this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: 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 ho'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. i closed them off. 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 rate 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 in the state, miami beach is under curfew. we have a lot of visitors, we had a lot of folks who weren't necessarily complying with the mandates and the orders to wear a face cover and to have that social distancing. so, we're hoping that by closing earlier, it actually tones down the party and will allow these folks to go home, go back to their hotels, wherever they're staying, and possibly keep everyone else around them, everyone else 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's little sign of it happening anytime soon. peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles.

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‘ 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 the us state of oregon 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 wasjoined by, zane spa rling, who's a reporter at the portland tribune. we're seeing a very chaotic,

a very tense scene night after night for 50 consecutive nights here in the city. we're seeing hundreds, if not thousands of protesters converging in the central core. they're surrounding, really laying siege to our county jail, our police headquarters and our federal courthouse. we've had hundreds of fires set, in some instances looting and in some instances violence and people being seriously injured because they're being struck by police munitions. we're really 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's really causing a resurgence of the protests. as you can imagine, night after night for 50 nights, numbers that were first maybe 6,000 a 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 protests to boil again. and we've seen some very scary, some very frightening, confrontations.

0ne instance just last night, i personally witnessed a man being beaten five times, struck five times by a baton by federal offices for doing nothing more than standing near the courthouse. teargas was engulfing the entire park that surrounds that area and it was a very chaotic moment. in other instances, we've had confirmed reports of protesters being snatched up and placed in unmarked vans by these federal officers. they're 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's 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's really hard to tell, i don't have of crystal ball. we've seen many of the city's liberal politicians and the state's politicians

speaking with one voice saying they don't want these federal police interacting with officers. we've had the district of oregon federal attorney saying that these offices are here for de—escalation, 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've been tear—gassed 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 batons of officers. as far as what's 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'll 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 world news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. 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 return to the main story and the worsening relationship between the uk and china. lynette 0ng is a china expert and associate professor of political science

at the university of toronto. worsening of relations between the two sides, the uk and china, but is there a wider united front, if you like, various countries uniting in opposition to china? yes, i think so. this is what i have argued before. ithink think so. this is what i have argued before. i think both pandemic we have seen the emergence of a united front consisting of a bunch of western countries, including the united states but also excluding the united states, a united front emerging against china... what do you think is driving this? various elements of chinese domestic and foreign policy have been questioned before and lots of countries depending economically on china. what has changed? the pandemic really changes people

concept of cost and benefit. particularly any existential problem can bring together countries in alliance. people wa nt to countries in alliance. people want to enjoy the benefits but do not want to pay for the cost. after the pandemic, every country has suffered casualties because of the cover—up of the chinese local government and countries have seen the implication of the authoritarian nature of this political system so with that... before that, china could go to individual countries and they could bully them and use coercion on the uk, australia, canada and so on and so forth but coming together and enabling to resist china will increase the weight of the front of the western alliance. what do you think the

response will be from china?|j think president xi jinping's regime isa think president xi jinping's regime is a slightly different from what we have seen in the last a0 years and i think as a whole, the west has really underestimated that. for a long time, they were trading with china but we woke up to the fa ct china but we woke up to the fact that china is not like us. it is more like the reverse of that. china will put forward more harsh words, threats of coercion but that cannot go on for too long because the economy is in decline, rising local government debt. you can imagine the emergence of discontent locally, not to mention hong kong which is another big puzzle. the

emergence of discontent within china even though we do not see very much of that. i think the strategic position of china in the international world stage has shifted in the last six months because of the pandemic. fascinating to get your thoughts on that. thank you. thank you very much. covid—i9, the disease caused by the coronavirus, only came to light at the end of last year, and the more scientists study it, the more they're learning about who is most at risk. here's our medical correspondent, fergus walsh. the risk of catching and dying with covid—i9 varies dramatically depending on your age, and roughly doubles every five to six years. now if we look at data for england and wales up to the end ofjune, if you're over the age of 90 there was a one in a9 risk of dying with covid—i9. butjust look how quickly that risk falls away the younger you are.

under the age of a5, there was a greater risk of dying in an accident during that period. and for the five to ia—year—olds, the risk was one in 2.a million. there were three covid deaths in that age group during that period, compared to 138 from other causes. but even though the risks to the young are incredibly low, they can still pass on the infection to older and more vulnerable people. i think the figures for covid are quite extraordinary. we know that in normal life older people are at a greater risk of dying each year than younger people, but for covid the difference between the old and young is far more extreme than in normal life. older people might have 1,000, 10,000 times the risk of a very young person. of course, it is not just your age that's important. men are twice as likely to die in hospital with covid—19 as women. people living in deprived areas are also at increased risk, as are some occupations,

such as security guards, bus and taxi drivers. now even after adjusting for socio—economic factors, ethnicity plays a key role. black and south asian men have up to twice the risk of dying as white men, and women from these ethnic groups are also at increased danger. then there's your overall health. nine in ten people who have died have had at least one underlying condition, such as diabetes, high blood pressure or lung disease. scientists have developed a too to help them assess an individual‘s vulnerability to covid—19. take peter. he's a 63—year—old white man. now, his body mass index of 37 adds five years to his covid age, but it is his type—2 diabetes that has the biggest impact, adding eight years, giving him an overall covid age of 76, which places him

in a more vulnerable age group. now, what about mantej, who's 65? we know women are less vulnerable than men, so we can take eight years off her covid age, but because she's of south asian origin, we have to add four years back on, giving her an overall covid age of 61. now, it is not possible to give a completely personalised risk, but it's clear that sex, ethnicity, age and overall health are key factors. fergus walsh, our medical correspondent, reporting there. 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 seven 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. rebecca morelle, bbc news. don't forget there's lots more on our website. including this story — kanye west officialy launching his unconventional bid for the us presidency — he's running as a candidate for his self—styled birthday party. fans have questioned whether his last—minute bid for the white house is actually a promotional stunt. that's all at 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. i'm lewis vaughan jones

i'm lewis vaughanjones and this is bbc news, 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 chillier 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 secretary 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 1a0,000, almost a quarter of the global total. the mayor of the us city of portland has accused federal troops of abusive tactics against protesters, saying they are "sharply escalating the situation." protests have been ongoing in the us state of oregon since the end of may following the death of george floyd.