welcome to bbc news, i'm james reynolds. our top stories: the un says millions more children in yemen will suffer malnourishment unless it makes up a shortfall aid caused by the covid—19 pandemic. texas and florida reimpose restrictions after a record number of americans are diagnosed with coronavirus in a day. the chief of police in mexico city survives an assassination attempt by a powerful drugs cartel. the us house votes to make washington dc a state, but the historic step is unlikely to progress.

there's a stark warning that millions of children in yemen could be pushed to the brink of starvation unless international aid is dramatically stepped up. it comes from unicef, the united nations children's organisation. the country faces the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with the covid—19 pandemic compounding the effect of five years of civil war. houthi rebels backed by iran have been fighting yemen's government, itself backed by a saudi—led coalition which is supported by the us and the uk. two million of yemen's children are malnourished, and 1.7 million have been forced to flee their homes. with only half of the country's health facilities in operation, one child dies every ten minutes from a preventable disease. our middle east editorjeremy bowen sent this report, and i must warn you, there are distressing images right from the start. selwa al—odabei is five, the same age as the war. selwa has cerebral atrophy — brain damage caused

by malnutrition she's had since she was two months old. the vicious mixture that is destroying yemen is killing her. a man—made war, man—made hunger, and the coronavirus pandemic‘s grip on a broken country. selwa's parents are among the two million yemenis who have been forced to flee their homes because of the war. herfather, ibrahim, says they can't pay for any more medical treatment. selwa is not the only one. unicef says malnutrition has caused permanent mental and physical damage to 45% of yemen's under—fives.

this is aden — better supplied than most parts of yemen, but still living on the edge. there is food, if you can pay — many cannot. it's 20% more expensive than a fortnight ago, because the currency has crashed. yemen is an easy target for the virus. its citizens‘ immune systems are exhausted, their healthcare system is 50% destroyed by the war. some provinces have two hospital beds for every 10,000 people. this doctor filmed this for us in a covid—i9 ward at his better—off hospital in aden. rich countries could buy thousands more ventilators. the doctor says

they have to turn away most of the patients, whose families beg for them to be treated here. this woman had a chance — a bed in hospital run by the medical charity msf. they couldn't save her. in yemen, 25% of people with confirmed covid—i9 die — five times the global average. it's estimated yemen already has one million cases of covid—i9 — three times more than the uk in a population less than half the size. it feels like the end. it feels like a calamity. they think the world has forgotten them. and it's chaotic and anarchic and desperate. are they right to think that, that the world's forgotten them? unless action‘s ta ken straightaway, we are going to see a tragedy of globally catastrophic

proportions. making everything worse, separatists are fighting a new war to end south yemen's union with the north. it's on top of saudi arabia's intervention five years ago to fight houthi rebels aligned with iran. in the desert, saudi troops are with the southern separatists, trying to observe a ceasefire that so far does not exist. chanting. the un is cutting its aid operation because donors have promised only half the funding they gave last year. unicef says that, in a single day, a child in yemen will suffer more injustice and hardship than most people face in a lifetime. when selwa al—0dabei was a baby, her parents had to escape with her from a hospital bombed by the saudis in a raid that killed 19 civilians.

now she's five, selwa's family have to try again to save her. they feed her with sugar and water, love and prayer. that's all they have. in this war, and this pandemic, it might not be enough. jeremy bowen, bbc news. a little later in the programme we will speak to a middle east expert in washington. the united states has recorded an all—time daily high of 40,000 coronavirus infections, according to figures from the johns hopkins university. two of the country's biggest states, texas and florida, have reimposed some lockdown restrictions. the governor of texas has ordered all bars to close. here's our north america editor, jon sopel. florida seemed to be flourishing — beaches had reopened, bars were buzzing.

the republican—controlled state was one of the first to lift the shutters, despite not meeting government guidelines. but now coronavirus cases are absolutely skyrocketing — up over 60% injust21i hours, and the governor is hitting the pause button, urging people to maintain social distancing and wear masks. but it's not going to be an easy sell. i need you to tell me, how do i play saxophone and sing with a mask on? listen to these people in palm beach. you literally cannot mandate somebody to wear a mask knowing that that mask is killing people. it literally is killing people. and they want to throw god's wonderful breathing system out the door. you're all turning your backs on it. and with the us yesterday recording more cases than at any time in the crisis, the pressure is on the president. i can name kung flu, ican name... cheering and applause. ..19 different versions of name. particularly after holding

a rally in oklahoma last weekend, which has resulted in dozens of campaign staff and dozens of secret service officers having to quarantine with covid symptoms. it does sound, though, like you're saying, "do as we say, not as we do." you're telling people to listen to local officials, but in tulsa you defied local health officials. well, i want to remind you again that the freedom of speech and the right to peacefully assemble is enshrined in the constitution of the united states. and the vice—president played down the severity of the current surge in cases. as we see new cases rising, and we are tracking them very carefully, there may be a tendency among the american people to think that we are back to that place that we were two months ago, that we are in a time of great losses and great hardship on the american people. the reality is we're in a much better place. the president insists it's because so many more people are being tested, like here in san francisco, that more cases are being discovered.

but it's only part of the story. public health officials, though, are far less sanguine about it. they say, unless urgent action is taken to deal with his current surge, then all the sacrifices of the past three months could have been for naught. far from flattening the curve, america seems to be fattening it. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. let's get more on this now — drjoseph mccormick is professor of epidemiology at the university of texas school of public health. doctor mccormick, when we look at young people there is an irony here. the people who feel the most invincible, the young, now appear to be the most dangerous because of the speed they are spreading it. exactly what is happening. i represent an area where my campuses in deep south texas, right on the border of mexico, and just

before our memorial day holiday we we re before our memorial day holiday we were seeing about ten, 11, 12 cases a day, diagnosed cases of covid—i9. two days ago we had of covid—19. two days ago we had 123. now the argument that we are testing more just doesn't hold because what we are seeing is an increase before this big surge, we had a positivity rate of around 20%. of positivity rate of around 20%. of testing. now it is over 50% and our hospitals are threefold more cases than they had before. and what we have observed in our area is that in the days before this surge, the proportion of young people, thatis proportion of young people, that is people under the age of 40, younger people i should say, was about 35%, and since the beginning ofjune until

yesterday, until today, literally, that number has gone up literally, that number has gone up to 65— 70%. and yet the proportion of people hospitalised at that age has only gone up about six or 7%. what that tells you is yes, they are driving the transmission throughout our community, we are seeing cases in every small town throughout the area of cameron county, which is as i said on the border with mexico. this is being driven now by a huge proportion of young people, they are not as sick as the older people but what is happening is they are going back, transmitting it to older people and that has nearly tripled the hospitalisation rates that we saw before. and oui’ rates that we saw before. and our hospitals are now over 100% capacity. professor, very briefly, how might you persuade young people to take this seriously? well, it is a very

difficult thing, because i noticed even today, at your bournemouth beach, they didn't seem to be taking it too seriously there. our area has an island and a resort area where we are seeing the same thing there. the method has got to be, you may take this back to be, you may take this back to your parents, your grandparents, aunts and uncles, and that is exactly what is happening. whether that resonates with these young people i think is another question, i know our school and iam question, i know our school and i am working with the city and cou nty i am working with the city and county where we are to try and develop messages to get out to these people to tell them what is going on. professorjoseph mccormick, thank you so much for joining mccormick, thank you so much forjoining us. for the first time in history, the us house of representatives has approved a measure to make washington, dc the country's 51st state. dc stands, of course, for district of columbia — and it has a population of over 700,000 people, larger than the populations of several states, but residents have no

voting representation in congress. in the house of representatives, the district is represented by a single delegate, who is not to vote on the floor. and dc residents have no representation in the senate. despite the vote in the house, the proposal is almost certain to fail in the senate. i'm joined now by allan lichtman who is an american political historian, academic, and author. appropriately, hejoined us from washington, dc. professor, this is a really fascinating point. you are in washington, dc, you work in washington, dc, and the place where you work, you have no congress member, no senators. can you take us back and explain the reason for this quirk? the reason for the quirk is that the district of columbia was not ever a state, it was a created region to be the nation's capital in the

1790 ‘s when there was not yet a permanent capital, and nobody wa nted a permanent capital, and nobody wanted to go to one of the bigger established cities because that would favour one area over another, and it was totally under the control of the federal government. it wasn't until 1961 that by constitutional amendment the people of the district of columbia got to vote in presidential elections. but as you mentioned, they have no senator, they have no member of congress except the shutter representative with no voting rights. so does the vote in the house of representatives mean that washington, dc might be on the road to statehood, or what about the senate, what about the president? here is a thing, this is only the second time we have had a vote and it was defeated handley way back in the early 1990s. —— handily. now i passed by quite a large

majority with only one democrat voting against it. obviously the grim reaper, as he is known, mitch mcconnell, the senate majority leader is going to let this die in the senate just as he let barack 0bama's appointment of merrick garland for the supreme court die, but we have an election coming up and there is at least a chance that could win the presidency, they are almost certain to hold onto the and they could take back the senate which could open a door to dc statehood because democrats so overwhelmingly favourite. because democrats so overwhelmingly favouritem not washington, dc as a new state, what about puerto rico? well, that would be a possibility as well, i think you might be able to muster democratic votes. what republicans don't want anything to do with dc or puerto rico, and because puerto rico of course is hispanic, although they are all us citizens they don't have statehood, and dc is heavily majority minority, one a puzzlement —— opponent of dc

statehood without explicitly saying it drew and invidious comparison between dc and wyoming which is over 80% white. if you get a big enough democratic majority it is certainly possible, it does not require a constitutional amendment. professor allan lichtman, working in washington without a congressman or single senator, thank you so much for joining us. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: could we soon be un—muting our masks? the talking tech that also protects. members of the neo—nazi resistance movement stormed the world trade center armed with pistols and shotguns. we believe that, according to international law, that we have a rightful claim on certain parts of this country as our land. i take pride in the words "ich bin ein berliner."

cheering as the uk woke up to the news that it is to exit the european union, leave campaigners began celebrating. in total, 17.4 million people voted for the uk to leave the eu. the medical research council have now advised the government that the great increase in lung cancer is due mainly to smoking tobacco. it was closing time for checkpoint charlie, which, for 29 years, has stood on the border as a mark of allied determination to defend the city. this is bbc news, our main headline this hour: the un says aid to yemen must be dramatically stepped up to help save millions of children from the brink of starvation. well let's stay

with this story now: joining us from washington is hassan el—tayyab who is legislative manager for middle east policyt with friends committee on national legislation. we showed in our report earlier, a very bleak picture with starving children. is there any hope that the children will be featured in oui’ children will be featured in our report will, at some stage, be able to have normal childhoods? that is a horrified think that is happening in yemen right now. afterfive yea rs of yemen right now. afterfive years of war, yemenis are especially vulnerable. 13 million people on the brink of famine and 80% of the population need humanitarian assistance right now. the onslaught of the country, with the locate and the bombing has perpetuated the bombings and to make matters worse, juristic

global pandemic, the international community is dropping the ball and they are failing to fully fund unitarian assistance to yemen so it is ha rd to assistance to yemen so it is hard to say whether these children will have a decent childhood. what the international community needs to do is come together and fully fund yemen right now. there's shortages of absolutely everything that is needed to treat the people that so what that will community has to do is come together to and us military support for the saudi campaign and try to find the humanitarian assistance. who stops aid from getting into yemen and why? that is a good question. right now, there is a funding shortages that are definitely happening on the international side. there is a blockade round the country, supported by the saudi arabia and uae and the houthis are

also abstracting unitarian assistance so all—round it is a terrible situation and what is needed right now is the policy to try and open up the country to try and open up the country to get critical assistance to the people who need it most. this is of course a proxy conflict between saudi arabia and iran. do those two countries show any willingness to end this? unfortunately, no. there was a brief moment of optimism when we sold earlier this year saudi arabia announcing a unilateral ceasefire but, during that time, the airstrikes just continued and continued on and the fighting has raged on so, u nfortu nately, the fighting has raged on so, unfortunately, this proxy war has just continued and what is needed is the international community to put pressure on the various players on the ground and on the united states

was make part, we provide logistical support and weapons sale to the coalition so, as my position as a lobbyist, that is what we're trying to do, put pressure on the coalition so they stop their air campaign and putan they stop their air campaign and put an end to the violence. hassan el—tayyab, thank you so much forjoining us. there is more about yemen on oui’ there is more about yemen on our website including on the civil war. the coalition of country fighting against irani and backed huth the rebels. —— houthi. mexico city's security chief has been wounded in an attack that killed two of his body guards. the dramatic incident took place in a wealthy district of mexico city that has until now seen little violence. reged ahmad reports.

in this grainy cctv footage broadcast on mexican television, a group of heavily armed men in an open back truck and suv drive up. blocking off the road, it is understood that they were preparing to open fire on the vehicle of mexico city's security chief, garcia harfuch. the footage zooms in on some of them as one holds up what looks like an assault rifle. residents reported heavy gunfire ringing out for several minutes during the attack. as the security chief's car was sprayed with bullets. translation: a group of men aboard an suv attacked the vehicle, carrying mexico city public security chief, garcia harfuch. he has suffered minor injuries. he is out of danger at the moment and is receiving medical attention at a mexico city hospital. unfortunately, two security members of his team lost their lives. a woman passing by was also killed in the attack

which took place in one of mexico city's wealthy districts. known as a location of ambassadorial residences, this level of violence is unusual for the neighbourhood and has shocked residents. garcia harfuch has been in the jobs and since last october and hours after the attack, apparently from his hospital bed, the security chief tweeted. a gang led by a former police officer, is accused of fuelling record levels of violence in the country as it seeks to eliminate rivals. mexico's president has linked the attack to attempts by authorities to establish order in the city. despite growing drug cartel violence over the decade, the capital has remained relatively calm compared to other parts of the country. officials say a number of arrests have been made and the involvement of the cjng

is just one line of inquiry. they've become one of the most potent symbols of the coronavirus pandemic. i am of course talking about face masks. in some parts of the world, the wearing of them has become a source of political debate. for most though they are seen as a useful aid in combating covid—19. but injapan the face mask can be so much more, as tim allman reports. even before the pandemic, they we re even before the pandemic, they were a familiar sight on the streets and subway trains of japan. the face mask, a potential barrier against disease and perhaps a source of public reassurance. but this is a place where they never pass up a place where they never pass up the opportunity to innovate. let me introduce you to the sea mask, far more than just a bit of personal protective equipment. using bluetooth technology along with a smart

phone or tablet, it can transmit and amplify your voice, making sure a face mask isa voice, making sure a face mask is a smart mask. translation: it is hard to hear what cash is at the supermarket assay because there are petitions to prevent droplets. by wearing this mask, it can improve this communications by transcribing the conversation or delivering the conversation or delivering the sounds of voices. it does not stop there, the sea mask along with its downloadable app can help you make phone calls, send text messages and translate your words into eight different languages. it will cost around $40 and the designers hope to export them to china, america and europe. a very smart mask, no matter what else you're wearing. tim allman, bbc news. does your mask do any translation for you ? do does your mask do any translation for you? do let me

know. i am on twitter. do state with bbc news. —— stay. hello. we've seen some fairly lively weather developing over the past 24 hours. the recent heat and humidity giving away to some heavy showers and thunderstorms too. and as we head into the weekend now, things are going to be turning increasingly cool and quite windy, with some rain around the times too. all down to the low pressure moving its way in from the west and so, lots of heavy showers rotating around that area of low pressure, still quite humid out there but cooler air moving in from the southwest. plenty of heavy showers through the day on saturday, making their way gradually northwards and eastwards across the uk, it may dry up a bit across southern counties of england in the afternoon at some sunny spots developing their but still some showers to the midlands and wales, showers or northern ireland and parts of northern england to be quite heavy and potentially thundering later on and for scotland we are expecting torrential downpours at times with some thunderstorms interspersed with some sunshine but temperatures generally

in the high teens possibly at the low 20s and you will notice those winds will be picking up, especially in the south we could see those gusts wins about 40 miles proper along the south coast. 0vernight into sunday, no great changes we keep for the showers to the overnight period and it will not be quite us hot and humid as recent nights with temperatures typically about ten to 13 degrees overnight. heading on into sunday, the area of low pressure just to the north of the uk, most of the showery rain on sunday will be in the north and the northwest, particularly for northern ireland, north wales, northern england and scotland too. further south across england, you should stay mostly dry, but wherever you are, you will notice the strength of the wind, gusts from 30 to 40 mph. stronger than that in the hills in the north. getting to sunday,

quite a bit lower than recent days from 14 to 20 degrees and as we move on into next week, we still have the area of low pressure not far away and it will start to feel and move towards the east, but certainly for monday, another day of sunny spells and blustery showers and more of the showers once again on monday across northern and north western parts of the uk. fewer showers reaching further south, but much colder compared to recent days from 14 to 18 degrees on monday. so, we start next week on that showery windy note, where the showers should ease through the weekend. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines:

the un says millions more children in yemen could suffer malnourishment after a shortfall in funding caused by the covid—19 pandemic. the country is five years into a civil war that's already led to what's seen as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. the unicef agency's urgently appealing for aid. in the us, the states of florida and texas reimpose some restrictions as the number of coronavirus cases rises steeply. a record high of around 40,000 people were diagnosed with covid—19 in the last day. doctors say they're treating an increasing number of younger patients. the police chief of mexico city has survived an assassination attempt that he's blamed on a powerful drugs cartel. 0mar garcia harfuch was shot and injured when gunmen opened fire in a wealthy part of the mexican capital. two of his bodyguards and a passerby died in the attack.