this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. police and protesters clash on the streets of beirut as grief turns to anger following tuesday's explosion. france's president calls for "profound change" from lebanon's leadership and an international investigation as he visits the damage—hit capital. taking aim at the national rifle association. new york's attorney general accuses the group of fraud and attempts to disband it. a landslide at the ballot box in sri lanka, but the ruling party's win sees little celebrations among human rights campaigners. and as italy struggles to draw back the tourists, new ways to try to make

visitors feel safe. you hang it around your neck and if you get closer to 1.8 metres to the person next to you, it vibrates. ingenious. hello and welcome to the programme. people in lebanon have vented their mounting fury at the government for what they believe is negligence that led to the huge explosion in beirut on tuesday leaving swathes of the city in ruins. the blast killed at least 137 people and injured around five thousand more. these are the latest pictures of protests near parliament in the capital. riot police blocked the road and tried to disperse protesters with teargas. the crowd hurled stones and lit fires. earlier, crowds gathered around the french president, emmanuel macron, as he visited the stricken port area. mr macron, whose country shares close colonial ties

with lebanon, called for a new political order in the country. from beirut, our correspondent quentin sommerville reports. france's president said he was here to bring home truths to lebanon's politicians. home truths to lebanon's politicians. he received an earful of them in beirut‘s gemmayzeh neighbourhood. woman shouting. they stopped clearing up their shattered homes and streets, and begged for help. please help us! please, please! do something about us! the french president is being pulled in all directions behind me, there is a great deal of anger here among the lebanese people. some are calling for a revolution. others are telling them that there needs to be political change in this country. most are just asking for help. their own president, they declaimed as a terrorist. and as they've demanded for nearly a year now, they called for a revolution.

one woman, angry that the government wasn't doing enough to find the dead and injured, let rip. in the country's hour of need, it was a foreign leader who listened. few lebanese politicians dare get this close. the french president spoke to aida heosh. he said, "you must try," our best again and again. we shall do this because for our children, the future of our children, because... we are all desperate because we have had enough. we are hopeless in this country. every time we try to do some project or... we don't have dreams any more. we don't have dreams. translation: we know that the crisis here is serious and implies a historical responsibility on the part of the leaders in place.

it is a political, moral, economic, and financial crisis of which the lebanese people are the first victims. but some in lebanon can't yet worry about the future. they‘ re too lost in the present. this family hold a vigil outside the gates of the docks. they take it in turns. zeinab is searching for her husband, ali. he had a good job until lebanon's economic crisis. two months ago, he started work at the port forjust a few dollars a day. "we've been here for days," she told me. "no one came to hear our cries and no one tells us "whether he's alive or dead. "if it was any of their sons missing, they would be "moving heaven and earth. "for us, no one has showed up." this was lebanon's lifeline to the world and it's now in ruins. this is what's left of the country's electricity provider. it barely functioned before the explosion. rebuilding this will take billions — whole neighbourhoods

have been abandoned. a job like this will require international effort. and tonight, the anger boils over again. more fury at the leaders who don't appear to be listening. the response in lebanon's hour of need was more tear gas. the government's incompetence has brought tragedy here. it may unleash much more. quentin sommerville, bbc news, beirut. new york's attorney general has filed a major lawsuit against the us national rifle association, in an attempt to dissolve the group. top officials are accused of funding their lavish lifestyles by corruption and misspending. the nra's defence of the right to bear arms gives it huge cultural and political influence in the us. our north america editor jon sopel has more. that protesters can freely walk the streets of america armed to the teeth is largely down to the formidable power

of the national rifle association, arguably the most influential lobbying organisation in the us. the right to bear arms is their cause but how the nra has been spending its money has led to them coming under distinctly unfriendly fire from the new york attorney general. just a few minutes ago, my office filed a lawsuit against the national rifle association, to dissolve the organisation in its entirety. she paints a picture of wild indulgence. they use millions upon millions of dollars from the nra for personal use, including for lavish trips for themselves and their families, private jets, expensive meals, and other private travel. the national rifle association also spends fortunes backing like—minded candidates in elections and none is more like—minded than donald trump. coincidentally, the nra announced today it would be spending millions in

the battleground states supporting the president, attacking his opponent, joe biden. donald trump has never sought to hide his admiration for the nra leadership. i am thrilled to be here in indiana with the men and women of the nra. you are great american patriots. but today he tried to switch the focus away from their excesses, to what a joe biden presidency might mean for gun rights. he is following the radical left agenda. take away your guns, destroy your second amendment, no religion, no anything. hurt the bible, hurt god. he's against god, he's against guns. millions of ordinary americans own and carry weapons and go to gun shows like this one in the same way you would a garden centre or diy store. can i just walk out with it if i give you the money? if you give me the money and

show me your driver's license. but after every mass shooting, there is a familiar chorus for gun control. chant: stop the violence, save the children! the move by new york's attorney general won't bring a swift demise to the nra, but it will ensure that guns will be a well—trodden cultural battleground come this november's election. jon sopel, bbc news, virginia. let's get more on this with criminal defence attorney la kai vinson. this lawsuit and are serious allegations, what do use and the longevity of this is this? will it be successful, doesn't have any legs? i think we need to be prepared for a long haul. we have some first amendment and second amendment rights issue and the nra has already said that they are prepared for

a fight so we need to sit back and prepare for a long fight on this one. it has a realistic chance and it will be going on for a long time. what interested me, you have these allegations of corruption is against these people at the top of the organisation. why not just leave it there, what also go for the dissolving and disbanding of the whole organisation? the issue is that you have those in leadership for over 30 years. ag james is not talking about a year of mistrust but decades of one checked power. the birds of a feather flock together? there is the ship has been misappropriating funds and everybody beneath them is also illegal and fraudulent. the an array have described these lawsuit is baseless, a premeditated attack.

interesting donald trump's response that the adoration just to texas. with them being charted in new york, the attorney general in new york has a specialjurisdiction so, of course, if they are charted in another state, that attorney general will have the power to prosecute them and have oversight. it is a bad idea if they are in a state where they cannot be challenged. we want these nonprofits to be challenged to make sure they are using the money appropriately and doing what they are supposed to do. this isa they are supposed to do. this is a legal issue but also political as well. we always wa nt to political as well. we always want to be a political. we do not want an attorney general to be influenced by politics so i certainly think this could have a place in politics, u nfortu nately, a place in politics, unfortunately, and it could influence the election but i think overall it is not going to make that big of a difference. great to get your

analysis on this huge issue. thank you very much. let's get some of the day's other news. india has become the third country in the world to surpass 2 million confirmed coronavirus infections, after the us and brazil. more than 41,000 people have died. the government argues that the fatality rate in india is among the lowest in the world and the recovery rate is more than 65%. hong kong police have arrested 25 activists, who took part in a banned vigil to mark the anniversary of china's tiananmen square crackdown. democracy campaigners, joshua wong andjimmy lai, were charged with taking part in an unlawful assembly. authorities cancelled the event, citing coronavirus concerns, just before beijing imposed a new security law on hong kong. sri lanka's president, gota baya raja pa ksa, has secured a landslide victory in the country's parliamentary election.

results so far suggest he's close to a two—thirds majority as he seeks to formally install his elder brother as prime minister. 0ur correspondent, anbarasan ethirajan, has the details. president gota baya rajapa ksa's sri lanka people's front has won a landslide victory in parliament elections. the results so far indicate that mr rajapaksa, seen here during his campaign, has taken his party close to a two—thirds majority. he wants to install his elder brother, mahinda, as prime minister. we were very certain about this great win, but however we can see that people have placed a lot of confidence on us because they have accepted the future plan we have placed before them in our manifesto. the opposition has been routed — they had no answers to the rajapa ksa juggernaut.

the majority of singular masses, if you look at the southern province, more than 70% has voted with the government so that shows what is the slogan and what is the platform? platform is to create a pan—singular state. the election victory for president gota baya rajapa ksa's party is not a big surprise for sri lankans but, at the same time, rights activist are concerned that the government might attempt to try and change the constitution, like giving more powers to the president and they think, if that happens, that could lead to greater authoritarianism. the rajapaksa are hugely popular among the majority and elites by defeating that tamil tigers separatist rebels in 2009. thousands went missing in the war. the rajapa ksa brothers, who were in power at that time, are accused of human rights abuses but they deny the charges. i think there is a lack of political will to kind of address the past. there's this narrative of let's just move on, and forget the past. unfortunately, there are people who still remember that,

because they have lost loved ones, lost family members, lost property. the priority for the new government will be to revive the economy and to generate jobs. that may prove to be more challenging than winning the election. anbarasan ethirajan, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: ice warning — why this massive glacier could soon break free and endanger an alpine ski resort. 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 news. iam i am lewis vaughanjones. the latest headlines: police and protesters clash on the streets of beirut as grief turns to anger following tuesday's explosion. france's president calls for "profound change" from lebanon's leadership and an international investigation as he visits the damage—hit capital.

to africa now, where confirmed coronavirus cases have reached 1 million. take a look at this graph comparing some of the worst affected countries on the continent. as you can see, cases are running higher in egypt, and then much higher again in south africa. 0ur correspondents across the continent have been monitoring the virus' spread over the last few months. we begin with nomsa maseko reporting from south africa. just over 3 million people have been tested for coronavirus in south africa, which recorded its first case five months ago. about 8,000 people have died. and just over 500,000 people have tested positive for the virus. africa's most industrialised nation announced a nationwide lockdown at the end of march to prevent the spread of covid—19. but it has now eased restrictions to boost economic activity. but infections peaked as restrictions were eased. and in mozambique, about half

the people who tested positive for coronavirus have now recovered fully, with less than 20 fatalities reported. the country's president, filipe nyusi, has imposed another 30—day state of emergency to prevent the spread of coronavirus. botswana has now followed south africa's example of banning alcohol and suspending liquor licenses. the government there says people are not complying with covid—19 regulations because of alcohol. let's now go to egypt, the first african country to record a case back in february. sally nabil has the latest from the capital, cairo. egypt, one of africa's worst—hit countries, has witnessed a sharp drop in the number of infections and deaths in recent days, according to official figures. but the government has been constantly criticised for not doing enough tests. the authorities have called on the people here to wear face masks in public places and commit to social distancing. but very few seem to abide by these rules. the borders have been opened now and tourists are back. egypt depends on tourism as at a major source of income, and so do other north african countries like tunisia and morroco, but unlike egypt, these two countries have witnessed a sharp spike in numbers as restrictions have

been largely eased. in neighbouring libya, numbers are rising, too. this doesn't come as a surprise. the country has been suffering from internal fighting and divisions for years. and medicalfacilities are unprepared. these north african countries are quite worried about a potential second wave of the virus. the world health organization says one of the african countries fuelling the surges kenya. here is rhoda odhiambo from nairobi. east africa is the fourth most affected region on the continent, after southern, northern and western africa. more than 84,000 covid—19 cases have been reported here. the world health organization says one of the african countries fuelling the surges kenya. here is rhoda odhiambo from nairobi. east africa is the fourth most affected region

on the continent, after southern, northern and western africa. more than 84,000 covid—19 cases have been reported here. in east africa, kenya, ethiopia and sudan have the highest numbers of covid—19 cases. this has been attributed to increased testing and reopening of the economy by various heads of state. kenya, ethiopia, rwanda and uganda have conducted more than 200,000 covid—19 tests. and like south africa, where healthcare workers are going into the community looking for symptomatic cases, governments here are conducting targeted testing, focusing on a particular population or an area that has a cluster of cases. even with this, the african cdc is concerned about the cases being reported in kenya, ethiopian and sudan, where cases are rising fast. it is also urging the tanzanian government to share its

statistics on covid—19 as neither the african cdc nor the who have received any data from the country in the last three months. let's now cross over to nigeria, where my colleague chris ewokor will share what governments in west africa are doing to contain a further spread of covid—19. in west africa, some countries are seeing what looks like leveling of the curve, but some are also witnessing rising cases of covid—19. nigeria now has 44,890 cases, with over 32,000 of them already discharged and 927 deaths so far. in the last few days, the number of cases in nigeria has been reducing, but the minister of health is saying it is not time to rejoice because it's too early to be thinking that the curve is flattening.

that was chris ewokor there, reporting on the situation in west africa. all this week, bbc news has been looking at the impact of coronavirus on travel and tourism. italy was the first european country to be badly hit by the virus, with the north of the country seeing the most cases. our correspondent mark lowen has been to tuscany — a popular destination for british tourists — to see if the region is recovering. as chianti's grapes ripen, its tourism is turning sour. if only business at the antinori vineyard looked as promising as this yea r‘s harvest. visitors are trickling back, but few foreigners. these big casks are quite typical of chianti... the family has been making wine here since 1385. the 26th generation to run it says she's never seen it so bad. the british market has always been very, very important in terms of tourism and in terms of work as well. the only replacement we've

had was the italians, so we lost like 90% of tourism here. it's very big. we've never lived anything like this, in my generation i've never lived anything like this. this is like a war. so, it is like being after the war. in nearby florence, it's usually hard to move for august tour groups. no longer. the first western country crushed by coronavirus is emerging scarred, with tourism — 13% of italy's economy — expected to drop by half this year. the lucky ones see an uncrowded treasure. we was meant to be on honeymoon in bali, which got cancelled, and when we saw italy was now available to travel to, we'd always said we wanted to come to italy and we thought, help out the travel industry at the moment and it's so quiet here at the moment, we felt really reassured. at the uffizi gallery, thermal scanners are the new installation. just half the pre—covid capacity can now visit the renaissance gems, meaning you're often alone with leonardo — an opportunity for change, says the director.

we also have the chance to really rethink our model of tourism. i don't think that we really would want to return to the point of last year, to have over—tourism, people in the museums thatjust come to take some snapshots and selfies and then rush out. next door, they're trying out new methods. well, this is an extra covid measure that florence cathedral has brought in, a special device that's given to you already disinfected, you hang it around your neck and then, if you get closer than 1.8 metres to the person next to you, it vibrates. ingenious. this is the first place in the world to introduce it and several cathedrals in britain have already been in touch, saying they want the same. there is suffering in beauty and art. and this city of both is now feeling it. mark lowen, bbc news, florence. an alpine resort in italy

is on high alert over fears a huge chunk of a mountain glacier could break away because of sudden high temperatures. people are being evacuated and experts fear the massive section of ice could slide down the mountain threatening homes near the ski resort of courmayeur. the bbc‘s tim allman reports. the glazier is quite a sight, huge, rugged chunks of ice clinging to the side of the mont blanc mountain range. at rising temperatures are taking their toll. rising temperatures of the glacier, in 1 their toll. rising temperatures of the glacier, in1 million cubic metres of eyes are breaking free. in its way, and alpine ski resort, much of which has had to be evacuated. translation: it was a surprise this morning. hopefully, nothing serious, especially for people who work in hotels. another beating after coronavirus, that's not good.

translation: we were camping and we decided to leave. we're not scared, but we are afraid of the roads closing. translation: we have two little girls and we don't want to take any risks. this time lapse photography shows the movement of the glazier of —— over the month ofjuly. there are fears melting water underneath could act as a kind of slide. translation: in the next 72 hours we are expecting a report from the experts, but the situation is moving quickly because of the sudden changes in temperature that happened over the last few days. if the glacier does collapse, the impact would be similar to a massive avalanche. the next few days may be crucial, but the hope is only property, not people, will be in the way. tim allman, bbc news. that's it from me. i will be back with the headlines in a couple of minutes' time. plenty

more on the bbc website and you can get me online on twitter. i am lewis vaughan jones can get me online on twitter. i am lewis vaughanjones and this is bbc news. bye—bye. hello. friday brings some weather deja vu, with temperatures soaring once again. one week on from well, last friday, this is how it looked at the start of the day. the uk was set to record its third—highest temperature on record. so, here we go again this friday. heat surging up from the south. not everybody‘s going to get it, but the hottest area — around london — could reach 36 celsius. and unlike last friday, this is the start of several days of heat, so for parts of england and perhaps wales, the start of a heat wave. but, again, not everybody will get it. this weather front for northern ireland, into scotland, will bring some outbreaks of rain and keep temperatures into the low 20s. pretty warm and muggy start to friday. and some cloud around, a lot of sunshine from the word go through central and eastern england. but for northern ireland and scotland, here comes the rain. maybe some heavy and thundery

bursts pushing eastwards during the day. i think parts of the east and south—east of scotland will stay largely dry until the evening. there may well be some misty low cloud hanging on towards some western coasts of england and wales. could be a bit drizzly in places here, but for the bulk of england and wales, it'll be sunny, though the cloud increasing in southern england mayjust bring the odd sharp shower later in the day. but, really, it's about those temperatures in england and wales. very warm to hot. parts of the midlands, eastern and south—east england in excess of 30 celsius, and exceptionally hot in the hottest parts of south—east england, where, of course, after such a very warm to hot day, it'll be very warm overnight and into saturday morning through a large part of england and wales. even where you have clear skies, difficult forsleeping. but as that weather front has pushed on and cleared away from scotland and northern ireland, some cooler, fresher air here, and some actuallyjust dip into single figures as saturday begins. high pressure in control on saturday. that means a lot of fine weather to start the weekend. plenty of sunshine.

bit of a breeze just kicking in towards some of these north sea coasts will actually take temperatures back down a bit from friday. even where it was so very hot, you may not be quite as hot on saturday, not so much, i think, as many people would notice. it is still very warm to hot across a large part of england and wales. overnight and into sunday for england and wales, the growing chance of seeing a few showers and thunderstorms break out, but many places will still stay dry and have a fine sunday. quite a range of temperatures across the uk, but it's those hottest parts of england and wales that will see the heat continue into the start of the week.

this is bbc news,

the headlines: police and protesters clash outside the parliament building in the lebanese capital, beirut, as grief turns to anger after tuesday's explosion in the city. people there accuse the government of negligence and say corruption and mismanagement led to the deadly blast at a warehouse storing ammonium nitrate. france's president is the first foreign leader to visit the country since the disaster. he was mobbed by people pleading for help and asking that those responsible face justice. emmanuel macron called for a profound change in lebanon's leadership and an international investigation. in the us, the powerful gun lobby, the national rifle association, is in the firing line, with the state of new york trying to get the group dissolved. the attorney general‘s brought a lawsuit accusing its leaders of fraud — allegations that the organisation denies. now on bbc news,

the travel show.