the headlines: joe biden has promised to spend tens of billions of dollars to help boost opportunitues for black, latinx and native american businesses if wins the election in november. mr biden sharply criticised president trump, accusing him of intentionally stoking the flames of division and racism. us attorney general william barr has defended the deployment of federal agents to cities, saying they are needed to counter violent rioters. in testimony to congress, mr barr said anti—racism protesters in portland, oregon, are committing "an assault on the government of the united states. " britain's prime minister, borisjohnson, warned there are signs of a "second wave" of coronavirus in europe, as he defended a 14—day quarantine on travellers from spain. he said the government had to take swift action and hinted there may be further quara ntines for holiday—makers.

in germany, police are searching a garden in hanover in connection with the disappearance of madeleine mccann, who was three years old when she disappeared on a family holiday in portugal in 2007. german proseuctors believe the main suspect in the case is a convicted paedophile who has previously spent time in the city. our correspondentjenny hill has the latest from hanover. they are continuing to search into the evening, having used digg earlier to excavate a pretty deep pit on this allotment. the police won't tell us what exactly it is they are looking for, but the main suspect in this case is said to have lived not far from this site in the years following madeleine mccann‘s disappearance. is a 43—year—old german man, a convicted paedophile, can name him for legal reasons only as christian b. police believe they have evidence responsible for the disappearance and madeleine

mccann‘s death. but they say that evidence is not strong enough to charge him, although he is currently serving time in jailfor he is currently serving time in jail for a he is currently serving time in jailfor a different he is currently serving time in jail for a different crime. he is currently serving time in jailfor a different crime. i have seen the police file on this suspect that bears this out. investigators have been looking at this suspect in relation to this case for yea rs, relation to this case for years, for a long time. so why this search, why now? we don't know the answer. butjust this search, why now? we don't know the answer. but just a month ago detectives made a televised appeal for information and they have been sifting through hundreds of public to pass ever since. it's been 13 years. there have been so been 13 years. there have been so many fruitless searches, many false leads. no wonder, then, that the night perhaps it is hoped they might find thing which goes some way to helping investigators finally establish what happened to madeleine mccann. jenny hill for us in hanover. now on bbc news: the travel show. this week airlines, anger, and still no answers. the people fighting a four month battle to get their money back.

hello and welcome to this week's travel show, coming from venice. now, if the smile on my face looks bigger than normal, that's because at last we are able to go on ourfirst foreign trip since coronavirus put a stop to almost everyone's travel plans around four months ago. but it's early days, and we are being very cautious. but you know what? it feels so good to be back on the road. coming up on this week's show... refunds and your rights. why are some passengers still out of pocket for the flights

that never took off? canals without the crowds. could the end of the lockdown mean a second chance for venice? and exit makes an exit, as the massive serbian summer festival is finally cancelled, we ask, what next for live music? first up, that issue thatjust doesn't go away — refunds. you may remember when we first started reporting on lockdown back at the end of march, it quickly became apparent that many people just couldn't get their money back for cancelled flights. well, four months on and we're still being contacted by viewers who can't get a refund from their airlines, so we've sent simon calder in to investigate why. between march and june, we on the travel show estimate that at least half a billion travellers have had their flights cancelled worldwide, and, quite reasonably, many would like their money back.

the airline's response has been very lacking in information, and the most important thing is how long i should expect to wait for my refund. the travel agent is saying that the airline is responsible, and the airline is telling me that the travel agent are responsible. we received the refund number on june ist. and as yet we have had nothing else. we only know that there is 120 days' wait. the same as everybody else. and i have lost myjob now as well, so i have got no income any more, so it would have been nice to have it back. a little sooner. with flights being cancelled, your rights are clear. at least in the uk and the european union. you must get your money back within a week, whether you have booked direct with the airline, or through a travel agent. many other countries, including the us, india, brazil and egypt have similar rules, but, in this unprecedented crisis, it's clear that many airlines and agents are falling short

of their refund obligations. here in st albans, one group of customers feel particularly let down. back in march, 21 members of the nsg performing arts school were supposed to fly to los angeles to compete in an international dance competition. basically two years of working every week, every sunday, and fundraising for as much money as you can, because it is very expensive to get over there. so we had various fundraising events. both my children got part—time jobs so that they could help raise money towards it. christmas was cut a little bit short in the presents and things, obviously at the moment still we are waiting for that to come back. a few days before flying out, the group were notified by their carrier, virgin atlantic, that their flights

had been cancelled. three and a half months later they were still waiting for their refund of £14,000. it's really frustrating. on a daily basis, having to e—mail them and we've obviously have been contacting the travel agent. various other mothers as well have been having to e—mail them constantly, and none of us have been getting anything back. or, we have been getting e—mails that say here is a reference number, and we will contact you within five days, and then we don't get contacted. it is just frustrating. virgin has apologised to the dance group for the delay, and told us... we are committed to processing each refund at the earliest opportunity, but, in some cases, this may take up to a maximum of 120 days. we are making every effort to reduce this timeframe. fortunately, this story has a happy ending. since speaking to us, 0llie, nick and the group have got their money back. but the refund fiasco has created a new industry, helping

passengers get their money back from airlines in return for a slice of the proceeds. a german company called flight right has brought a lawsuit over unpaid refunds against a number of international airlines, including lufthansa and klm. 0scar, have you got any idea how much, globally, is owed to passengers whose flights were cancelled ? it's really an unprecedented amount. of course we do not know it on a global scale, but in germany, there is over 1 billion euros of refunds owed, and if you then extrapolate this to other countries, it means that in europe we are talking about multiple billions of ticket refunds owed to the customers. surely, then, this is an extraordinary time. we've seen the airlines making redundant many thousands of workers. they have no cash coming in — shouldn't they be given a little leniency?

so, in our opinion, this leniency is up to the customer. the customer has entered into a contract with these airlines, and if they want to act as a kind of micro—loan, as a bank, for the airlines, then it is up to them. but on the other hand, if you just say it's just my money, and i don't want to give you a loan, then it's up to the customer to get the money back as soon as the law is able to give it back to them. one of the other airlines in oscar's sights is ryanair, the biggest budget airline in europe. there is no shortage of people out there who are trying to make money on the back of airlines. all that's going to happen to the customer is, they will wait just as long and they won't get the full refund, because these claims harvesters will take a fee for themselves. so why is it proving so difficult to give customers their money back? it's value. —— volume. we have in excess of 20 million

passengers to deal with. we are working our way through that. we are, in excess of 750 million euros now of vouchers, cash refunds, or flight changes. but the important issue is, everybody who wants their money back will get it back. 0k? it is just taking some time. the head of the aviation trade association, iata, goes further, saying that delaying passenger refunds is vital for the industry's cash flow. it's a matter of survival for us, and the cash position, the cash crisis, that we are facing is probably the most urgent and the most difficult part of our situation currently, so we are conscious of, how can i qualify, the help we are asking passengers for. it would be nice to share the burden, if you want us to survive. the airlines say that if the refund rules

were enforced to the letter, they'd simply close down, to everyone's detriment. but one possible outcome is that your airfare could be held in trust — once you have touched down safely, the airline gets your money or, if the flight is cancelled, you get the cash back. worse for the airline's cash flow, better for yours. that must be incredibly frustrating, and i hope it's not too long before everyone who's owed a refund gets one, but do stay with us, because still to come... here in venice, we meet the people hoping to kick—start a new kind of tourism. now, normally at this time of year, europe is buzzing with some of the biggest summer music festivals. millions of us travel to them each year, attracted

by the muddy fields, the long queues to the toilets and some of the biggest live music acts on the planet. but thanks to covid—19, 2020 has been a total write—off, so we've sent radio 1 and 1extra dj tiffany to find out exactly what this means for the live music scene. this is the site of the exit festival in serbia. for 20 years it has welcomed 50,000 people every summer to this amazing fortress in novi sad, to see acts like liam gallagher, skepta, and carl cox. the organisers were desperately hoping to be the only big established festival to keep the show on the road this year. but, last week, just a month before opening, it became clear that running such a big event during a global pandemic is just too difficult. given the nature of the virus and how it spreads, it's

no surprise that gigs and festivals are still in a state of lockdown. #15 years in the game as a producer and mc... as a dj myself, i, like many other artists, need venues to be open in order to work. but i have spent the summer at home baking banana bread rather than travelling the world. in addition to myjob as a dj on bbc radio1 and on bbc radio 1xtra, i was booked to play all over the world at festivals like wireless in the uk, and ibiza rocks in spain. first we thought to reduce capacity by 50%, but after the cases started building again we were even ready to go with 90% readjustment of capacity. we discussed with officials the possibility for all of the visitors to get tested before entry.

so, for many of us, it's clearly been a wasted summer and while we cannot wait to get back into venues and perform we understand it has to be done in a safe way. some promoters are using empty car parks for live drive—in concerts. here's the idea. you stay in your car, listen to car radio and enjoy the gig from a safe distance. in germany, 2a drive—in concerts and shows have been staged as well as films and three weddings. so, tell us how it works. you show the ticket through your window so you don't have any contact with people. you drive in and you watch a great music show, and you listen with your own car radio. and what is the atmosphere like? this is very interesting. we were very scared when we started this, but the atmosphere was incredible. and for the artists that are performing obviously to cars, what do they think? some artists did two or three shows, the second night

wasjust like a regular concert. i think we did a total of 40 shows and after 40 shows, there isn't any alternative. live music revenues had predicted to reach $34.9 billion by 2023, so people are being seriously motivated to get things moving again. singer—songwriter laura marling has had a busy summer of shows all over the world grind to a complete halt. with european and american tours cancelled, laura has felt the impact of coronavirus first—hand. singing i would have gone on, like, a 28—day us tour, followed by a 3—week european tour, so i think it was a total of around 40 shows that were cancelled. singing

i know we are here in the union chapel. shall we talk a little bit about why we are here? yeah! i did a live streamed audience free pay— per—view show from here, and it was an incredible experience. # when i think about this life i leave behind # i still raise no praise to the skies... we sold a lot more tickets than you can physically get people in this room. that was a nice experience for me, and the people who watched the show found it satisfying in a way that they might find a solo show satisfying. going from the union chapel all the way to worthy farm, another brand—new experience, i guess, replacing a glastonbury crowd with...

with a cow! several cows. what was that like? it was surreal. and doing a socially distanced bbc broadcast was surreal as well, but it was nice. applause unique and captivating — of the visiting cruise liners and an influx of tourists from emerging asian markets have all put local infrastructure under strain.

almost six months ago, all of that came to a sudden halt when coronavirus hit and the new travel restrictions exposed just how heavily many venetians rely on tourism. you can see by what is on sale how quickly the people here have had to adapt to life after covid. they have even got venetian—style face masks. now, there are less people than usual, but let me say that it can be a good moment to come, because you can find that you can go round, for instance, venice, but the rest of italy and in places that are less crowded, with the safety measures that are very good, very high, very severe in some cases, and because we are concerned about the risk, but we have taken important and severe measures to make sure that people who come are safe in italy.

only 55,000 people call this place home, but over 26 million people arrive here each year. and whilst the newly empty streets have been a welcome breather for some, they have been catastrophic for others. another business that has always relied on venice's steady flow of visitors is the iconic cafe florian. the coffee house is an international hot spot attracting multiple customers such as andy warhol, charlie chaplin and clark gable. it is one of the oldest cafes in the world, and was due to celebrate its 300th anniversary this year. instead, they have been closed for overfour months. having been recently reopened, anna tells me how how they have been getting on. we closed the very lat day of carnival, the end of february. has the cafe ever been closed for that long? never, not even

during the world war. how much down are you on business — 50%, 60%? i would say, 70%. as much as that? venice relies on tourists. no tourists, no life in venice. there was a complaint, what shall we do without tourists? now, a good proportion of florian‘s clientele come straight from the cruise liners. in fact, in total, those ships account for about 1.5 million extra visitors every year. but not everyone here is delighted to see them. the recent pause in tourism provided by the pandemic has fuelled local protests calling for the government to seize the moment to

turn the tide on mass tourism. this woman is part of a network of over 3,000 venetian residents campaigning to protect the heritage of their city. do you think about the cruise liners? did you see a huge difference or a change during the pandemic because they were no longer allowed to come here? oh, yes, yes, of course. without them, the air was completely more clear, more fresh, more light. but the cruise ships bring a lot of people who must bring money to the city. not so much. people who stay in the cruise ships, they sleep there, they eat there, they buy some really cheap souvenirs, all for one euro. we want to increase social housing and also to attract investments, to create newjobs, new opportunities that are not only related to tourism, because you cannot find the economy of a place only in one sector,

because when this sector is in crisis, the economy of the city collapses. so, do you think it is possible for you to make these changes? because it is big, what you want to do. you need political and existential and economic change. we are very, very motivated and we love the place where we live. and in your life, i think if there are something you don't like, you have to fight to change it. and another venetian doing just that is valeria, founder of venezia autentica. she has created a platform urging tourists to spend their money in the right places

and preserve venice's local culture. 0oh, this looks good, grazie! those are finger foods, they are called ciceti. is this the type of thing you are trying to preserve? absolutely. this is very much the way of life. how much of an opportunity do you think venice now has to restart tourism in a different way? people are going to finally be ok to say that true, it is not ok the way it is. we need to move from the way it is, which is not sustainable, which is destructive, and do something better. are you being a little bit naive here? because, ultimately, tourism is about money, and you are going up against the machine that is bringing millions and millions of euros into venice. the way things happen now, people were doing tourism business, they are

selling the destination. they can make business only as long as there is something to sell. so if we continue that way, extracting everything from venice, and destroying the social and economic tissue, the heritage, the environment. they will not have anything they can sell any more, so now is an incredible opportunity to rethink tourism. and if you want to achieve it, it is now, because tourism impacts everything in the places where we live and travel, so that we can truly build a better world. well, that's it for this week. coming up next time: we are taking a look back at some of our favourite adventures in spain, including the time krista practised table manners at a recreated medieval banquet. what do i do for a knife and fork? now, trust me, that is definitely worth a watch. and don't forget, you can catch up on some of our past

adventures on bbc iplayer. but for now, keep planning your next adventure, and i will see you all very soon. bye— bye! hello. it looks likejuly is planning to leave us with something to remember it by. although if you are a fan of summer heat, this all may be too little too late. but friday, the last day ofjuly, it is going to be a hot one for many of us. and it's quite a transformation this week from what we had at the start of the week with low pressure and strong winds, rain,

high pressure building, and although low pressure will bring a bit more rain back to some of us before the week is done, it's the position of these pressure systems here which will allow the wind to turn around to a south southeasterly for friday, drawing up that heat, lifting those temperatures, it's not out of the question the uk could record its highest temperature of the year so far on friday. we will get to all of that as we go through the forecast. clearly we are not there yet. and for wednesday, it will be a little bit warmer out there. the winds are lighter and many places will be dry, these are starting temperatures. it will be cooler than this in rural spots of some of us in single figures as the day begins and it's still quite windy in the northern isles, parts of northern scotland, but the wind will ease further during the day and we will lose any outbreaks of rain as it become drier into the afternoon. for many places, it will be dry. best of any sunny spells probably in southern scotland and northern england, quite a bit of cloud around, temperatures a little bit higher. and you notice we do have a weather system that will bring some rain towards northern ireland to end the day, some patchy rain affecting parts of wales and northwest england as well. it mayjust ease for a time and notice some heavier rain overnight pushing into northern

ireland and on thursday, that is going to spread north across scotland, we're ahead of it with the clear skies and it will be chilly for some of us as thursday begins. here goes the rain on thursday. clears northern ireland, again quite heavy in places, then pushes across scotland. for england and wales, look at this. a lot of sunshine to come. the wind going around to that south southeasterly and the temperatures are heading up. it does get hotter on thursday and that heat is more widespread by the time we get to friday, and in northern ireland, it will be close to the weather front here. so, not particularly hot. we will see a bit of rain to end the day. we can't rule out a thundery shower into parts of eastern england as well. and notice how the temperatures come right back down again at the start of the weekend. that is because the system bringing some rain in northern ireland to end friday is a cold front which moves east across the uk for the weekend as it turns much cooler again.

a very warm welcome to bbc news. my name is mike embley. our top stories: joe biden promises to spend tens of billions of dollars to boost opportunities for people of colour if he wins the election in november. president trump's attorney general defends sending federal officers to anti—racism protests around the country. britain's prime minister warns there are signs of a second wave of coronavirus in parts of europe, as he defends his decision to quarantine all travellers arriving from spain. # the phantom of the opera is here inside our minds... we hear from a star of the phantom of the opera as coronavirus brings the curtain down permanently