they need this is bbc news - i'm lewis vaughan jones —— this is bbc news — i'm lewis vaughan jones with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. nasa astronauts splash down to earth after the first ever commercial crewed mission to the international space station. it took years to get here. we brought the capability back to america and we came home safely to our families. a bbc investigation has found the number of deaths from coronavirus in iran is nearly three times higher than admitted. covid—19 restrictions are tightened in the capital region of the philippines to tackle a surge in cases.

and a dramatic end to the british grand prix as lewis hamilton wins with a puncture on the final lap. for the first time since the apollo programme 45 years ago, an american spacecraft has landed safely with a splashdown in the sea. the commercially—owned capsule carrying astronauts doug hurley and bob behnken launched for the international space station in may. it's all part of nasa's plan to hand over such flights to private companies. our science correspondent, rebecca morelle reports. mission control: 200 metres. brace for splashdown. copy, braced for splashdown. history in the making

as the dragon capsule returns home. as you can see on your screen, we have visual confirmation for splashdown. applause. the first private spacecraft to bring astronauts back to earth. dragon spacex, separation confirmed. their journey began from the international space station. the spacecraft‘s owned by us company spacex. inside, nasa's bob behnken and doug hurley are at the controls. as they hurtled through the earth's atmosphere, a heat shield protected them as temperatures reached up to 2,000 degrees celsius. then, at last, a glimpse from the earth. we are visual on four chutes out. parachutes slow the rapid descent before splashdown. splashdown. this move to the commercial sector

marks a major change. with the spacex reusable rockets and capsules, the cost of space flight is coming down. spacex has done the whole thing, so they can launch, they can dock, they can orbit the earth in a spacecraft and they can return to earth. and if you can do that safely, then anybody who chooses to — and if the company, in this case spacex — accepts their money, then anybody can pay to send somebody into space. racing to the scene, the recovery vessel. local boats have come to take a look, too. the scorched capsule is hoisted on board. there's a slight delay as noxious fumes from the landing are cleared. the hatch is now open. thank you for doing the most difficult parts and the most important parts of human space flight. then, at last, the first breath of fresh air for two months. both astronauts now out and ready to head home to see theirfamilies. it's the end of their mission, but a new era in commercial space flight is just beginning. we all wish you a safe journey home and a happy reunion

with your families soon, and we look forward to seeing you in person as well. rebecca morelle, bbc news. a short while ago the astronauts spoke to reporters. quite an odyssey, the last five, six, seven, eight years, five years since bob and i started working on this programme, and to be where we are now, the first crewed flight of dragon, is just unbelievable. we said it before, just a tremendous privilege to be part of this programme, to be part of nasa and to spend two months on the international space station, you know, with the flight of dragon on falcon, and the re—entry today, it's a lot to process. as i said, five hours ago, we were in a spaceship bobbing around, making frank satellite phone calls to whoever we could get a hold of.

there is something special about having the capability to launch and bring your own astronauts home, and we went to a lot of years without that capability and i think we're both super, super proud to have beenjust a small part of the team that accomplished bringing those spaceflights back to the florida coast. laura forczyk, is the founder of space analysis and consulting group astralytica, explained. this was the successful completion of what was called the demo ii mission, the first time a commercial company has ever launched astronauts to orbit and the first time nasa has ever contracted a commercial company to launch its astronauts to the international space station, and this signifies a transition in thought from government—only space transportation to commercial space transportation and a public private—partnership between nasa and spacex, and hopefully future companies as well. and what's the advantage of getting private companies like spacex involved 7 spacex can do things a little less expensively than had been

done, so right now, nasa it's wrapping up contracts with the russian space agency, roscosmos, and most recently they contracted to fly astronauts in october, i believe, at $90 million per seat whereas spacex can do that significantly cheaper, about half as much, $55 million or so. not only that, spacex can open up the access notjust to nasa astronauts but to other government agencies. their next mission, which will hopefully launch next month in september, will fly a japanese astronaut and the second crewed mission they are planning will fly a japanese astronaut and a french astronaut and in the future, they also hope to fly private not only that, spacex can open up the access notjust a japanese astronaut and a french astronaut and in the future,

they also hope to fly private space tourists, so it really can open things up or government astronauts around the world as well as private space tourism flights. those private space tourism flights, that's what i want to talk about. howfaroff are they realistically? realistically, we've already had several back in the early 20005. there were, i believe, seven space tourists that flew with roscosmos, with russia through a company called space adventures, so it's happened in the past but there was a break and this is a new transition because it wouldn't be a government rocket that these private space travellers would go on, it would be a commercial rocket and probably less expensively than what roscosmos is able to fly now, roscosmos is interested in flying space tourists again and the more people that can go up onto the international space station, one, i'm a scientist, and the more people who can go up, the more science can be done, even if it's private. number two, it opens up access to a lot of different types of people, not just people you think up from the 1960s and 1970s, but really a wide diversity of people can get access not only to the international space station, but commercial space stations as well.

and you can keep up to date with the latest news about the spacex mission on our website — you'll find profiles of the astronauts and a feature on the design of the dragon capsule. that's all at bbc.com/news. let's round—up some of the other main developments. one of the top doctors on the white house covid—i9 task force has warned that the us has entered a new phase in its fight against the virus. deborah birx said the disease was now a greater threat than when the outbreak began and cautioned people living in rural areas that they were not immune. more than 200,000 people have now died from coronavirus in latin america and the caribbean. brazil and mexico account for nearly three—quarters of those deaths. the number of deaths make it the second hardest hit region in the world after europe. muslim worshippers have performed the last ritual of the annual hajj pilgrimage to mecca, an event that's been limited by the

coronavirus pandemic. no more than 10,000 people were allowed to attend. the saudi authorities say no virus infections were reported. a bbc investigation has found the number of deaths from coronavirus in iran is nearly three times higher than the government there claims. almost 42 thousand people have died with covid—i9 symptoms — according to official medical records passed to the bbc by a whistle—blower. iran's health ministry has rejected this, insisting that the country's reports to the world health organization are accurate. bearang tarj dean from the bbc‘s persian service has the story. groaning. gasping forair in the last hours of life. this man became iran's first official coronavirus victim on the 19th of february. his brothers were doctors, and they posted this video

on social media. after that, officials were left with no choice but to admit that covid—i9 was killing iranians. but it turns out his death from the virus was not iran's first. the bbc has seen what appear to be two official government documents. they contain every hospital patient they think was infected by covid—i9 and all those they suspect died with the virus. together, they show iran's epidemic started earlier and was far deadlier than the official said it was. now we know the first death was actually a full month before officials came clean. the data suggests that on some days in february and march, covid—i9 deaths were more than ten times higher than what officials were announcing. in total, 41,952 people

have died in hospitals after the 20th ofjuly. three times as many as the official death toll. this figure puts iran amongst the five worst hit countries in the world. this is an extraordinary leak. the files include a vast amount of personal and medical details, names, addresses, phone numbers and whether they had a history of respiratory or cardiac disease. there are nearly half a million records listed in the two files. and the bbc has made strenuous efforts to authenticate the data. the whistle—blower told that passing on this information was dangerous but worth it. act or's voice: risking my life, i'm sending you the lists of coronavirus infections and deaths in all the hospitals of the country. i urge you to publish these figures as you see fit, so we can save some

patients' lives. why would iran cover up the true scale of the outbreak? the pandemic started in the run—up to parliamentary elections in february. it was only after those elections that iran started imposing some restrictions to stop the spread. as the economy was already in deep recession, the government let businesses reopen in the spring. the leaders of the islamic republic fear any sign of weakness may be used by its enemies. maybe that's why they hid the true scale of the pandemic. behrang tajdin, bbc news. the us state of florida is bracing for the arrival of storm isaias, which is expected to hit the east coast shortly. it's weakened to a tropical storm after lashing the bahamas. but forecasters warn it could strengthen back to a hurricane before making landfall. florida governor ron desantis is urging people to be prepared. don't be fooled by the downgrade.

we do think it will be upgraded back to a hurricane later on this evening. even if it's tropical storm force winds, you can pretty much be assured that you are going to see power outages — that is certainly a 70 mph wind will be enough will be enough to take down trees and limbs, and that obviously interacts with power lines. so that will happen, and people should be prepared for that. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: with many people wary of international travel, many people in the uk have decided to stay closer to home for their summer break. the question was whether we want to save our people and japanese as well and win the war, or whether we want to take a chance on being able to win the war by killing all our young men. the invasion began at two o'clock this morning. mr bush, like most other people, was clearly caught by surprise.

we call for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all the iraqi forces. 100 years old and still full of vigor, vitality and enjoyment of life. no other king or queen in british history has lived so long, and the queen mother is said to be quietly very pleased indeed that she's achieved this landmark anniversary. this is a pivotal moment for the church as an international movement. the question now is whether the american vote will lead to a split in the anglican community. this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our main story this hour: the first privately—operated space flight to carry american astronauts has completed its mission. the spacex dragon capsule splashed down in the sea off the coast of florida, after visiting the international

space station. the two astronauts on board said it was a privilege to have taken part. let's turn to that news from the us we brought you earlier. one of president trump's senior medical advisers has warned that the country is entering a new phase of the pandemic. i asked dr oliver brooks, president of the national medical association, the largest organisation representing african—american doctors and patients for his reaction to dr birx's comments that the virus was now spreading to rural areas. i think it is logical and inevitable, without a national strategy, that you will get spread. she is saying it is spreading from our south up to the north and the midwest. the virus does not respect state lines. so without that national strategy, we just don't have a good handle on this virus.

so has there been a failure, then, in strategy that things have been left at local, state or whatever levels, that there has been a central failure here? so, you can have local and state responses but you need a strong message from the federal government. for example, today, dr burke said that but at the same time in our government we are hearing that we should open up schools as soon as possible. we can't even get people to be strong and steadfast on saying that we need to wear a mask, we have to have physical distance and other infection control procedures. so without that message, we have this challenge. i see, so on messaging, and i know you have been holding your national conference this weekend, looking at what else america is doing wrong, what mistakes are being made, central messaging, you mentioned there, what else?

so, essential strategy, for example, on testing. we are hearing different things from different people. we have to have an understanding of what to do in terms of treatments. we're getting different messaging in terms of what actually works and what doesn't. i'm getting excellent information from frontline physicians on what works and what doesn't work, because they having to use their own information they're getting from their own hospitals because the information we are receiving from other sources is not accurate. 0k, and just on that, sorry, yeah, on the messaging point, i don't want to get you too involved in a political debate, i know that is not your role, but nancy pelosi has come out and, in an interview, appeared to be quite critical of dr burke, and given your medical background, not your political one, obviously, what do you make of those kind of comments?

i think that speaker pelosi was frustrated. i think speaker pelosi wants us to wrap our arms around this. i think that this is a false choice between the economy and the virus, and i believe that she has had a measured strategy that she has wanted to implement and think that she felt something that she spoke. 0k. and just before we go, i'm afraid we are out of time, but what would be your main message here to the country? my main message would be, listen to the experts who speak the truth. we had dr anthony fauci speaking at our convention today. he gave a very cogent presentation. we need to understand that this virus is real and get back to the false choice. we want our economy to thrive. we have to do the right things. wear a mask. keep physical distance. wash your hands.

just have a respect for this virus. dr oliver brooks there. doctors in the philippines a warning that they are losing the fight against the virus. dire predictions have led the president to announce a series of new restrictions to try to combat the spread of covid—19. i have had the call of different groups, from the medical community, for a two week enhanced community quarantine. that is in manila. i fully understand why you would like to ask for time out. they have been in the front lines for months and are

exhausted. more than 1,300 firefighters are battling a blaze that's burning out of control in southern california, threatening thousands of people and homes east of los angeles. the so—called apple fire that broke out near the city of san bernardino has so far charred more than 20,000 acres, sending up columns of smoke, visible from hundreds of miles away. at least 2,600 homes, and nearly 7,800 people have been evacuated so far. microsoft says it's committed to buying the north american operations of the video—sharing app, tiktok, and wants to complete discussions with its chinese owners by the middle of next month. it made the announcement following talks with president trump, who has threatened to ban tiktok in the united states. the app denies accusations that it shares data with the government in beijing. with many popular holiday destinations in europe affected by a growing number of travel restrictions, many people in the uk have decided to stay closer to home for their summer break. it's providing welcome support to tourism which, like so much of the economy, shut down throughout

the spring. it's also helping to rebalance the loss of foreign visitors. danny savage reports from cumbria in the north of england. in the lake district, tourism is coming back to life, but it's not like it used to be. take, for example, getting onto one of the lakes... so, you've got to wear a face mask on the boat? you have to book online in advance, and these tourist boats are classed as public transport, so familiar rules apply. announcer: it is a legal requirement that face coverings are worn by passengers... what's really good is that customers are reporting back that they've got confidence in the covid—secure measures we've put in place and they're happy to be out on the lake. who wouldn't enjoy being out on this? a holiday in the lake district, though, is weather—dependent. let's just say all this water has to come from somewhere, and there's deep frustration among many businesses and visitors that during lockdown the weather was basically perfect,

but since then, it's been anything but. when you live in the uk, you know what to expect from the weather usually, so you come prepared, don't you? it isn't what we hoped for, because we should be in lovely sunshine in minorca, but, actually, it's nice to get away after so many weeks of lockdown. it's quite nice not to have the whole airport stress. yeah. you canjust shove everything in the back of the car and go. these little hire boats are selling well. the desire for self—isolation is doing wonders for self—hire. we've recently visited this deserted campsite at brothers water. it's back in business, but it's far from normal. we're only operating at about 50% occupancy because of the social—distancing measures. people who would normally have gone abroad are turning up. there is definitely a lot of people camping with us that have never camped before, they've never thought to camp before, they've really enjoyed it, which has been brilliant. they‘ re embracing it. we should be in egypt, but looking at it again, you think, my goodness,

this is always here, this will always be here, and yeah, you just feel as if you've come home sometimes, when you come back to these places. it's absolutely beautiful and inspiring. we should have flown to lanzarote on sunday. they've missed out on all of the spring tourism, so to come back here to help out the campsites, to help out the lake district, it's a no—brainer, really. at the other end of the market, the benefits are also being felt. it's been crazy busy... here, spain's loss is cumbria's gain. people are anxious about travelling internationally, so itjust means that we're having an influx of bookings. the reality is we're a 29—bedroom hotel here. we don't actually have any more space. we're disappointing people when they ring, and we're telling them we don't have rooms available until september. with virtually no international tourists, visitor numbers are down. the lakes hopes it can extend this year's season for as long as possible. danny savage, bbc news, cumbria. lewis hamilton has won the british grand prix

for the seventh time in his career in dramatic fashion, crossing the finish line with just three working wheels, after getting a puncture on the final lap. here's our sports editor, dan roan. once the action got under way, hamilton made his poll position count immediately, getting into a decent lead. and it was something of a procession. elsewhere, there were a couple of crashes, which meant the safety car was used on a couple of occasions. and that seemed to frustrate hamilton. but all seemed well until the last few laps when, first, his mercedes team—mate valtteri bottas got a puncture, which meant that he finished back in 11th, now 30 points behind hamilton in the championship. and most dramatically of all, in the penultimate lap, the same happened to lewis hamilton himself, remarkably. he got a puncture as well. at that point, he was around 30 seconds ahead of the red bull of max verstappen. now, his team took the fateful decision to bring him into the pits just before that incident to change his tyres

in what was a successful bid to record the fastest lap and get a point. but had they not done so, had they kept their man out there on the circuit, he would've overtaken hamilton because he was effectively on just three tyres for the final lap. and that meant that in the final reckoning, it became an incredibly dramatic finale. hamiltonjust clinging on byjust over five seconds to secure a record seventh british grand prix victory. it puts him on course, of course, for a record—equalling seventh world championship crown. next weekend, he'll be back here and expected to reinforce and strengthen that bid. once again, of course, there'll be no fans here. what happened earlier on was surely one of the most dramatic ends to a british grand prix. just a shame that there were no fans here to witness it.

that was our sports editor, dan roan. plenty more on the website. including the bbc sport website there. if you are online you can get me there too. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @lvaughanjones. i'm lewis vaughan jones i'm lewis vaughanjones and this is bbc news. bye—bye. hello there. it took until the last day in july for temperatures to get above 30 degrees celsius. we only have to wait until thursday or friday this week before we see 30 degrees in august. but it won't be for the start of the week. we've got a little ridge of high pressure building in, which has been easing the showers back overnight. so, actually, it's going to be quite a chilly start this morning, but with plenty of sunshine before the shower cloud gets bubbling away. so, there will already be a few showers in north—western areas anyway, and with a weak weather front brushing past here, that will tend to merge those showers a little bit. but plenty of drier weather for the south—east of scotland, possibly fewer showers than sunday in northern ireland. and, again, just a scattering for england and wales, but by the afternoon, particularly in eastern areas, they are likely to turn heavy with some thunder around, slow—moving downpours. but away from the showers

in the sunshine, feeling pleasantly warm, but the wind will be picking up in the north—west of scotland. why? because we've got our next weather front on its way in. so, through the course of the night, it's likely to turn quite wet through northern ireland and also quite mild with lots of low cloud around, so a very different feel to our weather, i think, across north—western areas as we head into tuesday. in fact, through tuesday and wednesday, it does look wetterfor a time, some significant rain around and some stronger winds. but, again, it doesn't last. so, this is the low pressure which will be responsible for that rain, 50—60 mm over the highlands of scotland, tightly packed isobars denoting some stronger winds for many through tuesday and wednesday further south as well. the rain looks it'll be a feature mostly for scotland and northern ireland, but there will be low cloud and drizzle setting in across northern england, wales, the south—west while southern and eastern areas may well stay largely fine and dry and warm with some sunshine around. clearly not feeling warm

further north despite the mild air here and all the moisture. which will continue to fall, that rain, as we go through tuesday night and into wednesday. some uncertainty as to how far south it's going to come, but again the high pressure's closer to the south. so, if those weather fronts do come southwards, the likelihood is they won't produce much rain, they'll just fizzle out. and then the high pressure builds later in the week, just pushing those or nudging those weather fronts further north again. and allowing the temperatures to rise, mostly for england and wales, but some warmer, drier weather coming in further north for scotland and northern ireland as well. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the first crewed mission by a private company to the international space station has safely returned to earth. the spacex dragon crew capsule splashed down off the coast of florida. nasa's administrator said the mission's success marked the beginning of a new era in human space flight. an investigation by the bbc‘s persian service has found the number of people who've died with covid—19 in iran is nearly three times higher than the government has admitted. they also show the first coronavirus death happened injanuary, nearly a month earlier than originally claimed. the philippines is bringing back strict quarantine measures in and around the capital manila, to tackle a leap in coronavirus cases. the measures are likely to include the shutdown of some businesses and public transport. they'll start on tuesday.