hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. in england, there's some confusion over whether everyone whose pinged by the nhs covid app should self—isolate. the government says it is crucial for people to do so if alerted — but earlier a minister said people could make an "informed decision". the richest person in the world, jeff bezos, has briefly gone into into space. how it felt? oh, my god! my expectations were high and they were dramatically exceeded. torrential rain in central china is causing widespread disruption — these passengers had to be rescued from a subway train boris johnson's former adviser dominic cummings tells the bbc there was talk of replacing mrjohnson as prime minister,

days after his election victory. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. thousands of people in england are self—isolating. the vast majority don't have covid — they were pinged by the covid app. and perhaps they got a surprise today. here's the times reporting that investment minister lord gerry grimstone "told one employer the track and trace app that's right — an "advisory tool". also today, the business minister, paul scully, did a series of interviews. he told times radio that self—isolating after being pinged was a matter for individuals and employers, and that,

in a further interview on the bbc, mr scully added this. the legal position has not changed, you have to isolate if you are contacted by the nhs test and trace or if you are collecting isolation payments. not everyone has the app for example and so it is not mandated. but look at the national health service website and that distinction isn't there. it says should "self—isolate immediately" if you're contacted by either "nhs track and trace or by the nhs covid—19 app". reading that, you could be forgiven for thinking that if you are pinged, you have to isolate. well, after the times story and the minister's interviews, next, a downing street spokesperson decided to offer further advice. we were told... and while everyone digested all of this advice, the self—isolation policy has come under renewed pressure —

even from within boris johnson's conservative party. come august the 16th, those who have had two vaccines will be ok to not isolate but to do testing. my question is, why not now? the government though says the rules will stay for now, and argues that the planned shift in several weeks will be tied to the vaccine roll out. by by that stage, everyone would've had the chance without the chance to be vaccinated. there's another detail on this — the government has confirmed it is possible to apply for exemptions from self—isolation, and that each will be "considered on a case by case basis". that's now being criticsed by those feeling staffing pressures. the cold chain federation argues... and goes on... the government doesn't deny that

staffing pressures exist, but argues self—isolation remains a necessary measure. for that to be effective, though, people need to keep self—isolating. as my colleaguejonathan blake notes in his analysis on the bbc news website... and that risk becomes greater now england has lifted almost all covid restrictions. and as summer holidays arrive, that will mean an increase in covid cases — and an increase in the number of people being pinged. they will then have a decision to make. stephen reicher is professor of psychology at the? university of st andrews, ? he participates in a subcommittee of the uk government's sage group. he's tweeted today, saying... here's why. the reason why we've got these problems of so many people having to

self—isolate espresso many people are being infected. we are up to 50,000 infections a day and the health minister himself admitted that will go to 100,000 and some estimates or sing it will go as high as 200,000. that is the reason why people are having to self—isolate if the government gives the message that people are concerned about the level of infection, there is nothing to bring those infections down, the number one cup people continue to get pinged, and though be asking themselves why should i the infection doesn't matter? there is a flaw in the contradiction and what the government is doing. but the osition the government is doing. but the position that _ the government is doing. but the position that it's _ the government is doing. but the position that it's had _ the government is doing. but the position that it's had for- the government is doing. but the position that it's had for a - the government is doing. but the position that it's had for a while l position that it's had for a while now is that you are legally obliged to be contracted by track and trace but not legally obliged if you're pinged by the apt. but not legally obliged if you're pinged by the apt-— but not legally obliged if you're pinged by the apt. today did feel a bit like a forest _ pinged by the apt. today did feel a bit like a forest of _ pinged by the apt. today did feel a bit like a forest of ministers - bit like a forest of ministers running and insane, another one

saying something contradictory. it started with this distinction between being pinged by the app in the test and trace. if you go to the nhs on website, makes no such distinction. it's as if it were contacted either by the app by test and trace, you should immediately self—isolate. as a contradiction between what they are saying. paul says you need to and others as you do not need to. if you want to talk or make informed decisions, how can people make informed decisions when the information they're being given from different sources is so contradictory that different ministers are disagreeing with each other and that some of the ministers are saying is at odds with what it says on the nhs website? yes, we do need to make informed decisions but from that, we need clear and consistent and not contradictory information. let's go to india now, and some new figures on india

from a us—based research group. it found that the covid—19 pandemic may have caused over four million excess deaths in india. to put that in context, that's about ten times the official death toll of [114,000 in the country. most experts believe india's official toll is a vast undercount, but the government has dismissed those concerns as exaggerated. that same figure — four million — is also the current estimate total for deaths from covid across the entire world. the research has been published by researchers from the centre for global development and harvard university — and the indian government's former chief economic advisor, arvind subramanian. here he is speaking to us earlier. let me first say that it is actually very difficult to arrive at seriously confident numbers on this because as you said india is a vast country and data systems are not always perfect. so, no one data for no one figure is going to be right and also this is going to be a kind of gradual

process of lots of researchers working on this and then shedding light on some part or the other. i think also its important to say a lot of this was made possible because of the kind of work of intrepid indianjournalists so what we did was to put together three different data sources in the study and we said all of them have problems. they have shortcomings, but if you take the central estimate of each of the studies, they all suggest somewhere the actual death counts and the true death count is likely to be in the millions, not in the hundreds of thousands that is the official number. let's hear now from the bbc�*s anbarasan ethirajan who's in delhi.

india is yet to come out of a devastating second wave of the coronavirus. it may bare the poor health infrastructure with overflowing hospitals and shortage of oxygen earlier this year. people died in the streets and outside hospitals. until now, the real impact of the disaster was subject to debate and discussions. now, a detailed study estimates the number of excess deaths since the pandemic started could be in several millions. a startling figure given that the government hospitality is only about 410,000. it is regarded as the first comprehensive nationwide study. the researchers admit that not all deaths are covid—19 related but a significant number could be. that is why the authors of the study described this as the worst humanitarian disaster india has faced since it gained independence in 19117.

establishing a figure is always challenging in a huge continent like india. country like india. the office of the study argued that 92 impact would help prepare for the next wave. india's official fatality figures is the third highest in the world after the united states and brazil. the indian government has rejected similar studies in the past saying they were baseless. it has been in the back foot following stinging criticism of it the way it handled the second wave. the latest study could add more pressure on the authorities. an operation is under way to rescue passengers submerged in waist—deep floodwaters on a subway train in china. henan province has been hit hard by heavy rain in recent days and more than a dozen cities have been flooded. china's state media has shared these images from social media but they've not yet been verified. the passengers were travelling injung—jo, in central henan province when their carriage began to fill with rising water. here's my colleague michael bristow.

officially, there has not been much information from the authorities in china at the moment. it is in the middle of the night there and so, they will still be gathering information and what we really know about the flooding in the province there in central china is the we have mostly seen there. posted on social media and those images are very dramatic. most dramatic of all, the provincial capital, the subway station there initially with pictures of cascading water flowing down the steps in an undated but subway stations and these images emerge of people actually on trains standing in water, rising until they feel remarkably calm and considering what they must be feeling and what they are going through at that time.

people have been rescued from that subway station from the subway lines and are also images of them being led along dark subway tunnel by rescue workers and out into the open air and the few people have reported to have died, having frowned in the subway stations, but that has not been verified at the moment. and across the province, it isa it is a similar situation, dams and reservoirs which have had an immense amount of rain falling and of the last few days, it has been the same amount of rainfall is the city usually has an entire year and so, that gives you some kind of idea of the devastation being caused by the floodwater there.— floodwater there. picking up on the last oint, floodwater there. picking up on the last point. are _ floodwater there. picking up on the last point, are these _ floodwater there. picking up on the last point, are these areas - floodwater there. picking up on the last point, are these areas that - last point, are these areas that would be prone to flooding most years? would be prone to flooding most ears? ~ . ., ., , , .,

years? well, central china is prone to flooding — years? well, central china is prone to flooding at _ years? well, central china is prone to flooding at this _ years? well, central china is prone to flooding at this time _ years? well, central china is prone to flooding at this time of - years? well, central china is prone to flooding at this time of year. - to flooding at this time of year. there's always heavy rain and sometimes it's worse than in other times and in this particular area along the yellow river, historically being made with flex that have killed thousands of people. nothing like that in recent years, but what they're saying is that this rain is they're saying is that this rain is the worse since they started keeping accurate records through 63rd 60-70 60—70 years. but this particular time this year, it does seem to be worse than in recent past. stay with us on outside source — still to come. the richest person in the world, jeff bezos, has briefly gone into into space. we'll look the ethics of space travel for the very wealthy. the united states climate envoy,

john kerry, has told an audience in london that the world can't wait for the covid—19 pandemic to end before dealing with climate change. he said every major economy must now commit to meaningful emission reductions by 2030. here's more of his speech at kew gardens, just days before a g20 environment ministers meeting. we are meeting at a very difficult time of the pandemic. in the covid—19 crisis still holds too many people at risk of severe illness and hospitalisations and death. and while the extraordinary technological developments of the vaccines, it is helping to ease the crisis, we are obviously not get through it. and i'm very sorry to say, the suffering of covid—19 will be magnified many times over in a world that does not grapple with and ultimately halt the climate crisis. we do not have the luxury of waiting

until covid—19 is vanquished to take up until covid—19 is vanquished to take up the climate challenge. this is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. our lead story is? the uk government has insisted self—isolation is the "most important" step people can take to combat the spread of the virus if they are notified by the covid app. jeff bezos, the richest person on planet earth has succesfully flown into space. this is the moment the amazon founder lifted off from the texan desert. his brother mark was there, along with two others — the oldest and youngest people ever to go into space. the rocket travelled nearly 100 kilometres above the planet's surface. and then they came down. this is the momentjust ten minutes after they started with the space capsule landing back in texas.

and here they emerging from the space capsule. you should be able to see wally funk at the back there, now the oldest person to travel to space, looking fairly happy as she leaves the capsule. she had this to say after landing back on earth. so, when i went up this morning, the noise was not quite as bad and we went right on up and i saw darkness that i was going to see the world, we were quite high enough and i felt great. and ifelt like i wasjust laying down. i wasjust laying down and i was going into space and i want to thank you, sweetheart because you made it possible for me. i been waiting a long time to finally get up there. this latest rocket launch comes little more more than a week after fellow billionaire richard branson's own trip to the edge of space. the british entrepreneur flew high above new mexico in the us in a vehicle his company has been developing for the last 17 years.

and mr branson was quick to congratulate mr bezos today — tweeting here's what mr bezos had to say for himself when he got back to earth. 0h oh my god! my expectations were high and they were dramatically exceeded! we were talking about this a little bit in the car right on the way back and, i don't know, the zero g may have been one of the biggest surprises to me because it felt so normal. it, almost like we were as humans evolved to be in the environment, which i know is impossible. don't forget, there's also elon musk, founder of the company, spacex, who hopes to make his mark in commercial space travel in time, too. there are many people, however, who are sceptical of what these men are doing. this is the headline of a washington post article from this weekend.

the article goes on to make the point that, that's echoed by the head of the un world food programme, who tweeted last month... mr bezos addressed this criticism on monday, saying... here's what one expert thinks about that. the big picture is that this flight will create technologies that will help life on earth and in the longer term, they will enable the human species to be interplanetary.

earlier, we heard mr bezos referring to the fragile atmosphere of the earth. and there are people who see commercial space travel as a troubling prospect for the environment. there's this from the guardian on monday. right now, the number of rocket flights is very small — but a new private space industry could change that. here's former nasa astronautjeff hoffman. i'm enthusiastic about this flight. we look at the incredible innovation that has come out of the different companies that are all taking different approaches to space, if you are left to nasa in the traditional launch providers. i love nasa, they have done very well by me, but with their help move the

investment to develop reusable rockets and all of the other technological advances that have come out of these different private companies? so, iam come out of these different private companies? so, i am enthusiastic. yes, it is expensive right now, it is not available to the general public but my parents told me about the early days of transatlantic airline flights were again, it was really out of range and only the wealthiest could afford it and things change.— wealthiest could afford it and thins chane. , ., things change. this will cost going in the space _ things change. this will cost going in the space to _ things change. this will cost going in the space to come _ things change. this will cost going in the space to come down - things change. this will cost going in the space to come down and - things change. this will cost going in the space to come down and it i things change. this will cost going | in the space to come down and it is way out of range for most everyone. meanwhile a winner of the auction to sit alongside bezos in his first spaceflight reportedly paid about 28 million dollars. dominic cummings, the prime minister's former chief adviser, has told the bbc there was talk of trying to replace borisjohnson as prime minister within days of the conservative election victory in december 2019.

mr cummings, who had been director of the vote leave campaign in 2016, also suggested that people who were completely sure that brexit was a good idea had "got a screw loose". he spoke to our political editor laura kuenssberg. what really happened? this man used to be one of the most powerful figures in the government, but his friendship of political convenience with the prime ministerfell to bits. borisjohnson and dominic cummings became foes. their strategy had produced a massive win at the election. well, we did it, we did it. once they were all safely installed in number ten, he ended up on the outside. he was fed up with the media portrayal of him being a kind of puppet for the vote leave team. it was driving him round the bend. he was upset about the fact, connected to that, that essentially i was spending my time on what i thought was important, not on politics, not on media and communication

and campaigning stuff. he was the elected prime minister. you were an unelected adviser. yeah, we basically disagreed on what was happening on covid. i thought his girlfriend was interfering with appointments, people who were being... she wanted to have people fired and have people promoted in ways that i thought were unethical and unprofessional. and that also led to a big argument between us. accusing somebody of having undue influence, which is what you are doing, is a big claim. the prime minister doesn't have a plan and he doesn't know how whitehall works. someone is going to set the agenda. it is going to be the civil service, or the vote leave team, or me. as soon as the election was one night, her view was, why should it be dominic

and the leave team, why shouldn't it be me that is pulling the strings? in response to mr cummings' claims, downing street told us political appointments are entirely made by the prime minister. in the end, you lose the argument, you lose that influence. that's what happened, isn't it? yeah, in fact, literally immediately after the election, it was already clear that this was a problem. before mid january, we were having meetings in number ten, saying, "it is clear that carrie wants rid of all of us?�* _ at that point, we were all ready saying by the summer he would be gone from here or we would be in the process of trying to get rid of him and get someone else in as prime minister. within months of the prime minister winning the biggest conservative majority in decades, you and a few others from the vote leave campaign were discussing the possibility of getting rid of him.

days, not months. within days of the election you were discussing getting rid of him? yes. because for all the reasons we have been discussing. he doesn't have a plan, doesn't know how to be prime minister, and we only have got him in there to solve a certain problem, not because we thought it was right to run the country. what kind of con did you pull off on the british public if that is what you think? i don't think it is a con. we were trying to solve problems in the order we can solve them in. before the relationship at the heart of government broke, borisjohnson and dominic cummings did achieve their top priority — brexit. so how does the architect of the vote leave campaign look—back? questions like, "is brexit a good idea?" no one on earth knows what the answer to that is. even you are still not sure if brexit was a good idea? i think anyone who says they are sure about questions like that has got a screw loose, whether you are on the remain side or our side.

one of the reasons we won was precisely because we didn't think we were definitely right and remainers are all idiots or traitors. do you think you have done more good than damage? i think brexit was a good thing. i think that the way in which the world has worked out since 2016 vindicates the arguments that vote leave made in all sorts of ways. i think it's good that brexit happened. he won't be the one to settle that question. nor will he write his entry in the books of our recent history, but there will be a page, for sure. laura kuenssberg, bbc news. if you want more analysis from outside source a good place to find it is on twitter — i'm @bbcrosatkins. follow me, you'll see all of our videos, they're usually quite short with lots packed in. we're posting new material all the time.

hello. in response to the ongoing heat across the uk, the met office has now issued and extreme heat warning for parts of england and wales. now issued an extreme heat warning for parts of england and wales. it's the first time we've seen one of these warnings issued, but this part of our warnings sweep only came into force from the 1st ofjune. it essentially indicates elevated temperatures both by day and by night. you can get more details on what that warning means and how it fits in with the other warnings you see as issued by taking a look at our website. certainly overnight, though, there will be a lot of heat hanging around across the uk with the core of it across england and wales. in some areas, for the bulk of the sleeping hours, temperatures will be sitting close to 20 celsius.

this is the weather pattern that's bringing all of the heat. a lot of sunshine across much of the uk, but underneath that area of high pressure tuesday afternoon, a little like we saw on monday, there's the possibility of some very localised clusters of thunderstorms breaking out. a little bit more cloud for northern scotland, keeping it cooler here, but heat creeping into southern scotland and northern ireland. temperatures around the 30 celsius mark for many inland spots across england and wales. a closer look certainly worthy of those showers heading on late into the afternoon tuesday and into the small hours of wednesday — could locally be an inundation of rain for some, thunder certainly and some large hail. wednesday, we still have the high with us — again, though, an indicator that to the east of england, just enough instability sits in the atmosphere for us to see some thunderstorms breaking out, perhaps earlier in the day, midday into the afternoon on wednesday. more cloud across the northeast of england, i think that will linger actually into north sea coasts. so cooler for the likes

of newcastle and hull, but you can still see plenty of heat elsewhere, mid—to—high 20s widely, those temperatures. and the extreme heat warning stands for those parts of england and wales on into thursday. friday is a different story — the temperatures are easing back, fresher air is arriving. where is it coming from? it's getting pulled in around an area of low pressure that will be starting to approach the southwest of the uk. overnight friday, it may start throwing some showers — certainly looks like there'll be plenty of those circulating in time for the weekend.

hello, this is bbc news.

the headlines... a new us study shows... around ten times the official death toll, making it the country's worst humanitarian disaster since independence. jeff bezos made a ten minute, 18 second trip to space. the founder of amazon was accompanied by his brother, mark. uk dummett cummings held discussions about ousting borisjohnson dummett cummings held discussions about ousting boris johnson from downing street within days of the conservative victory. but earlier, a minister said that people could make an informed decision. those are the headlines from the bbc. now on bbc news, our media editor, amol rajan, speaks to google's ceo,

sundar pichai about a wide range of issues, from the company's