this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the search continues for hundreds of people still missing, following devastating floods in germany and other european countries. the german president has been visiting one of the worst hit areas. our country stands together during this time. i'm very pleased to see just how much sympathy and solidarity is being shown, not only here in the region but also throughout germany. the uk's health secretary, sajid javid, says he's tested positive for coronavirus and is experiencing "mild" symptoms. i was feeling a bit groggy last night so i took a lateral flow test this morning and it's come out positive, so i'm now self isolating at home with my family until i get the results of a pcr test. a new round of afghan peace talks

gets under way in qatar between afghan leaders and the taliban. what can they achieve? we hearfrom our correspondent in doha. racing ahead of his rivals, tadeh pogachar is set to win his second tour de france, after finishing the penultimate stage with a five—minute lead. wait, wait, no! and nervous laughter in cannes, as the director spike lee accidentally lets slip the name of the winner of the festival's best picture award ahead of time.

hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. rescue crews have been racing to find survivors after the floods that wreaked havoc in germany and its western neighbours switzerland, luxembourg and the netherlands. at least 160 people are so far known to have died across europe, some 140 of them in germany alone. hundreds remain unaccounted for, and thousands are now homeless. thousands of residents of wassenberg, an area west of the german city of cologne, have left their homes after a dam was breached by floodwater overnight. 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. from the village of erfstadt, near cologne, my colleague, kasia madera, reports on the rescue effort. there is a lot of solidarity, a lot of volunteers have been coming together, have been offering supplies. care centres setting up

after to help rescue people who just have absolutely nothing. buildings totally collapsed, homes washed away, vehicles, like i say, there were cars stacked up here by the force of water that came down here, as if they were simply to toy cars. it's quite staggering to see. but the rescue operation is under way and people are returning to look and assess the level of damage as these people have been. translation: everything is destroyed. _ you don't recognise this area any more. before, this was a green oasis, a natural landscape, and the only thing you could hear was the calm waters of the river. that's all gone. it's a catastrophe. translation: if you had told me four days ago - that there could be a flood here, i would have said maybe it will be on the on the in the basement, but this flood was two and half metres high. the antique books are ruined forever.

translation: i emptied the house and found - everything out, everything. there is nothing left. water's everywhere. all these things were new, just three months old. translation: i'm waiting for the insurance agent, i just like everyone else. i hope the process will be quick so that we can rebuild and get back to work, especially after covid—19. we only reopened two months ago. another town that was hugely affected in the same state that we are actually in now is hargen. and we can speak to mortiz freedomburg who actually works, he is a journalist at radio hagen. i know we spoke you over the last few days in terms of when this first initially happened. it's good of you to join us once again. just talk us through the situation. because from what we are seeing here, the clean—up operation is taking place. recovery is taking place, but it's just been absolutely devastating for the local community. sure.

first, the good news, the water level keeps dropping, and there was no heavy rainfall for three days. that people are very happy about it, but, how are you said, the real work, the main work has to be done now. streets are destroyed, a lot of people are without a home. people lost their property, and it's a really mean situation and it will last for days, maybe for weeks. absolutely, and can you tell us about the power situation there? because we know that homes here are still having power outages. many homes are still without power. but at one point, there were over 100,000 households without power. what is the situation like with you? yeah, on wednesday night, it was the same situation complete black out, it was shut down, but now, the electricity, the power comes back. so a lot of houses have asked, have water, have electricity again. but it comes back and back shortly because there are still lots of basements which are full of water, and you can't go to the stations there to make it better now. so it's a really difficult situation

and the people will need lots of time to recover from it. absolutely, a lot of time, a lot of support. people are rallying around and there are so many volunteers. the newspapers, though, calling this the flood of death. have you ever seen something like this in your lifetime in this area? never. it was the heaviest rain i have ever seen. it was like flooding that took cars, that take trees, it was unbelievable. i can't describe it. so no one would have thought that this rain would be that heavy, that there would be this flooding. yeah, i can't describe it. we are seeing the pictures, it is really hard. i think the politics and the city will make lots of changes to provide these catastrophes, you have to say, yeah, it is a catastrophe.

well, it's certainly how angela merkel described it. mortiz speaking from a town not far from here, also devastated, thank you so much for your time. so, like moritz was saying, there is still a lot of shock, and awful lot of questions, but the recovery situation, the recovery efforts are beginning, they are under way, and we have been here throughout the whole course of the day. most of this bypass behind me had been completely flooded, but as you can see, there are so many cars now that had been removed, that grim operation, to discover if there are any remains. thankfully, not here, everybody was able to get away safely from the rains, but the sheer force of the rains, there are metal signs that have just been completely bent under the sheer force of the water that had gushed through here. itjust shows the level and intensity of the water flooding through this area. indeed. i was reading that one of the highest priorities

for the german government was the restoration of the mobile network. what sort of issues has that caused for both residents and the emergency services? absolutely huge issues when it comes to the mobile networks. we've had intermittent breakages in mobile networks. it is much better at the moment. at the beginning of the day, there were talks and fears of up to 1300 people unaccounted for, still missing, so there was a lot of concern about what had happened to them. the mobile networks are improving a lot right now, so those people who have been able to communicate with their loved ones have managed to do so, so those figures are dropping, but people are still concerned about the whereabouts of their loved ones. of course, it's understandable. but very much the power is ebing, attempts are being made to get the power back on. a lot of generators have been driven

down here to try and make sure that people do have power so that they can communicate with each other so that if anyone is still unaccounted for, they can get messages to their loved ones. of course, an awful lot of concern over the destruction here. the uk health secretary, sajid javid, is self—isolating at home, after testing positive for coronavirus. mrjavid, who's had both vaccines, said he'd felt a "bit groggy" on friday night. his announcement comes as the government prepares to go ahead with lifting coronavirus restrictions in england on monday. the decision last night to keep quarantine rules in place for people returning to england and wales from france — even if they are fully vaccinated — has been heavily criticised by travel firms. 0ur political correspondent, nick eardley, reports. downing street yesterday, the health secretary outside number 10, facemask in hand, but this morning he tested positive for coronavirus.

i was feeling a bit groggy last night so i took a lateral flow test this morning and it has come out positive. so i am now self isolating at home with my family until i get the result of pcr test. i'm grateful that i have had two jabs of the vaccine and so far, my symptoms are very mild. this is a sajid javid at a care home on tuesday, four days before his symptoms developed. it is not clear yet if any one else in government will have to self—isolate as a close contact. it comes ahead of a crucial week for ministers. from monday, legal restrictions will be lifted in england, but there were more than 5a,000 positive cases reported yesterday and some are urging caution. there is a lot of uncertainty, and if you look at countries that are ahead of us in the curve, like the netherlands and israel, both of which incidentally have good vaccination stories, if we behave like they have done and change our behaviour too dramatically when the restrictions are changed, then we are going

to end up having to do what they are having to do now, which is reconsider reimposing restrictions. next week will be a significant moment in the sometimes slow road out of lockdown in england. but it won't be back to normality overnight. face coverings will still be recommended in some places and there will still be an emphasis on caution. and the number of positive cases we're seeing, like the health secretary's, is a reminder that even if many restrictions are going, the virus hasn't disappeared. and some rules are changing faster than others. from monday, double jabbed people returning from france were supposed to be spared quarantine, but last night, the government announced that would not be happening, leaving the travel industry and many tourists less than happy. i'm trying my hardest to follow the rules, but i don't understand the rules! i don't know. at this point, i am going on my holiday, and whatever happens happens. it is constantly changing.

it actually feels more political than anything else. it's very confusing, i think everything is really badly handled. in wales today, restrictions on meeting outside were lifted. across the uk, there are more freedoms on their way, but that isn't without risk. nick eardley, bbc news. high—level talks have begun between afghan political leaders and the taliban, in the gulf state of qatar. afghan government sources have told the bbc, that peace negotiations are off to good start — but the window for a breakthrough is closing fast, as taliban militants continue their unexpectedly rapid advance. 0ur chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, is in doha. she's been speaking to the key players on both sides, about the significance of these negotiations. these high—level talks are taking place in the midst of growing uncertainty and anxiety about afghanistan's future. afghan government negotiators say

they are acutely aware that the window for peace talks is fast narrowing, perhaps a question ofjust two to three months. because the backdrop of course is that the taliban have been overrunning districts across afghanistan and seizing strategic order crossings. so i asked the minister of state for peace, did he believe after talking to the taliban again here that they were interested in a political solution? we hope so, because the only solution to the conflict in afghanistan is political solution, is through meaningful negotiation, and conflict and taking afghanistan by force is not the solution, it will not be acceptable to the people afghanistan. afg ha nista n state minister for peace. but of course that is a question for the taliban too, because it has been noticed that

as they make rapid military advances, it has emboldened them and they become clearer about their political vision for afghanistan. and it is one, judging by their ideas now on the table, which doesn't include elections and has a new islamic constitution as well as leadership. which of course, for the afghan government team, means that accepting those proposals is tantamount to a call or surrender. a call for surrender. so i asked the member of the taliban negotiating team, their spokesman, whether that was the spirit of these talks. that is the perception of the other side, not our policy. our policy is to have a settlement of the issue. that is our policy, we want this, because in that circumstance, we can then bring durable peace to the country. that is our objective. the taliban's spokesperson. well, both sides say talks

today in doha have got off to a good start, but they are hoping that these discussions can help both sides to clarify their positions and that they will lead to another round of talks involving even more high—level figures on both sides to try to push this negotiation forward. because everyone is aware, most of all afghans on the ground as well as afghanistan's neighbours, that if these talks fail, the war will get worse. much worse. the headlines on bbc news... rescue crews are still searching for survivors of the torrential flooding which swept through germany, belgium and the netherlands. at least 160 people are known to have died. the uk's health secretary, sajid javid, says he's tested positive for coronavirus and is experiencing "mild" symptoms.

sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's lizzie greenwood—hughes. hello, thanks very much. we're starting at the open golf championship where south africa's louis 0osthuizen is still leading going into the final day at royal st george's on the south coast of england. but the 2010 open champion's advantage is nowjust one shot after he was tailed all the way by americans — colin morikawa and jordan spieth — they'rejust behind him on 11 under and nine under respectively. the round of the day went to scotland's robert macintyre who hit a superb five—under—par 65. max verstappen won formula 0ne's first sprint qualifying race — to take pole for tomorrow's british grand prix. he overtook lewis hamilton at the start and the red bull driver managed to stay in front of him for all 17 laps of this trial qualifying format at silverstone. there were plenty of thrills and spills so the idea really delivered the entertainment to the 100,000 fans watching. valtteri bottas took third place

in the second mercedes. but with the points on offer, it means verstappen will start sunday's race — now 33 points ahead of hamilton in the drivers�* championship. real close again between louis and me. he pushed each other hard in the beginning of the race. i expected it to be the same tomorrow. tomorrow, we ran on a fall and, and the car will feel a little bit different, but nevertheless can i expect it to be tough because i have two mercedes cars behind me now, and they can do different strategies if they want to make it difficult. wejust different strategies if they want to make it difficult. we just have to keep on pushing and try to did the best. i don't know if i over—delivered power or what, but it is frustrating. but after that, i couldn't get close after that and he was too fast. but we live to fight another day and it is exciting and we did a greatjob trying something new and we go into tomorrow and hope tomorrow is a better day.

defending champion tadeh pogacar is poised to win the tour de france again, after he retained his huge advantage going into sunday's final day in paris. belgium's wout van aert took today's 20th stage — a time—trial over 31 kilometres from libourne to saint—emilion. pogacar finished in seventh place, but it was enough to protect his lead, and he now only has to cross the champs—elysees finish line with the peloton to win the world's most famous bike race for the second year in a row. tokyo 0lympics organisers are seeking to reassure athletes and the people of japan that the games will be covid—secure, after the first case of the virus in the olympic village was confirmed earlier today. the officials have refused to reveal the nationality of the infected person, but said it was a games organiser from abroad. meanwhile, athletes continue to arrive in tokyo, which is under a state of emergency for the duration of the event.

there was one person in the village. this is the very first case in the village that was reported during the screening test. yesterday, he or she underwent this pcr test, and right now, this person is confined in a hotel. when we have positive cases, to what extent we disclose information is another question. are we going to disclose the name of the country are not? we have been discussing with the ioc, and the ioc says if we disclose the name of the country with high probability you should be able to identify who this person is. that's all the sport for now. thank you very much.

now to cuba, where the president, miguel diaz—canel, has dismissed last week's historic demonstrations against the communist government as a lie. thousands took to the streets of havana and other cities last weekend, demanding freedom, democracy and more covid vaccinations. more than 100 people have been arrested since the protests erupted. the president had earlier accused the us of provoking the demonstrations. speaking at a pro—government rally in havana, mr diaz—canel denounced what he said was a "false narrative" over unrest on the caribbean island. translation: we have come together to once again - denounce the us blockade, aggression and terror. we couldn't put off this rally. the enemy has once again gone all out to destroy the sacred unity and peace of citizens. they are encouraging and clarifying disrespect and the discretion of property, threats and harassment of citizens and families.

right now, what the world is seeing from cuba is a lie. let's take at some of the day's other news from around the world. thousands of people have been protesting in france against new rules, which will oblige health workers to be vaccinated against coronavirus. people will also need to show either a vaccine health pass, or a negative covid test, to enter public places including restaurants. since the rules were announced on monday, a record number of people have booked appointments to be vaccinated. a sprawling wildfire raging mostly unchecked for over a week in southern oregon has forced firefighters into retreat for a fourth straight day. it is the state's fifth largest blaze in more than a century. the annual hajj pilgrimmage is getting under way in mecca with a reduced number of participants. only 60 thousand people will be taking part

because of covid restrictions. in normal years, around two and a half million muslims from across the world would visit the holiest sites of islam in mecca and medina, a pilgrimage which all muslims are expected to make at least once in their lifetimes. the us military wants to build a large, new, radar site in britain, to track targets in deep space. it comes amid growing concerns about a �*space arms race'. the us and britain have accused china and russia of developing weapons to shoot down satellites. the us space force is developing a global radar system, to identify potential threats, up to 22,000 miles in space. as well as the uk, other sites will include texas and australia. 0ur defence correspondent, jonathan beale, reports. the race in space is already under way. not just for commercial ventures like virgin galactic, with its recent maiden voyage,

but for nations too. three, two, we have ignition. last year, the us military launched another ten satellites into space. america also now has its own space force, not least to protect the systems we now all use — such as gps location. there are threats in space. i'd say the two countries that are most threatening are china and russia. there have been anti—satellite missiles that have been developed. america already has early warning systems to detect ballistic missiles — including the fylindales radar in north yorkshire. now the us wants to build a new radar system for deep space. and one of the new sites could be in the uk. what could end up in the uk is an array of parabolic antennas, and it could be anywhere from ten

to 15 for tracking, and potentially four to six for transmitting. so it would cover a large area, would it? it would cover a large area for it to receive — probably an area of one kilometre in diameter. the deep space advanced radar capability, which will be able to detect and object the size of a football up to 36,000 kilometres away, is being developed here in california. one of the sites visited by the british defence secretary this week, who wants to strengthen cooperation on space — not least to protect critical national infrastructure. space is a growing domain for both commerce, but also to protect all the key national infrastructure that we need to in today's world. it is under threat. in some areas, our adversaries are weaponising space, so we have to make sure at the very least we're providing resilience. the locations of the deep space radar capability, or darc for short, have still to be agreed,

but one of the sites being considered by the us space force is in the south of england or scotland — as well as in texas and australia. it may prove controversial, but the government's made clear it wants britain to be in the vanguard of efforts to keep space safe. jonathan beale, bbc news, los angeles. a film about a serial killer has won the prize for the best picture at this year's cannes film festival. film stars and directors returned in droves to the french riviera, after the 2020 festival was cancelled because of the pandemic. but the climax of the closing ceremony went a little wrong, when director spike lee accidentally announced the winner of the coveted palme d'0r prematurely: can you tell me which prize is the first prize? yes, ican. 0ui, oui. cool the film that won the award...

wait, wait, wait, don't! she speaks french. ok, so... she speaks french. you're watching bbc news. good evening. hot sunshine was the weather story for most parts of the uk today, but the really big story was in northern ireland where, as you can see, it was beach weather in county down, and temperatures at ballywatticock got all the way up to 31.2 celsius — and that is northern ireland's highest temperature on record. plenty of other places not too far behind, but in shetland, lerwick only got up to 13 celsius this afternoon because we had a lot of cloud around. you can see this on the satellite picture, a lot of cloud generally across the northwest of scotland, there was the odd spot of rain here, quite a brisk wind, and elsewhere, it was sunshine all the way. but as we head through this evening and overnight,

we will bring more of that cloud down across the north and the west of scotland, with some rain in the far north. northern ireland will cloud over, as well, turning quite murky in places. clear spells further south, a warm night with temperatures in some of the towns and cities no lower than 16—17 celsius. into tomorrow, for england and wales, expect plentiful sunshine once again. it might be a bit murky for some of these irish sea coasts, northern ireland should brighten up through the day. across scotland, a lot of cloud first thing — again, that should break to give some spells of sunshine, but generally speaking across northern parts of the uk, it will be a little bit cooler than it was today, the highest temperatures being pushed further south — 31 celsius likely in parts of southern england. with that, very strong sunshine, very high uv levels across southern and western parts of the uk, obviously lower uv levels where we keep more cloud further north. but for most, it is a fine end to sunday and, as we head into monday, high pressure will still be close by,

so that means plenty more dry and settled weather. the winds will start to come down from the north or the northwest — just a subtle shift, but it will mean monday is a slightly less hot day, and we will see more cloud working into some of these north sea coasts, as well. most places will see sunshine, there is just a small chance, though, of a shower getting going towards the southeast this afternoon — very isolated but, if one does turn up where you are, it could be heavy and possibly thundery. temperatures a bit lower by this stage, although still in the mid—to—high—20s across the south. and as we head through the coming week, plenty of dry weather still on the way, still some pretty high temperatures and just the chance of some rain pushing in from the west by friday.

hello, this is bbc news with lukwesa burak. the headlines... the search for hundreds of people still missing,

following devastating floods in germany and other european countries. the german president has been visiting one of the worst hit areas. our country stands together during this time. i'm very pleased to see just how much sympathy and solidarity is being shown not only here in the region, but also throughout germany. the health secretary, sajid javid, says he's tested positive for coronavirus and is experiencing "mild" symptoms. i was feeling a bit groggy last night so i took a lateral flow test this morning and it's come out positive, so i'm now self isolating at home with my family until i get the results of a pcr test. a new round of afghan peace talks has got under way in qatar between afghan leaders and the taliban. both sides have sounded a note of cautious optimism. 0lympics organisers have announced the first case of coronavirus in the athletes' village six days before the start of the tokyo games.