a very warm werlcome to bbc news. my name's mike embley, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. explosion a massive blast in the lebanese capital, beirut, leaves more than 70 people dead and thousands injured. the explosion in the port sent shockwaves across the city. translation: i do not know what happened. i was fishing. i heard there was a failure i turned and started to head home. i heard an explosion and this happened. the lebanese prime minister says a confiscated haul of ammonium nitrate is to blame for the devastating blasts and vows that those responsible would be held accountable. in china, a formerfashion model handcuffed to his bed for so—called "reeducation" — rare footage of the uighur ethnic minorities held in secretive

detention centres. we have a special report. a two—day anti—protest curfew is imposed in indian—administered kashmir ahead of the first anniversary of delhi's decision to revoke the special status of the region. and why the latest issue of british vogue is making history, in front of and behind the camera. hello. an explosion in the port area of the lebanese capital beirut have killed almost 80 people and injured more than 4,000. many people are still missing, believed to be trapped under the rubble. the blast was so powerful that it caused extensive damage to buildings over much of the city. hospitals have been overwhelmed. officials say more tonnes of confiscated ammonium nitrate caused the blast. 0ur middle east editor, jeremy bowen, has been following developments. just to warn you — his report

contains distressing images. explosion. it was a massive explosion. shouting. another view from the bay. and from the streets. what happened 7 oh, my god! oh, my god. it looks as if dozens are dead and several thousand injured. and a country already deep in crisis has been hit by a catastrophe. translation: i don't know what happened. i was fishing. i heard there was a fire. i turned and started

to head home. i heard something explode and then this happened. this was the fire in beirut port. the flashes, they say, wear fireworks. then something much bigger ignited. lebanon's interior minister told local media it was ammonium nitrate, which had been stored there since 2014. sirens. it can be used as fertiliser or to make explosives. alarm bell. this is downtown beirut, close to the parliament building. since the end of last year, lebanon has been paralysed by a political and economic crisis, and street demonstrations,

before the country was gripped by the pandemic. the damage is spread across the city. the shock will run much deeper. and this tragedy risks pushing the lebanese further into despair. hassan diab, the prime minister, broadcast to the nation. he told them that those responsible would pay the price. beirut‘s hospitals, already pressed hard by covid—i9, are faced with hundreds of casualties. translation: we were at home. we heard what sounded like fireworks. we thought it was a container in the port that was on fire. a few seconds later, we were flying through the air. lebanon will get international help which, until now, its friends have been reluctant to give because of corruption and incompetence in lebanon's wealthy elite. but public anger, already strong, will demand

real change at last, if lebanon's rulers cannot heal the wounded, fix the damage and punish the guilty. and there is one big question. who allowed the storage of so much deadly explosive for so long in a warehouse so close to the city centre? jeremy bowen, bbc news. 0ur correspondent, carine torbey, has been at the american university medical centre in beirut. we are standing at the moment in front of the emergency gate. people are still coming in either to check on their relatives or to check whether their relatives are inside the hospital because they're still a large number of people unaccounted for. this hospital like every other hospital in beirut has been completely overwhelmed. they awoke into utmost capacity and are not

able to deal with the larger number of injured coming in. —— they are. people are being treated in corridors and even inside officers and not only in the medical rooms of the hospital because it is impossible to accommodate eve ryo ne impossible to accommodate everyone in the rooms. even the hospitals are categorising people according to the severity of cases and giving priority to those in a very critical condition because this is the only way to deal with this very high pressure they are under at the moment. as you can see, this is a real emergency inside even in the emergency inside even in the emergency unit and hospitals. people are here not only because they are injured but also because they are in shock and panic and at the moment it is very hard to say what is the

real scale of what happened this afternoon but beirut has been immensely shattered and dropped by this explosion that happened hours ago and still up until now everyone is looking for questions and everyone is trying to understand what really happened to the capital. let's go live to washington and hassan mneimneh, a middle east expert and a non—resident scholar at the middle east institute. thank you very much for your time. what do you think, as far as anyone could tell, happen here and why? one has to wait for the proper investigation to com plete for the proper investigation to complete itself, whether the lebanese government is capable of such an investigation or not. an administrative dysfunction may explain a lax nurse in the application might

have reduced what happened but also lebanon is under the quasi— occupation of an army loyal to iran that is known to have stored all sorts of weapons all over the place. is this one of the storage locations? these are questions of the lebanese are actually asking themselves. whether it is one or the other or a combination of both, one cannot readily know but unfortunately the catastrophe adds to the catastrophes already face my the lebanese people. generals have told the president it might bea have told the president it might be a bomber. the government is staring away from that interpretation but what about the wider impact on lebanon itself? i would not put too much weight on the claim even by donald trump that it is an attack. it might be just a

reflection, his own assessment but frankly when we talk about an attack, who is the party accused of attacking? clearly there has been quite a bit of an intensification in the rhetoric and into the hostilities between hezbollah and israel. why would israel give them a couple of days before condemning as well of the sessa nation of rafik hariri. but this is unrealistic. it does not look like it was an attack. it is more likely, close to a certainty that it was an explosion. the question is whether the explosion was incidental or not, all indications pointing to an incidental explosion but it is

a criminal one none the less. thank you very much for talking to us. more on that later in the programme. let's round—up some of the other main developments: the world health organization has urged russia to follow international guidelines for producing a vaccine for covid—i9. the leadership in moscow has said it will begin vaccinations in october. the russian vaccine is not among the who's list of six that have reached phase three clinical trials, involving more widespread testing on humans. new york city's health commissioner has resigned. dr 0xiris barbot, cited her "deep disappointment" with mayor bill de blasio's handling of the coronavirus outbreak, saying the health department's incomparable expertise was not used to the degree it could have been. more than 20,000 new yorkers died of the virus, although infection rates are now low. a united nations report has warned that north korea is still developing its nuclear programme, despite international sanctions, and may already have reached a key milestone. according to the study several countries believe the north already has the ability to mount

nuclear warheads on its ballistic missiles. colombia's supreme court has ordered the detention of the country's former president, alvaro uribe, over allegations that he was involved in witness tampering and fraud. mr uribe has repeatedly denied such claims but will now stand trial in october. the supreme court has not yet said whether the former president will be jailed or await the court case under house arrest. the bbc has obtained rare footage from inside china's secretive system of mass incarceration, in the far western region of xinjiang. in a self—shot video, a formerfashion model, who is from the uighur ethnic group, can be seen handcuffed to a bed. his relatives say he was taken away for what china has called "reeducation" and that nothing has been heard from him since. up toi million uighurs have been detained in so—called "educational training" centres. neither the chinese foreign ministry nor xinjiang authorities have responded to the bbc‘s requests for comment. john sudworth has this report.

a few years ago, this man was a long way from his home in xinjiang, making good money as a fashion model in southern china. but this is him in february. his camera reveals his filthy clothes, and his left arm handcuffed to a bed. he is now clearly back in xinjiang. beyond the steel mesh on the window, a propaganda announcement drones away in the uighur language. despite the risk that it may bring him further punishment... . . relatives, including his uncle, who lives in amsterdam, say they have no choice but to release the video he sent them. translation: staying silent won't help him, either. the only thing i can do is to raise public awareness. it is our only chance

to rescue him. the young model had already served 16 months injail, having been convicted of a drugs offence in 2018, although his family say he was innocent. upon completing his sentence, whatever relief he may have felt was short lived. soon afterwards, the police picked him up again and took him back to xinjiang, for, they said, a few days education. we have asked chinese government officials here whether he was suspected of any further offence and, even if he was, why he was handcuffed to a bed. we have received no response. china has built a vast network of highly secure facilities across xinjiang, some of which we were shown as part of its efforts to convince the world that they're schools for combating extremism, not camps. but last year, under intense international criticism, it said they were being closed.

the texts merdan sent along with his video clearly suggest otherwise. "50—60 people were locked in a small room," he writes. "all had sacks on their heads and handcuffs and shackles." elsewhere, he could hear the sounds of torture. "one time, i heard a man screaming from morning to evening", he writes. his first—hand description of the police holding cell is very, very vivid. he writes in very, very good chinese. it gives us a lot of detail, and frankly, a lot of horrific detail about the way in which these people are treated. so it is quite a rare source. in the end, it was the virus that allowed him to get word out from this secretive system. with a slightly high temperature, he was moved to this isolation cell as a precaution and given access

to personal belongings, which, unknown to his guards, contained his phone. but as suddenly as they began, the messages stopped. he has not been heard from since. john sudworth, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: why the latest issue of british vogue is making history in front of and behind the camera. 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 vigour, 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. the latest headlines: almost 80 people have been killed and thousands injured in a huge explosion in the lebanese capital, beirut. the lebanese prime minister says a confiscated haul of ammonium nitrate is to blame for the blast. he vows that those responsible would be held accountable.

more on that to come. first, the authorities in indian—administered kashmir have imposed a two—day curfew ahead of the first anniversary of delhi's decision to revoke the special status of the region. new razor wire and steel barricades have been placed on key roads of the main city, srinagar. thousands of troops have been patrolling in other parts of the region. officials said the curfew starting today had been imposed following reports of protests in the muslim—majority region. with me is the bbc‘s ishleen kaur. good to have you here. help us with a background ? good to have you here. help us with a background? it was on the fifth of august 2019 that the fifth of august 2019 that the indian government advocated article 370, it took away the special status of the state of jammu and kashmir. jammu and kashmir had certain privileges like a separate flag, a separate constitution, exclusive rights to property, to permanent residency, foreign

affairs, defence, they remained under the preserve of the central government. 0nce under the preserve of the central government. once the announcement was made there we re announcement was made there were a violent protest in indian administered kashmir, communication blackouts, and the state has been under curfew light conditions for seven months. why have the government on this, do you think? the indian prime minister, and around remotely, and the ruling hindu nationalist party have long opposed the existence of article 370, they say that the article does not put kashmir on the same footing as the rest of india. so if the rest of india was given the privilege to purchase property in kashmir, then, kashmir would purchase property in kashmir, then, kashmirwould become purchase property in kashmir, then, kashmir would become a more active economy. however, critics of the announcement, they fear this was actually designed to change the demographic make—up of the muslim majority state. so if the rest of india was to purchase property in kashmir, thenit purchase property in kashmir, then it could turn into a hindu state. how would you describe

the situation there generally, one year on? i have spoken to a lot of fellow journalist back in srinagar, and what they have told me is the situation is pretty much the same because there is heavy presence of other military forces, soldiers every few metres, barricades every few metres, barricades every few metres, and there is silence on the streets of srinagar, as it was back on the fifth of august, 2019. schools and universities remained shut, also because of the pandemic, but local businesses have really suffered. and the economy of kashmir has really, really suffered. so it is pretty much curfew and silence in kashmir. ishleen kaur, thank you so much. there's a very good chance you've seen some of president trump's interview with axios. in it, he insists the united states is doing an incredible job during the coronavirus pandemic. there've been more than 4.7 million confirmed cases of covid—19 in america.

at least 156,000 people have died. the president spoke to journalist jonathan swan for axios on hbo. take a look at some of these charts. i'd love to. we're going to look. let's look. and if you look at death... they start to go up again. here's one. well, right here, united states is lowest in numerous categories. we're lower than the world. lower than the world ? we're lower than europe. in what? take a look. right here, here's case death. 0h, death as proportion of cases. i'm talking about death as proportion of population. that's where the us is really bad. much worse than south korea, germany, etc. you can't do that. why can't i do that? you have to go by... look. here is the united states. you have to go by the cases. virgin atlantic has child for

chapter 15 bankruptcy protection. if the second member of the virgin group to file for such production. virgin australia took a similar step in april. airlines have been hammered by the drop in travel due to the pandemic was that this is a legal based manoeuvre to protect companies' assets. for the first time in its history, the cover of british vogue has been shot by a black male photographer with a predominantly black team on set. the magazine's editor said the september issue was a rallying cry for the future and includes 40 activists described as the ‘faces of hope.‘ brenda emmanus reports. if a picture paints 1,000 words, then this is the vision for hope for the future are seen by the editor of british vogue. the prestigious september issue has been dedicated to activism and features a host of international authors and change—makers. led by footballer marcus rashford and model turned mental health

campaigner adwoa aboah. because of covid—19, then we went into sort of really an incredible time of change, really, these people, for me, reflect where we need to go, where we need to be. caring for other people, caring for each other, caring for the world. it's so cute. in the past three years, he has stormed towards his vision of a more diverse publication. he has showcased big names and aspiring talent, had meghan markle as a guest editor, and turned key workers into cover stars. this drive for change is a personal one. 0nly last month he expressed frustration at being racially profiled at vogue's offices. i'm a black man in this world. chuckles it's not the first time i've been, you know, pigeonholed in that way. it won't be the last time i'll be profiled. it was misan harriman's photos of the black lives matter

movement that caught the editor's eye. ididn't i didn't know what to expect. when i went out there, i saw a wave of solidarity. he became the first black man in the magazine's history to shoot a front cover, producing images with a resounding message. if not now, when? you know. we are here. and we deserve to be here. it shows hope, solidarity, and empathy. rennie earned her lodge in the publication. for her book why i am no longer talking to white people about race. she has praise for the leadership, saying it is activism at its best.

leading, basically, leader, not following what you think the mass wants, but actually leading. because i think if more cultural leaders did that, they would be pleasantly surprised. i don't think my book would have been picked up in 2012, but in the last few months that hit number one on the book charts. vogue is celebrating a mission of hope by celebrating those determined to make a difference. brenda emmanus, bbc news. three stranded sailors have been saved from a remote island because they do a giant sos in the sand. they were on the pacific island of piccolo. they had veered off course and ran out of fuel. a rescue helicopter crew spotted their appealfor help. helicopter crew spotted their appeal for help. australian army soldiers have delivered food and supplies to the soldiers while maintaining social distance seeing as they await a patrol vessel to pick them all up. let's return to our main story. the liberties by minister has set a confiscated hole of

thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate is to blame for the devastating blast that ripped through the capital, beirut. it is believed 78 people were killed in the port city, many more are still missing, thousands injured and many trapped by the rubble. the latest figures 4000 were hurt in the blast, extensive damage toa in the blast, extensive damage to a wide area of beirut. it was a struggling to cope with the covid—19 pandemic have been inundated. the government is calling for as much international help as possible. 11 on had all kinds of problems already politically and economically and then the covid pandemic, so a desperately difficult time for lab and on and the region. there is much more on that, much more on all the news national and international any time on the bbc website and our twitter feeds stop you can get bbc news for your tablet or smartphone, of course. thank you very much

for watching. take care, come again. hello there. we are holding onto this northwest, southeast divide. plenty of places in england seeing plenty of dry, bright warm and sunny weather. we had outbreaks of rain in northern ireland, northern england and in scotland it was soaking wet. this area brother will sink further southwards into sensual areas to start wednesday, but we've got another front which will move into western areas later in the day. this first run will migrate northwards to the morning, taking the patchy rain with it. the next weatherfront will push across the irish sea into parts of wales, western england, the heavier burst mixed in there. further

north—west it will be rather cloudy with spots of drizzle at times. a blustery day to come, particularly england and wales. 0nce particularly england and wales. once again it will stay dry with some brightness across eastern england, temperatures at 27 degrees, fairly warm across aberdeenshire with more brightness there. the wednesday night it stays rather cloudy with further outbreaks of rain pushing on in towards the north sea. but i think it will leave a legacy of cloud, some clear spells and it is going to be quite a woman humid night to come. “— quite a woman humid night to come. —— warm and humid. it fades out in response to this building area of high pressure coming over, and it will be the theme of high pressure dominating. it fizzles out taking cloud with it, showers should break up and as we start to pick up woman southerly winds, you will be a dry day for many of us with variable cloud and sunny spells. warmer, too, low 20s in the north, the high 20s across the south—east.

as we head into friday we could see a little bit of rain turning to western areas, it could be heavy, but for the bulk of the country, central and southern eastern areas, it will be a warmer or hot day with plenty of sunshine. the low 20s in the north and west, 30- 34 low 20s in the north and west, 30— 34 degrees in the south—east, feeling quite hot again. as we move into the weekend, it looks like another area of high pressure will build in across the uk and will settle things down so it should be dry even further north and west, too. another hot day across the south east on saturday, signs of it starting to cool down a little bit as we head into sunday.

this is bbc news, the headlines: at least 80 people have been killed and thousands injured in a huge explosion in the lebanese capital, beirut. many people are still missing, believed to be trapped under the rubble. the blast was so powerful that it caused extensive damage to buildings over much of the city. the lebanese prime minister says a confiscated haul of ammonium nitrate caused the devastating blasts. he has promised that those responsible would be held accountable. countries from the region and beyond have offered support and medical assistance. lebanon will observe three days of national mourning for the victims. he bbc has obtained rare footage from inside china's secretive system of mass incarceration, in the region of xinjiang. in a self—shot video, a member of the uighur ethnic group can be seen handcuffed to a bed. relatives say he was then taken away for so called "re—education". now on bbc news,

the travel show.