this is bbc news. i'm clive myrie. our top stories for you tonight... executives at amazon, apple, google, and facebook are to be questioned over accusations that they are too powerful and that their business practices are anti—competitive. this is the scene live in washington as the hearing before the house judicial committee is about to get under way. the boss of heathrow calls for coronavirus tests at uk airports to avoid the need for holiday—makers to self—isolate for m days on their return. people would stay in quarantine until they had had two tests that showed that they didn't have, and then they would be allowed out. earlier than otherwise would be the case. the world health organization warns increasing infections among young people could be driving spikes in coronavirus cases across europe.

and the next head of the secret intelligence service, otherwise known as mi6, has been named as richard moore — currently political director at the foreign office. so, there's some curry for your boys. laughter. and the prince and the podcast: prince william discusses football and mental health with peter crouch. welcome to bbc news. four tech giants and their executives are being put under the spotlight in the united states, defending themselves against accusations they are too powerful and that their business practices are anti—competitive. jeff bezos from amazon, tim cook from apple, mark zuckerberg from facebook, and sundar pichai from google are all due to being grilled

in congress following a 13—month investigation by us lawmakers. we'll bring that to you live. that's the scene they are in washington, and they'll actually be doing this hearing by teleconference, of course, because of social distancing guidelines. in some people obviously in the room too wearing masks. they won't be appearing before the housejudiciary committee itself, but this committee has been looking for the last year plus, about 13—14 months, looking at potential anti—competitive practices that are alleged to be the stock in trade of such powerful corporations like amazon, apple, facebook and google — and frankly, the four corporations will be arguing that actually they're not as powerful as eve ryo ne actually they're not as powerful as everyone suggests they are, that

there is competition for instance for facebook, from tick—tock matt, that will be mark zuckerberg's argument. there also be arguments over whether apple charges people selling apps on their itunes network, whether they are charged too much. apple produces its own apps and doesn't have to pay that 30% of profits levy. so we will be getting a lot more of that. our technology correspondent is here with us. we're just waiting for eve ryo ne with us. we're just waiting for everyone to show up, it'll be all via screens because of social distancing. what is the charge being leveled at these tech giants? so the charges that they are too big and, because of their size and particularly their market share in certain areas, they operate unfairly. so this idea that it's antitrust, this phrase which comes from the early 20th century of

america where a set of companies owns the utilities, they owned the railroads and oil— as a result, america got together and said you are hurting the consumer here and broke them up. the same charges levied at amazon, google, facebook, etc, that they are too big and they're hurting the consumer. but i suppose the big defence here is that it's very hard to argue that you are hurting the consumer with a lot of your products are free. facebook, instagram, youtube, which is owned by google, they are all free. if you look at what amazon offers, it drives down prices. so they'll be arguing, how can we possibly be at an antitrust hearing when what they doing is helping consumers? that's where the antitrust legislation has fallen foul, and that's really why they avoided this kind of scrutiny up they avoided this kind of scrutiny up till now. it's really interesting because one of the charges that might be leveled atjeff baeza and

amazon is that you've got updated bank of millions, billions of people that preferences what they like and don't like, and so on. as a result, you can make your own products that tailor even more specifically to those individuals, and therefore you are writing off the back of the very people you're supposed to be helping. that is exactly the charge leveled at amazon. that it uses all that data and goes, "this product's doing great, why don't we create our own product because it seems to be quite popular?" they also say that, for example in the bio box, if you sell on amazon and you want to be on the bio box, you want to be the suggested item that someone else buys something, amazon are accused of putting their own products or overly selling their own products in that box. it's that kind of thing — using the utilities of the internet to then help themselves, that's the kind of apposite tobacco accusation that they see. has this all been

given added to lack urgency due to coronavirus, and the fact that we've all been much more reliant on smartphones, ipads, iphones, the internet, to shop and entertain ourselves, and so on? do we need to see all this and that framework perhaps? if you look at the share prices of these four companies, he has gone up hugely since january. so 30% since january. if you look at how most companies have done, it's gone down. so clearly the market thinks these companies are a safe bet. in clearly, obviously things like xoom and video chats, which they will be doing today, obviously is seen as the future of working from home. once again we go back to trust here, antitrust, because a lot of companies have done very badly

out of cove id 19. but these companies have done brilliantly. and there's this charge that they are too big to fail, like the banks were ten yea rs too big to fail, like the banks were ten years ago. absently fascinating. thanks to james, our technology correspondent there —— absolutely fascinating. and if we get any more on that hearing, we'll bring it to you. 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 to the uk's post—covid recovery. heathrow chief executive john holland—kaye said testing could be up and running within weeks at his airport — and could allow passengers to go back to work more quickly. but the british culture secretary, oliver dowden, said that testing is not a "silver bullet" to stop the need for quarantine because the virus can develop over time. simon browning reports. the sudden reimposition of quarantine from spain has brought huge disruption. for the tens of thousands of british holiday—makers who flew out and will today be enjoying spain's beaches now face two weeks

of isolation on their return. the race is on to find an alternative. this morning, the boss of heathrow, who has been pressuring the government for weeks to start coronavirus testing in airports, says it is the solution. 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 had had two tests that showed that they didn't have the disease, and then they would be allowed out earlier than would otherwise be the case. trials to countries like singapore and canada could get under way within weeks and heathrow says it's needed. airports are losing money, the public is once again lacking the confidence to book, holidays are being cancelled. every day, we're hearing of thousands ofjobs being lost as a result of covid. if we go on for another year with a blanket quarantine, as a small island trading nation, millions ofjobs will be lost. whilst industry believes the answer is testing, the government is apprehensive.

the challenge we have here is that 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 notjust a silver bullet of testing immediately at the border. of course, we are looking at and reviewing other measures that we could take to address this. but at this stage it's not the case we can simply test at the border and give people that assurance. there are around 600,000 brits holidaying across spain at the moment. the imposition of quarantine will have an impact on them all. sam was due to start a newjob next week. newly—imposed isolation puts that in jeopardy. this is the onlyjob that i've had an offer for, and to me and my family it's vital, it's incredibly important. so, yeah, you can imagine the stress i'm feeling, probably along with hundreds of thousands of others. this morning, tui extended its cancellation of holidays

to the canary islands and balearic islands until august fourth. mainland holidays are cancelled until the tenth. the government says quarantine measures are under constant review. but, as the holiday business closes its most popular destination, the pressure grows to get airport testing in place so we can go back to the beach. simon browning, bbc news. the resurgence of the virus in europe has raised the prospect of borders being closed again, and further restrictions being imposed on uk travellers during what is usually the peak holiday season. only weeks after lockdowns were eased, many governments are now urging caution. the world health organization has asked young people, in particular, across europe to act responsibly. nick beake reports. across europe, the authorities are on the lookout, and they're worried by what they see. covid cases are on the rise — amid celebrations, not just here in barcelona but in many places, that some social restrictions have been lifted. experts warn a second

wave is not here yet, but people do need to be much better at keeping their distance. the trouble is learning to navigate this new world we're in. it's not back to normal, it's back to finding the new normal — ways to live with this virus to prevent it from rising, prevent the transmission from rising. on the belgian coast, they've long had to shelter from a blustery wind, but in 2020, protection also comes in the form of a face mask, the summer accessory everyone is wearing. and there are now new restrictions on how many people you can meet here outside of your household. in fact, here in brussels, the belgian government is now warning there may have to be a second complete lockdown. but before that, if cases continue to rise, the british government may put belgium in the same category as spain, and that would mean anyone coming from here to the uk has

to quarantine when they arrive. latest maps show the current hotspots in europe, seen in dark red. notably, north—east spain, luxembourg and the south—eastern balkan region. the challenge is to keep outbreaks isolated. although we call it a pandemic, and even within this country it's a series of lots of smaller epidemics all coalescing together. people are living in areas where there's virtually no disease. that doesn't mean to say it won't come back at some time, and you won't know that it's come back until it's started making people ill. the british government says it will take action quickly in response to new spikes in cases across europe. all governments on the continent are facing crucial decisions, as they try to protect their people, their visitors, and their economies, decisions which can be a matter of life and death. nick beake, bbc news, brussels.

the transport secretary grant shapps has returned from the spain and will quarantine for two weeks. he's been speaking to reporters on his return. we a bse ntly we absently have to act the moment that we get the information, and that's exactly what happened with spain, as we saw. and as we've seen over the weekend, where there's over 6100 cases, the highest since the peak in march over there, it's the right thing to do and why the whole of the uk did at the same time. therefore i can't rule out other parts of the uk — other countries having to go into quarantine, as well. do you understand people's frustration at the national blanket ban? i very much understand. you had an impact on me and my family, and i'm an impact on me and my family, and i' m an impact on me and my family, and i'm very, very sorry and upset for the thousands of brits who managed

to go away this summer, as well, to spain. but it is absolutely essential that we acted when we did, that's why all four nations of the uk acted together, and the figures since have turned out to justify that action. so i think we have to have a clear message and make sure that we act by adding an entire countries to that list for the time being. cani countries to that list for the time being. can i give you a supplement to that? there's the issue of the islands — we did have a look at whether certain islands can be included and not others. chris whitty, the chief medical officer, was very clear with us that he was concerned about the data, he had seen how the data had come very fast word in spain in 48 hours, gone up by 75%, doubled in few days. that's why we've made a whole country approach with these things. should we reduce quara ntines approach with these things. should we reduce quarantines and test people more? well, testing is

honestly an interesting idea, and it is something that we are looking at, of course. one of the things people don't realise what testing is that if you've tested somebody who is a symptom at it, they have no symptoms of coronavirus day one when they arrive at the airport, that would pick up only 7% of people who have the disease, which is not useful from the point of view of making sure that you get the cases. you have to test again later, which brings in for the complication, ensuring that people have quarantined in the meantime, and that doesn't work either. do you think the government could have handled this better and for the travel industry on notice? a lot of people are asking why‘d they didn't give notice, but the truth is i saw figures late last week which had spain looking ok, we are keeping a cautious eye over them. i then saw the figures on saturday — in fact, when i got to spain, and there was no doubt at all. we had a meeting with all the devolved administrations, the scientists and several ministers, and we simply had

to act. and to not act would've been a dereliction of duty. and people he right till my correctly would've asked us why we were not doing anything about it. the figures have shown us why that was required, and i'm side and sorry for those who have lost their holidays —— desperately sad and sorry. i decided i needed to come home early and begin my 14 days's quarantine sake get on with myjob. begin my 14 days's quarantine sake get on with my job. grant chaps there. let's speak to our political correspondent nick eardley. there's a lot of people angry at the fa ct there's a lot of people angry at the fact that we have to do this, particularly at short notice? absolutely, clive, and you heard him talking about understanding the frustration that many will feel at being on holiday and being told that when they come back, they'll have to

spend two weeks in the house quarantining. he doesn't sound convinced at all that testing somebody when they arrived back in the uk, then a follow—up test a few days later to see if they show any signs of coronavirus — he doesn't sound convinced that that's a potential alternative to quarantining, raising concerns about the lack of people upon pick—up and arrival, and the logistical problems of chasing down people who'd arrived backin of chasing down people who'd arrived back in the uk for subsequent tests. and it was also pretty clear to me from the transport secretary there as well that the government is prepared to go further with this. it is looking at the data and if there are signs in other countries of an increase in cases that concerns ministers, then they're prepared to do this to countries —— does not countries that have been mentioned of concern are luxembourg and belgian, potentially places where we could see restrictions added within the next few days —— belgium. one of

the next few days —— belgium. one of the first things you'll be doing it now that he's back at work and in the uk, albeit in quarantine, is talking to the other nations of the uk tonight to scotland, wales and northern ireland about the data that's come in. potentially we could see other countries are moved off that quarantine measure, which is hopefully soon. thank you, nick. the new head of the uk's secret intelligence service has been announced. richard moore, who is currently political director at the foreign office — and a former ambassador to turkey — will become the new chief of mi6, known as 'c". he will take over from sir alex younger in the autumn. a railway bridge has collapsed after a freight train caught fire and derailed in tempe, arizona. it's being reported that between 8—10 cars from the train left the track at tempe town lake, just west of the city of phoenix. emergency services are currently

at the scene and other train services in the area are being re—routed as a result. police have not yet reported whether anyone was injured. earlier, i spoke to april wernecke, a reporterfor cbs in phoenix, arizona. ijust i just heard from ijust heard from fire officials down there, and they say they've been no major injuries, but one person has been treated for smoke inhalation. it's really pretty incredible that we haven't seen a more injuries because this is a train which caught fire going on a bridge, and then derailed, and the bridge, and then derailed, and the bridge collapsed right over a very popular park in our area. it is over tempe town lake and tempe beach park, and tempe is a suburb here in phoenix, and the market which is a large parking grassy area where on a morning like this, we've got a lot of people biking and walking around. we spoke with one woman this morning who said she had just finished going under that bridge on her morning walk when it collapsed immediately afterwards. she said the sound was horrifying and she described the scene out there as looking like a scene out there as looking like a scene out there as looking like a scene out of hell. the bridge has

continued to collapse this morning, and we've learned that there have been 8—10 cars that were derailed in this. we are still unsure exactly what was in there, we've seen some lumber but not sure if there's anything else that was being carried on that train this morning. so firefighters are still out there working, and we've got about 95 firefighters out there the scene right now. not disrupting air traffic, but they are re—routing plans in that area to take a different route so it will decrease the noise cruise or deer with, that is right in the path of the sky harbour airport here, and we've got highways close down here. but the good news is we don't have any major injuries, what we are still seeing isa injuries, what we are still seeing is a huge plume of smoke in the phoenix area. hong kong's chief executive, carrie lam, has warned that the territory is on the brink of a large scale coronavirus outbreak which could overwhelm hospitals. in a video to residents, she's urging people to stay indoors. stephen mcdonell sent this report. hong kong had been one of the

world's coronavirus bright spots. while elsewhere the disease was taking hold, ravaging economies and prompting widespread shutdowns, the harbour city seemed to have this crisis well and truly under control. not any more. an outbreak of locally—spread infections has come from an unknown source and has kept building in clusters in different parts of the city. forjust over a week, more than 100 new cases have been added to the official count every day. then came this prerecorded announcement from hong kong's leader. hong kong is facing a new wave of covid—19 infections. with an upsurge in local infected cases, many with yet unknown sources, we are on the verge of a large scale community outbreak. restaurants are back to home delivery only. bars, gyms and other public spaces have been ordered to close again. masks are mandatory.

translation: you still have to wear it, even if it's uncomfortable. you will be fined if you don't wear it and i'm scared of getting ill. some medical specialists have called for much tighter border restrictions. the government has been criticised for exempting certain groups from the need to do 14 days of quarantine on arrival. this has included sailors, airline crews and even executives from large corporations. then there's the political dimension to this. while hong kong's coronavirus situation can't be ignored, having a little over 100 cases a day is well short of the emergencies seen elsewhere. so, some analysts have asked if hong kong's leader, carrie lam, is overstating the danger in that city in order to use it as an excuse for postponing elections which are due later this year and which could turn out badly for the government. then again, maybe she's just trying to shock residents into action. stephen mcdonnell,

bbc news, beijing. police in germany investigating the disappearance of madeleine mccann are continuing their search of an allotment in hanover. a neighbour has told the bbc that the main suspect in the case rented the garden for a few months in 2007 — the same year the three—year old went missing while on holiday in portugal. our correspondentjenny hill is in hanover. for the second day, they've been digging at this allotment using a mechanized diggerfor the digging at this allotment using a mechanized digger for the second digging at this allotment using a mechanized diggerfor the second day ina row, mechanized diggerfor the second day in a row, they've had the sniffer dog back there. a little earlier we watched as contractors removed two skiffs from the site. the site itself is significant, of course, because we know that the main suspect in this case, a man we can only name for legal risk dummett reasons as christie being, lived nearby on and off in the years following madeleine mccann's disappearance. but now unconfirmed reports suggest he may have been more closely linked to the site

even. we spoke as you said there to a neighbour who told us that in the spring or summer of 2007, madeleine went missing in may of that year, christiane b turned up having rented the garden. he told us at the time that that guardian contained a little shack which was set on a concrete base, and underneath he said there was a rather small cellar. the neighbours said he didn't have much to do with the suspect, but he did have a conversation with him which revolved around the fact that the man was planning to insulate the shack. the neighbour told us he went off on holiday, came back in august to find the entire structure had been demolished, and he never saw the man again. now we haven't been able to corroborate any of this with detectives here, they are not telling us anything about what they're doing on—site, and they're certainly not telling us what it might be that they're looking for. they're only confirming that it is in connection with their investigations into the disappearance of madeleine mccann. so very difficult to tell you much

more at the moment, but there is still work continuing on the site. vietnam's prime minister has ordered the city of danang to go into strict lockdown after 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 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 heritage conservation organisation, national trust, has announced spending cuts and redundancies due

to "unprecedented losses" caused by the cornavirus pandemic. the trust expects to lose up to £200 million this year you're watching bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. hello there, it's a little bit warmerfor hello there, it's a little bit warmer for us hello there, it's a little bit warmerfor us today, hello there, it's a little bit warmer for us today, the winds not quite as strong and for many areas it is still dry out there, although we have seen some cloud tending to increase a bit. but this is the cloud that's living in from the atlantic, which will bring some outbreaks of rain on the set of weather fronts here. we outbreaks of rain on the set of weatherfronts here. we see outbreaks of rain on the set of weather fronts here. we see some rain moving northwards across southern ireland, heading into northern ireland later in the day. maybe a few spots of rain heading into west wales by early evening. these are the temperatures, by that point, at most places still dry with some sunshine at times. moving on into the evening, that rain sits in across northern ireland. overnight we see some rain pushing back further into wales, maybe the odd

spot of rain through the midlands and northern england, eventually into the south west of scotland. clear skies, it will be quite warm but with clear skies and northern scotla nd but with clear skies and northern scotland ahead of the rain, those temperatures could be easily into sqlfigures. temperatures could be easily into sol figures. maybe some sunshine for a while, but this rain is setting in and it will be heavier across northern ireland, have your as it pushes its way northwards in scotland. we will see the breeze picking up around this irish seacoast. but sunshine for england and wales widely, those temperatures will be rising, 27—28 c on thursday. it was only yesterday that we had that cool northwesterly airflow, but the weather is changing and we will pick up the heat from continental europe on a south to southeasterly breeze. at the peak of the heat is due to be friday. this brings the potential for shower bursts of rain. it won't be hot everywhere on friday — northern ireland missing out, where we see that with a front bringing the rain in here. later in the day, maybe some patchy rain

heading into west and fringes of scotla nd heading into west and fringes of scotland and over the irish sea. sunshine with a bit of a breeze elsewhere, potential for 1—2 showers, but temperatures getting widely into the mid to high 20s, 30s celsius across the middle part of england, and 34 in the southeast of england. it'll be a brief heat though, because the weather will change as we head into the weekend, as those weather fronts push their way eastwards and we change the wind direction. so instead of that warm south to southeasterly, we get a freshening west or south westerly wind. there'll be some sunshine, a few showers, but more significantly the heat will be at ebbing away.

hello, this is bbc news with clive myrie. the headlines... questioning is about to get underway

in the us as executives at amazon, apple, google and facebook face accusations that they're too powerful and that their business practices are anti—competitive. the boss of heathrow calls for coronavirus tests at uk airports to avoid the need for holidaymakers to self isolate for 14 days on their return. the world health organisation warns increasing infections among young people could be driving spikes in coronavirus cases across europe. and the next head of the secret intelligence service, otherwise known as mi6, has been named as richard moore — currently political director at the foreign office. welcome to bbc news. four tech giants and their executives are being put under

also visited with her health care workers are particularly vulnerable? here's science correspondent. he died asa here's science correspondent. he died as a result of coronavirus last month. it was a consultant psychiatrist in boston and lincolnshire. he was on a ventilator for 70 days. dr pathak was on a ventilator for 70 days. i think that was one of the really difficult parts. when he was on the 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. so far, more than 45,000 people have died from coronavirus. a disproportionate number have been from ethnic minorities. the government has announced a series of studies to analyse the social circumstances, health and day—to—day activities of these groups to try and understand what is going on. 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 for a year, to assess the factors that lead to them becoming infected and falling seriously ill. they will be asked questions about their mental and physical health, as well as about their workplace routines. if we can find those practices which are also personal factors, which make people at increased risk, then we should be trying to protect them. now that might be enhanced occupational risk assessments. it could perhaps be enhanced personal protective equipment for certain groups. and also, if really high—risk populations, perhaps they shouldn't be working on the front line with covid—19 patients. all the studies have to provide results within 12 months and will be shared with community groups, professional bodies and health regulators. 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 in berkshire, has written to the uk prime minister asking for a retrial of the men convicted of killing him. a number ten spokesperson said borisjohnson would respond to lissie harper's letter after legal proceedings have concluded. sentencing is due to take place on friday. the three teenagers were found guilty manslaughter, after being cleared of murder at the old bailey last week. here's our correspondent who followed the trial, helena wilkinson — her report contains flash photography.

just four weeks after their wedding day lastjuly, pc harper was killed. after the verdicts last week, his widow, lissie harper, said she was appalled at the outcome. the way in which andrew was robbed of his life we all know to be barbaric and inexplicable. i am immensely disappointed with the verdict given today. henry long, 19, along with albert bowers and jesse cole, both 18, seen here at their first court appearance were cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter. pc harper got caught in a tow rope that had been pulling a quad bike the three had stolen. the officer was dragged away by the teenagers' car for over a mile at speeds of over 40 miles an hour. in an open letter to the prime minister, lissie harper said,

during the trial, the judge ordered extra security measures due to fears of potentialjuror intimidation by associates of the defendants. lissie harper is calling for a retrial. the vice chair of the criminal bar association says it is too early to comment on the outcome of the trial. this case has not yet been concluded, the process is ongoing, the sentencing hearing is a vitally important part of the entire justice process. and one should not detach the verdict in a case such as this from a sentence. it is extremely rare for the verdicts of not guilty to be set aside.

the three teenagers who killed pc harper are due to be sentenced on friday. helena wilkinson, bbc news. in response to lissie harper's letter — a downing street spokesperson said. he is taking part football, curry and lots of laughs —

that sounds like a perfect night in for many people, but how about at kensington palace with prince william ? 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 was 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 gyms, 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. and you can listen to more of the conversation with prince william — that peter crouch podcast is available on bbc sounds.

at six o'clock the heads of four of the worlds biggest technology firms are due to answer questions. that very room you are due to answer questions. that very room you are seeing are due to answer questions. that very room you are seeing their about their business practices and market dominance for a us congressional panel. evidence from amazon, facebook, apple and google which together represent $5 trillion of the us economy. that is evidence that's going to be given remotely of course because social distancing and coronavirus measures, but that is the scene from washington, the room where those congressional hearings will take place. the housejudiciary committee and they are looking into possible antitrust practices at four of the globe's biggest tech firms. you've been sending us your questions on changes to travel advice and quarantine rules and what this means for your holiday plans. it's time for your questions answered with my colleague jane hill.

to answer your travel questions, i'm joined by rory boland, the travel editor at which, and linda boll, professor of public health at the university of edinburgh. a warm welcome to both of you. as ever, when we ask about travel, we get a lot of questions. so rory, i'll start with you. glynis beck in dorset would like to know, "how much notice should your travel agent be giving you when cancelling your holiday?" almost certainly your travel agent or tour operator would like to give you more notice than they are now. but they are slightly hamstrung by the surprise decisions of the government, so i do have some sympathy that there are some delays, they only have a finite number of customer service agents. there may be a little bit of a delay. what i should say is, if you are travelling in the next 2—3 weeks, you should expect to hear from your tour operator relatively

soon because those holidays are likely to be cancelled. beyond that, what is probably happening is that the tour operator or travel agent is hoping the advice will change again. so that if spain, the balearic or ca nary islands — they're hoping that the restrictions perhaps will be lifted and they'll be able to operate holidays towards the end of august. if you have a holiday that's beyond the next 2—3 weeks, the best advice really is just to wait. the holiday companies will be cancelling on a rolling basis, so if by next week the advice hasn't changed, they'll cancel a further week of holidays, and so forth and so on. yes, it can be a tense weight, but i hear what you're saying that that can be the only option. thank you. linda, the question for you from louise holbrook in london and west yorkshire, who says, "we're flying there and back from gibraltar, which is exempt" —

i'm assuming she means spain, because she says "we are residing in spain, though. so does the 14 day quarantine rule still apply?" so this will be a common scenario, the people will go somewhere else in europe, be in spain and come back from spain or the other place. so it does still apply, but what i would say is it depends on the number of days. so for example, flying into gibraltar then going to spain, then going back to gibraltar and, say you're spending four days in gibraltar before flying back to the uk, than the quarantine would be reduced to ten days. but generally if it'sjustjumping from one place to spain, or indeed another country where we have a quarantine restriction, and then back to the uk via the other airport, then that duration still stands. and just to start off, it's especially important that we all remember that quarantine has a very specific purpose. it takes about five days for the virus to incubate, and we know about 99% of people who, when they develop symptoms and then not be infectious any more, will do so within that 14 day period. that's why it is two weeks, and that period is applied by many countries,

it is notjust linked to the uk. yes, and quarantine means staying in your home, or wherever you can stay — but it means not going out anywhere, you are not really meant to go supermarket shopping or that sort of thing. in its purest form, its very strict, isn't it? it is, and people will know about how quarantines have been done in the past and other infectious disease outbreaks. the other priority here is to stop the transmission of the virus. so that means staying inside, staying at home. and obviously if you've got — nobody can go out for essential groceries and medicines, then you should do that yourself. but if you do have other people who can do that for you, then you should rely on them. we need to stay indoors and not come into contact with others. you've talked about the incubation period — a quick extra thought, because the question from nathan lane in northampton ties into that, really. he says, "if i come back from spain but i've had a negative covid test, do i really need to still isolate?" well, the problem is we don't have any formal national notification system for that.

so there are number of countries where they are now implement airport testing or evidence of testing and a negative test. but that is not the case here, so even if that caller was to get his own test, that is not recognised at the moment and we wouldn't necessarily be able to validate that. so it's important that we stick to the quarantine, and the a place to anyone coming back notjust from spain, but the other countries on the list. 0k. ok. robbery another question about refunds, cadets we have talked about those a lot in the last few months, a question from sarah asking our flight a question from sarah asking our flight company won't refund our flights, won't even change the dates even though the government has said we should not travel, what can we do? this is a bit of a developing scandal, really. and while tour operators who operate package holidays have cancelled holidays to spain and are allowing people to claim refunds from all of the major airlines are now saying we don't care, we don't care about the

advice. the flight is operating so you cannot get a refund. there's nothing in the law or your consumer rights that compels them to do so u nfortu nately. rights that compels them to do so unfortunately. the most practical advice is that you approach them and hopefully will be able to rebook, and so with easyjet and british airways they are allowing customers with flights to spain to move to another date, and they are waving the rebooking fee. it was soft of pay the fare difference so if you move it to 2021 the price may have gone up, and you will be liable to pay that. with some other airlines you don't really have any options. they are not ridding that change fee so you will have to pay that and any fa re so you will have to pay that and any fare difference. it was them in a really impossible decision, and that they can travel but to do so would bea they can travel but to do so would be a huge gamble because the warning means that your travel insurance is not valid. or if they don't travel they have to write off the money,

and it is something that they've been asking the government and regulator to intervene about at the moment. your best hope is to rebook and hope for a bit of flexibility on the airline. and we have been reflecting and you have touched on already how much things are changing all of the time. and things can change, and fact is the interesting question that applies to both of you and it's from andrew costello in wales, apologising at five pronounce that incorrectly, and he wants to know how close do you think france two being on the list of countries with a 14 day quarantine restriction, perhaps linda will come to you first on that. i was looking at the latest figures from today and just to put this in context they've had over 6000 cases in the past week in france but not close yet in terms of spain. looking at 14 day cumulative cases that's about 17 per 100,000 or 14 cumulative cases that's about 17 per 100,000 or14 in cumulative cases that's about 17 per 100,000 or 14 in the uk,

cumulative cases that's about 17 per 100,000 or14 in the uk, and it's up to 49 in spain. there've been spikes in france and one of the areas in france, they've had 1000 new cases re ce ntly france, they've had 1000 new cases recently and imposed some local restrictions. no more than ten people gathering and face coverings notjust indoors but anywhere in the community when people are moving around. keep an eye on france but at the moment certainly not looking like one of the very worrying countries we are beginning to see across europe. that's interesting to know but it points to how difficult it is for the travel industry and how difficult it is for anyone trying to get away because things can change so rapidly. that's absolutely right. the restrictions introduced for spain were done on a saturday night and introduced on a sunday, people had forfive hours notice right at the peak of when people have travelled in a lot of package holidays run from saturday toa package holidays run from saturday

to a saturday. the government has made it clear that it can and will change these restrictions at a moment public notice, whether you agree or disagree with that it means practically patient on the book a holiday abroad if you are able when you return to quarantine for 14 days, due to yourjob and boss allows that. because the time when you book and go out there will be a gap, and maybe a change. if you are not able to undertake that 14 day quarantine you are a real risk of the situation will change and you will come back and you're already stuck in a difficult position between quarantine and risking your job, unfortunately. yes. linda, roy at saint cambridge year, we have a holiday butch 210 a reef in september, will he still be able to use our eu health cards and indeed of the still valid with the travel restrictions that everything we are talking about? that's the little blue eu cards that a lot of us have got used to carrying for so many

yea rs. got used to carrying for so many years. those are still valid, this is kind of a question that connects the brexit with covid—19. those eu health cardsjust a the brexit with covid—19. those eu health cards just a valid, still valid to the 31st of december. at the really important and for crucial and for people to understand. you can call on that. in the current circumstances, and in general it's not sufficient to or rely on that. you absolutely need to have insurance. the health care does not replace travel insurance. and unfortunately as we have been hearing there's real implications for travel insurance if they say you must not go except for example travel. —— essential travel. the situation is changing quickly. but the optimistic that when things are much better come september and the insurance issue of people are allowed to travel would not be such allowed to travel would not be such a problem. that's what we know about the health card and insurance situation. and in fact there is an

another question about travel insurance. he's in glasgow and says iam planning insurance. he's in glasgow and says i am planning a month long trip to bratislava next week, will i be able to get travel insurance? a month long trip sounds like a dream at the moment. finally some good news, yes. you can get travel insurance. the situation has improved markedly over the last couple of weeks. there are some policies back on the market, and fora some policies back on the market, and for a period they held had exclusions for coronavirus disruption and coronavirus medical care. there's no policies there that will cover in most eventualities. what i should say is that on top of that if you are booking really consider booking a package holiday because that offers you incredible protections really be on some of the things you can get in your travel insurance policy but we were discussing the difference between the way that the airlines operating

in the tour operators are operating, if they were to introduce a band or nonessential travel advisory for slovakia, and you booked a package, and a package is a simple as booking and a package is a simple as booking a flight and hotel at the same time on the same website with the same travel agent, you have this fantastic protections. you will get a refund but also protects you if the company goes bust. and u nfortu nately the company goes bust. and unfortunately at the moment we are seeing a large number of travel companies going under. so you have that protection because of the package holiday booking you can enjoy your holiday with a good amount of peace of mind. and some of the points he made there and write tainted next question from sheila walsh in bolton who she is meant to be flying to bennett dorm on the 31st of august, what are my rights when it to cancelling the trip? absolutely that. it will depend on how you booked the trip, if it did package holiday. that leaving quite soon. almost certainly be cancelled.

with apsley crucial is the way for the tour operator to do the cancelling because if you cancel, and it seems very extensible to some people because they say you should not go in the 20 rules are introduced, they you willjust cancel it you will rave your right toa cancel it you will rave your right to a refund in many cases and over the past couple of months we have heard quite a lot of heartbreaking stories where people have cancelled and lost large amounts of money, so please wait for the tour operator to cancel and then you will be able to claim a refund will stop if you have booked it diy, so flight and commendation separately you will be banned by the terms and conditions of those individual parties, the airline and accommodation provider. you probably will have a little bit more luck with the accommodation provider, lots of online booking sites have very flexible terms see you may be able to cancel, claim a refu nd you may be able to cancel, claim a refund or rebook. at the airline i'm afraid you will only be able to rebook at best and what will come down to his weighing of how much you

will lose if you don't go, how much you can salvage if you rebook and guide on that diy route. all right, linda can we have another quick thought about spain specifically? that's the country very much in the news, everything changed at the weekend. richard and colchester once and now with the infection rate is on spain public islands? what scientific evidence is there to say that it scientific evidence is there to say thatitis scientific evidence is there to say that it is worse than the uk? support the canaries and clerics have had changes. they have had their spike about late march and declined. i looked at the data again from the european centre it's not been too mad. the last couple weeks could deftly see the case numbers going up again. look at the canary islands now, they had 135 cases which does not sound like a lot but just a few weeks before where it was just a few weeks before where it was just four cases there's peaks they are. that's not to say that per population that more than the uk but

i think there are two things that play here. uk government moving at speed and deciding it's easier to just have all of spain and genuine concern locally about a spike in cases. that's why they're included but i would not say from the data that they are necessarily worse than the uk at the moment. i'm going to close the quick final thought to each of you we talked about the ever evolving nature of all this, just your thoughts, linda, you first, if that's ok, if what other countries are we looking at should we be looking at or keeping an eye in terms of trying to plan anything, what would you advise people to do, what would you advise people to do, what do you focus on? roy has given incredibly practical advice, but the bottom line is i think for all of us is if we can manage to avoid nonessential travel outside of our borders from a public health perspective that's a sensible move. i know how difficult that is for people particularly if you have family in another country but i

think we should be minimising our travel at the moment because the situation is moving so quickly. the other thing i would say is it stay informed, many reputable websites commit even uk websites, you can look at what's going on and arm yourself with good facts before you decided to travel or not, and then final point obviously i would really emphasise this, i'm up in scotland can we are hoping our schools will go back in two weeks and in order for that to be achieved we need to keep the numberof for that to be achieved we need to keep the number of cases in the community at the absolute minimum, and that means that people come back in scotland or elsewhere in the uk they really must abide by the quarantine. it's going to help keep everybody else as safe as possible. quick final thought rory as well from you. i would reiterate the earlier point if you are deciding about a holiday would it really comes down to is her ability to quarantine, and there's no point

trying to guess which countries will be on or off the list because it can change ina be on or off the list because it can change in a moments notice. if you are not able to quarantine for 14 days at the moment unless the government changes the approach it's not a good time to book a holiday. if you can quarantine with your lifestyle and/or job, and if you can quarantine with your lifestyle and/orjob, and you can go on holiday regardless of the health concerns, book a package and with a trusted tour operator or travel agent, and book with a credit card. take out travel insurance, if you do this four things will cover all eventualities and you will get your money back if things do go wrong. little bit warmer for us today and there was not quite as strong but we seen cloud turning to decrease a bit but that's the cloud the slimming and for the atlantic. i will bring some outbreaks of rain on the weather front here. we see the rain moving northwards across southern ireland

and were heading into later in the day. spots heading over the irish sewa into west wales by early evening. these are the temperatures by that point. most places still dry, some sunshine at times. moving on into the evening, the rain sets in across northern ireland. overnight, we will see some rain pushing back into wales. may the odd spot of rain over the midlands, eventually into the south—west of scotland. in southern parts of england and wales, with clearer skies, it will be quite warm, but with clearer skies in northern scotland ahead of the rain, temperatures could be easily into single figures. there may be some sunshine for a while but this rain is setting in and it will be heavier across northern ireland as it pushes northwards into scotland. we will see the breeze picking up as well around the irish sea coasts. sunshine for england and wales widely, and temperatures are going to be rising. it was only yesterday that we had that cool north—westerly airflow, but the weather is changing and we're going to pick up the heat

from continental europe on a south— to south—easterly breeze, and the peak of the heat is likely to be on friday. that's ahead of these weather fronts that bring the potential for some showery rain. it's not going to be hot everywhere on friday. northern ireland will probably miss out, where we have this weather front bringing in some rain. some rain getting into western scotland later in the day. sunshine and a bit of a breeze elsewhere. the potential for one or two showers beginning to break out but temperatures probably getting into the mid—to high—20s. 30 degrees 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 the weather fronts push eastwards and we change the wind direction. instead of the warm south— to south—easterly, we will get a freshening west— to south—westerly, there will be some sunshine, a few showers, more significantly, the heat is going to be ebbing away.

this is bbc news. are top stories. the bosses of amazon, facebook, apple and google are all about to appear before congress to answer claims they are stifling competition. we will bring you that hearing live from washington. a new warning from the world health organisation that young people could be contributing to the resurgence of coronavirus in europe. the boss of heathrow calls for coronavirus attests at uk airports to avoid the need for holiday—makers to self—isolate for 14 days on their return. and the next head of the uk's secret intelligence service, otherwise known as mi6, has been named as richard moore, currently political director at the foreign