pressure as well. the main problem is that the company has nearly £14 billion of debt, so it has a substantial interest bill to pay every year. that interest bill is currently going up because interest rates are going up. some interest rate payments are related to inflation, which is very high. at the same time, it s having to spend over £1 billion a year in infrastructure, water mains, stopping leakage and there s a regulatory review coming up in a few years which may mean it will have to invest even more. thames water needs to raise money from somewhere but if it can t get it, the government is looking at options. we need to make sure thames water as an entity survives. there s a lot of work the government is doing on resolving sewage. up until now, the regulator has been focused on keeping consumer bills down but there is a lot of infrastructure work that needs to take place and we need that entity to survive. in a statement, thames water says it s working constructively
earlier. we are going to bring you another story. we will come back to events in nottingham shortly. you are watching bbc news. the other story we are following here in the uk today is the first day of a new phase of the covid inquiry. this inquiry is looking into how the government handled the covid pandemic. today marks the first day of public hearings, but they are expected to last for several years. today the inquiry has heard opening statements from counsel for the core participants, and that is what you are seeing on screen right now. let s hear from the bbc s ali are seeing on screen right now. let s hearfrom the bbc s ali price, and her report starts with some of the video testimonies from bereaved families that were played to the inquiry. families that were played to the in . ui . ~ families that were played to the inuui .~ families that were played to the in.ui . ., families that were played to the inuui . ~ ., ., inquiry. when we looked down at work, i inquiry. w
doomed to we come on air with some breaking news, a hamas. was killed. three other people were killed. three other people were killed in the attack, the deputy head of hamas political bureau deeply involved in his military affairs. and the founder of its military wing. this took a stronghold of the hezbollah group. you can see there at these pictures just coming into us at the moment. this is of course a developing story, and it s been confirmed by an official from hamas that they are deputy has been killed. in that attack, and these pictures there just coming into us from beirut, and we are, at the moment, awaiting a response from the israeli government and we will have more on that at the moment, just showing you those pictures that are just coming into us of the aftermath of that attack. a statement said more than 200 people have been killed by israeli strikes, israeli forces have stepped up strikes, israeli forces have stepped up their bombardment of khan younis in south
hello and welcome. welcome to verified live, three hours of breaking stories and checking out the truth behind them. let s start with a major story in ukraine with the authorities they are saying more than 40,000 people are at risk from flooding after that major dam in the south of the country was attacked and collapsed yesterday. we can bring you the latest on the story because in the last few minutes president putin has been discussing what has been happening in a call to the turkish president, calling the dam burst a barbaric act, kyiv s barbaric act. he has gone on to say it is a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe. he made those comments while talking to president erdogan. those comments being relayed from the kremlin. and of course it is pretty much the usual tactics from russia s president with any major situation like this, constant denial. those are the latest comments from president putin. let s get more on what we have found out and what is happening on the
by the disregard can and should be approved by the little decisions at the summit by the little decisions at the summit. at the alliance this summer and we summit. at the alliance this summer and we count on the support of our partners and we count on the support of our partners. later, we will discuss ukraine partners. later, we will discuss ukraine - partners. later, we will discuss ukraine eu relations, we are looking ukraine eu relations, we are looking for ukraine eu relations, we are looking for progress in implementing recommendations of the european commission. we do our best during the war commission. we do our best during the war we commission. we do our best during the war. we do our reforms, what we have to the war. we do our reforms, what we have to do the war. we do our reforms, what we have to do. this will be the time where have to do. this will be the time where positive political momentum will open where positive political mo