this is bbc news. our top stories... more than half a million people in brazil have now died from coronavirus. experts warn the outbreak could worsen. a surge in coronavirus vaccination bookings in the uk, as 18—20—year—olds sign up for theirjab in huge numbers. keep our families safe and just being able to get back out there. opens a lot of possibilities for what you can do. probably when travel opens and things, it'll probably be easier if you have been vaccinated. how we do like to be beside the seaside — coastal towns are the biggest winners, as the uk economy bounces back from lockdown. and at euro 2020, the spotlight is on wales, who will be looking to seal their spot in the last 16

when they take italy in rome. hello and welcome to bbc news. one of the countries hit hardest by the pandemic, brazil, has recorded a total of more than half a million coronavirus deaths — making it the second country, after the us, to pass that figure. 2300 people have died of covid in the past day alone. as the virus continues to spread, president bolsonaro has refused to back measures like social distancing. experts say the outbreak could worsen with slow vaccination rates and the beginning of winter. mark lobel reports. as covid deaths reach 500,000 here, the painful goodbyes continue.

the death rate has been higher recently despite all precautions. i lost members of my family. brazil's health minister tweeted the grim news of the 500,000 lives lost, saying that he is working tirelessly to vaccinate all brazilians in the shortest time possible and to change this scenario that has plagued brazil for over a year. but some blame the government for that, accusing them of initially letting the virus spread, to build up herd immunity, and for rejecting masks and social distancing, leading to visible anger at this unenviable milestone. translation: may be this year will also be difficult _ translation: may be this year will also be difficult because _ translation: may be this year will also be difficult because we - translation: may be this year will also be difficult because we depend| also be difficult because we depend on the delivery of vaccines that have been purchased very late. at these protests, replicated in dozens of cities across brazil,

there is particularfury aimed at one man, brazil's president, jair bolsonaro, for his handling of this health emergency. translation: the feeling here is one of indignation. we can't stand it any more. the government is worse than the virus. translation: he took too long to buy the vaccine. herd immunity won't do any good. the only immunity you can get is with the vaccine. there's no other way. i've lost many friends, almost lost a cousin. millions of people are orphans, fatherless, motherless and childless. reducing hospitalisations remains a challenge here, as in many parts of the world. with only 11% of the population fully vaccinated, and 29% having had their first dose, and with winter on its way, brazil's covid fight remains fraught. mark lobel, bbc news. there's been a huge surge

in coronavirus bookings by over—18s in england as the government steps up efforts to offer all adults a jab byjuly the 19th. it comes as officials in england consider plans to drop the isolation period for anyone who comes into contact with someone infected with the virus, but only if they've received two vaccine doses. sean dilley reports. these are among tens of thousands who turned out in socially distanced lines across england to claim their covid vaccines during a weekend of walk—in appointments. london's olympic stadium has played host to manyjubilant crowds in its short life, but few gatherings have meant so much to a country hoping to lift all lockdown restrictions by the 19th ofjuly, the same date the government plans to have offered all adults their firstjab. i'd rather have it than get covid. looking forward to coming back to normality. as soon as it opened up,

everyone wanted it done | as soon as possible. on friday morning, vaccination appointments opened up to 18—20 year—olds and by the end of the day, more than 720,000 people had booked theirs. pop—up campaigns like these are crucial tojust get more people vaccinated. the more we do to help support our local authorities and councils and the more that we can do to make it convenient, offer choices to our public and residents, then i think that is the right way to go ahead. in the latest 24—hour period, nearly 219,000 people received a first dose. 42.6 million people or 81% of adults have now had their firstjabs. nearly 189,000 people have had their second dose of the vaccine in the latest 24—hour period. that means more than 31 million people or than 59% of uk adults are now fully vaccinated. meanwhile, those in england who have had both covid jabs and come into contact with someone infected with the virus could be spared having to isolate for ten days if trials that are under way prove effective.

ministers will no doubt be comforted by the success of the uk's vaccination programme, but they will know too that news is mixed. yesterday, the uk recorded more than 10,000 new confirmed infections for the third day running, with the delta variant accounting for most of them. and surge testing is under way in some areas of south london and cumbria in response to a rise in cases. eligible adults are being urged to take up their vaccine as soon as possible. while the prime minister has not ruled anything out, he says he's confident there will not need to be a further delay to the lifting of england's lockdown restrictions. sean dilley, bbc news. taiwan is due to receive 2.5 million doses of coronavirus vaccine today, doses of coronavirus vaccine today that are being donated by the united states. the island has a vaccine shortage and only 6% of its population have received a jab. taiwan has accused china of interfering in its efforts to acquire vaccines from western manufacturers. cindy sui in taipei has more.

the us donation comes at a difficult time in taiwan when it has seen an upsurge in cases. the number of confirmed cases shot up from a little over 1000 a month and a half ago to now more than 12,000 cases with several hundred deaths in the past weeks. it comes at a time when the administration faces criticism for being too slow in acquiring vaccines are not prioritising vaccination and also politicising the purchase of vaccines. washington sees the president and her ruling party as important allies in dealings with beijing in all sorts of disputes. these vaccines will not only save lives but could also help repair the damage done to the administration with the recent upsurge in cases. despite the huge donation in one recently byjapan of more than1 million donation in one recently byjapan of more than 1 million doses, donation in one recently byjapan of more than1 million doses, taiwan lacks vaccines. it needs about 30

million doses to achieve herd immunity by vaccinating 60% of the population. so far, it has only vaccinated 6%. in the coming weeks, it remains to be seen whether taiwan can acquire more vaccines. even though the island has been successful in the past year in controlling the spread of covid—19, it now watches neighbouring countries as well as countries in europe and the us reopen their economies and societies, but taiwan does not know when it can reopen from the lockdown imposed throughout taiwan. in the uk, labour says robert buckland must resign asjustice secretary if he fails to increase prosecution and conviction levels for rape within a year. over the past few years there's been a significant drop in the proportion of rape cases reported to police where alleged perpetrators were charged. the government has announced an action plan, aiming to return the number of prosecutions to 2016 levels by the end of the parliament.

but labour says the drop should be reversed within a year. seaside resorts are bouncing back faster than big cities when it comes to in—shop spending — that's according to new research by the think—tank centre for cities. it suggests large urban centres are still struggling to attract shoppers, partly due to office employees continuing to work from home. our business correspondent, katie prescott, has this report. remember this? beaches in the uk a few weeks ago and, whilst the heatwave may be over for now, the warmth has stayed in the economies of seaside towns. they have seen a bigger bounce back in the number of visitors than in any other part of the country. in the last weekend of may, blackpool saw its numbers up 147%. southend — 134%. bournemouth 127%, and brighton 119%. boosted by weekend visitors to the beach.

but in our major cities, like here in london, it is a completely different picture. the trend here is for people to continue to work from home, so they are not in the centre spending money in the shops and cafes as they once were. and the centre for cities says that if this trend continues into the autumn, then our big cities will see an even bigger economic hit. smaller and medium—sized city centres have a much more local catchment area, so traditionally, where they are pulling their customers from is very much within a very local distance. and the second thing, particularly with seaside towns, is that it appears that we are seeing a revisiting of the great british seaside and are seeing people going back to seaside towns such as blackpool and brighton and bournemouth and taking advantage of both the good weather, but of course also the restrictions in terms of not being able to go abroad. so while the seaside towns might start to suffer if the travel restrictions and the weather turns, for now, the sun is shining in theirfavour.

katie prescott, bbc news. the former commons speaker and conservative mp, john bercow, has revealed he hasjoined the labour party. in a newspaper interview, mr bercow said the government needed to be replaced, and called borisjohnson�*s conservative party "reactionary, populist and nationalistic". the government says his move isn't a surprise and it's continuing to pursue an ambitious agenda. there have been further warnings of wildfires for much of america's south west as the region battles an intense heatwave. mountain ranges across arizona have been scorched and a state of emergency has been declared in california, where temperatures have climbed above 5a celsius. residents have been urged to stay indoors and limit their use of energy and water after a severe drought left rivers and reservoirs running dry. the athletes' village for the tokyo olympics has been unveiled — just over a month before the start of the games. around 18,000 athletes and officials will be housed in the waterfront village,

where residents will be asked to take daily covid tests, wear facemasks and follow social distancing measures. at least one man has been killed after a pick—up truck slammed into a pride parade. it happened at the start of an lgbt+ parade in the town of wilton manors near fort lauderdale. another person was injured and the driver was later ta ken into custody. it's not clear if it was a deliberate assault. a memorial service will be held laterfor three men murdered in an islamist attack in reading exactly one year ago. james furlong, joe ritchie—bennett and david wails were stabbed to death whilst sitting together in a park. ahead of today's event, james' parents have been speaking to our home affairs correspondent, nikki mitchell. the gardens are such a lovely place, and if me and jan had been living in reading, it's where we would have been on that saturday evening, sunny day. this has been a tough week after an agonising year forjan and gary furlong.

they will be travelling down from liverpool to reading, where their sonjames had built a full and happy life. we will be there for james and joe and david. we'll be there for all of them. the three boys, what happened... it's going to be sad, but it's going to be to remember them all. and just to make sure they will never be forgotten. james furlong, joe ritchie—bennett and david wails were all members of reading's gay community and regulars at the lgbtq+ friendly pub the blagrave arms. it's important that we go and spend some time with the local people that we know from reading, even as much as the blagrave pub. our gratitude is endless, to be honest with you. support from the lgbt, and you know...

lgbt, that was a big part of james's life, both in reading and liverpool. we have been back to blagrave a few times since for different memorials, for different things. lovely, lovely people. but also just to be able to have that kind of personal walk around with james's friends, other family members and... so we just spend that little �*our time' kind of thing, as a group. gary and jan will also be at a memorial later next week at the holt school in wokingham where james taught history. it will have sadness for us, but it will have good memories of good people. and certainly as far as the holt school is concerned, because it was james's world. it wasn'tjust a job, it was a vocation in life forjames. he loved his history and politics. he loved teaching the children.

and them... the pupils are james's legacy. the amount of letters we got off them, how he affected their lives. they were beautiful, absolutely beautiful — but heartbreaking as well — to read. but he was loved so much. dear mr furlong this and... it was like, that is our son. so proud of him. the work they put in in the honour ofjames. amazing. that sit to the end kind of thing. both: yeah. the parents of james furlong there talking ahead of that special memorial service for the victims of the reading park attack exactly one year ago. armenians are heading to the polls for a snap parliamentary election. prime minister nikol pashinyan called for the early vote to defuse political tensions after months of protests.

the opposition blames mr pashinyan for signing a peace accord with azerbaijan after armenia was defeated in last year's war over the territory of nagorno—karabakh. the war cost armenians nearly five thousand lives and swathes of territory. it's estimated 200 people are still being held captive by azerbaijan. earlier, bbc russian�*s grigor atanesian, who's in the armenian capital yerevan, gave us the latest. the prime minister was forced to call the election after not only the opposition but also military leaders and diplomats have challenged his government and called on him to resign. this comes from the military defeat armenia suffered last year and the country has been in crisis since. there are bigger issues that a lot of people do not expect to be solved in this election. the economy is in a bad situation. people

struggle to find jobs. the huge tourist sector was badly hit by the pandemic. there are other issues, and civil society, many of them will not be solved by one government immediately. it will be a close race. the prime minister and the former president, two different men with a different agenda. one confirms on corruption. the other national security and borders and a better relationship with russia. wales will be looking to secure their place in the euros knock—out stage when they take on italy in rome later today. wales have all but guaranteed their spot with four points so far, thanks to a draw with switzerland, followed by a win over turkey. italy are already through to the last 16, having won their first two games. earlier, we spoke to wales correspondent, hywel griffith, in rome to find out relaxed wales were feeling.

wales are in italy with thejob more or less done. they are virtually guaranteed a route through to the next round. the result today is important — a win against italy, they top the group. a draw, that would secure second and a route through to a game in amsterdam next week. but if they lose, they could still go through in third place and a lot will depend on what happens between switzerland and turkey. let's not underestimate the task ahead in italy. they play an italian team that has not lost in 29 games and not conceded a goal in almost 1000 minutes of football. while italy might rest some stars today and will be missing their captain, they still are an incredible team to take on. rob page and gareth bale speaking yesterday, saying they are here to win. any game at this level they have to focus on the best result. i think the pressure is taken off a little. only a few hundred welsh

fans to cheer them on. the covid travel advice was not to come to italy to support wales, but i know thousands at home will be watching at 5pm, crossing theirfingers for a miracle in rome. tributes have been paid to one of india's greatest athletes, milkha singh, who has died at the age of 91. known as the flying sikh, he won four gold medals at the asian games, and finished fourth at the 1960 rome olympics. our india correspondent, yogita limaye, takes a look back at his life. with each run, milkha singh pushed a newborn india to dream bigger. his own journey rooted in his nation's tragedy — his family was killed in religious violence, during the partition of british india in 19117. he escaped on a train, hiding in the women's compartment. a refugee, an orphan. and in 1958, at the commonwealth

games in cardiff, a sprinter — seen here as he stunned record holders. commentator: and milkha singh! milkha singh of india! "i could feel the closest runner was right behind me, so i pushed as hard as i could. after that, the indian anthem played and 100,000 people in the uk stood up for it. i was told i had made india shine in the world," milkha singh said a few years ago. he's inspired generations of athletes. indian icon anju bobby george is one of them. thank you very much for showing us the path to success.

last post played on trumpets. milkha singh was given state honours. india has lost so many to covid. today, a national hero. milkha singh, who has died at the age of 91 from covid—related complications. from window boxes to balconies, allotments to backyards — there has been a revival as a result of the pandemic. amy garcia has been digging around to find out why. pottering in the garden. a past—time once associated with the older generation. but no longer. horticulture is enjoying a renaissance among young people. this group of friends in skipton met through a shared passion for plants during lockdown. connecting a little more with nature. it is good exercise and nice to be outdoors and just learning something new. it is exciting. when you see something actually

growing you go "i did that". we were fed up with living and working in the same place so i got the allotment on thursday and i am looking forward to getting stuck in. summer got her plot here in december and is now working through a waiting list of people like her, concerned about climate change and keen to be more green. there is a conversation about what we can do, and the obvious thing to do was to get away from a big monocultures and be a little more self—reliant. how can i build what i want to build but in a simplistic way that will not cost too much? is it cool? it is definitely cool. and others agree. in a poll, 83% of young people said gardening was now cool and more than half prefer to go to a garden centre than to a night out. when nightclubs finally reopen, will you choose dancing or gardening? in the garden centre. gardening definitely. i would bring the party to the allotment. what a great idea.

this is my veg patch. more weeds here than anything edible, but it seems everyone is after it. there is a growing trend of social influencers posting about their perfect peas. this woman is a garden influencer on instagram, with 30,000 people following herjourney. the gardening community is amazing. they are so supportive and if they are new to it especially and want to learn and want tips — how do you grow that? they want you to show your experience with that plan. i want some tips from you. please look at my beans. or are they sweet peas, i think? they look sorry for themselves. as long as you have good quality compost and water them well they will be fine. i'm probably going wrong with watering. but for these people, the party is here on the plots.

that was amy garcia reporting. they've become unlikely online stars thanks to their antics on �*nestcams' and now it's hoped the popularity of four owls in somerset in southwest england will help promote conservation. barn owl numbers in the area are in decline, and there's been a call forfarmers to install more nest boxes. and as scott ellis reports — it now seems to be paying off. just look at the wing of this. you can see it is not yet fully developed. born in the wild, but famous in tens of thousands of homes worldwide, thanks to nestcam. these are the parents, finn and orla. the eggs were laid in early april and hatched a month later, all in a nesting box, in a barn, in somerset�*s blackdown hills. they have had their first outing, too, to have a numbered ring attached to a leg, the birds visibly unmoved by the experience. they are, after all, nocturnal.

parents are feeding them during the night and then they are sleeping during the day. so the adults are sleeping as well during the day. so this is their sleep time. that is why they are so docile when you ring them? yep, they literally are falling asleep on you while you're ringing them, which is very sweet. ringing the four owlets will help identify them if they are found in future years in other nesting boxes or, sadly, if they die. a quarter of barn owls end up as roadkill. somerset�*s barn owl population declined ten years ago because of widespread floods. the good news is it is now on the up. actually, it did not affect them very much, because they are not stupid. they just flew to a different part and they bred in a different area and then they recolonised once the floods dissipated. these four are not likely to fly far from their nest when they depart it few weeks' time.

there's plenty of voles, and mice here for them to eat. so i do not see them going hungry. and of course we are in an area where there's no major roads and we are not building houses here, so they are in a relatively safe environment but, as i said before, that is not the picture nationally. nationally, nature is really in trouble and all of these habitats are shrinking. give it another month and the famous four will be getting hunting lessons from mum and dad and may even consider moving out. watch the nestcam now before it is too late. it is hoped their popularity will highlight the importance of natural habitats in an ever developing world. scott ellis, bbc news. you are watching bbc news. pa rt part two of the weekend is a repeat

performance of part one. sunday has started on a cloudy note with the rain easing away into the north sea. the cloud is fairly widespread at the moment but as the rain eases into the north sea, we will see it thinning and breaking with sunshine coming through in england and wales. sunny spells and showers in scotland and northern ireland. brisk showers here accompanied by a keen north—westerly wind. the wind direction will be a feature, coming in off the north sea, exposed north—east coast will feel disappointing, 15—16 as the hive. if we get sunshine coming through in south—east england we may see 22 degrees. 72 fahrenheit. much warmer than that for the wales match in rome. 33 degrees quite likely. temperatures easing into the second half of the match. as we look at

what to expect into monday morning, some rain pushing into the south and some rain pushing into the south and some of it turning quite heavy. this low pressure will linger across southern fringes of england through much of the day. the heaviest of the rain likely in north wales and the low countries. but anywhere south of the m4 corridor we could see rain. cloudy in england and wales. the best chance of sunshine in scotland and northern ireland but the wind direction making the temperature is disappointing. we are looking at a high perhaps of the mid to high teens. it means clear skies to the north could allow temperatures to fall away sharply in sheltered rural areas. close to freezing in places. widely seeing temperatures into single figures. feeling cool on tuesday and tuesday, cloud and rain

gathering into the north—west later and bringing rain into the north—west. gradually low pressure moving to southern england with more rain here later.

this is bbc news. the headlines... more than 500,000 people in brazil have now died from coronavirus. more than 500,000 people in brazil have now died from coronavirus. experts warn the outbreak could worsen. a surge in coronavirus vaccination bookings in the uk, as 18—20 year olds sign up for theirjab in huge numbers. keep our families safe and just being able to get back out there. opens a lot of possibilities for what you can do. probably when travel opens and things, it'll probably be easier if you have been vaccinated. things like that.

how we do like to be beside the seaside.