this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a former uk conservative minister — and current mp — is arrested on suspicion of rape, sexual assault and coercive control. the australian state of victoria declares a "state of disaster" as the number of new coronavirus cases rises steeply. meanwhile, south africa records more than half a million virus infections — the fifth highest number in the world. classified documents released by the british military raise new questions about whether uk special forces killed unarmed civilians in afghanistan. and heading home — the space x capsule leaves the international space station and safely enters the earth's orbit.

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. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. first here in the uk, a former conservative minister — and current mp — has been arrested on suspicion of rape. he has now been released on bail. according to the sunday times, the allegations were made by a former parliamentary employee, who has accused him of rape, sexual assault and coercive control. our political correspondent tony bonsignore explained more.

as you say, these allegations against a current mp and former minister, according to the sunday times, these allegations made by a former parliamentary employee. now, the paper says she alleges that the mp assaulted her, forced her to have sex and left her so traumatised that she had to go to hospital. she has accused him of rape, sexual assault and coercive control. now, we have had a statement from the metropolitan police. they say on friday the 31st ofjuly, they received allegations related to four separate incidents involving allegations of sexual offences and assault. these offences are alleged to have occurred at addresses in westminster, lambeth and hackney between july last year and january this year. a man in his 50s was arrested on saturday the 1st of august on suspicion of rape and he has been released on bail to return on a date in mid august. and are the conservative party saying anything about this? well, there are also reports that the conservative party chief whip mark spencer had been aware of allegations and had spoken to the victim. now, sources have told us that mr spencer had not known the magnitude of the allegations

and a spokesman for the chief whip said he took all allegations of harassment and abuse extremely seriously and strongly encouraged anybody who had approached him to contact the appropriate authorities. we have also spoken to the conservative party and they say they take all allegations of this nature extremely seriously. the australian state of victoria has declared a state of disaster because of a continuing rise in coronavirus infections. 650 new cases were recorded on saturday. residents will not be allowed to travel more than five kilometres from their home. australia as a whole has registered a relatively modest 198 deaths from coronavirus, but there are concerns that the current restrictions aren't working.

this is what victoria state premier daniel andrews had to say. the stay—at—home restrictions for metro melbourne will be enhanced. there will be additional limits to the four reasons to leave home. you will no longer be able to leave home or go any further away from your home than a five kilometre radius. you will not be able to be at any point more than five kilometres away from your home for the purposes of shopping for what you need. only one person will be able to go shopping once per day and they will need to secure the goods and services they need within a five kilometre radius. our correspondent in australia phil mercer has more details of the new restrictions. they are mostly centred around the city of melbourne, which is the state capital, home to five million people. in the next couple of hours, these new restrictions will come into force. what they mean is there will be a night—time curfew. people will not be allowed to go beyond five kilometres of their homes, as we've been hearing from daniel andrews, the state premier. people will only be allowed to go shopping once per day per household.

there will also be restrictions on people exercising, so these are, by far, australia's strictest lockdown measures and they follow the worst week of the pandemic for australia as a whole. each day in recent, certainly in the last week and recent weeks too, victoria has been reporting hundreds of new infections and over the last week, dozens of people have died. now, these numbers might not seem large by international standards, but in the australian context, they are big, they are significant and they have prompted the government in victoria to take these unprecedented measures of declaring a state of disaster. india has recorded more than 50,000 new coronavirus cases for the third consecutive day. 0verall, there's been 1.75 million cases and there are now fears the country could overtake the us and brazil to become the country with the highest

number of infections. many states are imposing individual lockdowns for 15—day periods to help control the spread, but the indian government is stressing that mortality rates are low, at roughly 2%. earlier i spoke to dr ramanan laxminarayan. he's director of the centre for disease dynamics, economics & policy in delhi and is advising various indian state governments on their covid response... there are basically two kinds of countries, basically one set that has the academic under control and the other set, like you've mentioned, brazil, mexico, the us and india, which don't. in india, it first started with places like delhi, which had an early rise of cases and then it's sort of starting to taper off in some of these places, but now there's a new set of states which include the south. gujarat continues to have an epidemic and states, very large states, the size

of brazil as far as population goes, which are now picking up the pace in terms of numbers of cases, and so this is expected to go on for quite a while yet. because the epidemic, to be honest, it's not within control — partly because of the dense population and movement of people, which really can't be controlled, inadequate social distancing, again, which is a function of poverty — people not being able to do that even if they were asked to do so. and it's now entering places, parts of the country, which really don't have much by way of public health infrastructure. and so one would expect to see the cases go up in the days to come. 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. the authorities say the rate

of infection is increasing rapidly — and it's not expected to peak for another month. paul hawkins has the latest. mourning another life taken by coronavirus. 8,153 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 may 6 tojune 21 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 coronavirus cases on the continent — and a third of them are in gauteng province, where hospitals like thelle mogoerane are struggling to cope, as this member of staff explained. the staff is not there. we have a gross shortage of staff. it's chaos, it's crazy. nurses are testing positive as well, and it's a mess. in ourfacilities and in our hospitals, covid—19 cases are all over the place.

there is no ward, by the way, that doesn't have a covid—19 person. so how are we coping with the spread of the virus? we are not. south africa imposed a strict lockdown in april and may that slowed the spread of the virus, but began a gradual reopening in june. 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. the cracks that have been there, even before coronavirus, are getting bigger every day. 0ur health care system, public health care 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. paul hawkins, bbc news. health authorities in scotland are investigating a suspected ‘cluster‘ of 13 coronavirus cases in aberdeen which have been linked to a bar in the city centre. let's cross to our scotland reporter alexandra mackenzie who is in glasgow. what more can you tells about this? element what we have been told -- what we have been told by nhs grampian is 13 confirmed cases of coronavirus all linked. they have been linked back to the hawthorn bar in aberdeen city centre. this has been linked to the 26th ofjuly. customers that were there last sunday. just last weekend. we have been told by nhs grampian that they are all displaying mild symptoms of coronavirus. the health board has said that the test and protect

scheme is under way, they are investigating this cluster and there is further tracing going on, people who were at the bar who may have then met up with other people later this week. so the health board say they have not ruled out that there could be further cases connected with this. the bar has gone under a deep clean and has been allowed to remain open. they have said that all precautions will be used to make sure that people are kept safe and they are asking that all customers do remain vigilant. because what the health board has said is that obviously when people are drinking, you may drop your guard, so just be extra careful when you are in places like pubs and restaurants. 0k, thank you very much indeed. the us general manager of tiktok has said the chinese—owned video—sharing app is "here for the long run", after president trump said

he would ban it in the us. vanessa pappas told tiktok‘s more than 80 million us users in a video statement that its staff were building "the safest app" possible, amid us concerns about data protection. jack kilbride reports. we have heard your outpouring of support and we want to say thank you, and we're not planning on going anywhere. fighting words from an application the us president is threatening to ban. tiktok, for millions of young americans, is a fun video—sharing app full of dances and memes, but for donald trump, it is a national security concern. we're looking at tiktok, we may be banning tiktok, we may be doing some other things, there are a couple of options, but a lot of things are happening, so we'll see what happens. the issue for the president is that the application is owned by a chinese company, bytedance, and there is a concern that the data it collects from users will be passed over to beijing. it is a concern that has seen

india already ban the app and australia talk of following suit, but not everyone is as worried. there are real national security implications with our social media networks. the question at hand is really is this a good way to go about it? and simply banning tiktok is not going to do anything for national security. bytedance denies the allegations and, according to some reports, have agreed to off—load the us operation of tiktok with microsoft taking over and assuming all responsibility for protecting the data of users, and there are questions about whether a ban would even work. you wouldn't be able to do it. unlike china or iran, where there is only one or two internet service providers, in the us, it is very, very difficult to be able to do that — there are so many telecom service providers. so even if you convince them to be able to do that, there is going to be a lot of loopholes and in all likelihood it will be very — in my opinion, very close

to impossible to be able to successfully do that. but whether it happens or not, it is clear that the move is part of a bigger battle between washington and beijing. one that is also not going anywhere. jack kilbride, bbc news. classified documents from within the british military raise fresh concerns about whether uk special forces may have killed unarmed civilians when they were fighting in helmand in afghanistan in 2011. the material was disclosed as part of a court case, following a bbc panorama investigation. the programme highlighted allegations that the sas deliberately targeted fighting—age men — 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. a leading scientist has said the concept of herd immunity against coronavirus has wrongly become discredited and should be revisited. he said it could be the only long—term solution to the pandemic. raj bhopal, who is professor emeritus of public health at the university of edinburgh, made his comments in thejournal public health in practice, and hejoins me now

on the line from edinburgh. good morning. maybe you could remind viewers of what you mean by herd immunity or what is meant by herd immunity or what is meant by herd immunity and then explain why you think it is a possible solution.|j must start with the title of my paper. there is a position in chess where every move is a bad one and you have to work out various plans to keep yourself in the game. you have to think very comprehensively and nothing can be left out. i would like to dispense with the word herd immunity because that makes us feel like cattle. the better phrase is population immunity. if about 25 to 50%, andi population immunity. if about 25 to 50%, and i have estimated a0 to 50%, some colleagues aid is lower than that, if about a0 to 50% of the population had some level of

immunity against this virus, we would actually clearly virus over time from the population. however we can to reach that number? we can reach it through immunisation, but currently we do not have a vaccine. the best estimate of will have a partially effective axing by next summer, and that is a long time to wait and that is especially for low and middle income countries. —— a partially effective vaccine. another way is by allowing people to get the infection and we know this disease is very serious and that is for people with some immune disorders and type two diabetes, and those over 70. but young people do not have them. this is a rare cause of death in those under 25, especially women and girls. so i am not sure why we are asking them to undergo lockdowns with severe restrictions on their lifestyles. they are doing

it for the older people like myself who are at higher risk. so my view is that we should be allowing young people to get on with their lives and their careers while we make special efforts to look after the older people. that is the essence of my argument. those who have got the most to lose should be able to get on with their lives, those with the least to lose should be protected. cani least to lose should be protected. can ijust least to lose should be protected. can i just say, least to lose should be protected. can ijust say, we did go through all this at the beginning of this pandemic crisis. the chief scientific adviser to the government did talk about herd immunity and then matt hancock, the health secretary, said it is a scientific concept, not a goal strategy. the essence of that is you can't let it rip through the whole country because you will have a large number of deaths. i have explained that very carefully in my paper, that allowing it to rip through the country would be catastrophic, as eve ryo ne country would be catastrophic, as everyone has said. but once you have

this disease under control with a reproduction number of one, then, whilst maintaining social distancing and some very reasonable actions we all have to take, we can actually begin to be more relaxed with people not as much risk. we have estimated that up until the end ofjune, there we re that up until the end ofjune, there were 61 deaths in people under 19 and under 1a, we have looked at the seven countries. by contrast, there we re seven countries. by contrast, there were more than twice that from influenza and more from road traffic accident. we haven't protected our children from road traffic accidents, so we have to think again and think about this as part of our wider strategy. this is particularly important for countries like india and other countries in africa where most of the population is young. it is also important in this country. what i am saying in the paper is let's talk openly. i don't believe

the government has been open about this infection. we have to speak openly. i have found that members of the public are for more understanding and supportive of my paper and understanding and supportive of my paperandi understanding and supportive of my paper and i have had many communications and 80% of the people are completely agreeing with me. we're not going let the infection rage, that will be catastrophic. having courted —— having brought it under control, we can allow young people to get on with their lives. under 30, especially women, there is little risk from this infection. certainly not of death. that is my argument. that will not say there will never be a death, there will be. but there are deaths from influenza and road traffic accident. we are preparing lots of information and we will put this infection in context related to other outcomes in

the population, and you see that actually, this is not an infection we need to be panicking about. have to put things into perspective. we have heard your arguments, food for thought. thank you very much for being with us. raj bhopal, the professor emeritus of public health at innovative edinburgh. thank you for being with us. —— at edinburgh university. the us state of florida is bracing for the arrival of the storm isaias which is expected to hit miami shortly. isaisa has weakened to a tropical storm after lashing the bahamas, but forecasters warn that it could strengthen back to a hurricane before making landfall. florida governor ron desantis has urged people to be prepared. two nasa astronauts are hurtling back towards earth following an historic mission on the first commercial rocket. the dragon capsule, built by the us company space x, is due to splashdown in the ocean off the coast of florida. a successful landing

would mean america can send its own teams into orbit again after retiring its shuttles in 2011. 0ur science correspondent rebecca morelle has more. mission control: dragon spacex, separation confirmed. for nasa's bob behnken and doug hurley it is time to head home, the dragon capsule leaving the international space station, the first ever private spacecraft to carry astronauts back to earth. we are about to embark on the final portion of the journey. i've referred to some of our spacex friends as the hardest part was getting us launched but the most important part is bringing us home and so i look forward to the test objectives of not only separating from the international space station smoothly, but then coming down to a nice splashdown off the florida coast. theirjourney began two months ago in a spacecraft owned by the us company, spacex. this move to the commercial sector marks a major change,

opening up space to anyone who can pay for a seat. but the return will be a real challenge, with a fiery re—entry through the atmosphere. parachutes will then slow the spacecraft down, ready for an ocean splashdown in the gulf of mexico, the first water landing since the apollo missions ended nearly 50 years ago. there's a lot of reasons why splashing down is preferable but the disadvantage for somebody that has been up in space for a long period of time, it might be a bit unpleasant, and bob and doug are really tough and i am sure they will be fine but they'll look a little bit like i do after i go to disneyland and ride the teacup ride with my kids and i get off of that thing and i look green. mission control: dragon spacex depart burn zero complete. in the coming hours, this test flight will be complete

and when the spacecraft touches down, a new era in spacecraft will have begun. rebecca morelle, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. hello there. fairly changeable—looking skies across many areas this afternoon. sunshine one minute, cloud the next. maybe the odd heavy downpour as well. but more sunshine between the showers across scotland and northern england compared this morning. but where the showers form, they could be heavy and thundery, frequent showers in northern ireland. showers, though, across some western parts of england and wales becoming much fewer in number, which means there will be one or two more towards eastern areas pushing through in that westerly breeze. and it is that breeze that will keep it cool during those cloudy moments, nice enough when the sun is out. 17 to 23 the high. but down into single figures away from the city centres tonight, with clear skies for many. one of two showers continue in the west. rain very close to the channel islands first thing,

that will clear through. and after a sunny start for most of us, showers in northern and western areas will develop elsewhere into the second half of the day. very much hit and miss. many places staying dry, if not completely dry, drier for longer through tomorrow, and temperatures again, a little on the cool side for early august, 17 to 22. but heat will return later in the week after a wet and windy spell midweek.

hello, this is bbc news with ben brown. the headlines: a former uk conservative minister — and current mp — is arrested on suspicion of rape, sexual assault and coercive control. the australian state of victoria declares a "state of disaster" as the number of new coronavirus cases rises steeply. meanwhile south africa records more than half a million virus infections — the fifth highest number in the world. classified documents released by the british military raise new questions about whether uk

special forces killed unarmed civilians in afghanistan. and heading home — the space x capsule leaves the international space station and safely enters the earth's orbit. now on bbc news — dateline london. hello and welcome to dateline london. a second wave in august may threaten more than summer holidays. trump watchers weigh a bid to postpone november's presidential election. and

the name's moore, richard moore. what does it take to lead a secret service in 2020? my guests, on socially distanced screens, political analyst eunice goes and henry chu of the los angeles times. and here in the studio, bbc newsnight‘s diplomatic editor mark urban. welcome to you all. virus spikes, flight cancellations and a new recession low for the eurozone — it's more grim news for a continent whose leisure and tourism industries hoped to salvage a small something from august's holiday high season after a ruinous first half to the year. that, i think, takes us to you, eunice, what is your assessment of the worries in many european countries that are bound for a second wave? you're talking about a second wave when in reality we're perhaps witnessing the continuation of the first wave and not really a second wave. in southern europe, governments are extremely worried.