for most but a little day for most but a little warmer on easter england —— eastern england were richard dreyer on sunday. —— where it should be dreyer on sunday. this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america, or around the globe. i'm aaron safir. 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‘s 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's 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 flare—up 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've always done. that's what i always will do. that's what i'm about. some announcement about this was anticipated.

i asked susan macmanus, emeritus political science professor from the university of south florida, if this was no big surprise. absolutely not. there was a lot of pressure being put on the mayor ofjacksonville, and of course the governor as 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 were increasingly against it. you had some elected officials that had announced they weren't 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's 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 loss of that, do you think, for both parties? yes, both parties. i mean, 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 for healthcare reasons. there are 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 they're both parties are scrambling. they're going to social media, they're 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 of 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. in the last four or five state—wide elections, including the last couple of presidential races, the margin of victory for the winner in florida has just been i%. so this is a very tight, competitive state. it‘s a must—have for trump and it‘s a really—want—to—have for democrats. susan macmanus. staying in the us. 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.

here is part of his speech. general secretary xi jinping is a true believer in a bankrupt, totalitarian ideology. it‘s this 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. mike pompeo. let‘s get some of the day‘s other news. several passengers on an iranian plane have been injured after the pilot changed altitude to avoid collision with a us fighterjet. the american military has said its f—is was at a safe distance during the incident, which happened over syria. video footage from inside the plane shows passengers in life jackets and oxygen masks. 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 but 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‘s further evidence of russia‘s effort to develop space—based weapons systems. new analysis suggests as much as 1.3 billion tonnes 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 all together 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. 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. earlier, i spoke to winnie lau, from the ocean plastics project at the pew charitable trust. i started by asking her why are we so addicted to plastics? 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 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 to 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 families 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‘s properly disposed of, so that it doesn‘t end up in the environment. and we can see there also is 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. winnie lau. 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... ..one 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 world news. the latest headlines: cancelled because of coronavirus — president trump calls off the republican convention, one of the party‘s biggest pre—election events. researchers say the amount of plastic ending up in the ocean could nearly triple in the next twenty years, unless urgent action‘s taken. 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.

protesters have been on the streets there for more than 50 days and are now clashing nightly with federal agents. a group of self—described mums, have been joining the protests. they say they are shielding young protestors from the federal authorities. julianne is a black mum activist and works with wall of moms. speaking a little earlier, she told me why portland moms decided to step in. baume, i have been out in the protest prior to the wall of moms being a part of them, —— — for me. i have included my kids in safe protests and safe events i think it‘s really caught that we include moms because of number one, the image. i think it is a very powerful image, obviously, it is captured worldwide attention andi is 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 mums felt they needed to get involved and they not our babies! what has been difficult for me to understand is, you know, when they are coming at the entire group, which i can tell you that, largely, we are not violent protesters. further, the damage to property does not warrant what they are giving out, so, you know, what i would say is if they can be as militant and they can put together plans to attack a large body, why can‘t they do the same in an effort to get suppose that bad actors because i feel like that portland, as a whole, and black lives matter movement 0aks as a whole, are

violent. i think we have been called terrorists. i mean, it‘s just gotten out of hand with the way we are being portrayed and should be, quite honest, it isa and should be, quite honest, it is a small handful of people doing these things. and most of the time the people that are being significantly harmed have nothing to do with damaging federal property, they have nothing to do with any type of violent behaviour, so i am just struggling to figure out their tactic and i would ask why not, why not get together and figure out how to deal with those folks as opposed to teargas and being ina folks as opposed to teargas and being in a very volatile environment with the entire movement. and there is a photo essay of that group on the bbc website.

the day has arrived. the controversy continues. turkey‘s architectural gem — the hagia sophia will be used as a mosque and host prayers for the first time in more than 80 years. the turkish president will be in attendance. he‘s been unapologetic about converting the historic building from a museum back to a mosque. alanna petroff has the latest. the time for prayers in hagia sophia has arrived. turkish president recep tayyip erdogan has been waiting for this day. he has toured the building, featuring new green carpeting for prayers. he has posed for photos. 0utside, he has unveiled a plaque for the hagia sophia grand mosque. it is better, we believe, to use this place is a place of worship rather than a museum. it was used as a mask for almost half a millennium. istanbul ‘s hagia sophia was originally built in asa sophia was originally built in as a church in the year 537. 900 years later it was

converted to a mosque, becoming the heart of the muslim 0ttoman empire. centuries later, in 1934, it became a museum as jackie transitioned to become more secular. the move to turn hagia sophia back into a mosque has sparked a wave of criticism. church leaders say using the site exclusively for muslim worship risks deepening religious divisions. in the vatican this month, the pope was clear about his unhappiness. translation: my thoughts go to istanbul. i think of santa sophia and i am very pained. christian mosaics and imagery will be covered during prayers and they will be visible at other times, for visitors. one

thing that will not change, that will not be concealed, the famous resident pat gilley and herfriends. famous resident pat gilley and her friends. they get to stay. ——pet gilly. alanna petroff, bbc news. 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 trampolinist ‘s. at beijing in 2008, hejust trampolinist ‘s. at beijing in 2008, he just missed trampolinist ‘s. at beijing in 2008, hejust missed out trampolinist ‘s. at beijing in 2008, he just missed out on a metal and now, at 35, tokyo 2020 was going to be his last hurrah but covid—19 has killed his dream.

translation: back into thousand and eight beijing games have been postponed by a year would have thought ok but it is another year to train and grow. but now i am 35. a year feels like a very long time. i‘ve decided retirement is the only option. there is another reason why he is retiring. he thinks tokyo‘s new olympic stadium may never get to hold an olympic opening ceremony, and he‘s not alone. a poll this week found only 23% of support holding the games even next year. by now, the buildings around me he should be 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. this place remains a ghost town. but will it be any different a year from now? if covid—19 is still circulating widely, if there is not a vaccine, then how will it

be possible to host an olympics in tokyo safely? from brazil to india, south africa to the united states, covid—19 infections are accelerating. medical experts think there is little chance the pandemic will be over by next summer. is a very effective vaccine became available, that could be a game changer. even with the lessening of the spread of the illness, thanks to vaccinations, still, it is more likely that the viral illness oi’ likely that the viral illness or pandemic will continue to occui’ or pandemic will continue to occur by the year 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. they have to decide if they wa nt they have to decide if they want the games to go ahead and

what are the risks and are they to severe? in which case, i thinkjapan to severe? in which case, i think japan will probably propose and the ioc would probably accept their cancellation —— too. probably accept their cancellation -- too. last night inside the olympic stadium, they reset the clock, one year until the opening ceremony... maybe. rupert wingfield hayes, bbc news. here, in the uk, one of the first large—scale live music events held indoors 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. our arts writor, will gompertz, was at the show. 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. maybe that is the shape of things to come when it comes to live music, certainly one of the last things to come back to

the last things to come back to the way it used to be. you can reach me on twitter — i‘m @aaronsafir. thank you for watching. 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.

in the final instalment of harry potter. this is bbc news. the headlines:

president trump has cancelled 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‘s 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. the latest headlines. now on bbc news, hardtalk.