at the democratic party convention, kamala harris, the vice presidential candidate, is due to formally accept her nomination forjoe biden‘s ticket. former president barack obama, and former first lady hilary clinton, will top the list of speakers on the third night of the largely virtual event. thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes near the us city of san francisco as a number of fast moving wildfires swept through the region. police have been going from door to door, urging people to leave. the governor of california has declared a state of emergency. opposition supporters remain on the streets of belarus as eu leaders agreed to impose sanctions on those involved in repression and election fraud in belarus. they have described the violence against demonstrators as unacceptable and accused president lukashenko of rigging the poll to claim a landslide victory.

now, imagine travelling at 70 miles an hour on a busy motorway and taking your hands off the steering wheel. car manufacturers say it's already technically possible and now the government is saying that hands—free driving could be legal in the uk as early as next year. jon kay has been on a test run. nasty conditions on the roads today. so would you hand over control of your car to a computer? so, hands—free. at a private test track, with no other traffic, i tried out the technology as if i was on a motorway. whoa. so, that is a very strange feeling. not least for a control freak like me. but the car is driving itself and it is following the lines,

the lane that's there, it's swerving around. my temptation is to touch it but i'm not. this is really very odd. i've never done anything like this before. beeping. at the moment, cars like this tell you to put your hands back on the steering wheel after 15 seconds. but ministers want to know if the technology is now reliable enough to let drivers go hands—free for extended periods of time. it could actually save lives. it's estimated within a decade this kind of technology could save almost 4,000 lives. the government will be consulting safety organisations and the industry, but what do drivers think? yeah, i do trust the technology. i use most of what's been invented, but i do not like that the humans don't have to keep an eye. i think it's crazy, to be fair. driverless cars? well, it's madness. ministers are not yet talking about entirely driverless cars,

but if the uk goes further down the hands—free route, it could still mean big changes for the law and insurance. the difference between you driving and you being liable, and the car driving and the car being liable is huge. and unless the car can drive as well as a competent human being, the car cannot be classed as being automated. i'm resisting the temptation to hold the steering wheel. whoa! 0k. so, there we go. back on the test track, there's a lot to get used to and for ministers, a lot to consider. driving will certainly be different in the future. the question is — how fast do we want things to change? jon kay, bbc news, hands—free. yes, i think thejury is yes, i think the jury is out. yes, i think thejury is out. i am going to take my hands off the wheel for the next 20 minutes because we're going hear from thomas hearing from people around the world during

the experiences of the pandemic and how covid—i9 has changed their life. welcome to coronavirus your stories, a program on how covid—i9 is changing lives around the world. i am philippa thomas and this week we are looking at hotspots, places in the world where the threat of coronavirus remains stark, where people still feel a real sense of emergency. very and when we talk about this virus, we talk about statistics, the numbers of rising infections, the stories, stories of grief and despairand of the stories, stories of grief and despair and of resilience often and despair and of resilience ofte n get and despair and of resilience often get overshadowed. today, we hear one of those stories from the united states which still leaves the world in terms of cu rrowa n still leaves the world in terms of currowan infections and gaffes. when angela lost her

mother to the virus injune, she started a project to commemorate terms, presenting their pictures to lawmakers in missouri to ensure, in her words, that loved ones are being acknowledged. we will start with by far the hardest hit country in africa. south africa where a state of emergency was called as covid—i9 cases shot up past half a million. those restrictions have now been lifted partly to try and revive a flagging economy. there is a real problem with rising unemployment and even hunger. but some of the fastest reaction to these multiple crises has come not from the authorities but from self organising groups. they are called community action networks or can's. we have been hearing from a public sector health doctor and a committee organiser who have come together in the network cape town together. this is a health

crisis of course with those social economic impact of this health crisis is really, really intense and i mean, in the work that we have been doing, certainly, those kind of consequences of the crisis have been hugely difficult to manage during the lockdown, many people have been without income, without access to food, some without access to water as well. and nadia, what have you been saying, what you think has most difficult? i think for our community that has basically a working class community ——is a working class community ——is a working class community, the assistance from the state has not been forthcoming and as a result, our people felt that they would die of hunger rather than of the disease and that has made it extremely difficult for us because we have had to respond in various ways. when

you tell me some people fear they might die of hunger, some of our viewers might think, cape town, the cape town area is wealthy, what is going on? that is not our daily lives realities on the ground. we have got areas where unemployment is rife and on top of that, we were faced with this pandemic and it has been extremely difficult for community— based organisations to respond during this difficult time at the best of our ability without any aid. so, leanne, tell us more about what you have been doing within cape town together to deal with these actual realities. the first thing to say to build on what nadia said is of course, cape town is an extremely divided city and what covid—i9 did is it shone a light on and amplify the deep inequalities that we have in our society, that we have in our society,

that are long—standing and historical. and cape town together kind of emerged in this context. it was kickstarted by a group of social activist, committee organisers and public health professionals as a rapid community led response to covid—i9. it is made up of self organising neighbourhood —based groups who are taking action in their own local neighbourhoods and many of us are part of the cans in our neighbourhood. for example, iam cans in our neighbourhood. for example, i am part of mine and nadeis example, i am part of mine and nade is part of a different ones. while we take in our local, our local neighbourhoods, we also seek to connect across the city because ina connect across the city because in a city as divided as cape town, organising a cross race and class and social divides is extremely important always, especially but at a time like this. what kind of actions have worked best? there is a huge multitude of things that have happened. because each neighbourhood is different, there is no—one size fits all.

people have been responding in different ways based on what challenges they face, based on the challenges we face in a row neighbourhoods, and that has ranged from ask making to mobilising around access to water, to setting up community ca re water, to setting up community care centres, water, to setting up community ca re centres, to water, to setting up community care centres, to going door to door with pamphlets safely to kind of spread information and awareness. so really, the kinds of actions we have seen have been, yeah, agreeably powerful adequately daring. there are also been phases of actions. example, in the beginning when we are all still learning about what covid—i9 wasn't what it meant for us as a society, were a lot of activities that focused on immobilising around awareness activities. but after the hard lockdown, as food and security became such a challenge for so many people in the city, people started delivering food parcels. when food parcels couldn't go far

enough, people set up community kitchens and hundreds and hundreds of community kitchens have sprung up across the city where people are cooking, often in their own homes, for their neighbours. what we now see is more and more cans working to set up sustainable food systems to keep these community kitchens going. we have also seen very kitchens going. we have also seen very powerful actions of providing covid care at the neighbourhood level. was something like covid—i9, 85% of people don't need hospital care but they still need care, and because many people in cape town are unable to isolate in their own homes, staying home safely if you have covid becomes an readily difficult. nadia, this sounds like a remarkable collaboration, how has it felt to you the way things have come together? for us as things have come together? for usasa things have come together? for us as a community, it has been absolutely amazing. there is no doubt that we as a community would have responded in our own little pockets but having been

pa rt of little pockets but having been part of the cape town together network has strengthened us with regard to, notjust resources, but also education and working together across race and class and spatial divides which leanne has highlighted. and one of our desires is that post—lockdown and post — covid, we can continue to work across these divides to build a better society for all. nadia, i remember reporting on the great hope that came with the beginning of the true multiracial democracy in south africa, that sense of optimism, there has been so much turbulence since, i wonder if you can put it in some perspective for us? does this bring back some of the optimism for you? it does in many ways. post apartheid, and this is my

personal opinion, that we were enthusiastic and were looking forward to a better south africa. 25 years plus down the line, a lot of things have changed but a lot of things remain the same, especially for poorer communities, you know. nothing has changed for us. we are living in the same conditions, and maybe worse. we are afflicted with more challenges than we were before, meaning that gangsters and drugs are on the holders of many communities. the unemployment, the dropout rate of school —goers has increased greatly and there needs to be alternatives and there are opportunities for the young. we have been saddened by what we have been saddened by what we have seen not happening and what was promised to us many years ago. and it seems that the rich are getting richer and

the rich are getting richer and the poor is remaining where they are and our system of inequality isjust they are and our system of inequality is just getting deeperand inequality is just getting deeper and deeper. leanne, what do you think government, the authorities can learn from the way that these community action networks have come together and have generated results? quite often we see top—down solutions being developed are very far away from the places where they can be implemented and from the people whose lives are affected. i am cooking food for the whole community so every day at half past 12, they have a dish. it doesn't matter if there is vertical, i cook. this is my family cooking for our neighbourhood. some of them are mums who have been doing it ever since i was born, she loves cooking. the collective energy and the collective wisdom that we have all drawn on as part of this movement has really been quite extraordinary in this time of crisis. i think what we have seen over the last

five months is an incredible people led, community led movement. but of course, why the —— wider structural changes also needed. and i think the kind of deep inequalities have a lwa ys kind of deep inequalities have always been placed at the forefront of this time. so it is like covid—i9 is teaching us many things and it is important that we listen to those things. doctor leanne brady and nadia from the network, cape town together. you are watching coronavirus: your stories, a program about how covid—i9 is changing lives around the world. iam philippa changing lives around the world. i am philippa thomas and this week we are looking at global hotspots. next, we will go to the us midwest to the state of missouri where angela has been covering portraits of those who have died from the virus since she lost her own mother who was taken ill in her nursing home. she went into the hospital on

may 31, it was the second time that she had gone. 0n may 31, it was the second time that she had gone. on may 20, she went for the first time and she went for the first time and she had shortness of breath, rapid heart rate and a fever, but she was testing negative and i've talked to the hospital staff and said, you know, this doesn't make sense, she has all the symptoms but you are telling me that she is negative and they said yeah, the test are only about 70% accurate, and you should expect her to switch to positive at any time. and she stayed at the hospital for a few days and was tested a few more times, each time she was negative and then they released her for a few days and then she went back on may 31. that was a sunday night and then at that point she was positive and admitted into the icu. and as she got with you to

ta ke icu. and as she got with you to take some very difficult decisions about a ventilator, for example. my mom had always said that she did not want to be kept alive by a machine, so a true ventilator was not an option. where she ended up was called a bipap machine, which forced air in and forced out. as they put it on her, she was fighting to get it off, she did not want it on her, so eventually when they said, you know, she's just had such low oxygen for so long and she is not a good candidate to recover from this, you can leave the bipap on for days, weeks, or you can take it off and she would die within15—20 minutes, so, i chose to let them take it off of her on june so, i chose to let them take it off of her onjune six. so, i chose to let them take it off of her on june six. were you able to be with her? no.

they let me videoconference with her, so, she went in on sunday night, i got to videoconference with her on tuesday and wednesday. tuesday, i thought she was going to be 0k, she was talking, putting together full sentences, and then wednesday it was totally different, she wasn't coherent anymore and it was very scary andi anymore and it was very scary and i knew we had a really serious problem. and that was the last time i got to talk to her when she was responsive. and then on saturday, that's the day that we took the bipap off, they let me videoconference with her again just so i could say the things that i wanted to say to her. and she didn't respond anyway, not even a finger twitch, nothing. she wasn't. ..

not even a finger twitch, nothing. she wasn't... there wasn't any more in her. they said that i could have gone in, i could have gotten completely decked out and gone in, but then i would have needed to quarantine and at the time i had a three—month—old baby and a four—year—old son, and i could not risk, i couldn't be away from my three—month—old four weeks and i couldn't risk, you know, hurting my immediate family and my home, so... angela, i really appreciate you telling us about what you've been through. i wonder what you would like us to know about your mother and her life? she was a licensed clinical therapist here in missouri and

i've had just so many people reach out to me after learning that she passed away telling me about how she truly saved their lives, was such an amazing mentalfor lives, was such an amazing mental for them. lives, was such an amazing mentalfor them. so, she lives, was such an amazing mentalforthem. so, she did amazing good for people. for me, she was a single parent and i'm her only child, so she was literally my everything. she taught me how to have fun, how to be strong. how to keep going when you're scared, and that's what she had always done. you, then, designed a project to remind others that those who die from covid—19 are individuals and they are beloveds. tell us the little bit about your product or project. this pandemic has been scary, and even before a new someone scary, and even before a new someone who had lost their life

to it, it was scary. but then, when my mother passed away and i couldn't mourn the way that i normally would have mourned, i couldn't see my family safely, i felt really, like, couldn't see my family safely, ifelt really, like, isolated andi ifelt really, like, isolated and i started thinking about how many of us out there that feel the same way. i wanted to put, like, have these people represented. have it not be for nothing. put faces to the numbers that just keep nothing. put faces to the numbers thatjust keep going up every day and we just talk about it like it's not that big ofa about it like it's not that big of a deal, and it's a huge deal. so i started posting in the support groups on facebook about wanting to gather pictures of missourians who had passed away from covid—19 and ta ke passed away from covid—19 and take them to the capital, because our state government is having a special session last weekend the week before, and

they were not addressing covid—19. that's probably the only thing that they should have been addressing in a special session, but they weren't. so i wanted to take those pictures and i wanted to make them see the faces, what we are make them see the faces, what we a re really make them see the faces, what we are really losing, and hope that that would encourage them to do the absolute bare minimum basics, which isjust require masks. it's not hard. how did they respond? well, i was very lucky in that i was able to have a press conference where i got to give a statement and get some media attention which, that part went very well. i head also printed out what i call head also printed out what i ca ll flye rs head also printed out what i call flyers for each person

that was shared with me that had their picture, their name, their age if i got it and their story, a brief story about them, andi story, a brief story about them, and i took those to the top elected officials officers. u nfortu nately, top elected officials officers. unfortunately, the front office staff at each one of the top elected officials told me that that official was not there. so i had to give my message and the flyers to front office staff and hope that they will conveyit staff and hope that they will convey it the way that i want it to be conveyed. so that part did not go as i head hoped but i will be going back. and so, when i'd go back, i will work again to get face to face time with these people. angela, you are telling a number of stories. can you share anything

with us that particularly stayed with you from all these different family memories that you are being sent now? what got me the most was a girl that reached out to me. she is 28 and her brother is 25, and her father died, he was young, healthy, and her saying to me, my brother and i, we needed so much more time with him. we had so much more to learn from him. and it hurts me and i know that there are so many people in this country, in this world, everywhere, that have lost people prematurely and they are scared to leave their homes because they know what this virus can do, they have seen it. and they feel that they are

not being heard. we've had our loved ones taken from us prematurely, and people won't just put on a mask to protect each other and that's offensive. it's a slap on our faces because we have lost one of the most important things in the world to us. sharing these sorrowful stories, you are putting yourself through a lot. yeah, it's extremely painful to ta ke yeah, it's extremely painful to take on, learn these stories and trying to deliver this message in a way that actually invokes change, but after being at the capitol last week and seeing how our leaders and their staff are behaving, i'm angry now, and that anger is

propelling me to keep going. how do you know that what you are doing is helping? well, i don't know that it's helping my overarching goal of getting our leaders to mandate masks and things that will keep us safe, but my know for sure that i am helping the families that have reached out to me. they have thanked me for being strong enough for them to make their person's story known, and not just a number, so if i don't win in this battle, if you will, to try to get them to protect us, i at least know that i have help to these families that have reached out to me feel like it wasn't for

nothing, and that there's more people out there that are experiencing what they are experiencing, and they are not alone. our thanks to angela, and for her courage in sharing her emotions with us. she is determined that her mother and others should be remembered not as numbers or statistics but as individuals who lost their lives to covid—19. i'm philippa thomas, thank you for watching acro three. —— thank you for watching coronavirus: your stories. southern parts of ireland are feeling the full force of storm ellen. here in the uk, also very blustery. the winds will increase in many parts of the uk over the next couple of days or so. it is likely to be very unsettled with the storm closely spinning by. now the worst of the weather has gone over southern parts of ireland,

where the destructive winds and places have been. we are just to the east of the storm, so winds will be pretty strong around the coast of cornwall, western fringes of wales, but it will be particularly windy in northern ireland too. now having said that, the weather actually doesn't look too bad at all for most of us on thursday. there will be some rain in the morning across parts of scotland, but once that clears through, apart from a few showers across western areas, the weather is looking mostly sunny. so it'll be a weird day where we have quite strong winds but also with that, some strong sunshine and decent temperatures. in fact, look at the values in east anglia, up to 26 celsius, 22 in newcastle, and into the 20s where we have these blustery conditions out towards the west, as well. now through the course of thursday evening, the rain becomes more widespread across western fringes of the uk, and the winds will strengthen once again. a bit of a little with that warmth and sunshine in the afternoon.

because by the time we get to friday, what is left of storm ellen will be barreling across the uk — and that means more generally speaking, it'll be a windy day right across the uk. now gusts of wind inland friday into saturday could exceed 50 mph — and this time of year, that's not good and could prove very troublesome during the summer where the trees are in full leaf, a 50 mph wind could bring down a weaker tree. so be prepared for some disruption as we go through the course of friday and into the weekend. now saturday will still be blustery because what's left of the storm is still with us. frequent showers out towards the northwest of the uk. take a look at these winds — iii—is mph, that is unusually windy for august. to the south of us, it won't be quite so windy but breezy enough, with temperatures getting up to the low 20s. sunday will be a calmer day.

welcome to bbc news — i'm mike embley. our top stories: night three of this year's largely virtual democratic convention, as the party continues its mission to persuade millions of americans to vote for then on the third of november. and it's kamala harris‘ turn this evening — the vice presidential candidate will formally accept her nomination forjoe biden's ticket as she tries to convince americans that she's the woman for thejob. as kamala harris takes centre stage, we visit the beaches of the indian city of chennai, where the democrats pick for vp says her political views were shaped. and after the president's adverse comments about his predecessor, barack 0bama is expected to tell the convention that donald trump has failed the us on coronavirus, the econmy and its reputation overseas.