this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: rallies to rememberjuneteenth, the day americans mark the formal end of slavery 155 years ago. it is about a reminder that we are not truly free, that there is so much work that needs to be done. brazil's coronavirus epidemic hits over a million cases, with almost 55,000 new infections over the past 2a hours alone. with casualties rising in the fight againstjihadis, tens of thousands join an anti—government protest in mali. and the head of russia's foreign intelligence service tells the bbc that america has been trying to "rule the world"

and this could lead to "disaster." hello, and welcome. juneteenth — also known as freedom day or the "black fourth of july" — is an unofficial annual holiday in the united states. the word is a combination of "june" and "nineteenth," and it celebrates the emancipation of african—americans from slavery. this year, the 155th anniversary comes as the country grapples with its long—standing history of racial tensions, and people are holding rallies all over the us to celebrate. the bbc‘s nick bryant looks at how people have been marking juneteenth. say his name! crowd: george floyd! it's normally a date in the national calendar that,

for white americans at least, passes without much notice or recognition. but this year, juneteenth falls in the midst of the most widespread racial protests we've witnessed since the late 1960s, and is therefore loaded with much more meaning. events that often have a celebratory feel and revel in the richness in african—american culture feel more politically—charged and momentous. the cry once more is black lives matter. we have never truly been free in america, but that's what this movement is about today. it's about a reminder that we are not truly free. that there's so much work that needs to be done. this was a march in the nation's capital led by basketball stars from the washington wizards. 0n the eve ofjuneteenth, this confederate monument was removed from a suburb of atlanta, just the latest symbol toppled since the killing of george floyd in minneapolis. and these were portraits of former house speakers who served in the confederacy being taken down from the corridors of power on capitol hill.

there's no room in the hallowed halls of this democracy, this temple of democracy, to memorialise people who embody violent bigotry and grotesque racism of the confederacy. my dear citizens... there's been no address from the american president, but his wife, melania trump, released this video statement. ..as our country works through the racial issues that we still face today, it is important to remember we are one global community. because of juneteenth and accusations of racial insensitivity, donald trump postponed his first political rally since public gatherings were shut down. it's being held in tulsa, 0klahoma, an especially controversial setting because it was the site of a black massacre in the 1920s. this is a day that marks freedom and emancipation, but these protests are yet another reminder that african—america ns have yet to achieve genuine racial equality. some american corporations for the first time granted

employees the day off for juneteenth, and there are growing calls to make it an official us holiday. america's racial reckoning shows no sign of abating. nick bryant, bbc news, new york. the civil rights activist reverend al sharpton has been speaking to crowds in tulsa in oklahoma. he inverted one of president trump's favourite slogans, saying those fighting racism were the ones who could make america great for everybody for the first time. you can't be great when you handcuff a man, and even handcuffed, falling to the ground, over $20, and put his neck down, your knee on his neck, and hold it there, and hold it till his body's limp, and you are full of such venom

and hate that you keep your knee on the neck of a man that could not get up and could not breathe. that is not greatness. greatness is when blacks and whites and latinos and asians, and original americans, hit the streets all over this country and march against your teargas, and march against your rubber bullets, and march against a military occupation you threaten, and march anyhow. that's what will make america great. applause. dr daina berry is an authora and historian. she says the day has been celebrated by african—america ns since the abolition of slavery. juneteenth has been celebrated since the moment african—america ns in texas learned of their freedom in 1865 and they started having

formalised celebrations as early as a year later in 1866. and in cities like houston, there are large parks, emancipation park, where african—americans go every year and celebrate and these are now becoming much more multicultural celebrations of parades and speeches and all kinds of things. so maybe the large media hasn't heard of juneteenth, but many african—americans have and many people have been celebrating it since the day slavery ended. and what do you make of the fact that the president didn't seem to have heard of it? well, that actually didn't surprise me too much. i'm not surprised that he doesn't have much sensitivity to other cultures, from what we've seen, and he doesn't seem to care too much about african—american culture. by the way, i like he is cleaning some of the challenges were having now with visible brutality from the hands of the police and american citizens. so don't think that he's sensitive to these kinds of issues and i'm happy he cancelled the rally, but i think it was a poor choice to have a rally in tulsa at this time.

yeah, that rally going ahead saturday evening, so a few hours away yet. back onto the context that juneteenth is being marked this year, with the death of george floyd, and we're starting to see, you know, concrete, real changes and things like the way police forces are organised and there are small changes in different areas of the united states. what would you like to see next? i'd like to see more reform. and i'm happy for the baby steps, but i think it's time that we dealt with the issue of racism and the ramifications of the ways in which people of colour have been treated in this country. there needs to be not only police reform but there needs to be economic reform, there needs to be reform in schools. i mean, a lot of the legislation from the late 1890s, early 19th century had to do with segregation and putting african—america ns and other people of colour underneath white superiority. and that has changed over the years, but we need

to see more change. we need to see legislation changed, we need to see the way people are prosecuted changed. we need is the way in which african—americans, in particular, are highly incarcerated at different rates and the ways in which justice is meted out is not at all so much their white brothers and sisters. dr daina berry there. the number of people who've tested positive for covid—19 in brazil has passed one million, only the second country to do so after the united states. brazil has now registered a total of nearly 119,000 deaths. 0ur correspondent katy watson says friday also saw a new record daily number of cases, suggesting the outbreak is far from over. we've seen 5a,000—plus now cases being registered on friday night. that is 20,000 more than the last record, earlier this week.

now, the health ministry has said that in part it was due to inaccurate reporting from several states earlier this week, but numbers are numbers. the fact is that the numbers of cases here in brazil are still rising at an ever—increasing rate, and the death toll as well. we have seen for four nights in a row more than 1,200 fatalities, so it's still very much in the middle of the crisis of the pandemic here in brazil. so huge numbers, katy. how are the political leadership responding to these numbers? very little. jair bolsonaro continues with his push to reopen the economy. for a long time, jair bolsonaro was at odds with the state governors who had imposed quarantine measures, but it feels like the pressure is filtering down. here in sao paulo, in rio as well, they're starting to reopen, trying to get back to some sort of normality. but, as you mentioned, this concern that it's going towards the interior of the country, inland, and there is less pressure on the cities.

but in the smaller towns and cities of brazil, there's still a big concern about the spread of the virus there. and what about the spread of the virus throughout the continent, i suppose — the world health organization saying this isn't defeated until it is defeated in every country, and that is the real worry. absolutely, i mean, brazil is not alone in this. we've seen a big spike in chile, in peru. and peru was a country that had a very early lockdown, very tough lockdown. the president was seen as taking, you know, tough measures, doing very well in it, but it has seen a spike in the numbers. argentina also had a very strict lockdown, and they have fared relatively better. but the eyes of the world are sadly on brazil here, because of the sheer number. of course, it is the biggest country, but it's also battling, you know, the biggest problem, and politically, certainly, there hasn't been the leadership that many people here in brazil would have liked to see. tens of thousands of people have taken part in an anti—government

protest in mali. they are calling on the president to resign, saying the west african country is suffering from political paralysis, economic decline and a long—running jihadist insurgency. simonjones reports. a show of defiance in the malian capital, bamako. protesters gather in independence square in numbers, calling for immediate change. they want a new plan to curb corruption and to fix the failing economy, but their main demand is that president ibrahim boubacar keita must go. translation: we are here to bring about an end to corruption, to bring about an end to prejudice, to bring about an end to this dying power which is no longer capable of educating our children, keeping us healthy and equipping our army. mali has been in the grip of a islamist insurgency that has lasted for eight years and cost thousands of lives. president keita is accused

of failing to contain it. earlier this week he did offer an olive branch to his critics. speaking french speaking in parliament, he said he would start talks to form a unity government. but it is not enough for opposition groups. they have come together to form their own coalition, and have sent a letter to the presidential palace, listing their demands. if there's no reply, they're warning of civil disobedience and threatening to occupy strategic locations. a delegation from the economic community of west african states, who have been in the country to talk to both sides, has so far failed to defuse tensions, meaning the instability is set to continue. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come:

the climate is now changing so rapidly it is now possible to grow wine in norway. there was a bomb in the city centre. a code word known to be one used by the ira was given. army bomb experts were examining a suspect van when there was a huge explosion. the south african parliament has destroyed the foundation of apartheid by abolishing the population registration act, which for 40 years, forcibly classified each citizen according to race. just a day old, and the royal baby is tonight sleeping in his cot at home. early this evening, the new prince was taken by his mother and father to their apartments in kensington palace. germany's parliament, the bundestag, has voted by a narrow majority to move the seat of government from bonn to berlin. berliners celebrated into the night, but the decision was greeted with shock in bonn. the real focus of attention today was valentina tereshkova, the world's first woman cosmonaut. what do you think of the russian woman in space?

i think it's a wonderful achievement and i think we might be able to persuade the wife it would be a good idea if i could to get her to go up there for a little while. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: after weeks of protests over the death of george floyd, rallies are being held to mark juneteenth, the unofficial holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the united states. suffering the world's worst outbreak of coronavirus — outside the united states — brazil has reached over a million cases, and 119,000 deaths. now, if you wanted to know more about what juneteenth actually commemorates, take a look at this. we spoke to dr greg carr, professor of afro—american studies at harvard university, and a number of americans

planning to celebrate. juneteenth is an opportunity to pay respect to who we are as black people and really sit in that. juneteenth is a celebration of life. it's a celebration of life. it's a celebration of life. it's a celebration of freedom. it's extremely important that that oi'i extremely important that that ona extremely important that that on a personal level we take time to pause and reflect and look at where we are, where we've been and where we need to go. if you don't normally celebrate juneteenth, you go. if you don't normally celebratejuneteenth, you may recently have heard about the holiday or even gotten the day off work so what is juneteenth? the holiday celebrates the end of slavery in the us. it marks the day june of slavery in the us. it marks the dayjune 19, of slavery in the us. it marks the dayjune19, that slaves in galveston, texas, found out they had been liberated by the emancipation proclamation, officially freeing slaves in 1863, but this wasn't

communicated in still two years later in june, 1865. communicated in still two years later in june, 1865. it represents black folks' attem pts represents black folks' atte m pts to represents black folks' attempts to build a holiday, build a ritual and institutions they controlled. from 1866 through the end of the 19th century, it was largely a southern ritual. coming into the 20th century, there was a lull between world war i and two, african—americans were fighting fascism abroad and demanding rates at home. so there was more of a look towards july four as and expression of americanism. but then you see a rebirth ofjune 19 in the 60s and 70s. what we see now is a country that is in the self examination. and the celebration of juneteenth a year ago this time would have been acknowledged, would have

been acknowledged, would have been discussed, but now it's not only being acknowledged, it's not being discussed, it being embraced and we may be on the verge of perhaps seeing the latest american official federal holiday. so, what are we going to do for the juneteenth, y'all. there is no reason it should be a national holiday at this point. although juneteenth isn't taught in schools and isn't considered a federal holiday, this year it is more widely recognised. this will be my first year actually celebrating it. i actually took the day. this will be the third yearl the day. this will be the third year i have celebrated some juneteenth actively. i became aware of juneteenth probably about, say, 20—25 years ago.|j celebrated juneteenth my whole life. i'm from texas, my family has a farm which was purchased in 1876. and with this, my grandmother made a year early,

annual celebration where we would go celebrate some juneteenth with our community. they will not be at work. i will be somewhere else and paying respect to my ancestors. this year with covid—19 am actually making masks, and i will be going down to dc to pass them out to the homeless. i wanted to use my time to actually help protect the people in our communities that actually need protecting. unfortunately for the majority population of white americans, they are not fully aware of it asa they are not fully aware of it as a celebration. and i think they should be. i think we all should be. ithink they should be. i think we all should be. i think everyone needs to learn a little more about juneteenth, which then causes a ripple effect that we learn more about the history of this country with black people. the bbc has been granted exclusive access into russia's foreign intelligence service. the director, sergei naryshkin criticised america accusing it of trying to "rule the world". he also said russia doesn't

trust what britain says about the salisbury poisonings. 0ur moscow correspondent steve rosenberg reports. he runs one of russia's most secretive organisations, but sergei naryshkin agreed to meet me — the first time foreign media have been allowed inside russia's equivalent of m16. and he quickly took aim at america. translation: i think some politicians in the west had false expectations. they felt like that the world could be ruled from one centre — washington. the most important lesson from the past is that, if any country tries to rule the world all by itself, this will undoubtedly end in disaster. sergei naryshkin is a close ally of vladimir putin. they've known each other since their kgb days. western leaders regularly accuse russia of waging a hybrid war against the west.

the european union only recently accused russia of a campaign of disinformation over coronavirus. why is russia doing this? do you accept that it's happening? how can they say disinformation? russia sincerely offered to help our friend italy fight coronavirus. we sent them equipment and hundreds of military doctors. what kind of disinformation is that? but can you understand why perhaps in the west there is a lack of trust towards russia at the moment, when you look at some of the things that have been happening, like the salisbury poisonings, that britain believes russia is behind? we don't trust what the british government's been saying about salisbury. when they say it's "highly likely" that russia's to blame, we're not convinced by that. and, as moscow prepares for a giant world war ii victory parade on red square, russia's spy chief accuses the west of downplaying his country's role in defeating

hitler. many young people in the west and eastern europe think it was the usa alone that defeated nazi germany and liberated europe. such ignorance is not accidental. it's deliberate — to create the impression that everything good in the past and the present is connected with one country, america. social distancing rules are less stringent in russia, so what are the chances of a closer relationship between moscow and the west? well, russia's foreign intelligence chief had praise for one englishman, at least — winston churchill, seen here with the soviet dictatorjoseph stalin. he was shocked that the churchill statue in london had been targeted by protesters.

churchill was a great man, a great political leader. i think it's a real shame about the statue. how can you treat your own history like that? the russian spy who thinks the past needs guarding as much as the present. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. sri lanka's tourism sector contributes around 11% to its gdp, but the country has been closed to holidaymakers since its strict coronavirus lockdown. now there are some novel plans to lure travellers back, as reged ahmad reports. about 15 metres underwater, with divers dressed as mermaids, a sri lankan navy commander cuts a ribbon to declare this underwater museum open. based in the southern port city of gala, the navy says it is the first of its kind in the country. the statues are made from discarded concrete and steel, and the project aims to encourage the regeneration of corals and fish breeding. gala is a favourite for holidaymakers. in 2019, sri lanka as a whole

attracted around 2 million tourists. but the country's strict lockdown in march brought its multibillion—dollar tourism industry to a screeching halt. the curbs included a 24—hour nationwide curfew and a ban on any gathering. sri lanka's covid—19 case numbers and deaths remain very low compared to other countries, and its lockdown restrictions have been easing in recent weeks. earlier this month, officials held mock elections to test out new coronavirus voting measures ahead of parliamentary elections rescheduled for august. that is also when sri lanka is planning to open its borders to tourists, and it is hoping sites like these might help bring travellers back to its shores. reged ahmad, bbc news. the uk government is planning to relax its travel quarantine

early next month for some people arriving in the uk. warmer temperatures as a result of climate change have had an unusual effect on norway. it's not a country usually known as a wine producer. the bbc‘s tim allman explains. when you think of wine production, you probably consider countries like france, italy or spain. well, how about norway? this is sognefjord, which is on the same latitude as greenland and alaska. but that hasn't stopped bjorn and his wife setting up their own thriving vineyard. translation: here, we succeeded in going 55 different types like chardonnay and pinot noir. for me, as a wine peasant, climate change is positive because the weather gets warmer. in the last few decades, average temperatures in norway have increased

by more than 1 celsius. by some estimates, that figure could go up by another three degrees by the end of the century. but according to bjorn, the impact is already being felt. translation: the seasons are getting longer, they start earlier and end later. the days are so long and we have 30—a0% more daylight than in france. for now, this is still a small operation, producing only a limited number of bottles. but crucially, what does it taste like? "good, a bit acidic," says this man, "but really good." bjorn is ambitious, but believes in a few decades there may be vineyards all over the country. isn't it fine, norwegian wine? tim allman, bbc news. all right. that's just about it from me for the moment. i'll be backin from me for the moment. i'll be back ina from me for the moment. i'll be back in a couple of minutes

with the headlines. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @lvaughan jones. i'm lewis vaughan jones, i'm lewis vaughanjones, you're watching bbc. bye—bye. hello. the weather through the course of the weekend is looking a little bit mixed. we'll see some settled, largely dry weather, i think, on saturday. but do expect a bit more rain overnight, and into sunday as well. this picture was taken on friday afternoon in highland scotland, some blue sky and some shower cloud around there. for most of us on saturday, we're looking at a largely dry day. some spells of sunshine, similar to this. just one or two showers around, but i think most people should avoid them. so we have got this ridge of higher pressure building in. that should hold onto the weather for saturday. but this area of low pressure, this weather front, not far away. that'll be more of a player

through saturday night, and into sunday too. so we start the morning, a few misty patches around. one or two early showers across parts of southern england, south wales as well. they'll drift through parts of the midlands into eastern england, i think, during the afternoon, but they are pretty hit—and—miss. many places staying dry, with some long spells of sunshine. it'll feel pleasantly warm, with temperatures between about 18—21 for most of us. but the winds will be picking up in the west, and we'll see that rain arriving into ireland, pushing into wales, western parts of england and scotland. and then overnight, the band of rain will sweep its way eastwards, so i think we're all going to be seeing a spell of wet weather overnight and into the early hours of sunday morning. but still mild certainly overnight, with those temperatures holding in the teens for most of us. but, through the day on sunday, this cold front is going to push its way eastwards, so it will introduce some slightly cooler, fresher air coming in from the west. quite blustery conditions, as well. afairamount of isobars on that map. through the day on sunday, then, those showers push their way gradually eastwards. there will be some sunshine, but further heavy downpours moving in, particularly for northern ireland and western scotland later on in the day.

perhaps a few between western england and north wales, too. quite blustery winds, too, coming in from a south—westerly direction through the day on sunday. so temperatures still not bad for the time of year, somewhere between about 17—22 degrees. but it will feel that little bit fresher, particularly with the showers and the breeze around, too. as we move through monday and into tuesday, then well, you'll notice a weather trying to push into the north—west, but we've got an area of high pressure building out towards the east, and that combination is going to be moving this quite warm, humid air up across the uk. so if we have a look at the outlook into the new working week, still a few showers around in the north, but temperatures on the rise for all of us. we could see highs up to about 31 degrees in london. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines: rallies are being held across america to markjuneteenth, an unofficial holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the united states. demonstrations demanding justice are taking place in many cities. the day has taken on extra significance this year in response to the black lives matter movement. brazil has now recorded over a million cases of coronavirus, and 119,000 deaths. it's the second worst—affected country after the united states. the latest 2a— hour total is the highest of the epidemic and the virus appears to be spreading into rural areas, especially in the amazon. thousands of people have taken part in an anti—government protest in the capital of mali. they called on the president to resign, saying he has failed to contain an 8—year islamist insurgency which has killed thousands. the president has pledged to form a new government including the opposition.