in the us. some of the worst affected states are reimposing restrictions they had lifted. they include florida and texas. some business owners say it's a devastating blow. malawi's newly—elected president lazarus chakwera says his victory is a win for democracy and justice. the election result is being seen as a democratic first in sub—saharan africa. last year's flawed election was over—turned with the opposition going on to win power. 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 6july. now on bbc news — dateline london.

hello and welcome to the programme which brings together some of the uk?s leading commentators with the foreign correspondents who file their stories with the dateline "london." boris johnson prepares england to emerge from hibernation in hope that the coronavirus is in retreat. not in the americas, though. north and south, nearly half of the world's cases are there. the united states, which donald trump wants back to work, has a "serious problem" with covid—19, according the top official fighting infectious disease. brazil, where bolsonaro has opposed a lockdown, now has the second highest number of deaths in the world. with me to discuss that, and some of the week's stories that have received less attention, are polly toynbee of the guardian, a liberal newspaper, and jef mcallister, us—born lawyer and broadcaster.

and here with me — still a safe two metres distant — one of canada's finest exports, lyce doucet, the bbc‘s chief international correspondent. good to see you again, lyse. i mentioned the distance between us because one of borisjohnson‘s changes was a reduction in social distancing to one metre plus. this is a compromise: at two metres, many bars and restaurants would not have been able to open safely and profitably. yet when the british prime minister announced this, among a raft of other changes, his chief medical officer stressed the "plus" in one metre plus — a metre is only enough if you take other precautions at the same time. exiting lockdown is more complicated than entering it. so, from next saturday, the english will be able to drink a pint — but sitting down, not standing at the bar, attend a religious service, though not sing a hymn, go

to the cinema and eat popcorn, but not the gym to sweat off the effects; get married, though it'll have to be a quiet affair, close friends and family only; followed by a honeymoon, of course, though if you choose lisbon over liskeard, you'll have two weeks quarantine to face when you get home. it is a complicated business. i wonder if there is a slight difficulty here which is quite risky? at the time where some people seem to be getting stir crazy, judging by the activity? i think it is very risky. you can't stay locked down forever. people are saying you can't burst out all at once and borisjohnson uses this upbeat rhetoric, doom and gloom, says it is your public duty to go out to pubs, and before the date he had actually said we had an eruption of raves, street parties, all in different cities around the country and beaches in dorset so jam—packed they had to call an emergency situation, and people are paying no attention at all. it is really dangerous because if there is a second spike that will mean locking people up again and it will certainly mean a great blow to borisjohnson‘s government reputation for caution. it is a very difficult time and we may well have a summer of young people erupting over the place, having been locked up

for so long, on behalf of older people. this is a potential problem. i hesitate to talk about going out on the weekend... the rain is hammering on what would have been a lovely view behind you otherwise. thank you for giving us a view behind you that is not your book shelf, by the way! but it is a real problem here, people have been pretty good about this, with some bad examples, but we should not forget that well over 30,000 people in the uk have died from this and there will be people watching this

who were directly affected from covid—19 and yet the message is, apart from other parts of the uk due to devolution, we are almost out of it, it is almost over, and now we can start thinking about the future. you have to understand both human and political pressure on the prime minister and on parliament. and on parliament and everyone, really, to get back to normal. the experience of other countries has not been kind about loosening the restrictions too early. we are not really done with the first spike. if there is a second spike, which 63% of british people believe there will be, as you say, we will have to go back to lockdown

again and essentially all the previous sacrifices will have been for nothing. we will have to go back to zero. i can understand the short—term calculations, but i really do think that is probably a matter even in political terms of being tougher earlier. approval ratings were at 65%, but they have now lost 20 points. 50% disapprove. if this turns out to be a mess, this churchill—like rhetoric of people coming together nationally, he does have that shambolic lack of attention to detail. it is something that has been described as a churchill tribute act. people will go sour on him. people will be very rightly distressed if these calculations turn out to be premature. i think there is every likelihood of them being. we don't understand covid—19 yet.

avaccine... it may not even confer immunity. some people have gotten two cases. it is a very complex disease. i think we are in for the long haul and politicians have to be tougher earlier, even if economic consequences are tough. this is a challenge for the prime minister, in terms of getting this right? i don't underestimate how challenging it will be, but easier to lockdown when everyone is doing the same than when some aren't. challenge could be a diplomatic way of saying what could be a crisis, both a public health and a social and political crisis. it could be a public health crisis and political and social crisis. the warning that it is as dangerous to come out of the lockdown as it is to go into the lockdown. there has always been this emphasis

for a need for clear messaging. there has been criticism that some messaging has not been clear. but what i found interesting and perhaps slightly jarring, we started in the uk with politicians saying they are being guided by the science, and that gave us a bit of reassurance, that a country with some of the world's best scientists... this was their advice, we got that impression. but now you see that while we are getting these wonderful announcements that a lot of restrictions are easing, the scientists and former chief scientific advisers are saying something different. they are saying it is extraordinarily risky, it is a political decision to open up pubs and hairdressers, warning politicians to be aware, to be ready for a second wave. we still haven't dealt with the first wave. this is something really crucial in the uk. saying you cannot keep moving with easing the restrictions until you get the contact tracing right. seeing...

until you get the contact tracing right in the uk, and all of the assessments and studies in the uk say it is not right yet, the system is not working at the level it should have been. i think the covid—19 envoy for the world health association pointed to studies. they said a quarter of the population who tested positive for covid—19 are refusing to give contact details for who they met, so it has been warned that if you do not have the contact tracing it is going to be hard to open up the schools in september and it will be hard to avoid another wave. we are getting messages on the newspapers today, some saying to open up travel corridors and others saying not to rush it. the prime minister wants us to be guided by common sense. if you listen to the scientists and politicians and when we read the newspapers, you can't be sure what the common sense is.

mixed messages indeed. in the united states, the pandemic has spared americans from months of political campaigning for november's presidential and congressional elections. donald trump held his first post—lockdown rally in tulsa, 0klahoma, but it was a much smaller crowd than he'd hoped for. "i was average," he observed afterwards. this weekend, on friday the vice president was out holding the first of the covid—i9 press conferences for quite some time, saying that they should listen to the advice of local officials and respect social distancing. there was not much display of that in tulsa is last weekend. has the administration got a bit of a problem here in terms of the messages they are sending out about dealing with covid—i9? i think so.

this is a full—blown public health emergency in the united states. there are more new cases today and yesterday than in any day since it began. there are several states that have had three or four increasing record days and unfortunately for president trump, and for people suffering, these are states that opened up the earliest. and because they followed his lead, you will have a political objection to wearing face masks and think that if they are going to get the disease, it is up to god, but it turns out that it is not a good thing for people who are young to go to bars in texas, as they have done in the last month. the number of cases a day were a thousand when the lockdown ease, it is now more.

it is up to 6000 a day. the task force, which was not heard from for the last two months, has to get back. trump's messaging is beginning, i think it is widely perceived in general, but also for his own constituents, in illinois and places that got it first, they had the biggest outbreaks first but came down hard on it and have not used up as much and they are doing better than the rest of the country. this is a terrible thing and it does mean that the lockdown measures have been a waste in the us. it does have political consequences for president trump. at that rally, he did not get a number of people he wanted. he gave a two hour long rambling speech. even his own supporters said he was listless and talked about his own grievances. people said he was listless and rambling. he was asked in an interview this week about what his plans were and he had no idea. he could not have a single idea. his poll numbers are now consistently behind joe biden's. he is about 10% behind nationally. he is behind in swing states that he won by small margins the last time.

people have turned against him. seniors, who are most worried about catching covid, they have moved 20 points against him, according to the polling, since the last election. and college—educated women have also moved. people have moved 20 points against him, according to the polling since the last election, and college educated people have moved... 0bama only got 46% of them and joe biden looks like he is on track to get 20 points more. that is people who are distressed by the chaos and strangeness of trouble. mostly republican, suburban women. trump seems unable to think of anything new, which i think is a sign of a narcissist who loves the applause but has never really taken the job seriously, he doesn't have the mental equipment to, and it is showing through this crisis.

liberals should know better than to write off donald trump, shouldn't they? because they did that four years ago. absolutely. liberals live in hope and then get crushed time and time again. nonsensical right—wing leaders then go and win elections. i think whatjef says is very interesting about america, because if you look around the world, the extreme populace in democracies have done worse. you look at the likes of bolsonaro and trump, extreme populists. there are people who want to rely on telling good news, even if it is lies, and they are caught out by this. borisjohnson only really likes telling good news. borisjohnson has found it difficult to struggle with bad news and warnings. i think it undermines populism when you have people who need helping and saving that is difficult and complicated, restructuring emergency services and health services, these things and details

are social democratic. it is what the state wants to do. it is actual delivery on the ground, tactical policies. not just rousing rallies and speeches. that is a social democratic talent on the whole, but once the coronavirus goes away, i think we may see a resurgence of belief in government, not necessarily to the left but social democratic, christian democrats, people who believe in practical government. unless, i suppose, may be in some parts of the world... polly mentioned brazil there but one could also think of ecuador with their health services in terms

of coping with covid—i9. countries that may look for a strong governance but may not necessarily look for strong civilian services. in some parts of the world, this will cause a reaction against democracy. that must be the fear? not a day goes by without someone saying let's learn the lessons from this crisis. we still do not know enough about this deadly virus, how long will it be with us? the chief medical officer in england is saying that if it is not here with us until december to the spring, we should be humble. he would be delighted and surprised, he said, if that were the case. i think the results and evidence so far is that it is not binary, that the authoritarians did worse than the social democrats and liberals did, or if they would be better everywhere from taiwan to singapore to new zealand to germany. it seems to tell us, while we all love charismatic politicians, at times of crisis what we want is competence. we want common sense.

together with the science. it is about protecting our lives, the health service, protecting our future... but you brought up the case of latin america, which the world health organization says is the worst affected area. it still has not reached its peak. some modelling says brazil could overtake the united states and it could be another four weeks until it reaches its peak. a few days ago bolsonaro was a little bit chastened. there was a public scolding by a judge, saying he has to wear a mask, otherwise he would face a fine. none of this gladhanding and ignoring the rules. he admitted that he had the disease, one he first referred to as a small flu. but he is protected a bed,

he does not have to face we election for another two years. brazil is a country where it is the mayors and governors that will pick up the pieces and dead bodies for him. but spare a thought for a country like peru, which locked down quickly, observed on the social measures but is still seeing a resurgence because this is where the fundamental problem lies, in that across latin america some 50% of the workforce is in the informal sector, whereas if you don't work you don't eat, where hunger is seen as the biggest problem and not the virus, it is the same thing in brazil. 70% of the economy is informal, which is why some have welcomed the president's emphasis on the economy. people don't want to lock down because it is suffocating but also because people have to go to work, and if you are a daily labourer... this is the frustration now,

people are finding they are getting some of the wrong results. we have not seen the back of this crisis yet. now, on dateline london, we've been trying to devote a few minutes each week to some of the other stories which have received less attention than they might otherwise have done in this year of living dangerously. jef, let's talk about the tension between canada and china and the detention of a chinese woman. and then the detention of two canadians. this week, two canadians, one a businessman and one an expert for an international crisis group, were charged with spying. they have been imprisoned since 2018 and it happened ten days after the arrest in canada of the daughter and chief financial officer of the electronics giant, huawei.

there were extradition requests to the us, due to apparent false statements. that was due to huawei allegedly breaking iran sanctions. this is one of those messy international incidents where china feels insulted. this goes back into the huawei bid into 56 beds in the western world, which the united states is against, the uk is allowing limited access. for security reasons, britain has decided to allow limited use of huawei projects but there is some drumbeat that this will be reversed soon. these are pawns, these two guys and all the chinese say that they are not related... china coming into the western world, as a giant power, they have all these resources and powers of its own and greatness of its own but when it feels

like it can get away with it it acts like north korea. this is not as serious as what happened in hong kong recently but it is a mess. the americans don't want to back down, the canadians don't want to interfere withjustice processes. i fear that these guys are going to be stuck injail for a while. her extradition request may well go through and i hope there is some kind of a deal that could be arranged. i was talking to the wife of one of those men earlier in the week. it would not be a loss of canada's liberal standard if it released the chinese women, but the dilemma is it looks like they caved into china, a hostage to diplomacy.

we will watch on this. afghanistan? there has been a growing debate in canada over what to do, and it is one of those incredibly painful choices. the lives of two canadians and the pain of their families, versus what has been described as the national interest. if this continues, china's use of what is called bloody politics, continues. other countries face the same dilemma. the prime minister has resisted calls from the man's wife and a letter. that came from 19 canadians right the way across the political spectrum. but afghanistan, a country that has not left the headlines. it now rarely gets into the headlines. a time of war and peace. the un envoy spoke to the un security council this week. they are optimistic that the talks with the taliban will finally start

but last week, the afghan government said that it had been the deadliest day of casualties. it is undeniable as afghans hope and pray for peace, the violence continues. two officials were killed on saturday. two officials of the afghan unit were assassinated. polly, you wanted to speak about unemployment in this year of living dangerously? that is the next crisis to come, part of the economic crisis. our own bank of england has said to expect mass unemployment, it is meant to be as bad as the 1930s. 9/10%, it has said to expect. let 9% or 10%. i don't think anyone is quite prepared for this. we are in a state of

suspended animation. there has been a massive rise already, 25% in the last month, but the real outpouring of people from precarious situations, once the furlough scheme has been taken away, some jobs will just vanish and i do not think we are ready. the support system has been very generous until now, keeping people injobs. we have had the worst economic hit. we had a 20% drop in our economy. we had outbreaks of the virus and now it looks as though we are going to have one of the worst unemployment episodes and we don't know how to deal with that or how to put in place any plans to ensure a job for young people. they keep saying there will be a job for every young person, that is an enormous undertaking.

300,000 young people leave school this summer, 100,000 new graduates come onto the market this summer, are there going to be jobs for them? how will we cope? there is a fear that there will be a summer of unrest in a lot of our inner cities with a lot of very low—paid people, some losing theirjobs this august. you wonder what the response will be. a sense of hopelessness. we hope that it don't break out into any violence. should this be worrying policymakers everywhere? absolutely. no one really has an idea, and everybody is broke. by conventional standards, who knows any more, given the way this economic world is happening and the huge deficit spending? it is not a collapse in demand, it is simply a temporary shutdown of normal activity, which you can imagine, as soon as the restraints are listed... thank you for that. my thanks to jef mcallister, polly toynbee and to lyse doucet in the studio.

just before we go, some sad news about one of the foreign correspondents who make dateline what it is. greg katz, who had run the london bureau of the associated press, has died. he has been with this programme almost since the start. greg, who was 67, contracted covid—i9. he had many journalistic achievements in a0 years of journalism. we send our thoughts to his wife and daughter. goodbye. 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 it is this low pressure that swung out of the atlantic is being propelled by a jet stream. that jet 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, we've also got 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 — a real bluster 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. so not even making 20 early in the week. now, the temperatures

will probably creep up a 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.

welcome to bbc news. i'm james reynolds. our top stories: in the us, states reimpose restrictions as coronavirus cases increase. business owners say it's a devastating blow. we did everything. our staff were wearing masks, we had sanitising stations, we did weekly tests, we limited occupancy, we did everything that was asked. more than $7 billion are donated to the search for a vaccine, as the eu hosts another whip round on webcam. malawi's opposition leader wins the presidential election — a dramatic reversal of last year's discredited result no supporters in the stands, but a sweet success all the same, as bayern munich take the bundesliga title for the eighth consecutive season.