a very warm welcome to bbc news if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. i'm mike embley. our top stories: there's mounting anger in lebanon at the failure of politicians to prevent tuesday's devastating blast in which at least a 135 people were killed and 5,000 injured. more than a quarter of a million are made homeless so many streets and buildings were damaged. people will not be able to return to their houses and these are probably tens of thousands of people who have become homeless in a matter of seconds. the social media posts and the president — facebook and twitter penalise team trumpfor claiming children are "almost immune" to coronavirus.

bell tolls. hiroshima marks the 75th anniversary of the exact moment an atomic bomb was dropped on the japanese city. hello to you. the governing elite of lebanon is facing unprecedented criticism for tuesday's massive explosion in the capital. they‘ re being blamed for the failure to store properly tonnes of ammonium nitrate that blew up in the port area of beirut, killing at least 135 people. the government's promised a full investigation, and placed some officials under house arrest. teams are searching rubble for more than 100 people still missing. 300,000 have had to leave their homes. a two—week state of emergency has been declared. quentin sommerville

has the latest. in a country long battered by shock, a fresh, unnatural disaster has seized lebanon. the fires burned long here at the port. the cause, a powder keg of unstable chemicals, left to rot in the very heart of beirut. the shock could be felt in cyprus, syria and israel. the 2500 tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser was the equivalent of a one kilotonne blast. this was lebanon's 9/11, they say. a catastrophe that shook the entire country. a small fire at the port had drawn people to their windows to watch. when the chemicals exploded, they received the brunt.

more than 4000 have been hurt and lebanon is traumatised. it is a day they will never forget, especially for bride, israa seblani. explosion allahu akbar. in the small town of ras el harf, the buildings still stand, but the people are shuttered. jessy dawood was a nurse at beirut‘s saint george hospital. she died along with three other colleagues. she was 31 years old, and leaves behind her two—year—old ella, and her husband. the work of a nurse is to save lives of people, and take care of people. this is what she did.

she was a hero. she died when she's on her duty. she's saving people, and she died. at jessy dawood's hospital, there is hurt and anger at a man—made disaster, a physical manifestation of the country's long dysfunction. this is a catastrophe, because, you know, we are one of the best functioning institutions in the city. we are helping with the covid effort, we're treating patients. already, the healthcare system is about to collapse. resilience is a word much overused in lebanon. in may melki's apartment, she sought a moment of peace among the wreckage. the 78—year—old has suffered months of power cuts, the loss of her savings and rising food prices. and now, this disaster.

hopes? everybody says there is no hope, you know? but i cannot, i don't want to believe it. i want to keep hoping that each time these catastrophes happen, we stand up and start again. but everybody says, many, many years before, when i was in the united states, they asked me this question — is there hope for lebanon? i mean, there is no hope. the same politicians who created the earlier crises have to resolve this one. there is little hope they can do it alone, and there is a limit to how much more lebanon can endure. it was more that i was an homage to all those who are gone and who were less fortunate than us, and they were caught

in this big catastrophe. quentin sommerville, bbc news. 0ur beirut correspodent corine torbey told us pressure is mounting on the government to say how they'll help the 300,000 people who lost their homes in an instant. the port is behind me. this is where the explosion happened. i'm not sure, with no electricity in so many parts of the capital, whether it is clear, but the damage is highly visible from where i am standing. and the damage is not only here, it is everywhere, in every single street of the capital. debris is everywhere, smashed cars, balconies falling from buildings, electricity cables hanging from rooftops but, mostly, a lot of houses that, at the moment, are absolutely not habitable. people will not be able to return to their houses

and these are probably tens of thousands of people who have become homeless in a matter of seconds. we have seen a lot of community support. a lot of people offering their places to those who cannot return to their homes, but this is not a sustainable solution. the government should deal with this as a matter of priority. of course, it has a lot of priorities to deal with, at the moment, but this remains one of the top and most alarming issues at the moment, the number of homeless, the number of people who simply found themselves without homes from one day to another. all this at such a difficult time for the country, trying not only to curb the spread of coronavirus, but also struggling with economic and political crises. 0ur middle east editor, jeremy bowen, now, on the troubles besetting lebanon. officials who may have ignored

warnings about the danger facing beirut are under house arrest. that is just the start of national recriminations. 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 doesn't have. the president, michel aoun, has declared three days of mourning. many lebanese don't trust their leaders and are sick of an elite, including former warlords, like the president himself, who have been at the top for decades. lebanon's youth want change. before and sometimes during the pandemic, there were big protests. many called them a revolution against corruption and incompetence.

what has gone wrong is decades and decades of abusive use of power by a privileged and corrupt elite, which has been milking the country corru ptly, which has been failing to provide the basic services, such as electricity and proper internet and proper telephone, affordable telephones, proper operation of the customs system, proper, whatever, agricultural policy. they have all been lacking. a rare gesture came from israel. tel aviv city hall was lit with a lebanese flag. the two cities are separated by 160 miles of mediterranean coastline, and lifetimes of pain and history in the world's most unstable region. lebanon is surrounded by enemies, and the kind of friends that 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's syria, where the assad regime has

always regarded lebanon as its backyard. the lebanese have absorbed about 1.5 million syrian refugees. that is the same as britain taking about 15 million. you 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, and now three hospitals in beirut have been put out of action by the explosions. i saw all of the war in lebanon. this blow is as important as the 11th of september blow in the united states. for us, i think this is a very big blow. we need really the international support. french rescue teams left paris for beirut, britain announced £5 million of emergency aid, but lebanon has deep political problems that money without reform will

not be able to fix. in beirut‘s wreckage are the ruins of the granary that contained vital supplies of imported wheat. another disaster, at the chernobyl nuclear power plant, finished off the soviet union. lebanon's old order should fear the fallout from beirut docks. jeremy bowen, bbc news. facebook and twitter have penalised us president donald trump and his campaign for posts in which he claimed children are "almost immune" to coronavirus. facebook deleted the post, saying it contained "harmful covid misinformation". twitter said it temporarily froze the official trump campaign account and required the tweet be deleted before the account could be reactivated. 0ur news reporter alanna petroffjoins me now with more. of this place into the debate of this place into the debate of what can be said on social media, what responsibility the

platforms have for what he said and the issue of reopening schools. president trump said ina fox schools. president trump said in a fox news interview that children were almost immune to covid—19 and that was twittered out by team trump on twitter and put out on their facebook pages and donald trump retweeted this but, as you just mentioned, that was taken down by both platforms and this was the first time that facebook has removed a post in this way from the facebook but from related to covid—19 misinformation by the trump team. this marked a watershed moment for facebook which is not taken down as many posts as twitter has. it is complicated, of course, particularly because we do here now from many abdominaljust, that we do here now from many abdominal just, that you we do here now from many abdominaljust, that you do not regard younger children as

victors for the disease generally but a more current $0011 generally but a more current soon of 17 —year—olds and upwards getting the disease and affecting other people. president trump is almost right but not. for president trump to say children are almost immune it goes too far. children have not generally suffered severe illnesses if they were to get it but we do know that the world health organization has data looking at 6 million cases across the planet and they say that of those nearly 5% were children who got covid—19 so thatis children who got covid—19 so that is about 275,000 children. you cannot say that children are almost immune when you have numbers like that when almost 596 numbers like that when almost 5% of global cases that were

reviewed are with kids between the ages of five and 15. it looks like facebook and twitter thought this goes too far and us public health information does not say that kids are immune so this goes against us public health information. indeed, thank you very much. and thank you to you. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: why is the rock star attributed with inventing grunge suing donald trump's re—election campaign? 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 world news. the latest headlines: there's mounting anger in lebanon at the failure of politicians to prevent tuesday's devastating blast in which at least 135,000 people were killed and 5,000

injured. more than 250,000 people have been made homeless in large parts of the city. every street, every building has been damaged. the senior american immunologist, dr anthony fauci, has said he doesn't expect any coronavirus vaccine to be approved before the end of the year. the fight against the virus, he said, is fully dependent on the availability of a safe and effective vaccine, and he stressed that political considerations would not be allowed to interfere in the regulatory process. we likely are going to have many tens of millions of doses in the early part of the year but, as we get into 2021, the manufacturers tell us that they will have hundreds of millions and likely a billion doses by the end of 2021. so i think the process is moving along at a pretty favourable pace. as our north america correspondent david willis points out, what dr fauci is saying is quite different from what the president is

saying, not for the first time. we see caution from the top medical experts here and optimism, bordering, some might say, on hubris, from the president of the united states who today, a fairly short while ago, in a white house briefing said that multinational pharmaceutical companies, johnson &johnson, the big american company among them, were doing, as he put it, "a fantasticjob", they were getting very close to developing a vaccine, the president said, and we might have one available long before the end of the year, said mr trump. dr anthony fauci, for his part, said that he does not expect a vaccine to be available before the end of this year. what the two men do agree on, mike, is that once a vaccine is developed then tens of millions of doses of it could be available very quickly, within months, in fact, because pharmaceutical companies here are being urged to produce in mass the vaccines that they are developing just in case one of them does prove to work and then it can be shipped out almost immediately.

and, david, thanks to the virus, of course, this is a time like no other and it looks like it will be an election like no other. absolutely, no tickertape, no balloons — this is going to be a very subdued american presidential election. joe biden, the presumptive democratic nominee, has said he will be making his acceptance speech from his home in delaware and not going to milwaukee, wisconsin, because it's thought that, even though it is going to be largely an online event, there will be a gathering of some democrats there in milwaukee and that's just deemed to be too unsafe in the current climate. donald trump, for his part, has floated the suggestion he might make his acceptance speech from the white house, raising all sorts of questions about blurring the lines between, if you like, official presidential activity and political campaigning. a short while ago,

the white house chief of staff, mark meadows, was asked about this on cnn, and he said that one way around it might be for the president to make that speech from the east wing of the white house, which is officially the private residence, rather than somewhere like the oval office, but it is, of course, a taxpayer—funded building and even some republicans have expressed disquiet about the president accepting the nomination from there. david willis there. it is 75 years since the american air forces plane enola gay dropped an atomic bomb on the city of hiroshima in western japan. three days later, another was dropped on the city of nagasaki. between 150,000 and 220,000 people were killed. bell tolls

in the past few hours, a ceremony in hiroshima has marked the anniversary of the bombing. there's been a silent prayer at the exact time the first nuclear weapon hit the city. the coronavirus pandemic has forced the scaling back of ceremonies to honour the victims. the experience 75 years ago left japan with a strong anti—nuclear movement that endures to this day. but the remaining survivors of hiroshima are worried the lessons of the 6th of august, 1945 are being forgotten. from tokyo rupert wingfield—hayes. (no audio translation available) hirotomi igarashi is a right—wing japanese nationalist who says it's time for his country to develop its own nuclear weapons. the group he leads his one of around 1,000 ultranationalist organisations in japan dedicated to scrapping the postwar pacifist constitution, and the alliance with united states. translation: we need to acquire nuclear weapons so that the bomb will never be dropped on our homeland again, especially now with the threat from china.

china has some 300 nuclear missiles aiming atjapan, and we have north korea. that country is like a madman holding a knife. on august the 6th, japan stops to remember what happened at hiroshima. to mourn the tens of thousands who were incinerated, and to recommit itself to the abolition nuclear weapons. what happened to you when the bomb exploded? at 83, keiko 0gura is one of a dwindling number of survivors who witnessed the destruction with their own eyes. she is worried that as memories fade, japan's commitment to never building nuclear weapons is weakening. survivors have a strong fear because, you know, we have many power plants, that means there are materials. plutonium, we have.

and we have the technology to create the nuclear weapons. it might be easy if we said, "go, now!" if it wanted to, experts believe japan could build a nuclear weapon very quickly. it has a stockpile of 47 tons of plutonium, more than any other non—nuclear weapon state. the whole issue of nuclear weapons is still taboo here, even to talk about. but the view that japan may one day need to build its own nuclear deterrent goes well beyond the far—right fringe, even into parts of the ruling liberal democratic party. and the logic is simple. japan faces real and growing threats from north korea, and from an increasingly aggressive and well—armed china. and since president trump's election, america's commitment to protect japan under its nuclear umbrella is increasingly shaky. for the first time in postwar history, there is now a president in the white house who has openly and repeatedly said, "it's time for

japan to defend itself." i think that is the biggest change. and sort of the biggest cause for concern. and ifjapan is moving in a direction of relying more on its own capabilities, i believe that's primarily because of a loss of credibility in us security guarantees. for the 75 years since hiroshima, japan has lived under american protection. now it is beginning to wonder what would happen if the americans really went home. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in tokyo. let's ta ke let's take you to this scene right now in hiroshima, the japanese by minister, shinzo abe has been laying a wreath as pa rt abe has been laying a wreath as part of the ceremonies marking the anniversary of the bombing. there has been a silent prayer at the exact time the first

nuclear weapon hit the city, as we we re nuclear weapon hit the city, as we were saying. three days later, another was dropped on the city of maga saki. it's when 150,000 — the city of maga saki. it's when 150,000 - 220,000 the city of maga saki. it's when 150,000 — 220,000 people we re when 150,000 — 220,000 people were killed —— city of nagasaki. neil young is suing donald trump's re—election campaign for repeatedly using his music without his permission. the rock star says the trump campaign breached copyright laws by playing his songs at political rallies and events. the campaign has not yet made any official comment. a warning — there is flash photography in this report from the bbc‘s tim allman. ‘rockin' in the free world' playing. it was the moment donald trump launched his campaign for the white house, and his introduction to presidential politics was accompanied by the music of neil young. how you doin‘? but the veteran rocker has long called for the trump team to stop using his work, a request he says has been wilfully ignored. now he's taking his grievance to court. in a statememt, his lawyers

said: he's not the only rock star wanting to distance himself from the trump campaign. 0nly last month, sir eltonjohn joined the rolling stones and aerosmith in signing an open letter calling on politicians to obtain permission before playing their music at political events. and the family of tom petty issued a cease and desist letter when his song ‘i won't back down‘ was used in a rally at tulsa. we love you, man! neil young, who is now officially a us citizen, is seeking damages of up to $150,000 for each time one of his songs was played. ‘rockin' in the free world' playing forthe trump campaign, it may not be such a free world after all. tim allman, bbc news.

we will let you know how that turns out. thank you for watching. hello. while some parts of the uk have had some pleasant sunshine occasionally this week and stayed dry so far, albeit rather windy, others have been very wet — particularly into parts of scotland but not just scotland. 0ther spots had some heavy downpours during wednesday. but it is looking, for thursday, drier and warmer. high pressure building a little further. coming around to a southerly and that is going to lift temperatures again particularly into england and wales on friday. there will be another surge of heat with temperatures in the 30s for some as we will see in a moment. temperatures as we start thursday will have held up overnight across a large part of england and wales. so, a rather muggy start. could be a few mist and fog patches around. a zone of thicker cloud into parts of southern england,

could be a bit drizzly with that pushing into parts of wales and the midlands during the day. could stay misty along some spots along the english channel coast. whereas elsewhere across the uk, it's a mix of cloud, some occasional sunny skies. it will be dry. best of the sunny skies in scotland towards the north. it is warmer, and temperatures peak in the upper 20s in the warmest parts of the east and south—east of england, just a gentle southerly breeze. 0n through thursday night, into friday morning, keep a bit of cloud, clear, keep some clear spells too — in fact clearing up across more of england and wales going into friday morning. and what will be another rather warm and muggy night. a warmer night in scotland and northern ireland. though by friday morning there's a weather front close to northern ireland and for here and then eastwards across scotland, there will be some showery rain moving in. a few late showers and thunderstorms can't be ruled out in england and wales but the main story here will be the sunshine and the heat again. upper 20s, low 30s, and hottest parts of the east and south—east of england, mid—30s, 35, maybe 36 celsius around the london area. temperatures nowhere near that high in scotland and northern ireland — it'll be heavily cloudy with the chance of rain during the day. high pressure building back

in for the weekend and that does mean a lot of dry weather particularly on saturday. by sunday there is an increasing chance of some thunderstorms around, particularly into parts of england and wales. and where friday is going to be so very hot, it will slowly cool a touch into the weekend but more noticeably elsewhere.

this is bbc news, the headlines: there is widespread criticism in lebanon of the country's politicians, who are being blamed for tuesday's massive explosion in beirut, which killed at least 135 people, injured 5,000 and made a huge number of others homeless. teams are searching rubble for at least a hundred people still missing. a number of officials at the port are to be kept under house arrest while investigations go on. lebanese officials say the storage of around 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate at a warehouse in the port caused the blast. facebook and twitter have sanctioned president trump and his campaign team for posts in which he claimed children are "almost immune" to coronavirus. facebook deleted the post, saying it contained "harmful covid misinformation". twitter said it temporarily froze