welcome to bbc news, i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: tiktok says it is there for the long run after president trump says he will ban the chinese—owned video sharing app in the us. across europe, several governments express concern about a resurgence in the number of coronavirus cases. south africa records more than 500,000 virus infections. that is the fifth—highest in the world. and pierre—emerick aubameyang scores twice as arsenal beat chelsea to win the fa cup.

hello and welcome to bbc news. the us general manager of tiktok has said the chinese—owned video—sharing app is here for the long run after president donald trump said he would ban it in the us. vanessa pappas told tiktok users in a video statement that its staff were building the safest app, amid us concerns about data protection. tiktok is mostly used to share short videos, usually about 15 seconds long, and it has grown rapidly in the last year, now boasting more than 800 million active monthly users worldwide. but it is owned by a chinese company, bytedance, and it is this last fact that concerns the us security forces. there is in fact a precedent for this us announcement. india has already blocked the app and australia is also considering a ban. here is our technology reporter chris fox. well, the app has been

decompiled by security researchers. they've looked deep into it, and as yet, they haven't found a smoking gun. there's nothing obvious in the app that seems to be sending information back to the chinese. but, as with any chinese company, they can be compelled to give information to the chinese security services, and any app on your phone can gather lots of data while it's there. even american apps like facebook do this. they can scoop up your location data, your contacts, and things like that. and they store that on servers outside of china, so tiktok is run as its own entity outside of china. they run it as a separate business, and they say they store the data outside of china, so it's not subject to chinese jurisdiction. but i think the fear is that, with all that information about american and other consumers that they store on servers, could potentially that find its way back to the chinese security services, and then put information at risk? that's the concern. tiktok has said it does not give any information to the chinese government.

tiktok itself isn't operated in china. they have a different version of the app, called douyin. and they've said that they are planning to stay in america, in the us, for the long run. they don't have any intention of closing down. there had been some rumours swirling that they might be bought out by another company, like microsoft, but at the moment that hasn't been confirmed. let's speak to dan primack, business editor at axios. thanks very much for coming on the programme. thanks for having me. so shall we start with that last point that chris was talking about, this idea that possible deal in some way could be worked out with microsoft. what do we know about that? they have a deal. microsoft... bytedance has agreed to divest 1% of tiktok or the us portion of tiktok to microsoft, and the deal is on donald trump's desk. the surprise for both microsoft and tiktok, bytedance, together,

was trumped's comments from last night, because they believe this was a solution to the problem. so what's going on, then? if that was an elegant solution, why not go for it? it is a question nobody seems able to answer, and it is worth noting trump said last night that he was going to ban tiktok very soon, or at least that's what the full report said. it has been 2a hours. he has done no such thing stop so granted, tomorrow is sunday, monday he could do it. it is unclear if it is the data issue. it is unclear if this is pure politics, kind of an ante china, redmeat thing for his base. it is unclear... there is some speculation on twitter, et cetera, some achara one uses, particularly younger ones, have caused some problems for the trump campaign. they overbought tickets to a rally they never used. they have done things like that. it is unclear. trump himself hasn't clearly said what his problem with tiktok is. went do you have any problems with tiktok? what do you feel about the privacy concerns? there's clearly a of anxious people out there. is

that overblown, or is it legitimate? i'm not somebody who has been able to reverse engineer the code, so i can't speakfor sure, engineer the code, so i can't speak for sure, but what i can say is this is notjust washington, dc or donald trump concern. for example, wells fargo, which is one of the biggest banks in the united states, about two weeks ago they told all of their employees to remove tiktok from any of their work devices. amazon did the same thing, actually, to all of its employees, although it then rescinded that, said it had been sent in error, but has never quite explained why such an e—mail would have been written by its it department in the first place, let alone in error. so clearly there are concerns not just from government officials, but also from some private enterprise and private technology companies. just a bit of an unfair question, crystal ball time, what do you think happens next? where do you see this going? i have to believe this microsoft deal gets done. it just makes too much sense not to. again, trump does have the ability, most likely, to block this. not by blocking the

microsoft acquisition, so much, but the back story a little bit was that tiktok was created by the acquisition of something called musically, and trump could say that that deal, which is several years old, was invalid. thus tiktok as we know it effectively doesn't exist. several european governments have expressed concern about the resurgence of the coronavirus cases in a number of countries, including belgium and france, where numbers appear to be heading upwards. in france, the seven—day average of new infections passed 1,000 per day this week. rates of infection in germany remain low, but health officials there have expressed great concern over an uptick in cases in the country. spain is struggling with a surge of new infections that has sparked european travel warnings. gavin lee is on the spanish island of majorca. well, across spain, the authorities are worried about the speed of the spread of the pathogen.

there's been an average of 1,000 cases here this week — that's ten times more than this time a month ago. and across europe too, well, if you look at france, for example, double the number of cases compared to this time last month, germany too, and also if you look at the likes of italy, better news there because they have had a slight increase. but belgium, five times the number of cases compared to a month ago. in germany, as of next week, they are going to make it mandatory for travellers coming back from areas of high risk to have a covid test. now, that includes in europe, parts of spain, in luxembourg too, but for the moment, not for the uk. now, here in majorca, there have been fewer cases, around 27 covid cases a day. but there's been the first confirmed case of tourists being put in isolation since the lockdown was eased, as one person out of a party of ten, currently close by here in palma, are now in isolation in a hotel.

it is a worry, but no big concern at the moment, and reason for alarm. south africa has now registered more than 500,000 cases of coronavirus, making it by far the hardest—hit country on the continent. it now accounts for more than half of africa's diagnosed infections. paul hawkins has more. morning another life taken by coronavirus. —— mourning. 8153 people have died from it in south africa, but it could be much higher. the south african medical research council says the number of people dying from natural causes from sixth of may to 21 june is 60% higher this year compared to the same period in 2019 and 2018. the government says there have been over 500,000 confirmed infections in the country, that is at least half of all the confirmed coronavirus cases on the continent. and a third of them are in this province, where hospitals like this are

struggling to cope, as this member of staff explain. the staff is not there. we have a gross shortage of staff. it is chaos, it is crazy. it is a mess. 0urfacilities chaos, it is crazy. it is a mess. 0ur facilities and chaos, it is crazy. it is a mess. 0urfacilities and our hospitals, covid—19 cases are all over the place. there is no ward which doesn't have a covid—19 person. so how are we coping with the spread of the virus? we are not. south africa impose a strict lockdown in april and may that slowed the spread of the virus, but began a gradual reopening injune. despite that, cases have surged, the president pointing out, however, that... but that is of little consolation to south africans, with some saying the pandemic has exposed shortcomings in its health system. even before coronavirus, the problems are getting bigger every day. our healthcare getting bigger every day. our

healthca re system getting bigger every day. our healthcare system is failing oui’ healthcare system is failing our people. it's failing the entire country. it was not ready for this virus. the country has tested over 3 million people and brought in an aggressive early lockdown. but that is no guarantee of success against this deadly virus. two of the uk government's scientific advisors have each warned that pubs and other leisure facilites may have to close once schools reopen in england next month to prevent a sharp rise in coronavirus cases. the experts say a possible trade—off may be needed so pupils can return to the classroom. here is our science correspondent victoria gill. a family celebration, tinged with the impacts of the pandemic. while a downsized wedding went ahead in bradford, new restrictions here and across a swathe of northern england mean that friends and families in different households are once again being told to keep apart. it's a weekend

of mixed messages. planned relaxation of lockdown restrictions in england has been put on pause, but outside of areas where restrictions have been tightened, people who've been shielding since march have been advised that it's finally safe to go out. for michelle in leicester, who has been treated for breast cancer, this meant an emotional reunion with her mum. the flowers are in the back of the car. you can just about see them. i'm only coming for the day. i'm not staying overnight, so i'm taking no extra risks. i'm just coming to see my mum. now, then, pixie! yeah, yeah, look at that. whoo! yeah, we got it! we made it! i know! got a present for you. oh, wow! but it's a nervous time for both of them. they're beautiful. i'm not right sure whether shielding is over, because in a holiday town like we are, we get too many visitors to feel safe. the recent rise in infection rates linked to people in different households socialising together showed how

close some communities are to a surge in coronavirus cases. while new restrictions in some areas are intended to pull them back from that tipping point, two of the government's scientific advisers, speaking to the bbc in an independent capacity, said that to fulfil the ambition to reopen schools, pubs and restaurants may once again have to close. closing some of the other networks, some of the other activities, may well be required to enable us to open schools. and so it might come down to a question about, you know, which do you trade off against each other? and then that's a matter of prioritising, you know, do we think that pubs are more important than schools? so, what do you envisage will have to happen with restrictions later in the year? well, we'll probably start to see a second wave. we'll also see the usual seasonal influenza starting. i think some hard decisions will be made about what restrictions need to be reintroduced, and whether that's potentially the pubs and the hospitality sector

taking a hit, in preference to education — will be a political decision. until there is a vaccine, even on the most special of occasions, this balancing act will have to continue — trying to keep life going while keeping the virus at bay. victoria gill, bbc news. you are watching bbc news. the headlines: tiktok says it is there for the long run after president trump says he will ban the chinese—owned video sharing app in the us. across europe, several governments express concern about a resurgence in the number of coronavirus cases. russian health authorities are preparing to start a mass vaccination campaign against coronavirus in october, according to the country's health minister. but some experts are concerned at russia's fast—track approach. on friday, the leading infectious disease expert in the us, dr anthony fauci, said he hoped that russia and china were actually testing their vaccines before administering them to anyone.

professor melissa nolan is an infectious disease expert at the university of south carolina. thanks very much for coming on the programme. so what was your reaction when you heard that russia will be administering this from october? well, certainly initially it is very exciting. i know we're all anxious to have a vaccine that is effective, but we certainly have some concerns, think, from the scientific community. and what others concerns? is that just that normally vaccines ta ke just that normally vaccines take a lot longer to test and test that they are safe? right, so normally it takes months, sometimes even years, for us to have a vaccine that comes to the market, four or five have a vaccine that comes to the market, four orfive years. there is really two primary concern is that we think of. the first is just general, with any vaccine. so it takes time for us to understand what the true long—term health outcomes could be. we also want to have a good long—term understanding of what that side—effect profile could be. the second concern we really have is more specific to a coronavirus vaccine in particular, and that

an immunological phenomenon we are concerned about that is called interbody —dependent enhancements, or simply put, immune enhancement. so there is a chance that there is something unique about this virus that, if someone is exposed to the virus after getting the antibody or the vaccine, the concern is that they could have more severe disease, and that this vaccine would allow for a quick uptake of the virus into your body, which would then result in more severe disease. and it really is going to take time for us to understand if that could be a concern and how we can mitigate that risk. ic, and does that require, that risk out does that require just require, that risk out does that requirejust more require, that risk out does that require just more testing in controlled conditions? how does this actually work? because if you give it to the general public will you give it to people to test, surely you are still putting people at risk, both ways. writes, absolutely, and as you are probably aware, there is multiple different phases of vaccine trials. so the first is working with animal studies. so

we could, using animal models, have a better idea of whether or not this immunologic phenomenon could be occurring, and again we could also understand what that process could be so that we could better tailor the vaccine. there's also a safety and efficacy trial, so you use just a very small group of people and volunteers, and that could bea and volunteers, and that could be a good way for us to have an understanding, again to see that some of those concerns, safety profiles, could be. i think concern is that if we are not going through these rigourous, tried—and—true steps, that we could then be exposing a large number of people either to a vaccine that might not be effective, or to a vaccine that could make it worse for you. ic, and finally, i have to ask, i know you won't have the answer, but this is what everyone will want to know, what's your best guess for when, if, we have a vaccine? i think that's the million—dollar question that we all want to know. i am hopeful that by march we should have something that would be available, probably first for healthcare workers for those

that are high risk for exposure, and from there, hopefully by next summer, we will start seeing it widely available for the public. fingers crossed it is on its way. thanks very much for coming on the programme, professor. we appreciate it. thank you. for more detail on where the world is in the race for a coronavirus vaccine, have a look at this article by our health correspondent james gallagher. it's at the usual place at bbc.com/news. classified documents from inside the british military raise fresh questions as to whether uk special forces in afghanistan may have tried to cover up the killing of civilians. the previously secret material was disclosed as part of a court case following a panorama investigation last year, which highlighed allegations that british forces had a policy of deliberately killing fighting aged males — even when they didn't pose a threat. the ministry of defence has denied such a policy existed.

0ur defence correspondent jonathan beale reports. this is how elite troops target the taliban — controversial night raids with the aim to kill or capture enemy fighters. this shows afghan commandos on a mission with american support. but it was the same tactics used by british special forces during their time in helmand. last year, bbc panorama heard allegations the sas had killed unarmed civilians, with testimony from survivors of a raid in 2011 who said the british shot family members when they posed no threat. we've blurred their faces to protect their identity. translation: they tied his hands in front of me. if you've tied someone's hands, how can they fight? lawyers representing one of the afghan families are now challenging the ministry of defence here at the high court.

they're trying to find out whether there was a proper investigation or whether there might have been a cover—up. and they've just forced the mod to release these highly sensitive documents, which show that there were serious concerns about the raid within the british military. in heavily redacted e—mails sent soon after the raid, one british officer asks... another soldier replies with reports that two of the afghans were shot reaching for weapons. he says... while another e—mail highlights the anger of an afghan officer, who suggests... 0ne mp says the documents warrant a fresh investigation. it's deeply alarming, it's deeply serious and the government needs to come clean. if that doesn't merit some kind of inquiry, because at the end of the day, you're talking about war crimes, potential war crimes,

then i don't know what does. the british military‘s own report into the raid, released to the court, says the four men killed were all armed and that one was a known taliban commander who'd been targeting coalition forces. in a statement, the mod said... the mod recently closed down the unit investigating allegations of potential war crimes in afghanistan. but these documents, at the very least, highlight concerns about its transparency and the secrecy surrounding britain's special forces. jonathan beale, bbc news. sri lankans are heading to the polls on wednesday

a former british government minister and current conservative mp is reported to have been arrested after he was accused of rape, sexual assault and coercive control. scotland yard say a man was taken into custody at a police station in east london on saturday and has been released on bail. the conservative party said it takes all allegations of this nature extremely seriously. the allegations against the conservative mp appear in the sunday times newspaper. sri lankans are heading to the polls on wednesday in an election that will have far—ranging impacts on sri lanka's politics, rule of law, and foreign policy. the election has been delayed twice due to the coronavirus pandemic, meaning campaigning has lasted months. so with sunday marking the last day of campaigning, our correspondent anbarasan ethirajan in colombo, takes a look at what we can expect. music. a buoyant sri lankan president, gota baya raja pa ksa, is on a campaign trail once again. almost nine months

after his landslide victory in the presidential poll, he wants to sweep the parliamentary election. mr rajapaksa wants this man, his brother mahinda, to be his prime minister. mahinda was president twice before, and gotabaya was his defence secretary. the election is happening amid the unprecedented coronavirus crisis. sri lanka has managed to contain the outbreak, with the deaths onlyjust into double figures. the entire world is now subject to covid—19 infection. sri lanka is one of the best countries to face it successfully and to save its own citizens. therefore, gota baya rajapa ksa has shown he's a unique leader, and because of that, people have a new hope. however, the rajapaksa brothers still face accusations of rights abuses during the war with the tamil rebels which ended in 2009.

they deny any wrongdoing, but the rajapaksas' supporters, mostly drawn from the majority sinhalese, dismiss the criticism over rights abuses. sri lanka has enjoyed a relative political stability for the last nine months, especially after the devastating easter sunday bomb attacks last year. president gotabaya raja pa ksa's party wants to capitalise on that to secure a two—thirds majority in parliament so that they can change the constitution. for example, to give more powers to the president. this man, sajith premadasa, is one of the main challengers. he's promising a more inclusive sri lanka. but the opposition is divided, splitting anti—rajapa ksa votes. some are worried that a two—thirds majority in the current election could lead to an authoritarian rule. this comes at a time where we have seen increasing attacks on civil society, on media, on lawyers.

so, the space for dissent is shrinking. and the question is whether it will shrink further post—elections? and the signs so far are that it is likely to happen that way. sri lanka's economy has been battered by the covid—19 crisis. many sri lankans feel only a strong government will be able to revive the economy. anbarasan ethirajan, bbc news. in sport, arsenal have won the fa cup finalfor a record 14th time, beating chelsea 2—1 at wembley. arsenal's captain pierre—emerick aubameyang, who scored both his team's goals, lifted the trophy in front of a stadium of 90,000 empty seats, because of coronavirus restrictions. victory secured arsenal's place in the europa league next season. the team's manager mikel arteta says that's an additional bonus for the club. it is a double reward for us.

it is really important for this club in every way to be in europe. we have gone into this competition and winning it as part of our history, 1a now, i contributed, we all did it so i am so happy. to astronauts on board a spacex capsule are hurtling back towards earth right now after the dragon endeavour capital successfully undocked from the international space station. so it has successfully undocked and is in space right now, due to splashdown off the western coast of florida later on sunday. that is american time, and as! sunday. that is american time, and as i said, there was safe to proceed with the landing even though there is a tropical storm in the area so they will need to be mindful of the

weather. the crew dragon became the first american space ship to carry astronauts to the iss in overa to carry astronauts to the iss in over a decade. hello there. the heat and humidity ebbed away during the course of saturday and resulted in a much more comfortable night for sleeping. but again, as we know, on friday, we were just shy of 38 celsius. we had our third hottest day on record. just to show you the contrast, just about everywhere was ten degrees down on that on saturday. so, it felt a little cooler, but it most certainly felt less humid, so more comfortable for sleeping — and we'll keep that fresher feel around for the day ahead — but there will be scattered showers around. we're under the atlantic influence again. low pressure to the north throwing in this weather front, which has given some fairly heavy rain across the northern half of the country through the night. still around, i think, first thing, but look at those temperatures. a much cooler start

to the day for many. and what we have in the north, that cloud and rain, will tend to break up, but given we've got that moisture, that will be the spark, if you like, for some heavier showers as we go into the afternoon. now, we're not expecting that many showers across the southern half of england, across wales and the midlands and east anglia, but they can't be ruled out. and temperatures will be a few degrees down on saturdayjust because it will be a cooler start to the day. still a fairly fresh breeze through the channel. after fairly few showers in the morning across northern ireland, they will tend to become more frequent into the afternoon, and there'll be some sharp ones further north as well — but equally, some spells of sunshine in between. and, of course, it's the british grand prix race day and it does look as if she will be mostly dry. there's just that small chance of a shower. just a small chance. and through the evening and overnight, those showers will tend to ease away, as you can see, with the risk still of a bit of rain brushing close by to the south. but another fairly fresh night for most parts. as we go, then, into monday, we've got a slight ridge of high pressure building in, but it is only slight

and i still think there will be the odd shower around. and already looming large in the atlantic, the next low pressure system. so, if we do see some of that rain, it willjust be brushing southern counties, we think. then, we may well have some slow—moving, sharp showers into the afternoon, but feeling quite pleasant in the sunshine with the light winds in between. however, as we go into tuesday, we've got the atlantic low potentially coming in, bringing us some more significant and persistent, quite widespread rain to the north and the west. it will tend to peter out, we think, as it heads southwards and eastwards, but a fair breeze with that as well and some significant rain. that's certainly one to watch. as ever, you can find out more information from our website.

this is bbc news. the headlines: president trump says he will ban tiktok, the chinese—owned video sharing app, in the us. it comes amid concerns the app could be used to collect americans' personal data. tiktok denies any chinese control and says that it is in the us for the long run. several european governments have expressed concern about the resurgence of coronavirus cases in a number of countries including belgium and france, where numbers appear to be heading upwards. spain in particular is struggling with a surge of new infections that has sparked european travel warnings, most notably from the uk.

more than 500,000 coronavirus have been confirmed in south africa, along with over 8,000 deaths. south africa is the hardest—hit country on the continent, and accounts for half of all reported infections in africa. it also has the fifth—highest number of cases in the world. now on bbc news, dateline london. hello, welcome to dateline london. this week, a second wave in august might threaten more than summer holidays. trump watchers weigh a bid to postpone november's