deployed in response to widespread violence sparked by the jailing of former presidentjacob zuma. the government has said the unrest had brought shame on the entire country. more than 70 people have been killed. the pop singer britney spears has secured the right to choose her own lawyer, as she tries to end the conservatorship that controls her business affairs. the approval comes three weeks after the singer made an emotional address in which she called the existing arrangement abusive. the former us president george w bush has criticised the withdrawal of nato troops from afghanistan, calling the decision "unbelievably bad" before warning that, in his opinion, civilians were being left to be "slaughtered" by the taliban. president biden insisted soldiers will pull out by september 11th. now on bbc news,

the highlights of wednesday in parliament, presented by david cornock. hello again, and welcome to wednesday in parliament. the prime minister promises to crack down on racism in football. if you are guilty, mr speaker, of racist abuse online of footballers, then you will not be going to the match. no if, no buts, no exemptions, and no excuses. as a labour mp warns that racism is everywhere. in our health system, in the criminaljustice system, in employment, and even in politics, which i know all too well. also in this programme: concerns about preparing to give birth, as covid restrictions are lifted. many pregnant women remain

unvaccinated or have only - had one vaccination. the clinically vulnerable group seems to have vanished. - but first: the prime minister has promised action to deal with racism in football. borisjohnson said people who send racist abuse to footballers online will be banned from attending matches. it follows the online abuse suffered by england stars marcus rashford, bukayo saka, and jadon sancho after the team's euros final defeat to italy. in withington, a mural of marcus rashford was defaced, but later repaired and the target of hundreds of messages of support. the labour leader, sir keir starmer, said the prime minister's promise to take action "rings hollow" after his previous refusal to condemn fans who booed players taking the knee. i'm so proud of this young diverse and humble team and everything that it represents. mr speaker, they're the very best of modern britain,

everything i know this country can be. does the prime minister think it was wrong to criticise the team's decision to oppose racism by taking the knee as gesture politics? i agree very much with what the right honourable gentleman said about england, and i repeat, iwould like to thank each and every one of them for what they did, their incredible campaign they ran in the euro 2020 championships. and they do represent the very best of our country. and i repeat that i utterly condemn and abhor the racist outpourings that we saw on sunday night and so, what we are doing is today taking practical steps to ensure that the football banning order regime is changed so that, if you're guilty of racist abuse on footballers, you will not be going to the match, no ifs,

no buts, no exemptions and no excuses. some in the england squad think ministers should have done more to support their stand against racism. the defender tyrone mings accused the home secretary, priti patel, of stoking the fire after she previously described taking the knee as gesture politics. either the prime minister is with the england players in their stance against racism, or he can defend his own record that of other ministers and some of his mps, but he cannot have it both ways. so, can he tell the house, does he now regret failing to condemn those who booed england players for standing up to racism, yes or no? mr speaker, we made it absolutely clear that no one should boo the england team and mr speaker, what we're doing now is taking, following the racist abuse that our players sadly suffered on sunday night and thereafter,

we are taking practical action. in addition to changing the football banning order regime, last night i met representatives of facebook, of twitter, of tiktok, of snapchat, of instagram and i made it absolutely clear to them that we will legislate to address this problem, mr speaker, in the 0nline harms bill, and unless they get hate and racism off their platforms, they will face fines amounting to 10% of their global revenue and we all know, mr speaker, that they have the technology to do it. mr speaker, we can all see what happened here. the government has been trying to stoke a culture war and they've realised they're on the wrong side and now they hope that nobody�*s noticed. why else would a conservative mp boast that he's not watching his own team? why else would another conservative mps say that marcus rashford spends too much time playing politics when he's

actually trying to feed children that the government w o n�*t? i don't want to engage in a political culture warofany kind. i want to get on with delivering for the people of this country. he simply wants to get on with dithering. the snp's westminster leader quoted from some of borisjohnson�*s own writings as a newspaper columnist. can the prime minister tell us what sanctions he thinks would be appropriate for someone who publishes racist content and it's shocking that even to have to say this out loud, describing africans as flag—waving "piccaninnies" with "watermelon smiles?" shameful! mr speaker, i have commented many times about the words that i've said in the past, and i think the house understands, i think the house understands how you can,

you can, you can take things out of context, mr speaker. but, what i, what i think people do understand that... you know, still no contrition, still, no apology and mr speaker, the truth is that the tory party doesn't sanction those who publish that kind of racist content they promote them to be prime minister. the legacy of this prime minister's dog whistling has followed him into 10 downing street and it is now at the heart of the tory government. after the shocking racism on shore over the last week, does the prime minister still stand by his government belief that systemic racism is not a problem that exists in the united kingdom? mr speaker, i do think that racism is a problem in the united kingdom and i believe it needs to be tackled and it needs to be stamped out with some

of the means that i've described this morning. but when he attacks our party, my party, mr speaker, i'm afraid it's got the wrong target. this is a party that has not only had the first ever muslim secretary of state for health, the former chancellor, and of course has had two female prime ministers. the most diverse cabinet in the history of this country. the most diverse government in history of this country. the prime minister. but that wasn't the end of the matter. after question time, labour forced a home office minister to come to the commons to answer an urgent question about racist abuse on social media. 0ne labour mp said racism was systematic in the uk. in our health system, in the criminaljustice system, in employment, and even in politics — which i know all too well.

stating that raheem sterling's success in the euros was being celebrated on the violent streets ofjamaica where he grew up. this sort of ignorant and tasteless commentary only feeds that stereotypes of black people and black populations and countries are dangerous. will the minister today condemn the disgusting attitudes that are being propelled by tabloids and broadsheets for decades and what will she do about it? i have not seen the report that she refers to, but i have to say that my memory of raheem sterling is the story he told of growing up in the shadow of the arch of wembley and imagining himself playing under that arch but instead of being outside of the stadium being inside the stadium and he has done exactly that.

the government has announced there'll be an end to prosecutions relating to the troubles in northern ireland. the proposed law setting a time limit on criminal proceedings will apply to cases before the peace agreement in 1998. the aim is to prevent so—called vexatious prosecutions of members of the security forces. but the law will also apply to former paramilitaries. the prime minister said the proposals were "measured and balanced" but the labour leader condemned them as "plain wrong". i worked in northern ireland for six years with the policing force. i've also prosecuted terrorists as the director of public prosecutions, so i know how difficult and how sensitive this is. but a blanket amnesty, including for terrorists, is plain wrong. and he said the families of victims hadn't been properly consulted. politicians in london can't simply draw a line under terrorism and other crimes,

and then force it on those most affected. the prime minister looks up and let him hear that because i want to quotejulie hamilton. her sister maxine was among the 21 people killed by the ira in the birmingham pub bombings. so that isjulie, prime minister. she says, "tell me, prime minister, if one of your loved ones was blown up beyond recognition where you were only able to identify your son or daughter by their fingernails, would she be so quick to grant their murderers an amnesty and propose such obscene legislation?" what does the prime minister have to say tojulie, and she's listening, and other victims like her? mr speaker, i think that the whole house will acknowledge the suffering of victims like julie and their families, and of course,

nothing i can say or can do now can in any way mitigate her loss. but he said the people of northern ireland "must move forwards now". the proposals that have been brought forward are measured, they are balanced and they have a wide degree of support i may say from former labour prime ministers and formal labour leaders. who have more distinction than the right honourable gentleman opposite. this is of course no consolation to people like julie, but the sad fact remains that there are many members of the armed services who continue to face the threat of vexatious prosecutions, well into their 70s, 80s or later and we are finally bringing forward a solution to this problem. to enable the problems of northern ireland to draw a line under the troubles. the proposals faced further criticism later on, when the northern ireland secretary, brandon lewis, briefed mps. as well as a statute of limitations, he announced

plans for a new, independent organisation to focus on recovering information about deaths during the troubles. the legacy of the troubles remains. it continues to impact and permeate society in northern ireland. the past is a constant shadow over those who directly experienced the horrors of those times. but also over those who did not. but who now live with the trauma of previous generations. it is clear that the current system for dealing with the legacy of the troubles is not working. it is now a difficult, in fact, painful truth that the focus on criminal investigations is increasingly unlikely to deliver successful criminaljustice outcomes. but all the while, it continues to divide communities and fails to obtain answers for a majority of victims and families. labour said the proposals amounted to "an amnesty in all but name". any proposal to deal

with legacy must have victims and the communities of northern ireland at its heart. that requires real care from the secretary of state. so, it is deeply regrettable that his approach is already seeing trust among victims reach rock bottom. victims have been treated appallingly over the last 18 months and promises made torn up, gas lighted by the secretary of state at this despatch box. can i ask the secretary of state, does he understand the huge concern and the unease for the statue of limitations will cause? notjust across northern ireland, but right across the islands? a conservative, who served in northern ireland, has been advising ministers. this is difficult work and it involves compromise, so i'm slightly baffled both today and previously but some of the negativity that i have encountered with regards

to the statute. because i think we in westminster have a responsibility to get behind him. there can be no equivalence. whatsoever between a soldier in the peace officer— who served our country and this who hid behind masks and terrorised under. the cover of darkness. we find, any such- attempt of governance as deeply offensive to us. the northern ireland secretary reassured him there was no moral equivalence between people who served in the security forces and terrorists. you're watching wednesday in parliament with me, david cornock. most covid rules in wales — but not all — are set to be scrapped from the 7th of august. new welsh government plans will see all legal limits on the number of people who can meet others end from that date. some rules will also be eased as soon as this saturday — but even in august, facemasks will still be legally required in most indoor public places, except in hospitality businesses such as pubs

and restaurants, or schools. the first minister, labour's mark drakeford, looked ahead to the changes next month. life will have returned very substantially to how it was before the coronavirus pandemic began. but here in wales, we will not abandon all those measures which have done so much to keep us all safe. the welsh conservatives conceded voters had endorsed the government's approach. i have disagreed with that approach on many occasions, but democracy's a wonderful thing and the largest party forms the government, and sets the tone and the direction. and you are quite right to identify that we are still in the middle of many challenging periods of time that we will face with the covid crisis at the moment, in particular around new variants. i personally would've liked to have seen greater speed and urgency in bringing some of these measures forward, but i appreciate the difficult decisions that the cabinet have had to take based on the scientific evidence

they've had before them. i'm pleased that you weren't pushing for an immediate i lifting of mandation on masks. some members of the i conservative party have been calling for that, i asking for it to be made a matter of public choice — l which would be fine if masks only protected ourselves. but their primary purpose, of course, is to protect - those around us. so, to say that we should be led by our own individual- choices is rather a selfish way in a collective pandemic - to look at the best way to approach things. - i agree entirely with what he said. so, with that, a simplistic reliance on personal responsibility simply doesn't measure up to the way in which this crisis has been addressed here in wales, and needs to be addressed in future. of course, we do all have personal responsibility, that is certainly the case. but it's more than that, isn't it?

our responsibility is not just to ourselves, it is to other people. in much of the discussion in the cabinet today, when we came to talking about measures that would still need to be in place at alert level zero, we were thinking about those people whose lives will be made more difficult and more anxious if they feel the places they need to visit will not be as safe for them in the future as they have been hitherto. and that's why we think we should go on wearing masks. mark drakeford, striking a different tone on masks there from ministers at westminster. well, a glimpse into the future now — and the transport secretary has hailed his new decarbonisation strategy for the uk, saying people will be able to continue doing the same things, but do them differently. the government has pledged the entire economy will be virtually zero—carbon by the middle of the century, and ministers are relying on new technology to play a significant role

in achieving that. grant shapps was upbeat. what's exciting about the plan is that, for the first time, we have the opportunity to decarbonise transport without curtailing our freedoms. it won't stop us from driving, commuting to work or going on holiday — we'll be using zero emission cars, motorcycles, and trucks, we'll be travelling in zero—emission trains, ferries, buses, coaches, we'll be cycling and walking more, and we'll be flying in more efficient aircraft using sustainable aviation fuels. and that's why the pace of change will be unparalleled, and why this new decarbonisation plan is a landmark in the evolution of the way that we do transport in this country. we're the first country in the world to do this, taking a firm leadership position, as we host cop 26 later this year in glasgow, and from being part of the climate change problem to a major part of the solution. that's the transformation we must deliver by 2050, and that's the transformation

we will achieve with this transport decarbonisation plan. but the opposition parties weren't impressed. with transport now the largest contributor to uk emissions, this should have been the chance for ministers to really set out their ambitious plan which would really lead the way ahead of cop 26. not warm words or re—announcements, but a real plan supporting aviation and maritime, railand freight, local public transport alongside active travel. it's not clear to me that. developments in aviation will help us to reach a net—zero aviation i industry by 2040. i've been speaking to some businesses who are doing l incredible work in this area, around hydrogen aviation — i i'm very excited about - the possibilities, but it seems to me if we are aiming - for 2040 net—zero aviation, there needs to be a combination both of technological— development, but also flight reduction — - because otherwise, . that won't be possible. a labour mp felt that driving

was being encouraged in her consitituency. can i ask him why lner and network rail are building 1,297 new car—parking spaces in the centre of york, and on the york central site owned by network rail, they're putting 2,600 car—parking spaces? we're not anti—car, i can't get this across enough. we are building roads, £27.4 billion — we believe that notjust cars, but buses and bicycles require roads to get around, we want them to be of good quality, we want to reduce the congestion, and therefore reduce the environmental damage, as well. so, quite simply, we're not anti—car. would the secretary - of state agree with me that to tackle climate change, we need to decarbonise l cars, vans, and taxis — not demonise cars, . vans, and taxis? and with that in mind, l will he talk to the mayor of london about dismantling some of those schemes - which have unjustifiablyl

removed access to these vehicles on so many- streets in central london? the minister repeated that the government was not against the car. and so, we intend to carry on investment to make sure that cars can run without damaging people's health and the environment, and that makes sense. and i'm afraid too often, the mayor of london gets the wrong end of the stick. another conservative who represents a rural area said there was no alternative to car use. while the cost of electric vehicles remain prohibitive for many, and there is, as yet, no infrastructure for charging points locally, many of my constituents are concerned that they may end up being financially penalised, despite having no alternative. reassuringly, for my honourable friend, £1.8 billion is the answer. £582 million for plug—in vehicle grants towards her constituents' needs, and £1.3 billion for the roll—out of that infrastructure. grant shapps. mps have been hearing about the impact of covid on new parents. bethany power, who signed

a petition calling for greater maternity and paternity leave during the pandemic, spoke of her experiences. support bubbles were phased on the 9th of september, 2020. it was explained that your household contains a child under the age of one or is under the age of one up until 22 december, 2020. i actually fell out of that because my baby was born on 26 november. so, i actually went through a whole year of getting no support while being in the bubble, because i was just outside that level. my baby was three months old and we were being knocked down. so, it was a continuous heartache of not having support. the chair of the petitions committee had a question for the nct — the national childbirth trust. i'd be interested to know whether the government's current approach and what's about to happen, in terms of changes, whether you feel

more confident that through the approach that we're certainly expecting to happen from monday the 19th, whether that will be a big help to the groups that you work with and the community groups, orwhetherthere are challenges around just simply removing a lot of the requirements, whether that will pose some challenges, as well, for getting those community groups up and running, whether volunteers will have the confidence to come back to the settings that they may have been operating in previously? we're really worried about it, it's really complex. _ i think we've always known, i and people across the sector have said that it will almost be harder to come - back in some ways. you know, what the public have heard is an easing i of restrictions on monday, i and that'sjust being lifted. but what we can see in - the guidance that's appearing is that there is still risk, there's still a need - for a really focus - on strong risk mitigation.

we have a duty of care to our volunteers, practitioners, - and staff, and the parents who we're supporting. - but we don't have the full. guidance published yet to be able to decide how we're operating on monday. i we have thousands of - parents across the country in sessions next week. so, we are working. really rapidly on that — i think we've got a particular- concern about pregnant women. so many pregnant women remain unvaccinated or have only - had one vaccination. the clinically vulnerable group seems to have vanished - from government guidance. we've heard a lot of anxiety about the risks and the lackj of protection and support. and, you know, we need to think about that and how we're - delivering our services, - but we also really want to make sure that pregnant women are informed, understandl the risks, know how to takel care of themselves, and feel supported through another period of real anxiety. - a committee member talked

about his and his pregnant partner's experience. my partner was pregnant, we actually had our child in august of 2020. i've never been so scared — and that was me, i'm not the one carrying our daughter at the time. and i've never seen my partner, to be quite frank, so scared, because as you said, the data wasn't out there about what covid could do to a pregnant woman or a foetus. and i still, you know, i still remember it. every time we left the house, even going to the supermarket was a stressful journey, debating whether or not to do it. jonathan gullis. and that was wednesday in parliament. thank you for watching. i do hope you canjoin me at the same time tomrorow for the week in parliament. until then, from me, david cornock, and all of the team here, bye for now.

hello, there. sunshine did wonders for the temperatures on wednesday. aboyne in aberdeenshire one of the places that got above 25 degrees with scenes like this. parts of southern england saw similar temperatures, as well. and over the next few days, with more sunshine on the way, those temperatures could have a little further to climb — maybe up into the high 20s in parts of the south over the weekend. but it's not all about sunshine. this is the earlier satellite picture from wednesday. you can see this cloud that spilt in across scotland and northern ireland — that working down into england and wales as well. so a lot of places having a fair amount of cloud through thursday, maybe even giving the odd light shower in eastern england. but that cloud will tend to break. we will see spells of sunshine. i think the best of those across parts of northern england, northern ireland and a good part of scotland. and in the sunniest places, temperatures will get up to 25, maybe 26 degrees. but some eastern parts of england will be affected by a keen breeze, and that will feed more cloud

in across east anglia and the southeast once again as we head through thursday night into friday. at the same time, cloud will topple in from the northwest, but in between a slice of clear sky and a mild start to friday morning. now, through friday, this area of high pressure continues to establish itself. that means mainly settled conditions, but we do have a frontal system close to the north of scotland, so the closer you are to that frontal system the more cloud you are likely to see. northern and western scotland, parts of northern ireland, too, quite breezy, quite cloudy maybe with the odd spot of drizzle. cloud first thing towards the southeast, that will tend to clear. for most places friday will bring plentiful sunshine and temperatures well up into the middle 20s celsius. and then we get on into saturday. again, more cloud up towards the northwest of scotland. some light and patchy rain is possible in the northwest highlands, but further south it is largely fine with plenty of sunshine and temperatures likely to peak at 27 degrees. but those temperatures could climb even further by sunday. this area of high pressure is

still with us into the second half of the weekend. this frontal system still with us in the north, as well, and that may reinvigorate a little through the day. so we could see some slightly more widespread and heavier rain into the far northwest of scotland later. but elsewhere, some good spells of sunshine, and in the south we are looking at highs of 29 degrees. that's all from me for now.

welcome to bbc news — i'm ben. our top stories... unbelievably bad — former president george w bush delivers his verdict on the us pull—out from afghanistan. it's unbelievable how that society changed from the brutality of the taliban. and now all of a sudden — sadly — i'm afraid afghan women and girls are going to suffer unspeakable harm. burned—out buildings and looting mark the sixth day of chaos in south africa. more than 70 are dead, and the crisis is growing. britney spears wins the right to choose her own lawyer — as she tries to end the 13—year—long arrangement that controls her personal and business affairs. and jadon sancho speaks out — the england footballer says hate will never win — after receiving online racist

abuse, over his missed penalty in the euros final.