this is bbc news. the headlines... 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. we've had actually quite a rapid pick—up in the economy over the last two months or so and i'm not surprised about that because in a sense, as restrictions have lifted, things do start to happen. three days of national mourning in lebanon as people demand answers about what caused the catastrophic explosion at the port in beirut. the french president emmanuel macron has been to see the devastation, and promised help — but said the country must reform. 50 million face masks bought by the government in april won't be used in the nhs —

because of safety concerns. at the inquest into the death of caroline flack, police deny treating the tv presenter differently because she was a celebrity. and, after 400 years — beavers are being allowed to live in the wild again in england. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. our top story this afternoon: 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 expects the economy to shrink by 9.5% this year. while this would be the biggest

annual decline in a century, it had predicted the economy would shrink by 14%. the bank warned that the jobs market recovery would take longer — as it held interest rates at 0.1%. unemployment is expected to rise to 7.5% at the end of this year as government—funded support schemes come to an end. here's our economics correspondent andy verity. the fortunes of this used car dealership in richmond, yorkshire closely mirror what has happened in the wider economy. april and may saw sales plummet during full—blown lockdown, but in recent weeks it's seen a surge in activity as customers who had been waiting weeks to buy finally 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 it may continue,

but yeah, we have been doing record numbers, and we just hope it does continue. the latest indicators suggest that, in spite of ongoing social distancing, consumers did step up their spending as lockdown lifted. payments data from as recently asjuly showed household consumption down by less than a tenth compared with the end of last year. in may, the bank of england expected the economy to end the year down 14%. now, on what it calls its central scenario, it predicts the economy will shrink by only 9.5% in 2020. but that slightly less pessimistic figure came with a note of caution. we have had quite a rapid pick up in the economy over the last couple of months or so. 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 a v shape bounce back for the economy. now it expects activity to take longer, until the end of 2021, to get back to precrisis levels. the bank of england now expects official figures next week to show the economy shrank by 23% in the first half of the year. that's a biggerfall than any other advanced economy. to end the year down just 9.5%, it would have to bounce back rapdily in the coming months and some economists now think the bank is being too optimistic. it looks 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 global financial 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% it has far less scope to do that. instead, the job of stimulating

the economy out of this slump is very much down to the government. andy verity, bbc news. shamik dhar is chief economist at bny mellon investment management — hejoins me now. good afternoon to you. what do you make of this? is the bank being a little bit optimistic? i'm not so sure. to be honest, ifind it hard to fault the bank with this. if anything, iam probably to fault the bank with this. if anything, i am probably a little bit more optimistic than them! they are saying it will take to the end of next year to get back to precrisis levels of spending, i would hope we get there by the middle, to the start of next year. that quickly, because it start of next year. that quickly, because ... it isn't start of next year. that quickly, because it isn't quick, to be honest, that's still, remember, the economy has shrunk by about a quarter in the first half of this year. what you are effectively saying is we are only going to open up saying is we are only going to open up the economy at a quarter per quarter if you like, from here and that's not particularly quick so i

don't think it's a ludicrous expectation. everything however depends on the course of the disease from here, if we get another resurgence and national lockdown then that knocks everything out of then that knocks everything out of the water. 0k, interesting, there seems to be agreement on that, if there is a second wave of the bar is there is a second wave of the bar is the impact on the economy is, is it even quantifiable, let's say, if we had a second wave towards christmas? the first thing to say everything is hugely uncertain from here. it depends what you mean by a second wave, if we had a second wave that threatens the health service, requires another national or at least widespread lockdown from here, yes, i think we get some kind of full—back in the third or fourth quarter of this year. not as big as the one we saw in the first half of this year but nevertheless, quite significant but as i say, the signs at the moment, at least i am assuming we will be able to control things relatively locality by

locality fashion and if that is the case, i don't see why we could not open the economy at a quarter per quarter, if you like it, from here on and get back to where we were by the middle of 2021. can i ask you about unemployment? might people watching who are still on furlough but the furlough scheme will come to an end and that, surely, is a desperately uncertain time. of course, we would want all those people who come out of furlough to go back into theirjobs but look at hospitality, the service sector, it's hard to imagine that in an awful lot of cases? that's a hugely important point and i think a lot depends on essentially, as you say, how we manage the end of the furlough scheme. if for instance people start to believe that unemployment will stay high what make then they may cut their spending now and that derails the relatively optimistic picture i have told you. one thing that is noticeable is the bank is projecting

seven and a half percent unemployment by the end of this year. that is not great but it's not as disastrous as we saw, for instance, during the financial crisis back in 2008. also, it's expecting employment to rise next year, so, as i said, things are incredibly uncertain, lots of things could go wrong from here and certain sectors are going to be affected more than most. but i remain relatively optimistic we can get back to normal levels of spending by the middle of next year. it's interesting you mention 2008, is there anything we can or should be learning from that in terms of recovery, how to do it, the pace of it? i think the government has learned. i think the reaction both in terms of government spending and income support, the reaction from the bank of england in cutting rates so decisively and launching into new quantitative easing was more decisive than back in 2008 and i

think that has helped smooth things a bit, it's one of the reasons why the unemployment rate is not going up the unemployment rate is not going up as much as it did back then. however, as i said, a lot depends on people's confidence, and what happens to the disease from here. i think what we do know is that the government and in particular the bank of england stand ready to step in again should things deteriorate towards the end of this year. yes, interesting point. we will speak again, iam interesting point. we will speak again, i am sure. thank you very much for now. three days of mourning are underway 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 everyone 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 grain supplies and close of a vital route for lebanon'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 very frank discussions, because beyond the 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 is 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 failing lebanon on so many fronts

even before the blast. 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 lebanon well out the political elite will allow it. there has to be an independent international 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 willjust enter another cycle of cover—ups. beirut is now a city of thousands of individual stories of loss, of loved ones, of homes, 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 sole scapegoats, to protect many others who ignored the risks to all of beirut. the government has confirmed the royal navy survey ship, hms enterprise will travel to the lebanese capital to help support the investigation into tuesday's blast. the vessel will help to survey damage to the port of beirut and help the area return to normal. the deployment is part of £5 million support package to help the humanitarian effort in lebanon. 0ur correspondent lina sinjab is in beirut. she says people in the city have been pulling together to help their local communities as disapproval of the lebanese incredible efforts by the people here, setting up makeshift aid areas. but you know, organisations here are donating food, registering names for people to come, to help

with fixing their houses. the lebanese people have learned throughout their lives, through the civil war, they get hit and they rise up against the next morning and this is what we see today, walking around the city. it is covered with rubble, glass, but many people are clearing up, many volunteers are cleaning up, this is not enough. the government said they are going to put in £55 million in emergency funding but it is not enough to cover the needs of the people. the need for devastation in the aftermath of this explosion. almost 250,000 now left homeless. already, 70% of the population living under the poverty line. at the lebanese wa nt the poverty line. at the lebanese want now, they want accountability for their country, for the politicians, they are fed up with them and they want international community to help them rebuild but not through the government.

with me now is nadil ali, the country director for islamic relief — which is an international aid agency that provides humanitarian relief and development programmes in over a0 countries. good afternoon to you. the devastation is so enormous, what are your immediate priorities? the immediate priority is to help people clearing their houses and their streets so they can go back with their own life again. second immediate is providing hot meals to people who lost their homes, you know, as per the announcement of the beirut inn is a parody. we have between 300 and 350,000 homeless people who have been made homeless by the blast. they lost either their home or part of their home. —— the

announcement of the beirut municipality. and to start distributing food parcels. that is why an international appeal has been set up for lebanon, we need the support of the international community. and all the people who wa nt to community. and all the people who want to help the lebanese people as they go through this catastrophe. 350,000 people homeless. where are those people going to be able to live, to shelter in the coming weeks and months? right now, as an emergency, they are staying with families and friends and some of the hotel owners in lebanon, they opened their hotels and their guesthouses to receive those homeless people. as per the municipality discussion today, i had a meeting with one of

the members of the board, there are plans to bring ready—made shelters, ready—made homes, to house some of those people but again, as you mentioned, this is a big step. i don't know how we are going to handle it without the use and support of the international community. that is really important to you. emmanuel macron has visited already, he talked about some aid, there is no doubt in your mind that other countries are going to have to help? we are expecting them to help because we know they can see on tv for themselves, the amount of devastation and this is coming at the same time with a severe economic crisis, with covid 19 the same time with a severe economic crisis, with covid19 lockdown, so it is making the life of people very

miserable stock that is why we are hoping that the international community will stand by the lebanese people who have nothing to do with the political system or the problems in lebanon. they arejust normal people who want to live and get on with their life. can i ask you how you are and have you and your family been affected? well, to be frank with you, i was living in an area around 2000 metres away from the blast, i was sitting with my wife having an afternoon coffee and then suddenly, we felt like somebody is holding the building in its hands and shaking it strongly and then the blast happened. my wife and my four—year—old daughter, she is in trauma, she stayed in trauma for an

hour and trauma, she stayed in trauma for an hourand a trauma, she stayed in trauma for an hour and a half, crying for nothing, i haven't seen something like this before. it was very, very, very, very bad for them, that is why i had to ta ke very bad for them, that is why i had to take them to a safe place in the village and then i came back to beirut to report on my office and be with my team on the ground, trying to launch our responses. well, we wish you all the very best and thank you for talking to us at such a busy time for you. thank you so much. mentioning of course that visit by the french president today, he was walking through the crowds in beirut and one young woman confronted him and one young woman confronted him and told him he was about to meet warlords. the president insisted he was visiting the the country to help ordinary people and said france will be here to help. you are sitting

with warlords, they have been manipulating us for the past years. 0ur prime minister, the speaker of the parliament the speaker of the parliament the speaker of the parliament the speaker of the parliament the previous prime minister, the government the president of lebanon, they are altogether. i am not here to help lam here altogether. i am not here to help i am here to help you. them, i am here to help you. listen to us! hugely emotional scenes there, some anger at the visit of president macron. he has been in beirut today, promising aid following the devastating explosion on tuesday. but also he has been talking about the need for reform in lebanon. we will have more from there a little

later and we will be talking about the situation in beirut throughout the situation in beirut throughout the afternoon. before we move on to some of the other stories today, just to tell you, a decision has just to tell you, a decision has just come through from the east london coroner's court that was looking at the inquest into the death of caroline flack. the coroner ruling that the death was suicide. saying the tv presenter took her own life while facing trial accused of assaulting her boyfriend. you will remember she was found dead at her home in north—east london in february. at poplar coroners court, the inquest being heard there, heard her mental health had deteriorated following her arrest and she was being hounded by the media. that has just come through from the coroner, the ruling that the ao—year—old

television presenter took her own life at her home in february this year. now, we turn to the coronavirus pandemic. 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 fit 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 was 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. we return to the inquest into the death of tv star caroline flack, that inquest is concluding at the coroner's court, poplar coroner's court in east london. our correspondent is there, just explain to us what has happened at the conclusion of this inquest. that's right. this inquest has taken place over the last couple of days. it has in the last few minutes concluded with the coroner giving her conclusion to the court. christine

flack and caroline flack ‘s twin sister were watching via video link and listening as the coroner said she was entirely satisfied caroline flack acted to take her life as she gave a ruling of suicide. the coroner said caroline had fluctuating mental health in spite of the fact she seemed to sum to lead a charmed life, the more famous she got the more these difficulties increased as she had to cope with the media. the coroner then went on, she said caroline flack knew she would be prosecuted for certain and she had faced the media, the press, and the publicity. she knew it would come down for her and that is what happened. a ruling by the coroner in the last couple of minutes, after a two—day inquest into the death of the hugely popular television presenter caroline flack, that

ruling she was entirely satisfied, she said, caroline flack had acted to ta ke she said, caroline flack had acted to take her life as she gave a ruling of suicide and after she concluded reading her statement to the coroner court, christine flack, the coroner court, christine flack, the mother of caroline flack, she and caroline ‘s twin sister, watching and listening to those words, christine flack was very tea rful words, christine flack was very tearful and she replied in the video link, to the coroner, i agree, you have got it spot on. the family have had to listen to very difficult details about what happened in the months leading up to and caroline flack took her life february. in as you know, she was arrested in december last year for assaulting her boyfriend, it was a charge she had pleaded not guilty to in court but the court, the coroner's court here has over the past few days,

heard from family and friends of the television presenter, who have painted a picture of someone who was falling down, if you like, mentally, she was anxious and distressed about her forthcoming trial. the she was anxious and distressed about herforthcoming trial. the inquest here into the death of caroline flack has concluded. and herfamily, no doubt, will be going away from here and taking some time now to digest what has been said here over the last couple of days. helena wilkinson, thank you very much. much more coming up in the next half an hour. let's pause for a moment. let's ta ke hour. let's pause for a moment. let's take a look at the weather. here is chris fox. the weather is set to become very hot once again. the tomorrow afternoon, highs of 36 degrees, pretty extreme heat, that kind of temperature not far away from what we had last friday. back

to the weather today, lots of cloud across england and wales, drizzle and mist towards the south—west, the best of the sunshine in scotland, cloud across the south—east breaking as we go through the next few hours and where the sunshine comes out, temperatures rising quickly. rise of 28, feeling quite humid in the south—east. 0vernight, skies clearing across england, parts of wales, rain beginning to edge into parts of northern ireland and western scotland later in the night. quite a one night, 17 degrees in liverpool. tomorrow, rain across the north west, cloudy kind of day, some sunshine coming through for eastern scotland, sunny for england and wales, hot and scotland, sunny for england and wales, hotand humid in the south—east.

hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: 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. three days of national mourning are under way in lebanon as people demand answers about what caused the catastrophic explosion at the port in beirut. the french president emmanuel macron has been to see the devastation, and promised help, but said the country must reform. 50 million face masks bought by the government in april won't be used in the nhs — because of safety concerns.

a coroner rules tv presenter caroline flack took her own life while facing trial for an alleged assault on her boyfriend. and, after 400 years — beavers are being allowed to live in the wild again in england. sport now, and a full round up from the bbc sport centre. good afternoon. england are still looking for their first breakthrough after lunch on day two of the first test against pakistan at old trafford, with shan masood reaching his century too. before the break, england had picked up three wickets this morning, with stuart broad here dismissing asad shafiq, caught at slip by ben stokes. that followed james anderson taking the dangerous ba bar azam for 69. chris woakes was also among

the wickets, mohammad rizwan at that stage pakistan were 176 for five, but have now moved on to 246 for five with masood reaching his century to bring the vistors back into contention with england edging things this morning. a reminder, coverage and commentary things this morning. is on five live sports extra and the bbc sport website, where there's also in—play video highlights. 0n bbc two at seven o'clock tonight you can also catch highlights of the day's play. premier league clubs have voted against continuing to allow five substitutions per side in matches next season. the rule was brought in when the season restarted injune, having been halted for three months because of the coronavirus pandemic. for next season, the league will revert to three substitutions allowed per side, per match.

with the argument of being the change had helped those clubs with the larger squads. wolves and rangers are aiming to join manchester united in the quarterfinals of the europa league tonight. rangers are 3—1 down to bayer leverkusen, while wolves are 1—1 with 0lympiakos. should wolves go all the way to the final later this month, it'd mean they'd finish the season just three weeks before the scheduled start of the new premier league campaign. i think the premier league should acknowledge that the teams that are involved in europe, depending on how far they go, they have to acknowledge that the players require more time to recover because we are going to play in august. so we're going to play in august. so we're going to play in august. so we're going to start playing in september, so i'm sure that they will look at it and they will adjust the schedule. and for sure, no team will be able to give too much time to the

players to recover, so that is why we are approaching in continuation with what we have doing, so we will be prepared to start again. it cannot be a stop and go. golf's first major of the year gets underway this afternoon — because it's a major, he says playing to empty fairways and greens will be a step into the unknown despite some smaller tournaments doing so already. it is different than most of the time, when you go from green to tee, people are yelling or trying to touch you. that part is different. that is the new world we live in and we just have to get used to it. play gets under way at in the next half an hour and here's a few of the tee times to look out for.

brooks koepka, who's won the last two is out at 4:11, along with open champion shane lowry and us open champion gary woodland. jordan spieth, dustin johnson and justin rose go next. and rory and tiger go out together, along with world number one justin thomas at 4:33 this afternoon. just the 11th maximum 147 break in world snooker championship history was made byjohn higgins at the crucible this morning. it was the first at the event for eight years and it gave no crowd allowed but still some fake applause for the tv cameras. and a potential prize of £55,000 if no one matches his effort. you can watch all of that on bbc two this afternoon. that's all the sport for now.

more now on our top story this afternoon: 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 expects the economy to shrink by 9.5% this year. while this would be the biggest annual decline in a century, it had predicted the economy would shrink by 14%. the governor of the bank of england has warned that recovery from the coronavirus pandemic will take longer than first thought, despite a pick—up in the economy. andrew bailey said the uk faced a period of uncertainty. the interesting thing is we had actually quite a rapid pick up in the economy over the last two months or so. i'm not surprised about that because as restrictions are lifted, things do start to happen but it is very unevenly distributed. and the fa ct we very unevenly distributed. and the fact we have had a reasonably rapid

pick—up to date is clearly not a signal that it will be like that going forward, as you can see from our forecast, we don't take that view at all. what i think conditions from here onwards is the continued evolution of covid restrictions. i think also what i might call to what degree we will see natural caution from people as they wish to engage and re—engage with the economy, another feature of our economy relative to some other economies is we have a rather large share of social services, consumption, restau ra nts, social services, consumption, restaurants, entertainment, etc, which is the most effective because it requires people to do things at close oximetry. the chancery worked

closely together on this. we have used a lot of monetary policy firepower and i would say we gave some very clear guidance this morning. that guidance, let me give a bit of interpretation for that, the central case in the forecast is a gradual and not easy recovery of the economy. nothing is easy when you have 7.5% unemployment but it is a gradual economy but there are big risks on the downside. central coast ta kes risks on the downside. central coast takes us over time to a point but the risks are so big that the guidance we are giving to do is to say, look, we are ready to come in and take further measures should they be needed. secondly, 0k we have a central case but we will need to see a lot more evidence that that really is the part of the economy before we take any sort of natural actions that would follow from it

going forward in time. i am cautioning very carefully that there isa cautioning very carefully that there is a big downside risk on the scenario and we are ready to be there to support it if that happens. andrew bailey, the governor of the bank of england there. we will talk more about the economy later. 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.

let's turn to an entirely different matter. a ceremony has been held in the japanese city of hiroshima to mark the 75th anniversary of the world s first atomic bomb attack. the us bombing killed 140,000 people. the coronavirus pandemic forced the ceremony to be scaled back. let's get more on this and speak to dr akiko mikamo — both her parents lived through the bombing, and she's written a book called 8:15: a true story of survival and forgiveness from hiroshima — 8.15 being the time the bomb was dropped. dr mikamo joins me now. good afternoon to you. good afternoon. it is good evening here. of course. what did your parents tell you when you were growing up?

how much did they talk about that seismic experience that they had had? my father talked bits and pieces here and there about how difficult and painful it was, but more about how heroic his father was. my mother didn't say much but they were both in the middle of the city. he was three quarters of a mile on top of the roof of the house and she was half a mile, so they we re and she was half a mile, so they were close to the epicentre so they saw horrendous scenes and went through painful experiences. saw horrendous scenes and went through painful experienceslj saw horrendous scenes and went through painful experiences. i am curious... did they carry anger about that through their life or did they carry sadness? what did you pick up, particularly when you were younger? they did not carry anger or

resentment at all. i never heard them say anything with bitterness or barbering grudges. they had a lot of sadness because they lost most of my families and my father became a war orphan and my mother lost three siblings. they had a lot of sad feelings but they never said, my father said it's not america to blame, it's the war to blame, is the human nature to not want to try and understand people from the other perspectives. so that is what they told me. i am very struck that you have gone on to have the career that you have, that you talk about peace so much, that you wanted to write a book about your father's experiences. do you attribute how you have travelled in life directly to that? was it very influential?

yes, it was very influential. especially my father raised me since i was four years old. he said, i wa nt i was four years old. he said, i want you to become a bridge between people with differences. learn english, learn foreign cultures, eeryeh gem; flue-— -"~-;; learn about people even with different beliefs, so that has had tremendous effect on my development. do you feel and your parents feel that it do you feel and your parents feel thatitis do you feel and your parents feel that it is hugely important to remind younger generations, much younger generations of what went on and what lessons should be learnt? he has, very much so. my father, especially voices are —— a lot. he doesn't want anybody else in the world to go through that ever again, the pain and suffering that he and other people went. he feels it is

very important to educate younger generations about the facts of what has happened, so they can learn from it, that's very important to them. how important is the ceremony to market, to remember, to remember those who were lost? 0bviously held in different circumstances but is it still important, does it still have value? it is very important. actually this is the first time in 30 years that i am here in here assume on the day of the ceremony and it had a lot of meanings. 75 yea rs and it had a lot of meanings. 75 years that people it was told, that they would not see a plant grow for 75 years because of radiation, but people in hiroshima rebuilt themselves and went through a lot of hardship, but that is a symbol for

humanity with covid—19, global warming, racial conflicts, the resiliency is what we can learn from what people did afterwards is a very important lesson. so the ceremony is think. we think - we are think. we are very important i think the. we are very for your time when bbc news grateful for your time when bbc news here this afternoon. thank you very much indeed. 0ur here this afternoon. thank you very much indeed. our best wishes to you and your family. thank you for your time. thank you so much. a police officer has appeared in court charged with membership of a banned neo—nazi organisation and possessing indecent images of children. benjamin hannam, who's 22 and from north london, is also accused of lying about his political history he's alleged to have remained a member of the group, national action, for over a year after it was outlawed in 2016. mr hannam gave no

indication of his pleas. our home affairs correspondent, daniel sandford, gave this update from outside westminster magistrates court. benjamin hannam stood in the dock in a brown three—piece tweed suit and carrying a flat cap. he confirmed his name, his date of birth and his address in enfield, but he gave no indication of how he would be pleading to the charges he faces. he is accused of having been a member of a banned terrorist organisation, namely the neo—nazi group national action. it's alleged he attended several of the events after the group was banned. he is also accused of lying about his previous membership of the group when he applied for the metropolitan police