a senior aide to the uk prime minister faces calls to resign after he travelled hundreds of miles with his wife — who had virus symptoms — during the lockdown. the government defended him, saying he wanted to stay with family to ensure he had childcare if he got symptoms of coronavirus. businesses will be expected to pay a quarter of the wages of furloughed workers from the start of august. and guernsey becomes the first part of the british isles to remove nearly all its lockdown restrictions the pakistan govenrnment launches an official inquiry to investigate the plane crash that killed at least 97 people — but the pakistan pilots‘ association says it has ‘no faith‘ in the official investigation. spain's prime minister, pedro sanchez, says overseas visitors can visit the country from july and top flight spanish football will resume behind closed doors next month

more news at the top of the hour. now on bbc news. how a robotics company ceo and a software entrepreneur fight to establish their start—ups in wu han‘s fast—growing new technology sector. wuhan, china's economic heartland. and the epicentre of a global pandemic. the city at the heart of a public health crisis in china is shutting its public transport network to try to prevent the spread of the virus. in the spring of 2017, we set out to follow the fortunes of two companies as they fought to establish themselves in the city's optics valley. a dedicated zone for new technology enterprises, it's part of the move to transform the city's economy. this is the story of some of the people who live and work in the city.

and the story of wuhan before and after the arrival of the coronavirus that would change all of our lives. the city of wuhan is the capital of central china's hubei province. home to 11 million people, it lies at the confluence of the han and yangtze rivers. known as the cradle of chinese civilisation, the yangtze is the longest river in the world to flow entirely within one country. and it was here in wuhan that, in 1966, chairman mao zedong

made his famous swim — aged 73 — to prove he still had the stamina to run the nation. xujishui xu jishui came to

xujishui came to wuhan to xu jishui came to wuhan to pursue his education. a farmer lecture, he now heads up —— if a farmer lecturer, he now heads up the robotics company. xu's company began working car assembly. the competition was tough. and the company is now automating the distillation process for a local white liquorfactory.

for xu, forxu, and for xu, and his business partners, there are constant challenges. one of the young technicians was recently caught breaking health and safety regulations and it is not the first time.

huang tiesen also came to it wuhan to make his name. has a start—up company is trying to market software that will enable fruit retailers to adjust their stock price according to real time. but after a year, there has been little sign of success. there has been little sign of success. staff are becoming nervous. this man as a front—end programmer who has been with the business since it began.

he chose wuhan to set up his company, hoping to break into this major new technology centre. he turned to as technical director to discuss finding a replacement

programmer, but the cream of the crop has been snapped up by all of the big players. tiesing lives with his girlfriend who's in charge of operations another company.

the business premises are also their personal residence. xu visits the distillery to offer a personal apology to his client after one of the young technicians was caught breaking health and safety

regulations. in china, sitting down over a meal is the best way of clearing the air. the client is a piece for the moment. but xu has to make sure that they deliver on time. he dismisses

they deliver on time. he dismisses the technician at fault as a warning to others. his business partner disapproves.

it isa it is a difference of opinion that will lead to trouble between the partners. tiesing is also feeling the pressure. he is trying to persuade fruit retailers of the benefits of online to off—line commerce. but the investment he got a year ago is running dry and he can barely afford to staff wages.

an average of 70 start—ups are registered every day, and over the past 20 years, the population of optics valley alone has jumped 11 fold in nearly 2 million. this is established in part to encourage young talent from the city is 80 plus universities to stay wuhan.

pearson plasma, matter, this centre technology. —— tiesing's alma matter. named business matchmaker for...

in spite of tiesing's shortcomings, professor liu can see promising. but she gives him a strong running. —— a strong warning. in the 19th century, wuhan was known throughout the west as a major commercial port and trading centre for tea and tobacco. due to its

prime location, it later establish itself as a home to heavy industry. the recent push to establish the city as a burgeoning hub for tech companies means businesses have had to move fast to keep up. at this robotics company, an emergency meeting of senior management has been called to discuss at the status of the distillery project. with the deadline looming, xu notices something he was not expecting.

it seems that his partner had been taking things into his own hands. he has been orders to continue production for another project.

with the clock ticking and a senior management at odds, not only is the prompt delivery of the robot is in doubt, but the company's entire operation is called into question.

beijing, capital of china and the dream destination for all start—ups. for dot—com businesses, this part in the north—west part of the city is a nswer to the north—west part of the city is answer to china's silicon valley. business broker professor liu is prepping her young entrepreneurs from optics valley. single gets its first black mark. —— senguo.

with two black marks already in progress liu's book, tiesing is a bad start. tiesing and his partner meet with an investor who sought them out.

they meet with other investors throughout the day.

desperate not to lose his one chance at getting an injection of new capital, tiesing intercept the investor who had specifically wanted to see him.

in wuhan, xu's business partner is frustrated with the way the emergency meeting went.

at the end of an unsuccessful day of meetings, tiesing is also worried about the future of his company. and the next episode, tiesing and his girlfriend's relationship comes under pressure. and xujishui and xu jishui struggles with setbacks.

a lot of sunshine around today but there is also quite a few blustery showers about and across the northern half of the uk the winds have been howling in the last day or so especially around western scotland, the pennines, the highlands as well, and on top of that heavy rain. this is the low pressure that has brought the rough weather to northern parts. still close by so it is making its presence felt but the south of the country is closer to the high

pressure so you have two extremes with the rough weather in the north but further south it is not quite as windy although it is still quite blustery and here we are closer to the high pressure. winds in the north in excess of 50 mph through the afternoon and through the midlands in excess of a0 mph. temperatures vary from the high teens to maybe 20 in london. much fresher off western scotland. the rain and wind will continue for a time through this evening. rain may last all through the night through western scotland and rather a lot of it. patchy rain extending into the lake district and parts of yorkshire and to the south it is going to be dry. it starts off dry and sunny in the south but you can see in northern area is always a bit more cloud. that cloud and any rain should eventually fade so most of us are left with a decent day on sunday. the best of the weather closer

to the high pressure in the south so we have 18 in plymouth and 22 in london. sunday is going to feel warmer because the winds will feel lighter. high pressure builds from the south next week but it is always on the edge of us and we are expecting weather fronts to brush the north—west of the uk so that means northern ireland and western scotland in for some and rain on monday in for some cloud and rain on monday but the vast majority of the uk is in for sunshine and with southerly winds those temperatures will be rising back up to 25 in london and 20 in newcastle in the week ahead so if you like the warm weather it's looking very promising with temperatures climbing and there is a possibility they could hit the high 20s sometime next week in the south. goodbye.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a senior aide to the uk prime minister, dominic cummings, faces calls to resign after he travelled hundreds of miles with his wife who had coronavirus syptoms during the lockdown. who cares? is a question of doing the right thing. it's not about what you guys want. the government defended him, saying he wanted to stay with family to ensure he had childcare if he got symptoms of coronavirus. mrcummings is in mr cummings is in the public eye, but the reality of the matter is a four—year—old child's welfare is the important thing. businesses will be expected to pay a quarter of the wages of furloughed workers, from the start of august. and guernsey becomes the first part of the british isles to remove