we begin in sri lanka where gotabaya rajapaksa has sent a letter formally handing over power to his prime minister, but stopping short of a resignation. our correspondent is in colombo with the latest development. we just had a statement from the office of president gotabaya rajapaksa, somebody that the protesters behind me, they have spent months camping out here in the centre of colombo, desperate for president gotabaya rajapaksa to resign and they blame him for this country s economic woes but we have had a statement from his office and it doesn t look like it is very clear exactly what he is planning to do. i have got the statement here. effectively he doesn t resign in this statement and he says that he is transferring the presidency to ranil wickremesinghe who is currently the prime minister, while he is out of the country, so this is a man who promised he would resign but he hasn t done that yet, and this is now leaving even more uncertainty, we are reading to the stat
in the three months tojune with forecasters warning recession is still likely later in the year. 7,000 extra hospital beds this winter, including in pop up sites the nhs in england unveils its plans to cope with expected pressures. more chaos for rail passengers train drivers prepare to strike tomorrow on nine lines across the country. # up in space, man. and, the shortlist is announced for hosting next year s eurovision song contest seven uk cities are in the running. and coming up on the bbc news channel: britain s rowers overcome problems in the quad sculls at the european championships to reach the medalfinal in munich. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at 0ne. a drought has been declared in parts of england, after the driestjuly on record in some areas of the country. it means water companies can announce stricter measures to conserve supplies, and it comes as yorkshire water became the latest to announce a hosepipe ban, in the wake of low rainfall and h
donald trump calls for the immediate release of the warrant that allowed fbi agents to search his florida home earlier this week. the shortlist is announced for hosting next year s eurovision song contest 7 uk cities are in the running. and coming up later in the hour doesjordan peele get a yes from the critics for his new film nope? find out in the film review at 5.45. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news channel. a drought has been declared across more than half of england, after the driestjuly on record in some areas of the country. it means water companies can impose stricter measures over how we use water at home and at work. a drought is defined by a lack of water due to extreme weather that has been built up over time. the four stages are normal , prolonged dry weather , will drought and severe drought . eight areas have been moved to the third stage including devon and cornwall, solent and south downs, kent and south london, herts and north london.