the grim search for victims in beirut — at least 100 people are dead, more than 4,000 are injured. still many questions, as authorities say the blast was caused by nearly 3,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored unsafely in a warehouse translation: we were at home. we heard what sounded like fireworks. we thought it was a container in the port was on fire. a few seconds later, we were flying through the air. as an investigation gets under way, lebanon's prime minister says those responsible will be held to account. translation: those responsible will pay the price for what happened. it isa pay the price for what happened. it is a promise to the martyrs and the wounded. we'll be getting the latest

live from beirut. also this lunchtime: after a cluster of cases, some lockdown restrictions are reimposed in aberdeen. scotland's first minister says schools must be prioritised over pubs, echoing england's children's commissioner. the ‘critical government errors‘ which led to many more people contracting covid—i9 — a damning report from mps. news from the high street — 1,500 jobs at risk at wh smith, after lockdown caused sales to plummet. and... happier feet — there are more emperor penguins, than we thought, as new colonies are spotted from space. and coming up on bbc news, a breakthrough for england just before the rain came on day one of the first test against pakistan at old trafford.

good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. the grim operation is under way in lebanon to recover the bodies of the more than 100 people who are missing after a huge explosion devastated the port area of the capital, beirut, yesterday. the blast killed at least 100 people and injured more than 4,000 others. the whole city was shaken by the explosion and a mushroom cloud could be seen spreading over the port area. local authorities say it is likely the blast was caused by a fire igniting tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored unsafely in a warehouse at the port. a warning — this report, from our diplomatic correspondent james robbins, contains some disturbing images. pa rt part of the port utterly devastated bya part of the port utterly devastated by a massive boast of explosives which should never have been left here. stored for six years beside a

city now suffering terrible consequences. yesterday, after an initial fire consequences. yesterday, after an initialfire in the consequences. yesterday, after an initial fire in the docks which caused only concern, without warning, this happened. the immense pressure wave ripped through much of the lebanese capital. killing many people insta ntly, capital. killing many people instantly, gravely injuring even more. one measure of its force, the blast was felt 150 miles away, 240 kilometres from beirut, on the island of cyprus in the eastern mediterranean. people there thought it was an earthquake. but no one in beirut thought that for long. translation: we were at home. we thought what sounded like fireworks was a container in the port on fire, a few seconds later, we were flying through the air. she was one of the very lucky survivors. 0thers

through the air. she was one of the very lucky survivors. others were terribly injured. hospitals across the lebanese capital were quickly overwhelmed. the head of the local red cross called it a huge catastrophe, with victims and casualties everywhere. translation: there are a lot of victims. we lost four nurses and patients, visitors, many dead and many injured. we had roughly 200 injured. there is no hospital, as you can see from. the hospital, as you can see from. the hospital is closed. in the midst of coronavirus, beirut‘s hospitals, several badly damaged by the blast, 110w several badly damaged by the blast, now have to face this. translation: every one of our crew, doctors and nurses are operating, even administration, everyone is working. we have a lot of damage, as you can see. of the ceilings have collapsed at the entrance and the glass windows are patient rooms. and there are so many windows are patient rooms. and there are so many individual stories of

suffering, grief, terrible uncertainty. here is a man looking for his son. he is 29 years old. from seven o'clock in the evening, we had been all over every hospital in beirut. we are now waiting for the names to come out and nothing has come out. we don't know if he is dead or alive, we just don't know. across the city, people are in deep shock. injured and trying to take in what has happened to their homes. first estimates suggest hundreds of thousands in beirut could be homeless, at least temporarily. such is the extent of the damage. lebanon's president has now been to see the ruined port, the source of the explosion, in a country which has suffered so grievously, where politicians are widely accused of mismanagement and worse, so the prime minister was left promising to find and punish those responsible for allowing such a quantity of explosive material to be kept inside the city. translation: what happens

today won't be held without account, those responsible will pay the price for what happened. it is a promise to the martyrs and to the wounded. this is a national commitment, facts will be revealed about the dangerous warehouse which has been there since 2014. among the international reaction, borisjohnson 2014. among the international reaction, boris johnson has 2014. among the international reaction, borisjohnson has tweeted this. let me begin by sending america's deepest sympathies to the people of lebanon, where reports indicate that many, many people were killed. hundreds were very badly wounded in a large explosion in beirut. 0ur prayers go out to all the victims and theirfamilies, prayers go out to all the victims and their families, the prayers go out to all the victims and theirfamilies, the united states stands ready to assist

lebanon. many countries are now promising aid to beirut both for the short and longer term. help to begin a long, painful process of reconstruction for the survivors of what beirut‘s governor has called simply an apocalypse. james robbins, bbc news. as to the cause of the explosion — the lebanese prime minister said that almost 3,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate had been stored unsafely in a warehouse for six years. but what is the chemical, why was it stored there, and why did it cause so much damage? the explosion, which destroyed parts of beirut and could be felt more than 100 miles away, was caused by the highly explosive material ammonium nitrate, and officials are now trying to find out what ignited it. ammonium nitrate is a common industrial chemical. it's used mainly for fertilizer, as it's a good source of nitrogen for plants. it's also one of the main components in mining explosives. on its own, it's not regarded as dangerous but, under certain conditions, it can be deadly. in its pure form, when it's stored

correctly by itself, it is really fairly safe. but it is a component of fertilizers, which is why it's freely available, but also a component of explosives. and if it gets contaminated, then that contaminant could be from the likes of fuel oil, or it comes into contact with other fuel—related substances, or it's badly stored and it starts to degrade and it starts to fill up, drains where there's pressure, it can start to heat up, because it's got an exothermic reaction as that heat increases. and we saw pictures of a huge fire beside the building, or possibly even in the building where the explosion came from. that would have been enough to start to heat it up, to then come into this chain—reaction event that is unstoppable. this wouldn't be the first disaster caused by ammonium nitrate. the most notable included an explosion in texas city port in 1947. 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded then, killing hundreds of people, and the blast could be felt 40 miles away.

and in tianjin, in china, in 2015, 173 people were killed after an explosion of 800 tons of ammonium nitrate. it's really important that you actually know how to store it, you don't store in big quantities like this, you separate it, you ensure that if there is some kind of an explosion on one one part of the, erm, one part of the ammonium nitrate store that you've got, that it won't propagate to other parts of the site. so, there's lots of work that was done by scientists in the uk and across the world on how to store this. it appears, and i didn't go to this site, it appears that those lessons weren't learned in lebanon. the investigation continues to find out how this explosion could have happened. lina sinjab is in beirut. that is the question, everybody will be asking, a city still in shock.

yes, indeed. as i am standing here just near the port area, you can still hear the sounds of the ambulances roving around, heading to the port area just behind me where the port area just behind me where the explosion happened. and you can see just the explosion happened. and you can seejust behind me the explosion happened. and you can see just behind me that there is still, this is the ambulance just passing by us right here, helping people from the rescue. the army is outside the port area. you can see the cars of the army. and the operation of the rescue is still ongoing. there are lots of tracks and cranes to remove the debris and to try to find more casualties. so far, almost 4,000 had been injured and most of them need hospitalisation. but all this area around me, and even beyond this area, the destruction can be seen visually. that is glass shattered everywhere wherever you drive or walk in the city. and even the buildings, the windows, the facade,

the balconies are destroyed. people are devastated. thousands, probably tens of thousands of forced out of their homes because their homes have been destroyed or shattered because of the explosion. and the government has little power to help and there is little trust between people and this government that accuse as corrupt and inefficient in delivering or helping out. and what happened here at the port raises the big question, where was the government over the past six years when all these explosives were stored in this place unsafely? lina sinjab, thank you very much. 0ur middle east editor jeremy bowenjoins me now. how many ongoing crises can one city take? and one country. lebanon has beenin take? and one country. lebanon has been ina take? and one country. lebanon has been in a deep crisis really since the end of last year, economic, political, medical once the pandemic started. there were people on the streets demanding a revelation until they were forced by covid—19 to take

shelter, to get off the streets. the issue in lebanon is that none of these structures really work. they don't come together. and that is why so don't come together. and that is why so many lebanese right now are saying that this tragedy that happened there, that this cataclysm isa happened there, that this cataclysm is a result of the breakdown in a corrupt political system. now, is a result of the breakdown in a corrupt politicalsystem. now, big questions have to be answered. who knew that ammonium nitrate was there? why was it there? was it simply some kind of dreadful negligence, or was it something more sinister, something to do with bribery and corruption? 0r sinister, something to do with bribery and corruption? or did somebody, some entity, know it was there and they were just keeping it until a time that the explosive force might be needed? loads of these questions need answering and as lina sinjab was saying from beirut, there is not a great deal of confidence among lebanese whether

they will get straight answers and that in itself will have consequences. because there is only, there is a limit to how far, how much a country can take before they get back onto the streets again demanding change, as they were four weeks and weeks and weeks either side of christmas and new year. jeremy, thank you much. jeremy bowen. in the last hour, scotland's first minister has introduced tough new restrictions on pubs, cafes and restaurants in aberdeen — after a spike in coronavirus cases linked to a pub in the city. nicola sturgeon made clear her priority is to re—open schools from next week. that follow claims from england's children commissioner that the hospitality industry was being given priority over schooling. in a moment, we'll get the latest from our scotland correspondent on nicola sturgeon‘s announcement, but first, this report from our political correspondent, nick eardley. scotland's third biggest city, aberdeen, with significant restrictions announced. households are being told not to meet indoors,

people are being urged not to travel more than five miles for leisure. and with concern about the virus spreading in pubs, they are being told to shut again from this afternoon to try and prevent a bigger outbreak. we are at a stage of this pandemic where extreme caution is necessary and also, in my view, sensible. i'm also mindful of the need to act quickly and decisively if we are to succeed in ouraim of keeping decisively if we are to succeed in our aim of keeping transmission as close to elimination levels as possible. and also, to protect our priority, and it is our priority, you have heard me say that before, of getting young people back to school. schools in scotland will return from next week, with all pupils back by the 17th, if the virus is kept under control. but the scottish government believes getting school open takes precedence over keeping pubs open. in england, some are calling for a similar approach. i want schools to stay open, so when it comes to local decisions or

national decisions over any future lockdown, i want schools to be the la st lockdown, i want schools to be the last to close their doors and the first to open. the westminster government is concentrating on local interventions, too, but there is increasing caution about opening up society. ministers have repeatedly said schools will return next month. clearly, we will have to look at this on a case—by—case basis, but the approach is very much and looking at this at a localised level. but of course, we want the message very clear, so level. but of course, we want the message very clear, so we want level. but of course, we want the message very clear, so we want all schools to come back with all pupils in september. labour was criticised for not being more supportive of schools returning injune, but the party says getting pupils back must now be the priority and that they would shut pubs if they had to.|j would, if that was what was needed. imean, at would, if that was what was needed. i mean, at the moment, we don't know if that is what will be needed, but what we do know is the infection rate is rising. we know the testing and tracing system is not world

beating. getting schools fully reopened has been a key issue for ministers, notjust because they are worried about some children falling behind, but also because of the potential knock—on effect, allowing more parents to get back to work. that, however, has led to warnings that the reproduction rate of the virus could go up in september. and some think that to keep the virus under control when schools open, you may have to close other sectors. that is something ministers don't wa nt to that is something ministers don't want to do, but with aberdeen now joining parts of the north of england in imposing fresh restrictions, it is a reminder at the impact of the virus could be unpredictable. a quick three, bbc news. —— nick eardley. james shaw is in glasgow. this outbreak first emerged last week and at that point we had four cases and now this week 54 cases so

clearly there has been a big increase in cases. and we've heard from nicola sturgeon that the increase has led them to decide that they need to impose some fairly draconian measures. perhaps not as strict as at the height of the pandemic crisis but nevertheless daily life in aberdeen is going to change significantly because of this cluster of cases centred on the hawthorn bar in aberdeen are now linked to around 20 other licensed premises in the city. but from five o'clock tonight all cafes, restau ra nts a nd o'clock tonight all cafes, restaurants and pubs will have to close. hotel restaurants will be able to stay open for residents. people are being advised that they should not travel more than five miles from their homes for recreation or leisure. also households, people are being told they should not go into other peoples homes unless they are part ofan peoples homes unless they are part of an extended household where one group of people can connect with

another single person living alone. so big changes for people in aberdeen but the help clearly from the scottish government is that this decisive action will put a lid on this outbreak. james shaw, thank you. our top story this lunchtime. the grim search for victims in beirut — at least 100 people are dead — more than 4,000 are injured after a massive blast was caused by nearly 3,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored unsafely in a warehouse. and still to come — new research shows that thanks to lockdown the average adult spends six and a half hours a day watching tv or online video. coming up on bbc news. "we'll learn from our mistakes" — that's the promise from the fulham boss scott parker as his side are promoted back to the premier league. coronavirus spread faster in the uk as the government

made ‘critical errors‘ — including the inexplicable decision to lift all border restrictions in mid—march ? that‘s the finding of a report from the home affairs select committee of mps. it says the mistakes accelerated the scale and pace of the pandemic in the country and led to many more people contracting covid—19 . the government has dismissed the findings, saying they were "guided by the science". here‘s our home affairs correspondent, dominic casciani. a pandemic gripping the world, infection spreading as travellers globetrotted across continents. a huge challenge for governments and scientists with almost every nation in the world attempting to stop or slow the virus at the border. but, say mps today, not in the uk. buses leaving an raf base in 0xfordshire carrying 83 britons flown back from wuhan in china, the source of the coronavirus outbreak. these people were quarantined for 14 days in hospital but travellers arriving from europe where cases were rocketing faced no health checks at the border.

from the 27th of january the uk‘s first border measures were introduced, first targeting people returning from china, later iran and italy. anyone arriving was urged to self—isolate for 14 days. but on the 13th of march that self isolation guidance for travellers was lifted. only on the 23rd of march did ministers announce the national lockdown that forced most of the country to stay indoors. and it wasn‘t until the 8th ofjune that any formal border measures were reintroduced. the home affairs committee says the decision to lift border measures in march was completely inexplicable. we found that the government decision not to have any quarantine or border measures in place in the middle of march was a serious mistake. it did mean that we had thousands more people arrived in the uk with covid—19, often from spain, from italy, people coming home. and that did accelerate the pace

and scale of the epidemic. and the mps say lessons were there to be learned from january including from singapore which mounted a major airport screening exercise for high—risk flights. the damning criticisms go further. the mps say the uk did not recognise in time the threat posed by returning holiday—makers from spain. the government said the findings were wrong. throughout this process we have followed the scientific advice and the scientific advice was very clear, when you have lower infection rates in the country that is the point at which you bring in quarantine measures and that is what we did on the 8th ofjune. the mps say the government was right last month to impose a quarantine on people returning from holidays in spain. but the findings are also the second highly critical report in the week, issues for a future enquiry promised by the prime minister. people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds face greater barriers when trying to protect

themselves from coronavirus compared with white people — that is the finding of a report by the race equality think tank, the runnymede trust. the report suggests that they are more likely to be key workers, use public transport and live in multi—generational households. 0ur health correspondent, anna collinson reports. 0verexposed, under protected. it‘s claimed this has been life for many ethnic minorities in britain during the coronavirus crisis. a survey by the runnymeade trust suggests black, asian and minority ethnic communities face greater barriers than white people when it comes to protecting themselves from covid—19. barriers include theirjobs. it‘s claimed people from ethnic minority backgrounds are more likely to be key workers, which means they will come into close, sometimes prolonged contact, with others. transport is another risk, with ethnic minorities more likely to use public transport during lockdown. they are also more likely to live in multi—generational households, which can make it difficult for people living there to self—isolate.

bangladeshi and black african people are said to be the most vulnerable. what our survey shows is that it is the perfect storm of factors that have made black and ethnic minority communities much more vulnerable to covid—19. and importantly, what it shows is that there‘s been no safety net really to protect them and government measures haven‘t reached them as much as they ought to have. this doctor spent three weeks on a ventilator after contracting covid—19. it's quite a terrible feeling, especially when you think about your family. i have three children. and it's certain one of those feelings which are really terrifying, how they will cope without you. what is your reaction to today‘s report about ethnicity and covid—19? we are at more risk than our white colleagues, but equally we have been supported quite well, i will say. coronavirus is a national emergency.

this report claims imported public safety messages aimed at reducing transmission are not reaching all black and minority ethnic communities. the government says these groups have been disproportionately harmed by covid—19, and it‘s tackling the disparities. anna collinson, bbc news. there is more bad news from the high street. wh smith has announced it is planning to cut up to 1,500 jobs, as bosses said its recovery from the covid—19 lockdown has been "slow". let‘s get more with our business correspondent, simon gompertz. every one of these job losses is life changing and we are seeing more and more? you are right and virtually every day we seem to get another of the significant job virtually every day we seem to get another of the significantjob loss announcements. yesterday it was pizza express and currys pc world, nearly 2000 between them. to date up to 1500 at wh smith depending on how their plans and negotiations go.

they have 575 high st shops which are open again, some had been open all during the lockdown because they had post offices inside and they are trading around 25% below normal but the real pain is being felt that smaller outlets, around 600 of them which are at railway stations and airports. 0nly which are at railway stations and airports. only half of them have reopened and people are not travelling and so their trade is running at about three quarters down from what was normal before so just about 25% of normal levels and that is wherejob about 25% of normal levels and that is where job cuts are likely to concentrate unfortunately. and anotherfashion retailer concentrate unfortunately. and another fashion retailer has said concentrate unfortunately. and anotherfashion retailer has said it is closing 47 stores, m and cole, jobs to go there, 480. and willian hill is closing 119 betting shops but it says it will be able to absorb thejob but it says it will be able to absorb the job losses and we deploy most of the people elsewhere. simon, thank you.

the inquest into the death of television presenter caroline flack has resumed in east london. the 40—year—old former love island and x factor star was found dead at her home in north london in february. helena wilkinson is at the inquest. caroline flack‘s mother and sister have been listening to very difficult details by video link and the court heard about the distress and anxiety that she had felt in the months before her death and said she had been arrested in december of last year. the court also heard she left a note after her death saying i hope me and lewis can one day find harmony. lewis, her partnerwho hope me and lewis can one day find harmony. lewis, her partner who she had been accused of assaulting, charge which she had denied. in a statement read to the court on behalf of him and said the last time that he saw her she was devastated. what was bothering her the most was the police case and losing herjob

on love island. her sisterjodie in a statement read to the court said that caroline had been in a very anxious frame of mind since being arrested and an ambulance had been called to her home four times in the months before she died. her mother said that she wants people to know what a lovely, kind and generous person she was. thank you very much. it‘s probably not the most surprising news — but since lockdown was introduced we‘ve all been watching a lot more telly. media regulator 0fcom says — on average — adults spent 40% of their waking hours in front of a screen — that‘s 6.5 hours a day. time spent on subscription streaming services also doubled during april. 0ur media editor amol rajan is here. we are watching a lot more, what are we watching? well the growth is absolutely extraordinary, 40% of the waking day is remarkable. in the past four months during lockdown 12 million subscriptions to streaming services were taken up and a quarter of those from people who had never

taken out a subscription before so remarkable growth. and it suggests that this revolution will be televised! it is a revolution not just in media but in our attention spans as we are living in an attention economy and when information and entertainment is super—abundant then attention becomes the scarce resource. in terms of what we are watching the companies and services have become adept at grabbing our attention and they did not exist a few years ago. disney plus just launched a the uk, amazon prime very new. these are mostly american services and sadly for many uk broadcasters such as itv, channel 4 and channel five who are funded by advertising they have not been able to turn these eyeballs into revenues because advertising has fallen off a cliff. so we must watching extreme stuff and before the before the metternich the creative industries were growing much faster than the rest of the economy so tune in to help out could

bea economy so tune in to help out could be a slogan for the times! thank you very much. good news about penguins. satellite observations have found a raft of new emperor penguin breeding sites in the antarctic. the locations were identified from the way the birds‘ poo, or guano, had stained large patches of sea—ice. the discovery increases the known number of emperor penguins by between five and ten percent to more than half a million birds. victoria gill has more. they‘re the biggest and possibly the toughest of antarctica‘s penguins. when they‘re not foraging in freezing waters, they live and raise their chicks on the ice. and that icy white backdrop has meant that scientists have been able to use satellite images to search the vast antarctic continent for undiscovered emperor penguins. these are the telltale markers that gave away their location. giant stains left on the ice from thousands of penguins droppings. we found about 25,000 to 55,000

new penguins located in the 11 emperor penguin colonies. it is great to have more emperor penguins because this is a species which is really quite vulnerable to climate change and we expect over the coming decades that the numbers will reduce dramatically. emperor penguins‘ whole life cycle is centered on the sea ice. so the scientists say this good news about their population size comes with a note of caution. all of the new colonies are in vulnerable areas, places where the best climate models project that the ice will diminish in the coming decades. 0ne forecast suggests that the global population of emperors could crash by half by the end of this century. reducing carbon emissions to limit the global temperature rise, researchers say, is the only way to protect the frozen habitat that these birds depend on. victoria gill, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. here‘s alina jenkins.