this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a call for coronavirus tests at uk airports to reduce the time travellers spend in quarantine, but ministers say there's no catch—all solution. it's not the case that you can simply test somebody and be sure that they don't have the disease. it can incubate over a period of time. so, there's not a silver bullet of just testing immediately at the border. the annual hajj pilgrimage to mecca begins, but is dramatically scaled back because of coronavirus. uk scientists will receive millions of pounds to investigate why people from an ethnic minority background are at greater risk from covid—19. authorities in hong kong warn

the city's hospital system could face "collapse" as it grapples with a sharp rise in coronavirus cases. a review calls for an extension of free school meals in england, warning that poor eating habits are a "slow—motion disaster". and poppadoms and a pint at the palace. prince william talks football and mental health with former england player peter crouch. i've made some curry for you all. laughter. and i believe it's the samrat, which is, like, your local favourite, crouchy? hello, and welcome, if you're watching in the uk

or around the world. and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. i'm annita mcveigh. the uk government is coming under increasing pressure to introduce coronavirus testing at airports in order to shorten the 14—day quarantine period. airlines and travel industry leaders say tests are vital for people to get back to work and to the uk's post—covid recovery. in saudi arabia, the annual hajj pilgrimage is beginning as around 10,000 muslim pilgrims are expected in mecca. and uk scientists are to receive millions of pounds of government funding to learn why ethnic minorities are at greater risk from covid—19. and a stark warning for hong kong. the city's leader carrie lam says its hospital system could face "collapse" due to a sharp rise in coronavirus cases. let's look at the issue

of testing people on arrival in a little more detail. the chief executive of heathrow airportjohn holland—kaye suggested that testing passengers could be used to cut quarantine time. earlier, he told me why he believed it is essential testing is increased at airports. unless we test and learn some of these alternatives, we will not get beyond the blanket 1a days of quarantine that is currently in place. we can see that other countries have gone to other ways of doing this. they have started to... france, from the beginning ofjune, were doing trials of testing on departure and on arrival. then they went down to a single test. but we're not calling for that here. we are calling for a double test, once on arrival and the second after five or eight days, where people would remain in quarantine until they had had two tests that showed they did not have the disease and then they would be allowed out, earlier than otherwise would be the case. so, reducing the 14—day period of quarantine which currently stands? exactly.

so that people could get out of quarantine four, five, six days earlier than would otherwise be the case. that would make it easier for people caught up in the situation, as many people were in spain at the weekend, to give them an alternative, to get back to their normal lives, if they are clean of the disease, if they are returning from a country that has turned red. it will also open up trading partners, important partners like canada and singapore, who are currently considered red. vital partners for us to build our economy. the us also. we need an alternative to m days of quarantine if we are living with covid for the foreseeable future. john holland—kaye, the boss of heathrow airport. the culture secretary 0liver dowden says the government is keeping all options under review, but he insists that at the moment,

there is no viable alternative to the 14—day quarantine for people when they return from spain. we have to act in a way to keep the virus under control in this country. it was rising in spain. we had to ensure that we didn't import cases. that is why we are advising against all but essential travel, and that is why we are asking people to quarantine for m days. if it is the case, and it isn't at the moment, we don't believe... and all the evidence is not that we can simply test people once and then say you can go back into the community. of course, we will continue to work through this and if there are ways that we can ease the burden, we will do that. but at the moment, the safest thing for people to do is to quarantine for m days if they are returning from spain. the reason we're asking people to do that is to ensure that the disease does not spread from spain into the united kingdom. and that is why... you know, we want to keep our economy open and keep the disease under control. so we must take these measures. 0ur assistant political editor

norman smith is in westminster. hello again. lots of countries have screening at airports, why is the uk government so far not taking that step? the simple answer is that borisjohnson does step? the simple answer is that boris johnson does not step? the simple answer is that borisjohnson does not believe these tests are a sufficient safeguard against coronavirus being imported or ceded back in britain by holiday—makers returning from infected areas. now, we know that the government is looking at trying to reduce the quarantine period. we had a government minister confirmed that in the house of lords yesterday. but so far, they are not sufficiently convinced that those tests are absolutely solid and reliable, and so they are sticking with the current scientific advice of 1a days of quarantine, even though everyone is perfectly aware that the level of damage it is doing to the travel industry, the impact it is having on holiday—makers, the financial pain families are having

to suffer, potentially, from losing out on work. everyone is aware of that, but i think the bottom line is that, but i think the bottom line is that the prime minister's priority now is on avoiding the possibility of another upsurge in the virus in the uk, and if that means sticking with this 14 days of quarantine period, for now, then so be it. and yet, the prime minister has been talking about the need for people to return to work and to get the economy moving. so, behind all of this, is there are a concern that, you know, ultimately, the government may be criticised for not having learned the lessons from the early pa rt learned the lessons from the early part of this pandemic if it moves too quickly on this? i think it is like the reverse, actually. i think when we heard the prime minister, what was it, a fortnight ago? he was talking about life returning to normal by christmas. and now we have the message yesterday telling us

potentially there is a second virus out there. it looks contradictory, but i think they are linked and that the government is trying to coax people back into normality, to send children back to school in september. to go back to work, to get companies trying to attract employees back in to breathe some life back into our town centres. all of that, frankly, will be blown out of that, frankly, will be blown out of the water if there is an upsurge in the virus, because, clearly, people are already hesitant and pretty reluctant if they start to see the numbers going up and if there is people will turn around and say, you do not have a grip on it, it has come back, i am absolutely not going back to work and my child will not be going back to school. those two statements from the prime minister within a fortnight of each other, although they sound contradictory, i think they are actually linked. 0k, normally, thank you very much. —— 0k, norman.

so are these outbreaks the start of a "second wave" of coronavirus orjust localised spikes? according to the world health organisation, the pandemic is currently unfolding as "one big wave", with no evidence it follows seasonal patterns, like common colds. speaking yesterday, the who's margaret harris said a "second wave" isn't a helpful way to understand the spread of the disease. there seems to be this persistent belief that summer is not a problem. summer is a problem, this virus likes all weathers, but particular likes jumping from one person to another when we come in close contact. so, let's not give it that opportunity. so, the second wave idea, we are in the first wave. it is going to be one big wave, it is going to go up and down a bit. the best thing is to flatten it and turn it into just something flapping at your feet.

margaret harris from the who. to help us understand the difference between spikes and waves, we can speak now to professor keith neal from nottingham university. good to have you with us today. do you agree it is more helpful to think of this as one wave rather than a first and second wave? good morning. i think so. we are talking about how you define a second wave, because quite clearly, we have seen spikes in places like leicester and possibly now in 0ldham, which have required a local action, and what is important is not what we call them but what we do about them. clearly, the situation and north—east spain with diseased rates and one of the province is equivalent to what we had a new leicester city area, clearly that could be seen as a second wave or a big spike and a series of local outbreaks. actually, although we call it a pandemic, and even within this country, there are a series of lots of smaller epidemics all coalescing together.

we have only got to look at the difference between the disease rates that we have had in london to see the areas in cornwall or the scottish highlands which have been very low in comparison. thinking back to the beginning of this pandemic, there were comparisons with the spanish flu outbreak of the early 1900s, which did see a first wave and any second way. but that does not seem, so far, to be the case with this virus, does it? in retrospect, we only diagnosed three waves after it was all over. i think the second wave, if you look at the time lines, it was highly fuelled by the end of the first world war, when we demobilised large numbers of troops who could not wait to go home. we saw outbreaks on cruise ships and if you compare that to an overcrowded troopship, there is no comparison as far as a virus is concerned. an overcrowded troopship is paradise. when you say what we do

about these spikes is the important thing, not what we call them, is that really a call to arms and to remind everyone of the basic principles of good hygiene, keeping a distance where you can, and handling it like that, rather than people being lulled into a perhaps a false sense of security, thinking that there is a wave, the wave crests and then it dips, and there isa crests and then it dips, and there is a moment that they can be more free and open as they were, before the virus grows again?” free and open as they were, before the virus grows again? i think so. i mean, at the moment, many people are living in areas where there is virtually no disease. that does not mean to say that it will not come back at some time, and you will not know that until it has started making people ill. so, ithink keeping yourself safe as possible for as long as possible is a sensible strategy. clearly, there are things we must be thinking about, like getting children back to school, because they are incredibly low risk of serious disease, and we

are learning how to do this all the time. it is the same for businesses. i downloaded if you pictures of meat processing plants for a talk which included perspex screens between the workers. we are learning how to live with this virus, and we will continue to do so. the other thing is that we have also improved our treatment substantially since the beginning of this pandemic. so we will hopefully not see the same number of deaths but you will still end up with hospital with it. number of deaths but you will still end up with hospitalwith it. so, you are saying whether it is on a countrywide level or a local level, people will get used to, you know, working around this virus, how to operate safely, how to protect themselves from this virus? and are you hopeful that will absolutely need to, you know, small spikes rather than another wave, which sounds altogether more significant? i think even if we do get a local increase, we have seen it in leicester where the disease rate

went very high, but that has fortu nately went very high, but that has fortunately been kept out of the local areas, so there is no baby could call that a second way. what we must do is to take as many measures as possible that reduce our risk of transmission, like wearing masks when we go out into crowded areas. and things like that, which really are not a big inconvenience overall. so, you have said that the only reason to quality second wave is to scare people, but, you know, do some people perhaps need to be scared? do they need to be jolted into taking action is like you have talking about, wearing a mask, for example? i think we have a dichotomy here where people have been scared about sending their children to school, and i have seen people on news programmes that were quite happy to send their 15—year—old to school, but not their five—year—old. in fact, both are incredibly safe, and the five—year—old could be even safer. i think some elderly people possibly those most at risk of being

shielded, and they are the ones that will need to continue to take more precautions. so, you are seeing do not get hung up on faces uncertain terms, just focus on keeping yourself safe and taking actions to keep yourself safe? i think so, and i think we will need to take... more and more people will need to take individual decisions on what risks they are prepared to take, and this particularly affects those in the shielding groups. the royal college of paediatrics and child health have clearly revised their criteria for children with this disease as we have learned more about it. many of these precautions were put in place at the very start, mainly on the precautionary principle rather than the absence of hard science, because we did not have any, because the disease was too new to be sure, so we we re over disease was too new to be sure, so we were over reactive in times just to be safe. 0k, professor keith neal, thank you very much. professor keith neal, the professor of

infectious diseases at the university of nottingham. and coming upjust after 2:30pm this afternoon we'll answer your questions on quarantine and travel restrictions. simon mccoy will be joined by rory boland — travel editor at which and linda bauld, — professor of public health at the university of edinburgh. he tui is extending its holiday cancellations to the balearic islands and the canary islands until the 4th of august. good news if you very holiday—maker planning to go to those locations. tui has said it is extending its holiday cancellations to the balearic islands and the ca nary islands until tuesday to the balearic islands and the canary islands until tuesday the 4th of august.

the hajj — the annual pilgrimage to mecca — is under way. normally more than two million muslims would usually take part in the five—day pilgrimage to the holy city but international visitors have been banned this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. just a thousand foreign pilgrims already resident in saudi arabia will be allowed to take part. here's our reporter sameer hashmi in the uae on how this hajj will be different. that is correct, it is unprecedented. if you look at the pictures that are coming in from the holy city of mecca. usually there are between 2.5 million pilgrims in mecca on the first day when hajj starts and then they proceed to the valley which is another important part, that is seven kilometres away from the holy city. that whole journey of travelling from mecca, even though it is just seven kilometres, it takes hours, because the millions of people move there together. this time it is going to be really different, because there are just 1000 people, they will not be moving there together in a group, they are divided into smaller groups and they will be travelling at different points of time in order

to maintain social distancing. in addition to that, these pilgrims who are participating in hajj this year, they were asked to quarantine at their home towns in saudi arabia before arriving at mecca. and then they would have to quarantine for a few days at their hotels. usually on the first day they moved to the valley, and usually what happens is that the 2.5 million pilgrims move there together. this time, the 1000 pilgrims will be divided into groups and they will be staggered in terms of sending them so that they are social distancing is maintained and there is no problem with safety. 0ther is maintained and there is no problem with safety. other measures that have been taking place. they have been given bracelets to keep track of their movements. even in terms of health care, there are mobile hospitals and ambulances that have been set up at different points just to make sure that if someone show symptoms or anything like that during the course of the journey, which will be for the next five days, they can be immediately monitored at that point of time. a lot of different measures have been put in place. the saudi authorities do not want to take any risk given that they have registered more than 270,000 cases already in the country so far of covid—19.

0ur religion editor, martin bashir, spoke to one family from the uk whose long—anticipated hajj pilgrimage has had to be postponed. this family spent two years planning for the religious high point of their lives. it's a very important part of my religion. it would make me feel that i have, up to a certain extent, completed my religion. without that, it feels that there is always something missing. they should have departed for mecca at the weekend. instead, they're still in the midlands and time is of the essence. because of imran we thought that — i wasn't feeling comfortable for him to go on his own. so we thought we'd join him. i suffered a major heart attack back in 2014. i'm turning a0 next year. my intention was to hopefully, insha'allah, complete my hajj before i'm a0 and then you just never know what's around the corner. i feel fit and well enough

at the moment, but who knows, this time next year i might not be. and this might have been my only opportunity. a modern plague has disrupted an ancient pilgrimage. last year, the hajj attracted more than two million pilgrims. this year, the coronavirus pandemic has forced the saudi arabian government to scale back, banning all foreigners from visiting the holy site. we still have to welcome the first worshippers yet. it's not officially opened. sheik ibrahim mogra, an imam in leicester, is warning that the current quota system that allows a proportion of muslims from every nation to visit mecca each year, is likely to be reduced. sadly, the virus is going to be with us for some time. and we have to prepare ourselves mentally, and also spiritually,

for that point of disappointment. because, inevitably, the quotas for britain will have to be reduced. back at home, the patel family continues its devotions, but there's no hiding their sense of loss. do you think you will be able to take him next year? insha'allah, insha'allah. martin bashir, bbc news. uk scientists are to receive millions of pounds of government funding to learn why ethnic minorities are at greater risk from covid—19. six seperate studies will analyse data on social circumstances, health and day—to—day activities, as well as investigating genetic risk factors. the research will also look into whether health care workers are particularly at risk. pallab ghosh reports. rudresh pathak died

of coronavirus last month. he was a consultant psychiatrist in boston, in lincolnshire. he was on a ventilator for 70 days. when he was on a ventilator, we were told that in all likelihood he would probably die on the ventilator. however, you know, he battled on, he became better, and he came off the ventilator. mid—june he deteriorated, and suddenly, a week after that, he passed away. a disproportionate number of people who have died from coronavirus have been from ethnic minorities. the government has commissioned a set of urgent studies to find out why. research shows that ethnic minorities are more likely to die from covid—19. indians are at 1.5 times greater risk than the white population. for bangladeshis and pakistanis, it is 1.8. and the highest risk is with black people, at 1.9. one study will closely follow 30,000 health and social care workers. others will draw on various government databases of the health and lifestyle

of different ethnic groups. some of these studies may give us data before the 12 months is up, in which case immediately, as soon as we get any results, we will be hearing about them and seeing if there are any changes that we can make to reduce this risk in ethnic minority populations. ethnic minorities are more likely to have jobs that bring them into contact with other people. the government hopes that the new research will help them identify the risks and make the changes needed to save lives. pallab ghosh, bbc news. hong kong's leader says the territory is on the verge of a "large—scale" coronavirus outbreak that could overwhelm its hospitals. after early success against covid—19, hong kong has, for the past week, reported more than 100 new infections each day. earlier our correspondent, martin yip explained which communities in hong kong are being affected by the new outbreak. well, from the government, all we

know from this point is that a series of local cases, local clusters, which involves the eateries and cafes as well as other organisations have been involved in the latest crisis. some of these cases have no trace of origin at this stage but they are going to some imported cases that was brought in by seamen and aircrews. the university at hong kong has been looked at, looking at these over the weekend. they are trying to see if there is a connection. as of today, just after local time, he series of new measures kicked in. we are not into a state of lockdown as yet but people are forced to wear face masks

individually anywhere in the city, as well as in a public area, indoors and outdoors, and no restaurants can serve anything other than take a ways. while seamen and aircrews, they are now required to leave samples for they are now required to leave sa m ples for tests. they are now required to leave samples for tests. and if you are only a vessel that has not been to a ship to hong kong, you can sail your vessel into hong kong and allow your seamen to change ship. in the past six months, many have been stranded on their vessels for up to literally six months with nowhere of landing on the ground in sight. so, now hong kong is literally closing a gateway for them to do this thing, while the problem is that even local experts are still warning that even if you are still warning that even if you are cutting off this and the potential imports of new cases, you

are still opening your border, people can still come into hong kong and could be new cases coming in. so there are still voices calling for there are still voices calling for the government to shut hong kong up at least for a while to curb the spread of the virus. and in the last few seconds, we have received the latest figures from hong kong centre for health protection on covid—19 cases. so, for the most recent 24—hour period, 118 and from coronavirus cases in the eighth day ina row coronavirus cases in the eighth day in a row when more than 100 new cases have been reported daily. it brings the chinese territory's total cases to 3002. vietnam's prime minister has ordered the city of danang to go into strict lockdown — earlier this week 80,000 tourists were ordered to evacuate the city. vietnam's health ministry says there have been 30 confirmed infections in danang since the weekend, as well as new cases

in the country's biggest cities hanoi and ho chi minh city. the prime minister says every part of the country is now at risk of seeing infections and warned that this wave of coronavirus is different to the one in march. advising hospitals in england to discharge thousands of patients into care homes at the start of the pandemic, without knowing if they had coronavirus, has been described as "reckless" by mps. the public accounts committee said the policy continued even when it was clear that a problem was emerging. the labour mp meg hillier, who chairs the committee, says that was a mistake. they wanted to discharge people from hospital who they described as medically fit, but that didn't include having a covid test, so people were being discharged to care homes with covid—19. and as we know, sadly, it spread and killed people in care homes. and this is something that, you know, wasn't properly thought through. the focus was so much on the nhs and hospitals, which is the right thing to do, of course, in a pandemic, but there wasn't a similar focus on how to support care homes also with ppe, whice is something we have

looked at as well before. meg hillier, mp. the number of children entitled to free school meals should be more than doubled in order to combat the "slow motion disaster" of poor eating habits in england. the government—commissioned review says the scheme should be extended to anyone who has a parent receiving universal credit — an extra 1.5 million children — arguing hunger is currently having serious and long—lasting effects on young people, and exacerbating inequality. robert townsend reports. there are currently 1.3 million children aged between seven and 16 receiving free school meals in england, but those behind today's report are calling for that number to more than double. the national food strategy review says a further 1.5 million children whose parents are already in receipt of universal credit should be included in the programme, with a recommendation for those from the poorest families to also be fed during the holidays. the report, commissioned by the government and headed by the restaurateur henry dimbleby,

said urgent action was needed in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, predicting a dramatic increase in unemployment and poverty for parents, and increased hunger among children. to me, it is essential. you know, good nutrition is the foundation stone for equality of opportunity. and i think a government as serious about levelling up as this one is, that nutrition, ensuring that the most disadvantaged children have the right nutrition to enable them to work, to learn, to engage in the world, is an essential building block of that. the findings of the report follow a successful campaign led by the manchester united player marcus rashford earlier this summer, which saw a government u—turn over plans to withdraw a voucher scheme. i think it, obviously, this is only going to be successful throughout the summer period and then, you know, we've bought ourselves an extra six weeks of time there to plan and figure out what's next and how we keep taking steps forward. because i don't want it to be — and i don't want this to be the end of it,

you know, because there's definitely more steps to be taken. and so we just need to analyse the response. the report's authors say expanding the programme would cost an additional £670 million a year. campaigners say failing to extend the scheme means the cost to the poorest children in society could be much higher. robert townsend, bbc news. this is bbc news. the headlines: a call for coronavirus tests at uk airports to reduce the time travellers spend in quarantine — but ministers say there's no catch—all solution. it's not the case that you can simply test somebody and be sure that they don't have the disease. it can incubate over a period of time. so there is not a silver bullet of just testing immediately at the border. the annual hajj pilgrimage to mecca begins —

but is dramatically scaled back because of coronavirus. uk scientists will receive millions of pounds to investigate why people from an ethnic minority background are at greater risk from covid—19. masks become mandatory in all public places in hong kong as the city grapples with a sharp rise in coronavirus cases. a review calls for an extension of free school meals in england, warning that poor eating habits are a "slow—motion disaster". a young black man from bristol has been seriously injured after being deliberately run over by a car as he walked home from work. the victim was then racially abused as he lay injured on the ground. 0ur correspondent fiona lamdin has been following this shocking incident — and i should warn you that her report contains pictures of the victim's injuries and offensive racist language. this is k—dogg.

it's his stage name. here, he's doing what he loves best. but we are about to show you some distressing images. his family want them shown, taken just hours after the attack. his family are too scared to speak on camera, but they have told me that their son was leaving his shift at southmead hospital last wednesday afternoon. he was walking up here towards the bus stop to catch the bus home. he was due to be playing football that evening. but when he got to this spot, a car mounted the pavement. it hit him side on and catapulted him into this garden. eyewitnesses said they then saw two menjump out of the car before rushing off. they hurled racial abuse at him. when the mother got to hospital, doctors told her that she was very lucky her son was alive. i heard a very loud bang and i ran to the window. this woman was one of the first on the scene. she is so scared of any

repercussions that she wants to remain anonymous. her words are spoken by an actor. i saw a young black man sitting up on the wall, and i saw two white men running away. then i noticed the black man was covered in blood and i guessed from the angle of the car that it had been driven deliberately at him. just to warn you, you are about to hear highly offensive language, because as the men ran away, they hurled racial abuse, calling him a nigger. to me, this is huge. this is a horrible crime, using a car as a weapon against an innocent person who happens to be black. kieran has worked with k—dogg for the last two years, signing him instantly. i met him, thought he was great, loved his music.

it was up and coming from the start. the talent that he has was already there. but he says many in the community are now frightened. i am a bit scared as well now, because after i found out, i thought about it a bit and i was like, yeah, i have black people in my life. i am mixed—race. so yeah, i am concerned about family and stuff. tonight, the police say they are taking it very seriously, but called for calm. i don't believe people should be scared. southmead is a welcoming and diverse community, and we don't believe there is a risk to the wider public. the victim has been left with a broken leg, nose and cheekbone, and says he now feels too scared to leave his home. the criticism keeps coming; from british and spanish politicians, travel companies, and of course thousands of confused holiday makers about the government's decision to impose a quarantine for people returning

let's begin by recapping the current rules. anyone coming back to the uk from spain and its islands will have to provide an address and self—isolate there for 1h days. the foreign office is also advising against "all but essential travel" to the whole of spain. if you're already there you can finish your holiday, but if you are due to head out in the next few days your insurance is unlikely to be valid. once you get to your self—isolation address, you can't go to work, kids can't go to childcare, and can't even go to the shops — unless you can't find someone to go for you. you could be fined hundreds of pounds if you don't comply. there has been lots of anger from travel companies who weren't given any warning about this. you should get a refund if you were due to go on a package holiday, but if you have flights booked

there's anger too from opposition politicians here in the uk and spanish leaders. they say a blanket quarantine isn't logical, given infection rates. germany has similar quarantine rules — but only for people coming back from certain regions of the uk. of particular surprise is the inclusion of the canary and balearic islands where infection rates are relatively low. let's talk now to sam. sam is in spain on holiday at the moment and is particularly worried about the need to quarantine on his return. tell us where you are? we are on the south—east coast. tell us where you are? we are on the south-east coast. and you arrive in spain when? just after we heard about the quarantine rules, set fairly recently. and you are due to return home on the 11th of august.

the tricky thing is that you are due to start a newjob on the 10th of august. so clearly, everyone can see the problem there. how concerned are you? very concerned. sorry, we were here before i understood about the quarantine rules. so yes, my g new job was due to start on the 10th of august. we were due to fly back on the 4th august. we were due to fly back on the 11th of august. we have had communication from jet2, the airline we we re communication from jet2, the airline we were using, to say the flight has now been cancelled. and we will be contacted with further alternatives in due course. however, given the quarantine status, i have had to contact my new employer and explained the situation and now, u nfortu nately, explained the situation and now, unfortunately, i feel that my new job may be at risk because of this. have you been told specifically that it may be at risk if you can't get

back and quarantining time to start on the 10th of august? the maths doesn't really work for you, is it? no. it was not explicitly said, but it's an ongoing conversation and i feel that if it were possible, they probably would have said during that first conversation. but as it stands, iam first conversation. but as it stands, i am waiting to hear back from them to confirm whether i am able to start with them.|j from them to confirm whether i am able to start with them. i know in your conversation with our producer before this interview, he said this was a hard wonjob. describe before this interview, he said this was a hard won job. describe for us what you mean by that? yes. like many others at the moment, i have been searching for employment and it has been the toughest i have ever experienced. no matter the amount of skills and talent and unemployment history that you have, the competition has increased dramatically. there have been less

jobs in general to apply for, as companies slow their recruitment, so it has been very difficult. this is the onlyjob i have had an offer for, and to me and my family, it is vital. so you can imagine the stress iam vital. so you can imagine the stress i am feeling, along with probably thousands of others. you found out about this new quarantine soon after you had already arrived in spain. if you had already arrived in spain. if you had already arrived in spain. if you had known beforehand, if there had been any hint or warning that the quarantine was going to be introduced, would you have travelled? i'm not really sure that we have gone back over the conversation. it's a very difficult one to make that kind of choice. we thought we were going at a time when

things were beginning to come down when there was a relatively low risk, which considering there is in spain, even with the most recent news of putting a blanket ban on flights to here. but now i can only look forward. and you are relying hopefully on your new employer being sympathetic and realising that the situation was not of your making and hoping you can begin that newjob. it's not going to be the 10th of august, but may be a few days after that? yes. i understand there are some other news coming through regarding the possibility of, if you have a negative test when you come back to the uk, then your quarantine might be reduced. but as far as i'm aware, that is just speculation at the moment. so yes, i am very much

relying on this role and the ability of my new employer to find a way to help me with this offer they have provided. sam, we wish you luck. thank you for explaining your story. sam is on holiday in spain and hoping to start a newjob on his return. police in germany investigating the disappearance of madeleine mccann — the toddler who vanished 13 years ago — have been searching an allotment in hanover. detectives have confirmed the search is related to the investigation into christian b, the main suspect in the three—year—old's presumed murder. madeleine went missing whilst on holiday in portugal in 2007, sparking one of europe's biggest international investigations. jenny hill gave us the latest from hannover. last night, police officers here dug up this allotment

using mechanised diggers to excavate a pretty deep pit. we were able to make out bits of broken up concrete, suggesting that perhaps they had managed to break up some kind of foundational structure here. this morning, it looks as though they're filling that trench in. there was a sniffer dog here yesterday and a lot of police activity. the police won't say exactly what they're searching for, but this location may be significant because the main suspect in this case is said to have lived not far from this area in the years following madeleine mccann's disappearance. this is a 43—year—old convicted paedophile. for legal reasons, we can only name him as christian b but last month, german prosecutors said they had evidence that he was responsible not only for madeleine's disappearance, but they said, for her death too. but crucially, they said that evidence wasn't strong enough to charge him. he is currently injail in germany, serving time for a different offence. we know, and i've seen the police file on the suspect that bears this out, that investigators in germany have

been looking at this man in connection with this case for a long time, for years. what we don't know is why they're searching here and why they are doing it now. but last month, german detectives made a televised appeal for information about the suspect in connection to madeleine mccann's disappearance. they received around 800 pieces of information from the public. they told us they've been sifting through them. it's possible that one of those tip—offs is what has brought them here. the democratic party presidential contenderjoe biden has unveiled his plan to help improve the economic situation for america's minorities. in a speech in his home town of wilmington, mr biden said he would spend tens of billions of dollars to help people of colour overcome what he called the racial wealth gap, if he wins the election in november. he also accused the president of stoking the flames of racism in the country and being unable to keep the coronavirus pandemic under control.

donald trump faces a real test and he's failed it — the basic threshold of being president, the duty to care for the entire country, notjust his re—election prospects. he has shown that he can't beat the pandemic and keep you safe. he can't turn the economy around and get america back to work. and he is, horrifyingly and not surprisingly, intentionally stoking the flames of division and racism in this country. and joe biden says he will announce his choice of running mate in the next few days. he's promised that he will choose a woman, but who it might be is still far from clear — but some clues did emerge at a recent press conference. here's laura podesta of cbs news, in new york. a very prominent clue was spotted by an eagle—eyed photographer. it was senator kamala harris's name in the handwritten note that biden was holding,

fuelling speculation about the california democrat standing as his vice—presidential running mate. so this was the big headline to come out of yesterday's speech in delaware. biden says he will be choosing his vice—presidential running mate as early as next week. there has been plenty of speculation about who that person could be. we know she's going to be a woman. he promised it was going to be a woman. but other than that, there's been a whole list of people that would be great candidates, including former us ambassador to the united nations susan rice, atlanta mayor keisha lance bottoms, and there was also some speculation that former democratic candidate for president elizabeth warren might be a good number two for him. so democrats nationwide are itching to find out who this number two pick is going to be, if it'll help boost biden's standing in the ratings and when exactly

we should hear is also a question mark. we know it's in the first week of august, but which day, we don't know yet. the headlines on bbc news... a call for coronavirus tests at airports to reduce the time travellers spend in quarantine, but ministers say it's not a silver bullet. scientists will receive millions of pounds to investigate why people from an ethnic minority background are at greater risk from covid—19. the annual hajj pilgrimage to mecca begins, but is dramatically scaled back because of coronavirus. more on that now. the hajj — the annual pilgrimage to mecca — is under way. normally, more than two million muslims would usually take part

in the on a five day pilgrimage to the holy city, but international visitors have been prevented from taking part this year because of the pandemic. this year, 10,000 pilgrims are expected, and the only foreigners who are allowed to attend are those who already reside in the kingdom. we can speak now to qari asim, an imam in leeds here in the uk and chair of the mosques & imams national advisory board. had things been different, you would have been in mecca right now, wouldn't you ? have been in mecca right now, wouldn't you? that is right. i was planning to go on the annual pilgrimage, the hajj, along with a group of people from the uk. but due to covid—19, that has not been possible. so there is a sense of disappointment. but during the lockdown, we have learned to reinvent ourselves and connect with god through different ways. the hajj is something that muslims aspire to. it isa is something that muslims aspire to. it is a real moment of sz virtual

upliftment and it is a transformative experience for muslims across the world. typically, how many muslims from the uk would have travelled to saudi arabia along with visitors from all over the world ? with visitors from all over the world? from all corners of the world, people from all backgrounds, financial backgrounds as well as people of all colours come. it tends to be2 people of all colours come. it tends to be 2 million to 3 million people gathered in one place and united in one purpose, to seek forgiveness from god, but also to pray for peace in ourworld. from god, but also to pray for peace in our world. how are you advising pilgrims who would have gone to saudi arabia to, well, replicate is not the right word because there is clearly a n not the right word because there is clearly an experience that cannot be replaced at home, but how can they approach this time in a spiritual sense, given that they are not able

to go to mecca? as imams, we are advising people that although we cannot physically be in mecca, for us, hajj has not been cancelled. the spirit of hajj is needed more than ever. the hajj is a powerful symbol of unity and during this pandemic, we have seen that the whole human family is united to confront coronavirus. so we are asking people to ensure that the safety of eve ryo ne to ensure that the safety of everyone is of paramount importance. and whilst we celebrate eid in the uk after hajj, we ask people to remain safe and vigilant in their celebrations. the humble gatherings in our homes will be as blessed as the larger gatherings in our mosques and wherever we used to celebrate. so we are ensuring that safety is

not compromised. there is another aspect all of this. as saw during ramadan, muslims are scapegoated and we cannot let this overshadow eid celebrations. there are some who try to exploit the situation and target muslims, and that cannot carry on. people say muslims socially gather on days of celebration and that there is therefore a likelihood of an increasing coronavirus cases. that is not the case. the advice is to celebrate the four in a safe manner. imam qari asim, thank you for your time. some people in western cultures say that gender is binary and divided into male and female, and that gender fluidity is a recent phenomenon. but in some cultures, gender is more fluid and has been for centuries. the bbc‘s gender and identity

correspondent, megha mohan, has been speaking to young people who are taking to social media in new ways, to educate people about how gender identity is viewed in their culture. gender identity might be one of the most polarising conversations that's happening on social media right now. in most countries, sex is defined as what you are physically born as, male or female. but gender identity can be much more fluid. a person can be born female and feel more comfortable or identify as male, or vice versa. recently, i've been seeing a lot of people talk about the gender history of their communities online. this is geronimo from the native american navajo community in new mexico. my name is geronimo. this is my backyard, some mountains over there. geronimo identifies as one of the four sacred and ancient gender identities from his culture. we have:

masculine feminine is something that i gravitate towards. the word for masculine feminine is nadleehi, someone who is male—bodied and has a feminine nature. i can dress as a female or a male. i weave, i cook, i clean. 8,000 miles away, in india's capital, delhi, gender has been more than just male and female for centuries, and in 2014 india's supreme court even recognised a third gender. hi, namaste. i am leher, i am 23 and i was not born in a female body. i changed my gender medically. however, i'm not what in the western

terminologies, you would call a trans woman or a transgender. in india, we're considered a third gender or the sacred gender that has the power to bless or to curse. gender has never been binary in india. we have scriptures that describe more than 20 to 28 genders. so how could the idea of multiple genders have got lost over the years? when colonialism started to happen, a lot of our people died and were murdered, so a lot of the teachings and understandings of these people were lost. i face a lot of discrimination. it hurts. increasingly, the question of gender identity is becoming much more than how you choose to self—identify. it can decide whether or not you can access biologically divided spaces like toilets and aid shelters, and some sports. yet some people question the idea of gender and believe stereotyped ideas around masculinity and femininity are limiting. and in some other parts

of the world, the idea ofjust male and female have been seen as an oversimplification. football, curry and karaoke — sounds like a perfect night in for some, but how about at kensington palace with prince william ? the duke of cambridge took part in peter crouch's latest podcast to talk about mental health in football — he met the team ahead of lockdown, as johnny dymond reports. so, i made some curry for you boys. others laugh. by royal appointment, the prince has got the poppadoms in. it's not every day you get a takeaway to surroundings like these. are you serious? the samrat has delivered to the palace? yep. a podcast, pint, and a curry — though getting the delivery in did have its challenges. there's an uber driver on the floor at the moment being frisked. they laugh. this was a very informal prince william, remembering some big nights out, some really bad presents

he had given his wife, and musing on his royal powers to hire and fire the england manager. gareth southgate's a very nice man, he's been very successful as england manager. if england had a disastrous run of form, could you sack him? gareth would go, yeah. they laugh. but this wasn't all lads larking about around the table. for years now, prince william has been talking about mental health and using sport as a way to get through to men who might not normally think about it. i don't know what it is, but you do notice that guys find it a bit more difficult to relax. we talk about physical fitness, we all want to go to the gym, stay fit, we never really talk about mental fitness and it's kind of the same thing. we all have mental health. and we all need to stay mentally fit, and none more so than professional athletes, who under special circumstances, are playing for england, under huge pressure. you've got to have your head razor—sharp as well as your feet, your legs, all that. this is prince william's goal,

to make mental health something you can talk about at the match or over a curry. from sunday players to professionals, the prince wants everybody in — and southgate looks safe for the moment. jonny dymond, bbc news. now, the weather with carol kirkwood. we're going to get a brief taste of summer this friday with temperatures for some into the 30s, for others into the high 20s, but it's not going to last. if you prefer your weather cooler, it will be cooler by the weekend. today, it's going to be mainly dry. we have lighter winds than yesterday for most. the exception is across the north—east of scotland. you can see the isobars close together here, so windy for you, but easing through the day. then the next clutch of fronts come our way. the showers continue to fade through the afternoon. a lot of dry weather.

there will be areas of cloud, particularly in the wales and midlands areas later on, with western areas of northern ireland eventually seeing that rain. it will not feel as fresh as it did yesterday because of the lighter winds. it will feel a bit warmer. this evening, the rain continues to push across the irish sea into parts of wales, northern england and the north midlands and northern ireland. 0n either side of those fronts, in northern scotland in southern england, we are looking at clear skies. through thursday, our clutch of fronts continue to advance northwards. 0ne peek at those isobars tells you it is going to be breezy in the west, but high pressure is still in charge further south. so a lot of sunshine to start the day. watch how that extends northwards as our fronts do the same thing, eventually clearing northern england and moving across scotland with the rain. tomorrow as the wind changes

to a southerly direction tomorrow, it's going to turn more humid and also a lot warmer in southern areas. for thursday into friday, the rain continues to advance northwards, but we also pull in the other end of the front coming in across northern ireland and the wind coming in from the near continent. so a lot of us will have a dry and sunny day through friday. and you'll notice that the weatherfronts moving across northern ireland will bring cloud and showery rain. some of that could also be thundery. through the afternoon as temperatures rise as high as 32 or 33, we could see across the midlands and the south—east quarter of the country, some thunderstorms developing. but if you like your weather cooler, as we head through saturday and sunday, still some sunshine, but temperatures on the way down.

this is bbc news withjoanna gosling the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a call for covid—19 tests at uk airports to reduce the time travellers spend in quarantine — but ministers say there's no catch—all solution. it's not the case that you can simply test somebody and be sure that they don't have the disease. it can incubate over a period of time. so, there's not a silver bullet of just testing immediately at the border. the annual hajj pilgrimage to mecca begins but is dramatically scaled back with no international visitors allowed. uk scientists will get millions of pounds to investigate why people from ethnic minority backgrounds are at greater risk from covid—19. masks become mandatory in all public places in hong kong as the city grapples with a sharp rise

in covid—19 cases. a review calls for an extension of free school meals in england, warning that poor eating habits are a "slow—motion disaster". and poppadoms and a pint at the palace. prince william talks football and mental health with former england player peter crouch. i've made some curry for you all. laughter. and i believe it's the samrat, which is, like, your local favourite, crouchy? hello and welcome to bbc news — i'm joanna gosling. these are the latest national and international covid—19 developments. the uk government is coming under increasing pressure to introduce

covid—19 testing at airports in order to shorten the 14—day quarantine period. airlines and travel industry leaders say tests are vital for people to get back to work and for the uk's post—covid recovery in saudi arabia, the annual hajj pilgrimage is beginning, with the usual 2 million pilgrims to mecca cut to 10,000 because of covid restrictions. uk scientists are to receive millions of pounds of government funding to learn why ethnic minorities are at greater risk from covid—19. and a stark warning for hong kong as the city's leader carrie lam says its hospital system could face ‘collapse' due to a sharp rise in covid cases. let's look at the issue of testing passengers arriving into the uk in a little more detail. the chief executive of heathrow airport, john holland kaye, says that a test on entry could be used to cut quarantine time, and increase confidence in travelling. he explained why he believes it is essential testing is increased at airports.

unless we test and learn some of these alternatives, then we are not going to get beyond the blanket 14—day quarantine that is currently in place. we can see that other countries have gone to other ways of doing this. they have started to... france, from the beginning ofjune, were doing trials of testing on departure and on arrival and then they went down to a single test. but we are not calling for that here. we are calling for a double test, once on arrival and the second after five days or eight days, where people would stay in quarantine until they have had two tests that show that they didn't have the disease and then they would be allowed out, earlier than would otherwise have been the case. the culture secretary 0liver dowden says the government is keeping all options under review, but he insists that at the moment, there is no viable alternative to the 1a day quarantine for people when they return from spain. we have to act in a way

to keep the virus under control in this country. it was rising in spain. we had to ensure that we didn't import cases. that is why we are advising against all but essential travel, and that is why we are asking people to quarantine for 1h days. if it is the case, and it isn't at the moment, we don't believe... and all the evidence is not that we can simply test people once and then say you can go back into the community. of course, we will continue to work through this and if there are ways that we can ease the burden, we will do that. but at the moment, the safest thing for people to do is to quarantine for 1h days if they are returning from spain. the reason we're asking people to do that is to ensure that the disease does not spread from spain into the united kingdom. and that is why... you know, we want to keep our economy open and keep the disease under control. so we must take these measures. 0ur assistant political editor norman smith is in westminster.

norman, norman smith is in westminster. lots of questions quarantine norman, lots of questions around the quarantine and a desire for things to be different, but the government claim it is taking a safety first approach. well, boris johnson sadly is taking a safety first approach. he seems to be driven by a conviction that the priority for the government must be avoiding the possibility of a second surge in the virus, although there are those in government who have argued for, if you like, a more relaxed approach in terms of regional quarantine policy. the heathrow boss says that he believes there are ministers and government who support his idea of rolling out a shorter testing regime for people returning from spain. the prime minister himself i think is deeply, deeply cautious and for that reason, we are not going to see any reduction in the 1a day period for the foreseeable future. it's clear the foreseeable future. it's clear the government is looking for options, we have had that confirmed in the house of lords by the transport minister yesterday but

clearly, they do not believe the science yet is sufficiently robust to ensure that if you did cut the quarantine period to ten or eight days, that would be secure enough. so i'm afraid the slightly grim news for holiday—makers, the travel industry, is that the 1a day quarantine period stays for now. and actually, norman, other countries could be taken off the list of countries that currently have the safe passage between them. that is the other side to this. the prime minister is pretty clear that if there are similar surges elsewhere, then yes, what happened in spain could happen there as well. of course, that is terrible for holiday—makers trying to work out, well, do i go to italy? can i risk going to greece? we have had pretty clear guidance from scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, who was basically said to people, look, stay

in scotland this summer. it's too risky to think about going abroad. we haven't had the same advice from the prime minister. he has pretty much left it to us, i suspect in pa rt much left it to us, i suspect in part because, where he to come out and openly say, look, forget the holiday this year abroad. that would be devastating for an already beleaguered holiday industry, if you we re beleaguered holiday industry, if you were to do that. he has left responsibility for that decision where each individual and their family. thank you, norman. and for viewers in the uk, just after two—thirty this afternoon, we'll answer your questions on quarantine and travel restrictions. jane hill will be joined by rory boland — travel editor at which and linda bauld, — professor of public health at the university of edinburgh. meanwhile, the world health organization has warned that young people could be driving spikes in coronavirus cases. the latest data from the european centre for disease prevention and control show there are clusters across europe. on this map, you can see

the palest yellow regions — which cover most of the continent — where there are fewer than 20 cases per 100,000 people confirmed with tests. the darker areas, which you can see in north—eastern spain, bulgaria, romania and sweden are where there are between 60 and 120 cases per 100,000. these figures cover the 1a days to 22nd july. professor keith neal from nottingham university explained the difference between spikes in cases — and why they shouldn't be confused with a so—called ‘second wave'. we are talking about how you actually define a second wave, because quite clearly, we have seen spikes in places like leicester and possibly now in 0ldham, which have required local action, and what is important is not what we call them, but what we do about them. clearly, the situation in north—east spain, with disease rates in one of the provinces equivalent to what we had in the leicester city

area, clearly could be seen as a second wave or a big spike, and a series of local outbreaks. actually, although we call it a pandemic, and even within this country, it's a series of lots of smaller epidemics all coalescing together. we have only got to look at the difference between the disease rates that we have had in london to say the areas in cornwall or the scottish highlands, which have been very low. our health correspondent lauren moss is with me now. where are we, lauren? because we are seeing cases going up. often when we talk about waves, scientists and experts are referring to other illnesses, like influenza for example, which often become more potent at certain seasonal times like winter, when the weather turns cold. with coronavirus, it is still relatively new, everyone is still learning a lot about it and there is

no one real agrees definition. some scientists say it is only really classified as a second wave when all or most cases from the first wave have all but disappeared. that isn't what we're seeing here. just yesterday, there were 581 new cases in uk yesterday. there are still cases from that first wave, there has been a decline that they haven't gone. what we could be seeing is a resurgence, a spike in cases. in france, where they have had 1a new deaths in the last 2a hours, then health minister isn't calling it a second wave. they say it is a continuing of the epidemic but i think it is semantics. there is still a lot of debate about this in the scientific community, about what we call it, whether it is a second wave or a spike in cases. what is important is for governments around the world to work out how to manage that, to stop those cases climbing even further and that's what we're seeing with the quarantine measures introduced with travellers returning from spain. will be seen in leicester, 0ldham as well now, where

people are been told not to mix households for the next two weeks, where there were more than 100 confirmed cases in that area. we will be seeing more of that. if we are going to head into something that will look more like a second wave as we head towards the winter, or if the weather changes again, we have to remember that we are also in a different place than what we were in february and march, with awareness of the virus, testing, tracking and tracing. nightingale hospital is being put in place and so on, so that if there is a second wave, we are in a different position. how much is known about the environmental factors that affect covid—19? 0bviously, the environmental factors that affect covid—19? obviously, as you are describing there, that have been huge behavioural changes that we have all done to try and contain the virus. there have been various reports of the impact of temperature on covid—19, but when you look around the world, it is obviously affecting countries that have varying temperatures all at the same time, so what can we learn from that? it's about human behaviour. if we go back to march and april time,

when we had a huge number of cases in the uk every day and also around the world, lock downs were brought m, the world, lock downs were brought in, people are staying at home, they we re in, people are staying at home, they were in isolation, people were shielding as well, travel restrictions or issue for many countries. that is now slowly being relaxed. a couple of months ago here in the uk, things are opening up slowly and people are mixing. inevitably, we were going to expect a resurgence in cases, it depends on how high it goes. environmental factors, we know that the virus is spread through people sneezing, coughing, droplets in the air, that is why there is advised to wear face coverings in enclosed spaces. when people are outside more in the summer months, it is less likely that it will transmit as easily and that it will transmit as easily and thatis that it will transmit as easily and that is why it could spread more widely as we head towards the wintertime when people are spending more time indoors. it's more that human behaviour than the actual weather itself. thank you very much.

that's good to hear all about. the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to mecca, is under way. normally more than two million muslims would usually take part in the on a five day pilgrimage to the holy city but international visitors have been banned this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. just a thousand foreign pilgrims already resident in saudi arabia will be allowed to take part. here's our reporter sameer hashmi in the uae on how this hajj will be different. it is really unprecedented, because as you mentioned, every year you have between 2 and 2.5 million pilgrims who come down for hajj, to perform the hajj rituals. this year, it has been scaled down tojust1000 people. before they arrived in mecca, the holy city where they are located right now, from where they will start hajj, they were asked to quarantine in their hometowns and then once they reached mecca, a few days ago, they quarantined at the hotel. all their luggage has been disinfected.

usually, what happens on day one is that the pilgrims move to a place called mina, mina valley, which is about seven kilometres from the holy city of makkah. usually what happens is that the 2.5 million pilgrims move there together, so it's really packed, but this time, the 1000 pilgrims will be divided into groups and they will be staggered in terms of sending them from there, so that social distancing is observed and there is no issue in terms of maintaining safety. the other measures that have been taking place, they have all been given bracelets to keep track of, as to where they are moving, even in terms of health care, there are mobile hospitals and ambulances that have been set up at different points just to make sure that, in case someone shows symptoms, or anything like that, during the course of the journey, which will be over the next five days, they can be immediately addressed and monitored at that point of time. so a lot of different measures are being put in place, the saudi authorities don't

want to take any risk, given that they have already registered more than 270,000 cases in the country so far, of covid—19. 0ur religion editor, martin bashir spoke to one family from the uk whose long—anticipated hajj pilgrimage has had to be postponed. this family spent two years planning for the religious high point of their lives. it's a very important part of my religion. it would make me feel that i have, up to a certain extent, completed my religion. without that, it feels that there is always something missing. they should have departed for mecca at the weekend. instead, they're still at home in the uk, and time is of the essence. because of imran we thought that — i wasn't feeling comfortable for him to go on his own. so we thought we'd join him. i suffered a major heart attack back in 2014. i'm turning 40 next year.

my intention was to hopefully, insha'allah, complete my hajj before i'm 40 and then you just never know what's around the corner. i feel fit and well enough at the moment, but who knows, this time next year i might not be. and this might have been my only opportunity. a modern plague has disrupted an ancient pilgrimage. last year, the hajj attracted more than two million pilgrims. this year, the coronavirus pandemic has forced the saudi arabian government to scale back, banning all foreigners from visiting the holy site. we still have to welcome the first worshippers yet. it's not officially opened. sheik ibrahim mogra, a british imam, is warning that the current quota system that allows a proportion of muslims from every nation to visit mecca each year, is likely to be reduced.

sadly, the virus is going to be with us for some time. and we have to prepare ourselves mentally, and also spiritually, for that point of disappointment. because, inevitably, the quotas for britain will have to be reduced. back at home, the patel family continues its devotions, but there's no hiding their sense of loss. do you think you will be able to take him next year? insha'allah, insha'allah. martin bashir, bbc news, leicester. uk scientists are to receive millions of pounds of government funding to learn why ethnic minorities are at greater risk from covid—19. six separate studies will analyse data on social circumstances, health and day—to—day activities, as well as investigating genetic risk factors.

the research will also look into whether health care workers are particularly at risk. pallab ghosh reports. rudresh pathak died of coronavirus last month. he was a consultant psychiatrist in boston, in lincolnshire. he was on a ventilator for 70 days. when he was on a ventilator, we were told that in all likelihood he would probably die on the ventilator. however, you know, he battled on, he became better, and he came off the ventilator. mid—june he deteriorated, and suddenly, a week after that, he passed away. a disproportionate number of people who have died from coronavirus have been from ethnic minorities. the government has commissioned a set of urgent studies to find out why. research shows that ethnic minorities are more likely to die from covid—19. indians are at 1.5 times greater risk than the white population. for bangladeshis and pakistanis, it is 1.8. and the highest risk is with black people, at 1.9.

one study will closely follow 30,000 health and social care workers. others will draw on various government databases of the health and lifestyle of different ethnic groups. some of these studies may give us data before the 12 months is up, in which case immediately, as soon as we get any results, we will be hearing about them and seeing if there are any changes that we can make to reduce this risk in ethnic minority populations. ethnic minorities are more likely to have jobs that bring them into contact with other people. the government hopes that the new research will help them identify the risks and make the changes needed to save lives. let's speak now to charlene aryiku, her father george worked as a mental health worker for the nhs. he died from covid on the 22nd april at the age of 68. she joins from south west london. thank you forjoining us. i'm very

sorry about what happens to your father. do you mind telling us how quickly he fell ill and how quickly it's developed. basically, my dad said that he was having some headaches, he contacted his gp. this was over the telephone and i think it got a kidney infection, because he had had that problem before, and after about four or five days, he was sent to hospital. while he was in hospital, he went on a thursday and he passed away in the early hours of wednesday morning. he went through three different wards will stop he was in the middle board for the most amount of time and we weren't expecting him to pass away. we were really confident that he would be in there for a while, but we didn't believe that he would end up we didn't believe that he would end up going into intensive care. that is shockingly fast. there has obviously been a lot of discussion

around why it seems to be that people of ethnic minorities are disproportionately badly affected by covid—19. have you had your own thoughts about that? it's more bean, because of the aftermath, because we weren't ready, my brother and i when weren't ready, my brother and i when we spoke, we were just unhappy about the fact that my dad was sedated. we ourselves are still yet to ask the hospital what happened there. i'm not accusing them of anything, but for my brother and i, more concerned about the fact that he was sedated and he declined so quickly. with regards to ethnicity, it has been said by people in our community that there is a worry that may be black people aren't getting the same care, but i do take on board that we are all hurt and we are getting new information through and when i look back at when my dad passed, around the 22nd of april, we didn't have a lot of information anyway, so ijust

think of the community is quite hurt, but i'm glad to know that a lot of funding has been put to following bame, ithink lot of funding has been put to following bame, i think it will really help people. it will help people like myself even though it is a bit too late for my dad, but it will help our community. did you manage to say goodbye to your dad properly? we were very fortunate in that we did get the call to say that he was critical and the policy at the hospital in a time, it was at their discretion about visitors, so we we re their discretion about visitors, so we were able to get kitted up and spend a few hours with him, which meant a lot to me. it really, really did. i don't think i would have coped if i had been denied that opportunity. my heart really does go out to people who didn't have that, because i don't know how i would have coped. as we continue to walk through these unpredictable times with warnings now have another wave

potentially just around the with warnings now have another wave potentiallyjust around the corner, and also some saying that perhaps people are relaxed too much. they are not taking it seriously enough. what would you say to people out there about covid—19? what would you say to people out there about covid-19? that it's definitely real. unfortunately feroz, when it hits, it it really fast but there is more information out there now about earlier symptoms, but at the same time, i can't even advise you on what you are supposed to do with your early symptoms. i still don't yet know how you would be treated, i'm aware that you would be treated, i'm aware that you can get a self testing kits that will get you in 48 hours, but until you are out there was very last symptoms, i myself don't know what to say or suggest other than please do all you can to protect yourself. thank you, charlene. thank you very much for talking to us. hong kong's leader says the territory is on the verge of a "large—scale" coronavirus outbreak that could overwhelm its hospitals.

after early success against covid—19, hong kong has, for the past week, reported more than 100 new infections each day. earlier our correspondent, martin yip explained which communities in hong kong are being affected by the new outbreak. well, from the government, all we know at this point is that a series of local cases, local clusters, which involves the eateries and cafes, as well as some community facilities, and even pensioners' homes have been involved in the latest clusters. but the health experts have also been arguing that some of these cases — which the government says have no trace of origin at this stage — are actually linked to some imported cases that was brought in by seamen and aircrews. and the polytechnic university of hong kong, a few scientists there have just released a report over the weekend on this point. so, the government is now saying that they will take it serious and follow up the case and see if there is any connection.

as of today, just after midnight local time, a series of new measures kicked in. we are not into a state of lockdown as yet, but people are forced to wear face masks, individually, anywhere in the city, as long as you are in a public area, indoors or outdoors, and no restaurants can serve anything other than takeaways, while seamen and aircrews, as i havejust mentioned, they are now required to leave samples for tests as well. and if you are on a vessel that has not been to...shipped to hong kong, you can just sail your vessel into hong kong and let your seamen to change ship, which has been quite a major problem for the shipping industry. in the past six months, many of them have been stranded on their vessels for up to literally six months with no way of landing on the ground in sight. so, now hong kong is literally closing a gateway for them to do this thing, while the problem is that even local experts

are still warning that even if you are cutting off this and the potential imports of new cases, you are still opening your border, people can still come into hong kong and there could still be new cases coming in. so there are still voices calling for the government to shut hong kong up at least for a while to curb the spread of the virus. vietnam's prime minister has ordered the city of danang to go into strict lockdown — after 80—thousand tourists were ordered to evacuate the city. vietnam's health ministry says there have been 30 confirmed infections in danang since the weekend, as well as new cases in the country's biggest cities hanoi and ho chi minh city. the prime minister says every part of the country is now at risk of seeing infections random blood tests carried out by the municipal authorities in india's financial capital, mumbai, suggest that 57 % of people living in the city's crowded slums have had the coronavirus. the comparable figures for those who do not live

in slums are much lower. mumbai is one of the world's largest cities and a very large portion of the population live in slums. the government's new ‘fix your bike' scheme in england has got off to a wobbly start after the website crashed on its launch. the scheme is part of boris johnson's obesity strategy. 50—thousand bike repair vouchers worth £50 were supposed to have been released online late last night on a first—come, first—served basis. but many people complained they received an error message and the page later said it had been ‘temporarily paused'. the website now says that more vouchers will be made available as soon as possible. in the united states, the democratic party presidential contenderjoe biden has pledged tens of billions of dollars to help people of colour overcome what he called ‘the racial wealth gap', if he wins the election in november. he also accused president trump of stoking the flames of racism in the country , and being unable to

keep the coronavirus pandemic under control trump faces a real test and he's failed it. a basic threshold for being president. the duty to care for the entire country, not just his real action prospects. he has shown that he can't beat the pandemic and keep you safe. he can't turn the economy around and get america back to work. and he is, horrifyingly and not surprisingly, intentionally stoking the flames of division and racism in this country. and joe biden also said he'll announce his choice of running mate in the next few days. he's promised that he will choose a woman, but who it might be is still far from clear although some clues did emerge at a recent press conference. here's laura podesta of cbs news, in new york. a very prominent clue spotted by an eagle—eyed photographer, it was senator kamala harris's name in the handwritten notes

that biden was holding, fuelling fresh speculation about the california democrat‘s standing as his vice presidential running mate. so this was the big headline to come out of yesterday's speech in delaware. it's that biden says he will be choosing his vice presidential running mate as early as next week. there has been plenty of regulation about who that person could be. we know she is going to be a woman, he said that he promises it's going to be a woman. but other than that, there has been a whole list of people that would be great candidates, including former us ambassador to the united nations susan rice, atlanta's mayor keisha lance bottoms, and there was also some speculation that former democratic candidate for president elizabeth warren might be a good number two for him. so democrats nationwide itching to find out who this number to pick is going to be.

if it will help boost biden's standing in the ratings, and when exactly we should hear is also a question mark. we know it is the first week of august, but the day, we do not know yet. the government has been "slow, inconsistent, and at times negligent" in its approach to the social care sector during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report from mps. the public accounts committee also says the government made an "appalling error" by discharging 25,000 hospital patients into care homes without being tested. meg hillier is the chair of the committee, and joins me now via webcam from westminster. welcome, thank you forjoining us. can you just spell out exactly why you are saying the government has been slow, inconsistent and at times it negligent? at the beginning of the pandemic, the attention was all on the nhs and quite rightly, to make sure it was ready to cope with a peak, huge peak in demand. but in

doing that, there is not enough thought to the consequence of the social care sector and actually, what we have seen is a lack of planning for that risk of a pandemic, generally, other than planning for that risk of a pandemic, generally, otherthanfor health, and that is one of the reasons we have seen health, and that is one of the reasons we have seen the high number of deaths and lack of ppe and support for the care sector at. so that was 25,000 deaths over a three—month period. unnecessary deaths, do you think? even without the testing, which was not available, they needed to be support and guidance and ppe available so that care homes and people going into people's domestic homes to provide care knew what they needed to do and that understanding of the social care sector was not really there in central government. we have been critical of the department of that in the past as a committee as well. you have a 45,000 care homes all trying to understand what they

need to do, doing their best, but with very confusing government guidance, so there are lots of points that the government fell down on and what we want them to do is not be defensive but to learn from this. and that is vital because we are still in an unfolding situation. in terms of taking responsibility though for what has happened in the past, because at some stage there will be much more of a reflection on that, do you think that individuals should take some blame? do you think it was a systemic thing? do you think that will inevitably become a way that this will be looked at?|j think pointing the finger of blame is not helpful at this point, because we really want to be working to make sure that we have a better approach for the next stage, but look, government has to plan for risks, that is what the government needs to do to protect us. a pandemic was the biggest non—malevolent risk that we face and there had been planning on that for decades and yet these things were

not muddled delete micro—modelled. we have seen that with school, the planning of that. no economic planning of that. no economic planning and we have seen the impact of not really planning properly for the social care sector, so these elements needed to be brought together and that is what only government can do, so there is a systemic issue there, but even with the pace of a pandemic, preplanning could have predicted some of these, could have predicted some of these, could have predicted some of these, could have modelled some of these situations. boris johnson is speaking of fears of a second wave next month, do you think lessons have been learned that things are not to be the same if we do hit the level of cases rising so dramatically again? i think lessons have to be learnt and the government must not be defensive about this. it has been quite muted in its response to this report so far. we have asked the government to come back with a clear plan by the 1st of september in anticipation of that second wave, laying out how it is going to handle

ppe, the personal protective equipment, and how it gets to the right places, laying out how testing will work and other key issues around different sectors so that we all know, openly, honestly and to transparency what the planners and actually, we understand, government may not be able to plan for absolutely everything, but it needs to have a direction of travel and ability to pivot at the speed if necessary. some bits have gone better than others, but they have to acknowledge mistakes and learn from them. lives are at risk, we cannot have an endless debate about it, we just need to get on with it now so we are ready for that second wave. when you look at what has happened with spain and introducing the quarantine very quickly on the evidence of the increase in cases, do you think the government's approach has changed and lessons have been learned as much a one unnamed source has been quoted as saying when you see a smoker, you act, do not wait for the fire at. that is interesting,. —— when you see smoke, you do not wait for fire.

he oscillates from saying we will be the virus, to saying we need to be careful in bringing in a quarantine. of course, the economy is vitally important and we have constituent, no people who have lostjobs and businesses and it is really important that its body, but we also have to remember we are in the midst ofa have to remember we are in the midst of a pandemic, have to remember we are in the midst ofa pandemic, and i think have to remember we are in the midst of a pandemic, and i think the government has taken message to people trust it and it has to be open, honest and concurrent. lack of trust is really critical, because people do not trust the government and follow the guidance, that could bea and follow the guidance, that could be a looming disaster. so governments have to be honest, upfront about what went wrong, come up upfront about what went wrong, come up with a plan and a plan we have confidence in. ok, thank you very much. a uk government—commissioned review is calling for the provision of free school meals to be extended to a further 1.5 million children in england. currently, about 1.3 million school children in england receive free school meals. 0nly pupils from households earning less than £7,400 before benefits are eligible

for the scheme. the review has called for the uk government to expand the programme to an additional 1.5 million 7 to 16—year—olds. the cost of doing so would be about £670 million a year. doctor susanjebb is a professor of diet and population health at the university of oxford. she worked on the report with henry dimbleby. shejoins us from ellesmere in shropshire. welcome, thank you forjoining us. your review has warned the country's eating habits are a slow motion disaster. why do you say that? we know that the seeds of adult disease are sown in childhood, and actually for very young children, it is a really critical moment in their development. we note that what children has a long lasting effect on their health. we also know that families who are living in poverty and who are struggling find it harder to provide a healthy, nutritious food for their children

and so we really have a moment in time where we have got to do everything we can to protect children during this very difficult period in order to ensure that they are not scarred for the rest of their life by this. suit you are recommending another one and half million children be eligible for free school meals on top of the 1.3 million who are already eligible. how did you arrive at that figure? the principle is that the scheme would be extended to every family which is already in receipt of universal credit. i think that is the simplest way of doing it, we have already identified that these are families who need some extra support and so by piggybacking onto that scheme, we can actually keep the costs of the introduction of this to an absolute minimum. the government only extended free school meal vouchers over the summer break under pressure and a high—profile campaign from the football at marcus rashford, you now want that to be a

long—term commitment, do you believe the government is listening, it will be listening, but do you believe it will implement what you are saying? of course i hope they will. i think the fact they have listened and looked at the evidence and this is also schemes which we know really do improve the nutrition of children, so what we are talking about is extending established schemes which are already known to be working well. i think accepting the case that children, during the holidays, really still need access to good nutritious food, that case has been accepted already. if we are doing it now during the pandemic, why would we not carry on in the future? we know there is an economic crisis looming. i think it is inevitable that many families are going to need this extra help in the years to come. what are your concerns for these covid—19 kids in how much worse things have been made during this period? the problem is, there

area this period? the problem is, there are a small number of children and families which are really struggling to put enough food on their table, but a bigger problem is that many families are choosing foods which are of rather low in nutritional quality but are very cheap and sort of filling and so we have this risk of filling and so we have this risk of actually creating more obesity in children, which we know tracks into aduu children, which we know tracks into adult life and increases the risk of adult life and increases the risk of a whole raft of conditions, diabetes, heart disease and so forth. and so it is always tempting to put it off for another day, but i think all the evidence tells us that actually we have a real need to intervene in a children. it is a window of opportunity which we cannot just let pass by window of opportunity which we cannotjust let pass by at. you cannotjust let pass by at. you cannot make this up later and we really need to act now to protect their long—term health of. really need to act now to protect their long-term health of. and when you talk about obesity, it is something the government has been talking about very seriously, because of the fact that obesity is a factor in having a worse outcome

in patients with covid—19. a factor in having a worse outcome in patients with covid-19. the government earlier this week announced a whole raft of very specific proposals which really will help to protect everybody from the effects of unhealthy food advertising or promotions in stores which encouraged us to buy the wrong kind of foods. those measures are really important and they will protect everybody. what this report does today is to recommend that we ta ke does today is to recommend that we take extra action, which is specifically targeted at families and children that need it most, those are really struggling economically to put healthy food on the table. i think the combination isa the table. i think the combination is a really powerful package. yes, this does it cost, so many things do, but actually this investing in preventing ill—health before it occurs is going to save the nhs money in the future. the cost of this are a fraction of the percentage of the money we spend on

the nhs. thank you very much. ijust wa nt to the nhs. thank you very much. ijust want to bring you some new figures that have come from the covid—19 figures in the czech republic. the latest figures show that there has been an increase in prague of... the latest infections are 15,827, which is up 275 and the latest number of deaths is 373. in prague specifically there are 101 new cases reported yesterday and that was the highest since the crisis began, so that figure of 275 is the nationwide total and that it is also the biggest increase since latejune. however, there has been a reduction in the number of people hospitalised from 140 to 108, but those figures

will of course cause concern with the highest number of new cases reported since the crisis began in prague and the nationwide total and the biggest increase since latejune and that reflects the picture in other places of course, which is seeing the number of infections increasing and giving rise to concern for a second wave. a young black man from bristol has been seriously injured after being deliberately run over by a car as he walked home from work. the victim was then racially abused as he lay injured on the ground. 0ur correspondent fiona lamdin has been following this shocking incident and i should warn you that her report contains pictures of the victim's injuries and offensive racist language. this is k—dogg. it's his stage name. here, he's doing what he loves best. but we are about to show you some distressing images. his family want them shown, taken just hours after the attack.

his family are too scared to speak on camera, but they have told me that their son was leaving his shift at southmead hospital last wednesday afternoon. he was walking up here towards the bus stop to catch the bus home. he was due to be playing football that evening. but when he got to this spot, a car mounted the pavement. it hit him side on and catapulted him into this garden. eyewitnesses said they then saw two menjump out of the car before rushing off. they hurled racial abuse at him. when the mother got to hospital, doctors told her that she was very lucky her son was alive. i heard a very loud bang and i ran to the window. this woman was one of the first on the scene. she is so scared of any repercussions that she wants to remain anonymous. her words are spoken by an actor. i saw a young black man sitting up on the wall, and i saw two white men running away. then i noticed the black man

was covered in blood and i guessed from the angle of the car that it had been driven deliberately at him. just to warn you, you are about to hear highly offensive language, because as the men ran away, they hurled racial abuse, calling him a "nigger". to me, this is huge. this is a horrible crime, using a car as a weapon against an innocent person who happens to be black. kieran has worked with k—dogg for the last two years, signing him instantly. i met him, thought he was great, loved his music. it was up—and—coming from the start. the talent that he has was already there. but he says many in the community are now frightened. i am a bit scared as well now, because after i found out, i thought about it a bit and i was like, yeah,

i have black people in my life. i am mixed—race. so yeah, i am concerned about family and stuff. tonight, the police say they are taking it very seriously, but called for calm. i don't believe people should be scared. southmead is a welcoming and diverse community, and we don't believe there is a risk to the wider public. the victim has been left with a broken leg, nose and cheekbone, and says he now feels too scared to leave his home. police in germany investigating the disappearance of madeleine mccann, the toddler who vanished 13 years ago, have been searching an allotment in hanover. detectives have confirmed the search is related to the investigation into christian b, the main suspect in the three—year—old's presumed murder. madeleine went missing whilst on holiday in portugal in 2007, sparking one of europe's biggest international investigations. jenny hill gave us

the latest from hanover. last night, police officers here dug up this allotment using mechanised diggers to excavate a pretty deep pit. we were able to make out bits of broken up concrete, suggesting that perhaps they had managed to break up some kind of foundation of a structure here. this morning, it looks as though they're filling that trench in. there was a sniffer dog here yesterday and a lot of police activity. the police won't say exactly what it is they're searching for, but this location may be significant because the main suspect in this case is said to have lived not far from this area in the years following madeleine mccann's disappearance. this is a 43—year—old convicted paedophile. for legal reasons, we can only name him as christian b but last month, german prosecutors said they had evidence that he was responsible not only for madeleine's disappearance, but they said, for her death too. but crucially, they said that evidence wasn't strong enough to charge him. he is currently injail in germany, serving time for a different offence. we know, and i've seen

the police file on the suspect that bears this out, that investigators in germany have been looking at this man in connection with this case for a very long time, for years. what we don't know is why they're searching here and why they are doing it now. but last month, german detectives made a televised appeal for information about the suspect in connection to madeleine mccann's disappearance. they received around 800 pieces of information from the public. they told us they've been sifting through them. it's possible that one of those tip—offs is what has brought them here. the widow of pc andrew harper, who died after being dragged behind a carfor more than a mile in berkshire last august, has written to the prime minister asking for a retrial after her husband's killers were acquitted of murder. mrs harper wrote to borisjohnson, home secretary priti patel and lord blunkett, a former labour home secretary, urging them and others "to right such a despicable wrong for our country". as with many countries emerging from lockdown,

italy is trying to get life back to normal and in particular revive its tourism industry. and one italian town is going the extra mile to attract holiday—makers, as tim allman explains. even the parts of italy you have never heard of are beautiful. this is the village of san giovanni, in galdo, only a couple of hours from rome — pretty, picturesque and completely free of charge. visitors can come here and not pay a penny for their accommodation. translation: in reality, we did not expect the success. we have received requests from brazil, bogota, france and germany. everybody phoned us! your bed costs you nothing. your board is a different matter. the idea is local businesses will make money from these extra visitors, spending plenty of euros and who knows? maybe next year they will come back.

translation: it works for everyone, for bars and restaurants. other towns should participate. it would bring in more people and there would be work for more people. 40 families are being offered week—long stays and the chance to discover one of italy's less familiar areas. it is very beautiful. the region offers many different things — lush nature, archaeological sites, churches and museums. the scheme runs until the beginning of october. they say there is no such thing as a free lunch. a free holiday is a different matter. tim allman, bbc news. some people in western cultures say that gender is binary and divided into male and female, and that gender fluidity is a recent phenomenon. but in some cultures, gender is more fluid and has been for centuries. the bbc‘s gender and identity

correspondent, megha mohan, has been speaking to young people who are taking to social media in new ways, to educate people about how gender identity is viewed in their culture. gender identity might be one of the most polarising conversations that's happening on social media right now. in most countries, sex is defined as what you are physically born as, male or female. but gender identity can be much more fluid. a person can be born female and feel more comfortable or identify as male, or vice versa. recently, i've been seeing a lot of people talk about the gender history of their communities online. this is geronimo from the native american navajo community in new mexico. my name is geronimo. this is my backyard, some mountains over there. geronimo identifies as one of the four sacred and ancient gender identities from his culture.

we have: masculine feminine is something that i gravitate towards. the word for masculine feminine is nadleehi, someone who is male—bodied and has a feminine nature. i can dress as a female or a male. i weave, i cook, i clean. 8,000 miles away, in india's capital, delhi, gender has been more than just male and female for centuries, and in 2014 india's supreme court even recognised a third gender. hi, namaste. i am leher, i am 23 and i was not born in a female body. i changed my gender medically. however, i'm not what in the western terminologies, you would call a trans woman or a transgender.

in india, we're considered a third gender or the sacred gender that has the power to bless or to curse. gender has never been binary in india. we have scriptures that describe more than 20 to 28 genders. so how could the idea of multiple genders have got lost over the years? when colonialism started to happen, a lot of our people died and were murdered, so a lot of the teachings and understandings of these people were lost. i face a lot of discrimination. it hurts. increasingly, the question of gender identity is becoming much more than how you choose to self—identify. it can decide whether or not you can access biologically divided spaces like toilets and aid shelters, and some sports. yet some people question the idea of gender and believe stereotyped ideas around masculinity

and femininity are limiting. and in some other parts of the world, the idea ofjust male and female have been seen as an oversimplification. football, curry and karaoke — sounds like a perfect night in for some, but how about at kensington palace with prince william ? the duke of cambridge took part in peter crouch's latest podcast to talk about mental health in football — he met the team ahead of lockdown, as johnny dymond reports. so, i made some curry for you boys. others laugh. by royal appointment, the prince has got the poppadoms in. it's not every day you get a takeaway to surroundings like these. are you serious? the samrat has delivered to the palace? yep. a podcast, pint, and a curry — though getting the delivery in did have its challenges. there's an uber driver on the floor at the moment being frisked. they laugh. this was a very informal prince william, remembering

some big nights out, some really bad presents he had given his wife, and musing on his royal powers to hire and fire the england manager. gareth southgate's a very nice man, he's been very successful as england manager. if england had a disastrous run of form, could you sack him? gareth would go, yeah. they laugh. but this wasn't all lads larking about around the table. for years now, prince william has been talking about mental health and using sport as a way to get through to men who might not normally think about it. i don't know what it is, but you do notice that guys find it a bit more difficult to relax. we talk about physical fitness, we all want to go to the gym, stay fit, we never really talk about mental fitness and it's kind of the same thing. we all have mental health. and we all need to stay mentally fit, and none more so than professional athletes, who under special circumstances, are playing for england, under huge pressure. you've got to have your head razor—sharp as well as your feet, your legs, all that. this is prince william's goal,

to make mental health something you can talk about at the match or over a curry. from sunday players to professionals, the prince wants everybody in — and southgate looks safe for the moment. jonny dymond, bbc news. the nominations have been announced for tv‘s top awards — the emmys. this year's nominees were announced in a live stream virtual event in los angeles. britain's 0livia colman has one nomination for her role as the queen in the crown. channel 4 thriller the watchman leads the way with 26 nominations. a rembrandt self portrait has sold at sotheby‘s for more than 18 million dollars. it's the first face—to—face sale at the auction house since the pandemic began. the portrait is one of only three left in private hands. three paintings by the street artist banksy, "mediterranean sea view," sold for nearly 3 million dollars. proceeds go to a hospital in bethlehem. the triptych is usually seen as a reaction to europe's migrant crisis of the past decade.

you're watching bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with carol kirkwood. hello, again. we are going to get a brief taste of summer this friday with temperatures for some into the 30s, others in the high 20s, but it is not going to last. if you prefer your weather cooler, it will be cooler by the weekend. today it is going to be mainly dry. we have lighter winds than yesterday for most. the exception to that is across the north—east of scotland. you can see the isobars close together here, so windy for you, but easing through the day. and then later, this next clutch of fronts come our way. the showers continue to fade during the course of the afternoon. a lot of dry weather. what you will find is there will be areas of cloud, particularly in the midlands and wales later on, as a weather front approaches from the west and west wales and northern ireland eventually seeing some of that rain.

temperatures today, 12 in the north to 23 in the south. not feeling as fresh as it did yesterday because of the lighter winds and it will feel a little bit warmer. through this evening and overnight, rain continues to push across the irish sea into parts of wales, northern england, the north midlands and also northern ireland. 0n either side of those fronts, north east of scotland and southern england, we are looking at clear skies, with overnight lows falling between eight and 13 degrees. through thursday, our clutch of fronts continue to advance northwards. 0ne peek at those isobars tells you it is going to be breezy in the west, but high pressure still in charge in the south. a lot of sunshine to start the day and watch how that extends northwards as our fronts do the same thing, clearing northern ireland and eventually clearing northern england and moving across scotland with the rain. tomorrow, too, as the wind changes to more of a southerly direction, it is going

to turn more humid and also a lot warmer southern areas. so, from thursday and friday, there goes our front, the rain continues to advance northwards, but we also pull in the other end of the front coming in across northern ireland and the wind coming up from the near continent. so, a lot of us will have a dry and sunny day during the course of friday and you will notice that the weather front moving across northern ireland will bring in some cloud and showery rain, some of that could also be a thundery. through the afternoon, temperatures rise as high as 32 and 33. we could see across the midlands and the south—east quarter of the country some thunderstorms developing. there is a chance, but if you like your weather cooler, as we head through saturday and sunday, still some bright conditions, still some sunshine, but temperatures on the way down.

this is bbc news. the headlines. a call for covid—19 tests at uk airports to reduce the time travellers spend in quarantine — but ministers say there's no catch—all solution. it's not the case that you can simply test somebody and be sure that they don't have the disease. it can incubate over a period of time. so, there's not a silver bullet of just testing immediately at the border. uk scientists will get millions of pounds to investigate why people from ethnic minority backgrounds are at greater risk from covid—19. hong kong introduces extra coronavirus restrictions, amid a warning that the territory is on the verge of a large—scale outbreak. a further 1.5 million children should be given free school meals in england, according to a review which says poorer children risk being "left behind." and the palace podcast.

prince william talks football and mental health as he shares a takeaway with former england player peter crouch. i've made some curry for you all. laughter. and i believe it's the samrat, which is, like, your local favourite, crouchy? hello, good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. i'm joanna gosling. the government is coming under increasing pressure to introduce coronavirus testing at airports in order to shorten the 14—day quarantine period. airlines and travel industry leaders say tests are vital to the uk's post—covid recovery heathrow chief executivejohn holland—kaye said testing could be up and running within weeks at his airport and this could allow passengers to go back to work more quickly.

but the culture secretary 0liver dowden said that testing is not a "silver bullet" to stop the need for quarantine because the virus can develop over time. here's the heathrow chief executive explaining why he believes it is essential testing is increased at airports. unless we test and learn some of these alternatives, then we are not going to get beyond the blanket 14—day quarantine that is currently in place. we can see that other countries have gone to other ways of doing this. they have started to... france, from the beginning ofjune, were doing trials of testing on departure and on arrival and then they went down to a single test. but we are not calling for that here. we are calling for a double test, once on arrival and the second after five days or eight days, where people would stay in quarantine until they have had two tests that show that they didn't have the disease and then they would be allowed out, earlier than would otherwise have been the case.

the culture secretary 0liver dowden says the government is keeping all options under review, but he insists that at the moment, there is no viable alternative to the 14 day quarantine for people when they return from spain. we have to act in a way to keep the virus under control in this country. it was rising in spain. we had to ensure that we didn't import cases. that is why we are advising against all but essential travel, and that is why we are asking people to quarantine for 14 days. if it is the case, and it isn't at the moment, we don't believe... and all the evidence is not that we can simply test people once and then say you can go back into the community. of course, we will continue to work through this and if there are ways that we can ease the burden, we will do that. but at the moment, the safest thing for people to do is to quarantine for 14 days if they are returning from spain. the reason we're asking people to do that is to ensure that the disease does not spread from spain into the united kingdom. and that is why...

you know, we want to keep our economy open and keep the disease under control. so we must take these measures. 0ur assistant political editor norman smith is in westminster. norman, norman smith is in westminster. the government under norman, the government is coming under pressure to try to moderate the actions it is taking but the message from oliver dowden is one of safety first. i think that's right. the pressure is coming on, obviously, from the travel industry, who are suffering huge losses from aggrieved holiday—makers, many of them also facing real financial pain as they lose out on two weeks work, because of quarantining, and also now from some tory mps who are pointing to other countries, austria is one that is cited, that have introduced airports testing back in may, so they have had this up and running for some time now. we know ministers are looking at this as an option, the idea of this two test regime, you can be tested at the

airport and then tested a bit later, perhaps after eight or ten days, but certainly shortening the 14 day quarantine period. but clearly, they are not yet, and i think the prime and is in particular, is not yet convinced that such an approach is sufficiently robust to ensure that holiday—makers returning from infected countries abroad don't bring the virus back into britain and it's pretty clear that mr johnson is adopting a safety first approach and he doesn't want to take any risks which might lead to a second surge in the virus here because lets be honest, that would because lets be honest, that would be absolutely shattering, notjust in terms of the potential health implications, but also the economy. and i guess the national morale as well. if we had to go back to the era of widespread restrictions, so the bottom line is that all covid—19 policy it seems is now being shaped by this safety first approach. there

isa by this safety first approach. there is a suggestion that other countries might be brought into the mix, perhaps even a soon as tomorrow. luxembourg has a much worse rates per 100,000 of covid—19 cases the past week, and belgium isn't far behind. it has been impossible to glean from government which other countries they are looking at, how poised they are to impose possible restrictions on those countries, but if you look at the level of infections in some european countries, you can pretty much work out for yourself there was which would seem to be highest on the list, croatia is one that is mentioned, belgium is another one thatis mentioned, belgium is another one that is mentioned. i think the truth is that they are probably looking at them ina is that they are probably looking at them in a day by day basis to see them in a day by day basis to see the rate of increase in new cases. that seems to be the decisive factor and if they do decide to impose quarantine restrictions then based

on what happened in spain, it will be pretty quick. there won't be a long morning notice. it will happen, i suspect, within hours, so when it happens, it is all going to happen very quickly but so far we are not receiving any guidance of this countries, there could be an announcement today, tomorrow, there's been little information on that front. the public accounts committee has a report out today looking at what went wrong the social care sector in the three months between march and june and talking about wanting a report from the government by the 1st of september to say what will be done in the event of a second wave to make sure the same issues aren't repeated. what is the government saying about what planning is being done now for the autumn and winter? they will argue that there are no tests available for all care home

staff and residents, i think staff actually can now be tested once or twice a week. that is a dramatic change from the height of the crisis, when we know many care homes, although there was a solid month and they were not even offered to tests, right at the peak of the crisis, so that is one change, they have also got much better ppe resources . have also got much better ppe resources. i have also got much better ppe resources. i guess have also got much better ppe resources. i guess the general awareness of the vulnerability of the care sector has increased dramatically, so never again would be any thought of discharging patients from hospitals back into ca re patients from hospitals back into care homes, so in terms of the immediate preparations, the care sector is in a much better place. in terms of the longer term, what will happen with a very fragmented, now sort of financially hobbled sector, the government has promised to come up the government has promised to come up with a plan, there has been much talk of cross—party agreement. to

date, there's been nothing and i suspect that that will have to wait. perhaps until we are absolutely on top coronavirus, so that could be really quite a long way off yet. thank you, norman. and at two—thirty this afternoon, we'll answer your questions on quarantine and travel restrictions. jane hill will be joined by rory boland, travel editor at which and linda bauld, professor of public health at the university of edinburgh. e—mail your questions in or tweet them. meanwhile, the world health 0rganization has warned that young people could be driving spikes in coronavirus cases. the latest data from the european centre for disease prevention and control show there are clusters across europe. on this map, you can see the palest yellow regions — which cover most of the continent — where there are fewer than 20 case per 100,000 people confirmed with tests.

the darker areas, which you can see in north—eastern spain, bulgaria, romania and sweden are where there are between 60 and 120 cases per 100,000. these figures cover the 14 days to 22nd july. let's speak to dr margaret harris, a spokeswoman for the world health organization. thank you forjoining us. suddenly, there are real fears about a second wave. what are your thoughts on that? well, as we've always said, the virus has continued to transmit, so it is not about one or two waves, it's about stopping a resurgence. you can understand, people came out of lockdown, the weather became lovely. u nfortu nately, of lockdown, the weather became lovely. unfortunately, in many peoples minds, it was something that was passed. it was never passed. it was passed. it was never passed. it was always there. the trouble is learning to navigate this new world

we are in. it is not back to normal. it's back to, finding the new normal, ways to live with this virus to prevent it from rising, the transmission from rising. how do we do that? because, as you say, for a lot it does feel like life is back to normal and it is quite hard then to normal and it is quite hard then to get your head around going back to get your head around going back to tighter restrictions that we all just went into at the beginning without question, because it was an unprecedented situation. that's quite right and those measures were taken because at that stage, you had transmission everywhere, throughout the community, so this was like a massive form of social distancing that was done to bring that transmission down, so now is the moment not to waste all of that effort and indeed, my director—general outlined very clearly what can be done. first

thing is to know your epidemiology. so when he said test, test, test, way back, many months ago now, he wasn't just saying it way back, many months ago now, he wasn'tjust saying it because it sounded good. first of all, it tells you where the viruses. then, trace. again, it's not just you where the viruses. then, trace. again, it's notjust a word. no who has potentially had transmission, who is potentially infected. and ensure that they understand that they need to isolate and genuinely isolate. now, they may never get ill, they may never feel ill, but what they are doing is a service to their community to prevent transmission to the people who will get very ill. and of course, the standard things that we have been saying over and over again, the hand washing, the genuine social distancing, spend your time outdoors, try not to spend your time indoors. if you're going to socialise, still socialise without being physically together. this virus being physically together. this vi rus loves being physically together. this virus loves the fact that we love being with each other. how would you rate where the uk government is now

on the test and trace?|j rate where the uk government is now on the test and trace? i haven't got any of the detail in front of me to make any kind ofjudgment but i do know that the work is increasing and ido know that the work is increasing and i do know that all countries have really upped their game in this sphere. likewise, there has been a lot of fantastic work in clinical care. so, there are certain improvements across all fronts. we can take improvements across all fronts. we ca n ta ke comfort improvements across all fronts. we can take comfort from that then, it isa can take comfort from that then, it is a very different picture from when we were first dealing with this com plete when we were first dealing with this complete unknown. the uk government approach is changing as well, in the way that the quarantine is being handled right now, the quarantine being brought in very quickly when it became clear that the cases in spain were going up in the way that they were. what do you think about they were. what do you think about the calls to some help moderates that quarantine and about the prospect of testing as well to balance it out? so, what we

certainly save a travel and trade is that again, we don't say blanket, don't do it. we say do it with care. do it understanding where the viruses and whether it is coming in, whether it is going out and it sounds like the virus itself, but it is coming in our bodies. so how do you find that? have your means of testing, have your means of tracking, and really partner with your community. get people to understand that when they say who they are, where they have been, what they are, where they have been, what they have done, when they agree to, if they feel it's necessary to isolate people, what they are doing isolate people, what they are doing is not suffering and inconvenience, again, they are serving their community. is it's too soon for there to be international travel in a way that there is when this has not gone away? we certainly have a huge outbreak and when we talk about international travel, we need to think about travel that needs to be done. so again, if you are

considering travelling, think very ha rd considering travelling, think very hard about why you are travelling. find out everything you can find out about where you are travelling, what isa about where you are travelling, what is a situation, what is the epidemiology, what are the local rules and weigh it up. be your own great risk manager and understand whether the decisions you are taking at the moment are the best decisions, notjust for you, at the moment are the best decisions, not just for you, but for your community. when you say what travel needs to be done, people don't have to go abroad for their holidays. do you think it is advisable right now? well, we all need a holiday. we all need a real recharge, but yes, again, think about what the holiday is going to give you. so it is going to mean that you are in queues, filling out forms, you have the kids yelling and screaming because you have to get in another queue for another thing, and when we do entry and exit screening, it can be something that takes quite a lot of time to do properly. so

again, think hard about what you wa nt again, think hard about what you want from your holiday and gets the holiday that is best for you, but also safest for you. how do you feel looking ahead to the winter? because obviously, mines are now turning again to the prospect of crikey, it feels like we have been through the lull before the storm again. is that how you are feeling? well, certainly in the winter you get a rise in a whole bunch of different illnesses, because you have more difficult conditions physiologically, so people get all sorts of things, all sorts of other problems, so that a lwa ys sorts of other problems, so that always puts much more burden on our systems. as a young doctor, i always dreaded the winter, their winter emergency room on a saturday afternoon. so, indeed, we want to get transmission down before the winter and so that we can focus on all the other things as well that we need to be focusing on to keep people healthy. thank you very much

for your time, doctor margaret harris from the world health 0rganization. with just receive some figures from scotland. they are that there were eight deaths involving covid—19 last week. that was up two from the week before. the national records of scotland say the virus was confirmed or suspected in 1% of deaths recorded in the seven days compared to 36% around the time that covid—19 was at its peak in scotland in april. the total number of people who have died with the virus in scotla nd who have died with the virus in scotland is 4000 201. time for a sports update. exeter chiefs are discussing a potential rebrand that would see the premiership leaders removing their native american badge and mascot — known as "big chief". the changes are being discussed by board members this afternoon. our sports news correspondent laura

scott's following the story. laura, fans are divided on this issue — what's prompted these talks? well it's an interesting one because this was raised back in 2016 as a potential issue, but it has gathered pace in the last few weeks and there have been rival positions launched. there is one that has more than 3000 signatures saying that they think the imagery of the big cheese mascot and the club logo which has the big chief on it and the tomahawk is harmful. they say there are accusations of racism and they would like there to be a rebrand. but then there is another petition which has more than 5000 signatures which says that there should be no change and that there should be no change and that there should be no change and that the fans are respectful of indigenous groups. so it's a very emotive subject, we are expecting there to be a decision made this afternoon, whether or not that is

communicated today, we don't yet know. but we understand that they are canvassing the opinions of fans, players and sponsors, because clearly, there could be a commercial fallout to this as well and i have spoken to one sponsor of the club that says they welcome this debate. but yes, it's very much a controversial subject and of course, impacted by what has happened in america where washington's nfl side has renamed themselves the washington football team rather than the washington redskins. so yes, focus on the devon —based club today who are top of the premiership table over this name that they took on a 1999. thank you laura. judd trump will begin the defence of his world snooker title against fellow englishman tom ford this weekend. the tournament starts on friday and five time winner ronnie 0'sullivan's been drawn against thailand's thepchaiya un—nooh in the first round. 0'sullivan's been critical of the decision to allow fans in to watch at the crucible theatre.

a reduced crowd will be allowed into every session, and it's the only indoor sport to allow fans in since the start of the pandemic. the fa's confirmed the community shield will be played on saturday august 28th. the traditional curtain raiser for the new premier league season will be between liverpool and either arsenal or chelsea — who meet in this weekend's fa cup final. the match could allow a restricted number of supporters into wembley. and there's live tennis going on right now. this is heather watson taking on eden silva at the battle of the brits event at the national tennis centre in roehampton. jamie murray amongst those in action later on. you can watch it live via the bbc sport website and app, and on the bbc iplayer. that's all the sport for now. more from the bbc sport centre after the 1 o'clock news.

uk scientists are to receive millions of pounds of government funding to learn why ethnic minorities are at greater risk from covid—19. six separate studies will analyse data on social circumstances, health and day—to—day activities, as well as investigating genetic risk factors. the research will also look into whether health care workers are particularly at risk. pallab ghosh reports. rudresh pathak died of coronavirus last month. he was a consultant psychiatrist in boston, in lincolnshire. dr pathak was on a ventilator for 70 days. when he was on a ventilator, we were told that in all likelihood he would probably die on the ventilator. however, you know, he battled on, he became better, and he came off the ventilator. mid—june he deteriorated, and suddenly, a week after that, he passed away. a disproportionate number of people who have died from coronavirus have been from ethnic minorities. the government has commissioned a set of urgent studies to find out why. research shows that ethnic

minorities are more likely to die from covid—19. indians are at 1.5 times greater risk than the white population. for bangladeshis and pakistanis, it is 1.8. and the highest risk is with black people, at 1.9. one study will closely follow 30,000 health and social care workers. others will draw on various government databases of the health and lifestyle of different ethnic groups. some of these studies may give us data before the 12 months is up, in which case immediately, as soon as we get any results, we will be hearing about them and seeing if there are any changes that we can make to reduce this risk in ethnic minority populations. ethnic minorities are more likely to have jobs that bring them into contact with other people. the government hopes that the new research will help them identify the risks and make the changes needed to save lives. pallab ghosh, bbc news. the widow of pc andrew harper,

who was dragged to his death by thieves trying to steal a quad bike, has written to the prime minister asking for a retrial of the men convicted of killing him. the three teenagers will be sentenced for manslaughter on friday, after being cleared of murder at the old bailey last week. lissie harper said she is utterly shocked and appalled by the verdicts. let's discuss this with our legal correspondent, clive coleman. hejoins us from north london. what are the prospects of the prime minister being able to do anything about this? very slim. there is enormous sympathy for mrs harper. but the legal routes to an appeal and a retrial are very limited. 0nce thejury and a retrial are very limited. 0nce the jury has found defendants not guilty of murder, then the prosecution can't simply appeal because there is a public outcry, because there is a public outcry, because there is public concern and people don't like the verdict. the only way in which this could be

brought, is if there was fresh and compelling evidence, that wasn't available at the original trial. we've dab something called the double jeopardy law, whereby you couldn't be retried for the same offence once you have been acquitted, whatever the circumstances. that changed in 2005, largely due to the advances in dna evidence. so if there is discovered to be compelling dna evidence which can link someone to a crime that wasn't available years ago at the original trial, that is one route. the other is if there is witness intimidation, jury tampering, but for that to be successful, they would have to be a conviction of someone would have to be a conviction of someone for one of those offences and the court of appeal would have to be convinced that that's tampering or intimidation led to the acquittal. now, it doesn't appear in this case that either of those are possibilities in the role of the prime minister in this, the prime list of course will be sympathetic,

empathetic as we all are, but the prime minister doesn't have a role to play here. we have an independent criminal justice system, to play here. we have an independent criminaljustice system, independent judges and this is left of that system. this would have to go through an appeals process. it is worth remembering that at the outset of any worth remembering that at the outset ofany criminal worth remembering that at the outset of any criminal trial, the judge will say to the jury that if anything is said or done to them that puts them in fear or makes them believe that the trial is being undermined, they should tell him or her immediately. and in this trial, there was onejuror who her immediately. and in this trial, there was one juror who addressed there was one juror who addressed the defendants, the judge discharged thatjuror, he has a very wide discretion, if something like that occurs, he can discharge one juror, tojurors or indeed in extreme cases, the entire jewelry and continue the trial without them. but thatis continue the trial without them. but that is a matter forjudicial discretion. in terms of the legal routes to an appeal, they are limited and i think the chances are extremely slim. the defendants are due to be sentenced on friday. what

are they potentially facing for manslaughter? potentially it carries a life sentence. sentences are customarily in the range perhaps of two years to ten years. something like that. but the sentencing is an entirely separate matter. what lizzie harper once is a retrial so that they can be tried for murder. they have been acquitted of murder and the chances ever retrial, the legal routes to a retrial are very limited. the sentencing will be an exercise carried out by the trial judge and he will look at all of the factors, the aggravating and mitigating factors in this case and come to his sentencing decision based on that. thank you very much, clive. hong kong's leader says the territory is on the verge of a "large—scale" coronavirus outbreak that could overwhelm its hospitals.

after early success against covid—19, hong kong has, for the past week, reported more than 100 new infections each day. earlier our correspondent, martin yip explained which communities in hong kong are being affected by the new outbreak. well, from the government, all we know at this point is that a series of local cases, local clusters, which involves the eateries and cafes, as well as some community facilities, and even pensioners' homes have been involved in the latest clusters. but the health experts have also been arguing that some of these cases — which the government says have no trace of origin at this stage — are actually linked to some imported cases that was brought in by seamen and aircrews. and the polytechnic university of hong kong, a few scientists there have just released a report over the weekend on this point. so, the government is now saying that they will take it serious and follow up the case and see if there is any connection.

as of today, just after midnight local time, a series of new measures kicked in. we are not into a state of lockdown as yet, but people are forced to wear face masks, individually, anywhere in the city, as long as you are in a public area, indoors or outdoors, and no restaurants can serve anything other than takeaways, while seamen and aircrews, as i havejust mentioned, they are now required to leave samples for tests as well. and if you are on a vessel that has not been to...shipped to hong kong, you can just sail your vessel into hong kong and let your seamen to change ship, which has been quite a major problem for the shipping industry. in the past six months, many of them have been stranded on their vessels for up to literally six months with no way of landing on the ground in sight. so, now hong kong is literally closing a gateway for them to do this thing, while the problem is that even local experts are still warning that even if you are cutting off this

and the potential imports of new cases, you are still opening your border, people can still come into hong kong and there could still be new cases coming in. so there are still voices calling for the government to shut hong kong up at least for a while to curb the spread of the virus. now, the weather with carol kirkwood. hello again. for many of us today, it will be mostly dry and with lighter winds, it will feel a wee bit warmer than it did yesterday. the rain continuing to ease across the northern isles, as is the wind, but we will be left with a lot of cloud. for much of the british isles though, we're looking at some sunny spells, sometimes large areas of cloud with cloud building in the midlands and wales through the afternoon, head of some rain coming in for wales and northern ireland by the end of the afternoon. that rain will continue to push northwards and eastward through the course of the evening and overnight. far north of scotland, far south of england

having clear skies and temperatures falling tonight to between eight and 13 degrees. tomorrow, if we pick up the rain, it pushes out of northern ireland for a time, across northern england, north wales and the midlands into scotland and then a new batch arrives in northern ireland, again, pushing north eastwards. sunshine from the word go in the south, the sunshine will travel north through the day and it will increasingly feel humid with highs of up to 27. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: a call for covid—19 tests at uk airports to reduce the time travellers spend in quarantine, but ministers say there's no catch—all solution. it's not the case that you can simply test somebody and be sure that they don't have the disease. it can incubate over a period of time. so, there's not a silver bullet of just testing immediately at the border. uk scientists will get millions

of pounds to investigate why people from ethnic minority backgrounds are at greater risk from covid—19. hong kong introduces extra coronavirus restrictions, amid a warning that the territory is on the verge of a large—scale outbreak. a further 1.5 million children should be given free school meals in england, according to a review which says poorer children risk being "left behind." the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to mecca, is underway. normally more than two million muslims would usually take part in the five—day pilgrimage to the holy city, but international visitors have been banned this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. just a thousand foreign pilgrims already resident in saudi arabia will be allowed to take part. 0ur religion editor, martin bashir, spoke to one family from the uk whose long—anticipated hajj pilgrimage has had to be postponed. this family spent two years

planning for the religious high point of their lives. it's a very important part of my religion. it would make me feel that i have, up to a certain extent, completed my religion. without that, it feels that there is always something missing. they should have departed for mecca at the weekend. instead, they're still at home in the uk, and time is of the essence. because of imran we thought that — i wasn't feeling comfortable for him to go on his own. so we thought we'd join him. i suffered a major heart attack back in 2014. i'm turning 40 next year. my intention was to hopefully, insha'allah, complete my hajj before i'm 40 and then you just never know what's around the corner. i feel fit and well enough at the moment, but who knows, this time next year i might not be. and this might have been my only opportunity. a modern plague has disrupted

an ancient pilgrimage. last year, the hajj attracted more than two million pilgrims. this year, the coronavirus pandemic has forced the saudi arabian government to scale back, banning all foreigners from visiting the holy site. we still have to welcome the first worshippers yet. it's not officially opened. sheik ibrahim mogra, a british imam, is warning that the current quota system that allows a proportion of muslims from every nation to visit mecca each year, is likely to be reduced. sadly, the virus is going to be with us for some time. and we have to prepare ourselves mentally, and also spiritually, for that point of disappointment. because, inevitably, the quotas for britain will have to be reduced.

back at home, the patel family continues its devotions, but there's no hiding their sense of loss. do you think you will be able to take him next year? insha'allah, insha'allah. martin bashir, bbc news, leicester. the number of children entitled to free school meals should be more than doubled, in order to combat the "slow motion disaster" of poor eating habits in england. the government—commissioned review says the scheme should be extended to anyone who has a parent receiving universal credit, an extra 1.5 million children, arguing hunger is currently having serious and long—lasting effects on young people. robert townsend reports. there are currently 1.3 million children aged between seven and 16 receiving free school meals in england, but those behind today's report are calling for that number to more than double. the national food strategy review says a further 1.5 million children

whose parents are already in receipt of universal credit should be included in the programme, with a recommendation for those from the poorest families to also be fed during the holidays. the report, commissioned by the government and headed by the restaurateur henry dimbleby, said urgent action was needed in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, predicting a dramatic increase in unemployment and poverty for parents, and increased hunger among children. to me, it is essential. you know, good nutrition is the foundation stone of equality of opportunity. and i think a government as serious about levelling up as this one is, that nutrition, ensuring that the most disadvantaged children have the right nutrition to enable them to work, to learn, to engage in the world, is an essential building block of that. the findings of the report follow a successful campaign led by the manchester united player marcus rashford earlier this summer, which saw a government u—turn over plans to withdraw a voucher scheme. i think it, obviously, this is only going to be successful

throughout the summer period and then, you know, we've bought ourselves an extra six weeks of time there to plan and figure out what's next and how we keep taking steps forward. because i don't want it to be — and i don't want this to be the end of it, you know, because there's definitely more steps that need to be taken. and so we just need to analyse the response. the report's authors say expanding the programme would cost an additional £670 million a year. campaigners say failing to extend the scheme means the cost to the poorest children in society could be much higher. robert townsend, bbc news. the government has been "slow, inconsistent, and at times negligent" in its approach to the social care sector during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report from mps. the public accounts committee also says the government made an "appalling error" by discharging 25,000 hospital patients into care homes without being tested.

i asked the committee's chair, meg hillier, who should be held responsible. i think pointing the finger of blame is not helpful at this point, because we really want to be working to make sure that we have a better approach for the next stage. but look, government has to plan for risks — that is what government needs to do to protect us. a pandemic was the biggest non—malevolent risk that we face and there had been planning on that for decades and yet these things were not modelled. we have seen problems about school closures and the modelling of that. we have seen, an acknowledgement that we highlighted last week, that no economic planning and we have now seen the impact of not really planning properly with the social care sector, so these elements needed to be brought together and that is what only government can do, so there is a systemic issue there, but even with the pace of a pandemic, preplanning could have predicted some of these, could have modelled some of these situations. so, borisjohnson is speaking of fears of a second wave next month, do you think lessons have been learned for things not to be

the same if we do hit the level of cases rising so dramatically again? i think lessons have to be learnt and the government must not be defensive about this. it is interesting, it has been quite muted in its response to our report so far. we have asked the government to come back with a clear plan by the 1st of september in anticipation of that second wave, laying out how it is going to handle ppe, the personal protective equipment, and how that gets to the right places, laying out how testing will work and other key issues around different sectors so that we all know, openly, honestly and transparently what the plan is and actually, we understand, government may not be able to plan for absolutely everything, but it needs to have a direction of travel and an ability to pivot at the speed if necessary. some bits have gone better than others, but they have got to acknowledge mistakes and learn from them. lives are at risk, we cannot have an endless debate about it, we just need to get on with it now so that we are ready

for that second wave. when you look at what has happened with spain and introducing the quarantine very quickly on the evidence of the increase in cases, do you think the government's approach has has changed and lessons have been learned ? 0ne unnamed source has been quoted as saying when you see smoke, you act, do not wait for the fire. that is interesting. i think certainly the tone of the prime minister's comments markedly seem to have shifted, but he does oscillate from saying we will beat the virus, to then saying we need to be careful and bringing in a quarantine. so, we need consistency from government. of course, the economy is vitally important and we all have constituents, know people who have lostjobs and businesses and it is really important that is supported, but we also have to remember we are still in the midst of a pandemic, so i think the government has to callibrate its message so that people trust it and it has to be open, honest and transparent. lack of trust in government at this time is really critical, because if people do not trust the government and follow the guidance, that could be a looming disaster.

so, governments have to be honest, upfront about what went wrong, come up with a plan and a plan we can have confidence in. the government's new ‘fix your bike' scheme in england has got off to a wobbly start after the website crashed on its launch. the scheme is part of boris johnson's obesity strategy. 50,000 bike repair vouchers worth £50 were supposed to have been released online late last night on a first—come, first—served basis. but many people complained they received an error message and the page later said it had been "temporarily paused". the website now says that more vouchers will be made available as soon as possible. john matthews owns bike fix, a cycle shop in grimsby. welcome, thank you forjoining us. do you know if any vouchers that we re do you know if any vouchers that were picked up? has anyone come to you with one? no one has come just yet, they have said they have tried but had nojoint. i have spent another cycle shop locally who said

someone came another cycle shop locally who said someone came in with a voucher so they are are already out there somewhere. what can you get fair £50 ? somewhere. what can you get fair £50? new tyres, tubes, cables, that should just about cover getting it running, which is what the policy is aimed out. if it is more than that, your puppy aimed out. if it is more than that, your puppy going to go over the £50. what has business been like for you through lockdown? —— you're probably going to go over the £50. since alton has been really busy. are people who were going to the james, couldn't go to gyms, so they bought second hand bikes, anything to get themselves out and about, more exercise. getting older, the equipment, bite and parts has been really ha rd. equipment, bite and parts has been really hard. what about people dusting down their bikes? you would not believe some of them, one had a spiders nest beneath the seat. you can imagine, they are shared bikes,

people have thought, great, this bike, let's get it fixed. we have seen bike, let's get it fixed. we have seen it all, but a lot of them are not viable. but we do what we can, we aim to please. is going to ask if they were all a viable, because i currently have quite a rickety one attached to my front gates, not gates, that sounds a bit grand, basically the ball at the front and ido basically the ball at the front and i do not know if that will be worth trying to fix or not —— the wall at the front backstop i get is a way is worth trying. yes, we always say it is worth bring it in. do not write it off because it has rust on it, is on as it goes round and does the job. what about those who are not seasoned cyclists back on the road? you cannot just seasoned cyclists back on the road? you cannotjust get your bike up and go out, can you? the safest thing, if you are not going to go on the scheme but you still want your bike out, it is always worth checking

your brakes work. that is the most important, if you go down the hill, you want to stop at the bottom. make sure you have plenty of pressure in your tires, it will make riding more pleasurable. number one is always wear a helmet. it is not a law in the uk but it should be. you should a lwa ys the uk but it should be. you should always wear a helmet. spell out to the many people out there, probably mainly teenagers who think, maybe thatis mainly teenagers who think, maybe that is being too stereotypical, but anyone who thinks i don't really need a helmet. why is it so important? i have seen a of people coming with broken helmets, gravel indented into the helmets and to say without this helmet, all this gravel would be in my head, your head would ta ke would be in my head, your head would take it all, it is only when you see that that it is a wake—up call. your headis that that it is a wake—up call. your head is your most important thing, we have had many fall and bang their head and it is your head that you

need to cover up. explain the joy of cycling for you. if you want all honesty, it is to write into a nice country pub and ride home again. it isa country pub and ride home again. it is a joy being out, getting some fresh airand is a joy being out, getting some fresh air and exercise and just getting out there really rather than being cooped up in the house all the time of. that sounds absolutely lovely. john, thank you very much. it's been confirmed that two british women have broken the record for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe — on a tandem bicycle. cat dixon, who's 54, and 55 year old raz marsden completed their trip in 263 days, eight hours and seven minutes. they finished in march shortly before the coronavirus lockdown. the headlines on bbc news: a call for coronavirus tests at airports to reduce the time travellers spend in quarantine, but ministers say it's not a silver bullet. scientists will receive millions

of pounds to investigate why people from an ethnic minority background are at greater risk from covid—19. hong kong introduces extra coronavirus restrictions, amid a warning that the territory is on the verge of a large—scale outbreak. nicola sturgeon has warned of a possible new coronavirus cluster in the greater glasgow and clyde health board area. at her daily briefing, she said that 22 confirmed cases have been reported in scotland since yesterday and 14 of those are thought to be connected. the first minister said she hoped there would be more details about the possible cluster after an incident management meeting this afternoon. scotland's first minister has advised against non—essentialforeign travel, amid increasing concerns about coronavirus outbreaks in parts of europe. nicola sturgeon is urging people wanting to take a holiday to support the economy by staying in scotland. lorna gordon has more. making the most of the summer weather out on the water at st abbs. tourism businesses lost half

of the holiday season because of lockdown. but here, at least, the visitors have been returning. business has been absolutely fantastic since the end of lockdown. all our trips are busy, and getting booked up relatively quick. the village has been incredibly busy with tourists. lots of people going up to the headlands for big walks, using the local cafes, heading to beach. but, from the countryside to the cities, some places are not faring so well. in edinburgh, a lone piper now providing the soundtrack in a city centre street which, when the festivals are under way, would normally be packed with tourists and performers. very quiet. obviously just now you would be expecting the fringe to be kicking in. if you just look at the street for yourself, right now you would hardly be able to walk up the street. in normal times, you would be walking like this, you know. but it is what it is. you can't complain. from the piper to the pie maker

around the corner, the summer, and during the festivals in particular, is when lots of businesses around here make much of their money. but not this year. well, we normally have about, in august, 1,000 customers a day, average. we're down to about 50 customers a day. 1000 down to 50. that's not good, is it? her sentiment shared by others who rely on the conferences, gatherings and events which would usually be taking place in scotland's cities. yes, i think a very mixed picture, to be honest. the cities have had the biggest hit, without a doubt. hotels that would normally be full, or 90%—plus occupied, experiencing levels of around 20%, which is a huge difference. whereas some parts of the rural economy, particularly in the self—catering sector, seem to be doing pretty well. as more city—based attractions reopen, it is hoped more visitors will be tempted back.

and this is... the mirror maze. and some attractions are finding a way through, albeit with reduced numbers and covid safety restrictions in place. it was a huge relief to open after such a long time shut. we had our busiest year ever last year, with 400,000 visitors. and suddenly to have nobody, it was very, very strange. do you feel confident about the future? we're all living in a different world, with different conditions, and we have to adapt to that. we have adapted here. 0ur visitors are adapting too. so yes, i am quietly confident that we will be all right. some businesses have shut, though, and the hundreds of thousands of people in scotland who rely on tourism for theirjobs are focusing on a recovery they're hoping might be just over the horizon. lorna gordon, bbc news, edinburgh. as with many countries emerging from lockdown, italy is trying to get life back to normal and in particular revive its tourism industry.

and one italian town is going the extra mile to attract holidaymakers, as tim allman explains. even the parts of italy you have never heard of are beautiful. this is the village of san giovanni, in galdo, only a few hours from rome — pretty, picturesque and completely free of charge. visitors can come here and not pay a penny for their accommodation. translation: in reality, we did not expect the success. we have received requests from brazil, bogota, france and germany. everybody phoned us! your bed costs you nothing. your board is a different matter. the idea is local businesses will make money from these extra visitors, spending plenty of euros and who knows?

maybe next year they will come back. translation: it works for everyone, for bars and restaurants. other towns should participate. it would bring in more people and work for more people. 40 families are being offered week—long stays and the chance to discover one of italy less familiar areas. it is very beautiful. the region offers many different things — lush nature, archaeological sites, churches and museums. the scheme runs until the beginning of october. they say there is no such thing as a free lunch. free holiday is a different matter. tim allman, bbc news. some people in western cultures say that gender is binary and divided into male and female, and that gender fluidity is a recent phenomenon. but in some cultures, gender is more fluid and has been for centuries. the bbc‘s gender and identity correspondent, megha mohan, has been speaking to young people

who are taking to social media in new ways, to educate people about how gender identity is viewed in their culture. gender identity might be one of the most polarising conversations that's happening on social media right now. in most countries, sex is defined as what you are physically born as, male or female. but gender identity can be much more fluid. a person can be born female and feel more comfortable or identify as male, or vice versa. recently, i've been seeing a lot of people talk about the gender history of their communities online. this is geronimo from the native american navajo community in new mexico. my name is geronimo. this is my backyard, some mountains over there. geronimo identifies as one of the four sacred and ancient gender identities from his culture.

we have: masculine feminine is something that i gravitate towards. the word for masculine feminine is nadleehi, someone who is male—bodied and has a feminine nature. i can dress as a female or a male. i weave, i cook, i clean. 8,000 miles away, in india's capital, delhi, gender has been more than just male and female for centuries, and in 2014 india's supreme court even recognised a third gender. hi, namaste. i am leher, i am 23 and i was not born in a female body. i changed my gender medically. however, i'm not what in the western terminologies, you would call a trans woman or a transgender. in india, we're considered a third gender or the sacred gender that has

the power to bless or to curse. gender has never been binary in india. we have scriptures that describe more than 20 to 28 genders. so how could the idea of multiple genders have got lost over the years? when colonialism started to happen, a lot of our people died and were murdered, so a lot of the teachings and understandings of these people were lost. i face a lot of discrimination. it hurts. increasingly, the question of gender identity is becoming much more than how you choose to self—identify. it can decide whether or not you can access biologically divided spaces like toilets and aid shelters, and some sports. yet some people question the idea of gender and believe stereotyped ideas around masculinity and femininity are limiting. and in some other parts of the world, the idea ofjust male

and female have been seen as an oversimplification. megha mohan, bbc news. football, curry and karaoke — sounds like a perfect night in for some, but how about at kensington palace with prince william ? the duke of cambridge took part in peter crouch's latest podcast to talk about mental health in football — he met the team ahead of lockdown, as johnny dymond reports. so, i made some curry for you boys. others laugh. by royal appointment, the prince has got the poppadoms in. it's not every day you get a takeaway to surroundings like these. are you serious? the samrat has delivered to the palace? yep. a podcast, pint, and a curry — though getting the delivery in did have its challenges. there's an uber driver on the floor at the moment being frisked. they laugh. this was a very informal prince william, remembering some big nights out, some really bad presents he had given his wife, and musing on his royal powers to hire and fire

the england manager. gareth southgate's a very nice man, he's been very successful as england manager. if england had a disastrous run of form, could you sack him? gareth would go, yeah. they laugh. but this wasn't all lads larking about around the table. for years now, prince william has been talking about mental health and using sport as a way to get through to men who might not normally think about it. i don't know what it is, but you do notice that guys find it a bit more difficult to relax. we talk about physical fitness, we all want to go to the gym, stay fit, we never really talk about mental fitness and it's kind of the same thing. we all have mental health. and we all need to stay mentally fit, and none more so than professional athletes, who under special circumstances, are playing for england, under huge pressure. you've got to have your head razor—sharp as well as your feet, your legs, all that. this is prince william's goal, to make mental health something you can talk about at the match or over a curry.

from sunday players to professionals, the prince wants everybody in — and southgate looks safe for the moment. jonny dymond, bbc news. a rembrandt self—portrait has sold at auction in london for more than 12 million pounds. the portrait is one of only three left in private hands. also on sale was a trio of banksy paintings, which sold for more than two million pounds, with the proceeds being donated to a hospital in bethlehem. "mediterranean sea view 2017" is seen as a reference to the european refugee crisis. the bbc news at one is coming up with jane hill. now, the weather with darren bett. it isa it is a little bit warmer for us today at. the wind is not quite as strong and for many areas it is still dry out there, although we have seen cloud tending to increase a bit, but this is the cloud looming from the atlantic and that will bring in some outbreaks of rain on the set of weather fronts here at.

some rain moving northwards heading into northern ireland later in the day and maybe some spots of rain across the irish sea into west wales by early evening. these are the temperatures had by that point and most temperatures had by that point and m ost pla ces temperatures had by that point and most places are still dry, some sunshine at times. move things on a bit into the evening and that rain set in across northern ireland overnight. we will see some rain pushing back further into wales, the odd spot of rain in the midlands, northern england and eventually into the south of scotland. rain in southern parts of england and wales, but clearer skies ahead of the rain and low temperatures could be easily into single figures mucked up there may be some sunshine for a while, but the rain setting in and heavier across northern ireland, heavy as it pushes northwards into scotland. we will see the breeze picking up as well around the irish coast. those temperatures are going to be rising, 27 or even a 28 degrees on thursday at. it was only yesterday when we had that call, north westerly

airflow, but the weather is changing and we are going to pick up the heat from continental europe on eight south to south easterly breeze and the peak of the heat is likely to be on friday. ahead of these weather fronts which bring the potential for some showery bursts of rain it. it is not going to be hot everywhere on friday, northern ireland probably missing out when we see that when the front bringing the rain in here at. later in the day, maybe some patchy rain in the western fringes of scotla nd patchy rain in the western fringes of scotland and over at the irish sea at. later in the day, maybe some patchy rain in the western fringes of scotla nd patchy rain in the western fringes of scotland and over at the irish sea and. sunshine and a bit of a breeze elsewhere. the potentialfor one or two showers breaking out, but temperatures will get into widely the mid to high 20s at. 30 across east wales, and 34 in the south—east of england. it is going to be a brief heat because the weather is going to change as we head into the weekend as those at weather fronts are put eastwards and we change the wind direction. instead of that warm south to south easterly, we get a freshening west or south—westerly wind, there will be some sunshine, if you showers, more significantly the heat is going to be ebbing away.

highs of up to 27. it is not the case that you can simply test somebody and be sure that they don't have the disease. it can incubate over a period of time so can incubate over a period of time so there is not a silver bullet of just testing immediately at the