this is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm aaron safir. 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. and they were postponed by the pandemic. the tokyo olympics were supposed to start today, but should the games 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. have a listen. 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 am about. susan macmanus is emeritus political science professor from the university of south florida.

thanks for your time. no big surprise, then, from the sound of it. absolutely not. there was a lot of pressure being put on the mayor of jacksonville, and of course the governor as well, to really decide whether oi’ well, to really decide whether or not they should have it, because of the spike. i mean, there were polls showing that people in jacksonville there were polls showing that people injacksonville were increasingly against it. you had some elected officials that had some elected officials that had announced they were not planning to come, out of fear for, you know, their healthcare and the pandemic, as well as other security issues. it was actually one of those decisions where you will find bipartisan agreement. democrats and republicans alike, that he made the right decision, for florida and for all of the delegates that would have been coming to the convention, without question. so what next for the political process? it is a big set piece event in the

political calendar. it's a real boost for the party. they get a week of coverage. how are they going to replicate or deal with the lot of that, do you think, for both parties? yes, both parties. the democrats had already scaled theirs back in milwaukee, and the republicans now the same. i think that also made it a little bit easierfor trump to pull the plug on this one, was that the other party had already made the decision, both the healthcare reasons. there were a lot of people who we re there were a lot of people who were wondering if we will ever see the scale of the conventions as we once knew them after this particular experience. but both parties are scrambling. they are going to social media, they are going to social media, they are going to telerallies, any form possible to try to grab voters' attention. but right now, frankly, getting voters' attention when you have two dual crises of the magnitude, the covid as well as the economic downturn, is really

hard. now, florida wasn't chosen by accident, was it? why is it such an important venue for the republicans? trump simply cannot win re—election without winning florida, and as you know, florida is the biggest swing state in the country. and the last four or five statewide elections, including the last couple of presidential races, the margin of victory for the winner of florida has just been i% stopped so this is a very tight, competitive state. it's a must have for trump, and it's a must have for trump, and it's a really want to have for democrats. susan, you have explained that very clearly for us. explained that very clearly for us. thanks very much for your time. 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. 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. our 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 50 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 the scale of this problem is the first step in stemming the worldwide tide of plastic pollution. victoria gill, bbc news. joining me is winnie lau, from the ocean plastics project at the pew charitable trust. we are addicted to plastic, aren't we? why can't we seem to get enough of it? you ask a very timely question. we just released a report today trying to understand this really complex problem, and trying to understand what the solutions are that are needed to solve this really plastic pollution crisis. so what we found was that, if we don't do anything and we continue as we are, the amount of plastic in the ocean will be unmanageable. but we

have the knowledge and the approaches and the technologies today to dramatically cut the amount of pollution that could end up polluting our oceans and oui’ end up polluting our oceans and our land by nearly 80%. and so oui’ our land by nearly 80%. and so our story is one of hope, that we have the tools today to start acting. well, i wanted to talk to you a bit more about solutions, and what we as individuals can do to stop this problem. so we looked at four categories of solutions, and they apply to people just as much as to society at large and to companies and governments, and the four categories of solutions and actions are, one, reduce as much of the plastic we use as much as possible, so the unnecessary plastic, try and eliminate it from your life. the second category of action is substituting two

different materials, to sustainable and biodegradable materials, like paper, like compostable materials. and the third category is to recycle what we can't eliminate or substitute away, so that the resource in the plastic can remain in society and be used again. and then the last category is what we can't substitute away, what we can't recycle, that we must really manage that waste so they don't escape into the environment and pollute it. and finally, where does the coronavirus come into this? because we are using a lot plastic when it comes to protective equipment, aren't we? so the virus and the pandemic is new, and the people protecting themselves and their family is of utmost importance. but the solutions i outlined remain the same. we should

still try and use as little plastic as possible. you know, where needed, please don't feel that you can't, but where you don't need it, try and reduce your consumption of plastic. and once you use it, you still have to make sure that it is properly disposed of, so that it doesn't end up in the environment. and we can see there also as an opportunity. 0nce there also as an opportunity. once the pandemic is under control, once we have a handle over it, we can take the solutions i outlined and build a better world. we are going to leave it there, but so great to talk about solutions and what we can all be doing. thanks for your time. thank you so much. goodbye. 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 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. 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: 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. the 24th ofjuly should have been the opening day of the 2020 olympics in tokyo. but with the spread of the coronavirus, it was decided the games should be postponed untiljuly next year. but as japan marks one extra year to go until the opening ceremony, there are an increasing number of people who doubt the tokyo games will now ever take place. from tokyo, rupert wingfield hayes reports. this man is one ofjapan‘s best trampoline is. and beige into thousand and 80 just missed out ona thousand and 80 just missed out on a metal. now at 35, tokyo 2020 was going to be his last hurrah. but covid—19 has killed his dream. translation: back in

2008, if the beijing games had been postponed by a year i would have thought ok, another year to train another year to grow. but now i am 35. a year feels like a long time. so i have decided retirement is the only option. there is another reason he is retiring. he thinks tokyo's new olympic stadium may never get to hold an olympic opening ceremony. and he is not alone. a poll this week found only of japanese support holding the games even next year. by now the buildings around me here should have been bustling with thousands of athletes from all over the world getting ready to compete against each other. of course, because of covid—19 they are not here in this place remains a ghost town. but will it be any different one year from now? covid—19 is still

circulating widely, if there is no vaccine, then how will it be possible to host an olympics here in tokyo safely? from brazil to india, south africa to the united states. covid infections are accelerating. medical experts here think there is little chance the pandemic will be over by next summer. very effective vaccine became available that could be a game changer. it would lessen the spread of the virus but it is still more likely that the viral illness or pandemic will continue to be around in 2021. the olympics is supposed to be about bringing the world together. but could tokyo be held without foreign spectators? senior olympic officials say absolutely not. we have to decide do we want the games to go ahead or other

risks too severe to countenance it in which case i thinkjapan would probably propose and the ioc would probably accept a cancellation. last night inside the olympic stadium they reset the olympic stadium they reset the countdown clock. one year until the opening ceremony. maybe. the ongoing black lives matter protests, and the continuing debate over some of britain's public statues, have shone a light on the country's imperial past and its continuing reverberations. our latest report looking at britain's colonial legacy, comes from kenya. our senior africa correspondent, anne soy considers the issue of land distribution and what, if anything changed, after kenya gained independence, more than 50 years ago.

the highlands of the rift valley, where i was born and raised. it's here that the colonial administration faced one of the fiercest resistance movements to their settlement in east africa. at the turn of the 20th century, british settlers arrived here and found conditions perfect for agriculture. rich volcanic soil, constant rainfall and high altitude suitable for growing tea. these fields have supplied britain's breakfast staple for over a century. but it came at a huge cost. 15 years of resistance by the kalenjin ethnic group, then led by the talai clan. translation: the settlers used to divide and rule tactics. they turned the community against us. they convinced them that the talai were evil people. you see, they had guns and bombs and all we had were arrows and spears and we fought against them for more than ten years. so they said we were evil.

once they had subdued the locals, laws were created in nairobi and london allowing them to push the locals to the fringes, what are called the native reserves, and the best land was divided up amongst a handful of settlers. they also introduced taxes, and because the locals did not have money they had no choice but to work in the settler farms to be able to make money to pay the taxes. that subjugation lasted about five decades. in the 1950s, resistance was growing again across the country and continent. closer to the colonial seat of power in nairobi was the mau mau movement. they fought for freedom from colonialism and to get land back. many were rounded up, detained and tortured. the official death toll is disputed. some historians estimate that more than 20,000 died. at midnight the unionjack was lowered for the last time and kenya ceased to be a colony and became independent. 1963, statues of colonial leaders were removed and later

replaced with kenyan faces. good luck to kenya in her new role as an independent nation. and decades later, as statues of leaders of colonialism and slavery are brought down across the world, some kenyans are now questioning how deep the change here really went. we just changed the face of the monuments. we were conned at independence. we were handed over to the people who were subservient to the colonial authorities. the biggest beneficiaries of independence, they say, were those who worked for the colonial administration and fought against their opponents. controversial views in kenya today. what have i done? they landed activist mutemi wa kiama in trouble with the authorities last month. police raided his home and arrested him. i do a lot of social media activism and my premise is that

kenya has never gotten independence. the thread that i did before the arrest that connected, traced from colonial chiefs to the current political elite and their entomologies and their linkages and their business linkages and that kind of thing, and it went viral because kenyans could now see, you know, they could actually connect the dots. and i guess there are people there who weren't comfortable with that. the elites grabbed the independence and ran off with it and the mau mau were left landless. nothing had changed. and in the rift valley the talai are today some of the poorest people living here. translation: when land was being subdivided between the locals, we asked for some but we got nothing. they said we were the evil ones. for decades this was a detention camp and they

were not allowed to interact with other communities. the colonial government tagged them an ‘evil clan'. and even after independence that tag remained. this camp had two rivers surrounding it. there was a physical barrier back then. but even now the stigma persists. i know relatives and friends that would be concerned that i interacted with them. the lasting legacy of colonialism in this village. a lot of the land in kenya is now owned by locals and tea remains one of the country's biggest exports. but the inequalities created during colonial times and adopted at independence persist. there may be no precolonial statues here but this is a country still ill at ease with its past. anne soy, bbc news, nandy. here in the uk, one of the first large scale live music events held in—doors since the coronavirus lockdown, has taken place at

the london palladium. an audience of more than 640 people watched the singer beverley knight and her band perform. it was part of an official series of pilots designed to test new covid—related safety measures put in place a famous name in lights. check. security personnel in place. check. everybody wearing face masks. check. then let beverley knight's show go on even though we're in lockdown limbo, when everything is the same but also quite different. i'm on the stage of the london palladium which is completely normal, albeit a huge space. what is unusual, though, about today's performance is the auditorium, which looks like that. two thirds of the seats have got xs on, meaning you can't sit there, and that means that beverley knight is going to be performing to a few people and an awful lot of empty seats. # i can't get no # i can't get no...# the singerfilled the room with her energy and her voice. the audience were definitely

getting satisfaction. but it was also a bit odd. like being at a party when you're the first to arrive. the atmosphere was, well, a little subdued. it was an odd experience at first. i walked onto the stage and in my mind's eye, even though i knew it was a reduced capacity, i still thought there will be lots of faces. there was not lots of faces and there was lots of empty spaces and lots of xs and lots of masks. so you can't read people's expressions, everybody‘s unsure. am i allow to stand? am i allowed to clap? what am i allowed to do? but i think between myself and the audience we found our way through in the end. so that is the performer‘s experience. what about the audience? fantastic. amazing. it was just one of these things you could not miss. a bit of history. the atmosphere was incredible. when she started singing ijust

started crying because it felt amazing to be back in a theatre. you can't beat the live experience. the real purpose of today's show was not so much to entertain but to experiment. a first step in getting audiences safely back into theatres. will gompertz, bbc news. hard to tell if that is the new normal orif will go back to the old normal. 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? you can reach me on twitter —

i'm @aaronsafir. 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. now it's time for panorama. tonight, panorama investigates the uk's plans to fight coronavirus. it was just this fatalism that we're all going to get it and we might as well just get it over with. we speak to scientists at the heart of the government's response. we mustn't be catastrophists. we could do a lot of damage by raising false alarms. the world health organization was calling for urgent action. we have rung the alarm bell loud and clear. the only way you really deal with this virus is by actually stopping transmission. we reveal the early warning that hundreds