this is bbc news: i'm lewis vaughan jones 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. 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. i heard we have one of the lowest, maybe the lowest mortality rate anywhere in the world. do you have the numbers, please? because i heard we had the best mortality rate.

the mayor of the us city of portland calls on federal troops to leave, accusing them of abusive tactics against protesters. and blast off — as the first arab mission to mars launches successfully. hello. 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 — xinjiang. reports and eyewitness accounts

have accused china of trying to reduce the uighur population. 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 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 caroline hawley reports. hong kong in crisis. the protests have been going on for months and the fate, the future of britain's former colony is straining relations. china's decision to impose new security laws, undermining hong kong's autonomy, has dramatically escalated tensions between beijing and the west. as britain prepares to step up its response, a warning from china. if uk government go that far, goes that far, to impose sanctions on any individuals in china, china will certainly

make resolute response to it. but britain feels it must act when it can no longer trust the independence of hong kong's legal system. i said we would conduct a review of our extradition arrangements, and also a range of other measures that we might wish to take. i've 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're taking tomorrow. five years ago, david cameron spoke of a golden era with china but the relationship has deteriorated badly in recent months and is now beset by problems on several fronts. take huawei. last week, the government banned the company's technology in britain's 56 network because of security concerns. a u—turn prompted by pressure from the americans. there are fears now of the potential economic fallout for british business. other countries including the us, japan and australia, have paid a price for falling out with china. china has sanctioned commerce, trade, the companies of those

countries operating in china, so, to be honest, it's 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 today said the human rights abuses being committed were egregious and deeply, deeply troubling. the ambassador was shown video that appeared to show bound, blindfolded men being forced onto a train. this was his response. what is happening here, ambassador? i do not know, where did you get this video clips? these have been going around the world, they've been authenticated by western intelligence agencies and by australian experts who say these are uighur people being pushed onto trains and taken off... let me tell you, let me tell you this, the so—called western intelligence keeping up make these false

accusation against china. in hong kong, the protests go on despite coronavirus, and the government here must weigh up human rights as well as its economic and diplomatic interests. a difficult balancing act. caroline hawley, bbc news. in the united states the number of people who've died with covid—i9 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. here's our north america correspondent peter bowes. america's sunbelt is being hit hard. southern and western states are dealing with a big surge in coronavirus cases and lockdown restrictions are back in force. but president trump insists

that the us is the envy of the world for the way it's dealt with covid—i9. again, playing down the seriousness of new outbreaks of the disease and suggesting the scale of the problem is being exaggerated by the media. many of those cases are young people that would heal in a day, they have the sniffles and we put it down as a test. many of them, don't forget, i guess it's like 99.7%, people are going to get better and in many cases they're gonna get better very quickly. in a contentious interview, mr trump denied a high death rate from the virus in the us was to blame for the country's continuing isolation from europe. the european union has us on the travel ban. yeah, i think what we'll do, well, we have them on a travel ban too, chris. if you remember, i was the one that did european union very early, but when you talk about mortality rates, i think it's the opposite. i think we have one of the lowest mortality rates. that is not true, sir. well, we're gonna take a look.

we had 900 deaths in a single day this week. we will take a look. ready? crosstalk. you can check it out. can you please get me the mortality rate? kayleigh‘s right here. i heard we had one of the lowest, maybe the lowest mortality rate anywhere in the world. do you have the numbers, please? because i heard we had the best mortality rate. this is the case fate of similar countries... number one low mortality rate. but data collated by america's johns hopkins university does not support the president's claim. it shows the mortality rate in the us is higher than many other countries, although the uk is worst affected. president trump also defended his decision not to enforce the use of facemasks around the country. no, i want people to have a certain freedom and i don't believe in that, no. and i don't agree with that statement that if everybody wore a mask, everything disappears. hey, dr fauci said don't wear a mask. 0ur surgeon general, terrific guy, said don't wear a mask. everybody was saying don't wear a mask, well all of a sudden everybody‘s gotta wear a mask.

and as you know, masks cause problems too. with that being said, i'm a believer in masks, i think masks are good. this is the new epicentre for covid—i9 and there is little sign of masks here. florida is facing a growing crisis, although the streets of this party town are still busy. with a persistently high number of cases and states, miami beach is under curfew. we have a lot of visitors, a lot of folks that were not necessarily complying with the mandates of the orders to wear a face cover and to have that social distancing. so, we are hoping that by closing earlier, it actually tones down the party and will allow these people to go back to their hotels wherever they are staying and possibly keep everyone else around them and everyone in our city safe. at least 14 us states have reported record numbers of people being admitted to hospital with coronavirus so far this month. with president trump again repeating his view that the virus will eventually disappear, there is little sign of it happening anytime soon. peter bowes, bbc

news, los angeles. more on the coronavirus outbreak in the us a little later on the programme. let's get some of the day's other news. the leaders of the 27 eu countries are containing negotiations into the night in brussels in an attempt to reach a compromise on a plan to invest 750 billion euros to revive their economies after the coronavirus crisis. they haven't been able to agree what proportion of the money would be allocated as non—repayable grants, rather than loans. huge swarms of desert locusts are wreaking havoc in parts of east africa, asia and the middle east, threatening crops, livelihoods and food supplies. it is already the worst locust infestation in decades, but the forthcoming rainy season could see numbers increase a further 20—fold in some places if swarms are not tackled. a man in france has been detained in an investigation into saturday's large fire

in nantes‘ gothic cathedral. stained glass windows and the grand organ were badly damaged in the blaze which began early in the morning. prosecutors said they believed three separate fires at the site had been started deliberately. police say they didn't have the manpower to stop an illegal, all—night rave that attracted more than 3,000 people to the south—west of england. officers arrived at the site near bath on saturday night, only minutes after being alerted to the event. but it wasn't until 14 hours later that the music was eventually stopped. portland mayor, ted wheeler, has accused federal troops of abusive tactics against protesters saying they are "sharply escalating the situation" in the city. protests have been ongoing in portland since the end of may, following the death of george floyd, with the situation becoming increasingly volatile since the arrival of federal officers, deployed by president trump.

for more, i'mjoined by, zane sparling, who's a reporter at the portland tribune and has been covering the protests. thanks very much for coming on the show. allan thanks for having me. give us a flavour of what is happening out there you are. we are seeing chaotic, tense scenes at night after night for 50 consecutive nights here in the city. hundreds of protesters converging in the central core. they are surrounding and laying siege to oui’ surrounding and laying siege to our countyjail, our surrounding and laying siege to our county jail, our police headquarters and our courthouse. we have had hundreds of fires said, in some insta nces hundreds of fires said, in some instances looting and in some insta nces instances looting and in some instances violence and people being seriously injured because they're being struck by police munitions. we are seeing something this city has never experienced before, especially given the length of the protests. what influence, what difference, if any, are these federal troops making? it is really causing a resurgence of

the protests. as you can imagine, night after night for 50 nights, numbers that were first maybe 6000 and night had dwindled to only a couple of hundred but when president trump sent federal troops to protect the downtown courthouse, it really set the protest to boil again. we have seen some protest to boil again. we have seen some very scary, protest to boil again. we have seen some very scary, some frightening, seen some very scary, some frightening, confrontations. 0ne instance look last night, i personally witnessed a man being eaten five times, struck five times with a baton i federal offices for doing nothing outstanding near the courthouse. teargas was surrounding that entire area and it was a very chaotic moment. in other instances, we have had confirmed reports of protesters being snatched up and placed in unmarked vans by these federal offices. they are then detained for hours at a time and at least in one instance, let go with seemingly no paperwork filed, no evidence of probable cause or due

process and as you can imagine, as these instances have come to light, it sparked resurgence of the protests. and what do we think happens next? where do we go from here? there are calls for these federal troops to leave, do you see that happening? it is hard to tell, i don't have of crystal ball. we have seen many of the city's liberal politicians and the state's politicians are speaking with one voice saying they don't want these federal police interacting with officers. we have had the district federal attorney saying these offices are here for deescalation but every time they leave the courthouse which is essentially bricked up at this point and impenetrable, there are almost always the use of crowd control munitions, somebody getting hurt, even i have been teargas a number of times and more serious injuries are also being reported. just last night as i mentioned, a man had several bones broken in his hand when he was struck by the baton is of officers. what

is going to happen next? well, i know the protests will continue tonight and for the foreseeable future. so at this point, the real question in my mind is whether these protests will end at some point or whether they will go right up until election night. thanks for talking to us. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the united arab emirates launches its first space mission, sending a robotic probe to study mars. nasa: see them coming down the ladder now. one small step for man... 0ne giant leap for mankind. a catastrophic engine fire is being blamed tonight for the first crash in the 30—year history of concorde, the world's only supersonic airliner. it was one of the most vivid

symbols of the violence and hatred that tore apart the state of yugoslavia but now, a decade later, it's being painstakingly rebuilt and opens again today. there's been a 50% decrease in sperm quantity and an increase in malfunctioning sperm unable to swim properly. seven, six, five, four.... thousands of households across the country are suspiciously quiet this lunchtime as children bury their noses in the final instalment of harry potter. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: china is denying an accusation by britain's foreign minister that it's carrying out human rights abuses against its uighur population. president trump has defended his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, incorrectly telling fox news that the us has the lowest mortality rate in the world.

let's stay with that story. dr peter hotez is professor and dean of the national school of tropical medicine at there have been so far... that is nearly a quarter of all deaths worldwide, making it the country with the most deaths. in per capita deaths, the us is also somewhere near the top of the worst affected countries in the worst affected countries in the world. us mortality rate is six after belgium, uk, spain, and france. dr peter hotez is professor and dean of the national school of tropical medicine at the baylor college of medicine. he told me more about the figures. where where art is we are in a dire public health crisis. right now, the southern part of the united states accounts for

2596 the united states accounts for 25% of the global pandemic. 25% of the 200,000 daily cases globally are now occurring in the southern united states. in the southern united states. in the numbers are rising very steeply. 0n the numbers are rising very steeply. on a daily basis, we have gone from 40,000 new cases a couple of weeks ago to 50,000 to 60,000. now, 70,000. we will be at 80,000 new cases by the end of the week with no end in sight. and the tragedy is this is now, we're now seeing a delayed increase in number of deaths. typically what happens is after patients are hospitalised and put into intensive care for a period of a couple of weeks, that is when you see the very sharp rise in deaths and we're now seeing this. in many states, such as in the south, in texas, florida, within a couple of weeks, covid—i9 will be the leading cause of death in those states as it was a new york backin states as it was a new york back in the spring. tragically again, this is both predicted and predictable. we are also

upset because it is especially the low income neighbourhoods getting hit. we are seeing huge numbers of death and severe disability in hispanic, latin acts, african—american populations. we are absolutely failing to protect our most vulnerable here in this country. donald trump's point is that the number of testing is that the number of testing is so high, they are catching a high number of cases and the vast majority of those cases won't be severe. he knows that is not true. he knows that, and the white house knows that the increased number of cases is being paralleled by a very steep rise in hospitalisations and intensive care unit admissions, and the positivity rate is also climbing very steeply. now we have a situation where many parts of the southern us are running out of intensive care beds. the other thing that has happened thatis other thing that has happened that is harder to quantitate is that is harder to quantitate is that the hospital staffs are getting exhausted, donning and

doffing personal protective equipment 20 times a day. hospital staff are getting ill, they becoming sick. another federal government is flying in healthcare professionals from all around the country into the southern united states. as you know better than anyone, what you experience in the uk and france and italy, that is when mortality rates also claim. we will see two phases to this increased mortality to what we're seeing now when patients are on the ventilator for long periods, and now as hospital staff exhausted, then the mortality will then show another steep exhilaration. and then, that's 11 accountant for then, that's 11 accountant for the sudden deaths at home from covid—i9, which may account for another 28, 20 9%. we are in a full fledged public—health storm, a public health crisis, may be the worst public health crisis to hit in the last hundred years since the 1918 flu pandemic. and again, the reason i am being so vocal about this is because it is our

most vulnerable who are dying and getting sick. and there doesn't seem to be an engaged white house orfederal doesn't seem to be an engaged white house or federal response of any white house or federal response ofany kind. white house or federal response of any kind. our thanks to peter there. people in melbourne australia will be forced to wear face coverings from melbourne this wednesday as authorities try to contain a fresh outbreak. is that victoria has recorded almost 400 infections in the 24—hour period. 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. reged ahmad reports. the massive swollen yangtze river in china's east. authorities say it has reached record highs and the water has spilt 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. translation: we have 40,000 people guarding the dam to ensure that all of the embankments that have seen high water levels are being monitored. in this nearby river region, china's has raised its flight alert levels to the second highest after days of torrential rain 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 delhi, firefighters had to rescue people trapped in their cars from fast rising floodwaters. in parts of neighbouring

bangladesh, they have been hit by monsoons. that has emerged farms and villages. all this fighting comes at a time when countries like bangladesh are trying to come grips with covid—19 will stop making lockdowns difficult. there are also fears the impact of china's flooding could be felt further afield. seems like these during the rainy season are not uncommon but this time of the flooding could disrupt global suppliers of chinese goods being used to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. more heavy rain is expected to fall. the first mission to mars by an arab nation has launched into space. the spacecraft, which belongs to the united arab emirates, will take about 7 months to reach mars and once it's there, will study its atmosphere and weather. the country hopes it will pave the way for it to move away from oil and gas production and enter the global space industry. our global science correspondent rebecca morelle has more.

blasting off, the starts of a journey to mars. the united arab emirates making history. for the team, a moment of celebration. 51 years ago on the 20th ofjuly, man first walked on the moon and today, on the 20th ofjuly, for us here it marks a milestone, it marks a change and a transformation. and that i hope will stimulate and push forward an entire generation to think differently. the spacecraft is called hope. it was built over six years with help from american scientists. until now the uae has only launched satellites into earth's orbit — getting to mars is a huge leap. 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 though is a mission with a difference, it is 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 10—day cycle. the spacecraft will study the martian atmosphere to give us much more information about its weather and climate. even though the atmosphere of mars is around 1,000 times thinner than the atmosphere on earth, we still see all these weather—type events, so dust storms, cloud, 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. it will act as an inspiration for young people in the uae to show that they too can be part of great challenges in space exploration. their mission might

be the one that finds evidence of life on mars. the spacecraft will take seven months to reach the red planet. when it gets there, a new player in the global space race will have truly arrived. over the weekend the metropolitain police in london released this footage from an ilegal rave. the bodycam footage shows officers trying to break up the party just after midnight on friday. some people hurled bottles and canisters at officers. last month the met police commissioner, cressida dick, promised to break up events in london that break coronavirus regulations. don't forget there's lots more on our website — that's bbc.com/news — or you can download the bbc news app for your tablet or smartphone. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @lvaughanjones.

and this is bbc world news. thank you for watching. goodbye. hello. temperatures by day this week will be close to average — high teens, low 20s — but we are starting the week with overnight temperatures below average. quite chilly first thing monday morning, and the temperatures will head up because there will be a fair amount of sunshine out there. this high—pressure settles things down, then, to start the week. although toppling around the area of high—pressure will be a few showers, more especially in scotland and a few from the word go, but these are the starting temperatures, then, for monday morning, widely in single figures. these are town, city centres. cooler than this in the countryside. so mid to low single figures in the chilliest spots.

but again, those temperatures are going to be heading up in the sunshine. a lot of that to come first thing. some cloud is going to build. for scotland, it's a mixture of cloud and sunshine. most of the showers will be north of the central belt. northern ireland and northern england mayjust pick up a shower later but the bulk of england and for wales, will stay dry. lion share of the sunshine through wales and southern england so this is where we will see the highest temperatures, and some spots just creeping into the low 20s. now, as for the cricket, at old trafford, it is looking like not particularly warm monday to come, for the final day. that'll be a mixture of cloud, sunshine. just a slight chance of picking up a brief passing shower. now, as we go into monday evening, any of those showers that have formed, will tend to die away. they still will continue on and off through northern parts of scotland overnight, but for most of us it is going to be another dry, clear and chilly night going into tuesday morning. but again on tuesday, there will be a lot of sunshine to start the day. now, there's a chance of catching a shower again, more especially across parts of scotland, but the odd one may be found elsewhere in northern ireland and northern england. and the cloud may well thicken

in northern ireland to bring the chance of seeing some patchy rain, especially the further north and west you are, deeper on through the day. and temperatures, a few spots getting into the low 20s in some sunny spells, but most won't get that high. now, there is a weather system coming on tuesday night and into wednesday. these weather fronts move in. they will bring a spell of rain into parts of northern ireland and scotland. and perhaps on wednesday, also reaching for time for some of us into northern england. now for thursday and friday, the chance of a shower, and then into next weekend, looks like low pressure will come back. temperatures will come down a few degrees. the breeze picks up. and we will see a spell of rain spreading east. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines: china is denying an accusation by britain's foreign minister that it's carrying out human rights abuses against its uighur population. it comes amid a rise in diplomatic tension between the two countries over a new national security law in hong kong. president trump has defended his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, incorrectly telling fox news that the us has the lowest mortality rate in the world. the number of people who have died with covid—19 has now passed 140,000 — almost a quarter of the global total. the united arab emirates has launched its first space mission, using japanese rockets to send a spacecraft on a 500 million kilometere journey towards mars. the robotic probe, called hope, is due to study the red planet's weather and climate when it arrives next february.