this is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. nightclubs celebrate reopening as almost all coronavirus restrictions in england are lifted. the floods are receding but the questions remain — why did so much devastation and death hit parts of western europe — and is climate change to blame. a major media investigation reports human rights activists, journalists and lawyers all being targeted by authoritarian governments using spyware. as thousands of athletes and staff pour into tokyo for the start of the olympics, more test positive for covid.

hello and welcome. today, monday the 19th, has been called freedom day in england. as of today, most covid restrictions here have come to an end. prime minister borisjohnson says now is the right time to unlock, but he's urging people to remain cautious. the unlocking comes as the uk is seeing a big surge of infections, driven by the delta variant. let's take a look at the main changes in england. some scientists are predicting a could reach 200,000 each day

by the end of the year. businesses have been preparing for this reopening, with many companies having to understand how to interpret the changes and keep their staff save, and those kinds of details. this report contains flashing images. the moment they have been waiting for for over a year. three, two, one! cheering and applause. the final stage of onlooking and england, with social distancing rules dropped. 1000 people packed into this club in central london, with many more lining up outside. cheering and applause. they have waited 16 months. we are so they have waited 16 months. - are so pump to get in there. it has been a year and a half and— it has been a year and a half and we_ it has been a year and a half and we are ready to dance. i have _

and we are ready to dance. i have had _ and we are ready to dance. i have had no vaccines, iwant to have — i have had no vaccines, iwant to have a _ i have had no vaccines, iwant to have a good _ i have had no vaccines, iwant to have a good time. - to have a good time. iam— to have a good time. lam so_ to have a good time. i am so excited. - i am so excited. so excited. it is just a relief so excited. it isjust a relief after— so excited. it isjust a relief after such_ so excited. it isjust a relief after such a _ so excited. it isjust a relief after such a long _ so excited. it isjust a relief after such a long time, - so excited. it isjust a relief after such a long time, just| so excited. it isjust a relief. after such a long time, just to have — after such a long time, just to have freedom. _ have freedom. nightclubs - have freedom. nightclubs are j have freedom. - nightclubs are one of have freedom. _ nightclubs are one of the few businesses that have had to stay closed throughout the whole pandemic, and with the last to reopen. and this is what many have waited so long for, and what the nightlife industry has desperately needed. some feel the sector has been sidelined. the last year has been hell on earth, it has been very, very difficult. if you look at what happened last week with a football compared to what is happening tonight, and you think, why will we treated differently? what we're going to do is take the out, — what we're going to do is take the out, but them over there. it is _ the out, but them over there. it is more _ the out, but them over there. it is more sedate but no less celebratory and at this club and west london, where they prepare for an end to table service only and mandatory masks. i can't wait to enjoy doing our

job instead of basically needing to be a policeman the whole time, and just lecturing people on what they can and can't do, where they can and can't do, where they can and can't go, the masks they wear, what they touch, what they track and trace. it is going to be strange to adapt it again, the notion of people coming to the notion of people coming to the public again, being able to go to the tables without being directed. as of midnight, almost all restrictions have been removed. face coverings are no longer required by law but are recommended in crowded and closed spaces. scotland has moved to what is known as level 08 - moved to what is known as level 08 — limits on social gatherings remain with face coverings mandatory in the shops and on public transport. in northern ireland — the latest phase is expected next week. wales — most covid rules are set to be scrapped from august to seventh, so face coverings will still be required in most indoor places. there are concerns about easing restrictions when rising cases

continue. just over 10% of intensive care beds and england are occupied by people who have god covid, so there has been a significant increase in pressure on these services over the last couple of weeks. whether experts warning that cases could surgery further, and with a third of adults not yet fully vaccinated, the worry is, at what price is this new freedom? we will discuss this more later, all of that to come later, all of that to come later in the programme. in western germany the rains have stopped and flood waters are receding. but calls are growing for the government to uphold its promise of fast financial help. after visiting some of the areas worst hit by last week's deadly flash floods, chancellor angela merkel expressed her shock at what she called �*surreal destruction�*. 0ur europe correspondent jenny hill reports.

"we really need help here," she says. and outside the village shop, you can see why. as in so many other parts of western germany, people in the town of bad munstereifel still can't quite believe what happened. we met gertrude here. volunteers have brought food, water. she told us she spent the night alone, upstairs, as water flooded into her house. translation: i've never seen anything like it, never. - it leaves you speechless. "gertrude," he says, "the two of us will never see this place come back to what it was. "we will never see it again. "it's no longer my home. "it's terrible." earlier, angela merkel came to see for herself.

this is the town of schuld, where whole houses were destroyed. translation: it's shocking. i'm tempted to say the german language has no words to describe the destruction that's occurred here, but i could also see huge comfort in the way people have come together to help each other. the water is subsiding in western germany but overnight, more flooding in other parts of the country. high water in bavaria, saxony. in austria, too, towns and cities deluged. in bad munstereifel, they're doing their best to clear up. translation: people have | lost their lives, their houses. there are no more roads. but there's huge solidarity. they're going to need it in the weeks to come. we're seeing this kind of destruction all over west germany, and what is particularly hard for people in places like this to bear is that it could be weeks, maybe months, before they get back electricity, connection.

in one part of the region, the authorities are saying that gas for heating and hot water won't be back until well into the autumn. germany is mourning its dead. for the survivors, this ordeal is far from over. jenny hill, bbc news, bad munstereifel. other regions of europe have also been seeing heavy rains and flash floods. hundreds of caravans and tents on a camping site in belgium's arden area were damaged when the nearby river burst its banks. many owners were left looking for their properties and salvaging what they could. austria's scenic town of hal—ine suffered severe damage when torrential rain sent flood water rushing throught the town centre, dragging along anything in its path including cars. and in parts of sicily�*s capital, palermo, sudden thunderstorms and heavy rains hit the italian island,

turning roads into rivers. the fire brigade had to rescue drivers trapped in their cars in dinghies. many people may have been spied on using spyware according to a massive datalink. misuse of a spyware sold and developed by an israeli surveillance company — the company in question have denied the allegations against them and say that technology is only sold to the law enforcement and technology agencies of vetted companies. the software is known as pegasus, so how does it work? one click on a malicious link and install software without the owner having any idea. it isn't the only means of attack a simple mist whatsapp call can

also install it. patches in iphone security mean thats have been installed again without the user's knowledge, regardless of whether they received a message. it can read text messages and conversations and a chat applications like whatsapp, e—mails, and even listen into calls. it can extract data, photographs, videos, contacts, and passwords. it can also see through the camera, listen and on the microphone, and see the location of the phone. we spoke to a senior research fellow earlier, the first person to discover an iphone hack used by the israeli cyber warfare company, nso group. iasked him to explain how it works. well, nso group sells the pegasus spyware to dozens of governments all around the world, and originally it required the target to click on a link to facilitate the hacking of the phone. but nowadays the spyware

system uses what is called a zero—click technique, meaning that the government can hack the phone without the target having to take any action. your phone can be sitting on the table — one minute it's fine, the next minute it's compromised. it is the responsibility of the company and israel's government, the ministry of defence, which is regulating the export of these tools — it is their responsibility to set nso group down and say, look, if you sell this to saudi arabia, if you sell this to the uae, bahrain, or other oppressive governments, what do you think they will do? maybe they will go after criminals and terrorists, but the main concern, in my view, is trying to figure out what their critics are up to, trying to ensure the survival of the monarchy. who is speaking truth to power? what are they planning next and how can we

subvert them? there are two main takeaways — the first one is people are quite surprised by the scale of this. some of the leaked data has around 50,000 phone numbers on their, which have been selected for targeting, so that level of scale is really beyond what many people think and envision. nso group says, sometimes they are a small number of targets, this is the osama bin laden s of the world, so i think the scale is shocking and the number of countries in which this is being abused. for example, india represents itself as a democracy, yet we see cases were politicians, judges, journalists are being spied on by the government. certainly, bringing light to this is important and i think ringing pressure on the various stakeholders who can make a difference, for example the israeli government. i think it is probably not an exaggeration to say it is quite embarrassing

for the israeli government and the minister of defence to have this huge deluge of information showing very, very damning abusive use of surveillance tools. i hope that this avalanche of publicity around this will spur them on to take strong action. please stay with us on a bbc news. coming up — the incredible story of two—year—old smuggled on the back of a larry and reunited. radio: we see you coming down the ladder now. - that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. a catastrophic engine fire is being blamed tonight for the first crash in the 30—year history of concorde, the world's only

supersonic airliner. it was one of the most vivid symbols of the violence - and hatred that tore apart the state of yugoslavia. . but now, a decade later, - it's been painstakingly rebuilt and opens again today. there's been a 50% decrease in sperm quantity and an increase in malfunctioning sperm, unable to swim properly. all count: seven, six, five, four, three...! - thousands of households across the country are suspiciously- quiet this lunchtime - as children bury their noses in the final instalment of harry potter. - this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the clubbers are back — in their thousands — as most covid restrictions here come to an end. prime minister borisjohnson is urging people

cautious. the german leader angela merkel has visited the region worst—affected by devastating floods — she says the world must act faster in its battle against global warming. the tokyo olympics get under way this week, but there's already a growing number of athletes and officials testing covid—positive, or being forced to self—isolate. in the olympic village, two players and a coach for the south africa men's football team have the virus. eight members of team gb athletics team are also in isolation after being in close contact with positive cases. from tokyo, rupert wingfield—hayes reports. with five days to go, the anti—olympic protests are not going away. this one is outside the hotel where ioc president thomas bach is staying. their message to him is pretty blunt. over at the olympic village, three covid cases have now been confirmed.

across the city, 1,400 new cases on saturday. despite this, when i sat down with the governor of tokyo, she told me the games must go ahead. translation: i believe that not holding the olympics is even - sadder than holding it during these dire times. i do not want to show the world that we have lost to covid—19. there is still meaning in holding the olympics in tokyo, despite the current situation. this was wembley stadium in london a week ago, but with just 20% of japanese vaccinated, there will be no scenes like this in tokyo's olympic stadium. governor koike concedes ifjapan had moved faster on vaccines, things might have been different. translation: | agree, i it would have been better. if we had a faster vaccination rollout, we may have been able to have spectators at the olympics.

but the speed of vaccine rollout has now increased immensely. not fast enough. this is kyoto, japan's ancient capital and number one tourist site. by now, this place should have been thronged with hordes of tourists from all over the world. forjapan, that was to be the big pay—off — invest billions and billions in hosting the olympics and then millions of travellers will come from all over the world to your great cultural institutions, spending lots of money. as you can see, there is nobody here. shop owners here have seen sales fall by more than 90%. translation: it is - the government's fault. look at the other countries, like the uk and taiwan. they seem to be doing well. but look at japan. i cannot believe we call ourselves a developed country. back in tokyo, hundreds of athletes are now arriving each day. it is now clear that some of them will be carrying covid. the ioc�*s assertion

that the games represent zero risk to public health is already starting to look flimsy. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in tokyo. time now for the latest sports news. hello, i'm tulsen tullott and this is your sports news, hello, i'm tulsen tullett and this is your sports news, starting with golf where collin morikawa won the open championship on sunday by two strokes to claim a second major trophy. the 2a—year—old, who won a first major on his us pga championship debut last year, becomes the first open debutant to win since ben curtis did so at this course in 2003. after moving to 15 under on the 1ath, he did what was required down the home straight to claim the claretjug in a bogey free round in kent. i in a bogey free round in kent. was thankful to have experience i was thankful to have

experience and my game kicked into shape so i am very happy with what i did this week. formula one championship leader max verstappen branded lewis hamilton "disrespectful" and "unsportsmanlike" following their collision in the british grand prix. hamilton was handed a 10—second penalty for the crash that involved the dutchman and saw his race end early. the world champion went on to win the race but it was the mercedes drivers celebrations afterwards that the red bull driver didn't appreciate. verstappen now leads hamilton by 8 points, with the hungarian grand prix next up in a fortnight�*s time. 22—year—old slovenian taday pogarcher has been crowned the tour de france champion for the second year in a row. belgium's wout van aert won the final stage in paris which meant britain's mark cavendish failed in his bid to set a new record of 35 stage wins at the tour — losing out to van aert in the final few metres of the bunch sprint on the champs—elysees. pogarcher has been dominant in the race, leading the overall standings since his time—trial victory back on the 5th stage —

his winning margin was more than five minutes. meanwhile these were the scenes in pogacar�*s home town of komenda, near ljubljana, as the slovenian crossed the line in paris. in 50 days of competition this season, pogacar has spent 22 days as the leader of a race and notched 31 top—10 results. england's cricketers have set up a winner—takes—all match in the third and final t20 of their series with pakistan, after a 45 run win at headingley. england made 200 after being sent in to bat with captain jos buttler picking up a half century and liam livingstone, fresh from his 100 in the opening game, putting one out of the stadium altogether before he was run out on 38. in response the tourists struggled, with this brilliant caught and bowled by adil rashid a highlight, while saqib mahmood picked up three wickets to help square the series ahead of the last match in manchester on tuesday.

i think it is similar to golf, the hardest you hit the further it goes. it goes further if you get hold of the ball. it is nice clearly to contribute to the team and it is even nicer when you win games of cricket. american coco gauff will miss the tokyo olympics after testing positive for covid-19. the 17 year—old took to social media to say she's disappointed to share the news of testing positive for covid and won't be able to participate. the world number 25 went on to say she hopes there will be many more chances for her to make this come true in the future. you can get all the latest sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport but from me, tulsen tulett and the rest of the team, that's your sports news for now. thai police have used force to break up large protests calling for the resignation of the prime minister. the demonstration fell on the first anniversary of pro—democracy rallies, and the concerns of protesters have now widened,

to include the government's handling of the pandemic, amid a dramatic rise in cases. courtney bembridge reports. anger on the streets of bangkok was met with water cannons, rubber bullets and tear gas. the protesters were flouting a nationwide ban on public gatherings. thailand has also extended to stay—at—home orders and a nighttime curfew to three more provinces because of coronavirus. translation: i understand that the situation _ is not getting any better, but we have to come out and show them that we are not happy about the measures imposed by the government. it is like they wanted to stop at a standstill but they were not trying to fix anything. thailand is facing its worst wave of infections and its overwhelmed hospitals strained the economy and throwing tourism recovery plans in doubt. translation: the government has been poor at managing _ the situation and if

we don't do anything there will be no change. they should open their eyes and see how the people have been living and not remain like a dictator. i feel very disappointed. these are not the pictures thailand wanted going around the world in the same month it launched a tourism scheme to welcome vaccinated visitors. less than 5% of the thai population is fully vaccinated — mostly with the chinese—made sinovacjab — but the country is to become the first to mix vaccines, using locally—produced astrazeneca for the second dose after hundreds of medical staff who were fully vaccinated with sinovac got covid. the government is also considering a cap on the number of locally—produced vaccines it sends overseas — a move that could disrupt supply to its regional neighbours, like indonesia and malaysia, which are also battling a surge in infections. courtney bembridge, bbc news.

a two—year—old boy who was found apparently being smuggled in a migrant lorry to the united states, has been reunited with his family in honduras. wilder garcia was discovered along with more than a hundred migrants in suffocating conditions. the bbc�*s tim allman reports. back in his mother's arms after a harrowing adventure. wilder garcia looked happy enough, despite spending more than two weeks in the care of the mexican authorities. after a cuddle with mum, it was a drive cross—country, and a reunion with most of the rest of his family. translation: yesterday was a day when my life i came back to me, because i saw him. he recognised me and ran towards me. i felt happy. this was wilder when he was found abandoned on a highway in southern mexico. half naked and screaming

for his parents, with bags of rubbish surrounding him. he set out with his father to travel to the us but somewhere along the way they got separated. it was only when his story made international headlines that his mother recognised him on television. she's got her son back that will she try to reach america again? translation: no, not any more, it risks the lives of children. - it's been sad what we went through. it's better to be poor and to keep on living. wilder's father is believed to be in an immigration centre in mexico and will soon be sent back to honduras. no happy ending in america, but a family reunited, safe and sound. tim allman, bbc news. we have all the top business stories coming up next including a look at how the nighttime economy in the uk, in

england in particular, is preparing for the full reopening. i will be talking as well to the chief executive of the royal albert hall. all that coming up in a moment. hello again. sunday was the hottest day of the year so far in both england and wales. cardiff saw a maximum temperature of 30.2 degrees celsius — the new highest temperature of the year for wales. but it was a bit hotter at london's heathrow airport, at 31.6, and that's the highest temperature we've seen in both england and the uk as a whole in 2021 so far. now, if you're heading outside over the next few hours, chances are you'll come across clear skies. the exception — northern scotland, where we could see an odd spot of rain for the western isles and the highlands, but otherwise it's dry. the other thing i'm sure you'll notice is just how warm a start to the day it's going to be. now, looking at the week ahead, high pressure's going to stay dominating the weather picture, and that means lots more of this hot and sunny weather, like it or not. now, there will be one or two isolated thundery showers building through the latter part of the afternoon,

and evening time, and after hot weather by day, it will stay very warm overnight as well. monday morning, then, sunny, warm start to the day. the exception — northern scotland, where we'll see some patchy cloud, but even here there will be some sunny spells. one or two thunderstorms bowing up during the afternoon, not many of these. you'll be able to see the clouds from a mile away. but if you're unlucky, you could see a downpour. the highest temperatures — england and wales, high 20s to low 30s. and looking at the jet stream pattern, well, this explains why our weather's not going to change. we've got this blocked pattern. the uk's underneath this ridge, and that is what's causing us the fine weather. this kind of pattern isn't going to change very much day—to—day. and that means tuesday, we'll see more of that fine, sunny, very warm if not hot weather. but again, there could be one or two isolated storms popping up as we go through the afternoon. temperatures again high 20s to the low 30s, the heat wave continues. but it's starting to get a bit hotter again in northern ireland and also

into parts of scotland. and that warming trend across these northern areas will continue into the middle part of the week again. so, plenty of sunshine around, one or two afternoon storms just about possible. most of you, though, will have another dry day on wednesday. and those temperatures, high 20s to low 30s, cardiff this time seeing some of the hotter weather. 26 in belfast, and 27 there in glasgow. as i say, this weather pattern�*s not going to change very quickly, but eventually low pressure will likely move in to bring some thundery rain. but there's a lot of uncertainty when exactly those cooler conditions will arrive.

let's get some of the day's other news. dance the night away. england's night—time industry celebrates as nightclubs, bars and theatres are allowed to open at full capacity. after weeks of delay, opec and its allies finally agree to a deal to raise oil production, starting next month. and spacejunk is posing a threat to spaceflight and satellites — we find out what can be done about it. we begin with the changes

taking place in england today with most legal restrictions on social contact lifted.