who. three days of national mourning has begun — 137 people are known to have died, with thousands more missing or injured. the french president emmanuel macron has been to see the devastation, and promised help, but said the country must reform. translation: it's a political, moral, economic, and financial crisis, the first victim of which is the lebanese people. we'll have the latest live from beirut. also this lunchtime — the economic slump caused by coronavirus won't be as deep as feared, the bank of england now says, but will still be the biggest annual decline for 100 years.

50 million face masks bought by the government in april won't be used in the nhs — because of safety concerns. a radical overhaul of the planning system is promised by ministers to try to get more houses built in england. and, after 400 years, beavers are being allowed to live in the wild again in england. coming up on bbc news — golf‘s first major of the year, the us pga, is getting under way three months later than planned and without fans in san francisco this afternoon. good afternoon, and welcome to the bbc news at one. three days of mourning are under way in lebanon, after tuesday's deadly explosion

in the capital beirut. at least 137 people are known to have died, and dozens are missing. the explosion is believed to have been caused by tonnes of ammonium nitrate being stored unsafely in a warehouse. the french president emmanuel macron visited beirut this morning and promised international help — but warned that if reforms aren't introdued, the country will continue to suffer. the uk is sending the royal navy ship hms enterprise to survey the damage at the port. here's our diplomatic correspondent james robbins. despair, grief, worry and anger are the dominant emotions in beirut. with so much of the lebanese capital destroyed, so many lives lost, the first efforts to clear up and begin the gargantuan task of rebuilding and repair have to be combined with emergency distribution of drinking water and essential supplies.

translation: i know that every one of my age invested in their effort in this country. now look at what is happening. we have gone backwards 100 years. translation: you cannot feel anything in lebanon. there is nothing to think about. our country is this way. tuesday's massive explosion of dangerous chemicals stored in the port for six years also destroyed green supplies and close of a vital route for 11 on's food imports. french president emmanuel macron, the first foreign leader into lebanon, is not holding back. he insists that aid to this former french colony must be in exchange for a fundamental political reform of a rotten system which made the disaster possible. translation: i want to meet with all lebanese political forces for a very frank discussions, because beyond the explosion, we know the crisis here isa explosion, we know the crisis here is a severe. it implies a historic

responsibility for the current leaders. this crisis is political, moral, economic and financial, and the primary victim as the lebanese people. it demands immediate action. so it is no wonder, perhaps, that president macron was greeted by ordinary lebanese as something of a hero. it is in very stark contrast to the bitterness and contempt they feel for their own political leadership, which was feeling lebanon on so many fronts even before the blast. —— failing lebanon. with hospitals among the buildings in beirut destroyed, that insistence on a fundamental clean—up of lebanon's political elite is widespread, even if many who know 11 on well... there has to be an independent international investigation, and any aid that is 110w investigation, and any aid that is now coming to lebanon should come with conditionality, at the very least regarding necessary reforms

and insistence on transparency and accountability. this is the only way forward for lebanon, because otherwise, we will just forward for lebanon, because otherwise, we willjust enter another cycle of cover—ups. otherwise, we willjust enter another cycle of cover-ups. beirut is now a city of thousands of individual stories of loss, of loved ones, of homs, of livelihoods. already recriminations are gathering pace, although several port officials are under investigation and house arrest, others are already speaking up, insisting they cannot be made so scapegoats, to protect many others who ignored the risks to all of beirut. —— sole scapegoats. our correspondent lina sinjab is in beirut. tell us more about what people are still saying to you about the need foraid. still saying to you about the need for aid. first of all, let mejust talk about the solidarity in the

lebanese society. incredible efforts by the people here, setting up makeshift aid areas. organisations here are donating food, registering names for people to come, even to help with fixing their houses. so we lebanese people have learnt it throughout their lives, that they get it and they rise up again at the next morning. and this is what we see today, walking around the city, many people are clearing up, many volu nteers many people are clearing up, many volunteers are cleaning up. however, this is not enough at all. the government has said it is going to put ina government has said it is going to put in a £55 million in emergency funding, but it is not enough to cover the need for the people, the need for the devastation in the aftermath of this explosion. almost 250,000 now are left homeless, and

already 70% of the population are living under the poverty line. what the lebanese want now is they want accountability for their own government, for all the politicians, they are fed up with them and they wa nt they are fed up with them and they want international community to help them rebuild their country, but not through the government. thank you very much indeed, lina, with the latest in the beirut. here, the economic slump caused by the coronavirus pandemic won't be as deep as first feared, but, the recovery will take longer than anticipated, according to the bank of england. the bank had predicted the economy would shrink by 14% this year. it now believes the figure will be 9.5%. but that's still the biggest annual decline in 100 years, and the figures are based on the assumption that there is no second wave of the virus. here's our economics correspondent andy verity. the fortunes of this used car dealership in yorkshire closely manner what has happened in the wider economy. —— closely mirror mac. april and may saw sales plummet

in full—blown lockdown, but has recently seen a surge as in full—blown lockdown, but has recently seen a surge as customers who had recently seen a surge as customers who had been waiting weeks to buy have now turned up. the big question is, will it last? it is a bit of a weird one for us, because we had a really bad time during the lockdown, obviously, but then coming out of the lockdown, we have been absolutely flying. so touch wood and may continue, but yeah, we have been doing record numbers, and wejust hope it does continue. latest indicators suggest that, in spite of ongoing social distancing, consumers did step up their spending as lockdown lifted. payments from as recently as july showed household consumption are down by less than a tenth of the end of last year. in may, the bank expected the economy to end the year on doubling down 1496. to end the year on doubling down 14%. but now it predicts the economy will shrink by only 9.5%. but that

came with a note of caution. we have had a rapid pick up in the economy over the last couple of months. i am not surprised, because as the restrictions are lifted, things start to happen, but it is very unevenly distributed. as we know. and the fact that we have had a reasonably rapid pick—up to date is very clearly, i'm afraid, not a signal that it will be like that going forward. in may, the bank anticipated ev ship to bounce back for the economy. now it expects activity to take longer, to get back to precrisis levels. —— a v—shaped bounce back. to enter your downjust —— to end the year down atjust .95% would be a big bounce back. —— to end the year down atjust .95% would be a big bounce backm —— to end the year down atjust .95% would be a big bounce back. it looks quite optimistic, particularly further ahead, and quite optimistic, particularly furtherahead, andl quite optimistic, particularly furtherahead, and i think quite optimistic, particularly

further ahead, and i think the big underlying picture, really, is that we can expect further policy stimulus later in the year. in the globalfinancial stimulus later in the year. in the global financial crisis, the bank stimulus later in the year. in the globalfinancial crisis, the bank of england gave many households more money to spend by slashing interest rates to record lows. this time, the official rate already at 0.1% has far less scope to do that. instead, thejob of stimulus far less scope to do that. instead, the job of stimulus in the economy out of this slump is very much down to the government. —— the job of stimulating the economy. 50 million face masks which were bought by the government in april won't be used in the nhs because of safety concerns. ministers are concerned that the masks aren't tight enough. labour has called for an investigation into what it says is the government's mishandled procurement process. our special correspondent lucy manning reports. masks were needed to protect nhs workers. the government bought 50 million similar ones from one company, paying around £150 million. but court papers seen by the bbc show these ffp2 masks now won't be used by the nhs.

a company called ayanda supplied the masks. they have ear loops, rather than head loops, which raised concerns about the amount of protection they were giving. despite the millions paid, the government now says they're not recommended to buy, and won't be used in hospitals. the face of it is either a pass orfail, and there are more fails on product with ear loops than on product with head harnesses. and that means what? that means it wouldn't necessarily provide the protection that is required from it. it's an extraordinary sum of money... the government is facing a court challenge on money paid to ayanda and two other firms for protective equipment. fundamentally, it has taken this extraordinary sum of public funds, as we say, between £156 and £177 million, by our calculations, and wasted it on ppe that it itself says cannot be released for use in the nhs because it's not safe.

ayanda is an investment firm. the man in charge of the deal, andrew mills, is a government trade adviser. ayanda said it went through a rigorous technical assurance programme, and met all the requirements of the technical specifications. mr mills said his position as a trade adviser played no part in the award of this contract, which was subject to the same evaluation as all offers. but we've identified more than 100 separate deals the government signed with companies to supply ppe worth more than £3 billion, some contracts with companies with no obvious background in making or delivering ppe. arco is a well—established company. it is one of the uk's biggest ppe providers. it says it saw the scramble to get contracts. there was lots of companies who were jumping on the bandwagon, wanting to flood the market with product. one of our customers came

to us as we are experts. they'd been offered some product and asked us to check out the compliance of that product. we reviewed the certification, and found it had been issued by a company, a test house, that wasn't authorised to do so. there was an urgency to the government's search for ppe as covid—19 spread. the government says it's been working tirelessly to deliver protective equipment to the front line, and it has to meet strict safety standards. but has money been wasted on equipment that can't be used? lucy manning, bbc news. there's been a fall in the number of close contacts successfully reached through england's coronavirus test and trace programme. the latest figures show 72% of close contacts were reached last week, down from 76% in the previous seven days, and 90% in the first week of the programme back injune. since its launch, just under 200,000 people have been contacted and asked to self—isolate.

proposals have been unveiled for what ministers say is a radical overhaul of the planning system, allowing homes to be built more easily in england. it aims to deliver 300,000 new homes a year, a target set in 2017 which hasn't been met. but critics say today's proposals will remove power from local communities, and lead to a reduction in social housing. here's our environment analyst roger harrabin. build, build, build. that's the prime minister's promise to pep up the economy and tackle the uk's chronic housing shortage with new developments like this one in west sussex. the government blames planning rules for housing delays. today, we have a plan—based system, but it can take seven years to produce one of these plans, and very few people actually engage with that process. and then, once the plan is produced, it can take up to five years

to put spades in the ground on a fairly standard set of new housing. that's too slow. the idea is for a local people to decide how they want their own area to be designated — should it be for growth, should it be for renewal, or should it be for protection? once that's done, developers will be able to build virtually anything they want, so long as it sticks by the rules, and there will be nothing you can do about it. critics say this is undemocratic. we've argued long and hard with government that standards need to be improved, and that the right place to make decisions about what goes where and what kind of housing, is in the local authorities, using local democracy as the basis for decision—making. and what really worries us is the centralisation of this programme, that those powers will be removed, and inappropriate

housing will be the result. then there's the question over the future of the countryside. national parks like the lake district will be protected zones, along with areas of outstanding natural beauty and the green belt. but what about other countryside that's precious to local people and vital for wildlife? it's critically important that we have a strategic environmental assessment process that allows us to think about where the least harmful sites for development are. we think at the moment, the government has a very narrow focus on just trying to get an overall net gain from development. there's anger too over the climate change impact of today's plan. labour previously promised all new homes would be carbon neutral by 2016. the government proposes to push that back to 2050. climate experts say that is pitiful. the controversy over these proposals will rumble on. roger harrabin, bbc news.

the time is 1.17. our top story this lunchtime. three days of mourning begins in lebanon, as demands grow for answers about what caused the catastrophic explosion in beirut. and coming up — preparing to cross the atlantic — the disabled sailor getting ready for her biggest challenge on the water. coming up on bbc news... a maximum break at the crucible — the first for eight years — butjust fake crowd noise to applaud john higgins'1li7. more internal travel restrictions are being introduced in australia, as the country tries to reduce the number of new coronavirus infections. new south wales will from midnight oblige anyone arriving from the neighbouring state of victoria into mandatory hotel quarantine, for 1h days.

and queensland is to introduce restrictions on travellers from new south wales. the country's prime minister scott morrison says the move will hit the economy hard and lead to a rise in unemployment. from sydney, here's phil mercer. melbourne is in hibernation. australia's second biggest city is the centre of the nation's covid—19 emergency. most shops are shut and hundreds of thousands of workers told to stay at home. well, it's impacted the whole street, especially the cake shops, because we're known for it. it's horrible, there's no one around. for at least six weeks, this city of 5 million people will live under australia's strictest lockdown. masks are mandatory and there's a night—time curfew in melbourne. those who flout the regulations face heavy fines. but the state government in victoria senses that the community knows what's at stake. i'm so grateful and so proud that

victorians are dealing with this challenge, a bigger challenge than we have perhaps ever faced and they are doing it with a sense of compassion, a sense of care for each other, a sense of concern, of course, but that really clear understanding that we are all in this together. every day brings news of hundreds more coronavirus infections in australia's second most populous state. the number of deaths is rising. the authorities say the lockdown will save lives, but livelihoods will be lost. many businesses simply won't survive this enforced hibernation and the economic consequences will be immense. that is very concerning, that is very troubling, but it's not expected in the circumstances. -- it is —— it is not unexpected in the circumstances. these measures will have a very

significant cost and it will impact the recovery path. but the task doesn't change. we get on top of this issue in victoria and we band together and we make this work. victoria is being closed off to the rest of australia. with border controls and travel restrictions, it is essentially being put into isolation until the danger passes. phil mercer, bbc news, sydney. facebook has deleted a video from president trump's account, saying it spread misinformation about coronavirus. in the clip, the president claims children are "almost immune" to covid—19. with the us presidential election less than three months away, twitter also temporarily froze donald trump's campaign account because of the video. david willis sent this report. for several weeks president trump has claimed that children are virtually immune from the effects of the coronavirus. they may get it but they get it and it doesn't have much of an impact on them and if you look at the numbers, the numbers of —

in terms of mortality, fatality, the numbers for children under a certain age, meaning young, their immune systems are very, very strong, they are very powerful, and they seem to be able to handle it very well. it's a claim the president has made to support his call for schools here to reopen their doors for lessons in just a few weeks' time, but it flies in the face of advice from his own medical experts, who say that whilst children are less susceptible to the effects of the virus, they are still able to catch it and spread it to others, including teachers and adults back at home. twitter and facebook both agreed the post amounted to misinformation about the coronavirus and they have since removed it from their platforms. facebook ceo mark zuckerberg, who faced some tough questioning from us lawmakers when he testified before them last week, has been under pressure from advertisers and members of his own staff to moderate

political content more rigorously. twitter, for its part, has been more forceful in this regard, and in may took the unprecedented step of limiting public access to a tweet in which the president warned of tough action against people protesting the death of george floyd. a spokeswoman for the trump campaign, courtney pa rella, said that in the latest posting the president was simply saying children are less susceptible to the coronavirus. "another day, another display of silicon valley's "flagrant bias against this president," she wrote. "social media companies are not the arbiters of truth." having recently signed an executive order that attempts to strip online platforms such as facebook and twitter of their legal protections, this latest move sets donald trump on a potential collision course with social media companies with less than three months to go before the presidential election. david willis, bbc news, los angeles.

at the inquest into the death of caroline flack, police have denied treating the tv presenter differently because she was a celebrity. the ao—year—old was charged with assaulting her boyfriend last year, and took her own life in february. our correspondent helena wilkinson is at the inquest in east london. explain watmore the police have been saying. the police were challenged over why they didn't want caroline flack just be cautioned. over why they didn't want caroline flackjust be cautioned. the crown prosecution service initially wanted her to be cautioned and not charged, but the detective who appealed that decision and was successful has been giving evidence here at the inquest. detective into inspector lauren bateman, and she has been explaining why she felt a caution was not appropriate for the presenter. she told the inquest, it was because the

presenter had not made a clear, reliable admission of what had happened. the inquest heard when police officers went to caroline flack's home after that alleged incident she made a number of admissions, such as, i hit him, the detective then said that when caroline flack was later questioned while she was in police custody it was unclear what caroline was admitting to. the coroner then said this to the detective, was it the case that you were motivated in part by caroline's celebrity status? absolutely not, the detective replied, and then there was an emotional exchange between caroline flack's mother, christine, who was watching via video link, and she told the detective, i think you should be disgusted with yourself because there is nothing we can do to bring caroline back because you wa nted to bring caroline back because you wanted to prosecute. helena wilkinson, thank you. now to the

cricket. england's bowlers have had a good morning on the second day of the first test against pakistan. james anderson, stuart broad and chris woakes all took vital wickets at old trafford. at lunch the visitors were 187—5. our sports correspondent andy swiss has been watching. the furrowed brow said it all. after a frustrating first day, joe root‘s side were in desperate search of a breakthrough, and they promptly found one. well, that cheered him up. pakistan's star batsman babar azam gone in the first over, jimmy anderson tempting him into a wayward waft, and his skipper did the rest. at the other end, though, shan masood was digging in. reaching a stubborn half—century, it was just what pakistan needed. this, on the other hand, wasn't. edged, and gone! the roar from stuart broad, the catch from ben stokes, and asad shafiq was on his way, england on the charge. and they so nearly had another.

mohammad rizwan given out leg before, but replays showed it just grazed the bat. the decision was overturned, but it was oh so close. pakistan were having to battle for every run, shan masood picking up four with a flourish, but such attacking moments were few and far between. soon, chris woakes was among the wickets... edged and gone. ..the pressure finally getting to rizwan, jos buttler with the catch, and england with another excuse to celebrate. if yesterday belonged to pakistan, this morning belonged emphatically to the hosts. andy swiss, bbc news. after 400 yea rs beavers are being allowed to live in the wild again in england. after a successful trial, groups will stay in their river home in devon. it's the first time the government has backed the re—introduction of a native mammal in england, and it could be replicated across the country. our rural affairs correspondent claire marshall reports.

having a good old scratch. this female, around six years old, was one of the first to be born into the wild in england for half a century. she and her partner still rule this stretch of the river otter. now they and their kits are allowed to stay for good. we're right in the heart of theirterritory, here, really. but they can have a big territory. mark and his team's five—year study helped lead the government to what it's calling a landmark decision. it's really exciting. to bring this keystone species back into the river otter is brilliant. we've shown that people and beavers can quite happily coexist and that the benefits really do outweigh some of the negatives that also exist. the environment minister visited their habitat in east devon to make the announcement. she believes this project could have a much wider impact, influencing how farmers and landowners are subsidised after the uk leaves the european union. if you want a more diverse habitat,

to work alongside with our farming and our healthy and sustainable food production, then natural management systems like this that the beavers can provide, are one of the answers — that farmers could be paid to have the beavers on their land. just walking along the banks of the river now, and this is a really good example of the creatures at work. this is a willow, and then here you can see where they ate away at it about a year ago. and then just a few days ago there's this evidence here. and look at how high up it is, that's how big they are. scotland's beavers were given protected status last year, but there have been problems. some farmers saying they've ruined valuable land, and dozens have been culled. in devon, though, the largest local landowner believes a balance can be found. there's a potato field which was flooded due to the actions of the beaver, it caused damage to the crop, a loss of crop, they can chop down trees in the wrong place. although, having said that,

overall there is a net positive for beavers in terms of flood attenuation and the ability to do natural flood defences. the government will soon launch a consultation on whether they should be introduced more widely. claire marshall, bbc news, east devon. at the age of 23, not many of us are planning to sail across an ocean. but natasha lambert is — despite obstacles most of us would think were insurmountable. natasha is quadriplegic, but has already sailed from england to france, and from scotland to ireland. now she's aiming to cross the atlantic later this year. before lockdown, our reporter sarah farmerjoined natasha lambert out on the water. natasha lambert finds her freedom on the water. although she was born with quadriplegic athetoid cerebral palsy, her sense of adventure is unstoppable. she skippers the missile 2 using a bespoke sip and puff system. a short sip of breath and natasha moves starboard.

a quick puff and the boat sails port. clicking her tongue against a switch allows her to manage the sails. how does it feel being in control like that? superb. you really like to have the control, don't you? it's an amazing feeling for you and that's something that control wise natasha does not always have in the rest of her life, so to be in control of something like that is fantastic, isn't it? the boat that natasha will be sailing across the atlantic is a a6—foot catamaran. it has two helms and natasha will be able to sail from either side. that's involved a fair bit of work by dad gary. natasha has a chart plotter in front of her. she has boom angle and display in front of her and all the information — i was going to say fingertips — but it's lips, really, isn't it? come november she and herfamily

will set off on the trip