this is bbc news with the latest headlines at 2pm borisjohnson says it would be morally indefensible to keep schools in england closed. he's pledged to make reopening them a national priority. i'm very pleased that the prime minister is making schools a priority. i've been arguing for some time that my fear was that children were being left behind in this relaxation of lockdown. the first resignation following the wave of anger and mass demonstrations over beirut‘s catastophic explosion. the country's information minister quits. new arrivals of migrants on the uk coast this morning, adding to the more than five hundred people crossing the channel by boat since thursday. a public apology by the operator of the stranded japanese tanker that leaked tonnes of oil

into the indian ocean off mauritius. japan remembers the victims of nagasaki, 75 years after the atom bomb was dropped on the city. borisjohnson says it would be morally indefensible to keep schools in england closed, and has pledged to make reopening them a national priority. in a newspaper article, the prime minister insists it is safe to send children back to class next month. it's understood he wants schools to stay open as long as possible in any future local lockdowns. our political correspondent matt cole has more.

all children were meant to be back in classrooms like this in england before the summer holidays, but that plan failed. now, the prime minister is making clear his commitment that things will be different in september. he writes in the mail on sunday... and he continues... boris johnson has been praised for putting particular emphasis on concerns for vulnerable children, saying he fears if classrooms don't reopen soon they may drop out of education, never to return. well, i'm very pleased that the prime minister is making schools a priority. i have been arguing

for some time that my fear was that children were being left behind in this relaxation of lockdown, they could not go to the park, they did not have youth clubs, many could not go to school and many couldn't learn because they didn't have that home environment or indeed the tech to do so. so the prime minister has told ministers that shops, pubs and restaurants will be expected to close before schools. but that decision will have to be made in conjunction with local public health officials in the event of spikes in coronavirus cases. labour's questioning safety measures for reopening and voices within the party say the current track and trace system will need significant improvement if pubs don't have to close to keep classrooms open. others have concerns, too. what we really need is not lots of rhetoric here, we need absolute clarity and we need a plan b for if it is the case that schools have to close down in particular areas and we don't want that, but if it is that, let us work through the details of that, so that parents feel reassured that the right people are taking the right decisions. wales, northern ireland

and scotland control their own schools and have separate plans to get children back into education. in scotland, children are due back next week, but in england borisjohnson is clearly putting political weight into keeping schools open, making it very much a test of his government. the shadow education secretary, kate green, joins me now. thank kate green, joins me now. you forjoining us. do yi agree thank you forjoining us. do you agree with the prime minister that it isa agree with the prime minister that it is a moral duty to get children back into the classroom? children must be back in class in september. it's so important for their learning but also for their social and emotional well—being and for the most vulnerable children, it's their safe place, so i absolutely agree that children must be back in class in september and schools, which are working flat out to get ready for that, need the support of the government to enable them to welcome children back safely. so you will

back the government in this? children back safely. so you will back the government in this7m children back safely. so you will back the government in this? it has taken the government a while, they tried in june to taken the government a while, they tried injune to open schools and then they had to u—turn, i think what the government need to realise is that words aren't enough. they have to provide the support and information schools so that heads and teachers can make the arrangements that enable children to come back safely in september. so, if the unions question the science and the safety of doing this, who will you back? we back the government or the unions?” will you back? we back the government or the unions? i haven't seen any sign of unions questioning the science. of course health and safety doesn't go out of the window. if somebody has a contagious disease for example, we would already say they shouldn't be in school. unions share my view that of course, the best place for children is in the classroom. their teachers, they are educational professionals. they know how important it is. so i don't think this is a case of us falling out between unions and what the politicians are saying, what i'm

saying is that the government must play its part and notjust go about mouthing off words about it.” play its part and notjust go about mouthing off words about it. i only mention that because there is a new study coming out from public health england and professor viner has been quoted in newspapers today and yesterday saying that there is very little evidence that the virus is transmitted in schools, so some of the previous concerns, specifically from the unions and from your own party, don't appear to be the case now. so, if scientifically, that study suggest it is safe, will you back the school is reopening in september, come what may? everybody is looking very carefully at the science and it seems that the evidence is certainly pretty clear that in primary schools, children don't seem to spread the virus. i think the evidence is less clear for older teenage students, but certainly, we have always said that we must be guided by the science and obviously, we are learning more

about the disease and the way it spreads all the time. of course, it's not just about what is spreads all the time. of course, it's notjust about what is going on inside school because children do go to and from school and home so i think we really have to look at this picture in the round and that is why i have always said that the safety measures the schools need to take must be kept under review, but it's really important that schools are supported to put the necessary measures in place. just another issue, do you support the former education secretary lord baker and david blunkett that are saying that a—levels and gcses should be scrapped next year as well to allow people to catch up? well, i think we need to look at this very carefully because exams do fulfil a useful role in enabling us to assess how well children have learnt and what stage they have reach. but i am concerned about their learning, this year we don't seem to have a good robust appeals process in place, and children will be assessed by

computer, and teachers need to know that their schools will be supported and resourced to deliver all the learning children will need if they are to take exams next year and i don't think the answer to that is for example, just to strip chunks out of the curriculum, such as poetry, which is actually very important for children's emotional development and learning. so i think that we have to look very carefully at how we make it feasible for schools to deliver the education to children, to enable them to be assessed appropriately next year, but putting all the eggs in the basket of exams may not the only approach. in fact, that would be true at any time, they may be a role for a broaderform of assessment alongside exams, including perhaps coursework. kate green, thank you very much forjoining us. international leaders are holding a conference aimed at raising aid for lebanon following the devastating explosion in beirut five days ago. the video conference is being coordinated by france's president macron and the united nations. at least 220 people died and 7,000 were injured.

110 people are still missing, 300,000 were left homeless when a huge store of ammonium nitrate exploded in a warehouse in the city's port. 0fficials estimate that it caused up to 15 billion dollars worth of damage and a crater that is 43 meters deep. today the uk government has pledged an additional £20 million, around 26 million dollars, to help provide food for the most vulnerable in lebanon. the conference of world leaders follows a day of anti—government protests. many demonstrators called for the government's resignation and even for revolution. today, one minister has quit citing failure to reform. 0ur correspondent tom bateman is in the city centre where the protests took place and gave us this update. this is martyrs' square, the focal point of the anti—government demonstrations. and that sense of rage and fury that was visible on the streets last night came off course

in the aftermath of an unprecedented disaster in this city. now people are dealing with the day after the protests themselves. people have gathered at this point and headed down here, the main street, towards the lebanese parliament. as crowds surged down here we saw them blocked by the barricades of security forces. that's where tear gas and rubber bullets were fired at them. there were then some running battles and protesters throwing firecrackers and stones at the anti—riot squads. you can see this truck was completely torched. authorities tried to block the street. it's still smouldering this morning. what next? the protesters themselves, some of them calling for more demonstrations today. it's not clear, the degree to which they will be heeded. things began to fade away late last night. it hasn't gained the momentum that perhaps some of the organisers would have hoped. at the same time the city continues to try

and clearup. this building here is, or was the headquarters of one of leben on's biggest newspapers. look at the state of it. the recovery operation will tell you, it feels very slow. this is a city on its knees, trying to rebuild. but the scale of the issue is far too much for lebanon by itself to cope with and that's why this international aid conference has taken place today, headed by the french. what you hear repeatedly, over and overfrom lebanese people is that they don't want the money going directly to the politicians. the people they are calling on to resign. they say it must go directly to aid organisations and the people themselves. there've been more arrivals of migrants on the uk coast this morning , adding to the more than 500 people crossing the channel by boat since thursday. it comes as the government has appointed a former royal marine to the new role

of clandestine channel threat commander in a bid to tackle the number crossing. simonjones reports from dover the crossings continue. these are the latest migrants arriving at dover, picked up in the channel by the border force after making it into british waters. they're taken to shore, hoping to begin a new life here, as pressure mounts on the government to take action. conditions on the channel once again today, like on previous days, are incredibly calm, and that is why migrants see this is the perfect weather to attempt to get across the channel. but they are being warned once again they're risking their lives crossing the busiest shipping lane in the world. this is the man appointed by the home secretary to try to make the route unviable. dan 0'mahoney served in iraq and kosovo and will now be the clandestine channel threat commander. he'll now try to put pressure on the french to turn the boats back at sea.

on thursday, 235 people were intercepted crossing the english channel — a record for a single day. on friday 146 people arrived on 17 boats, and yesterday in 151 crossed in 15 boats. the british navy could now be brought in. it is a small boats crossings crisis, and so we do need to look at more options. in relation to the navy, what we have seen with border force at the moment is they pick up boats and bring them into britain. if the navy or indeed the border force are to be really effective in shutting down this small boats trafficking route then they need to make sure boats are returned to france, and we need french agreement to make sure this happens. but there are concerns about safety and whether the french will allow the navy to operate in its waters. france says it will need more cash from the uk to tackle the problem. both sides agree something needs to be done to prevent a tragedy at sea. simonjones, bbc news, dover. the number of companies in the uk

planning mass redundancies injune was five times higher than during the same period last year, according to figures obtained by the bbc. airbus, royal mail and hsbc were among nearly 1800 firms which announced job cuts injune. here's our business correspondent katy austin. in late may, liz received the news she had been dreading. work had dropped off at the mailing firm where she worked and she was being made redundant from her admin job. ifeel like i am on the scrapheap, if i'm honest with you. it has had a massive impact, initially, sheer panic, how am i going to get through this, how am i going to cope? even with support like the furlough scheme, the crisis has hit thousands of businesses hard. among the larger companies which announced redundancy plans in june were airbus, centrica and the restaurant group, the owner of frankie & benny's. there are fears of furtherjob losses when the furlough scheme ends in october. firms planning to make 20 or more staff redundant have

to notify the government. data obtained by the bbc through a freedom of information request shows a steep rise in the number of positions being considered for redundancy between march and june this year. injune, the government was notified of plans to cut over 113,900 jobs in england, wales and scotland, although information from more than 79 firms was not available when the numbers were compiled. injune last year, the number was 211,000 planned job cuts and far fewer employers planned them. there are a number of industries that have been directly affected by the crisis, where demand will not be returning and they are now starting to lay people off. that is particularly the case in hospitality and in transport. but then i think this has also shown those industries that are having to restructure now because underlying changes are being accelerated and, particularly in retail, the move to online shopping and a move away from high street shopping, that is driving quite significant restructuring for retailers. the figures give an insight into the surge of redundancies announced since coronavirus hit

the uk, although employers often end up making fewer redundancies than the number they originally notify and the redundancy process takes time, which helps to explain why figures gathered by the office for national statistics don't yet show a significant rise. in response to the bbc‘s findings, the department for work and pensions said the government's plan forjobs would give business the confidence to recruit and retain workers and that new subsidised jobs for young people would be created through the kickstart scheme. katy austin, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news. borisjohnson says it would be morally indefensible to keep schools in england closed. he's pledged to make reopening them a national priority. the first resignation following the wave of anger and mass demonstrations over beirut‘s catastophic explosion. the country's information minister quits. new arrivals of migrants

on the uk coast this morning, adding to the more than five hundred people crossing the channel by boat since thursday. let's return to our top story now — borisjohnson says it would be morally indefensible to keep schools in england closed, and has pledged to make reopening them a national priority. in a newspaper article, the prime minister insists it is safe to send children back to class next month. it's understood he wants schools to stay open as long as possible in any future local lockdowns. david naughton is head of meadows primary school in birmingham, hejoins me now. do you support the prime minister? yes, i do. do you support the prime minister? yes, ido. it do you support the prime minister? yes, i do. it has been a tough time for children who have not been in school and we do need to get our children back to school and learning. also for their mental health as well, i think they need to get back to their routine rigour of

school and to be with their friends again. what preparations have you put in place? are you confident you can put all those social distancing measures and everything in place?- confident as we can be. we had some children back in june, confident as we can be. we had some children back injune, it's a case of just trying to children back injune, it's a case ofjust trying to take what children back injune, it's a case of just trying to take what we children back injune, it's a case ofjust trying to take what we have donein ofjust trying to take what we have done in june ofjust trying to take what we have done injune and do that on a bigger scale. 0bviously, done injune and do that on a bigger scale. obviously, we have 660 children, so it will be trickier, but we have senior leaders, they have met together, we have plans in place for a staggered start, making sure we try to keep the children isolated in their year group bubbles, but it's not going to be easy. but i think what we have to try and do is make sure that children can get back to school and have the education that they need and deserve. well, you talk about the year bubbles. that is going to be quite a task, isn't it? keeping all year group separate? yes, it will be a task. 0ne

all year group separate? yes, it will be a task. one of the most difficult times will be playtime and lunch time. when the children are in class, it is easier to keep them separate, but we were looking at lunch times and we have a number of children that obviously needs to have hot school dinners and then others will have sandwiches, it's just trying to keep them apart at those times. trying to look at how we can only have three year groups on the playground at any one time, we would split the playground into three sections, three zones, but we think if we shorten the lunchtime from one hour to a0 or a5 minutes, then we should be able to do that within a reasonable timeframe of the day that children are eating their dinner, either at 11 o'clock or two o'clock. so, there has to be a lot of planning that goes into place but i have a good team around me and we have worked hard on that before we broke up in the summer. how worried

are you, david, about the emotional, the social damage, the academic damage that has been done to some of these kids? especially those perhaps you haven't had that structured time at home with a focus on still trying to be involved in an academic process. yes, it's hard to know until we see the children again. we've been making weekly phone calls to families, we obviously have had hundreds also children in since june. i think you have to plan very carefully when you introduce children back to the classroom. we will do things where they will go back with a previous teacher, somebody familiar that they are coming into, and forthe somebody familiar that they are coming into, and for the first couple of weeks we willjust coming into, and for the first couple of weeks we will just focus on their mental health to kind of

understand how the children are feeling, what are the things they have been worried about during lockdown? children can be quite resilient and i think we plan to see what is coming out of what the children say and then we will obviously adjust our plans accordingly, depending on what their worries and issues are. are there many parents worried about this as well? i think when we initially had reception children coming back, there were parents who were quite worried because it was a step into the unknown. as i've said to parents since, when we started off with three bubbles of reception children and then increased it over time, i said to all those parents, we have a good regime of hygiene, the children know what they have to do with hand hygiene and respiratory hygiene. we have greater cleaning then we would have greater cleaning then we would

have had previously and we haven't had anybody who's been ill with coronavirus, so i think parents are more confident now having seen that children have gone back and there have been no major impacts to children's health and actually, children's health and actually, children have really enjoyed being back and i think that their mental health, that is an overriding thing that we need to make sure were very careful about. 0k, david, enjoy the last few weeks of sunshine because you've got some busy times ahead. thanks very much indeed. a grand council of elders — or loyajirga — in afghanistan has approved the release of four— hundred taliban prisoners. many are accused of serious crimes such as murder, kidnapping and drug trafficking. it is hoped that releasing them removes a key obstacle to peace talks which could start within days. jill mcgivering reports.

in giving this major concession, it set conditions. it called on both parties to respect human rights and the constitution, and agree a ceasefire. something the government has already offered. the choice is now in the hands of the taliban. they must show they are not afraid ofa they must show they are not afraid of a countrywide ceasefire. they must accept the request for a countrywide ceasefire. this ends months of wrangling. the government has already released about 5000 detainees. the taliban has freed many as well. argument about these final a00 had blocked progress until now. all 3; flow from the final a00 had blocked progress until now. all; flow from the landmark now. all this flow from the landmark deal between the united states and the taliban earlier this year. it set out a road map for the us to

pull out its troops in return for afg ha n pull out its troops in return for afghan talks and they guarantee that the taliban won't harbourjihadists. it was a leap of faith that came with a warning. keep your promises to cut ties with terrorists. keep up the fight to defeat isis. welcome the fight to defeat isis. welcome the profound relief of all afghan citizens. so, could the long conflict between the taliban and government forces finally be ending? much is still unclear, how power might be shared, what political process might work in the future. but after years of bloodshed, these peace talks look set to start within m tuft a matter of days. it is 75 years since the us dropped two atomic bombs on the cities of hiroshima and nagasaki injapan, leading to the end of the second world war. a bell rang out to commemorate the moment the second bomb struck nagasaki 75 years ago.

prime minister shinzo abe and the mayor of nagasaki spoke at the anniversary event. it's estimated that 7a,000 people died in nagasaki, on 9th august 19a5, in addition to the 170,000 when the first atom bomb was dropped on hiroshima three days before. the bombs led to japan's surrender in world war two but the radiation from the bombs caused the deaths of thousands in the months and years that followed. terumi tanaka was a 13 —year—old school pupil when the bomb was dropped in his hometown, and recalls the moment of the explosion. translation: all of a sudden, i heard a big sound. i didn't know what the sound was. but as soon as i thought i heard the big sound, my surroundings turned bright white.

people say it was a flash, but to me, everything turned bright white. i didn't hear a sound, so i was surprised. i felt this was something terrible so i ran downstairs and ducked. i covered my ears and closed my eyes and the moment i ducked down i lost consciousness. in the burnt ruins there were shapes that resembled human beings or bodies that had crumbled into bones everywhere. rescuers hadn't arrived after three days, so those who couldn't move due to serious injuries or severe burns and hadn't received help were hunched or lying on the ground. emily charles is the curator at the imperial war museum. she joins us from everton

in bedfordshire. you listen to his memories of that day. three days before any medical support came, the sheer numbers of dead, did anyone know, do you think, how devastating these atomic bombs we re how devastating these atomic bombs were going to be? i think before the drone was popped on hiroshima, it was hard to understand the scale of damage that would be caused by this act, but we need to remember that nagasaki was carried out in light of hiroshima. yes, it was a short time after the bombing but the world were still reeling from the horror of the bombing of hiroshima three days earlier. but as somebody who works in the imperial war museum and curated exhibitions to commemorate these terrible events, when you look at the images and you hear the

memories, do you think these bombs did serve as a deterrent against other rogue states and one mustn't lose sight of that? i think there is a lwa ys lose sight of that? i think there is always going to have been a vast amount of controversy over the use of the bombs. there is a strong case that they saved japanese and american lives in ending the second world war, but we need to look across the whole of the 20th century and into present day and arguably, the use of these bombs started the cold war, conflict that was widely different, but still killed huge numbers of people across the globe. but it did lead to mutually assured destruction, which meant that no future bombs were actually used. absolutely. and i think what is almost fascinating is that human

beings and military devised these weapons as a weapon of peace and even military commanders today say that nuclear bombs are used on a daily basis as a weapon of peace because they are a deterrent. just looking ahead to the future, people like the man we just heard, he is one of the hibakusha, the survivors as they are known injapanese, how important is it to continue remembering these events, not only for the people of japan remembering these events, not only for the people ofjapan but remembering these events, not only for the people of japan but around the world? i think it's really important that we continue to mark these events. particularly as today, it is 75 years since the bombing of nagasaki. this is arguably the last time that we, that these events will be in human living memory, as we mark a major anniversary of them. listening to personal testimonies, one which comes from the imperial war museum archive, is that of

sidney lawrence. he was an raf prisoner of war held in a camp just outside nagasaki, he was in a work party when he saw the bombing take place. he remembers talking to his japanese captors and saying, what are we done to you? and in response they said, what have we done to each other? and for me that is so hugely poignant because it is a reminder that human beings do this to each other, we are all capable in a way of these incredible acts and incredible horrors and that is why we should mark these events. 0k, thank you very much for your time. mauritius has declared a state of "environmental emergency" after a japanese transport ship ran aground and began leaking fuel into the indian ocean. at least a thousand tonnes of oil are estimated to have seeped into the water — endangering some of the world's finest coral reefs. environmentalists have described the situation