welcome to bbc news. our top stories: cancelled because of coronavirus — president trump calls off the republican convention, one of the party's biggest pre—election events. us secretary of state mike pompeo calls on the world to turn on china, warning of a new tyranny from beijing. researchers warn the amount of plastic ending up in the ocean could nearly triple in the next 20 years unless urgent action is taken. they were postponed by the pandemic. the tokyo olympics were supposed to start today. should they go ahead at all?

president trump has announced that he is cancelling the main gathering of the republican national convention in florida in august following a spike in coronavirus cases there. speaking at a white house press briefing, mr trump said he would give a speech ahead of us elections as planned, but in a different form. the timing for this event is not right. it's just not right, with what's happened recently, the flareup in florida, to have a big convention. it's not the right time. it's really something that, for me, i have to protect the american people. that's what i have always done, that's what i always will do, that's what i always will do, that's what i am about. joseph uscinski is a political science professor at the university of miami. he is in miami for us now. just talk us through sort of politically, first, the impact

of not having that big set piece of medical event. i mean, how is that changing... how is that going to change the race? well, conventions are very important when it comes to national polls, because a week of sustained coverage for the party and for the presidential candidate tends to give that candidate tends to give that candidate about a five point bounce in national polls, and even more than that, having the convention in a particular place can really help that candidate, depending on who's in that area. and having it in florida would be a perfect place for trump to have it. so by not having it here, it's probably going to cost him. why do you say that florida would have been the perfect place for the trump campaign to hold its convention? because florida is a swing state, so convincing people to turn out for trump by having thousands of delegates here for a long period of time, that can have a major effect

inside the state, which could go either way, and for the last few election cycles has gone either way. and i suppose if he had stayed with his plans to have the convention there, there is a chance that, you know, he would have got the blame for holding a big mass gathering there. it seems like he was really in a lose lose situation on this one. right now we are, in florida, getting more than 10,000 cases a day, and it is not clear when that is going to let up, because as a school is open, as universities open, as businesses continue to stay open, that number could potentially rise. so by the time the convention would actually happen, even the best laid plans may not make it be very valuable, because having a bunch of people who are socially distanced, having a half empty stadium, having delegates who have to run around with masks on and can't really get out and talk to the

community, that's not going to do much to help his cause. and ijust do much to help his cause. and i just wanted to ask you about the democrats and their plans, and if they are sort of ahead of the game in what they are going to do with their convention. well, we will see, i think everything right now is in flux. this is a very different year than any other year. so i would say it is going to hurt trump by not having his convention here, and perhaps not really having it all, at least not in any recognisable sense. —— it at all. but the parties don't exist in vacuums and they are going to be running against each other, and as we get to the end of the summer and the campaign start to really heat up, at that point we will see what things look like. we have never seen a what things look like. we have never seen a campaign what things look like. we have never seen a campaign during a pandemic, so it will be an interesting one to watch. thank you for your time and for your thoughts. thank you. the american secretary of state, mike pompeo, called on free nations to triumph over the threat

of what he said was a new tyranny from china. in a speech attended by several prominent chinese dissidents, mr pompeo accused beijing of biting the international hands that were feeding it and of exploiting the freedom and openness of american society. general secretary xi jinping is a true believer in a bankrupt totalitarian ideology. it's this ideology that informs his decades—long desire for global hegemony of chinese communism. america can no longer ignore the fundamental political and ideological differences between our countries, just as the ccp has never ignored them. a look at some more top stories this hour: there are reports of a mid—air incident over syria in which an iranian passenger plane was reportedly approached by two fighter jets, thought to be either israeli or american. video footage from inside the airbus a310 show passengers in life jackets and oxygen masks. several apparently had blood

streaming down their faces. a group of military police in italy have been arrested and their station closed after investigators uncovered a raft of alleged crimes taking place in the barracks. the unit known as the carabinieri, in the northern city of piacenza, are suspected of drug—trafficking, blackmail and torture. a usjudge has once again ordered michael cohen to be released from prison. president donald trump's former lawyer was sent home in may because of the coronavirus pandemic. he was returned to prison injuly after he questioned an agreement that barred him from publishing a book, engaging with news organisations and posting on social media. britain and america have accused russia of using one of its satellites to test—fire a weapon in space. the uk says the action threatens the peaceful use of space, while america says it is further evidence of russia's effort to develop space—based weapons systems.

new analysis suggests as much as 1.3 billion tons of plastic waste could be dumped over the next 20 years unless there is a radical effort to stop it. a computer model has tracked the production and disposal of plastic around the world up to the year 2040. 0ur science correspondent victoria gill has the story. it is everywhere because it's almost endlessly useful. and when it's thrown away, if plastic finds its way into a plant like this, a lot of it can be made into something useful all over again. it could be bottles that you buy from the supermarket, it could be household furniture, it could be garden furniture or composite decking. but, every year, more and more plastic waste ends up here. and a global team of scientists has now tracked the production and disposal of plastic all around the world and used that information to forecast the scale of our plastic pollution problem

for the next 20 years. if you were to count altogether all the plastic waste that is going to be released into the environment, both on land and reaching the seas, this would be the staggering number of 1.3 billion tons of plastic. i mean, 1.3 billion tons is so big of a number, it's almost unimaginable. how can you even visualise how much waste that is? if you were to spread this on a thin layer of land, then it would be 1.5 times the size of the uk. household waste, the scientists say, is by far the biggest source of all this pollution. they calculated that every year, 30 million tons is dumped on land, nearly 15 million tons is burned out in the open, and that's in addition to the 10 million tons that finds its way into our oceans. many of us might do our bit, with reusable water bottles and coffee cups. but there's an estimated 2 billion people in the global

south who have no access to any formal waste collection. they're simply left to work out what to do with all their rubbish. that's why waste collection is such a vital part of this. just making sure that everyone's household waste is collected, sorted, and that it's channelled to plants like this is the best way to make sure that it doesn't end up in the environment. providing protection and safe employment for workers in low—income countries who collect and sort all of that waste will be just as important globally as reducing the production of single—use plastic. and, while these new figures are daunting, the researchers say that recognising the source and scale of this problem is the first step in stemming the worldwide tide of plastic pollution. victoria gill, bbc news. we heard earlier how us coronavirus have passed 4

million, causing president trump to cancel the republican convention. the jobless trump to cancel the republican convention. thejobless rate has also spiked. 0ne convention. thejobless rate has also spiked. one point 1.4 billion workers filed claims for unemployment last week. that is the first rise for three months. it means 30 million people are now collecting jobless benefits across the united states, figures that could reflect businesses shutting down once again after the surgeon cases. —— surge in cases. for more, gregory daco, chief us economist at 0xford economics, joins me now from new york. those figures are a sort of snapshot, aren't they? what do they tell us about the wider economy and the prospect of recovery? they are not good news overall because what they point to is the fact that the recovery has essentially stalled in the us as of the past few weeks. 0ur 0xford economics recovery tracker actually points to the recovery going into reverse over the past month, with employment being part of the picture, and this data in terms of initial claims points to the fact that we are still seeing some

significant layoffs and reduced rehiring is at this stage of the recovery, which is not very encouraging at all. all eyes are on washington at the moment. the republicans are trying to figure out what should be in this next stimulus bill, and there is a lot of disagreement there about a sort of supercharged unemployment benefits, 600 extra dollars per week. what would be the impact of that money drying up, of it not going into people's pockets? it would really be dramatic for a lot of people, especially in the most vulnerable tranches of the population in the us. if you look at the additional federal aid that has been provided as pa rt aid that has been provided as part of the stimulus package that congress passed a few months ago, essentially that provided an additional $600 per week to unemployed individuals, including those that weren't necessarily going to receive unemployment and efforts. necessarily going to receive unemployment and effortslj think unemployment and efforts.” think we have lost... sounds like we have lost gregory there. it was a shame, because there. it was a shame, because there was a couple more questions to ask on that

situation in the us, but perhaps we can speak to him soon. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: the show can go on, as a london theatre pilots indoor performances with social distancing. nasa: can see you coming down the ladder now. it's 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 been 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: us secretary of state mike pompeo calls on the world to turn on china, warning of a new tyranny from beijing. researchers say the amount of plastic ending up in the ocean could nearly triple in the next 20 years unless urgent action is taken. 24july marks the day that the 2020 olympics opening ceremony would have been held in tokyo. but it was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. the games will now open in the summer next year.

questions are being asked about whether the tokyo games, now due to begin on 23rd ofjuly 2021, should be held at all. public health experts seem to be skeptical. let's speak to amir attaran, an epidemiologist and professor of law and medicine at the university of ottawa. asimple a simple question, do you think it would be safe to go ahead with the games? those games will not go ahead. they simply will not go ahead. they simply will not. by no possible imagination could one think that the world will be in a position against this virus that would allow japan to open its borders to people from around the world, athlete, spectators, teams, media, for the games to go ahead. it will not happen. not much room for doubt in your answer they have stop so many of us have our

hopes pinned on a vaccine, on tracking and tracing becoming a lot more effective, that sort of whack a mole heading small spikes. you don't think any of those factors could make it possible for some sort of an 0lympic possible for some sort of an olympic games? it will not happen. i mean, you could have a vaccine and indeed i think the first vaccines will be approved at record speed by the end of this year. that is not the key date. the key date is whether by this time next year that vaccine is in the arms of eve ryo ne that vaccine is in the arms of everyone who would attend the 0lympics. i think that is exceedingly unlikely when you are talking about vaccinating an entire planet. i cannot see how you would succeed to manufacture enough vaccine, deploy enough vaccine at that sort of scale to further if you we re sort of scale to further if you were to try, you would be

taking vaccines away from more vulnerable people, just to have the olympics. it is clear that the olympics. it is clear that the people who need the vaccine first our healthcare workers, the elderly, the immunocompromised. they rightly have a first claim. if we start averting this away to the world's wrestlers to attend the 0lympics, we are doing something incredibly medically unethical and leaving the vulnerable unprotected. and given how adamant you are in the case you have set out. why do you think the ioc is still being this will happen? the ioc isa being this will happen? the ioc is a strange organisation, very political, guided by money and certainly not thinking of anyone's health the. —— health first. i suspect but i do not know, they are powerfully motivated by the money they would lose. the olympics is a

business. sponsors who perform billions into advertising, networks who pay billions it just to broadcast the games tick it is big business. we should say, you know, you are right that there is a lot of money and big as this involved but that also translates into people's livelihoods and the ioc has pointed out that this could be a moment of hope for the world. moving on slightly from that, as an epidemiologist, what is so dangerous, particularly dangerous, particularly dangerous about an event like the olympics? this would be a calculated super spreader event because the olympics, by definition, bring people together from every country in the world. so you now take all the world. so you now take all the countries, those that have done good jobs are controlling covid—19 and those that have done an execrable job like the

united states and you mix them together and you are doing so ina way together and you are doing so in a way that is guaranteed to be high transmitting. if you allow that to be spectators, we know that shouting and boisterous behaviour spreads the droplets that spread the virus. if you expect them to sit there quietly as though they are in a library, they will not. that is not in the nature of the olympics to if the athletes do what they do, i mentioned wrestlers earlier, what are we going to do? to meet a social distance wrestling? i don't see how it will work. thank you very much for your time, will work. thank you very much foryourtime, i will work. thank you very much for your time, i think you have made yourself quite clear on whether or not the olympics will go ahead and we appreciate your time. the usjustice department has announced that it will investigate the use of force against protesters in portland, 0regon, following another night of unrest in which the city's

mayor was tear—gassed. protestors have been on the streets there for more than 50 days and are now clashing nightly with federal agents. a group of self described moms, have beenjoining the protests, they say they are shielding young protestors from the federal authorities. julianne is a black mom activist and works with wall of moms. shejoins me live now from portland. thank you very much for taking time to join us. give us a sense, what is your thinking behind the idea being mothers? why is it important that mothers are in between protesters and police? that mothers are in between protesters and police ?” that mothers are in between protesters and police? i think, for me, i have been out in the protest prior to the wall of moms being a part of them and i have included my kids in safe protest in safe events so i

think it is important that we include mums because the image, number one. it is a powerful image, obviously to it has ca ptu red image, obviously to it has captured worldwide attention. and i think it is also very telling of what is going on in portland right now and the level of police brutality that these moms felt like they needed to get a mob and say not our babies to i want to know... i want to know what you would say to a federal officer. if you could get a federal officer who has been deployed to your city to sit down away from the protests a nd city to sit down away from the protests and away from the noise in the hue and cry, what sort of conversation would you like to have? a great question. what has been difficult for me to understand is when they are coming out the entire group which, i can tell you that,

largely, we are not violent protesters. and, further, the damage to property does not warrant what they are giving out. so what i would say is that if they can be as militant and they can put together plans to attack a large body, why can they not do the same in an effort to get, you know, suppose that bad actors? i feel like there is an ideal that portland, as a whole, and black lives matter movement folks as a whole are violent. i think we have been called terrorists. it has just gotten out of hand with the way we are being portrayed. and to be honest, it isa portrayed. and to be honest, it is a small handful of full doing these things. and most of

the time, the people who are being significantly harmed have nothing to do with damaging federal property, nothing to do with any type of violent behaviour. so i am struggling to figure out their tactic and i would ask why not get together and figure out how to deal with those folks as opposed to teargas thing and being very volatile and violent with an entire movement? the trump administration has said it sent in these troops to restore order and i'm sure you may disagree with that but you would probably have to agree that there have been nine weeks of protest every night. there has been a lot of damage and businesses have suffered, people have been injured. how does this send? what is your role in deescalation? for me, i

protest in portland and i do some of my work in portland. for me it is about getting the black community engaged in civic responsibility and understanding that we need to ta ke understanding that we need to take the seats at the table to change these things. as far as this ending, i think that is a difficult question because at this point, now that the federal government has entered portland, you have two very different protest happening within the same area. and you have folks who are there because black lives matter and you have folks that are there because they see that all civil liberties are now under attack now that the federal government is snatching people off the streets without announcement. they do not tell the families where these people go. i think that that is difficult to a nswer that that is difficult to answer because at this point we are dealing with a 2—pronged problem. so part of it is going

to be the city government working with the black community to provide what the black community needs to close wealth gaps and for police reform. part of it is on the state. we have a poc caucus doing some of that work already. so our leaders will be backing that and making sure those bills are passed and are effective and i think the other pa rt effective and i think the other part is going to be donald trump withdrawing because it does not seem like anybody in portland or around the state who protests in portland. i am from salem, we have people from eugene and all over the state because they feel that this is an injustice to everyone. briefly, when you go out into the street, what do you tell your children about what you do? they know exactly what i am doing. i think that they see me doing. i think that they see me doa doing. i think that they see me do a lot of other things in my community such as trying to

help an organisation get sros out of school. resource officers out of schools. to end the school to prison prior line. pipeline. so when i do go out to a protest they know that iam standing out to a protest they know that i am standing up for what i think is right. they know i stand up for them and their future and i make no bones about that. julian jackson, thank you very much for your time. and, before we go, it's a big night for baseball, where the season's restarted after being disrupted by the coronavirus outbreak. no crowds and fewer games this season. and in washington, the world series champions — the washington nationals — are facing off against the hallowed new york yankees. and who has the honor of throwing the ceremonial "first pitch" at such a historic game? fittingly enough, it's dr anthony fauci. the nation's top infectious disease expert has been seen on many occasions wearing a nationals facemask — so who better?

thank you very much for watching bbc news and i will be back shortly with the headlines. hello there. for many parts of the country, friday will be a drier, brighter, and warmer day. for a while on thursday, the rain was actually quite heavy. it has since eased off, but there is still some cloud around in more southern parts of the uk. the next area of cloud is looming large in the atlantic, and that will bring some rain eventually. but for much of friday, we are in between two weather systems, and hence that drier theme. eventually this next area of cloud and rain on those weather fronts will come into some western areas. but ahead of that, quite a range of temperatures — a bit cooler in scotland where we've got clear skies, but quite a warm and muggy start for southern parts of england and wales. there's more cloud around, and there may still be 1—2 showers around on friday. still for a while, there'll be some showers running into the far north of scotland, but elsewhere a lot of dry weather with some sunshine at times. it will cloud over in northern ireland from mid—afternoon onwards, and we'll start

to see some rain coming in from the west. but ahead of it, 18 celsius in northern ireland, a bit warmer in eastern scotland, widely in the 20s in england and wales, 25—26 celsius in the southeast of england. now for the test match, it's the third test match, england against the west indies at old trafford again. the first day looks like it'll be dry. but over the weekend, we may have to dodge some rain. the weather is turning much more unsettled, particularly for saturday. there'll be some strong winds over weekend, warmer when the sun comes out but there may well be some heavy, perhaps thundery downpours. and we'll see some rain pushing its way eastwards on friday night into saturday to clear away. then as it brightens and we get some sunshine, we introduce some more of those heavy, perhaps thundery showers with the chance of rain coming back into some southern and southeastern parts of england. now the detail may change, but you can't really rely on any lengthy spells of dry weather on saturday, and temperatures will be 18—21 celsius and quite breezy, as well, staying that

way into sunday. perhaps some stronger winds arriving in the northwest of the uk closer to that area of low pressure. that's where we will see most of the rain. there'll be some sunshine on sunday with some showers around too, more likely across northern and western areas, perhaps merging at times to give some longer spells of rain in scotland, particularly in the west. temperatures on the whole may be a little bit lower for much of the country on sunday, but a drier day for eastern parts of england, and those temperatures may be a little bit higher.

this is bbc news. the headlines: president trump cancels the main gathering of the republican national convention in florida in august following a spike in coronavirus cases there. mr trump said he would give a speech ahead of us elections as planned, but in a different form. the american secretary of state, mike pompeo, says the us is now hardening its stance in its dealings with china, and called on other nations to triumph over the threat of what he said was a new tyranny from beijing. mr pompeo accused the chinese of exploiting the freedom and openness of american society. researchers say the amount of plastic ending up in the ocean could nearly triple in the next 20 years unless urgent action is taken. but the global study said that amount could be reduced by 80% using methods available today, including substituting plastic for paper and other material in some cases.