she welcome to bbc news — i'm mike embley. our top stories: joe biden appeares in public for the first time with his new election running mate, kamala harris. i have no doubt that i picked the right person tojoin me as the next vice president of the united states of america's —— america and that is kamala harris. i am incredibly honoured by this responsibility and i'm ready to get to work. i am ready to get to work. anger continues over alleged vote rigging in the belarus election. the country's president compares protestors to criminals and the unemployed. beirut‘s children will carry the physical and psychological scars of last week's explosion into adulthood — a stark warning from doctors

in the lebanese capital. an investigation is under way after three people died when a passenger train derailed on a flooded track in scotland the democratic candidate for the us presidential election, joe biden, has officially unveiled his running mate, kamala harris, at a special event in the state of delaware. the california senator — is the first black and asian american woman on a presidential ticket. our north america editor jon sopel was at the press conference and sent this report. please welcome vice—presidentjoe biden and senator kamala harris. in the city wherejoe biden started his career nearly half a century ago, he was back today to launch the ticket that he hopes will propel him

and kamala harris to election victory in november, to be president and vice—president. kamala, as you all know, is smart, she's tough, she's experienced, she's a proven fighter for the backbone of this country. she's ready to do this job on day one. after the most competitive primary in history, the country received a resounding message, that joe was the person to lead us forward. and joe, i'm so proud to stand with you. hi, hi, hi, hi, sorry to keep you. that's all right. are you ready to go to work? oh, my god, i am so ready to go to work. the moment you find out from the bass you've got thejob. first of all, is the answer yes? the answer is absolutely yes, joe. joe biden‘s call to kamala harris ending months of speculation and creating

history, the first african—american woman to run for vice—president, all the more surprising given that she gavejoe biden hell during the race to become the democratic nominee. i do not believe you are a racist, but i also believe, and it's personal and it was actually very hurtful. but that is also the attraction. do you solemnly swear to support the constitution... she was sworn in as a senator byjoe biden when he was still the vice—president. i prosecuted banks... the former california attorney—general is tough, she's smart, and brought her prosecutorial skills to the senate, making life uncomfortable for a number of senior administration officials. attorney—general barr, has the president or anyone at the white house ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone? um, i wouldn't, i wouldn't... yes or no? could you repeat that question? racial justice. .. and the hope of party strategists is that she will enthuse younger voters, african—americans and progressives. donald trump is already

sharpening his knife. i thought she was the meanest, the most horrible, most disrespectful, of anybody in the us senate. she is also known, from what i understand, as being just about the most liberal person in the us senate. voiceover: slow joe and phoney kamala — perfect together, wrong for america. the trump campaign has already christened her ‘phoney kamala', a trojan horse for the radical left. but with today's launch and the messaging around it, joe biden and kamala harris are determined to define themselves, without any help from republican opponents. jon sopel, bbc news, wilmington, delaware. let's get more on this first even byjoe biden and kamala harris with julia manchester, political reporterfor the hill.

well, i think well, i think there were a number of messages thatjoe biden and kamala harris was sending not only to voters by the trump administration. we saw senator harris very much bring her prosecutorial skills and say the case against mike pence and donald trump was open and closed, we know she is ready to go on the attack line and been attacked dog for vice president biden going forward. additionally looking at the make—up of that, i think what you saw was the vice president and senator really trying to set an example in the year of coronavirus. we know and they both walked into them room before the event started, then espouses and staff were all wearing masks. journalists were socially distanced, it was at a high school gymnasium. any other time, at any other campaign, it'sa other time, at any other campaign, it's a crowded spectacle of some sort, it's

not a half empty high school gymnasium and what they are trying to do is essentially say, we're going approach this camber —— pandemic and campaign in this pandemic with caution and an example and vice president biden was asked about it, saying he would travel more if you got the go—ahead from scientists and public health. in practice logistically how do you think this campaign is going to be fought over the next 80 days or so, given the restrictions of the pandemic? it's going to be interesting. you are going to see a lot more of those zoom fundraisers and roundtables, but you will see senator harris driving around. when you look at the trump campaign, you've seen vice president mike pence travelling on business but mixing political business with that in critical swing states like florida, so you will see senator harris doing the same

but i think they will put senator harris at the forefront of this campaign. what you saw today was a changing of the guard if you will going from the biden 0bama coalition to the biden harris coalition. she is 55, he is 77, she represents a new generation of the democrat party and is able to bring new blood into that coalition ahead of november. we are getting a sense of how the republicans are going to attack kamala harris. how much of a problem is she for them? i've been talking to sources and experts today and the biggest thing she talked about was her attraction to women across the board, not only women of colour and democratic women which are very much riled up right now but also suburban women and women in the suburbs may be voted forjohn mccain and mitt romney in 2012 but have ship

the way from president trump and towards democrats. republicans are worried kamala harris will complete that shift and bring over those women who we re and bring over those women who were once a very stable source of support for republicans. thank you, we shall see. the president of belarus has dismissed the people protesting against his re—election as ‘criminals and unemployed.‘ protesters have turned out for a fourth straight night, and there are reports of further clashes with police in several areas on the outskirts of the capital, minsk and police using live rounds to disperse protesters. earlier protesters marched through several belarussian cities in defiance of the harsh clampdown by the security forces. many were women dressed in white and holding flowers. they are calling for political change, but will they get it? lets speak with jonathan katz, senior fellow with the german marshall fund of the united states and director of their frontlines of democracy initiative. thank you for your time. how do

you think this is all going to go? first, ijust want to say that our heart goes to the belarusian ‘s who are out protesting, seeking change. we are seeing the fourth day, into the night of real protest that will not end, and don't look like they will end anytime soon, and what we're seeing in belarus a change, a change how russians see themselves, democracy, and they want change after 26 years of authoritarian rule with alexander lukashenko so we rule with alexander lukashenko so we don't know exactly how this will pay out, but it's clear that mr lukashenko fears for his leadership and power, there are reports that his family has left to go to turkey so we family has left to go to turkey so we can't confirm everything thatis so we can't confirm everything that is happening right now but what we do know is that this change is real so it's important for those partners of belarus to take this seriously

and to be able to support the people of belarus and i think that's what's happening now, you are seeing within the eu, esau secretary mike pompeo today speaking about the need today speaking about the need to ensure human rights are protected and that the will of the belarusian protected and that the will of the bela rusian ‘s protected and that the will of the belarusian ‘s is put first so we are the belarusian ‘s is put first so we are at this moment right now, really dangerous moment, hoping for an end to the violence, of political transition, but we've also seen, when dictators want to stay in power, they would do anything they can to do that and that will include the use of violence. yes, jonathan, what chance of real change do think, given that lukashenko has held an i grip for so long, his ally russia will be keen that he doesn't give ground in the united states is hardly going to be focused on this at the moment? clearly there is a focus on this issue in walsh expect washington, i can tell you, both from the

administration, secretary pompeo spoke to this issue today but you are correct, it's not only a presidential election in the united states but the continuing challenge of coronavirus that is challenging governments globally and it's one of the causes for how belarusian is a feeling today, failed leadership, failure to address the pandemic and failed governance so what many people are trying to do is to make certain this remains in the spot light. as many of you have seen, the un came out today, the high commissioner for seen, the un came out today, the high commissionerfor human rights, condemning what has taken place, rights, condemning what has ta ken place, the rights, condemning what has taken place, the human rights violations, what's taking place in detention and urging an end to violence right now and i think if you have the combined will of the transatlantic community together to address this challenge, it is more likely to end in a positive way but no doubt russia does not wa nt to but no doubt russia does not want to see democratic change in belarus and it's a tricky

situation. mr lukashenko has tried to play both sides but the west —— with the western russia to his own benefit over the last few years and his time has run out. perhaps his one out in terms of his own support in moscow but also the engagement he set out, when secretary mike pompeo was in minsk last february, has really fallen apart and i think this is really an historic moment for belarus and i hope the international community that is watching this stands firm on no human rights violations, ending the violence and finding a way to transition to a political process but that doesn't look like it's going to happen right now with mr lukashenko. doctors in the lebanese capital are warning that

many of beirut‘s children will carry the physical and psychological scars of last week's explosion into adulthood. as many as 80,000 children have been made homeless, according to unicef. this report from rami ruhayem, you may find some of it distressing. this is yara, a quiet 11—year—old who likes to play alone. she was at home with her father when the explosion happened. her mother was out. a week has passed since the blast at the port of beirut sent shards of glass flying into her face, and sent her flying down the staircase.

this is nour. his father carried him and pushed him under a desk as their home shook with the blast. his mother, lema, says the kids no longer sleep in their rooms, and keep asking whether this will happen again. she says the blast brought back memories of the civil war that ended three decades ago. many behaviours will be part of the healthy processing of the event. separating those symptoms which require therapy is no easy task. the brain does not forget. the brain says, "well, you know, life is not safe." beyond the ptsd, you will have

increasing depressions and anxiety, per se, and in kids, you have lots of impulsivity and irritability. he says parents should look out for strong symptoms or symptoms that get worse after around a week, or for symptoms that weaken, but linger. but parents will have their hands full, and their nerves stretched. schools were meant to be opening soon, but in beirut, the blast damaged many of them. the past few days have seen record covid infections. on all fronts, the pressure keeps building. rami ruhayem, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: benin restores former monuments from the slave trade era as it tries to come to terms with its colonial history. and also get some benefit from

it. 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. two billion people around the world have seen the last total eclipse of the sun to take place in this millennium. it began its journey 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: joe biden and kamala harris, the democratic candidates for us president and vice president, appear together in public for first time, as running mates. anger continues over alleged vote rigging in the belarus election. the country's president compares protestors to criminals and the unemployed. france has reported a big jump in the number of new virus infections. at least 2,500 people have tested positive in the past 2a hours, more than a thousand higher than yesterday. it's a post—lockdown daily record. and germany has recorded its biggest daily increase in cases in more than three months. more than 1200 new cases in 2a hours. 0fficials blame the rise, in part, on people returning from holidays. greece has also recorded its biggest increase since the pandemic began.

a newly published scientific study says at least 800 people have died around the world as a result of coronavirus—related misinformation in the first three months of this year. the paper, published in the american journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, says over 5800 more were hospitalised as a result of false information they had seen on social media. the authors say rumours, conspiracy theories and cultural stigma all contributed to additional deaths and injuries. joining me now from sydney is dr holly seale, she's a senior lecturer at the school of public health and community medicine at the university of new south wales, and a contributor to the recently published report. thank you very much for your time. how do you even quantify this? we have some idea about how many people have died or become ill by drinking bleach but how many people affected by not social distancing and not

wearing masks? the number that wearing masks? the number that we quoted in as a paper really comes from those direct reports in the media, in other types of resources , in the media, in other types of resources, that talk about, as you just said, people drinking bleach, people misusing cleaning products in a way they thought would protect them from being a covid—19 case. they we re being a covid—19 case. they were kind of the easy cases to dig out by the number of hospitalisations a number of ongoing health conditions will be worse than that. some of this misinformation coming from the host level, from the president of the united states, the leader of brazil. that is when we know misinformation will travel the quickest, when someone will travel the quickest, when someone has a large number of followers around the world and whose words are often then repeated into newspapers, onto

the radio and otherforms of media. it is not likely to get any media. it is not likely to get a ny less, media. it is not likely to get any less, realistically, and could impact on the take—up of any vaccine? this is an ongoing issue. the kind of volume of information out there and this kind of range of myths and conspiracy theories really started from day. in the pandemic and we have seen this with previous outbreaks of infectious diseases and so to some degree we saw this coming but the volume of information out there is unprecedented at the moment and so we need to work on some strategies right now to try and counter this because, when we see a vaccine come along, it is going to surge again. what strategies do you suggest? there's a lot of ways we could be handling this

pandemic now. the world health organization has pandemic now. the world health 0rganization has convened a virtual conference to try and come together with all the extras around the world, to put together policy or strategy and they may be as simple as working with the platforms to try and stop the spread of these myths and the facebook and other social media agencies are actively removing posts that we know are false, something like the conspiracy theory around 5g spreading covid—19 and so they have blocked those kind of posts but rumours around the use of herbal medicines, the use of other strategies that may actually not necessarily get picked up as a conspiracy theory and may actually then continue to thrive in social media and it is those types of m essa g es media and it is those types of messages that we will need to do mode to try and counteract.

——do more. that will be at a local level, health departments, local media agencies, working on how they counter these with putting out information, valid, reliable, trustworthy information in languages that suit the local community and tailored messages. really interesting to talk to you. thank you very much. thank you so much. let's get some of the day's other news: there has been a significant fall in both the coronavirus deaths and new cases of covid—19 recorded in the australian state of victoria over the past 2a hours. eight people have died and 278 new cases were confirmed. it comes a day after the state recorded its highest number of daily virus deaths. victoria is just over one week into a strict six week lockdown put in place to control a resurgence of cases. russia has dismissed mounting international concern over the safety of its locally developed covid—19 vaccine as "absolutely groundless". on tuesday, it said a vaccine had been given regulatory

a pproval after less tha n two months of testing on humans. but a growing list of countries have expressed scepticism. an investigation is under way after three people died when a passenger train came off the rails on a flooded track in aberdeenshire, in scotland, and caught fire. scotrail has confirmed they were the driver, the conductor and a passenger. as western cities see statues of slaveholders and colonialists toppled as part of the black lives matter movement, benin, the west african country known for its mangroves and beautiful landscapes, is bucking the trend. the coastal town of 0uidah is embracing its slave past for two reasons. firstly to educate people today on the significance of what happened but also to bring in tourism revenue. clarisse fortune reports. for benin it is a time for remembrance. the country, which has just celebrated

its 60th year of independence, is also remembering a past marked slavery and, while across the world statues of former slavers are being debunked, the small coastal town of 0uidah has decided to restore its monuments, to tell its painful story from the slave trade to colonisation. a story to which visitors pay tribute to in an exhibition. carts, drafting guns, chains, but also the possible alters used for the ceremonies of the kings of ancient dahomey. translation: this emotion that i have every time i see those chains that were used to chain the slaves, ourgrandparents, our ancestors, who were deported by the colonisers, and every time it makes me relive things that i don't to relive. i don't like to relive. it hurts a bit but it is our story and i have to accept it. translation: these are not things we are usually taught at school or in everyday life.

i think that, if it continues like this, we will have some very beautiful things and we will be able to properly represent our country because we have to. brazilian architecture, beautiful beaches, the city of 0uidah is today at the heart of a billion—dollar tourist development project. translation: 0uidah is the most remarkable city in the history. that's way beyond the movements claiming the cause of black people, we want the sites of that to have known history to be restored so that the history does not die. but the expansion ofjihadism in the region has put a break on this project in recent years, a situation made even worse by the covid—19 pandemic. until then, the renovation of these places will serve to better illustrate the fabric of history, to pass it on to future generations. clarisse fortune, bbc news.

that's it for now. much more on the bbc website and twitter feed. hello. wednesday brought a real mishmash of weather across the british isles. a lot of heat and humidity again and yet, into saint ives and a number of coastal areas, were plagued with low cloud and fog, and then, as the day wore on, so the thunderstorms popped off, and that prospect is there again, through thursday. hot and humid weather with that risk of thunderstorms, especially so, although not exclusively, across the southern half of the british isles, because this overall set up of the low pressure, with the heat from the continent and the moisture from the surrounding seas, is still the dominant feature. and we start with the temperature somewhere in the teens for many, if not twenty degrees in one or two spots in the southeast. and from the word go, there could well be some thunderstorms for central

and southern parts of england, getting across the border into wales. quite a bit of murk there to the eastern side of the pennines, effecting some of the east and northern counties of scotland. best of the sunshine out west, later on in the day, pushing the temperatures to 22. similar sort of prospect in parts of northern ireland and somewhere again across central and southern parts of england will be pushing close to 30 degrees and the thunderstorms continue apace. there are warnings from the met office already about the potential for disruption from those storms. in fact, that continues right on into friday. as well another murky, muggy night to come, widely across the british isles. friday, a really cloudy start with a shield of cloud coming in from the north sea to affect many areas. only beginning to break as we get on into the afternoon. and still that prospect, particularly across southern britain, of some really quite sharp thunderstorms. the temperatures beginning to fall back a touch, but it will still feel very close, very oppressive,

simply because that overall situation really not changing, even as we move towards the weekend, southern britain still at risk from these thunderstorms. further north, it should be dry, thanks to the influence of the high pressure. but again, some of these northern and eastern—facing coast could well be affected by some low level mist and murk, which will temper the feel of the day, but with some sunshine in the north, you'll be looking at 22, possibly 23 degrees. and we don't really change things even as you push right through the weekend and into the start of the forthcoming week. take care, bye—bye.

this is bbc news. the headlines: joe biden and kamala harris have been setting out their vision for the us in their first joint appearance since he chose her as his vice presidential candidate. mr biden said he had no doubt he had picked the right person. senator harris said the country is crying out for leadership. in belarus, people have come out in the capital, minsk, for a fourth night of protests against sunday's election result. the re—elected president, alexander lu kashenko, has dismissed the protesters as "criminals and the unemployed." the european union has said the vote was "neither free nor fair." doctors in the lebanese capital are warning that many of beirut‘s children will carry the physical and psychological scars of last week's explosion into adulthood. as many as 80,000 children have been made homeless according to unicef. three people have died in a train derailment