this is bbc news, the headlines: president biden has accused republican—controlled states of mounting a dangerous attack on free and fair elections by restricting voting rights. the republican national committee dismissed mr biden�*s remarks as dishonest. it said republicans were trying to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat. the deployment of hundreds of troops in south africa has failed to prevent a fifth day of violent unrest and looting. at least 72 people have been killed and about 800 have been arrested since protests erupted in response to the jailing of the former president, jacob zuma. a diplomatic row has broken out between the greek government and the eu over the country's treatment of migrants trying to reach europe from turkey. human rights groups claim that thousands of people seeking asylum in europe have been blocked by greek boats and pushed back to turkey. now on bbc news,

the highlights of tuesday in parliament, presented by david cornock. hello again, and welcome to tuesday in parliament. a former prime minister accuses the government of breaking its promise on overseas aid. this motion means that promise may be broken for years to come. with deep regret, i will vote against the motion today. hear, hear! anger in the lords over the racist abuse of england's footballers... these are not football supporters, they are sick, they are scum, and they are cowards because they hide, as we have heard, behind the anonymity of social media. and the dark side of being a social media influencer. people hate influence rs.

they are so angry at us making money, they are so angry at... i it could be something crazy, like me walking my dog, - and people are just so angry. but first, the government has seen off a rebellion by two dozen conservative mps over cuts to overseas aid. mps voted by a majority of 35 to keep the budget for international development at 0.5% of national income. but several tories joined labour and other parties in an attempt to reinstate the 0.7% figure that had been in place until earlier this year. ministers say the cut of almost four billion pounds a year is needed to keep public debt down during the pandemic. they've promised to restore the money when national debt is falling and the government's no longer borrowing to cover

day to day spending. opening the debate, the prime minister said that despite the cut, the uk would still be among the most generous donors, spending ten billion pounds a year on aid. and it bears repeating that we are doing this in the midst of a terrible crisis, when our public finances are under greater strain than ever before in peacetime history, and every pound we stand in aid has to be borrowed. in fact, it represents not our money, but money that we are taking from future generations. we all believe in the principle that aid can transform lives, and by voting for this motion, honourable members will provide certainty for our aid budget at an affordable path back to 0.7% while also allowing for investment in other priorities, including the nhs, schools and the police. as soon as circumstances allow and the tests are met, we will return to the target that unites us, mr speaker, and i beg to move this motion. the labour leader, sir keir starmer, said there'd been a cross party consensus behind a target for aid spending.

every living prime minister thinks this is wrong. there is only one prime minister who is prepared to do this, and he's sitting there. and let's be clear what these cuts would mean — 1 million girls losing out on schooling, nearly 3 million women and children going without life—saving nutrition. 5.6 million children left unvaccinated, an estimated 100,000 deaths worldwide. mr speaker, he says "rubbish", that is the human toll of the choice this government is making, and it's not rubbish. among the tory rebels, borisjohnson�*s predecessor. we're told there'll be dire - consequence for tax and public spending if this motion is defeated tonight. i we've borrowed £400 billion. where are the dire . warnings about that? it seems that £4 billion is really bad news. - 400 billion? who cares.

i have been in this house for nearly a quarter - of a century, during thatj time, i have never voted against a three line | whip from my party. as prime minister, i suffered at the hands of rebels, - i know what it is like to see party colleagues voting - against their government. we made a promise to the l poorest people in the world, the government hasl broken that promise. this motion means that promise may be broken for years to come. with deep regret, i will vote against the motion today. . hear, hear! the snp said the government had got its priorities wrong. the prime minister, who's no longer in his seat — and he should be embarrassed when i read this — believes that spending upwards of £200 million on a shiny brand—new royal yacht brittania 2.0 is more important than using life—saving aid to deliver a morejust, peaceful and secure world. and tory critics said the government's conditions for restoring the cut had been met only once in 20 years. there is a straight choice,

as outlined by the leader of the house yesterday in his statement, and it is between rejecting this motion tonight, in which case the government will restore the 0.7 from next year, that was the olive branch that i and my right honourable and honourable friends suggested, oraccept the so—called "treasury compromise", but i tell the house this is no compromise at all. it is a fiscal trap for the unwary. first of all, it is quite possible that these conditions will never be met. but others insisted circumstances demanded a departure from the target. but we have suffered - the biggest recession in 300 years, and that is not - a situation that we could have predicted when i fought - the election and our manifesto promises. and yet the international- development act 2015 explicitly anticipated the sort - of crisis where a departure from targets is necessary. now, if you asked me during the election i whether i would've _ considered...reconsidered this commitment to 0.7%, i would've said yes, i but only in the very

darkest of times. . and if the last year or so has . not been the darkest of times, then what is? the shadow chancellor made a last ditch appeal to potential waverers. this isn'tjust about how much aid we give overseas, it's about the country that we are and the country that we want to be. whether you're a government or a football team, when you're on the world stage, how you conduct yourself and whether you lead by example really matters. when it came to the vote the government won comfortably, even if its majority was reduced to 35. the ayes to the right, 333. the noes to the left, 298. the ayes have it, the ayes have it. unlock! 2a tory mps voted against the government. after that vote, the chancellor tried to strike a conciliatory tone. whilst not every member

felt able to vote for - the government's compromise, the substantive matter- of whether we will remain - committed to the 0.7% target — not just now but for decades to come — is clearly a point. of significant unity in this house. - today's vote has made that commitment more secure i for the long term whilst - helping the government to fix the problems with our public finances and continue - to deliver for our. constituents today. rishi sunak. ministers have come under renewed pressure to do more to tackle the online racist abuse suffered by england footballers after sunday's euro 2020 final. one of the england squad, tyrone mings, accused the home secretary, priti patel, of fuelling the flames by initially refusing to speak out against spectators who booed the team for taking the knee to protest against racism before matches. does the noble minister agree with me that the deluge of racist abuse towards black players must not only be

condemned and perpetrators brought to justice, but should not be fuelled in the first place by politicians, who, if we are honest, some of them in effect encourage fans to boo the national team, a brilliant team, that took a collective stand — taking the knee — against the very racism that the black players were subject to after sunday's defeat. surely the government can see that when senior politicians, like our prime minister and the secretary of state for home office make dog whistle comments and do not slap down racism, then the cabinet itself, the government itself has a problem. i don't accept what l the noble lady says. i've quoted twice now- but the prime minister has said, which has been crystal clear on this subject. - and the home secretary has also been clear that there is no- place for racism in this - country, and she knows very

well from her own experience. these are not football supporters, they are sick, they are scum, and they are cowards because they hide, as we have heard, behind the anonymity of social media. they clearly have been incapable of putting their own house in order. labour called for more action from the government to tackle online abuse when it came to these social media companies. as the minister says, we are all disgusted and condemn the appalling racist abuse of bukayo saka, jadon sancho and marcus rashford, but people are also furious, and they are demanding action now from the government. so how is the government is going to force social media companies to act now? promises have been made before, and yet, we are still waiting. the government's said its upcoming online harms bill would tackle the issue, with big sanctions facing social media companies that didn't comply. there are fines of up- to 10% of global turnover,

blocking of sites, and indeed, potentially criminal sanctionsl for the leadership. of those businesses. other peers called for more measures against abusive fans. as chairman of the fa, i sought legislation which would enable us to ban for life, one strike and they're out, to ban for life anybody convicted of any of these crimes from every football ground in the united kingdom — no excuses, no second chances. would the government support that? the government is well aware that football banning orders l can have a great effect on those implicated, . and it's one of the things that we are looking at. l i proposed six weeks ago to the secretary of state, that the football banning orders act of 1989 be amended to include online hatred. could the government not do that in advance of the online harms bill? a simple amendment to that act would give far greater powers for dealing with this current problem.

the noble lord is very- familiar with the approach that we're taking to - addressing online harms, which we hope will be really. comprehensive and effective. i will take his suggestion back to the department, | but i can't reassure him i today at the dispatch box whether we can progress it. lady barran. you're watching tuesday in parliament with me, david cornock. scotland will ease covid restrictions from next week but more cautiously than england. mandatory use of face coverings will remain in place for "some time". the first minister nicola sturgeon told a virtual meeting of the scottish parliament that the planned easing had to be modified due to the spread of the delta variant. the move to what's known as "level zero" means more people will be allowed to meet indoors and attend weddings and funerals.

but limits on outdoor meetings are to be maintained, and the return of workers to offices delayed. i hope that the move to level zero, albeit in a modified form, will be welcomed. it's not a complete and wholesale lifting of all restrictions. it was never intended to be. however, it does restore yet more freedom to all of us. indeed, it is worth emphasising that we are no longer in lockdown — nothing like it. life is much more normal than at any time since the start of this pandemic. but the gradual approach we have taken means the sensible precautions will remain in place to limit transmission while we make even more progress on vaccination. to that end, as i indicated earlier, we will also keep in place certain other measures, such as the requirement to wear face coverings, cooperate with test and protect and comply with advice on good hygiene and ventilation. we have to make progress back to normality. the public have done what was expected of them.

now it's time for this snp government to deliver and hold up their end of the bargain. so it's welcome that scotland will move to level zero next week with some minor modifications and that self isolation rules for people travelling will be relaxed. labour said the scottish government should listen to the world health organization and speed up the administration of the second dose of the vaccine. many countries across the world are administering the second dose of the vaccine after four weeks and we know from the data that the significant protection you get to the delta variant comes from the second dose of the vaccine. will the government now move to a four week gap between vaccines, as recommended by the who, as recommended by manufacturers, and has been led by other countries of the world? we take our advice in scotland on vaccination from the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation and the entire lifetime of this element node evolved government is gone

——no devolved government is gone against the recommendations of the jcvi on vaccination. the jcvi advice is to maximise the effectiveness of the vaccine and the longevity of the protection of the vaccine, the dosage interval should be eight weeks between the first and the second dose. nicola sturgeon. the first minister of wales has warned that a third wave of coronavirus is already testing the health service. labour's mark drakeford is preparing to announce a relaxation of some covid restrictions. he told the senedd there would not be a "wholesale abandonment" of the current rules. 760 people fell ill with coronavirus in wales yesterday alone. the largest number on a single day for many, many weeks. and the thought that that is a prominent context in which to move rapidly away from the protections that are still there to keep us safe, i am not persuaded that this is the moment for such an approach.

with a third of the population of wales living within 20 miles of the welsh border, there has to be an understanding of the obligations and rules that are in place of various parts of the united kingdom, for those rules to be complied with. and it is really important that where possible, common ground can be reached. given that we expect there to be differences between what you will announce tomorrow what has been announced in england, how will you look to try and create that common grounds of the citizens of the countries that are affected by these rules and regulations can know exactly what is expected of them? because i don't think anyone wants to see a third, a fourth, fifth wave and we do want to celebrate the success of the vaccination programme and the immunity that has built up in society as a whole. but, we are at a critical moment now where liberties can be returned and as many of those liberties should be returned as possible, first minister. we met yesterday with the first

ministers of scotland, senior members from northern ireland and from the cabinet office. i think we are, i said at that meeting that it still seems to me that every part of the united kingdom is moving and probably the same direction. we may be doing it in slightly different speeds in different ways, but the essential �*up�* direction of travel is the same between us all, we all want to go on lifting restrictions, we all want to do it in a way that keeps people safe. we all made a plea through mr gove that the prime minister and his press conference and make it clear that he was making announcements for england only. and that it was disappointing again to find the prime ministerfinds that such a difficult thing to do. as we head into the school holidays, either you believe that travelling abroad is safe with the relevant safeguards in place, or you believe it's not. and if not, give us the evidence and perform regulations that we can vote on.

but i don't think you can do is ask people to use theirjudgment and you said repeatedly, you don't think it's the right thing to do for somebody to go abroad. and i'm all for people taking personal responsibilities but in this context, i think personaljudgment really can't be expected to take the place of sound scientific evidence. so, will you provide the clarity that people need on that issue? well, here is the only clarity i can provide. the advice of the welsh government has not changed for many, many weeks. our advice to people in wales that this is the year to stay in wales and to take your holiday with everything that wales has to offer. the reason we cannot make that a law is that it simply would not be unenforceable. there's just no way you can make such a law stick. because three quarters of people who travel abroad from wales do so from airports across the border. where there will be no such inhibition. and i don't imagine i'd ever

see a proposalfor plaid cymru that we would prevent people from wales from travelling across the border into england and as soon as you allow that to happen, then people will be able to travel and people would. mark drakeford. now, even before the pandemic, cancer survival rates in the uk were substantially lower than in comparable countries. mps on the health committee wanted to know if the strain of dealing with covid—i9 had made the situation worse. cancer treatment has been maintained throughout the pandemic if we take march 20 at the start through to may, this year, take that period and its 91%. that masks some variation in treatment types and we saw a particular drop in referrals for lung cancer because the crossover with covid—i9 and rightly, we saw referrals recover very quickly after a drop in april and may and that has been sustained. since march, referrals and treatment levels are above pre—pandemic levels.

but despite that there were around 16,000 so called long—waiters in england, people who've been waiting more than 62 days for investigations and diagnosis. it has been coming down, it was considerably higher than that during the peak of the pandemic but it has been steadily reducing. but, clearly, we need to do more to make sure that it is properly addressed. the other important thing to say but the backlog of long—waiters is that 12% of those people will have cancer. so, we know where we need to direct our efforts, to faster diagnosis of or exclusion of cancer. we have had a number of incidents of constituents and indeed a friend with a terminal diagnosis was given over the phone and they didn't know it was coming, they didn't

have family support and it was devastating. i have no doubt that during the pandemic, the huge pressures on the system and the ways in which people had to work rapidly and to try and manage the things as best they could may have meant that on occasion, things were not the way they should have been and the underlying principle is, you have to know the person you're speaking to him afternoon with the way in which they have the information and understand what is important to and what they want for an interaction is incredibly important. looking at summer, the hospitalisations of covid—19 are also growing quite rapidly at the moment. what is your plan for maintaining services over the summer? as we said earlier, we managed much better during the second wave than the first as we understood how to match capacity to demand, how to make sure we could have protection

from covid—negative or covid—reduced pathways in places so we could look after people easier even while the health service was under pressure. social media influencers produce blogs, photos and videos about their lifestyles and personal experiences for websites such as youtube, instagram and tiktok. popular influencers can earn a good living promoting products as well. but there's concern about their capacity to spread misleading information. the culture committee, which is investigating the industry, heard about the costs and benefits of the job from em sheldon. i don't have many followers, but my friends do, but i still make a very similar income and work with similar brands just because as other people have said in the discussion, it's notjust about the numbers any more. brands actually, they want good content. they just want authenticity. if you genuinely like that brand for example, they're more likely to actually work with you because you are that kind of girl next door. i am a normal girl from yorkshire and people have been

asking, grassroots level, they've watched my university journey, they've seen my break—ups, my heartbrea ks, they've seen me move to london, it is that reality, not reality but the reality of my life that people like. but she said there was a dark side to the industry. when i say it's relentless, it is relentless. and this is notjust me, it just unfortunately is the reality of it, and i am very concerned that there will be more suicides and more depressions because in the industry, are you allowed to be constantly relentlessly attacked every single day just for existing? people hate influencers. they are so angry at them making money, it could be something crazy like walking my dog and people are just so angry. and in terms of the abuse that you do receive, you mentioned that. what is its main characteristic? can you define the main characteristic? is it sexism and misogyny? is it jealousy, that they don't like the fact that you're making money from this? or is itjust simply the fact

that they're just individuals who actually wish to be abusive? we do come across the same phenomenon in politics, to be honest with you. yes, unfortunately it is the money, they all say the same thing. i liked her but, they don't like that people are making money. and in what other industry would you be attacked for making money and making a living? i feel like it's one of those careers that they like you until you start to do well. �*do well, but don't do too well.�* and unfortunately, there's a whole dark space of the internet where people sit all day every day literally writing about us. it's crazy because these are grown women with children and these aren't 15—year—old girls. and i don't mind if someone was to call me fat,

or if someone wants to call me ugly, it's like, �*i'm going to run this person's life, i'm going to destroy their business.�* one mp wondered if social influencers tended to conform to stereotypes. perhaps one of the problem simply is that having attractive people on camera makes a lot of people feel inadequate. i'd like to think that at least me with my frizzy hair and bad body days, my bad mental health days and talking about the makes people feel that actually, this is more real. yes, i might look ok on this photograph but actually, here's some 100 takes the didn't make it and so it's about being more real about that. that's how the members of the committee feel, ourselves. i mean, look around, there's a few bad hair day moments going on here amongst the members. i think you all look great. but it's on the things i feel like i am privileged and that everyone in my bubble is very diverse and they're really talking about, i follow so many

amazing, plus—sized women who look phenomenal, and they really are saying to women that oh, body confidence, it's not about, you have a body so you can be confident on a beach. and they're really hyping people up, whether it's gay men, or, you know, women who may not have the body confidence. i hope that answers your question. thank you very much indeed, back to you. thank you. i have images there of a makeover there for. the committee, if you've got a spare year... - too late. laughter a makeover for members of the culture committee. now, that's guaranteed to go viral on social media. that's it for tuesday in parliament. thanks for watching. i do hope you canjoin me at the same time tomorrow for wednesday in parliament with prime ministers�* questions at westminster. until then, from me, david cornock, bye for now.

hello there. summer weather is increasingly set to take hold over the next few days. it is looking largely dry. we'll see increasing amounts of sunshine and increasing temperatures as well, and it is all because of high pressure. now, currently, this area of high pressure is sitting to the south—west of us, but it is going to build towards the uk over the next few days, hence the increasing amounts of sunshine and those higher temperatures as well. but actually, through wednesday, many spots will see a decent amount of sunshine. we will have quite a lot of cloud through the morning across some eastern parts of scotland and eastern england, tending to retreat towards the coast through the day, and also, more cloud into northern ireland and western scotland. and actually, as that cloud thickens up through the afternoon, it could even produce the odd spot of drizzle. but elsewhere, some good spells of sunshine. temperatures in the sunniest spots up to 2a or 25 degrees. a bit breezy for north—western areas and also for some eastern coasts.

now, as we head through wednesday night into thursday, we will see more cloud rolling down across northern ireland and scotland, getting into northern england and wales by the end of the night. clear spells further south, a pretty mild night — 11—15 degrees in most places. into thursday, we are going to see more in the way of cloud pushing southwards down into england and wales. there'll be some spells of sunshine and certainly, some brighter conditions developing for northern ireland and for scotland, and in the best of the sunshine, temperatures again getting up to around 2a or 25 degrees. and for friday, many spots can expect to see plenty of blue sky and sunshine. a bit more cloud at this stage across north—western parts of scotland, northern ireland, but certainly more cloud across the northern isles. the sunnier skies further south lifting those temperatures up to 25—26, maybe at this stage, up to 27 degrees. and that sets us up for the weekend because our area of high pressure is going to become firmly established across the uk, bringing lots of dry weather, lots of sunshine. you can see frontal systems close to the far north perhaps giving a bit more cloud at times, but with our high pressure in place, we can expect some pretty warm weather

through both saturday and sunday. so, let's look at some city forecasts. you can see across shetland, it'll stay cloudy and a bit cooler, 15 or 16 degrees. but most other places, fine, dry, some spells of sunshine and temperatures easily up to 27, maybe 28 degrees.

welcome to bbc news, i'm david eades. our top stories: president biden accuses republican—controlled states of mounting a dangerous attack on voting rights in america. there is an unfolding assault taking place in america today in an attempt to suppress and subvert the right to vote in fair and free elections. heightened unrest in south africa — 72 people have died, amidst looting, protest and confrontations following the jailing of south africa's former presidentjacob zuma. australia ranks last for climate action among un member countries — we'll find out why.