this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a two—week state of emergency is declared in beirut following last night's deadly explosion. a number of port officials have been placed under house arrest, pending an investigation. rescuers continue to sift through the rubble searching for survivors. at least 135 people were killed, many are still missing and thousands injured. many are still missing live the war and never seen like i live the war and never seen a day like that moment. already, the health care system is about to collapse. and this is what is left of the port. almost all of the lebanon's food was imported through here.

there are now fears of food shortages. as the clearup begins, pledges of help flood in from around the world, including the us and the uk, while aid agencies rush to offer assistance. in other news, more than 700,000 people have now died from coronavirus worldwide. the us has reported the most deaths, followed by brazil and mexico. in the uk, lockdown restrictions are imposed once again in the city of aberdeen amidst a spike in cases there. rescue workers are searching for dozens of people still missing after the massive explosion in beirut yesterday. at least 135 people were killed and more than 5000 were injured.

large parts of the city were devastated by the force of the blast. the red cross is co—ordinating with the lebanese health ministry to set up new morgues, and a two week state of emergency has been declared. more than a quarter of a million people have had to leave their homes. the blast was felt on the island of cyprus, 150 miles away in the eastern mediterranean. they thought it was an earthquake. the whole of beirut, a city of more than two and a half million people, was shaken by the explosion at the port. almost all of lebanon's food is imported through there. it's been completely destroyed. the country's president said the blast was caused by more than two and a half thousand tonnes of ammonium nitrate, which is used as a fertiliser in farming and an explosive. it had been stored for the past six years unsafely in a warehouse. some port officials have been placed under house arrest whilst an investigation is carried out. from beirut, rami ruhayem reports.

this is what is left after a devastating explosion that shook beirut to its core. and this is what the surrounding neighbourhoods look like, smashed up by the seismic shock wave caused by the explosion. translation: i saw a lot of disgusting scenes. dead people, people moaning and screaming whilst carrying their children, people who have lost their children. 0thers looking for their mum or sister. it was horrific. this is a sample of some of the destruction wrought on beirut by yesterday's blast. this neighbourhood here is very close to the site of the blast. many of the buildings here have balconies that overlook the port of beirut, so people who would have been standing on their balconies or near the windows, stretching their necks to catch a glimpse of the fire when the blast struck. if you were here when this happened, where you were standing would have made

a difference between life and death, between a superficial or a very serious injury. a few people remain in their homes. many others are here to take some belongings, lock up and leave. fabio is one of them. honestly, i kind of feel numb because, after the revolution, the capital control, the collapse, the hyperinflation, everything that happens, just, in a series, i mean... any normal person wouldn't have any kind of hope because this is rock bottom, there is no down. sadly, you have to admit it, that we really screwed up. paul has two pharmacies on this street, both thoroughly damaged by the force of the blast. i'm a pharmacist since 35 years. i lived the war and never seen a day like that moment. really, it was terrible, terrible.

at the hospitals, the initial chaos has subsided but the pressure is still on. translation: the blast decimated our stocks. we used up in two days what we normally use in a month or two. all of beirut gets it material from the port and our hospital gets all its needs from the port of beirut. the port of beirut, where the explosion took place, has been almost obliterated. it is feared some are still trapped beneath the rubble of the silos, leaving relatives desperate for news. for lebanon, this feels like a crippling wound. to lose its support right in the middle of the worst economic crisis in generations. even after the shock subsides, the impact will be hard to fathom. rami ruhayem, bbc news, beirut.

extraordinary pictures. 0ur correspondent, carine torbey, is in beirut. i asked her where she'd been and what she'd witnessed today. i've been to more hospitals because more people are rushing to the hospitals. yesterday, people who had severe cases were treated, and many thousands were sent back home because they could just talk and walk. they told them if you could talk and walk, then you are not in an emergency. today, they were trying to go and seek some treatment. also today, people are waking up to a new reality, the reality that there are thousands of houses in the city that have become com pletely houses in the city that have become completely smashed. people will not be able to return to their houses anytime soon. that's means they have anytime soon. that's means they have a very large number of homeless people, people made homeless. we've seen a people, people made homeless. we've seen a lot of community support. we've been seeing a lot of people offering their places to even

foreigners, people they don't know, to tell them please come and stay with us until things are settled. but this will not be solved between one day or another. this is not something that will take just a couple of days. this is a very long term crisis, and the government needs to find a sustainable solution and a real rescue pan awe plan, especially for those families in the thousands of people —— rescue plan. so almost 3000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate had been stored in beirut‘s port since 2014 when it was taken from a ship off the coast. the chemical is made all over the world and is relatively cheap to buy. but storing it can be a problem, and it has been associated with very serious industrial accidents in the past. 0ur science editor david shukman explains what the chemical is, and how it can cause so much damage. it began as a very large blaze, a

towering grey column and flashes from what looked like fireworks. but worse was to follow. a massive explosion, and as it erupted, an important clue emerged in the colour of the smoke. a reddish—brown, which meant that ammonium nitrate was involved in vast quantities. so what is this substance, ammonium nitrate? well, it's a chemical mainly used as a fertiliser. farmers in the uk and all over the world apply it to their fields. and on its own, there's no danger, but this powder can also be used as an ingredient for explosives. it was favoured by the ira. this was the london docklands bombing in 1996. and scotland yard persuaded farmers to guard their supplies carefully. we did a great deal of work informing farmers, informing those that had access to it and stored it, how dangerous it was, how it should be stored so

if there was an explosion it wouldn't propagate and grow into a huge explosion like we saw yesterday. why is ammonium nitrate so potentially dangerous? well, in certain conditions it can become unstable. this vast explosion in china five years ago involved a quarter of the quantity that erupted yesterday. the explosion in beirut happened in the worst possible place, right in the port, with a lot of buildings around, and the impact would have been felt in several different ways. first, shock wave, leading to a sudden increase in pressure which would have killed people nearby. then a wave of debris, chunks of concrete and glass hurled through the air may be a mile away. and then a cloud of toxic gases and dust carried by the wind right over the city. so, why was the ammonium nitrate there in the first place? in the aftermath, there are no clear answers. all of the port's officials are now under house arrest

while an investigation starts. whatever happened, a deliberate detonation cannot be ruled out but nor can neglect and carelessness. there is probably enough problems within the infrastructure of lebanon to explain poor storage practices, poor chemical accounting. you probably have all the ingredients in there already without it being attributed to malice. seen from space, this was the port before the explosion. now it lies in ruins, whole buildings wiped out and the shocking sight of a large ship on its side. whatever the cause, the recovery will take years. david shukman, bbc news. —— rescue plan. news of the explosion in beirut‘s port first broke when videos began circulating on twitter and whatsapp yesterday afternoon. and whilst most of the videos appeared to be authentic, filmed by residents from their homes, rumours about the cause of the blast were quickly shared on social media.

today, comments by the us president and others have fuelled more conspiracy theories. so, how did misinformation spread online? 0ur disinformation reporter marianna spring is with me. may be explained. talk us through what happened. yesterday we saw lots of videos shared on social media people speculating what had caused this huge blast. there were lots of claims about fireworks because if you watch the videos, you see fire, the smaller explosions happening before the big blast. those are quite reasonable things to think, but soon people were making claims about nuclear weapons because of the mushroom shaped cloud that you saw coming out of the explosion. also because of various tensions that lebanon has with other countries. nuclear weapon experts work click just —— work quick to shut that down. there wasn't a surge in

temperature which would have burnt a lot of people. the fact we could see the videos was proof that it hadn't been a nuclear bomb. that didn't stop more claims going viral across social media sites suggesting that nuclear bomb, which didn't happen, had been dropped by israel, related to the us or other groups in lebanon. those claims are false and unsubstantiated. the number of public figures with lots of followers share them in a bid to push another agenda. followers share them in a bid to push another agendalj followers share them in a bid to push another agenda. i suppose it's the nature of lebanon and what happened in the past. the sectarian nature of it. what about president trump's comments? he was very quick to say he thought it was a bomb. how was that interpreted? that fuelled a lot of conspiracy theories, especially in far right groups. on apps like telegram. we saw the comments he made about it being a

terrible attack interpreted as suggesting at the terror attack. we saw images that were shared across social media with the implication being that trump knew it was a terror attack and the us had perhaps some knowledge. hard—core conspiracy theorists suggesting that perhaps it was part of a secret plot that related to a war against the banks. so things have really gotten quite outlandish. is the downside of social media. in the aftermath of something like this, can it be used for good? have you seen messages where people are advising the authorities where they need help? definitely. it has been very positive. it struck me when videos we re positive. it struck me when videos were first shared of the blast, all of them are authentic. there weren't old images orfootage of them are authentic. there weren't old images or footage circulating, and that was really positive that people weren't sharing misleading footage. we've also seen and

instagram page set up to help find people who are lost, help relatives who are looking for loved ones, and that's been a really positive thing. in many ways, it links us together and helps us but inevitably, when you have something big happen like this, this information and false claims do the rounds. thank you very much for that. the uk foreign secretary has said britain will ‘stand by the lebanese people' as the country deals with the aftermath of yesterday's explosion in beirut. dominic raab pledged a five million pound aid package, and said the uk would offer search and rescue help as well as medical support. it comes as the us promised a ‘steadfast‘ commitment to assist lebanon, and the red cross launched an emergency appeal to help the victims. let's turn to other news now, and it's thought that more than 700,000 people have now died from coronavirus worldwide. according to the latest research from johns hopkins university, the us has reported the most deaths with more than 157,000, followed by brazil and mexico.

more than 11 million people have now recovered from the virus worldwide. the latest coronavirus data in the uk shows there were 892 new confirmed cases of covid—19 in the latest 24—hour period. the seven—day rolling average is 820 daily cases. you can see from the chart that the number of new cases is rising steadily. 65 deaths were also recorded in that same 24—hour period. it takes the total number of deaths in the uk to 46,364. on average in the past week, 58 people have died every day from coronavirus. those of the latest figures in the uk. the children's commissioner for england says schools must be prioritised over pubs and shops in planning for future coronavirus lockdowns.

it comes amid fresh warnings from a top scientist, professor neil ferguson, that reopening secondary schools could see a signifiant rise in the virus' ability to spread. here's our education correspondent elaine dunkley. this is a primary school that's open all year round during term time and holidays. this had teacher agrees with the children's commissioner that schools should be the last to close. she says it should be up to school to make the decision on whether it's safe to open. we know the cases in the area, so i think it would be really helpful if it was done on an individual basis by authorities so that we would monitor oui’ authorities so that we would monitor our own areas. authorities so that we would monitor oui’ own areas. then authorities so that we would monitor our own areas. then put things in place from that. there are concerns about how much we can reopen society without a resurgence of coronavirus. this leaves a question mark over schools reopening. some scientists say the risk of transmission on

primary school children is relatively low, but there's concern about secondary schools opening. the evidence is still not certain, but it looks like teenagers can transmit just as well as adults. so the risk then is that big schools, universities, link box of households together. —— universities, link box of households together. — — lots universities, link box of households together. —— lots of. social distancing measures have deliberately disconnected. there are difficult decisions and trade—offs between the economy and education. teachers, parents and pupils were hoping at the end of the whole of the —— the end of the holiday would bring clarity and normality. with continued fears around the spread of the virus, that feels a long way off. we do need the pubs, restaurants to get on with. we've got to go on with ours. i do think they should be open. often i think

it's important that they go back. as long as everyone is sensible, i think it's something we will need to learn to live with really. the government says getting children back to school is a national priority. we want all children back in school in september, including in areas subject to local restrictions such as greater manchester. there are huge numberof such as greater manchester. there are huge number of measures in place in schools to make sure children are safe and minimise the risk of the spread of the virus. schools in scotla nd spread of the virus. schools in scotland and northern ireland are due to reopen this month, and children do back to school in september. but coronavirus has made planning for the future increasingly difficult. elaine dunkley, bbc news. tonight, lockdown restrictions have been reimposed in the city of aberdeen in scotland. pubs, cafes and restaurants have been ordered to close after a spike in coronavirus cases there. residents have been told they can't visit each other‘s homes or travel more than five miles from where they live,

unless for work or education, as our scotland correspondent lorna gordon now reports. aberdeen, back into a local lockdown. more than 200,000 people living here facing restrictions on what they can do and where they can go. this, a last pint poured in a granite city pub before, like other venues, at five o'clock it had to close. instead of closing down aberdeen, maybe close the two or three bars, that's fair enough. some people, this is the only enjoyment they get. it's fair enough but i think it's absolutely terrible they are having to go through all this again. what can you do? the first confirmed cases were traced back to this city centre bar. 54 people have now tested positive. more than 30 venues linked to the emerging cluster. scotland's first minister warns there may now be some community transmission of the virus in the area. 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 our aim of keeping transmission as close to elimination levels as possible. pictures of queues outside an aberdeen pub at the weekend shocked many. a warning from the police, more officers will be on patrol to enforce the new regulations if required. to deal with a small minority who decide they don't want to do so and put others' health at risk, we will clearly and undeniably enforce the law when it comes to that very small minority of people. the restrictions will be reviewed in a week's time but nicola sturgeon says the measures are scotland's biggest wake—up call since the early days of the pandemic and are needed to give schools the best possible chance to reopen. lorna gordon, bbc news. serious implications for businesses

in scotland. serious implications for businesses in scotland. let's speak now to adrian gomez. he's the owner of the tippling house pub in aberdeen. thank you very much for being with us. tell us when he reopened. we reopened on friday just tell us when he reopened. we reopened on fridayjust past. we we re reopened on fridayjust past. we were going to wait a couple weeks to see how things went. we had our staff doing training, we had our measures in place, we dropped capacity by 50%. we did as much as we could and we were happy with what we could and we were happy with what we had. we were track and tracing, he had —— temperature checks and eve ryo ne he had —— temperature checks and everyone obeyed the rules. we've had a really good respectful clientele that have not given us any trouble so that have not given us any trouble so far. did you restock? we restocked, we reopened the kitchen. we are operating on a smaller team,

so we we are operating on a smaller team, so we just we are operating on a smaller team, so wejust got we are operating on a smaller team, so we just got our orders today. so yeah, this might be. how much will go to waste? we will try and freeze as much as we can. but we have to make it fresh, that's the way we've a lwa ys make it fresh, that's the way we've always done our food. we will pick up always done our food. we will pick up some always done our food. we will pick up some veg, always done our food. we will pick up some veg, free always done our food. we will pick up some veg, free some always done our food. we will pick up some veg, free some juices, but i think there will be a lot of what waste. without me crying too deeply into your finances, how is this affecting you as a business —— trying? we got the bar and of its divisions and we do everything from weddings to corporate events. a lot of that is pretty much completely killed off the business. as a company, a little collaborations,

getting together with some capers but that's taking a couple hundred pounds a week. have you heard today from the scottish government what sort of extra support you will get? no. everyone will be back in for a low, but other than that, there will be any word on the other measures —— back from furlough. the fingers are being pointed at pubs. do you think that's fair? i think it's fair to point the finger at some pubs, definitely. i think there's been... yeah, there's a lot of responsible operators in aberdeen, i'd say the vast majority. there's been some very disturbing reports over the weekend, and i think unfortunately, it's impacted all of us. all the can was hopefully learn and put more stringent measures in place to make sure it doesn't happen again. you're being very pragmatic about it. are

you taking names at the door? are you taking names at the door? are you putting it all into... everyone separated, you must be a bit angry about it. i was definitely a few hours ago. i think moving forward, i think anger is just the initial ration. i think we need to see more police on the street, i think they need to in force. —— initial reaction. no queues are not working, limit the numbers. if we do weddings and can't have any more than 30 guests, we can't trust 30 family and friends to look after each other‘s health. how can you help 200

strangers to look after each other? which is not going to happen. i think that needs to come down definitely. we are where we are. lockdown for seven days. if it goes beyond that, how long is the sustainable for you ? beyond that, how long is the sustainable for you? we've done our forecasts. i think is a business, we provide an furlough stays beyond 0ctober, looking at for the next year, we will run dry. adrian, we missed you the best. i'm sorry it's been so difficult —— wish you the best. i will have plenty more in the next half hour on beirut. let me just show you some of the pictures that we had in today. these are some of the pictures from the port. you can see it's still smoldering, even though there are helicopters trying to douse the flames. so much of the food and supplies from lebanon come

through this port. with an economic crisis already visible in beirut, they wonder how this will impact people living there. plenty more in the next half hour. hello. so far this week, there's been some big contrast across the uk. very wet for parts of the north and the west — yesterday in scotland, today, across northern ireland and northwest england. this was cumbria earlier on this afternoon. meanwhile in the south and the east, it's been dry, there's been a good deal of sunshine and for many, away from the south coast this afternoon, it's been very warm. through thursday, most will be dry and warm. before we get there, we still have this frontal system still hanging around but slowly pushing its way eastwards overnight, so any early rain through this evening and the first part of the night will tend to fade away, so most places become dry. there will be quite a lot of cloud around, but it will thin and break to allow some clear spells. could see a bit of mist and fog in places. it's another mild, muggy night through much of england and wales, a little bit fresher than it was last night across scotland.

so, into thursday, here's the bigger picture. still got our front with us. it's running into an area of high pressure, so as it does, most of the rain fizzles out. allow for some light rain and drizzle at first across southern counties of england. it won't really amount to much. and for much of the day tomorrow, it is looking largely dry across the uk. quite a bit of cloud through the morning, thinning and breaking as the day wears on. the winds won't be as strong as they have been recently. away from the western isles, still quite breezy here, but certainly feeling warmer across scotland, northern ireland and the far north of england compared to recent days — low 20 celsius here. up to 26 or 27 across the southeastern quarter of the uk. those temperatures keep on rising as we head through friday. not for all. notice frontal systems just fringing to the west of northern ireland, northern and western scotland, so cooler here, some showers. but elsewhere, we are pulling up this warm air, and it's going to stay with us as we head into the weekend. now, on friday, we'll have more sunshine than we did on thursday. away from northern ireland, perhaps north wales, western scotland, more cloud

and some showery outbreaks of rain here. but for many on friday, it'll be dry, very warm — if not hot. once again, we could see temperatures across central, southern and eastern england in the high 20s, low 30s celsius, maybe up to around 35 celsius around london. as we head into the weekend, we do hold onto that warmth, the temperatures ease slightly. but notice it's high pressure which is the dominant feature across much of the uk through the weekend, so we're looking at some dry weather, maybe a few showers across eastern counties as we head through sunday. still very warm, but the temperatures easing slightly.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a two—week state of emergency is declared in beirut following last night's deadly explosion. a number of port officials have been placed under house arrest, pending an investigation. the rescuers continue to sift through the rubble, searching for survivors. at least 135 people were killed. many are still missing. thousands were injured. i lived the war and never seen a day like that moment. really, it was terrible. already, the health care system is about to collapse, and then you add this to it. this is what the port looks like

today. almost all of the lebanon's food was imported through here. there are now fears of food shortages. as the clean—up begins, pledges of help flood in from around the world, including the us and the uk, while aid agencies rush to offer assistance. in other news, more than 700,000 people have now died from coronavirus worldwide. the us has reported the most deaths, followed by brazil and mexico. meanwhile, in the uk, lockdown restrictions are imposed once again in the city of aberdeen amidst a spike in cases there. the severity of the blast in beirut has made many of the city's residents recall when explosions, usually caused by bombings, were a fact of daily life. lebanon was ravaged by a 15—year civil war, which took place between 1975 and 1990.

the united nations estimates 120,000 people died. tuesday's explosion happened close to the scene of a huge car bombing in 2005 which killed ex—prime minister rafik hariri and 21 others in his motorcade. on friday, a verdict is expected in the trial of the men accused of orchestrating that attack. in 2006, israel and hezbollah forces clashed in lebanon and over 1,000 lebanese civilians were killed. there has been relative peace since then, but in the last year, the country has struggled with huge street demonstrations protesting against the government's handling of the worst economic crisis since the civil war. incomes and jobs have been slashed. there are daily power cuts, a lack of safe drinking water and limited public healthcare. the health care system was already strained because of the coronavirus pandemic. there have been more than 5,000 confirmed cases of covid—19 in the country. now, hospitals in beirut are damaged

and faced with treating thousands of injured people. 0ur middle east editorjeremy bowen looks at the troubles facing the country. the explosion flattened most of beirut docks. lebanon imports almost everything it needs. now its biggest port is out of commission. the force of the blast was devastating. if lebanon was rich, well—governed and secure, it would find it hard to deal with this crisis. but it has none of those strengths. the mayor inspected the damage. he said reconstruction would take billions of dollars. that's money lebanon just does not have. lebanon's president, michel aoun, has declared three days of mourning. many lebanese are sick of all their leaders. some former warlords, like the president, who have been at the top for decades. lebanon's youth want change.

before and sometimes during the pandemic, there have been public protests and rage against corruption and incompetence at the top. some of them said they wanted a revolution. the fear is that lebanon will become a failed state again. hundreds of thousands had been pushed into poverty by the collapse of the currency and hyperinflation, and all of this in the most unstable region in the world. lebanon is surrounded by enemies, and the kind of friends no country wants. to the south, there is israel. this time they have offered aid but before that the talk was of border tension and perhaps even another war. then there is a syria, where the assad regime has always regarded lebanon as its back yard.

that lebanese have absorbed about a million and a half syrian refugees, that is the same as britain taking about 15 million. and iran is close to the lebanese shia militia hezbollah, which is the most powerful political and military organisation in the country. the medical emergency is extreme. first covid—19, now three hospitals in beirut have been put out of action by the explosions. i saw all the war in lebanon. this, this blow is as important as the 11th september blow in the united states. for us, i think this is very big blow. we need really international support. rescue teams have arrived in beirut from france. others, and international financial aid, will follow. but lebanon has deep structural problems that money, without reform, will not be able to fix.

in the wreckage of beirut docks are the ruins of the granary that contained vital supplies of imported wheat. lebanon sees itself as a land of plenty. right now, that is a distant fantasy. jeremy bowen, bbc news. so many problems in lebanon. ijust wa nt to so many problems in lebanon. ijust want to update you on the information about the special tribunal. we have had news that the special tribunal will postpone a verdict on the former prime minister rafik hariri's murder, they have delayed it until the 18th of august. there is that two week emergency and place in lebanon, so things postponed for the moment. let's speak to caroline duconseille. she's from the aid organisation

humanity & inclusion uk and is in beirut. i'm surea i'm sure a busy time for your team. tell us what you're doing today. that's right. good evening, everybody. it is a very busy day. yesterday, our team, the humanity & inclusion team on the ground visited some hospitals and met some national organisations like red cross and even met some military officers, and we did the kind of assessment of the need. basically, many people reached out yesterday, some of them left a few hours after and some now are waiting for some surgeries, so we've just met some people, assess the situation, try and find out what is the situation, what are the needs. as you mentioned before, the situation in lebanon is very complicated. we have shortage in equipment, and medication, so while

we find in the hospital that the matter of the hospital are... many cases of... excuse my pronunciation. not many amputation. with all the meetings we had, with the un, with all the stakeholders in lebanon, we tried to design our response as a humanity & inclusion... and do you find that the authorities are quite stretched at the moment? you explained very well how they have had to prioritise what they're doing in hospitals, but what about basic help in the streets for those people who have lost their homes, for instance? yeah. this is the big issue because, clearly, now we are all focused on the medical response, ifi

all focused on the medical response, if i can say like this, so people arejust going to if i can say like this, so people are just going to the hospital, trying to find some help and assistance, knowing that may be, as you know, two or three hospitals in beirut were completely destroyed, so people have to go out of beirut, to the south of the country, to the north of the country, so yes, today was not the day to deal with this all, this issue about housing loss and everything related to what will happen after. today, we have a lot of meetings with working group that we have in lebanon, who deal with the prices, try to understand better where are the needs and what, how we can support, so i really hope that tonight, we will have a better understanding of the situation and the needs and maybe we will be able to mobilise the resources we have in

lebanon. 0f to mobilise the resources we have in lebanon. of course, everything is donein lebanon. of course, everything is done in collaboration with the ministry of public health, the ministry of public health, the ministry of public health, the ministry of social affairs and the un, and, of course, the international community. and i know that emmanuel macron is coming tomorrow. are you liaising directly with the french government? of course we have some leaks with the french government, so we have some calls from the french embassy to ask us calls from the french embassy to ask us what the plans, what are the needs? because i guess we have access maybe better to the beneficiaries. we are on the ground, we have teams everywhere, so we provided them with information, with some data that we collected during the day, and, yes, i hope it will... i don't know if we will meet them, i don't think so, but i really hope that they will use our information to try to find how different

governmental support lebanon. ok, caroline, we will have to leave it there. we wish you all the best with all your team is doing. at least four large hospitals in beirut were so severely damaged in yesterday's explosion, they were unable to admit patients. one of the hardest hit was the st george university hospital, where at least four nurses died and five doctors were wounded. at that precise moment of the blast, there was one woman who had just gone into labour. here is the footage, filmed by her husband — and a warning, it does contain distressing images. explosion shouting

we have been speaking to the family who — despite the trauma — are safe and are recovering with their new baby, george. his father edmond describes the moment the blast hit. we were in our preparation room. and then, we were moving to our labour room. as soon as we walked in, they were preparing with the doctors. it was like 20 seconds, they were getting everything prepared and things around, and we just heard the sound and everything was shattering around — the glass, the instruments, everything. nothing was there, nothing. just so i'm clear, at the moment, the baby had not arrived. am i right? your wife was still in labour. she was already prepared like it was her last... she was just getting the labour done.

and we see from the pictures the wall suddenly coming through. what went through your mind? it was the glass. everything went through my mind. everybody was... i felt we were going to die. ijust had an adrenaline rush. and then the dust clears. and what was left? what was there? what happened next? nurses and doctors were on the ground. i was looking around to look, where was my wife. all the ceiling was down, and i was afraid she might be hit or the baby might be hit. she was covered in glass. i tried getting my wife out first. i moved to the bed outside and then i started helping the nurses and doctors to get them up. and how long after this did baby george arrive? like an hour and 30 minutes. goodness. your wife. ..

it is such a traumatic experience — happy but traumatic — giving birth, and your wife must have been doing this while in shock. she was notjust in shock. there was no medicine. it was like old—style labour. extraordinary story and darker —— our congratulations. a moment of happiness in a dreadful 24 hours. dr george sayegh was at the st george university hospital when the blast happened. he says the hospital is nowhere near being functional. we went back this morning to the hospital to try to check on the extent of the damage that happened due to yesterday's explosion. when everything happened, darkness came quickly, so you could not even tell what was going on. shortly, the hospital is nowhere near to being functional due to the explosion yesterday. all of the departments, all of the floors are affected. ceilings are in the floor. most of the material is lost or not working. so we're trying to work hard right now to try to salvage anything that we can to try to make things operational again as soon as we can.

goodness me. we are seeing the damage on our screens as you talk to us. how far away are you from the port? i really don't know how far we are. but the building is right up there. there's not many buildings between us and the port, so the shock wave hit one face of the building directly and we felt the full force of it. yeah, and i read that there were four nurses who died and five doctors who were wounded. can you confirm that? sadly, we lost four beautiful souls yesterday. and a lot of the doctors, residents, medical students, staff members have different injuries. some are more serious than others, but so far we have a lot of people recovering and we hope that everyone will get well soon, as soon as possible. 0ur sympathies to you and the staff there for that.

i just wanted to ask you — i was going to ask our last guest — what sort of answers you want. we have already heard today that the port officials, the port security officials, people in customs, they've been placed under house arrest. will that satisfy people there in beirut? well, honestly, right now, we don't really know the full truth of it. we are still trying to wait to see what actually happened. people are right now more busy about trying to help each other, trying to make sure that their family members are good. in the hospital, we were working hard to make sure our patients are fine and transport them somewhere that is safer than beirut. so right now, we are just trying to take care of the acute problems that have risen because of this explosion. and we have to wait to see what happened and, accordingly, i'm sure the people will react and will demand answers, serious answers, because this disaster was not something natural. it was man—made. someone made a mistake,

a bad decision, so we need to know who will be held accountable and we have to wait. it is only a matter of time. most questions will need to be a nswered most questions will need to be answered quickly, though, you anticipate. dr george sayegh, from the st george's university hospital. let's turn to some of today's other news. in pakistan, at least 33 people have been injured in a grenade attack at a rally in karachi in support of kashmiri independence from india. a separatist militant group fighting for independence for the province of sindh has claimed responsibility. earlier, pakistan's prime minister accused neighbouring india of illegally occupying the region of kashmir. both india and pakistan administer separate areas — but claim sovereignty over the whole of the disputed region. the authorities in indian—administered kashmir have imposed a two—day curfew. the funeral ofjohn hume, one of the key architects of the northern ireland peace process, has taken place in londonderry. the former leader of the sdlp died on monday, aged 83, following a long illness. the funeral was attended by leaders

from across the political spectrum from northern ireland and the irish republic. sarah girvin reports. blessed are the peacemakers. this would have been a very different funeral before the pandemic. 0ur brotherjohn... thousands wanted to come here to pay their respects tojohn hume for his work in northern ireland's darkest days, for helping lead the country into light. into your hands, father of mercies, we commend our brotherjohn. but covid—19 changed those plans, and it meant one of his sons had to miss the funeral, stuck in the united states. his youngest son told the congregation that despite the peace his father helped deliver, there was still work to do. we all need one another. we all have a role to play. the absolute importance of dad's

core interest of building community based on respect and love. tribute were also read from pope francis, the dalai lama and former us president bill clinton, who said john hume was ireland's martin luther king. northern ireland's first minister, arlene foster, and deputy first minister michelle 0'neill did attend, as did taoiseach micheal martin and irish president michael d higgins. the hume family had asked members of the public to stay away because of coronavirus, but some did gather — to clap and to say thank you. absolute gentleman, superb politician and a man for everybody. didn't matter your religion, ethnicity — hume was your man. and he'll be greatly missed, particularly by the people in this city. last night, people across the island of ireland and beyond lit candles. prime minister borisjohnson said he'd lit one at downing street, as a symbol of the peacejohn hume

was so instrumental in securing. it's an imperfect peace but one that holds until this day — and that will bejohn hume's legacy. sarah girvin, bbc news. a group of mps has criticised the government's failure to bring in border restrictions earlier, saying that mistakes accelerated the scale of the pandemic in the country. ministers insist they were guided by the science. here's our health editor hugh pym. the final ba flight from mainland china to london in late january, as concerns about coronavirus began to grow. officials at the time assumed the main risk was people arriving from asia. that proved to be wrong, with a lot more cases coming in from europe. now, a committee of mps says in subsequent weeks, the government should have implemented much tighter controls. by the time you get to early march, other countries were starting to bring in much stronger border measures.

the uk was very much out on a limb. that alone should have rung alarm bells for ministers. they should have been saying, "why is our approach so different? why are we so isolated in our approach, in not having border and quarantine measures when so many other countries by now really are?" with britons evacuated from wuhan and quarantine in late january, the first border measures were introduced. in february, arrivals from some countries and northern italy were told to self—isolate if they showed symptoms. in march, all italy arrivals were told to self—isolate whether or not they showed symptoms. crucially, this advice was not extended to spain and france. a day later, spanish football fans gathered in liverpool for a champions league fixture. on march 13, all country—specific guidance was lifted and people were only told to self—isolate if they had symptoms. at the time, ministers were having to assess whether imposing blanket quarantine restrictions on everyone arriving from abroad at heathrow and other major airports would do damage to the economy

and whether it was significantly slow transmission of the virus. and whether it would significantly slow transmission of the virus. 0fficials argued in march, if the virus was spreading in the uk anyway, there was no point restricting people arriving without symptoms. quarantining wasn't introduced untiljune 8. throughout this process, we have followed the scientific advice. and the scientific advice has been very clear — when you have low infection rates in the country, that is the point at which you bring in quarantine measures. that's what we did on the 8th ofjune. but some experts agree that more should have been done at an earlier stage. i certainly think there should have been more monitoring of people coming to the uk from areas that were significantly affected by covid. i think what's apparent is that even people who were returning from italy who had been asked to self—quarantine for 14 days, there was no actual monitoring of that situation to ensure that people were doing it. france has begun compulsory airport testing for those arriving from high—risk countries. the uk authorities are less keen,

as it may miss some people in the early stages of infection. hugh pym, bbc news. it is going to be a very different us election. today, we have heard... joe biden will no longer travel to the democratic national convention in milwaukee, as a result of the coronavirus crisis. he will instead accept the democratic nomination and address the nation from his home state of delaware. the convention committee said the decision was made to prevent risking the health of the community, as well as those involved in the event, with other speakers also no longer travelling to the city. the duchess of sussex has won a high court battle to keep the names of five of her friends private, for the time being, as part of her legal action against the mail on sunday newspaper. meghan markle is suing associated newspapers over articles in the paper that included parts of a handwritten letter she had sent to her estranged father, thomas markle, in august 2018. the friends who will remain anonymous gave an interview to the us magazine people.

now, some 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. who knew? the discovery increases the known number of emperor penguins by between five and 10% 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 tell—tale markers that gave away their location. giant stains left on ice from thousands of penguins' droppings. we have found about 25 to 55,000 new penguins located in the 11 emperor penguin colonies. it's 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. the emperor penguin's whole life—cycle is centred on the sea ice, so the scientists say this good news about the 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.

endangered, but more than we thought. a good place to leave it. thanks for watching. hello. so far this week, there's been some big contrast across the uk. very wet for parts of the north and the west — yesterday in scotland, today, across northern ireland and northwest england. this was cumbria earlier on this afternoon. meanwhile in the south and the east, it's been dry, there's been a good deal of sunshine and for many, away from the south coast this afternoon, it's been very warm. through thursday, most will be dry and warm. before we get there, we still have this frontal system still hanging around but slowly pushing its way eastwards overnight, so any early rain through this evening and the first part of the night will tend to fade away, so most places become dry. there will be quite a lot of cloud around, but it will thin and break to allow some clear spells. could see a bit of mist and fog in places. it's another mild, muggy night

through much of england and wales, a little bit fresher than it was last night across scotland. so, into thursday, here's the bigger picture. still got our front with us. it's running into an area of high pressure, so as it does, most of the rain fizzles out. allow for some light rain and drizzle at first across southern counties of england. it won't really amount to much. and for much of the day tomorrow, it is looking largely dry across the uk. quite a bit of cloud through the morning, thinning and breaking as the day wears on. the winds won't be as strong as they have been recently. away from the western isles, still quite breezy here, but certainly feeling warmer across scotland, northern ireland and the far north of england compared to recent days — low 20 celsius here. up to 26 or 27 across the southeastern quarter of the uk. those temperatures keep on rising as we head through friday. not for all. notice frontal systems just fringing to the west of northern ireland, northern and western scotland, so cooler here, some showers. but elsewhere, we are pulling up this warm air, and it's going to stay with us as we head into the weekend. now, on friday, we'll have more sunshine than we did on thursday. away from northern ireland, perhaps north wales, western scotland, more cloud and some showery outbreaks of rain here.

but for many on friday, it'll be dry, very warm — if not hot. once again, we could see temperatures across central, southern and eastern england in the high 20s, low 30s celsius, maybe up to around 35 celsius around london. as we head into the weekend, we do hold onto that warmth, the temperatures ease slightly. but notice it's high pressure which is the dominant feature across much of the uk through the weekend, so we're looking at some dry weather, maybe a few showers across eastern counties as we head through sunday. still very warm, but the temperatures easing slightly.

hello, i'm lewis vaughanjones, welcome to outside source. a two—week state of emergency is declared in beirut, following last night's deadly explosion. a number of port officials have been placed under house arrest, pending an investigation. rescuers continue to sift through the rubble searching for survivors — at least 135 people were killed, many are still missing and thousands injured. if you were here when this happened, where you were standing would have

made the difference between life