this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. china denies an accusation by britain's foreign minister that it's carrying out human rights abuses against its uighur population. 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 the education camps, are reminiscent of something we have not seen for a long, long time. president trump has defended his handling of the coroanvirus pandemic, incorrectly telling fox news that the us has the lowest

mortality rate in the world. and the first arab space mission to mars is preparing for lift—off. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world — and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. we start with china's ambassador to the uk denying reports that his country is carrying out a programme of sterilisation of uighur women in the western part of country — xinjang. reports and eyewitness accounts have accused china of trying to reduce the uighur population by forced sterilisation. the uighur muslims are the largest ethnic group in china's far west xinjiang region. china denies human rights abuses there, but there's evidence of mosques

being destroyed — as you see in these before and after pictures — and uighurs say they are subject to intense state surveillance. britain's foreign secretary, dominic raab, said there were ‘gross and egregious' human rights abuses going on there and that he found it deeply troubling. it comes amid a rise in diplomatic tension between the two countries over a new national security law in hong kong, and the british government's decision to ban the chinese company huawei from the uk's 56 network. our diplomatic correspondent caroline hawley has the story. 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. i'm joined now by rayhan asat, an attorney and advocate in washington. her brother is one of at least a million uighurs who have been sent to china's so—called re—education camps. thank so—called re—education camps. you forjoining us. i the thank you forjoining us. we heard the chinese ambassador to the uk seeing no concentration camps —— macro re—education camps, no forced sterilising, no ethnic cleansing, how does that square with your understanding of what is happening? i believe the ambassador failed to refute the allegations, because all of this relies heavily on government official documents about forced sterilisations or the image that you have shown, it is actually authenticated by aspects. this has been well documented evidence. so,

at best he failed to refute the allegations. i think he is rewriting history and trying to paint a different history of uighurs in china living happily, otherwise victims like my brother would not be in these re—education camps, although he was a model citizen, receiving an award like margaret thatcher received from the united states state department. you said he was targeted despite being recognised as a model chinese citizens. what happened to him? my brother founded a mobile citizens. what happened to him? my brotherfounded a mobile media platform, and he has been the bridge between the uighur community and the government and on multiple occasions through their own government media the chinese government praised him,

but after he came to the united states to participate in the international assist leadership programme, one of the most prestigious programmes of the state department, shortly after returning from this programme he was detained and thrown into these concentration camps, early and thrown into these concentration ca m ps, early after and thrown into these concentration camps, early after four years later, i found out that, camps, early after four years later, ifound out that, reported camps, early after four years later, i found out that, reported that he had been sentenced and senseless —— serving currently 15 years in prison. when did you last hear from him? i heard from him when he was here in the united states. i was expecting him tojoin my graduation. this was march, 2016. there are 11 million uighurs in xinjang, many of the muslim, to be as blunt and simple as you can, what do you think is the aim of the chinese government in that part of the country? when i look at this report based on the government official documents, so

what we are seeing is a multipronged approach. one is mass sterilisation of women and the second is putting men, single men of my brother's age, so they put them in a category of specific age, anyone from the post—19 to post 18, this group is seen as a post—19 to post 18, this group is seen as a violent generation so they put them in these internment camps and give them a lengthy sentence, so they would remove these men from their own households, and then women are sterilised, and then at least half a million children are suffering from their family, the chinese government put them in the state opening schools, and as a result, the perfectly laid the ground for eliminating the entire uighur population and i think that

is clearly within the definition of the un genocide convention on the mental element as well as the action itself. we will have to leave it there, thank you forjoining us here on bbc news. good to be with you. 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, brazil, india and south africa. brazil remains one of the worst affected countries with the number of cases passing two million. more than 78,000 people have died there with the virus — and numbers are rising. of the 600,000 people who've caught the virus and lost their lives, nearly a quarter were in the united states. it still has by far the biggest outbreak of covid—19 and does not yet appear close to reaching a peak. and the death toll in india now stands at 26,816. here's our reporter paul hawkins with more details.

according to the world health organization, this is the first time the number of new daily infections has surpassed a quarter of a million. the biggest increases are in south africa, india, brazil and the usa where there are now approximately 71,000 new cases per day. 41 states out of 50 are seeing an increase but the biggest rises arizona, texas, and florida, which, a few days ago, reported more new cases in 12a—hour period than the entire european union. many experts say lockdown was lifted too quickly, the messaging on masks has been mixed, with president trump wearing one but not insisting his fellow americans have to wear one, too, which directly contradicts his top infectious diseases expert.

i would urge the leaders, the local political and other leaders in states and cities and towns to be as forceful as possible in getting your citizenry to wear masks. brazil has approximately 115,000 new cases a day, total infections like the us are over 2 million, a figure reached in less than a month after taking four months to reach1 million. but there is some good news. there is a plateau, an opportunity now for brazil to push the disease down, to suppress the transmission of the virus, to take control. india has approximately 35,000 new cases per day. scientists say the peak could still be months away. although the fatality rate is relatively low. south africa has 13,000 new cases per day. it has gripped the country, overwhelming hospitals and that is why all south africans have to wear masks with the president saying this last weekend. the sale, the dispensing

and distribution of alcohol will be suspended with immediate effect. a curfew will be put in place. and, so, without a vaccine, the numbers keep climbing. the death toll keeps rising, and the world tries to adapt. paul hawkins, bbc news. in the united states the number of people who've died with covid—19 has passed 140,000 — almost a quarter of the global total. but president trump has dismissed evidence from johns hopkins university that the us has the world's seventh highest mortality rate from the disease. in an interview with fox news, he insisted — incorrectly — that his country had one of the lowest rates. 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 rates in the world. do you have the numbers, please?

because i heard we had the best mortality rate. number one low mortality rate. for some analysis on the claims being made by president trump, here's our north america correspondent peter bowes. he is still saying that the virus will eventually disappear and eve ryo ne will eventually disappear and everyone hopes he will be proved to be right on that point, but what he is continuing to say is that the number of cases which we are seeing increased dramatically in certain states around the country especially in the south, florida, texas and here in california, he says that is because more people are being tested, and it is true more people are being tested but the president said many of those cases shouldn't even be considered as cases. now, a positive test is a positive test. what he is getting at is that he doesn't believe that those cases are significant. he says 99.7% of

people, he believes, recoververy quickly. what the president is not acknowledging is the positivity rate. that is the number of people who are found to be positive, to have the virus, as a percentage of those that are tested. that is also increasing dramatically. we are seeing the response from hospitals, certainly here in los angeles, especially florida, that some of those hospitals are seeing many, many more people coming in and that they are beginning to be overwhelmed. china has raised its flood alert levels in the country's east to its second highest — as rivers threaten to burst their banks after days of torrential rain. heavy downpours have swept across china for weeks. officials say millions of people have been relocated, as reged ahmad reports. the massive yangtze river in china's east. the water has

spilled out over embankments, inundating homes and low lying areas. it is flowing freely into cities, submerging cars and turning streets into rivers of their own. this is the result of heavy downpours in this area and authorities are warning there may be more to come. we have 40,000 people guarding the dam to ensure that all of the embankments that have seen high water levels are being monitored. china has raised its flood alert levels to the second highest, after days of torrential rain have caused water levels in reservoirs to rise sharply. there is concern about surrounding provinces as the river flows through major agricultural and densely populated areas. china isn't alone. the wider region is feeling the impact of those heavy rains. in india's capital, new delhi, firefighters had to rescue people trapped in their cars

from fast rising floodwaters. and parts of neighbouring bangladesh have been hit by monsoons, submerging farmland and villages. all of this flooding comes at a time when countries like bangladesh are trying to come to grips with covid—19, making lockdowns difficult. there are also fears the impact of china's flooding could be felt further afield. scenes like these during the rainy season are not uncommon, but this time the flooding could disrupt global supplies of chinese goods being used to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. more heavy rain is expected to fall. reged ahmed, bbc news. you can see some of the stunning pictures on that story on the bbc news website. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's catherine.

chelsea have 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 olivier giroux 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 with harry maguire scoring an own goal to make it 3—0. bruno fernandes pulled one back from the penalty spot but the game was effectively over. chelsea will play arsenal in the final. that would have been a brilliant performance but sometimes a bit of an edge around the place is not the worst. this season, after a win, but it has been like that and to change the situation we had a lot of information and work done in the last two weeks and you're only as good as the players in that sense and they all deserve huge credit. so on the phone that they are in, i am proud for the players. it is the semifinal, another game to go, but i

am very proud to be there. it is going to be another big game against arsenal. it will be special personally for me. but we are very happy with the team performance today. now we need to focus on the championship. and the premier league, and yes, we just want to finish in the top three. and obviously, to win the fa cup. leicester's hopes of champions league football next season have been dented — they were beaten 3—0 by tottenham. harry kane scored twice — moving spurs up to 6th and into the europa league places. leicester, meanwhile, will have to fight for their spot in the top four with closest rivals manchester united — who they play on the final day of the season. bournemouth are on the verge of relegation after losing 2—0 to southampton — with the video assistant referee denying them what would have been an injury—time equaliser. sam surridge fired home from a tight angle — but a var review correctly found

that callum wilson was offside. southampton then scored a second. bournemouth will be relegated on tuesday if watford get a point against manchester city — or if they get one against arsenal on the final day. england will want quick runs on monday morning in manchester if they are to stand any chance of levelling their test series with west indies. they finally bowled them out for 287 at old trafford. then sent injos buttler and ben stokes to try to accelerate things. they'll resume on 37 for two. stokes is still there with england leading by 219 going into the final day's play. i was quite pleased. wanted to go out on and get a big score for the team, but it, england bowled very well. you saw how the pitch played. i think we still show some fight. tomorrow is a very crucial day for us.

when the new ball game i had a good tempo to my run—up. it has shown it isa tempo to my run—up. it has shown it is a bit ofa tempo to my run—up. it has shown it is a bit of a new ball pitch, when the pitches are that the ball misbehaves a little bit. that was good for us, got us back in the game and the fact we got some wickets and had a bit of a lead means we will haveit had a bit of a lead means we will have it usable by tomorrow. lewis hamilton is at the top of the f1 drivers standings after victory at the hungarian grand prix. it's the 8th time hamilton has won the race and he now shares the record with michael schumacher for the most wins at one circuit. the six—time world champion led from the start and dominated at the hungaroring. max verstappen came second despite crashing on the warm—up and hamilton is now five points clear of his mercedes team mate valtteri bottas, who finished third. that's all the sport for now. the first arab space mission to mars is preparing for lift—off. a robotic craft called "hope" will travel to

the red planet to collect data about its climate and atmosphere. the space craft belongs to the uae and is part of a plan to help the country move away from oil and gas production and enter the global space industry. it is due to lift off from the remote japanese island, tanegashima in a little under two hours. the launch has already been postponed twice, but the mission leaders are hoping for good weather this time. the mission is being overseen at the dubai space centre. our correspondent sameer hashmi is there. exciting times. are they all set for liftoff, then? it looks like everything is on track at this point in time. we had a project team coming out and briefing us a while ago, saying that the weather seems to be clear, which was the problem last week when they had to postpone the launch two times. now they are sounding pretty confident. they will get the final go—ahead just one hour before liftoff, which will be at 1:50am local time and about 958 gmt.

that is the time to look out for. things are looking very exciting. this is the media centre, which is right next to the building where you have the control centre. this is where the team will be setting, monitoring the launch, which will ta ke monitoring the launch, which will take place at 1:58. it will take an hourfor take place at 1:58. it will take an hour for the spacecraft to go into the air, after that it will dismantle from the rocket then try to make a connection with the control room by sending a signal back and that is when the team will know whether the mission has been successful or not. a very complicated launch. lots of bitten fingernails there, i'm sure. that probe spends eight months getting to mars. once it gets there, what information does it hurt to collect and what are the scientists trying to learn? it will be a little over seven months to reach the mars

orbit. after that the spacecraft is going to go around the planet. it is going to go around the planet. it is going to go around the planet. it is going to gather new data and information about the climate and the atmosphere. it is going to go around for one martian year, which is 687 earth days. it hopes to ca ptu re is 687 earth days. it hopes to capture details about the atmosphere and climate through all the seasons and climate through all the seasons and then hopefully scientists will be able to discover more about the reason behind the changing climate patterns on the red planet. that is what the mars team is hoping that they will be able to achieve. remember, a caveat, all of the mars missions that have been launched, half of them have failed. so it is not a done deal. it is a long journey ahead. this is a big step for the united arab emirates, a bit ofa gamble, for the united arab emirates, a bit of a gamble, you for the united arab emirates, a bit ofa gamble, you might for the united arab emirates, a bit of a gamble, you might say. why are they trying to get into the space industry and to go to mars?m they trying to get into the space industry and to go to mars? it is a really ambitious project for them.

next year the uae celebrates its 50th anniversary and that is why they wanted this mission to coincide with the space orbit reaching mars, when they are celebrating the golden jubilee, the 50th anniversary. from the country's point of view there are two reasons, number one, it is trying to move away from its dependence on oil, and few that the space industry could play a pivotal role and the political leadership has been talking about wanting this mission to act as a catalyst to inspire the younger generation to get into science and technology and create a new, skilled workforce for the future which will not depend on oil and the future which will not depend on oilandi the future which will not depend on oiland i are the future which will not depend on oil and i are hoping to notjust inspire the youth here but even in neighbouring countries. remember there is the first arab interplanetary mission. the third aspect is that it will bring about the space race in the region. the middle east, the west is way ahead

in space missions, they have not seen in space missions, they have not seen that kind of success which israel has seen, but now with the uae sending this mission and if it succeeds it will be the biggest achievement by a country in this region. it will definitely inspire other countries and we have seen that saudi arabia and egypt have announced that they will be running their own space programmes, so this could really be a catalyst, in terms of egging other countries in the region tojoin the of egging other countries in the region to join the race. we are sure that we will get the latest from you in the coming hours, as they prepare to launch. thank you very much. borisjohnson says he'd be extremely reluctant to impose another nationwide lockdown, if there's a second widespread wave of coronavirus infections this winter. it comes as a senior health official in the north west in blackburn and darwen, a borough with one of the highest infection rates for covid—19 in england, has warned the current test and trace system

isn't working well enough. here's our health editor, hugh pym. blackburn today. part of an area which has seen one of the biggest recent increases in coronavirus cases. it's been identified by national health officials as needing enhanced support for tackling the virus. the local council has introduced its own measures, including limiting household gatherings. i think the two—metre distance has more or less gone, but that's not the council's fault. that's down to silly people, isn't it? we need to take control of the virus, you know, and, yeah, i think, i think at the end of the day, if everybodyjust needs to obey, you know, by the rulings. in communities like this, the test and trace scheme is vital. finding people who have been in contact with those who have tested positive and telling them to self—isolate.

but the local public health chief said today the national system wasn't yet effective. we could risk seeing an exponential growth, because up to half of the people that may have been infected by an index case, by the first case with the virus, will themselves not know they are infected or at risk of infection and get tested and self—isolate. the department of health said the test and trace service was working closely with local authorities in england, to help manage local outbreaks, and data was shared daily. in the weekend ending july 8th, officials managed to get through to 78.7% of those who tested positive. that was up slightly on the previous week. they were asked to give details of their recent contacts. of those, 71.1% were reached and asked to self—isolate. that was down slightly. in total, since the scheme was launched in late may, 156,000 contacts have been traced. speeding up test results and getting to more contacts is seen as crucial as winter approaches.

experts say this is especially important in places where infections are seen to be on the increase. there has to be very large testing in those areas, with tracing, to be able to keep the epidemic under control. and certainly, i think that is where that, if you like, rise in the ability of us to test and the number of tests is incredibly important. on friday the prime minister announced new powers for local councils in england to control outbreaks. he said today another national lockdown would only be like a nuclear deterrent — a last resort. hugh pym, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with nick miller. hello, the cloud and rain finally clears in the south—east, the ridge of high pressure is building. it is looking mainly fine for the next couple of days. still a few showers continuing overnight towards north—west scotland

but mostly will be dry, clear and unusually cool for the time of year as city temperatures drop down into single figures. even cooler than this in the countryside. there will be quite a bit of sunshine as we start the day tomorrow. don't be fooled by those temperatures. still strong sunshine out there, some patchy cloud developing just like today, a few of the showers in scotland with one or two heavy ones during the day, a lot of them to the north of the central belt. you might catch one in northern ireland and parets of northern england in the afternoon. winds are a light, a little breezy. temperatures just around average, a few places getting into the low 20s. not much warmer as we go through the week ahead. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: china denies an accusation by foreign minister,

dominic raab that they're carrying out human rights abuses against its uighur population. cani can i ask you why people are kneeling blindfolded and shaven and being led to trains in modern china? what is going on there?|j being led to trains in modern china? what is going on there? i don't know where you get this video tape. where you get this video tapem where you get this video tape. it is deeply, deeply troubling and the reports of the human aspect of it from the realisation to the human camps, are reminiscent of something we have not seen for a long time. president trump has defended his handling of the coroanvirus 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.