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 ice warning — why this massive mountain

glacier could soon break free, threatening homes below. 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 5000 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. 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 "thawra" — 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... ..although 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. 0ur 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. lakai vinson is a litigation attorney in north carolina. she has told me the case could last well past the us election in november. i think we certainly need to be prepared for a long haul. i mean, we have some first amendment rights issues, we have some second amendment rights issues, and the nra has already said that they are prepared for a fight so i think that we all need to sit back and prepare for a long fight on this one. ok so it has a realistic chance, clearly, and will be going on for a long time. one thing that interested me, you have these allegations, very directly, of corruption

against these people at the top of the organisation. why notjust leave it there? why also go for the dissolving and disbanding of the whole organisation? the issue is that you have those that were in leadership for over 30 years. so ag james is not talking about a year of mistrust and misappropriation of funds but we're talking about decades of unchecked power. so the question is, do birds of a feather flock together? so if this leadership is challenged and has been misappropriating funds, if everybody beneath them in their influent is also illegal and fraudulent. of course, i should say, the nra have described this lawsuit as baseless, a premeditated attack. interesting donald trump's response saying that the nra should just move to texas. what do you make of that? well, of course, with them being charted in new york, the attorney general in new york has special jurisdiction over them so, of course, if they are charted in another state, then that

attorney general will have the power to prosecute them and will have oversight over them. i think it is a bad idea if they are in a state where they're not going to be challenged. we want these nonprofits to be challenged so that we can make sure are doing what they are supposed to do, and using this money appropriately, so i don't think it's a good idea. this is a legal issue but it is always political as well. how do you think this will play out politically? we always want the attorney general to be apolitical. we do not want an attorney general to be influenced by politics so i certainly think that this could have a place in politics, unfortunately, because that's just the world that we live in, and it could influence the election, but i think overall it is not going to make that big of a difference. let's get some of the day's other news: saudi arabia's crown prince mohammed bin salman has been accused of sending a hit—squad to canada in order to kill a former saudi intelligence official.

saad al—jabri, who lives in self—imposed exile in canada, has filed a lawsuit against the crown prince. the suit claims that the team targetting dr al—jabri was part of a squad of agents that two weeks earlier killed jamal khashoggi. saudi officials have not yet commented. india has become the third country in the world to surpass two 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.

we're joined now by our correspondent in hong kong, danny vincent. just bring us up—to—date with the latest, what is happening there? every single year in hong kong thousands of hong kong is take to victoria park to essentially pay their respects to the people who died in the 1989 crackdown. according to the authorities, thousands of people defied the ban. they were not supposed to attend that event because of coronavirus but also later they said it was because it is an illegal assembly stopping now it seems that the authorities have charged 25 activists stopping the activists are wondering why they have been singled out in particular, because there were thousands of people that technically were breaking this rule, breaking this law, and the activists would say this is yet again another example of the extensive crackdown that pro—democracy activists are facing in hong kong. and one of them of coursejoshua wong

there, and he is quite frankly in and out of the courts quite regularly at the moment and just today as well. that's right. joshua is facing several charges. he is currently out on bail. he has also been in court due to his activities in the protests last year. he has also been speaking to the bbc. he has told us in the past that he thinks that he may well be a target of this new national security law, so it is yet again another example, activists would say, that people like them, people that are speaking out against the government on the streets but also through other means, they feel that they are being targeted and they feel that this city, especially since the national security law was introduced, is simply changing quite dramatically. changing is one way of putting it, isn't it? the protesters and the activists themselves very concerned, saying this is the end of hong kong as we know it.

is it there yet? has it changed that much already? what i would say in the last month since the national security law was introduced, the city has changed rapidly. people from publishers to protesters are simply not aware of where the red lines are any more. 0nce, the city was relatively seen as a free and open society. today, it is unclear what can be said, what can be written, and the activists, they do feel for their city. also many ordinary residents via for the city. since it have been living here, people have been talking about how hong kong is living on borrowed time and at one point may just become borrowed time and at one point mayjust become an ordinary chinese city. it seems that once the law has been passed, are beginning to feel that that might be the case even today. 0k, might be the case even today. ok, thanks danny. stay with us on bbc news. still to come:

coronavirus on the continent of africa. as confirmed cases climb past the 1 as confirmed cases climb past the1 million mark. 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: 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. 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 election, ——we were very certain about this victory, 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 grouted — 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. to africa now, where confirmed coronavirus cases have reached a 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‘s 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 8000 people have died in just over half have tested positive. the most industrialised nation announced the nation white locked down at the end of march to prevent the spread of covid—19 and is now eased restrictions to boost economic activity.

but in mozambique, but have the people who tested positive for coronavirus have not recovered fully, with less than 20 fatalities are reported. the country's president has imposed another 30 days state of emergency to prevent the spread of coronavirus. botswana have followed the example of banning alcohol and people are not complying with covid—19 regulations because of alcohol. let us now go to egypt. the first african country to record a case back in february. the latest from the capital cairo. egypt, one of africa's worst hit countries has experienced 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 people are seeming to abide by these rules. the borders have been open now and tourists are back. egypt depends on tourism as at a major source of income. so do tunisia and morocco but, these two countries have witnessed a sharp spike in numbers as restrictions have been largely eased. numbers are rising and this does not 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 search is kenya. east africa is the fourth most affected region, more than 84,000 covid—19 cases have been reported here. in east africa, kenya, ethiopia and sudan have the highest number of covid—19 cases. this is 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 health care workers are going into the community looking for symptomatic cases, governments are conducting targeted testing and focusing on a particular population or an area that is the cost ——that has a cluster of cases.

there is concern about the cases being reported in kenya, ethiopia and saddam come over cases arising fast. it is also urging the tanzania government to share its statistics on covid—19, and we're still waiting for data for the past three months. let us cross over to nigeria where my colleague will share with governments in west africa are doing to contain further spread of covid—19. in west africa, some countries are seeing what looks like levelling of the curve, but they are witnessing a rise in cases of covid—19. nigeria now has 114,890 cases with over 32,000 of them already discharged and 927 deaths so far. in the last few days, the number of cases has been reduced in nigeria, but the minister of health services not time to rejoice because it's too early to be

thinking that the curve is flattening. chris ewokor there, reporting on the situation in west africa. 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 planpincieux glacier is quite a sight, huge, rugged chunks of ice clinging to the side of the mont blanc mountain range. but rising temperatures are taking their toll and a section of the glacier, around half a million cubic metres of ice, is breaking free. in its potential pathway, an 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 glacier over the month ofjuly. the hot weather has caused it to fracture and there are fears melted water underneath could act as a kind of slide. translation: in the next 72 hours we're expecting a report from the experts, but the situation is moving quickly, caused by the sudden changes in temperature that happened in the last few days. if the glacier does collapse, the impact could 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.

that is it for me. you can find me on twitter. this is bbc news. goodbye. 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. 0vernight 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.