final at wimbledon later today. hello and welcome to bbc news. the battle to become britain s next prime minister is intensifying. eight candidates have now announced they will stand in the contest to replace borisjohnson as leader of the conservative party. the former health secretaries, sajid javid and jeremy hunt, are the latest to come forward with both pledging to cut taxes. the foreign secretary, liz truss, is expected to declare in the coming days. our political correspondent, jonathan blake reports. the two newest entrants to the race are the first to set out detailed plans and both focus on economic policy. jeremy hunt, who lost to borisjohnson in the final two last time round promises to cancel a planned rise in corporation tax and reduce it further. he also would cut business rates to zero in the most deprived areas. sajid javid his resignation triggered the prime minister s final downfall, said he would scrap the recent rise in national insurance, cut income tax
not today, today quite fresh across the north with a breeze coming from the north with a breeze coming from the atlantic and a bit of rain. that is riding around this area of high pressure which is to the south of us so this is where this settled sunny weather is at the moment. with the jet stream to the north of us next week there is a large area of settled weather may be building across the uk and that is going to allow temperatures to rise. so the forecast for this afternoon, cool and breezy and cloudy across the northern half of uk, around 18 in belfast, very warm in the south of the country at mid 20s. then through the country at mid 20s. then through the course of tonight a band of cloud and rain moving from north to south. still quite warm in the morning around 16 in london, a bit fresher in belfast and glasgow at around 12, 1a degrees. tomorrow we start off cloudy first thing but by the afternoon sunshine breaks through and it should be a beautiful day along the north
Terms of a cabinet meeting, we have been told on the agenda is an update on the economy. Clearly, that doesntjustify on the economy. Clearly, that doesnt justify the levels on the economy. Clearly, that doesntjustify the levels of frenetic activity that now appear to be going on behind the scenes. All Rishi Sunak Has said is repeating his claim that the General Election will be in the second half of this year, that is only a0 days away. Normally when we get to this point the advisers and people who work in the advisers and people who work in the heart of Downing Street would be giving us a tap on the shoulder or saying do not talk about that too much, we dont really think that is happening. That has not happened today, there has been no guidance to us to stop talking about it at all and here we are in Downing Street expecting something to happen. Whenever that election is called, take us through what has to happen until we get to election day, because there are various things that have
Russia has intensified its attacks in northeast ukraine rausing fears the city of kharkiv could soon be in range of its artillery. The border town of vovchansk has been heavily bombed. Kharkiv s governor has said russia trying to stretch the front line ukraines commander in the area has been replaced. In another sign of the growing strain on kyiv ukraine has said it will need Record Energy imports after russian attacks on infrastructure. As russia makes progress in the war, president putin is set to appoint a new defence minister, Andrey Belousov. Like his predecessor sergei shoigu, he doesnt have much experience in the field. But hes one of putins most influential economic advisers. And analysts say that may offer a clue to the russian leaders desire to fund his military ambitions. Well have more on the changes in russias defence hierachy in a moment first James Waterhouse has the latest on the fighting in ukraine. Its a front line at the moment which is more than 1000 kilometres wron