this is bbc news, the headlines at 8.00pm. russia's ambassador to the uk rejects allegations his country has interfered in british politics or tried to steal coronavirus vaccine research. i do not believe in the story at all, there is no sense in it. councils in england now have new powers to close shops, cancel events and shut outdoor public spaces to manage outbreaks of the virus. the veteran american civil rights leader and long—serving congressman, john lewis, has died at the age of 80. eu leaders struggle to reach an agreement on a 750 billion euro economic recovery package to repair the damage done by the coronavirus pandemic. the uk government guarantees financial support for holiday—makers seeking refunds for trips that were cancelled because of coronavirus.

and lewis hamilton sets a new track record as he takes pole position for the hungarian grand prix. good evening and welcome to bbc news. the russian ambassador to the uk has flatly rejected british allegations that his country's intelligence services have tried to steal coronavirus vaccine research. speaking to the andrew marr show, andrei kelin also denied russia's involvement in last year's general election and even suggested, following russia's referendum on its constitution, that cyber—attacks aimed at his country originated in the uk. we do not interfere at all. we do not see any point

of interference because for us, whether it will be the conservative party or labour party at the head of this country, we will try to set up relations and to establish better relations than are now, either with this or with that. now, the conservative party have won and we are working on this relationship. i have to mention that a commission, which is now studying the results, they have discovered several cyber attacks, also proceeding from the territory of the united kingdom, but we do not accuse the united kingdom of that, what has happened. the ambassador also said russia was willing to start a new chapter in its relations with the uk, which have cooled in recent years, partly due to the 2018 novichok poisioning in salisbury, thought to have been carried out by two officers in russia's intelligence service. andrey kelin also took aim at britain's imposition of sanctions on individuals implicated in the death of russian lawyer sergei magnitsky in 2009.

as for magnitsky, we will find the way to punish those who are making these types of sanctions because sanctions are illegal. sanctions can only be imposed by the united nations. as you said, the united kingdom is a member of the security council. we are prepared to turn the page and do business with britain, to open once again our committees on investment that we have had, the committee on energy we have had and to conduct normal relations. we still do not understand why some spy story should disrupt this important business relation which would be very helpful to britain in time when it is exiting from the european union. i've been getting the reaction of sir tony brenton — he was the uk's ambassador in moscow between 2004 and 2008.

0n the particular allegation of spying on our vaccine projects, andrei kelin would not know if it would be going on, the russians are quite tight about operations of this time. he has one point, which is that russia will not be the only country at a period when everybody is facing a challenge from coronavirus, who will be looking, by secret means if necessary, to build up information on a vaccine. it won'tjust be russia. when he talks about wanting to turn the peach on relations with the united kingdom, just pushing to one side the novichok poisonings, how optimistic are you that that can happen? i am not optimistic. 0ur relations with russia are as bad as they have ever been and they were pretty bad when i was the ambassador, and they have got steadily worse since.

and here i think he has a point. in the uk, we are a leading member of the international community and we are keen to play an active role on issues like, syria, libya ukraine and cyber warfare but we cannot play as effective a role as we would like to if we do not have some sort do not have some sort of dialogue with russia. there is espionage and interference in election, and while it is almost certainly true and damaging, nevertheless we have to build up a working relationship with them which we do not have at the moment. morally, how do you set all that to one side? i am a diplomat, i am not sure how much morality has to do with it. you do not choose who you deal with in international affairs. we deal for instance with the saudis, who murdered khashoggi. we deal with the libyans and it's a pretty appalling situation there. there are lots of very bad

and difficult regimes out there. we deal with the chinese and hope to find a sensible basis for our relations there. with regard to russia, our relations are quite uniquely bad, much worse than our key european partners, worse than the united states and some repair work needs to be done. i appreciate your candour, that was wonderful. how should the british government approach any of its dealings with russia, given we need some form of cooperation that you have described? when you are dealing with the devil, proverbially, you use a long spoon. we need to say to the russians, the things you have been doing a not acceptable, the skripal and litvinenko killings, the charges of espionage and interference, that sort of stuff we want to see stop but we also want to talk to you about issues where we have a shared interest, i have given you the list already, cyber activity, ukraine and so on. then you begin to build up a relationship where there

is sensible business to be done in the hope that as you discover you can work together on those things, so the russians will say we don't want to spoil this by launching another operation in salisbury or what have you. so that sort of an attack and unacceptable behaviour will start to diminish. how would you describe what relationships will be like with russia, notjust british ones but other allies too? it is very difficult at the moment, as i have said, ours is the worst but a lot of other people have bad relations with them as well. an interesting wild card is china. china has rapidly emerged as public enemy number one from the point of view of the west in terms of its attack on western values, economies and so on, as we have all seen over the last few weeks. russia at the moment is very closely linked with china and those links there is no logical reason why

they should get stronger. russia thinks of itself as a european country, sees its most natural relationships as more to the west than the east. it is only by building up a stronger relationship with russia that we can weaken their links with china. that is obviously immensely beneficial in terms of our standing in the great confrontation which seems to be building up. and you can watch the bbc‘s full interview with russia's ambassador to the uk, andrei kelin, on the andrew marr show tomorrow morning at nine o'clock on bbc one, and on the bbc iplayer. one of the leading figures in the american civil rights just a line about an incident that happened at thorpe park in surrey early run today when someone was seriously injured and had to be attended by the on—site medical staff to provide emergency first

aid. the thorpe park resort have tweeted an explanation of what has happened in the last few minutes. an incident took place at the thorpe park resort today where guest was seriously injured by another guest. the health, safety, and security of oui’ guess the health, safety, and security of our guess is our number one priority and we have never had any incident of this type in over a0 years of operating. worth remembering of course that these theme parks have only just been course that these theme parks have onlyjust been able to open after the pandemic. the tweet goes on to say the medical staff are on scene within minutes and have an administered immediate care until emergency teams arrived. we are cooperating fully with the police and their ongoing investigations and we would like to thank our guests for their patients. the incident is understood, obviously, to be over, and is in the hands of the police. one of the leading figures

in the american civil rights movement, the congressman john lewis, has died aged 80. he was one of the organisers of the 1963 march on washington, where martin luther king made his "i have a dream speech". former presidents from across the political divide have paid tribute to the civil rights icon, with donald trump tweeting: "saddened to hear the news of civil rights herojohn lewis passing. "melania and i send our prayers to he and his family." rajini vaidya nathan looks back at his life. john lewis dedicated his life to fighting racism. he marched alongside martin luther king, and lived to see a black president. born in alabama in i9a0, john lewis grew up in an america that was deeply segregated. i would come home and ask my mother, my father, "why segregation, why racial discrimination?"

they said, "that is the way it is, don't get in trouble." but dr king inspired me to get in the way, to get in trouble. as a student activist, he became a close ally of dr martin luther king, fighting racial injustice with a message of nonviolence. he took part in sit—ins against white—only lunch counters, and was beaten by white mobs as he peacefully protested segregation on buses. you arrest me, you beat me, you throw me injail. what else can you do to me? # we shall overcome.# in 1963, john lewis was the youngest speaker at the march on washington where dr king delivered his famous "i have a dream" speech. two years later, they marched for voting rights from selma to montgomery, alabama, where they were attacked by police. by the 50th anniversary of that march, john lewis had become a politician known as the conscience of the us congress. it is a rare honour in this life

to follow one of your heroes. and john lewis is one of my heroes. diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year, john lewis was seen rights movement. his mantra was simple, "never give up. "never give in." the transport secretary, grant shapps, has insisted that life could be back to normal by christmas as long as people stay alert to the potential threat from coronavirus. scientists had questioned the practicality of the goverment‘s vision, set out by borisjohnson yesterday when he announced a further easing of lockdown restrictions in england. from today, councils in england will have new powers to close shops and cancel events to try to prevent future local outbreaks.

0ur politcal correspondent nick eardley reports. just a few weeks ago, streets across the uk were deserted. now, in many places, life is starting to pick up. shops, cafes, pubs, all opening again. but coronavirus hasn't gone away. many things will look different for some time. in rochdale, extra precautions are being taken because of concern at the number of new cases. people are being told to limit the number of visitors to their home to just two, and being asked to wear face coverings in shops before it is made mandatory in the rest of england. targeted local action is part of the government's strategy. ministers say if it works, life could return to something like normal by christmas. it is possible we can get there, and the prime minister and i and others have spoken about it this week because we want to give people some sense

of direction, because a lot of people are running businesses or rely on the christmas period for example, and need to know that if everything goes well, that this is our intention. the government is desperate to avoid another national lockdown because of the huge impact the last one had on the economy. so, from now on, in england, we'll see more targeted interventions looking at individual areas, communities, even specific premises. from today, local councils in england have new powers to close shops, close public spaces and shut down any events taking place if they think it will help curb the virus. in rochdale, the local council welcomes new powers. but... the thing that we need, apart from getting the same message over time, is some money to cope with all the extra problems that we are getting. this morning, one of the government's advisers said

a return to life like it was before lockdown is a long way off, despite the optimism in government. the view in rochdale... it is not going to be the same, nothing will be the same, shops and stuff, because you have to wear masks. potentially it could. but right now, rochdale isn't good on the covid numbers. the government has warned it won't hesitate to introduce some restrictions again. but it hopes getting on top of local outbreaks could help life return to something more normal sooner rather than later. nick eardley, bbc news. european union leaders in brussels are struggling to reach agreement on an economic recovery package worth 750 billion euros , to repair the damage done by the coronavirus. a revised plan has been put forward on the second day of the summit, and is being discussed this afternoon. the bbc‘s europe correspondent, gavin lee explains what the sticking points are on the deal. (tx sot

500 billion euros is to be given out as grants to countries worst hit by covid—i9, so italy and spain, but the church are saying they have to be strict conditions, effectively giving a veto to every country. the bulgarian prime minister reportedly said that the dutch were acting as the policemen of europe. there is a new proposal on the table today in which the eu council are saying take 50 billion off this grant front, so a50 billion in grants, the resting loa ns a50 billion in grants, the resting loans make up 750 billion, and if you've got a problem with italy spain asking for cash, wanting reasons, raise it with the commission, it is not a veto, but it helps. the dutch had said that is a significant step forward. i've had a message from one senior eu council

official and she has said they are going to go through plenty of face masks and hand gel if there is going to be any white smoke here. the headlines on bbc news... russia's ambassador to the uk rejects allegations his country has interfered in british politics, or tried to steal coronavirus vaccine research councils in england now have new powers to close shops, cancel events and shut outdoor public spaces to manage outbreaks of the virus. the veteran american civil rights leader and long—serving congressman, john lewis, has died at the age of 80. the metropolitan police is being urged to formally apologise to a man who was detained while an officer appeared to kneel on his neck. he was filmed shouting "get off my neck" as he was arrested in north london on thursday. his lawyer said the events "mirrored" what happened to george floyd, who died after being restrained in the us. greg mckenzie reports. get off me!

get off my neck. this is the video which has been viewed more than a million times since it was shared with the bbc on thursday. it appears to show an officer kneeling on the neck of a8—year—old marcus cootan as he was being arrested in islington. today he was in court charged with possession of a knife in a public place. wearing greyjogging bottoms and a green t—shirt, marcus cootan appeared here at highbury court this afternoon. he only spoke to confirm his name, age and address before entering a plea of not guilty to a charge of possession of a bladed article. his lawyer says the events mirrored almost identically what happened to george floyd in america. he has called for a formal apology from scotland yard. they had him handcuffed, he was on the ground and one white officer placed his knee on his neck,

he could not breathe, he continued to say he could not breathe and he had done nothing, please take your knee off my neck. the deputy commissioner described the footage of the arrest as deeply disturbing and said some of the techniques used were not taught in police training. 0ne former member of the met echoed the concerns but said the police have a difficult role to play. you cannot place your knee on someone's make but in terms of range, restraining someone, you have to chinese minimum force of range, restraining —— someone, you have to try and use minimum force but there, you have individuals , you have to use minimum force but there you have individuals who are not complying with the police so you have to take that into account. in response to this,

protesters held a demonstration this afternoon outside islington police station. we need serious change. there is a serious problem beyond a few individuals. the fact that this has happened again in the midst of a movement which is calling out exactly the sort of behaviour notjust from the police but the state, that these practices can carry on. he will reappear at snaresbrook crown court next month. the incident has been referred to the independent police watchdog and an officer has been suspended. last week the bbc reported on uk born twins darren and darrell roberts — who were brought up in council care since the age of 13 after the death of their mum, who was a foreign national. despite being born in the uk, the twins haven't been registered as british citizens. now 2a and serving prison sentences for unrelated cases of gbh, they face deportation to different caribbean countries that they've never visited.

in an exclusive broadcast interview — a partner of one of the twins tells our correspondent — ashley john—ba ptiste — that attempts were not made by the council that looked after them to register them as british citizens. this is darren's partner, who wants to remain anonymous. she is also the mother of their five—year—old son and is saying that ten months ago darren was told by a prison officer he would be reported to grenade on release. she says the news has taken its toll on him. i think he'sjust at that point where he has given up. so, our conversation wasn't like he is willing to fight it, it was just... he doesn't feel he has the power to fight the system any more, so power to fight the system any more, so if he goes, just make sure i bring my son to see him. how has this impacted your son? at this

point in time, he doesn't understand. his main concern is when can he see his dad? i do think my son will question his british citizenship because for me, the definition of british citizen is someone definition of british citizen is someone who is born here, someone who is raised here, and that would be the same for my son, born here, raised here, grew up here, so why would he be any different? islington council has said that attempts have been made to register the twins the british citizenship but neither of the men signed the necessary documentation. the home office issues a deportation notice to anyone without citizenship who has been convicted of a serious crime and served a sentence of at least 12 months. darren's partner disagree that ealing council made attempts to register the twins. speaking to daryl, they haven't. being with darren, they haven't stopped i have a lot of feeling, with ealing council on behalf of darren. and it

has never been straightforward with them. i do think ealing council should have registered them as british citizens when they were 13 and when they were minors. the home 0ffice denies it has issued deportation notices to the twins.|j am aware of deportation notices to the twins.|j am aware of darren deportation notices to the twins.|j am aware of darren and he has been told by prison officials there is a plan to deport him to grenade. and with regards to darryl, i have physically seen the stage one intention that was served. why shouldn't the government to someone who is not a british citizen and who commits previous bodily heart? they are paying their debt to society. why should they now be subject to a double punishment? when they all, but for an application which should have been done by adults in charge of theircare. have been done by adults in charge of their care. darren's partner says the twins feel as if they are in limbo, when it comes to their future but to her, the picture is clear.

limbo, when it comes to their future but to her, the picture is clearlj would say that he has already been punished, he is in prison, he is serving his sentence. so, for me, doesn't matter what is on paper, if someone was born doesn't matter what is on paper, if someone was born here, raised here, grew here, and all they know is here, you are british to me. people who've been given credit notes for cancelled package holidays are being reassured by the government that these will still be honoured, even if firms go bust. the announcement covers domestic and foreign breaks booked by uk agents, which were disrupted because of the coronavirus pandemic between march the tenth and the end of september this year. our business correspondent, katie prescott, has more details. summer holidays, a distant dream for the hundreds of thousands of people who have seen them cancelled because of the pandemic. such as jennifer and john who were supposed to travel to las vegas to marry injune. like so many others, they are still waiting for a refund. we need that money to pay for

the wedding that we have rearranged. so, we're just chasing them. we keep asking them, "please, will you refund us?" but they are saying there is a queue. £6,000 which is what ours cost is not a small amount of money to anybody, to normal people like this, especially my partner has been furloughed for three months. travelers who see their holidays cancelled should get a refund within 1a days. given the sheer number of cancellations that have happened over the past few months, many travel companies have struggled to meet that, and so have instead been issuing credit refund notes for holidays at a later date. the concern is, though, if those companies go under, travellers would lose both their money and their holiday. the government is changing this, pledging to underwrite all refund credit note issued between the 10th of march and the 30th of september this year, for atol—protected holidays cancelled because of covid—19. it gives consumers that confidence to accept these credit notes if they don't want to accept a refund. they can still take a refund

if that is what they want. but it also gives companies the opportunity to encourage those customers to book with them in the future. but customers are advised to do their homework before accepting them over a cash refund. by accepting a refund credit note, you are locked in with that holiday company. when you come to rebook, you have to rebook with them. it means you can't shop around, you won't necessarily get the best price. we also know some tour operators have increased prices for 2021. so, you may end up having to use the refund credit note and paying a bit more as well. the government won't say how much they expect the scheme to cost but as 12 travel firms have already gone under this year, the burden of paying for cancelled package holidays will fall on the taxpayer. katie prescott, bbc news. music venues and theatres in england will be allowed to open again from the beginning of august. but there are lingering questions about how safe it will be to sing in public. 0ur arts correspondent

david sillito has more. the room is particle—free, super clean, filled with sensors. everyone is in medical scrubs, wearing masks. this is serious science. and what they are studying here... ..is singing. # happy birthday to you.# happy birthday. it just seems so innocent, doesn't it? but when there is so much uncertainty and anxiety about possible infection, we really need to know what's coming out of people's mouths. at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, there were descriptions of clusters of covid in choirs around the world and, since that time, we've been looking for science to guide us as to whether that is the case or whether it was the other non—singing aspects of those meetings that caused the problems. and now with a number of scientists raising questions about possible transmission in the air through breath, this is vital research. we know that, when you speak, much the same as when you cough

or sneeze, you generate a lot of very small particles. these are called aerosols. but you also generate some big droplets. so big droplets are around the diameter of a human hair and they settle out into gravity very quickly, within one to two metres, but the much smaller respirable particles can be airborne for minutes to hours. it has implications. we won't be seeing a mass singalong at the last night of the proms this year, butjust how many people can they safely have onstage? the current guidelines say singers should be standing side to side with a three—metre gap, but that would mean the traditional the current guidelines say singers should be standing side to side with a three—metre gap, but that would mean the traditional chorus could stretch out of the royal albert hall, down to the natural history museum. and, for smaller venues, social distancing is going to make the current guidelines say singers should be standing side to side with a three—metre gap, but that would mean the traditional chorus could stretch out of the royal albert hall, the current guidelines say singers should be standing side to side chorus could stretch out

of the royal albert hall, down to the natural history museum. and, for smaller venues, social distancing is going to make reopening very difficult. so while venues are being allowed to reopen in august, there are many questions about whether they can afford to and reassuring the public and performers aboutjust how safe it is to get back on stage. david sillito, bbc news. one of bollywood's most famous actresses, aishwarea rye batchan, has been taken to hospital after testing positive for covid—19 earlier this week. according to reports, she's being treated at a hospital in mumbai, where her eight—year—old daughter is also now a patient. it comes days after her husband and father—in—law were admitted for treatment. it will turn try and clear overnight. there will be heavy bursts of rain developing overnight and still fringing in two parts of the midlands. a few showers in northern scotland but much of scotland, northern ireland, northern england and wales looking drier, cooler night but a warm, muggy night, we have rain for the south which lingers on into the morning, clearing away from south—west

england but holding on into south—east england and east anglia, even into the afternoon, cilla tells a patchy rain, even as the afternoon ends. plenty of sunday sun channel away. a few showers dotted about two scotland, if you catch one, there could be the odd heavy one. still quite breezy but not as breezy as was today. really just quite breezy but not as breezy as was today. reallyjust into the high teens, where it has been so warm and muqqy teens, where it has been so warm and muggy to the south, temperatures down, the humidity is down, too. goodbye. hello, this is bbc news with me. the headlines: russia's ambassador to the uk rejects allegations his country has interfered in british politics or tried to steal coronavirus vaccine research. i do not believe in the story at all, there is no sense in it. councils in england now have new powers to close shops, cancel events and shut outdoor public spaces to manage outbreaks of the virus.