this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. england recorded the highest levels of excess deaths in europe across the first half of the year, according to new figures showing the impact of the coronavirus. new guidance for people showing symptoms of covid. officials are expected to extend the isolation period from seven to ten days in england, over fears of rising cases numbers in parts of europe. australia suffers its worst day since the pandemic began, with rising numbers of both cases and fatalities. you can contact me about any of our

stories today. also this hour... new guidance for people showing symptoms of covid. officials are expected to extend the isolation period from seven to ten days in england, in hong kong, china's clamp—down continues as 12 opposition candidates are disqualified from standing in the in hong kong, china's clamp—down continues as 12 opposition candidates are disqualified from standing in the prosecutors respond to a record low in convictions for rape cases in england and wales — saying they want the conviction rate to increase seven newborn babies die in one night in a zimbabwe hospital — after urgent treatment was delayed due to a staffing crisis. and a multi—billion—dollar, decade—long project to bring rock samples from mars to earth prepares to blast off in an attempt to answer whether there has ever been life on mars? 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. in the past half an hour, the office for national statistics in the uk has released figures comparing death rates across europe during the coronavirus pandemic for the first time. it shows that england had the highest level of excess mortality in europe for the weeks from 24th february to 14th june. and the uk had the second highest peak of excess deaths after spain. it comes as people with coronavirus symptoms in england are expected to be told to self—isolate for ten days, rather than seven, as the government tries to avoid a second outbreak of the virus in the uk. currently, people with a new continous cough, high temperature or loss of taste or smell, have to self—isolate for seven days. others in the household are told to self—isolate for 14 days. the self—isolation period for those with symptoms is set to increase from seven to ten days,

for several reasons. first, there is lots of evidence that people continue to shed the virus after their symptoms have gone away. second, widespread testing means positive cases are being picked up earlier, for example when they are asymptomatic. and finally, increasing the length of time needed to self—isolate sends a message that the threat from coronavirus isn't over, and we should continue to take it seriously. earlier, ben humberstone from the office for national statistics explained those statistics comparing death rates. the figures show the uk had the second—highest peak of excess deaths, or excess mortality, during the pandemic period after spain. and, within that, england had the highest rate, followed by scotland and then wales, and northern ireland had relatively low rates of excess deaths over that period. but the pattern is really complex,

so what we've seen, for example, in italy and spain, which were the other countries really heavily affected by covid—i9, was that in their regions, they had a very localised pandemic, so the impact in the regions of northern italy and central spain were much higher than anything we saw in the uk. but in the uk, it was a much wider spread, so we saw excess deaths from cornwall to shetland and everywhere in between. it is important to note that the pandemic is not over yet and we will continue to do this analysis dizzy what happens. what we have seen for example in the uk over the last few weeks are rates of deaths below what weeks are rates of deaths below what we would normally see in these weeks of the year. so that will have an impactand of the year. so that will have an impact and we'll bring figures into line. the other important point to

note is that although the uk at the peak of the pandemic did not see the highest rates of deaths. the pandemic and the effect on excess deaths did last slightly longer in the uk, which pushed up that total number of deaths. i'm joined now by the bbc‘s head of statistics, robert cuffe. just give us a bit more context, first of all, for the statistics. what exactly was the ons looking at and comparing? we are bombarded with different numbers, counting the deaths every day so it is worth taking a second look at the figures for the taking a second look at the figures forthe uk, taking a second look at the figures for the uk, for example, in the deaths we have seen so far this year. you can see the big peak arriving in the middle of march, that shot up into april and then came down which is the extra deaths we have seen in the uk and they are comparing this across different european countries. but of course, the picture for the uk is notjust one picture, it is lots of different pictures, in scotland, wales, london is different to birmingham and also,

different ages. so you know, the death rates have been hardest for older people. if anyone is not clear what excess deaths refers to, explain it. it amimour deaths you would expect to see compared to normal and what makes this analysis different to the analysis that we have been talking about for weeks and weeks. —— it is you would expect to see more than compared to normal. so for a couple, we would see how many deaths of eight—year—olds, compared to how many 18—year—olds and a0 rolls live here so it is more sophisticated and makes comparisons across countries more robust and means we can believe they're much more. the two things you are worried about when you are looking at the death patterns is how high the spike is, and how long it goes on for and how broadly disturbing did it is across the country. if we compare the figures for the uk with the figures for spain, which topped the highest peaks, we can see that the rise in deaths in mid—march was higher in spain, they did see the

worst single week's but the pattern there was that they came down far quicker than the uk. so the uk was seeing more deaths than we would expect to see over a longer period and that is why england tops this very u nfortu nate ta ble and that is why england tops this very unfortunate table of the highest death rates that we have seen. so the second highest spike but the greatest number of excess mortality in europe over that period from february to june. yes. and robert, tell us more about how the uk compares to other countries, we have mentioned spain but also, italy, for example, belgium, other countries that have been hard—hit by the virus. well, i think we see differences not just in the virus. well, i think we see differences notjust in the absolute levels but also in the spread. in spain, we saw higher spikes, actually, in barcelona and in madrid and in italy, in the northern areas, we'll remember those scenes from late february, early march, when they went through a very bad spike but the epidemic there were more

concentrated. this analysis from the ons says that we saw more infections across the uk and more deaths across the uk, so birmingham, manchester, london, all figure in the kind of highest death rates in the table they have produced and it is not just in those cities but across the uk in general. scotland, for example, it is not that far behind england, when you look at the tables they have produced. england has the worst figures. spain comes next but after that, it is scotland and wales, i think is maybe in fifth or sixth position. so the picture across the uk as a whole has not been a great one when you compare... the picture across europe as a whole, i mean, and across europe as a whole, is not great but it looks worse in the uk on the figure. does it give an insight into why england and uk has been hit so hard? the geographic analysis gives you some clues so you know, if the epidemic in italy had made it from the north

of italy all the way across to the south and they had seen a pattern is replicated, there figures would have been far worse. some analysis has shown that the epidemic in the uk was seeded more broadly across the uk than in other parts of europe. of course, some scientists have said that locking down earlier would have cut the death toll significantly. we have seen half of our excess deaths in care homes and the uk population, you know, is more obese than other parts of europe. so there are lots of factors that contribute to the situation in which we found ourselves. we don't exactly have the exact balance of all of those at this point, but there are some clear differences between the uk and countries that have done very well. so germany, for example, has had far lower death figures than we have seen lower death figures than we have seenin lower death figures than we have seen in the uk. of course, this isn't the end of the epidemic. we are seeing infection rates rise in germany and again in spain. this is not the final table, as it were. but it gives us some clear indications of who has done best and who so far

has been hardest hit. robert, thank you for that. some of the government's thinking behind that change in the length of the isolation period that's recommended in england from seven to ten days. that has been the advice from pretty much the start of the pandemic, but it was always on the low side. other countries, as the health secretary has said, have longer isolation periods after a positive test, some ten days, some even longer. the thing is that coronavirus is a new virus, and there's a lack of certainty overjust how long people are infectious for. research shows you can pass on the virus two days before symptoms develop and that you are at your most infectious during the period when you have symptoms. now, for many people, that will be no longer than seven days, although, if you do have symptoms longer than seven days, you are already asked to continue isolating.

but there is plenty of evidence also to show that you can shed the virus for longer once symptoms do disappear. now, shedding the virus doesn't mean you are infectious but it could mean you might be, or might be a little bit infectious, and i think what has prompted this is more sort of research, more knowledge on that period, so they are extending it as a precaution. i think there are other reasons, though, why they are doing this. we've got widespread testing in place now, which means we are beginning to pick up people in the presymptomatic stage, so that means that the period in which they can pass on the infection may be a little longer, and i think anotherfactor is that this sends out an important signal. we are seeing low rates of infection in the uk, but it tells everyone we mustn't be complacent and we must adhere to the guidance. let's speak to our assistant

political editor norman smith. norman, so we know that other countries have had a ten day isolation period for some time now. politically, why is the uk doing this now? i think because there is a real apprehension that there could be another wave of coronavirus in the uk over the summer, in part perhaps fuelled by holiday—makers returning from europe, where the government is of the view there is now clear evidence of the beginnings in some areas of a second wave, a second outbreak of coronavirus. based on the figures we have got today, based on the infection rates we have seen today, based on the infection rates we have seen over recent today, based on the infection rates we have seen over recent weeks, which have started to pick up again, they have not gone back to the levels they were in march but they are beginning to pick up again, clearly, there is a nervousness that, you know, i guess at the start of the summer, we thought we were into a lull and we got a breathing

space and we were through the worst of it and things were being eased up and we were going back to pubs and rest once and we could go abroad. there was a slight sense that, hey, we are getting through this but actually, what the latest data seems to show is pretty much what the scientists have warned us about throughout. one, this is going to be a very long haul. two, it is likely that coronavirus will come in waves. i think there is real apprehension in government that we could, as i say, be on the cusp of another wave, here. norman, for the moment, thank you very much. we are going to have a very special chat with norman a little later this hour, so stay with us little later this hour, so stay with us for that. cases are on the rise again through parts of europe, forcing state governments to reconsider restrictions on movement. the belgian government has warned that a second complete lockdown may be needed to prevent a resurgence. our orrespondent nick beake explains.

the belgian government are particularly worried about an uptick in cases. it is 70%, the rise over the past week or so, particularly a concern for the province of antwerp, about an hour's drive to the north. that place has accounted for about half of the new cases. overnight, a cu rfew half of the new cases. overnight, a curfew came in, meaning you could not go out unless you were a key worker or you not go out unless you were a key worker oi’ you are not go out unless you were a key worker or you are going to work. that is the first time they have had a curfew since the second world war so a curfew since the second world war so that gives you an indication of the gravity of the situation here. also in belgium, they have been rolling back some of the restrictions that had been relaxed over the past week or so. if you are looking at the so—called social bubble come here, the number of people outside your house or that you can guarantee has been reduced from 15 down to five. they are desperately trying to get a handle on things. if you look at europe in the broadest sense, it is actually the broadest sense, it is actually the south—eastern organ region which is being affected the most. kosovo —— balkan region. in kosovo, they are saying that hospitals are

already overwhelmed. croatia has seen a already overwhelmed. croatia has seen a number of cases. if you talk about the whole country is impacted by coronavirus rates, the croatian tourism board, there, is saying that actually, places that have become real hotspots, destinations that people across europe have flocked to, they remain safe and it is actually social gatherings in other parts of the country which has affected the overall picture. it is difficult decisions for obviously the tourism industry across europe but crucially for the health officials and for government, trying to keep their people safe but also their visitors safe as well. we have just had a statement from the department of health and social ca re the department of health and social care in the uk, of course, as the government announces the extension of the self isolation period for people with covid symptoms, from seven to ten days. the statement says, "in symptomatic people, covid—i9 is most infectious just before and for the first few days after symptoms begin. it is very important people with symptoms itself isolate and get a test which

will allow contact tracing. evidence, although still limited, has strengthened and shows that people with covid—i9 who are mildly ill and recovering have a low but real possibility of infectiousness between seven and nine days after the onset of illness. we have considered how best to target interventions to reduce risk to the general population, and consider that at this point in the epidemic, with widespread and rapid testing available, and considering the relaxation of other measures, that it is now the correct balance of risk to extend the self isolation period from seven to ten days, for those in the community who have symptoms or a positive test result. u so symptoms or a positive test result. " so that is the government's reasoning behind the extension of the self isolation period from seven to ten days. considering, they say, the balance of risk. the headlines on bbc news...

england has recorded the highest levels of excess deaths in europe — across the first half of the year — according to new figures showing the impact of the coronavirus. officials extend the isolation period for people showing symptoms of covid in the uk from seven to ten days, over fears of rising cases numbers in parts of europe. australia has suffered its worst day since the pandemic began, with rising numbers of both cases and the number of fatalities. a dozen hong kong democracy activists have been disqualified from standing in september's legislative elections. the hong kong government says it supports the decision of the returning officers to ban the candidates. the prominent activistjoshua wong has confirmed that he is one of those who've been disqualified. he says he's been banned despite getting the highest vote share in the primary. it follows the arrest of four hong kong students on wednesday, even though they had recently disbanded their pro—independence group.

let's go to beijing now for reaction from our china correspondent stephen mcdonell. hello to you. tell us more about this decision. it is certainly being seen this decision. it is certainly being seen by many as yet another significant blow to freedoms in hong kong. it has been welcomed by the beijing installed leadership of that city, but officials, returning officers, have decided that at least a dozen of these high—profile pro—democracy candidates are to be disqualified. it includes former student leaderjoshua wong, tiffany demo from the now abandoned demosisto, and demosisto. we have interviewed alvin yeung many times

on the bbc, and he is an existing member of the legislative council, a smart and reasonable person. i think many people in hong kong seeing him disqualified, it sort of seems like an act of desperation away from the probation camp. the excuse being given is that these candidates have not sufficiently shown their dedication to hong kong under the leadership of the mainland chinese government. in a statement from hong kong's leaders, it is not good enough to sort of adhere to the rules in the city, you have to actively embrace the system there, and encourage people to appreciate, i suppose that hong kong is under the central leadership of the communist party, ultimately and that this somehow has to be reflected in the applications for them standing. i don't know how you show your

enthusiasm to a significant level, but these returning officers have said it has not been good enough. a very controversial decision and i think it could be one that is in fa ct think it could be one that is in fact challenged in the courts because these are sort of vague concepts, ideas of loyalty and enthusiasm, supporting a concept. i can see it being challenged. what is more, we could see more of these tomorrow. we are expecting further candidates from the pro—democracy camp to be ruled out of standing. in a way, this is sort of playing with fire in hong kong. the probation government there, they don't only have this new state security law which effectively squashes all opposition to pretty much anything they want to do, certainly in the forms of protesting, chanting, anything like that. now they are saying people can't even stand for election in the local parliament, which is already rigged in their favour. i think there will be a lot of anger favour. i think there will be a lot ofanger in favour. i think there will be a lot of anger in hong kong at this decision and we just have to see how

it pans out in terms of the way people respond. thank you for joining us. australia has recorded its deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic. the state of victoria had more than 700 new infections and 13 deaths in 2a hours, raising the number of deaths from covid—19 across the country to 189. this graph shows how the number of cases in victoria has changed over the last few months. after an early spike in march, the state appeared to have the virus under control. but byjuly, you can see the daily infection rate climbing day by day, reaching today's record of more than 700 new infections. shaimaa khalil is in sydney. it is hitting australia pretty hard, and remember, a little over a month another record high in victoria and another setback for australia, as health workers raced to contain the spread of covid—19. there were hopes

that the outbreak may have peaked on monday with more than 500 infections recorded. but the latest spike in coronavirus numbers has surpassed the previous record by nearly 200 cases. there no lines come here. we are all on the same team and we are all working hard to get this job done but it is very challenging work. authorities have said that many people who have shown symptoms of the virus or are still waiting for test results has been turning up at workplaces, including some who have tested positive for covid—19. the state is also racing to contain more than 80 outbreaks at aged care facilities, which have claimed dozens facilities, which have claimed d oze ns of facilities, which have claimed dozens of lives in the past few weeks. ten of the 13 deaths today we re weeks. ten of the 13 deaths today were in aged care homes. the virus is hitting the most vulnerable in big numbers. this is epping gardens, one of the worst affected aged care facilities in victoria. family members are desperately pleading for more help. from midnight sunday

local time, every person in the whole of the state will be required to wear a mask or face covering when leaving the house. concerns are growing, with more cases appearing in regional victoria. the first australian medical assistance team usually sent into overseas disaster zones is set to start work in supporting health workers and army personnel on the ground. melbourne is halfway into its six week lockdown but with the continuing upsurge of covid—19 places, it is unclear whether this will be enough time to control the outbreak that only seems to be getting worse. the number of rape convictions in england and wales has fallen to a record low, according to figures seen by bbc news. the national police chiefs council says it's getting harder to achieve the standard of evidence required to take cases to court. the crown prosecution service is setting out a five—year strategy to try to improve conviction rates. the proposals include allowing more alleged victims

to pre—record their evidence to avoid having to attend trial. joining me now is the victims commissioner for england and wales, dame vera baird. thank you forjoining us. we will talk about this five year plan on the cps in a moment, but first of all, if you could reflect on this record low in conviction rates and what that means for victims of rape who are considering coming forward to the police and by extension, the cps? the cps figures are shameful and there is no other word to describe it. the victim sector has been pointing to this cut in prosecutions now for over three yea rs. prosecutions now for over three years. the dpp has been in post for 18 months. there was a deliberate policy change in 2016—17, which needs to be changed back because it

has proved disastrous. and that is? they change their policy according toa they change their policy according to a document written by mr mcgill, the dpp's closest adviser, to take out, as he put it, we can cases to increase the conviction rate, that is to say, remove cases that they are not certain will produce a conviction so they're charge a conviction so they're charge a conviction rate looks better. the problem with that is they have stopped prosecuting huge numbers of cases which many people who have seen some cases which many people who have seen some of them think are good all the same in order to try to get that figure so we are now convicting something like 2000 fewer people of rape than we were before that policy decision was taken. so when the director of public prosecutions says to me, as he did earlier today, that the actual cases that are going to court, the conviction rate there is going up, you are saying, look at

the bigger picture because there are lots of cases that should be going to court that aunt? no, convictions have gone down. we have this morning had announced the lowest conviction rate that there has ever been in rape, and the lowest prosecution rate, that is the lowest rate at which the dpp has prosecuted rate ever on record. that is a direct consequence of only taking a few rock—solid cases so there are only a few convictions available. knocking out of the process, as the police are now, accepting the cps have done, cases which they, if they were looking, they might not get past a jury looking, they might not get past a jury because it could contain some kind of rape myths that the woman had had a drink was wearing a short skirt. they have removed so many cases from being prosecuted following this policy, that they are managing to convicted very, very

few, and rape is a serial offence, people carry on doing it until they are stopped. we were prosecuting 3900 people only a very few years ago and we are now prosecuting a very small number indeed. this policy needs to be reversed and it needs to be reversed today and the dpp needs to announce that reversal, otherwise there can be really no confidence in any strategy over five yea rs. confidence in any strategy over five years. which brings me to my next question, do you see any merit in that five year plan to increase the conviction rate? i mean, every little might help but the fact is that the deliberate policy needs to change. we have seen i think, certainly i have come a statement from the national police chiefs council today saying that the police are finding it harder and harder to get the cps to charge cases. their referrals to the cps are steady at

around a000, all the way until after this policy came in, charges started to drop and now of course, the police, who are pressed for staff, are sending fewer through because it isn't worth their while to try to investigate properly since they know the cps won't charge. the police have said that today and that is very strong evidence indeed of what iam saying. very strong evidence indeed of what i am saying. so we need that reversal of that policy to be formally announced and then we can look at whether there is anything in this strategy over five years. i have to say the policy they implemented has collapsed the rape prosecutions in two years so i don't know why the strategy thinks it will ta ke know why the strategy thinks it will take this long to put it right. we need change now. rape complainants are being let down. thank you for joining us. more bad news in the business world this morning as the impact of the coronavirus pandemic continues to be felt. oil giant shell took a loss

in the second quarter of the year after being forced to write down the value of the oil in its fields last month. french carmaker renault reported its biggest half—year loss ever on thursday, with revenue slashed by a third. and airbus has today announced net losses of $2.2 billion in the first six months after a two—fold drop in aircraft delivery. our business presenter ben thompson joins us. we talk about a dip. we seem to be heading downwards into this tip with no signs of any recovery yet. —— into this dip. yes, once again it. me to be the bearer of bad news from the business world but as you said, we are getting evidence of what the covid—19 pandemic really means for business and how they may respond. i'm going to rattle through them because as you outline, there's quite a lot of numbers out this morning from base business, starting with news from airbus, —— are big

business, starting with airbus, which can't deliver the aircraft it made and people had ordered because it simply cannot fly them to the places they need to go. but also because many airlines around the world a re because many airlines around the world are looking at the state of the travel market right now and saying, "hang on, maybe we don't need as many aircraft as we did previously". they have reported a 39% full in revenues. deliveries we re 39% full in revenues. deliveries were down 50% on the same time last year and the crucial thing to remember here is that airbus does not get paid until it has dropped off the plane in the place that wa nts off the plane in the place that wants it. they have been tipped to a loss of 1.9 billion euros. they have also told us over the last week or so also told us over the last week or so that they will lay off 15,000 staff in an attempt to try to balance the books. but you also touched on shell as well and again, unsurprisingly, oil prices around the world have slumped because demand from cars, for travel and factories is all fallen off a cliff. it has meant the price they can charge for a barrel of oil has also

fallen significantly. recently, down toa21 fallen significantly. recently, down to a 21 year low. shell reported a net loss of £1a billion. they say the prospect of oil gaining in price over the next few years is pretty slow and sluggish. lastly, we are talking about an average of $6a per barrel, today it is about $35. they don't expect it to get anywhere above that for quite a while to come. again, they are midway through a cost—cutting programme to try to balance the books. and renault, the car—maker, part of an alliance with nissan and mitsubishi, all of them facing well—documented problems. we know nissan earlier this week announcing a record loss, and this time it is the turn of renault, a loss of 6.5 berlin pounds. that is quite some people —— six 5p because they factories have been closed and they factories have been closed and the consumer is feeling a bit more nervous about whether they will have another paycheque and whether we wa nt to another paycheque and whether we want to be splashing out on a new car right now given all of the

uncertainty. it is also worth bearing in mind as well from car producers right now, they are trying to look at the state of global trade in the coming few months, not least brexit, one issue particularly for uk car—makers right now, will ta riffs uk car—makers right now, will tariffs be imposed on cars made in this country or parts imported from elsewhere? but equally, they are looking at where the demand might be and given everything that is going on in the global economy and the prospect of a global recession, car—makers particularly are worried and this is a bit of a perfect storm, as we start to change our habits away from petrol and diesel engines towards electric vehicles. they are trying to work out what the market looks like. there is so much uncertainty which means their bottom line is really taking a battering. thank you forjoining us. some hospital trusts in england have told the bbc‘s panorama programme that 75% of the patients they discharged into care homes from early march to mid—april, weren't tested for coronavirus. in all, 25,000 people were moved at the height of the pandemic — a policy described by some mps as reckless.

alison holt has more. this is eachstep blackley, a specialist dementia home on the outskirts of manchester. and i'll just check your temperature. through the height of the pandemic, panorama followed staff, residents and families here. it only takes one minor slip, like, to get covid in the next room or for someone to have contact. nearly half of the home's 55 residents showed signs of the virus, and nine died. as in many care homes, they felt the government saw them as an afterthought. it makes me feel angry, because they should have protected us. they should have, you know? from day one. the nhs, yeah, rightly they get protected, but so should all the care homes. every care home. most of the care providers that panorama has contacted felt pressurised to take untested patients from hospitals, and that it was difficult to get health support in homes. i love that one.

where he's in the garden, both with their wellies on. brian was one of blackley‘s residents who died with the virus. his death was difficult and his family would have liked the home to have more medical support in his final hours. i know they were very busy in the hospitals, but they should have had someone to be there in the homes to help them, even if it's only to go and give them advice. local authorities pay the fees of most of the residence here, and the boss of the charity that runs blackley says coronavirus has made the need for reform of the whole care system crystal clear. you can't have a disconnected health and social care system. it has to change. it cannot be left to local authorities whose budgets are being cut. and they then have to think about who gets care and who doesn't, and they haven't got the money to pay what takes. we have to decide how important our elderly and our vulnerable people are.

the government says social care was not an afterthought, that homes have had extra funding and extensive help as well as access to comprehensive health services. alison holt, bbc news. and viewers in the uk can watch bbc panorama: the forgotten frontline, on bbc one at 9pm tonight. doctors at the harare central hospital in zimbabwe have confirmed that seven babies were stillborn on monday night, after urgent treatment was delayed due to staffing issues. nurses are on strike nationwide due to a lack of personal protective equipment, amid other concerns. our reporter shingai nyoka reports from harare. viewers made find some of the following images distressing. a deeply disturbing picture is emerging about the conditions within government hospitals, like the one behind me, especially within the maternity wards.

zimba bwe's hospitals are caught up in a pandemic. the impact felt far beyond those suffering from coronavirus. photographs suggest that, in a single night this week, seven babies died, all stillborn. their mothers were waiting for urgent caesarean sections, but the ward was understaffed. this was the ward in happier, pre—covid times. now doctors have told the bbc that there are many horror stories and that this is just the tip of the iceberg. they say this is repeated every day and all they can do is watch the children die. nurses have been on strike for weeks now, protesting against poor wages and working conditions and its left expectant mothers and newborns largely unattended. nurses earn as little as 30 us dollars a month. negotiations with government have broken down. they insist they need

500 us dollars a month. we feel the government has to prioritise areas like health, especially in this era of covid. we have seen a lot of things being done by government. government should do, should scale down the things that they do, like the buying of cars. and amidst a shortage of protective equipment, he says 300 nurses have tested positive for covid. the health sector crisis as part of a broader economic one. inflation is hovering over 700% and the majority of people are unemployed. and amidst rising covid figures, the public outrage has only heightened political tensions. the government accuses the opposition, as well as western embassies, of exploiting the economic crisis to foment unrest and it's about to put down anti—corru ption protests planned for friday. shingai nyoka, bbc news, harare. the chinese tech firm huawei has overtaken samsung to become

the world's biggest seller of mobile phones. an industry report shows huawei shipped almost 59 million phones in the second quarter of 2020, five million more than its south korean rival — that's despite a global slump in phone sales as a result of the coronavirus, and sanctions from the us over fears the company is too close to the beijing government. two—thirds of huawei's sales are now in china. karishma vaswani has more from singapore. you've got to remember the reason why huawei has been so successful at selling its smartphones this particular quarter. it's precisely because the fact that growth at home, in its main market in china, is what's helping to boost smartphone sales for the company. and i think that's a reflection of the fact that the pandemic began in china first and china is now first to recover from those lockdowns, you are starting to see some degree of consumption data

picking up there, the economy is looking like it's seeing a patchy, uneven recovery, in comparison to other parts of the world, which is why rivals like samsung, for instance, whose main markets are places like brazil or india, for instance, hasn't seen such a strong sales this quarter. but analysts point out, even in this industry report, that there is, you know, bump for huawei might not well be something that is long—lasting because other countries will start to recover soon and, in a sense, huawei's main basket is china and if you are just focused on that one market, no matter how big it is, it's not going to be something that's going to pull you through in the long run. and that's the concern for huawei, notjust in its smartphone sales but also in regards to 5g, because, increasingly, countries are being forced to choose, companies are being forced to choose between huawei, which is seen as backed by the chinese government, although both beijing and huawei

have consistently denied this, and feeling the pressure from the united states to choose companies in developing 5g technology that aren't chinese, so it is a very difficult time for the chinese company, but it's done remarkably well when it comes to selling smartphones in china. a multi billion dollar effort to bring rock samples from mars back to earth, gets under way today, as nasa launches its latest rover. the six—wheeled robot, called perseverance, is tasked with deploying a mini helicopter, testing out equipment for future human missions and searching for traces of past life. rebecca morelle reports. getting ready for mars — the final tests for the most advanced rover that nasa's ever built before it heads to the red planet. it will be collecting samples of martian rocks from an area that was once a river bed, and the hope is it will

answer the key question — was there ever a life on mars? we now know mars had an enormous amount of water in its past. if ancient life was on mars, we have a good bet that we might be able to find it in these sediments. so this is really a life detection mission. the rock samples will be stored and brought back to earth on a future mission. but this mission is also taking something back to mars — a piece of martian meteorite. it's from the natural history museum's collection. it blasted off the surface of the red planet more than half a million years ago. now, it's heading home. we really know what meteorite is made from, we can use it to compare that meteorite with the new rocks, that unknown rocks that we're looking at for the first time on mars and see how similar or different they are. also on board is a miniature mars helicopter that, for the first time, will attempt to fly in the extremely thin martian atmosphere.

nasa wants to test this technology forfuture missions. america's spacecrafts is the last of the trio heading to the red planet. china and the united arab emirates are already on their way. if they all succeed, it will mean a giant leap in our understanding of mars. rebecca morelle, bbc news. the guinness world records has honoured indian mathematician shakuntala devi — described as the human computer — after nearly four decades. shakuntala devi entered the records for the fastest human computation after successfully multiplying two randomly selected 13—digit numbers at imperial college in london in 21 seconds in the 1980s. but she wasn't presented with a certificate at the time. this week her daughter, who is based in london, received the certificate. it comes ahead of a film on her life, which is being released worldwide on amazon prime tomorrow. before we speak to

the star of the film, one of bollywood's biggest actors, vidya balan, and shakuntala devi s daughter anupama banerji, lets take a glimpse of the film. 891. how do you do it? 923. how are you doing this? how? 2773730. miss devi just made it to the guinness book of world records! i was correct, the computer was wrong! and that's why they named you to human computer! joining me from mumbai is the star of the film vidya balan and also, i'm joined by the daughter of the mathematician shakuntala devi, the film is based on, anupama banerji. she is based in west london. thank you both very much for talking to us on bbc news, to both our uk and global audiences today. what was it like to tell the story of

s ha ku nta la it like to tell the story of sha ku ntala devi's life it like to tell the story of shakuntala devi's life in film? she was a household name in india, wasn't she? 0h, absolutely, but u nfortu nately, wasn't she? 0h, absolutely, but unfortunately, when the director first came to me i didn't know too much about her besides the fact she was known as the human computer the world over and was in the guinness book of world records. i began to research her and realised she left the most —— led the most fascinating life. years ago she led the life that even today women would covet. i feel very inspired by her. now that my film is due to release in less than 12 hours, i still like this is my tribute to her. and what is it like to see your mother's life portrayed on film and indeed you feature in the film as well. that must be a strange experience?m says, may being portrayed, it is,

yes, it definitely is a very strange experience. but what's interesting is how my mother has been portrayed, because the world over she has always been called the human computer. they didn't really, you know, they didn't really know about the other things, but other aspects in herlife, the other things, but other aspects in her life, which were so interesting. so yes, the movie is a biopic, and it's got a bit more as well. and tell us more about this lovely story about the presentation of the certificate, the guinness world records certificate? can you ta ke world records certificate? can you take up the story of how this happened, video? yeah. we realised she hadn't received a certificate at the time that she made it to the guinness book of records, which was a0 yea rs guinness book of records, which was a0 years ago, in 1980. and that was a bit surprising for us. i was sharing it with the rest of my team when i find it. amazon decided to

get in touch with the guinness book of records team and asked them if she could be presented with a certificate now, because it's something that she must have. and i'm so glad it worked out and, you know, she is going to be given the certificate. it's something i am sure she will cherish forever. you haven't received the certificate yet, is that right? i have, actually. you've got it. fantastic. that must be lovely and very special through this process of the film being made, that you have got this to treasure now, haven't you? oh, it's amazing. and i think she would have loved this kind of recognition if she was here. i'm sure she is happy. it's fantastic. i could show you the certificate. yes, please do. we would love to see it. it looks like you have got it right beside you. that's right. it's right here. can you see it? yes. the writing is

not entirely clear. perhaps you can tell us what it says. sure. it says, the fastest human computation is 28 seconds and was achieved by s ha ku nta la seconds and was achieved by sha ku ntala devi, seconds and was achieved by shakuntala devi, india, who successfully multiply two randomly selected 13 digit numbers at imperial college london, uk, on the 18th ofjune imperial college london, uk, on the 18th of june 1980. imperial college london, uk, on the 18th ofjune 1980. that's wonderful. we are almost out of time. but your research will have shown you, no doubt, that sha ku ntala research will have shown you, no doubt, that shakuntala devi had no formal education. her gift, she called it god's gift, was absolutely remarkable? no, absolutely. it is mind—boggling that so summary who did not have formal education went on to become —— called the human computer. she wrote books on a variety of subjects and has accomplished so much in life. it's a story that inspires me. and will undoubtedly inspire generations to

come. thank you both. thank you so much. pleasure. thank you. and now for some breaking news — our assistant political editor norman smith has decided he wants to spend more time walking his dog lexie, and so today is his last day on the bbc news channel. there have been many warm words since he announced the words on —— the news on twitter earlier. mycolleague mccoy tweeted: this is the worst news for viewers and listeners. he was alluding to norman's daily appearance on the today programme on

radio four. and another from victoria derbyshire. and hejoins us now. iamjust i am just going to echo all of those coming tos and then some. i don't know what you want to go and spend more time walking your dog. there's so more time walking your dog. there's so much politics. maybe you've had your fill of so much politics. maybe you've had yourfill of it? so much politics. maybe you've had your fill of it? i really can't spend the rest of my life prattling on about politics on this balcony. it's time i went out there and had a look at the big wide world out there. it does involve going on some decent walks with the hand. first off, iam decent walks with the hand. first off, i am going to be walking saint cuthbert‘s way, a five—day war between the border town of melrose and the holy islands. me and the hand will be spending some time tramping along there. but i've had an amazing glass. it's been great.

it's just been an amazing glass. it's been great. it'sjust been huge, huge fun, and a massive privilege. just working with so massive privilege. just working with so many talented people, but being able to broadcast to people watching the bbc, which isjust one huge, huge privilege, which one should never forget. norman, we were chatting in the newsroom this morning about how we would best show off some of your most memorable moments to our viewers. there have been many. and certainly lots of memorable moments in recent years. but we found one from the 23rd of march, 2016, when i was interviewing you. let's look. let's talk to our system political editor, norman smith, who has been listening to what's going on at pmqs. you might want to explain what the xiaoting is in the background? yeah, there is probably more action going on out here than there is in the chamber. a protest by a number of disability protesters inside central lobby because of their anger... i'm sorry? you have to

stop. you can't film of this going on in the background. why not? it's pa rt of on in the background. why not? it's part of the rules and conditions. 0k, part of the rules and conditions. ok, as you can see we are not allowed to film here. i will have to terminate this broadcast. dealt with with aplomb, as always, norman. what are your memories of that and what other highlights would you pick out? i wasjust relieved. i had a terrible fear you are going to run the clip of me calling nigel farage a completely unmentionable name. you didn't, thank you, thank you! well, it is your last day, we will let you off with that. he took it in good humour. someone he didn't ta ke it in good humour. someone he didn't take anything in such good humour was robin cook, whom i interviewed after he resigned over the iraq war. we were sitting down, we had the camera up we were sitting down, we had the camera up and we we were sitting down, we had the camera up and we were we were sitting down, we had the camera up and we were going to do the interview and he said to me,

norman, make sure you get my best side. and i said to him, robin, you don't have a best side. i have to say there was a bit of a sense of humourfailure there, say there was a bit of a sense of humour failure there, perhaps understandable given he had just made this monumental speech and resigned over the iraq war. they have been so many scribes and scraps. it's been great fun. you've talked about the walking, norman. can we expect to see you broadcasting or writing about politics, or talking about politics in some form in the future? you know, i am going to be utterly selfish, i'm afraid. and i am going to come up for the foreseeable future, do me. because one of the things about politicaljournalism is it kind of squeezes the life out of you, particularly this kind of work because politics is just so intense now. a blizzard of information continually coming at you. tweets and e—mails and texts and what's up. it never stops. what it does is it just squeezes out your other life.

so all the things i used to do, and i used to do other things, have all been pushed to the site and all my friends, i've had so many times when i've had to say, sorry, i can't come out, i will have to cancel that weekend, and my long, long suffering family, they have all borne the brunt of this job. so honestly, family, they have all borne the brunt of thisjob. so honestly, i am going to do me and them for the foreseeable future. we'll see how that goes. that sounds fabulous. i hope you have an amazing time doing you. and spending all that time together. from all of us in the newsroom , together. from all of us in the newsroom, lots of love, a massive virtual hug. we will miss you on our screens in the mornings. norman, all the best, take care. thank you very much. very kind of you. there's a warning that a quarter of britain's native mammals are now at risk of extinction. they've been added to the uk's first official red list — a review of species including hedgehogs, red squirrels

and water voles. the report, put together by the charity, the mammal society, calls for urgent action. here s our science correspondent, victoria gill. familiar characters becoming increasingly rare sights. while the uk is increasingly rare sights. while the ukisa increasingly rare sights. while the uk is a natural home for dozens of mammals, including red squirrels, dormice and hedgehogs, many of those species are in danger of disappearing. this first red list of threatened species put together by the conservation charity the mammal society, has shown that a quarter of all the uk's native mammals are under threat of extension. so what we have done is a really comprehensive review. all the evidence we have available on things like how big the populations are, how isolated those populations are, they have —— where we have drawn this together to come up with this list of 11 of our a7 native species, being classified as threatened imminently.

and what this is clearly saying is we need to be acting right now. we don't, we can't carry on with the current trajectory. different animals face different threats. the now critically endangered scottish wildcat population has not recovered from decades of persecution. for the red squirrel, disease and competition from the introduced grey squirrels have driven its decline. but something conservation scientists agree on is that we need to leave more wild space for these species to recover. there are pockets of good habitat, like this red squirrel reserve in formby, but that's exactly what this is. this is an isolated pocket of good, natural habitat for red squirrels. and what conservationists say we need is for that to be a connected network of wild space across the landscape. here's my little foxy loxy. during lockdown, many people shared pictures and video on social media of animal encounters in quite urban settings. now scientists say we need to find sustainable ways to share our environment

with nature. victoria gill, bbc news. you are watching bbc news. martine croxall will be here to take you through to one o'clock. now it is time for the weather. good morning. for those of you holidaying at home so far this month it has been an underwhelming july weather wise. it has been cooler than normal, certainly cooler than recent yea rs. than normal, certainly cooler than recent years. it is a bit wet over north—east england and wales and not as much sunshine. that will change temporarily for tomorrow. all are linked to heat building across france today. temperatures above a0 degrees towards the southend west. that he'd brought it the sun are developing so that he brought towards the sun are developing southerly wind for friday. a bit of a north— south split today. a wet

start in northern england. brightening up this afternoon. another set of rain pushing through northern ireland into mainland scotland. driest of all in the far north—east. temperatures across scotla nd north—east. temperatures across scotland and northern ireland sitting in the teens. from the m62 southwards, temperatures in the mid to high 20s. the warmth will eventually work its way northwards tonight. the rain eventually clearing from all but shetland as we go into tomorrow morning. temperatures will be falling away as much as they have done, despite all of us staying in double figures, 16 to 17 degrees in central london. a warm start when the sun gets up. cloud and outbreaks of rain will spread into northern ireland during the day, there will be isolated thunderstorms in england and wales later. most will be dry and sunny for the bulk of the day. it is this when we see the peak of the one—day heatwave. always cooler in northern

ireland, outbreaks of rain. as we finish the day the chance of a few thunderstorms breaking out in central and eastern england and central and eastern england and central scotland. many places will stay dry. it will clear through friday night into saturday. saturday these weak weather fronts will push away. they will introduce the air back off the atlantic. a fresher day on saturday. heavy overnight rain in the north—east of scotland. then it isa the north—east of scotland. then it is a day of sunshine and showers, shower is mainly in the north—west. a few towards the south and east. warm in the sunshine. in many western areas, temperatures back to if not a little bit below where we should be for this stage of the year. into sunday sunshine and showers once again. more of you will stay drier and cooler.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. england recorded the highest levels of excess deaths in europe across the first half of the year, according to new figures showing the impact of the coronavirus. new guidance for people showing symptoms of covid: officials extend the isolation period in the uk from 7 to ten days over fears of rising cases numbers in parts of europe. australia suffers its worst day since the pandemic began, with rising numbers of both cases and fatalities. in hong kong, china's clamp—down continues as 12 opposition candidates are disqualified from standing in the upcoming selections. prosecutors respond to a record low in convictions for rape cases in england and wales, saying they want the conviction rate to increase. a quarter of britain's native

mammals, including red squirrels and hedgehogs, are now at risk of extinction, with an urgent call for action to prevent their loss. and, a multi—billion—dollar, decade—long project to bring rock samples from mars to earth prepares to blast off in an attempt to answer whether there has ever been life on mars. hello and welcome if you re the world ? and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. in the past half an hour, the office for national statistics in the uk has released figures comparing death rates across europe during the coronavirus pandemic for the first time. it shows that england had the highest level of excess mortality in europe for the weeks from 2a

february to 1ajune. and the uk had the second highest peak of excess deaths after spain, but england had the most overall because it was spread out over a longer time. it comes as people with coronavirus symptoms in the uk — a new continous cough, high temperature or loss of taste or smell — are being told to self—isolate for 10 days, not seven. others in the household are told to self—isolate for 1a days. earlier ben humberstone, from the office for national statistics, explained those statistics comparing death rates. the figures show the uk had the second—highest peak of excess deaths, or excess mortality, during the pandemic period after spain. and, within that, england had the highest rate, followed by scotland and then wales, and northern ireland had relatively low rates of excess deaths over that period. but the pattern is really complex,

so what we've seen, for example, in italy and spain, which were the other countries really heavily affected by covid—19, was that in their regions, they had a very localised pandemic, so the impact in the regions of northern italy and central spain were much higher than anything we saw in the uk. but in the uk, it was a much wider spread, so we saw excess deaths from cornwall to shetland and everywhere in between. it is important to note that the pandemic is not over yet and we will continue to do this analysis to see what happens. what we have seen for example in the uk over the last few weeks are rates of deaths below what we would normally see in these weeks of the year. so that will have an impact and we'll bring figures into line. the other important point to note is that although the uk at the peak of the pandemic did not see

the highest rates of deaths. the pandemic and the effect on excess deaths did last slightly longer in the uk, which pushed up that total number of deaths. i'm joined now by the bbc‘s head of statistics, robert cuffe. robert, let's go back to the beginning of this. what is a death rate? how is it calculated? what do these figures look at? well we are looking at the number of deaths in the uk in a number of different ways for the entire pandemic and it is different to what we hear about everyday in the daily briefings, for example. this is looking at all deaths in the uk, irrespective of what caused them, it doesn't matter, irrespective of what is on the death certificate, it doesn't matter, we are looking at patterns. the pattern isa are looking at patterns. the pattern is a really predictable and we can see that if we show the data from the uk to the audience. welcome back to this in a second actually. this

shows the overall results. so once we go through all the analysis, we see that england is the hardest hit amongst the nations, but what we have seen is that death rates are generally electable and huge spikes we've seen in recent weeks, we tribute to the pandemic, even if somebody hasn't tested positive for covid. it's a quick turnaround. so, we have seen that big spike there that we have seen, in spain and the difference between spain and the uk is that many countries have seen is kind of spikes and spain's is the worst in europe, that peak was the sharpest for them compared anywhere else. but the uk has had different overall death rates, because it took longer to come down. so it didn't go quite as high, but it took a very long time to come down, which is why overall death rates in england in particularly, but in the uk is a whole, look so bad. this analysis is

adding to what we have seen before was not not just adding to what we have seen before was not notjust because it is not really tied down by the definition of what is a covid—19 death, but also because the office for national statistics has analysed this and said, what deaths would we expect not just said, what deaths would we expect notjust on said, what deaths would we expect not just on the said, what deaths would we expect notjust on the basis of the last few years but on the edge of the population? so they are looking at the differences between countries and so we can be more confident in what they say. so, this is the period from february tojune. the peak wasn't until... so how might england fare if we take a longer period of time. because we still have daily fatalities. well, what we're seeing now, spain is a really good way to show this, what we're seeing now in many countries, even though we have still seen covid deaths, shown by the red areas in this chart, we are not increasing the death rates above what we would expect, the dashed line across the middle of the figure is what we would expect to see on the basis of the past five years and so, at the

moment, the deaths we are seeing aren't adding to that excess total. now because, we are not through the epidemic yet. we are seeing infections arise in spain and across europe and so it is possible that death rates could rise again in a very dramatic way, as they did in april and march, but we aren't there yet, so this is looking at that first period, the first wave as it were, and saying, how do countries compare across that period? and as you saw from the bar chart, the uk and england are among the hardest hit, spain is next and spain is in third place —— scotland is in third place. robert, thank you very much. people who test positive for coronavirus or show symptoms in the uk must now self—isolate for 10 days. the change, announced by the uk's four chief medical officers, comes as ministers try to avoid a resurgence of the virus. earlier, health secretary matt hancock explained why the changes were necessary well, the chief medical officer is going to set out more details later today on the question of, for those

who test positive, how long they need to self—isolate for. as the science on this has been developing, and also because we want to take a precautionary approach to make sure that we can keep people in this country as safe as possible. we can see, sadly, a second wave of coronavirus that is starting to roll across europe. there's many european countries whose cases, number of cases is going up again. we want to do everything we possibly can to protect people here and protect people from that wave reaching our shores. we have been constantly learning throughout this crisis. you know, there has not been a pandemic like this before and this disease, we didn't even know about it until the end of december, and we didn't identify it

as a coronavirus untiljanuary. so we are constantly learning all the way through this. and as we see things change, so we will change what the country needs to do. this is true, for instance, of the data that we are seeing in europe, where we are seeing, you know, countries that did have a very, very low rate of new cases, that rate is starting to rise and in some cases, quite sharply. and so i think that, you know, people, i know for a fact that the vast majority of people understand that we are dealing with a virus that is completely new and that we are doing a huge amount of scientific research into it. we are looking at what happens in all other countries around the world and then we are taking the best decisions that we possibly can to keep people here safe. that is how we approach it. we are much less interested in the, you know, "who did what, when" sorts questions.

we are much more interested in what can we do to keep people safe. with me is our health correpsondent lauren moss. also i'm joined by our assistant political editor norman smith. so, lauren. a change in the isolation period, an extension of it as well. yes, throughout the pandemic in the uk, the advice has been that if you develop coronavirus symptoms, high temperature, a new continuous car for symptoms, high temperature, a new continuous carfor a symptoms, high temperature, a new continuous car for a recent loss of sense of taste or smell, then you self—isolate at home for up to seven days and anyone living with you, their isolation period is 1a days. but the chief medical officer's fur the uk have updated that advice and are advising anyone who tests positive for the virus or has the symptoms to stay at home for ten days. that is because there is a strengthening, although limited, but strengthening, although limited, but strengthening evidence to suggest

that people may be able to transmit the virus for up to nine days after they have become ill. most people are able to transmit the virus a couple of days before they get ill. and then in the first few days of when they have the symptoms, when they are coughing, sneezing and that sort of thing. but it was initially thought that it could be seven days that they are most able to pass on, but it's now been extended up to nine days, so ten days the changing advice. even if you only have mild symptoms. what about the rest of your household? that stays the same. for example, if i were to have symptoms, anyone i live with that have to isolate for 1a days, where is my isolation period would be ten days and if somebody else in my household were to become unwell, that period would become ten days of the onset of their symptoms. so it is an increase of three days for the person who has become unwell, but still 1a for the rest of thy salt household. the bho updated their...

plus an additional three after their symptoms have abated, so this brings us more symptoms have abated, so this brings us more into line with what the world health organization says. lauren, thank you very much. let's speak to norman smith is westminster. norman, how does the government to get people to comply? it is going to be difficult when people have started to think that they can go out and about more, life is returning to something approximate a normal, not exactly normal. i think there is an issue because the messaging, two or three weeks ago from the prime minister is that hopefully will be back to near normality by christmas and the direction of travel was an easing of the lockdown, you can go into shops, restau ra nts, the lockdown, you can go into shops, restaurants, pubs, holidays. things seemed to be... you seem to be getting through it. now, there is a real sense of the brakes beginning to go on. we saw that with the quick

quarantine imposed in spain, luxembourg as well, there may be similar restrictions imposed on people returning from there, belgium as well, there have been restrictions imposed in leicester but in oldham as well and now this extension of the self isolation period. it seems to me that the real apprehension is that what is happening in the rest of europe may in time happen here. to some extent, thatis in time happen here. to some extent, that is the story of coronavirus. we have tended to follow what has emerged in mainland europe and in mainland europe, according to the prime minister, there are definite cases where it seems the pandemic is beginning to bubble up again, beginning to bubble up again, beginning of a second wave, so of course, there is a wariness that we could be facing another wave this summerand could be facing another wave this summer and that would tie in with pretty much what the scientists have a lwa ys pretty much what the scientists have always said which is that this will ta ke always said which is that this will

take time, a lot of time, and there will be successive waves and we could now be on the cusp of one of those waves over summer. but the government was accused of lifting restrictions too soon and the people who thought that could say, see? this is what we meant. yes, it's a judgment call really. against that is the profound worries about what is the profound worries about what is going to happen to the economy, to people's jobs, to is going to happen to the economy, to people'sjobs, to getting kids back into school and you have to make an assessment of, can you negotiate a middle way? i think the fear must be that as we get to the latest date, suggesting that infections are picking up again here, that really will compound a sense of nervousness, reluctance, hesitation on the part of many people to come back into city centres, to return to their offices and send their children back to school and so that some are opening

up, it seems to me that that becomes much more fragile as to whether that will actually now happen. norman, thank you very much. the headlines on bbc news... england has recorded the highest levels of excess deaths in europe — across the first half of the year — according to new figures showing the impact of the coronavirus officials extend the isolation period for people showing symptoms of covid in the uk — from 7 to ten days — over fears of rising cases numbers in parts of europe. australia has suffered its worst day since the pandemic began — with rising numbers of both cases and the number of fatalities a dozen hong kong democracy activists have been disqualified from standing in september's legislative elections. this the hong kong government says it supports the decision of the returning officers to ban the candidates. the prominent activistjoshua wong has confirmed that he is one of those who've been disqualified.

he says he's been banned despite getting the highest vote share in the primary. it follows the arrest of four hong kong students on wednesday, even though they had recently disbanded their pro—independence group. the civic party has seen four of its candidates disqualified from standing in the election. its leader alan leong has been giving a press conference. after this very naked attempt to weed out any dissenting voice from the legislative council, we have no illusion that the central people's government and the hong kong sar government would honour their promises under the sino—britishjoint declaration, under basic law. our china correspondent stephen mcdonell explained what's behind the move. the excuse being given is that these

candidates haven't sufficiently shown their dedication to hong kong under the leadership of the mainland chinese government. in a statement from hong kong's leaders, it is not good enoughjust from hong kong's leaders, it is not good enough just to sort of idea to the rules in the city, you have to somehow or other actively embrace the system there and encourage people to appreciate, i suppose, that hong kong is under the central leadership of the communist party and ultimately, and that this somehow or other has to be reflected in their applications from standing. now, i don't know how you show your enthusiasm to a significant level, but these returning officers have said that it hasn't been good enough. a very controversial decision and i think that it could be one that is in fact challenged in the court because these are sort of vague concepts, ideas of loyalty and

enthusiasm, supporting a concept, so ican enthusiasm, supporting a concept, so i can see it being challenged. what's more, we scots see more of these tomorrow, we are expecting further candidates. now, in a way, they are playing with fire in hong kong because the pro—beijing government there, not only have this new state security law which effectively squashes all opposition to pretty much anything that they wa nt to to pretty much anything that they want to do, certainly in the form of protest in, chanting, anything like that. now, they are saying, what, people can't even stand for election in the local parliament? which is already rigged in their favour. in the local parliament? which is already rigged in theirfavour. so, i think there will be a lot of anger in hong kong at this decision and we will just have in hong kong at this decision and we willjust have to see how it pans out in terms of the way people respond. some breaking news now. chris

patten, who oversaw the final years of administration in the colony of hong kong before it transferred to china has been speaking and he said what has been happening in hong kong is an outrageous purge of politics there. the chinese ambassdor to the uk has been speaking in the past ten minutes. he said he regretted that the country's relationship with the uk has run into a series of difficulties and criticised the uk's stance on hong kong. there has been planted interference from the uk and hong kong affairs, which are internal affairs of china. including accusations against the national security law of hong kong sar. changes to policy... the suspension of extradition treaty with hong kong. these moves have seriously interrupted the stability

and prosperity of hong kong. the chinese ambassador to the uk there. more bad news in the business world this morning as the impact of the coronavirus pandemic continues to be felt. oil giant shell took a loss in the second quarter of the year after being forced to write down the value of the oil in its fields last month. french automaker renault reported its biggest half—year loss ever on thursday, with revenue slashed by a third and airbus has today announced net losses of 2.2 billion dollars in the first six months after a two—fold drop in aircraft delivery. earlier, i spoke to our business presenter ben thompson. we are getting evidence of what the covid—19 pandemic really means for business and how they may respond. i'm going to rattle through them because as you've outlined, there are quite a lot of numbers there this morning from big business. starting with that news from airbus, and airbus's problem is that it has not been able to deliver the aircraft that it had made and that people had ordered and that is because it simply can't fly them to the places that they need to get to.

but also because many airlines around the world are looking at the state of the travel market right now and saying, hang on, maybe we don't need as many aircraft as previously we did. so they have reported a 39% fall in revenues, their deliveries were down 50% on the same time last year and the crucial thing to remember here is that airbus doesn't get paid until it has dropped off that plane in a place that wants it, so they have been tipped to a loss of 1.9 billion euros. they have also told us over the past week or so that they will lay off 15,000 staff in an attempt to try to balance their books. but you also touched on shell as well and again, unsurprising, oil prices around the world have slumped and that is because demand for cars, for travel, the factories, has all fallen off a cliff and it is meant that the price that they can charge for a barrel of oil has also fallen significantly. just recently, down at 21 year lows.

so for shell, it means that they reported a net loss of 1a billion pounds and they say the prospect of oil gaining in price over the next years is pretty slow and sluggish. last year, we are talking about an average of $6a a barrel. today, it is about $35, so they don't expect it to get anywhere above that for quite a while to come. they, again, midway through a cost—cutting programme to try and balance the books there as well. and renault, the car—maker, it is part of an alliance with renault, nissan and mitsubishi, all of them facing well—documented problems. we know that nissan early this week announced a record loss, this time it is the turn of renault, a loss of £6.5 billion. that is quite simply because their factories have been closed and we as consumers are all feeling a bit more nervous about whether we will have a next paycheque, whether we want to be splashing out on a new car right now, given all the uncertainty. it is also worth bearing in mind as well that the car produces, they are trying to look at the state

of global trade over the coming few months, not least brexit, one issue particularly for uk car—makers right now, will tariffs be imposed on cars made in this country or parts that are imported from elsewhere? but equally, they are looking at where the demand might be and given everything that is going on with the global economy and the prospect of a global recession, car—makers are particularly worried and this, of course, is a bit of a perfect storm as we start to change our habits away from petrol and diesel engines towards electric vehicles. they are trying to work out what the market looks like. there is so much uncertainty and that means there bottom line is really taking a battering. australia has recorded its deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic. the state of victoria had more than 700 new infections and 1a deaths in 2a hours, raising the number of deaths from covid—19 across the country to 190. this graph shows how the number of cases in victoria has changed over the last few months. after an early spike in march the state appeared to have the virus under control.

but byjuly you can see the daily infection rate climbing day by day — reaching today's record of more than 700 new infections. shaimaa khalil is in sydney. another record high in victoria and another setback for australia, as health workers race to contain the spread of covid—19. another record high in victoria and another setback for australia, as health workers race to contain the spread of covid—19. there were hopes that the outbreak may have peaked on monday with more than 500 infections recorded. but the latest spike in coronavirus numbers has surpassed the previous record by nearly 200 cases. there's no lines come here. there are 9998 cases in the victorian community. authorities have said that many people who have shown symptoms of the virus or are still waiting for test results have been turning up at workplaces, including some who have tested positive for covid—19.

if you are positive, you need to be at home and you need to be isolating. that is a very important message. the state is also racing to contain more than 80 outbreaks at aged care facilities, which have claimed dozens of lives in the past few weeks. ten of the 13 deaths today were in aged care homes. the virus is hitting the most vulnerable in big numbers. this is epping gardens, one of the worst affected aged care facilities in victoria. family members are desperately pleading for more help. they are getting neglected. it's so sad. get them out of the room, get them toa sad. get them out of the room, get them to a safe place. get them to hospital. please, help. from midnight sunday local time, every person in the whole of the state will be required to wear a mask or face covering when leaving the house. as concerns are growing, with more cases appearing in regional victoria, the first australian medical assistance team usually sent into overseas disaster zones is set

to start work in supporting health workers and army personnel on the ground. melbourne is halfway into its six week lockdown but with the continuing upsurge of covid—19 cases, it is unclear whether this will be enough time to control the outbreak that only seems to be getting worse. sophie scott is the abcs national medical reporter, and shejoins me now from sydney. thanks for being with us here. we heard there in that report that despite showing symptoms, some people are still going into work. why are they not complying? ali yes, that was one of the things that the victorian premier. that is something that was focused on, it shouldn't really be happening, in australia and in victoria, it there is a system where if you don't have sick leave, the government will pay you

$300 if you need to take a day off while you're waiting for your test results, or $1500 if you test positive and need to take sick leave. so there is no reason that people should be going to work. he quoted a case where the defence force, they go and check on people who test positive, they went to check on someone and they went at home ina check on someone and they went at home in a family member said that they had gone to work, which is very concerning. it is clearly something that people are the majority of people in new south wales and victoria in australia doing the right thing, but clearly the message is still not getting through to some people. we have seen around the world just how deadly coronavirus has been in care homes, in particular. what sort of protections are being put in place in australia to learn from those mistakes? well, it has been difficult, they have been cases in new south wales where there has been deaths in nursing homes and now it is in victoria. there is 900 active cases in nursing

homes and the federal government has oversight of nursing homes, so they have had to come into some nursing homes in homes and victoria take over the management of those nursing homes to protect the patients, but given there are so many cases, 900 active cases in nursing homes in victoria, it is highly likely that we will see more deaths. this is something that these people are so vulnerable and yet, nursing homes like that, it is really quite devastating and to be honest, given it is only happening in other parts of australia, it shouldn't be happening like this in victoria, but it's clearly a point of concern around the world, we know for example in canada that there had to call the army there to help out nursing homes so it is clearly a point of concern for lots of countries and, fingers crossed, it doesn't end up being too devastating for nursing homes in victoria. thank you, sophie. cases are on the rise again through parts of europe, forcing state governments to reconsider restrictions on movement. the belgian government has warned

that a second complete lockdown may be needed to prevent a resurgence. i spoke to our correspondennt nick beake earlier and asked him about the growing list of countries concerned about a second wave the belgian government here are particularly worried about an uptick in cases. it's 70%, the rise over the past week or so. particular concern for the province of antwerp, about an hours drive to the north of here, that place is accounted for about half of the new cases and overnight a curfew came in, meaning you could not go out unless you are a key worker or you are off to work and that is the first time they have had a curfew since the second world war, so that gives you an indication of the gravity of the situation here. also in belgium, they have been rolling back some of the restrictions that had been relaxed over the past week or so, so if you are looking at the so—called social bubble here, the number of people outside of your household you can go and see, has been reduced from 15 down to five so they are desperately trying to get a handle on things. if you look at europe in the broadest sense, it is actually the south—eastern

balkan region which is being affected the most. kosovo, health officials there are saying that hospitals are already overwhelmed. croatia has seen a number of cases and if you talk about how the whole country is impacted by coronavirus rates, the croatian tourism board there is saying that actually the places that have become real hotspots and destinations that people across europe have flocked to, they remain safe and it is actually social gatherings in other parts of the country which has affected the overall picture, so difficult decisions for obviously the tourism industry across europe, but crucially, for the health officials and for governments trying to keep both their people safe but also their visitors safe as well. hello. this is bbc news. the headlines: england has recorded the highest levels of excess deaths in europe across the first half of the year, according to new figures showing

the impact of the coronavirus. according to new figures showing officials extend the isolation period for people showing symptoms of covid in the uk from seven to ten days, over fears of rising numbers of cases in parts of europe. hong kong authorities have disqualified a dozen pro—democracy candidates from upcoming elections, deepening political tensions in the chinese territory. china's ambassador to the uk has defended the move. we wa nt we want better life for our people. we want better life for our people. we do not want to challenge or replace anyone. australia has suffered its worst day since the pandemic began, with rising numbers of infections and fatalities. and a multi—billion—dollar, decade—long mission to bring rock samples from mars to earth to search for signs of ancient life blasts off later today. the number of rape convictions in england and wales has fallen to a record low,

according to figures seen by bbc news. the national police chiefs' council says it's getting harder to achieve the standard of evidence required to take cases to court. the crown prosecution service said it is "working hard to reverse the trend". zoe conway reports. courtney, not her real name, alleges she was the victim of a violent sexual assault. she reported it to the police in 2016. she says her case was not taken seriously enough by prosecutors. we'vejust had, you know, almost a decade of austerity and they cannot afford to prosecute crime any more. my case... there were witnesses on the night of the assault, there was a potential second victim and none of that mattered. prosecutors asked for access to years' worth of her social media accounts. courtney refused. she said it would have been dehumanising, and she says she had no choice but to drop her case. latest figures seen by the bbc show

that in the last year 1,a39 rape suspects were convicted of rape or another crime. that's half the number of three years ago. they also show that the police referred 2,7a7 cases to the crown prosecution service for a charging decision. that is a0% fewer cases over the same time period. the cps says the drop in rape prosecutions is a major focus for them. they've launched a new strategy which is being piloted in the south—east of england to boost the number of rape and sexual offences that make it to court. and prosecutors deny suggestions they've been weeding out the weaker cases. we scrutinise the cases very carefully, but you will see that certainly, our charging rate has improved considerably. we are not being risk—averse. the national police chiefs' council says that it's very concerned by these new figures.

it says police officers have told them it's become harder to meet standard of evidence required by the cps in order to charge a suspect and get a case into court. zoe conway, bbc news. joining me now is deputy chief constable sarah crew, who is the national police chiefs' council lead for rape and adult sex offences, from avon and somerset police. thank you forjoining us. what do you believe is behind this fall in the number of convictions? good morning. iam bitterly disappointed to hear about the full in the number of convictions, too. i think there are a range of reasons behind it. investigations are taking longer, there are more investigations, and officers tell me that the standard they must achieve to gather the evidence to reach a

charge is ever harder to reach. why is that? what has the cps done to make that part much higher?” is that? what has the cps done to make that part much higher? i think this is both an issue for the police and the cps. i think the issues are twofold. officers tell me that the amount of information that they need to gather to inform a proper charging decision is much more than it has been in the past, and it ta kes it has been in the past, and it takes longer. there are a range of reasons for that. often, when it ta kes reasons for that. often, when it takes longer, victims withdraw from the process. the second reason is that officers report that there has been a subtle change in how the evidential test for the charge is applied. clearly, they also apply that test themselves when they make a decision to refer a case to the cps for a charging decision, so that's why it's an issue for us as well now. that might be to do with miscommunication, it might be to do

with misunderstanding between the two agencies, it may well be to do with confusion, and these are all things that, with the joint work we are doing with the cps, we are trying to address, but this is an issue. it's something that is raised often by officers, and i think it's right that we look into that issue and we try to address it, and i am confident, with the joint work we are doing with colleagues in the cps, that is exactly what we are going to do. what does this do for the confidence of the victims who might choose not to come forward when they hear that the likelihood of anyone being convicted is very small? that's what it a huge concern. we need victims to come forward. we have seen increasing reports in the last five to ten yea rs, reports in the last five to ten years, and rate is still underreported, so we want to build

confidence in the criminaljustice system, that's something we share with the crown prosecution service and all our colleagues in the criminal justice system, and all our colleagues in the criminaljustice system, that is what it is pleasing to see the cps strategy, matched by a similar commitment from the national police chiefs' council and all criminal justice agencies, who are engaged in a wide scale review. it's because we wa nt to a wide scale review. it's because we want to make a change, we want to build confidence in victims to come forward and to see justice done. and perpetrators removed from our communities. what is it that the police intend to do to try and change this? for the police alone, there are a number of things we need to do to stop we need to be applied that test correctly. we need to be making sure we are not prejudging what a jury might conclude, and we need to be sending cases to the cps that make it to court and are

tested, but we also need to build confidence in victims, we need to get quicker in the way we investigate cases. there are a range of reasons for this, but we've got to ove rco m e of reasons for this, but we've got to overcome those reasons. we need to overcome those reasons. we need to rebuild some of our own knowledge, skills and professionalism, and the same is true and it forms part of the cps plan as well. we need to get much better at how we balance the right to privacy for the victim with the right to a fair trial for the suspect when we are examining things like mobile phones and other digital devices, so there are a range of things that the police alone must address, but the cps clearly recognise there are things they alone and both of us together must address, but there are other aspects of the system that also need to be looked at and improved, and that's very much the focus of the cross government review i have mentioned.

deputy chief constable sarah crew, thank you for your time. a multi billion dollar, decade—long effort to bring rock samples from mars back to earth gets under way today, as nasa launches its latest rover. the six—wheeled robot, called perseverance, is tasked with deploying a mini helicopter, testing out equipment for future human missions and searching for traces of past life. rebecca morelle reports. getting ready for mars — the final tests for the most advanced rover that nasa's ever built before it heads to the red planet. it will be collecting samples of martian rocks from an area that was once a river bed, and the hope is it will answer the key question — was there ever a life on mars? we now know mars had an enormous amount of water in its past. if ancient life was on mars, we have a good bet that we might be able to find it in these sediments. so this is really a life detection mission.

the rock samples will be stored and brought back to earth on a future mission. but this mission is also taking something back to mars — a piece of martian meteorite. it's from the natural history museum's collection. it blasted off the surface of the red planet more than half a million years ago. now, it's heading home. we really know what meteorite is made from, we can use it to compare that meteorite with the new rocks, that unknown rocks that we're looking at for the first time on mars and see how similar or different they are. also on board is a miniature mars helicopter that, for the first time, will attempt to fly in the extremely thin martian atmosphere. nasa wants to test this technology forfuture missions. america's spacecraft is the last of the trio heading to the red planet. china and the united arab emirates are already on their way. if they all succeed, it will mean a giant leap in our understanding of mars. rebecca morelle, bbc news.

they don't come bigger than facebook, amazon, google and apple. these giants of global tech wield huge power and influence the world over, nowhere more than in the us. and their role has come under scrutiny in a congressional inquiry, where they were accused of being too dominant in the market — while their political leanings were also questioned. all four of them put their ceos up to defend their companies. mark zuckerberg, jeff bezos, sundar pichai and tim cook have all been questioned. joining me now to discuss last night's committee is james ball who is the author of "the system — who owns the internet and how it owns us" and he also works as the global editor for the bureau of investigativejournalism. thank you very much forjoining us. how remarkable is it that these four men turned up for this hearing at all? i think it's probably quite telling that it was all four of them

together, rather than separately. while they are, of course, the dominant big four of tech, these are very different companies. apple makes its money selling you your la ptop makes its money selling you your laptop or your phone, whereas google is basically an advertising company, so is basically an advertising company, so by appearing together they managed to give this huge set piece moment, a real sort of telling, but they did also manage to dodge any detail that might actually really get them on the hook. how likely is it there will be any change in the way these companies operate?” it there will be any change in the way these companies operate? i think it's quite unlikely. they are huge contributors to campaigns in the us, they have very effective lobbying connections, and what we need to do to tackle amazon, say, which is a threat to the high street, or we might have issues about its workers orsimilar might have issues about its workers or similar things, is completely different to what we would be worried about for facebook, so, by lumping them together, congress, in

what should be a show of strength, showed that it doesn't really have any plan for what to do about any of this. what are the varying dangers, if that's the right word, that these companies pose, given that they have very different reasons for operating at all? google and facebook are, in some ways, the most similar, in that they control what we see. google controls what we search for and facebook, for about 2 billion of us, is often the home page of our phones or internet, it's how we connect with people we know. what we worry about there is misinformation or polarisations and filter bubbles, and those have very particular challenges. what we worry about with some of the others is what real effects they have. amazon, is it fair that it can distribute so much stuff as it does? it's become an essential service for a lot of us

during lockdown with apple, what people worry about is the app store. is that a fair market, given that they put so many of us on their and they put so many of us on their and they get to control which apps can have and not and how much money they ta ke have and not and how much money they take from them? that's its own particular challenge. having these four is ceos up at once was extraordinary, but you had two hours where congress had the world's richest man in front of them, jeff bettors, and nobody asked him a question. he went and got a snack and owned more what he ate it with than most of us make in year. —— jeff bezos. generalists would give our it is to have four in front of us! -- our it is to have four in front of us! —— generalists. is it as simple as breaking these companies up, which sounds easier than it is? you could break facebook up into whatsapp, instagram and facebook and all three of them would still be

huge tech giants in their own right. the question we have to really tackle is why does the internet keep making these huge companies, why is it winner take all, and we have to tackle those underlying factors if we wa nt tackle those underlying factors if we want to stop a new tech giant p°ppin9 we want to stop a new tech giant p°pping up we want to stop a new tech giant popping up the second we tackle the current one. in the 90s, we were worried about microsoft taking over the world. now it's google for sub if we keep playing like a mole, it will be somebody else in 20 years time. —— playing whack a mole. flanker mark james, i'm sure, time. —— playing whack a mole. flanker markjames, i'm sure, if you get a chance, you will askjeff bezos questions to thank you for now. some breaking news. the travel company tui is to close 166 of its high street stores in the uk and the republic of ireland. the tour operator has just announced that. obviously, they have been really badly affected by our inability to travel because of the global

pandemic and the new restrictions coming in in certain places, so tui is to close 166 of its high street stores in the uk and the republic of ireland. as some holiday—makers struggle with the ever—changing rules on quarantine, what are the options for those of us who want a break in the uk? is the staycation the last bit of hope for holiday—makers in search of some sunshine and some culture? let's talk now to anna eavis from english heritage. as foreign options disappear bit by bit, i'm imagining there must be a bit, i'm imagining there must be a bit of a stampede for holidays in the uk. hello. yes, english heritage looks after several hundred historic sites all over england, and we are certainly finding, as we reopen them, that people are wanted to come, which is great news. the fact is that england has wonderful places to visit. our properties are

situated all over the country, so really, whatever corner of england you are in, if you are holidaying in the northumbrian coast or in cornwall, or you are at home in east anglia, there will be somewhere can visit. english heritage has a small number of historic houses, which have great gardens, but the majority of our sites are wonderful open—air experiences. most of them were constructed before 1500, so we have the historic stone circles, the most famous being stonehenge, roman forts, medieval castles, all in great outdoor spaces, so these are wonderfulforfamilies great outdoor spaces, so these are wonderful for families and for everybody who has been feeling a bit cooped up recently. how many of the buildings are open, rather than just the grounds and gardens? we are beginning to open some interiors so, if you visit dover castle, a great medieval fortress on the south coast, it will be possible from

saturday to go into the great tower, and at ely abbey in cambridgeshire, we are offering visits to the sta bles we are offering visits to the stables and service ring. we are being cautious but we are keen to do it where it can be done safely. obviously, safe access has been our priority consideration, so we have been thinking about new ways in which we can facilitate access. we are now operating on a reduced capacity, in order to make sure that people can have enough space as they move around our sites, which means that you have to book ahead. it's easy to do on our website. the other thing that means is that it is really a great time to visit. somewhere like stonehenge, for instance, which normally at this time is packed full of inbound tourists, is now a great moment to book your tickets and come and see what is one of the wonders of the world, really. we are keeping safety

top of our list, but also trying to make sure that people can have an inspiring experience. we've taken some steps and made quite a lot of changes forced up for instance, it's now possible to download all of our audio tours onto your phone, so you don't have to pick up an audio tour on site, and that's proving popular. we have introduced a qr system so, to find out more about the site, point your phone at a qr board and find out more. we have got pop—up catering, offering takeaway services. we are finding that there are services. we are finding that there a re lots of services. we are finding that there are lots of things that we've had to do in the last few months through necessity which are actually arguably improving the visitor experience and giving us all new ways of thinking about things. thank you very much. there's a warning that a quarter

of britain's native mammals are now at risk of extinction. they've been added to the uk's first official red list — a review of species including hedgehogs, red squirrels and water voles. the report, put together by the charity the mammal society, calls for urgent action. here's our science correspondent, victoria gill. familiar characters that are becoming increasingly rare sights. while the uk is a natural home for dozens of mammals, including red squirrels, dormice and hedgehogs, many of those species are now in danger of disappearing. this first red list of threatened species put together by the conservation charity the mammal society has shown that a quarter of all of the uk's native mammals were under threat of extinction. so, what we've done is a really comprehensive review of all the evidence we have available on things like how big the populations are or how isolated those populations are. we've drawn all that together and it's come up with this list of 11 of our a7 native species being classified as threatened imminently.

and what this is clearly saying is we need to be acting right now. we don't, we can't carry on with the current trajectory. different animals face different threats. the now critically endangered scottish wildcat population has not recovered from decades of persecution. for the red squirrel, disease and competition from the introduced grey squirrels have driven it decline. but something conservation scientists agree on is that we need to leave more wild space for these species to recover. there are pockets of good habitat, like this red squirrel reserve in formby, but that's exactly what this is. this is an isolated pocket of good, natural habitat for red squirrels. and what conservationists say we need is for that to be a connected network of wild space across the landscape. here's my little foxy loxy. during lockdown, many people shared pictures and video on social media of animal encounters in quite urban settings.

now scientists say we need to find sustainable ways to share our environment with nature. victoria gill, bbc news. we may be five months away from christmas but, ordinarily, plans leading up to the british pantomime season would be well under way by now. although theatres in england will be able to open again from saturday — there's fears new restrictions will mean many productions won't be able to go ahead. our entertainment correspondent colin paterson has been investigating. all around the uk pantomimes are on pause and time is running out. we do a show and it's a quiet audience, we hate it, don't we? yeah. so imagine how weird it would be if you were performing to sparsely spaced out... rita simons was roxy mitchell in eastenders. she should be taking part in her sixth panto and loves playing baddies.

however, she believes the only booing this time will be when it's cancelled. panto can often be the thing that — not just for theatres, but actors, for crew, but for everyone that builds up a little nest egg for the year and then they go on and do the other gigs or auditions or whatever. panto is, for many, many actors, it's your bread and butter. it's certainly my bread and butter. bob golding has been stalwart of panto at st albans for a decade but says planning for this year's mother goose has been impossible due to confusion over what restrictions might be enforced. there's talk of possibly a gauze being flown in, a gauze meaning a see—through piece of scenery in front of the actors between — as a barrier. the other things are, i've seen some stuff written down about nobody allowed to shout to say, "no," sorry, you can't do that. it's taking away a massive chunk of the genre. and many theatres that usually hold pantomimes are still shut, including the radlett centre in hertfordshire.

it's where the very man they're waiting to hear directives from, the secretary of state for the dcms, oliver dowden, also holds his constituency surgeries. tomorrow night there was supposed to be a little mixed tribute act. but there's no date for when it reopens. let me make it clear. our position at the moment is we don't know if we're going ahead or not. last year we had our bestselling pantomime ever. we played to about 97% capacity. and some local schools have been coming here for 20 years and this is the first year that they can't come. we're in our warehouse, this is the brains of the operation. normally there'd be 18 people in here, working, pulling scenery, costumes, props together. we've got 30 productions in storage in here and this year they would be getting ready to go out on the road. steve bowden's company produces 15 pantomimes a year and provides the costumes for dozens more. literally you're witnessing

a building that was abounded in march when we went into lockdown and all of our staff were furloughed. —— a building that was abandoned. these props should be sprinkling fairy dust, instead they're gathering dust in this warehousing in coventry. as an industry collectively realised that the start of august takes us to out absolute limit where we could possibly react. beyond that pantomimes as we know it cannot happen this year. we're then looking at what our alternatives are. cinderella knew all about the dangers of the clock striking 12. for britain's 2020 pantomime season, the deadline is about to be reached. colin paterson, bbc news, coventry. it's not an uncommon sight to see therapy dogs and cat in some hospices and care homes, but what about a family of ducks? this mum and her two ducklings made a surprise visit to a hospice in leicester yesterday, quickly making themselves at home in the staff room. they weren't content with just waddling around the office though — they also paid a visit to the wards. staff said the unscheduled

animal drop—in brightened up the residents' day. now it's time for a look at the weather. for those of you who have been at home so far this month, it's been an underwhelming july so far. it's been cooler than normal, certainly recent yea rs, cooler than normal, certainly recent years, a bit wetter, especially for north—west england and wales, and not as much sunshine to stop that changes tomorrow, linked to heat building across france today, temperatures above a0 towards the south and west. that heat is brought towards us for a developing southerly wind for friday, 3a in the south—east, up to 26 in northern scotland. a bit of a north—south split today, a wet start in northern england, but brightening up this afternoon for the another set of rain pushing through northern

ireland into mainland scotland and working its way north. driest in the far north—east, but temperatures in scotla nd far north—east, but temperatures in scotland and northern ireland in the teens, whereas from the m62 southwards we have temperatures in the mid to high 20s. that warmth eventually works its way northwards tonight, with drier weather and the rain eventually clear from all but shetland as we go into tomorrow morning, and temperatures will be pulling away not as much as recently, with just about all of us staying in double figures. 16 or 17 in central london. it will be a warm start once the sun gets up. cloud and outbreaks of rain spread into northern ireland through the day and there will be one or two isolated thunderstorms in england and wales later, but most will be dry and sunny for the bulk of the day, and we will see the pic of that one day heat wave, if you can call it that. 3a in the south—east, glasgow and inverness up to around 26. always cool in northern ireland. we finish the day with a greater chance of

some thunderstorms in central and eastern england and eastern scotland stop torrential in places, but many will stay dry, and it clear through on friday night and into saturday, but on saturday the week weather france push their way east but, whilst they will not bring much rain, they will introduce the atla ntic rain, they will introduce the atlantic air, so it will be pressure on saturday, heavy overnight rain in north—east scotland will clear through, and a day of sunshine and showers. showers mainly to the north and west, only a few in the south and west, only a few in the south and east, still warm in the sunshine, but in many western areas temperatures back to a little bit below where we should be for this stage in the year. for sunday, sunshine and showers again. more of you will stay drier and cooler.

this is bbc news, i'm martine croxall, the headlines at midday. england recorded the highest levels of excess deaths in europe across the first half of the year according to new figures showing the impact of the coronavirus. the tour operator — tui — is to close more than a quarter of its high street stores in the uk and the republic of ireland. new guidance for people showing symptoms of covid: officials extend the isolation period in the uk from 7 to ten days following new scientific advice. a warning from china as disputes with the uk over hong kong have "seriously poisoned" relations between the two countries, according to beijing's ambassador to london. china respects uk sovereignty and has never interfered in the uk's internal affairs.

prosecutors respond to a record low in convictions for rape cases in england and wales, saying they want the conviction rate to increase. a quarter of britain's native mammals, including red squirrels and hedgehogs, are now at risk of extinction with an urgent call for action to prevent their loss. and, a multi—billion—dollar, decade—long project to bring rock samples from mars to earth prepares to blast off in an attempt to answer whether there has ever been life on mars. the office for national statistics has released figures comparing death rates across europe during the coronavirus pandemic for the first time. it shows that england had the highest level of excess deaths — that's the number of deaths above those expected for the time of year —

in europe for the weeks from 2a february to 1ajune. and the uk had the second highest peak of excess deaths after spain, but england had the most overall because it was spread out over a longer time. it comes as people with coronavirus symptoms in the uk — a new continous cough, high temperature or loss of taste or smell — are being told to self—isolate for 10 days, not seven. others in the household are told to self—isolate for 1a days. earlier, robert cuffe, our head of statistics, explained more about those death rate figures. this death rate figures. is different to what we hear about this is different to what we hear about every day in the daily briefings, when they were happening. this is looking at all deaths in the uk, irrespective of what caused them, it doesn't matter. irrespective of what it says on the death certificate, we are looking at patterns. patterns are really predictable and we can see that if we show the data from the uk to the audience. what we've seen is that death rates are generally very

predictable and the huge spikes we have seen in recent weeks, we are tribute to the pandemic even if someone tribute to the pandemic even if someone hasn't tested positive for covid. so we have seen that big spike that we have seen in spain and the difference between spain and the uk is that, many countries have seen these kind of spikes and sprains is these kind of spikes and sprains is the worst in europe, the peak or sharpest for them than anywhere else. the uk death rates have had different overall, as it took longer to come down, didn't go up as high, but took a longer time to come down, thatis but took a longer time to come down, that is why the death rates in the uk, in particular in england, looks are bad. this is adding to what we've seen before, notjust because it is not really tied down by what isa it is not really tied down by what is a covert death but also because the office for national statistics has analysed this and said, what deaths would we expect? so, they are taking account of some of the differences in countries and that means we can be a bit more confident in what they're saying. so, this is

a period of february tojune. the peak wasn't until... so, how might england fail to take a longer period of time? we still have daily fatalities. what we're seeing now, spain isa fatalities. what we're seeing now, spain is a good way of showing this, what we're seeing now in many countries is that even though we're are still seeing covid deaths, and in the red area in this chart, we are still seeing them but they are not increasing the death rates above what we would expect. that dashed line is showing what we'd expect to see on the basis of the last five yea rs see on the basis of the last five years and so at the moment, the deaths we are seeing aren't adding to that access total. of course, we are not through the epidemic yet. infections are rising in spain and across europe and so it's possible that death rates could rise again in a very dramatic way that they did in april and march. but we are not there yet and so what this is kind of looking back at that first period, first wave as it were and saying, how do countries compare across that period? and as you saw

from the bar chart that we had up there, the uk and england are among there, the uk and england are among the hardest hit, spain is next and scotla nd the hardest hit, spain is next and scotland is in third place across about 20 nations in europe. earlier i spoke to our health correspondent lauren moss about the new isolation rules. yes, throughout the pandemic in the uk, the advice has been that if you develop coronavirus symptoms, high temperature, a new continuous cough or a recent loss of sense of taste or smell, then you self—isolate at home for seven days and anyone living with you, their isolation period is 1a days. but the chief medical officers for england, wales, northern ireland and scotland have updated that advice and are advising anyone who tests positive for the virus or has these symptoms to stay at home for ten days. that is because there is a strengthening, although limited, but strengthening evidence to suggest that people may be able to transmit the virus for up to nine days after they have become ill. most people are able to transmit the virus a couple of days

before they get ill. and then in the first few days of when they have the symptoms, when they are coughing, sneezing and that sort of thing. but it was initially thought that it could be seven days that they are most able to pass on, but it's now been extended up to nine days, so ten days the changing advice in the uk. even if you only have mild symptoms. what about the rest of your household? that advice stays the same. for example, if i were to have symptoms, anyone i live with that have to isolate for 1a days, whereas my isolation period would be ten days and if somebody else in my household were to become unwell, their period would become ten days from the onset of their symptoms. so it is an increase of three days for the person who has become unwell, but still 1a for the rest of the household. the world health organization, back in may, updated their advice, recommending anyone with symptoms is to isolate for ten days, plus an additional three after their symptoms have abated, so this brings us more into line with what the world health organization says, but stilla couple of

days' discrepancy there. we can speak now to the labour mp and shadow health minister, justin madders. hejoins us from ellesmere port. welcome. what is your view on how clear the rules are now about isolation and why they are being introduced? well, clearly, we need to follow medical advice and i guess the question still remains as to why we are slightly out of kilter with what the who have been recommending. they have been recommending since february now that we should be isolating for at least 1a days and it seems a little bit like the issue with facemasks, where it's taken a little bit longer. so we're not quite on the same par as the who and i would like to see the evidence that has been presented to governments to show that ten days is

now the recommended period, because you can't take any chances of this. we know the virus is still active, people do have to self—isolate for whatever length of time is necessary. we have seen restriction slowly easing this country, so how difficult do think it is now going to to explain to people what this new compliance is and how important it is when they thought that life are starting to return to normal? well, although we have had restrictions eased to distil the case at the virus has been in transmission throughout and that people have had to self—isolate when they have had symptoms. that's why it's really important that we have a really effective testing and tracing system. we actually know that tests are getting, 2a hours turnaround time and we know that not enough people are testing positive or being contacted and their contacts are not all getting traced. so the virus is

still out there, although we are having some relaxation of lockdown is, and! having some relaxation of lockdown is, and i would expect the government actually to be looking at those very closely now given that we have seen an uptick in the number of positive cases in the last couple of weeks. but the message are still at the viruses out there and if you have symptoms and you test positive, you have to follow the rules. the health secretary said the bbc this morning that the government wanted to ta ke morning that the government wanted to take a precautionary approach and protect people from the wave in europe reaching our shores. why don't wejust europe reaching our shores. why don't we just close our borders to those countries that are seeing a big increase? well, obviously, the issueis big increase? well, obviously, the issue is that there is a lot of british holiday—makers out there at the moment and we saw when we went into lockdown originally that they we re into lockdown originally that they were tremendous problems with people being stranded all over the world. i think the question really is that if that was the solution to stopping the spread of the virus, why didn't that happen back in february when we

knew that it was circulating in europe? obviously... some of whom, it is accepted brought the virus with them. i think it is also the case that it would be wrong or misleading to suggest that the only way that this virus would come back is through people coming in from abroad when it is still circulating in our communities as we know. we know there are several parts of the country where they had to introduce extra restrictions because of that so extra restrictions because of that soido extra restrictions because of that so i do think it is an important element of this, but it's certainly not the only issue in terms of containing any further spread of the virus. thank you very much for talking to us. let's speak to our assistant political editor norman smith. that's the accusation, isn't it? that's the accusation, isn't it? that the government could have done this months ago and said that it is not seven but ten days isolation. they could have, yes. they have a lwa ys they could have, yes. they have always argued that they have stuck

to the scientific advice and listens to the scientific advice and listens to the scientific advice and listens to the scientists. listening to the scientist today, they appear to believe that the scientific advice and strengthened, they put it, for ten days because of the fear that perhaps there a risk. it is a low risk, but a risk of people being infectious beyond seven days. the other thing is that they point to as well that explain the change is the fa ct well that explain the change is the fact that we are easing the lockdown, so people are out and about more, there's more interaction, there is more chance of spreading the virus and that winter lies ahead. and when you put all that together, on balance, they say, 0k that together, on balance, they say, ok let's move to ten days. at the same time, there is no getting away from the fact that this comes, as we know, there is real anxiety in government about the prospect of a second surge, perhaps partly fuelled by holiday—makers returning from infected countries abroad and why it matters, i suppose, infected countries abroad and why it matters, isuppose, is infected countries abroad and why it matters, i suppose, is that frankly it's a bit of a jolt. we are just

getting used to things beginning to ease up getting used to things beginning to ease up a getting used to things beginning to ease up a bit, we can go to the shops, we can go to bars, restau ra nts, shops, we can go to bars, restaurants, you can shops, we can go to bars, restau ra nts, you ca n ta ke shops, we can go to bars, restaurants, you can take a holiday. and now, suddenly there is a sense of the rubber on the tires, the bra kes of the rubber on the tires, the brakes being applied, we are seeing quarantine on spain, perhaps quarantine on spain, perhaps quarantine in luxembourg as well, thatis quarantine in luxembourg as well, that is likely, possibly in belgium, restrictions on old ham that is likely, possibly in belgium, restrictions on oldham still with the lockdown in leicester and now this as well. there is just the sense of actually, we are going to have to be a little bit more cautious here and i suppose the big fear has to be that this ambition of returning to near normal by christmas becomes much harder to meet. norman, this is the last i will speak to an heir, sadly. you are toddling off. it is hard to imagine ourdaily are toddling off. it is hard to imagine our daily coverage without you. what are your plans if you don't mind sharing? my plans are basically to be thoroughly

self—indulgent, totally selfish and go and do things that i want to do. prosaically, that means spending more time with friends and family, walking with the dog, going climbing, watching tottenham hotspur is, i'm a long, long—suffering supporter and no doubt there'll be many more tortured afternoons will be allowed to go back. so basically, i'm going to do me and not going to do this. it has been great, blast, fun, fantastic, but as a grown—up adult, i cannot spend the rest of my life standing on this balcony pontificating about politics. well, you would if we had our way. but we don't. so, iwish you would if we had our way. but we don't. so, i wish you a great deal of fun don't. so, i wish you a great deal offun in don't. so, i wish you a great deal of fun in the next adventure and yes, i have a hound that likes to walk if you ever want to join us. norman smith, thank you. in a speech to the royal college of physicians this morning, health secretary matt hancock talked about what the coronavirus pandemic had taught us about the nhs

coronavirus has been a moment of stark clarity, of exposure. like sheet lightning on a dark night. it has suddenly and dramatically revealed our health care landscape ina way revealed our health care landscape in a way in which we have never quite seen it before. we have discovered things about the system that we could not have learnt in normal times. how it performed under conditions of severe, sustained and nationwide pressure. the choices that front—line professionals make if you give them greater freedom. what rules and structures are essential to the effective delivery of health and social care and what arejust a layer of of health and social care and what are just a layer of bureaucratic ba rna cles are just a layer of bureaucratic barnacles which can be stripped away to streamline the vessel beneath? if you think about it, in terms of mobilising the resources of the state of the pandemic has been as close as you can get to fighting a war without actually fighting a war.

we achieve things that people never thought possible. like building nightingale hospitals in nine days, or doubling i see you capacity to treat the most sick or treating half of patients in outpatients and primary care online. at the same time, our brilliant scientists drove forward the first robust clinical trial to find an effective treatment for coronavirus and they are currently leading the world in a search for a vaccine. and, coronavirus has catalysed deep, structural shift in health care that we re structural shift in health care that were already under way. telemedicine, data driven decision—making. working as a system not as atomised institutions. and just like a war, it has forced us to improvise new ways of doing things. some of which will become permanent because they are better ways of doing things. so, for instance,

before coronavirus, there were plenty of theories about how to transform health and social care. in fa ct, transform health and social care. in fact, the last 30 years is littered with top—down reorganisations and big bang structural reforms. quangos and quasi markets and theories on pilots and reports and permissions and something important has changed. in the post coronavirus world, we don't have to rely on theory because we now have hard evidence of how people choose to operate under crisis conditions when there is a novel and acute need to deliver. we must learn from how the nhs and social care work during the peak. both about what we must change and critically, because so many things went right, we have to bottle the best.

the headlines on bbc news. england has recorded the highest levels of excess deaths in europe — across the first half of the year — according to new figures showing the impact of the coronavirus. officials extend the isolation period for people showing symptoms of covid in the uk — from 7 to ten days — over fears of rising cases numbers in parts of europe. the tour operator — tui — is to close more than a quarter of its high street stores in the uk and the republic of ireland. a dozen hong kong democracy activists have been disqualified from standing in september's legislative elections. the hong kong government says it supports the decision of the returning officers to ban the candidates. the prominent activistjoshua wong has confirmed that he is one of those who've been disqualified. he says he's been banned despite getting the highest vote share in the primary. it follows the arrest of four hong kong students on wednesday, even though they had recently disbanded their pro—independence group.

well, the chinese ambassdor to the uk has been speaking this morning and said that the uk should take full responsibility for the current difficulties in the relationship between the two countries. he criticised the uk's stance both on hong kong and in relation to the treatment of the muslim minority uighurs in the western xinjiang region. the uk has accused china of gross human rights abuses against the uighurs. there has been planted interference from the uk in hong kong affairs, which are internal affairs of china. including accusations against the national security law of hong kong sar. a change to the policy involving bno passport holders. the suspension of extradition treaty with hong kong. these moves are seriously interrupting the stability and prosperity in hong kong.

the civic party has seen four of its candidates disqualified from standing in the election. its leader alan leong has been giving a press conference. after this very naked attempt to weed out any dissenting voice from the legislative council, we have no illusion that the central people's government and the hong kong sar government would honour their promises under the sino—britishjoint declaration, under basic law. we can speak now to our diplomatic correspondent james landale. what's the reaction from the british government? no response as yet, they are waiting to see how the information comes into work out how far it is going to take place. there

is still uncertainty about a lot of these elections, a lot of speculation recently about whether or not they might be delayed for some reason. they are waiting to see how the dust settles on that particular issue. but yes, another complication in a very go to relationship over hong kong. and lots of different factors contributing. how bad our relations? have you ever been worse between britain and china? well, clearly, relations were poor with china after the massacre in tiananmen square in the massacre in tiananmen square in the 905. they are poor now. the chinese amba55ador the 905. they are poor now. the chinese ambassador to london this morning 5aid chinese ambassador to london this morning said that relations had been seriously poisoned by events of recent weeks which he blamed entirely on the new case, nothing to do the chinese at the ban on wireway, british criticism over new security laws in hong kong, the criticism of human rights

situations, all of that, he said, the damage relations and that britain would pay the price. what was interesting today was that the amba55ador wa5 was interesting today was that the amba55ador was trying to sort of get out a message and say, look, not only were some of these facts wrong, there was a long 5equence only were some of these facts wrong, there was a long sequence in the pre55 there was a long sequence in the p ress co nfe re nce there was a long sequence in the press conference this morning trying to counteract what he claimed were claims about what was going on in change and denied example that... but he also tried to say that britain is under pressure from the united states, you need to step away from that, you need to stop being put under pressure by cold war worries and actually say that if the uk decouples from china, then it is decoupling from investment, education, tech and all these kind of things. so there was a bit of a character there as well as the state, but when i asked him about the stick and said, what are these count emotions that you have been threatening? on one of those he was very explicitly 5aid threatening? on one of those he was very explicitly said that, for example, all those hong kongers who have british passports, british

national over5ea5 passports, because of the british decision to allow them to settle and have citizens' right5 them to settle and have citizens' rights in the uk, china is no longer going to recognise those as legitimate travel documents. thank you, jame5. let's go to edinburgh now and the daily coronavirus briefing from the scottish first minister, nicola sturgeon i want to give an update. i can confirm that as of now, eight positive cases have been confirmed. the5e positive cases have been confirmed. these are linked to the m and de pharmacy in port glasgow and an amazon warehouse. i want to thank those businesses are acting swiftly and fully cooperating with the procedures. an incident management tea m procedures. an incident management team led by nhs greater glasgow and clyde team led by nhs greater glasgow and clyd e m et team led by nhs greater glasgow and clyde met yesterday afternoon i meet again today, they are working with the scottish government, health protection scotland and local environmental health teams to trace contacts and do everything possible to minimise on the transmission and

iam to minimise on the transmission and i am grateful for these efforts. we will provide more details as and when they become available. i also wa nt to when they become available. i also want to draw attention to an announcement this morning by the four uk chief medical officers. thi5 relates to a change and advice for those who te5t relates to a change and advice for those who test positive are coded. up those who test positive are coded. up until now, people who te5t positive had been advised to isolate for seven days. but because it is thought that the infectious period can last longer, the advice now is that people who te5t can last longer, the advice now is that people who test positive should isolate for ten days. contact5 of those who te5t isolate for ten days. contact5 of those who test positive should continue to isolate for a0 days and quarantine the people who have been travelling from non—exempt countries also remains at 1a day5. travelling from non—exempt countries also remains at 1a days. so this change only affects people who te5t positive but it is an important change to guidance and therefore one that everyone should be aware of. let me turn now to a review of the lockdown restrictions. the statistics we've been reporting everyday for the past three weeks

demonstrate the progress we have made. incidence and prevalence of the virus are as of no add very low levels in scotland. three weeks ago, we estimated that 1000 people have been infectious with the virus in scotland, the week before, our estimate for last week is that 300 people in scotland were infectious. in addition, our latest model suggests that the our number remains below one. so, progress is real and substantial and it has, of course, been very hard earned by everyone across the country. but, and i'm afraid this is a necessary but, the virus has not gone away. it is still circulating in scotland and it remains highly infectious and very dangerous. that is why i am not able to indicate today i move from phase three to face four in the route map out of lockdown. a move to phase four will allow us to be satisfied that the virus is no longer a significant threat to public health.

u nfortu nately, significant threat to public health. unfortunately, that is far from the case. for that reason, the cabinet decided yesterday that we will remain in phase three for now and we will consider this every three weeks, it is possible that phase three will continue even the onto the next review point. that decision and the fragility of our progress against the virus, means that changes over the next three weeks, beyond the two significant one5 changes over the next three weeks, beyond the two significant ones that i will come on too, will be minimal. however, i will give some indicative dates of when we hope additional activities and services can resume. although we cannot move to phase for today, the progress we have made doe5 today, the progress we have made does allow to important changes to happen in the next two week period. iam very happen in the next two week period. i am very pleased to confirm that from the 1st of august, we will pause the advice for people to she'll. for those of you who been 5hielding, means that from this saturday, you can now follow the guidance for the general population. but please, be especially careful about face coverings, hand hygiene

and physical distancing. the pause also means that children who have been shielding will be able to return to school and adults will be able to return to work. of course, our advice, not simply for shielding people but for everyone remains that you should continue to work from home whenever and wherever that is possible. if you are returning to work as a shielded person, please know that guidance is available for you and your employers, on the scottish government's website. this guidance allows you to calculate an individual risk score to help you and your employer make your return to work as safe as possible. it was developed by clinicians and occupational health experts and we have worked with trade unions and bu5ine55 organisations to make sure it is quickly adopted by employers. i know that the pause in shielding will be an enormous relief to many, but i strongly suspect it will also be making you feel anxious. so please be assured that we are

pausing shielding now because we do believe that it is safe to do so. however, if circumstances change, our advice will also change. we will continue to put your safety first. it is really hard for those of us who haven't been 5hielding, i think, to fully comprehend how hard the last few months have been for those of you who have. so i want you to know how deeply grateful i am to all of you for your patience and sacrifice. by following the advice, you have protected yourself, reassure your loved ones and helps the health and care services immensely. thank you to each and every one of you for that. presiding officer, the other major change i can confirm relates to schools. it isa can confirm relates to schools. it is a moral and educational imperative that we get children back to school as soon as it is safe and possible. in fact, a key reason for our cautious approach to lockdown easing is that determination to

drive the virus down as low as possible and keep prevalence low so that schools can reopen safely in august. i am therefore very pleased to confirm today that schools will return from the 11th of august. given how long children have been out of school, some local authorities may opt for a phased return over the first few days, but we expect all pupils to be at school, full—time, from the 18th of august at the latest. i realise that earlier confirmation of this would have provided more certainty for schools and for parents to get ready for the new term. but we had to be sure, very sure, that the latest evidence supported this decision. last friday, the education recovery group had guidance and support their safe return of schools. that guidance which is being published today draws on scientific advice from our advisory group on education and children's from our advisory group on education and child ren's issues. from our advisory group on education and children's issues. the guidance makes clear that in general, physical distancing between pupils will not be required while on the

school estate, although distance should be maintained between pupils at secondary schools where possible. provided this does not compromise a return to full—time schooling. distancing should also be maintained between staff members and staff and pupils. the guidance also sets out the risk mitigation measures that must be introduced in all educational settings. these include ventilation, good hygiene practices and improved cleaning regimes. it is absolutely vital for the safe reopening of schools that these measures are applied rigorously in all settings. in addition, important public health measures will also be in place for schools. these include test and protect and fast priority access to testing for any symptomatic staff and pupils. we will also establish an enhanced surveillance programme in schools, which will allow others to identify any impact of the virus on pupils and staff in schools across the country. i can also confirm today, presiding officer, that in addition

to £a5 million previously announced, we will make a further £30 million available to support the recruitment of additional teachers. we anticipate that this total investment of £75 million will enable the recruitment of around 1a00 extra teachers. in addition, we will invest a further 30 million on top of £20 million already announced as part of the £50 million education recovery fu nd as part of the £50 million education recovery fund for local authorities. this will support extra cleaning, facilities management, transport and other practical measures that are absolutely vital in ensuring a safe return. i must be clear, and i want to emphasise this point, but at this stage no one, not me, not the education secretary, can absolutely rule out the possible need for blending learning arrangements in the future, either nationally or locally, if there is a significant increase in the incidence and

prevalence of covid, but the current low prevalence of the virus, together with all the safety measures we are putting in place, give us as good a basis as we could have hoped for to get children back to school in august. i want to take the opportunity again to thank children and young people for the way you have coped with this considerable disruption to your lives. i think i speak for the whole country when i say we could not be prouder of you, i promise we will do everything we can to get things back on track for you as quickly as possible. i am sure none of you will ever forget covid, but we are absolutely determined to make sure you will not bear the legacy of it later in your lives. finally, on education, i can confirm we are also today publishing updated guidance for childcare providers. this new guidance will come into effect from august the 10th. this new guidance does not represent a return to

com plete does not represent a return to complete normality for childcare providers, but it does reduce the current restrictions while sitting out age appropriate measures to minimise risks for staff, children and families and wider communities. we know the importance to families of sta ble we know the importance to families of stable childcare, and these changes will help to make that more accessible. i am sure the two must remain we are confirming today, shielding and the full—time reopening of schools, will be welcomed by people across the country to stop they are significant steps back to a less restricted way of life, and they also support a greater return to normality for the economy. these changes have been made possible only because prevalence of covid is currently so low in scotland. in fact, in many ways, scotland is in a better place now in relation to covid then i would have dared hope a few weeks ago. as i have said already, this position is very fragile. we have seen a position is very fragile. we have seen a slightly higher level of new

cases in scotland in recent days, although some fluctuation is to be expected, and we are seeing clusters and outbreaks, as we are experiencing in greater glasgow and clyde right now, although this is to be expected. but the situation around the world and across europe and even in england does give some cause for concern. we know from our own experience in late february and early march just how rapidly this virus can take hold and run out of control. so the fact is, if we are not very careful now, in two or three weeks' time, we could easily be facing here in scotland some of the very difficult issues we are currently hearing about in the news from other parts of the world. it's also the case that we cannot yet fully assess the impact of the changes that have been made over the past three weeks, really significant changes like the opening of tourism and the opening of indoor hospitality. of course, we must, and

this is really important, we must allow some time for the impact of reopening schools to be assessed before we make further major changes. for that reason, before we make further major changes. forthat reason, only before we make further major changes. for that reason, only a small number of further changes are planned during the next three weeks, andi planned during the next three weeks, and i will now confirm what these are. from monday, routine eye care services, including regular eye examinations, can be carried out in humility optometry premises, and where necessary and appropriate in people's homes. counselling services like drug and alcohol support groups will be able to provide essential services following relevant guidance and with physical distancing. in addition, sports coaches will be able to meet with groups of more than four households in a single day, and we will also shortly confirm when they can work with larger groups. from the 17th of august, a wider range of dental care can resume, in particular aerosol procedures which create a fine mist through use of a high—speed drill will be allowed to restart if they

are will be allowed to restart if they a re necessary will be allowed to restart if they are necessary urgent will be allowed to restart if they are necessary urgent care. these will be allowed to restart if they are necessary urgent care. these are the only changes that we currently expect to make during the next three week period. however, i now want to provide some indicative dates for late august and september to help businesses to plan. full detail of this will be available on the scottish government website, please remember that, at this stage, these dates are indicative and they remain subject to change. from the 2ath of august, we hope life events like concerts and comedy will be allowed outdoors with physical distancing enhanced hygiene and restricted numbers. we also hope that organised outdoor contact sports will resume for people of all ages. also, from the 2ath of august, we hope some other indoor facilities like bingo halls and similar venues and should in the route map can reopen physical distancing. we also intend that fu nfa i rs distancing. we also intend that fu nfairs can distancing. we also intend that funfairs can reopen from the 2ath of august, including travelling funfairs, and we hope driving

lessons will also resume from that day. we don't currently expect to implement any other changes before the 11th of september. we will keep this under close review and accelerate further changes if that proves possible. however, as of now, nonessential offices and call centres should expect to remain closed until at least the 1ath of september and possibly later. even then, working from home and flexibly will remain the default position. i know many office workers may miss seeing colleagues, although i suspect some might not, but by staying at home office workers and employers are playing a vital role in helping suppress this virus and ensuring the transport network remain safe. further changes will be possible from the 1ath of september, and full detail will be available on the scottish cup and website, but i must stress that the dates i about to set out are indicative and will not be finally confirmed until nearer the time. for example, we hope sports stadium will be able to

reopen from that day, with limited numbers of spectators, albeit with physical distancing in place. some professional sports events may be arranged for spectators before then, with scottish government agreement, to test the safety of any arrangements. we hope indoor sports courts for some activities can reopen from the 1ath of september with distancing, and we will consider whether indoor classes for children and resume earlier. it is our intention that indoor soft play facilities will also reopen from the 1ath of september. let me at this point make particular mention of gyms and swimming pools. i absolutely understand and share the desire to see these facilities open again as quickly as possible. however, the clinical advice i have is, because of the nature of these environments, they pose a particular risk and they require a particularly cautious approach. for that reason, but to try to give additional clarity, the addictive date we are giving today for reopening is the

1ath of september. —— the indicative date. i will review this in three weeks and, if it is just reasonable, weeks and, if it is just reasonable, we will seek to accelerate this to the end of august. we hope that entertainment sites and cultural venues and theatres and live music venues and theatres and live music venues will also reopen from the 1ath of september, with physical distancing in place. i know that the challenges these decisions pose for the cultural sector are significant and this further delay will be disappointing. for that reason, we are increasing the value of our performing arts venue relief fund, which opens to applications from today, to £12.5 million, to provide further support for the culture sector. more generally, i am acutely aware that, in a statement like this with a lot of ground to cover, i inevitably make a lot of five second references that have profound implications for businesses and livelihoods, so please believe me when i say that i fully recognise the impact of the decisions we are taking. i know how difficult this situation is for those sectors and

activities facing a long wait before they can resume. we do not take any of these decisions lightly, but at present we are not confident that we can restart all of these activities safely within a shorter timescale. doing so could risk a resurgent. we will leave nicola sturgeon on her briefing from holyrood. she said that they have been no confirmed covid—related deaths in scotland for the past fortnight. she says they are ina the past fortnight. she says they are in a better position in scotland and she had hoped for, it recognises it is still fragile, and there has been lacklustre had two micro businesses in which she referred to. edge that cluster. there will be a pause for those who have been shielding from the 1st of august, school is return by august the 11th, and they should all be open by august the 18th. tui is to close 166 high street stores in the uk and the republic of ireland, the uk's biggest tour operator has

announced in the last hour. the decision was made following changes in customer behaviour, the firm said in a statement. around 350 retail stores will remain following the closures. let's talk to our business correspondent ben thomson. this is about a quarter of their shops? it's about a third of them, if you look at the total number of stores that they have across the country, 585 at the last count. as you said, they want to close 166, and they say that is because of the change in the way we booked our holidays. you might say that this is pretty reminiscent of what we have heard from other businesses, that changes they may have been planning on making at some point down the line have been brought forward because of the pandemic which has changed just about everything in the way that we shop and, of course, particularly in the way that we travel. what tui are saying is they hope to redeploy the 900 or so staff who would be affected by these store

closures, and it would allow them to work from home, essentially advising people on holidays, may be offering support, but doing so from home—working roles, rather than in may be more expensive high street outlets, where they have to pay rent and rates and keep buildings maintain. clearly, at the moment, the global pandemic means very few of us are able to travel, which has meant a of us are able to travel, which has meanta slump of us are able to travel, which has meant a slump in bookings, which is taking its toll on firms like tui. as well as those high street outlets, it also operates hotels, cruise ships, airlines, all that sort of thing, and they have been hit hard by that pandemic. this, in some respects, is bringing forward what they may have played already. in may, they announced 8000 job losses across the business. the announcement today affects their stores in the uk and ireland. that's primarily because they say they want to offer good customer service but they can do that on the telephone or online, and in those remaining

stores. but it really shows the change in the way we buy our holidays. they have told us 70% of all of their bookings are now made online. so the idea of going into a travel agent, may be flicking through a brochure and chatting to the agent behind the desk, only applies to an increasingly small number of people, and therefore they have made the decision some of those stores are underperforming have to close. we can get more reaction to this announcement from pippa jacks, who's the group editor of the travel trade gazette. this was the way things have been going for some time, and tui have may be just been forced act faster. i think may be just been forced act faster. ithink tui may be just been forced act faster. i think tui is a special case, when you think about high street retail agents, because what primarily happened in a tui store was that you would book a tui holiday, which is possibly easier to buy online, but

it works for that product demographic, but in the run—up to the coronavirus crisis and even throughout the crisis, independent high street agents, you can sell any tour operator or product out have been doing really well and expanding before this kicked off, so it is horses for courses, it depends on the business model of the company, but certainly for tui it seems to make sense to take some more agents of the high street and have them working from home where they can do great customer service over the phone. often, when shops close, jobs 90, phone. often, when shops close, jobs go, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. what we have seen over the last five or six years is an awful lot of travel agents, hundreds of thousands now, have left high street stores and set up their own businesses working from home, taking all that expertise and loyal customers and selling travel very well from home, taking phone calls all around the clock, having

meetings at a time that suits their clients, so home—working is huge and travel, and i think we will see a lot of it after this. what about the further pain the travel sector is going to see? it is so precarious at the moment people to decide where to travel to. it the moment people to decide where to travelto. it really is, it's very tough, and the industry is having to react overnight to new news and new rules and regulations, so it is tough and people are looking ahead tough and people are looking ahead to booking their holidays for later this year and into next year. but we are incredibly worried about certain travel companies, because there has been no money coming in, they have been no money coming in, they have been paying out refunds for months, and the travel sector is on its knees. we are calling on the government to give the travel sector some specific help, because it is quite unique in the challenge it is facing, and it is being stalled in terms of being able to get back on its feet. good to talk to you to stop thank you forjoining us.

there's a warning that a quarter of britain's native mammals are now at risk of extinction. they've been added to the uk's first official red list — a review of species including hedgehogs, red squirrels and water voles. the report, put together by the charity, the mammal society, calls for urgent action. here's our science correspondent, victoria gill. familiar characters that are becoming increasingly rare sights. while the uk is a natural home for dozens of mammals, including red squirrels, dormice and hedgehogs, many of those species are now in danger of disappearing. this first red list of threatened species put together by the conservation charity the mammal society has shown that a quarter of all of the uk's native mammals were under threat of extinction. so, what we've done is a really comprehensive review of all the evidence we have available on things like how big the populations are or how isolated those populations are. we've drawn all that together and it's come up with this list of 11 of our a7 native species being classified as threatened imminently.

and what this is clearly saying is we need to be acting right now. we don't, we can't carry on with the current trajectory. different animals face different threats. the now critically endangered scottish wildcat population has not recovered from decades of persecution. for the red squirrel, disease and competition from the introduced grey squirrels have driven it decline. but something conservation scientists agree on is that we need to leave more wild space for these species to recover. there are pockets of good habitat, like this red squirrel reserve in formby, but that's exactly what this is. this is an isolated pocket of good, natural habitat for red squirrels. and what conservationists say we need is for that to be a connected network of wild space across the landscape. here's my little foxy loxy. during lockdown, many people shared pictures and video on social media of animal encounters

in quite urban settings. now scientists say we need to find sustainable ways to share our environment with nature. victoria gill, bbc news. is there life on mars? from the beginnings of telescopic observations of the planet, people have speculated about the possibility. a multi—billion pound mission to try to answer that question is due to get under way shortly, as nasa launches its latest rover. the six—wheeled robot, called perseverance, has a seven month journey ahead of it to reach the red planet. when it lands in february, it will not only search for evidence of life but also package rock samples for return to labs on earth. it will also deploy a mini helicopter called ingenuity. nasa wants to be first to demonstrate powered flight in the thin atmosphere of mars. the mission is due to launch from cape canaveral in florida in the next few minutes. this is the scene there live.

we'll bring that to you as soon as it happens, but first this report we can speak now to dr maggie lieu, an astrophysicist at nottingham university who used to work at the european space agency on the mars orbiter programme. thank you forjoining us. what particularly excites you about this mission? for me personally, i am very excited about ingenuity, the little helicopter, because it's the first time they will be able to demonstrate something like this, and it will pave the way to so much more science on mars. a little helicopter like this will be able to scout out locations on mars to look into further. it will be able to have retrieved samples for this mission. this mission is drilling some samples from the martian surface, to be stored away for a future mission to go and retrieve it and bring it

back to earth, so having this demonstration of the helicopter will be really useful for that, demonstration of the helicopter will be really usefulfor that, and demonstration of the helicopter will be really useful for that, and also, in the future, nasa have a dragonfly mission going to saturn's titan moon, which will be a little helicopter drone as well, so i think this is the most exciting part for me. another aspect that i think is quite interesting is that on board there is an instrument called moxie, and it's going to be generating oxygen from the carbon dioxide atmosphere on mars. if we can generate oxygen on mars, we can make fuel for a future mission to return back to earth, and we can prepare for humans in the future to go to mars as well. we think we are about 25 seconds away from the launch of this rover. let's listen in. mars

2020. eight, seven... five... zero. release. the next generation of robotic explorers to the red planet. closed—loop control. robotic explorers to the red planet. closed-loop control. we are sparring with the commentary. dr maggie lieu is an astrophysicist at nottingham university. a long and perilous journey, and landing in the past has not been easy for previous missions. how much better equipped do you

think this one will be? this mission, perseverance, is based a lot on the technology of curiosity, which was based almost adopted a go, so which was based almost adopted a go, so they tried and tested all technology before, so hopefully it all goes to plan. —— almost a decade ago. iam pretty all goes to plan. —— almost a decade ago. i am pretty confident it will work. what is it so important to get these rock samples back to earth? i suppose it's the only way to really prove that there has been life at some point. they are going to one of the oldest craters they know of on mars, and they know this crater, well, they believe this crater used to bea well, they believe this crater used to be a giant lake so, if there is anywhere on mars that has ever existed life, it's probably going to have some bio signature found in this crater. getting the samples back to earth is really important because you are very limited on the

kind of experimental equipment you have that you can bring on a. ideally, you can do so much more science with a human, with the state of the art equipment we have on earth. i wasjust reading there are 23 cameras on board the robot and also microphones, so we might really see, if not here things that we haven't witnessed before. absolutely. the last rover we sent, curiosity, had 17 cameras, but the camera curiosity, had 17 cameras, but the camera resolution was just two megapixels. the best camera on perseverance is 20 megapixels, a huge upgrade, and i think it's really important, because these images are what inspires the people here on earth and makes these kind of missions possible, so to be able to see and to hear what's going on

on mars is going to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. this mission is the third to be dispatched to the red planet this month, after launches by china and the united arab emirates. is it and the united arab emirates. is it a real race? how much competition rather than cooperation is there over investigating mars?|j rather than cooperation is there over investigating mars? i don't think it's much of a competition, because all of the different missions are doing various different sciences. they are not doing it sadly the same thing. it's not a space race or anything. they all work in collaboration with each other, all furthering the knowledge in science. you have to remember that, even with all the missions we have sent to mars so far, we've only explored less than 1% of the entire surface so, even if we go to another spot on mars, we are always going to be learning new things. some really beautiful pictures coming to us from

on—board this beautiful pictures coming to us from on—boa rd this rocket, beautiful pictures coming to us from on—board this rocket, which is up above the earth, and you never tire of looking back on the place where we live. it brings me to the question, why is mars so brilliantly question, why is mars so brilliantly quest —— perennially fascinating for astrophysicists? there is plenty to keep us occupied down here, you could argue we ought to be preserving life on this planet, let alone looking for extinct life elsewhere. i think mars is so fascinating for people on earth because it's so close and it's such a similar planet to earth itself. i mean, it has seasons like we have on earth, it has a day cycle like we have on earth, people believe it might have had a lot of water on mars, so there was potential to have had life previously. how far away do you think we really are from putting

a human being up there, given that it takes seven months to get there? it's a heck of an undertaking. yeah, it's a long time, so missions to mars can take six to nine months in general. it would be a huge task to get a general. it would be a huge task to geta human general. it would be a huge task to get a human there, but there are a lot of private companies, for example, spacex and blue origin committed to this, and i would say perseverance is committed to this, and i would say perseverance is a committed to this, and i would say perseverance is a step towards getting the foundations ready for humans to go to mars in the future. getting there is one thing, but how do you live in that environment? you would be on board, i assume, the whole time, as if you are on a space station. yes, and astronauts have been to the iss for over a year, and they have been extensive studies on they have been extensive studies on the human body and how it adapts to the human body and how it adapts to

the microgravity environments. understanding that is crucial for a long trip to mars. the rock discoveries, just briefly, when are they likely to be brought back? this perseverance rover isn't going to ta ke perseverance rover isn't going to take the samples back itself as it will be a future mission to still be in denial to still being denied. —— being designed. it will not be back until 2030 at the earliest. thank you very much, dr maggie lieu from nottingham university. now the weather. a bit ofa a bit of a north—south divide today in fact a bit of a north—south divide today infact in a bit of a north—south divide today in fact in the south we got some lovely summer sunshine coming through. further north, glum —looking skies with some rain around, so it's going to be a different atmosphere for taking a lengthy walk on the beach this

afternoon. that's because of this area of low pressure which is going to influence the weather story for the next couple of days to the far north and west, and dragging up some warmth in the south. that is producing this line sunshine for the anywhere really across south yorkshire, south of that, we will see sunshine continuing to stop the heaviest rain likely across northern ireland and western scotland. here, maximum temperature of 18. in this machine, we can see highs of 28. —— in the sunshine. the cloud and rain to the north of drifts away and we will see more cloud in western fringes but, generally a quiet night to come. overnight lows in the south—east not falling far at all, perhaps around 15 or 16, so a warm start to friday morning, and the warmth is going to continue to build. coming all the way up from iberia, across western france, we start to see temperatures climbing for a day at least, but still this area of low pressure influencing the

story further north and west, and it will continue to bring a change to the feel of our weather for the start of the weekend. this heatwave, a short, sharp shock for some. it looks as though it's going to stay for one day, with a southerly wind feeding this drive, settled weather for many. western fringes staying overcast with a few more showers and perhaps not quite as warm, but we could see temperatures across much of central and eastern england in excess of 30 degrees plus, perhaps peaking at 3a. into the evening, a risk of a few sharp showers in the near continent, just affecting eastern england, so if you isolated and thundery downpours. not everybody will see those but, once they ease, the low pressure centre to the north—west is influencing the story, and the wind direction changes to more of a westerly feed. that means it's driving him somewhat fresher conditions so, if temperatures in the 305 is too much for you, it will be a little unpleasant into the weekend, but a scattering of showers the further

north and west you are.

people in the uk showing symptoms or testing positive for coronavirus must now isolate for ten days rather than seven. the new rule starts immediately. it comes as ministers grapple with preventing a resurgence of the disease. we can see a second wave emerging in europe and we will do everything in our power to stop it reaching our shores. and in another sign of the impact of coronavirus, latest figures show that england had the highest excess deaths in europe over the past few months. also this lunchtime... the travel firm tui announces the closure of 166 high street stores in the uk and ireland. it's back to school for scotland's pupils, as the first minister announces everyone will be back in the classroom by mid—august. the number of rape convictions in england and wales