a very warm welcome to bbc news. my name's mike embley. our top stories: explsion a massive blast in the lebanese capital, beirut, leaves almost 80 people dead and thousands injured. the explosion sent shockwaves across the city. 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. the lebanese prime minister says a confiscated haul of ammonium nitrate caused the devastating blasts — he promises those responsible would be held accountable. in china, a former fashion model handcuffed to his bed for so—called "re—education", rare footage of the uighur ethnic minorities held in secretive detention centres — we have a special report. futher harrowing video

footage of police arresting george floyd is leaked to the media. his eventual death began a worldwide protest movement against police brutality. and why the latest issue of british vogue is making history, in front of and behind the camera. hello. a huge blast in the port area of the lebanese capital beirut has killed almost 80 people and injured more than 4,000. many people are still missing, believed to be trapped under the rubble. the explosion was so powerful it caused extensive damage to buildings over much of the city and hospitals have been overwhelmed. officials say 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 who are unaccounted for. of course, the hospital, this hospital, like every other hospital in beirut, has been completely overwhelmed. they are working to their utmost capacity and are still unable to deal with the larger number of injured coming to the hospital by the second. of course, every single space

in the hospital has been turned into an emergency unit. as you can see, people are treated in corridors, people are treated even inside offices, not only in the medical rooms of the hospital, because it is impossible to accommodate everyone in the rooms. even the hospitals are categorising people according to the severity of their cases and giving priority to those who are at a very critical condition because this is the only way to deal with this high, very high pressure that they are under at the moment. as you can see, this is like a real emergency inside even in the emergency unit and hospitals. people are here not only because they are injured but also because they are in real shock and panic, and at the moment it is very, 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. i've been speaking to hassan mneimneh, a middle east expert and a non—resident scholar at the middle east institute. i asked him what he thought had happened here. evidently one has to wait for the proper investigation to complete itself, whether there is such a body in the lebanese government that is capable of engaging in such an investigation. what we can readily say that lebanon faces two afflictions — an administrative dysfunction that may explain a laxness in the application of fuels and therefore might reduce what happened to an accident, but also lebanon is under a quasi—occupation of an army that loyal to iran — i'm talking about hezbollah evidently — that is known to have stored all sorts

of weaponry all over the place. is this one of the storage locations? is this one of the warehouses? these are questions that the lebanese are actually asking themselves. whether it is one or the other or a combination of both, actually, one cannot readily know, but unfortunately the catastrophe adds to the catastrophes already faced by lebanon. president trump has suggested it is an attack of some kind, as his generals have told him it might be a bomb. the government, of course, in lebanon is steering away from that interpretation. whatever, what about the wider impact on lebanon itself? well, i would not put too much weight on the claim even by trump that it is an attack. in the case of trump 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 in the hostilities between hezbollah and israel. so has israel attacked ? why would israel give hezbollah just a couple of days before the international tribunal effectively condemns hezbollah for the assassination of former prime minister rafik hariri, give them a way out through this. in addition to the fact that it is really utterly disproportionate. meaning this is unrealistic. it is more likely, i would say close to a certainty, that it was an explosion. the question is whether the explosion was incidental or not — all indications so far pointing in the direction of an incidental explosion, and the responsibility is a criminal one none the less. 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, merden ghappar 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 merden ghappar 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. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: following the massive blast in beirut, we speak to a leading expert on explosives and munitions. 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 promised those responsible would be held accountable. investigations into the cause of the explosion are still going on, but the lebanese president has already blamed the massive quantity of confiscated ammonium nitrate stored unsafely at the port. it's normally used as a fertilizer and in industrial explosives. ammonium nitrate explosions have caused deaths in the past. in many cases, a fire has broken out first, and then stored ammonium nitrate has exploded. in 2015, in tianjin, china, nitrocellulose caught fire in a warehouse, later triggering an explosion of 800 tonnes of ammonium nitrate. 173 people died. in april 2013 in west texas,

15 people were killed, and 200 injured when a fertiliser company building caught fire. ammonium nitrate stored there later exploded, flattening 80 homes. the largest death toll was in texas in 19117. 581 people were killed when 2,300 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded on board a cargo ship. we can speak now to professorjimmie 0xley, she is a leading explosives expert at the university of rhode island. thank you very much for your time. what do you think happened here, and why perhaps did it happen? what i'm reading in the news, just like you, is the ammonium nitrate has been stored in that area for some time. and you just mention the sinjing explosion time. and you just mention the sin jing explosion in time. and you just mention the sinjing explosion in 2015 ——

tianjin. ammonium nitrate is not normally made in that part of the world, so it is likely to have come in from somewhere else and have been stored for a while. what we saw in the video suggested two events. the first one evidently the trigger for the ammonium nitrate. so obviously it could have been stored more safely, that is self—evident. what do you think might have caused it to explode in sucha might have caused it to explode in such a massive way? it's difficult to say. it's been stored a long time. it's likely it became contaminated with fuel. it is not easily detonated, that large quantity, without fuel present. but if it had been there for a while, thatis had been there for a while, that is certainly a possibility. but there had to bea possibility. but there had to be a triggering event. ammonium nitrate does not go off by itself, and that's where i think you have the first

explosion. as you cited, the explosion. as you cited, the explosion in the chinese port, there was an initial fire and explosion there that triggered the ammonium nitrate. i think ina the ammonium nitrate. i think in a little time we will know what the triggering event was here. and it is most commonly a fertiliser, as i understand it, but it has been used in bombs in world war ii, of course. i think the bali bombings and the 0klahoma think the bali bombings and the oklahoma city bombing were also using ammonium nitrate. are there likely to be chemicals in there likely to be chemicals in the air after the explosion that are going to be toxic? and still more trouble for people in beirut? you saw the redness of the cloud. that is probably disbursed at this point, of course that is not good for you. —— dispersed. and ammonium

nitrate, and in addition to fertiliser, is used in all commercial explosives and we need commercial explosives. so thatis need commercial explosives. so that is another reason why it may be present in addition to fertiliser. and you have a lot of dust that itself can be harmful, fine dust in the area. if these people are still wearing their masks for covid—19, they may need them for the dust. thank you for talking to us. thank you. harrowing video footage of police arresting george floyd has been leaked to the media. the body camera images show two officers approaching mr floyd in minneapolis after he was suspected of using a $20 note to buy cigarettes. possibly a counterfeit note. his eventual death — after another officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes — began a worldwide protest movement against police brutality. we should warn you that this report by paul adams contains distressing images. take a seat. george floyd's

violent death is all a chapter in america's tortured story of race in america's tortured story of ra ce sto p in america's tortured story of race stop a name and a face known all over the world. but how did it come to this? thanks to video from two separate police body cameras obtained by the daily mail, we can see how it unfolded. 0n the daily mail, we can see how it unfolded. on may 25, in a grocery store in minneapolis, the owner shows police officers a counterfeit $20 bill, allegedly used to buy cigarettes. the man who used it, he says, is sitting in a car across the road. 0ne it, he says, is sitting in a car across the road. one of the officers, thomas lane, approaches the car where george floyd and two passengers are sitting. can i see your other hand? please! within seconds, a gun is pointed at mr‘ make it. unsurprisingly, he seems agitated. face away. please

don't shoot me, man! please! he seems highly emotional and far from cooperative. he says his mother has recently died and he has been shot before. so far, the officers appear calm, one of the passengers, says mr floyd is afraid of the police. he has a thing going on. he has had problems of the time when it comes to police, waving their gun like that. the daily mailand their gun like that. the daily mail and see how it obtained the footage, but it comes as lawyers represent exam of the officers involved in mr floyd's that tried to get the charges against their clients dropped. more than two months after george floyd died, protests sparked by his killing continue across america. the black lives matter movement demanding wholesale change to stop other black men dying in the future.

the police footage is hard to watch. it is a routine stop spiralling out of control for reasons a jury will eventually have to piece together. stop moving! face down on the street, the last nine minutes are especially harrowing. by now, police officer derek chauvin has his neon floyd's neck. with an ambulance on the way, the tape ends. an hour later, george floyd was pronounced dead. paul adams, bbc news. that's round up some more of the menus for you just briefly. —— let's. the world health organization has urged russia to follow international guidelines for producing a vaccine for covid—19. 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. at least 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 former president alvaro uribe, over allegations of witness tampering and fraud. he has repeatedly denied such claims but he will now stand trial in october. the supreme court has not said whether he will be jailed or await the court case, under house arrest. virgin atlantic has filed for chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in new york. the long—haul carrier

is the second member of the virgin group to file for such protection. virgin australia took a similar step back in april. airlines around the world have been hammered by a drop in air travel during the pandemic. it's a legal manoeuver meant to protect foreign—based companies and their assets from creditors. 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. more than 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, per.. yeah? it's started to go up again. here's one. well, right here, the united states is lowest in numerous categories. we're lower than the world.

"lower than the world"? what does that mean? we're lower than europe. in what, in what? take a look. right here, here's case death. oh, you're doing death as proportion of cases. i'm talking about death as proportion of population. that's where the us is really bad. look, well... well... much worse than south korea, germany, etc. you can't do that. you have to... why can't i do that? you have to go by... you have to go by where — look. here is the united states. you have to go by the cases. three stranded sailors are being saved from a remote island after drawing a giant sos sign in the sand. the sailors were on the pacific island of pikelot for three days after veering off course and running out of fuel. a rescue helicopter crew spotted their appeal for help. australian army soldiers have delivered food and supplies to the sailors — whilst maintaining social distancing — while they wait for a patrol vessel to pick them up.

there is much more for you any time on the bbc news website and on our to—do feeds. before watching. —— twitter feeds. hello there. we're holding onto this north—west, south—east divide. certainly on tuesday it was the case, with many southern and eastern parts of england seeing plenty of dry, bright, warm and sunny weather. but it was a very different story further north. we had outbreaks of rain in northern ireland, northern england, and for scotland it really was a soaking wet day. now, this weather front responsible for it will sink a little bit further southwards into central areas to start wednesday, but we've got another front which will move into western areas later in the day. this first front will start to migrate northwards again through the morning, taking the patchy rain with it. this next weather front will push across the irish sea, into parts of wales and western england, the odd heavier burst mixed in there. and then further north—west, it will be rather cloudy with spots of drizzle at times. a blustery day to come, particularly in england and wales.

but once again, we'll stay dry with some brightness across england, the top temperatures 25—27 degrees. also fairly warm across aberdeenshire, with some brightness there. now, through wednesday night it stays rather cloudy with further outbreaks of rain pushing on in towards the north sea. but i think that will leave a legacy of clouds and clear spells and once again it's going to be quite a warm and humid night to come. now, this weather front really started out as we head on into thursday. you can see it fade out there in response to this building area of high pressure over the near continent, and that's going to be the theme as we end the week with high pressure starting to dominate. so that weather front as it fizzles out, it will take any showers with it, the cloud should start to break up, but as we start to pick up warm and southerly winds, i think it will be a dry day for many of us with variable cloud and sunny spells. and warmer, too, temperatures reaching the low 20s further north, the high 20s across the south—east. as we head on into friday, we could see a little bit of rain returning to western areas, some of it could be heavy.

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

this is bbc news, the headlines: at least 80 people have been killed and thousands injured by two huge explosions in the lebanese capital beirut. many people are still missing, believed trapped under rubble. the blasts were so powerful they caused extensive damage to buildings over much of the city. the lebanese prime minister has blamed a confiscated haul of thousands of tonnes of ammonium nitrate. he has promised those responsible will be held accountable. lebanon was already facing huge economic and political difficulties, along with the covid—19 pandemic. the bbc has obtained rare footage from inside china's secretive system of mass incarceration, which detains up to a million muslim uighurs in the far—western region of xinjiang. in a self—shot video, a formerfashion model can be seen handcuffed to a bed. his relatives say he's been detained for so called "re—education" and nothing has been heard from him since. doctors in england, northern ireland and wales are being told they shouldn't

prescribe common painkillers