over its economic crisis, and he s landed in the maldives. mr rajapaksa left aboard a militaryjet, ending a family dynasty that has ruled the country for decades. he had been in hiding, after crowds stormed his residence on saturday. they are still there. sources have told the bbc his brother, former finance minister basil rajapaksa, has also left the country. the president had promised to resign, but by remaining in position, he kept his immunity from prosecution. many sri lankans blame him for the economic crisis which has crippled their country, leaving it short of funds our correspondent rajini vaidyanathan was with protestors outside the presidential palace in colombo when the news of president rajapaksa s departure was made public. there is a real party atmosphere here at colombo seafront, which has been a protest site for many weeks, one of the main demands protesters had was for gotabaya rajapaksa to go. their slogan, their chant was go home, gota . we now know that
welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. we begin here in the uk where temperatures of more than a0 degrees celsius have been recorded for the very first time. the heatwave has caused widespread disruption, and a major incident has been declared in london, where the mayor sadiq khan said fire crews were struggling to cope. the un s climate chief has warned heatwaves like the one gripping western europe are becoming more frequent. our first report is from our climate editorjustin rowlatt. with today s searing heat came fires, and lots of them. huge plumes of smoke rose above london as grassfires engulfed homes on the outskirts of the capital. the london fire brigade declared a major incident. a number of the calls that we ve been dealing with today have been wildfires or grassfires, where the ground has been tinder box dry result of the weather over the last week, but in particular, the last two days. temperature records were tumbling before midday today.