this is bbc news. our top stories: europe's flooding disaster continues. the deathtoll passes 120 and he search is on for hundreds still missing in germany, belgium and the netherlands. social media companies in the dock. president biden says they're not doing enough to tackle vaccine misinformation. a policy change in the uk. double vaccinated passengers arriving from france will still have to self—isolate. and diving for world records. we speak to the freediver who's done just that 7a metres under with no fins and without taking a breath.

hello and welcome to bbc news. rescue crews have been racing to find survivors of floods that wreaked havoc in germany and its western neighbours. 120 people are so far known to have died, hundreds remain unaccounted for and thousands are now homeless. german officials say the country's flood warning system functioned as it was supposed to, but the amount of rain and how rapidly it fell was unforeseen. courtney bembridge reports. as the floodwaters receded in western germany, residents can counting the cost. a home once stood here. it has been reduced to rubble, along with the owner's recently renovated fish farm, which was meant to fund his retirement. translation: i

his retirement. translation: i had just put another 35,000 euros into the house in the last two weeks. everything, new water pipes laid. i still have to pay the bills. his neighbour built this house _ to pay the bills. his neighbour built this house by _ to pay the bills. his neighbour built this house by hand. - to pay the bills. his neighbour built this house by hand. he l built this house by hand. he said he carried every stone here. he is lucky to have escaped with his grandchildren. translation: we escaped with his grandchildren. translation:— escaped with his grandchildren. translation: we went out over the roof here — translation: we went out over the roof here and _ translation: we went out over the roof here and then _ translation: we went out over the roof here and then over - translation: we went out over the roof here and then over the l the roof here and then over the other roof, and then they brought us down. there was water here all up to the top. if he had fallen in it would have gone. there was such pressure. an hour away these brothers have been helping out elderly residents. translation: this massive amount _ residents. translation: this massive amount of _ residents. translation: ti 3 massive amount of water did in one hour is crazy. translation: you want to _ one hour is crazy. translation: you want to weep _ one hour is crazy. translation: you want to weep along - one hour is crazy. translation: you want to weep along with - you want to weep along with them. you feel their pain and suffering. further south, close to the luxembourg border, the muller family have also started the

long and arduous cleanup. translation: i long and arduous cleanup. translation:— long and arduous cleanup. translation: i have to fight back the tears. _ translation: i have to fight back the tears. we _ translation: i have to fight back the tears. we had - translation: i have to fight back the tears. we had done | back the tears. we had done everything up so nice and all at once everything is gone. a lot of it will have to be built and you. itjust hurts all over — it really hurts. it is still not clear exactly how many people are missing and without phone signal, communication is almost impossible. we have to get help in order to save what can be saved, to free those still stuck in their homes, and then we will need support with the rebuilding — it is an enormous catastrophe. thinking of the people who are still missing there — grandparents. some of them did not even make it from _ some of them did not even make it from their beds to the upper

floors — it from their beds to the upper floors because it was that quick _ quick. around 15,000 quick. — around 15,000 police, soldiers and emergency services workers have been deployed in germany to help. but with many bridges and roads washed away, it will be days before they can reach the more remote areas. beyond germany, the extreme weather has touched parts of the netherlands, luxembourg, switzerland and belgium. correspondent anna holligan assesses the scene for us, beginning in belgium. homes engulfed, whole villages submerged. parts of liege annihilated by the elements. rescuers are still navigating areas to the west, in the town of pepinster. the military was drafted in to assist the stranded on land and by air, and for some it's a desperate wait to find out whether their loved ones made it. translation: my wife is looking for her mother who lives - in a town nearby. we have no means of communication. we don't know where she

is or how she's doing. in nearby verviers, the waters have receded, but they're still stunned by the extent of the destruction. translation: this shop has been open for three years. _ we had to go through renovations. we had to live through covid. we were hoping to get back on ourfeet. and now this. in the netherlands, this was roermond. swathes of the city have disappeared. this region has been declared a disaster zone. these are the remnants of businesses in the spa town of valkenburg. while the emergency services are busy trying to restore power and secure pavements, the people have come together to try to bring some form of order to these devastated streets. while covid kept them isolated and apart, this crisis has caused a community to come out in solidarity. we need to stay positive.

we can cry all day, but this will not help anything, so better smiling, and keep working! the rain has paused, but the threat, here and in towns and cities across europe, isn't over yet. anna holligan, bbc news, valkenburg. worrying forecasts too for south—east europe, including italy and the balkans. to keep across developments, go to the bbc news website. there are maps to show you the worst—hit areas and background analysis on why these floods caught everyone by surprise. go to: let's bring you some breaking news now. officials in tokyo have confirmed the first case of coronavirus in the olympic village. they've refused to reveal the nationality of the infected person. the olympics begin on 23july after being postponed from last year because of the pandemic. tokyo is under a state of emergency for the duration

of the event, and there'll be no spectators at most of the competitions. let's turn away from the flooding now and in the united states there's a resurgence of coronavirus, with infections rising 70% in the past week. the center for disease control has warned of a pandemic of the unvaccinated. the cdc has shown where there are high infection rates in states with low vaccination levels, pointing to nevada, arkansas, missouri and florida in particular. florida itself now accounts for a quarter of new infections in the whole of the us. president biden has been speaking to reporters and said this about people spreading covid misinformation on social media platforms. they are killing people. the only pandemic we have is among

the unvaccinated and they are killing people. for more on this i've been speaking to dr ashwin vasan, an epidemiologist and president of the mental health charity fountain house. i asked him how damaging he thought these online disinformation campaigns were. vaccine misinformation is not new. we've had it since the beginning of vaccines but what we have now is the democratisation in the worst sense of that word of vaccine misinformation. it's like having a stretch of highway where you are having repeated car crashes, it's not the fault of the authorities for having the highway that's causing the crashes but at some point, the authorities need to step in and ask the question, is there something we can do to regulate the flow of traffic to stem the tide and the same is true in these instances of misinformation. the companies that are building the information highways to spread this information have a responsibility to take a look at what they can do.

sorry to interrupt, what kind of damage are they causing you? well, we know almost 70% of americans say they have heard at least one vaccine myth, the same amount has been shown that even limited exposure to vaccine misinformation around the covid vaccine can make people less likely to get it and so, you know, this is very damaging and this isn'tjust about reaching some arbitrary vaccine milestone. we are having a resurgence as you rightly said, in states like arkansas with low vaccination rates. they are predicting they are going to be back at peak levels within a few weeks, by august, if they do not stem this tide, we are seeing rises in hospitalisation so it is life and death. and there is a responsibility to step in, we are seeing an increase also in attacks and attacks online and in—person

to health workers as a result this misinformation. what kind of messages are catching on? you know, the number one post today on facebook was from a republican representative, marjorie taylor green, who said the government is "feeding you lies and misinformation about the vaccine, the disease, it's not happening." that's leading to people believing that and not taking the necessary precautions, whether they be getting vaccinated or taking the necessary precautions like masking. so it's leading to people making the wrong decision not to get vaccinated, losing trust in institutions. what we need to do is not only hold the social media companies responsible as president biden has rightfully pointed out, but we need to invest in trust brokers who can combat this misinformation in communities and our organisation, we vaccinated nearly 70% of one of the hardest to reach communities which is people living with chronic mental

illness because they trust us, they come to us despite their fears and worries and get unbiased information and science—based information. the white house says 12 people, the disinformation dozen, if you like, are responsible for two thirds of misinformation, that was cited in a report back in march but platforms like facebook say they are a force for good so what should they be doing that they are not doing? you are right. as i said vaccine misinformation was always cordoned off in small corners of society, those 12 people have always been the same 12 people but now they have got the highways and the connective tissue to get that information out widely. they are not even following their own rules in terms of taking down posts and screening posts for outright lies and misinformation. so i think they need to do a little bit better on that front but we also need to double down on investment in communities

as i mentioned, in trust brokers and institutions. the relaxation of quarantine rules for fully—vaccinated people returning to england and wales from france, due on monday, has been scrapped. unlike arrivals from other amber list countries, travellers who've received two jabs in the uk will still have to isolate for ten days when they arrive. it's because of fears about the beta variant of the coronavirus in france. jonathan blake reports. for those hoping for a holiday in france this summer, plans may have to change. from monday the country will stay on the amber list, but unlike other destinations in that category adults who are fully vaccinated will still have to isolate for ten days on their return to england and wales. i ten days on their return to england and wales.- england and wales. i was planning _ england and wales. i was planning on _ england and wales. i was planning on going to - england and wales. i was i planning on going to france england and wales. i was - planning on going to france for a short trip, as i have a family wedding there at the end

ofjuly. that was the plan. wedding has been delayed, it was supposed to be last year. i had booked everything 2a hours ago and now everything is changing, so quite disappointing. changing, so quite disauointina. ., . ., disappointing. concern about cases in france _ disappointing. concern about cases in france of— disappointing. concern about cases in france of the - disappointing. concern about cases in france of the beta i cases in france of the beta version of coronavirus first detected in south africa prompted the move. ministers stopped short of adding france to the red list, which involves hotel quarantine. but sajid javid said the government would not hesitate to take rapid action at the borders to stop covid—i9. travel industry bodies have accused the government of a confused approach to international travel and also criticised the change. travel and also criticised the chance. ,., ., , change. the government has caused chaos. _ change. the government has caused chaos. they - change. the government has caused chaos. they made - change. the government has caused chaos. they made an | caused chaos. they made an announcement that people from amber list countries with two jabs did not need to quarantine, they have changed

their mind on a fourth category, and the list plus, which is creating chaos for the travelling public and the travelling public and the travel industry yet again. allowing fully vaccinated adults to avoid isolation on their return from amber list countries offers hopes of a holiday for some, but the decision to make france an exception is a sign of uncertainty in government about how the pad will pan out. jonathan blake, bbc news. until recently, the number of cases of covid—i9 in spain had been steadily dropping, leading to the lifting of restrictions across the country in the spring. however infection rates are now climbing sharply once again. as the summer gets under way, the hope is that it will not hurt a tourism industry which is still struggling to get back on its feet. guy hedgecoe reports from spain's mediterranean coast. well, we can't bring you that package right now, so we will renew the latest headlines here

on bbc news. with 120 deaths so far, the search is on across western europe for hundreds still missing or stranded. president biden accuses social media networks of "killing people" by allowing users to post misinformation about coronavirus vaccines. the president of south africa says the violence of the past week in the country was a "deliberate and well—planned attack on democracy". cyril ramaphosa also acknowledged that the authorities had been unprepared and slow to deal with the crisis. gail maclellan reports. under heavy guard, the president visited a shopping centre in kwamashu, where clean—up operations are ongoing. mr ramaphosa has ruled out declaring a state of emergency, he says calm has returned or is returning to most of the affected areas. the events of the past week, he says, a deliberate attack

on the country's democracy. these actions are intended to cripple the economy of our country, to cause social instability, and severely weaken or even dislodge the democratic state. the violence sparked by the incarceration of former president zuma spread from kwazulu—natal to gauteng, killing 212 people and causing millions of dollars in damage. the president says the instigators had been identified and are under surveillance, but they haven't been named. he also announced the introduction of social relief measures, which some fear may prove to be inadequate. the domestic environment complexity is the issue here, the poverty levels, unemployment and inequality. the youth unemployment stands close to 50%, that's one in two youths who are unemployed, so the grinding poverty adds up and people have felt it long

before the situation was worsened by the covid pandemic and the continuing lockdown — it's a big part of what we have seen. president ramaphosa says the insurrection has failed because south africans stood up in defence of ha rd—won democracy. gail maclellan, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news. a federaljudge has ruled that a programme which protects migrants from deportation if they came to the united states as children was illegal. judge andrew hanen said the government should not enrol new applicants in the programme, but that people already covered by it won't be affected until further court rulings. more than 600,000 people, known as dreamers, are currently enrolled. the us state department has condemned raids on at least 25 media and rights organisations

in belarus over the past four days, including the us—funded radio liberty. rights groups say the country's leader, alexander lukashenko, is working to eliminate the independent media. hundreds of cuban americans in several cities in florida marched on friday, for the fifth day in a row, in support of the thousands of demonstrators in cuba who took to the streets on sunday to protest over food and medicine shortages, price increases and the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. protests are extremely rare in cuba, where opposition to the government is stifled. tributes have been paid to the award—winning reuters journalist danish siddiqui, who was killed reporting on the conflict in southern afghanistan. he'd been embedded with special forces in kandahar. reuters said he was an outstanding journalist and will be remembered as a much—loved colleague. the bbc�*s tim allman has more. in southern afghanistan, special forces come under attack. gunshots. you can hear the exchange of gunfire. you can see damage to their vehicle. they're trying to rescue

a police officer trapped at a border post. travelling with them, and taking this footage — a photojournalist armed only with his camera. danish siddiqui was chief photographer for the reuters news agency in india. he was on assignment, embedded with afghan troops when he was killed in an ambush. earlier this year, he could be found in the hospitals of delhi, chronicling the covid pandemic in his own country. these images of mass funeral pyres went viral, earning him global recognition. there are technical challenges and then there are emotional challenges. technical challenges as to how to showcase this story in a dignified way, you know, and in a way that people are, you don't go too close to it, so that the dignity of the victim or his family is maintained. he was also part of the reuters

team that won the pulitzer prize in 2018 for its coverage of the rohingya refugee crisis. danish siddiqui understood the power of images, of lives lived and lost. moments of celebration, protest, and sometimes despair. he said he enjoyed most capturing the human face of a breaking story. but in that desire to uncover truth, he's paid the ultimate price. danish siddiqui, the journalist who was killed in an ambush in afghanistan. to the blue waters of the bahamas now, where several diving world records have been broken over the last few days at the vertical blue free diving competition. alessia zecchini of italy has set a new record for women's constant no—fins diving, with a dive time of three minutes and two seconds —

to an incredible self—propelled depth of 7a metres. the previous record was held by her friend, japanese diver sayuri kinoshita, who passed away two years ago. well a short time ago i spoke to alessia, who told me she dedicated her record to sayuri. i mean, it was a great dive in a special day, because it was the anniversary of sayuri kinoshita, one of the best and the greatest i will ever meet in my life. and the dive was — it was amazing, i mean, i thought about her all the way. and this is one of the hardest disciplines. so, you are going down without fins — and it's amazing, but at the same time it's quite hard. on the way down it was quite beautiful, and ijust thought to swim well, i swam quite well, not perfect technique but it was much faster than training. and i am sure

that she was with me. when i was close to the surface ijust when i was close to the surface i just gave a kiss for safety. it was for her and i was happy when i made it. it was unbelievable. and you are describing your best friend, who was the previous record holder, but passed away a couple of years ago. what do you think she would have made of what happened today? i mean, she could be pretty happy, but i mean, we miss her so much. really, for us, it is still unbelievable to think she is not competing with us. she was so strong. we had an amazing battle in 2018 at vertical blue. it was amazing, to dive with her, because she was so strong. so we broke so many records in no—fin. and we miss her so much. now, watching your dive, it's not just the fact you are holding your breath for over three minutes, but it's all of the hard work you are putting into it, and also the pressure that you are going for a world record. so how does it feel?

what is the secret? how do you hold your breath for so long and do all of that? i mean, i started freediving when i was 13, so now i have been doing this for more than 16 years. i am quite prepared mentally to do a world record. i have broken 31 world records in all my life. so, before that dive and for most of the dive i was quite relaxed. i was just really focusing on my dive, and ijust think to swim well and to enjoy my dive more than i can. and this isn't enough for you, is it? you are going to go for another world record? what is that? yes, iam yes, i am going for another one. the last one was in 2019. then the pandemic came, it has been impossible to compete for two years, so i am very excited to dive tomorrow and to do my best. and what is the attraction of constant no—fin diving? for someone who has never done

it, where does the real adrenaline rush come from, this particular type of freediving? it's the hardest discipline because you are swimming just with your hands and your legs. you can touch the rope just once, when you are on the bottom. so you need good technique and you need really good focus. and you need to feel the water more than you can to enjoy the dive. it's really the hardest one. i like much more mono—fin, because it is more relaxed. a dream that has now come true from 13 years old, 16 years later. a reminder of our breaking news this hour — officials in tokyo have confirmed the first case of coronavirus in the olympic village. they've refused to reveal

the nationality of the infected person. the olympics begin on 23july after being postponed from last year because of the pandemic. tokyois tokyo is under a state of emergency for the duration of the event and there will be no stack —— spectators at most of the competitions. our top story this hour, more than a people have died due to flooding in western europe. these photos show the sheer scale of the destruction caused by the flooding and mudslide. officials in the west german district show hundreds of people are still unaccounted for. a very worrying time for the families of those missing. forecasts suggest that areas of italy, the balkans and other parts of southern and eastern europe are threatened by these weather patterns. you can get

more on the bbc website. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @marklobel. hello. a few places got close to 29 degrees on friday, it's likely over the weekend we will get above 30 for the first time this summer. mostly dry with hot sunshine and it is all because of high pressure which is taking up residence right on top of the uk. but notice there is a frontal system to the north, that will provide more cloud, especially across the north—west of scotland. some cloud to start the day across the irish sea coast, england, north wales, quite a lot of cloud for northern ireland and a little bit across the south of england. that will clear quite quickly but some cloud further north and west will be stubborn, staying quite grey, damp and windy for north west scotland, just 17 degrees for stornaway but in the sunshine in aberdeen, highs of 25.

the cloud in northern ireland retreating to the coast, 26 inland through the afternoon, murky for some irish sea coasts of north—west england and north wales, but inland, temperatures in a few places up to 29 or 30 degrees. always cooler around the coasts with sea breezes. at silverstone, for the british grand prix, it looks hot through saturday and more especially for race day on sunday, lots of sunshine. strong sunshine, very high uv levels for many, especially in the south and west of the uk. make sure you protect yourself if you are out and about for any length of time. heading through saturday night, we see long clear spells, especially down towards england and wales, northern ireland and scotland have more cloud, some of that filtering across the irish sea towards north wales and north—west england, a pretty mild and warm night in places, 14, 15 or 16 degrees. for sunday, the further south you are, expect sunshine again, further north, generally more cloud in the mix,

and some patchy rain across the north of scotland. temperatures a little bit lower across the northern half of the uk, further south, another very warm or hot day, one or two places in the london area could get up to 30 or even 31 degrees. into the start of next week, our area of high pressure will still be with us but tending to slide further west, that will allow something of a northerly wind, knocking the edge off the temperatures, turning less hot, the odd shower in the south on monday and some rain later in the week.

this is bbc news, the headlines: rescue teams in germany, belgium and the netherlands are searching for hundreds of people still missing after some of the worst flooding in western europe in decades. record rainfall caused rivers to burst their banks. more than 120 people lost their lives. president biden's accused social media networks like facebook of killing people by allowing users to post misinformation about coronavirus vaccines. with cases rising 70% in the past week, he warned of a pandemic of the unvaccinated. facebook hit back saying two billion people accessed authoritative vaccine information on its site. the president of south africa says the deadly unrest of the past week was a deliberate and well—planned attack on democracy. cyril ramaphosa also acknowledged that the authorities had been unprepared and slow to deal with the crisis.

now on bbc news, the travel show.