this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm lewis vaughan—jones. the uk prepares to ease travel restrictions, allowing people to go on holiday to much of europe without having to quarantine when they return. president trump signs an executive order protecting us statues and monuments, calling for long prison sentences for people who vandalise them. malawi's opposition leader wins the presidential election, a dramatic reversal of last year's discredited result. and ireland has a new government. micheal martin has been elected taoiseach at a special sitting of parliament. he will lead a three—party coaltion.

the british government will make it easier for holiday—makers to travel to much of europe this summer, including spain, france and greece. from the 6th ofjuly, people arriving in the uk from a country considered to be at "low risk" from coronavirus won't have to self—isolate for m days. but there are calls for further clarifications, as our transport correspondent tom burridge reports. jetting off abroad should soon become easier because much of europe is set to be exempt from the government's travel quarantine. self—isolation would be a real barrier to going away because of the timing of our holiday, so when we get back, we haven't got 1a days before our little ones need to go back to school. they've missed out so much, we can't have them missing out on any more. a series of travel corridors

are set to take effect from july the 6th, meaning people won't have to self—isolate. it's almost certain that big holiday destinations like spain, france, italy, greece and turkey will be included. however, the final list is expected to be much longer than that. countries like sweden will probably not feature, and there's confusion over portugal. ferry companies are getting ready. the number of passengers crossing is set to rise. but emma jane, who's been shielding, has cancelled her holiday to france. quarantine makes no difference to me, i've got a motorhome with air conditioning and fridge, i'm happy, i've got my ice cream, but if i can't get across the border, that's a whole different thing because the air corridor doesn't mean they'll guarantee the ferries are running, it doesn't mean they are going to guarantee they're not going to shut the tunnel. it's just too high—risk. i can't risk not being able get home. we believe that it can be safe to operate without

the need for quarantine. but for airlines, which have been battered by the pandemic, it's a move in the right direction. we really need to move quickly to establish some safe corridors. we're not talking about throwing it open to the entire world. where it is safe to operate, we fundamentally believe that we are also safe to operate and we need to do that quickly. eurotunnel says bookings have exploded in the past 2a hours since the government said it would relax its travel advice abroad. german tourists have already been filling flights into majorca. if brits are also to be welcomed in european resorts, the virus needs to remain under control back home in the uk. that was the warning from greece. given the fact that the uk's in the right direction, it's a matter of a few days or a few weeks to ensure all restrictions are lifted.

managing the crowds might help, but no—one can predict what will happen in different countries throughout the summer. tom burridge, bbc news. so, is the uk government going far enough to help the tourism industry? paul charles is the spokesperson for the campaign group quash quarantine and the founder of travel pr company the pc agency. we certainly welcome the move to a traffic light system, and it is good to see the government has done a u—turn on blanket quarantine measures, which were never sensible, enforceable, they were poorly thought out. so, the traffic light system is a step in the right direction. what we need to see from government is now the detail on the bones of this system. which countries are going to be in which zones, amber, green and red, and when will we be able to travel to each of those zones. undoubtedly there will be some people who prefer to stay in the uk, and in fact domestic

bookings soared in recent weeks because people in some cases want to stay at home. but there is huge pent—up demand to travel not only across europe, but to some long—haul destinations as well. and it's important government lays out as soon as possible this week as to how those destinations will open up and which destinations will be green, amberand red. president trump has signed an executive order designed to protect us statues and monuments after some were targeted by anti—racism protesters. the president called for "long prison sentences" for what he described as "lawless acts". demonstrators tried to pull down a statue of one of his predecessors, andrew jackson, outside the white house earlier this week. julia manchester, political reporter at the hill website, told us what she sees as the objective of the executive order. well, it's basically meant to enforce, or maybe more strictly enforce, a number of already existing

laws and statutes that prevent any vandalisation of these statues. so, there's already an act that protects veteran statues across the country. however, it's not clear how this would further enforce that. you know, it seems that president trump really is trying to take a firm stance on this and really trying to appeal to a lot of his political base that would be against the removing of these statues. however, one new portion of the executive order does state that the president is essentially calling for a number of districts that may be more lenient in terms of the vandalisation of statues to have theirfunding limited. at this point, i don't think it will be effective in its current form. now, we could get more details, more guidance from the white house about how they will continue to essentially enforce this, but it's hard to imagine having us soldiers and national guardsmen and authorities essentially crowding around all of these statues across the country when we're in the middle of a global

pandemic and there are other things obviously plaguing the country right now. but, you know, i think they're obviously, in the immediate future, going to keep an eye on any plans to remove a number of statues. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. mississippi lawmakers have taken the first step towards changing the state flag. nationwide protests against racial injustice have refocused attention on the last remaining state to feature a confederate emblem. the house of representatives voted in favour of a bill creating a new design free of confederate iconography. protesters have surrounded the police department building in aurora, colorado, demanding justice, they say, for a young black man who died in police custody. elijah mcclain was put in a chokehold and injected with the sedative ketamine in denver last year. the authorities are to re—examine his death after a petition was signed by more than 2 million people.

his case is among several to receive renewed attention following the death of george floyd last month. iran's supreme leader, ayatollah khamenei, has said his country is one of the world's most successful in combating coronavirus. but he added the initial momentum to contain the virus had "waned". iran saw a surge in cases in recent weeks. a fundraising summit headed by the european union has raised more than $7 billion for the fight against coronavirus. the virtual event, attended by world leaders, sport stars, actors and musicians, is part of a campaign to produce a cheap and widely available vaccine and treatments for the illness. six people have been arrested in france over the theft of an artwork by the graffiti artist banksy commemorating the victims of the 2015 paris terror attacks. the work was stolen from the bataclan concert hall last year and was discovered at a farmhouse in italy earlier this month. the arrests were made near the italian border.

malawi's opposition leader, lazarus chakwera, has been declared the country's new president after a re—run election. 13 months ago, incumbent peter mutharika won, but it was annulled after evidence emerged of widespread vote—rigging. the result means malawi has become the first country in sub—saharan africa to annul a flawed election and then see a democratic transfer of power to the opposition. reged ahmed reports. counting and tallying the votes earlier this week, this election was a rerun of a discredited presidential poll from 2019. when the incumbent peter mutharika won a narrow victory last year, the opposition disputed the election, sparking anger and months of antigovernment protests, a rare sight in

malawi. in february, the country's highest court, in a decision described as landmark, overturned the results, citing systematic and grave regularities. now the final results have come in and the opposition candidate, lazarus cha kwera, has been declared the winner. the prelimnary results showed him as having a lead, and this result appears decisive. malawi's current president has been in power since 2014, but since he cast his ballot in a fresh poll he's also complained of irregularities. but some of the governing party's public election monitors have been attacked by the opposition. 15 are now missing. this election is the worst in malawi's history.

the opposition has denied the allegations. the president has not yet called for the vote annulled instead of asking malawi tries to move on peacefully. some are seeing that it is a sign that the president may now be willing to move on himself. whatever happens next, these fresh elections have been viewed by some as a key test case for malawi and the african continent. then the powers of the courts to halt electoral fraud and restrain presidential power. reged ahmed, bbc news. the producers of the simpsons are to stop using white actors for the voices of characters from other ethnic backgrounds. the cartoon series has been criticised for years over white actor hank azaria's voiceover of indian character apu. mr azaria said earlier this year he was stepping down from the role. friday's announcement comes in the wake of the black lives matter protests, sparked by the death of african—american george floyd. two years ago, entertainment journalist piya sinha—roy wrote an article for entertainment weekly about the problems caused by stereotyping south asians. i got her reaction a short while ago to the simpsons' decision. i think this is very long overdue. and it's needed, it's

amazing to me how animation which is actually free from perhaps a lot of the restrictions that are put on live action, how animation is still overwhelmingly white and male behind the scenes. and so it always seemed crazy to me that apu, one of the only representations of south asians in western tv through the ‘90s, was voiced by a white man who did a caricature of him and put on a very fake accent for him and that became the norm associated with south asians. so this is very long overdue, and while it is frustrating it's taken so long, i'm glad to see change is happening. how damaging do you think that stereotype has been? i can tell you as someone who grew up in surrey, i faced direct bullying associated with apu as a child because people started using the caricature in a derogatory way to bully me. and to make assumptions about south asians in general,

that south asians are shady grocery dealers or that they have these funny accents that become comedic. and there really were not other south asian characters on tv in england or in america regularly at that time, so that became the norm that then influenced an entire generation and their view of the south asians diaspora in england and america. and that it's hugely damaging. our entire generation, second—generation children have been working very hard towards combating that caricature for so long. and the debates over this character and this issue have been going on for years. is it a testament to the power of this particular moment, this black lives matter protest, that things are starting to change now so quickly when they hadn't before. i do think that the resurgence

in the black lives matter movement has led to an awareness among the white population about systemic racism. before it was always focused on police brutality on the black community, but now it is becoming obvious that the system, the very fabric of our society, every arm, there are prejudices and discrimination taking place which has led to the overall perceptions and ideas around the minority communities. so, i do think that awakening is now leading to change but i think it's also very disingenuous to believe that these producers and all these other creators of many other shows that have also been making similar decisions were not aware of this. i, as a journalist covering this industry for the last six or seven years, have been asking these questions. it is just that they chose that it was never important enough to address before then. this is bbc world news. our main headline... british tourists will soon be able to go on holidays in other european countries without having to quarantine on their return.

a new government is being formed in ireland after two parties which have been rivals for decades, fine gael and fianna fail, agreed to enter a coalition with the green party. the leader of fianna fail, micheal martin, has been elected prime minister by members of the parliament. our ireland correspondent chris page reports. after three decades in parliament and four jobs in the cabinet, micheal martin has reached the pinnacle of politics in ireland. amidst the celebrations, there was a very visible reminder of his immediate challenge. politicians met in socially—dista nt format and away from their usual debating chamber to formally approve the new government. the head of the coalition said its priority was to deal with the social and economic havoc caused by covid—i9. recovery and renewal, these are the themes which underpin everything in the programme for government

which has been agreed between fianna fail, fine gael and the green party and has been ratified by our members with overwhelming majorities. fianna fail and fine gael have dominated governments here in dublin for almost a century, but never before have they gone into coalition together. they grew out of two sides in the irish civil war in the 1920s, and their historical rivalry has been intense. though both parties probably have the political centre, fine gael has tended to be slightly to the right of fianna fail. the fine gael leader leo varadkar has stood down as taoiseach to be the deputy prime minister, but under the deal, he'll swap positions with mr martin and be taoiseach again in two and half years' time. this is a historic occasion. i believe civil war politics ended a long time ago in our country. but today civil war politics ends in our parliament. in another big change, sinn fein, led by mary lou mcdonald,

is now the main opposition party here. this country's facing a second pressing international issue besides the coronavirus. as the uk's close neighbour, it'll be hugely affected by the brexit trade talks. micheal martin's leading an unprecedented coalition for uncertain times. chris page, bbc news, dublin. india now has half a million cases of coronavirus and the rate of infection appears to be rising. health experts have expressed concern over the rapid increase with more than 18,000 new cases declared yesterday, the highest number so far. zubair ahmed reports from delhi. a waiting hall in delhi being turned into a coronavirus ca re centre. the improvisation is the need of the hour, as india struggles to cope with a massive surge in covid—19 cases. but even this 100—bed facility is for treating only mild cases. big cities such as mumbai and delhi are facing acute shortages of beds and critical

facilities in icus. translation: we were expecting that the cases of coronavirus would increase, but the cases increased more than we would have expected. and in the first week of june, we witnessed a shortage of beds. we were lagging behind in testing in delhi. and because of the shortage of beds, when some people were not getting beds, the death rate also increased. as the virus spreads rapidly, even the new facilities may not be enough. hospitals are turning away suspected coronavirus patients because there are not enough beds. translation: if we talk about delhi, the situation is not good, whether it's in private hospitals or government hospitals. there's no proper system of treatment. people have lost faith in hospitals, so residents think it's better to be self—reliant, to save their own lives. they're all trying to do that now. swab tests are still commonly used to detect coronavirus, which take a few days

for the results to come out. for quick results, digital x—rays and ct scans are being increasingly used now. experts warn that the peak is still a few weeks away, and that will be a massive challenge for an already fragile health care system. zubairahmed, bbc news, delhi. three months ago, the french president was widely criticised for allowing the first round of local elections to go ahead at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak. the delayed second round of voting finally takes place tomorrow with emmanuel macron‘s party in the face of a recession and political discontent. lucy williamson reports. local elections aren't supposed to be about national issues. tough when you're candidate is the prime minister. edouard philippe is stuck in paris today, so it's his running mate, the current mayor, campaigning in the daily fish market.

translation: during the first round of voting in march, we had the wind against us. the pension reforms were going on and there were protests against them, but now the prime minister has carefully managed the coronavirus crisis, it feels as if we have the wind behind us. but a national profile can work against you also, especially if you're planning on keeping your currentjob. translation: the problem is he won't be here. some people think he will use his power and work for us from above, but i don't think his government is helping the little people. but eduard philippe could be looking for a job sooner than planned. president macron is said to want a fresh look for his government, a new post—covid prime minister. but he needs centre—right votes. eduard philippe is a centre—right politician and much more popular than the president. it's just one example of president macron‘s party allying with centre—right candidates right

across the country. mr macron promised that his party would be both left and right, but not for the first time here, many feel the left has been left behind. it won him the presidency, but mr macron‘s party has struggled to connect at the local level, even in big cities like paris. but the former health minister is trailing behind both the socialist and the centre—right. the french people are quite pessimistic. they like to criticise. but i'm confident that in the end they will recognise that a lot of work had been done. after yea rs of protest over economic reforms, france is facing one of europe's worst recessions. for now people are taking to the streets in relief not resistance but the effects of coronavirus can be unpredictable for patients and politicians. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. the coronavirus pandemic has

given rise to a number of misleading health claims being shared online, and we've looked at many of them over the past few months. but some claims have proved more persistent than others. bbc reality check‘s shruti menon considers why. the world is desperate for a treatment or cure for covid—19. and while scientists seek new judge —— in drugs and approaches many look to them remedies they believe had kept them healthy in the past to ward off this new threat. herbal and homemade remedies. we have seen a wide range of natural or herbal remedy shared online across many parts of the world. some suggest eating garlic or ginger. gargling with salt water and vinegar or drinking herbal teas. 0thers encourage drinking lemon juice 01’ encourage drinking lemon juice or inhaling steam. to be clear, there is no evidence any of these have any effect on the

virus. so why do they keep resurfacing? for hundreds and perhaps even thousands of yea rs, perhaps even thousands of years, and the absence of modern medicine these remedies have been used to treat the symptoms of common elements like the common cold and flu but there is no evidence saying herbal remedies can fight off 01’ herbal remedies can fight off or boost your natural immunity to covid—19. cal by—products. some suggested treatments have their roots in religious ritual and farming. cal mean there has been widely used as a fertiliser and agriculture for centuries. now count year and is being promoted to fight the coronavirus. in kenya it is recommended as an alternative and sanitiser to kill the virus. in india where cows are considered sacred, their you're in and by—products have been used in traditional medicine since ancient times. religious

groups and some politicians their claim that cow maturation can help you from coronavirus despotic potentially harmful bacteria. cal you're in drinking parties have been held in multiple states and there are reports of a man being hospitalized after taking part will stop but there is no evidence that cal by—products have any evidence to help with coronavirus. drinking cow you're in or using it to sanitise your hands will not help you. the miracle cure. the desire for there to be a cure out there right now to covid—19 isa out there right now to covid—19 is a powerful one. so it is perhaps not surprising that something touted as a miracle cure has gained widespread attention online in many parts of the world. the miracle mineral solution does not as its promoters claim have any effect on the virus. in fact, it contains a textile leaching

agent chlorine dioxide which is extremely harmful if consumed and could land you in the hospital. it has been around since 2010 as a fekir for a wide range of ailments. both the us fda and the world health organisation have issued warnings against its use. the search goes on across the world for effective treatments and they will come in time. but for now, the best thing you can do is to maintain social distancing and keep washing your hands. now let's end on some stunning aerial shots of the uk's red arrows flying off the north east coast of britain. a camera and one of the planes there to see what it is like flying the rf jets there to see what it is like flying the rfjets during a fly past above scarborough to mark armed forces day in the uk.

don't forget you can get in touch with me on twitter, i'm @lvaughanjones. bye— bye. hello. well, the fresh weather is here to stay for the foreseeable future, at least the next week or so. so, plenty of showers in the forecast, and on top of that, it's also going to be windy, particularly on sunday. really quite blustery for the time of the year. now, the reason for is this low pressure that swung out of the atlantic. it's being propelled by a jet stream. thatjet stream has also introduced that much fresher air, and it's here to stay. this is what it looks like through the early hours. so, the possibility of catching showers almost anywhere through the early hours, but more especially, i think, across the north west of the uk and really across parts of northern ireland, the north west of england, and the south—western as well as western scotland. it could be really quite wet during the course of sunday. you can see these weather fronts spiralling into the area

of low pressure, and around it, you also can see those strong winds circling. you can see those winds circling about scotland. this low pressure is also quite slow—moving, which means that this weather is just going to carry on for the next 48 hours or so at least. and you can see where the heaviest the rain is across the north west of the uk here. further south, it's going to be brighter. there certainly will be some sunshine around, but those winds will be strong. gusting in excess of a0 mph in places. that's near gale force, real blustar out there. let's have a look at the weather around 4pm in the afternoon. so, actually not looking bad at all for the south, the london area, east anglia and much of the midlands, and then we get into wales and further towards the north and west, you can see the pulses of heavy rain. now in scotland, it looks as though these more eastern areas will probably be a little bit drier and brighter. so, let's have a look at the forecast, then, as we go through the course of monday. the low pressure is still very much with us.

you can see heavy rain affecting parts of northern britain once again, but to the south, so the further you are away from that area of low pressure, you can see it's drier and brighter with temperatures getting up to around about 19 degrees celsius. not even making 20 early in the week. now, the temperatures will probably creep up little bit into the low 20s through the course of the week, but plenty of showers, i think, on the cards across more northern parts of the uk. so, as i say, the fresh weather is here to stay.

this is bbc news. the headlines... here in the uk, the government's

to ease travel restrictions, meaning arrivals from certain european countries will no longer have to self—isolate. the 14—day quarantine will be scrapped for passengers coming from places including spain, france and greece. the new rules apply from july 6th. malawi's electoral commission declares the opposition leader, lazarus chakwera, the winner of the presidential election. a re—run was called after last year's poll, won by the incumbent peter mutharika, was annulled by the constitutional court when evidence emerged of widespread vote rigging. after months of deadlock, ireland has a new leader and a new government. michael martin leads a three party coalition that was made possible after the green party backed the deal, but it sees sinn fein, which won the most seats in february's election, excluded from power. a resident at a glasgow hotel where six people were stabbed