this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a start warning from the world health organisation — despite ten million confirmed cases, the covid—19 pandemic is speeding up. the hard reality is this is not even close to being over. we'll look at how some of the world's richest countries have fared very differently as they struggled to contain covid—19. also ahead. pro—choice campaigners celebrate — as the us supreme court rules against abortions being made harder to get in lousiana.

turkish news crew. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. i'm tim willcox. the figures make chilling reading — and they are predicted to get worse. there have now been over 10 million reported cases of coronavirus worldwide — and more than half a million deaths. june saw a global average of more than 4,700 people die from a covid—19 linked illness, every 2a hours, according to calculations by the reuters news agency.

that's a death every eighteen seconds — or nearly two hundred deaths every hour. added to that the world helath organization says, the pandemic is speeding up — and the worst is yet to come. most people remain susceptible. the virus still has a lot of room to move. we all want this to be over. we all want to get on with our lives. but the hard reality is, this is not even close to being over. although many countries have made some progress, globally, the pandemic is actually speeding up.

as more statistics about the virus emerge, we're able to get a better idea of how effective the responses have been in different countries around the world. our economics editor has been looking at how some of the world's richest nations have been coping — compared with each other. covid—19 has hit countries around the world in different ways. now that the impact of the first wave is becoming clear across the world, it is possible to make the first direct comparisons of the picture in similar countries, up until now. the g7 is the group of wealthy western industrialised nations whose leaders meet for annual high profile summits and whose economic performance is regularly ranked. bbc news has calculated the official counts of covid deaths per 100,000 of population over the course of this first wave of the pandemic. japan, canada and germany have had very few deaths, especially on this measure. the usa, when you account for population, is in the middle,

just behind france, then there's italy. and worst hit is the united kingdom, with over 60 covid deaths per 100,000 of population. now, it's possible that some of those differences are down to the way things are measured, so another way of looking at this is deaths over and above the average level in recent years — what's known as excess deaths. but the picture here is the same — the uk is the hardest hit. in fact, on this measure, it is markedly worse for the united kingdom, with nearly 100 per 100,000 excess deaths. italy, which was first hit in europe, on 75. germany on single figures per 100,000 population. the bbc has worked with independent charity the health foundation, but one way of making the comparison is looking at the percentage of excess deaths as a proportion of the usual deaths. this measure doesn't

change the g7 ranking — the uk is still by some distance the worst hit country. but when you use this measure to compare to other ha rd—hit european countries, there is a slight change in the picture. spain is the worst hit of the major european nations, a little above the uk, italy and belgium, with the dutch and french following. but if the uk is split up into its constituent these numbers start to tell a story about a deadly pandemic wave that hit broadly similar countries in very different ways, a number of us states are putting the brakes on lifting the lockdown restrictions as cases go up — among them texas, florida, arizona and california. let's get more on the situation in california with dr sion roy, a cardiologist and president of the los angeles county medical association. the number of dead, the latest figure i saw for los angeles was just under 6000. is that a true reflection of the number there was

yellow actually, in los angeles. it's about 3300. in california, it is just below it's about 3300. in california, it isjust below 60,000. it's about 3300. in california, it is just below 60,000. that, the death rate has been fairly steady over the last few months and what we have seen here is concerning, there is an increase in percentage of positives and we are afraid that his covid—19 spreads in the economy reopens as it dozen other places, that we are going to see an increase in death rate in hospitalization as well. it is a medical practitioner, do you think it was eased too quickly, or do you want to understand a pragmatic balance, the trait of the people need to make. understand a pragmatic balance, the trait of the people need to makelj absolutely understand the pragmatic balance that is needed. it is not

advisable to shelter in place for months and years on end. but we have to do is strike the correct balance we have seen in other localities or things have opened up to two graded —— two graded degree. huge hospitalizations increase in in the opening of our economy, we see that after we have been having an increased opening about three or four weeks ago, what we're seeing 110w four weeks ago, what we're seeing now is a slow rise in the percentage of positives and hopefully not dramatically, but will slowly start to bring things back so that we can have a steady rate of cases that the hospital system can handle so that we do not have access death as you

mentioned. is it still the same demographic of the people u nfortu nately demographic of the people unfortunately dying from this? it is still the elderly and people with underlying conditions? that is correct. the most at risk populations are the patients that are above 60 or above 70, people who have pre—existing conditions, diabetes and other conditions that they carry among them. healthy adults and children continue to be predominantly carriers and spreaders of the disease more than sufferers of the disease more than sufferers of the disease more than sufferers of the worst consequences of the disease, for the most part. thank you very much forjoining us here on bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news the midlands, with 330,000 inhabitants will not be allowed to ease lockdown restrictions onjuly the 4th ease lockdown restrictions onjuly the 11th unlike the rest of england, the 11th unlike the rest of england, the decision follows a surge in

cases of coronavirus in the area, with more than 800 reported in the fortnight to june the with more than 800 reported in the fortnight tojune the 23rd. a notorious mass murderer known as the golden state killer has been sentenced to life in prison — after pleading guilty to 13 killings. joseph deangelo, who's 7a, was a serving police officer in california when he committed his crimes in the 1970s and 1980s. he was only caught after his dna was traced via a geneaology website. the us supreme court says it will not hear a challenge, brought by four environmental groups, against president trump's plans, to build a wall along america's border with mexico. the groups had argued the construction would be harmful to plant and animal life. the us supreme court also ruled on monday in an abortion case which has been closely watched by both the pro—choice and pro—life groups — and it chose to overturn a law in louisiana, which would make it harder for a woman to obtain a termination.

the deciding factor in the 5 to 4 vote was a usually conservative judge, who chose to side with his more left—leaning colleagues. from washington, barbara plett—usher reports. protect women protect life. the first time the supreme court tackled theissue first time the supreme court tackled the issue in the trump era. closely watched by both sides the debate, anti—abortion activists are unhappy with the result. i'm very disappointed and i believe that this isa disappointed and i believe that this is a huge loss for the women of louisiana and for the women of this country. we stand in solidarity with those women today and we seek justice. louisiana law imposed new regulations on abortion doctors, to protect women's health, the state argued. 0pponents said it was not necessary it would force all but one

abortion clinic to close. including the one that challenged the law. today, they celebrated a victorious battle. the supreme court has spoken and finally said something that i believe our lawmakers need to hear. today's ruling does maintain the status quo and all three clinics can remain open. but it has done nothing to advance reproductive rights. that will continue to go on. the right to abortion in 1973 in the landmark roe versus wade case. congratulations. a president trump shifted the court to the right with the appointment of two conservative judges, putting the charged issue of abortion back in the play. in the end, the conservative chiefjustice struck down the law, citing a previous legal precedent rather than

down the law, citing a previous legal precedent rat a rthani donald who was positioned - as