this is bbc news, i'm mike embley with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. making history. the democratic presidential candidate, joe biden, chooses black senator, kamala harris, as his running mate for november's us election. they take on donald trump in three months time, his campaign team has already weighed in, saying americans will resoundingly reject the pair at the ballot box. the people of beirut observe a minute's silence, marking the moment an explosion ripped through the city, one week earlier. the main opposition leader in belarus flees the country after disputing the presidential election result. nationwide protests are continuing. the hong kong pro—democracy activist, jimmy lai, is released on bail,

2a hours after his arrest under the national security law. after months of speculation and 84 days before election day, the democratic nominee joe biden has selected the california senator, kamala harris, as his running mate against donald trump for november's election. ms harris, who's 55, is the first black woman in the role. taking to twitter mr biden said, "i have the great honor to announce that i've picked kamala harris, a fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the country's finest public servants, as my running mate." kamala harris said she's honored to join joe biden as our party's nominee for vice president, and do what it takes to make him our commander—in—chief. let's speak to our north

america correspondent david willis. david, this is a big deal in all kinds of ways? it is a very big deal and joe biden had said that he wanted an administration that would resemble the country at large, and to that end he has picked as his vice presidential running mate a woman, black woman, who is more than 20 yea rs woman, who is more than 20 years hisjunior. woman, who is more than 20 years his junior. it woman, who is more than 20 years hisjunior. it has been an exhaustive search and taken about three or four months for joe biden to narrow it down and iam joe biden to narrow it down and i am told that about 90 minutes before the announcement was released by text message today, joe biden actually got on the phone to kamala harris and formally offered her the job as his running mate. she accepted and he spent the remainder of that 90 minutes calling the u nsuccessful that 90 minutes calling the unsuccessful candidates, but she is seen in a way as representing a new wing of, or

a new faction perhaps of the democratic party, one that lies between joe democratic party, one that lies betweenjoe biden, democratic party, one that lies between joe biden, who democratic party, one that lies betweenjoe biden, who is very much a centrist and the progressive wing of bernie sanders and elizabeth warren. she is not left—wing but she is left of centre and as such it will be perhaps difficult for donald trump and his team to attack her as they have attempted to do already, i might add, by branding her a prisoner of the radical left, someone prisoner of the radical left, someone who prisoner of the radical left, someone who wants prisoner of the radical left, someone who wants to erase taxes and advance the socialised medicine theories. an important too, david, not just because of who she is but also because joe biden, just because of who she is but also becausejoe biden, to be frank, will be the oldest president, if he is elected, 77, i think, and she might well be president. he has made it clear that he only wants to serve one term, even if you get there. that's right, so this is a very big dealfor, lia harris, someone who clearly hasn't lacked ambition in that regard. she ran for president

againstjoe biden leading to that rather testy exchange about bussing that caused joe biden somewhat to take a step back. he didn't really see that coming, he was taken a bit off guard during that first democratic debate by kamala harris but you are absolutely right, joe biden would be 78 on inauguration day next year, and of course that will put him up there when it comes around to a second term. kamala harris will very much be seen as his anointed air, i would imagine, so this is a very big deal for that reason alone. joe biden had said he wanted to find someone had said he wanted to find someone who could represent the sort of chemistry that he had with barack sort of chemistry that he had with ba rack 0bama. sort of chemistry that he had with barack 0bama. the two men didn't always ci to i, particularly on matters of foreign policy but they struck up foreign policy but they struck up what proved to be a very harmonious and very good working relationship. they trusted each other implicitly

and joe biden was looking for those sort of qualities in his own running mate. did you say president trump has attacked her already as a prisoner of the left? she has in fact taken some flack from the left wing, former prosecutor in california was running the second—largest judicial system in the united states, but that phrase, kamala harris is a cop, was heard on the left. that's right it she has amended her position somewhat particularly in regard to matters relating to criminal justice because she has had to, really, such as the mood of the country at the moment and this isa country at the moment and this is a direct time. we have had these protests from coast to coast over the death of george floyd of course and the reform of the police and racial inequality, very much issues of the day, if you like, so kamala harris stepped into that void ata harris stepped into that void at a very historic time and i think the democrats will be

hoping that she can help deliver, in particular the african—american vote which has been very loyal to joe african—american vote which has been very loyal tojoe biden traditionally but hasn't always come out to the polling booth to support him as it might. david, thanks so much for that. new zealand is back in lockdown after four mystery covid—i9 infections were detected in auckland. they're the country's first confirmed cases of community transmission in more than 100 days. bars, restaurants and schools in auckland have been closed, and workers are being told to stay at home. lesser restrictions are in place around the rest of the country. the dissolution of parliament to make way for a general election has been deferred until monday. here's the prime minister jacinda ardern speaking i know how hugely frustrating this is for every single member of our team of 5 million, but if we get this immediate

response right we have the opportunity to lessen the time that we will have those heavier restrictions, and that is a lesson that we have all learned together, so please as always stay kind, look up to one another and please stay tuned as we update you on the situation as it continues to unfold. ceremonies have been held in the lebanese capital tonight, as beirut marks the moment a week ago when the city was hit by a devastating blast. from there, tom bateman reports. here, there is faith in god... but none in their country's leaders. the living paid tribute. they believe the dead paid for lebanon's problems with their lives. i want to pay a tribute to all the victims. i would not call them martyrs, never, they are not martyrs. a martyr chooses to die. we did not choose to die.

a week ago, the moment when nothing would be the same. explosion. a city shattered, a country brought closer to collapse. there's no help at the hospital, says yara, it's wrecked too. shocked and bloodied, she filmed the scenes of destruction. scenes she'll never forget. her husband comforts her. their home was destroyed, their neighbours below, killed. but she vows to rebuild — her home and their country. we will raise our kids here and no—one is going anywhere, and we're going to be stronger than ever. and nothing like this will ever happen again. nothing!

nothing should ever happen again because no one should live what we lived and what we witnessed. these sisters have stuck together for a lifetime in beirut. they've seen disasters and war, but now they're leaving. lebanon was already on its knees. now, some warn it may never recover from this. beirut is a broken city. people want change but they know with the system in place here, they've got to do it for themselves. and they continue to remember their dead. for yara, a sign of theirfaith in each other in a crumbling country, where the future seems more uncertain than ever. tom bateman, bbc news, beirut.

russia is claiming to be the first country in the world to develop a coronavirus vaccine. president putin says it has regulatory approval after two months of tests on humans. scientists are sceptical about the vaccine. i think the name of this vaccine, sputnik five, tells us something about the politics behind this. sputnik, that first satellite launched in1957, that first satellite launched in 1957, that beats the us and the start of the space race, and calling the vaccine that tells us that this is partly about politics, partly about showing that russia is up there but it is sometimes better not to be first, but to get the right one. maybe this will work well, but it doesn't all go well, but it doesn't all go well and the trouble for scientist outside of russia is, no data has been released from

the institute, so they can't really comment, so it is concerning that russia has chosen to go so quickly without showing its hand, without showing its hand, without showing the data on that vaccine. the opposition candidate in belarus's presidential election has fled the country, after she disputed an election result she claimed was rigged. svetla na tikhanovskaya said she went to lithuania for her children, amid angry protests from her supporters in the capital minsk. the former soviet republic is often referred to as europe's last dictatorship. our moscow correspondent sarah rainsford reports. she's been the face of change in belarus, but today, svetla na tikhanovskaya released a tearful video announcing she had fled the country. translation: i know many will understand me, many will condemn, and many will hate me. but god forbid you have

to face the choice i had. this was the last time the opposition candidate had complaint that the elections were rigged. we now know she was detained here for seven hours, and she made another recording, clearly under pressure. it was a call to supporters to recognise alexander lu kashenko as the people's choice for president, and to clear the streets to avoid bloodshed. no one bought that. protesters have come out for a third straight night, shouting for mr lukashenko to go. this is how similar scenes ended last night. police using stun grenades, rubber bullets and brute force against the growing demand for change. and yet, alexander lukashenko

spent today talking food processing with officials. he's vowed there will be no revolution and blamed outside forces for fomenting unrest. that's why, when these russians were detained, state television paraded them as provocateurs. we know two of them were just observing the elections. across the country, desperate families are now hunting for the thousands who've been detained, mothers clamouring at prison gates. this crisis has already claimed one protester‘s life and increased the anger and upset. the woman these people voted for has fled, but what svetlana tikhanovskaya has started now has its own powerful momentum. sarah rainsford, bbc news, moscow. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the hong kong pro—democracy activist, jimmy lai, is released on bail 2a hours after his arrest under

the national security law. the big crowds became bigger as the time of the funeral approached. as the lines of fans became longer, the police prepared for a huge job of crowd control. idi amin, uganda's brutal former dictator, has died at the age of 80. he's been buried in saudi arabia, where he lived in exile since being overthrown in 1979. 2 billion people around the world have seen the last total eclipse of the sun to take place in this millennium. it began itsjourney off the coast of canada, ending three hours later, when the sun set over the bay of bengal.

this is bbc news, the latest headlines: making history — the democratic presidential candidate, joe biden, chooses black senator, kamala harris, as his running mate for november's us election. ceremonies have been held in the lebanese capital, beirut, to mark the moment a week ago when the city was hit by a devastating explosion. two of hong kong's biggest opponents to china's new security law have been released on bail. the activist agnes chow and the entrepreneur, jimmy lai, were arrested under the new law which is being used to silence those within hong kong who criticise either china or hong kong's pro—beijing ruling class. paul hawkins has more.

freedom for now. media tycoon jimmy lai released on bail late on tuesday. he supporters holding up copies of his apple daily. a tabloid highly critical of the chinese government. the paper saying it printed 550,000 copies on a tuesday instead of the normal 70,000 to cope for the extra demand. he was arrested on monday on suspicion of colluding with a foreign power. pro— beijing authorities using the controversial new security laws to crackdown on dissent and he was not the only one. 23—year—old political and diverse —— activist agnes chow also arrested and then released also arrested and then released a few hours afterjimmy lai. it is very obvious and the government is using the national security law to suppress political dissidents and that this kind of situation would not only happen on me but

more and more hong kong people in the future. both will face trial at a later date. they could be sentenced to life in prison. paul hawkins, bbc news. beijing's crackdown on hong kong's pro—democracy movement has received strong criticism the us, with both washington and beijing hitting key figures with sanctions and closing consulates in recent weeks. and it's not the only issue where the two countries don't see eye—to—eye. tensions have been escalating rapidly on a range of fronts, including the chinese handling of the coronavirus outbreak, the us decision to ban huawei, and washington's allegations of human rights abuses against uighur muslims in xinjiang. so where is all this heading? let's speak to kevin rudd, former australian prime minister, and now the president of the asia society policy institute. welcome. very good to talk to you. you have been very vocal about china's attitude to democracy in hong kong and also the tit—for—tat tensions between the us and china. where

do you think all of this is heading? if our prism for analysis is where the us— china relationship goes, the bottom line is we have not seen this relationship in such fundamental disrepair in about half a century. as a result, whether it is hong kong or taiwan or events unfolding in the south china sea, this is pushing the relationship into greater and greater levels of crisis. what concern those of us crisis. what concern those of us is that it is professionally and who know both systems of government reasonably well, both in beijing and washington, is that the probability of a crisis unfolding either in the taiwan straits or the south china sea is now growing and the probability of escalation is now a real into a real shooting match and a lesson in history is that it is difficult to de—escalate under the circumstances. you have spoken in terms of the risk of an

actual war between the us and china. are you serious? i am serious and i have been a student of us— china relations for the last 35 years and i ta ke for the last 35 years and i take a genuine sceptical approach to people who have sounded the alarm is in previous periods of the relationship but those of us who have observed is through the prism of history have a responsibility to say to decision—makers both in washington and beijing, be careful what you wish for because this is catapulting in a particular direction. when you look at the china sea in particular, that you have a huge amount of metal on metal, thatis, huge amount of metal on metal, that is, a large number of american ships and people liberation army ships, similar number of aircraft, the rules of engagement, the standard operating procedures of these vessels are unbeknown to the rest of us. we have had near misses before. what i am pointing to, if we have a

collision, or are sinking or a crash, what then and shoes in terms of crisis management when we last had this in 2001, 2002 in the george bush administration, the relationship was pretty good. 20 years later, it is fundamentally appalling and thatis fundamentally appalling and that is why many of us are deeply concerned and are sounding this concern both to beijing and washington. china is such a power economically and it is making its presence felt in so many places in the world. there is a sense china can pretty much do what it wa nts. can pretty much do what it wants. how do you avoid the situation you are describing? the government in beijing needs to understand the importance of restraint as well, in terms of its own calculus of its own national interests and that is china's current course of action across a variety of fronts is causing a massive international reaction against china. unprecedented against the measures of the last 50

yea rs. the measures of the last 50 years. you now have fundamental dislocation not just years. you now have fundamental dislocation notjust with washington but with canada, australia, the uk, japan, the republic of korea and a bunch of others, including those in various parts of continental europe therefore, looking through the prism of beijing's interest, they will be those raising the argument are we pushing to far, too hard, too fast. the responsibility to the rest of us is to that cautionary advice, all power to your arm restraining china from this course of action but also equal measure, saying to our friends in washington, particularly in presidential season, with republicans and democrats are going to the right in the relationship, shall we say symbolic act for a domestic purpose as can have real national security consequences in southeast asia and then globally. yes they

clearly what you hope will happen and what china will realise. what do you think actually it will happen? are you optimistic or pessimistic? the reason for me writing the piece i have just the reason for me writing the piece i havejust done in foreign affairs magazine which is entitled, beware the guns of august, for those familiar with what happened in august 1914, is that on balance i am pessimistic that the political cultures in both capitals right now are fully seized of the risks they are playing with on the high seas and over taiwan as well. hong kong, the matters you were referring to before, frankly add further to the deterioration of the political deterioration of the political deterioration between the two countries but in terms of incendiary actions of a national security nature, it is events in the taiwan straits and events on the high seas in the south china sea which are

most likely to trigger this and to a nswer most likely to trigger this and to answer your question directly, right now, untilyou see the other side of the presidential election, i remain on balance concerned and pessimistic. kevin rudd, thank you for talking to us. good to be with you. the mexican president accused of taking millions of dollars in bribes and buying votes. allegations of part of a major corruption investigation construction china. thousands of stu d e nts construction china. thousands of students in scotland are celebrating as a government has decided to accept teacher estimates of exam scores. 125,000 results were downgraded after moderation by authorities. it claims the system unfairly authorities. it claims the system u nfa i rly a nalysed authorities. it claims the system unfairly analysed pupils in schools which have historically not performed well. the authorities in mauritius say cracks in the hull of a cargo ship,

which ran aground last month, sparking an environmental emergency, are worsening. efforts to remove the about 900 tonnes of oil on—board the stricken vessel are continuing. bbc africa's catherine byaru hanga reports. a toxic trail of oil seeping into the ocean and invading reefs, mangroves and lagoons. the wreckage lay on the mauritus horizon, as crews battled for days to empty it of all of the oil. then things got much worse. cracks on the ship's hull deepened. locals have been wondering why exactly, why was nothing done. why did it take so long? why did the government give so many contradictory messages? mauritius is in crisis. volunteers are using their bare hands to clean up the oil, threatening their most valuable assets — water and wildlife are vital sources for his lucrative

tourism industry. which is reeling from the coronavirus pandemic. and people here are furious. this is the leader of the opposition questioning the minister for shipping in parliament. the government is accused of being slow to act. this government did not assume its responsibilty. with the consequences that there has been a collapse of the coast system in this country, and we hold this government totally responsible! france, japan and united nations have sent teams to help with its clean—up operations. but mauritius says has never faced an ecological disaster like this one. and there's real concern about whether this environment will ever recover. catherine byaruhanga, bbc news. we will keep you across the story and more news on our website. story and more news on our website. you can also download

the bbc for your tablet or smartphone. thank you so much for watching. hello. there is quite a mix of weather on offer across the british isles just at the moment. the headlines are being made by the heat but, at times, some low cloud is running in to some of the coastal areas, making it a great deal cooler and then, when all that heat really powers on through, we get that possibility of some thunderstorms and that is the mix that will take many of us through wednesday. there is heat to be had widely across western europe at the moment. the moisture being fed around this low out of biscay, up towards the british isles, where we start wednesday on another really humid note, widely across the british isles temperatures in the teens if not the low 20s. the bulk of the morning thunderstorms to

be found across the north—eastern quarter of scotland. these gradually drifting towards shetland by evening and then leaving behind just the chance of one or two thunderstorms dotted around but generally they will begin to gang up across parts of wales, the midlands and central, southern england as we get on through the afternoon where again if the temperatures widely will exceed 30 celsius. although, underneath the cloud and mirk, around some of the coast, you could be closer to 17 — 19, something of that order. through the evening and overnight, those showers just getting a little bit further north and a little bit further out towards the west and the merc becoming more exte ns ive a cross parts of northern and eastern scotland and into the eastern side of the pennines were again this going to be a very close night again. widely temperatures into the teens to the low 20s. thursday gets off to a pretty grey start. the cloud more extensive than we have seen it of late but a really close—feeling day and it is that mixture of heat and humidity again that will spark those thunderstorms widely across the southern

half of england. a fraction fresher and perhaps drier also further towards the north. if the sunshine pops out here, again, you will be off into the 20s. as you move towards friday, again we're going to see the low pressure very much the dominant feature. always that risk of those torrential downpours affecting central and southern parts of the british isles. further north, again, the onshore breeze is dragging some low—level cloud into the eastern side of scotland. the best of the sunshine for northern ireland and across western scotland. although those temperatures look as though they are dropping awayjust a touch, i think you will still feel pretty close and it is going to take quite a while before we get something a good dealfresher up moving in from the atlantic to affect all parts of the british isles.

this is bbc news,

the headlines: the democratic presidential candidate, joe biden, has choosen kamala harris, as his running mate for november's us election. the 55—year—old california senator is the first black woman on a major presidential ticket in american history. they will take on donald trump in three months time. ceremonies have been held in the lebanese capital, beirut to mark the moment a week ago when the city was hit by a devastating blast. there was also a minutes‘s silence in the port area. many groups held pictures of those who died in the disaster. the main opposition leader in belarus has fled the country after disputing the re—election of president alexander lu kashenko in last sunday's poll. nationwide protests have continued against a result widely regarded to have been tainted. the police have blocked off city centres and thousands of opposition supporters have been detained.