. we found this with many people we spoke to. very few were using chivo to actually trade in bitcoin. the government says it's happy to let bitcoin usage grow organically, but there are also signs that after the initial surge in downloads, people are using chivo less. this place is a really good example of the lengths the bukele government is going to to get people to download the chivo app and use it. this is the largest animal hospital in the country, its brand new. people are travelling from all over to bring their pets here. the reason is if they pay using the app, preferably in bitcoin, they can get all the care their pet needs for 25 cents. melvin rogel, the director of the hospital, says his staff have been flat out ever since the centre opened. como se llama? it can't be 25 cents. 25...? ce ntavos ? si. we were told by staff here that the multimillion—pound centre was all being paid for with the profits of bitcoin. but when asked, the government couldn't tell us where these profits were coming from. president bukele has invested nearly $100 million of public money on bitcoin, celebrating each purchase with a tweet. the country now has 2,300 bitcoins, often buying them when other investors are fleeing the market. most of the coins have not risen in value since being bought, and none have been sold anyway, making profit impossible. the chivo app is also costing hundreds of millions to roll out and run. tatiana marroquin is a salvadoran economist extremely worried about the money being spent. the president and most of his policies are still popular here, but there are pockets of anger, like this protest in the capital, and bitcoin is one of the growing gripes. the protests were not just about bitcoin. president bukele�*s latest crackdown on criminal gangs, although popular, is also proving controversial. he's been accused of human rights violations for arbitrarily arresting tens of thousands of alleged criminals. president bukele is brushing off criticism about his policies from sceptics at home and abroad, including from the international monetary fund. adoption of bitcoin as legal tender raises a number of microeconomic, financial and legal issues that require very careful analysis. so we are following developments closely. in spite of the criticism, the central african republic has followed el salvador, making bitcoin legal tender there earlier this year. other countries too are reportedly considering the move. president bukele is convinced that his plans for bitcoin will pay off. we tried to set up an interview with him, but in recent months, he's only done interviews with pro—bitcoin youtube channels. the government's tourism minister was keen to talk, though, about the benefits the country are seeing. president bukele has spent tens of millions of dollars of public money on bitcoin, and the price has gone down. is there a risk that all that money could be lost, that money could be spent on other things? do you think that there is a problem at the moment with chivo wallet users mainly being male, and mainly being young, and maybe being rich as well? in fact, the bukele government is doubling down on bitcoin. what i was going to present to you...bitcoin city. cheering. he's hoping to raise the money for the state—of—the—art city by selling a billion dollars of so—called volcano bonds, named after a key part of the plan to build the city at the foot of a volcano. he hopes to harness geothermal energy to not only power the city, but also, a huge bitcoin mining industry. this is the country's largest state—run geothermal power plant, and tucked away in the back is a small bitcoin mine. without banks or central authorities, bitcoin relies on a huge network of volunteers to keep the currency going. specialist computers are needed to run complex programmes to validate each transaction and add it to the public record of payments, the blockchain. in return, the blockchain system automatically rewards miners with new bitcoin for free. bitcoin mining can be lucrative when the value of the coins is high. while some countries, like china, have banned bitcoin mining, the the salvadoran government is not only allowing it, but doing it themselves. it's a further two hours�* drive east to get to the volcano itself in la union. the spirit of the mountain lookout point and campsite will look directly onto bitcoin city. luis diaz owns and runs a business here and is very excited about the president's plans. in dollars, like, 4 millions — 4 millions. but there are fears the government won't be able to raise the money it needs, and it comes as the public finances are in drastic need of improvement with hundreds of millions of debt due to pay next year. president bukele�*s government insists that it won't be spending any public money on bitcoin city. they're confident foreign investors will buy their volcano bonds. but the bonds are yet to materialise and are months overdue. will bitcoin city ever actually exist? at the moment, it's too early to say if el salvador�*s bitcoin gamble could pay off. president bukele is relying on many things going the government's way, including the price of bitcoin rising, and a largely ambivalent and apathetic public getting behind the currency. the overall impression here is that cash is king for salvadorans, and getting people to embrace a complex cryptocurrency is proving to be extremely challenging and costly. hello. the really hot and humid air has now finally left our shores. still plenty of heat across europe, however, as marked by the amber colour behind me and central europe will continue with heatwave conditions on into the week ahead. we are now in cooler, fresher air, that is pulled in from the north. the boundary between the two air masses, a weather front marked by this area of cloud still, i think, a few showers to come out of that through the evening, but they will clear through the course of the night. the northerly wind across the eastern side of the uk will ease back and central and eastern scotland could turn quite chilly. rural lows of just three or four degrees. certainly a fresher night across the board. monday dawns fine with sunshine. the wind in the east will continue to ease through the day, the north west of scotland will continue to see that weather front pushing in thick cloud and some outbreaks of rain for the western isles of 0rkney and shetland. elsewhere, a dry story, with some long spells of sunshine and temperatures creeping up a degree or so on the figures, 20 in aberdeen, 22 or 23 across central england and wales. high pressure will stay across the uk, in the form of a ridge pushing across from the west, low pressure will try and get in on the same to the south, perhaps some showers towards the southern coast, low pressure will never be too far away from the north. a bit more cloud into scotland and northern ireland, but bringing perhaps some outbreaks of rain in here, but the upshot really is, for the majority of the uk, the week ahead looks largely dry. tuesday, we will see a front bringing more cloud across scotland and northern ireland and it will have effect on the temperatures, but i think rain in association with it, not particularly significant, some showery, drizzly outbreaks across eastern scotland and northern ireland, but it will be cooler here on tuesday. england and wales, in the sunshine, seen temperatures creeping up a couple of degrees yet again. and for the remainder of the week, we really stay with that theme, a bit more cloud across scotland and northern ireland, and a greater chance of seeing some showers spreading out across scotland and northern ireland by the time we get to friday, but england and wales, i think, perhaps the lion's share of the uk sunshine through the week ahead. temperatures in the sunshine heading up into the high 20s maybe wednesday and thursday, showers becoming more and the temperatures easing back. tonight at ten — as thousands of rail workers prepare to go on strike, ministers say it's not theirjob to intervene. in just over 2a hours — the first of three strikes will begin as the government directs this message at workers.