this is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. new york's governor declares a disaster emergency, following a sharp rise in gun violence. it's so bad that when you look at the recent numbers, more people are dying of gun violence than of covid. gunfire as nato withdraws, afghan security forces insist their soldiers have not defected to the taliban. by no means has anyone defected to the taliban. they may have abandoned their posts because they were no longer able to fight. but they have come back. in south east asia, covid vaccinations stall

as governments struggle to find a way out of the crisis. cheering and italy's footballers reach the final of the euros — after beating spain in a dramatic penalty shoot—out. hello, and welcome. new york state's governor andrew cuomo has declared a "disaster emergency" following a surge in gun violence there. the move will enable the state to bolster its law enforcement presence in cities where shootings are on the increase. the announcement comes as new york and many other parts of the united states see a big rise in gun violence. governor cuomo explained his decision at a news conference. it's so bad that when you look at the recent numbers,

more people are dying of gun violence than of covid. it is an emergency. and i want the people of the state to understand that. and i want them to respond to the emergency for the way it is. so today, first state in the nation is going to declare a disaster emergency on gun violence. our north america correspondent, david willis, is in washington. he told us more about this decision. it's a disaster emergency order, ben, and what it basically does is pinpoints the areas where crime is at its worst and seeks to direct resources to those areas. now, governor andrew cuomo has proposed an office of gun violence prevention, and he'll also create a department to track the illegal flow of firearms from other states into new york state.

and he's also planning to boost job creation programmes for young people in order to keep them off the streets. new york saw 51 deaths from gun violence over the course of the 4th ofjuly holiday — and it is not alone, ben, as far as gun violence is concerned in american cities. there's been a sharp rise in the last 13 or so months. is this a move that's likely to be repeated in other parts of the united states? i would think very much so. for example, if you look at chicago, this last bank holiday weekend, we just had the independence day holiday here, 100 shootings there including half a dozen young people, people as old as five and six, innocent bystanders hit in so—called drive—by shootings, for example.

los angeles also another city that's seen a sharp spike in gun violence over the last few months or so. as for what's caused this, ben, initially the pandemic saw a reduction in crime as people were cooped up at home, if you like. but then we had problems with unemployment, a lot of people were laid off, of course, and that is thought to have contributed to the rise in gun crime here, along with a proliferation of firearms and such things as the question over the legitimacy of police forces here, if you like, in the wake of incidents such as that involving george floyd. so it's a combination of factors, but we've certainly seen some very, very scary statistics from some cities in recent months. david willis reporting.

the taliban say they've captured more than ten districts in afghanistan over the past 2a hours. the militants have been advancing rapidly, as nato troops withdraw. they now control about a third of the country. afghanistan's military insisted today it will retake all districts that have fallen. our correspondent secunder kermani reports. gunfire the taliban have been advancing rapidly across afghanistan. in some areas, under—resourced government forces have surrendered or fled. in others, the insurgents have faced stiff resistance. the group is now in control of around a third of all districts. but afghan officials are vowing to launch a counteroffensive. the afghan security forces, the afghan air force has reorganised itself so they may have abandoned their posts because they ran out of ammunition, they ran out of supplies, but by no means has anyone defected. bagram was america's largest base in afghanistan and is home

to high—value prisoners. it has been handed over to afghan forces, as nearly all international troops have been withdrawn from the country. officials here claim they were not even warned when exactly the americans were leaving. us air strikes had been a key weapon in holding the taliban back. now they are largely stopping. afghan officials are still trying to sound positive. this is war — in a combat, everything is possible. nothing is stable. but the point, the main point, is the people or the government's goal is mentally they don't want taliban, physically they don't want taliban, from the religious type, they don't want the taliban. underlining the pressures on afghan forces, last night neighbouring tajikistan ordered thousands more troops

to the border after hundreds of afghan soldiers fled across it in recent days. many fear, come september and the formal deadline for the withdrawal of remaining foreign forces, the taliban's military offensive will only grow even stronger. secunder kermani, bbc news. let's look at some of the day's other news. a well—known investigative journalist in the netherlands, peter r de vries, has been shot and seriously injured in an attack on a street in amsterdam. police said he's been taken to hospital in critical condition. de vries has covered numerous high—profile crime cases over the past 20 years. three people have been detained in connection with the shooting. a former challenger for the presidency in belarus,

viktor babaryko, has been sentenced to 14 years in jail. the banker was found guilty of taking bribes and money—laundering — charges he says were fabricated, to prevent him challenging alexander lukashenko in last year's election. lebanon's caretaker prime minister has warned that his country is on the edge of a cliff and facing an imminent social explosion. addressing foreign ambassadors, hassan diab urged the international community to save his country — warning that its collapse would reverberate well beyond its borders. japanese media is reporting that the partial state of emergency for the tokyo area is likely to be extended over coronavirus concerns — less than three weeks before the olympics begin. some olympic events, such as the opening ceremony and the marathon, may also be held without spectators. italy have beaten spain in a penalty shoot—out to reach the final of the euro 2020 football tournament. in a thrilling match at wembley, it finished i—i before heading to penalties. cheering

this was the reaction in rome to italy's 4—2 victory in the shoot—out. the italians will now play either england or denmark in the final. that match of course taking place on wednesday. earlier, i spoke to anna socci, an azzurri fan in the middle of some chaotic scene on the streets of milan. yeah, it was unbelievable. i think italy really needs this kind of emotion after a long dry period with covid. and it seems to be living a new era of italian football. —— italian atmosphere. it's amazing. were you nervous, because it was 1—1, italy scored first, and then spain equalised? were you nervous? yes, we were very, very worried, especially

when at the end of the match when they were at 1—1 during the final goal. but the enthusiasm and expectations were very high, and here we are. we're just looking at some pictures of you and other people celebrating and watching very nervously. but when it went to penalties, what did you think? because penalties are already pretty scary for any football fan. yeah, we were so worried about it, but we just follow and respected them. you can't imagine how many scouts there are around me right now. can you hear me? i can hearyou, and i can hear what sounds like a lot of people celebrating. a lot, you can imagine a lot of people around me. do you want to see them? yeah, show us! ok, i'll show you. this is around me, ok?

actually, there's one bus blocked over there, and other people staying over there, putting my camera out. ok, look at that, look at that. people just... laughter just one last quick question, anna, who would you rather have in the final, england or denmark? i think england! and do you think you could be england, or do you think italy could beat england? yes, i think. i'm not so sure about that. anyway, anna, thanks so for being with us. a very happy italian fan in milan along with otherjubilant italian supporters following bell are celebrating their victory over spain.

canada has appointed an inuit leader, mary simon, to serve as governor—general — the representative of the head of state, queen elizabeth. it's the first time an indigenous person has held the largely ceremonial role. prime ministerjustin trudeau confirmed that the queen had accepted mary simon's appointment. in her acceptance speech, ms simon refered to the recent discovery of unmarked graves at former indigenous residential schools. during my time as governor general, i will work every day towards promoting healing and wellness across canadian society. to me, that means stopping, to fully recognise, memorialise, and come to terms with the atrocities of our collective past that we are learning more about each day. it means we must thoughtfully work hard towards the promise of a brighter tomorrow. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come: more than a dozen nigerian schools considered vulnerable to attack are closed following the kidnap of 140 students

in the latest abduction. central london has been rocked by a series of terrorist attacks. police say there have been many casualties, and there is growing speculation that al-qaeda was responsible. germany will be the hosts of the 2006 football world cup. they've pipped the favourite, south africa, by a single vote. in south africa, the possibility of losing hadn't even been contemplated. celebration parties were cancelled. the man entered the palace l through a downstairs window and made his way to the queen's private bedroom, then _ he asked her for a cigarette — and, on the pretext _ of arranging for some to be - brought, summoned a footman on duty who took the man away. one child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world.

education is the only solution. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines... new york's state governor declares a disaster emergency, following a sharp rise in gun violence. the taliban claim they've taken control of more territory in afghanistan, as nato withdraws. afghan security forces insist soldiers have not defected to the militants. many parts of south east asia coped well when covid first hit, in spite of limited resources. more than a year—and—a—half into the pandemic and several lockdowns later, goodwill among the people is wearing thin. vaccination programmes have stalled and governments are struggling to find a way

out of the crisis. in indonesia, the government has appealed for international help to secure supplies of oxygen, a day after recording its highest numbers of daily covid infections and deaths. our south east asia correspondent jonathan head reports. as other businesses flounder, it's a sign of the dismal times we live in that this one is thriving. this jakartan coffin—maker says he's making three times as many these days after the new outbreak of the delta covid variant. indonesians may have thought last year was bad enough. this year, though, is much worse — covid deaths running at more than 500 a day. oxygen is in critically short supply. people have to fill up their own cylinders to ensure that hospitalised family members get it.

this man says his best efforts were not enough. his sister died at this hospital on monday morning. here in thailand, these shuttered bars tell the story of how far the government was willing to sacrifice the all—important tourist industry to keep covid out — which last year, it did very successfully. this year, though, despite all of this economic pain, infections have searched so fast, they've overwhelmed the hospitals and completely outstripped the government's faltering vaccination programme. this hotel cleaner, now out of a job, was forced to camp on the street after testing positive for covid, but unable to self—isolate in her cramped home. an ngo helping thai covid victims heard of her plight and eventually found a hospital

that would take her. there is growing public anger here over the government's failure to order vaccines early enough and in sufficient qualities. after a well—publicized launch last month, vaccines have run out in many areas. ministers are also accused of failing to prioritise the elderly, of giving over optimistic predictions, and of not imposing tougher measures quickly enough to curb the new outbreaks. but after a year—and—a—half, many businesses here just can't survive more lockdowns. this restaurant owner is in despair after the government banned on—site dining last month with no warning. translation: the voice - of little people like me never gets heard at the top. but if we close down, then what will i do? will i have to give up everything i've built and lay off all my staff?

malaysia is well ahead of both of its neighbours in vaccinating its population. the government believes it can inoculate 80% of them by the end of the year. yet even here in a much wealthier society, that's a long stretch of continued lockdowns and travel restrictions to endure. without access to more vaccines, governments across this region have run out of answers to give their increasingly frustrated people. jonathan head, bbc news, bangkok. the british government has signalled a further easing of coronavirus restrictions in england despite admitting that covid cases could reach 100,000 a day this summer. the health secretary, sajid javid, said that from 16 august, people who are fully vaccinated won't have to self—isolate if they come into close contact with a person who has tested positive. the measure will also apply

to under—18s even if they haven't had a jab. the opposition labour party questioned what the lifting of restrictions, amid rising cases, will mean for the most vulnerable. here's our health editor, hugh pym. getting pinged. the nhs covid app alerting people they've been in contact with someone who tested positive and telling them to self—isolate for up to ten days. that will come to an end in england in mid—august for those who are double jabbed. whether alerted by the app or test and trace officials, they'll simply be asked to get tested. secretary of state. the health secretary told mps it was part of the move towards more normal everyday life. step by step, jab byjab, we're replacing the temporary protection of the restrictions with the long—term protection of the vaccine. so we can restore the freedoms which we cherish, and the experiences that mean so much to us all. the latest numbers show nearly 29,000 daily reported cases

and more than 400 patients admitted to hospital on monday. the government predicts 50,000 cases a day by i9july, and then, 100,000 a day possibly in august. one key member of a government advisory committee says predicting future hospital numbers is difficult, but he's not concerned at this stage. i am, let's say, moderately optimistic that we will keep hospitalisations and deaths at manageable, relatively low levels. there are risks, though. but, with covid patient numbers set to rise further, there are fears that hospitals will come under renewed pressure and, again, have to postpone non—urgent operations. the governments in wales and northern ireland have yet to unveil their plans. scottish ministers say they're on track to lift remaining restrictions next month. hugh pym, bbc news. now to nigeria, where the abduction of children has become a regular occurance.

there have been two kidnappings involving children, in less than 2a hours in the state of kaduna. 140 children from a baptist school and the kidnap of nurses and babies from a hospital. local authorities have now ordered the closure of 13 schools considered vulnerable to bandit attacks. our nigeria correspondent mayenijones reports. intense sobbing unspeakable grief, it's a scene that's become all too common in nigeria. these parents are the latest victims of a kidnapping crisis that continues to escalate. gunmen attacked this baptist high school in southern kaduna just before 2am on monday. they gained access to the campus by breaching a back wall. as the news broke, parents headed to the school. we have the nigerian air force that's supposed to carry warplanes!

this has been going on! this has been going on, the government has failed us! we stand in one voice, we condemn whatever happened, and we will continue to protest until our children are brought back! just hours earlier, another kidnapping took place in the same state — this time in a hospital, where a one—year—old baby was amongst those abducted. they entered some of the houses in the corridors and beat some people. like my sister here, they beat her with her two children, and her daughter. five of them. 13 million children are already out of school in nigeria, and unicef says this latest wave of abductions will make things a lot worse — more than 1,000 students have been taken from schools and universities across five northern nigerian states since december. nine of them have been killed, and more than 300 children are still missing. nigeria is in the midst of twin

economic insecurity crises. —— economic and security. the unemployment rate has more than quadrupled over the last five years, and the state is already stretched thin fighting boko haram in the northeast. criminals with nojob prospects have found a lucrative industry in kidnapping for ransom. if those issues are not tackled, then there may be no end in sight to this vicious cycle. mayenijones, bbc news, lagos. tennis now and the line up for the women's semi—finals at wimbledon has been completed. angelique kerber, champion in 2018, is the only former winner though to the last four. rounding up all of tuesday's action from the all england club, here's chetan pathak. centre court and court number one were at full capacity for the first time on women's quarterfinals day, as ash barty, the world number one and number one seed, made it through to the semifinals, beating fellow australian ajla tomljanovic in straight sets. barty�*s grown in confidence and belief throughout

these championships, and now sets up a last four tie with angelique kerber, the only former wimbledon champion still in these championships. what a story it's been for kerber. between 2018, when she won the title here, and the start of these championships, she'd only won one title. that was in hamburg on grass last month. she's been looking absolutely fantastic, and she got past karolina muchova 6—2, 6—3. on the other side of the draw, aryna sabalenka's breakthrough moment continues, and that on grass. not many people were expecting her to get this far at wimbledon, but she's finally got past that mental hurdle in her head of only reaching the fourth round of the grand slam. into the semifinals she goes after ending ons jabeur�*s story. jabeur, the first north african woman, the first arab woman to get this far at these championships, saw her run ended in straight sets. she didn't have all the answers

she needed to get past a hard—hitting sabalenka. and sabalenka will play karolina pliskova for a place in the final. pliskova easing through her quarterfinal in straight sets. in absolute style, as we've seen her play throughout these championships so far, she won 6—2, 6—2 against viktorija golubic. pliskova ensuring she's now reached the last four all of the grand slams, and those semifinals will be played on thursday. before that, it'll be men's quarterfinals day at wimbledon, with roger federer in action, and also the world number one, novak djokovic. and before we go — water slides are a staple of summer. and it turns out, even baby elephants in china like tojoin in the fun. look at this from a rescue centre in china's yunnan province. this playful elephant, yee—shwang, enjoyed herself on a muddy hill slide.

the ground was wet and slippery after rainfall, and she knelt down — and slid all the way down. you're watching bbc news. hello there. we've seen yet more rain across many parts of the country in the past 24 hours. and the reason it's been so wet, really, for so long is because of the position of the jet stream, that's the upper level winds. and as it's diving to the south of the uk, with that sort of pattern, you end up with low pressure sitting close to the uk. and it's around that low pressure that we see these areas of cloud rotating, keeping some wet weather going into the night and into wednesday, as well. if we look at the story over the next few days, we find some sunshine, yes, but still the threat of some showers which may be heavy, as well. and certainly on tuesday, there was lots of rain at wimbledon. it looks a lot drier though for wednesday — can't rule out 1—2 showers, mind you, and temperatures will be 20—21 celsius. we start the day pretty cloudy, actually, there may well be

some further rain around. as it brightens up, we get some sunshine which triggers a more showers, particularly across england and wales, and some of those could be heavy and thundery. may see a few showers breaking out across parts of scotland and northern ireland. a warmer day, though, than it was on tuesday for eastern scotland and the northeast of england. and for many parts of the country, temperatures are a little bit higher on wednesday. a few showers in the london area, those will tend to fade away during the evening, and it'll probably be dry at wembley for kick—off with ideal temperatures for playing football. as we move into thursday, many places starting to dry, some sunshine breaking through. again, we see some showers developing too. these will be a little more hit and miss, but it brightens up in eastern scotland, we could get some heavy showers here. the rest of scotland and northern ireland looks more cloudy and not as warm, perhaps, but with the sunshine in england and wales, it should feel a bit warmer with light winds on thursday. we've got slightly higher pressure to end the week — the fly in the ointment is this little weather front here that keeps more cloud across northern ireland,

eventually increasing the cloud across wales and the southwest, bringing some rain later on in the day. ahead of it, some sunshine coming through, still the chance of some showers. these are most likely in eastern scotland and across the eastern side of england. but many places on friday will have a dry day. and those temperatures sitting at 22—23 celsius. now i don't think those numbers will change a great deal into the weekend. there will still be some sunshine around, but we still have this threat of some showers and the greater risk of showers is likely to be on sunday.

this is bbc news. the latest headlines:

new york state's governor, andrew cuomo, has declared a �*disaster emergency�* following a surge in gun violence there. the move will enable the state to bolster its law enforcement presence in cities where shootings are on the increase. afghanistan's national security adviser has denied claims by the taliban that government soldiers have defected to the militant group. following the departure of nato troops, the afghan army has come under pressure, with many worried about whether it can hold off the taliban as it continues to capture more territory. there were wild celebrations in rome as italy's footballers reached the final of the euros after beating spain. the game had to go to penalties, having finished 1—1 after extra time. italy will now play either denmark or england in sunday's final. now on bbc news, it's hardtalk.