this is bbc news: i'm maryam moshiri with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. russia's ambassador to the uk rejects allegations his country interfered in british politics — or tried to steal vaccine research. i don't believe in this story at all. there is no sense in it. there is no sense in it. a record single—day increase in global, coronavirus infections — as nearly 260 thousand new cases are recorded in 2a hours. us presidents from across the political divide pay tribute tojohn lewis — an iconic figure of the american civil rights movement. and posecutors believe a fire at the cathedral in the french city of nantes may have

been started deliberately. the russian ambassador to the uk has flatly rejected british allegations that his country's intelligence services have tried to steal coronavirus vaccine research. andrey 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. our correspondent caroline hawley has more. it's interview for the andrew marr show tomorrow and it follows accusations from britain from the us and canada that russian spies

in particular in particular a group of hackers called cosy bear targeted scientists trying to develop a coronavirus vaccine. now andrew marr asked bluntly if russia had been stealing british vaccine research, the ambassadors reply was, i don't think so, i don't believe in the story at all it makes no sense. then on russian interference in british politics and we got that long—awaited parliamentary report into that due to be released this week. again he denies this, he says russia doesn't see any point and interfering. and then andrew marr asked him about the poisoning of former russian double agent in saulsberry he claims russia doesn't know what happened and this is what he told andrew marr. we do not see any point of interfering because for us whether the conservative party or labour parties they have over whether the conservative party or labours parties they have over this country, we will try to settle relations and to establish better relations either with this over that. now conservative party have won and we are working

on this relationship. i have to mention the commission that is studying cyber attacks proceeding from the authority of the united kingdom. we do not accuse the united kingdom what is happening. well, now the russian ambassador also said that russia is repaired to turn a page with relations but frankly relations have now hit a new low and it's pretty hard to see a page being turned in the current climate. sir tony brenton was the uk's ambassador in moscow between 2004 and 2008. we spoke to him earlier for his thoughts on whether uk and russian relations could improve. i'm not optimistic. 0ur relations with russia are pretty bad and they were pretty bad when i was ambassador. they've got steadily worse sense. here also have to say i think as a point. we, the uk area leading think as a point. we, the uk are a leading member of the

international community. we are keen to play an active role on issues like syria and libya and the ukraine and cyber warfare. and out of all of those issues, we cannot play as effective a role as we would like to if we do not have some sort of dialogue with russia. so while they behave improbably an international live, all this espionage and interference in election and all that is almost certainly true and is very damaging, of course. nevertheless, we need to build up nevertheless, we need to build upa nevertheless, we need to build up a working relationship with them ina up a working relationship with them in a way we don't have at them in a way we don't have at the moment. the number of global coronavirus cases has seen a record single—day increase. the world health organisation says nearly 260 thousand new cases have been recorded in 2a hours, the highest ever daily increase. while western europe and east asia have largely managed to contain covid—nineteen the picture elsewhere is bleak. in brazil and the us where lockdown measures are patchy, there's no sign of the curve being flattened. and scientists say india

which has the world's third biggest outbreak could be months away from reaching a peak. the unprecedented cult total of the covid—i9 was a key focus of the covid—i9 was a key focus of the 620 the covid—i9 was a key focus of the g20 talks on virus recovery and debt crisis today. here from saudi ministry of finance. the covid—i9 pandemic has evolved to be the biggest challenge is in global economies since the great depression of the 1930s. in response to this pandemic g20 countries are taking immediate and exceptional measures to address the covid—i9 pandemic and its intertwined health, social and economic impacts. including implementation of unprecedented physical military and financial stability

actions. let's round—up some of the day's other main developments. the authorities in north—east spain have further tightened restrictions in an area which was returned to lockdown a week ago. catalonia is registering more covid—i9 cases than any other region of the country. the surge led to tough new measures being announced on friday. european union leaders are to extend negotiations on a covid—i9 recovery plan for their economies and a new eu budget into a third day. they are struggling to reach a compromise between wealthier northern countries. a revised package under consideration was for a50 billion euros in grants. talks are due to resume on sunday. the leaders of france, germany and italy have warned that they're ready to consider imposing sanctions against countries who violate a un arms embargo on libya. in a joint statement they called sides to end what they describe as the ‘increasing interference' in the libyan conflict. twitter has confirmed that

hackers made use of tools that were supposed to have only been available to its own staff to carry off wednesday's cyber attack. the breach saw the accounts of barack 0bama, elon musk, kanye west and bill gates among other celebrities used to tweet a bitcoin scam. president trump has followed other senior figures in the united states in paying tribute to the civil rights leader and democrat congressman, john lewis, who has died. he was 80 and had pancreatic cancer. mr lewis played a key role in the march on washington in 1963 — which culminated in martin luther king's "i have a dream" speech. rajini vaidya nathan looks back at his life. john lewis was one of the most enduring figures in the civil rights movement. dedicating his

life he marched alongside martin luther king. and lived to see a black president. born in alabama in 1940, john lewis grew up in an america that was deeply segregated. i would come home and ask my mother, my father, "why segregation, my 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. the two men met whenjohn lewis was just a the two men met whenjohn lewis wasjust a teenager. i wanted to go in to ten troy state college. it was a school that never admitted black students. soi never admitted black students. so i wrote a letter to martin luther king so i wrote a letter to martin luther kinng. so i wrote a letter to martin luther king jr. and told so i wrote a letter to martin luther kinng. and told him i needed his help. he wrote me back and sent me a round—trip greyhound bus ticket. and invited me to come. so in march of 1958 by this time i'm 18

yea rs old of 1958 by this time i'm 18 years old and i saw martin luther king years old and i saw martin luther kinng. years old and i saw martin luther king jr. stand to the desk, i was so scared. and doctor king spoke up and said are you john lewis? are you the boy from troy? and so the boy from detroit became a civil rights leader himself. as a student activist, he became a close ally of dr martin luther king, i was beaten arrested and taken to jail. when i was arrested i felt so free. i felt so liberated. you arrest me, you beat me you put me injail liberated. you arrest me, you beat me you put me in jail what else can you do to me? you kill me? but doctor king said it is better to die a physical death then to die a spiritual or psychological death. in august 1963john lewis was the youngest speaker at the march on washington where doctor king delivered his famous i have a

dream address. the march was all over and doctor king had finished speaking, we were all invited to come down to the white house and to meet with president kennedy. we were ready. we were prepared. and so they marched again for voting rights from selma to montgomery, alabama. but their message of nonviolence ended brutally as they were attacked by the police. by the 50th anniversary of that iconic marchjohn anniversary of that iconic march john lewis had anniversary of that iconic marchjohn lewis had become a politician and was known as the conscious of the us congress. at the age of 70 he was awarded the presidential medal of freedom. the america's highest. we cannot give up now, we cannot give in. just keep the faith, keep our eyes on the prize. we must go out and vote like wheat never, ever voted before. in recent months he was

seen at marches after the killing of george floyd. for a man who lived through so many cha pters man who lived through so many chapters of the civil rights movement the pain of racial injustice in america never went away. nor did the fight against it. john lewis the mantra was simple, never give it. john lewis the mantra was simple, nevergive up, it. john lewis the mantra was simple, never give up, never give in. john lewis, who's died at the age of 80. here in the uk, the metropolitan police is being urged to formally apologise to a man who was detained while an officer appeared to kneel on his neck. marcus cootan 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 a teacher told man 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, he 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 said 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 be,

he continued ——breathe to say he could not breathe and he had done nothing, please get your knee for my neck. the deputy commissioner described footage as deeply disturbing and some of the techniques used were not taught in police training. one member of the net echoed the concerns but said the police have a difficult role to play. you cannot place your knee on someone's neck but in terms of range —— restraining someone, you have to have to 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 outside side islington police station. we need serious change.

there is a serious problem beyond a few individuals. the fact 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 arrrest has been referred to the independent police watchdog and an officer has been suspended. and an officer has been suspended. this is bbc news — our main headlines russia's ambassador to the uk rejects allegations his country has interfered in british politics, or tried to steal coronavirus vaccine research. a record single—day increase in global, coronavirus infections — as nearly 260 thousand new cases are recorded in 2a hours. french police say a fire in nantes cathedral may have been started deliberately.

investigators say the fire started in three different spots, which points to arson. it took around 100 firefighters to bring the blaze under control. it comes a little more than 12 months after the devastating fire at france's most famous cathredal, notre dame. reged ahmad has more. huge, bright orange and red flame seemed to engulf the middle of this ancient gothic building, as black smoke billows out from between the two towers. it took around 100 firefighters to get the blaze on the historic nantes cathedral under control, but not before it blew out the stained glass windows at the front and completely destroyed the grand organ inside. locals gathered anxiously outside to watch the firefighting effort. this cathedral dates back to the 15th century and took around 500 years to finish building, so it holds a special

place in french culture. translation: it was like a nightmare. i wanted it to stop. it wasn't possible for the cathedral again to be burning. we have seen paris, but we have also seen it here. translation: it was really incredible, it's something we never wanted to see, that we never wanted to experience. firefighters say the damage isn't as bad as initially feared, but french police believe the blaze was a result of three fires that started in the building and are investigating whether they were deliberately lit. translation: we have observed that the fire started in three spots and have opened an investigation for arson with regionaljudicial police. once the fire was out, the french prime minister toured the area to see the damage for himself. thanking firefighters for their efforts. translation: i would like to express to the people

of nantes the solidarity of the nation after this dramatic event that has hit the beautiful city. it is time now for an investigation under the supervision of a prosecutor. this cathedral has survived past disasters, from allied bombings in world war ii to a blaze in 1972, which destroyed the roof. the french government has promised to help repair the damage as quickly as possible and get the cathedral back to what it was. reged ahmed, bbc news. tens of thousands of russians have ta ken to the streets in the far eastern city of habar—vsk to demand the release of the local governor. sergei furgal was arrested on murder charges and flown to moscow last week. protesters claim his arrest was politically motivated. from habarovsk, our correspondent steve rosenberg reports. they poured in from across the region.

"freedom", they chanted. and, "send him home". it was one of the largest protests kha barovsk has ever seen. seven time zones east of moscow, they have been taking to the streets for a week now. and he is the reason why. sergei furgal is the local governor. "we are all furgal", he says. he is popular here, more popular here, they say, than president putin." but last week, he was arrested. officers flew in from moscow, bundled him into a car and flew him back to the capital. he has been charged with involvement in murders dating back 15 years. and that's sparked anger in khabarovsk. everybody understands it is a political case. they have stolen him, oui’ governor, from us. theyjust took him and everyone feels we elected him,

it was our choice, and moscow took him. horns beeping what is remarkable about these scenes is that in russia, unauthorised protests like this are normally broken up. but the police just stood and watched. the russian authorities clearly trying to avoid creating even more anger on the streets, and more resentment at moscow. such a public display of dissent is embarrassing for the kremlin. president putin likes to portray himself as the man who has given russia stability. but this protest is undermining that image. we did find one man in khabarovsk who is against the protests — the city's mayor. he is from the kremlin's party. translation: we have seen certain people going to the protest, chanting the same slogans and acting inappropriately.

and they are being paid to do this. there is no evidence of that. all they want is for their governor to be given a fair trial in kha barovsk. but the danger for the kremlin is that, if this continues, a local hero could become a national star. steve rosenberg, bbc news, khabarovsk. germany has been relying on testing, tracing — and now mobile phone technology — to reduce the number of new coronavirus infections. more than fifteen million people in the country have downloaded a tracking app which automatically notifies users if they've been in contact with an infected person. jenny hill has sent this report. welcome to frankfurt airport. please remember to keep your... this is germany's largest airport. just a few weeks ago, it was almost at a standstill. now, well, this country's back on the move.

but how to stop the virus spreading too? germany's testing more. 500,000 tests last week. here at frankfurt, for a fee, they are on offer to travellers, too. anyone can turn up here for a test. you get the results within three hours or around seven hours, depending on how much you are willing to pay. let's give it a go. three to five people test positive here every day, they tell us. many had no symptoms. so, really young travellers and especially those below 40, usually they have nothing or slight symptoms that they did not link with covid—19. tracking infection is important here. at every cafe, bar, restaurant, you have to leave your contact details and, for the last month, germans have been able to download a tracing app. every time i, or rather, my phone, come into close proximity with someone else and their phone, it keeps a record. now, it won't tell me who they were or where we met, but, if within 14 days,

they test positive and tell the app, i'll get an automatic warning. around one in five germans have downloaded the app. for privacy reasons, their data stays on the phones. the authorities can't see it. so it's unlikely to put sylvia out of work. she's the human version, speaking to those who tested positive and tracing those they might have infected. so many contacts. it was awful, you know! there were so many. after the shutdown, it was less and less and less. germany's got used to masks, distance, caution. but, as this country embarks on a very different holiday season, experts worry. too easy, they say, to leave those cares behind. jenny hill, bbc news, frankfurt. morgan bullock is an african—american irish dancerfrom richmond, virginia. after a video of her fancy footwork went viral, she was flooded with messages of praise from around the world, including one

from the then irish taoiseach, leo varadkar, who invited her to dance in ireland for st patrick's day 2021. but some accused her of "cultural appropriation". she's been speaking to our reporter colm flynn. when you think of irish dancing, this probably isn't what comes to mind. this is 21—year—old irish dancerfrom richmond virginia who recently went viral for her dancing on tick—tock. morgan was just a little girl when she saw irish dancing for the very first time. i remember how energetic it was and the bright dress and itjust, it was something like i had never seen before. it became a huge part of my life. she started going to classes a few times a week and attended a dance competition.

morgan, when you went into those irish dancing classes, we're you the only african—american girl in the class ? yeah, i was always the only one in that class. to that ever have any effect on you or how did that make you feel? i don't think i ever considered it an issue. it was deathly something i took note of but i've grown up in a predominantly white area. so it wasn't something that i was uncomfortable about. after going viral with her irish dancing the reaction was overwhelmingly positive. but there were a few who felt that what she was doing was inappropriate. the negative comments of people leaving under the video, what were people saying? early on shortly after posting it some people were saying that when i was doing was culturally slim cultural appropriation. just because i don't look a typical irish dancer look like.

imean,... there were saying because you are not irish and because you're not white that you shouldn't be performing irish dancing? yeah, basically that's what they were saying. after the video went viral morgan was invited onto a very popular irish radio show where she was surprised by the lead dancer of riverdance. if you're up for it we'd love you tojoin us in virginia to perform in rive rdance. oh my god, i love to do that. my heartjust dropped. i think you're going to do an amazing job. it was unreal. riverdance is like the end goalfor me. with dancing. so the opportunity to perform with riverdance is amazing. it's been postponed so i'm not sure about the dates for the us tour but i mean, i will be there whenever it is. buckingham palace have revealed details of princess beatrice's wedding ceremony held on friday at windsor. she wore a dress and tiara

borrowed from queen elizabeth. the remoddled and fitted dress had previously been worn by her majesty almost 60 years ago. what 60 years ago. a lovely family photo. i buy 60 years ago. from us. hello. hello. 60 years ago. well, a weather front that first moved into scotland and northern ireland from thursday night is still bringing some cloud and rain across parts of southeast england in the day ahead. where is for us as defined sunday on the way. here's a weather front which has clearly been very slowly moving south across the uk. that won't clear away from southeast england until tonight. this is how things are shaping up. warm, muggy start to the south clearing away from wales maybe still a bit towards parts of the midlands. into southern england as the day starts. where else where it's a fine and quite cool start to the day. you get the sunshine few showers run across scotland mainly towards the north and the west. but northern ireland, northern england, wales

increasingly into the midlands gradually to southwest england they will be some sunshine. across much of east anglia and southeast england still cloud even at this stage of the afternoon. still some patchy rain around some of us here too. the most part temperatures just into the teens with up quite a change from yesterday was so warm and humid. change compared to saturday's washout. with the sunshine in the day ahead as we go on through sunday evening still a bit of rain towards essex and kent. it will finally clear away. along with that weather front at last, keeping a few showers across parts of northwest scotland. as much of the uk will be dry going into monday morning. and cooler across the board, many of us will be into single figures as monday begins. with the ridge of high pressure building into monday and tuesday for that matter. a lot of dry weather, dry everywhere because still around that ridge of high pressure there will still be a few showers coming in.

especially into scotland but during monday there is a chance of catching a few northern ireland as parts of northern england as well. both england and wales will stay dry. another cool start to the day temperatures recover in some sunny spells but we still mainly talking temperatures into the high teens. just a few spots getting into the low 20s. so most stay dry again on tuesday by wednesday we will see a bit of rain into parts of northern ireland. especially scotland for as much as england as well a chance of a shower later in the week will stay dry.

this is bbc news, the headlines the russian ambassador to the uk has rejected british allegations that his country's intelligence services interfered in british politics — or tried to steal vaccine research. the denial comes days before a report into allegations of wider russian interference into uk democracy is due to be published. the number of global coronavirus cases has seen a record single—day increase. the world health organization says nearly 260—thousand new cases have been recorded in 24 hours in brazil and the us where lockdown measures have not been enforced strictly there's no sign of the curve being flattened. us presidents and foreign leaders have joined the tributes to civil rights iconjohn lewis, who has died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 80. lewis was one of the ‘big six‘ civil rights leaders, which included martin luther king jr.