covid—19 infections in the uk rise by as much as two—thirds in just one week. it raises new questions about the full easing of restrictions — the health secretary in england urges caution. we can keep this virus under control but we need to keep vigilant, we need to watch the data. the uk medicines regulator has followed the us and approved the use of the pfizerjab for 12—15 year olds. but some ask whether vaccines should be given to children here when many developing countries are in need. also tonight: as donald trump is suspended from facebook for two years, he says the move is an insult to the millions who voted for him. joining forces to tax the global tech firms — g7 finance ministers say

they are close to an agreement. fleeing the conflict in ethiopia, as the un warns of a repeat of the devastating famine of 1984. and coventry gets set to launch itself as the uk city of culture. and coming up in sport on the bbc news channel: chasing a record—equalling 24th grand slam title, serena williams moves into the fourth round of the french open. good evening. the number of people who had covid—19 in the uk went up by two thirds in one week, new figures from the office for national statistics suggest. the north west of england had the highest proportion of positive cases. meanwhile, scotland's first minister said cases today were the highest since february.

it comes as the uk medicines regulator approved the use of the pfizer—biontech vaccine in children aged 12—15, although the vaccines committee, thejcvi, has still to decide whether children should get the jab. for our first report tonight, here's our health editor, hugh pym. come on in. thank you very much. "come on in", that's the message being stressed yet again by nhs leaders in gloucester and across the country. can we have your card, sir? have a seat. please — book in for a jab as soon as you're eligible. have you had the coronavirus that you know of? with the new variant of the virus gaining ground, the need to get as many people vaccinated as possible is said to be as urgent as ever. we have seen a reduction in the number of deaths and hospital admissions and so we've definitely seen the impact that this covid—19 vaccination has had locally, as well as nationally. around england, including here in leeds, people are wondering how much opening up there'll be —

if any — onjune 21st. the spread of the variant identified in india, known as delta, is causing some concern for officials and scientists as it spreads faster than alpha, the kent variant. the best estimate at the moment is this variant may be more... 60% more transmissible than the alpha variant. there's some uncertainty around that, depending on assumption from how you analyse the data between about 30 and maybe even up to 100% more transmissible. after some customers were allowed into restaurants and pubs from the middle of may, it was expected the virus would spread more widely. though with more people vaccinated, the risk of serious illness was reduced and cases have been increasing. the office for national statistics�* survey of community infections suggests in england, one in 640 people had the virus last week, an increase on the previous week. in wales, it was one in 1050 — again, with an increase. in scotland, at one in 680,

and in northern ireland, with one in 800, case rates were broadly similar to the previous week. so, for the health secretary at a tree—planting ceremony with his counterparts from g7 nations, there's still some hard work ahead. he says more data will be assessed next week, before final decisions are made about lifting restrictions in england. nationally, of course, the number of cases is going up and the critical thing is that the vaccine breaks the link from the number of cases to the number of people ending up in hospital and sadly dying of covid. we just need to see in the data exactly how effective that is being. but sally, who used to have an active lifestyle, says that lifting restrictions won't make any difference to her. she has long covid, one of a million people now said to be experiencing persistent symptoms after having the virus, like breathlessness and loss of taste. you know, i myself, at 30 years

of age, otherwise healthy, wouldn't have dreamed that nine months down the line i would still be experiencing these very debilitating symptoms. it seems very randomised, so it really could happen to anyone. sally's message is to get the jab to avoid those possible long—term consequences of covid. hugh pym, bbc news. back to that news that the uk's medicines regulator has approved the use of the pfizer vaccine in children aged between 12 and 15. our medical editor fergus walsh is here. what needs to happen before children start being offered this vaccine? it is not a straightforward decision here. thejcvi, an independent committee, will have to decide. the pfizer vaccine is already offered to those aged 16 and over with underlying health conditions but for the vast majority of children, the

biggest time they faced in this pandemic has not been from the pandemic has not been from the pandemic but disruption to education for some thankfully, they are highly unlikely to get seriously ill. there have been cases of a nasty inflammatory disease but thankfully they have been rare. the main benefit and it could be a big one to immunising them would be preventing outbreaks in schools and further disruption to education and the delta variant does seem to be spreading in secondary schools. there would be the wider benefit of suppressing the virus and protecting older adults. suppressing the virus and protecting older adulte— older adults. what are other countries — older adults. what are other countries doing _ older adults. what are other countries doing with - older adults. what are other countries doing with this - older adults. what are other| countries doing with this bag older adults. what are other. countries doing with this bag is older adults. what are other- countries doing with this bag is a? the united states is going all out to immunise 12—15 —year—olds, doing 600,000 young people every week. france is going to offer covid vaccines for over 12s from mid—june. both those countries have a high level of vaccine hesitancy, they are not getting the level of coverage, 90-95% in not getting the level of coverage,

90—95% in older adults that is happening here. once we have finished immunising all the 18 and overin finished immunising all the 18 and over in august time, say, that might be enough to control the virus. then there is the ethical concern. once you are the vaccines to children in the autumn time, there will still be billions of people in other countries who have not had a single dose and will have a greater need. if we want to end this pandemic, we have to vaccinate globally, notjust locally. have to vaccinate globally, not 'ust locall . , ., ~ have to vaccinate globally, not 'ust locall. , ., ~ , locally. fergus, thank you. fergus walsh there- _ well, the latest figures across the uk show there were more than 6,200 new coronavirus infections in the latest 24—hour period. that's the highest daily number of cases since the end of march. on average, 4,147 cases have been reported per day in the last week. 11 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours, taking the average number to eight. nearly 200,000 people received their first dose of the vaccine in the last 24 hours,

taking the overall total to nearly 40 million who've had a single jab. that's over three—quarters of the uk's adult population. more than 375,000 people had their second vaccine dose, which means nearly 26.8 million have now had two jabs — that's more than half of all adults in the uk. british tourists in portugal have been trying to get early flights home before new quarantine requirements come into force on tuesday. airlines have put on additional flights, but many ticket prices have gone up by hundreds of pounds. our transport correspondent caroline davies reports. the end of holiday blues came early for some at lisbon airport today, as some passengers cut their trips short, while others have decided to stay. so we spent another £100 for the flight, we've got to get another test now. we have to get another test when we're in the uk, which we had all booked. we had everything planned,

like the whole holiday, stuff we were going to do and now it's been cut short and we've had to to spend our time trying to sort tests and new flights, stuff like that. so we're just all unhappy. so we just thought, everything out. here's still open, we may as well go and enjoy our holiday and then stay indoors for five days. _ extra flights and bigger planes are being put on over the next three days to help passengers who want to get back before they have to quarantine. today is a bleak day for the uk travel industry. they had hoped that the vaccine would bring more certainty to this summer than to last. now, the reality of yesterday's decision is beginning to sink in for many operators. we thought there was light at the end of the tunnel, and it turns out the light was a freight train coming, which has now hit us. after yesterday's announcement, jet2 decided not to start flying again until the 1stjuly. currently, they don't plan to fly to amber countries, but say they're trying to guess which might be green. we can't sort of plan what we're doing, so we've either got to assume

all the destinations will be green, none of the destinations will be green, or, you know, use a lottery machine and try to work out, in the absence of a structured methodology. today, the government has explained the reasons again for moving portugal from the green list. positivity was increasing very significantly. in fact, it's doubled in the three weeks since our last through the point and is now at a much higher level than here in the uk. then secondly, and perhaps more importantly, we are seeing in addition to the indian variant, evidence of a further mutation, what's being called the nepal variant. but in portugal, there was confusion. it's just difficult to understand what is the logic. the pandemic situations of portugal and the uk are very similar, so we don't understand this decision to move portugal from the green list to the amber list. the government is still advising against travel to amber list countries.

with so few destinations on the green list, the next big question for the industry and for travelers is will some still make the journey? caroline davies, bbc news. one of the reasons given by ministers for putting portugal on the amber list is the existence — in very small numbers — of a mutation of the virus first found in india which is being linked to nepal. but the health ministry in nepal has refuted reports of this new mutation, and the country's prime minister has instead made an urgent plea to the uk to provide vaccines, in part because of the sacrifices of gurkha soldiers fighting for the british in the past. our south asia correspondent, rajini vaidyanathan reports from the capital kathmandu. a sister consumed by grief... ..in a nation crushed by covid. in nepal, more than 4000 people

have died from the virus in the last month alone. families are forced to say their last goodbyes at the gates of the capital's crematorium. my husband's dead, my husband's dead... andon mascherpa's husband, kirpal, died this week. through the railings, she performs his last rites. a final prayer for her beloved. not since the devastating earthquake in 2015 has this nation felt so broken. the country's army's been drafted in to collect and transport the bodies of those who died. it's only been a few minutes since we came in with the first ambulance, and here is another army ambulance bringing in more covid victims. itjust gives you a sense of the pressure and the toll that

covid is taking on this city. nepal is one of the poorest nations in the world — this pandemic a tragic reminder of how the health—care system is out of reach for so many. "my brother died on the way to hospital in kathmandu," sita told me. "he drove from his village seven hours away." the country's prime minister has appealed for help. in a bbc interview, he called on the uk to send vaccines. we have very old friendly ties and diplomatic ties. when the gurkhas served the uk for so many years, giving their lives at risk so many times, so it is the responsibility of the uk also to support nepal. the virus is now climbing

in rural areas, now the peak has passed in cities. but the pain hasn't gone away. in the capital, a prayer service for a gurkha veteran who died alone. a nation in mourning. and a nation in need. nepal is appealing to the uk for a helping hand. rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news, kathmandu, nepal. facebook announced today that it is suspending donald trump from its platforms untiljanuary 2023. his account had been blocked earlier this year, after he was accused of inciting violence in relation to the riots on capitol hill, but an internal review criticised the indefinite ban. today mr trump called it an "insult to 75 million voters". let's go live to our media editor, amol rajan, who's in san francisco for us now.

reeta, as you allude to, one of the most complex and you could argue that facebook is the most and least democratic of all channels, social media has lowered the barriers of entry to everyone, but it has also given enormous power to the few, whether that means masters of the megaphone like donald trump, or the masterclass here in the bay area. and as we will say, that now includes the former mp for sheffield hallam. we have to have peace, we have to have law and order. it was an extraordinary moment in modern american democracy. in the judgment of many independent observers disputed by his supporters and outgoing president incited a mob. as a result, his megaphones were taken away. twitter banned him. youtube suspended his account, and facebook did the same. they've created an oversight board to give independent

advice on such editorialjudgements. last month, it upheld his suspension. the person leading facebook�*s policy decisions is sir nick clegg, the former british deputy prime minister. today, he said that trump will be banned for two more years. free speech, free expression, it's not a free—for—all. it's not a recipe for anarchy. we have always had rules, quite rightly, as facebook, that you can in a sense kind of say what you like on facebook, but you can't do that if that inflicts harm on others. it's a pretty long—standing principle that goes right back to the mid—19th century, this idea that's, you know, you are free to do things, but not if that inflicts harm on others. that is a rule that we apply, doesn't matter whether you are the pope, the president of united states, whether you are an ordinary user, you cannot use facebook if you want to use facebook in a way which leads to real—world harm, and we think it's crystal clear in this case, that that is exactly

what was happening onjanuary the 6th in washington, dc. denuded of his access to social media, mr trump put out a more conventional statement describing the move as an insult. this weird strip of motorways and campuses just south of san francisco, what's known as silicon valley, contains the biggest concentration of computer scientists and software engineers in history. and yet these days, they're increasingly being dragged towards political philosophy — where, by a curious quirk of history, their sage is the former leader of the liberal democrats. and in weighing free speech against the potential harm of certain words, nick clegg is edging closer to terrain that has traditionally been dominated byjournalists. except facebook is much more powerful than any news organisation ever was. facebook�*s dilemma was guaranteed to annoy millions of voters. like most social networks, it was set up to connect friends but is now

reshaping democracy itself. amol rajan, bbc news, san francisco. the world's biggest advanced economies are close to reaching an agreement on global taxation that will change the world, according to the german finance minister. he was in london meeting his g7 counterparts ahead of next week's leader's summit. the plans aim to ensure the biggest multinational companies, and in particular the major tech firms, stop exploiting tax loopholes. our economics editor, faisal islam, has the story. in a crisis, an opportunity for historic global change. the chancellor's welcome still from behind masks and with no handshakes, but this, the first major in—person meeting of the world's most powerful nations since the covid outbreak, ahead of the cornwall g7 summit next week. all of the finance ministers here have been borrowing incredible amount — trillions of dollars, euros and yen, to support their economies through the pandemic,

and have coffers to fill. and at the same time covid—19 has accelerated sales, profits and revenues at multinational digital giants who have proved difficult to squeeze taxes out of. so the world's biggest economies are deciding at this meeting to set a global minimum rate of corporation tax. we are spending a lot of public money to protect our economies against the consequences of the covid, and to have a quick and very strong economic recovery, but we need money, and we need new resources. so how do you sell this within the european union to your colleague, the president of the eurogroup, the finance minister of ireland? i can understand the difficulty of ireland and some other european countries, but when there is such international impetus, this is in the interests of all 27 european member states to say, yes, we are on board and we are supporting this international tax system. it is the us leading the charge

on this, under president biden�*s treasury secretary, janet yellen — a massive turnaround from the trump administration, and those in the room say this agreement will be historic. we will have an agreement which will really change the world, and we will be able to do what we have to do for our people, and this will be a turning point in global cooperation, because the last decades were going into the other direction, now we are going into the right one. the finance ministers will squeeze big global corporations, with a minimum tax rate of at least 15% applying around the world. the crisis means they've got no choice. but in the fine detail of these negotiations, there's still a question about who gets that bounty. that's why the chancellor is being cautious so far. will it go predominantly, hundreds of billions of dollars, to the coffers of president biden, from the us tech giants, or can they agree that notjust the profits, but the sales in, say, britain,

from these global tech giants can be taxed by britain? talks over making it compulsory for major companies to report on their plans for cutting carbon emissions are also on a knife edge. as one minister put it, if the west doesn't work together to set the rules for the 21st century, then china will. faisal islam, at the g7 meeting in london. the united nations is warning of widespread famine in northern ethiopia after months of fighting in the tigray region between local rebels and government troops. the un says without significant help, things could deteriorate to levels of malnutrition not seen since 1984 when michael buerk�*s reports for the bbc prompted the live aid concert. the situation has been made worse by the government limiting access to aid agencies to go into the tigray region, leaving civilians trapped by the fighting without sufficient food and water supplies. here's our africa correspondent andrew harding.

the men with guns are bringing starvation once again to ethiopia. across the fragile northern region of tigray, months of conflict have destroyed farms, crops and clinics. with access limited, much of the suffering here is hidden from the outside world. fears of famine have been growing steadily, but today the un told us that famine conditions have now arrived. their farms have been destroyed, their harvest was destroyed, their bank accounts don't exist any more. there's hundreds of thousands of people in famine conditions now in tigray. archive: dawn, and as the sun breaks i through the piercing chill of night i on the plain outside korem, it lights up a biblical famine... it's four decades since this region experienced a famine that shook the world. is history repeating itself? it is not unreasonable to worry about a rerun of 1984. michael buerk reporting

the death of a child or a person every 20 minutes. if the world doesn't wake up and started to tackle this problem, don't be surprised if that's what we get. ethiopia's government is resisting international calls for a ceasefire and says its war against tigrayan rebels is nearly won. but access for aid groups remains restricted, the hungriest families trapped behind front lines. all of the checkpoints, the men with guns stopping aid vehicles and aid workers getting through, need to be told by their political masters to step back. so, to be clear, when the ethiopian authorities say, "this conflict is nearly over, we are giving full humanitarian access where possible," they're lying? most of the people who are starving and dying and need help are not getting help — that's the fact of the matter. many people are on the move — some heading across the border

into neighbouring sudan. they're fleeing a conflict of staggering violence with growing evidence that rape and now starvation are being used deliberately as weapons of war. it is extraordinary, isn't it, reeta, to think that ethiopia, a country which has sown so much promise, its economy has grown so much in recent decades, is now on the brink of another man—made famine. the international community, i think, will ramp up the pressure on the authorities to change the situation on the ground in the coming weeks, a ceasefire above all. but will the authorities in addis ababa pay any attention? right now they say the outside world as being belligerent and unhelpful. thank you, andrew. andrew harding reporting there. two police forces have agreed to pay damages to more than 600 people

over serious errors which followed the hillsborough disaster. lawyers say the south yorkshire and west midlands forces agreed the undisclosed settlement following a civil claim. it comes after two former police officers and a solicitor were cleared of perverting the course ofjustice last month. nobody has ever been convicted over police actions following the disaster, in which 96 liverpool fans died. dan johnson reports. the death of 96 liverpool fans was only the start of the pain hillsborough would inflict. injustice came before truth, deflection over transparency, and victims were blamed before officials were held accountable. we haven't really got the justice we set out for, from day one. but now, after 32 years, there's compensation for families likejohn traynor, who lost his brothers kevin and christopher. money doesn't bring them back. technically, to me, it's an admission of guilt, but no—one's been found guilty. no police officers have been found guilty. south yorkshire police was in charge

of the fa cup semifinal. its failure to manage the crowd led to a deadly crush, and its reluctance to admit responsibility brought cries of a cover—up. today the force said in a statement, "we acknowledge that serious errors and mistakes were made, both on the 15th of april 1989 and during the subsequent investigations." "the force's subsequent failings also caused huge distress, suffering and pain, both to the victims and their families." officers' statements were changed during the investigation overseen by west midlands police. it has also settled this claim. but just last week, two former senior south yorkshire officers and the force solicitor were cleared of perverting the course ofjustice. and their lawyer was adamant. there was no cover—up at hillsborough. - professor phil scraton was the first to uncover those amended police statements. the phrase that was used today by the lawyers for the families

was that it was the largest and most shameful cover—up by a police force in history. but what concerns me is i could see that in front of me — at that time, in the late 1990s. after the inquiry, the inquests and the failed prosecution of the match commander, came the hillsborough independent panel report, then new inquests and further court cases, butjust one conviction. now this is the end of what's been described as an unparalleled fight forjustice. but for many, it comes far too late. dan johnson, bbc news. pupils in england fell behind again in maths and reading during the second lockdown, after already having lost ground in the first, according to new research. our education editor, branwenjeffreys, is here. this comes after a week

when there's been a huge row over helping children catch up? that's right. it's just that's right. it'sjust days that's right. it's just days since the prime minister's advise on catch up the prime minister's advise on catch up for children resigned, he stood down because he said the government response was half—hearted and risked letting down hundreds of thousands of children. tonight we have research from the government saying that by march primary school in england where more than three months behind where they should be in maths and more than two months behind in reading, both key building blocks for their future education. reading, both key building blocks for theirfuture education. and reading, both key building blocks for their future education. and as well as that, we know that children who are deprived of falling behind even further, widening the gap that had been closing, and there are big differences across england, so if you look at two very different parts of the country and look at how much learning lost there has been in maths, at the beginning of the school year, children in yorkshire and humber had lost three times more

learning in maths than children in the south west. huge disparities which ministers are going to have to address. all of this will increase pressure for them to add to the 3.1 billion they have already promised. branwen, thank you. thousands of police have been patrolling the streets of hong kong to stop people commemorating the anniversary of the 1989 massacre in tiananmen square in beijing. the authorities have banned vigils, citing coronavirus restrictions, and areas where people usually gather have been closed off, as danny vincent reports. june 4th was once a day hong kongers dared not to forget. victoria park once looked like this on the anniversary of the deadly crackdown. this is victoria park onjune 4th 2021. this former british colony is the only place on chinese soil that officially marks

the tiananmen square crackdown. this year, the authorities threatened to imprison anyone who attended the vigil. they cited covid—19 restrictions, but it's seen as a part of a wider attack on dissent. some were determined to mark the day. translation: we're taking risks but you have to keep going. - if not, history willjust be rewritten and forgotten. gunfire. hundreds, possibly thousands, were killed when the chinese army opened fire on their own people in 1989. the events have been wiped from the chinese official history, but hong kong remembered. but in the early hours of the morning today, police arrested an organiser of the vigil — it sent a message to those who may have wanted to attend. but in this corner of hong kong, some came out to remember the dead. the police watched on.