this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world... the olympic host nationjapan has picked up its first medals — winning a gold and a silver injudo. that was after ecuador�*s richard carapaz won the gold in the men's olympic cycling road race, making it the country's second ever top medal at a summer olympics. great britain's adam yates finished 9th — but it was bad news for geraint thomas who retired from the race for a second successive games after a crash. afghanistan imposes a curfew across almost the entire country in an attempt to stop the taliban infiltrating its cities. tackling britain's "pingdemic" — hundreds more covid testing sites are to be set up across england to ensure essential workers can avoid

self—isolation and keep working. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. it's the first day of action in the tokyo olympics. 11 medals are up for grabs on day one including in cycling, weightlifting and fencing. but it was in the judo where the host nation — japan — won its first medals. mariko oi has the details. well, japan winning its first gold medal and naohisa takato giving a very emotional interviewjust now, following funa tonaki, also ofjudo, winning silver and according to the japanese olympic committee her silver medal was the 500th medal

for team japan in olympic history, so quite an exciting moment for her as well. a bit of disappointment in gymnastics with kohei uchimura not qualifying for the finals, but a lot of people will be watching rikako ikee in swimming. of course, she was diagnosed with leukaemia two years ago. she inspired many by qualifying for this year's olympic games. and let's not forget japan's women's football team, nadeshiko, up against team gb as well. and i think it is fair to say that the japanese government officials have been hoping that once the games are under way and once japanese athletes start winning medals, as we saw this evening, the public opinion may start to change. of course, we have been reporting strong public opposition, even last night during the opening ceremony, with a lot of protests going on, but at the same time i was outside the olympic stadium earlier and there was a long queue of people waiting for their turn to take a picture with the olympic rings, so some people are definitely getting excited that the games

are finally under way. let's cross to the bbc sports centre and speak to austin halewood who's been watching the action in tokyo. cycling, for many different reasons, and for many different nations, a real talking point. absolutely. it is one of the biggest events from this first day in tokyo. it was an historic first win for ecuador at these games, they won their second gold medal ever, that came in men's cycling road race. the race itself lasted for around six hours. it was a roller—coaster. in the end it was ecuador�*s richard carapaz who broke away with six kilometres to go, and held on to cross the line, with his rivals pretty much out of sight. ecuador�*s first gold medal at any games since

1996. it has been a good few weeks for him as well. third in the tour de france just last week. plenty to celebrate for ecuador, where the race there finished at three o'clock in the morning. there will be some bleary eyes there after that. mentioned some others in the race as well. his team—mate, geraint thomas, the british rider, for the second olympics running, he saw his medal hopes ruined by a crash. his fellow brits, tao geoghegan hart, lost control on his front wheel, they both fell onto the tarmac. they were all right. they got back onto their bikes but they lost too much ground, they had to pull out. in the end silver went to a belgian rider. a tyre width gave him the silver. and slovenia got bronze, that puts them on the medal table.

one problem that quite a lot of athletes seem to be struggling with today, and the weather continues, as humidity, it seems to have affected some of the tennis players. absolutely. we have heard lots about the heat from athletes and experts. they were raising concerns before the games even started in tokyo. afterjust the games even started in tokyo. after just the first day of the tennis tournament a number of players have said the conditions are too difficult and too hot to play in. none more so than the world's top two players, novak djokovic, and medvedev, they both played first—round matches today. they have called on organisers to try to move matches to later in the day when conditions are not quite as impressive. when novak djokovic was on court earlier, it was around 33 celsius

with extremely high humidity. both players said it was the toughest conditions we have ever had toughest conditions we have ever had to deal with on the court. they managed to play their way through to the next round, both of them in straight sets, but they are asking the organisers to at least delay some of the matches later on in the day when temperatures are not quite as high. one of the problems is that because of all the covid restrictions, athletes have not been able to acclimatise themselves in the way that they would have usually done. you go to a different environment, just as a visitor, you go for a walk at certain times of day, you try to get used to how it feels. they have had those opportunities denied them. yes. previous olympics over the years, athletes would be perhaps arriving two, three, perhaps a month before the events, to acclimatise to all the conditions, the training camps, all that sort of thing. with the current restrictions in place that has been a lots more restricted this time around in

tokyo. some athletes only arriving within the week before their tournaments. it is particularly interesting that the tennis players are the ones who have picked up on these temperatures on court, because these temperatures on court, because the likes of novak djokovic, he has been a professional for so the likes of novak djokovic, he has been a professionalfor so many years now, played pretty much every corner of the world, he said today, these were the hottest temperatures and the toughest conditions he has ever had to play in. that is quite a statement from the world number one. yes it certainly is. thank you. some good news to be able to bring you. it has been a terrifying few hours for the family of fatuma kadir. the 11—year—old travelled from bolton on ii—year—old travelled from bolton on thursday and were seen in london on early hours of friday morning. police have announced that fatuma kadir has been found safe and well. she is still in london, where she

ended up, therefore she is well. you may remember, there was worry about her. fatuma kadir, aged 11, safe and well. a scheme allowing key workers to avoid covid self—isolation in england — has been significantly expanded — following criticism it did not go far enough. currently, most people identified as close contacts of someone with coronavirus have to self—isolate for 10 days — which the government says is "crucial" in controlling the spread of the virus. our business correspondent simon browning reports. as the days pass, the list grows of key workers who qualify for exemption from covid isolation in england. police, fire, border force, transport and freight staff will now be able to join some food workers who can return to work if they test negative after being told to isolate, whether they are vaccinated or not. industry leaders are frustrated by rising staff shortages. it is inadequate and it is late.

what we need is the government to realise that we have major problems occurring across all industrial sectors, because people are being pinged and are having to self—isolate and the vast, vast majority of them it happens unnecessarily. hundreds of rail services have been cancelled because of staff absences, with new timetables published to cope with the gaps. some rail workers will now qualify for the new testing scheme. newquay airport will have its busiest day in a year today, with around 2a flights, but the boss there is worried all his workers will not qualify. we have been told to expect exemptions in very small numbers, in ones and twos, rather than large numbers of staff. when we have between a quarter and a third in some cases of our individual teams being pinged by the system in one go and as soon as you get people back, you are often losing others to fresh notifications. we do not believe the scheme is going to cater for that. home secretary priti patel has said that daily testing

will keep our front line teams safe while they continue to serve the public, but leading figures in public health acknowledge the balance between transmission and economic damage being caused by staff shortages. clearly having over 600,000 people in england pinged i think in the last week is very, very disruptive with the covid—i9 app, so the business concerns are absolutely real and i think there needs to be a solution and if you look around the world at other countries that are doing well in their vaccine programme, singapore for example, they are also moving to a system of not requiring self—isolation for people who have had both doses of the vaccine. as industries step forward requesting exemption, the government maintains the app is doing itsjob and is needed to stem the tide of coronavirus infections and protect the public. simon browning, bbc news.

fatuma kadir — the 11—year—old girl who went missing from her home in bolton on thursday has been found safe and well. she has been found safe and well in london, and according to some reports, is safe in the hands of police. it is interesting, her parents earlier described her as quite a shy girl, the reports provided to police, described her as confidence, able to approach a stranger on london bridge, requesting a mobile phone, i ask is there anywhere to stay overnight. the couple who the police were seeking, they did actually come forward. that was the couple on the train. they thought it was coincidence. police said, they were not suggesting she was with them, but they were just perhaps asking after her, seeing if she was all right. and whether they could shed some light on it. they said she claimed

she was 15, she was going to visit an aunt in london. they were slightly concerned but not terribly concerned. as were a couple of guards on the train, who kept her tickets. they were also surprised to see such a young girl travelling on her own. but she said she was 15, she was on her way to stay with an aunt. because they thought she seemed confident enough, they did not want to contact the police either. it is a lovely ending to a story. as it is a lovely ending to a story. as i say, she says it quite an impressive girl, to be able to get us out of london on her own, and see the sights, because according to the police, she was cited, certainly at tower bridge, and almost certainly at that london eye as well. —— sighted at tower bridge.

it isa it is a good reminder to parents, sometimes you have to probe more under the surface with your kids, often they are capable of more than you realise. yes, it looks like that. of course, we do have to find out, she is safe and well, but what happens to her? was she ok for the time she was in london? she was overnight. she arrived early on friday. she needed to spend friday night somewhere. and also saturday. she spent friday night somewhere as well. we do not know what time she was found. police have not to lose any of those details yet. i expect we will get more details coming through. as you say, a very different picture from the one being given by the parents. pa rents. i parents. i am sure the parents must be extraordinarily relieved.

a curfew has been imposed across nearly the whole of afghanistan, in an attempt to prevent taliban infiltration into the country's cities. fighting has escalated over the past two months, with the insurgents capturing around half of all territory as international troops are withdrawn. secunder kermani has more from kabul. this curfew is in place across the country. the idea is to try and get a grip on the deteriorating security situation, in particular to prevent infiltration into afghan cities of taliban operatives. militants have already encircled a number of cities. they are ready on the outskirts of some. whilst they have managed to capture around half of all territory in afghanistan, they have not been able to take hold of any major urban centre. the last few days, had seen a lull in fighting,

during the festival of eid, but now fighting is picking up, and it seems that fighting will keep increasing. there is also concern about what is going on inside those territories taliban has taken hold. human rights watch watch, reporting around 100 civilians executed by the taliban. the taliban has denied those allegations. the headlines on bbc news. the olympics host nationjapan picks up its first medals — a gold and a silver in thejudo competition. afghanistan imposes a curfew across almost the entire country in an attempt to stop the taliban infiltrating its cities. tackling britain's "pingdemic" — hundreds more covid testing sites are to be set up across england

to ensure essential workers can avoid self—isolation and keep working. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's austin. the action from tokyo has been coming thick and fast on day one. no medals for team gb so far, but there's been plenty of brits in action to bring you up to date on. adam peaty is one of the best hopes for gold. and his games are under way. the world record holder and defending champion topped the timesheets and eased his way into the semifinals of the 100 metres breaststroke. peaty�*s looking to become the first british swimmer to retain an olympic title. fellow briton james wilby also qualified in sixth place. and the semifinals take place on sunday morning at around 3.30am...

now one of saturday's main events was the men's cycling road race. it was won by ecuador�*s richard carapaz just days after he finished third in the tour de france. carapaz had broken away from a group that included tour de france champion with 6 kilometers to go and managed to stay clear all the way to the finish line — it's only the second olympic gold that ecuador have ever won — their last coming in 1996. pogacar took the bronze medal, behind belgium's wout van art. former tour de france champion geraint thomas saw his medal hopes dashed after crashing for a second successive games. his teammmate tao geoghegan hart lost control of his bike and took thomas down to the tarmac with him... they both did get up and continue but theyjust had too

much ground to make up, eventually withdrawing from the race. british team—mate adam yates finished ninth, but, of course, a disappointing race for thomas... there was a metal ridge. there was nowhere to go. landed on my right side. well things were a bit more positive in the gymnastics centre for max whitlock. .. he said he was relieved to get through qualifying, after he safely reached the pommel horse final. he's defending the title he won in rio. and he was in third place, with the top eight progressing. whitlock said qualification was the hardest and most nerve—wracking stage, because everything rides on it. he also reached the team final, alongsidejoe fraser, james hall and gianni regini—moran. ellen white scored her third goal

in two games, as great britain beat japan to make it through to the knock—out stage of the women's football competition. hers was the only goal of the game against the hosts in the sapporo dome. gb are top of their group with a game against canada to come. and sam ward made a dream return to olympic action in the men's hockey, scoring their opening goal in a 3—1 win over south africa. ward suffered a career—threatening injury 20 months ago when he was hit in the face by a ball — he was left with impaired vision when he suffered a shattered eye socket, torn retina and numerous facial injuries which required 31 screws — and he now plays in a mask. away from the games... the british and irish lions will play the first of their three tests against south africa in around 45 minutes' time — but they've suffered a setback ahead of the match. prop wynjones have been ruled out — because of a shoulder injury. scotland's rory sutherland will start in his place.

lions head coach warren gatland is confident though, thatjones will be back in training next week... but there's no denying it's hampered their preparations. to the hundred where southern brave's women have begun their tournament with a win — beating the trent rockets by 23 runs. southern brave batted first — stefanie taylor topscoring with 45 off 31 balls as they set the rockets 134 to win. in reply, the rockets could only reach 110 for 7 — as captain anya shrubshole finished with four wickets for just 13 runs. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in the next hour. high levels of cholesterol in middle—aged people could be linked to an increased risk of developing dementia. in what's thought to be one of the biggest studies of its kind, researchers say it's the strongest evidence yet of the relationship between the two. the team found a link between a type of cholesterol called ldl

and the development of the disease. with me now is hannah churchill from the alzheimers society. is this intriguing new evidence of something that we thought beforehand might be connected or has this come out of the blue? that research around cholesterol today has been fairly mixed. this adds weight to the argument that this might be a contributing factor to our risk of dementia. it is a large study looking at nearly1 million people. and following up on a certificate amount of time, does add weight to that argument. the difficulty with these things is linking cause and effect, proving that one thing, it may make you statistically more likely to get something, but it does not prove that one is going to lead to the other. that is exactly it. that is always theissue that is exactly it. that is always the issue with this type of research. their next step to establish that link is to use this as a springboard into other

research, where we monitor people, helping to manage cholesterol levels, bring those down, follow them over a certificate period of time, and understand if that does really reduce the risk of dementia. that would help us to establish that cause and effect link. one of the difficulties a lot of people, laypeople, have in trying to understand these stories when we see it in the newspapers and television and radio, is trying to understand what is significant and what is not. this is a huge field of research, alzheimer's. notjust charities like yourself supporting research, drug are supporting research because it can be a huge potential market if they can develop drugs that at least delay the effect or mitigate the effects, even if there is no magic cure for this. is that in a sense almost a pull itself, because you end up with lots of people pulling in different directions, and not necessarily all being focused on,

how do we get the stuff that immediately improves the lives of people who are, maybe not living with the condition now, but will be in a few years time? it is with the condition now, but will be in a few years time?— in a few years time? it is one of the strengths — in a few years time? it is one of the strengths of _ in a few years time? it is one of the strengths of the _ in a few years time? it is one of the strengths of the field - in a few years time? it is one of the strengths of the field of - the strengths of the field of research, is that we need research into different factors. dementia is complex, notjust one condition, caused by a range of different diseases. it is a complex issue. we need to understand how to prevent it, the underlying causes, and develop new treatment. having a huge amount of research is important, organisations like alzheimer's society are supporting work like this to start building that picture. it is important we seek more research in this space. we do not know enough about dementia yet. 850,000 people are living with the condition in the uk and that number is rising. the government is committed to doubling research finding, we need to see that coming to fruition. do we have any idea, is there

anything you can see to people watching now to say, they want to do whatever they can to reduce their risk of developing this, even though they know there is no certain way of preventing it? is there anything that they can focus on?- that they can focus on? yes, absolutely- _ that they can focus on? yes, absolutely. there _ that they can focus on? yes, absolutely. there are - that they can focus on? yes, absolutely. there are some l that they can focus on? yes, - absolutely. there are some factors we cannot control. for example, our age. as we get older our risk of dementia increases. but there are factors that be to know influence dementia and we can change. looking after your cardiovascular health, keeping fit and active, not smoking, not drinking excessively, keeping socially and physically active. all these things are important in reducing the risk of dementia. there is no sure—fire way to completely rule out our risk of developing dementia later in life but there are things we can do to reduce that risk. thank you very much. parts of southern england have been hit by torrential

rain and flash flooding. two houses in andover in hampshire were hit by lightning and caught fire. a 70—year—old woman escaped unharmed. andy weeks — from hampshire and isle of wight fire and rescue service — went to the scene. it is purely random and very unlucky. i very much feel for the people involved. fortunately, they were woken up by the storm and they knew how to get out of the house, they had prepared, so they managed to safely make their way out. i can imagine it was very frightening and quite distressing to have that happen to you. one of the largest music festivals in europe — to be staged since the start of the pandemic — is taking place this weekend in sheffield. around 40,000 people are expected to attend tramline which is one of the government's test events. there'll be no masks or social distancing but concert goers will need to prove they're fully vaccinated or can show a negative covid test. corinne wheatley reports. it's a scene we used to take for granted

during the festival season. now it seems a little unfamiliar. the main thing that's changed this year is how you get in. if you're not double vaccinated, you have to do a lateral flow test, i did mine last night, for example, and then log the results on the government website, and then use the nhs app to bring up your covid pass and show this along with the results of a health questionnaire at the entry points. it's extra hoops to jump through, but most people we spoke to say it's worth it. i'm quite happy to go along with everything — if it means getting back into gigs and festivals and everything, i'lljust go along with whatever the organisers want to do. it just feels good to be actually doing something after two years of not doing anything. it just feels great to actually get out. the entry requirements mean a bit of extra organisation forfestival—goers, but a huge amount of extra work for festival organisers. they had less than eight weeks from being given the green light to go ahead, to opening the gates, but it all comes at a time of rising covid rates. we've got to balance what we're doing, the positives against the risk.

you know, we're hugely important culturally, supportive of local businesses, and we're trying to do it in a way that minimises the risk for everyone. tramlines is part of the government's events research programme which also included things like wimbledon and a concert in liverpool's sefton park. while there are strict guidelines to follow, the covid risk at these events can't be eliminated entirely. if people came to the event with infection then it's obviously a very strong possibility of them transmitting it in that setting. from a public health point of view, i am concerned. we know mass gathering events are high risk for the spread of infection. i guess, if people adhere to some simple measures, they can probably keep the risk manageable. it won't be zero risk but there will be a degree of risk there. for many people here, in the crowd and on the stage, it is a joyful return. and it's certainly a milestone — organisers say it's the biggest festival in europe since the reopening.

the outcome of this and other events will be watched closely. corinne wheatley, bbc news. joggers have been taking part in the first park runs in england since coronavirus restrictions were lifted. the events were suspended during the pandemic. john mcmanus went to watch runners in bushy park in southwest london. park run has returned and no better place to see that happen than here in bushy park in middlesex where it all began way back in 2004 with just 13 runners and a couple of volunteers. and look at it now. across the world, thousands of people take part in park run in normal times across the uk and as far afield as australia, the united states and japan, but it has been suspended in the uk since march 2020 because of the pandemic. organisers tell me they are confident that they can keep people safe while they are taking part in park run. i think you can see from what is going on around me that there is real enthusiasm for the return of this participatory free sport, the kind of sport where you are not competing against other people,

you are just doing the best that you can for yourself and of course reaping all those exercise and mental health benefits as well. now it's time for a look at the weather. hello. we hold on to the heat and the sunshine across much of scotland, northern ireland and the far north of england, but further south, more cloud and still a chance of seeing thunderstorms this afternoon. a met office warning across southern england and south wales where we see those thunderstorms, frequent lightning and some torrential rain. also more cloud across orkney and shetland, some north—eastern coasts too, but generally away from the southern half of the uk is where we have the best of the sunshine and the highest temperatures. noticeably cooler further south where we have cloud and thunderstorms and still those thunderstorms going through this evening and overnight, developing quite intensely across parts of east anglia and south—east england later in the night. cloud creeping back in from the north and the east and for most it is another mild, if not muggy night. those thunderstorms keep going tomorrow, particularly through parts of east anglia, south—east england, the midlands, down into south—west

england and wales. maybe one or two further north as well but generally the cloud should tend to disappear to leave sunshine and for many, it is another warm day. that is all from me, bye—bye. hello, this is bbc news with me, shaun ley. the headlines: the olympic host nationjapan has picked up its first medals, winning a gold and a silver injudo. great britain's adam yates finished ninth, but it was bad news for geraint thomas who retired from the race for a second successive games after a crash. afghanistan imposes a curfew across almost the entire country in an attempt to stop the taliban infiltrating its cities. tackling britain's "pingdemic" — hundreds more covid testing sites are to be set up across england to ensure essential workers can avoid self—isolation and keep working. now on bbc news,