this is bbc news, the headlines. that take you back to the second day of the democratic pa rty‘s second day of the democratic party's virtual national convention with bill clinton speaking now. to give our kids better tomorrow. it is a tall order this year with the covid—19 outbreak on the path to killing 200,000 people and destroying millions ofjobs and small businesses. how did donald trump respond? at first, he said the virus was under control and would soon disappear. when it didn't, he was on tv every day bragging on what a greatjob he was doing. while a scientist waited to give us vital information. when he didn't like the expert advice he was given, he ignored it. only when covid exploded in even more states did he encourage people to wear masks. by encourage people to wear masks. by then, many more were dying. when asked about the surge in death, he shrugged and said, it is what it is. what did it have to be this way? no. covid hit

us to be this way? no. covid hit us much harder than it had to. we have just 4% of the world's population by 25% of the worlds covert cases. ——. unemployment is twice the size are curious, 2.5 times the other kingdoms, more three point times japan. trumps as we are leading the world but we are the only industrial major economy to have its own employment rate tripled. at a time like this, the oval office should be a command centre but it is only a storm centre, there is only chaos. anything that doesn't changes his determination to deny responsibility and shift the blame. the bucket never stops there. now you have to decide whether to renew his contract or hire someone else. if you want a president who defines thejob spending if you want a president who defines the job spending hours a day watching and sapping people on social media, he shall man. benign, distracting

and demeaning works great if you're trying to entertain or inflame but in a real crisis, it collapses like a house of cards. covid just doesn't respond to any of that. to beat it, you've actually got to go to work and deal with the fa cts . to work and deal with the facts. our party is united and offering you a very different choice, go to work resident. a down—to—earth, get thejob choice, go to work resident. a down—to—earth, get the job done quy- down—to—earth, get the job done guy. a man with a mission to ta ke guy. a man with a mission to take responsibility, not shift the blame. concentrate, not distract, unite not divide. our choice isjoe distract, unite not divide. our choice is joe biden. joe distract, unite not divide. our choice isjoe biden. joe helped bring us back from a recession before and he can do it again. in 2009, barack obama and joe biden started with the worst economy since the great depression. when they were done, they had delivered more than six straight years ofjob growth. what did joe do? he has acted responsibility by permitting the recovery act, his work created a lot of new jobs and started many new

companies in communities across our country. now, joe is committed to building back america again. how? he's given us america again. how? he's given us smart detailed plans to invest in areas vital to our future, innovative financing for modern factories and small businesses, good jobs in green energy and conservation to combat climate change, a modern infrastructure that brings small town in rural america the connectivity investment of a safer granted. and a plan to ensure that black americans, letting americans, native americans, women, immigrants, and other communities left behind, are full participants in our economy and our society. joe biden wants to build an economy far better suited to our changing world. better for young people, better for families working and raising their kids, betterfor families working and raising their kids, better for people who lost jobs their kids, better for people who lostjobs and made new ones. better for who lostjobs and made new ones. betterforfarmers tired of being collateral damage in trade was stop better for workers caring for the sick, elderly and people with

disabilities. better because of a living wage and access to affordable higher education and healthcare, including prescription drugs. and to childcare, secure retirement, and for the first time, paid family medical leave. joe won't just put his signature on a check and try to fool you into thinking it came from him, he will work to make sure that your paycheck reflects your contribution to and your stake ina growing contribution to and your stake in a growing economy. in this job interview, the difference is stark. you know what donald trump will deal with four more yea rs, trump will deal with four more years, blame, bully and belittle. and you know whatjoe biden will do, build back better. it is trumped's us versus them america againstjoe biden's america where we all live and work together. it is a clear choice. the future of our country is riding on it. thank you. it's time to call the roll and

officially nominate the democratic candidate for president of united states. the former president, bill clinton there, on a recorded insert into the democratic party's virtual national convention. is clinton still a hit for the democrats, laura? you notice that he is not in the top hour, he is not in the 10 — 11 hour, in the nine — 10 hour which the american networks are not taking, partly due to his complex legacy over me too, with monica lewinsky viewed through the lens of today. many young progressive democrats see that as an abuse of power. i think that a lot of the reason why he is not in prime—time. nonetheless, the old rhetorical skills are still there as you can see. he laid out a stark that, saying president trump four more years would be blame, bully and belittle. if you electjoe biden it will be

built, back, better. he also talked about what president biden would do where he given thejob. he said biden would do where he given the job. he said that if elevated to that role, he would try to build an economy that met the needs of working americans but was a bit vague, no detail. he was trying to talk about as well about what biden would do. certainly, the democrats do need to convince voters that they can rebuild the economy. yes, it's all very well talking about president trump being decisive and is bill clinton said just that, if you want sublime mind spending hours on tv and social media than donald trump is your man. but just a litany than donald trump is your man. butjust a litany of complaints about donald trump doesn't actually amounts to a platform. bill clinton noted that america's unemployment rate has tripled, the record of the economic collapse after covid has been the worst in the industrialised world he said. so what is the answer, he said joe biden helped america recover from the 2008 recession, the economy was in good shape when he left office.

his argument is with the experience and the skills, joe biden is the man for the job. but really, a very polished speech thereby bill clinton, a reminder of why he was a two term democratic president, of wire, despite everything there isa wire, despite everything there is a lot of good will towards him still. there are many americans today saying they paid off their mortgage under bill clinton, those other good yea rs bill clinton, those other good years and he made a compelling case therefore joe years and he made a compelling case thereforejoe biden. the question is, who is watching and what difference is that are making? we will know in a few weeks or perhaps a little over 70 days the election happens. of course, there are big names to come, including jill of course, there are big names to come, includingjill biden and ocasio—cortez. we will cut away free see her appearing. do we have any sense of how this playing with the voters —— cut away if we see her. not really. i went to the wilmington translation, the centre of my universe here, to try to talk to people around michelle obama's speech and half of them

had not seen this page and the other half were passionately engaged and had a lot to say about it. so, it was a 50 50 really in terms of who was paying attention and who wasn't. part of the problem with america currently is that the political polarisation is so great and people are in their trenches, there are very few people who are uncommitted. it is those very few uncommitted is really this whole effort is about. it is partly to galvanise and get up the bow but in terms of changing minds, you wonder how many people are out there who genuinely are still on the fence. it is not that unusual in politics but i think it is even more pronounced this time isn't it with voters presented with completely different versions of reality this week and next week. notjust different interpretations but utterly different. well, that's absolutely right. we just heard from president bill clinton saying that america has 4% of the world population by 25% of the world population by 25% of the world's the world population by 25% of the worlds are in most cases.

that is not a statistic you will hear next week when president trump is speaking from the white house and you won't hear that from vice president pants when he is speaking either. you're absolutely right, it is like to make different versions. he had democrats saying there are these three crises facing america of the coronavirus, economic calamity, of racial injustice. next week it will be presented as a law & order crisis with riots and protests, and very little about the racial injustice. there will be an argument that the economy is bouncing back, but there is about to be a very shaped recovery and coronavirus is all the fault of china. you are com pletely the fault of china. you are completely right and the baffled photos left to try and figure it out. meanwhile, democrats are trying to use this whole week to showcase joe biden and say he's the man for the moment. i know you have not got a feed there. we will cut away for a moment. i think we are expecting any moment to hear from are expecting any moment to hearfrom one of are expecting any moment to hear from one of the standardbearers of the progressive wing, the left when of the party, alexandria

ocasio—cortez. i think we are going there now. good evening and thank you to eve ryo ne good evening and thank you to everyone here today endeavouring towards a better and morejust endeavouring towards a better and more just future our country and our world. infidelity and gratitude to a mass people's movement working to establish 2ist—century social, economic and human rights, including guaranteed healthcare, higher education, live in wages and labour rights for all people in the united states. a movement striving to recognise and repair the wounds of racial injustice, colonisation, misogyny, and homophobia. and to propose and build reimagined systems of immigration and foreign policy that turn away from the violence and xenophobia of our past. a movement that realises the unsustainable fatality of

an economy that rewards explosive inequalities of wealth for the few at the expense of long—term stability for the many. and who organised the historic grassroots campaign to reclaim our democracy. in a time when millions of people in the united states are looking for deep, systemic solutions to our crises of mass evictions, unemployment, and lack of healthcare, and unemployment, and lack of healthca re, and out unemployment, and lack of healthcare, and out of a love for all people. i hereby second the nomination of senator bernardo sanders of vermont for president of the united states of america. . thank you mr king... there was alexandria ocasio—cortez, for many an absolute star of the podium but certainly not for many. there we re certainly not for many. there were certainly a row about how long she was going to speak for. we were timing it actually and she did get more than a

minute. there are hundreds of progressive democrats who wrote a letter demanding that she should get as much time as the former republican governor of ohio, john casley, who got a big chunk of last night's about. she got more than a minute but she made a very powerful speechless they're talking the agenda of bernie sanders, had a needs to be systemic change essentially to the capitalist system to foreign policy, to everything. she talked about building a movement and of course, it's that energy of the young progressive left thatjoe biden really wa nts progressive left thatjoe biden really wants to harness so that there is a big turnout in his favour this november. and he is trying to build bridges behind the scenes with bernie sanders by bringing him onto a policy commission but the fact that ocasio—cortez‘s green new deal is not part of the democratic platform. that was a very radical attempt to really change politics towards the climate and create jobs as

well, a robert moore ordered version of that is on the platform. she is seen as many asa platform. she is seen as many as a rising star and her progressive movement has had a success in a primary older, democratic lawmakers and clearly she is definitely the future of a wing of the party. thank you very much laura. one of four men accused of killing the former lebanese prime minister rafik hariri in a massive bombing in the centre of beirut in 2005 has been convicted by a special un—backed court. rafik hariri was lebanon's most prominent sunni muslim politician. he had close ties with the united states and with sunni gulf arab states, and was seen as a threat to iranian and syrian influence in lebanon. our middle east editor jeremy bowen reports. for bahiya hariri, leading prayers at his grave in beirut, there are no doubts about who killed her brother.

the family and their supporters blame hezbollah, because he was challenging the power in lebanon of its backers, iran and syria. rafik hariri was killed with 21 others on the 14th of february 2005, when his motorcade was attacked by a suicide bomber and a lorry packed with two tonnes of military explosives. when i asked him about syria's power in lebanon, he chose his words carefully. the syrians helped so much in assuring stability and security in my country. they have influence beyond any doubt. the trial was held in the hague as beirut was too dangerous. it cost almost $1 billion and produced a single conviction.

salim ayyash was a well—connected hezbollah operative, like all the suspects never arrested not in court, always protected by his organisation. thejudge's acquittal of the three others disappointed the supporters of hariri, but now saad hariri, rafik‘s son and political heir has a lever against hezbollah‘s leader and backers, although thejudges found motive, not proof. the trial chamber is of the view that syria and hezbollah may have had motives to eliminate mr hariri and some of his political allies. however, there was no evidence that the hezbollah leadership had any involvement in mr hariri's murder and there is no direct evidence of syrian involvement in it. demands for change have redoubled in beirut since the port explosion a fortnight ago pushed lebanon closer to national collapse. another hariri son, bahaa, believes power is slipping away from hezbollah and its lebanese allies.

we need the help of the international community, that there is a full divorce between us and that configuration. you mean hezbollah? yes, hezbollah, and the warlords and all who supported them. we have a massive economic collapse, a massive financial collapse, we have beirut, the capital in tatters and now thisjudgement. rafik hariri's statue looks down on beirut, the city he rebuilt. hezbollah and its backers deny any part in his assassination and always they push back. jeremy bowen, bbc news. she's one of america's most popular stars — ellen de generes made tv history 20 years ago when she came out as gay on her comedy show. she went on to present the oscars. now, serious allegations of a toxic culture on her long—running chat show have led to three of her top team being fired and put the whole ellen brand under scrutiny. from los angeles, sophie long.

what can i say? did that not work out? screaming. it is moments and guests like this that have made the ellen show a daytime staple in the lives of millions around the world. turning it into a huge money maker for warner brothers and giving its 62—year—old host, who signs of every episode by saying, be kind, a massive platform. but after years of rumours, a twitter thread asking people to share stories showing that the star did not practice what she preached, led to damaging media reports and an internal investigation. that has resulted in three top producers being ousted from the show, following allegations of bullying, intimidation and sexual misconduct. they have previously categorically denied any wrongdoing. the hope is that there will be real change behind—the—scenes of the ellen show and across television shows in hollywood. i think the real impact, you know, is to be seen.

this is all happening very quickly, this is all unfolding very quickly and it is hard to speculate how a 17—year—old show will change in 2a hours of the news cycle. ellen degeneres became an icon for lgbt communities around the world when she made history by becoming the first lead character to come out on her own sitcom, ellen, in the 1990s. after an initial backlash, her chat show went on to win tens of emmys and she hosted the oscars, confirming both her star power and her place in television history. during the pandemic, ellen has been hosting her show from her home, but many of the senior producers have returned to work here where it is normally filmed this week. an emotional ellen is said to have told staff she found that the reports are heartbreaking and she said the coming season, due to premiere next week, will be their best ever. only ratings will reveal how damaging this has been, both to her reputation and future and to that of the show. sophie long, bbc

news, los angeles. goodbye, everybody! the problem of plastic pollution in the seas is well known but new research has suggested that there could be many more tiny particles of the waste floating just beneath the surface of the atlantic ocean than scientists had realised. the findings, based on an analysis of samples, and on computer modelling, highlight the largely invisible scale of the pollution clogging the world's second largest ocean. victoria gill reports. a common sight on any beach walk. plastic that we've thrown away littering the shore and in the decades that our discarded plastic waste has been finding its way into the environment, some of it has broken down into tiny pieces that wildlife can mistake for food, so scientists have set out to find all of that microplastic, particles smaller than the diameter of a human hair, floating in the atlantic. on an expedition from the uk to the falklands, researchers

sieved the top 200 metres of the ocean at different locations and found that between 12 and 21 million tonnes of plastic is floating in the upper layers of the atlantic. by measuring the mass of very small microplastic particles in the top 200 metres of the atlantic ocean, we arrived at a new estimate of the load of plastic in the entire atlantic which is much larger than the previous estimate of 17 million tonnes that we thought we had put in in the past 65 years. the team only search for the three most commonly used packaging plastics, so they say their estimate is likely to be conservative. but what all these microscopic fragments show is that decades of our plastic pollution has been washed out of rivers or even blown on the wind into the ocean. some of that is plastic waste we buried years ago. this is an old legacy landfill site, so this hump of earth

is a landfill site that is not in use any more but all of the rubbish that was buried here, you can see, a lot of it was plastic and it's just coming out of the ground as the sea erodes this away. so even when this plastic is disposed of formally and put into landfill, its finding its way out of the ground and into the sea. even through the coronavirus pandemic, volunteers have continued to pick up plastic litter from beaches. some environmental groups say the pandemic itself has reignited our addiction to single—use plastics. the disposable mask is now more pervasive. we find more disposable masks than plastic bags on beaches. what we are really asking is for people to reduce their use of single—use plastic and if people can dispose of it carefully. over the years, much of this pollution has

become too small to see, but as this research reveals, it isn't going away. victoria gill, bbc news. the number of adults in the uk who are experiencing some level of depression has doubled since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the office for national statistics. their survey, carried out over a 12 month period, found that one in five people appeared to have depressive symptoms. that compares to one in ten before covid—i9 hit. amongst those most likely to suffer have been women, people under the age of 40, and those with a disability, as lauren moss reports. mi was first diagnosed with depression when she was a teenager. throughout lockdown she shielded with her partner because lily is clinically extremely vulnerable to coronavirus. mi says while the pandemic gave her the opportunity to spend more time at home, that also came with consequences. for me, a big part of my anxiety has been going round, being other people, kind of, this fear of a virus and also with this impending current

recession that's happening and the uncertainty of the job market and me being quite young and in that place where i've been on short contracts. it's a scary time. more than 3500 adults were asked standard questions used to assess depression. they answered how often they experienced a range of symptoms, including a change to their sleep patterns or appetite, a loss of interest in daily activities or difficulty concentrating. many reported high levels of stress or anxiety. this data seems to have confirmed that there is an increasingly large number of people who are experiencing mental health problems for the first time, almost as a direct or possibly indirect consequence of covid. so it's really important that those people are able to access the help and support they need. for others, lockdown has

opened new doorways. stephen has suffered with depression on and off since childhood. he was working multiple jobs to fund his studies but says the change of pace has altered his life for the better. just kind of that combination of improving my own health and not being able to see my friends made me really realise the importance of both of those. so from there when the restrictions began to ease offjust took any advantage i could just to spend more time with friends, de—stress, and it completely changed my outlook and what was important to me. in march during lockdown the government announced £5 million of funding for mental health community projects and nhs england launched a 24—hour crisis line. mi is now setting up her own charity to support people, but says there still needs to be greater awareness. psychiatrists have warned that today's findings are the sign of another looming health crisis and that is why we are still in the grips of a pandemic. lauren moss, bbc news.

just briefly, and an update on the story from west africa. we know that there is a military coup in mali has been confirmed by the president. he appeared on state tv, wearing a covid—i9 mask, looking exhausted, saying he was stepping down and dissolution of the government in parliament. you can see the people celebrating and he was speaking just hours after he and his prime minister were taken at gunpoint by soldiers to their military camp, outside the capital. the former president did not say he was now in charge but he did say he did not want any blood spilt to keep him in power. he said in a statement he was given no choice, appeared to be read from the military camp where he and the primers that were taken by the soldiers. there has been a strong international action, the actions have been condemned by the united nations secretary general and west african

nations are saying they are opposing a blockade of —— imposing a blockade of mali. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter — i'm @bbc mike embley. hello there. if this was autumn or winter, this weather forecast wouldn't look particularly unusual but, of course, it is summer. the winds over the next few days are going to be exceptionally strong for the time of year, it could cause some problems. low pressure is in charge, the centre of the low up here, this swirl of cloud. you can see these different lumps of cloud just being scooped up by the low and sent in our direction. this one is going to bring some very windy weather through wednesday night and thursday. this lump of cloud bringing rain into the southwest through the first parts of the day. ahead of that, some areas starting off with some mist and fog, but there will be a lot of dry weather, some spells of sunshine. however, this heavy rain will drift its way northwards across england and wales, getting into northern ireland, and perhaps into southern scotland by the end of the afternoon.

the winds will be strengthening all the while, particularly down to the southwest. temperaturewise, 19—23 degrees, quite a humid feel as well. then as we head through wednesday evening, we will see this band of rain continuing to journey northwards. more wet weather pushing in from the southwest, and the winds really will start to strengthen. now, this area of low pressure has been named by the irish weather service, storm ellen. see all of the white lines, the isobars on this chart, squeezing together. this shows that we've got a very deep low, which for the republic of ireland could well bring damaging winds, exceptionally strong winds for this time of year. but as you can see, those strong winds are also likely to affect western parts of the uk. not as windy as it will be for the republic of ireland, but as we head through wednesday night and through thursday, we are likely to see wind gusts of 40—50 mph, a little more than that in exposed spots in the west. the winds not as strong further east. we will see some outbreaks of rain clearing northwards across scotland, then some sunshine and some showers, temperatures

between 21—26 degrees in parts of eastern england. some warm air being sucked up ahead of this area of low pressure, and the low stays with us into friday. still plenty of white lines on this chart, plenty of isobars, so we will see some pretty strong winds continuing. in fact, for some of us, friday is set to be the windiest day of all. showers or longer spells of rain particularly up towards the northwest. largely dry the further south and east you are with some sunshine. top temperatures of 18—24 degrees. so, some unusually windy weather ahead.

welcome to bbc news. i'm mike embley. our top stories: day two of the virtual convention — joe biden is formally picked as the democratic party's election nominee. the former us president, bill clinton gave a speech on why leadership matters. it is trump's us versus them america versus the america of joe biden where we all live and hope together. it is the clear choice. the future of our country is riding on it. the president of mali, appears on state television to announce his resignation after he and the prime minister are arrested by the military in an apparent coup attempt. researchers uncover the unseen scale of plastic pollution clogging the atlantic ocean. and an unwelcome spotlight on the chat show hosted by ellen degeneres — three senior producers are fired for misconduct.