this is bbc news. i'm nancy kacungira with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. fireworks light up the night sky in tokyo as the 2020 olympics finally get under way. it was a pared—back, covid—safe ceremony, but did it still manage to impress? in the uk, there's confusion over government plans to exempt some key workers, like those in food depots, from covid self—isolation. more than 100 people have died in western india in landslides and flooding triggered by torrential monsoon rains. and we get the story behind the soaring price of the beans in your coffee. a clue — it's not covid.

hello, and welcome. the first full day of competition is under way at the 2020 tokyo olympics. 11 gold medals will be decided on saturday with the first likely to come in the women's ten—metre air rifle. the opening ceremony took place despite the japanese capital being under a state of emergency because of covid pandemic. and another athlete, the dutch rower finn florijn, has pulled out following a positive test. the ceremony itself was watched by millions of people around the world on television. here's our correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes. for the uno family, it has been a long, anxious wait to get to this moment. the unos are serious olympic fans.

dad has spent over £3000 on olympic tickets, so you can imagine the mixed emotions they're feeling tonight. yes, we think about, you know, the kids. it's the very first time to hold their olympics injapan, so we were excited. "i am very disappointed," masato uno says. "if they were not going to have spectators, they should have postponed again until next year, then we could have welcomed people from abroad properly." chanting. those who think the whole show should've been scrapped long ago were out on the streets again this evening. cheering. but they were vastly outnumbered by the crowds that have turned out to try and get a glimpse of the action. this was shinjuku park at lunchtime as japan's air force display team painted the olympic rings across the sky. the olympics is very... it's a once—in—a—lifetime kind of event, right? so, ijust wanted to have my

kids have experience to see those athletes at least. but, i mean, due to this covid—19, i guess things have got to be the way it is. for months, we've heard that japan doesn't want the games, that people are afraid. it didn't look like it tonight. the contrast between what's going on inside the olympic stadium tonight and what's going on outside in tokyo could not be more stark. because of covid, because of the state of emergency, the stadium seats are empty, and yet here we are right outside, tens of thousands of people gathered in public squares and public parks to try and glimpse a bit of the action. and if you go in the streets round here, the restaurants are all full, life is going on as normal. there's some pretty strange logic going on here. translation: i am sure the government is taking measures to prevent the spread of the virus by separating - the athletes from the public, so i'm not worried. _

for some, these scenes show the ban on olympic spectators is unnecessary, but with covid cases in tokyo climbing rapidly, others will say this demonstrates exactly why the spectator ban is needed. with supporters from around the world not allowed to attend these games, many have had to settle for watching from fanzones in their home countries. in the indian capital, delhi, the indian sports minister and his deputy invited former athletes and children from several of the city's sports clubs to watch the live event and cheer for their country's team. in the french capital, paris, people gathered in the trocadero gardens to watch the opening ceremony. the square has been turned into an open—air fanzone with a large screen that will show the competition for the next four weeks, olympics followed by paralympics. across the channel in sunny london, which hosted the games in 2012, a zone near the olympic stadium has been set up complete with deck chairs and entertainment

for spectators, including one former two—time olympic medallist fatima whitbread. and in the us capital, washington, in spite of the 13—hour difference with japan, bars opened in the early morning for eager fans to watch the games kick off before some headed off to work. so, what will it be like for athletes to compete without spectators? dr david fletcher is a sports psychologist at loughborough university. it varies very much from athlete to athlete, and with some athletes actually get really quite nervous, as they walk out into the arena. it is like no other cauldron of fierce competition, and the crowd itself can add a dynamic to that. but of course, the japanese athletes, they would've benefited from the home support. they'll no longer have that. so, i think it's very much on a case—by—case basis, but i personally think for the majority of our athletes, it won't actually

make that much difference because if you think about it, they train on a day—to—day basis without big crowds watching them and also they've been competing in the lead—up to these games with the low numbers of crowds or no crowds at all. so, for example, the olympic trials for a lot of our different sports have had minimal crowds. so, as i say, i think they'll actually be ready for this, and that won't be a key factor. and the fact there'll be an olympic medal on the line in the finals will be enough motivation for them. there's confusion and growing criticism over the uk government's plans to allow some key workers in england, from transport workers and police to those controlling the power network, to take daily covid tests instead of self—isolating. business leaders says the scheme needs to be significantly expanded within days to tackle staff shortages, but there's still uncertainty about how that mass testing will be carried out. our economics correspondent dharshini david reports.

from the outside, not much to tempt the taste buds, but supermarket depots keep us all fed. they're taking on a new order, acting as testing centres to allow staff at risk of infection to keep working. it comes as over a million people across the country isolate, meaning some gaps on shop shelves and even closures. it's great that depot workers and food manufacturers will be exempt from government rules, but it is borderline pointless if you're not going to make all of the chain exempt. we need food store workers to be omitted from the list immediately. and tonight, it's emerged that those first testing sites won't be ready until monday despite earlier government assurances, raising questions about plans for expansion. supermarkets see this as a step forward, but not the solution. the 10,000 workers involved in manufacturing and distribution who could be exempt are just

a fraction of the 4 million involved in bringing ourfood from farm to plate. the government argues that you relax restrictions too much, you could see infection rates soaring, but some businesses are concerned they could be overlooked. this wholesaler in burnley is already pulling out all the stops to supply care homes and schools. they don't know if or how the scheme can help them. something is happening, but is it going to be apparent for us? we're not sure. and if it does become apparent, we have to e—mail defra with every individual case. how long is that going to take? is that a 24—hour turnaround? is it a two—day turnaround? we've already lost a couple of days for that person getting the pcr test. so, we just don't know. over at the ports, they're getting to grips with an alternative scheme designed for a few other critical industries, similar to one unveiled in scotland today, where they have to apply for exemption for selected named vaccinated staff. we have to go through this

highly bureaucratic- process of supplying lists of individual names - as well as functions, _ whereas the supermarket supply sectorjust seems to - have a blanket exemption. for us, it seems unfair that. there's one rule for one sector and another rule for another. railway signalling staff will be exempt, but drivers may not be, so there could be more train cancellations to come. increasingly, businesses are asking why the date for scrapping isolation rules, just three weeks away, can't be brought forward? once again, this pandemic means balancing public health with our social and economic well—being, and everything has a cost. dharshini david, bbc news. the us has launched a number of air strikes in afghanistan against taliban positions in recent days despite having withdrawn 95% of its forces from the country. a pentagon spokesman did not provide further details on the attacks, but the taliban said some had been close

to the southern city of kandahar, where the militants have been advancing in recent weeks. separately, afghan officials say taliban militants have our afghanistan correspondent, secunder kermani is in kabul. us officials have confirmed that a number of air strikes were launched in support of afghan forces in recent days, and we understand that at least some of them have been around the southern city of kandahar. that's a city that's both strategically and symbolically important, and there's increasing concern about the way the taliban are pressing in on it. now, these air strikes are said to have targeted military equipment and vehicles seized by the taliban from afghan forces. and they were what's called over—the—horizon operations. in other words, involving aircraft not stationed in afghanistan, but flown in from elsewhere in the region for these strikes and then flown out once again. now, these strikes will have been useful in holding back the taliban advance on the city, but there's real concern about what will happen after the end of august.

that's the deadline for the withdrawal of all remaining international forces, and us officials have been suggesting that after august, any of these over—the—horizon air strikes will no longer target the taliban. they'll just target groups like al-qaeda or is. and kandahar is just one of a number of cities in afghanistan that's feeling the pressure from the taliban. the group have seized around half of all territory in the country, though no major city as of yet. president xijinping has paid a surprise visit to the politically sensitive region of tibet, the first by a chinese president in more than 30 years. his visit is only being covered by state media because of the sensitivities of the trip. many exiled tibetans accuse beijing of religious repression. there have been tensions, too, with india. the head of the bbc�*s chinese service, howard zhang, gave us his view of the purpose of the visit. there is speculation and

analysis from different walks. one of the main thoughts is that xi jinping is trying to emphasise his push for a different type of nationalist agenda. in recent years, people have noticed changes in some of the chinese ethnic policies, such as trying to force different ethnic groups to have a national identity, a melting pot identity, and trying to make their religion and cultures more secularised, more fitting into the main kind of a communist—led state structure. i think that's many people's interpretation. he's trying to put more emphasis on that. but, of course, the timing is also quite crucial, because it's also at the juncture of 70 years of the chinese army entering tibet and signing what they called the peaceful liberation treaty. so, i think there are

multiple factors here. stay with us on bbc news. still to come, we'll meet one of the oldest debutants in the new olympic sport of skateboarding. 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 pmperly. _ 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 opening ceremony of the tokyo olympics has taken place in a largely empty stadium, but the man in charge has described it as a day of hope. in the uk, there's confusion over government plans to exempt some key workers, like those in food depots, from covid self—isolation. in western india, more than 100 people have been killed after torrential monsoon rains triggered landslides and flooding in the state of maharashtra. officials say dozens

of bodies have been recovered from a landslide in the district of raigad, with more feared trapped. hundreds of villages and towns are without electricity and drinking water. our correspondent sarah campbell reports. whole areas of the state of maharashtra are underwater, the result of torrential rain triggering devastating landslides. battling fast—flowing currents and submerged dangers, the country's national disaster response force. 32 houses have collapsed in the landslide because of the rain, and the rescue operation is there going on and the relief is there. as per their latest report, we have recovered 32 bodies, and some more are said to be trapped there. residents are now counting the cost of their losses, their homes and possessions lost or destroyed. translation: i had three vehicles. - all of them got submerged in the floodwater. they are all damaged. the furniture in my house

and outside also got damaged. this is monsoon season, but the rain has been too much for many areas to cope with. it's thought that more than half a metre of rain fell in parts of india's west coast in just 2a hours. the authorities were forced to evacuate people from low—lying areas as water was released from dams which were threatening to overflow. translation: if the water'sj released from the dam today and the rainfall continues, floodwater could - enter our homes. and the situation is set to worsen. india's meteorological department has issued red alerts, indicating the torrential rainfall is expected to continue. sarah campbell, bbc news. there've also been floods in china, where more bodies are being discovered as water is pumped from tunnels in henan province. the death toll currently stands at 51, but is expected to rise further. officials say that nearly 400,000 people have been moved

to safer areas and now the flooding has moved as more rivers burst their banks. china correspondent stephen mcdonell reports from beijing. people in their hundreds of thousands have been moved to safety in central china's henan province. deadly flash flooding following record—breaking heavy driving rain has shut down cities and towns across the region. some people have been trapped for days, cut off by the rising waters without fresh food or water. officials say tens of thousands of rescuers have been mobilised, including the military, to reach stranded residents and evacuate the most dangerous areas. the rain has eased in zhengzhou city, and water is being pumped from rail and car tunnels. as these tunnels are cleared, bodies are being found, pushing up the official death toll. while the emergency situation may have improved in zhengzhou, elsewhere it's become more dire.

floodwaters have spread to new locations with more rivers in henan province breaching their banks. makeshift bridges are being put in to allow emergency teams to operate. on social media, china's rapidly growing cities have been criticised for not better preparing for catastrophic weather events. at times, the drainage infrastructure here has not kept up with increased population density. chinese scientists are warning, though, that the source of this devastating weather can be traced back to climate change, leading to calls for a much more rapid plan to ameliorate it. over the coming days, the priority is going to be surviving the current flooding crisis. the rain hasn't stopped in henan, and over the weekend, a typhoon is expected to hit to china's east coast. stephen mcdonell, bbc news, beijing. the funeral has taken place in haiti of the late

presidentjovenel moise, who was assassinated two weeks ago by a group of mercenaries. at one point, protesters could be heard outside as mourners and foreign dignatories gathered at the moise family compound. an adviser to president biden was among those who gathered amidst heavy security at cap—haitien. the assassination has plunged haiti into political turmoil. it is not known who ordered the killing, but the united states has offered help with the investigation. a new prime minister was sworn in on tuesday. he's expected to oversee elections for a new president in september. parliament in sierra leone has voted to abolish the death penalty. capital punishment will be replaced with life imprisonment or a minimum term of 30 years. no one has been executed in sierra leone since 1998, but it was still on the statute book for crimes including treason, murder and mutiny. thejustice minister, anthony brewah, told the bbc that international best

practice meant getting rid of the death penalty. the major league baseball team in cleveland, ohio is changing its name from the indian" to the guardians after criticism that the old term was disparaging towards native americans. the new name is a reference to the famous statues that "guard traffic" on one of the city's bridges. several local indigenous leaders have praised the move. back now to our top story, as the olympics begins its first full day in tokyo. one new sport for this games is skateboarding. there are two disciplines, park and street, and one of the oldest debutantes will be the american alexis sablone. at 3a years old, this street skater is a role model for many of the younger competitors. she's been talking to the bbc. music. when i started skating, i felt like it wasn't cool, you know? it was, like, punks and kids that didn't fit in. and the olympics does feel

like this point of no return. and maybe it's already reached that, but skateboarding will look dramatically different. it gives it this different kind of status. you know, when i was ten in, like, the mid—�*90s in a small town in connecticut, i was the only one in my town that even skateboarded. if you saw someone with certain shoes on, you knew for a fact that was a skateboarder. you know, it was exciting to see another one because it felt, like, rare. i think it's kind of fitting. i get one shot. it's going to be the first time for skateboarding, and i've seen it change so much and it doesn't get much bigger than this, you know? i make sculptures, and i have a studio space. i made, like, a large—scale skateable sculpture in malmo in sweden. it's in a public square, and it's open to the skaters for them to use, but it can be shared by, you know, all different user groups. skateboarding's always going to be a part of my life in one way or another. even when you're old, it makes you feel young. it's just so nostalgic. it's, like, this is the same

thing i've been doing since i was ten years old. i can't imagine my life without it because it's just so woven in there. for women in skateboarding, i think it's been, like, a really positive thing. i think it's given us way more, like, visibility. there's going to be a world stage, and there's going be men and women on it with skateboards. suddenly everyone started to care more. we can't be ignored now. music. competition — it's, like, when i win, ifeel great, and when i lose, i don't, you know? and then i say, like, "why am i doing this to myself?" but you know, i do it all over again because there must be some part of me that really wants that. and let's bring you some news just in — firefighters in miami have declared an end to their search for bodies at the site of a collapsed appartment building last month. the collapse at the 12—storey

champlain towers south in surfside onjune the 24th killed 97 people, with at least one more missing person yet to be identified. now, we could soon be paying more for our cappuccinos and lattes because the price of coffee beans has gone through the roof. arabica coffee futures have risen around 25% in a week, to their highest in more than 6.5 years. so, what's behind the record spike? kona haque is the head of research at an agricultural commodities merchant. the reason for the big price jump is because brazil, which is the world's largest producer of coffee and also the largest exporter of coffee, has just suffered some pretty bad news on its crop. brazil, earlier this year, had a very bad drought, one of those historically bad ones, so this year was already going to be a very small crop. on top of that, overnight this week, we've had quite severe frosts. temperatures have fallen below 5 degrees. it's their winter, and this kind of frost hasn't

happened since 1994. and this has the potential to really, really impact next year's crop, too, so you potentially could have two crops consecutively much lower than needed. when the supermodel halima aden announced she was quitting modelling in november last year because it was incompatible with her muslim faith, her exit sent shockwaves through the fashion industry. now, halima has been speaking to the bbc. here's what she had to say. you know, it's not that i was made to do things that i didn't want, but i think — like many models, you start off very young, i was 19 when i started modelling — and i remember bringing a suitcase to sets of full of hijabs and fabrics and leggings and sweaters and turtlenecks and all these things that i would bring and work with the stylist

on set to achieve the shoot. and then the last two years of my career, i kind of trusted the stylist on set to style me. and that's when i saw that my image was changing, my hijab style was changing, it kept getting smaller and smaller. and in a way, i had almost lost my true identity as a hijab—wearing muslim woman because the styles that they were dressing me in didn't really make it a hijab. it was hats and accessories and jeans and versace this and that... in place of a traditional hijab, is my point. i, along with a lot of people — when covid—19 happened, i had a chance to stay off and reflect — and like many people, i decided that i wanted to make career changes. we love to hear from you and find out what you think of our

stories. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @kacungira. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. after another fairly warm and mostly dry day on friday, things are now changing with the weather. we've got some heavy showers and some thunderstorms moving their way in from the south—west, and through the course of the weekend, it's going to turn cooler and fresher with some downpours for some places, particularly towards the south. that's down to the fact that this area of low pressure is pushing its way in, and that's going to generate some really heavy downpours at times, some showers, some thunderstorms as well. and if you do catch some of those thunderstorms, they could bring some disruption to travel, particularly across parts of southern england and south wales. there is a risk of some localised flooding. so, as we head through saturday morning, then, initially the heaviest of the downpours will be close to the south coast, and they'll slowly work their way northwards across the southern half of england and wales as we head through the day. some of them bringing some thunderstorms, some hail and some gusty winds mixed in with some of those

heavy showers. further north across the uk, most places staying dry with some warm sunshine. temperatures around 26, possibly 27 degrees in the warmest spots towards the north west. we've got more cloud just lurking around those eastern coasts of scotland and north east england as well. into saturday evening, we keep that threat of heavy showers and thunderstorms going on across some southern and south—eastern parts of england. they should ease a little bit overnight. many places starting sunday morning on a dry note, and temperatures a little bit fresher overnight than they've been recently, between about 12 to perhaps 16 degrees or so. now, through the second half of the weekend, then, low pressure still not far away. it's just starting to drift its way a little bit further eastwards, so that's going to bring another day of fairly heavy showers and thunderstorms. but i think the focus of most of them during sunday will be across southern and south—eastern parts of england, perhaps one or two into south wales, too. but for the rest of the uk, once again some dry and some warm weather with fairly light winds and long spells of sunshine. temperatures down a notch on recent days, so by the time we get to sunday, highs typically about 20—211 degrees for most of us.

again, watch out for localised flooding with those torrential hit—and—miss heavy showers. into monday, and another day of a few showers around across southern parts of england and wales, and if you do catch one, it could be heavy and thundery as well. but i think much of the uk seeing again some spells of sunshine and largely dry conditions, with temperatures about 20—211 degrees on monday. into the working week, it does remain pretty unsettled. more showers in the outlook, as you can see, but turning a little bit drierfurther south across the uk. bye— bye.

this is bbc news —

the headlines... emperor naruhito ofjapan has formally opened the olympic games at a ceremony in tokyo. it took place in an empty stadium with fewer than a thousand spectators because of the pandemic. the ioc president said preparing for the games had been a difficultjourney with unprecedented challenges. there's confusion and growing criticism over the uk government's plans to allow some key workers in england — from transport workers and police to those controlling the power network — to take daily covid tests instead of self—isolating. business leaders says the scheme needs to be significantly expanded. more than a hundred people have been killed after torrential monsoon rains triggered landslides and flooding in western india. officials say that dozens of bodies have been recovered from a landslide in the district of ryegad. hundreds of villages and towns are said to be without electricity and drinking water. now on it's time for bbc wales investigates.

emergency, police, please.