Good evening. A Greek firefighting plane battling wildfires on the island of Evia has crashed, killing two pilots on board. And HSBC has become the first major lender to cut mortgage rates.

       Firefighting plane crashes on Greek island

       A Greek firefighting plane has crashed on the island of Evia, killing the two pilots on board. Footage showed the aircraft clipping a tree before falling nose-first and exploding.

       Officials said the aircraft crashed into a ravine close to where a wildfire started on Sunday.

       “A Greek Canadair plane, with at least two people on board, crashed near Platanisto,” said spokesman Yannis Artopios.

       The plane was among at least three other aircraft and around one hundred firefighters battling the blaze on the island.

       The accident occurred as Greece battles wildfires on three major fronts, including on the tourist islands of Rhodes and Corfu.

       Authorities evacuated nearly 2,500 people from Corfu yesterday, after tens of thousands had already fled Rhodes, with many tourists scrambling to return home on evacuation flights.

       You can read all the developments from the day in our live blog.

       HSBC is first major lender to cut mortgage rates

       HSBC is the first high-street bank to cut mortgage rates after better-than-expected inflation figures last week.

       The bank said rates across 16 mortgage deals would fall from tomorrow, while smaller lenders also announced reductions.

       The Telegraph understands HSBC will cut its standard two-year fixed mortgage rate from 6.24 per cent to 6.14 per cent for those remortgaging – a drop of 0.1 percentage points.

       Its five-year fixed mortgage rate for those remortgaging is expected to fall by 0.2 percentage points, from 5.84 per cent to 5.64 per cent.

       It comes after official figures last week showed inflation eased to a 16-month low of 7.9 per cent in the year to June. This was down from 8.7 per cent in May and well below the 8.2 per cent expected by economists.

       Holiday chaos as Gatwick cancels one in 10 flights

       Passengers have seen their holiday plans plunged into chaos after Gatwick Airport was forced to cancel one in 10 flights owing to bad weather and staff shortages.

       Holidaymakers complained of mass cancellations and 24-hour delays to trips after the issues caused air traffic control problems.

       Heavy thunderstorms across European skies led to restrictions on certain flight routes, and an “unforeseen issue” reduced the number of available air traffic controllers.

       This led to 40 out of Gatwick’s 405 scheduled flights being cancelled yesterday, while many more were hit by lengthy delays.

       Evening Briefing: Today’s essential headlines

       Nigel Farage | The former Brexit Party leader has accused the boss of Coutts of being “asleep at the wheel” throughout the scandal over its decision to “de-bank” him because of his political views.

       Mr Farage said he had written to Peter Flavel three times but has yet to receive a reply, calling his handling of the situation “an absolute disgrace”.

       Read the full report here.

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       Pictured: Netanyahu urges reservists ‘who love Israel’ to back down from protests

       The Israeli prime minister has urged soldiers not to refuse military service in protest over his legal overhaul, as he warned it would put national security at risk.

       World news: Putin ‘failed to act over Wagner coup despite warning by spies’

       The Russian president was warned in advance that the boss of the Wagner mercenary group was plotting a coup but took no action to prevent it, according to European officials.

       Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared to have caught the Kremlin unawares when he marched from Russia’s south to within 125 miles of Moscow, in protest over what he said was the defence ministry’s incompetent handling of the war.

       But intelligence assessments shared with The Washington Post today claim the Russian security forces warned Putin at least two or three days in advance that Prigozhin was preparing a rebellion, but was paralysed to prevent it.

       You can read all the developments from the day in our live blog.

       Feature of the day

       Frank Skinner: “I don’t talk about sex for the same reason I don’t talk about climbing trees”

       Ahead of his new Edinburgh Fringe show, the comedian talks Catholicism, class and risqué jokes

       Read the piece here.

       Business news: UK to ‘outperform Germany this year’

       Britain will perform more strongly than Germany this year, according to the International Monetary Fund, after the agency’s worst fears for the UK economy did not come to pass.

       The IMF expects the UK economy to grow by 0.4 per cent this year, it said today.

       This represents a big upgrade compared with the 0.3 per cent contraction it predicted in April, when the UK was forecast to be the worst performing major economy in the world, including Russia.

       Meanwhile, the Bank of England will raise interest rates three more times this year as inflation remains high, economists predict.

       You can follow the latest developments in our live blog.

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