uighurs this is bbc news the headlines at 8pm. china denies an accusation by foreign secretary dominic raab that its carrying out human rights abuses against its uighur minority. can i ask you why people are kneeling, blindfolded and shaven and being led to trains in modern china? why? what is going on there? i do not know where you get this video tape. it is deeply, deeply troubling. and the reports on the human aspect of it, from forced sterilisation to re—education camps, are reminiscent of something we have not seen for a long, long time. president trump has defended his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, telling fox news that the us

has the lowest mortality rate in the world. police and public health officials are investigating a mosque in blackburn after 250 people attended a funeral there on monday. it's since emerged that the imam has tested positive for coronavirus. the united arab emirates prepares to launch a mission to mars making it the first arab nation to do so. alonso, oh, it is in. and chelsea are on their way to the fa cup final leading 3—1 in their semi—final against manchester united. good evening. amid growing tensions between beijing and london, china has threatend repercussions over british criticism of its handling of hong kong.

the foreign secretary, dominic raab, will set out in full tomorrow, number 10's response to beijing's tough new security law for the territory, amid calls from some senior conservatives to suspend the uk's extradition treaty with china. there's also criticism of the treatment of the muslim uighur population, in the province of xingjiang, amid claims some women are being forcibly sterilised. our diplomatic correspondent, caroline hawley, reports. it has never been an easy relationship, but now troubles are mounting on multiple fronts. there is deep concern for the future of hong kong, after china imposed new security laws on the former british colony, undermining its autonomy. the government is now preparing to escalate its response. i said we would conduct a review of our extradition arrangements, and also a range of other measures we might wish to take. i have now, with the home secretary and the rest of government, concluded that review, i will update the house of commons on what further measures we are taking tomorrow.

today china warned britain not to follow the us in imposing sanctions. if uk government goes that far, goes that far to impose sanctions on any individuals in china, china will certainly make resolute response to it. china reacted with fury to britain's decision to ban huawei's technology because of security concerns. there are fears now of the potential economic fallout for british business. other countries, including the us, japan and australia, have paid a price forfalling out with china. china has sanctioned commerce, trade, the companies of those countries, operating in china. so to be honest, it is difficult to predict what china might do with regard to the united kingdom, but we might have to expect that british companies would be in the crosshairs. what china is doing to its uighur minority has caused international outrage.

men have been forced into mass re—education camps. women, forcibly sterilised. dominic raab said the human rights abuses were egregious and deeply, deeply troubling. the ambassador was shown a video that appears to show bound, blindfolded men being forced on to a train. this was his response. uighur people, enjoying harmonious life, peaceful harmonious co—existence with other ethnic groups of people. uighur people is just a one small portion of the chinese population, among even among the muslims, but they are, the majority of them are living happily, peacefully, harmoniously. the british government says it can't stand by and watch abuses take place but it also wants a good relationship with china and with the us at the same time. an almost impossible balancing act. caroline hawley, bbc news.

we arejoined now we are joined now by the director of the soas china institute. what do you make of this latest twist in the relationship between the uk and china? i think we are at a turning point in our relationship. we are being put into a very difficult situation by our chinese friends. we don't really want to have to choose between having a good relationship with china and standing up for basic, british values, and it has reached a point that i think the government feels that it has to make a choice, and i think the government is making just about the right balance in terms of trying not to be overreacting to the chinese government, but on the other hand, standing upfor our government, but on the other hand, standing up for our values. government, but on the other hand, standing up for our valuesm government, but on the other hand, standing up for our values. it is interesting, this, because you will be well aware of concerns about the

treatment of the uighurs in xinjiang. people have been talking widely about it for three years. there have been long—standing concerns about china and the way its state power is used in the commercial world, and yet not so very long ago the government here took the view that we just have to suck some of these things up, you just have to put them into the overall balance and what weighed heavily for them was the importance of china as a trading partner. as we look to life at side the european union so it is a big shift if the government is now putting the emphasis on things like human rights and political relationship and the treatment of hong kong, as compared to the question. i don't think the government has given up on the economic relationship but the recent developments over hong kong, the

introduction of the state security law in hong kong, will in fact criminalise activities that happens on british campuses, because if we have any hong kong student on our campus who says that perhaps one should question whether china should be governing hong kong, that person will have committed an offence, and the person who allowed this to happen potentially would also have been seen as committing an offence and subjected to that low. the government may be in a sense will have to respond, because of the way this change is approached. there's also the way the chinese government has handled the covid—i9 issue which has handled the covid—i9 issue which has been very unhelpful, as well. since you have raised the question of potential pressure being applied to academics and students in this country, there have been regular claims that china has been putting pressure on academic institutions in

the uk in terms of what it teaches, what they study, who they are allowed to come into elections. has that been happening? you are talking about a range of institutions having different responses. most traditional universities do not succumb to that kind of pressure but i don't think it is unknown that there may have been some institutions that have been exercising some sort of self—censorship, yes, it has happened. what, then, about the likely changes in terms of britain's relationship? do you think that there will be sanctions against unnamed officials, for example, because of what is happening in hong kong? is that the route the government is now ready to go down? that is one option. if the uk government should go in that direction we would be going in the direction we would be going in the direction of what the americans have done under the global act. it would seem to be a proportionate and

reasonable response to deal with senior officials who clearly have been violating the rights of individuals, whether you're talking about in hong kong or in potentially, xinjiang, and it will not be targeting china more generally or the chinese people so in that sense, it is a reasonable response, but it will not be seen by the chinese government as reasonable or acceptable. if we do that, i think they will be taking some of our companies or institutions as targets for some kind of response. what about companies? we heard earlierfrom a chinese what about companies? we heard earlier from a chinese company working in the uk trying to build and extend good relations and saying, look, we shouldn't allow the politics to harm the economic relationship, but in hong kong, are there are signs that some of the company is based in hong kong are now beginning to have doubts about their continued presence in the territory? there are some british

companies which have been put under pressure by the chinese authorities in hong kong. it happens, not only this year, it also happened last year when hong kong was having a lot of protests and demonstrations. they we re of protests and demonstrations. they were basically required to declare that they were in support of the chinese government's policy on hong kong, or else. so they are not in a very good place at the moment. so they are not in a very good place at the moment. thank you for being with us. and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages. at 10:30 and 11:30 this evening in the papers —

our guests joining me tonight are harriet line, deputy political editor at pa and giles cunningham, political commentator and former conservative party press chief. that's on bbc news at 10:30pm and 11:30pm. a mosque in blackburn is being investigated by police and public health officials after 250 people attended a funeral there on monday. the mosque emailed its congregation following the service to warn them that the imam tested positive for coronavirus. the mosque's chairman told the bbc ‘they made a mistake' and believed any number of people were allowed to attend a funeral as long as social distancing guidelines were adhered to. the government advice in england limits weddings and funerals to 30 people. we can speak now to bbc asian network reporter, rahila bano, who is in blackburn. what more do we know about the circumstances involving this mosque? last monday the funeral prayers were

held at the mosque on chester street in blackburn. according to a message that was put out on social media yesterday, around 250 people attended this funeral and following the funeral, the day after, the imam who led these prayers went, wasn't feeling well, and he went to be tested for covid—19 and was found to be positive. i spoke to him earlier today, and he is in fact recovering at home. now, the issue is that the mosque thought that they could allow more than the 30 people that are actually allowed legally to attend funerals in places of worship at the moment, because of covid—19. although actually only 30 people can attend funerals and a place of worship but they thought they could

allow a ny worship but they thought they could allow any more people because the congregational prayer is that they hold at the mosque they are allowing up hold at the mosque they are allowing up to 200 people at the mosque and they say that as long as they were socially distancing, they thought that the same rules apply to funerals, that there was a bit of confusion, which is why they had something like 250 people attending these prayers last monday. a last quick questions. any indication of the number of people who may have developed symptoms yet, was the imam able to tell you anything about that? i spoke to the imam and to the chairman of the mosque and as far as they were concerned they said there was only one person that they knew of who had been detected with covid—19. what they said as they put out a message today saying that anybody, everybody who attended the funeral prayers last monday, should go to be tested, and we know that in blackburn, up to today, there are

something like 1187 people who have something like 1187 people who have so far tested positive with covid, thatis so far tested positive with covid, that is 72 cases last week, up by 28 on the previous week, and we also know that the vast majority of people who were found to be covid—19 positive were people from the asian community in blackburn. you're in cheshire, forgive me for saying blackburn, thank you very much for that. the first mission to mars by an arab nation is preparing to lift off later today. the rocket will send the united arab emirates probe, named hope, to orbit the red planet, to learn more about its atmosphere and weather. it's part of a plan to help the uae move away from oil and gas and enter the global space industry. just as it celebrates the 50th anniversary of the incorporation of the country. 0ur science correspondent, rebecca morelle, reports. mars is a mysterious planet.

it has always fascinated people on earth. heading for the red planet, the first arab mission to mars. the united arab emirates about to make history. the spacecraft is called hope. it was built over six years, with help from american scientists. until now, the uae‘s only launched satellites to earth orbit. getting to mars is a huge leap. feeling more nervous than anything else. we've tested and tested and tested the spacecraft to ensure it can survive every single scenario, and now all of that rests on a launch pad on top of a rocket that is destined to a planet that is millions of miles away from us. our view of mars is about to be transformed. most spacecraft that have been there have orbited around the planet's poles and very close in, but this has meant a limited view. hope is a mission with a difference. it's heading towards the equator, and in a much wider elliptical

orbit, and this means it will reveal almost every part of the planet, at every time of day, in each ten—day cycle. the spacecraft will study the martian atmosphere to give us much more information about its weather and climate. even though the atmosphere on mars is around a thousand times thinner than the atmosphere on earth, we still see these weather—type events, so dust storms, clouds, fog, lightning even, so understanding the weather on mars will help us understand more about the weather on earth. until now, oil and gas have driven the uae‘s economy, but it is trying to diversify with its burgeoning space industry. around half of all missions to mars have failed. but the stakes are higher for this country. it's a scientific mission and failure is an option. however, failure to progress as a nation is not an option, and what matters the most

here is the capacity and the capability that the uae gains out of this mission. the spacecraft will take seven months to reach mars, and if it does succeed, a new player in the global space race will have truly arrived. rebecca morelle, bbc news. the mission is being overseen at the dubai space centre. 0ur correspondent, sameer hashmi, is there. waiting for the launch in just a few hours' time. how exciting is this for the uae and for other countries in the middle east? it is a huge moment for the uae. the political achievement has described this as its greatest achievement ever. this depends on whether the launch will be successful and is able to accomplish the main objective of the mission. there is a lot of buzz at the media centre, the building next to the control centre, which will be monitoring the launch, which is expected in less than three hours,

now. so, all eyes on that, we had a project head of team out explaining the process. they had to delay the launch twice because of the weather but we are hoping that they will be third time lucky today, even though the final go—ahead will be given only one hour before the launch. people are expressing surprise that the uae is entering the space age, but the arab world gave us some of our first knowledge of the planets. people were observing mars, 1000 yea rs people were observing mars, 1000 years ago, from observatories in what was then persia. it is a really rich history that is finally being brought up—to—date. rich history that is finally being brought up-to-date. that's right. you rightly said the arab world was at the forefront when it comes to science so many years ago, so many centuries ago, and that is what the leadership and the people behind this project have been talking about. this mission is about providing that era, when the arab

world was at the forefront and they are hoping that this will be successful and it will invite a new kind of decade or era and encourage other arab nations to join a space race. that is already happening. after the uae said it would watch this mission, saudi arabia and egypt have announced they will be investing in their own space programmes, but for the uae this mission is notjust about space, they hope it will act as a catalyst and inspire their young generation to ta ke and inspire their young generation to take up science, to build a skilled workforce that will help them move from their dependence on oil, because the country rely so much on oil and that is what a lot of other countries are hoping in the future, whether it is saudi arabia, they are already talking about a vision of 2030, talking about moving away from oil, and space is seen as one important component of achieving that objective. samir hashmi at the

dubai space centre, thank you for that. we'll be bringing you news of the launch, live later on bbc news channel. do stay with us for that. for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began, the number of new daily infections around the world has surpassed a quarter of a million. the biggest increases were in the us — where the total number of virus—related deaths has just passed 140,000. more than 78,000 people have died in brazil and cases have surpassed two million, and those numbers are still rising. and the death toll in india now stands at 26,816. but the united states remains the worst affected country. speaking on fox news president trump disputed the impact on the country and said that the us has the lowest mortality rate in the world. when you talk about mortality rates i think it is the opposite. i think we have one of the lowest mortality rates.

that's not true, sir. we had 900 deaths in a single day this week. we will take a look. check it out. can you get me the mortality rates? kayley is right here. i heard we had one of the lowest, may be the lowest mortality rate in the world. do you have the numbers, please? because i heard we had the best mortality rate. number one low mortality rate. that was donald trump speaking on fox news this morning. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes says despite what the president is saying, medical experts remain concerned about the deteriorating situation in the us. it was a contentious interview over the numbers, mortality rate. what we cannot dispute is the number of coronavirus cases here in the us and the positivity rate, which is all—important, the numbers of those

tested as a percentage is increasing dramatically. the president continues to insist that is because more people are being tested. he says some of those cases should not be cases. what he means is they should not be considered cases because they, as he says, recover very quickly. 99.7% of people he says recover very quickly. but the fact is, a positive test is a positive test, and what health experts here are saying over and again is that those, many young people testing positive, have the potential to pass the virus to others in their family and perhaps older people who are less able to survive. peter bowes in los angeles. and now some sports news. chelsea

thrashing manchester united. chelsea have just beaten manchester united 3—1 in the second fa cup semifinal of the weekend. frank lampard's side soon took control at wembley, but it wasn't untiljust before half—time that 0livier giroud put them ahead. soon after the break brandon williams gave the ball away to mason mount, who made it 2—0 when david de gea fumbled his shot into the goal. united's defence continued to crumble, harry maguire scoring an own goal. bruno hernandez pulled one back from the penalty spot, but the game was effectively over. chelsea will play arsenal in the final. bournemouth look likely to end their five—year stay in the premier league — they lost 2—0 to southampton. defeat means they could be relegated before theirfinal game, if watford take a point from their match on tuesday. danny ings put southampton ahead in the first half with his 21st goal of the season. bournemouth then thought they had a vital equaliser deep in injury time,

only for it to be ruled out by var because callum wilson was offside. and to really rub salt into the wound, che adams made it 2—0 to southampton moments later. leicester's bid to cling onto a top four spot suffered another setback as they were beaten 3—0 at spurs. it leaves them level on points with manchester united — but they've played a game more. the two meet on the last day of the season next sunday. all coming down now to the final games of the season. the bbc understands that watford have sacked manager nigel pearson, with two games of the premier league remaining. pearson, who was appointed in december, will become the third manager sacked by the club this season. they sit just three points above the relegation zone. england will want quick wickets in the morning if they are to stand any chance of levelling their test series with west indies. they finally bowled them out for 287 and are 37—2 in reply, leading by 219 going into the final day's play.

joe wilson reports. you can't see time hovering above 0ld you can't see time hovering above old trafford but you can sense it in england's desperation to take wickets. down it goes. and their disappointment when they didn't. just one west indian batsmen fell, joseph. a brave catch from oliver pope, watch the ball. it was sanitised by the umpires after an england player admitted to using saliva on it against covid rules. here tom sam karen. accurate bowling will never go out of fashion, whatever happens to lock down hair. hope gone, and in the absence of joffre archer england needed a bowling spot. kraigg brathwaite defied them. gone for four. england didn't have time for bad luck. their only choice was hard work. stokes fought and mistake, only choice was hard work. stokes foughtand mistake, kraigg

brathwaite14 7a, england needed more. later archer was seen in the practice area preparing. what now? new ball, classic stuart broad, brooks, lbw. you wait hours i it brooks, lbw. you wait hours for it to change and then suddenly this, dowrich lbw. jason holder dismissed, but then west indies guided past 270, significant, now follow on, england batting again thejos buttler, the hint, england have to score quickly. 219 ahead. more neededin score quickly. 219 ahead. more needed in the morning. joe wilson, bbc news. lewis hamilton has moved to the top of the formula 1 world championship after victory in hungary. the six—time world champion led from start to finish at the hungaroring ahead of max verstappen, who came second, despite crashing on the warm—up lap. hamilton is now five points clear of his mercedes team mate valtteri bottas, who finished third.

football, cricket and formula 1, a pretty normal weekend for sport! in scotland restuara nts, bars and parts of the tourism sector opened for the first time this weekend since the coronavirus lockdown. some churches have also had theirfirst sunday services for months. it comes as a leading public health figure in scotland says the country is at a very delicate moment in its fight against the virus. gillian sharpe reports. sunday mass at st andrews cathedral in glasgow. for those attending, real joy in glasgow. for those attending, realjoy at in glasgow. for those attending, real joy at the return. in glasgow. for those attending, realjoy at the return. absolutely brilliant. i went in to visit when it first reopened, but to actually come to mass, it is something special. just delighted to be back for the first one. you can't sing but in my head, i'm singing, you know? i missed it so much. it will be emotional. while much is

familiar, there is much that isn't, no communal singing and the need for social distancing means are limited numbers. contact details taken and strict infection control measures. this was the scene at a scottish episcopal church today in aberlour, it has been a week of change in scotla nd it has been a week of change in scotland with pubs, restaurants and tourist business opening up. there have been 23 new covid—19 cases in scotland. yesterday the number was 21, the highest in almost a month. all will be carefully examined. this is an incredibly sensitive time. we all need to realise that. we know that from international examples. we need to look at the positivity rate. that is the relationship between the number of cases and the number of people tested. it is still less than 196. people tested. it is still less than 1%. although these numbers are slightly concerning, they may also bea slightly concerning, they may also be a feature of increased testing. as lockdown eases and more of a

normal life opens up, experts say that we all need to be careful, to allow that to continue as planned. gillian sharp, bbc news. thousands of people attended an illegal rave near bath last night. music from the event could be heard across the city, and as far away as bristol. police were still trying to disperse the crowds this afternoon. tracey miller reports. the party started and they were still going strong this morning. 0n the disused airfield in upper swainswick, thousands came here late last night. the music could be heard ten miles away. we are just here to have a good time, really. we don't want to do any harm to anyone. everybody tries to clean up after themselves and just enjoy ourselves, really. it's only my second party, but everyone is so welcoming and then obviously everyone is going around litter picking, so... we are just here for a good time! yeah. it was organised through social media, the location shared via the internet with people from as far away as sheffield, wales and birmingham. after months of lockdown, many here said it was inevitable

this would happen, but there was no evidence of social distancing here. usually there is boom town, and festivals, and these free parties, but there hasn't been anything, so this one was a bit like woodstock. many local people had a sleepless night. very loud, to be honest, just a long, droning noise of this place just constantly. so a very sleepless night all round, really. how do you feel about it? not great, especially with the global pandemic and everything. we had an appointment this morning to go out and we actually can't get down the lane because they are just parked all the way down and it is all blocked up. it is a bit annoying that it has been going on all night and we, obviously, all of our neighbours have called in and complained, but they don't seem to have done anything. the police say that they blocked the roads leading to the airfield. they made a risk assessment last night and they estimated