live from london, this is bbc news. the hunt continues for the former soldier who escaped prison in london on wednesday. daniel khalife had been accused of trying to gather information for iran. the kremlin says it has downed several ukrainian drones overnight after a russian missile strike killed 16 people in eastern ukraine another by—election looms for rishi sunak�*s conservative party — mp chris pincher announces he's resigning after a parliamentary committee found him guilty of an "abuse of power" and "completely inappropriate" behaviour. as inappropriate" behaviour. the civil war in yemen gr we as the civil war in yemen grinds on, we have a special report from orla guerin about the extraordinary resilience of some of the country's

youngest. hello, welcome to bbc news now, three hours of fast—moving news, interviews and reaction. here, the government has ordered an urgent review into the circumstances surrounding the escape from custody of a terror suspect in south london. daniel khalife is still on run, after clinging to the underside of a food delivery van, leaving wandsworth prison yesterday. the 21—year—old was awaiting trial, accused of leaving fake bombs at a military base while serving in the army. the border force, ports and airports are all on high alert. graham satchell reports. it looked like business as usual at wandsworth today. prison vans coming and going, but the jail is now at the centre of a growing storm with serious questions about how a terror suspect managed to escape. daniel khalife was

working in the kitchen. he broke out by strapping himself to the underside of a food delivery van. in the house of commons, the justice secretary announced a series of reviews to answer some basic questions. who was on duty that morning? in what roles? ranging from the kitchen to the prison gate, what protocols were in place? were they followed 7 there are more questions. why was a terror suspect being held at a category b prison? what kind of checks were there on the vehicles coming in and out? you'd expect a mirror to be run under the van on its way out in the same way as there is a dome above where you can look down to see if anyone�*s on top of the van. now, why did that fail? daniel khalife is a former soldier. he joined the army in 2019. three years later, he became the subject of a counter—terrorism investigation. he's accused of planting fake bombs at the barracks in stafford where he was based, and was arrested injanuary. he's been charged with preparing an act of terrorism and collecting

information useful to a hostile state, now understood to be iran. yesterday's escape has drawn attention to wider problems in the prison system — overcrowding, understaffing. the prison officers' association has blamed the government for what it calls the "decimation of the service". i was made aware that there were significant staff shortages, so i looked about investigating this and actually discovered that in december last year, only seven members of staff turned up for a night shift to look after 1500 inmates. daniel khalife has been on the run for more than 2a hours. police are urging anyone who sees him to call 999. graham satchell, bbc news. uk government has announced an inquiry into the escape. uk government has announced an inquiry into the escape. at uk government has announced an inquiry into the escape. at the prison officers' association says it will not comment on what happened yesterday, but has accused ministers of underfunding the prison services, leading to chronic shortages in

staffing. i spoke to steve gillan earlier, the general secretary at the prison officers' association to hear his view. from our perspective as a trade union, we don't want to see anybody escape from prison at all. i note with interest here that the prime minister's office has said there is no plans to have an independent inquiry into this. i think there should be, because i think the independent inquiry, if there was one, into this escape, would understand the difficulties that might members at wandsworth are absolutely facing. not just yesterday, but on a daily basis, from short staffing levels to inexperienced, they got rid of experienced staff, with horrific of experienced staff, with horrific budget cuts between 2010 and 2015. i think this is a wake—up call for government, and i actually think

now that they need to engage. we have a good relationship with alex chalk, actually, secretary of state. we have been telling alex chalk that we can't go on like this with the short staffing levels we have. steve, do you have reason to believe that wandsworth prison was understaffed ? i will put it this way, it was understaffed. there is absolutely no doubt that wandsworth is understaffed. not just yesterday, but on a daily basis. this we have been raising this alarm bell, not just at wandsworth, but across the country, and they are sending 300 people on a daily basis on detached duty to plug gaps around the system, because they can't retain staff. theyjust can't retain... they can recruit staff, so let me give you an example. last year, they recruited over 4000 prison officers, and they retained 750, o the attrition rate is awful. but why, steve? i think there is a multitude of things. i think the advertisements that go out are misleading. they don't actually tell people that they have to work evenings,

nights, bank holidays, anything like that. i think that young people coming into thejob, and the vast majority of them do a magnificentjob by the way, but they don't have the support mechanisms there in place. for example, and i don't like harping back to the past, but when ijoined, 30—odd years ago, you had a mentor. you weren't left by yourself, but i am seeing some of these young, inexperienced staff being left by themselves with loads of prisoners. wandsworth holds 1600 prisoners. and from the information i have there is 50% of that stuff available. so there should have been 120 on duty for looking after 1600 prisoners, but they are decimated.

they are trying to run normal regimes, which they shouldn't be. security and safety comes foremost. we should say that prisoner escapes like this are extremely rare compared with decades past. but what is the solution to this? is just more funding? no. funding is paramount, because they have cut hundreds of millions of pounds for the budget since 2010. and we have been saying for a while that cuts have consequences. but you know what i actually believe? my union believes there should be a royal commission, an urgen royal commission notjust into prisons, but the whole criminal justice system. you can't be slashing police numbers, and you can't be slashing courts and closing courts, and then have a backlog. the system is in crisis, and my members are picking up the pieces from poor policies. that is the reality of this. we have just had some information coming in from the former governor

from his majesty's fishing belmarsh and brixton. —— is majesty's pincher. he said he thought daniel khalife�*s escape from prison could have possibly been an insidejob. podmore said he should have been in belmarsh, a high security prison, and he could not understand why he wasn't. the decision to give khalife a job in the kitchen at wandsworth prison was, i quote, quite astonishing. he said at the prison kitchen is a plum job and goes to the most reliable, allegedly reliable, trusted prisoners chosen by staff, so those comments coming from the former governor of belmarsh and brixton prison is in london. if you want to hear more on that interview, you can listen back to bbc radio 4's world at one programme

on bbc sounds. let's turn to the war in ukraine. several drones have been shut down overnight. it is possible the drones may have been aimed at a nearby airport. russia also says that at least two more were brought down over the southern rostov region. these buildings are not far from the region's military headquarters, but again, no casualties have been reported. it comes as the us secretary of state, this antony blinken, continues a two day visit to kyiv. today he's been meeting with de—mining experts, who've had a key role in trying to clear the minefields set up by russian forces in front of the areas which have been occupied since the invasion began. mr blinken has already announced a new aid package of more than a billion dollars for ukraine. here's what he had to say to reporters today.

it is so easy to sometimes get lost in abstractions, numbers, how many people lost their lives or were wounded, but the larger effects are, but it all comes down to the human dimension. to but it all comes down to the human dimension. ., , dimension. to the lives, the stories, dimension. to the lives, the stories. of— dimension. to the lives, the stories, of men, _ dimension. to the lives, the stories, of men, women - dimension. to the lives, thej stories, of men, women and dimension. to the lives, the - stories, of men, women and children, like the men, women and children who are imprisoned in the basement of this building next to us —— were imprisoned. it was normally a school, and they were held there for the month, 127 people any room not even fit for one person, for human habitation. children as young as one—month—old not allowed to come out. and this isjust one—month—old not allowed to come out. and this is just one one—month—old not allowed to come out. and this isjust one building in one village in one community in ukraine. this is a story that we

have seen again and again and again. antony blinken in kyiv. 0ur diplomatic colours fondant paul adam spoke to me. this our diplomatic colours fondant paul adam spoke to me.— our diplomatic colours fondant paul adam spoke to me. this is his fourth visit and six — adam spoke to me. this is his fourth visit and six the _ adam spoke to me. this is his fourth visit and six the secretary _ adam spoke to me. this is his fourth visit and six the secretary of - visit and six the secretary of state. that clip you just paid is very telling because i think in recent weeks, something of a narrative had begun to develop that washington was a may be frustrated with the slow pace of ukraine's offensive, was not giving ukrainian generals their due for conducting the war in any way they saw fit. kind of a little bit of tension developing in the relationship, after all, developing in the relationship, afterall, between developing in the relationship, after all, between ukraine and its principal western backer, so the secretary of state blinking has come here, he took the unusual step of

spending the night here. and his trip today, in which he has gone to the shelter you just saw him speaking out, he has topped to border guards, been involved in activities to do with de—mining. he has talked a bit about that too. i think this is all part of the secretary of state thing, we get it, we get what you're going through, we understand absolutely the pressures hereunder. and maybe to draw a line under what has been a slightly awkward chapter in relations in recent weeks. of course, he also but news of the fresh package of us assistance, both military that is very much par for the course. assistance, both military that is very much parfor the course. it assistance, both military that is very much par for the course. it is another package in many, many packages designed to keep ukraine's economy going, but also, of course, keep ukraine's fighting effort going, and mr blinking, when he was talking yesterday, feels that the

latest package will help to add momentum to that —— mr blinken. we momentum to that -- mr blinken. we soke momentum to that —— mr blinken. we spoke to anna sheleft earlier. since it is not his first — anna sheleft earlier. since it is not his first visit, . .. _ anna sheleft earlier. since it is not his first visit, . .. what - anna sheleft earlier. since it is not his first visit, . .. what is i not his first visit,... what is definitely important is that he stayed overnight. a lot of our top politicians think the russians are bombing kyiv on the days of their visits, so that was a powerful signal from the state secretary that he stayed and tried to have as much as possible of the meetings and he came both with the military and humanitarian support to ukraine. in terms of the military, we usually have an announcement from the white house, you don't need to have a special visit for these. however, during this visit, he also, for the

first time, knows that 5 million of the money was frozen originally in the money was frozen originally in the us are from the rehabilitation of ukrainian veterans. that is very significant and important, and can be used by other countries in the future as well. a new type of ammunition, as a journalist is... talked about the new type of visa we can receive that... uses this new type of uranium. it is definitely not nuclear weapons, radiation weapons, they are just stronger in terms of the power that they can insert themselves in the equipment. and that is what ukraine needs during the counter offence.

around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news... let's take a look at some of the other stories here. pet owners are being asked to comment to review on the cost of vets. there are worries that people may not be getting value for money. free heating on subscription to people for underlying health additions reduce the need to see a gp. they said it was to soon to say whether it would save money, but it would keep options under review to further help vulnerable households. the bp funded scheme has ended. royal mail has unveiled a collection of stamps to mark 70 years since the start of dame shirley bassey�*s career. they include a picture of the welsh singer's for months at the opening ceremony of the 1999 rugby

world cup she is the first solo fema music artist to be honoured with a dedicated stamp issue. those are some of the stories we have been taking a look at. your life with bbc news. —— you are live with bbc news. here in the uk, the former conservative whip, chris pincher is standing down as an mp after losing his appeal against an eight week suspension from the commons over groping allegations which allegedly took place at a club away from the houses of parliament. the decision will trigger a by—election in his tamworth constituency in staffordshire. live now to pat mcfadden mp, from the opposition labour party who is now the shadow chancellor of the duchy of lancaster — and the party's national campaign co—ordinator. good to talk to you. you have a new role thanks to the reshuffle,

including the national campaign coordinator. many are seeing this seat as a tough fight for the conservatives. it is also a tough fight for labour, which is a big majority to overturn. it is tough. and with every by—election that happens, we will do our best to runny winning campaign. imilli happens, we will do our best to runny winning campaign. will be a ve bi runny winning campaign. will be a very his task— runny winning campaign. will be a very his task for— runny winning campaign. will be a very big task for in _ runny winning campaign. will be a very big task for in tamworth, - runny winning campaign. will be a very big task for in tamworth, butj very big task for in tamworth, but the voters in tamworth, is around the voters in tamworth, is around the country, will see a very changed labour party. 0ver the country, will see a very changed labour party. over the last three years under the leadership of this keir starmer, that is the spirit we will go into this campaign. this by—election should really have been called some time ago. chris pincher was suspended a long, long time ago, command decision has been hanging around for months while tamworth has not had proper representation in parliament. it is with a mark of the weakness of the prime minister that in the end, it is chris pincher who has had to the decision rather than

the prime minister himself deciding the prime minister himself deciding the situation had to end.— the prime minister himself deciding the situation had to end. you're now national campaign _ the situation had to end. you're now national campaign coordinator. - the situation had to end. you're nowj national campaign coordinator. what lessons can you learn from the recent wave of by—elections when we look at 0xbridge, is it that labour was expected to when and the ulez issue dominated that. == was expected to when and the ulez issue dominated that.— issue dominated that. -- uxbridge. we had three _ issue dominated that. -- uxbridge. we had three by-elections - issue dominated that. -- uxbridge. we had three by-elections that - issue dominated that. -- uxbridge. we had three by-elections that day| we had three by—elections that day and in uxbridge, we got to swing to labour, but not quite enough to win it. it was not easy seat historically labour, but became very, very close. 0n the same day, we returned a majority of 20,000 in selby, in absolutely fantastic by—election result, so in both of those, we had swings to labour. a stunning result in selby. just missing out in uxbridge. we will take the momentum gained by labour from this by—elections into the ones coming up, notjust in tamworth, but

in mid bedfordshire, rutherglen in scotland too. 0ur message to the voters is that they're going to see a much changed labour party. we have a much changed labour party. we have a strong united team and there is quite a contrast between some of the chaos and division we are seeing in the side where rishi sunak is beginning to look more and more like a caretaker prime minister. fin beginning to look more and more like a caretaker prime minister.— a caretaker prime minister. on the uxbridue a caretaker prime minister. on the uxbridge issue, _ a caretaker prime minister. on the uxbridge issue, there _ a caretaker prime minister. on the uxbridge issue, there were - a caretaker prime minister. on the uxbridge issue, there were some i uxbridge issue, there were some criticisms that the labour position on the ulez charge was not the right one, that is why, even though there was a swing to labour, it was not enough to take the seat. are there lessons to be learned from that? it is true that ulez was a big issue in uxbridge. i was on the doorstep myself there for a few times and the lesson in any of these policies where we are going to have a green transition, we are going to move to some new things and how we transport ourselves or generate electricity or

heat our homes come in all of these things, it is important they are affordable for voters and you take people with you. we just missed out on uxbridge. we got to swing to labour in uxbridge. it was a strong campaign. as i say, when we put the two together, that and selby, we will take the increased votes and shares for labour from those by—elections into the ones coming up in three different parts of the country over the next month or so. this it will be an interesting 0ctober this it will be an interesting october in politics. be have —— but we have you there, i want to ask about the top story for the missing prisoner daniel khalife from wandsworth prison. you are speaking in the commons earlier. what are your biggest concern is now? of course, you have a terror suspect now on the loose still. it is course, you have a terror suspect now on the loose still.— now on the loose still. it is an enormous _ now on the loose still. it is an enormous security _ now on the loose still. it is an enormous security breach. . now on the loose still. it is an l enormous security breach. this now on the loose still. it is an - enormous security breach. this man was accused of gathering information for another state, which has been

named on the bbc�*s website as possibly being iran. there are big questions to be asked. first of all, he was not being held in a top security prison. wandsworth is not a top security prison. it is one rung below that, so there is a question of why he was being held there. then also the circumstances of his escape. this the reports are that he escaped by clinging onto the underside of a vehicle. there should be rigorous protocols on any vehicle coming into our leading the prison estate, so the first priority is to catch this individual, but the second priority is to find out why this happened and what it says about the broader security questions on the broader security questions on the prison estate. irate the broader security questions on the prison estate.— the broader security questions on the prison estate. we were talking to the prison _ the prison estate. we were talking to the prison officers' _ the prison estate. we were talkingj to the prison officers' association, who talked about how under resourced the prison system is. what would labour do differently? obviously,

ou want labour do differently? obviously, you want to _ labour do differently? obviously, you want to resource _ labour do differently? obviously, you want to resource all- labour do differently? obviously, you want to resource all public. you want to resource all public services properly. like any situation like this, we will have to look at what we inherit... so you would increase at the spending budget? i get these questions all the time of the spending budget, but we would have to look at the situation we inherit. the economy was trashed almost a year ago by the conservative party which has had a lasting impact on the economy, so we hope to do the right thing by public services, but for labour, whether it is the prison service or any other service, financial stability will also come first because we saw in real time what happens when a government forgets financial stability and it happened with that disastrous tory mini budget exactly a year ago. pat disastrous tory mini budget exactly a earauo. ., a ., disastrous tory mini budget exactly a earauo. . a ., ., a year ago. pat mcfadden, from westminster, _ a year ago. pat mcfadden, from westminster, thank _ a year ago. pat mcfadden, from westminster, thank you - a year ago. pat mcfadden, from westminster, thank you very - a year ago. pat mcfadden, from i westminster, thank you very much a year ago. pat mcfadden, from - westminster, thank you very much for joining us. for almost a decade a civil war has been grinding on in yemen —

pushing the arab world's poorest country to the brink of collapse. there has been less violence since a temporary ceasefire last year but there is no sign of a deal to end the conflict. this report from our correspondent 0rla guerin who has returned to the city of taiz in the south—west of yemen. smiling through. this is an 11—year—old boy and he doesn't let much get in his way. he is heading to the river to get water, a daily ritual. life was tough here, even before the war. but ahmed is a fighter. he has been blind from birth, along with four of his siblings. we have come back to meet him at his home near a front line. translation: it's very scary. we are afraid of gunshots.

this when fighting starts, we can't go to the park or the valley, or anywhere. when was the last time you heard fighting and explosions? translation: last night. for ahmed, school has always been a refuge of sorts. this was our first glimpse of him injanuary 2021. leading morning assembly at his primary school. it was bombed by the saudi—led coalition when it was occupied by houthi forces. ahmed was leading the class atjust nine years old. he had a wish list of repairs for the school, and viewers responded. thanks to him...

so this is the new school? ..much has changed. a yemeni donorfunded a new block, and a british charity refurbished classrooms. saudi arabia, after years of bombing yemen, is building another school nearby. ahmed is pleased with the results and has plenty of big plans. translation: i want to be a teacher, l pilot, engineer, driver or a doctor. l do you think you'll be able to do all these things? translation: sure, i'll do everything. - and i'll marry a beautiful city girl and she'll make me biscuits. the girls here in the village don't know how to make good biscuits. back at the river, ahmed has a few moments of fun. but childhood in yemen is short. he is full of hope,

full of promise, and he has already overcome so much, but he is still a child of war. before we go, let's bring in these pictures which show ryanair boss michael 0'leary being smeared with cream pies by environmentalists outside the eu headquarters in brussels. , , ., , ., brussels. they were protesting over carbon emissions _ brussels. they were protesting over carbon emissions by _ brussels. they were protesting over carbon emissions by your's - brussels. they were protesting over carbon emissions by your's busiestl carbon emissions by your's busiest airline. mr 0'leary was in brussels. his only complaint was that the cream was not tasty. hello. 0ur september heatwave is not loosening its grip just yet. in fact, this is turning into quite an exceptional run of hot days for the time of year. the last few days have brought

temperatures above 30 celsius today and the next couple of days also bringing temperatures above 30. in fact, it's going to be the longest run of september, days above 30 degrees on record. but there are some exceptions. this was the scene in fife earlier on with some mist and murk and low cloud. a lot of that is clearing, but some will continue to linger close to the eastern coast of scotland. a few showers moving across parts of southern and western scotland and northern ireland. the odd hefty one, but in the hottest places today, well, 28 in the north—west highlands, 31 or 32 across parts of south—east england. and then through this evening and tonight, we will continue to see a few showers marching across parts of scotland, more of that mist and murk and low cloud for some eastern coasts. another very, very mild — indeed warm night for some of us. so tomorrow morning, if you're starting your day across eastern and central parts of scotland, expect some areas of fog, some mist, some low cloud. the same goes for eastern england. some of that rolling quite a long way inland for the first part of the morning, but then tending to retreat towards the coast, i think, as we go through the day. small chance of one or two showers

out towards the west, but for the majority, it is another fine day with quite a lot of hot sunshine and those temperatures easily getting to 30 or 31 degrees, but parts of highland scotland getting to 29. so this very warm weather quite widespread. late in the day, though, we could well see some sharp showers and thunderstorms just starting to break out across the south west of england. and through the weekend, it's a story of very slow changes. the further north and west you are on saturday, the greater the chance of seeing some showers and thunderstorms breaking out, whereas further south and east will be some sunshine. and actually this could be the hottest day of all with highs of 32 or maybe 33 degrees. but as we move out of saturday into sunday, the area of high pressure that has been with us tends to retreat eastwards and not with any great organisation. we see some clumps of unsettled weather trying to make a move. i think it will still be hot towards the south east corner on sunday but into the start of next

week it turns more unsettled and markedly cooler.

the uk will rejoin the eu's scientific research scheme, horizon — a relationship that fell apart post brexit.

and — retail therapy.